Episode 6: Remedial Classes
***
It had been almost a week since his talk with Tomoe and it seems that she did speak to her brother. He rarely made snide comments now and didn't defy him outright anymore. He would just keep quiet in his class, he still wasn't listening to him, preferring to read his book or stare out of the window rather than participate but it was an improvement.
He smiled, he wasn't asking Enishi to like him anymore, he was just glad with the courtesy he afforded him.
"Ok I guess that's it for today. My remedial classes start this afternoon at 4:30 all of you that wish to attend may do so. We are going to answer the ten of the thirty questions we have as homework today."
"Thirty?" Shiro shouted.
"Shut up Tanada!" the class pelted him with paper balls, every time he had an outburst like that, the entire class ended up paying for it because it usually resulted in an additional 10 questions.
"Fine since the weekend is coming up and I have been working you guys a little hard …"
"Try slave driver Mr. Himura!" Shiro retorted garnering him an evil hiss from the class and hateful stares sent his way.
"Twenty and that's my final offer. Take it or leave it." He said crossing his arms.
"Ok! Ok!" Shiro muttered suddenly uneasy.
"See you guys later." Kenshin smiled picking up his books.
"Mr. Himura?" Kaoru asked coming close to him.
"Yes Ms. Kamiya?" he asked, he smiled at the girl, she had always approached him after class.
"What should we bring for the remedial class?"
"Um well the usual school stuff I guess." He smiled leaving the classroom.
***
"Hey Makimachi…" he called going over to where Misao was reading her book.
"Yeah Tanada?" she asked looking up. Ever since that incident in the lab they had not spoken to each other. It's as if he was purposely avoiding her slipping back into the Tanada she knew and erasing every trace of the kindness he showed her when they were mopping up their mess.
"Could you help me with the homework?" he asked shyly.
"Er I have this student council meeting later, why don't you just go the remedial class?" she said confused at why he would ask her to help him.
"That's the beauty of it, you see I have basketball practice later and I really can't go to the class. But since you would still be here because of your meeting then we would be finish at the same time!" he said smiling. It seemed he had really thought this out.
"I don't have a choice do I?" she asked blushing at the thought that she would be alone with Shiro Tanada that afternoon.
"Besides you still owe me one." He said suddenly.
"Owe you one for what?" she said suddenly confused.
"Well I did let you borrow my shirt." He smiled, she suddenly exploded.
"Owe you one? Owe you one? That entire mess was your frigging fault you useless piece of shit!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Cool I knew I could rely on you! So I guess I'll meet you outside the student council office? Great!" he said waving goodbye. Misao had the sinking feeling that either Tanada was possessed when he lent her his shirt or that was temporary insanity. Because there was no way this Tanada would be that nice to her.
***
"Hey Sagara." Tsubame said looking at her friend.
"Yeah?" Yahiko asked stuffing his face with the cookies she brought.
"Does Sano-kun go out with all of those girls that hang around him all the time?" she asked looking at Sano's table, which was currently surrounded with cheerleaders in their tiny skirts, giggling at anything he said.
"Yeah, you should see how many of them call at the house! We had to get him his own line!" he said finishing Tsubame's mashed potatoes when she wasn't looking.
"Did anyone of them ever become his girlfriend?" she asked quietly.
"What?" Yahiko asked leaning closer to her.
"Did anyone of them ever become his girlfriend?" she blurted blushing furiously.
"Nah, he's married to Tanada." He said going back to the cookies he was massacring. "They're always together. The only time he does go out with those girls is when Shiro is out of town or when he's not available."
"Er is your brother gay?" she asked looking back at him and scowling at the empty bag.
"Haha no I don't think so. Besides Sano may be notorious when it comes to breaking girls hearts but he's a real romantic. He tells me when the right one comes along he won't let her go." Yahiko chuckled.
Tsubame looked back at the table still surrounded with girls and Sano still laughing in the middle and smiled.
***
"Chou! What did you do to my jello?" Kamatari screeched.
"Yow!" Chou said picking his ear with his finger. "Didn't you ever go through puberty?"
"Nobody touches my jello." He said his eyes narrowing. Suddenly his eyes brightened when Chou finally gave up the green jiggly bowl.
"You are so weird."
"Hwe shew nya." He said his words suspended in the green mush.
"Hey Tomoe?" Tomoe looked over at Soujiro. "What else do we need for the meeting later?"
"I already took care of everything." She smiled.
"Student council huh?" Chou asked ignoring Kamatari who was now purring because of his prize.
"Will you be joining us Aoshi?" she asked looking at him.
"I have practice."
"I'll just drop by later and brief you."
"Why don't we just have dinner and you can tell me about it?" he said, the table suddenly became uncomfortable.
"Ok I have to tell Enishi though that I won't be coming home with him." she said totally unaware of the looks her friends threw one another.
"So how's the play Sou?" Chou asked breaking the awkwardness.
"I can't seem to find my Psyche." He said sheepishly. "None of the girls are right."
