Can't wait to read your reviews!

Chapter 8

In the classroom, Sakuno was sitting down with Ryoma to explain the previous day's lesson. Apparently Ryoma slept through the whole day and missed it.

"And so if you remember the term SOHCAHTOA, it'll be easier to do the problems. Now you try" Sakuno said as she pushed the workbook to Ryoma

As Sakuno turned to Ryoma, he seemed to have a glowing presence. Everything about Ryoma was glorified in Sakuno's point of view. The pencil that Sakuno held dropped onto the floor as she stared at Ryoma in awe.

Ryoma reached for the pencil and gently brushed his hair against her cheek as he went down. Sakuno became flustered and blushed from the physical contact.

"Here" Ryoma said as he handed the pencil to Sakuno

Sakuno immediately stood up and left the room to go to the bathroom.

"What is wrong with me?" Sakuno said as she looked at the mirror and touched her face "Am I getting sick?"

At the end of the day Sakuno went to the nurse office to ask about her symptoms.

"Excuse me" Sakuno said, knocking on the door "Is anyone here?"

"Yes. Can I help you?" the nurse said as she came out from the closet

"I'm not feeling very well. I think I might be coming on with a cold"

"Does your nose feel congested?"

"No, but I find it hard to breathe and my heart would beat really fast sometimes"

"Did you eat anything weird?"

"Well…I ate some mystery stew that I got from my friend yesterday"

"It's probably your body trying to get rid of the toxins. Just drink plenty of water. If it gets any worse I want you to go to the doctor."

"Okay, thank you" Sakuno said, getting up to go back to the classroom to get her stuff

Around that time Ryoma was exiting from the entranceway and was heading home. Since his castle was a few blocks from school he decided to walk half way there. On his way home a tough looking group from the nearby industrial high school approached Ryoma and bumped his shoulder.

"Hey watch it kid" he said, looking down on Ryoma "You broke my shoulder!"

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Ryoma said

"Huhhhh? Give me money for my medical bills." He said as he grabbed Ryoma's collar and put him up against the wall

"It's not my fault. You're the one who charged into me." Ryoma said unfazed

"Can you believe this kid" he said, looking back at one of his friends "Give me the money or I'll take it from you"

The thug pushed his brass knuckles against Ryoma's cheek. As he was doing this, his friends were getting riled up behind him. Accidentally, one of the friends pushed him and pierced the brass knuckle into his cheek.

"Holy shit!" he said "Look at what you did!"

"What are we going to do?!" his friend said

"Pull it out!" his other friend said

As the thug pulled it out Ryoma groaned a bit. Sakuno came around the corner and saw a group of men surrounding Ryoma. Sakuno stood there shocked and didn't know what to do, until she saw his blood.

"Hey what are you doing?!" Sakuno shouted

"Run for it!" he shouted to his friends

Sakuno ran to Ryoma and took out her handkerchief to place it on his wound. Thanks to Ryoma's fast recovery the hole in his cheek just became a scratch.

"What happened?" Sakuno asked concerned

"They were picking a fight with me so I thought I'd teach them a lesson"

"Then you should run away! Why did you even bother with them?! What would you do if they really hurted you?!"

Ryoma stared at her confused. In all his life no one asked him if he was hurt since he was always stronger than everyone else. Ryoma suddenly laughed at the irony.

"I'm not weak enough to need your concern" Ryoma said "But thanks for your concern" he said as he patted Sakuno's head as he walked past her

Sakuno blushed yet again as Ryoma left her standing there.

*incho* = I was trying to write class representative in Japanese but I forgot how to write it so I just sounded it out.