Room 304, Diety Hall

Author: Yukimi2 yukimi2@yahoo.com

Comment: OK, I just decided. The setting is in an American college. (gomen. I don’t know how the college system is like in Japan ^^;) As for the inserted Japanese words, just bear with it. It’s a habit for me to just stick ‘em in. Anyway, enjoy ^_^.

Episode 3: Enter the Auburn-haired Beauty

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Go Away.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

ARGHHHH!

Kaoru swung his arm around and hit the alarm clock, knocking it off the table. Slowly, he got up and stretched his arms. Surprisingly, it was a nice, warm fall day. The autumn leaves were beginning to show on the tree by his dorm window despite the warmth of the wind. The sun shone brightly and lighted the small room. Was it really morning already? He glanced over to the bed beside him. The bed was neatly made and empty. Toshiya didn’t come back the night before.

Kaoru scowled. He’s probably screwing that blonde bastard Hakuei right now!!!

Kaoru got off the bed and prepared to go to class. He had to go to English 110, a class that all students were required to take as a GEC, that morning.

After brushing his teeth and hurriedly ate a granola bar {so unhealthy ><!! ~Yk2~} for breakfast, he grabbed his bookbag and opened the door.

The purple head sighed and again looked at his roommate’s bed.

The window is right above it and allowed a beautiful ray of sunlight to baptize it. It looked so empty.

Though he was bitter about Hakuei calling him Rat Face and not being able to study the night before, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of worry.

Totchi….

*****

"Ohayou, Kaoru!"

"Ohayou!" Kaoru grumbled. Pulling up a chair and sitting down hastily.

A moment of silence passed as his friend observed him calculatingly.

"My, my, something must be troubling you."

Kaoru turned to his friend Takeo, who is also a potential pre-med student in the same English class with him.

"It’s nothing. Just tired."

"So I see." Takeo raised an eyebrow. "You should know better than to lie to me, chum."

Kaoru sighed. Takeo was too smart and calculative to be bullshitted with.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, your silence is a factor."

"Eh?"

"Silence. --noun-- (1)avoidance or absence of sound---"

"OK OK! I understand."

"Ahem!" Takeo chuckled. "As I was saying. On a normal English 110 morning basis, you always come in with either a smile or a frown. A smile indicates your roommate did not pester you the night before and actually had a good night’s rest. A scowl would tell me that you were dragged to another frat party or your roommate was talking on the phone all night. Either way, during the process of smiling or scowling, you were always talking about why you were in such a mood. And today, you bore nothing but a scowl with silence, implying you went to a frat party with some complicated circumstances."

For a second, Kaoru could imagine his friend with a British accent smoking a Sherlock pipe. He wondered why Takeo didn’t go work at some detective agency or something. Then again, Takeo would be successful in any field he decides to go into anyway, especially with that GPA of his. What’s worse is that Takeo always had that calm, sophisticated demeanor about his air no matter what the situation is. He just seemed so….grown up? Makes a person wonder if he really is human.

Takeo continued. "Then there’s the missing coffee mug on your hand."

Kaoru looked at his hand. "That’s nothing peculiar."

Takeo gave Kaoru one of his really goofy looking smiles. "Elementary, my dear Kaoru, the missing coffee mug tells me the reason why you are silent today."

The purple head smirked. "OK, Sherlock-Takeo. Try me."

"You always have a coffee mug from Oxley’s with you every morning. It’s understandable because you don’t have time to eat breakfast before class. As what you’ve told me, you have difficulty waking up mornings, am I correct?"

"Yes…."

"And your roommate, despite sleeping 3 hours a day, has inhuman energy and gets coffee for both of you every morning at Oxley’s Café."

"Wait. How did you--?"

"I’m there every morning too." He picked up his mug and showed Kaoru. "And it’s not very hard to notice such a looker as your roommate."

"I’m sure he’d like to hear that."

"So I conclude from my observations that you are troubled today because your roommate did not go back to the dorm. Am I correct?"

Kaoru shook his head. "Takeo, you’re right on the money, like always."

"True. True. Am I ever wrong?" Takeo smiled. "So, do you want to talk about it?"

The purple head took a deep breath. "It’s really not much to talk about---"

"What’s not much to talk about?" asked a voice behind him.

Both men turned around to see Kirito, Aiji, and Jun behind them.

"Hello." Takeo greeted. "I’m surprised you did not come in late." The phrase was more directed to Jun than Kirito or Aiji, who were having too much fun on their own to talk.

Jun giggled. "We actually got Kohta out of his bed on time for once."

