The Question Club Member (1)

"First few weeks of A Tenkei-Teki Ichiryū Academy," a student adjusts his glasses while walking through the hallways, thinking to himself, "Everything is so dull."

Tapping and sliding, thumbs and fingers against his phone. Behind it said, "Property of Wu Katsuragi", "Steal and I will kill you.".

Above his phone screen showed 9:37 AM.

"Why is attending a broken education system a matter of life or death anyway, why do I have waste my lifespan on it?" Katsuragi thought. "We could be doing so much more with all this money in the world. Or even without it. Such a waste of human potential."

Katsuragi scoffed.

His boy character's robe was jerked by a man creature from behind and his screen turned black. With the sound of clothes being ripped, shuffling on the ground, and soundless screaming, the last that was heard was a jagged whimper.

Katsuragi Wu exited Killer's Game: Her Black Book of Nightmares and slid his phone into his pants pocket, continuing towards a door under "Class 2-B". Before he could knock a second time the door slammed open revealing Mr. Gotoge.

"WHY ARE YOU LATE, MR. KATSURAGI?" Mr. Gotoge hollered. "Second period is almost over. Please explain yourself."

Mr. Gotoge fixed his glasses while glaring down at Katsuragi.

Katsuragi's eyeglass reflected sunlight as he mentioned, "a teenager needs to sleep for at least 7-10 hours a day to lessen the causes of early death."

"So you slept late last night and didn't care?" Mr. Gotoge turned away. "Must be that damn phone of yours."

"Yes, it is indeed the fault of this small mechanical device which I use to silently vent out my crippling depression likely not caused by the uncontrollable urge to criticize my and other people's mistakes with the abundance of it IN ADDITION TO this broken world refusing to improve itself with all the elements it abundantly has before the currently made-inevitable self-destruction of the human race that my internal demons so frequently harass to me about and remind me of until I mentally scream myself to sleep." Katsuragi said. "So you are indeed correct, dear omniscient adult whom I must kiss the bottom asshole of simply because you are an old man, this extremely useful device is to blame for ALL of my shortcomings even though it helps me cope better than my parents who don't even know what they're still keeping me around for!"

Katsuragi's darkened gaze met with Mr. Gotoge's widened eyes, "You. Are. Fucking correct."

Bowing down in silent apology with an indifferent stare, Katsuragi thought to himself, "Just beat me up like the rest of them. Curse my name and shame me in front of all these people. Expell me and forget I ever existed. Do nothing when my parents—"

"Raise your head, Mr. Katsuragi." Mr. Gotoge's voice said.

The classroom erupted with slight chatter, Hiroko Kusanagi second to the back intently watching.

Wu Katsuragi stood up straight and studied the teacher's face, looking . . . much more softer than before.

"What's up with him? Is he doing that with his face to make me feel less shitty avout his coming insults?" Katsuragi thought with furrowed brows.

"Return to your seat, please." Mr. Gotoge faced him.

Katsuragi skeptically flogged towards the empty desk chair nearest the exit door, beside Hiroko Kusanagi, lowering his school bag to the floor in a stiff manner. And fixating his eyes on the suspicious teacher.

"Think of that what you will, dear students." Mr. Gotoge said, closing his eyes then opening them. "We will be continuing with the remainder of our lesson . . . "

"Of course," Katsuragi muttered a scoff and turned his head away placing chin against his palm.

"Ignoring my statement, what a choice you have made there." he thought to himself as Katsuragi studied his bone and vein prominent knuckles and fingers. "At least this school doesn't prohibit a fucking watch unlike the rest of them."

Looking beyond the watch, he expected several lines of thin cuts. "Too bad a simple bracelet is. But how is it I can't wear two watches on both hands?"

He hid the other hand revealing less but wider cuts on his wrist. "This school kinda sucks."

"Oy, Katsuragi." His seatmate clapped him on the side arm and leaned in to whisper, "Stop mumbling, Kuso Sensei has been calling ya."

Wu Katsuragi flashed a neutral glare close to Mr. Gotoge's face.

Other students were already shuffling in their seats taking out a different textbook and keeping the previous one, others murmuring to themselves about what Katsuragi had said earlier in front of the whole class.

Katsuragi deepened his stare.

"I will inform the upcoming teacher to excuse you," Mr. Gotoge announced, looking directly at Katsuragi with a slightly perturbed expression. "Please refer to my office, Mr. Katsuragi Wu."

Some classmates perked up, other classmates gasped a little, Katsuragi's seatmate only sealed her lips and became dead still.

Katsuragi was even more confused.

"No fucking way," his face reverted to pissed off indifference.

In the teachers' office, Wu Katsuragi was seated with crossed arms, opposite the open handed Mr. Gotoge as Katsuragi thought to himself, "He wants a fucking "talk"!"