"Why don't you try the guys." He laughed.
"I actually asked Kamatari to audition."
"You've got to be kidding right?" Chou said looking back at his best friend.
"Why not?" Soujiro smiled.
"Don't give me that look Youjin!" Kamatari said raising his spoon.
"I thought you were back on the team?" Aoshi asked.
"Hey that's not for sure yet. I have yet to see what the team has to offer, besides I wanna try new stuff." He said quietly.
"I think you'd love the theater." Soujiro said optimistically.
"Yeah." He smiled back weakly.
"Come on we'd better get back to class." Chou said changing the subject. All of them stood up, the crowd giving way.
***
Sano was making fun of Shiro, making the cheerleaders giggle and blush at the same time. He liked being the center of attention and although none of these girls really meant anything to him, he still had to live up to his reputation. He looked at each and everyone of them, all of them were worth looking at and although he had only gone out with each one once he never wanted to again.
Those girls saw him as this varsity player, this jock that was extremely popular and would make them popular if ever they were to be his girlfriend. He didn't really matter to anyone of these girls. A basketball star and a cheerleader, it was a perfect match. But Sanosuke Sagara was much more than the basketball player, he was much more than a lady-killer. If only one of them could see who he really was, if only one of them really knew who he was.
His eyes strayed from their faces full of make-up and fell to the small eyes of the girl sitting on the other end of the cafeteria. Tsubame suddenly blushed and dropped her gaze turning in her seat. From where he sat he could see her blushing furiously. She was so cute, little Tsubame…
From the corner of his eye someone else caught his eye.
Misao sat alone in her table playing with her potatoes. Her chemistry book was open in front of her but her eyes were elsewhere. Staring blankly at the now empty senior's table. She looked up just in time to catch Sano's eyes.
He smiled at her and stuck his tongue out playfully, which she met with a look of disgust and a hasty retreat back to their room.
***
Misao sighed. She had been in love with Soujiro Seta since junior high. He lived two blocks away from her house and she would wake up early every morning just so she could wait for him in the corner. He would always ask her to walk with him. Always.
But of course ever since high school started and he got his own car, the only time she could spend with him were in the council meetings and even then she wouldn't be able to speak to him. Sometimes he would offer her a ride home but she was always be too shy to accept his invitation, she would always decline. Even in the mornings he would offer but Misao's father always drove her to school.
Soujiro was the nicest guy you could ever meet. He was polite, intelligent, charming and handsome to boot. Everything you ever wanted in a guy, which is why it didn't make sense that he never had a girlfriend and a ton of girls have tried.
She wanted to get into Kainan for the single reason that he was there. She wanted to be part of the student council because he was. And if she weren't deathly afraid of the stage she would have signed up for the drama club as well. Soujiro Seta was her entire life and it was funny to think that he just really looked upon her as a sister.
She remembered watching him play the prince in every school play. He was always the prince. She always wondered how it would feel like to be the one in his arms, to be the one he would swear his love to.
Next year he would leave. He told her he was going to study in England. Four years she would have to live her life without him and already she was missing him.
"Oh hey Misao!" he smiled waving at her. Misao was brought out of her reverie, in her reminiscing she had found herself on the wrong floor, the entire senior class around her, Soujiro standing there smiling at her.
"Upperclassman Seta!" she shrieked.
"I told you stop calling me that!" he frowned. "Er what are you doing here?"
"Uh…er…" think Misao think! She fidgeted as Soujiro's other friends turned to look at her. Something about the meeting later! Something about his house! Anything! "Uh the meeting?"
"What about it?" he asked.
What about it? What about the stupid meeting! Say something. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.
"Happy thoughts!"
"Misao are you ok?"
"Makimachi! Great! Listen could you photocopy these hand-outs for the meeting later? I would do it myself but our class is already starting." Tomoe said from behind him.
"Sure Tomoe." She smiled taking the paper from her hand heaving a sigh of relief.
"Think of an excuse next time." she winked before turning around.
"Thanks boss." She called after her.
***
The light of the photocopier kept going across her face as she stared mesmerized by it. It was study period and she had gone to make copies of the hand-out like Tomoe had asked. She sighed, how was she going to tell him how she felt? How was she going to tell him she had been secretly in love with him for the last six years? Somehow she knew he would never return her feelings. Somehow in the back of her mind she was always aware of the wall separating them. Somehow she knew she would never own his heart.
I promised myself I would tell him. That was four years ago. Every morning I watch him drive away in his car, each moment I spend with him in the council meetings I just want to say it. Even if I know he wouldn't say it back…
"Hey mouse hair." He greeted her. She just kept staring at the light going back and forth back and forth…"It's called a machine."
"Aw fuck of Sagara." She sighed.
"What? No harsh words? No insults? I am completely freaked out by your behavior o queen of sucking up." He said putting his hand over his chest in mock surprise.
"Some of us actually have deeper things to ponder than how to cheat off Kamiya's test!" she said seriously.
