Chapter Text
I had always known that something was different about the most popular boy at school. Sometimes I would see him visiting the school garden, gently brushing his fingers along the plants in the morning, and in the afternoon while going home, I would find that the plants he had touched were suddenly bursting with flowers.
And sometimes, when I would walk up to the top floor of the school to have lunch, I would hear him talking to someone that most definitely didn't go to our school. Other times when I crossed paths with him, he would have a smile on his face that didn't quite reach his all-knowing green eyes.
So when I had found myself being attacked by a creature twice my size, I wasn't quite surprised that the popular redhead was able to fend him off.
"Thank you." I dusted off my uniform as I bowed down to thank him.
"No need, Mai-senpai." It was hard to believe that this mature boy was younger than me.
"Then, I will be heading back home–"
"You don't have anything else to ask me?" the boy said in surprise.
"No," I answered truthfully. "I don't think I would like to know the details either. You don't want me to actually know either, right?"
"Does that mean you know…?" His eyes suddenly became filled with animosity. "How much?"
I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimated. But telling the truth would probably be the best. Not like I was good at lying either. "Not much, but just that you weren't normal. I always thought you were strange. Odd way of talking, odd way of interacting, odd way of behaving. I notice a lot."
"How?" he asked. His fingers tightened around the thorny whip in his hand. I tried not to think of what would happen if that thing hit me. It had just slain a ten feet monster after all.
"It is my duty as a senpai to keep an eye on my kouhais. You just happen to be one of them."
He kept his eyes narrowed, but seemed to accept the answer. "Well, no matter what, I will have to erase your memories."
"What?!" My hands flew defensively to my face. "No one's messing with my head! It's mine!"
The boy's eyes flickered to something on my hands. He forced my hands away and turned my palm around. I flinched, thinking he was going to attack. But instead, a handkerchief was wrapped around it. I looked at the blue handkerchief that was starting to turn purple with blood. I had not seen that wound.
"You still don't get to erase my memories." I reminded the boy.
"It's dangerous for you to know." he sighed, reaching into his pocket. "It's best if this had never happened." A weird shaped flower popped into his hands. Its scent was sweet, as if pulling me into a trance.
Instinctively, I slapped it out of his hands. "I said, don't!" I covered my mouth to avoid breathing it in.
He sighed once again, and now it looked like he was tired of it. "Fine, do what you want."
That incident was a little over three years old, back when I was in my final year of junior high school and him in his first. The boy had grown out his red hair in the past few years. He had also gotten considerably taller, and he had started to greet me in the hallways of our high school. But that invisible wall was still up, separating him from the other students, as well as me. Despite the changes I had seen in him in three years, all his interactions were still as empty as ever.
"So you know that cute guy?" my friend, Fujiwara Isla, grinned as she poked my shoulder.
"Which one?" A lot of guys were cute to her.
"You know! The one with the long red hair."
I shook my head. "We met once back in middle school when I was looking at the flowers. But that was it." Unfortunately my face had gotten red from the lie. I cursed my terrible lying, grimacing as my friend giggled uncontrollably. "I'm not lying…" I muttered but in vain.
"You know, he's still single."
"And… what am I going to do with that information?"
"I'm just saying." Isla smirked. "You know, he's also interested in the Biology club."
"Again, what am I going to do with this information?"
"As the person in charge of P.R. and new members of the Biology Club… ask him to join!"
"Only if he applies." I mumbled, and then I was saved from further interrogation by the bell.
The next three days, I did not see the redhead at school. Had the pressure of high school finally gotten to him and he had become a delinquent? Or had something more… dangerous happened to him? I shuddered. I didn't think I wanted to know.
As the fourth day started to approach, I had almost gone to the Headmaster to ask for his address out of concern, but then I bumped into the taller redhead.
"Oh, you're here." I heaved with relief.
He blinked in surprise before letting a smile bloom on his face. "Yes. I had some things to take care of. My mother was quite sick, you see. The doctors didn't think she would make it so I stayed with her for a few days."
"Oh." I awkwardly looked at my feet. What was I supposed to say? Ask whether his mom was okay? Was she even alive? Would I sound insensitive if I said that?
