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"Sir."
Ishimaru couldn't help his bewildered look as the black haired young lady stopped abruptly in the hallway and gave a military salute. He recognized her faintly--Ikusaba Mukuro, right? She was in his class, but they rarely, if ever, spoke. And yet here she was, saluting of all things.
She stood stock-still, her right hand at a forty-five degree angle at the side of her head, her expression stern and intense.
Ishimaru waited for her to speak, but after a few moments of awkward, confused silence, he stiffened as well, his hand flying up to mimic her own. "I-ikusaba-kun."
Did his voice just crack? Wow. Nice going, Kiyotaka.
Wait. Wait, was that a smile?
Hell. Whatever expression that had appeared on Ikusaba's face as gone too quickly for Ishimaru to properly register what it was. She lowered her hand, gave a quick nod, and continued on her way, her arms swinging stiffly by her side.
Ishimaru watched as she walked off.
Seriously, what the hell just happened.
Well, whatever it was, it happened for six more days. As they'd pass in the hallways, Ikusaba would stop at attention, raise her hand into a salute, and murmur a "sir". Ishimaru, in turn, would return the greeting with a salute of his own, a faint nod and "Ikusaba-kun" in response, sometimes throwing in an "at ease" (that definitely gained him a smirk, he was almost positive of it).
"She probably thought you were a military dude or somethin'!" Mondo supplied when he thought to ask his roommates (and Leon) about the incidents.
"Yeah, man, you seen your outfit? Like do you use a whole can of starch on it?" Leon muttered, pinching at Ishimaru's sleeve.
The crimson-eyed boy tugged his arm away, casting Leon a glare. "Half a can."
"Whatever. Look, dude, she's a frickin' soldier, right?"
"Yes, her title is Super High School Level Soldier," Chihiro confirmed quietly, not looking up from their laptop. "She was a part of Fenrir, a secret military organization."
"Yeah, yeah, military, man! So it makes sense that when she sees you wearing that dumb white get-up of yours, she salutes because you look like some commander dude or whatever!" Mondo jumped in, waving a hand at Ishimaru's attire.
Ishimaru looked down at his clothes, furrowing his brow. "You...really think it's my outfit?"
Leon nodded. "Yeah, dude! Listen, give this a shot--wear something else and see if she still does it!"
"I...don't have anything else--I've grown so used to my uniform."
"What the fuck. You don't have more clothes?"
"I've never had a need. I have ten uniforms."
Leon gave Mondo an irritated look. "You seriously live with this?"
Ishimaru drew his lips into a line as Mondo shrugged. "I do not appreciate being made fun of while within earshot."
"We'll pick it back up then when you're not," Leon muttered. "Look. Just, like, wear a white button-down or something. Something not starched to hell and back. And without gold buttons and pins and shit, man, you look like a weenie."
"You just said I looked like a military commander!"
"Yeah. A weenie one."
Despite Ishimaru's apprehensiveness about changing his uniform for another attire (he had grown so accustomed to his usual white gakuran that the blue blazer and khakis Leon had lent him--or shoved at him--felt bizarre), he gave Leon's and Mondo's suggestion a go. It wouldn't hurt to test the hypothesis, after all. As he met Ikusaba in the hallway, he saw her eyes dart over to him, and he thought he saw her eyebrow quirk up slightly--he could have been imagining it, but....
This time, however, she didn't stop, didn't stand at attention, didn't salute. She passed him as if he were just another student, the way everyone else did.
So maybe it was his attire.
Still, Ishimaru couldn't help feeling a little miffed at the lack of response from Ikusaba. As odd as it sounded, he'd actually grown to enjoy their tiny brief interactions in the hallway. And so, he turned on his heel. "Ikusaba-kun!"
The Super High School Level Soldier stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Ishimaru-kun?" she said in that low, quiet voice of hers.
He flushed, but snapped to attention, his hand raised in a salute. "Sir!"
He was rewarded with an honest-to-goodness smile, the first actual beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt one he had ever seen Ikusaba give. She nodded her head, returning the salute with a chuckle and a murmured, "at ease, Ishimaru-kun."
Ishimaru wasn't one-hundred percent sure what had happened, but he thought he may have just made a new friend.