XV

“Okay everyone, rooms according to your last names,” Tobe said to the groups of boys before him. “And no fighting and no orgy.”

The boys wrinkled their faces in disgust at Tobe’s words and watched as their teacher adjusted the bundle of keys in his hands.

“Coach and his weirdness,” Raja whispered with a shudder.

“Okay. Group A: Alistair, Bills, Bratt, Brayson, Cedric...” He nonchalantly called out their surnames and assigned each groups their rooms. “... Group F: Jaeger, Ketsueki, Killua, Maikal, Mikaelis and Mikaela.” He peered at the group past his glasses. “Silver, you’re in charge.” He threw the key at Silver and he caught it with his hands and nodded in understanding.

“Well,” Raja started as the six boys moved towards their assigned room. “At least we’re together. Right Rin?” He turned to look at his friend, but was rewarded with a cold yet calm gaze. “Why? Fucking why?!” his hissed with a hushed voice.

Rin raised an eyebrow. “Did I say or do anything?” He stopped with the rest of the group and waited as Silver tried to unlock the door to the room.

Kimi lost himself in the pool of his thoughts—his shoulders and barriers raised—as he studied the faces and movements of his classmate, putting a name to their faces. His eyes moved to Rin’s face and he instinctively dug his fingers into the straps of his bag. Ketsueki, it was one of the surnames his mother had given him. He tried as much as possible to avoid body contact with anybody and everybody, but the boys from the other groups just hastily shuffled past him as they each moved to their assigned rooms.

Silver finally unlocked the door with a tired sigh. “That was stressfully annoying.” He pushed the door open, and the boys were greeted by a neat and simple room of three bunk beds and a fluorescent lightbulb.

“I call dibs on the top,” Raja said and rushed into the room with a wide grin. He looked at the three beds and moved to the one farthest in the room. He climbed up to the top bed and sat on it, his weight making the bed cry out. “Doable.”

Rin shook his head and folded his bulky arms over his chest. “Since Silver is in charge,” he started and looked at Silver. “Why don’t he assign us to a bed?”

Silver shrugged nonchalantly. “You can choose any bed. But”—he shifted his gaze to a tensed Kimi—“Kimi and I will share a bunk bed.”

Everyone looked at Kimi at the same time and got their eyes caught in his cold gaze. He just sighed and seemed to physically dig holes in the straps of his bag with his fingernails. He locked his jaw, and just shrugged stiffly, his throat drier than a dessert.

“Right,” Silver said and moved to the nearest bed. “Top or bottom?” he asked Kimi.

“Whatever,” Kimi answered, his voice coming out like that of a crow. His face warmed up in flustered anger as everyone looked at him like he had miraculously grown into a giant. “What?!” he hissed. The other boy who was closest to him jumped away from him in fright, like he was wild fire, and Silver shook his head with a sigh.

“I’ll just take the bottom.” He neatly dropped his bag on the bed, but did not sit on it; he just stood beside it with furrowed eyebrows.

Duan sighed. “Then I guess I’m sharing a bed with you... Uh...” He looked at the boy with a raised brow. “What’s your name again?”

The caramel colour of the boy’s cheeks brightened, and he hugged his bag closer to his lithe body and stuttered, “Ki-Killua. A-Andrew K-Killua.” He looked at the floor. “U-Uh...”

Duan sighed, folded his arms and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “Where have I seen you before?”

Andrew stiffened and buried his face in his bag, his fat curls of long hair flying everywhere.

Rin walked to the bed Raja was currently decorating with his clothes and dropped onto the bottom bed. He pulled off his glasses and pushed back his hair.

“Hold on...” Duan snapped his fingers. “Now I know. You were once in my grade but dropped. Twice right? Your father had been involved in some drug related crime and had later died in a fire—”

“Duan!” Kimi looked at Duan with a murderous gaze. “You’re so stupid. Do you fucking know that?!” He grit his teeth maniacally at Duan and the blonde jerked and went wide-eyed at the look. “Why do you always have to keep running your stupid mouth?! Why can’t you just... UGH!” He fisted his hands and grit his teeth so tightly that they looked like they were about to shatter into multiple pieces.

