The Weird Stares

Our first period was Social Studies.

As the class was in progress, I'm getting some weird looks from my other classmates. I haven't opened my phone to check the forum, but I'm getting some bad vibes from how they look at me.

Maybe it's all about Yuki. If I remember, the Hatsumi Family doesn't really appear that much in the public, that's the only thing I know since I'm not really interested in those kinds of stuff. But regardless, I'm kind of worried, if Yuki will have a hard time since she revealed that she came from a prestigious family.

And I'm worried, that Yuki might be planning something. I need to be careful.

Then the third period came, which is Arita-sensei's language class.

"Alright, group yourselves into 4 then pick a paper in this box."

Arita-sensei announced while holding a tiny box in her hand.

Then, I looked at Naoki, and she knew what I was thinking so she bought her desk closer to me. Arima tapped my shoulder and I glanced at him, I turned my desk towards him and the three of us bought our desk closer.

"We still need one more.", Arima mentioned as we were still in need of 1 person.

Then, I caught the sight of my seatmate Yokota Kazumi the little sister of the vice president of the disciplinary committee, all alone in her seat.

I tried calling her, "Hey, want to group with us?"

She was baffled when I called her, after a few seconds, she replied, "Okay.", then she took her desk to us.

"Hello, you're Yokota Kazumi, right? I'm Ikeda Naoki, nice to meet you."

"Hello, Ikeda-san.", she nodded.

"Just Ikeda.", Naoki smiled at her.

"Okay, Ikeda."

"Hey hey, I'm Arima Koichi."

"Yeah, I know you, you're pretty popular in middle school.", then she turned her head towards me.

"Oh, it's my time, Hello I'm Okita Tatsuya."

"I know you too, my Nee-san is interested in you."

"*Cough* *Cough* What?", I coughed at what she said, I pondered if I heard it correctly.

Some of my classmates who are nearby and heard that looked at me bewildered, and then lastly, Arima looked at me perplexed and amused.

"She told me that, she was amazed by how you handled the situation yesterday."

"Ohh, that one, I see.", I sighed in relief, the way she said made it sound like she's interested in me that way.

I heard some relieved sighs around me.

All this time, her facial expression didn't move, like she's an emotionless doll. Everything she said is always in an indifferent face. Which, is a huge contrast to her elder sister's personality, but on close up, I could tell that they're really sisters, they have the same hair and hairstyle, eyes, and facial structure. Apart from that, they still do have some differences like their bodies, Yokota-senpai's body is on the mature side while her little sister is on the younger side.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yokota Kazumi, you can just call me Yokota, please take care of me.", she bowed her head down slightly.

We saw that Arita-sensei is still handing out the papers to the groups at the front of the classroom.

Arima spoke first, "By the way, it's been bothering me for quite some time now, but is that a hickey on your neck?", he pointed at my neck.

"Huh?!", I unconsciously touched my neck.

"Yeah, some of our classmates had been looking at it since earlier, it's very noticeable because of the bruise mark.", Yokota added.

I quickly took my phone out and opened the camera. Then I saw a slightly red swollen surface and at the center of it was a bruised that is shaped like a lip.

I knew who did this—YUUUKIII!!!!!! I didn't saw this earlier when I was changing at Yuki's place, the only thing I saw that time was the red surface on my neck but nothing more. Is that why people are looking at me weirdly?

Ahhh—hhh!! I screamed in my mind.

I quickly changed my expression into a serious one, "This is a bug bite.", I said straight-face.

"Who are you lying to? Every person here could tell, it was obviously a hickey.", Arima said while looking at me dumbfounded.

"Eh, uh, um, ahh...", my brain short-circuited and my face flushed.

"So? Did Naoki gave you that?", Arima then looked at Naoki.

"No.", Naoki said with an indifferent face.

"Eh? Then who—", Arima was cut off by Arita-sensei.

"Go pick something here first."

"Oh, okay, sensei.", Arima replied.

Arima picked two papers, one is a small one and the other one is the questionnaire. After that, Arita-sensei left.

I thanked Arita-sensei in my mind for saving me.

"What did you get?", I asked to divert the topic out from me.

"Uhh, 'The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.'."

