Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Distortion ❯ What Did He Ever Do To You, Anyway? ( Chapter 6 )

[Bwa ha. I shall characterize Yasuhiko more in this chapter... o.o YASUHIKO!!!! ISN'T THAT THE COOLEST NAME?! YASUHIKO!!!! o.o Bwee. Oh, and Iori is really, REALLY OOC in this chapter... ^^;; Just imagine the situation... yesh... oh, and I think the Japanese are officially adults when they turn 20, or something, but I'm... um... disregarding that. ^^;;]

What did he ever do to you, anyway?

But Yasuhiko wasn't there the next morning at school.

"He's absent," Iori's math teacher said dryly, when he asked her where the missing boy was after attendance. "Probably sick. It happens, Hida-san. I didn't know you were friends with Nakamura-san..."

I didn't know you had any friends was what he knew she meant, but today, at least, he ignored this. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

The teacher sighed, and threw up her hands. "How am I supposed to know, honestly? Go back to your seat, Hida-san, and get some work done."

He had muttered a "Yes, sensei," under his breath, and done as he was told, but could hardly concentrate all through class: why the hell did Yasuhiko have to get sick NOW?

~

"Um..."

The receptionist at the desk looked up at Hikari, and smiled at her. She always got a smile from people, whether or not she was actually being nice to them. "Good morning, young lady... how can I help you?"

"My name is Yagami Hikari," she said, twisting a lock of brown hair around a finger. "I need to speak with Takenouchi Sora... she's a student here."

The woman referred to her computer. "Takenouchi, Takenouchi... ah, here we are: Takenouchi Sora-san." She looked up at Hikari again. "She has a class right now... if you're willing to wait, it ends at 4:30. It's her last class of the day, so she can see you."

"I'll wait, thank you," Hikari said, and crossed the room to sit in a chair next to a fish tank. She rested her chin on her fist and stared into the fishtank. There were big fish, and small fish, and even a small snail creeping up the side of the glass...

Hikari knew it was kind of drastic to come and see Sora like this, but she really needed advice, and Sora was the best to give it. There was something wrong with Iori... he was usually distant and filled with doubts about himself and the world at large, but this was different... she sighed, and traced the path of one of the fish with her finger on the glass.

~

"Are you coming with us to the movie tonight, Sora-chan?"

"I'm sorry, I can't," Takenouchi Sora, aged 19, said, smiling somewhat apologetically. She had just spotted Hikari over her friend's shoulder. The teenaged girl was staring straight at Sora, a serious expression on her face.

"Oh, that's too bad!" Sora's classmate exclaimed. "You seemed so for it this morning, though..."

"Something came up." After the young woman had walked away, sighing to herself, Sora rushed over to Hikari. "Hikari-chan! What're you --"

"I need to talk to you," Hikari said hurriedly. "Well -- more of an advice thing, actually."

Sora raised her eyebrows. "About...?"

Hikari hesitated. "Erm... Iori, actually."

Sora blinked. "Iori...?"

"Yes. Could we go get some hot chocolate, or something?"

~

It was lunchtime, and Iori was trying to figure out how to get out of the school without getting caught.

He sat at a mostly empty table in one of the corners, leaning against the wall. It was a little sticky, and there was a moldy piece of pizza decomposing under the seat, but it was secluded, which was what Iori had been going for. He hadn't bothered to buy a lunch... he couldn't have shoved anything down his throat if he tried.

"I suppose," he muttered to himself, trying to rub some of the stickiness off of his uniform, "I could slip out the door when everyone else is going back to class..." He frowned, and wiped his hand on the table. "... But then... I'd have to go out with everyone else... and they'd see me..."

"Um..." The voice came from his right, the other side of the table. Iori looked up sharply, and saw that a girl had set down her lunch tray across from him, with dark, lank hair in pigtails thrown over each of her shoulders, and a pair of thick glasses obscuring her eyes. She looked extremely nervous. "Um... do you mind? I mean..."

"Go ahead," Iori said, blinking at her. She slid into the seat, clutching the edge of the table so hard her fingers were turning white, and trying her hardest not to look at him. He watched her curiously, until she looked up and blurted, "I know how to get out of the school without anyone noticing."

Iori raised his eyebrows. "Really?" He couldn't help noticing that a few of the 'popular' kids, a few tables down, looked around at them after she said this.

She nodded, looking almost hesitant.

"Can you please tell me, erm..."

"Nakamura Rumiko," She answered, blushing slightly. Her skin was very pale and a little waxy-looking; she probably did blush easily.

Iori's eyes widened. "... Nakamura...?"

She nodded, turning her eyes back to her food. "I'm Yasuhiko's cousin... his family moved here because of mine." She blushed even more. "I... um... heard you asking about him in Math this morning... are you friends with him?"

