"Ah! I forgot to say good job on your test earlier, Sakura-chan!" Aoi and Sakura sat at their usual table for dinner. A few students in the Reserve Course sat and observed them. Even though the two girls found it somewhat odd, they didn't mind too much. After all, it's not like they were going to try to cause trouble.
"An 81… even so, there's still room for improvement, and not necessarily just in my case," Sakura looked sternly at her friend. Aoi sighed.
"I had that joined practice coming up, Sakura-chan," said Aoi, remembering her trip to a school that had just formed a swimming team. "Besides, a 49 isn't that bad. It shows that I knew about half of what was going on!"
This was Sakura's turn to sigh. She wasn't sure why her friend was so proud to fail. One of the kids at the Reserve Course table near them laughed aloud.
"Ha! It doesn't seem that the kids in the main course are that much smarter than us," said one girl.
Aoi stuck her tongue out at her. "Sorry we can't all use our time 'studying'," Aoi responded.
"Pfft," interjected a boy. "It sounds like you didn't even try. If we're going to be spending exorbitant amounts of money for your sakes, you could at least make better grades. They shouldn't let idiots into such an elite school."
At this, Sakura stood up. Quickly, Aoi tried to step in front of her, but she wound up bumping into someone else and forgetting her comment about that "idiot" remark.
"Ah, sorry," she said to a boy with long, black hair and red eyes. He ignored her.
"Trying to make others feel inferior due to your own inadequacies? How typical," said the mystery boy. The Reserve Course boy stared in shock.
"You… Who are you to tell me what to do? Tryna call me a bully?"
"Frankly, yes," said the mystery boy. "You came here hoping to become a member of a small elite crowd, but in the end, you aren't even interesting enough to catch the attention of a simple student. Mediocre people like you seem to enjoy starting conflict among other mediocre people, hoping to feel some sort of semblance of importance, but in the end, that won't save either of you from your mediocrity. No one cares that you're here, and no one will care if you leave. In fact…" The group continued listening to the boy until he decided to walk away.
"Hey, punkass!" The Reserve Course boy yelled at him. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"
"I'm leaving you," he began, "Because I realized that there's nothing interesting about you, and you'll never have anything interesting to contribute, so I shouldn't waste my time."
Aoi stared at the boy as he walked away. More confused than ever, she decided to just forget what happened.
"Well, Sakura-chan, I think I'm done here. See ya," she said with a wave. Sakura nodded in response. She couldn't help but wonder exactly who that boy was…
Meanwhile, Aoi had walked right out of the cafeteria and right into Togami. Again.
"Tch," the heir said. "I thought we went over this."
Aoi frowned. "Well, it's not like you can't warn someone, or even move out of the way."
"In any case," he started, "You failed your most recent test, didn't you? Since you did so horribly, the teacher has asked me to help you study for the retake."
"Eeeeh?" Aoi responded incredulously. "How did you know that? And why you? Why did he even ask you instead of Ishimaru-kun?"
"Ishimaru has three other students he volunteered to help. Plus," Togami unrolled a marked test. The number "97" was written and circled in red ink. "I'm fairly certain I'd be more than qualified to help you pass a simple retake."
Aoi opened her mouth to prepare a response, but then she realized that she had no rebuttal to that. But why does he want to help her all of a sudden? He must be planning something mean… Maybe he was going to tell her all the wrong answers, then make her fail again so he could make fun of her more! Hm… How could she get out of this…?
"Sakura-chan already said she'd help me," Aoi lied. Togami seemed to be processing the information…
"Alright," he replied before walking past her. "Good luck on your retake, plebeian."
Aoi was glad he didn't try to argue further, but didn't appreciate that he called her a plebeian.
"Jeez, what's with that guy?" Aoi asked herself once she knew he wasn't within earshot. That was very out of character for him. Why would he offer to help? Aoi didn't believe he was trying to prank her if he decided to leave it alone so easily… Maybe he was trying to be nice? But why would he do that?
Aoi felt her face grow hot.
"Aaagh! What am I thinking?!" Aoi yelled, garnering a bit of attention from a couple of her seniors. With an embarrassed laugh and a wave as if to say "everything's fine, and I'm not crazy," she ran back to the dorms.
Back in the cafeteria, Togami sat with Kyouko and Makoto… and Touko? She didn't normally eat dinner outside her room. Why was she here?
"Ah, hello, Bya-Togami-sama," Touko greeted him, then continued whispering to Makoto. What's that about? First Aoi rejects the kind offer that he didn't have to make, now even his most dedicated stalker is ignoring him? He began to wonder if he did anything to offend them recently. He didn't care too much if he actually did, but it still made him curious.
