Secret Time

"Calm down, Hidoi," I said, holding Hidoi in my arms and keeping him relaxed. "You can trust them. They're my friends."

Hidoi didn't respond and just stood as I hugged him. His arms limped and he let out a breath, keeping his cool. He pushed my arms away and looked at my friends with that dull expression of his.

"What are you all here for?" He asked. "I've never seen you here. And more importantly…" Hidoi turned his eyes to me, expecting an explanation. "Why the hell are you here?"

"That's my exact question." I answered. "Do you always come here, Hidoi?"

"Duh. It's quiet up here."

Teraseka, Yoshida and Muramatsu deadpanned. They had been disturbed of their cleaning duties for a kid who wanted quiet.

"Where'd you learn that technique from, bud?" Karma said, bending over to be at Hidpi's height.

Hidoi flinched, surprised at Karma's sudden question. It spooked him at first, but he kept his composure and avoided eye contact.

"I saw Shiota-Sensei do it." Hidoi said softly, almost a whisper again. "He did one time, and it confused my classmate."

"That's a pretty complicated technique. How'd you learn something like that in such a short amount of time?"

Hidoi kept his eyes away from Karma. He was starting to scare Hidoi. I could see it, his eyes were shaking and his pupils shrank.

"Did Nagisa teach you that?" Karma put his hand Hidoi's shoulder as he said this.

"Don't touch me!" Hidoi swatted Karma's hand away. Hidoi was genuinely afraid right now. I get being around people he's never met before, but Karma didn't try to harm him.

"Hidoi," I pulled his hood down and placed both hands on his shoulders. "It's fine. I'm not sure why you're acting like this, but you can trust them."

Hidoi kept quiet again. Isogai came over to Hidoi and held his fist out, looking as if he was holding something.

"Is this yours?" He had a necklace in his hands.

Hidoi quickly snatched the necklace away. "Why do you have this?"

"Whoa, jumpy much," Kirara said. "Kid, he was just handing it to you. Karma accidentally caught when he was falling off the roof."

I could see Hidoi was clearly overwhelmed. He shoved the necklace into his bag and gave one more glare, spooking the adults around. Then, without another word escaping his lips, he walked away.

"I should probably take care of him." I rubbed my head and smiled. "He is my student after all."

"You do that," Karma dusted his slightly soul jacket. "Because if you don't, I will."

I scooted away from Karma slowly. He wasn't happy with Hidoi, that's for sure.

I went after Hidoi, chasing him down the mountain. He came into my view as I caught up with him.

"Hidoi! Wait up!"

He turned his head toward me, rolled his eyes, and bolted farther down the mountain. I ran after him, trying to catch up, but honestly, he's a fast kid.

"Hidoi, please," I wheezed, tired from running. "I was just going to walk with you."

"You're old, Y'know that." Hidoi's voice came from the trees behind me. I turned around to see him, sitting in a tree.

"I'm only 21. You should know that."

"I don't care for ages."

"And how old are you?"

"Who the fuck cares?"

"Please watch your language."

I scanned Hidoi of anything different, whether it was behavior or something he was wearing. His necklace, he was wearing the necklace Isogai had said he dropped.

"Can I ask something?" I smiled.

"You just did."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Spit it out."

This boy, I swear to god.

"What's with the necklace? I see you wear it a lot of the time, but you looked like Isogai offended you earlier."

"Isogai? The brownie who had my necklace?"

"Y- yes, the one who had your necklace."

Why would he call him a brownie?

Hidoi shrugged in response. He jumped out of the tree and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

"I know we've only known each other for a short while," I sighed. "But you can talk to me about anything you need. If there's something going on, you can tell me."

I told Hidoi those words, because that's what Koro-Sensei would say, I know it.

"I know," Hidoi finally answered after a long silence. "Everything's fine. I just don't like being around other people, and I don't like when they touch my things."

I frankly didn't believe him, but if he doesn't want to tell me, then I won't pry too much.

I saw Hidoi fidgeting with his fingers as we slowly scaled down the mountain together. Now that I think about it, he's been more aggressive lately. He has a short attention span and he doesn't sit still when I'm teaching. Could he have…

"Hidoi, I don't mean to pry," I said, completely unaware that Hidoi was no longer by my side as I kept walking. "But, do you have ADHD?"

I stopped walking and looked for Hidoi. He was behind me, standing still, and staring at the ground blankly. Now, what the hell is he doing?