Mr. Gotoge cleared his throat, "Would . . . would you like to—"

"Wowie~" Katsuragi whistled. "No. I do not want to talk. Unless I don't see you as someone with a government stick up on his ass—"

Mr. Gotoge's face became redder but Katsuragi noticed the veins popping as his teacher gritted his teeth.

"JUST WHEN I TRIED TO STAND OUT AND HELP OUT A DEAR STUDENT," Mr. Gotoge screeched inside of his head. "I STILL GET LAUGHED AT AND MOCKED LIKE THE BUFFOON THAT I AM—"

Wu Katsuragi stood up, distancing himself and said with a small bead of sweat, "Just let me be, Mr. Gotoge. I don't think it's fit for me to "talk" about my problems with someone I recognize would be someone I wouldn't be comfortable talking about it to."

"I believed it is forced labor against my comfort zone." Katsuragi bowed in apology.

Mr. Gotoge massaged his forehead and nose bridge with a heavy sigh. "Understood. Apologies for disturbing your class time. Please return to your classroom at this moment, Mr. Katsuragi."

"Yes, sir." Katsuragi closed the door, he stood there for a few seconds while staring at the floor.

"I'll result to conformity like I always have." Mr. Gotoge thought to himself with a firm grimace, searching his hands. "That always seems to work in this kind of society."

Gotoge clenched his fists. "I hope you'll keep knowing your way, Katsuragi Wu."

Walking, walking, walking, Katsuragi felt his phone in his front pocket. The back door to Class 1-B was right in front of him. Pausing in a moment of silence, he glimpsed the next teacher writing on the chalk board. Katsuragi quietly slid the door open and sat on his chair without saying a word. Meeting eyes with Hiroko Kusanagi.

His seatmate passed a note, "That was quick(・o・)! What did Kuso Sensei tell ya?? —Kusanagi Hiroko:3"

Wu Katsuragi glanced at the teacher writing on the chalk board and took out a notebook paired with a plain colored pencil case, both showcasing several pen etched drawings of hands, patterns with kanji, and elaborative JoeJoe faces on the contents and covers.

Hiroko Kusanagi sat straight with a calm face while looking up and fro the board to add notes as she waited. The teacher, narrow eyed with a small mole on the white of her eyeball turned to face the class and scanned the students, spotting Wu Katsuragi copying the board with his notebook. Her I.D. said "A Tenkei-Teki Ichiryū Academy", "Teacher", "Tainaka Yui". She faced back to write more with the chalk. When Hiroko Kusanagi suddenly heard longer pen strokes after scratchy shorter ones, she leaned in to peak at what Katsuragi Wu—He was covering it now. She flinched and rapidly continued note taking once the teacher turned to face their direction.

Katsuragi's pen noises lowered as he slyly passed back, "Please pay attention to class from now on and stop passing me notes, Kusanagi-chan;3".

And then she saw beside it was an intricately crafted drawing of a big bottomed effeminate angel with Katsuragi's solemn face looking back at her, spine curved into a humanely imposible position where he simply puts on glasses. Behind it were kanji drawn as clouds translating to "Menacing".

Hiroko Kusanagi covered her mouth and trembled from forcibly hidden chuckles. The note was taken from her hand. Wu Katsuragi tightened his smirking lips and proceeded to take down notes with seriousness. While Kusanagi looked up to be met with a mole dotted eyeball studying the big bottomed angel drawing.

"This is . . . " the teacher closed her eyes with a single tear, "a work of art."

Hiroko Kusanagi tried to calm herself, while beside her Katsuragi wheezed, coughed, choked, gasped, wheezed again before heaving a long sigh and completely composing himself. Back straight, taking notes and lifting his glasses that suddenly reflected light that blinded his classmates once the teacher showed his drawing to them.

"That's enough," the teacher kept their note in her uniform pocket, receiving several confused noises from the students who didn't get to see it. "Now, please refrain from passing notes in class, make sure to read back on our lesson. Class dismissed."

The bell chimed.

"Katsuragi, wanna join the Question Club?" Hiroko smiled at him.

Wu turned to her in surprise. Then he winked. "You can call me Wu from now on~"

Hiroko scoffed, slightly blushing. "Call me Hiroko, then."

"What is this Question Club you speak of?" Wu smiled back to her.

And Hiroko happily answered, "An afterschool club my childhood friend Aki and I created! Nobuhiko recently joined, but Aki doesn't really like him, heh. I figure he might warm up to you better. Then the club could be more livelier! You're really fun to be around."

Hiroko beamed fondly at Wu, who took it all in with a stupid smile.

"So uh, you wanna joi—"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

. . .

"I'll tell Aki—!"

"I'll come with—"

"Yes."

Then they laughed hysterically.