Another day began with Atsushi and his group walking in the hallway of the school, every student seems to be gossiping about Atsushi and of course, it was not the good one.
'I heard someone said that he was a bully in his elementary schools!'
'Wait really?! No way!'
'I also heard that he was an illegitimate son'
'Who spread that kind of rumor! I don't believe it!'
'Neither do I but think about it! why would there be a sudden rumor going around?'
'Probably because someone wants to ruin our Prince's reputation!'
The students spoke about bad rumors regarding Atsushi, in the beginning, most of them didn't doubt it and the rumors spread even further with the whole school gossiping about this rumors, some people complained and some people cursed Atsushi out even though they don't know if the rumor is true.
And the person behind it, who is no other than Jiro, smirked as he observed the group, slyness was hidden in the crazy glint on his eyes and the people around him backed away when they saw his crazed expression.
"Why are there rumors going around?!" Rin asked furiously, he believes that none of these rumors are true!
"Calm down" Atsushi advised him and the others who were about to complain also shut their mouths after hearing what he just said.
"But they don't know anything, how can we leave it like this?" Rin, although angered, said calmly and looked at his friend with a serious look displayed on his face.
"That's the thing, they don't know anything, no one can prove what's right and what's wrong" Atsushi soothed Rin's anger with his ever so gentle voice, Atsushi was being the subject of every conversation but he still kept on smiling, not even bothered by their mean comments and words of encouragement.
After some time, they all arrived in their class with the teacher following behind them and everyone stood up before greeting their present teacher.
The class began and after a while, papers were passed around, probably to gossip about Atsushi again, the teacher didn't notice anything and even when Atsushi and his group did notice, they did not make any unnecessary moves that could alert the teacher.
Almost an hour passed and the students stood up before greeting their teacher goodbye as the ladies slowly went out and headed for the changing room, their next class would be PE*.
The boys changed into their PE uniform in their room and soon head out toward the field and the ladies soon got out, their hairs are tied up in a tight ponytail, it is required for students to tie their hairs up during this subject.
Everyone still stares at Atsushi and his group, gazes full of doubt, disgust, belief, and interest, some people who don't really like or hate Atsushi just stared at him with amusement or nothing at all because they aren't interested.
All students are now lined up in the field and the teacher was standing in front of them and in sync, all the students greeted the PE teacher with a good morning.
"Let's get started with the stretching, pair up!" He demanded and all students slowly made a pair but a lot of students still asked to pair up with Atsushi but in the end, he still ended up pairing with Rin, as usual.
They helped one another with stretching, their pair up is well-matched and soon, they are finished stretching with the other's help and head to stretch their own limbs by themselves.
"All good?" The teacher asked and the students yelled their response, the majority was a positive answer.
"Good! today, we'll be doing track and fields! pair up with 4 members!" He demanded and Atsushi immediately formed his own team.
"Let's do our best!" Rin encouraged as Mina and Yuu prepared themselves for the oncoming challenge.
"Mm"
"Atsushi is a pretty good runner" Mina suddenly commented and Rin turned to look at her with a grin.
"I know"
"Hm? Rin is much faster than me" Atsushi stated with a smile and Rin looked at him with a happy expression and Atsushi chuckled.
All the groups are all set and ready for the run, as for Atsushi's group, the first line would be Mina, second would be Yuu, Atsushi for the third and Rin for the last run.
"Are you ready?" The teacher asked after seeing that all the groups are in their proper position.
"3-2-1, GO!" Hearing the last word, all the students in the first line immediately ran toward the next runner.
(You can skip this part)
Mina ran faster than some students and some students were faster than her and it took them at least two minutes to reach the next runner in line as all the first runners are slower than all the next runners, Mina reached Yuu in two minutes.
"GO!" Mina yelled as soon as she stepped foot onto the line and Yuu went sprinting, there were already people far from him.
Yuu was slightly faster than Mina and the meters that the second line runners have to run increased by a half, it was reasonable as they are much faster than the first runners and has more stamina.
People who ran faster either have long legs or just have great energy and are very healthy, Yuu is both, he is in great health and in addition, he also has longs legs with helps him increase his speed, most of the people ahead are students who possess long legs and the students on their back either only have great healths and can run without their legs getting tired in a short time and with the adrenaline running through their veins, they don't feel the pain of their twitching legs as they reached the third runners in 2 to 3 mins.
"Go!" Yuu slightly yelled not slowing down as he reached the line with a record of two and half minutes, it was already incredible knowing that the meters they ran are increased in a half and they reached it in about 2 to 3 minutes, only a few got there in two minutes while most of the second runners reached in three minutes and the next run was increased with another half meters of the first run.
