Grim Trigger Complex
Author's Notes- My first high school AU in seven years of fic writing! It won't be hardcore angst (I'm having enough fun prodding Hisoka around in Meltdown), but it's not quite a fluffy romance either. Anime-based.
The title isn't Engrish (:D), it actually refers to game theory, a branch of maths examining how players choose strategies in a situation (e.g. social interaction) where the outcomes depends on if they cooperate or act in their own interests. Grim Trigger is a harsh, unforgiving strategy. The player initially cooperates so long as other participants do, but if their opponent 'triggers' them by acting selfishly just once, the player does not forgive them and will forever cease to cooperate. Tatsumi is a maths teacher, so there is a reason behind it.
Also, I've had to do a fair bit of research into Japanese education, but I know there are things I'll have got wrong, so sorry in advance!
Disclaimer- I don't own any of the recognisable characters or concepts. No profit is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.
Warning- This will involve a relationship between a teacher and pupil, if it squicks anyone out. While this isn't shota or anything, most countries have stricter laws if the relationship involves someone in a position of authority. A relationship between an adult teacher and a sixteen year old pupil is rarely romantic or fluffy, since it involves an authority figure who holds a lot of power over an (often) emotionally immature student.
- - -
It was Tatsumi's first day at work.
He had arrived at the school early, when only caretakers and groundskeepers were around working to ensure there wasn't so much as a daisy out of place in the beautifully kept grounds, or a smudge of dust marring the polished dark wood panelling in the reception. Unlike the majority of Japanese schools, this place did not rely on students to keep the buildings clean. Tatsumi didn't think mopping the floors would do the students any harm, but then he supposed if their parents were willing to pay the ridiculously high tuition fees, they could demand that some of that money went on a few cleaning staff.
Tatsumi was thankful for the rather lowly parking space he had been assigned right at the end of the car park when he realised his vehicle would be one of the least expensive there. He had previously worked as an accountant for some fairly successful businesses and his salary here would be higher still, but he rarely spent much besides rent and living costs, and a flashy car had never appealed to him at all. He parked, gathered his briefcase and files and paused by his car for a moment to admire the surroundings. The grounds were pleasant here. The school was set in a small, well-maintained park with plenty of land for sports grounds, a swimming pool, gardens and a cross-country track marked out amongst the immaculately kept woods. It was a dull morning, but the rising dew and the scent of grass freshly cut for the new school year filled the air with fragrance. It was easy to forget it wasn't so far from the city, and Tatsumi had plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely walk up to the school buildings.
He double-checked he knew the locations of all the classrooms he would be teaching in that day before making his way to the teachers' lounge, his footsteps echoing in the near-silence. The only other sounds came from the distant droning hum of some cleaning machine polishing the floors to a dull sheen. Taking advantage of the solitude, Tatsumi surveyed the awards and artwork on the walls. Neatly printed cards underneath bore the names of students who had gone on to become famous politicians, businessmen and academics. It was pleasant to be back in an academic environment. Tatsumi's university years had been the best times of his life. Although his social life had been unimpressive, he had enjoyed his work and it had allowed him the guilty pleasure of escaping his mother and the aura of sadness around her that he could never break through.
There was no one in the teacher's lounge either, and he was glad to have half an hour or so alone to run through his lesson plans one final time. Tatsumi was quite confident in his own abilities and didn't expect there would be any troubles with his lessons, but it was the first day of term and there was always the possibility that someone had forgotten to register a class or given out two contradicting timetables. A minute or two had passed before clattering footsteps broke the tranquil silence that hung over the school. Tatsumi glanced up from his notes to see a familiar, tousled blonde head looking around the teaching room door.
"Watari! Good morning,"
"Here almost an hour early? Shame on you," His friend said, wandering into the room and offering Tatsumi a cup of coffee. Even at this early hour, there were fresh stains on Watari's lab coat and something blue caked on the protective goggles that currently held back his unruly blonde hair.
"So are you," Tatsumi said, eyeing his coffee dubiously. He never quite trusted anything that had been near Watari's laboratory.
"Ah," Watari beamed. "I do, however, have the excuse of coming in early to use the laboratory facilities for purely selfish purposes, and not to prepare a day of stimulating, engaging lessons as you appear to be doing. By the way, that coffee came from the machines, so you can relax," He perched on a nearby chair and turned Tatsumi's stack of papers towards himself, glancing over them.
"The pupils are never going to find maths that stimulating or engaging," Tatsumi said dryly, recovering his lesson plans relatively well and unharmed, with only a few blue fingerprints smudged on the top sheet.
"Well, I'm glad you got into teaching," Watari said, standing up again and going to look over the noticeboard in the corner of the room. The blonde was rarely still for more than a few minutes unless he was working on one of his experiments. Then, he could spend hours gently fusing together two wire filaments as delicate as insect antennae, or patiently watching microorganisms slowly shift and divide under a lens.
"You've been pestering me long enough," Tatsumi said absently, trying to pick off the worst of the blue stuff and hoping it wasn't anything toxic. "Besides, I liked accounting,"
"Yes, but it was such a waste of your talents," Watari said breezely, now watching something out the window. Tatsumi finally worked up the nerve to try his coffee and choked. Watari took advantage of the silence to continue talking.
