Chapter 110
Len.
Rin and I were walking around the schoolyard when we spotted Gumi, Yuma, Miku and Kaito by the bushes.
"What do you think's going on?" Rin whispered as we approached the greenery. I shrugged.
"Yes!" Somebody exclaimed at the top of their lungs, making us both jump. Yuma and Gumi fell back and out of the bushes, startled. Miku just stared.
"Kaito, you didn't have to be so loud!" She scolded, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the shadows.
"Thank you, Yuma, thank you!" Kaito was weeping and grinning, "May God rain ice cream down upon you!"
"Er...no thanks...," Yuma frowned, clearing his throat, "I'm just glad it makes sense."
"It does, it does!" Kaito nodded furiously, "To celebrate, we should all go and eat ice cream! Hey, Rin, Len! You two should join us!"
I looked at Rin and she beamed. "Why not?" She said, taking my hand.
"To be honest, I could use something sweet," Gumi smiled at Yuma, who nodded slowly in agreement.
"I guess one cone of leek ice cream couldn't hurt," Miku frowned. Kaito helped her up and we all headed out of the schoolyard.
"So Kaito," Rin began, looking at the ice cream lover, "Were you just studying for the quiz next period?"
He nodded. "Now I won't need a coffin after next period!"
"It's just a quiz, you know," Rin smirked, "Not a test..."
"My grade is low enough as it is!" Kaito answered, "You're getting an eighty-seven, and I'm...I'm barely passing!"
"I wish I was good at math," Miku mused, "Then I could help you, Kaito."
"It's okay, princess," he kissed her on the cheek, "As long as I've got you, I'll be fine!"
We all got in line in front of the ice cream truck, and judging by the way the owner's eyes sparkled at the sight of us, he was thrilled to have such a huge group showing up all at once.
Kaito was first, mostly because he couldn't wait. He got a vanilla cone and then waited for Miku, who got a leek one. I was next, and obviously, I got a banana flavoured ice cream cone. Rin got orange, and then came Gumi and Yuma's turn.
"Which one should I pick?" Gumi asked the pink haired boy, "I mean, the others are fine; Len likes bananas, Rin likes oranges, Kaito loves all ice cream, and Miku likes leeks..."
Yuma shrugged. "I'm thinking the exact same thing."
Gumi looked up at the owner. "Do you have anything track and field flavoured?"
"Wouldn't that taste like grass and dirt?" Miku wondered out loud, licking her leek cone, "And maybe shoes?"
"I'm afraid of loquats...," Yuma put a hand through his hair and looked at Gumi, "I had a dream that one sprouted out of my head one day..."
"Try this one," Kaito walked up to them and pointed to the flavour list that was painted onto the side of the truck.
"It's called 'Candy'," Gumi furrowed her brow, "This has got to be the hardest decision I've ever made..."
"We have to stay strong, Gumi, " Yuma stared at the ice cream flavour and patted the green haired girl's back, "There's no backing out. We need to make a choice."
"We can't mess up, Yuma," She hugged him tightly, "We can't afford to make a mistake!"
Yuma nodded and raised a gloved index finger towards the heavens. "We'll have two 'candy' flavoured ice cream cones!" He declared. Gumi clapped her hands and Kaito cheered.
"Long live ice cream!" The blue haired boy yelled skywards, "And long live Gumi and Yuma's relationship!"
"H-Hey, don't jinx it, stupid!" Gumi gave him a push.
"I ship Rin and Len more!" Miku yelled, striking a pose with Kaito. They both held their cones in outstretched arms, their backs pressed together, "But Gumi and Yuma are cute, too! I just haven't written a fanfiction for them yet!"
"Well, let's keep it that way!" Yuma took his and Gumi's ice creams from the owner of the truck, handed one to his girlfriend, and then smacked the tealette on the head, "No fanfiction!"
"Ow! Yuma, why you...," Miku seethed, her anger dying down as she met Gumi's short but intense glare. Kaito laughed and we all sat down on the sidewalk because there weren't enough benches for all of us.
"You two are still friends, right?" Rin whispered to Miku and gestured towards Gumi.
"O-Of course!" Miku answered, "She just gets really scary sometimes..."
Oliver.
"You weren't being original enough, Oliver," this was Neru scolding me. We were sitting by the school, just outside, our bums being slowly roasted by the hot sidewalk.
She was scolding me because I didn't mix flavours when I got my Slurpee. I only got some of cream soda flavoured stuff, and she was trying to get me to experiment a bit.
"And you're supposed to get a larger one!" Now she was scolding me because I chose to buy a small size rather than a medium or large sized, "There's more value in that!"
"Hey, hey, it's my first time!" I elbowed her and she stuck her tongue out at me.
"Geez, it's not a kiss or anything!" She frowned, sucking on her straw before mocking me, "It's my first time!"
"H-Hey!" I snapped. She laughed and smacked my back playfully.
"Look at you, Oliver," she began dramatically, "You were an uncultured fool, never having tried a Slurpee before. I brought you here, spending my blood, sweat and tears on your puny, naive soul! I opened your eyes, boy, that's what I did! There you were, locked away from the world, eyes clamped shut, ears plugged up. I took time out of my schedule to..."
