Chapter 2
Narcolepsy


"Ring Ring!"
Shuji looked around the corner to where the phone stood. He wondered who it could be, as he swiftly approached the device. It certainly was too early for his publisher to be calling, he still had a couple of days for the next chapter.

He gently picked up the phone."Moshi Moshi, Sumimura de gozaimasu."*
"Moshi Moshi, Kurosu Yukio de gozaimasu ga.** Is this the father of Sumimura Yoshimori speaking?"
"Yes." 'Why is Yoshimori's teacher calling?' Shuji wondered. "How may I help you?"
"I want to express a concern of mine."
"Concern? If everything all right with Yoshimori?"
"Yes, everything is alright. We just have concerns of his inability to remain awake during classes."
"Ah yes…" Shuji stammered a bit. "We are aware of that problem and we are working on that."
Shuji cringed at his own words, he had a bad feeling about this conversation so he put his hand over the receiver and shuffled to the main room to call for his father in law. He'd know what to do.
"Can I ask in what way are you working on that?"
"Ah well, you see, he's trying very hard to stay awake to improve his grades."
Shigemori had appeared next to Shuji. And with his hand again over the receiver Shuji explained it was Yoshimori's teacher. "He wants to know why Yoshimori keeps sleeping during class, what should I say?" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down so the phone wouldn't pick it up.
"Well…" Kurosu continued, unaware of the rising panic at the other side of the line. "He still has a lot of problems with it. I was wondering if perhaps you knew the origin of this problem. Perhaps he's having some problems that we are unaware of?"
"Problems? What kind of problems?" Shuji's full attention was back to the phone as his protective father instinct crawled up.
"Well maybe he's having problems sleeping at night or maybe he just goes to bed too late? Do you know anything about such things?"
"Oh no, that's not the case, he sleeps just fine." 'When he's not being a kekkaishi….' Shuji sweatdropped… What should he say?

Luckily he didn't have to say anything as Shigemori motioned for him to hand over the phone. "Oh excuse me, my father in law wishes to speak to you." Shuji handed the phone over in relief.
"This is Sumimura Shigemori speaking." The old man said into the receiver as he stroked his moustache. "I gather that you are concerned about my grandsons well being."
"Ah, hai." Kurosu answered, a bit put off by the sudden switch.
"Well, you don't need to worry about that. The kid has Narcolepsy! That's why he sleeps so much! That's why he's not lazy! Actually he is lazy! When he's awake, but when he's asleep… he's not. Uh.." Shigemori laughed uncomfortable. And Kuroso had to sweatdrop. "Ah, I see. How come this hasn't been reported to the school yet?"
"Well, we didn't know until very recent."
"So there has been a medical exam?"
"eh no." They would've been unable to fake such an exam so Shigemori saw no use in lying. "We… are… against medicine." He made up. "Since his life is not in any immediate danger we've decided to leave it at that. Don't worry though we'll make sure his grades will improve and thanks for your concern… I'm going to hang up now."
Though Kurosu wasn't entirely satisfied he decide to keep it polite and finished the conversation. "Shitsurei itashimasu.***".

Shigemori hung up the phone quickly. That hadn't gone as smooth as he would've liked, but what was done, was done. He looked at his son in law. "Well, I think he bought it for now… However I have a bad feeling about this, Shuji."

~Meanwhile at the teacher's launch at Karasumori Academy~

Kurosu put down the receiver. He had been fearing a difficult conversation, instead it had only been a slightly awkward one. He guessed that explained where Yoshimori got his weirdness from.
Who was against medicine nowadays, anyway? And shouldn't that information have been in the kids school records?
Still, if they had their beliefs he had to respect them. Kurosu was simply relieved that the whole thing didn't turn out as bad as he had initially thought.

Narcolepsy huh? He would have to take a look at that.

