Heheh...Hey guys! Been a while huh? Yeah I know it's been a long time, and I'm really sorry.
I kind of just left you guys abruptly, and for that I apologize. I didn't mean too, and before I knew it months had passed. I don't intend to leave this story, I really love it, and I'm sure a lot of you guys do to. So I intend to finish it! I may not update frequently with my other two stories doing so well, but I haven't forgotten my little baby!
Enjoy!
As the clocks ticking regularly punctuated the silence of the classroom, Mikoto felt like gouging her eyes out with her pencil. As she tapped the paper lightly with her fingers, a wave of distress hit her once more. It wasn't that she didn't know what she was doing, it was the constant nagging thought that she'd messed up and didn't notice. Once she'd received the stack of paper that morning, every answered question had been with doubt. Judging from some of her classmates reactions, she was not alone in this regard.
Sighing, Mikoto turned and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, but that did nothing to soothe her. Turning her head back into the class, Mikoto ran her eyes across it until they landed on Shokuhou, who seemed to be focusing rather intently on her sheet. After watching her for a moment, the girl smiled and wrote something down on her page. Mikoto wondered how well the girl was doing. After all, as far as she knew she hadn't studied very much. She seemed, however, to not be that worried about what she was doing. She could practically be humming in content by the way she was smiling, and it made Mikoto confused. After all, the blonde had not studied that much.
She didn't have time to be worried about that. Turning her eyes back to the clock on the wall, she acknowledged that she was almost out of time. They had a time limit of three hours for their exams, and they had roughly half an hour left.
"Just a heads up everyone, half an hour left." Itagaki said, making several people pale and moan. "Remember, you can hand in your work whenever you're ready, and you can leave." Mikoto wished she was done, the tension in the room was practically unbearable. She returned to her work and finished the question she'd been working on, hearing several chairs being pushed back as people stood up to hand their work in. How were they done? They must've really believed they had it right.
"Here you are, Itagaki-sensei!" Mikoto perked up at this and raised her head, spotting Shokuhou handing her work in. "All finished!"
"Are you now?" He asked. "You sure about that?"
"Yep!" Completely certain." Itagaki nodded and took her work from her, and the blonde left the room.
...How? She's a lot smarter than I give her credit for if she's done already...
Realizing she had no room to spare on Shokuhou, Mikoto returned to her work and finished another question. She was on the last page now, and she could hear the outside world calling to her as she started to work on another question.
And her phone buzzed against her thigh.
Hadn't she turned it off?
Mikoto attempted to ignore the device, but it continued after she failed to answer it the first time. She grimaced as it vibrated again.
Who the hell is that?! I really should've just turned it off...
Doing her best to ignore it, Mikoto stumbled her way through the next few questions and did her best to make sure they had been completed to the best of her ability.
But the phone refused to stop.
And she was starting to lose her patience. Whoever was trying to gt a hold of her was going to receive an earful once she was done.
"Fifteen minutes." Itagaki warned. "Make sure you've done everything. Don't leave a question blank, either. An attempt is better than a blank." Mikoto heard and acknowledged this information, but she was really starting to lose her patience.
"You not gonna answer that, third-rate?" Mikoto attempted to ignore the one who'd whispered to her, but he laughed. "Ah, ignoring it I see. Might be urgent though."
"Not now, Accelerator..." Mikoto hissed. "I am not in the mood."
"Tch, whatever" Accelerator stood behind her and walked to the front of the class. He tossed his exam at Itagaki, who caught it, and he hobbled from the room.
Wait...Accelerator's just leaving now? Why? You'd think the guy with vector control would be smart enough to get out of here in thirty minutes...But how hard is this thing actually, then?! Gah!
"Ten minutes." Mikoto scrambled at this and rapidly checked through the work she'd done, but she failed to find any errors. Maybe Accelerator was just trying to mess with her. Wouldn't be the first time. It seemed to be the Number One's hobby to see if he could get her mad in class.
I can't do this anymore...I'm done and that's it.
Mikoto took a deep breath and stood, pushing her chair back in the process. She walked to the front where Itagaki was watching her approach, and she shakily handed over the exam. He took it, and looked down briefly at it before putting it in the stack of papers to his left.
"Have any trouble, Misaka-san?" He asked. He tried to laugh him off, but the sound that came from her throat was pathetic at best.
"N-Nope, not at all!" She said feebly. "Just making sure I did it all right!"He nodded at her and then towards the door, telling her silently she could leave. Mikoto sped walked for the door and once she was outside, exhaled loudly.
Bzz bzz!
Mikoto growled as her phone went off again. Pulling it out and turning the screen on, she stared at the notification.
Shokuhou Misaki (35)
"...Are you kidding me?" Mikoto hissed. Unlocking the device, she went to investigate to find the whole conversation Shokuhou spamming her with questions ranging from how she did on a certain question to if she was done yet, which was the majority of the questions. Growling, Mikoto dialed the blonde and began to walk down the hall to exit the school.
"Yeah?" Shokuhou's voice answered as she picked up.
