Chapter Text
All eyes were on Shinobu for all the wrong reasons.
In her defense, the beginning of the school year was always the toughest. Let alone the beginning of her first year of senior high school. So God forbid a girl have a minor slip-up, right?
Maybe.
In most circumstances, mistakes are forgivable. In this scenario, a corner of the chemistry lab is engulfed in smoke and flames. It’s not like she did it on purpose, but with half of the room full of screaming children clutching onto her leg, it felt like the contrary.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Shinobu had calculated a strategy for such a situation; she would charge toward the fire extinguisher in the front of the room and tackle the growing flames. But she hadn’t accounted for a stampede of children to block and latch onto her.
She desperately tries to push against a sea of panicked elementary students. One latches to her arm, the other to her leg. Her heart drums louder than their noise.
Each step is a stumble away from the stampede; her foot barely anchoring to the floor. Her foot finally lands free from the children, and she pulls her right leg free from the grubby hands of a particularly sweaty girl to stumble to the fire extinguisher in a flash of light.
She swears she hears a grunt from one of them.
Her hand trembles on the cylinder. The sweat on her hand nearly drops it, but with pure determination, she catches it to free the pin, then the nozzle to aim. Just as an ember flies onto a pile of painted pictures on a nearby desk, a current of white powder rushes toward it, extinguishing it in a slow sweeping motion at its base.
In mere seconds, the terrorizing flames are reduced to a pile of white powder. It's only the remnants of smoke and a pile of ashes that remain.
A bead of sweat escapes her, but before she could react, a swarm of children huddles around her. Their little hands wave in the air as they burst into cheers, their little faces still red with freshly shed tears.
“Is everyone ok?!” Shinobu finally gasps into reality, hastily setting down the fire extinguishers to assess the children around her. She scrambles to each of them, holding onto the ones that still look startled as she carefully herds the children like cattle out to the hallway, away from the smoke-bombed laboratory.
The sea of children huddled around her like some sort of hero.
“...If only heroes didn't set chemistry labs on fire.”
A sharp voice breaks through the screaming crowd. “What is the meaning of this?! Tell me why half the alarms have been triggered-” The command of an older woman stops as she takes in the sight of white foam leaking into the hallway.
Shinobu immediately pushes to the front of the crowd. “Matsu-sensei, it was an accident-” She chokes out an apology, her head hung low before the older woman.
“Shinobu-chan, what happened here?” Matsu exclaimed. The wrinkles on her face curve at the sight of the ‘sweet girl’ she knows all too well.
In better circumstances, Shinobu would usually help her cultivate the school gardens.
“A set of posters was set on fire inside the laboratory. Previous students left out flammable posters near the Bunsen burners! It must have been a mistake, and an accident-” Shinobu frantically apologizes.
“An accident that should not have happened!” He echoes, startling a few children.
She feels a breath escape her.
She dared not lift her head as she buried herself in shame.
“Shit…”
His deep sigh is enough to make her stomach explode. “I expected better from you, Kocho….” He whispers, his cane plants solid like an iron fist. “Then again..Kanae…”
He nearly mumbles out loud.
Clear.
“...I truly am sorry, Rengoku-sensei…” She answers hushed.
He pads closer to the mess that is the lab. His wooden cane beats on the floors as he inspects the disaster. He doesn't take very long; his eyes wander after merely glancing at the mess.
A deep sigh echoes along the empty halls. “Kanae-san would not have made this problem, would she?” He insists. There it is. The rise of his pitch makes way for that condescending tone.
She didn't have to meet his eyes to see the scowl on his face. Rengoku-sensei was a harsh man. His hoarse voice was almost as revolting as his rotten personality. He would never give out extensions, brag about low pass rates, and his favorite of all: criticizing Shinobu.
The terror of a history teacher never failed to miss an opportunity to grill a student, especially her. It was hard to imagine how this man was related to Kyojouro.
“No, she wouldn’t have…” She answers evenly, although her shoulders are tight.
“Never in my 15 years of teaching…” He pretends to whisper to himself. His head shakes slowly. He eyes the children, then the laboratory.
What had she done now?
Despite the calm look on her face, beads of sweat had already formed down her collar. Her core is just about to grow abs from her apologetic bow––yet she remains still as stone.
Sensing the poor girl’s despair, Matsu walks closer to pat her on the shoulder, until Rengoku deals his final blow.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, Ms. Kocho.” He savors a deep sigh. His hands were rubbing the temple of his nose, “Ubuyashiki’s office. Now.”