"You're really cut out to be the mentor type," He told Tatsumi, who was still coughing and discreetly trying to see where the water cooler was. "You were wasted on balancing numbers and helping rich old men beat their taxes down another few yen,"
"What about you?" Tatsumi finally managed to speak. He put down the coffee and carefully pushed it as far away from his person as possible. "You should be working in a university or private research laboratory somewhere, not as a high school doctor,"
"Yes," Watari's smile was a little wistful. "Well, unfortunately no one wants to sponsor my areas of research interest. No faith, I tell you! Still, the school gives me full use of the laboratories. It's not a bad deal really," Besides his work as the school doctor, Watari gave extra science classes for gifted pupils, to further assist them into getting a place at a decent university.
"I can't say you have me convinced on this teaching business," Tatsumi said. "I'm not exactly in touch with teenagers today," He straightened his tie and checked Watari's mysterious blue stuff hadn't stained his sober dark suit anywhere.
"You look smart. Too smart. The kids will hate you," But Watari was smiling. "I'm glad you took the job up,"
"I'm sure I'll live to regret it," Tatsumi said, his eyebrow raised. "You know I don't like children,"
Watari made an exasperated noise and plucked Tatsumi's lessons plans back out of his hand. "You're taking the advanced classes? Your pupils will be sixteen at the very youngest, and most of them will be legal adults. Besides, you should have plenty of patience looking after the young at heart. How is Tsuzuki anyway?"
"Not so bad," Tatsumi said, guardedly. He trusted Watari, but Tsuzuki was a sensitive subject.
"You have such a habit of picking up waifs and strays," Watari mused. "I'm rather glad actually- there's one of my patients I'd like someone to keep an eye on, and I think I'd value your judgement here,"
"Of course," Tatsumi said, a little surprised by the concern. It wasn't that Watari was uncaring so much as he simply didn't seem to notice many things outside of his own research. "Which one?"
"Hisoka Kurasaki," Watari said.
Tatsumi frowned. "Really?" He shuffled his papers and glanced through the seating plans in front of him, the name sounding familiar. "Ah. He is in one of my classes, yes. But he wasn't mentioned as a problem student," Saya, a pretty young English teacher who had taken it on herself to show him around, had run him through the class register and quietly pointed out those who may give him trouble. There were the usual sorts of high school problems that appeared even amongst these seemingly privileged teenagers- the rumoured cocaine user, a joyrider, two anorexic girls, a couple of rich kids trying to rebel against their parents in the only way Japanese teenagers often could- by self destructing spectacularly. She had paused by Hisoka's name and then skipped over it after a moment's consideration.
"No.." Watari mused on it. "I doubt you'd find a teacher who would name him as a troublesome student. But I also think you'll find most of them are uneasy around him, although none of them would ever admit it,"
"Why?"
Watari shrugged. "Oh, it's difficult to put your finger on. The kid definitely has an attitude problem, but he never says anything," He looked frustrated. "Actually, he's as polite as they come, even though it's obvious he doesn't respect any of us. None of the other students seem to like him either. In fact, I'd go so far as to say some of them are scared of him,"
"Family problems?" Tatsumi asked.
"I don't know," Watari shrugged. "His parents come in when they need to, and there doesn't seem to be anything immediately wrong. Up to date on their son's progress, no obvious marital problems, old, well-known family. Perhaps a little cold. I've tried to talk to them once or twice without much success- I think the boy needs a brain scan- but they won't listen,"
"Is he sick?"
"He has.. fairly inexplicable headaches," Watari said, looking frustrated. "As school doctor, there's only so many tests I can run, but his symptoms don't make any sense. He misses quite a lot of school time due to sickness as well, not that you'd know from his grades. I've told his parents that they should rule out the worst possibilities first, but they still won't take him for further tests,"
"Strange," Tatsumi said. Most of the students here were highly privileged, with parents who paid small fortunes to send them to the right school and the right after-school activities and cram classes. Of course, that didn't necessarily make them all good parents, but it certainly meant they could afford to run some tests, and what sort of parents would risk their son's health?
"Yes," Watari said with a sigh, changing subject. "Not nervous about the rest of your students then?"
"Not really," Tatsumi shrugged. "I'm assuming they're all good kids if they got in here," The school was highly prestigious and well known throughout Japan. Getting in required exceptional performance on entrance exams, rigorous interviews and a great deal of money to pay the tuition fees as well as the costs of uniforms, class outings and a hundred other little things.
Watari laughed. "Sometimes the rich kids are the wildest, you know. But I doubt they'll be able to get up to much in a maths lesson," He glanced at the clock, scooped up his own coffee and wandered back over to the door, then paused for a second.
"Oh, and one other thing," Watari looked serious. "That Hisoka boy. I've noticed injuries quite a lot- grazes, small cuts, bruises, that sort of thing. It could be nothing, but it could be bullies or worse. Keep an eye on him, Tatsumi,"