Chapter Text
Aira was going to be late to class, again. Although it wasn't really his fault.
He had homeroom first period and his homeroom teacher did not condone being late for any reason and her punishments could be rather harsh, sometimes even making her students run a lap around school grounds for each minute they were late. That is why, he was currently sprinting to his classroom, not caring that his feet were literally bare.
Yeah that's right, he was running around the school grounds barefoot. Obviously not voluntarily, though. It's not like he wanted to get his feet on the disgusting and dirty school floor, however he didn't have any other choice. Some of his classmates had decided to wait for him to arrive at the school gate, since they thought it would be oh so funny to steal his shoes and make him chase them. However, after a while he lost sight of them and that was when he realised class had already started. Though it's not like he wasn't used to this. There's been much worse incidents in the past, this was just one of the tamer ones.
Aira panted as he finally stopped in front of his classroom. He took a deep breath before finally gathering the courage to enter, not wanting to waste any more minutes and increase the amount of laps he would have to run.
"I am truly sorry for being late for your class, Sensei!" Aira bowed as he spoke. He heard a few whispers and giggles coming from his classmates, he took a quick glance towards them and saw that all of their attention was indeed on him.
It's not like he wasn't used to this kind of attention. No matter the place, there were always people spatting the nastiests of curses at him, humiliating or hurting him. Mentally, physically, it didn't matter to them what kind of damage they had done to him, for he was always just a helpless little toy to them, which they could throw around and discard onto the dirty streets as they pleased. And even if they weren't openly making fun of him, he could always feel the hatred through their sharp gazes.
"Aira-san! I can't believe you're late, again!" his teacher yelled as she looked at the watch wrapped around her wrist, "Classes started 4 minutes ago! Do you think that this is setting a good example for the new student?"
Right, the new student. Last week his teacher had announced that they were expecting a new student in their class. While the rest of his classmates were making a big fuss about it, he didn't really care all that much. It was just going to be yet another pair of judging eyes that he would have to endure. Nonetheless, he looked up from his stance to see a head of redhaired locks and shiny blue eyes, curiously staring back at him next to his teacher.
"You'll be on class duty for today, understood?"
"Understood, Sensei!" Aira quickly bowed again, before making his way towards his seat in the back corner of the classroom. He almost tripped when one of his classmates suddenly stuck out their leg in front of him, though he barely dodged it in time. He sighed in relief as he sat down, glad he could finally somewhat relax and that his punishment didn't turn out to be too bad.
He didn't mind being on class duty. It was often the only time in school that he could spent alone and with his mind at ease. His classmates usually didn't bother to stay and harass him when he's on class duty. Instead it was a common occurence that his classmates would leave even more trash behind for him to pick up, but he didn't let it get to him. At least that's what he had convinced himself of.
"I'm really sorry about that, Hiiro-san. Please go on!"
Aira rolled his eyes when he saw the immediate smile his teacher put on after turning her attention back to that Hiro guy or whatever his name was.
"It's no problem at all! So as I was saying, my name is Amagi Hiiro and I come from a foreign village near—"
Aira didn't bother to properly listen, until the words 'foreign village' rang through his ears. The initial reason for all the bullying he went through all his life was his partial foreign background. His mom is half french, and though he was born and raised in Japan, everyone seemed to have choosen it as a reason to make his life a living hell.
If that new guy was also some kind of foreigner that must mean he'd become an outsider just like him. Or maybe he could even shift all of the horrible attention that Aira got, towards himself and Aira could finally have some peace. The other kids had to get tired of constantly picking on him eventually, right? So naturally they would choose the new foreigner as their next victim.
Aira took a quick glance at the redhead, just to find cyan pair of eyes looking back at him as he spoke. Usually he wasn't one to hold eye contact for a long time, but somehow he couldn't take his eyes away from the other. He felt as if he'd somehow lose to him, if he was the one to look away first. He couldn't focus on any of the words that left his mouth, instead focusing on the way the other's intense gaze rested on his own eyes.
A few seconds, or even minutes passed until the other boy suddenly bowed, seemingly having finished his introduction.
Aira took this as a chance to get away from his piercing eyes, the cloudy sky outside being a lot more interesing all of a sudden.
The sound of a chair moving next to him startled him, and when he turned away from the windows, he saw the new student sitting to his right.
"Hi, you're Aira right? I'm Amagi–"
"Hiro, yeah you introduced yourself already. No need to do it again." Aira scoffed, ignoring the stretched out hand in front of him.
"Ah, it's actually Hiiro! But it's nice to meet you, Aira!", he paid Aira's rudeness no mind, instead just taking his hand in his and shaking it longer than what was necessary.