"There you are my little queen of evil! You really had me scared for a moment there…wait a minute, deeper things to ponder? You mean there is actually a brain in there and not just a sucking mechanism?" he grinned.
"Sagara please not today." She whispered suddenly tired. She looked out of the window, her heart still breaking.
Sano looked at her; that was unusual for Makimachi. She would never let an insult go unanswered. But something about the way her eyes seemed lost, how her sigh seemed pained made him stop. He just watched the light go back and forth, back and forth and suffocated in the silence between them.
***
Shiro looked out of the classroom. The rain had begun to fall. School was almost over but he still had two hours of practice ahead of him, he sighed. He just spent the good part of an hour answering his chemistry homework and suddenly he had to get out.
He looked around the classroom and realized Sano and Misao were missing, he just shrugged put his arms in his pockets and walked out of study period.
***
"Tanada that fag." Sano muttered looking out of the window as Misao gathered the photocopied handouts. "Look at him."
Misao turned to the window seeing Shiro alone on the courtyard, his face turned up letting the rain wash over him. She smiled Shiro was cute in a way.
"What is he doing?" she asked his best friend.
"I dunno its just one of the strange things he does. Creepy bastard."
"He better get inside or he'll get sick." She commented.
"Yo fairy!" Sano called out of the second floor window. Misao just shook her head, she should have expected that he would start a conversation with is friend two floors down and disturb the entire school. "Get outta the rain you stupid git! The suck up here is beginning to worry!"
She blushed at his second statement and turned away from the window just as Shiro looked in their direction but Sano was holding the scruff of her uniform. Shiro smiled at them and proceeded to walk farther away.
"That idiot." Sano shrugged letting go of the struggling Misao.
Shiro kept walking in the rain, splashing in the puddles. He stopped when he reached the outside basketball court. He looked at the ring, watching the rain gather in the knots of the net and fall to the floor. Suddenly he couldn't feel the rain on his back anymore.
"You are by far the strangest person I have ever met." Sano said placing the umbrella he had over their heads.
"The rain is good for you." Shiro smiled.
"Having weasel for dinner isn't."
***
"Listen I have the funds from last year's council and it doesn't look good. We can still sponsor the welcome party for the freshmen two weeks from now but that's it. We need to make a fundraiser to be able to have the Christmas party and Farewell ball. And we need to start making money right away." Soujiro said as he took another look in his notebook.
"Do you guys have any suggestions?" Tomoe asked.
"What about a bake sale?" Misao chirped. The council groaned.
"Ok what about a play?"
"A fair?"
"A concert?"
"Oh I know I know!" she jumped up and down raising her hand.
"Yes?" Tomoe asked.
"An auction!" A hushed silence fell over the presidents of each class, Misao began to think she had said something wrong, suddenly a great uproar rose as everyone agreed and auction was the best idea.
"We can auction off a date with the basketball team!" Soujiro smiled.
"Or one of the new teachers." One sophomore added. Tomoe smiled at the enthusiasm everyone was showing.
"Does everyone agree with that?" she asked and everyone nodded. "Ok, now let's work out the details for the freshman night first."
"Good work Misao." Soujiro whispered as he passed by her on his way to the black board. She smiled as if she had just won the lottery.
***
Remedial classes consisted of Kaoru not taking her eyes off Mr. Himura, Enishi scowling and ten other people looking completely lost.
"You guys still don't get it do you?" he asked exasperated, the class collectively shook their heads mournfully.
"All you have to do is make sure that the moles of the elements on this side of the reaction equals the number of moles of the same elements on the other side. If there are six moles of Hydrogen then there should be six moles of hydrogen on the other side."
"Its very easy, come on guys!" he said begging them to show some sign they weren't completely hopeless. "Ok I guess that's it for now." he muttered defeated dusting his hands.
The students began filing out of the classroom and he began fixing his things. Kaoru smiled as she passed by and Enishi didn't even look at him. He sighed, he just wanted to go home and take a bath and go to sleep until Christmas.
***
"So you guys done?" Aoshi said peeking inside the classroom. Tomoe and Soujiro were the only ones left, they were talking and stopped when Aoshi stuck his head in.
"Yep." Tomoe said motioning for him to join them.
"So what did you guys talk about?" he asked sitting beside Tomoe.
"We decided to auction off a date with the basketball team." Soujiro smiled.
"Yikes." He said, although the lack of emotion on his face made the expression seem strange. "I sure hope I won't be included."
"You're out of luck Shinomori, we might pass a survey form, who the students would like to have a date with. The ones with the most votes are on the auctioning block." She winked at him.
"Geez couldn't you guys have thought of a less painful fundraiser?" he said knowing full well that his name would be on that list.
"Take one for the team Shinomori." Soujiro laughed.
"I'm famished could we eat now?" he said standing up. "Care to join us Seta?"
"No I just stayed behind to keep Tomoe company."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm really tired and I have to start budgeting the money for the Frosh night." He said waving to them as he left the classroom.
"Thanks Sou." She called.
