"Shimada-kun."
Genji looked up from his notes. Social Studies was the last class of the day for class 1-4, taught by their homeroom teacher. Keisuke Okabe-sensei stood at the front of the class holding his teacher's book. He was an easy-going teacher in his mid-twenties that most of the students looked up to and thought highly of. It helped that he was one of the few teachers who had taken the new dress code for teachers and had dyed his hair, though he had chosen a shade of red so dark that it looked black.
"Yes?" Genji stood up. He saw the classmates who surrounded him flinch at his movement but he ignored them.
"What were the ramifications of the Ryūkyū Shinkō?" Okabe-sensei asked him.
Several students in the class sucked in their breaths and held it in. Genji tried not to roll his eyes at their reactions. "Ryūkyū maintained its independency, but was considered a vassal state of the Satsuma domain."
"And how long did this vassalage last?"
"Until 1879, when it was annexed by Okinawa."
"Very good, Shimada-kun," Okabe-sensei praised him with a smile.
"Thank you, Sensei." Genji sat down, and sounds of exhaling filled the room. This time Genji did roll his eyes. What? Did they expect me to attack Sensei if he told me I was wrong? Or do they think I'm stupid and don't know anything? I got 9th place on the entrance exam! I did better on that test than most of the student population!
It was the last class of the day before cleaning and so most of the students were exhausted from the heat and from learning. But Genji kept his focus and idly glanced at his watch from time to time. But he wasn't waiting for the end of the day like the rest of the class. No...the end of the day was what he dreaded the most every day.
I don't want to go home. But I can't just stay in school overnight. All I can do is avoid going home until I have to go home.
He glanced towards the window and saw Yukinaga's beautiful two-story library, a standalone building near the auditorium. It was the place he spent all of his time after school, doing his homework and getting ahead on other work. There was nothing else he could do to pass the time before going home.
The Suzuhara schools forbid students from getting a job. And I can't loiter in my neighborhood because THEY will find me. He rubbed a hand over his face underneath the bangs, his fingers tracing his scar. And Dad...he was already drinking when I woke up. If I'm lucky then he'd be passed out when I get home, but I don't want to take that risk...
Genji sighed heavily, and the students sitting around him flinched again. He felt like screaming in anger and anguish but he swallowed the howl before it came out. Three more years. I just have to survive high school and get into university so I can make video games and make money, and get out of that hellhole I call home. I can do it...even if no one else believes in me.
*
"So in this problem we are looking for the solution of tan0°. To find tan0° you need to use the formula opposite divided by adjacent. But when we look at the marked angle of the isosceles triangle it is 45 degrees. The side immediately opposite of the designated angle is 12 cm. The adjacent side of the designated angle is x. This diagram as it is now is tan45° and not tan0°, so we will need to determine tan45° before we can determine tan0°. Tan45° thus has the equation of 12 divided by x. X is not a number and 12 cannot be divisible by x in its current form, so x needs to be determined before tan0° can be determined. To calculate x we need to divide 12 by tan45°. Tan45° is 1, so that would make the equation 12 divided by 1, which equals 12, which makes sense as this triangle is an isosceles triangle. So x equals 12 in this equation. Now, to find tan0°—"
Asato had a terrible headache and his vision was starting to blur. Iori Maeda-sensei was undoubtedly a genius with mathematics—He's a Doctor of Mathematics, right? he thought. Haha said he got his Ph.D before he turned 20–but Asato's homeroom teacher of class 1-2 did almost nothing to make any of his lessons engaging or enjoyable. He would recite his lectures in a steady, monotone voice while facing the chalkboard and writing out formulas. Maeda-sensei would spend almost all of the period with his back to the class reciting advanced mathematics from memory. Rarely did he rely on the textbook.
"Understood?" Maeda-sensei droned, finally turning to face the class. He was a man in his mid-twenties with a crew cut and a steadily expressionless face.
"Yes," the class responded wearily.
"Sensei," Asato interjected, standing up with his hand raised. "Could you please repeat how you found tan0°?"
