Ichigo turned the juice box from his lunch around and around in his hands, mind fixating on the altercation between him and Ishida before class. He certainly hadn’t meant to push his classmate that far; he was worried for the other, but that didn’t mean he could treat the teen like he would one of his friends.

Ishida barely knew him after all, and Ichigo knew exactly how he’d react to some stranger his age telling him how to do something.

(In that light, Ishida’s raised voice and retreat was certainly kinder than how Ichigo would react.)

(Whoops.)

Tatsuki elbowed him and arched an eyebrow. “Gunna brood all lunch, or do you feel like enlightening us on your conclusions?”

“I’m not brooding,” Ichigo said with a huff, yanking the little straw off the juice box and stabbing it through the foil covered hole. “We need to back off.”

Tatsuki hummed and stirred the rice in her bento thoughtfully. “Yeah, I figured as much. We’re just driving him up a wall right now.”

“He doesn’t understand,” Chad spoke up before Ichigo could comment on Tatsuki’s words. When Ichigo gave him a curious look, Chad shrugged and said, “What do we actually know about him? Beyond that he’s our neighbor and he’s ill.”

Ichigo exchanged a look with Tatsuki, then looked past her to Orihime, trying to come up with anything that didn’t fit either criteria of ‘neighbor’ or ‘ill’. Judging by Tatsuki and Orihime’s expressions, nothing really came to mind for them either. Still… how would that fit in with Ishida not understanding them? No one knew anyone before they got closer…

Chad carefully rearranged the chopsticks in his hand, focus on that instead of the others as he said, “An exclusive clique taking interest in a chronically ill classmate? He thinks we pity him.”

“We’re not exclusive,” Ichigo said with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest. “People avoid us because we have a reputation and you know it.” The flat, dry look Chad gave him made him sigh in defeat. “Yeah, yeah, I know, that makes it worse.”

Orihime sighed and pushed her bento away from her. “I… think I get it,” she murmured, leaning into Tatsuki’s side and lacing her fingers together over one knee. “Did you see how no one else really pays attention to him at all? I… I wonder if he’s ever had any friends?”

“If he did, they probably weren’t very good friends,” Tatsuki said as she wrapped an arm around Orihime’s waist. “That’s the impression I’m getting from him. Along with the impression that groups and attention from strangers overwhelms him.”

Ichigo leaned back on one hand and took a sip from his juice box, trying to come up with a plan to draw Ishida into their group. No one deserved to be alone the way Ishida was; even just someone to pass notes to in class might—

Now there was an idea. He’d seen the interest Ishida’d had in the note he and Tatsuki had passed back and forth the first day. Maybe if they included him in the cycle? Just innocuous things at first — teachers and homework and other neutral topics — to break the ice. Notes also had the benefit of being quiet, something that Ishida seemed to prefer.

If Ishida didn’t react well to it then he’d drop the attempt, but… the idea felt like a good one. It was a way to include Ishida without overwhelming him, and hopefully a way for him to get to know them without pressure.

“Alright, spill.” Tatsuki stretched her foot out to nudge Ichigo’s leg, then smirked at him when he shot her an annoyed look. “You have that ‘eureka’ look on your face—”

“I do not have a ‘eureka’ look!”

“—you absolutely do and it’s on your face right now. Spill, Ichi-kun!”

Ichigo snorted and blocked her next attempt at poking him with her foot. “If you’re going to be like that then maybe I won’t,” he told her haughtily. “Just because you’ve known me forever—”

“Hah! So you do have a plan! C’mon, spill!”

He grabbed her leg on her next poke and yanked, sending her tumbling into Orihime’s lap with a yelp, then held her leg in the air to keep her unbalanced. Not that it did any real good; if he wanted to hold her in place, he needed to be a lot more thorough then just immobilizing one leg. “What’s the magic word.”

Tatsuki squirmed, laughter bubbling up as she tugged at Ichigo’s grip and made a show of trying to escape. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop poking you!”

Ichigo pretended to consider it just long enough for Tatsuki to start pouting at him, then let go of her foot and leaned back. “I guess I accept your gracious offer,” he deadpanned. “Not like I’m going to get a better one.”

“You know, I can take it back—”

“I was planning on trying notes,” Ichigo said, talking over Tatsuki’s ‘threat’. “Since he doesn’t like confrontation, that might work out better.”

Tatsuki paused and slowly pushed herself up out of Orihime’s lap, a pensive look on her face. “Notes, huh…?”

He shrugged and glanced up at Chad to judge his friend’s opinion. “Figure I could start out with an apology for this morning. If he accepts that, we can loop him in on other notes. Make his day a little more entertaining, maybe.”

“He really does look bored a lot, doesn’t he?” Orihime mused as she leaned into Tatsuki’s side and sighed. “I wish we could do more but… I think you’re right.”

“Not today,” Chad said with a small shake of his head. “Give him space. Monday.”

Ichigo considered that and had to agree with Chad’s suggestion; with how badly he’d riled Ishida without meaning to, giving him some space to relax would probably be best. He’d apologize Monday morning through a note then seen how the rest of the day went.

Hopefully they hadn’t completely soured his opinion on them.