Quite a few author's notes on this chapter. Firstly, excuse the teachers' crappy names. I ran out of DOA characters to use, so now I'm pulling out names from wherever they come. *sigh* oh well. I guess Tecmo needs to make more DOA characters, huh???

Second note, I was thinking (note: thinking) of making a pairing with Hayate. Got any ideas as to who it could be? Of course, the most obvious and widely used is Hitomi… but perhaps something new and exciting that hasn't been done before… hmm, I'll wait and see. As to Hitomi, there will be more of her coming up. And this story is getting gradually more serious… hopefully it'll lighten up soon, it's scaring me!!! :(

LAST note: As to Hayate in maths, he sounds like me -.- sad, huh? Although I don't cheat. I suck by myself :)

*

He resisted the urge to swear out loud, glancing across at his friend. Next class, math. Math test, more specifically. Ryu seemed to be having no trouble whatsoever, which only infuriated him more. Even Ayane was surviving, barely, even though she wasn't actually doing the test, she was still faring better then he was.

He hated maths with a passion.

Darn multiple choice. He had guessed some of them, and kept his fingers crossed that the geek would go easy on him because he stank at math.

Gritting his teeth, he looked at the next question on the sheet, deciding to skip the first. He exhaled loudly, ignoring the stares he got for doing so. This question was even worse!

"Pst," he dug a pen into Ryu's arm subtly. Ryu looked up, and Hayate could see that Ryu could see him in his peripheral vision. He stabbed the paper once, and Ryu handed over his calculator to him. What…? The thought stream was truncated as he looked at the calculator screen, which had the answers to the first three questions on it, step by step. He copied them down. Only two more questions to go. Unfortunately, they were the hardest of the lot. Also worth about forty to fifty percent of the overall paper, give or take.

Ryu reached over and took back his calculator. It seemed like only mere seconds before his friend had put down his pen and handed his sheet in. He tapped Ryu's shoulder, mentally asking for the calculator, but Ryu shook his head. The calculator came over with a message on the screen. CAN'T DO. NOT GOOD ENOUGH CALCULTATOR. SORRY. FINAL ANSWERS ARE -17 AND X=MC2 IF THAT HELPS.

Not really. He didn't scribble the answers down, knowing that the geek would easily deduce that he had cheated if he wrote the answers without the working. Then the bell rang to signify the end of the period.

"Okay, papers up to me, please," The geek tapped the table. "Anyone who gets less then fifty percent in this test will get a note sent home, because this test contributes to your report card. You've been warned,"

Oh no. He felt his stomach sink, but tried to mentally ignore it, instead turning to Ryu. "What do we have now?"

Ryu shrugged. "I don't know what you have. I have a music lesson now,"

"What, for that mysterious little instrument I picked up last night?"

"Also known as a flute, yes,"

"You so do not look like a flute player,"

"It's a long story. Besides, it's more to humour Father then anything else. I can't even play the thing,"

"Sure, sure. Just like you can't do math, right?"

"Hmm," With that, Ryu vanished into the crowd. One minute he was there, the next, he had gone. Ayane, however, was still standing beside him.

"He does the flute?" she raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that kind of a girly instrument?"

"Do I look like a girl?" he shrugged in a non-committed manner. "What do you have now?"

Ayane shook her head. "You can't blame me for asking if he was gay,"

He turned to face her fully. "With me, I can. I'm off to geography. See you,"

Ryu was not in the mood. It wasn't as though he overly enjoyed playing an instrument anyway, especially one that pierced through his head every time he blew into it. But what could he say? Not a lot, considering his father had a reason for wanting him to do the thing. Everything had a reason.

Whether he liked the reason was a completely different matter.

The teacher stopped, shaking her head. "You're completely lacking the feel for this today,"

"I'm trying," he snapped back before remembering that he was speaking to a teacher. "I apologise, Miss Delrina,"

"That's alright, Ryu. Just try and pick it up, okay?" she turned back to the piano music and continued playing. He did so, mentally flinching at the high notes.

Why am I doing this? What's the point? There has to be something more to life then this…

Hayate knew that something was going to be wrong the entire day. However, having his name called out over the loudspeaker for him to go to the office did certainly not sound promising.

If he had been the type, he would have climbed over the fence and gone away. But there was no point, really. He dragged his feet to the office, knowing that this was not going to be good. Not at all.

"What have I done?" he asked the receptionist at the office desk, who laughed in response.

"You'll be fine. Mr Gale and Mr Cassius will be with you shortly,"

Mr Cassius? The principal? Oh no… this is about the math, isn't it? It would explain why the geek… but the principal? Isn't that a bit of overkill?

"Mr Hayate? Please come in,"

He numbly did as told, walking into the principal's office and sitting down. The geek was sitting opposite him, while the principal was sitting on the chair next to him. He folded his arms across his chest, without bothering with any pleasantries.

