Street Angel

Street Angel chapter 1

“Hey, you!”

In the early morning bustle of Niijiro Gakuin, especially on the first day of school, Tenshi hadn’t counted on getting caught for something as trivial as running in the halls. Sighing heavily, he ignored the stern voice and kept moving, his pace still far too quick to be reasonable. He didn’t have time for teachers this morning; he wanted to get to his room and he wanted to get there now. Tenshi was celebrating internally, positive he had eluded trouble, when suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks as he slammed straight into a very solid mass that had appeared in front of him. Blinking in irritation, he looked up.

It was an arm.

“What part of no running in the halls don’t you understand?” hissed a cold voice several feet above his head. A pair of frosty eyes stared down at him from behind locks of mahogany-colored hair. The teacher certainly didn’t look amused. “What are you, a first year? How many times in middle school did I have to tell you that the halls are for walking,” a vein throbbed in his head and he glared down at Tenshi, looking like he would particularly enjoy throwing him to the wolves. Tenshi considered making a run for it. “Don’t you have anything better to do, like get to class for instance?” he took in Tenshi’s dyed white hair, tipped with red, and muttered something about “delinquents”.

“Come on Suzuki-san, give him a break,” the ebony-haired man had been sneaking up on Suzuki almost the entire time he had been speaking, and he succeeded in making his colleague jump slightly. “It’s only the first day of school.”

Turning to face the man whose appearance had shattered his dignity, Suzuki shot him a look filled with irritation. “Don’t you have somewhere to be, Kureno?” he hissed at him, not a trace of friendliness on his smooth face. Kureno didn’t seem to notice.

“Naw, I have prep first period. I don’t really have anything left to prep for,” he chuckled slightly and turned his head in Tenshi’s direction. The ends of his long hair hit Suzuki in the face in the process, and the irritated teacher sighed loudly. “Good morning, Tenshi-kun!”

“Well maybe you need to find somewhere else to be,” the feelings of unpleasantness radiating from Suzuki toward Kureno were almost stifling, and Tenshi made a face. It was more than a bit pathetic that Kureno seemed completely oblivious to the obvious distaste for him that Suzuki was displaying. “I need to go anyway. I was in the process of explaining young man that we don’t run in the halls here…”

“He was probably just hurrying to find his first class because he didn’t know where it was. Right, Tenshi-kun?” Kureno gave the white-haired boy a disarming smile.

“Whatever,” Tenshi muttered, rolling his eyes at Kureno. As the school’s only home ec. teacher, Kureno was in charge of teaching both the middle and high school students, and so Tenshi had dealt with him before. He was more than a bit irritating, and Tenshi wanted nothing to do with the eccentric man who was now chattering at Suzuki about the spring vacation that had just ended, while Suzuki tried to ignore him. He turned and headed in the direction he had been attempting to go before being interrupted, leaving the two teachers behind him. He was glad to be away from idiots for the time being.

Meanwhile, farther down the hall, a panicking first-year student fumbled with his class schedule, cursing softly under his breath. “Come on Yuushu, think! Where could it possibly be?” he muttered to himself, running a hand distractedly over his black hair, disheveled from pulling at it in frustration. “How could be so hard to find a room when I have the number!?” he stopped walking, glaring at the schedule in his hands as though it would somehow give up the information if threatened. “An all-boy’s school… no wonder this place is crazy! How am I supposed to find anything!?”

“Hey, move it!” shrieked a pink-haired first year that ran into Yuushu as he stopped. Yuushu inadvertently dropped his bag as he was barreled into, and it fell onto the offender’s foot, prompting a furious glare from the boy-- who Yuushu could have sworn was a girl-- as he turned a pair of angry blue eyes on him. “Ouuuch! You did that on purpose!”

“Sorry…” Yuushu murmured tiredly to the angry boy who was wiping imaginary dust off of his glittery pink shirt. He leaned down and picked up the bag, slightly irritated. He was not in the mood to deal with people like this at the moment.

“Don’t look all pissed about it!” the pink boy insisted. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be pissed at you!” Yuushu was more than a bit overwhelmed; he had never heard anyone sound more like a girl than this boy did. He wanted to back away from him and go on his way to class, but he had a nagging worry that he would be immediately killed by daggers shooting from the pink-haired boy’s eyes if he did.

“Yuru-chan, is there a problem?” asked a cheerful, slightly feminine voice as a short blonde man popped up beside them, cutting into their tense silence.

“Interi,” Yuushu muttered, breathing a sigh of relief. “Good morning.”

“Um, yes!” Yuru pointed at Yuushu’s face. “He dropped his stupid bag on my foot on purpose, and now he’s being a jerk about it.”

“I’m sure it was an accident,” Interi said comfortingly, patting Yuru on the shoulder. “Maybe you can forgive him this time?” he turned glittering purplish-blue eyes on Yuru and gave him a motherly smile. “I’m sure he’s very sorry.”

Yuru scowled slightly, but most of the anger left his face. “Okay…” he said with a sigh. “I guess so…” he seemed to droop a little as the rage deflated and left nothing in its place. “I’m going to my room now, then…”

“Thank you!” Interi called after him cheerfully. “Oh, it’s just wonderful that you two are getting along now!” he gave a slight squeaking noise of delight and smiled at Yuushu, looking like he was on the verge of bursting. “How’s your morning going, Yuushu?”

“It’s going okay,” Yuushu told him, forcing a small smile at the beaming teacher. He was only a few inches taller than Yuushu was, and it was much less intimidating to talk to him than to anyone else in the school so far. He felt like he could breathe a sigh of relief around him. “But I can’t find my room.”

