Strange Magic [A JUMP fic] Chapter 7: Rumors
Previously...
Even through all the talk and busyness of the day, the 3rd Years and 2nd Years still found time to finally clash! Everyone had seen new things: Mitsuhiko Diei exploding, Yaotome Hikaru being serious and Yamada Ryosuke apologizing - what else could come from this?
++++++
“Who the hell is Chinen Yuri?” Kochi Yugo said bewilderedly.
“Yamada-kun..?” Kunihara Mabee said uncertainly at the second year representative who was still bowed in the direction of the StuCo President.
“Daijobu?” finished Aya apprehensively.
There was a minute delay as if he was still seeing Diei’s shiny black shoes on the spot in front of him, but his back soon snapped straight as he turned to them and the other 2nd Years waiting for his word with a quickly hitched-up smile on his face. Whether it was truly his intention to follow through Diei’s hush-up or he wanted to hurry and excuse himself, he thanked his fellow 2nd Years who jumped to his side during the scuffle, especially the boys of each section there who were also part of the THS Soccer Team and belonged to him. There were some who openly showed reluctance over backing away, but as Yamada himself turned briskly off the corridor they couldn’t do much even if they want to rally behind him against the seto-kaichou. Yamada also made sure Kusano Tricia took Nakajima Kento to the clinic and Okamoto Keito to go with them - incase any of the 3rd Years sent there jump Kento, or he do any jumping on them. Kento threw him a glare but though he might be more loyal to Yamada, he’d trust Okamoto more over self-restrain.
As the 2nd Years rounded the end of the corridor opposite where Diei disappeared to some of them broke off either to go find their classmates and gossip about the riot or go down to the cafeteria to grab food and THEN gossip about the riot along the way. Yamada himself seem to go to neither of these places and was dead set upon reaching his own classroom where his eyes sought out the only person in his mind right now.
“Yo Chinen, want to tour around the campus?” Yamada called to him to the surprise of everyone who heard.
~+~+~+~
“Who the hell is Chinen Yuri?”
Yaotome had just caught up with Diei planting a hand over the photocopy machine’s lid to make her stop and face him and his question.
“You’re not deaf; I said he was a transferee. And three out of your fifteen minutes to get home and call me have already gone,” Diei said coolly as she pulled his hand from the lid so she can deposit her agenda papers and continue with her much delayed task.
But Yaotome wouldn’t budge and Arioka who had followed them completed the wall of her friends nosing about, Jeyn lagging behind them.
Yaotome raised a finger between himself and Diei. “You did not scold that Yamada just for me, I should have known it; you heard him ranting about that Chine-”
“You underestimate your value; you’re a sempai who deserves the respect -”
“As if you’d fly after any cheek by an underclassman even to yourself!” Arioka countered for Yaotome.
“Shhh, not so loud!” Jeyn hissed, looking around the faculty room.
There was a SNAP! which was the photocopier’s lid; Diei had enough. The faculty room had a few teachers looking over at them and she would much like the riot kept from them (much less the connection about Chinen Yuri) or they’re all going to pay. She waited till a couple of old teachers passed by them before looking them each in the eye, deciding to tell them a bit of the truth to pacify them.
“It was me who brought in Chinen Yuri this morning, one of my responsibilities about the special case of his transfer; he was allowed to show up even two days before the sembreak since he got a hundred percent score of his entrance exam for a next-sem transferee. So, I know about him. And naturally, I know about Yamada’s personality as well as you do, so maybe I was looping him into better treating the transferee, as he should, being the 2nd Years’ Student Council Representative.” She frowned, “What else did you think it was about?”
Yaotome and Arioka looked at each other, then turned in unison to Jeyn who glared at them, swallowed hard and mumbled, “Diei we know; we saw you two by the park this morning.”
Diei’s fingers slipped form the Print Button she was about to push as she looked up sharply at the four. “You -”
“Now look here, we weren’t eavesdropping,” Yaotome started to explain with both his hands raised. “Well we were, but we didn’t intend to at first, we were just curious where you were detouring; we’re concerned what boy you’re meeting with - which you never did before -”
“- saw my brother and I talking this morning,” Diei continued through gritted teeth.