~Next day, Karasumori Academy~

Yoshimori was confused… Was he supposed to sleep now or not?
His grandpa had all but attacked him when he had gotten home the previous day. Apparently his sensei had called his father, being all concerned and nosy and now he had to pretend he had narcolepsy? Yoshimori didn't even know what it meant! Apparently you sleep a lot. He had been relieved at first, but now that he was back at school he remembered that he still had to up his grades or face flunking plus he had made a promise to his teacher. Did all of that still count? Or did the narcolepsy thing give him a free pass?
He wasn't entirely sure… He wished he had asked yesterday when his grandpa was desperately trying to teach him everything about that stupid sleeping disorder.

And what the hell was up with everyone today? They were giving him looks and pushing him as he passed by, what was up with that? He was glad when he finally found his seat, surely now they'd leave him alone.
Sadly he was mistaken.

"Oi, Sumimura, that was a pretty low thing to do." Sounded from behind him.
Huh? Yoshimori turned around to see Ichigaya standing behind him, adjusting his glasses with a frown on his face.
"Low thing? What are you talking about?"
"What you forgot already?" Ichigaya's stern look faltered, but he quickly got it back in place. "You know!" He gestured into the air. "Ditching the cooking class yesterday! Kurosu Sensei worked hard on that you know."

Oh right… that certainly explained the accusing looks he was getting. He had totally forgotten all about that because of the narcolepsy thing.
Tabata joined them. "Yeah! That was so rude, dude! I totally have to adjust your profile in my facts book! You know, I had you written down like a decent guy. But I guess I was wrong about you." And as he took his seat he started to scribble furiously in his book of facts.
Yoshimori's eyes widened, Tabata wasn't serious was he? Sure it was a pretty douche bag thing to do. But he was only human, he could make a mistake or two. Couldn't he?

Seeing the desperation on his fellow student Ichigaya took pity. He took a deep sigh and then relaxed. "Don't worry, he won't discriminate you, he'll stick to the facts. It'll be like a mark on your criminal record. Maybe after you graduate he'll wipe it clean." He grinned at his own joke. But Yoshimori couldn't find the humor*** and continued to look miserable.

Ichigaya shrugged. It'll all blow over. Just… Just be extra nice to sensei okay? Try and stay awake for once in your life. I think it would really make up a lot."
Yoshimori felt like strangling someone as his four-eyed friend made his way back to his desk to get ready for class. There went his free pass! Eaten up by guilt.
He hardly doubted he could sleep at all anyway, for some reason he was currently wide awake.
He took out his books, trying his best to ignore his fellow classmates.

~Bit later~

It had been a very exhausting and restless class. Apparently non of his students had forgotten about yesterday and they all seemed determined to let a certain Sumimura know about it.

Another dot of paper made it to Yoshimori's head and joined the ones littering the floor around him.
Kurosu sighed as he glanced through the classroom, trying to find the culprit. But no one made a suspicious move. He turned back to the board as he scribbled some more grammar rules.
At first he had felt a bit flattered that his students would stand up for him, but that had changed the moment he saw the defeated look on Sumimura's face. It must not have been easy to suddenly have everyone turned against you . In fact the only one who didn't take part into the childish teasing was Ichigaya and even he did nothing to support his friend.
So that duty fell to him, the sensible teacher. But that didn't make it easy. The fact that they did it for him prevented him from punishing them too hard.

As he turned back, he saw a paper airplane hit the side of Yoshimori's head. Kanda squealed, surprised that she had actually hit her fellow student. "Kanda Yurina!" He warned sternly. "Sorry Sensei." She yelped as her face burned up and she feverishly went back to work.
Yoshimori pretended like nothing happened and continued to copy down the notes from the board. Kurosu hesitated as he turned back to the board. He'd never seen Sumimura like this, awake and grim. It made him shiver, guess he was going to have to talk to the kid again. Just to make sure he was doing all right with all the teasing, he knew it wouldn't last long so it would be best to reassure the kid.

He also wanted to see what was going on with the narcolepsy story, he'd read a lot about it and some of it just didn't make any sense. Especially now, when he was looking at his wide awake student.

