KOF School

Back to school

Kyo had somehow found his way to Iori's house and stopped in front of it, parking his bike in the driveway. He stood at the front door and gulped before ringing the doorbell. "Hello?"
Kazuhiro answered the door and looked at him, confused. "Yes?"
There was no doubt that it was the right house since the older man looked just like Iori. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Can I see Yagami Iori? I'm his classmate."
Kazuhiro frowned for a moment. "You're Kusanagi Kyo, aren't you?"
"Uh... yeah," Kyo nodded. "That's me. Is he home? I just came to say hi."
Kazuhiro widened the doorway and let him in. "Right this way, he's watching tv."
Kyo bowed and followed him into the house. The first thing he spotted was a headful of red hair protruding from the sofa.
"Iori, your friend is here to see you," Kazuhiro informed, making his way to the kitchen.
Iori turned around and spat his mouthful of jasmine tea in shock. "Kyo?!"
"Hey, Yagami," Kyo greeted awkwardly.
Iori coughed. "What are you doing here?!"
"Just came for a visit," Kyo shrugged, going towards him.
Iori didn't know what to say, but just pointed to the sofa as a signal for him to sit down.
"How are you doing now?" Kyo asked, his gaze falling on the bobtail on Iori's lap.
"I'm better now," Iori nodded, stroking his cat. "The doctor advised me to get a pet. So I did."
"Oh... that's nice..." Kyo remarked. "By the way, I brought you some fish sticks to snack on. And a book since I've seen you reading in class." He put the plastic bag down on the coffee table in front of him.
"Thanks," Iori bowed slightly, putting his cat on the seat beside him. "How are classes going?"
"Kinda dull, honestly," Kyo sighed. "You have a lot of homework to catch up on, though."
"Nah, Kay kept me updated on all the class work," Iori chuckled. "I'm finished with them."
Kyo nodded in surprise. He jumped when something brushed against his leg and looked down to see a black Persian cat casually striding past him to leap onto the sofa beside Iori. The redhead smiled and lifted the cat onto his lap.
"You have two cats?" Kyo snorted.
"The more the better," Iori smirked. "This one's Yua."
Kazuhiro chuckled and came up with a tray of jasmine tea. He put a glass down in front of Kyo and poured some before pouring a glass for himself. Kyo bowed a little and slowly sipped the warm drink.
"Your sister at school?" Kyo asked.
"Uh yeah..." Iori nodded. "My dad went to get her."
Kyo nodded and finished his tea. "By the way, I think I'll get going now. See you soon, Yagami, Uncle."
The two redheads bowed and saw him off.
"Is he your best friend too?" Kazuhiro asked his nephew when Kyo rode off on his bike.
"Gosh, no," Iori shook his head. "I don't even like him actually. But it's kinda nice of him to stop to see me. I never expected him to be like this, though."
Kazuhiro chuckled. "He's a Kusanagi, right?"
"Yeah..." Iori nodded, closing the door behind them. "You know his dad or something?"
"Seen him once or twice at the Tradition Club," Kazuhiro shrugged. "He's your father's old friend, ya know?"
"Well, I'm not even surprised," Iori snorted, sitting on the sofa to resume watching his sitcom. "Anyway, when's Aiko and Dad coming back?"
"He just left, Iori," Kazuhiro shrugged, leaning back in the sofa with his hands behind his head. "They say he's progressing surprisingly well."
Iori smiled. "He's got a new sort of determination now to keep him going."