"Where do you want to eat?" he asked as they got into his car.
"I don't know wherever you want to go." she said looking out of the window.
"If you're tired we can just go home."
"Nah, lets go out." She sighed smiling at him.
***
"Why does Sano keep calling you gay?" She asked turning to look at her companion. Shiro had come by just as the meeting finished up but for some strange reason he didn't want to do the homework at home, instead here they were by the river trying to catch the last rays of sunlight and squinting in the meager light of Shiro's flashlight.
"Well it's just his way of showing you he cares." Shiro said concentrating on the problems.
"I think it's mean." She pouted stretching. "Listen Tanada, we won't get anything done this way. I don't want to go blind."
"Yeah I guess you're right." He said giving up.
"So you wanna go to my house and finish up?" she asked looking at him.
"Nah, I'll just walk you home. I'll finish the rest at home." He said motioning for her to start walking.
"You know I never thought you'd be so…" she started.
"What?"
"Nice?" she said sheepishly.
"Yeah there's a lot of things you don't know about us. If you actually took time to notice the class you would find that out." He said lazily.
"Are you saying I don't care about the class?" she said offended.
"No I am saying you care too much about the class that you're not really part of it. The class is nothing but a responsibility for you." she bristled, no one had been bold enough to tell her this outright.
"Well you don't get teased by everyone every single bloody day now do you?" she said in her defense.
"Don't get mad Misao. I'm just saying take time out from your busy schedule and try to actually get to know the class and you'll see they're not just a bunch of jerks." He said. She stopped, he had never called her by her first name before.
"Er Tanada?" she called not really brave enough to call him by his first name. "This is my stop."
"Oh ok, see ya." He said nonchalantly. He waved at her over his shoulder and continued walking. Suddenly the Tanada she knew settled back in his manner. The new Tanada, the one that was nice and spoke his mind suddenly disappeared.
She then decided that she liked the new Tanada better.
"Mr. Tanada." A gruff male voice called from the corner. Misao started to get nervous, he didn't look like he was trying to make friends, she was about to call out to Shiro when he suddenly draped his arm around the man.
"How long have you been following me?" he asked smiling.
"We've been looking for you for an hour sir. You didn't bring your car or your cellphone. You were supposed to be at home an hour ago."
"Don't have a heart attack I'm here now aren't I?" he said lazily. He turned back at her and suddenly looked disappointed when he saw her still standing there. He smiled back at her weakly and got into the waiting black car.
***
"So Kamatari shows up right, wearing this I dunno what it was but if I didn't know he was a guy I would've whistled." He laughed, "You should have seen Coach Makoto I thought he would have a heart attack!"
Tomoe smiled, Aoshi had rare moments like these where he would laugh his heart out. Aoshi was serious this was a fact not an opinion, a fact based on years and years of spending time with him. To someone who didn't know him, this would sound dull but in truth it wasn't, it was comfortable and she liked the way he came out of his shell, even for just a couple of hours every week.
"Good thing Mr. Himura was there to help out. I could've sworn coach was about to call Tari Homo." He chuckled.
"Mr. Himura? He coaches now?" she asked.
"Well no, he just helps out. If you ask me he's just there to keep Coach Makoto from screaming every time Tari sneaks up behind him."
"And of course Tari does that every chance he gets?" she asked and Aoshi nodded.
"Yeah too bad Tari just joined this year, it would've been a hoot to see this every practice."
"Is he behaving himself?"
"Aside from harassing the coach and draping himself all over Mr. Himura, yeah I guess he is."
"Poor Mr. Himura." She sighed. Aoshi suddenly stopped eating and looked at her.
"Tomoe." He started. She looked back at him. "I…well you see I…" he stammered.
"What's the matter Aoshi?" she asked. "I never heard you stutter before."
"It's just that there's this friend and well…ah never mind."
"Come on what is it?" she said leaning her chin on her hand.
"It's just sometimes its so hard to talk to someone about some things and yet you could share your entire life with her." he said returning to his seriousness.
"You can tell me Aoshi." She said reaching over and patting his hand.
"That's just it. I can't." he said defeated.
"Maybe when you're ready you will." She said suddenly uneasy. They fell silent then finishing what was left of their dinner.
"Aoshi?" he looked up at her when he dropped her off at her house. "Laugh more, you look handsome when you laugh." She smiled before closing the door of his car.
***
Misao shuffled the papers on her desk, putting her homework in order. Her mind raced back to the man and the black car. That was strange.
She stopped, Shiro's homework had been mixed in with her own. She smiled at his childish lazy scrawl, somehow even his handwriting mirrored the Tanada she knew in class.
"Hey wait a minute." She said looking it over. "He was finish? He already had it done?"
Again she made sure all numbers had been answered, not only answered but done very well. He even got some questions she didn't know. Her confusion to why he still asked for her help when it was very evident he did not need it suddenly was pushed back in her mind as she realized that Shiro Tanada was more than the stupid jock she had thought him to be.
"Get to know them huh Tanada?" she smiled remembering what he said.