"We'll make this brief. Mr Hayate, Mr Gale has expressed concern with your mathematics results as of late. The reason I am here is to discuss with both you and Mr Gale possible resolutions we have to this problem,"

Great. So my doing badly at the maths has now become the whole school's business.

The geek handed back the paper from earlier, and he resisted the urge to scream aloud, looking at it. Shit. Thirty nine percent? Those bloody ones I couldn't do were worth sixty percent? Oh, shitshitshit…

"What do you propose we do, Mr Hayate?" the geek asked, twirling his basically non-existent moustache with his finger. "We could drop you back into the lower level math…"

"No," the word popped out of his mouth before he could stop it. Father would murder me if I did that. And I don't want to fail him… "Would I be able to get one of the other students to help me get my marks up?" he asked pleadingly, looking at more the principal then the geek.

Before the geek could say anything, the principal interrupted. "It seems like a fair resolution to me. Which student did you have in mind?"

"None of them would be able to tutor him, with all respect, sir," the geek blustered, but the principal held up a hand.

"I doubt that, Mr Gale. Who's your best student? There has to be one of them,"

He held his breath. Please not Ryu, please no…

"Well, the only one showing halfway decent results would be Mr Hayabusa…"

Damn! He slapped his hand against his leg, averting his eyes as both principal and geek turned at the sound. The principal held out a hand for the geek's results records, and shook his head. "Halfway decent results? How does ninety seven percent count as a mere halfway decent result, Mr Gale?"

He tuned out, basically fuming in anger and jealousy. Ninety bloody seven percent? How the hell does he do it? What am I doing wrong? "Fine, okay, whatever, Ryu can be my tutor. If he isn't busy or the like of course," he added, somewhat hopefully.

"He won't be," the geek promised.

How does he know? Hayate thought to himself as he left the room.

"I don't mind," Was the calm response he got as they walked home from the school. Not that he had been expecting anything much else. Always predictable. At least one thing is in this darn world. Nothing else seems to be.

"Good, because from the way the geek was talking it didn't sound like you had much choice in the matter, anyway," he retorted, still angry. Angry at himself, mostly. Why wasn't he good enough to get a passing mark, while his friend soared in with flying colours? Why couldn't he understand it, when it seemed everyone else was able to? Why was he the one with the father that would literally tear him apart for failing a test, as opposed to some of the others at school whose parents didn't appear to give a damn?

He felt frustrated tears well behind his eyelids, despite how much he tried to keep himself under control. He felt so childish, so stupid. And here his friend was, rubbing it in. Although he didn't mean to. It was just the way it seemed to be coming across. How am I going to tell Father I failed again? I am so dead…

"Hayate, are you alright?"

With a start, he realised that Ryu had stopped and was looking at him intently. He nodded, trying to act jovial.

"Course I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

The look that his friend gave him was enough to make him burst into tears… if he was a girl. As it was, he wasn't, but came pretty darn close to, as Ryu gestured for him to sit down under a tree, which he did, pulling his legs to his chest and hugging his knees after dropping his bag into a pile of leaves.

"What's wrong?" Ryu's voice was so gentle. He could make a good counsellor or something like that, he mused, and listening to his friend's softly probing voice. Truth be told, he had no idea what Ryu wanted to do with his life. He didn't really have a choice in the matter; it was what his father decided for him.

"Nothing much. Just I failed another test; Father's going to have my head and he has a legitimate reason because I'm a bloody failure,"

Ryu's expression was genuinely shocked. "You think that just because you messed up on one little test that that makes you a failure?"

"Ryu, you don't understand. For you, it's okay. You're an only child. I'm the oldest, and I have to do whatever Father wants me to do, to keep his practise going. I have to do bloody medicine, Ryu, and you know what that means. A sky-high mark, especially in maths. I can't do maths. Therefore, I'm a failure because I can't do what I'm supposed to,"

Ryu sighed softly. "That only child delusion again,"

"What are you complaining about? You have it made. You can do all the work, your father doesn't push you up the bloody wall like mine does, so what do you have to moan about?"

Silence for a moment. Before Ryu spoke.

"You can have my father, and I'll have yours,"

"No, answer my question," He stood up, nearly hitting his head against the tree branch in his haste. "What do you have to complain about? Does your father threaten to disown you if you fail your final exams? Does he threaten to hit you from here to next year if you do badly? Does he hurt you with the words that come out of his mouth? I bet he doesn't. Because you're just the perfect role model student, aren't you? You just swan through school as though everything's a breeze for you,"

Silence, as he thought over his statement. I didn't mean to be that harsh. But… he was beginning to feel so helpless, so foolish, so… so stupid.

Luckily, Ryu didn't say anything. Or perhaps unluckily. He was, however, supporting his left arm as though it hurt. Finally, he spoke. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I should consider myself lucky. I never have had that problem. So, do you want me to help you or not? I do have assignments which I should be doing if you're going to argue with me all evening,"

He pulled out his maths book and text from his bag extremely reluctantly, glaring at them as they were unveiled. "Might as well get on with it, then,"