Another day, another chapter. More interaction and a little step established into the right direction. Yay. Again I hope Aomine was kept close to the rea deal.

- removed Review section after story ended for better view -

I always write a reply to the reviews, and put it above the chapter - I hope you won't mind? If it does, I could shove the author notes down and write them after the chapter has ended.

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter.

DAY FOUR

Did someone finally hear her prayer?

Mia couldn't believe it at first as she stepped into the classroom. The chatter of her fellow classmates filled the room as she moved past the tables and people to get to her own seat. Nanami's head hung above a notebook in which she scribbled furiously, definitely homework she had forgotten so their greeting was kept short. A thumbs-up was enough to convey the message of 'good luck'.

The most surprising thing however, was the silence she received as she arrived at her desk. The corner of the room had never been loud before. But after the two previous days she had expected another snarky comment. Or only her name because it seemed to satisfy the basketball player immensely that he knew it.

But as the girl placed her schoolbag on her table, her gaze landing on her neighbor, she could only see the back of his head. He supported his chin with his hand, staring out of the window. For a second she joined his view. Curious. Though next to the clear blue sky and a few clouds here and there she could see nothing interesting, it was an ordinary morning.

A bit puzzled Mia chose to sit down, her hands already digging through her bag for the needed notebooks and homework. Maybe he did get bored already, her mind whispered. It was possible that the spicy bread she had received from him yesterday, was his way of burying whatever war they had. It was truce.

Relieved the girl inhaled the air around her. Her school life would definitely become more peaceful again. The old pattern would return and any fear she had before about dying or getting murdered disappeared in an instant. Aomine looked scary, he was intimidating. Yes. But he was no murderer. Or maybe he was. But she wasn't on his list anymore. You could never know what was hidden in the basement of another person.

That was more then she could ask her.

"Alright, the lesson is starting." A voice called out, belonging to a woman who had appeared in the front. "We'll continue from last time. Please open your books."

Quickly the students rushed back to their seats, a chorus of obedient teenagers fetching their books and notes arouse. It was way too early for their teacher to be this determined to work, Mia believed. Only half-hearted she opened the textbook on her table, her gaze dropping as she saw the many words which graced the page. She couldn't wait for the weekend...

"Resume your work from yesterday." The teacher explained. "I'll come and check after a while."

The groan died in her throat as she saw the notes she had already written the day before. At least she had come far. It wasn't as bad as she had expected it. And luckily English wasn't one of her nightmares; Nanami was probably already dying in the front.

As if this thought had knocked her awake Mia lifted her head. Her dark eyes ghosted over the heads of her classmates in hope she could see the expression of her friend. But in the sea of heads and similar uniforms it was hard to find the certain black haired girl. Her figure had disappeared somewhere in between the other teenagers.

Slightly disappointed her eyes roamed over to Sakurai who had started working right away. His silhouette was starting to look familiar, although this time he didn't appear to be as stiff as the last time they had spoken to another. Mia wondered if the brown haired boy had always been this nervous. On cleaning duty, they had barely exchanged a handful of words...

Last but not least her gaze carried her back towards her table neighbor. To her surprise he had actually gathered his utensils as well; his eyes were glued to the pages as he read them. Mia had never taken him as a hard-working student so to see him relaxed in his chair; the textbook lifted in front of him to read was something new.

Although she never had paid attention to him before either.

Mia was about to turn away. There were tasks awaiting her attention after all, but her movement came to a sudden halt as Aomine's grip on his book slipped which revealed something else. Her eyes widened as the cover of a magazine was to be seen. Only a few letters and a part of a head - but the bright colors suggested that it had definitely nothing to do with their class.

A laugh bubbled out of her and quickly she pressed both of her hands against her lips to keep it in. She had never taken him as someone to secretly read something in classes! In fear her eyes shifted towards the teacher who luckily had been busy enough with a classmate.

Who, however, noticed her, was the culprit himself.

The second their eyes locked, his lips formed the lopsided grin she had come to know well these past days. He placed his poorly hidden magazine onto his table and turned his attention towards her. A bad idea because somehow this action only made it harder for Mia not to laugh, she had to raise the pressure of her hands to not make a sound here and there.

"What?" He whispered harshly, his steel blue eyes flickering towards their instructor for a second to make sure they weren't noticed.

Mia only shook her head, she couldn't trust her voice at this moment. She'd probably croak an answer or start to laugh while explaining why she wanted to laugh. It wasn't even that funny anyway. The grin on his face shrunk, indicating that he probably didn't want to bother anymore to hear the explanation before he suddenly pushed his book aside. He pulled his notebook towards the edge of the table instead, his hand busy writing something with his pen into the corner of the nearly blank page.

Curiously she watched his tanned hand move with every letter he wrote and it didn't take long before he tapped against the paper with the butt of his pen to catch her attention. Carefully the girl leaned towards him while Aomine pushed the notebook a little bit closer into her direction. And when she narrowed her eyes, she could read his rather messy handwriting just fine.

'Why did you laugh?'

Oh.