"Geez, ease up on the melodrama, it's just a freaking Slurpee! Flavoured, drinkable ice!"
She gasped. "Do not degrade the Slurpee, fool! If you do, the Slurpee...it degrades you..."
I rolled my eyes and suddenly her mood changed completely, from 'Slurpee worshiper' to 'annoying, typical Neru.'
"So when are you going to tell you-know-who that you you-know-what?" She had a devilish grin painted across her face.
"Tell who what?" I frowned and she giggled.
"You know...Haku!" Her voice was a low, excited whisper, "Are you going to get her flowers or something? Maybe ask her out to dinner? You might get to sneak in a kiss on the first date!"
I blushed madly, nearly dropping my Slurpee. "I told you, I don't have a crush on her!"
"I know you don't have a crush on her!" Neru teased, "You're hopelessly and madly in love with her!"
"N-No, I'm not!"
"Stop trying to deny it, Oliver! Look, I'll even help you find a gift for her!"
"What would you know?" As soon as I blurted that out, I realized that it implied that I did have a crush on Ms. Yowane.
"Hmm," Neru smiled sweetly, "There's the truth. And I could help, because I am a refined, attractive young woman."
"Well, we know one of those is true," I mumbled.
"What, the 'attractive' bit?" She sounded eager to know. I shook my head furiously.
"The 'woman' part!" I smirked. She scoffed.
"And you wanna know what I know?" She looked at me, "You, Oliver, are a childish, teacher-loving twit!"
I sighed loudly. "Knowing you, you'll never run out of insults!"
"E-Excuse me?"
We went on like this for a long while, past the end of lunch and about twenty minutes into the next period.
Haku.
"Welcome back!" The entire staff room sang. Luka held her arms out to me for a hug, and I obliged, hugging the teacher tightly.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make a cake this time," she apologized, pulling away and tucking a strand of her pink hair behind one ear. I shook my head.
"You have absolutely no need to apologize," I smiled, "You already made one yesterday, and besides, I'm happy that I get to stay!"
"We're happy, too," Luka nodded, looking around at the other teachers, "You're a wonderful friend and colleague. So tell me something...why did Dell ask you to stay at the last minute?"
I laughed sheepishly. "It's kind of a long story, but I guess he just realized that I really, really wanted to teach, and that I had given up my alcoholic habits for good. Also, he gave me this."
I didn't want to mention the thousand dollar bonus he had given me yesterday, because that would just make all the teachers angry. Instead, I pulled Dell's sticky note out of my notebook and showed it to them.
"He said it's a coupon for a free dinner with him," I shrugged, "I don't know...just being able to keep my job is good enough for me."
"Haku, do you know what this means?" Luka whispered, emphasizing each word. I frowned and shook my head. Some of the female teachers squealed.
"Dell likes you," Luka grinned. I blushed, which was something I rarely did. Back when I used to get drunk, my face would be rosy, but I never really blushed because of emotion.
"No, he doesn't," I shook my head, "I was insisting on leaving, and he gave this to me in an attempt to persuade me to stay."
"So...you like him?" Luka smiled. Gakupo, who was sitting behind her, peered at me with a devilish grin on his face.
"N-No!" I burst out much more vehemently than I should have, "We don't harbour any sort of romantic feelings for each other!"
It was that day that I realized that even teachers could be reduced to squealing, fangirling masses.
Neru.
"Ms. Akita," my history teacher scolded me as I strutted into class mid-lesson, sucking on the straw of the extra large Slurpee in my hands. I flipped my ponytail back with one hand and scoffed at the teacher, which resulted in a cloud or murmurs and whispers taking over the class.
"She's got spunk," someone whispered.
"That girl knows she's right!" This was another one.
"Slurpees justify everything, even the end of the world!"
"Do you think she'll let me have a sip?"
"She looks like this girl I saw on YouTube!"
"Oh, you mean that 'Triple Baka' video or whatever?"
"I wonder how many flavours she mixed..."
"Class!" The teacher rapped his fist against the desk as I took my seat behind Len. He looked at me with a half smile, though it didn't make my heart race or anything. I really was over him. He was just a temporary crush.
"So you went out with Oliver," he whispered. I blushed.
"I did not!" I put my glass down on my desk, "I just got him to have a Slurpee! Can you believe that he's never had one before? How...how philistine!"
"I didn't mean you went out on a date, you know," he snickered, "Though your reaction says a lot..."
"Shh!" I pressed a finger to my lips, "Len, now that we're on the topic..."
"And which topic would that be, Slurpees or Oliver?"
I huffed. "The second one."
"Say his name, then," Len offered a wry smile and I felt like slapping his perfect face. Yes, just because I was over him didn't mean that was going to deny how attractive he was.
"Len," I frowned, "I...I want to get something for...you know. That person."
"That person?" He was seriously enjoying this.
"F-For Oliver!" I nearly yelled, blushing, "But I don't know what to get..."
"Hmm," Len looked up at the ceiling dramatically, as if he was trying to show off how deep in thought he was, "They say that cologne is the way to a man's heart..."