"Did you have to text me 35 times in the middle of my exam?" She demanded. "Not cool, Shokuhou-san."
"I was curious."
"You could've waited a few minutes!"
"Nah."
"Ugh...Sometimes I wonder how we haven't strangled each other yet."
"Cause you love me."
"Keep thinking that, Shokuhou-san. Maybe one day I'll believe it."
"Ah cool your jets, zappy. Judging from your 'I'm tired of your shit Shokuhou' tone and not the 'I'm going to murder you Shokuhou' tone, you didn't get in trouble. Am I correct?"
"Well, yeah..." Mikoto said as she opened the front door of the building and walked outside into the open. "But if I had gotten in trouble I wouldn't have opened up by asking you a question, I would've screamed at you."
"Believe me, I know. Hey, what're you doing now the you're obviously done?"
"Going to study the other subjects. You?"
"I went out. Not sure where."
"Just, for a walk?"
"Yeah I guess. Hey, do we need anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, like food." Mikoto gave it some thought.
"I don't know." She answered. "Maybe."
"Well check. I'm near the store so I'll get it if we do need anything."
Mikoto sighed and kept the blonde on the line as she went into the elevator and pressed the appropriate buttons to make it go up. As she went up, she thought about what Shokuhou wanted from her.
She's doing that thing again... She's acting out of character in a way I shouldn't mind but do.
Mikoto reached their door, hacked the mechanism, and went inside. She immediately went for the fridge and opened it, searching for anything they might need.
"We don't really need much." She finally said. "But I guess some basics couldn't hurt."
"Can do, roomie. I'll be back soon."
"Don't call me roomie."
"Gotcha roomie."
"Shokuhou-san!"
"Yes roomie?" Mikoto rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed audibly.
"Just hang before I lose my temper and knock the power out again."
"Good idea. See ya." The line went dead, and Mikoto stared into the empty fridge, deep in thought.
"Why?" Mikoto asked the milk carton. "Why does she continue being so hard to read.?" The milk didn't answer her, and for good reason, so Mikoto closed the fridge and looked around the dorm.
She'd shared this living space with Shokuhou for about four months, give or take a few days. In that span of time, Shokuhou's character, as least how Mikoto knew it to be, warped drastically. She started out the same, became sickeningly sweet, became rather manipulative again, and now...
Mikoto flopped down on the couch and stared at the roof.
"Now she's somewhere in the middle." She said. "She's still incredibly irritating and manipulative, but...She's sweet when she wants to be. And then there's that whole thing..."
"I wanted to hug my best friend!"
Mikoto growled and threw a couch pillow over her mouth, masking the sound as it grew louder.
"She's confusing the hell out of me!" She shouted into the pillow. "Why did we let up on the headmaster?! I should've forced him to get me out of here!" She stayed that way for a bit until she decided dwelling on her blonde roommate wouldn't solve anything. She just needed to work. Going to her room and finding the subject in question, she took the notes and walked back out to the living room, threw the stack down on the table, and began to excruciating process of looking through it all. Doing so allowed her to forget the whole Shokuhou thing, at least for the moment, and focus on her studies.
But even those sometimes confused the hell out of her.
"I'm back!" Mikoto looked up as Shokuhou entered the dorm a few hours after the exams had ended, carrying bags. "And I come bearing gifts!"
"Great for you." Mikoto answered as she finished reviewing the sheet in her hand. "Put it away and don't bother me."
"Don't order me around, I was planning on it anyway."
"Not bothering me?" The two locked eyes at this, Mikoto looking assuming, and Shokuhou wearing the mask of innocence.
Shokuhou just snickered and stuck her tongue out.
"Thought so." Mikoto said as Shokuhou laughed. "I'm trying to study, something you apparently don't need."
"Cause I'm smart!" Shokuhou replied as she tossed things in the fridge and cupboards "Besides, that exam was kind of a breeze, right?"
"..."
"Misaka-san?"
"Yeah, totally."
You left before Accelerator! Even if he was trying to make people nervous by staying longer that's still suspicious!
"But other than that," Shokuhou said, looking over at Mikoto. "What do you think we'll get as summer homework."
"Hell if I know." Mikoto answered. "Work."
"Hm." Shokuhou left the kitchen and walked behind Mikoto, who tensed and waited for the blonde to try something. She didn't at first, so Mikoto decided on returning her attention to her work.
Which was a mistake, seeing as soon as she did Shokuhou decided to throw herself over the back of the couch and land beside her.
"What are you doing?" Mikoto asked.
"Sitting on the couch." Shokuhou answered innocently.
"Upside down."
"Sure." The two stared at each other for a moment before Mikoto just sighed. God, Shokuhou did weird things sometimes. The girl stayed upside down for a while as Mikoto studied silently, but Mikoto waited for her to try something, anything. Finally, she did.
But she just twisted, placing the majority of her lower body on Mikoto, who protested accordingly, but Shokuhou just laughed.
"I'm going out again." She stated, going for the door.
