"I can see that this will be another lovely day where I waste three hours of my pathetic life studying for an exam I'm going to fail. If it isn't that damned dropout boy always preaching to me about fun and crap then it's you harassing the hell out of me to come to your wretched dorms to study or whatever…"

A string of swear words emitted from under his breath. Onyx eyes shot a glare at his companion as if it was Misawa's fault he was caught walking up a mount of earth on this sunny day. Misawa stared straight ahead.

"You complain awfully a lot," he remarked blandly. "Maybe I should bind your mouth with duct tape."

"Don't even think of it," Manjyome snapped back.

Misawa shook his head. "I was kidding alright? All I'm saying is that I didn't force you to come. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I don't want to. I was…bored…" —he shot Misawa a suspicious glare before quickly adding in— "…I mean I have the choice of hanging out with you and your big brain or Juudai who would probably 'Gotcha' me to death before the day's over."

There was a pause. Manjyome snorted. "Even if you're a complete nerd, at least you have some common sense that'll keep me alive," he ended lamely.

Manjyome glanced over at Misawa and saw him smirking in what seemed to be silent amusement.

"Hey, stop smiling!" he snapped. "Don't get any wrong ideas or anything, ok? I'm still not happy about coming with you!"

Misawa merely shook his head and Manjyome a 'you are an idiot' look.

However, Manjyome didn't look convinced. "We're just studying, you hear me?"

"I'm glad we established that."

"It's not like it'll change anything. I missed enough of this school year to be expelled. There's no way that I'm moving up to Obelisk next year even if I manage to win a hundred duels before summer comes."

Despite the fact Manjyome was covering four to five feet of ground with every step he took Misawa was matching his pace step by step. He raised an eyebrow as Manjyome began to talk to himself again.

"I hate everybody."

"Oh?"

There was a hint of discomfort in his voice which made Manjyome give him a sidewise glance. He looked at Misawa who had a look of hurt on his face. Manjyome couldn't tell whether or not the other boy was faking it or had the expression being real. Taking no chances, he attempted to fix the situation with a careless, offhand shrug.

"Present company is exempt, I suppose."

There was a pause. "…so you don't hate everybody?" Misawa pressed quietly.

Manjyome scowled. "I already said you're exempt," he snapped. He glanced behind to see Misawa's lips twisted into poorly-repressed grin. Manjyome felt himself soften.

"...come on, it's already getting dark," he said in a less aggressive voice and pointed to the Ra Yellow dorms that were already coming into view. He turned to face the raven-haired boy once more. "Let's go, Misawa."