"Certainly," Maeda-sensei responded bluntly. "Tan0° is opposite divided by adjacent, but this formula is tan45° so you need to find tan45° before you find tan45°—"
NO! Asato almost shouted as Maeda-sensei turned to face the board again. Instead he made a noise of dismay. Someone chuckled to the southeast of him, but Asato didn't look their way. He stood there wringing his hands as Maeda-sensei erased his own work and proceeded to repeat the entire solution breakdown in lieu of actually answering Asato's question. He even rewrote the work tracing the lines he had just erased!
I'm struggling. I'm really struggling with this, and this isn't helping me! And I know that it will only get harder the deeper into the school year! I NEED to understand math to become an astrophysicist!
The school bell chimed before Maeda-sensei was even finished rewriting the problem, and the students cheered for the end of the school day. "Wait!" Asato shouted as Maeda-sensei began erasing the board again, but the cheers from his classmates drowned out his voice.
"There are no announcements, it is end of school day," Maeda-sensei announced dully. "Start cleaning now." He collected his teacher'stablet and his belongings and left without another word. Asato stood there gaping, his chest tight. Wha...But he didn't answer my question!
"You okay, Asato?" Aguni Ono asked him worriedly. Unlike Asato he hadn't dyed his hair and it was slicked back and stiff with excessive hair gel.
Asato nodded to him wearily. "I'll go to the teacher's room later before kendo club. He'll HAVE to help me then!"
Aguni nodded. "I'll let the Captain know you might be late."
"Thank you."
"Is it true the Shirahime girls are coming here later?!" Rokudo Yamashi exclaimed. Asato glanced up with mild interest as he started to move his desk with the rest of his classmates.
"That's the rumor," Tama Kubo said. "Yoshinaga said he got a text that 20 of them are going to walk here after cleaning!"
"Damn, we'll be at club then," Aguni sighed as he pushed his desk alongside Asato's.
"How come they're coming here?" Ran Komatsu asked. His platinum blonde head was bent over his cell phone, openly texting despite it being during school hours.
"To show themselves off in their summer uniforms!" Yamashi laughed. "We should all greet them at the gate! Want to join, Komatsu?"
Komatsu shook his head at him without looking up. "I'm not interested, but thanks."
"Not interested?!"
Asato pushed his desk along with his classmates towards the back, but a hand reached out and pressed against the surface stopping him. "Nakajima."
Asato was startled to hear a slight purr to the tone and he looked up. A boy with dyed silver-blonde hair with an angular fringe hairstyle was standing in front of his desk wearing a peculiar smile as he stared at Asato. Koryu Noda.
He remembered Aguni's warning and he glanced towards his friend, who was watching Noda with a hard expression. Asato looked back at Noda and nodded stiffly to him. "Noda."
"You seem tired Nakajima—or can I call you Asato?"
Asato shrugged. "I don't care, Noda—"
"Koryu." He said his own name breathlessly and Asato felt the hairs rise on his arms. "And okay, Asato. Let me take care of your desk for you."
"I—"
But Noda slid the desk out from underneath his hands and pushed it himself towards the other desks. Asato stood there gaping after him, and he heard some of his classmates snickering. He looked at Aguni again and his friend shook his head at him. Asato glanced back towards Noda again and then towards Noda's group of friends, who were huddled together. The other four boys were looking right at him and whispering. The snickering he had heard had come from this group.
A hand caught his shoulder and he was pulled towards the cleaning supplies. "Come on, let's get started," Tadashi Enatsu announced. Aguni quickly followed and Tadashi leaned in to Asato's ear. "Noda has his eye on you. He broke up with Shirai the other day and it wasn't pretty."
Asato looked at him in shock. "Noda—he's gay?!" He whispered.
"Where have you been, Asato?" Aguni laughed, but he leaned in close on Asato's other side. "He's openly gay and he's a total bastard. He's dated like 20 guys since the school year started!"
20?! Asato almost shouted the number but Tadashi shoved a mop into his hands and glared in Noda's direction. "He pursues guys, dates them, then dumps them callously. More often than not he's already cheating on his partners before he breaks up with them. He's a terrible person, and you're next on his list Asato."
