Caged animal

"Ritsu!" the teacher immediately called earning her attention as she responded. To the class this was their second time hearing her voice except for Akagi and the teacher who for some reason knew the names of all the students.

"See me after class." t6he teacher instructed before turning back to the display behind her as she continued with the lesson while Akagi and Ritsu proceeded to their seat.

Akagi was still in his 'mood' as he sat down and stared right at the teacher but from her position Ritsu clearly knew that his mind was far away wandering far past confines of the classroom and the school at large, far past the horizon itself.

Date: 7 January 2066, 05:49 am

Location: Dormitory Section, First year Apartment, 

Specific Location: Akagi's room.

It was quiet, his view blurry but he could at least make out a source of light as a voice slowly filled his head. A hand suddenly stretched out and pointed to the sky as his view slowly cleared until he could finally make it out. High above the sky, circular in shape as it orbited the earth, radiating with calmness and tranquility as it shone down dimly upon the earth. "Moon." was its name and a voice almost seemed to have uttered the word in his mind. 

He gnashed and gritted his teeth as he covered his right eye as he said, "It's the same nightmare all over again." He sat on his balcony just staring at the brilliant night sky before him. 

The air was calm and still all around him as he sat almost at one with the darkness until he finally got up and walked back into his room muttering, "I need a drink." He left his room a few later still in his night wear, his hand still pressing against his eye. He staggered along the hallway using the walls for support as he cursed under his breath. "Damn it with these headaches." he hissed as he awaited the elevator.

Once outside, he took in lung full of the fresh air and with slow steady steps, he left the apartments section and left the dormitory section towards the school park hoping to get a place to relax. A gentle zephyr blew about as he strolled amid the trees gently swaying the trees, his mind completely free lost amid the trees and various street lamps that provided light to the place, until he suddenly heard a female voice shout, "LOOK OUT!" and he immediately dashed back just in time as he saw a female come crashing down right before his eyes and he did completely nothing to help.

"What's with the people in this school?" the girl complained as she swayed her hair from her visage. Immediately, both eyes locked and Akagi immediately started backing away but for some reason stopped when she spoke, "Oh, it's you, Akagi Koremitsu was it?" Clad in running outfit, Ritsu was on the ground slightly dusty, staring up at him as he towered over her. 

She tried arising to dust herself but the pain she felt on her leg immediately pushed her back to the ground. "Don't worry about it, I'll be up in a minute." she said as she tried rising yet again but went tumbling back down as she heavily panted. Akagi wasted no time as he immediately turned to walk away.

"Wait, Wait up!" she called bringing him to a halt, "at least help me up, Akagi Koremitsu, you aren't going to leave a girl in this state are you?" she called at him. Akagi simply turned, lifted her and onto the nearest bench she went and immediately started walking away without a single word but Ritsu held him back saying, "You know, I never really attended first Aid classes and I wouldn't want the wound to get infected she said pointing at the wound on her leg.

Akagi simply looked at her and heaved a heavy sigh before he said, "Don't move your leg much until I return."

A few minutes later

"I thought I told you not move!" Akagi snapped as soon as he caught sight of her 

"Oh…..err…you see…" 

"Just don't." Akagi quickly stopped her as he closed the distance in between them, had a seat and asked her to stretch her leg and said no more as he began tending to the wound. A suffocating silence hung in between them as Akagi carefully went on as she sat in silence, just staring around. The continuously silence gnawed on her consciousness until she finally decided to speak up, "So about yesterday… I'm sorry if I said anything to offend you, please forgive me." she seemed rather embarrassed as she clearly wasn't used to apologizing that much. "What did I do to make you hate me so much? Don't get me wrong I'm used to all the hatred from other people but you… Any time I look at you I can literally see you seething with rage… You take it to a whole new level…" a sharp groan escaped her mouth as an even sharper amount of pain cut through her nerves.

"You talk too much." Akagi said as he ties the knot even more firmly. "I'm done, that should buy you a day or so but make sure to visit the doc today." he said and immediately stood and started walking away only to be called back again, he was going to ignore her but the tone of her voice made him see otherwise. He turned to find her just fixed on the ground, her expression, though barely visible from the overhead street lamps, clearly indicating that she had something important to say. She tapped on the space next to her signaling him to have a seat and he was about to snap at her when he finally heard the word, "Please." and that's when he complied.

"Errm… I'm not sure where to start… and I know that this is none of your business but… I need help." she started, "when people look at me they immediately have this… a mentality towards me, 'The bright young girl who has it all.' and in the end that gives them a foundation to either hate me or chase after me for one reason or another. But recently I realized no one ever really cares about me. I used to think that they were the problem but now I see that there never really was a problem to begin with. It has always been me and me alone. My parents have extremely high expectations for me… that I'm not even sure I can live up to… and…" she went quiet for a few. Akagi just stared at her waiting for her to recollect herself as she seemed almost overwhelmed by her emotions, not that he cared in the first place but he just wanted her to finish so that he could go back to his room.

"My parents never care about what I want or my opinion but they just want me to keep raising the family name. All of my life I've felt like a caged animal who could only but view the sky from afar and come to think of it now, I think this is what has stimulated my love for astronomy. I tried to talk to my parents about it but they banned me from ever focusing on anything apart from my studies and so now here I am… I'm not sure I know how to make friends but I know I want to and… well, let me just cut to the chase."

"It's about time." Akagi thought to himself.

"A few days before we reported to school I opened a fortune cookie and it said, 'The year in which your dreams will be fulfilled.' at first I didn't believe it and thought nothing of it until the day when a very rude boy came looking for me. On that day, for the first time I ended up in a case with the admin of my school and… I'm guessing you can piece up the rest. So in a nutshell… if you don't mind, for the time that we'll be here in school, can you please help me just… live the life I've been missing out and dreaming off?" she said with her hands together as she finally turned to face him. 

Akagi just stared at her, he didn't care about some childish dream a girl had nor did he give a single thought about helping her. He was about to decline when his eyes suddenly dilated as a sharp pain tore through his right eye once more. He held it and tried rubbing it but the pain was unbearable. Ritsu on the other hand just remained silent as she awaited his answer.

"You know when I opened a fortune cookie last night it said, 'Bad luck.' if only I knew that this is what it meant..." Akagi muttered before he turned to face her as the pain seemed to start subsiding. Don't expect anything from me but I'll try to help you out in any way I can." then he immediately got up just as Ritsu's expression brightened up with the words, "Thank you so much." however she didn't finish because Akagi i9mmediately interrupted her saying, "Just know this, you and I are in no way friends and I have completely no intention of making you one. I only agreed to help you accomplish your dreams and nothing more. Meddle in my business and I'll forget everything I said here today."

Ritsu seemed rather shocked by this sudden response but nonetheless she remained silent as Akagi walked away without another look at her. She wondered why he was suddenly so hostile but above all why his eye suddenly turned red but took refuge in the thought, "At least he agreed to help."

"What's up with him?" she wondered as she struggled on his trail.

Akagi on the other hand, groaned as he tried rubbing his eye once more while the pain seemed to suddenly intensify. He fished around his pocket but in the end came out empty, he cursed, "Note to self always carry the pills around."