Silver rubbed an arm and exhaled slowly. “Kimi? Kimmy, please, calm down.” He approached Kimi and sighed slowly. “Just... please... calm down. He just...” He sighed again. “He didn’t know what he was saying.”

Raja and Rin watched silently as Silver tried to calm a fuming Kimi, who had tears pricking his eyes. And they also watched as Andrew moved stiffly to the unclaimed bunk bed and dropped on the bottom bed with a pale look.

Duan scratched his neck awkwardly as he watched Kimi try to control his breathing. Why did he always have to make a mess by just talking? He sighed and muttered, “Ki—”

“If you dare talk to me I will fucking make sure that you’ll never call my name, even in your dreams,” Kimi hissed. He strode to the bunk bed, climbed up to the top bed and buried himself in the blanket.

“Duan,” Silver said and Duan looked at him with wide eyes. “Don’t blame yourself. Kimi has...” He sighed and passed his fingers through his hair. “I better not say what I’m not supposed to. Well”—he looked up and stared into Duan’s eyes—“he’ll come around. Give him time.” He loosely placed his hand on Duan’s shoulders before moving to his bed and stood beside it again.

“Dude,” Raja said with a smirk and got Duan’s attention. “You fucking screwed up.”

“Like you hadn’t,” Rin whispered dryly. “Your apology is pending.”

Duan sighed miserably and just moved to a shaken up Andrew. He crouched before the boy and proceeded to apologize to him in a hushed tone. Andrew just answered him with little nods.

Raja rolled his as he watched Andrew’s face brighten a little. Duan took his hand in his with a smile and whispered something to him. “If I’m going to fucking do that then count me out.” He dropped to the bed on his back and spread his legs carelessly.

After a few seconds, he suddenly sat up and looked at Kimi’s blanketed form, and he swore that he could hear Kimi’s voice whisper words familiar to him—words he had heard from someone else.

I still feel fear.

*

“Dude, can’t you like, stop standing and like, fucking sit in your bed?” Raja groaned as he watched Silver shuffle from one foot to another beside the bed, his face blanched and his arms wrapped around himself. “We’ve had lunch, dinner, showered, and you still can’t fucking—”

“Raja?” Rin looked past the bedpost so he could stare at his friend, his hazel eyes narrowed. “Beat it.”

Raja raised an eyebrow. “What?!”

The door to their room was pulled open and Tobe walked in dressed in a black bathrobe. “Lights out at nine.”

“Wha—” Raja bit his lips to shut himself when Tobe snapped his neck towards him like an owl. He relaxed when his teacher averted his gaze and looked at Silver instead.

“Silver? What happened?” Tobe asked, his voice softer.

Silver looked, his eyes red and puffed. “I-It’s uh... Um...”

“Should I get Illiad?” Tobe raised a brow.

Silver nodded rapidly. “Y-Yes... Th-That’ll be great.”

Tobe hummed in response, walked out and lightly shut the door. Andrew was reading a book in bed, Duan was unconsciously biting his fingernails as he spared Kimi’s sitting form a few stares, and Rin was going through his stuff.

It didn’t take long before Illiad busted into the room with a worried expression, a red blanket in his hands.

“Sil? Sil?!” He rushed to Silver and wrapped him in the blanket and his arms. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” He buried Silver’s face in his chest and brushed hair out of his eyes. “I thought you said that you could stay alone,” he said with a worried voice and expression.

Raja gave them a weird look. “I don’t wanna ask,” he groaned and dropped on the bed and wrapped himself in his blanket.

The rest gave them worried stares and curious stares, and watched silently as Illiad sat Silver on the bed and whispered soothing words to him.

Kimi pulled off his earpiece and watched as Silver calmed under the influence of Illiad’s hold and voice, a situation that he had been caught up in many years ago.

“If only you where here,” he whispered to himself, pain swirling in his chest, “then this life will only be but a freaking memory.”

Author’s Note: thank u for reading my story. Please vote, comment and share. Thanks for all your supports. (/^▽^)/