“Oh! Let me see your schedule,” Interi said, taking the paper gently from his hands and looking at it for a moment. “I’ll take you to your room! It’s just right over here. Oh, it’s so good to see you all grown up and starting high school!” Interi squealed, leading Yuushu happily down the hallway. “Your father would be so proud!”

Yuushu looked down at his feet, and a moment of gloom passed over the two of them before the smile returned to Interi’s face and he slid an arm around Yuushu’s shoulders, ushering him along. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he gushed, “It’s no good reminding you of such sad things on your first day!”

“That’s okay…” Yuushu had to fight to keep his voice from becoming monotone at that moment, and he leaned into Interi’s motherly embrace gratefully as they walked. “And… thanks, Interi.”

“Of course!” Interi grinned at him as he stopped in front of a door on the left side of the hall. “Here’s your room, Yuu-chan. I’ll come and get you when it’s time to go to homeroom, okay?”

“Sure,” Yuushu replied with a nod as Interi handed him back his schedule. “Thanks again,” he watched Interi flounce off down the hallway and then turned to face his door. Beside it there was a plastic nametag slid into the space that read Gekkani Yuushu. He placed a hand on the doorknob before realizing there was another nametag. “Gochikku Tenshi…” he muttered. “I didn’t know I was going to have a roommate,” he hesitated for a moment and then pushed the door open.

As he walked inside, something large and soft promptly hit him in the face. “Ah!” he collapsed, his knees buckling from the sheer surprise of the sudden hit, and fell flat on his back on the floor. The hit, coupled with the loud, blasting music that was playing, was enough to keep him immobile on the floor for a moment, staring wide-eyed up at the ceiling. “Let’s start a new-wave jacket!” the music declared loudly, issuing from the stereo that sat several feet away on the floor.

“Hey, transfer kid. Walk much?” asked a slightly amused voice. Yuushu looked up to see a smug face, framed by white and red hair, staring down at him from the top bunk. Another pillow was clutched in the boy’s hand as ammunition. Glittering brown eyes watched Yuushu closely as he climbed to his feet.

“What the hell was that for!?” Yuushu snapped. He was already at his wit’s end, and this was nothing he was in the mood for. He tried to calm himself down as he shot an impatient look at the boy who lay perched on the bed. This was obviously his roommate, and something in that fact made him want to crawl into the floor and hide.

“What?” Tenshi gave him an innocent look and rolled over onto his back, watching Yuushu upside down. “I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

“Yes you did!” Yuushu’s last thread of patience ran out. “You threw your damn pillow at my face! Don’t sit here and tell me you didn’t do anything when you and I both know you did, you idiot!”

“Harsh words!” Tenshi pretended to be hurt, licking his fingertip and dragging it down his cheek. “See, tears!”

“Shut up!” Yuushu snapped, turning away from him. “And turn down that damn music!”

Tenshi held back laughter. “Turn yourself down!”

At that moment, Yuushu nearly made the decision to jump on Tenshi and strangle him. Fortunately for Tenshi’s neck, there was a knock on the door. Yuushu stepped forward and wrenched it open, trying to ignore the rage that coursed through his veins. Interi stood on the other side of the door, giving him a sunny smile.

“Hello, Yuushu! It’s time to go to homeroom,” Interi told him. “You too, Tenshi-kun!”

“Yeah yeah, I’m up,” Tenshi rolled over and landed on the floor on his feet with a dull thud. He gave Yuushu a slightly unpleasant smile as he walked over to them. “Let’s go, I guess.”

“I’ll help you two find your classroom,” Interi offered, and Yuushu handed him his schedule once more. Tenshi dug around in his pocket for a moment and then produced a crumpled ball of paper, which he handed to the blonde. “Oh, you two have the same homeroom! Isn’t that exciting!? You’re both in class 1-C!”

Yuushu promptly wished he could force himself to spontaneously combust.

As Interi led them down the hallway, Tenshi watched Yuushu’s feet. Yuushu shot him strange looks all the way out to the building where the high school classes were located, and Tenshi met them with snide grins. He was sure he was starting to get to the brunette, especially when he stuck out his tongue at him once and made Yuushu glare. This was becoming increasingly amusing, and he couldn’t help the glitter of entertainment that slid into his stomach as they neared their classroom.

“Here we are!” Interi declared after several minutes of walking, gesturing to the door before them. As he opened it, Tenshi swung his foot out at the precise moment, and it caught Yuushu’s ankles. Eyes wide, Yuushu toppled into the classroom. He hit the floor with a hard thud, and as he sat on the tile glaring up at his roommate, Tenshi snickered softly.

“Oops,” he muttered innocently.

“That’s it!” Yuushu got up and charged at Tenshi, making a grab for his throat in a desperate attempt to get rid of the smug grin that had taken residence on the white-haired boy’s face.

“He’s trying to kill him!” Yuru shrieked from his seat. “Gross!”

“Break it up!” the homeroom teacher had moved over without either of them noticing, and he pulled them apart. “Nobody’s killing anybody!” he had a pair of blonde pigtails streaked with pink, and Yuushu couldn’t help wondering why in the world so many people looked like girls yet again before he was informed that if he did something like this again he would receive detention.

“Thank you for breaking up the fight, Akami-chan!” Interi said, smiling at the homeroom teacher. “Maybe you should make these two partners on today’s project so they can have a chance to get a chance to start getting along better!”

Yuushu sighed, wishing that he could force himself to disappear.