Chapter Text
It was a cold, crisp morning in the middle of autumn, when students were starting to settle back into school after a long summer break. Chigiri Hyoma, books in hand, entered the cold empty classroom, strolling to his usual seat by the middle window. The remains of the morning sunrise glistened on his crimson hair while he unpacked the rest of his belongings from his black, fabric tote bag.
Chigiri was always the first person in class, not because he was some academic try-hard; he just genuinely enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere before the unavoidable chaos from his class erupted.
As the clock struck 8:20, on routine, his fellow classmates poured into the once peaceful classroom. As usual, Chigiri adjusts his chin on his palm while continuing to direct his eyes outside his window, trying to make the most of the little peace he created.
“Morning, Chigiri! How was your weekend?” Reo asks, with Nagi trailing behind him.
By this point Chigiri gives up on the rest of his alone time and accepts his day has truly started. Yet he never finds Reo and Nagi annoying; if anything, Reo’s daily question is his way of awakening his social side.
“It was good! I just did my usual things, journaling and some reading. Ooh! I even started a new manga; it's called Sakamoto Days? It's very good so far.” Chigiri says, giving Reo a slight smile.
“That's fun; if it's any good, I might read it if I ever get a moment away from him.” Reo responds as he gestures towards Nagi.
Nagi sighs. “Ha-ha, hilarious. Anyway—Chigiri, when did you even get here? It’s only 8:20 and somehow you’re always here before us. If it weren’t for this guy,” he jerks a thumb at Reo, “dragging me in early every morning, I’d be here at 8:30 sharp.”
“Hey!” Reo shoots back, clearly offended. “My ‘earliness’ is the only reason you haven’t racked up a dozen detentions. A little gratitude wouldn’t kill you.”
Nagi just grumbles, but his question still hangs in the air.
Chigiri pauses, thinking it over. “I don’t get here that early,” he says, tone defensive but quiet. “The earliest is like... 8 a.m., maybe? I don’t know. I guess I just like walking to class without everyone staring or making comments. And it’s... peaceful. Before things get chaotic.”
His eyes drift down to the floor, tracing the pattern of his own and his friends’ shoes.
Thankfully, as if on cue, Bachira walks towards the three of them, breaking the awkward silence formed by Chigiri's response. “Morning!” Bachira announces as he turns to face the clock as it reads 8:29. “Man, I made it just in time.” They all sigh as they slowly make their way to their used, singular desks.
The clock reads 8:30, and Miss Anri, coffee in hand, enters their slightly warmer classroom. “Morning, all! Get settled, as I will soon take attendance!” she announces, placing her beat-up book bag beside her desk.
“Huh, they're not here yet.” Chigiri ponders to himself, wondering where his class ‘peace wreckers’ were. And as if he manifested it, Isagi, Rin, Zantetsu, and the most unbearable of them all, Kunigami, poured into the classroom.
Without a second to spare, Miss Anri looks up from her stained brown desk to the four boys and stares at them with nothing but fury, as her maroon eyebrows twitch.
“Two minutes late, boys” She rapidly types into her laptop while the four boys look dazed, with their eyes focused all around the room. Well, except Kunigami, whose eyes lie on a specific, crimson coloured hair boy, who seems to be knee-deep into his manga.
Chigiri had gradually learnt how to ignore and block the small antics caused by that group. As a second year, he's been with his class for almost a year and a half, allowing him plenty of time to get used to all their behavioural ‘quirks’ which drive him mad. With a soft squeak, Chigiri sank into his chair, spine curving with apathy. He didn’t need to look to know who had just walked in—the volume alone gave them away. He turns the page to his current manga read, completely oblivious to Kunigami’s and the rest of them's late arrival.
So to find a spike of orange hair in the corner of his eye startled him to his core. Despite his attempts to erase the so-called ‘popular guys’ from his mind, the boy simply couldn’t ignore the fact Kunigami Rensuke was sitting next to him. The same loud, exhausting, constantly performing Kunigami had placed himself on the empty chair next to him.