"An idiom?", Yokota asked.

"Is sensei telling us to tell the meaning of the idiom?", Naoki added.

"Yeah, it says here in the questionnaire, 'Write your own understanding of the idiom that has been given to you.'."

"Oh, okay then. If I'm correct that idiom means, If you excel at something or standing out, you'll become the main target of criticism and hate?", I said.

"No, I think it's about hammering down the people who became successful, like degrading them?", Arima said.

"Okita-san was correct, this idiom is kind of similar to the saying of "tall poppy syndrome" in Australia, it's about people's propensity to be jealous of those people who stand out more. I think the one you're saying was 'Crab mentality.'.", Yokota said.

"They are two different things. 'Crab mentality.' is about a bucket of crabs where if one crab on top is on its way to freedom, the other crabs will grab and pull it down which means people will hinder the growth of that person by any means. But, I don't know if the idiom is really similar to the 'tall poppy syndrome.', though. The idiom is more like 'being noticeably different may be a risk that will cause harm.', or maybe that's just my interpretation of it.", Naoki said.

After Naoki said that, Arita-sensei spoke at the front, "Alright, as you can see I gave each group idioms, you guys will answer it under your own understanding of the sentence, basically your own interpretation of it. That's all."

"So, your own interpretation, huh.", I said.

While still holding my neck, covering the hickey. I've been doing this ever since Arima mentioned it. I've been glancing at Naoki for some time now. When Arima asked Naoki about the hickey, she didn't even react to it, as if she knew it already. But, what's odd, as she didn't get angry or jealous. I've got my suspicion that it may be related to Yuki again.

"Soooo... Are we gonna pile our own interpretation then choose who got the best one?", Arima asked us.

"I'm pretty bad at this, to be honest.", he added.

"Okay, so who's first?", I asked the two since Arima doesn't seem to be the type of guy who is into this thing.

"I'll go first.", Yokota spoke first.

"Okay then, Yokota will be the first one, then the next one will be Naoki then me.", I said.

"As I said earlier, where this idiom is kind of similar to the 'Tall poppy syndrome.', I said that because as Okita-san said earlier this saying is mostly used to people who stand out, the people around it will try to suppress the person or put those who think highly of themselves in their rightful place. The tall wheat gets harvest first, often gets interpreted the same way. You get too tall, people will cut you down first. But, now that I think about it, it is kind of different." Yokota explained while tapping her pen on her desk but at the last part of what she said, she fell into deep thought, holding her chin.

"Okay okay, stop for a moment there, let's not use any references to interpret this, just use your own.", I said.

Yokota's eyes were downcast, and said, "Yeah... Sorry."

So she can show disappointment, huh. I really thought she's just an emotionless doll.

"It's okay, we're only humans, though I don't know if that's what 'Tall poppy syndrome' means, the tall wheat analogy is pretty good. Nevertheless, it's a good try.", I gently said to Yokota.

I turned my head towards Naoki.

"I guess, it's my turn now. Well, it's more like being different may risk or harm. How do I say this... For example, Robert H. Goddard, the person who created the first liquid-fueled rocket, he's the one who theorized that spaceflight was possible. But, he was the butt of mockery in his time, because people around him are saying that it was impossible. But in the end, it came true, 1969 the Giant Leap for Mankind. What I'm trying to say was the only risk or harm it will bring, was how people will view the person and of course about hammering down part, was more likely about criticism and hate towards the person.", Naoki said.

"..."

"..."

Isn't that basically what I said?

Arima and I looked dumbfounded at what she said, while Yokota on the other hand is still in her deep thoughts.

"You know what, since it's all about society, we can just put 'Society is fucked up.'.", Arima said while giggling.

"Yeah, I kind of agree. It all stems in one root anyway, let's just pass what I said earlier. We are just circling around, at this point.", I said.

"Yes! My brain can't keep up with this! I hate this kind of thing!", Arima exclaimed.

I looked at Naoki but she was just there in her deep thoughts too, I think what I said got to her.

"Naoki?", I asked her.

"Eh? Ah, yeah, I just realized that it's pretty much the same, no matter how you look at it, it really does stem in one root anyways.", Naoki replied while holding her chin.

