"Hiroto!" Honda didn't know who was using his given name so freely, but he did know that he hadn't given them the permission to do so. It was to be expected though. This was a different culture, it was normal for them to be so personal. He just wished that while he respected theirs, they would respect his boundaries.

He took his attention from his classwork. They had been given free time to catch up on other classes, and he had planned to use it. He had. He wouldn't or couldn't ignore any of his classmates. He wanted to be a friend to all. It was how he had gotten re-elected each year as their class president.

The girl who had called him was one obviously one of his classmates. Marina, or at least he thought that was her name. He was a little iffy on the details. He didn't know her that well. Or anyone. He came here for school, he was very serious about learning. "Please refer to me as Honda." He wasn't mad at her, he knew she didn't really realise how rude it was in his eyes to use anything else.

"Anyway, a couple of us were trying to get together after school to hang, do you wanna join?" An unsolicited invitation to something he didn't want to attend and didn't have time for, on top of that she completely brushed off his request.

"I'm busy." He didn't really get why anyone would ask him to hang out. They may have been classmates for the previous three years, but he had never really taken the time to get to know any of them. His friends were all back home, where he'd be returning after he graduated. It was nice to experience a different culture, but he didn't want to stick around. He missed home. He missed his friends, and he missed his parents. Although it had been cool to stay with his sister all this time. He'd let her take America for now.

"You're always busy. Why don't you take a break and let us thank you for once." Insistent. He had known most Americans, especially in this school, to have issues taking "no" for an answer. They liked getting what they wanted, which wasn't a bad thing, they just needed to learn when to quit. There was a reason that he never joined anyone.

"You don't have anything to thank me for, so don't worry about it."

She huffed. "You don't pull off the lone wolf thing, you know. That's anyone's thing but yours." Ouch. Ouch, wow. That wasn't what he was going for. He just preferred to keep his grades up, and not fail. "What are you busy with?"

"Study group. We have a test coming up." They always had tests coming up. American schools based education off of so many tests. At least one every week, sometimes two for the same subject. It was bad, but Americans considered it superior for whatever reason. He only came out here because he had more to learn than the content in school. He could learn this anywhere, and probably better.

"Oh, yeah. I guess. Maybe we can join you?" Was she really pushing that far? Usually people went running the moment they heard the word study. "I need help in my calculus class, you can help right?"

He was starting to get the feeling that this was her plan all along. Some people were shady like that. If she had wanted help with her class, all she had to do was ask him straight up. If she was taking the time and effort to seek help outside of class, he was more than happy to show her what she wanted to know.

"Do your friends need help too?" He would be surprised if she said no.

"... They probably do, I can check with them." Playing coy. Of course. No one liked admitting to any form of manipulation. His classmates were tiring. Thank him, right. She had never meant that. Only use him. He was fine with that. He liked helping, it made him feel useful, to anyone. He liked feeling useful.

"Yeah, alright. You can come along, but like, you cause trouble you'll have to leave. This is a serious group." A few, very few people, in their class that got together to study everyday after school. Grades were important. Most of his classmates were aiming for law or medical school. Honda needed business and engineering. He was supposed to inherit his father's garage, but only because his sister had refused and moved out here. He wasn't sure if he'd be taking college courses here in the U.S. or back home. The debt seemed like a bitch to him, but he wasn't sure how easily he'd get into a school back home.

"Great, thank, I'll meet you after class." After class sounded good, he wanted to finish up with his work before school ended, then he could take more time to himself. Maybe he could catch Jounouchi or Yugi before they went to class themselves. He hated timezones.

"Alright, later." Back to work. Work was important.

Class wasn't as long as he would have liked, and time went by much quicker when he wasn't taking notes, so he didn't have enough time to finish what he was working on. He might have to take some time during their study group just to get the last bit of it done. He couldn't understand how American schools could shovel these mountains of work on their students and expect them to get everything done on time while also having a social life and/or working a parttime job. No wonder most of his classmates were making only C level grades. He was lucky enough that he didn't need to get a job to pay for school, and unlucky enough that he rarely had time to talk to his friends without the burden of school work.

He took the classmates that had approached him to the library where his group always met up to study.

He didn't understand how anyone got through school without the dedication these guys had, although most of them had adapted to think inside the box at all times because that was what the American education system asked of its students, and in no way were they ready to face the real world. They didn't even understand the content they were taught, the only memorised it, spat off answers from memory rather than actual understanding of the subject. Memories were quick to be forgotten, whereas if they took the time to understand what they were taught, it would be a lot more difficult to forget. Then, they didn't have time, fifty standardised tests and endless piles of homework made sure of that.

Aside from the few he had brought along with him, there were more there than usual. They were covering math topics. Math days were the worst. Math was difficult for many of his classmates.

Sitting apart from the group, in the back of the library, was Kaiba. He was reading some book. Honda didn't know what it was, he'd been trying to guess that since freshman year. He wasn't sure if it was the same book, or if Kaiba just moved that same black cover to every new book he picked up. Was he so keen on hiding the content he consumed?

Guess he'd have to be. He was a famous kinda guy. If his bookly interests were anything short of perfect (which was a paradox in and of itself as there was no such thing as universal perfect anything), there might be an outcry and his business could suffer. Although it would take a petty kinda bitch to stop buying Kaiba Corp products just because Kaiba might have been reading some Edgar Allan Poe, or Harry Potter type shit. Honda wouldn't judge, he just wanted in on this top priority secret Kaiba was keeping.

Whatever.

He sat himself down at his group. He came here to study and learn some things himself, however, he was bombarded with questions. Everyone else here was more concerned about themselves, which was understandable.

"Hey, how do I do this?

"What's X in this formula?"

"How the fuck is this even applied?"

"I'm no expert, but I think that's biology."

This was ridiculous.

Answering questions only brought on more, and more from those. He may be stuck longer in this group than he wanted to be. When could he go home?

"Wait, wait, Honda, I know you're about to go, but like, could you show me how to do this real quick?"

He had been there helping all of them for hours. He hadn't learned a thing and constantly repeating the same information over and over again in simpler and simpler terms was actually confusing him more on what he needed to be doing. He was getting dumber trying to teach these kids.

Shit.

"Yeah, that's fine. It shouldn't take long."

It took 45 minutes.

He wished he had it in him to start filtering who he allowed to join his study group, however, he just couldn't. He liked helping people. If they came to him asking for help, they'd get it. He was a bit of a doormat. He didn't want to make or leave anyone feeling lesser. This was his own problem. He could never blame them for it.

At least they were kind enough to thank him for it.

No task was without thanks.

That was a lie, most tasks were done without thanks or praise, he just liked to ignore those instances.

Kaiba was long gone by the time he left the library. It was too bad. He didn't get to ask about that book. Maybe next time.

By the time Honda got home, it was growing dark out. Winter months did that. Nighttime came early. His brother-in-law had already made dinner for them. He didn't have anytime to himself then. So much for talking with his friends. That was fine. Maybe tomorrow.

It was always: Maybe next time, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next month. Always a maybe.

He needed something sure for once.