***
***
It had been almost a week since his talk with Tomoe and it seems that she did speak to her brother. He rarely made snide comments now and didn't defy him outright anymore. He would just keep quiet in his class, he still wasn't listening to him, preferring to read his book or stare out of the window rather than participate but it was an improvement.
He smiled, he wasn't asking Enishi to like him anymore, he was just glad with the courtesy he afforded him.
"Ok I guess that's it for today. My remedial classes start this afternoon at 4:30 all of you that wish to attend may do so. We are going to answer the ten of the thirty questions we have as homework today."
"Thirty?" Shiro shouted.
"Shut up Tanada!" the class pelted him with paper balls, every time he had an outburst like that, the entire class ended up paying for it because it usually resulted in an additional 10 questions.
"Fine since the weekend is coming up and I have been working you guys a little hard …"
"Try slave driver Mr. Himura!" Shiro retorted garnering him an evil hiss from the class and hateful stares sent his way.
"Twenty and that's my final offer. Take it or leave it." He said crossing his arms.
"Ok! Ok!" Shiro muttered suddenly uneasy.
"See you guys later." Kenshin smiled picking up his books.
"Mr. Himura?" Kaoru asked coming close to him.
"Yes Ms. Kamiya?" he asked, he smiled at the girl, she had always approached him after class.
"What should we bring for the remedial class?"
"Um well the usual school stuff I guess." He smiled leaving the classroom.
***
"Hey Makimachi…" he called going over to where Misao was reading her book.
"Yeah Tanada?" she asked looking up. Ever since that incident in the lab they had not spoken to each other. It's as if he was purposely avoiding her slipping back into the Tanada she knew and erasing every trace of the kindness he showed her when they were mopping up their mess.
"Could you help me with the homework?" he asked shyly.
"Er I have this student council meeting later, why don't you just go the remedial class?" she said confused at why he would ask her to help him.
"That's the beauty of it, you see I have basketball practice later and I really can't go to the class. But since you would still be here because of your meeting then we would be finish at the same time!" he said smiling. It seemed he had really thought this out.
"I don't have a choice do I?" she asked blushing at the thought that she would be alone with Shiro Tanada that afternoon.
"Besides you still owe me one." He said suddenly.
"Owe you one for what?" she said suddenly confused.
"Well I did let you borrow my shirt." He smiled, she suddenly exploded.
"Owe you one? Owe you one? That entire mess was your frigging fault you useless piece of shit!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Cool I knew I could rely on you! So I guess I'll meet you outside the student council office? Great!" he said waving goodbye. Misao had the sinking feeling that either Tanada was possessed when he lent her his shirt or that was temporary insanity. Because there was no way this Tanada would be that nice to her.
***
"Hey Sagara." Tsubame said looking at her friend.
"Yeah?" Yahiko asked stuffing his face with the cookies she brought.
"Does Sano-kun go out with all of those girls that hang around him all the time?" she asked looking at Sano's table, which was currently surrounded with cheerleaders in their tiny skirts, giggling at anything he said.
"Yeah, you should see how many of them call at the house! We had to get him his own line!" he said finishing Tsubame's mashed potatoes when she wasn't looking.
"Did anyone of them ever become his girlfriend?" she asked quietly.
"What?" Yahiko asked leaning closer to her.
"Did anyone of them ever become his girlfriend?" she blurted blushing furiously.
"Nah, he's married to Tanada." He said going back to the cookies he was massacring. "They're always together. The only time he does go out with those girls is when Shiro is out of town or when he's not available."
"Er is your brother gay?" she asked looking back at him and scowling at the empty bag.
"Haha no I don't think so. Besides Sano may be notorious when it comes to breaking girls hearts but he's a real romantic. He tells me when the right one comes along he won't let her go." Yahiko chuckled.
Tsubame looked back at the table still surrounded with girls and Sano still laughing in the middle and smiled.
***
"Chou! What did you do to my jello?" Kamatari screeched.
"Yow!" Chou said picking his ear with his finger. "Didn't you ever go through puberty?"
"Nobody touches my jello." He said his eyes narrowing. Suddenly his eyes brightened when Chou finally gave up the green jiggly bowl.
"You are so weird."
"Hwe shew nya." He said his words suspended in the green mush.
"Hey Tomoe?" Tomoe looked over at Soujiro. "What else do we need for the meeting later?"
"I already took care of everything." She smiled.
"Student council huh?" Chou asked ignoring Kamatari who was now purring because of his prize.
"Will you be joining us Aoshi?" she asked looking at him.
"I have practice."
"I'll just drop by later and brief you."
"Why don't we just have dinner and you can tell me about it?" he said, the table suddenly became uncomfortable.
"Ok I have to tell Enishi though that I won't be coming home with him." she said totally unaware of the looks her friends threw one another.
"So how's the play Sou?" Chou asked breaking the awkwardness.
"I can't seem to find my Psyche." He said sheepishly. "None of the girls are right."
"Why don't you try the guys." He laughed.