He must have seen the panic on my face because he started explaining. "She is fine now. The doctors previously thought she wouldn't be able to make it… but then a miracle happened." He pulled a rose out of his hair and presented it to me, before making it disappear just as quickly as it had appeared. So this 'miracle' must have had something to do with his mysterious powers.
"Oh well, that's good." I looked past him to check the clock. "I should probably start heading home now."
"Of course." he stepped aside to let me through and I walked down the hallway, my heart just a tiny bit lighter.
In spite of him telling me that everything was alright, every time I saw the boy, he would be rushing to get home or to get to class. Something was still not right, but at least he looked fine.
After a couple of weeks of this rushed behaviour, the telephone in my living room rang, and an unfamiliar voice spoke on the other end.
"Hello," I said into the receiver.
"Hello, is this Mai Shara?" the soft voice spoke.
"Yes, who is this?" A scammer? A kidnapper? I quickly opened the phone book and hunted for the number showing up on the screen.
"This is Minamino Shiori, Minamino Shuuichi-kun's mother." Whose mother? "Shuuichi tells me that he is currently at your place to help him catch up?" I blinked as I tried to come up with a response. Who in the world was Minamino Shuuichi? A knock on my door grabbed my attention.
"One second, please." I asked the lady to wait and peeked out of the peephole. It was the redheaded boy. I opened the door, and he rushed in.
"I am so sorry." he mumbled quickly. "I did not know that Kaa-san would call you to confirm."
Oh, "So you're Minamino Shuuichi."
His lips parted in surprise. "You didn't know?"
I shrugged. "I live under a rock, a very cosy one. I don't step out of it very often. You should probably talk to your mother."
And he immediately handled the conversation with his mother. His whole demeanour changed. He was so gentle with her, nothing like the boy at school. It seemed as though he let his guard down around her, although the lies continued to beautifully pour through.
When he hung up, I tapped my finger on the table to get his attention. "Why use me as an excuse?"
He flinched, like he hadn't expected to get caught. "Well… You're the only one I know that can cover up for me. I could tell Kaa-san that I was hanging out with some friends, but I doubt I know anyone well enough for them to cover for me. They don't know me well enough either."
I hummed. It made sense. Although we didn't really talk, I knew his secret. Kind of. But I had no intention of revealing it, and he knew it quite well. What a sharp cunning boy.
"Just let me know the next time you use me as an excuse so that I have a lie prepared." I sighed. "I'm not the best at lying. But I don't snitch either." I paused, a thought suddenly hitting me. "How did you know your mother was calling anyway? And where were you?"
The boy, Minamino-san, looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Where I was… I can't say due to confidentiality… But… I have a friend…" I raised an eyebrow. "That can kind of… see…"
I gasped. "You've been spying on me in my own home?!" I backed up against the wall on instinct.
The boy shook his head, his cheeks burning red. "No! I mean, I wasn't watching you, I was watching Kaa-san–"
"You think that's any better?!" I looked around for something to use as a weapon.
"Let's calm down!" he insisted and held his hands up. "Hiei!"
And a black blur whipped into my living room. I stared with wide eyes at the short boy next to the redhead.
"So she's the human you have your eyes on?" the short one scoffed. "Looks weak."
"Hiei." Minamino-san quickly shut him up. He then turned to me with downturned eyes. "I apologise. But he's the one that can see things from afar… Telepathy if you will."
"So he's a psychic?" I questioned. I gripped the umbrella in its stand near the door. "He can… see things even when he can't?"
"Umm… yes… And I promise you, he doesn't know more than he has to. He's not very fond of humans you see." he relaxed as I slowly stood up feeling confused, but not afraid anymore. If they wanted to do anything, they would have done it already. Although the short boy had me in a death stare with his beady red eyes. Telepathy… Minamino-san associated with some truly strange people. And I was equally strange for not screaming bloody murder and calling the police.
"As long as you don't spy in the bathroom or the bedroom." I warned the short one. I did not need some kid becoming horrified by my loud singing in the shower or by my fangirling over fictional men.
"We will be leaving then." Minamino-san grabbed his short friend and hauled him out the front door. "Thank you again. I will make it up to you somehow."
After he left, another thought hit me like a truck. 'Not very fond of humans'? So that short kid wasn't a human?