Chapter 13

Seo stopped in front of Gakushuu's desk.

"Sex. Fucking. Intercourse?" He said with a steadily growing blush. 

Gakushuu blinked at the other boy.

"Are you offering?" Seo turned red.

Kimiko snorted loudly. A few other people started laughing. A few flushed almost as red as Seo at his words.

Kazuki came up to Seo and patted him on the back.

"Good effort."

"Tch," Seo scowled, shrugging off the hand, and walked off.

Hinata giggled from behind Gakushuu.

Sports festival started with a bang. The students- participants or otherwise- gathered in the school, and the students hyped themselves up.

It was a unique day with mostly athletically inclined students would be in attendance. Not even all the students of class A came to cheer, even though Anaya had to come in spite of not taking part in anything. Chika was unsurprisingly sick once again and his replacement, Kaito, took over all the events he was supposed to take part in, much to his dismay.

The event was pretty simple overall. Gakushuu was busy as either a harassment material for a few seniors (since no one in his year had the guts to come to his face to tease him) and helped out with small things as the class rep along with Anaya.

Mostly, he was just busy avoiding Akabane after he saw a mischievous grin on his face in the morning.

He wasn't very successful, but his unflapped straight face and busy schedule of events let him get away. He could help grinding his teeth in irritation a few times though.

He was going to make dog poop in the student council meeting room. Or the Vice-President's classroom

Somehow, the sports festival was more about him avoiding various brave seniors who had decided to see him as a child, than him actually running through the relay, or the 1000 meter dash, or even the over-exciting obstacle course.

Gakushuu generally wasn't one to run away- actually no, he did know how to run when he needed to- and this was one of the rare times calling for it. He left the school grounds as soon as he possibly could.

He knew Akabane could almost feel him reaching his limit. And that's when he would pounce to catch him.

He wasn't going to let it happen. Never. Ever.

So he had no choice but to work harder between his events and throw most of the after school work at Anaya and go back home.

It was a frustrating day.

Without the seniors underfoot like during the sports festival, the students completely stopped asking him about it.

….Of course, Akabane was the exception.

"-but you look so red!"

Gakushuu refused to answer. He didn't even look at his picture, taken sneakily by one of the surrounding students.

"Awww! Tell me what happened! This looks like the student council room, you went there a few days ago right?" Gakushuu stilled for barely a moment before pretending to not hear it, but Karma grinned at him like he just got his confirmation.

"Was it the treasurer? I heard she's really pretty. That's the position you were going for, weren't you?" Karma grinned wider. "That's it, isn't it?

Gakushuu sighed.

"If you keep trying to talk about this, I'll leave," he threatened.

"No way, you love me too much! But seriously! Do you like her? Did she reject you?" He squinted at the picture like he was trying to see something he hadn't seen before.

"That's an embarrassed blush, right? That looks like an embarrassed blush. You totally got rejected by her!"

"I didn't even confess," Gakushuu said misleadingly before scowling. Karma narrowed his eyes, catching on somehow.

"What's wrong with this picture?" He asked curiously, then, "oh wait! Did she try to ask you out? Did you reject her ? Is that why the picture is everywhere? Is this harassment?"

Gakushuu groaned and dropped his head at the onslaught of questions.

He really really hated his lack of peace in school, sometimes.

Mid-semester exam preparations for third years started earnestly after the sports festival, and years 1 and 2 watched the third years get into a study haze as they relaxed.

Third year students had to prepare for their High School Entrance Exams, which was why their final semester was shortened tremendously even though they were still supposed to take part in the sports day and school festival.

Gakushuu dropped a surprise test on his class and some (Kazuki) cried as they gave it.

There were literally no students who didn't study all year round in class A, but Gakushuu's semi-monthly tests became a type of marker for them to keep themselves in top shape.

It was a mark of pride as well, since Gakushuu's tests were a fair bit harder than the weekly tests they had to give in class.

It was almost reassuring to give a difficult test when there was a study fever on-going within the third year students.

Akabane nudged him slyly when he spotted the treasurer of the student council studying alone.

He ignored it.

Time went by smoothly, and Gakushuu became busy again, with all the sports related winter national tournaments, and a surprising request to take part in a musical televised show, which his father declined, to his disappointment.

They celebrated a few more birthdays, about half of which Gakushuu could attend, and Ren finally gave Tomoya the go ahead. Hinata had insisted on his hair being tied or braided back at the least. Anaya just casually threatened to chop it off if it got in her way for even a moment.

Tomoya made sure to always carry a hairband or two around with him, just in case, after that.

Gakushuu spied a little crush. Though Ren was casual about it. Gakushuu still wasn't sure if he just didn't get jealous or if he hadn't noticed yet.

Gakushuu's regular meets with Ren were infested by his classmates now. Hinata, always welcome, dropped by with a combination of Kimiko, Anaya or Kazuki. Chika, the food lover, would sometimes come for the free food with Seo who had loudly gasped in shock at seeing Gakushuu in casual clothes.