‘He never misses to express disappointment.’
She nods politely and forces a cheery farewell to the children. The tightness in her face nearly gave away the frustration bubbling within. Her legs drag her to the dreaded halls of the principal’s office. She had sent students this way before. Particularly, a blue-haired ruffian who broke into the nurse's office for vitamin gummies…
Which is why it felt ridiculous for her to end up in the same place. She wasn’t a bad student. She was a student who made a mistake.
A mistake.
It makes her stomach churn.
Never had she made a mistake this costly. As the rubber soles of her shoes drag along the glossy tiles, she attempts to recall the events. Yet with each effort, a beam of light reflects from the floor to her retinas.
‘Think, Shinobu! Think!’
She had only turned on a lighter. She wasn’t close to a burner, nor were the children. If anything, the bigger mistake was leaving posters in the lab.
“What were they thinking? Can they not see the fire hazard signs?!”
If this were any normal person, a mistake would have been a natural part of high school. But this was the Shinobu Kocho. The girl who had perfect attendance. The cleanest and well-ironed uniform. Always the top-notcher.
It was unlike her to make such a mistake.
The very thought of that word cracks open a colony of larvae in her stomach.
She comes across a wooden trophy case nearby. Her golden cups line up in the center row—Science Olympiad, Math Olympiad—just the international academic ones she won three years ago. Below it, bronzes from other students; most notably, Rengoku Kyojouro.
‘Who cares what Rengoku-sensei thinks. He’s only jealous. Hardest tests my ass. He’s just upset. I always get As…’
She didn’t need anyone’s approval.
But it sure sent a bad message to the students at Shinsei Academy.
The gust of wind knocks a strand of hair into her eye. She flinches at the sudden sting, causing her to smack the strand down into her bun.
‘Only the immature people can’t control their emotions…’
She just hated making mistakes.
Unfortunately for her, she was about to make another one.
As she makes a turn for the halls, her forehead collides with what she thinks is a solid wall coming at her. The second it kisses her chest, a splash of blue acrylic dyes her navy blazer and the once ivory blouse beneath it.
It’s quick to pull away, before she’s able to see red—in this case, blue.
“Watch it!-“ She looked up to see a flustered boy.
“What are you? A preschooler?! Tomioka-san! No running in the hallways.” She groans, her index finger pressing against the button of his shirt, pushing at it menacingly.
His blues focus on the explosion of cerulean on her chest. Then he looks away, “I-I’m sorry, Kocho-san…” He whispers.
Just as she inhales in a breath to scold him, her throat dries up. The heart travels from her ears, then her finger, causing her to fly a solid meter away from him. A click from her tongue fills the silence as her candle-like fingers pull at the stained fabric.
“Just…don’t do that again.” She sighs, eyes closing to release the tension.
“I can help.” He speaks, voice deep as the ocean. He reaches for her hand, hesitantly, before meeting the sight of her palm to his face.
“It’s fine.” She mutters unconvincingly. “I have to be somewhere right now.” When she finally looks back at him, she notices the state of his uniform. The way the button by his Adam's apple is left open, and his blazer hangs free on his broad shoulders…
She feels pressure on her shoulder. “Kocho, no. This is my fault-“ His deep timbre speaks in a command as he locks eyes with her.
For a moment, her breath hitched at the sigh.
A flash of blue eyes in the dead of night tackled her vision for a second. It’s that same feeling of familiarity again.
She blinks to see it’s just the taciturn boy.
The intensity is long gone, replaced by wide eyes.
That was her chance.
“Listen, thank you.” She begins, plucking his hand off her shoulder, “but I truly have to leave now. Do me a favor and just go.”
A smack onto her wrist echoes through the hallway. His grip plants her feet to the ground.
“What the?!” She squirmed.
As soon as she glared at him, his navy blazer was halfway off his shoulder.
“You can’t see Ubuyashiki in that.” He says, his hand trembling as he shoves his blazer to her, “Take mine. It will…hide the stain.”
So for the sake of finally leaving, she reluctantly snatches it off his hand. Like a key to a lock, his grip on her wrist releases.
It almost could have been romantic. If not for the awkward way he took a step back from her.
There goes her will to thank him properly.
So she huffs in a breath and snaps her head away.
He’s taken aback. The gust of wind meets his stifled protest; she leaves him behind in her hurry.
‘Stupid Tomioka.’ She growls at the blazer.
