Hello all. Found a bunch of these sitting incomplete in my PC, so I decided to post them up as one-shots. Nothing too heavy.
"Dammit, I got the lowest in the class?!"
It was Kanji's second year in Yasogami High. Trials were over, the results were up for display. A bunch of students crammed up at the notice board, barely any space between them. Except for Kanji, who had an arms-length radius of space around him, terrified students giving him way. He stormed back to Class 2-1.
"Guess what, Kanji-kun?" Rise had rushed up from the stairs and was at Kanji's desk. "I managed to ace History! Can you believe it?"
Kanji wanted to say no. He only managed to scrape by History. Great job making rocks and corpses fun, he thought, when he sat for the year's first lesson. He scratched his eyebrow. "…Cool."
"D'oh, looks like you didn't do too great. Hey, we should go and visit Naoto-kun!" She stopped, hand over her mouth. She leaned over and shoved her head right in front of Kanji's. "Oh, wait. Sorry, I meant… Naoto-chan."
Kanji grabbed the bottom of his chair and scooted a few inches away. "Y-You crazy? I saw the board. She kicked those tests' asses all the way to Samegawa and back, go compare scores yourself!"
"What's wrong Kanji-kun?" Rise took one of Kanji's pencils and started pointing it at him. "Remember question 16? Napoleon? I think you both have got the same problem. It's called an inferiority complex."
"What's that to do with anything?"
"Come on, are you that dumb? You don't want to look bad in front of Naoto-chan. You know, with her scores, and your scores…"
He snatched the pencil back. "D-Don't crap around! Why would I care about some stupid test scores?" Of course not. Naoto had been tutoring him for the past two weeks. He winced more at the thought of putting all of Naoto's time to waste. It wasn't the test scores. He slammed the pencil onto his desk and stood up. "Let's go, right now!"
"Huh?" She looked confused as Kanji marched out of the class, but smiled as she went after him. "That's the spirit, Kanji-kun!"
Class 2-3. Everyone in the class talked among themselves about the results. Naoto was at her desk, flipping through the question papers. There was a loud thud as Kanji slid the door aside. "Yo, Naoto, you saw your results?"
Blankly staring at him, she went back to the papers. "Yes, I have."
Kanji approached her. He saw her sharply turning the pages with those frail-looking hands. He felt his burst of courage quickly dissipate. "So, uh. What'cha doing?"
"I have collected the question papers for the test. Now, I'm reassessing them, as I have been… enlightened, after I found out my results. Knowing my percentages, I can now find out where my mistakes are."
"…Right."
"And you, Kanji-kun? You must have seen your results. Are you happy with them?"
He scratched his brow again. "…Did you see them?"
"Yes, I have." She took a pencil and circled one of the questions. "Your answer, Kanji-kun?"
"Right, right. Look, I tried the best I could, but, see…" Naoto was staring at him, twirling the pencil in her hand. Cut the excuses. "No."
Her eyes strayed off for a moment, apparently for her to think. She straightened her back and laid the papers on her desk. "You have answered correctly, Kanji-kun. You shouldn't be happy with them."
Kanji head was down, his brows tight. "…'Course." When he glanced up though, he saw a tiny smile on Naoto's face. "Wait."
She went back to her papers. "Was my tone not convincing enough?" Kanji didn't answer. "It was a joke, Kanji-kun. An attempt, at least."
He jerked back. "J-Joke? You were so convincing I could've died!" He put his hands on the desk and sighed. "You got me. Good job."
"Thank you." She started marking the corners of pages.
"This is serious though. I- Sorry. All that tutoring…"
"Do not worry. You have improved from last year's results. This is fair progress."
"Looks like some pretty freaking slow progress to me. I should've gotten more, especially after you tutored me!"
"It is likely that this system does not mesh well with you. Different people learn differently."
"Ah, forget it. I… I'll do better next time, promise." Kanji was looking down at Naoto, still marking pages, working on them like a misplaced clerk. He smirked. "You sounded pretty considerate there. Could've sworn I heard Souji talkin'."
She stopped. "…Yes, Seta-senpai."
There was a brief silence before she went back to work. Kanji looked at the door. "Crap, got so pumped up I left Rise in class." He was about to tell Naoto he was going to find her, when she arrived, with someone else in tow.
"Hey Kanji!" yelled Rise with a grin on her face. "Would comparing with Yukiko-senpai make you feel better?"
Yukiko tried to raise a feeble hand to stop Rise from dragging her. "Rise-chan, we don't even have the same test papers..."
Naoto stood up, and Kanji straightened. "You can't be serious. This ain't Happy Hour, Rise!"