Pushover | Aether x Reader

Eleven

(Y/n) stood by the gate, waiting for a certain brunette's arrival. It was fifteen minutes past the dismissal time and she grew restless every time a student passed by her and gave her a look of disdain.

Was she getting bothered by the fact she was being avoided by most of the people in school? It appeared so.

"They don't know what they're talking about anyway. They don't bother me," she muttered as she bit her nails in anxiety.

As students walked out of school, they gave her judgemental looks and headshakes of disappointment. They made her feel ashamed even though she knew she did no such thing.

"They're just projecting... Ignore them..." She breathed in, eyes on her feet as she tries to calm herself. Her chest was tight and she felt herself choking back a sob.

"Hey bestie, I'm here." Hu's cheery voice came as she jumped at her from behind with a hug. "Sorry I took my sweet time. Albedo took forever to attend to me."

"Hm? Albedo?" (Y/n) raised an eyebrow. She felt the incoming breakdown fade away and she was glad it did. She straightened up and composed herself back into the model student she was and always will be.

"Yeah, Albedo." Hu nodded, pulling out a bright yellow piece of paper and showed her the names scribbled onto it. "He handles the art room after school, remember? So he knows who's gone in and out of the club before the incident where your lighter suspiciously found its way to the crime scene!"

"Oh," (Y/n) simply said. "But I thought you already had a lead? How could you have had a lead when you just got the list now?"

"Shhh, I knew we'd have a lead by now!" Hu waved her off. She cleared her throat and smoothened the piece of paper. "Anyway, let's go through our list of suspects, shall we?"

"First, we have you and Ayaka. We'll cross you both off since we know it's not you and you had your eyes on Ayaka the entire time you entered the room."

"I wouldn't say it entirely, but sure." (Y/n) shrugged. "It's not Ayaka, I know it isn't."

"Yeah, yeah, you get my point." Hu rolled her eyes. "Next, we have Zandik."

"Zandik?" (Y/n) raised an eyebrow. "Do I know him?"

"The green-haired guy you and Kunikuzushi were in the theatre club with back then?"Hu looked at her in disbelief. "Don't tell me you already forgot!"

"H-ha...? Oh, you mean Dottore!" (Y/n) snapped her fingers. "Yeah... I knew his name was Zandik, I just forgot."

"Typical (Y/n) (L/n)." Hu snickered. "I thought you guys were close too. Didn't he confess to you back then too? As well as Kunikuzushi? Dang, they both took that hard huh—"

"I-It's in the past, Hu... We're not close anymore." (Y/n) glared. "Just continue what you were saying, will you?"

"Alright, alright." Hu rolled her eyes. "Next, we have the one and only Aether."

"He goes to the art room?"

"Not usually, but people say he was looking for someone." Hushrugged. "Probably Ayaka. People saw Ayaka confess to him the other day."

"I see." (Y/n) nodded. "I don't think he did it either."

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine it," Hu said. "But bestie, there are certain factors we have to keep in mind. Factors make him my top suspect. Of course, I might be wrong, but I think he's the most suspicious of all."

"Why is that?"

"You know how Kunikuzushi has a history of bullying him? Aether was pretty frail back then and Lumine always had to defend him. Well, since Lumine is gone this year, Kunikuzushi has taken his doings to a top-notch. He steps all over Aether now—"

"Don't remind me," (Y/n) grumbled. "That piece of cowardly shit—"

"Save that for later. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is... Kunikuzushi might've manipulated him into framing you," Hu said. "Take it with a grain of salt though, but I'm just saying he has the highest suspicion rate at least to me."

(Y/n) sighed. She knew that she didn't know Aether well enough to say that he would never do such a thing, but despite knowing that Kunikuzushi did have some sort of control over him, she also knew he wasn't that pathetic.

"Well, what do we do with this information then?" She crossed her arms.

"We uncover the truth," Hu said. "Push it out of him. He won't face the same consequences if he was manipulated and his word would clear out your name."

"Right," (Y/n) nodded. "I'm not completely into this idea, however. I feel it's a cruel thing to involve an innocent person."

"We're not sure he's innocent yet, (Y/n)." Hu sighed. "Look, how about this. We just straight up ask him about it. If he agrees to be a witness, somehow, then we'll let him off the hook. That sound good?"

"Fine, fine." (Y/n) sighed. Her eyes linger around, scanning the groups of students leaving the school. Now that Hu was with her, the judgemental gazes lessened significantly.

"Speak of the devil," Hu said, turning (Y/n)'s head over to a familiar blond boy in the distance.

Aether stood in the middle of three girls as they walked out of the school gates at a steady pace  He smiled sheepishly as they spoke amongst themselves, nodding occasionally in response to their questions.

(Y/n) didn't know why but she felt slightly nervous at the sight of him. She remembered their encounter earlier that day and how she wasn't in the right mind when conversing with him.

"Wanna go talk to him? I don't think they'd mind if you pulled him away for a bit." Hu said. "Or should I go do it—"

"No," (Y/n) said quickly. She'd rather die than let Hu interrogate the poor boy. HuTao was ruthless when it came to these things. "I'll do it."

"Atta girl!" Hu smirked. "Don't forget to shout out our secret word in case you need help!" She pushed her gently towards him and gave her a thumbs up.

'I hate this, I want to go home.'

(Y/n) stumbled on her own feet but she proceeded to make her way over to the blond boy. However, just as she was just about to be in earshot of him, a group of guys blocked her off.

They stood in front of her with menacing smiles on their faces. One held a phone, recording her every move. Another had his arms crossed and aggressively getting in her face.

"You're not trying to get Aether to clear out your name for you, are you? Why can't you just accept that you can no longer make everyone think that you're little miss perfect anymore?"