~+~+~+~
“I can’t believe it.” Takaki kept muttering growing louder and louder as he paced about the length of the clinic floor behind where Inoo Kei’s knee were being bandaged and a pack of ice was brought up to his lip. “I can’t believe it!”
“Yuya please, you’re making me dizzy,” Do said exasperatedly, as she was the one patching up Inoo being one of the Clinic Volunteers, Yaotome Hikaru being the other.
“Owf!” Inoo winced; Do’s ice pack had smacked him a bit harder on the face than she had intended. Do muttered a “Sorry” but Inoo waved it away, continuing as if they had previously been talking. “It wasn’t Diei’s fault.”
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault but Yamada’s, but she’s still using kid gloves with him, and don’t tell me she isn’t,” Takaki snared, glaring at them both as if daring them to tell him he’s wrong. Neither did. “That’s right,” Takaki huffed, taking their silence as agreement. “And now she’s using him to babysit her ex-boyfriend -”
“We don’t know that,” Do suggested, seeming to try to give reason.
“Do-chan, she can’t have reached Hikaru and Daiki if she wasn’t already on her way the moment she heard that Yamada was about to have a go and ‘challenge’ this Chinen Yuri,” Takaki’s eyes were bulging at her as if it was the most obvious thing.
“I admit it was too much of a coincidence but, are we going to stake the almost three years we know Diei over a rumor?” Inoo reasoned.
“But it wasn’t a rumor, we spied on them,” Do said ashamedly.
Takaki finally stopped pacing as he faced the two with an uncharacteristically dark look on his face. It was as if he was thinking too hard too much. “Maybe…”
“Maybe?” “What?” Do and Inoo said at the same time.
“Maybe, its one of those old-school pairings..” Takaki looked from one to the other and when they didn’t seem to catch on his train of thought he started to redden, but elaborated. “You know, what with Diei’s kind of family.. It’s not that unbelievable - fixed marriages…”
Do burst out in short bouts of incredulous laughter. “Diei will never accept that deal, even if it’s from that jii-san.”
But Inoo seemed to be quiet.
“What?” Do demanded.
“Well,” Inoo tried to sound more confident in the theory. “Its not that far-fetched.. If as we heard they started to live together -”
“Nani shiteru no?” Jeyn’s voice shot from behind Nakajima Kento, Kusano Tricia and Okamoto Keito making the three jump standing behind the clinic door, obviously having the misfortune of getting caught overhearing their sempais inside. Kento actually took a step back.
There was a moment of alarmed silence before Tricia started. “Uhm, please Do-sempai, we wanted to patch up Kento-kun’s arm..”
“And we didn’t know whether to go in already or wait for the sempais to be finished first,” Okamoto offered in rescue. Kento nodded vigorously.
“This is a clinic, not a warzone; so long as none of you start jumping at each other again, I’m perfectly fine sitting you on separate beds. Come in now,” came Do’s voice.
The 2nd Years looked at each other a bit desperately; Kento for one wanted to skip his scratches and find Yamada to tell him about what they heard, but the other two dared not to disobey both the seto-kaichou and Yamada’s words, much less look too guilty to the 3rd Years by hurrying off. Of course they would have been noticed if their sempais didn’t have the same worry of being overheard; whatever they gossip about Diei they were one in mind to not let her affairs leak out. There was also the feeling that both parties couldn’t wait until they were a good mile separate and as soon as Do finished securing a gauge to wrap around Kento’s arms neither said much but “thank you” and “you’re welcome” - the second year eavesdroppers rushing off to find Yamada while Jeyn locked the 3rd Years inside the clinic for a few more minutes to share to them what Diei told her to tell their group of eavesdroppers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-kun - suffix used by speaker for younger male names or males close with
Daijoubu? - You okay? ; informal way to say ‘daijoubu desu ka’
Jii-san - gramps ; informal way to say ‘Ojii-sama’ meaning ‘Grandfather’
Nani shiteru no? - what are you doing? ; informal way to say ‘nani wo shite iruno desuka?’
