(See the end of the chapter for not

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

‘You’ll be fine! Give it a try. If you need me, send me a text and I’ll handle it. You know the drill.’



Mika reads the message several times before he decides not to answer. He doesn’t feel confident that it’ll all go as well as Krul hopes, and he’s sure that she knows it won’t go too well either. The first day of school never goes well for him. He has a prediction of how today will play out. Soon, the other students will enter the classroom, and hopefully, so will the teacher. Next, they’ll notice his appearance, and they’ll whisper or spread rumors. Then, word will somehow reach back to him, and finally they’ll have to move again. It’s a routine that’s become extremely aggravating, but something that Krul says is necessary to keep him safe. Mika’s never complained.



He hears the door creak open and turns his head to see a young woman with hair the color of wheat. Assuming that this is the teacher, he turns off his phone and makes his way towards her. She gives him an odd smile and asks, “You’re the student, right?”



Here we go.



“Yes,” he answers, holding back a sigh. “My name is Mikaela Hyakuya.”



The woman makes her way towards the brown desk and searches through her tote bag. The blond watches as she takes out various folders and binders of a variety of colors, none of which seem to be what she’s looking for. She doesn’t look like she’s very organized, or prepared.



A thin black folder catches her eye, and she quickly opens it up to finger through papers until she finds her attendance sheet. “Hyakuya, Hyakuya… Oh, yeah! Mikaela Hyakuya! There you are!”



Mika notices that as she speaks, her eyes glance from his eyes to his mouth. It can’t be ignored, can it? Yes, it’s a surgical mask. Get over it. He can’t be the first person to ever wear one at every school.



She giggles and breaks her gaze. “Well, you sure are early! How long have you been here?”



“Just a few minutes.”



“Oh, okay! That’s good, I’d feel really bad if you’ve been waiting here for a long time!” She shakes his hand and adds, “I am Ms. Hanayori, it’s nice to meet you! Your seat is right in the middle center row, to the left.”



The blond lets go of her warm hand and simply replies, “Thank you.” He turns and takes the left seat. The desks are arranged by twos, so Mika assumes that whoever sits to the right of him will be his partner for discussion or assignments. Which, of course, he dislikes; Mika works alone. He’s not here to socialize or make friends.



Ms. Hanayori decides to keep killing the silence. “There’s only five minutes until class starts! I hope that the others will come soon.” She walks around the room and places little folded nametags on the desks, and luckily for her, the students are finally arriving. “Hello all! New seats today! Please find the desk with your nametag. Class will be starting soon, so please, don’t waste time!”



While the other students walk down the rows and switch different name tags, Mika decides to read Krul’s message one more time. ‘You’ll be fine! Give it a try. If you need me, send me a text and I’ll handle it. You know the drill.’



Girls are whispering about him and his white mask. It’s already beginning.



He decides that he will respond after all. ‘I’ll try. Thank you.’ At least now, if people glance over at him, he will look busy. However, it’s useless. Mika’s eyes move up to the time on his phone and he notices that there’s only one minute until the bell rings. He finally scans the room and notices that most of the students have their phones on their desks, so he decides to keep his phone out as well, to fit in with the others. The more normal he appears to these students, the better. At least, he’ll try to look as normal as he can while wearing a white surgical mask everyday. If that’s even possible.



He leans down to the side of the desk to grab a pencil and a folder out of his backpack, and as he puts them on his desk, the bell rings. The chatter finally dies down, not that he really payed much attention to it. The sooner he can start the day, the sooner he can end the day. It’s just a chore.



“Your seat is over there,” he hears Ms. Hanayori say. Mika lifts his gaze up to the front of the class and sees her speaking to a student with raven hair. He looks to the right and notices that this seat is the only empty one remaining. This kid’s going to be his partner.