Usually, the seat to the right of the middle window seat was taken by a baby blue-haired boy called Hiori, yet he had his last day at their school on Friday. How could Chigiri forget? No, this wasn’t Chigiri's fault; no one could have predicted that Kunigami. He kept his gaze fixed on his manga, though he hadn’t processed a word in minutes. Kunigami. Here. Next to him.
Less than a meter away.
Of all people.
Chigiri has always worked hard to earn his respect, while Kunigami floats by with charisma, muscles, and easy popularity.
But despite his annoyance for Kunigami, Chigiri never truly hated the orange-haired boy. Deep down, he knew Kunigami had the potential to be a good guy; if anything, Chigiri likes to believe Kunigami has a groundedness to him, a kind of earnestness that could've been admirable if it weren’t wrapped in the constant need for validation. Maybe that's what annoyed him the most — the part of him that wanted to like Kunigami, if only he’d stop trying so hard to be liked.”
“Oi, Princess.” Kunigami whispers, his eyes lingering on Chigiri
Having Kunigami sit next to him is one thing, but talking to him? What could Kunigami possibly want from Chigiri?
“What?” Chigiri whispers back, his head turning quickly, trying to shorten their interaction.
“Do you have a pen?” Kunigami asks innocently, maintaining eye contact with Chigiri's ruby eyes.
Oh come on, Chigiri grumbles to himself. How could this almost-adult not bring a singular pen to school, he brought a whole ass bag yet not a singular pen? Chigiri narrows his eyes at Kunigami, before quickly rummaging in his pencil case.
Without a second glance at Kunigami, Chigiri hands the orange haired boy the most obnoxious pen he has, a pink, glittery pen with a unicorn topper.
Kunigami chuckles at the sight of the pen, while grabbing it from Chigiri's long, thin fingers.
“Thanks, I’ll have it back to you by the end of the day” he whispered, taking what he believed would be, one last glance at Chigiri.
“Yeah, yeah” Chigiri sighs while looking up as Miss Anri starts taking attendance.
The day passed as usual, except Chigiri struggled to accept his new seating partner. Throughout the whole day, it felt as if Kunigami had cracked every possible joke, each one becoming more of a desperate attempt for a laugh, a glance, some form of validation.
Their interactions were minimal, no more than small glances exchanged across the two, each one laced with a quiet tension neither could name. There was something searching in the way they looked at each other, as if hoping to uncover something new each time. How Chigiri tucked strands of hair behind his ear as he focused on a book, never noticing how Kunigami’s eyes lingered. And how Kunigami, tapped his foot lightly against the cold floor while waiting for someone to laugh at his latest attempt at humor, never realising how often his gaze drifted back to Chigiri. They’d barely spoken before today, yet the space between them buzzed with a strange, unspoken curiosity, as if both were waiting for something to shift.
As the bell rang, signifying the end of their day, Chigiri felt a wash of relief pass through his body. As the crimson haired boy packed up his floppy, black tote bag, a tall, muscular, Kunigami stood up right in front of him, ready to leave the, now, stuffy classroom.
“Here’s your pen” Kunigami chuckles, holding the pen low enough to reach Chigiri's eyeline.
Chigiri rises to his feet, knees straightening with a quiet sigh, as he casually tosses the pen into his tote bag. “Thanks. Honestly didn’t think you’d last the whole day with it,” he says, adjusting the weighted bag on his shoulder.
Kunigami lets out a laugh. “Please, I’ve got two little sisters in elementary school, unicorns and glitter don’t even faze me.” His gaze locks with Chigiri’s, with a smug grin forming at his lips.
Chigiri gives the orange haired boy a slight smile “Just remember your own pen tomorrow, I don't want you wasting the ink to my beloved pink sparkly unicorn pen” Chigiri turns around, giving Kunigami a slight hair toss adding to the playfulness of their interaction.
“Will do Princess!” Kunigami shouts towards Chigiri's direction, grinning to himself.
‘Princess’ Chigiri replays the moment in his mind, with the unicorn pen safely back in his tote bag. He had always hated how Kunigami and his friends used the word condescendingly.
So why did it feel like something had changed?