What?! Asato swallowed thickly and almost looked over his shoulder but Aguni tugged on his shoulder. "Don't look at him!" He hissed. "He has some—magnetizing power that makes people fall for his charms even after everything he did to his exes! Don't look at him, and DON'T be alone with him Asato!"
"Why is he interested in me?!" He hissed back. "I haven't had a real conversation with him!"
"Who knows and who cares," Tadashi said. "Just stay away from him until he loses interest in you. He's poison."
Asato ducked his head and started mopping the floor, but he could feel eyes on him. He was almost afraid to lift his head in case he caught Noda's gaze. He didn't pay attention to school gossip, but he didn't know Noda was gay. Even Asato had to admit that Koryu Noda was undoubtedly one of the most attractive students at Yukinaga, and he had a ethereal presence to him that either drew people to him or repelled them. Now he knew why.
Obviously there's nothing wrong with being gay, but I'm not interested in Noda. I don't want that kind of relationship with him, especially after what Aguni and Tadashi told me about him. He sighed heavily. I'll just have to RUN to the teacher's room to avoid him, and then RUN to kendo club.
*
The school bell rang. Clubs were over.
Genji closed his textbook slowly and stretched. He had completed all of his homework, but he didn't feel satisfied. He just felt dread inside of his stomach. Now I have to go home. And I don't want to go home.
His cell phone began to buzz inside of his schoolbag. Someone was calling him. Curious he reached into his bag, but when he saw the name on the screen—and the smirking face in the photograph displayed on the screen—panic overtook him. He declined the call and shoved his cell phone back into his bag. His breathing came out fast and harsh, and he pressed a hand over his heart. It was hammering against the wall of his chest.
Yasuo. Why is he calling me?! Genji closed his eyes and took several breath to try and calm himself, but the ugly images swam behind his closed eyelids. The punches, the kicks, the taunts and the yells. He rubbed a hand over the scar on his face and gritted his teeth. After what he did...what could Yasuo possibly want from me?
When his heart had calm and his breathing was under control Genji pulled his cell phone out. Yasuo had not left a voice message. He pulled up his contacts and blocked Yasuo's number. What I should have done months ago. Then he went down the list of all the familiar names on his contact list and proceeded to block each number one by one. It's over. It's done. They're not part of my life anymore.
"Shimada-kun?"
Genji 'eeped' when he saw the librarian approach him. She was a kind woman in her sixties, very soft-spoken and warm. She was the type of person he wanted to have as a grandmother. "I-I apologize, Sensei," he stammered, putting his cell phone away. "I know cell phones aren't—"
"It's the end of school day so it doesn't matter," she responded softly. "But you've come here almost every day since the first day of school, Shimada-kun. And you stay until everyone has to leave, even though you are not part of any clubs. Are you...all right?" She asked him tentatively.
Her compassion made his throat tighten, but Genji shook his head at her and finished collecting his things. "I'm all right Sensei, thank you. It's just easier to do my schoolwork here than at home."
"I see..."
"I have to hurry and catch my train. I'll see you tomorrow, Sensei."
She replied in kind but he didn't hear it as he headed towards the stairs. I just have to hang on until I graduate. I have to do it.
*
Asato sighed heavily, leaning against the wall outside of the kendo room. His kendo sword slipped off his back and fell to the floor, and he groaned in frustration. The Captain showed no mercy today. But I wanted to be in the kendo club, so I have to deal with it...
He had managed to catch Maeda-sensei in the teacher's room, but even after he explained to Asato how to get tan0° he had been confused. After hearing an explanation that didn't make sense to him though, Asato simply resolved to look it up online later that night and thanked Maeda-sensei for his help.
Then Maeda-sensei surprised him with another announcement. "This equation will be on the test tomorrow, so make sure to study that."
"A-A test?!" He had exclaimed, but then flushed when other teachers glanced towards them.
"Yes a test, Nakajima-kun," Maeda-sensei had responded nonchalantly. "Did I not say that in the end of lesson announcements?"
