Chapter 9

The fever for final exams started about a month before the exams.

Gakushuu's tutee, Mori Tsunada, was eternally grateful about being taught by the rank 1 in Kunugigaoka.

According to Miya, one of his classmates who got assigned to Akabane Karma , he had never even appeared for any session or replied back to any of Miya's messages.

Miya had been quite nervous about it, but Gakushuu had just sighed and made sure that Akabane's name was signed in for all the study sessions he was supposed to have with Miya.

Mori Tsunada, or Tsuna, as he preferred to be called, was a tad more troublesome. He constantly fawned over Gakushuu, and got distracted when Gakushuu was attempting to show him something.

Gakushuu wasn't sure if Tsuna found him attractive, or simply admirable, but it was exhausting dealing with the boy. He had even complained to Araki once, and Araki had decided to sit in with them the next session.

That one had actually gone much better, even though Araki hadn't actually done anything aside from exist. He just sat down on the same table, greeted Gakushuu then he studied.

Tsuna had slowly stopped trying to have a conversation with Gakushuu and actually sat down and listened.

Gakushuu had been so used to being mostly ignored by the student population aside from when someone wanted to confess or they needed something from him, that he almost felt like blessing Araki for the grace of that 1 hour of almost silence.

After Tsuna left and Gakushuu and Araki finished studying on their own, Araki looked at him with a faint smile.

"You're the oblivious type, aren't you?"he asked Gakushuu.

His reply would have been a startled "huh?" but that would literally be a cliché, so instead he said, "No, I'm not. I'm well aware of Tsuna's interest in me."

Araki's lip twitched. Gakushuu suddenly wondered if he had missed something else . Then he nodded to himself.

"I guess your father did a good job," Araki mock nodded in understanding, ignored the scandalized look on Gakushuu's face as he continued packing away his books.

"My father," he said, "is not the reason why I have the observation or social skills I have."

Araki finished putting all his books inside before looking up in surprise before realizing Gakushuu was genuinely irritated at the remark.

"He's not?" He raised a brow doubtfully, looking slightly uneasy. Gakushuu understood, Araki wanted to get close to him and had chosen a route. But he had chosen the wrong route.

Gakushuu was allowed to acknowledge when the skills his father taught him was helpful, but it felt affronting to have someone else say it instead.

"My father has a few misconceptions about me. What he intended to teach me, is not what he actually taught me," Gakushuu's smile didn't shift at all as he said it.

"So, I don't really like my own efforts to be credited to my father," he looked at Araki, who blinked a few times and before dipping his head in a slight nod. Gakushuu breathed out slowly, trying to calm his temper.

"Yeah, okay." Araki said, his voice quivering slightly. Gakushuu didn't point it out.

"I think you should talk to Ren about it," Gakushuu recommended. "I don't like to talk about it, but I don't mind Ren sharing some of what he knows. At his own discretion," he added the last bit before picking up his bag and leaving Araki behind.

"Why are do I always find you in these kinds of places?" Gakushuu asked, exasperated.

In front of him sat Akabane Karma, playing a game on his phone. He didn't even bother looking up from his phone.

"You know, everyone just pretends not to see each other when they're having their own alone time, away from the rest of society. You're the odd one here, not me," Karma sipped his strawberry milk before dropping it and going back to playing.

Gakushuu scowled.

"I'm not planning to turn a blind eye to someone's distress," Karma smirked, his golden eyes flicking up to capture his, before dropping back to the screen. Gakushuu was irritated to notice that he hadn't even died once for it.

"Oh? Was this a terrible attempt at comforting someone in distress?" Karma didn't even sound amused, just bored as fuck. Gakushuu wanted to punch him in the face.

"You don't seem very distressed," Gakushuu scowled, and Karma batted his eyes at him, a mock upset expression on his face.

"I'm actually super distressed. I died to a tentacle monster," and Gakushuu did spot a red tentacle monster waving around in the background of Karma's phone screen.

"There, there." Gakushuu deadpanned. Karma made a face somewhere between a scowl and a smile.

"Wow, Asano. Your comforting skills have really fallen, huh?"