Kurosu let out a sigh of relief when class was finally over. He hoped that tomorrow the peace would have settled back.
His class cleared out loudly. Yoshimori was very slowly gathering his stuff. Waiting for the class to empty for sure. Kanda lingered at the door, was she waiting for him? But when the last students left, she quickly followed too. Guess she wasn't.

Kurosu waited at the door and as the boy passes him by he gently grabs his shoulder. "Why don't we talk."
As Yoshimori stared at him slightly frightful the teacher was again filled with doubt about the boys caretakers. Not realizing that Yoshi gave him that look because he couldn't figure out what it was that he had done wrong this time.

~Kurosu's office, break time~

The first thing he noticed was that Sumimura was incredible uncomfortable. The boy fidgeted on his chair and tugged at the cuffs of his uniform.

As Kurosu offered him something to drink the kid couldn't even make up his mind if he was thirsty or not.
"No… I mean Yes! Or do I need to? I don't know…"
What do you say to that? Kurosu shook his head and took the chair next to his student. Praying it would make the teen feel a bit more comfortable, but said teen just avoided his eyes and desperately stared at the wall next to him like it was his lifeline.
Before he would've chucked it up to general Sumimura weirdness, however, now he wasn't so sure. "Hard day huh?"
Yoshimori instantly relaxed. "Oh, that? It wasn't so bad…"
Kurosu nodded. Not a 100% convinced. "You do know that it'll blow over soon enough right?"
"I guess."

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about though." Instantly Yoshimori was on an alert again. "It wasn't?" The boy asked slightly worried.
"No. Your condition. The narcolepsy. I've got some questions about that."
The color drained from Yoshimori's face. He desperately tried to remember what his grandpa had told him the precious night. Recent discovery, I sleep at inappropriate times, always. And not so well during the night sometimes not at all. Insomia something... That was it right?
He wasn't sure… He bit the inside of his lip.
Kurosu noticed the discomfort and was beginning to highly doubt the story. Maybe the kid was just using the story as a cover to be lazy! He narrowed his eyes. And Yoshimori gulped.
Kurosu smelled fear. Fear and a liar and liars needed to be dealt with accordingly.

The teacher stood up, leaned against the desk, close to his student who instantly felt trapped. Then with one swift move he turned the desk light to blind his student.
"Do you claim to have the condition known as narcolepsy?" Kurosu demanded.
Yoshimori gulped again, but his throat was suddenly dry, must be the heat from the lamp. "Y.. Yes!" He squinted against the harsh light.

"When did you first find out about this condition?" Kurosu continued.
Yoshimori knew the answer to that though! "Very recent!"
"That's a very generous concept Sumimura, was it day ago or a month?" His Sensei sneered.
"Uh…" Yoshimori's grandpa had only told him to say recent! He didn't know whether that was yesterday or a month ago! "Just recent…. I don't really know precisely…" Kurosu waited, raising his eyebrow. "I guess a few weeks." Deciding that going in between was the safest way. Kurosu noted it down. NOTED IT DOWN? What? Yoshimori felt like he was being interrogated, wait a minute… He WAS being interrogated! Was it going to be used as evidence? Was he being sued? Going to court? Yoshimori was so confused. He just tried to hang on and answer the questions as best as he could.
"Have your parents never wondered about this before? You've seen to have had this problem since you were 9 years old."
"I don't know!" The kid tried miserably.
"You don't know?" Kurosu interrupted him before he could explain himself. "You don't seem to know anything about your life, you are Sumimura Yoshimori are you not?"
"Yes, of course I am…" Yoshimori answered, slightly annoyed.
"Then answer the question! Why this recent development? What's changed? Answer me!"

"Because you threatened to flunk me! That's why!"