The boy turns his head and locks eyes with the blond, and he almost jumps. Mika knows those bright green eyes better than his own, and finding them again sends butterflies to his stomach. As the student walks towards his seat, Mika forces himself not to stare. He looks so much like him…. It must be a coincidence, he can’t be…



“Hello everyone!” Ms. Hanayori says, grinning at the class. “I have some important announcements, but before we get to those, I need to take attendance! When I call your name, please respond ‘here!’ If you’re not, then please attend tomorrow!” Her giggle hangs alone in the silence as she picks up the attendance sheet once more and clears her throat. “Okay! Yuichiro Amane?”



Mika’s heart freezes. He turns his head to look at the boy to his right again. He can’t believe it; he never thought he’d see him again, not after his own adoption.



“Here,” Yuu says casually. He looks back at Mika briefly before glancing around the room and resting his head on his hand. Has he not realized who he is? He would understand; it’s been four years, and he’s wearing the mask. All Yuu has to go off of is his hair and his eyes, he probably would have to see more to really know it’s Mika. He patiently waits for his name to be called. Yuu has to remember his name.



“Mikaela Hyakuya?”



“Here.”



“Huh? Mika?” Yuu blurts, lifting his head up immediately. He now stares at Mika with wide eyes for a moment, and smiles as Ms. Hanayori continues taking attendance. “Holy shit, Mika! It’s you!”



“Yuu-chan…” Mika smiles back, but it doesn’t mean anything. The mask hides the first display of happiness he’s made in a long time, but he hopes that Yuu can sense the smile through his eyes. He’s been remembered after all, and much to his relief, quite fondly, it seems. “You’re so loud.”



Yuu opens his mouth, but it’s Ms. Hanayori’s who makes words first. “Now, class, I’m sure you’ve noticed a new face and a new name today! This is Mikaela Hyakuya!” She points at him so that the whole class can see him, in case they didn’t notice a weird new blond kid with half of his face covered sulking silently earlier. “He is our new student! Please treat him kindly. I’m sorry, Mika, I would have an icebreaker activity today, but this class is kind of behind! So, everyone, please take out your notebooks. I will be lecturing today. I expect zero talking, because this stuff will be on the test! You talk? You’ll get detention, plain and simple. Are we clear?”



“Yes, Ms. Hanayori,” the class answers.



Mika’s very disappointed, he wants to talk to Yuu and hear about his life and what’s happened in the past four years. It’ll have to wait, he decides. There will be time.





“Mika! Hey, wait!”



The blond stops just outside of the classroom and turns to see Yuu hurrying over to him with his phone out. “Mika, what hour do you have lunch? I want to catch up with you.”



Pulling up his schedule on his own phone, he replies, “Fifth, it looks like.”



“Fuck yeah! Me too!” Yuu gives him a stupid grin, and Mika can’t help but feel the butterflies flutter. God, he’s missed Yuu. Even if they haven’t said ten sentences to each other yet, just seeing him is enough to make him feel like he finally has the world’s brightest flashlight to guide him out of the woods. “Sit with me and my friends.”



“Your friends…” Mika puts his phone away. Of course, he has other friends. Well, at least Yuu wants him there, and if Yuu wants him there, he will not deny his request. “Sure. I’d be happy to.”



“Cool! Where’re you heading?”



“Science,” he answers. “You?”



“Math,” Yuu shrugs. “I should have your phone number, yeah?”



Mika looks away and says, “Later, definitely. I’m not quite sure where my next class is, and I only have so much time to find it. We can exchange numbers during lunch, Yuu-chan.”



He nods. “Yeah! Just so you know, the science hallway is down the stairs. I’ll find you in a couple of hours. Good to see you again, Mika!”



“Good to see you, too, Yuu-chan,” he mumbles back. Walking towards the stairs, he pulls out his phone again and opens his conversation with Krul.


‘I think you’re right. I’ll be fine, Krul. I will not move again.’

Notes:

thanks for reading mask au!! im already well into the second chapter so it should be uploaded very soon. in the next chapter, we meet the squad and some interesting events play out. I hope you like it!!!