"I actually asked Kamatari to audition."
"You've got to be kidding right?" Chou said looking back at his best friend.
"Why not?" Soujiro smiled.
"Don't give me that look Youjin!" Kamatari said raising his spoon.
"I thought you were back on the team?" Aoshi asked.
"Hey that's not for sure yet. I have yet to see what the team has to offer, besides I wanna try new stuff." He said quietly.
"I think you'd love the theater." Soujiro said optimistically.
"Yeah." He smiled back weakly.
"Come on we'd better get back to class." Chou said changing the subject. All of them stood up, the crowd giving way.
***
Sano was making fun of Shiro, making the cheerleaders giggle and blush at the same time. He liked being the center of attention and although none of these girls really meant anything to him, he still had to live up to his reputation. He looked at each and everyone of them, all of them were worth looking at and although he had only gone out with each one once he never wanted to again.
Those girls saw him as this varsity player, this jock that was extremely popular and would make them popular if ever they were to be his girlfriend. He didn't really matter to anyone of these girls. A basketball star and a cheerleader, it was a perfect match. But Sanosuke Sagara was much more than the basketball player, he was much more than a lady-killer. If only one of them could see who he really was, if only one of them really knew who he was.
His eyes strayed from their faces full of make-up and fell to the small eyes of the girl sitting on the other end of the cafeteria. Tsubame suddenly blushed and dropped her gaze turning in her seat. From where he sat he could see her blushing furiously. She was so cute, little Tsubame…
From the corner of his eye someone else caught his eye.
Misao sat alone in her table playing with her potatoes. Her chemistry book was open in front of her but her eyes were elsewhere. Staring blankly at the now empty senior's table. She looked up just in time to catch Sano's eyes.
He smiled at her and stuck his tongue out playfully, which she met with a look of disgust and a hasty retreat back to their room.
***
Misao sighed. She had been in love with Soujiro Seta since junior high. He lived two blocks away from her house and she would wake up early every morning just so she could wait for him in the corner. He would always ask her to walk with him. Always.
But of course ever since high school started and he got his own car, the only time she could spend with him were in the council meetings and even then she wouldn't be able to speak to him. Sometimes he would offer her a ride home but she was always be too shy to accept his invitation, she would always decline. Even in the mornings he would offer but Misao's father always drove her to school.
Soujiro was the nicest guy you could ever meet. He was polite, intelligent, charming and handsome to boot. Everything you ever wanted in a guy, which is why it didn't make sense that he never had a girlfriend and a ton of girls have tried.
She wanted to get into Kainan for the single reason that he was there. She wanted to be part of the student council because he was. And if she weren't deathly afraid of the stage she would have signed up for the drama club as well. Soujiro Seta was her entire life and it was funny to think that he just really looked upon her as a sister.
She remembered watching him play the prince in every school play. He was always the prince. She always wondered how it would feel like to be the one in his arms, to be the one he would swear his love to.
Next year he would leave. He told her he was going to study in England. Four years she would have to live her life without him and already she was missing him.
"Oh hey Misao!" he smiled waving at her. Misao was brought out of her reverie, in her reminiscing she had found herself on the wrong floor, the entire senior class around her, Soujiro standing there smiling at her.
"Upperclassman Seta!" she shrieked.
"I told you stop calling me that!" he frowned. "Er what are you doing here?"
"Uh…er…" think Misao think! She fidgeted as Soujiro's other friends turned to look at her. Something about the meeting later! Something about his house! Anything! "Uh the meeting?"
"What about it?" he asked.
What about it? What about the stupid meeting! Say something. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.
"Happy thoughts!"
"Misao are you ok?"
"Makimachi! Great! Listen could you photocopy these hand-outs for the meeting later? I would do it myself but our class is already starting." Tomoe said from behind him.
"Sure Tomoe." She smiled taking the paper from her hand heaving a sigh of relief.
"Think of an excuse next time." she winked before turning around.
"Thanks boss." She called after her.
***
The light of the photocopier kept going across her face as she stared mesmerized by it. It was study period and she had gone to make copies of the hand-out like Tomoe had asked. She sighed, how was she going to tell him how she felt? How was she going to tell him she had been secretly in love with him for the last six years? Somehow she knew he would never return her feelings. Somehow in the back of her mind she was always aware of the wall separating them. Somehow she knew she would never own his heart.
I promised myself I would tell him. That was four years ago. Every morning I watch him drive away in his car, each moment I spend with him in the council meetings I just want to say it. Even if I know he wouldn't say it back…
"Hey mouse hair." He greeted her. She just kept staring at the light going back and forth back and forth…"It's called a machine."
"Aw fuck of Sagara." She sighed.
"What? No harsh words? No insults? I am completely freaked out by your behavior o queen of sucking up." He said putting his hand over his chest in mock surprise.
"Some of us actually have deeper things to ponder than how to cheat off Kamiya's test!" she said seriously.