Then, again, when he saw him eating, though for different reasons. He saw the first hint of reluctant admiration when Gakushuu managed to help Seo remember the science fact he had been screeching about forgetting every time during tests.

It was a fair bit louder than normal that time, but surprisingly fun because of it. Seo was lively, easily what someone would call the life of a party if he wasn't an automatic joke of the party instead. He pulled off the role quite well, after all.

Seo was the kind of person no one took seriously. That no one should take seriously. That was a path to hell, if he ever saw one.

Seo was the kind of person who needed to be brought to heel. If he made a challenge, he would never fulfill his side of it. If he was threatened, he easily crumbled. His mental perseverance was terrible.

On the other hand, Gakushuu much preferred Anaya, who was capable, and still learning how to smile properly. Or even Hinata, who cried too easily and got flustered and frustrated, but still pushed through somehow. Or Ren, who never complained about the problems in his path, even as he hurt himself on them.

They were frustrating in their own ways, but Seo was just an unreliable character.

Unless he realised how little he meant and what he could have, he was worse than useless. He was someone who could end up harming them.

It was the point of Gakushuu spending time on him, to make him experience a certain amount of loneliness. And also, what 'friends' felt like but still keep him outside of it.

It was a tad cruel, but Asano Gakushuu had never been taught to be kind. Cruelty came far more naturally.

Also, children were far more cruel in ignorance than anything. He preferred Araki's knowing cruelty to Seo's unknowing one.

Either way, Seo's subconscious integration was going well.

Gakushuu took part in a free composition for a violin and piano combination and asked his last companion. She agreed.

Then, during the competition, he invited his entire class for it. It was pretty huge and his class got along with his accompanist which was nice.

A few of their parents also showed up, giving excuses about enjoying classical music. Most left before he joined his classmates, so he assumed it was a tacit approval from them. Not that he had ever doubted his capability to gain approval from someone he wanted it from.

In one of his free days, Gakushuu had been to a pet cafe, but when he found some free time in his hands, he chose to do volunteer work at an animal shelter. Probably one of the bloodiest days in his short life, considering the dog who ended up in the middle of an accident and a college student brought her for treatment.

Gakushuu appreciated the life saved, but he wouldn't forget the way her leg was amputated.

He liked animals, but it was disturbing to watch. Even more so when the one working to save her was a kindly woman who was incidentally a vet attached to the shelter.

It was slightly terrifying to watch her smile sweetly at Gakushuu after she had brutally saved the dog from a terrible death. Worse was the fact that throughout, Gakushuu was utterly convinced she wouldn't even harm a fly.

He had new respect for vets.

(Far in the future when Karma would confess his reasons for being wary of Nagisa, Gakushuu would laugh and laugh, unable to explain why the thought was so utterly hilarious.)

The third years were hoping for a last hurrah in the school festival, before their final exams would begin, and various classes booked time slots for using the Assembly Hall and the gymnasiums.

Class As of all years were expected to put up a good show regardless of what they were doing.

Gakushuu, though, had a different idea. He joined in and booked a slot to use the gym after blackmailing the Treasurer of the Student Council about illegally spreading the picture of him.

She took it like a champ and agreed to give the slot to him under class 1-A's name. 

(Aka she laughed and then indulged his wishes when she saw he was serious about suing her.)

Officially, class A was doing a British cafe. Unofficially, there was news about Gakushuu doing something for the students on the evening of the third day of the school festival.

It was one of the few times even Ren had no idea what Gakushuu was planning.

There were arguments about having a maid or butler cafe, but looks finally won and they just decided to have both.

Anaya was surprisingly the one who took charge in handling all the responsibility and Gakushuu, amused by his class's ideas, decided to let their creativity bloom.

Gakushuu could definitely pull in sponsors but it was actually pretty fun to work on the details with his classmates. Someone brought genuine artworks that they ended up showing off here and there, then Seo brought extravagant furniture and had it set up.

There was a few hours of confusion that Gakushuu had to solve about random furniture laying around. Anaya brought in an interior designer and they finally ended up setting up a classy cafe.

Then there was a slight hiccup where Hinata suddenly wanted to dress Gakushuu up as a maid, but everyone else ran interference and the moment passed by.

As first years, they didn't have either attention nor pressure, so they were able to get the cafe off to a pretty good start. There were many performances from different classes. Class 2-B and 2-C held plays that were completely contradictory in plot- the classic Romeo and Juliet and another Hamlet.

Somehow the Hamlet ended up as a comedy and Romeo and Juliet ended up far too tragic.

There was almost a whole circus on day 2, but day 3 flopped because it got a little too dangerous and got banned. It was quite an unfortunate end.

Class A's idea was decidedly common, fun, and expensively done. Anaya threw out a couple customers for ruining a painting, and Gakushuu ended up playing the guitar in the middle of his break which ended up giving them even more work and cutting his break short.

It was fun watching his classmates get irritated, or pretend of smile, or Chika watch the customers with an hawk's eye, or Hinata almost cry when someone gently told her she brought the wrong order.