Kurosu raised his eyebrows at this, and scribbled it down as well. "Do you have cataplexy?" He ruthlessly continued.
Yoshimori stared at him… He couldn't remember what that was… He had heard a lot of medical terms yesterday, being shouted at him actually, but that didn't help anything into remembering them.
"A sudden muscular weakness brought on by strong emotions." Kurosu supplied.
Ah that. "No, I don't have that…"

Running out of important questions to ask, the teacher leaned in even closer, lamp and all.
"Also…" He paused drastically. "…You seemed suddenly cured today."
Yoshimori gasped and provided his best imitation of a fish.
"A real narcoleptic doesn't just suddenly take a day off, Sumimura… Especially…" Kurosu grabbed a stack of papers. "Since you've been doing it nonstop!" He threw down the stack of papers filled with class reports in front of Yoshimori. They all mentioned him being asleep during class, every single day...
Kurosu leaned in close enough for Yoshimori to feel his hot breath. "Care to explain that, Sumimura?" He even sounded evil and Kurosu realized he was enjoying this quite too much. Yoshimori was trying to disappear in the chair, at a total loss of what to say or what to do.
"Admit it!" Kurosu Sneered, trying to provoke a reaction. "You're a fake! Sleeping through class is one thing Yoshimori, but lying about it will not be tolerated!"

"Okay okay! I admit! I don't have narcolepsy!" Yoshimori pushed his teacher away, who was way too close. He was done with this conversation, his teacher wasn't buying it anyway and he just wanted to get the heck out of there.

Kurosu, happy to have gotten the confession, turned off the light. And the dark air disappeared like snow on a hot day.
"there there… It's okay."He patted the teen's shoulders. "I understand, you thought you had found an easy way out and you took it. I can't blame you." He stood up, taking his notes with him and sat behind his desk. "I'm must say that I'm glad that you didn't keep lying to me. However I will have to inform your parents about this."
Yoshimori nodded subdued. "Can I go now?"

Kurosu nodded and Yoshimori didn't waste a second leaving the now forever creepy office.

As he closed the door he gave it a long full glare, knowing full well that his teacher had tricked him. Was this even allowed? Could he report it? Would it do him any good to report it? Probably not. He had been tricked and now he had to suck it up. He had to face his family and probably another shouting match from his grandpa… Just great…

The hallways were empty, most people were at the cafeteria. And Yoshimori dreadfully made his way there too.

~Meanwhile back at Kurosu's classroom~

"She's not here either!" Kyoku sighed. "I don't get it, I thought she was right behind us when we left."
Ayano was walking through the paper dots around Sumimura's desk, kicking them up with her feet. "I know! But she's probably looking for us too. Oh hey look! It's Yuri's plane!"
The spiky brown-haired girl picked up the paper airplane from the desk.
"Huh, could you believe it that she actually managed to hit the dimwit?" The darker haired girl asked.
"No! But she totally did! Hey…Look! There's something written inside."
Kyoku walked over to her friend to see, and as Ayano folded the paper airplane open, the words: "It's not your fault!" appeared.
"It's not your fault? Why would she write that?" Ayana asked.
"Huh!" Kyoku took the piece of paper and held it against the light. "I guess she still likes him!"
Ayano smirked. "I bet! You know, maybe we should ease up on him."
"I guess…"

In the hallway just outside the door, a fellow student smiled and continued his way.
Now with a slight bounce in his steps.

TBC?

Sorry for the Japanese… I'm watching too much Soul Eater… heh… ^^ Though it's only to fill up the void that Kekkaishi left… T.T

* Moshi Moshi – Hello?
* Sumimura de gozaimasu – Sumimura residence.
** Kurosu Yukio de gozaimasu ga. – This is Yukio Kurosu speaking.
*** "Shitsurei itashimasu" – "I'm going to hang up now." Polite Japanese way to end a phone conversation.
****Yoshimori probably didn't understand Ichigaya's joke as well. XD

AN: Changed major parts in this, deleted some complete scenes too, so yeah, was struggling a bit. Kinda took all the fun from it too. I guess this kind of story is harder to write then my other stories, involves much more planning and scenes that need to be in there but aren't much fun to write… *sigh*

Also only got 5 reviews so far, so maybe this story just sucks… :/

Next chapter would be "Physical Abuse" but I'm not sure if I'll continue this… Gomen for the ones who were looking out for this! I really appreciated your support!