***

When Iori came back to school a week later, the school counsellor was waiting outside his classroom, holding a care package.
"Welcome back, I hope you're feeling a lot better now," Terry smiled, handing the box to him. "Also, if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be in the counselling room. We can chill, have some tea, and have a nice chat."
Iori bowed and received the box with a smile. "Thank you, Bogard-sensei."
"Please, Terry is fine," Terry chuckled.
"Terry-san," Iori corrected.
"Well, still formal, but it's fine," Terry shrugged. "Anyway, go right in."
Iori bowed to him again and entered the classroom. To his surprise, they threw a small party for him.
"Oh my god... why?" Iori awkwardly entered.
"Welcome back, Iori!" Kay exclaimed, grinning.
"Is this all your doing?" Iori asked, smirking slightly.
"Actually, no," Kay chuckled. "It was Athena. She's the one that planned everything."
Iori turned to Athena and bowed. "Thank you. This means a lot to me."
They started cleaning up and Iori, Kyo, and Kay were assigned to clean the bathroom.
"Poor you, you just came back and they already gave you bathroom duty," Kyo groaned, grabbing the dust cloth. "Now we have to scrub toilets. Or rather... wipe them."
"Admit it, you're the only who's grossed out by this," Iori snorted, grabbing some of the cleaning equipment. "I don't even mind, do this all the time."
"You mean, you actually clean at home?" Kyo said in surprise.
Kay and Iori exchanged surprised looks.
"You mean to say... you don't do chores?" Kay uttered in shock.
Iori snorted. "He can only clean if he's at home, right? He's probably always out hanging out with that Beni guy."
Kyo frowned and stomped off to a stall to just start cleaning.
"You know, Iori," Kay smirked. "Kyo was actually pretty concerned for you when you were at the hospital?"
"He was?" Iori said in surprise. "News to me."
"Well, yeah, you suddenly went berserk and then wound up in a hospital," Kyo remarked from the bathroom. "How is that not concerning?"
"Yeah, it was pretty intense..." Kay agreed.
"Your sister was crying too, imagine that," Kyo added. "Isn't that scary? Even she didn't know what to do!"
Iori grimaced. "Can we just start cleaning?"
Kay glared at Kyo before going over to the stall next to his to start cleaning. Soon, they were done and went back to their classroom.
Classes began as usual and the teachers were overly concerned for Iori, much to his dismay.
"Yes, Sensei, I'm better now," Iori kept saying. "I'm fine, really."
When recess came, it became much worse.
"So what did the doctor do?" Kyo asked, taking a bite of his fish crackers. "Did they... give you a lobotomy or something?"
"Gosh, no," Iori groaned. "Why would you think that?"
"I dunno, you were pretty crazy, Yagami," Kyo shrugged.
Iori sighed. "No, they didn't give me a lobotomy, they recommended me to have a pet. I'm still going through therapy, by the way."
"A pet?" Kay asked in surprise. "Why?"
"For comfort or something," Iori shrugged. "It's actually helping, I love my pets."
"What pet did you get?" Ryo asked, joining in. "Dog?"
"Cats," Iori corrected with a smirk. "Two of them. I named them Rio and Yua."
"Ryo?" Ryo said in surprise. "You named your cat after me?"
"Not Ryo, Rio," Iori sighed. "Why would I name my cat after you? They're both female, by the way."
"That's nice, I guess," Kay shrugged. "I'm not really a fan of cats but I guess they do give comfort and love."
"They do," Iori nodded. "Also, what kind of stuff did I miss this week?"
"Lots, actually," Kay smirked. "Kyo had to do community service, raking leaves around the school compound."
"What did you do?" Iori turned to Kyo.
Kyo frowned. "Got in trouble with Takuma..." he spotted Ryo glaring at him. "Sensei..." he quickly added.
"Again, what did you do?" Iori repeated.
Kyo didn't say anything, just turning back to his place. 
"He skipped class and decided to hang out behind the back block," Kay snitched. "Sakazaki-Sensei caught him and immediately brought him to Bernstein. You can already guess how it ended..."
"Yikes..." Iori shuddered. "Why you gotta get yourself into trouble like that?"
Kyo simply shrugged.
Kay rolled his eyes and turned to Iori with a concerned look. "Hey, you really okay now?"
"I am," Iori sighed. "The doctor says it might've been because of trauma."
"Stress and trauma can do all of that?" Ryo said, wide-eyed. "What kind of stuff did you even go through?"
Iori simply shrugged.
"Aww come on!" Kyo and Ryo groaned.
"Hey, people are allowed to have personal problems, okay?" Kay defended. "I'm sure you guys have something you don't want us to know, right?"
They both sighed. They realised that their recess was almost over and quickly ate their food.
"You know, Kyo... it was pretty nice of you to come over to my house that day," Iori remarked, closing his lunchbox. "I really like that book you gave me too."
"Kyo came to see you?" Kay asked in surprise.
Kyo frowned. "Yes. I felt like I had to since... his father knows mine."
Kay looked at them in surprise. "How?"
"Tradition Club or something," Iori shrugged. "Anyway, what subject do we have after this?"
"Maths, I think..." Kay shrugged.
Kyo groaned and quickly stuffed his face with his fish.