"Can you let go of me now?"

   In response to my request, Ryu threw my hand away gruffly. I winced as I tried to rub my wrist, still feeling the effects from his tight grip, when I realized once again that I couldn't do it due to my sprained arm. I honestly hated it. Sure it could've been worse but I still had a while before it completely healed.

   "Why'd you have to go and ruin it?" Ryu groaned.

   I stared at him in disbelief. "I didn't ruin anything! You ruined it by coming out of nowhere! Where'd you come from anyway?"

   He sent me a glare and my heart nearly jumped to my throat as I came to understand who exactly I was talking to. I had to play it safe. No yelling at him. No matter how much I wanted to. He could easily kill me.

   "How about you?" Ryu asked, relaxing his look. "What are you doing out here when you should be in class?"

   I bit the inside of my lip, wanting to retort a similar question but went against it because I didn't want to get hit as a result. "I went to see the nurse."

   His eyes flitted onto my arm. "Then why are you outside?"

   "Because I jumped out of the window."

   His eyebrows furrowed. "You jumped out of the window?"

   I shrugged. "Yeah."

   The orange-haired male was quiet at first, obviously not knowing what to say, when he spoke after a long pause, "Where's your note?"

   I blinked. "Note?"

   "A note telling you a teacher allowed you to leave class."

   Staring up at Ryu, my lips came together in a tight line. I recalled the small sheet Daichi had held in his hands and never gave me, making me sweatdrop.

   "Ah..." I began, nodding, "I don't have one."

   Ryu rose an eyelid. "You don't?"

   "Nope."

   He folded his arms across his chest. "You do realize you could get in trouble for that right?"

   "But I have permission."

   "Permission from who?"

   "Ms. Osaka," I said. "I just don't have the note."

   "So you have permission but not a note?" He shook his head. "Ms. Osaka would've written you one."

   "She did."

   "Then why don't you have it?"

   "Because—"

   Ryu was fed up with my words because he blew his top. "Stop being so roundabout, Kikuchi!"

   I was honestly taken aback by the call of my name. "You know my name?"

   Ryu was still fuming but he snorted. "Why wouldn't I? It was written all over your bag."

I momentarily considered it. It was there, on my backpack, but I hadn't outright stated it.

"Besides," he continued, "unlike you, I don't have short-term memory."

   At his condescending tone, I glared. "I don't have short-term memory."

   "Sure you don't."

   Grounding my teeth, I bit back the urge to snap at him. Why did I even have to go along with this? I was just listening in to the conversation with Dad and Aki Mitsoyu. Why did he have to come and catch their attention and make us run all the way here?

   Speaking of which...

I quickly spun around. Luckily, there was no signs of that beast being in the vicinity, flooding me with relief. Good, he wasn't following us. But to think, that guy was the infamous delinquent. I couldn't believe Daichi would ever get involved with him, no matter how desperate he was.

   "Hey, Kikuchi."

   Tilting my head back in the direction of Ryu, I was startled to hear his following words.

   "Do you know what they were talking about?"

   "They?" Was he talking about the one with Raidon?

   "That teacher and delinquent," he replied. "I didn't catch their conversation."

   He sounded a little impatient, making me perplexed. He wanted to know what they were talking about?

   "I didn't really get it either," I confessed.

   "Seriously? You have no clue?"

   I shook my head.

   He clicked his tongue. "The hell, you're so useless."

   Gaping, I couldn't believe my ears.

   "Well, sorry," I snapped, spinning on my heels and marching past him. Why was I still here? The guy was infuriating. I didn't want no part of him, remember?

   "Wait," he called after me but I didn't so much as slow down. Even if it meant him getting pissed at me again, I didn't care to stop.

   I carried on with my pace until I stumbled across the farthest corner of the school which was practically abandoned. Nobody knew of this area besides the janitors due to the storage shed being here, so I often came here to skip classes or run away from delinquents and so forth. No cameras were present here either so the principal also wouldn't be able to pinpoint me.

   Dropping onto the wet grass, I made a face as I quickly lurched up to my feet, wiping away the bits of snow that hadn't melted yet. Ugh, I should've known the grass would be wet. Even if the sun was out and the other snow spots were melted. Well, there was still a chilly breeze.

   "What is this place? I've never been here before."

   Angrily, I spun around to see that orange-haired delinquent looking around at his surroundings. I scowled.

   "You followed me?"

   Ryu turned his head downwards. "No."

   My eyebrows knitted together. "Then why are you here?"

   "My feet led me here."

   "Yeah, following my feet."

   "I didn't see any feet."

   "Really now?"

   "Yeah."

   Letting out an exasperated sigh, I ran my fingers through my poofy hair. It never sat still. And it always frizzed up on cold days like this.

   I spent a good amount of time trying to press down my hair but no matter how much I tried, it didn't work. It only bounced back with more puff.

   At the silence, I glanced up curiously only to see Ryu staring at me. My cheeks burned as I hurriedly dropped my hand.

   "Your hair is like a sheep's."

   Embarrassment only got the best of me as he kept his gaze locked on my hair.

   "S-so?" I stammered. "Your hair is like an orange."

   His face scrunched up but I didn't dare cower.

   "So bright and stuff," I continued lamely. "What a delinquent you are!"

