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It made sense to her tactical mind, at least. With a position like president of the student council came responsibilities, obligations to be certain places at certain times. Knowing those places and times would make it simple to corner her more or less alone.
So when he leant against the wall beside her, standing on the outskirts of a school-organised celebration for the headmaster’s birthday, and opened with “Fancy meeting you here,” she shot him a look that could freeze fire.
“You know I could have you kicked out. You don’t even go here.”
“You of all people should know nobody tells me where to go. And you won’t anyway.”
Rio let out a derisive hum and folded her arms. “Oh, really? Why’s that, then?”
The side of IV’s face that had been marred by the fire that had almost claimed both of them was turned away from her, his gaze cast outward towards the laughing, dancing students. “Because you know we need to have this conversation.”
Her silence was unreadable, veiling perhaps a cold acknowledgement or simply confusion. IV continued after a few moments of it.
“I guess we’re even now, huh?”
That DID elicit a confused reaction, her brow furrowing faintly as her lip pushed out in that way it did when she was upset by something. “Even? What are you talking about?”
“Well,” and he turned to face her properly with the grin he wore so smugly, dripping with sharp charisma. “I helped my father nearly destroy the world, you helped your brother nearly destroy the world, I get him kicked out of the pro circuit, he temporarily sacrificed my soul to an alien planet, you were a crazy alien with an evil card, I was a crazy human with an evil crest, I saved you from a fire I started that didn’t burn you because of alien magic apparently and gave me a scar all the ladies love, you died, I died, Yuma saved everyone as usual… I think we’re square all things considered.”
All Rio could do was gape as his stunning bluntness as he flashed her that winning smile again. “You…” Shaking her head, she narrowed her eyes. Her lip might have curled, though it was hard to say whether it was in anger or the seeds of a smile. “You have a lot of nerve, IV—"
“Thomas.”
That stopped the younger Kamishiro, her guarded expression slipping into a portrait of surprise. “Huh?”
“My name is Thomas. You of all people should know. After all this you don’t have to call me that. Unless I should start calling you Merag?”
“…Don’t.”
“Relax. I didn’t come here to start that again.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Just everything else.”
Rio blinked. “Now you’re trying to confuse me on purpose, you ass.”
“What I mean is let’s start over. No tricks, no schemes, no Barians, no crests, no Numbers, nobody pulling our strings but us.” He smiles again, but it was a different smile. A real smile. Thomas’s smile, not IV’s. “I don’t know about you, but… Ever since the beginning, I’ve wondered how it all could have gone without any of that stuff. Now that it’s over, we can find out.”
The silence drowned out the music as his eyes locked with hers. Rio’s gaze narrowed slowly from wide-eyed shock to neutral scrutiny, and she smiled even slower (and was that the faintest touch of pink in her cheeks?).
“You break school rules to ask the president of the school council, a girl you put in the hospital, out on a date? Wow. You’re so sure I’ve forgiven you, aren’t you?”
She really was Ryoga’s sister: her grin was just like his, wide, sharp and sharklike, after the whole six seconds she let the middle Arclight boy stew for. “You’d better have a pretty good first date planned, Thomas. The scar is cool, but looks only get you so far with a girl like me.”
“…a girl like you, huh?” After taking his turn at gaping, that charismatic smirk filled the awkward space and one hand extended outwards in offering. “Trick question. There are no girls like you, Rio.”
She took his hand. “Clever boy. Keep this up and I might just consider not letting my brother gut you when he finds out about this.” With an answering smirk of her own, she pushed him towards the dance floor.
Although she had organised this dance, technically, so his first date skills were still slack. Maybe she’d let Shark punch him a little before she stopped him. That way they could have their new beginning being truly even.