It was chaotic. Things went wrong. Things went right. People ended up running around to watch other classes far too often and they were almost always understaffed.

But it was fun.

At the end of the day, they came together, talked about the things that happened and laughed. Hinata started a fight with Kazuki that got resolved almost immediately. Anaya frowned at the ruined painting and Ren offered to take it back with him and find out if it was salvageable.

Some things happened, but it was rather entertaining.

Oh, and Gakushuu's plans got out the moment the festival officially started.

Technically, it was a 'performance' but in reality it was more of a school dance. There was a dress code, restriction for only the students, and Gakushuu invited musicians for it.

It was pretty huge, and most importantly, new .

The exclusivity generated much more interest and people came to their cafe just so they could ask more about it.

Well, it wasn't just the other students.

("Are you going to dance?"

"Are you going to sing?"

"Did you-"

"When was-"

"No way, did you actually get-"

Gakushuu sat facing a crowd of classmates with a blank expression as they continued to run around asking him questions excitedly.)

Class 3-A did a musical. It was very Kunugigaoka worthy and actually had Kimiko sobbing at the beauty of music. She really loved it. To the point, she kept watching the official video even when she was supposed to be working.

Gakushuu gave reluctant praise and walked away when Itadori called out to him loudly.

Kunugigaoka had never had an event to close their school festival before. Some schools had bonfires or fireworks.

But Kunugigaoka would let the festival end, give them enough time to get the school back to its previous state and go back to its usual studying grind.

Of course, there would be a morning announcement of the classes that earned the most, but even that was integrated between the announcements to be better than their peers.

It was the slightest bit…dull.

Gakushuu had the idea come to him first when they were on the winning class trip. Kunugigaoka students also deserved to have fun after all the work they had to keep doing. And this wasn't actually too hard for Gakushuu to arrange either.

…. Since he was planning to play on the piano.

Everyone expected Gakushuu to get busy when the last performance in the gym got over but no one really expected the complete revamp the place ended up with. It was a friendly, yet elegant look.

And when they allowed students in- some dressed casually, some in the clothes they wore for the day (witch, ghost, formal, odd make-up on their faces) but many followed the dress code.

Gakushuu came to the stage and smiled at the gathered students before he walked and sat down at a genuine grand piano set up on the side of the stage.

"This is for the students of Kunugigaoka," he announced to the students.

Then he started playing.

A few beats later, a violin joined in and spot light some on a girl slightly older than Gakushuu swaying along with the music as she played.

The sound of the instruments fused and the students watched in awe at the performance.

Then, Gakushuu started singing.

And the music became slightly faster, and the lights dimmed.

No one moved.

When he finished, he stood up to sparse scattered applause and bowed to his accompanist. She curtseyed to him.

Then they walked down from the stage arm in arm.

Someone else came on the stage, and the music resumed.

Gakushuu and the girl stood in an empty space, separating. Then Gakushuu extended a hand to her and she accepted with a grin.

They danced.

It went on for a while and the older years were surprisingly more excited about it than Gakushuu had anticipated because they almost completely took over in the latter half as some of them dropped out of sheer exhaustion.

Gakushuu was sweating, constantly switching partners and bringing whoever wanted to dance into the fray. He got spun around about a million times, and danced with half as many boys as he did girls.

And when it was time to close, he went up on the stage and slowed down the tempo of the song and brought it down to a soft melody to give it a sweet end.

"She's dead! Let's leave her here to die!" Kazuki announced to his surroundings. The girl dying at his feet let out an annoyed mumble.

"Oh, I think Gakushuu's planning to play again to end this!" Ayaka squealed. Said dead girl shot up to her feet.

"What? Where? Is he going to sing??" Hinata asked, her face flushed red from exertion. Amami tried to cool her face but ended up slapping her in the face.

"Ow," Hinata complained after a minute, when she didn't hear any music. Amami deadpanned.

"He sounded so nice! I want to hear him sing again!" Ayaka sighed.

"Don't worry, I recorded it," Anaya added.

"Yeah, you and half the school," Ren dryly said. The other boys snickered.

"You're just jealous," Ayaka pouted, poking a finger in Ren's face. Anaya picked up Ayaka's hand then pointed at the snickering boys.

" They're jealous," the girls snickered as the boys scowled.

"I stand corrected," Ayaka raised her nose up high.

"Oh, he's really starting now!" Hinata jumped excitedly.

"Oh, wait, let me start recording," Anaya said, shoving a few of her classmates away to get a better view.

"But I wanted to watch…" Kazuki whispered under his breath watching his spot get stolen away.

Then, Gakushuu joined the previous music, and kept the tempo, slowly changing the song then, slowing down.

"Wow, I'm kinda feeling super relaxed now…" Ayaka whispered.

"I knew it! He's definitely got a superpower!" Hinata hissed back victoriously.

"Shut up!" Someone whisper-shouted at them.

They shut up.