Before treading down that hall, she pulls herself into a nearby bathroom. For a moment, she eyes her reflection, almost as a last-ditch effort to step out of this madness. But the blue stain glares at her like a blotch of ocean on a globe.
So she reluctantly rips it off onto the floor for the pristine blue blazer. As her arm slides into the tunnel of fabric, the remnants of his warmth send tingles throughout her arms.
‘It’s just a blazer…’
It was far from a perfect fit. The sleeves drape past her fingers; the bodice’s hem drapes past her waist, down to her hip.
Oddly enough, it feels familiar.
Despite looking like a buffoon, she forces herself out of the bathroom instead of drowning in one of the toilets. The closer she inches toward the door of that office, the heavier her legs feel. The rubber soles of her black shoes nearly leave tire marks as she steps into the door’s line of sight.
She’d walked into this office many times before, on better circumstances. As the little girl attached to a freshman, Kanae. As the topnotcher. And now, apparently, as a delinquent.
‘What the hell am I supposed to say? “Hey, I’m sorry I set the chem lab on fire, lol”’
Her stomach drops.
The knob is as cold as ice, yet fails to resist as she turns it to her doom.
The gentle smile on his face doesn’t help as she enters his den. The guilt claws in before his lips could part. Even his gesture to invite her to a chair feels cold.
She bears the look of shame on her face, and the mark of disaster on her blazer.
She confesses her sins like a child to a pastor. Her head hangs low, threatening to snap off in shame. She doesn’t know how to explain it, so she tries her best to grapple with the little details.
She could have lied.
But she didn’t.
It wouldn’t change the gravity of her situation or erase what had happened.
She’s heard of penalties given for worse offenses. At best, she gets community service and cleaning. The disciplinary actions from the school. Shinobu may have been one in a million to have read the handbook before.
Her muscles tighten for impact.
Before a hum greets her.
First, it was: “Accidents happen.”
‘No, you make them happen.’
Then it was: “....mandatory cleaning tomorrow after school.” As his gentle eyes wash over her.
For the first time today, her heart jumps. But she’s not off the hook yet.
When she leaves that office, she’s sent off to the world as a survivor. Yet still tainted with her sins.
Despite Ubuyashiki’s leniency and disciplinary action of just cleaning, the weight had only been partially lifted.
Her only silver lining was her solace.
On the journey back to the laboratory, she hears footsteps from the hallways across. Before she can sprint off into the distance, a familiar voice calls.
“Kyahh! Shinobu-chan!” Her voice pierces through the silence. Shinobu nearly winces, her foot just above the step to freedom.
The girl runs to her, the clacking of keychains rattles alongside her steps.
“Mitsuri-san…” She smiles.
“What are you doing here? Student council? Science Olympiading? Or oh! Fencing?” Mitsuri practically buzzes in excitement, her hands flying off in all directions.
“Heh, I was just here facilitating that afterschool science activity for kids.” Shinobu chuckles.
‘Please don’t say anything about the blazer….or ask…’
“Ohh, I forgot all about it!” Mitsuri hums, “I would have helped you, but I had practice. My coach was very mean today. She made me run my routine for the whole practice! Can you believe it?! My leg kept hitting the hoop, and I had to keep redoing it. I only came back to school because I left my homework…” She chimes, rubbing the back of her nape comically.
“Oh my, that must be exhausting…” Shinobu responds more slowly than usual.
As much as she adored the cheery girl, her foot kept tapping against the floor silently. To her knowledge, a room full of soot and reeking of chemicals was waiting for her to clean.
As usual, Mitsuri seemed to begin foaming at the mouth with her stories. If not for her mother calling her phone, the bubbly girl would have talked Shinobu’s ear off. It was a miracle Shinobu was able to slip away unscathed from an interrogation somehow.
At the very least, she was assured knowing the children were most likely sent home to their parents. Along with that, everyone at the school was nowhere on site.
Armed with a cleaning cart from the janitor’s closet, she bravely enters the disaster waiting for her. But when she cracks the laboratory’s doors, she nearly drops the broom.
The metal stools were stacked onto the tables. Neither soot nor smoke painted the floor or walls. The crime scene had cleaned itself. The only evidence of the previous disaster was the lingering odor of acid. If anything, it was cleaner than she had seen it this morning.
“What the?! The janitor already left…” She mumbles incredulously.
She runs to peek at the closet, then the room across, then the hallways.
“Is anyone there?” She calls out.
Not a reply or a peep nearby.
