Presently, he was regretting that habit of his, for his to-do-list had on it "charcoal art homework" with no date written beside it. If it was for next week, he could afford to laze around a bit further, but if it was due this week...

Just then, he noticed a familiar silhouttee passing through the school corridor.

"Hey Ayase, when's the charcoal stuff due?"

Shuri turned around. Asai stared at him.

"Whoa. Never seen you wear a mask at school before. Catch something? You shouldn't be wandering around school if you're sick, could pass it on to anyone."

"It's due Wednesday next week." Shuri continued on his way down the flight of stairs.

Odd. It wasn't like Shuri to respond so curtly. Even when they were alone and Asai made jabs at him, so long as they weren't about his competence as Hana's boyfriend, he usually responded respectfully.

Asai pursued him. "You don't look too good. Not heading back with Hana today?"

"He said he's staying back to practice for the sports festival. Why are you following me around?"

It was then that Asai grabbed his shoulder. Before Shuri could react, Asai yanked the mask off his face.

The entire right side of Shuri's face was bruised and swollen. The purple mottling of his skin had just set in, indicating that the wound was about a day old. The skin by his lip was also cracked and the bleed had barely stopped. Shuri winced at the suddenf friction against his wounds. His eyebags looked much darker and heavier now.

"...knew it," Asai muttered. "You were acting so weird. Knew there had to be a reason."

"Great job, detective. Now get me a new mask."

Asai dangled his mask from a finger. There were small flecks of blood on the inside. "Just reuse this."

"That's unhygienic."

The sound of footsteps caught Asai's attention before he could respond. He dragged Shuri down the rest of the stairs. They hid in a corner while a teacher walked past them, yawning after a long day of marking assignments.

Afterwards, they wandered to the back of the school, where there were very few people still around save for a few waiting on the school bus. Shuri leaned against a tree while Asai stood in front of him. 

Shuri had been coming to school with injuries for almost half a year. Most of the time, they were bruises and cuts on parts of his body that wouldn't easily be seen. Like his back, or the side of his waist, which Asai glimpsed when they were changing for gym classes, but they were not wounds teachers would see and enquire about. Facial wounds were rare, and when he got them, they were typically small. This time, whoever hit him had clearly lost all self-control. Any higher and Shuri would've come in with a black eye instead.

"You could've gotten me in a lot of trouble," Shuri sighed. "I seriously have no idea how you and Hana ended up being best friends- you're nothing alike."

"Yeah, yeah, cut the crap and tell me why it looks like you got hit by a gang member. Don't tell me you're secretly a delinquent who likes to pick fights."

"It's not your problem."

"And if I tell a teacher?"

Shuri was silent. For a second, he looked vulnerable enough to make Asai feel bad. But he glanced away, and afterwards, the vulnerable look vanished. 

"Go ahead. I don't care anymore. Some day, I'll report this anyway."

"So is it in the family?"

"Obviously," Shuri crossed his arms. "Do you think I'm stupid enough to pick pointless fights?"

"Does Hana know about this?"

"Well, he's caught me with bruises before. But I told him not to ask me about them, so he hasn't."

"You said you'll report this, but hasn't it been going on for months now? At this point, aren't you just stalling?"

"...I don't want to act rashly. Things have been rough since my dad lost his job a year ago, but he can be a good guy, when he's sober."

"And how often is he sober?" Asai asked.

Shuri smiled. "As often as you don't see a bruise on me."

There was always something not quite real about his smiles, where although his lips curled upwards, his eyes remained suffused with cold darkness. But right now, Asai saw how the light reached his eyes, and realized for the first time what a distorted person he was. Beneath his courteous visage was an animal that had been standing still, enduring all manner of cruel violences its whole life. How long could a lion go without using its fangs? It was not in an alpha's nature to be taken advantage of. And if Shuri continued like this, he too might one day lose control.