"Where?" Mikoto asked. Shokuhou shrugged.
"Somewhere people will pay attention to me. You won't."
"Because I'm busy."
"So if you weren't busy you would."
"Not at all." Mikoto took her turn to smirk, making Shokuhou roll her eyes.
"Very funny." She said. "See you later." Mikoto watched the blonde leave, and stared at the door for a moment before returning to her work. After about fifteen minutes had passed, Mikoto got up from the couch and looked back at the door.
"I'm not letting you off the hook." She said. "You're up to something, Shokuhou Misaki. I'm going to find out what."
Misaki smirked as she saw another group of her classmates walking down the opposite side of the road, chatting meaninglessly. She raised her remote and flipped through their heads and found a decent amount of study notes she could use for her benefit.
"Ah, this is so easy." She said. "Like taking candy from a baby...Except I'm taking study notes from teens." Shaking her head at the bad joke, she finished her work and continued on her way, looking for anymore of her classmates. She didn't have a lot of ways to waste her time at home, so she decided to take everyone's study notes earlier than usual. The time did't matter anyway, she used them and discarded them.
Misaki saw a few more students from her class and prepared to read their minds. She again stealthily raised her remote and aimed it towards the group, smirking as she did so.
Someone bumped into her.
Misaki's aim was off, but the remote left her hand and instead was grabbed by the person who'd bumped into her.
"You know," Misaka said, dangling the remote in front of Misaki's face. "I knew you were lazy, but this? This is an all new low for you, Shokuhou-san." Misaki stared at her roommates disapproving face for a moment before she laughed.
"Misaka-san! Whatever do you mean?" Misaka raised an eyebrow as Misaki reached for her remote. "I'm not being lazy!"
"So you're not just reading everyone else's memorized notes to get out of studying?" Misaki stared at her roommate for a moment, but Misaka didn't let up with the stare.
"Where'd you get that idea?" Misaki asked weakly, still forcing a laugh out of her mouth. Misaka hummed and raised her free hand to her mouth in thought.
"I dunno." She answered. "Maybe after I finally find you and I hear you say 'like taking candy from a baby'? Could that be it?"
"I wasn't reading their memorized notes?"
"What were you referring to, then?" The staring continued before Misaki laughed awkwardly.
"Oookay...So maybe I was kind of...only a little...totally making my own copy of everyone else's notes." Misaka sighed, ad Misaki grabbed her remote back. "Why do you care? It's not like I'm taking them! I'm just making a copy for me for the exams! It's not affecting you whatsoever."
"I know, but this is just..." Misaka shook her head. "I just don't know."
"What? You gonna be a teachers pet and get me in trouble?"
"As if. I know you don't think highly of me but I won't do that." The two watched each other closely before Misaka started to walk away, the way she'd come from.
"What're you...?" Misaki asked. Truthfully she'd expected more of a scolding. "Are you not going to like...Bend me over and spank me for misbehaving?"
"Ugh, no!" Misaka shouted. "What are you into?!...Anyway, like you said. You aren't hurting anyone. Well, except yourself."
"Huh?"
"Well if you're just taking the notes for the exams, I assume you're discarding them later."
"Of course."
"Well I'm just wondering how you'll get by later in life. By doing the same thing? What do you want to do anyway, Shokuhou-san? What if someone goes to you for an answer and not the other way around" Misaki stared at her roommates, no answer coming forth. "Huh, somehow I expected silence. Do whatever you want, I'm going to do it the honest way." The girl waved as she walked away, and Misaki stood there in silence after she was gone. Slowly, she looked down at the remote in her hands and contemplated what she was doing.
"I mean it's so much easier...But she does make a good point, I guess..."
Mikoto worked quietly, placing down another sheet of paper as she finished reviewing it. She turned and looked at he clock on the wall.
"Jeez, it's already six o'clock? I've been doing this all afternoon..." She returned to her work and tried to continue, but the sound of the door opening stopped her.
Shokuhou was standing in the doorway, staring at her.
"Hey." She said.
"H-Hey." Mikoto replied quietly. Shokuhou walked inside and went right for her room, and Mikoto just watched her go before returning to her work. If she wasn't going to actually study, then...
Shokuhou walked back around the front of the couch, dropped her binder on the table, sat down and started to flip through it. Mikoto watched as a small smile formed on her lips. Shokuhou looked over and brandished a finger at her.
"Don't think for even a second you convinced me to do this. I already memorized everything for tomorrow's exam. I'll just study for the rest."
Of course.
Mikoto watched the girl begin to look through her notes on the other subjects they had, her smile now turned into a wince of somewhat defeat.
Progress, right?
Mikoto returned to her own notes, and the two proceeded in silence.
Actual silence.
And Mikoto enjoyed it. Maybe Shokuhou really was going to just study quietly.
"Sweet merciful God above this is boring!"
Never mind.
So...yeah. Again guys, I'm really sorry for the extended unannounced hiatus. I didn't mean to take it, but I hope you guys enjoyed, leave a review!