Jun was in Nursing. Not many guys ever went into that field of major, but with Jun’s sweet and nurturing personale, he fit right in. The only reason why Kohta would survive living in a dorm was because he roomed with Jun. (He threatened to jump off the window when asked to room with his brother).

Takeo flashed a sweet smile. "I assume since he does not want to be associated as Kirito’s younger brother, he’s seated in the far back of the room."

Jun nodded shyly. "Yup. He even went in the back door."

"Is Die here yet?" asked Kaoru.

"I’m not sure," said Jun, looking around the crowded lecture hall. "I haven’t seen him since the party last night."

"More than likely, his alcohol consumption from the night before will emaciate him from attending class this morning." Takeo explained.

Then, Prof. Pata (Professor of English ^_^;;) came out with his usual dreary aura, expressionless face, and monotone voice that sounded more like Buddhist chants than lecturing.

Kaoru looked around him. Almost everyone, even hard-core coffee holders, were knocked out from Prof. Pata’s boredom-battle aura within the first five minutes of lecture. Kirito and Aiji were asleep on top of each other. Takeo, who was taking notes, remained calm and unphased, while Jun fell asleep with his head on Takeo’s shoulder.

Kaoru began to feel the effects of Prof. Pata’s curse. His eyes began drooping. Nooo!! Must not give in……to boring …….. professor…..

Where was Die when he needed him? Die never paid attention in class anyway, but at least he talked to him. Kaoru stole Takeo’s cup and had a struggling sip of coffee.

***

Die ran as fast as he could through campus holding his ten page term paper in hand. He dodged passers-by who gave him looks of malice.

Fuck you, people. I’m late for class!

He was waaaay too late for English class. He never usually showed up for English because of hangovers, but there was a term paper due that day and he could not afford to fail.

He glared at an old lady who gave him the finger. Because of his preoccupation with retorting the old lady, the red head ran into someone and fell, causing all his papers to fly everywhere. Die’s eyes widened then grabbed his papers hurriedly. Then he whipped his head back, ready to punch the lights out of whomever he ran into. Die stopped and stared instead. There was a person on his knees, gathering up his own papers in the process.

Die’s eyes wandered over the overly-thin arms down the slim, delicate body, then rested his gaze to the person’s face. The person’s auburn hair looked beautiful swaying with the unusually warm autumn wind, and his features had a natural look of innocence, despite his the disapproving expression on his face from having to gather his papers.

Damn….what a looker….

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew over, causing one of the person’s pages to fly off in the distance. Die snapped out of his state then chased after the paper, grabbing it. He looked at the person’s name, which written on the top, before handing it back to the owner.

"Gomen." Die said. "Here."

The person glared at Die, then snatched his paper from the red head. Die didn’t notice the piercing glare given to him, but only noticed how the emerald-green eyes made the person’s face so angelic, even though they were only contact lenses. Suddenly, the beauty began to walk away from Die. Die quickly jumped to his feet and jogged over.

"Hey, are you new here?" Die asked, attempting to instigate a conversation.

No response.

"Hmmm?" Die grinned. "You don’t talk much do you?"

No response.

"Where are you headed?"

"I’ve got class."

"^o^! Wooo! He speaks!"

~Glare~

"What class do you have?"

"None of your business."

"C’mon. At least tell me what your major is."

"Music."

"Music major? Damn! That means you have to go through Prof.Yoshiki! He’s tough!"

The younger man decided to tune out the red head’s voice and walked faster.

"Are you going to music now?"

"No."

"Then where are you going?"

"My dorm."

"Where’s you’re dorm?"

"………"

Die chuckled. "Well, I can tell you’re new this quarter."

"…..How so?"

"Because all the dorms are over there." Die pointed at the other direction.

The younger man looked at where Die pointed then blushed hard.

Die looked at him. He was so beautiful, especially with slightly pinked cheeks. Suddenly, Die remembered about his term paper. He hit his head with his hand.

"Fuck!" He cursed. Of all the days to have a term paper due, it had to be the day he ran into a hot babe.

The younger man blinked.

"Ano…I have to go now. " Die quickly whipped out a piece of paper, scribbled some stuff down. "Here’s my dorm phone number and cell number." He swiftly put the paper in the other man’s pocket. "Call me, alright?" The red head winked then jogged away before the younger man had the chance to protest.

The auburn head took a deep breath, taking out and glancing at the scribbled piece of paper. He was so angry being knocked down and embarrassed like that. And what was that teasing grin he just gave him? He wanted to throw the paper away, but decided to put it back in his pocket. It wouldn’t do any harm to keep the number now, would it?

~CONT! @ part Vier!~

to be continued~