"Hidoi?" I said, waving a hand in front of his face, only to get no response. "Are you okay?" I clapped my hands a few times, trying to get his attention. Now I was getting worried.

"Oh, and suddenly you're right here," Hidoi said, grabbing my attention all of the sudden. "Are you going to keep going or what?"

Hidoi started walking again, like nothing ever happened. I'm not sure what that was, but it was definitely something that I should figure out.

—————

"Nagisa, are you alright?" Hinano asked as she put her jar of bugs down. "You've been zoning out for a while."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Sorry, I'm just lost in thought."

"Are you thinking about that student of yours?" Karma asked. "He's a jumpy one, that's for sure."

"Actually, yeah. I was just thinking about him."

"What happened?" Sugino asked as he dumped out a basket of weeds into a fireplace we had just briefly made.

"Well, I walked him home, but he would keep spacing out randomly. I know he thinks about things but, it was like, he wasn't even there."

"Define, 'wasn't even there.'" Itona suddenly showed up beside me, making me jump a bit. "What? I was here the whole time."

"Oh," I looked around at my friends. They had the same look of confusion. "Anyway, does anybody know why he would zone out for no reason?"

Before anyone could answer, we heard Okuda and Takebayashi's voices as they came into view.

"Sorry, we're late." Okuda apologized. "We were held back."

They still had their white lab coats on. They were probably in a rush.

"What's this about zoning out for no reason?" Takebayashi pushed his glasses up.

"Nagisa's student just came up out of nowhere today." Yoshida rolled his eyes and pouted. "He claims that he always comes up here, but I don't believe it."

"We had to clean the desks again because of him!" Teraseka complained as well.

I sighed. Hidoi is sort of a troublemaker. Why else would he be in class E-3? But I still didn't understand why he was zoning out like he did.

"He was staring off into space for no reason." I explained. "You guys are the smart ones. Do you know what could be wrong?"

"Hm," Okuda closed her eyes and thought to herself. "He wouldn't respond to anything you did? Noise, touch?"

"No," I shook my head. "He wouldn't respond to anything."

"Absence seizures." Takebayashi said. "Could be absence seizures. Has he had any other noticeable symptoms?"

"Not that I can tell. I do have another question though? He's always fidgeting in his seat during class. He's more aggressive then his classmates and sometimes, he won't focus on the lesson. Does that necessarily mean he has ADHD?"

"It sounds like it," Okuda looked at Takebayashi for confirmation. "I assume you haven't seen him take some sort of medication before?"

"No, I've never seen him take something like that." I said. "Unless I'm just getting paranoid for no reason."

"Alright, alright, get back to work!" Kayano said with her expression looking like the devil. "We're already behind!"

"Ah, shut up, you moron!" Teraseka demanded.

Kayano took the hose in her hands and sprayed Teraseka with water, soaking him and his clothes. Teraseka growled and started chasing Kayano.

Does this class ever change?

—————

"Hidoi!" I called Hidoi's name for the third time.

"Hey, Hidoi!" Kiirono shook Hidoi, startling him.

"What the hell do you want?" Hidoi asked, staring at Kiirono.

"Can you answer this math question?" I pointed at chalkboard.

Hidoi squinted at the equation. "I don't know. Nor do I care. Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Um, sure. Just be quick."

Hidoi got out of his chair and walked out. In his hand was his phone, from what I could see. I'm pretty sure students aren't allowed to have phone during class periods.

POV Hidoi

So much for secrets. I thought to himself as I closed the bathroom stall. My head hurts. Maybe it was a good thing I left for a bit.

I took my phone out and set up the stopwatch. I could feel a seizure coming, and it's never a pleasant feeling.

I felt my body twitch and shake as I lost consciousness for the next minute or so. Having a seizure in such a tight and hard space, it hurt to be on the ground.

As soon as I gained conscious, I paused the stopwatch and did the math. I started the stopwatch about 2 minutes before I had the seizure. Now it was at four minutes.

So it lasted two minutes.

I rubbed my head and turned my phone off. If the damn hospital hadn't run out of my medication, then I wouldn't be in this fiasco right now.

I went back to class, trying to keep my mind on our next period. I fidgeted with my fingers as I walked back to my classroom. Nervously, I opened the door and saw my classmates in the middle of a quiz.

Again?