Then I looked at Yokota, "Yokota?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, what you said pretty much, made sense.", Yokota said as she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Well, it's pretty the same. But, it will still be on the person on how they will interpret it.",

"Alright then, I'll write what basically I said earlier.", I added.

"""Okay""", the three said.

As I was writing down the answer on the questionnaire, Arima spoke.

"Hey, I'm still really curious was it the silver-haired girl who gave that hickey, right?"

"Don't know what you are talking about.", I coldly replied and continued writing.

"Okay then...", Arima turned his head to Naoki, "...So it was really the Hatsumi girl right?"

"Don't know.", Naoki shrugged.

"Told you, it's really a bug bite.", I said.

"Haa... I give up.", Arima putting both his hands up.

"Though that uniform really fits you dude, you have different sizes of uniforms?.", Arima added.

"Oh, this one, not really, I borrowed it from someone.", I replied.

"Really? From who? I feel like that uniform is customized just for you, just from a single glance you could tell that it was meant for you. He looks good right, Yokota?", Arima asked as he scans my body.

"Yeah.", Yokota answered.

"Hm? Ah, thank you? Well, I don't really know, maybe. When we ran earlier Naoki and I got lost, and we saw Yuki there, right?", I turned my head to Naoki.

"Yeah, we got lost and Yuki gave us a lift and since we'll be late if we decided to go home, so we decided to just go to Yuki's house.", Naoki answered.

"Then she lent us uniforms.", I said while furrowing my eyebrows as I remember what happened in the bedroom.

"Wait, so she's the one who lent that uniform to you?", Arima asked.

"Does she have a brother?", Arima added.

"No.", Naoki answered.

Now, that I think about it, why didn't that thing came up, about her having a brother? Weird...

"I'm pretty lucky that she has a spare male uniform for me.", I said.

Spare uniform... more like 7 sets of uniforms that are all meant for me.

"Really? Spare...? But, she said...", Arima narrowed his eyes in my uniform doubting it.

"Hatsumi family, huh. You guys are pretty lucky since they're one of the top families in the country.", Yokota said.

"Lucky?", I asked.

"Yeah, they're considered the best financial group in the country, and their assets could be estimated in billions."

I saw some articles about that but didn't really pry into it that much. That estimation should be correct at how big their group is, they practically own every field in the business industry.

"Are you interested in them?", I asked.

"I want to go in the business industry, that's why."

"Oh, so you're studying the business world?"

"Yeah, you could say so, since I want to least have some knowledge at how the world of business works but of course researching a company on the internet doesn't really equate to experience or how things work on the inside, that's why it's better if someone who has the experience, maybe could teach me.", Yokota said while nodding.

"Then I can ask Yuki to teach you.", Naoki interjected.

"Eh? Yuki??", I looked at Naoki dumbfounded.

"Yeah, she started her lessons about a year ago, her grandfather is the one who's teaching her."

"Eh... I thought she's the type of person who hates those kinds of stuff."

"Of course, she's the only one who will inherit since her si—..."

"Si?", I looked at her puzzled.

"Nothing. Let's just get back to the topic, I'm pretty sure Yuki can give you some inputs that could help you create a foundation regarding how things work in the business world."

"But, are you sure that she will agree?", Yokota asked.

"Of course, if she doesn't agree with me, Tatsu can ask her and she will definitely agree, no matter what.", Naoki then looked at me.

"Oho~", Arima grinned at me.

"Haa... Y-yeah, I guess so, I'll ask her.", I replied dejectedly.

Then I felt a tingling sensation, the murderous glares again. I forgot about that since I kept trying to ignore them from the start ever since I entered here but this time it became stronger.

"Really! Thank you so much, Okita-san!", Yokota's eyes grew wide in joy.

I was perplexed when I saw her expression.

"No worries, Naoki pretty much the one who suggested it."

"Thank you, Ikeda!"

"But, why? We just met but why are you helping me?", Yokota added while looking at the both of us confused.

"Don't know, just felt like it.", Naoki shrugged.

"Eh?", Yokota looked at Naoki baffled.

But soon after that, the bell rang.

We handed the paper to Arita-sensei. The whole classroom bought the desk back to their respective places.