   He touched his hair subconsciously before tinging. Then, he after a moment of trying to find something to say, he barked, "I'm not a delinquent! I'm Class President!"

   My voice got caught in my throat. Huh...? "You were serious about that?"

   "Yes," he growled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

   "U-uh," I was at a loss of words. "I just thought..."

   What? He was seriously the class president of Class 3-3? I thought he was kidding. I mean, come on! He was terrifying and he sprained my arm— who could blame me for not believing him!

   "Wait..." An idea came to mind as I blinked rapidly. "So that should mean that you can't harm students!"

   Ryu's eyelids fluttered open and closed.

   I held out a pointed finger. "Then why did you hurt me?"

   He cringed at the mention. "Th-that..." His grey hues landed on my arm again and he appeared guilty. "I didn't know you were a student. And you sat on my lap, you had that coming."

   Although a blush should've bloomed on my cheeks, right then, I smirked. It was that simple! I could use this against him in the future! "But the truth is, you harmed a student."

   He spared me a wary look. "Why are you smiling?"

   I quickly wiped away my smile. "No reason."

   "...Okay." Shrugging, Ryu dismissed the question. I shook my head, biting my lip.

   Agh, what should I do? I was supposed to be ditching right now and that was why I came here but he had to follow me. I would take the bus home but I left my pass in my coat which was in the classroom... Heading back inside the school would ruin me trying to ditch because the cameras would find me and I didn't have a note.

   Coming to terms with my situation, my shoulders sagged. Great. So I was stuck here.

   "Hey, what bus could I take home?"

   Frowning at the question, I raised an eyebrow at the male still standing there. Sourly, I bit the inside of my lip. Why was he asking me?

   "It's only like, nine."

   "So?"

   "Um... class is still going on?"

   "So?"

   "It's not the end of the day... We literally started school an hour ago."

   His countenance hadn't changed in the least. "And? You're out here ditching, too."

   "I told you I had an excuse."

   He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So? The bus?"

   My lips came together, giving up. He clearly had no ear for listening to reasoning. I sighed, "As much as I'd like to tell you to make you leave me alone, I don't know."

   "What do you mean you don't know?"

   Something within me snapped and I shouted, "Do I look like a bus driver to you? How am I supposed to know which buses run at whatever time in the day?"

   He clicked his tongue again. "You really are useless."

   I glowered, not wanting to take that for the second time. "And you're an orange."

   As soon as the words left my mouth I realized I shouldn't have said that. Ryu's eyebrows furrowed into a nasty glare, enough to make my blood run cold. I swallowed hard, inching away. Ugh, did I actually just say that? Did I have a death wish?

   Just then, Ryu, spiteful of anger, stomped up to me and grabbed my by the collar of my dress shirt. I gasped as Ryu began dragging me away and I squirmed around.

    "H-he—" Before I could finish screaming, the teen shoved me up against the storage shed, his fist slamming right behind my ear and inducing a loud, crushing noise. Meeting his eyes, I was hit with newfound fear when I spotted traces of hostility reflected in his eyes.

   "Don't call me an orange!"

   I couldn't muster up a voice and was stuck gaping dumbly at him.

   After a few seconds, Ryu seemed to notice what he did and regret contorted his blind rage. He removed his fist, lips pursed.

   When I could feel my space again, I inhaled and exhaled short, quick breaths. My heart thudded in my ears, making me inaudible to the surrounding noises. Oh, God. My eyes slowly traced back onto the face of the male, and I started trembling— and I couldn't stop. I found it hard to swallow. He was terrifying!

   I couldn't believe I actually tried talking to this guy so casually. Why was I even getting involved with him? I shouldn't have anything to do with him... He'd kill me. His fist would connect with my face next time, and...

   Ryu opened his mouth after a long while, strained. "Kikuchi—"

   "Th-the 15..." I cut him off, biting down on my lip. "I-I think it comes at 9:20... i-it'll t-take you straight... there..."

   My gaze was on the wet grass beneath my feet but I could feel his gaze piercing into my back. I shut my eyes, expecting another grab to the sweater or something to make me come with him like he had in the past, but instead nothing happened.

   At the shuffle of his feet, I peeked through one eyelid, and then the other and was startled to watch as Ryu removed the coat he was wearing. His eyes shaded by his hair, the only thing I saw painted on his face was a frown as he swung his coat over my head. My eyes widened as a result but before we could make eye-contact, he had turned around once more.

   "Y-you were shaking, so..." he murmured, scratching his cheek. He whispered shortly afterwards as if he knew I wasn't shivering from the cold, "S-sorry."

   My heart skipped a beat and I watched as the teen walked away and disappeared from sight. Feeling the warmth consuming my body, I stared at the brown coat that I had received. Seeing that it went so far as down to my ankles made the corners of my lips upturn from the frown I was wearing.

   Flopping down onto the grass, a blush crept onto my cheeks. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that he had given me his coat. Burying my head into my knees, I puffed out my cheeks and let out a small laugh. He looked so flustered.

   What the heck, I thought, tugging the coat even closer onto my shoulders. Seconds before, I was so scared of him I couldn't stop myself from shaking but now I was smiling like such an idiot like it never even happened.