Chapter 4: Fanning the Flames
The boy sat next to Amaterasu without so much as a word. Whispers were exchanged between friends as they furtively glanced at their new classmate. He seemed not to notice.
Ama stared at him curiously. He was the first one to ever sit in that desk. Not that she knew an admirer of hers usually kept others as far away from her as he possibly could.
She took in the soft red of his hair that stopped at his ears. It was layered carefully, every hair seemingly knowing exactly where to fall. A bold chunk of black marred the red over his left eye. Those eyes, a piercing grey that reminded her of storm clouds, completely contrasted with the softness of his face. He appeared tall, but everyone looked tall to her so she thought he was likely about 5’ 8” or close to it. He was skinny for his height but not overly so. It even looked like he had some muscle underneath his black and grey striped shirt.
She was startled when he whipped his head around to return her stare. She closed her eyes and smiled kindly. When she opened them again he was still looking at her only now his eyebrow was arched with a question.
As Mr. Abel, the middle-aged functions teacher, rose from his seat, she introduced herself to the new boy. “I’m Amaterasu. You can call me Ama if you want.” She smiled again before the teacher claimed her attention.
“Venus, pay attention!” he snapped at the tall black haired girl sitting in the back. She pouted but turned away from the girl she was speaking with. Ama noticed from the corner of her eye that Venus was scowling at her. Why, she didn’t understand.
“Alright, before we continue with trigonomic identities, we have a new student in our class.” He gestured to the new boy. “This is Susanoo Himesaki. I expect at least one of you to volunteer to help him catch up.” Muffled laughter echoed across the room along with whispers of “emo” quite obviously directed as Susanoo. He barely seemed to notice.
“Moving on,” Mr. Abel spoke over the growing noise, quieting everyone in an instant, “we will be reviewing the basic identities and then moving onto the ones involving secant, cosecant and cotangent…”
Ama jotted down notes into her notebook dutifully and neatly. After a few minutes she noticed her attention was being drawn away from the teacher and to Susanoo sitting beside her. He had pulled out a laptop and was typing out his own notes with a bored expression. No matter how often she glanced at him, he never looked up at the board nor changed his expression once.
When the bell rang for lunch, Ama quickly put everything away in her bag and watched as everyone but Susanoo left ahead of her. All the boys glanced back at her as they left and slowed down but the teacher ushered them outside. Mr. Abel looked over his shoulder at her and said, “You’ll be assisting Susanoo?” It was more of a statement than a question but Ama nodded anyway. The teacher nodded absentmindedly and left for the cafeteria.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Ama waited patiently for Susanoo to finish packing his laptop. He seemed to be going slowly on purpose but he couldn’t drag it on forever. Eventually he straightened and slung his own bag onto his back. “Come on, I’ll show you around the school,” she said brightly. She took his wrist and led him out of the room and down the hallway.
It was filled with the chattering of students until Ama passed by. They all stopped talking and stared at Susanoo with suspicious eyes. The boys especially. Most were glaring with barely suppressed anger. Not that they would act on it. Someone else would keep them in line, if only to further his own goals.
“Ama,” a low tenor voice called. All eyes drifted up the hallway before immediately looking away. Hushed voices grew nervous and several of the boys edged away.
“Hi Ra-kun,” Ama replied brightly with a smile. Several girls glared at her, not bothering to conceal their jealousy.
Ra smiled in return but his face grew darker when he spotted Susanoo. Or, more correctly, the hand Ama had on Susanoo.
Ama continued smiling, oblivious to the one sided and silent war happening right in front of her. Things such as jealousy never occurred to her because, why would anyone be envious of her in the first place?
“Who’s this?” Ra growled low. It almost reverberated off the walls. A vein pulsed visibly under the skin of his neck covered by a peculiar sun tattoo. It was at the base of his neck and its rays spread up his neck and down towards his collarbone. Ama couldn’t recall ever talking to anyone who had known Ra without it.
He was tall even for a senior. Ama guessed he stood at around six foot nine, short for his apparent future profession, basketball. She was used to being overshadowed by tall men. All the men in her family were skyscrapers. But she didn’t think of Ra as being like her family, he was too different. Where her skin was pale, his was the mocha colour of an Arabs. Her blues eyes to the endlessly deep black holes of his and thick blue-black hair contrasted so sharply with her blonde hair it was the same as a solar eclipse, a meeting of the sun and moon.
Ama grazed the back of her neck briefly before answering. She could feel the subtle difference in the skin though Raiden claimed she was delusional. There was no way to feel a tattoo when the ink was below the surface. But she could and she knew it. She felt the rays of her own sun tattoo radiating out from its solid centre speckled with tiny stars. Her aunt claimed she had been born with it and the photos of her as a baby proved it. It was always there as a source of comfort.
“He’s a new student in my functions class,” Ama began, “Susanoo-”
“Himesaki,” Susanoo finished. Ama shot him a curious look. It was the first time she had heard him speak. His voice was a pleasant mid tenor. She was sure he could sing if he tried. “Is there a problem?” He was extremely calm.
“Just a small one,” Ra said. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, puffing himself out to be intimidating. Not that he needed the emphasis.
Susanoo shook his wrist free of Ama’s and put his hands up in mock surrender. “I get it. I’ll back off for now.” His words hung in the air as a naked challenge.
Ra’s anger seemed to flare for a moment and then die as he glanced back at Ama. She was looking at him with confusion in her eyes, wondering why an old friend and a new one were fighting for no reason.
She was taken aback at her own thoughts. She already counted Susanoo a friend? She normally waited a week to begin thinking of people that way. Any shorter and they were ‘friendly acquaintances.’ She glanced back at Susanoo and was startled by a sudden flow of affection directed at him. It was akin to the feeling she had when she was around Raiden, familial love.
“Ama?” Ra’s voice pulled her back. The world became normal again. “We’ve a presentation to prepare for.” Susanoo shrugged and walked off towards the science wing. The hallway began to move again at the tension eased. It was as if nothing had happened.
“Alright,” Ama said. She wiped any other thoughts from her mind and followed Ra as they headed off to the Arts wing of the school.
She took one look back to where Susanoo had last been and didn’t even see his retreating back. Sighing, she could still feel where she had touched him. And it tingled.