"What? But I've never smelled perfume on him!"
"You've smelled him?" Len chuckled softly, "And actually, he does wear it occasionally. Mostly at parties and special events and stuff."
"Hmph, fine," I drawled, "Thank you for your help."
"No problem," Len began to turn towards the front when I put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
"You won't tell him...right?" I asked quietly. He looked me in the eye, wearing the perfect poker face.
"No," he answered plainly, "That's your job."
Kaito.
So Miku and I kind of got carried away as we headed back to school after lunch. Kind of. Only a little. We were just walking when she pulled me into a corner and...yeah.
"Miku, no!" I had pleaded, "Can't we wait till we're married, or at least in the safe confines of your room?"
She was grinning like the devil, if the devil was a seductive, teal haired, leek loving pop star princess. "No, Kaito," her lips were so close to mine, her palms pressed against my chest, "I need this now."
Okay, fine, maybe that didn't happen. It was just my imagination, big deal. See, my princess and I were at her locker and all I got was a small kiss on the cheek before she ran off to class, munching on a leek. You'd think she didn't have lunch, but who was I to complain about that? I loved her the way she was. Anyway, back on the issue at hand. I didn't even get a hug, and on my scale, a proper hug is worth ten more points than a quick cheek kiss.
So as I moped towards the third floor and to next period, thinking about my test and sort of daydreaming about Miku, that's what happened. Fortunately, I didn't get too far with my fantasies; on the other end of the hall, where my classroom was, Luka stood by the door, glaring at me with her arms crossed.
That was when I realized that I was late. And also that Ms. Luka had the perfect tsundere face when she was angry, but that's going off topic.
"Sorry!" I apologized, running into class. She gestured towards an empty seat beside Rin, and I sat down, pulling a pencil, eraser and calculator out of my bag. Luka handed a quiz paper to me and silently walked away. No hugs, no kisses, no smiles.
Huh. That's weird.
Of course, the quiz was weirder, and while I kept trying to recall Yuma's instructions, all I could recollect was Miku and Gumi's giggling.
Damn it...
"So, how'd you do?" Rin smiled after Ms. Luka had collected our papers. I groaned and put my head down on the desk.
"I died...," I mumbled. She shot me a concerned look.
"You know that it only gets harder after the product law, right?"
"Huh?"
"Well, next we have the chain rule," she began counting on her fingers, "Then there's the quotient rule and radical functions, then differentiating sinusoidal functions, then the natural logarithm and exponential functions..."
"Rin, stop!" I pleaded, my head throbbing, "My brain's going to explode!"
She clamped her mouth shut and patted my mop of dark blue hair while offering a reassuring smile. "You should talk to Ms. Luka if you're having trouble. We're starting chain rule this class."
I did just that. After class, I approached Luka's desk with a pile of note paper in my hands. It had my equations scrawled all over it.
"M-Ms. Luka?" I began. She looked up at me.
"Kaito, what is it?" She asked, "I was disappointed with you being so late today."
"I'm sorry," I nodded, "Can I ask you a question?"
She gestured to the chair beside her desk. As I sat down, she pushed her sheets aside, and I caught a glimpse of what looked like cat doodles. I frowned and she seemed to take note.
"Is something wrong? She asked.
Great, now this is getting awkward...
"No, it's fine, everything's fine!" I shook my head as I blubbered, "I don't get chain rule, miss! Like, not at all!"
"Oh, okay," she smiled and picked up her pen, "That's okay, it takes a while to understand."
She copied a problem from the textbook and led me through it the way any normal teacher would. That was fine and all, but it didn't seem right, considering how Ms. Luka used to act around me.
"So that's how we end up with the answer," she tapped the final answer before looking at me, "Okay?"
"Okay," I nodded, "I'll try doing the homework tonight."
"Good," she smiled, handing the sheet to me, "It takes practice, that's all."
"Right," I nodded and got to my feet, "Say...Ms. Luka?"
"Yes?"
I shuffled uneasily in place, unsure if whether I should even be asking such a question or not, "Why don't you hug me anymore?"
Great job, Kaito, that wasn't awkward at all!
She thought for a moment before answering, tapping her pen against the desk. "Do you want me to hug you, Kaito?"
"No, no!" I stepped back, "I was just wondering...why the sudden change in behaviour, that's all?"
She flashed a grin. "Love," she answered. I blushed. Well, at least she wasn't going to chase me around.
"T-That's great!" I quickly turned and stuffed my sheets into my bag before throwing it over my shoulder, "Bye!"
"Oh, Kaito, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you detention tomorrow because you were late to class."
I slumped as I walked out. Maybe it was better before...
Nah.
Okay. I didn't know that Gumi's character item was a carrot till after I wrote this chapter. *slumps* That's okay, though; now I get to show you HOW it became her character item! *brain clicks, whirs*
I hope the story isn't getting bland...hint hint, what usually happened after the 'bland' moments? Okay, more like 'calm' moments, but whatever. ^^
Also, you know how I said fireworks on the coming Saturday? ...I meant the Saturday after that...I've edited it; my apologies!
Anyway! See you next chapter!