Finally her hands slipped from her lips, revealing the smile she couldn't get rid of. Mia leaned back to her own notebook, flipping through it to the back where all the pages were still blank. In just a few seconds she had scribbled down her answer in the left corner. And without letting go of her pencil, she softly shoved her notebook into his direction to let him read it.

Instead of being as secretive as she had been, he openly leaned with his upper body to her side, his eyes scanning the neat words she had written.

'Because you hid a magazine in a book to read it.'

He snorted. He actually snorted at her and leaned back into his seat. His right hand already grabbed his pen to write down his reply. It felt certainly strange to suddenly exchange notes like this. She had run for her life a few days ago because of him, he had tried to crush her skull, had tried to order her around and now they were actually writing about nonsense to escape the boredom of the lesson.

Ah. He finished writing.

'It's freaking boring. Got nothin' else to do.'

Well, she couldn't argue with that. Mia nodded in agreement, turning back to her notebook to scribble something down as well.

'What is it about?'

Aomine's eyes scanned the small words before his grin twisted into a little smirk. The orange-head was a bit confused at the sudden change of attitude her neighbor had - she still couldn't stand that damn grin - before he grabbed his magazine and turned the open side towards her. Giving her a good look what the content was about.

Mia could have accepted something about basketball because, obviously, he was in the team of the academy. Or maybe even weapons, she still couldn't let go of the idea that he had a secret stash of guns and knives beneath his bed. What was also possible was some typical magazine about idols or maybe even video games.

But what she didn't expect, was a handful of pictures of half-naked women posing for the camera. They weren't the same person. One was brown haired, the other surprisingly blond. But they all had a rather well endowed bosom in common which was highlighted and presented with an attractive face and smile.

Mia doubled over, leaning onto her table for support as a fit of giggles escaped her. It was a terrible challenge to keep it down, the giggles were slowly turning into laughter before she managed to press her hands against her mouth once again. She chocked off the noise abruptly while her eyes searched for the teacher who threw her a warning glare from her desk at the front.

She didn't really expect that.

"Why are you laughing, again?" He whispered, stressing out the last word.

But the orange haired girl had to turn away from him to calm down. Her thoughts were racing one another, trying to comprehend what she had just seen. By god, he had acted like it was a natural thing to read such stuff in public, let alone in school! Was he even old enough to buy such things? Did he seriously walk into a convenience store with a straight face and bought one of these? These were really strange expectations. Typical for a teenage boy in his age, she guessed, but still!

That giant right next to her was so honest about it, she couldn't help but laugh!

"Oi." Aomine whispered again.

Finally she found the strength to twist back towards him, one hand still hiding the grin. Although his had slipped from his face as he chose to glare at her instead. Maybe laughing at him wasn't the best choice? He was still taller than her. Stronger than her. And the vein on his neck started to twitch as his mood obviously took a turn for the worst.

"Sorry." Mia spoke under her breath, her voice breaking because she hadn't used it in a while.

Quietly she cleared her throat, getting hold of her pencil once more to write something in the little corner of her notebook which got slowly filled with short sentences.

'I just really didn't expect that.'

The basketball player craned his neck to read her reply, the frown on his face slowly easing away as the meaning of the words sunk in. Easily he relaxed back into his seat, busy to scribble down something with his own pen.

'It's better than the English book for sure.'

The girl had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She was smiling instead until her cheeks started to sting. That tall teen was really trying to defend his rather naughty hobby, or better yet promote it. She didn't think she would ever get into a situation like this; it was difficult to think of a good answer because honestly, there couldn't be one. Right?

Instead of that she started to write down something else, underlining it twice.

'Better start to work anyway or the teacher will have our heads, weirdo!'

Aomine leaned towards her once more, his narrowed eyes ghosting over her notebook before he scoffed lightly. However, to her relief the frown didn't return just his bored expression which seemed to be his loyal companion. He sat back in his chair, stretching his long legs out until they bumped into Sakurai's chair. The shy boy only jumped once in surprise before he resumed working, he must have already gotten used to it by now.

The blue haired guy didn't start to work right away though. Instead he found entertainment by playing with his pen, trying to let it flip around his finger while his eyes glanced from time to time from the magazine to the window. In hope to find something interesting as a distraction; to actually work on something was too much of a hassle apparently.

Mia, on the other hand, turned the pages back towards the first section where her real notes for the class were written down. She still had a lot to do; Nanami depended on copying her stuff in English anyway in exchange for offering her the Mathematics homework on daily basis.

It was a great relief in itself to not fear death anymore.

Aomine still looked scary but that was mostly the fault of his narrow eyes, the orange haired girl mused as she read through one of the tasks she still had to finish. By all means, she didn't have to be friends with him. His attitude was still not the brightest. And she swore that her neck still felt stiff from his damn strength. But she wouldn't mind having a peaceful co-existence like this.

As her sign of a peace offering, she actually went out of her way and bought something at the cafeteria.

It was a spicy bread which she left on his table in break before she hastened away to eat somewhere outside with Nanami.

...or maybe it was just bribery.