Kismet - Oikawa Tooru x OC

Chapter 11: I Still Hate You

Chapter 11:

Kaiya realized that something was off with Oikawa because when he walked into the classroom, he wasn't his usual, annoying self. He seemed exhausted and judging from his unkempt uniform, disheveled hair, and tired expression, he must've had a rough night. She hoped that whatever he was going through was nothing too serious as they were presenting their chemistry project today.

As the class presentations commenced, Kaiya diligently took notes as their classmates showcased their particular topics. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Oikawa was mindlessly staring out the window. He seemed to be fully out of it today. Finally, after about half an hour, it was hers and Oikawa's turn to present. Kaiya looked at him, and although he seemed distracted, he managed to walk in front of the class without tripping.

"Hi everyone..." Kaiya murmured nervously.

"Good morning!" Oikawa beamed energetically.

She gazed at him curiously, wondering how his mood has drastically shifted. Was she misinterpreting his mood?

"Today, Miyazaki-san and I will be talking about collision theory." Oikawa smiled.

A few seconds of silence emerged and he cleared his throat, snapping Kaiya out of her trance. She almost forgot that it was her turn first!

"Um... Right! So, collision theory states that in order to effectively initiate a reaction, collisions must be sufficiently energetic to break chemical bonds. This energy is known as the activation energy." Kaiya explained, feeling slightly more relieved as Oikawa pressed a few buttons on her laptop to showcase their PowerPoint slides.

"As the temperature rises, molecules move faster and collide more vigorously, greatly increasing the likelihood of bond breakage upon collision. Molecules must collide in order to react." She continued.

After a few minutes of explanations and examples from Kaiya, it was Oikawa's turn to present his findings.

"However, even if two molecules collide with sufficient activation energy, there is no guarantee that the collision will be successful. In fact, the collision theory states that not every collision is successful, even if molecules are moving with enough energy. The reason for this is because molecules also need to collide with the right orientation, so that the proper atoms line up with one another, and bonds can break and reform in the necessary fashion." He murmured, his somber eyes trailing off to Nakamura Ayame who refused to meet his gaze.

At the end of their presentation, a few hands went up to presumably ask questions and to clarify concepts.

"Can you give an example of what you mean by not every collision is successful?" One of their classmates asked.

"Oh! So, for example..." Kaiya cleared her throat, "In the gas-phase reaction of dinitrogen oxide with nitric oxide, the oxygen end of N2O must hit the nitrogen end of NO. If either molecule is not lined up correctly, no reaction will occur upon their collision, regardless of how much energy they have."

"Uh... Miyazaki-san... Can you explain that in simpler terms?" Their classmate asked shyly.

The class burst out laughing, causing Kaiya to blush from embarrassment. She totally showcased her nerd-ness just then.

"Right..." Oikawa shook his head as he stepped forward, "In simpler terms, it's like when two people who care about each other just can't somehow find a way to say it out loud no matter how hard they try. No reaction, and therefore, no collision, despite the fact that they have all the energy in the world. Basically, it's up to chance if a collision was to successfully happen."