"Sensei, you said there were no announcements!"
Maeda-sensei opened his mouth as though to protest, but then quickly closed it. "Huh." He turned to his computer and began to quickly type. "Then I will alert the class via email."
Asato had not been confident that the class would read the email he sent out and had sent a text to the cell phone numbers he had for his classmates before going to kendo club. Now he was unsteady, barely holding himself up from both physical and mental exhaustion.
I need to hurry, or I'll miss my train.
Asato leaned down to pick up his kendo sword, but then it was swiped off the ground. "Allow me, Asato."
Asato flinched, and a chill swept over him when Koryu Noda moved to stand in front of him. Noda was smiling his usually peculiar smile as he swung Asato's kendo sword over his own shoulder instead of giving it back to him. "You look terrible, Asato. They've been working you too hard. They should let you relax, dark bags under your eyes is unflattering."
Asato frowned tiredly and held out his hand. "Thank you, Noda—"
"Koryu," Noda corrected him gently.
"...Koryu," he answered hesitantly. "Please give me my sword back."
"And let you take the train in your condition?" Noda tsked at him. "Let me give you a ride home. I just bought a new car, and you would look great inside it."
A hard lump formed in Asato's throat. They were right. He IS after me.
"No, thank you," he said, pushing himself away from the wall. "We don't live in the same neighborhood, do we?"
"No, but what difference does that make?" Noda stepped closer, deliberately invading Asato's personal space. He was close enough that Asato could smell his cologne, and it bothered him that the scent made his heart flutter. "You're a nice person Asato. You work hard and a lot of people like you. I think you—"
"Noda," Asato said, finding his voice and making it sound stern. "I know what you're doing and I'm not interested."
"'Not interested'?" Noda pretended to look surprised. "I don't know what you mean—"
"I'm flattered but I'm not in to you," Asato said. "Nothing against your sexuality, but I'm not in to any guys in our class. So you can stop with the flirting because I'm not interested."
Noda looked surprised by his rejection, and he retreated back slightly. After a long moment he casually removed Asato's kendo sword from his shoulder and gave it back to him with a broad smile that didn't reach his eyes. "If you change your mind—"
"I won't," Asato said, accepting the sword back. "I'm interested in getting a girlfriend, not a boyfriend."
Noda nodded and shrugged before he turned to leave. He took a couple of steps before stopping, and Asato took the opportunity to turn and walk in the opposite direction. I have to get my train—
"I hope you'll excuse me," Noda said loudly, causing Asato to stop in his tracks. "For misunderstanding your preferences. I thought that since another guy likes you that you felt the same."
"What?" Asato turned to face him. Noda was looking out the window towards the school grounds. "Noda, what are you talking about?"
"Oh, don't you know?" He pointed out the window. "He's in love with you, Nakajima."
"H—" Asato quickly moved towards him and stood at the window. He hovered a hand over his eyes to see if he could see the person Noda was talking about. What he saw made him gasp and his body shook with fear. "T-That's...!"
"Genji Shimada," Noda said smugly as the boy in question walked towards the school gates. "The scary Yanki with a scar on his face. He has feelings for you, Asato Nakajima."
Asato quickly looked at him. "You're lying," he said sharply. "I've never even had a conversation with Shimada! How can he be in love with me?!"
"Why do you think I thought I had a chance with you?" Noda asked him. "It's because I've heard the way Shimada talks about you. The admiration and love he feels for you. I thought that if that guy found you so intriguing that I should try sweeping you up before he could get to you. Alas..."
Asato's breathing was quick and heavy as he watched Genji disappear around the corner of the gate and out of sight. "H...He loves me?" He whispered.
"I wasn't good enough for you," Noda said. "But good luck fending off his advances." Then he walked away with a haughty laugh.
Asato stood frozen at the window, his fists clenched into tight fists as his heavy breathing made him feel more exhausted and dizzy. Oh...Oh my God...
*
Koryu rounded the corner and burst into sadistic laughter. "W—What an idiot!" He managed to spit out before another bout of laughter erupted from his throat.