"There you are my little queen of evil! You really had me scared for a moment there…wait a minute, deeper things to ponder? You mean there is actually a brain in there and not just a sucking mechanism?" he grinned.
"Sagara please not today." She whispered suddenly tired. She looked out of the window, her heart still breaking.
Sano looked at her; that was unusual for Makimachi. She would never let an insult go unanswered. But something about the way her eyes seemed lost, how her sigh seemed pained made him stop. He just watched the light go back and forth, back and forth and suffocated in the silence between them.
***
Shiro looked out of the classroom. The rain had begun to fall. School was almost over but he still had two hours of practice ahead of him, he sighed. He just spent the good part of an hour answering his chemistry homework and suddenly he had to get out.
He looked around the classroom and realized Sano and Misao were missing, he just shrugged put his arms in his pockets and walked out of study period.
***
"Tanada that fag." Sano muttered looking out of the window as Misao gathered the photocopied handouts. "Look at him."
Misao turned to the window seeing Shiro alone on the courtyard, his face turned up letting the rain wash over him. She smiled Shiro was cute in a way.
"What is he doing?" she asked his best friend.
"I dunno its just one of the strange things he does. Creepy bastard."
"He better get inside or he'll get sick." She commented.
"Yo fairy!" Sano called out of the second floor window. Misao just shook her head, she should have expected that he would start a conversation with is friend two floors down and disturb the entire school. "Get outta the rain you stupid git! The suck up here is beginning to worry!"
She blushed at his second statement and turned away from the window just as Shiro looked in their direction but Sano was holding the scruff of her uniform. Shiro smiled at them and proceeded to walk farther away.
"That idiot." Sano shrugged letting go of the struggling Misao.
Shiro kept walking in the rain, splashing in the puddles. He stopped when he reached the outside basketball court. He looked at the ring, watching the rain gather in the knots of the net and fall to the floor. Suddenly he couldn't feel the rain on his back anymore.
"You are by far the strangest person I have ever met." Sano said placing the umbrella he had over their heads.
"The rain is good for you." Shiro smiled.
"Having weasel for dinner isn't."
***
"Listen I have the funds from last year's council and it doesn't look good. We can still sponsor the welcome party for the freshmen two weeks from now but that's it. We need to make a fundraiser to be able to have the Christmas party and Farewell ball. And we need to start making money right away." Soujiro said as he took another look in his notebook.
"Do you guys have any suggestions?" Tomoe asked.
"What about a bake sale?" Misao chirped. The council groaned.
"Ok what about a play?"
"A fair?"
"A concert?"
"Oh I know I know!" she jumped up and down raising her hand.
"Yes?" Tomoe asked.
"An auction!" A hushed silence fell over the presidents of each class, Misao began to think she had said something wrong, suddenly a great uproar rose as everyone agreed and auction was the best idea.
"We can auction off a date with the basketball team!" Soujiro smiled.
"Or one of the new teachers." One sophomore added. Tomoe smiled at the enthusiasm everyone was showing.
"Does everyone agree with that?" she asked and everyone nodded. "Ok, now let's work out the details for the freshman night first."
"Good work Misao." Soujiro whispered as he passed by her on his way to the black board. She smiled as if she had just won the lottery.
***
Remedial classes consisted of Kaoru not taking her eyes off Mr. Himura, Enishi scowling and ten other people looking completely lost.
"You guys still don't get it do you?" he asked exasperated, the class collectively shook their heads mournfully.
"All you have to do is make sure that the moles of the elements on this side of the reaction equals the number of moles of the same elements on the other side. If there are six moles of Hydrogen then there should be six moles of hydrogen on the other side."
"Its very easy, come on guys!" he said begging them to show some sign they weren't completely hopeless. "Ok I guess that's it for now." he muttered defeated dusting his hands.
The students began filing out of the classroom and he began fixing his things. Kaoru smiled as she passed by and Enishi didn't even look at him. He sighed, he just wanted to go home and take a bath and go to sleep until Christmas.
***
"So you guys done?" Aoshi said peeking inside the classroom. Tomoe and Soujiro were the only ones left, they were talking and stopped when Aoshi stuck his head in.
"Yep." Tomoe said motioning for him to join them.
"So what did you guys talk about?" he asked sitting beside Tomoe.
"We decided to auction off a date with the basketball team." Soujiro smiled.
"Yikes." He said, although the lack of emotion on his face made the expression seem strange. "I sure hope I won't be included."
"You're out of luck Shinomori, we might pass a survey form, who the students would like to have a date with. The ones with the most votes are on the auctioning block." She winked at him.
"Geez couldn't you guys have thought of a less painful fundraiser?" he said knowing full well that his name would be on that list.
"Take one for the team Shinomori." Soujiro laughed.
"I'm famished could we eat now?" he said standing up. "Care to join us Seta?"
"No I just stayed behind to keep Tomoe company."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm really tired and I have to start budgeting the money for the Frosh night." He said waving to them as he left the classroom.
"Thanks Sou." She called.
"Where do you want to eat?" he asked as they got into his car.