Sempai - Senior ; title for a respected upperclassman or upperclasswoman
Even through all the talk and busyness of the day, the 3rd Years and 2nd Years still found time to finally clash! Everyone had seen new things: Mitsuhiko Diei exploding, Yaotome Hikaru being serious and Yamada Ryosuke apologizing - what else could come from this?
++++++
“Who the hell is Chinen Yuri?” Kochi Yugo said bewilderedly.
“Yamada-kun..?” Kunihara Mabee said uncertainly at the second year representative who was still bowed in the direction of the StuCo President.
“Daijobu?” finished Aya apprehensively.
There was a minute delay as if he was still seeing Diei’s shiny black shoes on the spot in front of him, but his back soon snapped straight as he turned to them and the other 2nd Years waiting for his word with a quickly hitched-up smile on his face. Whether it was truly his intention to follow through Diei’s hush-up or he wanted to hurry and excuse himself, he thanked his fellow 2nd Years who jumped to his side during the scuffle, especially the boys of each section there who were also part of the THS Soccer Team and belonged to him. There were some who openly showed reluctance over backing away, but as Yamada himself turned briskly off the corridor they couldn’t do much even if they want to rally behind him against the seto-kaichou. Yamada also made sure Kusano Tricia took Nakajima Kento to the clinic and Okamoto Keito to go with them - incase any of the 3rd Years sent there jump Kento, or he do any jumping on them. Kento threw him a glare but though he might be more loyal to Yamada, he’d trust Okamoto more over self-restrain.
As the 2nd Years rounded the end of the corridor opposite where Diei disappeared to some of them broke off either to go find their classmates and gossip about the riot or go down to the cafeteria to grab food and THEN gossip about the riot along the way. Yamada himself seem to go to neither of these places and was dead set upon reaching his own classroom where his eyes sought out the only person in his mind right now.
“Yo Chinen, want to tour around the campus?” Yamada called to him to the surprise of everyone who heard.
~+~+~+~
“Who the hell is Chinen Yuri?”
Yaotome had just caught up with Diei planting a hand over the photocopy machine’s lid to make her stop and face him and his question.
“You’re not deaf; I said he was a transferee. And three out of your fifteen minutes to get home and call me have already gone,” Diei said coolly as she pulled his hand from the lid so she can deposit her agenda papers and continue with her much delayed task.
But Yaotome wouldn’t budge and Arioka who had followed them completed the wall of her friends nosing about, Jeyn lagging behind them.
Yaotome raised a finger between himself and Diei. “You did not scold that Yamada just for me, I should have known it; you heard him ranting about that Chine-”
“You underestimate your value; you’re a sempai who deserves the respect -”
“As if you’d fly after any cheek by an underclassman even to yourself!” Arioka countered for Yaotome.
“Shhh, not so loud!” Jeyn hissed, looking around the faculty room.
There was a SNAP! which was the photocopier’s lid; Diei had enough. The faculty room had a few teachers looking over at them and she would much like the riot kept from them (much less the connection about Chinen Yuri) or they’re all going to pay. She waited till a couple of old teachers passed by them before looking them each in the eye, deciding to tell them a bit of the truth to pacify them.
“It was me who brought in Chinen Yuri this morning, one of my responsibilities about the special case of his transfer; he was allowed to show up even two days before the sembreak since he got a hundred percent score of his entrance exam for a next-sem transferee. So, I know about him. And naturally, I know about Yamada’s personality as well as you do, so maybe I was looping him into better treating the transferee, as he should, being the 2nd Years’ Student Council Representative.” She frowned, “What else did you think it was about?”
Yaotome and Arioka looked at each other, then turned in unison to Jeyn who glared at them, swallowed hard and mumbled, “Diei we know; we saw you two by the park this morning.”
Diei’s fingers slipped form the Print Button she was about to push as she looked up sharply at the four. “You -”
“Now look here, we weren’t eavesdropping,” Yaotome started to explain with both his hands raised. “Well we were, but we didn’t intend to at first, we were just curious where you were detouring; we’re concerned what boy you’re meeting with - which you never did before -”
“- saw my brother and I talking this morning,” Diei continued through gritted teeth.