"Togami-kun," Kyouko greeted with a nod. He nodded back at her, if only to be somewhat civil, and to keep her from being unnecessary offended.
"So, how much longer do you intend to let your father boss you around?" Failed step one. One of Kyouko's eyebrows twitched in irritation.
"I'm not letting him boss me around," Kyouko tried to hide the irritation in her voice. "I've been telling him that I'm not interested in participating in the creation of another Togami family member."
Touko spat out her soda in shock, causing her nearby classmates to flinch away from her. "WHA—" she began, but stopped herself. She reluctantly resumed talking to Makoto and cleaning up the mess. Luckily for them, the cafeteria was too loud for too many people to take notice. Well, besides the Reserve Course people that were paying extra attention to them. Togami would bribe them to keep quiet about the matter later.
"Anyway," continued Kyouko, "He keeps bothering me about it. I've already told him that I'm not interested in this at all, but he won't drop it."
Togami sighed sympathetically. "I, too, wish that my father would stop trying to make me consider this now."
"So, it seems that we agree on something," said Kyouko. This didn't seem too unusual. Whenever it came to not having to associate with each other, Togami and Kyouko agreed often. It's not that they really hated each other, but they didn't like each other very much either. It was complicated.
"Yeah. No offense, but you're definitely not my type," Togami said jokingly before he realized the implications in that statement. Kyouko's brow raised.
"I didn't realize it was possible for you to have a type," said Kyouko.
"Tch… don't go reading into what people say like you always do," Togami commanded, trying to play off that statement.
"I can't help what you reveal when you speak," said Kyouko before she walked away. Togami sighed. He didn't have a type. Or, at least, he was pretty sure he didn't. Makoto couldn't help but latch on to the latter part of their conversation.
"So, Togami-kun," Makoto tried to begin the question naturally, "Do you have a type? I mean, is there anything in a girl that you like?" Of course not, Togami wanted to reply. Buuuuut… He felt that Fukawa might be listening. Knowing her, she's probably getting closer to Naegi in order to more easily bother me, he thought. He'd probably just say something random.
"Girls with brown hair," he said simply before walking away. What about girls with brown hair? Makoto didn't get the chance to ask. Well, at least Kirigiri-san doesn't really fit that description… But he didn't think Togami-kun would just stop at something so shallow.
Makoto turned to address Touko, who had been staring at her braids and smiling widely…
"I have brown hair, don't I?" Touko asked him expectantly. Nervously, Makoto nodded, even though her hair seemed more aubergine to him. He wasn't sure just how happy she should be about that…
Makoto decided to part ways with Touko for the night. Ah! With all this worrying, he forgot that he needed to finish the homework that was due the next day. He walked past Togami and Oogami-san (Togami and Oogami-san? What could they possibly have to talk about?) along with a group of Reserve Course girls that were counting how many members of their group had brown hair. Makoto tried to remember who he could ask to help him finish when he walked past Mukuro Ikusaba (oddly enough, not accompanied by her younger sister).
"Hi, Ikusaba-san," he called to her, not even remembering that she was also in his class. He power-walked away before she could try to initiate a conversation…
At his previous location, Sakura had confronted Togami about the incident from earlier.
"Did you mean to have Asahina-yan bump into you?" Sakura asked him calmly. Certainly, she hadn't caught on to… Caught on to what? Togami wondered. He didn't mean to have her bump into him. Well, not necessarily. Why couldn't he just say that?
"Of course not," Togami replied flatly. "Why would I allow her to just bump into me? She could have ruined my uniform."
"I apologize for suddenly bringing this up again," Sakura said. "Lately, some guys have been bothering her, and I wanted to make sure you weren't trying to behave like them."
"Hm?" Togami asked. Asahina was being harassed? Normally, he'd say to just stop them, then he wouldn't concern himself with it any further. For some reason, though, he found himself becoming somewhat irritated with those guys. He'd have to find a way to take care of the issue if he… what? Why would he want to "take care of" it? He shouldn't care what happens to her, or any of them. But….
"In any case," Sakura said, "Please try not to add to the problem."
"I'm not trying to add to any problem," Togami stated before turning away from Sakura.
"Oh, and good luck helping that simpleton with her retake," he said. Sakura wondered what he could mean.
"I have to pay a visit to someone in my hometown this week, so I won't be here to help," answered Sakura. "Actually, I meant to tell Asahina-yan that earlier…"
She whispered the last sentence, but Togami still managed to hear her. Oogami was going away for the rest of the week? If Asahina didn't know that, then she must have lied about having her help… The heir could go and confront her about the lie, but he wondered more about why she told it in the first place…
"Oh," whispered Togami, not knowing what else to say. He soon exited the cafeteria, trying not to pay any mind to the group of brunette girls observing him. What exactly should he do about that…?