"Speak for yourself. Who was the one who just walked past a crying girl last week?"

" I never said I was good at comforting, you're the one who goes around trying to catch all the broken hearts," Karma pointed out logically, suddenly looking very comfortable with sitting and chatting with Gakushuu.

"I mean, at least I meet with people who try to confess. You don't even read the names of people sending you confession letters." Gakushuu scoffed.

"Cause I don't know them," he shrugged carelessly. "Why bother?"

"I have no idea why people even like you,".

"I don't either," Karma smiled mischievously at him. Gakushuu looked back suspiciously.

"You're a strange person," Gakushuu shook his head, not even sure if he meant it to be a joke or a genuine thought.

"Oh? Who was it that had a mental breakdown in school again?" He asked, tone a touch mocking. Gakushuu felt almost reassured by the mention. He didn't want to feel like it was some kind of a dirty little secret they would mutually keep quiet on, even if he probably should have.

"Remind me again, who was it that got thrown down two classes after getting caught fighting?" He shot back, his lips curling up.

Karma shrugged it off.

"I didn't get expelled for it, isn't that a bigger deal? Obviously the Principal likes my results," and suddenly, Gakushuu realized one of the reasons why he was trying to establish dominance over Akabane.

No way, right? Jealousy?

He pondered on the feeling, surprised at its existence. No matter how much he knew his father loved him, he wasn't sure he still held the capacity to love the man back. All he had for his father was pity, or so he thought.

He poked at the feeling. Or at least, the bare bones of what was left, and determined that it was easily disposable. He already knew that his only way to escape would have to be made by his own will and no one else's.

He felt a little better about himself after the realization.

But then he realized he let the silence drag on a little too long. And here he was, arguing that he didn't have too many issues.

He sighed.

"I'll have to go now," he met Karma's stare with a steady look, "Try to actually attend your afternoon classes."

With barely a wave, he abruptly left Akabane alone by himself, in one of the scarce hiding spots of Kunugigaoka.

"NOOoooo!!!" Ayaka whined as Gakushuu snatched away her paper. He absentmindedly patted her head as he arranged the multiple answer sheets.

Ayaka continued to give him wide eyed teary looks, and Gakushuu ignored it and went around collecting the papers everyone had given up to him willingly.

"Why did we ask him to set the paper again?" Kazuki, another of Gakushuu's classmates, mumbled with his face smushed against the table.

"I think I failed," Hinata mumbled back, face equally smushed against the table, her pencil digging into her cheek. Amami sighed before pulling the pencil out from under Hinata's face. She mumbled out what seemed to be a thanks to her friend.

"It wasn't actually that bad," Anaya said as she gave up her own answer sheet to Gakushuu. "Though I haven't personally taken a mock test so much harder than the actual one." She frowned.

"It's actually easier to do than the kind of ones Gakushuu does," Ren pointed out.

"I'm just surprised he has time to grade all the papers," Anaya sniffed. Everyone groaned in unison.

"He's definitely got time manipulation ability. It can't be humanly possible to fit these many things to do in a mere 24 hours," Hinata perked up as she spoke. Superpower fanatic that she was.

Gakushuu quirked his lips up, amused, then he sat down and started grading them immediately.

"What." Anaya spoke up first, and by then Gakushuu was done with his first paper. He put it on the table and the rest of the class scrambled to grab it first.

"It's Ayaka's." Ren read out the name. Anaya snatched it from his hand as Ayaka let out a loud wail that received glares from the nearby non-class A students. Half of them glared back, while the other half ignored it.

Gakushuu watched the by-play with an amused smirk. He loved the way his own possessiveness had spread to his classmates.

"That was so fast, man," Kazuki sneaked up on Anaya and peaked at the paper. "Woah, he even wrote the correct solutions!" He gasped out.

"What." Morisuke scowled harder. He had been sitting away from the most gathered up area of the class A students but he held a sense of competition against Gakushuu. Every time he learnt of something now that Gakushuu was capable of doing, he would get all huffed up.

