Chapter Text
◇ Thursday, lunch time. All the students were eating in their respective classrooms. All but ____. She got detention, thanks to the wrath of a teacher who took exhaustion and a late assignment for attitude and laziness. The sentence was only supposed to be an hour, but oh what a significant one it would be.
Teacher: Sit in here until the bell rings, I'll be back shortly with some work. Any more behavioral problems and I will be contacting your parents.
◇ Not like the teacher could anyways. ____'s parents weren't around. Her dad had gotten hit by a truck (truck-kun), and her mother had divorced him years prior. In theory she could have gone to her mother, but without any custody, guardianship was passed to her aunt Umi. But never the less, ____ had to serve her time. The teacher guided her inside before firmly shutting the door. 20 desks, 20 some chairs, 3 long windows that stretched across the left wall. The room was brightly lit by the sterile overhead rectangle lights, a sharp contrast to the dim, gloomy weather outside. The floor was wooden and polished to nearly perfection, making a soft squeak with each step to an empty desk.
◇ A few rows away, in the middle was another person. White hair stood out in all directions, like a permanent bedhead, purple eyes bloodshot from either stress or a lack of sleep, maybe both considering the eyebags. The posture didn't help either. The figure was slumped back in the chair, one leg up on the desk, arms crossed, eyes shut. It was Shinaguzawa, she believed. He wasn't too popular, but his name and look was spread around enough for her to recognize him. Naturally albino, tall, always irritated and to himself practically, getting into tumbles with teachers and students alike. He was even rumored to be part of a gang. But that didn't matter, he was minding his own business, so should she. Besides, he looked asleep.
◇ Sitting down with a soft sigh, ____ took a desk, a row away from his. The minutes dragged on in boring silence, a silence that made her think of almost everything. What she was having for dinner later, her homework, the new convince store that opened up downtown- the store. That's right. ____ had some gum on her. It typically wasn't allowed during class, but being bored and hungry, she dug into her skirt. Sadly, the pockets simply didn't exist for the girl's uniform. So she had the pack tucked under her waistband at her hip. Opening the light pink pack, she plucked out a piece of pink gum, lemonade flavor, popping it into her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully, swishing it around her tongue to shape it, eventually coating it on her tongue like a sheet. She blew a small bubble, accidentally popping it.
◇ There was a slight "hump" across the room.
Sanemi: Stop chewing so fucking loud...
◇ He didn't even give her a glance, just crossed his arms tighter as he looked away. A bit sheepish, she moved the gum back into her mouth, slowing the chewing, no longer making any bubbles. This would sure be an awkward 30 minutes now, he WAS awake. Even so, ____ kept calm and quiet, as if getting detention wasn't that much of a big deal to her. It was just sitting in a quiet room, right? It was until the teacher from before walked in, still sour looking.
Teacher: Here is your work, ____. And some for you as well, Shinaguzawa.
◇ With two small stacks of papers dropped on each desk, Shinaguzawa sat up, scowled to the side. The work seemed easy enough at a glance, but soon morphed into more complicated questions. Math was difficult, even for those who were good at it. It didn't take very long for ____ to start feeling confused, then frustrated. She flicked her pencil between her fingers back and forth, not spinning it, but definitely creating noise. It wasn't enough for the teacher to care, but it was enough for Shinaguzawa. He kept huffing to himself, as if trying to get the message across, but to no avail.
Sanemi: Tch, can you stop.?
◇ She stopped, freezing in place. He had looked over this time as he muttered, not loud enough for the teacher to catch all the way at the desk. He had this disapproving look slapped across his face, as if she had spat on his paper or something. But before anything else could happen, the bell rang. She was released from detention, rid of the whole incident, right?
◇ She would never deal with Shinaguzawa again, right? He wouldn't even be relevant, right???
◇ Wrong...the story had yet to begun.