Iori suddenly remembered her: she was the girl who sat at the back of class, never raising her hand or drawing any attention to herself. "No... I'm not..."

"It's not like Hida has any friends, anyway," A drawling voice sounded suddenly. Iori's eyes narrowed, and Rumiko tensed, and looked behind her. About four of the 'popular' kids from the other table, three boys and a girl, had come to stand in the gap between their lunch table and the empty one behind it. "Or have you found yourself a girlfriend, Hida?" The boy who had spoken sighed, and flicked a strand of black hair tied into one of Rumiko's pigtails. "Better than I would have expected, really... everyone was SO sure you were a pansy..."

"Fuck off," Iori hissed under his breath, glaring at them with a look of pure malice. One of the boys looked almost frightened by the look on his face, and the girl and third boy uneasy, but the first just smirked. "What's the matter? Aren't you supposed to be the quiet, polite one, Iori-kun?"

That did it. Iori stood up, glaring at him with nothing short of hatred, and walked across the room and through the doors. The rest of the grade watched the door slam shut behind him, and muttered to each other vaguely some string of a rumor or tale they had heard about that strange Hida boy.

"You probably shouldn't have taunted him like that," the girl said to the boy who had spoken, frowning slightly.

The boy shrugged. "Who cares?" He turned his attention to Rumiko, who had been staring at him. "What?"

Rumiko's eyes narrowed behind her glasses, and she stood up, as Iori had. "What did he ever do to you, anyway?" Her face a bright shade of crimson, she made her way across the room and exited in the same fashion Iori had.

He simply stared after her, unable to answer her question.

~

"So that's the whole thing." Hikari sighed, and took a sip of her drink. It was rich and warm; she felt her insides quiver as the hot chocolate slid down her throat.

Sora frowned, her chin resting on one of her fists. "Do any of the other Chosen Children know about this...?"

Hikari nodded, sighing. "Takeru does... he's the one who saw Iori getting picked on. He might have told Daisuke by now, but I'm not sure... they're awfully close." She though for a moment. "But no one else... I should probably tell Miyako-san. She would want to know..."

Sora thought for a moment. "He's obviously not going to tell anyone himself; you know how he is... but I don't think we should do anything about it just yet. And..." Sora smiled. "About the other stuff. Iori is thirteen, you know... he's going to be acting a little strangely."

Hikari sighed, a small smile gracing her lips, and shook her head. "You've become an adult, Sora-san... blaming everything on Iori-kun's age."

Sora flushed. "That's not it! I have not!"

Hikari giggled, and stood up. "Thanks for listening, Sora-san... some of that I just think I had to get out. Ja ne!" Hikari gave Sora a little wave, and set off for the exit.

Sora watched her go, then took a small sip of her own hot chocolate, and leaned back in the seat. "Iori-kun," she murmured to herself. "What's gotten into you...?"

~

"I am SO BORED," Yamato moaned. He was stretched out on Taichi's bed, staring at the ceiling.

Koushirou, sitting cross-legged on a chair across from him, looked up from the book he had been reading and raised his eyebrows. "Didn't you say you were going to get a job?" He didn't have any classes today, so he was sitting in the apartment, trying to catch up on his homework.

"I did," Yamato muttered.

"Then why aren't you out working?"

Yamato sat up. "I called in sick this morning."

Koushirou stared at him. "You look well enough to me."

"I wasn't feeling that great this morning," Yamato said, shrugging. His face took on a thoughtful look. "You know, I think it might be fatigue... I mean, all you guys can afford is ramen and bento."

"What did you eat at Jou-san's apartment?" Koushirou asked, throwing the book over his shoulder. It landed on his own bed.

Yamato blinked. "Erm... pretty much normal food, actually. Why ARE you guys so poor...? I mean, don't your parents help you out sometimes?"

Koushirou sighed. "As soon as Taichi-san turned eighteen, his parents made him pay for everything by himself. It's no different while he's here..." He shrugged. "I... have pretty much the same story."

Yamato stared at him. "YOUR parents?"

Koushirou nodded, staring at a spot directly above and to the right of Yamato's left ear. "Yeah..."

Yamato stared at his younger friend. "Are... you all right?" He didn't know Koushirou as well as he knew Taichi -- and Taichi was a lot easier to read than Koushirou was.

"Mm-hmm..." Koushirou blinked, and stood up. "I'm going to go take a walk..."

Yamato nodded slowly. "All right... I'll see you later." He flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling again, a slight frown on his face, and Koushirou opened the door, stepped outside, and shut it behind him.

~

[^^ Whee. o.o It's been a while... but I've finished another chapter. ^^;; Yay. Um... I can't rant right now... ::whines:: NOOOO...! ^^ Lur.]