POV Nagisa

"I put your pop quiz on your desk." I said as Hidoi came inside the classroom. He closed the door and stood right in that same spot, staring at the ground blankly. "Is there anything you need, Hidoi? Hidoi? Hidoi!"

Hidoi blinked a few times in surprise before looking back up at me. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'm tired."

He walked back to his seat and picked up his pencil. I kept my eye on him, watching if anything else would happen.

His pencil touched the paper right as started zoning out again. He sat there for about 30 seconds before rubbing his head and writing down the answers.

I should probably talk to him after class.

"Dude," Taino turned around and whispered to Hidoi. "What's up with you today? You've been all space and shit."

"What are you talking about?" Hidoi spoke as n a low voice. "I'm fine, shut up."

Taino shrugged and turned back around to finish his pop quiz. Hidoi kept zoning out during the quiz. When I had graded their papers, he had only answered half the questions.

"Shiota-Sensei?" Kiirono said with Taino, Emiyu and Taino by his side. "Can we ask you something?"

"Of course." I smiled and put the papers down. "What is it?"

"About Hidoi?" Kiirono said, gripping the strap of his bag. "Do you know why he's acting weird?"

These are his closest friends, and even they don't know why he's acting like this.

"Actually, I was planning on asking one of you since you all seem the closest to Hidoi." I answered. "Is there anything you could tell me about him? You probably know him better then I do."

They stared at me with unsure looks. Expressions asking each other, "is it okay to say?"

"We know that he had ADHD." Emiyu said hesitantly.

"The hospital recently ran out of his meds," Miranai mentioned. "We think that's why, but we just came to you for confirmation."

Looking at their expression and listening to their tones, I know there was something else. There had to be.

"Is there anything else?" I asked.

"Mm," Kiirono glanced over at Emiyu, who shook her head in response. He looked at Miranai and Taino, they made gestures saying not to say anything.

Kiirono didn't listen to them by the look of it. He took his phone out of his pocket and tapped away.

"I, uh, went to bathroom as well, during the pop quiz," Kiirono put his phone down on the table.

"Yes, I remember that." I looked at the screen, it had a video paused that was practically begging to be played.

"Well, we know more then just, 'Hidoi has ADHD.'"

"What the hell are you doing?" Taino put his hand on this teen right as I tried playing the video.

"It's better if he knows!" Kiirono swatted Taino's hand away. "Just play the video."

I took hold of the phone and played the video. I heard thudding, like something was hitting a wall, repeatedly. It was sort of blurry, but once in a while, there would be a glimpse of black hair.

I looked back up at the group of friends. They all looked nervous, and once in a while, would nudge Kiirono with an elbow.

"Am I missing something?" I asked, putting the phone down. "All I hear is something hitting a wall over and over again, like something or someone is shaking rapidly against it."

Taino facepalmed and gave me a look that clearly was asking if I was ignorant or something.

"No, that's not it." Miranai ruffled his hair.

"Then what is it?" I stared at them.

"Ehh," they all groaned and avoided eye contact.

"Hidoi's been having seizures, it's really normal for him and ever since the hospital ran out of both of his medication, he's been acting really impulsive and strange."

Emiyu spoke so fast, I was in shock. But I knew, I heard seizures, medication, strange and hospital. This was concerning, especially as his teacher.

"Seizures?" I confirmed.

Taino and Miranai turned their heads to Emiyu. She covered her mouth with both hands and looked away. Was this supposed to be kept secret? Why?

"Are you guys coming or not?" Hidoi popped his head back into the classroom, asking his friends if they were going to walk with him. "I've been waiting for years at this point."

"Yeah, coming!" Taino ran out of the classroom, avoiding any other question that might've come up.

"Same!" Emiyu grabbed Miranai's and Kiirono's wrist and followed after Taino.

As his friends zoomed out of the classroom, Hidoi glared at me, like he knew I found something. His glare made me feel glued to my seat, I just couldn't stand to get up.

"Are your friends going to be in the mountain?" Hidoi asked after sighing.

"Uh," I exclaimed. "No, I don't think so. Are you heading up there?"

"Obviously." He rolled his eyes and left.

"Hidoi," I called his name, only to have a single breath come out.

I stood up out of my seat and watched as Hidoi followed his friends down the hall. I felt as if he would turn around and glare at me any second.

Hidoi, just what else could you be keeping from me?