"Yeah, whatever," Aira pulled his hand away from the other's pretty strong grasp and took out his textbook as he whispered, "but why are you calling me by my first name, Amagi-kun?"
Hiiro tilted his head in confusion "You're my first friend, so we don't have to be formal with each other, right?"
"F-friend? We're not—"
"Aira-san! It seems to me that my class is not important to you. First you arrive late and now you think distracting our new student is funny?"
"But—"
"That's enough now! Class duty for the rest of the week for you, young man!"
"Yes, Sensei."
Aira could hear snickering coming from his classmates. But he didn't care. Of course he didn't. He never did.
"I'm sorry Aira, I didn't want to get you into trouble," Hiiro apologetically whispered.
Aira sighed.
"Just be quiet."
During lunch his classmates lured him into the restroom. Of course, making him go barefoot the whole day wasn't enough. Dunking his shoes into the toilet was the cherry on top.
Aira could feel tears pricking in his eyes, but he didn't cry. He couldn't cry. Not in front of the others. He didn't want his classmates knowing they got to him, he didn't want his teachers telling him to quit making a big deal out of his 'friends' making a few innocent jokes. And he especially didn't want to burden his family and let them know their pathetic son couldn't defend himself nor could he handle it anymore.
Thus he just stood there, feeling numb as his classmates pushed him around, laughing and splattering him with the water coming from his soaked shoes. And when they left, he cried. He sobbed as he sat down against one of the bathroom stalls, trying to somehow dry his shoes off within the few minutes he had left until his last class would start.
"There you are, Aira! I was worried you'd be late to class again." Hiiro smiled at him as Aira took his seat next to him, "Oh, I see you're wearing shoes now. I was wondering why you weren't—"
"Ugh, it's none of your business, okay?! The teacher should be here soon so don't talk to me."
Hiiro frowned and quietly nodded in response. He genuinely looked kind of sad now. Maybe he was being too harsh on him, but it was his fault he got into trouble again earlier! And he shouldn't get too close to him either way or he'll just end up getting hurt.
His class had finally ended, however Aira couldn't rush home yet. While all his classmates had already left, he had to stay behind after school to clean the classroom. Well, not all of them to be exact. For some reason, Hiiro decided to stay behind aswell.
"Classes are over already, Amagi-kun. Go home." Aira said as he wiped the board clean.
"I know that! I just wanted to help you out a little."
Hiiro bent down to pick up some crumbled paper on the ground, "What should I do with these?"
"Just throw them away and leave," Aira groaned.
"What if someone accidentally left them here and still needs them?"
Yeah right, accidentally. Aira highly doubted that. He didn't even need to take a look at them to know it's just written insults targeted at him. That were not left there accidentally, but on purpose because they knew damn well that Aira was assigned for class duty as a punishment. He wasn't sure if Hiiro was just dense, or if he was trying to actively provoke him. Whatever it was, it was really getting on his nerves.
"For god's sake if you won't throw them away then I will!" Aira yelled.
There it was again, that same frown from earlier. And for some reason, it kind of hurt seeing that look on Hiiro's face. Aira didn't get it. His classmates never felt guilty whenever they yelled at him. They never hesitated after throwing the worst insults they could think of at him. They never even wanted to apologise after they beat him bloody. So why did he after just losing his temper at Hiiro?
"I'm sorry, Aira. I'll throw them away."
Aira wanted to say something, perhaps even apologise for the way he had been treating Hiiro the whole day, but he simply couldn't.
"Shiratori."
"What?"
"My last name is Shiratori. Stop calling me by my first name. We're not friends, Amagi-kun."
Hiiro looked like he wanted to say something. His lips parting and closing a few times over. Yet, he just left the classroom without saying another word. Aira felt bad, but this was for the better.
He walked towards the spot where Hiiro was standing just a minute ago. Looking at the nearest desk, he noticed the crumbled papers laying around. He grabbed one of them, it was stupid really, to think it could actually just be another student's notes, but for some reason he felt a bit of hope. Which was weird, because he always knew it would only be a waste of time.
Still, he uncrumbled the piece of paper that was in his hands.
As soon as he saw its content, he wrinkled it up again, flinging it into the bin.
'Wimp' it read. He should have known better. Of course, Hiiro was wrong. Why would he even let that guy make him believe otherwise? Making him think that there was any good left in this stupid place. He trashed the other paper into the bin aswell, not daring to uncrumble them.
Whoever wrote the first one was right. He really was a wimp. For which exact reason? He didn't want to dwell on that too much. Perhaps it was related to Hiiro, perhaps it was just the usual stuff.
Aira simply got back to cleaning up the classroom.