Just the rays of the setting sun bleeding through the windows.
For once today, she didn’t feel their eyes on her.
She hesitates to put her backpack on. Actions have consequences, don’t they? How was she able to walk away from this one?
The walk to her driver was quiet.
It wasn’t relief, nor was it a pit in her stomach.
Unbeknownst to her, another boy has just arrived home before her that very moment. The ivory blouse of his uniform is stained with soot; his unruly locks reek of smoke.
He could only shrug at his mother’s scolding as she chastised his lack of a blazer and his stains.
All he can think about is a warm shower.
He tosses the painted canvas against the leg of his table and quickly texts, “We need to talk.”
On the ride home, she quickly peels the unfitting blazer off. She folds it before shoving it into her backpack, where it lies on top of her own. The last thing she needed was an onslaught of teasing by Kanae.
There was nothing to tease, just an unfortunate situation.
Shinobu comes home that day, expecting a lecture. But she's met with a bare entryway, instead. As always, the shoe racks only had the small pairs of shoes, missing three other pairs. For once, it was comforting.
She wanted nothing more than to sink into the cotton heaven that was her bed.
As she slips off her black school shoes, she hears footsteps pad closer.
“Shinobu-neesan, you’re home late tonight.” The voice is scolding.
Shinobu looks up to catch sight of the pig-tailed girl in her pajamas.
“Ah, Aoi. I was busy at school today. The elementary student event took a while to clean up.” Shinobu smiles.
“You would have told me if you were coming home late.” Aoi inquires, her arms folding against her chest.
“I didn’t have time.” Shinobu sighs, making her way to the grand staircase.
“Kanao and I have been waiting for you. She won’t eat without you! I’m already hungry.” Aoi huffs.
Shinobu feels her eyebrow twitch.
“Is that so? Then I’m sorry. But I have to go-“ Shinobu begins.
“I made three bowls of curry, and Kanao spent the whole afternoon making gyoza. Do you want us to throw it away?” Aoi bites back.
Before she could snap back and answer, she was met with a frowning Aoi. Her forehead is about to wrinkle from all her scowling…
So as much as Shinobu wanted to argue, she caved in. Mostly because declining her sisters’ offer to share their meal felt mean, and partially because she feels her stomach eat itself from hunger.
When she enters the dining hall, her nose is greeted by the aroma of cooked meat and warm broth. It’s a contrast to the cool air of the room.
She and Aoi join Kanao at the low-rise elm table. A bowl of soup had been waiting for them.
“Itadakimasu…”
Her hands wrap around the bowl to bring it to her lips. No matter the taste, she would love it for them.
The sound of slurping fills the spacious room. First, it was the warm feel of the soup, then the explosion of its rich broth. The noodles were soft and chewy, while the meat was tender and subtle.
“Mhmm…Aoi, this is amazing…” Shinobu sighs.
The girl across from her only nods with those striking eyebrows. Secretly, the girl was bursting on the inside.
Kanao just looks at her expectantly.
For a moment, it makes Shinobu feel uneasy. Then she catches Kanao’s eyes trail to the untouched platter of gyoza in the middle. Shinobu stops shoveling the soft noodles into her mouth and reaches for the gyoza Kanao had made.
It feels cool on her tongue.
“Not too salty…this is good, Kanao…” Shinobu praises, reaching for a second piece.
The girl’s pink eyes light up.
“Thank you…” Kanao mutters to herself.
“Speak up! We can’t hear you.” Aoi scolds, popping in a gyoza of her own.
Kanao doesn’t flinch, only nodding.
“There’s an annoying boy in our class, Shinobu-nee! He always runs around screaming at people!” Aoi groans before taking a bite of her beef. “He even tried to take a mochi from Kanao! You know, the one Kanae-neesan made for us!”
Kanao only nods.
Aoi seemed to be more upset than Kanao.
“Ehh? I’ve heard of him before. He’s quite…the character.” Shinobu interjects.
“Tell me about it! He’s already been to Ubuyashiki’s office 4 times this school year—and we just started!” Aoi rants, her chopsticks nearly flying away in agreement.
Despite three of the seats being empty, tonight’s dinner felt whole. Kanae was away for a sleepover, while their parents were away as usual. It didn’t make the meal taste any less delicious.
While the day was far from her ideal Thursday, its resolution had made up for it. In the comfort of Shinobu’s home, she has these two sets of eyes on her. But their gazes felt warm, and for all the right reasons.