Atsushi sprinted smoothly and since there were people who got on the third line faster than Yuu, there were a lot further from him but Atsushi runs a lot with his free time, and sometimes when there is no class, he would run in the field when there are no students.
And in two minutes after passing them without taking breaking his speed, he finally passed the other runners one after another and disbelief were plastered in their face but soon recovered since they already kind of had expected this result, they had multiple PE lessons already to know that Atsushi was good at running.
They were already near the next lines of runners and the other runners were very exhausted because even if they have long legs, they still don't have that much stamina and exercise but Atsushi takes care of his body a lot and adding that Rin takes care of his foods which are balanced diet.
"I believe in you" Atsushi said and set his foot on the line before Rin went sprinting, Atsushi only felt the exhaustion after he reached Rin in three and a half minutes and stabilized his breathing as he stood up and looked up at the sky as he took in a deep breath.
As the other runners slowed down as they were nearing the last line, they reached the last runners in about four minutes and soon went sprinting after Rin, it was a large gap as Rin is much faster than all of the student's here, everyone knew that and didn't keep any bitterness in their hearts knowing that Atsushi and Rin are close friends, it would make sense that they could team up!
(The skip ends here)
Rin ran toward the finish line with a smile in his face, running has always been exciting for him, he has been trained since he was a child, it is a very important clue regarding his mysterious identity, and he can always choose not to train but he insisted on running and now, his training paid off really well.
As for the other runners, all of them are still very far from the leading runner, they know that it would be impossible to catch up when Rin doesn't even slow down nor get exhausted, as for the reason why, Rin always go out in the morning for a jog and run which means he has a lot of endurance.
And in four minutes, he has reached the last line, the teacher nodded at him and amazed that this student wasn't showing any fatigue after running that far and from afar, the runners are still yet to reach the final line as the gap between Rin and them always increase with Rin running with a fixed speed without any distraction bothering him.
"That was great!" Rin smiled brightly and approached Atsushi who was already back to the starting point.
"You were great" Atsushi commented and the other sat down beside him.
"That was awesome, Rin" Mina commented and Rin smiled at him and replied with gratitude and Yuu also agreed with Mina.
"Thank you, everyone also did great"
"Not really" Mina denied and smiled cutely and timidly lowered her head as she received a compliment from out of nowhere.
A minute later, the other runners arrived one by one, sweat was running down on their faces and they were out of breath.
"Good! go take a rest" The teacher said and everyone sat on the grass while some laid down on the grass, still trying to get their oxygen back.
And after resting, everyone stood up and went to the changing rooms, the gents went in their own room and the same goes for the ladies.
It took them 5 mins to change and rinse their faces and when they entered the room, sweats can be smelled in the room and the next teacher complained as she proceeds on teaching the class.
School is done and students were gathered in a single space.
"I went to the same school as Atsushi and he never bullied anyone!! he was the one getting bullied but he was always so kind even tho he always get hurt" One student yelled, she was a little familiar, probably because they definitely used to be classmates but the lady is in another section so he wasn't really familiar with her.
'Atsushi got bullied?!'
'Poor Atsushi'
"Also Atsushi is very kind! Why else would he be bullied for?!"
Another student yelled with a question.
'Definitely because a lot of ladies like him and a lot of guys also admire him'
'Such a kind soul! how can he be treated so cruelly!!'
The supposed to be a bad rumor slowly turned into a good direction as his fame once again increased as the students around thought about all kinds of possibilities and reasons.
'I won't believe rumors anymore!!'
'I know right! I feel so bad'
'He is the school Prince, we could never choose Atsushi if he wasn't such a gentle person'
'I agree!!'
And just like that, the problem solved itself and Atsushi went out with a sincere smile plastered in his face.
The group walked out of schools and hanged out until the sun has almost set and everyone went home one by one.
Upon arriving home, Atsushi changed into his pajamas after taking a hot bath and Rin called him down for dinner, he went down and ate peacefully with Rin and with a fulfilled stomach, Atsushi went to the garden and sat in one of the benches and slowly fell asleep and after a few whiles, he was lifted up in bridal carry as the person slowly walked toward his room.
Reaching the room, the person slowly set him down the bed, the bed moved a bit as the person laid down in the bed, planning to sleep beside the younger man.
Opening his eyes a bit, Atsushi saw Kyouya looking straight at him before he fell back to sleep once again, Kyouya chuckled and also slept with a satisfied expression with Atsushi beside him.