"I don't know wherever you want to go." she said looking out of the window.
"If you're tired we can just go home."
"Nah, lets go out." She sighed smiling at him.
***
"Why does Sano keep calling you gay?" She asked turning to look at her companion. Shiro had come by just as the meeting finished up but for some strange reason he didn't want to do the homework at home, instead here they were by the river trying to catch the last rays of sunlight and squinting in the meager light of Shiro's flashlight.
"Well it's just his way of showing you he cares." Shiro said concentrating on the problems.
"I think it's mean." She pouted stretching. "Listen Tanada, we won't get anything done this way. I don't want to go blind."
"Yeah I guess you're right." He said giving up.
"So you wanna go to my house and finish up?" she asked looking at him.
"Nah, I'll just walk you home. I'll finish the rest at home." He said motioning for her to start walking.
"You know I never thought you'd be so…" she started.
"What?"
"Nice?" she said sheepishly.
"Yeah there's a lot of things you don't know about us. If you actually took time to notice the class you would find that out." He said lazily.
"Are you saying I don't care about the class?" she said offended.
"No I am saying you care too much about the class that you're not really part of it. The class is nothing but a responsibility for you." she bristled, no one had been bold enough to tell her this outright.
"Well you don't get teased by everyone every single bloody day now do you?" she said in her defense.
"Don't get mad Misao. I'm just saying take time out from your busy schedule and try to actually get to know the class and you'll see they're not just a bunch of jerks." He said. She stopped, he had never called her by her first name before.
"Er Tanada?" she called not really brave enough to call him by his first name. "This is my stop."
"Oh ok, see ya." He said nonchalantly. He waved at her over his shoulder and continued walking. Suddenly the Tanada she knew settled back in his manner. The new Tanada, the one that was nice and spoke his mind suddenly disappeared.
She then decided that she liked the new Tanada better.
"Mr. Tanada." A gruff male voice called from the corner. Misao started to get nervous, he didn't look like he was trying to make friends, she was about to call out to Shiro when he suddenly draped his arm around the man.
"How long have you been following me?" he asked smiling.
"We've been looking for you for an hour sir. You didn't bring your car or your cellphone. You were supposed to be at home an hour ago."
"Don't have a heart attack I'm here now aren't I?" he said lazily. He turned back at her and suddenly looked disappointed when he saw her still standing there. He smiled back at her weakly and got into the waiting black car.
***
"So Kamatari shows up right, wearing this I dunno what it was but if I didn't know he was a guy I would've whistled." He laughed, "You should have seen Coach Makoto I thought he would have a heart attack!"
Tomoe smiled, Aoshi had rare moments like these where he would laugh his heart out. Aoshi was serious this was a fact not an opinion, a fact based on years and years of spending time with him. To someone who didn't know him, this would sound dull but in truth it wasn't, it was comfortable and she liked the way he came out of his shell, even for just a couple of hours every week.
"Good thing Mr. Himura was there to help out. I could've sworn coach was about to call Tari Homo." He chuckled.
"Mr. Himura? He coaches now?" she asked.
"Well no, he just helps out. If you ask me he's just there to keep Coach Makoto from screaming every time Tari sneaks up behind him."
"And of course Tari does that every chance he gets?" she asked and Aoshi nodded.
"Yeah too bad Tari just joined this year, it would've been a hoot to see this every practice."
"Is he behaving himself?"
"Aside from harassing the coach and draping himself all over Mr. Himura, yeah I guess he is."
"Poor Mr. Himura." She sighed. Aoshi suddenly stopped eating and looked at her.
"Tomoe." He started. She looked back at him. "I…well you see I…" he stammered.
"What's the matter Aoshi?" she asked. "I never heard you stutter before."
"It's just that there's this friend and well…ah never mind."
"Come on what is it?" she said leaning her chin on her hand.
"It's just sometimes its so hard to talk to someone about some things and yet you could share your entire life with her." he said returning to his seriousness.
"You can tell me Aoshi." She said reaching over and patting his hand.
"That's just it. I can't." he said defeated.
"Maybe when you're ready you will." She said suddenly uneasy. They fell silent then finishing what was left of their dinner.
"Aoshi?" he looked up at her when he dropped her off at her house. "Laugh more, you look handsome when you laugh." She smiled before closing the door of his car.
***
Misao shuffled the papers on her desk, putting her homework in order. Her mind raced back to the man and the black car. That was strange.
She stopped, Shiro's homework had been mixed in with her own. She smiled at his childish lazy scrawl, somehow even his handwriting mirrored the Tanada she knew in class.
"Hey wait a minute." She said looking it over. "He was finish? He already had it done?"
Again she made sure all numbers had been answered, not only answered but done very well. He even got some questions she didn't know. Her confusion to why he still asked for her help when it was very evident he did not need it suddenly was pushed back in her mind as she realized that Shiro Tanada was more than the stupid jock she had thought him to be.
"Get to know them huh Tanada?" she smiled remembering what he said.
***