He brushed aside his classmates and grabbed Ayaka's paper that Anaya willingly gave up, ignoring Ayaka's wail of 'Stop looking!!!'

Ren silently took the other graded papers and handed them out correctly.

"Oh, I completely forgot about this formulae," Miya groaned under his breath as he scanned over Ayaka's paper he had taken from Morisuke.

"Heh, tell me something I don't know," Kazuki snickered at his own words, showing off his bright red 60. Then he looked at the score.

"I don't even remember the last time I got a 60," he said under his breath. Hinata patted his shoulder sympathetically. She had a 79. Kazuki looked at her paper then dropped his, disappointed.

The students devolved into a low murmured discussion as they compared their own papers. Gakushuu twirled his pen, before deciding to rest his head on his chin to watch.

He enjoyed the dynamics in their class, the way everyone was unique but so held together that even hate hadn't lasted long. The competitive spirit was lit, but there was also this growing desire to stay together that Gakushuu was beginning to notice. He hummed softly under his breath, his eyes falling close as the sounds dulled.

Ren turned around to look at Gakushuu about a question before blinking in surprise at the sight of Gakushuu dozing off.

There was a click of a phone beside his ear and he turned to see Anaya taking pictures in different angles.

"Well, our class rep is human after all," she said, a small smile on her lips, softening the sardonic lilt in her words.

Morisuke frowned, then gave a "tch" before turning around and going back to his own seat.

"Guess we're keeping it down then," Kazuki grinned, slightly nudging Ayaka to stop her from gasping loudly in surprise at the sight.

Hinata giggled under her breath before taking out her phone to text Anaya. Anaya's phone, on silent as demanded by Gakushuu, vibrated gently in her hands and she sent the best picture to the Gakushuu Stan group also known as the girls group in their class.

Kimiko, a (silent) member of the group but not currently present, immediately replied.

'No fucking way,' she texted. 'Is he seriously napping with all you loudmouths around him?'

Hinata stifled her laugh. Kimiko sounded like a complete gangster when she texted.

'Yeah, he just dozed off. We're trying to keep it down though.' Hinata texted back.

'He looks so cute???' Ayaka texted then smiled when she checked the picture Anaya had sent. Kazuki looked over her shoulder at it, shooting Anaya a thumbs up.

'He's always been good looking though?' Shimizu texted confused, she was sitting on another table.

'Yeah, but he looks like a baby angel or something!!' Ayaka was unmatched in her shamelessness, and all the members of the group deadpanned at the message. Hinata looked up at Ayaka and felt like she was looking at a literal halo around her. She edited Gakushuu's picture with a halo and sent it.

Ayaka smashed her hand over her face, trying to stifle her laughter. Kazuki shot a panicked look at Gakushuu before almost physically lifting the other girl up, shoving her out.

Loud laughter burst out from the otherwise small girl before she could get dragged out, and everyone sighed as Gakushuu startled awake.

Then they decided, in unison without a single exchanged glance, to pretend that they hadn't just witnessed Gakushuu's very human side and let him pretend like he hadn't just dozed off in the middle of their study session.

Minutes later, Hinata had to run out laughing when she received a picture of Gakushuu with devil horns and a tail.

When the schedule for finals arrived, all of class A almost gave a cheer. The teacher, intensely confused by his class, decided to ignore Hinata and a few other boys tearing up and gestured, for the few people (including Ayaka, who was the loudest) cheering, to calm down.

Gakushuu gave the teacher his polite confused smile#3 (dubbed nee Ren) as he glanced at him in silent askance. The teacher sighed, giving up.

Ren coughed a few times, and the class' happiness slowly died down. They stared at the teacher, grim faced. The teacher shot another confused look at Gakushuu, only to receive polite smile#17 (continue-the-fuck-on-already) before decided to continue on with his lectures.

His class was going through dramatic changes but the Principal hadn't said anything and neither had his son, so he wasn't going to be involved at all.

(He found himself slightly more cheerful for the rest of the day, to the surprise of his colleagues, and when asked he couldn't answer, but he silently remembered the looks of sheer relief and happiness on faces that had only been looking disdainful, bored or awkward half a year ago.)