A School Project

"Students, everyone pick a partner to work with. If you can't find a partner, one'll be assigned to you."

"I pick Kusuo-kun!"

...

"Please quiet down, Asumi."

He nodded, sitting down again.

********************

"Kusuo-kun, don't you think it's going to be so great working together? I'm glad I got paired up with you instead of someone else. If the teacher had picked the pairs with paper like last time, I might have ended up with Takashi, and that would've been bad. So I'm happy that I get to do the project with you!"

Asumi looked at Saiki with his usual friendly smile, and Saiki turned away, hoping to spare himself a bit of embarrassment.

"Oh? Sorry, am I talking too much again? Everyone always tells me that, and-"

He was interrupted as Saiki slowly shook his head.

"Oh! Okay, I'm glad. They haven't told us what we're going to be doing yet, though. I wonder what we'll have to do. I remember last time, they had us grow the little plants, remember?"

Saiki nodded.

"Did your plant grow more after we planted them? Mine grew a little bit, but it was sunny one day, and the leaves wilted. I had to get rid of it. Did your plant make it?"

Saiki thought for a second, before nodding again.

"Oh, well that's good. I had a lot of fun growing it, even if it didn't last very long. Do you still have your plant?"

Saiki thought about telling Asumi that not only did he still have the plant on his windowsill, but he'd named it Nico after a One Piece character, but thought it was best to shake his head.

"Oh, that's too bad. I think-"

"Alright, class. We're going to start the project now, so push your desks with your partner's desk, and sit down."

The teacher pulled out a cardboard box from under his desk.

"We're going to build towers out of index cards," he said, holding up a small package of them, along with a reference photo. "Each pair will be given a pack of these to use, and you're going to try to see who can make the tallest tower."

Takashi stood up from his desk.

"Do we get a prize?"

The teacher shook his head.

"No, we're doing this just for fun, alright?"

One of the students raised their hand.

"Yes, Akatsuki?"

"If it's just for fun, then why are we doing this in science class?"

"That's a good question. It's-"

"It's because it helps us learn about engineering and how structures hold together best," Asumi interrupted, rather enthusiastically, before realizing what he'd done.

"Yes, Asumi, that is it... Please attempt to refrain from interrupting. We talked about this, remember?"

"Ah, y-yes sir," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

Takashi and his friends snickered, stopping immediately as Saiki shot them a few dirty looks.

The teacher continued.

"I'll pass around the materials, and you'll have the rest of the class period to try and make it as tall as you can. Oh, and the tower has to be able to stand on its own for three seconds, so build it well."