Miscellaneous: Thank you for all the people who left reviews! You guys are awesome, and thank you for putting up with my exceedingly weirdass story. Usually, I either drop stories I write due to frustration with my own lack of writing ability. I managed to reach 10 chapters with 20,000+ (!) words! I thought I would idk just leave this story not updated forever and never look back. =)) It really boosts morale and I'm really grateful for that. :)
Chapter 9
The Note and the Warning
*.*.*
"Oi, you did get 70 points in all subjects, didn't you?"
Mafuyu looked at Hayasaka while she rested her head on her table. She opened her mouth to speak, and she could imagine her mouth literally spewing out all the things she crammed into her head in the past few weeks.
"Speak coherently, Kurosaki," Hayasaka replied. Her head was spinning with all the information, and the best she could do in response was show him her test papers. He beamed, and celebrated with everybody else. The whole class jumped for joy, and excitedly talked about the field trip that they were going to.
I have to tell Kawauchi about this, she thought happily. She felt like she really needed to thank him, since it was mostly his notes that helped her.
"Get back to your seats! We still have class," Takaomi shouted over the noise of his students, and at once, everyone scrambled back to their seats.
.*.
"You look horrible."
Kawauchi looked back at Goto and smiled mischievously. "I've never felt better!"
Goto shot him a look as he scanned the bruises that were on Kawauchi's body. There were only a few peeking out from his sleeves and neckline, but he was sure that there were more under his uniform. "I know by now that it's pointless to ask, but what happened?"
"The matter with Kiyama has been taken care of," Kawauchi replied nonchalantly as he brought a piece of tonkatsu to his mouth. They were eating in a clearing somewhere in Midorigaoka. "Is the banchou cutting class again?"
"Yeah, it's not like he actually has to attend class since this is his repeat year," Goto answered and gave him another look, but Kawauchi just shrugged. "Don't change the topic. What happened in Kiyama?"
"I can't tell you anything since nothing really happened. Those guys are a bunch of idiots so it was easy to pit them against each other. I just broke apart the faction who was planning to oust their banchou," Kawauchi explained with a straight face. "All I had to do was pretend to have psychic powers."
Goto stared at him dumbfounded, but he decided against making Kawauchi clarify what he meant by pretending to be psychic. "How did you get the bruises then?"
He turned his head to Goto's direction and looked at him like he was dumb for missing the obvious. "I joined in the fun, of course."
Goto opened his mouth to retort, but before he could utter even a squeak, Kawauchi cut him off. "I'm just kidding; nobody there fights as good as the banchou, so I just told them that. They can't take criticism, as you can see. I put them in their place, though."
He just resolved to keep his mouth shut as Kawauchi continued to eat his lunch. Goto was about to resume eating his lunch when they heard something rustling somewhere far from them. He felt Kawauchi's posture stiffen slightly beside him.
"Oh, isn't that Kurosaki-san?" Goto pointed at the girl that was a good distance away from them. She was looking side-to-side as if she were looking for something.
Kawauchi abruptly stood up. "Hey, if she comes looking for me, give her this paper," he said, "and tell her you don't know where I am". Before Goto could even ask why, Kawauchi had already run away.
.*.
Mafuyu went up to him a few minutes later. "Hello, Goto-senpai! Have you seen Kawauchi-senpai?"
Goto swallowed a bit nervously. "N-n-no, I haven't."
He saw her become crestfallen when she heard his answer. "Oh, is that so?"
"Yeah, I don't know where he went," he said, feeling a little guilty for lying to her. He made up his mind to ask Kawauchi why he ran away. "He did tell me to give this to you if ever you come to me."
Mafuyu perked up and caught Goto by surprise. She quickly got the folded piece of paper from his hands and hurriedly opened it up. In it was Kawauchi's handwritten note. It read:
Don't forget about Saturday. Same time, same place.
Also, pass by the convenience store near school later. [*]
P.S. No, again, it's not what you think it is.
She closed the paper again and smiled. Goto took note of how wide her smile was. What in the world did Kawauchi put in there? He watched Mafuyu tuck it away in her breast pocket carefully.
"Thanks Goto-senpai! Tell him I received his message," she waved as she turned around, leaving Goto alone and somewhat confused.
.*.
Kawauchi wiped away sweat from his brow as he entered the corridor from the school window. For some reason, he found it unwise to show his face to Mafuyu right now. He shrugged it off as just another roadblock to his plans. He was about to get back to class when he was stopped by someone in front of his way.
"Hello, Saeki-sensei," he greeted the teacher before him.
Saeki just looked at him, and Kawauchi was a little unnerved at how intently he was staring at him. After a few minutes of dead silence, Kawauchi decided to pass him by. He was almost at the stairs when he heard the teacher say something.
"You should really hide yourself better," Saeki said as he looked over his shoulder just as Kawauchi stopped, turned around, and faced him.
"What do you mean by that, sensei?"
"A few months ago in Strawberry Heights. Do you remember?"
Kawauchi momentarily froze at what he said, but maintained his composure. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"Couldn't believe you'd go all the way to Saitama, either."
Kawauchi could feel himself start to get really irritated with the conversation. He was reminded of Mafuyu and Saeki's moment in Saitama, and he was getting pissed. He put on the most sarcastic smile he could manage. He approached Saeki. When he was near enough, he spat out in a low voice, "I have a few words of advice: I don't think you should be flirting with your student out in the open, even if you both were a few prefectures away."
Saeki put on a wicked grin as well. "So you do know what I'm talking about."
Kawauchi kept his smile on his face, even if he was berating himself on the inside for slipping out that he really did know.
"What does it matter to you, anyway, if we really are like that?" Saeki continued, suggestion coloring his voice. Kawauchi paused, and his smile felt like it was frozen in place. He felt his blood boil at the mere insinuation, even if he knew that Mafuyu wasn't involved with Saeki. Or was she? He never really thought about them in that way; all he thought was that they were close. He vaguely recalled thinking that they lived together, but never did he even consider them in that way. He briefly wondered why he didn't even think of that angle the first time he saw them as he felt his chest constrict.
"Just kidding!" Saeki suddenly exclaimed, and Kawauchi was so surprised that his hold on his facial expression slipped. Before he could voice out his surprise, Saeki went on. "You've been fighting outside school grounds. I don't really care what you do. Just make sure you don't get caught," he warned. He eyed Kawauchi threateningly as he added, "and don't get in the way of the Public Morals Club."
He left immediately after he said his piece, and Kawauchi gritted his teeth in frustration. He made a mental note to get back at Saeki for what he did at that moment.
Note:
[*] Kawauchi put this in so Mafuyu would meet Banchou and together they would figure out why Kento was stalking Kanon, as what happens in Chapter 81 canon. (edited, got the chapter wrong the first time)
(lol now that I realize it, I put tons of the timeline of my story in between very few canon chapters =)) )
[**] Kawauchi thinking nothing green about Takaomi and Mafuyu being neighbors and having access to each other all night kind of goes against canon, since iirc when Okegawa asked Goto (and this is where my memory gets blurry; I can't remember if Kawauchi was in that panel or not) what two people of the opposite gender do all night together, his answer is kinda green. I think this happens on Chapter 43?
Edit: I checked. It really happened in Chapter 43 (omg yay I still remembered lol) and Kawauchi wasn't there.
Oops, forgot that different countries use different slang terms. Anyway, green in this context = dirty; the sexual kind of dirty.