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Ichigo was walking to school when her back stiffened. A familiar sensation ran through her: someone was staring intently at the small of her back.
She whirled around, annoyance flaring. "Kari-idiot—!"
There was nobody behind her.
She scanned the area with her eyes suspiciously. There were plenty of times when Kari stalked her while she was walking to school, so she was counting on Kari being somewhere near. When Kari didn't pop out, Ichigo turned around and continued walking, unsettled. It wasn't in Kari's nature to stay still or hide from her, so maybe her feeling was wrong?
Her back stiffened again, and she whirled around, alarmed. She spotted a shadowed figured ducking behind a pole and took a nervous step back. "K-Kari-idiot?" she called.
There was a moment of silence, and then she saw a beam of light and heard multiple snap!
Someone was taking pictures of her!! Anger unfroze her body, and she sprinted straight towards the person, shouting, "Who are you?!"
She threw her school bag with her entire strength at the offender. It missed as the offender jumped back and sprinted away. "Come back here, you—you pervert!!" she shrieked.
A moment passed. Ichigo couldn't hear anything except the blood roaring in her ears. Only then did chills scrape down her spine.
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The black gates of Lo High School stood before them.
Kari turned back to Yuzu. "I'll see you later, Big B." Kari spoke loud enough for Yuzu to turn a light shade of pink.
He was about to go his own way when a group of gossiping girls caught his attention. As Kari passed by, the group of first-years fell silent. After Kari was reasonably far away but still close enough to hear them, they burst out sighing and giggling.
Feeling a bit bitter at Kari's rising popularity, Yuzu muttered, "I am but a simple and average looking boy."
"You believe that?" a voice called behind him before a hand clapped his back.
His friend, Bob, walked into his peripheral vision. "I said, are you sure you believe that? Look at yourself. You're almost six feet tall. I'm just beneath five feet five inches. Look at your arms, no really, look at them. I'll ask you again, you believe you're average looking?"
"Yes," Yuzu answered. Compared to Kari, that is…
Giving him a bittersweet look, Bob clamped a hand on Yuzu's arm and dragged him towards the boards that held their homeroom class. Dragged by Bob, Yuzu didn't notice the number of students who turned their heads to look in his direction.
Yuzu and Bob were both in the same homeroom. Bob gave a joyful laugh.
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At lunchtime, Bob shifted his desk to face Yuzu's. He popped open the plastic lids on his lunch container and greedily breathed in leftover steam. Yuzu brought out a wrapped container.
"Did Kari make that?" Bob asked enviously, glancing down at his own instant lunch elements.
"Yeah," Yuzu answered, a little self-conscious. There was still beef needed to be pounded out between Bob and Kari. Since Bob was, well, Bob, Yuzu wasn't worried about Bob's and Kari's current relationship. Bob adjusted to people. Eventually, he and Kari would adjust with each other. Hopefully.
Bob shook his head. "It's amazing how much Kari changed… Kari used to be a—a jackass, you know? I'm glad k is, um, nicer now."
"We were jerks, too," Yuzu reminded him, stuffing rice in his own mouth.
"You're right, but, there must have been a factor that helped her become nicer or something like that, right? A dark person like that don't change out of the blue. Something major happened. Like, maybe your mom—right, sorry you don't want to, um, talk about, er, yeah, hey isn't that Kari!"
Yuzu looked through the classroom windows. Kari was indeed walking through the hallway. Since this floor was restricted only to third-years, the only location Kari could technically access was the rooftop. He wasn't surprised Kari was heading for that place.
"Should we go say hi?" asked Bob politely but reluctantly. Fortunately for Bob, a third-year bounded up behind Kari and stopped k. They chatted for a bit. Finally, the third-year walked away, her face red. Kari looked thoughtful as k watched the girl go. Then k, too, walked away.
"I wonder what that girl wanted," Bob wondered aloud.
Confession? Greeting? School business? Yuzu pushed down his curiosity and looked away from the windows. As he ate a mouthful of eggs and rice, he reminded himself to not get too attached to Kari's business.
‣ ‣ ‣
"Now that school's over, want to go grab something to eat?" asked Bob. He and Yuzu were walking towards the school gates, heading for home. "We can drop by my parents' place and get some of that steaming noodles you always get. There's also a new side dish called—" Bob stopped when he noticed Kari waiting by the gate.
Feeling tension sparking the air between the both of them, Yuzu felt a weird sense of obligation to calm the ripples. Too late. Kari gave Bob a nod that wasn't really a nod, and Bob's eyes grew big.
"H-Hello," he said awkwardly. He halfway turned, stopped, and glanced at Yuzu. "I'll see you later," he whispered before walking away quickly.
Yuzu sighed. "He's a good friend," he told Kari. Kari turned away and started walking in the direction of home. Yuzu followed.
"I guess you don't remember the time when you and your 'good friend' tried to push me down the stairs," Kari said in a light tone. "Of course, I dodged out of the way, you fell down the stairs yourself, and Bob…I punched him." Kari smiled. "I really do forget to hold back my strength sometimes."
Yuzu remembered. Bob had bled heavily from both nostrils. And Yuzu still remembered the taste of red fury. Aimed at Kari. He glanced at Kari. "We were kids, then. We perceived things differently. We saw things in a more threatening light… and we reacted accordingly."
They walked in silence for a while.
Kari broke it. "I guess that's true," k said.
Before silence could drape over them once again, Yuzu said, "You don't have to wait for me every day after school like how you did last year."
"Ichigo's school is on the way home. Would you prefer it if I went to get her myself?"
"No," Yuzu answered without a second thought. "But what's stopping you from doing exactly that?"
A genuine smile flitted across Kari's face. It was so quick, Yuzu stared at Kari for longer than usual, telling himself he was seeing things. In that long moment, their eyes met, and Yuzu felt his pulse quicken.
"I promised your mom I would protect my older brother and little sister," Kari said.
Kari promised Mom? Mom had discussed about this with Kari? But… "I'm the oldest," he bit out irrationally. He was supposed to be the one making that promise.
Kari recognized the childish indignation streaking his tone and raised k's eyebrows. Even Yuzu was surprised at this childish, familiar feeling welling up inside him. He thought he had long buried it. Instead of laughing however, Kari patted his head.
Immediately, he jerked away, growling, "What do think you're doing?!"
Kari sighed, as if Yuzu wasn't getting the big picture. "Obviously I'm taller than you, right?"
"So?" He wasn't bitter about their height difference. No. He wasn't.
"Obviously I'm able to carry a load twice as more than you, right?"
"NO."
"So, obviously, I was CHOSEN to be the one to make that promise. Now do you get it?"
"Your logic is screwed. That doesn't make sense! Mom would never make up an idiotic standard like that to decide who would protect this family!"
Kari burst out into laughter. "You're in denial!" k crowed.
Feeling he would make a fool out of himself if he continued the conversation, Yuzu sped ahead, thoughts of punching Kari fuming inside his head. If he decided to walk that path, however, Kari would hit back. So, he just let it fume as a thought. How unsatisfying.
All those thoughts evaporated an instant later.
"It won't be like that forever, you know."
Kari's words tripped a gear inside of his brain, and Yuzu stopped to turn around. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Kari had the same thoughtful look k had when the third-year girl had finished talking to k. Walking until they were facing each other, Kari looked at him. K patted his head. This time, Yuzu didn't pull away.
"You'll take care of Ichigo, won't you?"
An ominous feeling crawled over Yuzu's shoulders, and he grit his teeth. "I don't have to," he said, pulling away. "The way you're hovering over Ichigo, you're already looking after her." Aren't you?
They walked towards Ichigo's school in pregnant silence.