Rumours ~ Ruikasa

All The Same Source

The nurse sighed before getting up and welcoming the principal into his office.

     "What seems to be the matter?" The principal said in an irritated fashion, looking at Rui and Tsukasa with a look that showed nothing but distaste.

     "These two boys got into a big fight," The nurse said.

     "This should be the problem of their teachers," The principal said firmly, his expression worsening as his gaze settled onto the interlocked hands of the two boys. "And, clearly, they are getting along perfectly fine. I have no need to be here."

     "No, sir, wait," The nurse said hastily. "These boys didn't get into a fight with each other, but with another boy in their grade. And one of them almost got assaulted by the same student—you know, assaulted in the other way."

     Rui's heart dove into his stomach like it was a swimmer diving into a swimming pool. Tsukasa's expression displayed nothing but anger.

     The principal's face turned dead serious. "Tell me more."

     The nurse recounted the events in the hallway with Akane to the principal. Rui kept his head down for the whole time while Tsukasa rolled his head over so that he was facing the wall, visibly uncomfortable.

     "Let me see the weapon," The principal held his hand out to Rui. "I want to see it."

     Rui shakily slid the blade out of his pocket. There was dry blood on the edge of the blade, making Rui grimace at the sight of it. He placed it cautiously into the principal's palm, careful not to cut him.

     The principal lifted the knife up to his face to inspect it more closely. "This certainly seems like a big deal," The principal said, giving the knife back to Rui. "But neither of us know whether these boys are telling the truth or not. They could be lying to us just to get Suzuki in trouble with the adults. I will check the footage of the security cameras that are located in this hallway later."

     "What?!" Tsukasa shouted incredulously, looking at the principal. "No! That guy needs to be dealt with now! Why would we lie about this?!"

     "Listen, child," The principal glared at Tsukasa. "You wouldn't believe the kinds of stories I've heard from students like you. And this one seems very unrealistic."

     "But how could I fake this injury!?" Tsukasa tugged at his own bangs frustratedly. "And Rui has a cut that was clearly done by accident! How could we have faked all this?!"

     "Tsukasa-kun, calm down," Rui said softly. "He has his reasons. I'm sure it hurts you to shout, too."

     Tsukasa said nothing further, but he gave an indignant huff and faced the wall once again.

     "Thank you, Kamishiro," The principal said in a calm, stable voice that sounded very forced.  "I will call you both back to the office if needed."

With that, the principal left the nurse's office, leaving the nurse, Rui and a very stressed Tsukasa alone in it.

——————————

"Found you."

Ai was frozen in terror as a hand clamped down onto their shoulder. Their face showing nothing but dread, they turned around to face the person behind them. Their fear turned into an unbalanced Jenga tower and came crashing down, making space for relief.

"Come with me," Tadashi said urgently. "Please, Ai."

"What? Why?" Ai asked, their hands still shaking.

"Please!" Tadashi pleaded desperately, tugging on Ai's arm childishly.

"Okay, okay!" Ai rolled their eyes. "But please don't scare me like that again!"

——————————

Two female students at the back of Nene's class were whispering among themselves. Again. Which Nene found extremely annoying, because they wouldn't stop—as always—and because Nene couldn't focus with all their talking behind her when she was trying to pay attention to the lesson that her teacher was giving.

"Hey, one of our senpais posted something on Instapic. Looks like a fight."

Filming a fight instead of stopping it? So insensitive...

Of course, they had their phones in class. Why wouldn't they? Sure, it was against the rules, but who cares about those anyway?

"Why are you, like, following them?"

"Bro, like, you wanna see it or not?"

"Yeah, show!"

Nene took a relieved deep breath since the two girls stopped talking for a few moments, but got irritated once again when one of them continued.

     "Bro, like, look at this dude. I swear, he needs to be in, like, a mental hospital."

Now Nene's attention was completely fixed on the conversation of the two girls. Never mind that lesson!

     "Oh my god, what the actual fuck?"

     "Isn't that Kamishiro or, like, whatever his name was? You know, the weird arsonist guy?"

Nene's shoulders tensed and she dropped her pencil onto her sheet of notes, her thoughts getting all jumbled up and her heart rate rising steeply.

Rui? What happened to him? Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay!

     "And he's with, like, Tenma!"

Tsukasa, too? Did they have a fight in the hallway...? I hope those two didn't get into trouble.

Then one of the two girls screamed.

Wait, what happened? Tell me something, please! Anything! Did one of them get hurt? Please let them be alright, please!

Nene's panic rose along with the speed of her heartbeats. She began to sweat intensely and she couldn't breathe.

"Young lady! Put your phone away!" The teacher said to the two girls sitting behind Nene, annoyed. "And detention for both of you! Now shut up!"

Nene's hyperventilation caught the attention of the student sitting next to her.

"Kusanagi?" Shiraishi whispered as she poked the shoulder of the green-haired girl with the end of her pencil that had the eraser on it. "Are you okay?"

"Y..." Nene couldn't speak.

Her voice was weak and wobbly.

     "Kusanagi, Shiraishi, is everything okay?" The teacher asked, pausing her lesson again.

     "Yes, sensei," Shiraishi nodded, a frown on her face.

     "Good. Now, please pay attention to the lesson." The adult shot Shiraishi a glare. "And stop talking! Tomorrow, this class will have a new seating arrangement."

     Several groans could be heard.

——————————

Word count: 1014