Chapter Text
Juna Crawford hated Kurt Vander.
She hated how good his self-control was.
The second time the class VII mission without Rean Schwarzer accompanying them had to be on Jurai .The place that was very close to Trista, where the main Thors Academy was and it indeed speak volume already. It was no coincidence that they would encounter the red-clad uniformed students sooner or later. Just like this one time.
“That’s the Vander kid, right?”
“Yeah, from that one rejected family.”
The five pair of feet suddenly stopped as the voice of two main Thors students erupted the moment they walked past them. Their ugly expressions and laughter made it very clear already: They didn’t have any intention of playing it down— They were blatantly mocking Kurt’s family history.
It was, without a single trace of doubt, boiling the anger inside of Juna’s body almost immediately. As per always, she always acted on her impulse, turning on her heels to address the matter personally. In her own way. “Why you—!!“
“—Juna. Stop.”
And as per always as well, Kurt’s reaction was almost as immediate, stopping Juna from finishing her curse. This of course prompted Juna’s to get even angrier at him. “What-!? Are you going to tell me to let them speak like that about your family, Kurt-kun!?“
Kurt did not give any reply. Instead, he continued his walk again as if he was trying to say that nothing actually happened earlier.
“Kurt-kun!? Are you for real-!?”
The pink haired girl stomped, about to march with her disagreement towards her blue-haired partner. However, before she was able to reach her destination, a single, slender arm reached out to her forearm, stopping her from doing what was unnecessary.
“Juna-san,” the owner of the said hand was no other but Altina. “Please calm down.”
“Al…?” Juna’s round green eyes finally managed to avert their attention to the side. From her other side, another female voice joined. This time it was Musse’s.
“I know you are angry, Juna-san,” Musse said. “But please look at Kurt-san right now.”
As the green haired sharpshooter said that, she also raised a finger to point at Kurt’s walking figure. Kurt was being very subtle about it, but on a closer look, literally anyone could tell that his arms were shaking, and he was clenching one of his hands into a big ball in frustration. Hell, he actually looked like he would explode at any given time.
“He’s hella mad right now,” finally Ash decided to speak, both hands in his pants pockets like always. “Dude looks like he would punch you to dead if you bring this shit out further.”
“That is true,” Altina added. “Kurt-san is being very emotionally unstable right now. He is in the worst point that I’ve ever witnessed myself, even.”
“Juna-san, this kind of talk is not unheard of between nobles,” To put a nail in the coffin, Musse continued. True, as fellow nobles from Class VII, Musse knew her things well. Even the good and the bad. “Although I have to say, in Kurt-san’s case, this is probably not the first time people would speak of his family like that. His family's name isn't exactly under the brightest sun these days.”
Four pair of eyes watched in a short, unearthly silence at the figure of the young Vander walking away further from them.
“Ha, if I were young master, I’d give them their just desert right away. I’m telling you.” Ash commented, his head looking over his shoulders to see the two Thors main branch students that seemed to be unaware of the Class VII’s distraught. “But hey, this is young master for you. He’d do jackshit about it.”
“Oh dear, please watch the language, Ash-san,” Musse returned Ash’s remark with cynical jabs like always. “Kurt-san won’t do anything because he knew they were trying to goad him into a fight to ruin his image even further.”
Even though Ash and Musse returned to their daily issues of throwing insults at each other for the hell of it, they never entered Juna’s ears. Instead, she was silent as she paid extra attentions to both Kurt’s figure and the words that her classmates had said earlier.
This was not the first time people would speak of his family like that.
This was not the first time people would speak ill of him like that.
Still, Kurt-kun never got angry about it. He’d never give any visible response at all because he knew that if he got angry at that, it would only bring problems to both his family and Class VII altogether without any sign of positivity in return. If that was not a commendable self-control, Juna didn’t know what to call it at all.
She still didn’t like it, though. The fact that he would just let those people went unpunished at all.
“Juna-san.”
Juna blinked in surprise as Altina interrupted her train of thought and her eyes immediately met the smaller girls’. Al knew. Al definitely could tell what was going on her mind.
“…I am sorry, Al,” Juna whispered. It was barely audible, but even so, Altina seemed to be able to hear it just right. “I am letting go of your hand, okay?”
“Mmm.”
Altina knew what the deal was and what was exactly going to happen. Her comparably tiny hands slipped out of Juna’s sleeve and the pink haired girl immediately fastened her stride to catch up with Kurt, who was already relatively far ahead of the rest of the class.
…
Out of all the things in the world that would make him angry, calling his family out was the first thing on the top of the stack. So to say that Kurt wanted to punch those people dead was in fact, an understatement of the century.
He wanted to grab his swords and brutally murder them, even.
If he had reacted to their taunt, however, he knew that he practically would have lost the fight immediately. Not only that he would ruin the Class VII’s reputation, he would also damage the Vander’s name’s honor and the Ashen Chevalier’s as well and Kurt definitely did not enroll in the school for that purpose. It had been a lost-lost situation for him. Thus why he had opted to take a series of inhaling and exhaling deep breaths to calm himself down.
But who was Kurt kidding? He wasn’t able to do that. Sure he didn’t lash out anything, but his brain had failed him. His entire body was starting to lose its control and his arms were shaking like some mad pricks that were very eager on thrashing around in uncontrollable rage. And he swore he would lose it at any second now.
A sudden, soft feeling around his hand immediately stopped him from losing control, however. At that, everything in his mind just seemed to shatter like some sort of glasses. Kurt’s blue eyes widened in surprise as he swiftly turned his hand to the side just to see… her.
Juna was there. Right beside him, with her hand subtly slipped inside the grasp of his hand in the most literal way. It took good five seconds for Kurt to realize what was happening before blushes started to creep into his cheeks.
“…Juna?”
“I am here for you,” Juna answered in embarrassment, throwing her head to the side. She knew that she was probably blushing as hard as Kurt already and hence why she refused to meet his eyes. “Everyone is here for you, Kurt-kun.”
That was it. That was the killer response. Whether she meant it platonically or even further than that, it immediately killed every single of angry nerve inside of Kurt. Albeit the fact that he was still blushing madly, Kurt’s shoulder seemed to tense down and relaxed down at Juna’s help. A soft, embarrassed laugh escaped his lips shortly, even.
“Thank you, Juna.”
Listening to his response was already enough to prompt her lips to form the most genuine smile that they had ever formed.
Juna Crawford hated Kurt Vander.
She hated how he would always try to act tough at every single moment for his friends’ sake when he was just as frail as the guy next door.
(But Juna promised at that moment, she would stay by his side regardless of everything. She would not let him shoulder things that shouldn’t be carried by one person anymore.)