11. First Day Of School? (6)

"Alright. Now that you're all warmed up, get to running."

The students broke into a jog. Only a few actually ran and Haruki was one of them.

To Haruki, the sooner he finished the lap, the sooner he would get to sit down. Haruki noticed that Chitoge was also running.

In fact, Chitoge was in the lead.

Haruki was surprised by her physical abilities. He couldn't tell that she was this athletic.

While he did want to compete with her, he knew that this was outside of his abilities.

Soon, Haruki finished his lap and laid on the floor. He struggled to catch his breath as he turned in Chitoge's direction. He noticed that she barely looked tired at all.

"It's not fair. Why aren't you sweating at all?"

"My family regularly gets us to exercise."

Haruki sighed at Chitoge's response. It only made sense that someone who exercised regularly would beat him.

He wondered how long it would take for him to reach her level.

The rest of the class soon finished the lap. Many looked more tired than Haruki, while some were still fine because they were jogging.

"I'll let you guys rest for another five minutes before we start doing push ups."

While a few students groaned in protest, there was nothing they could do. Who knew they would have the gym obsessed Kuroma-sensei as their P.E. teacher?

Throughout the lesson, many students were shocked and awed by Chitoge's abilities. She completed every exercise with ease. Even though she had worked up a sweat, many could tell this wasn't her best ability.

Halfway through the lesson, the girls left, leaving the boys with a determined Kuroma-sensei. (In many Japanese schools, girls spend the second half of the P.E. lesson in Home E.D. This is based on my research and is subject to change)

The boys dragged themselves back to the changing room, cursing their teacher along the way.

"Water?"

Haruki was handed a water bottle by Shu. He thanked him as he took a sip.

"By the way, you seem close to Kirisaki-san. What's that about?"

With that sentence, half the locker room turned to look at Haruki. Their fiery gazes let Haruki know that he wouldn't be able to leave without answering the question.

"I just think that she's easier to talk to. Everyone else has been giving me strange looks today."

"Can you blame us?"

"Yeah, who knew you were such a stunner?"

Playful comments flew around at Haruki's comment. While Haruki's change wasn't as dramatic as an ugly duckling turning into a swan, it was still huge.

"It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know I was this handsome?"

"You're right. How about we help fix your looks?"

"That's right, we'll even do it for free."

The locker room was filled with laughs as the boys joked around. Haruki found himself getting more comfortable as time went on.

"What class do we have next?"

"We have History next."

The boys moaned as they thought about this.

"Dammit! I remember Sensei saying that he'll give us a pop quiz today."

"Seriously?"

"Please tell me you're joking."

A little panic ran through the locker room when this was brought up. A lot of them had completely forgotten about this.

"Don't worry guys. What are the odds of us getting a test on the first day of the week?"

Shu said this with confidence.

...

"Can everyone turn over their papers?"

The boys turned over their papers with blank expressions. Their earlier conversation came into their minds.

'This can't be real life.'

"And you may start."

A lot of them didn't start right away. Instead, they sent hateful glares at the person who had given them hope.

Shu successfully ignored these looks as he began his test. Seeing this, the others had no choice but to begin writing.

Haruki didn't face any difficulty at all. He breezed through the test and began drawing little doodles on the side of his paper. He didn't want his teacher to think that he wasn't working at all.

Soon, time was up and the teacher began collecting the papers. Haruki realised that he wanted to erase his drawings, but the teacher caught sight of him.

"Takashi-kun, put everything down."

"But Sensei, I just want to-"'

"Put everything down."

"...Yes Sensei."

Haruki didn't argue any further. He knew that his teacher had gotten the wrong idea, but he didn't want to escalate the issue.

"Alright everyone, I'll let you guys have the rest of the lesson off. Make sure you don't make a noise."