As Tearju-sensei gathered her supplies and brushed herself off after taking a tumble upon entering the room, the students slowly shifted from chattering with each other about their social lives to more school-oriented conversation, though given how the ex-bioengineer was, they probably had a good ten minutes before she was actually ready to start the lesson as she sighed to herself, laughing hesitantly while she adjusted her glasses and looked around the class.
To most of her students, she was just seeing if anyone had reacted to her falling down, but that was something she did so often now that nobody even batted an eye, and to Rito, who knew about her actual history, he was aware that she was actually checking attendance and observing the class for any strange events or newcomers. She was genuinely as shy and clumsy as she seemed, but she still had some degree of her old scientist mentality left in her, and he was careful to look away when her gaze passed over him.
Are you afraid of her? the voice asked, curious. I know a little about Doctor Lunatique, but I haven't met her many times in person. She doesn't feel like a threat to me.
It's not about being a threat, Tearju-sensei is a good person. It's just, I know that if we make eye contact, she'll ask about Yami after class. She always does, and I don't know if Yami wants to be bothered by her today. I still don't even know why she was at home this morning.
...That may be one of the most boring responses you've ever given me. Honestly, you should stop worrying about other people and do what you want. I'm not here to corrupt you and turn you into some sort of villain, but I also am not about to sit aside and let someone with the willpower to resist me waste away into the background like this. Listen to me, Yuuki Rito. If you let that shell of yours stay in control, you won't end up on a good path. It's the same reason why I promised myself I would never lie about my intentions and never hold back.
Why are you always so serious? Even Inner Me isn't that bad. he thought, sweatdropping as his attention was grabbed by Tearju-sensei tapping the blackboard.
There were a lot of things over the last couple days that he had chosen to simply forget about, but the voice's strange obsession with considering every action he took to be serious would just have to be added to the list. Maybe it was simply wrong in its assumptions, but for now, he had notes to write.
~~~After class~~~
"Hey, Rito…" Saruyama said, turning to the boy as he looked over his writing, turning to face the monkey as he groaned. "Did you understand half of that? I'm sure that wasn't even on the syllabus, was it?"
"Saruyama, most of this was review for the test, even Sawada was paying attention." He motioned to the girl, but blinked as all he saw was her completing an origami swan out of a page from her notebook. "Er...I'm sure she finished already."
"She's probably lonely since Momioka's absent." Saruyama stated idly, shrugging. "But still, I don't get it! How can you juggle girls and school, and even want to work too?! Teach me your ways, please!"
"Just don't be rude to people and you'll get what you want." Rito replied, laughing as he stood up. "I'm getting a bottled water, want anything?"
"If they've got any lemonade, I'll take that! I'll pay you back tomorrow too." the boy said, and he nodded, heading towards the door.
He blinked as he found Lala following behind him, and nodded to acknowledge her presence. "Want something too?" he asked, and she shook her head, leaning on him as they walked.
"No, I just wanted to stand close to you for a while." she replied, and he laughed, patting her head as they headed down the hallway.
"Were you even paying attention in class, or just watching me the whole time?" he asked, and she blinked, reaching the hand not wrapped around his arm to tap the side of her head.
"Ehehe, you're good at guessing what I'm doing even though you aren't looking." she replied, and he nodded.
"I've gotten good at feeling when someone is watching me." he replied. "You know, since Yami's always doing it."
They turned to head downstairs towards the vending machine on the bottom floor, and Rito jolted, pulling Lala aside as he dodged a pair of girls heading up around a corner, narrowly avoiding running into them as the surprised pair quickly made their way to their destination, allowing the two to continue on their path.
"You've gotten good at avoiding running into people too." she pointed out, and now it was his turn to laugh hesitantly.
"Yeah, though it would be better if I could stop with my habit of getting so close to walls. It makes it hard to turn in time, I really need to start using the middle of the hallway more often." he replied. "But, progress is progress. I'll take what I can get until I'm able to act like a normal person."
The girl tilted her head, smiling as she pointed ahead of them. "Then shouldn't you be watching where you're…"
He had been looking in the Devilukean's direction, and before he had time to turn his head, his body moved on its own, jerking him to the right to avoid whoever it was as he turned to face them, his eyes widening as he found Yami overcorrecting her path and shouting as she tumbled forward, sending them both falling so that he landed hard on his back on the stairs behind him.
"Ugh…" he said, groaning at the pain in his back before blinking as he came to his senses, looking forward to see what the weight on his body was, and he found Yami propping herself up with a hand on his chest, the other on her forehead as she stared at him.
"Your chest is hard." she complained, and he glanced back to see Lala squatting on the stair above him, and whether intentional or not, he had a perfect view under her skirt as she looked at him with concern.
"Are you okay, Rito?" she asked, and he grunted, pushing his elbow under him to pull himself up, while Yami still remained sitting on his stomach, still staring at him with an odd expression.
"I'm tough, I've dealt with a whole lot worse than this." he replied, before frowning. "Yami, are you alright? You're not usually the one to fall on me…"
Her hair hadn't transformed, so she was at least holding back to some degree as she blinked a few times, her face going red as she quickly scrambled to get off him, her knee ramming between his legs in the process and causing him to shout, cringing as he leaned forward.
"I'm sorry, Rit-" She was cut off when he raised his hand, gritting his teeth and laughing.
"Don't worry about it, I should have been paying attention." he replied, groaning as he pushed himself to stand and holding his hand out to help her up as well.
She hesitated, before reaching to accept the help, tightly grabbing his hand and letting him pull her to a standing position. "Oh, right, Lala, you said you had something for Yami, right?" he asked, and Yami blinked as the princess grinned, reaching into her pocket to grab her D-Dial.
"That's right! Don't worry, it's nothing weird, just a present I designed! Umm, let me see, what number was it…"
She rooted around the catalog in the device, before Yami raised a hand to stop her, her eyes slightly narrowed as she cleared her throat.
"Wait, I wasn't here just by accident. It's good that you were with him, I had something I wanted to discuss with you both, if you'll allow me, princess."