~+~+~+~
“I can’t believe it.” Takaki kept muttering growing louder and louder as he paced about the length of the clinic floor behind where Inoo Kei’s knee were being bandaged and a pack of ice was brought up to his lip. “I can’t believe it!”
“Yuya please, you’re making me dizzy,” Do said exasperatedly, as she was the one patching up Inoo being one of the Clinic Volunteers, Yaotome Hikaru being the other.
“Owf!” Inoo winced; Do’s ice pack had smacked him a bit harder on the face than she had intended. Do muttered a “Sorry” but Inoo waved it away, continuing as if they had previously been talking. “It wasn’t Diei’s fault.”
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault but Yamada’s, but she’s still using kid gloves with him, and don’t tell me she isn’t,” Takaki snared, glaring at them both as if daring them to tell him he’s wrong. Neither did. “That’s right,” Takaki huffed, taking their silence as agreement. “And now she’s using him to babysit her ex-boyfriend -”
“We don’t know that,” Do suggested, seeming to try to give reason.
“Do-chan, she can’t have reached Hikaru and Daiki if she wasn’t already on her way the moment she heard that Yamada was about to have a go and ‘challenge’ this Chinen Yuri,” Takaki’s eyes were bulging at her as if it was the most obvious thing.
“I admit it was too much of a coincidence but, are we going to stake the almost three years we know Diei over a rumor?” Inoo reasoned.
“But it wasn’t a rumor, we spied on them,” Do said ashamedly.
Takaki finally stopped pacing as he faced the two with an uncharacteristically dark look on his face. It was as if he was thinking too hard too much. “Maybe…”
“Maybe?” “What?” Do and Inoo said at the same time.
“Maybe, its one of those old-school pairings..” Takaki looked from one to the other and when they didn’t seem to catch on his train of thought he started to redden, but elaborated. “You know, what with Diei’s kind of family.. It’s not that unbelievable - fixed marriages…”
Do burst out in short bouts of incredulous laughter. “Diei will never accept that deal, even if it’s from that jii-san.”
But Inoo seemed to be quiet.
“What?” Do demanded.
“Well,” Inoo tried to sound more confident in the theory. “Its not that far-fetched.. If as we heard they started to live together -”
“Nani shiteru no?” Jeyn’s voice shot from behind Nakajima Kento, Kusano Tricia and Okamoto Keito making the three jump standing behind the clinic door, obviously having the misfortune of getting caught overhearing their sempais inside. Kento actually took a step back.
There was a moment of alarmed silence before Tricia started. “Uhm, please Do-sempai, we wanted to patch up Kento-kun’s arm..”
“And we didn’t know whether to go in already or wait for the sempais to be finished first,” Okamoto offered in rescue. Kento nodded vigorously.
“This is a clinic, not a warzone; so long as none of you start jumping at each other again, I’m perfectly fine sitting you on separate beds. Come in now,” came Do’s voice.
The 2nd Years looked at each other a bit desperately; Kento for one wanted to skip his scratches and find Yamada to tell him about what they heard, but the other two dared not to disobey both the seto-kaichou and Yamada’s words, much less look too guilty to the 3rd Years by hurrying off. Of course they would have been noticed if their sempais didn’t have the same worry of being overheard; whatever they gossip about Diei they were one in mind to not let her affairs leak out. There was also the feeling that both parties couldn’t wait until they were a good mile separate and as soon as Do finished securing a gauge to wrap around Kento’s arms neither said much but “thank you” and “you’re welcome” - the second year eavesdroppers rushing off to find Yamada while Jeyn locked the 3rd Years inside the clinic for a few more minutes to share to them what Diei told her to tell their group of eavesdroppers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-kun - suffix used by speaker for younger male names or males close with
Daijoubu? - You okay? ; informal way to say ‘daijoubu desu ka’
Jii-san - gramps ; informal way to say ‘Ojii-sama’ meaning ‘Grandfather’
Nani shiteru no? - what are you doing? ; informal way to say ‘nani wo shite iruno desuka?’
Sempai - Senior ; title for a respected upperclassman or upperclasswoman