Chapter 36 - Saiki's BACK!
Kaidou stretched in his chair.
The second day of the First Term Finals was over. They were two-thirds way through on the testing schedule.
Most students of PK Academy's third year, Class 1 were still milling around the classroom after dismissal.
Test days were like that. The school and the students knew that they would be too brain dead to be of any worth at any club or other activities. So the crowd rush of students to the shoe lockers was much more muted as the students took their time. Most clubs cancelled their meetings and practices.
Kaidou was one of those milling students.
He also felt good.
Kaidou had the test-taking thing down.
For some reason, all the mock tests that he had taken at cram school in the last few weeks, just did not have that usual accompanying existential dread that he had always felt for so many years. He took the mock tests, his heart at ease. When the scores came back, he did notably better than how he did before. He had felt confident enough that he only stayed up until 11:00 p.m. studying each night instead of midnight. He even got an hour of gaming in.
The real finals at PK Academy certainly did not feel all that hard.
It could be that he finally stood up to mom and he was finally being treated like an adult, more importantly, with respect, at home. Having dad in the camp of 'Shun can be trusted' certainly did build up his self-esteem.
The random mom-went-crazy hugging sessions affected him, too. He felt oddly embarrassed by her sudden displays of love for him, even though she would never say the word 'love' to him. Mom still told him to study, in her usual nagging way. But instead of feeling criticized for not meeting her expectation, he felt that she was only looking out for him.
The hold of Dark Reunion over his mother was finally broken.
Nah. That could not be it.
Kaidou was simply that smart.
The chosen champion for the world to defeat Dark Reunion had to be innately talented. It was Kaidou himself who broke Dark Reunion's curse over his mother.
There was going to be one more day of tests, to round out finals week. Then a few more days of school before the start of their last summer break together.
Everyone had already, more or less, planned out their summer break, each with their own hobbies, part-time jobs, camps, family vacations and cram schools. But the most important part of the summer break is the all-out revenge birthday bash that Kaidou was not-so-secretly planning.
The cake was going to be three-tiered. The party was going to be at Teruhashi's house. There were going to be balloons, board games, ramen, fruit trays, chip trays, endless snacks, confetti, and paper party hats.
Saiki was going to be forced to wear one of those conical foiled paper party hats like a European medieval princess. Nendou had the mission of securing a piece of gossamer, preferably pink-colored, from the Home Economics teaching classroom, for the said party hat.
No more mister nice guy.
Kaidou was going to embarrass the hell out of Saiki, make that flat affect, lying friend of his cry. Kaidou was going to say the sappiest, cringest, heartfelt words. This was the minimum payback for ignoring all their text, calls, and whatever else.
And as a cherry on top, he was going to leave Saiki and Teruhashi together and alone.
Those two better come back from summer break as a couple or Kaidou was going to swear that he might do something as drastic as announce Teruhashi's crush over the school intercom.
Kaidou grinned as he thought of setting up one of his best friends with the most worshipped girl in the world.
Would they end up doing the unmentionables, be intimate, before they finish high school?
Kaidou cackled to himself, feeling like a responsible, perfect wingman. He had already prepared several books and videos on intimacy techniques. In case Saiki needed advice in the women's department. Saiki did not look like he got out much.
Consummated consort of a fellow Knight of Judgement, indeed.
"Hey, guys," called Hairo. "How'd you do on Finals?"
Kaidou, ever so cool, gave a thumbs up, from the throne of his classroom chair.
Kuboyasu gave a noncommittal smile. "We'll see."
"That's great you, guys!" concluded Hairo, his enthusiasm already bleeding through his blindingly bright, fiery aura.
Nendou was picking at his nose. "That was a test?"
Nendou's three close friends made one of those 'okay-Nendou-can't be this stupid, right?' face.
Had Nendou gotten dumber since midterms? At least he was aware that they had a test back then.
Shinoda, the jackass who took Saiki's seat, joined in like he was part of their group. "I got top 50, no problem," said Shinoda. "It's as simple as holding chopsticks."
Kuboyasu started to glare but a reproving look from Hairou successfully made Kuboyasu keep his expression neutral and shut whatever crass commentary he was about to make.
Hairo, that young man with not a single bad bone in his body, demanded that they all treat Shinoda no different than any other classmate. Disliking someone simply because they took over the seat of a member of their core friend group was just unfair.
"Well, that sounds great, Shinoda-kun. I'm sure you worked really hard," said Hairo.
Shinoda made a gesture of buffing his nails on his uniform shirt. "It wasn't a hard test at all. I didn't even study." He made a cool expression, with a heroic pose before looking over to the goddess next to him.
As perfect as always, the overwhelming aura of flowers, imaginary angelic feathers, and heavenly carol seemed to nearly bowled over Shinoda. Even after sitting next to the goddess herself for a few weeks, Shinoda was still very much in awe of the most perfect woman in the world, so much in awe that he did not simply love her, but worshipped her more than he did before.
Unfortunately, Teruhashi wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, she was busy chatting with her many female friends.
Teruhashi was in the center of the group of girls who circled her like planets circle the sun. They presently exchanged war stories of the test preparation and how well each thought they did.
Teruhashi was primly mum about how she did, even though everyone knew that she likely scored in the top fifteen places like she always did. Good enough to garner unquestioned academic admiration and worship, but not so good that people considered her haughty.
Inevitably, though, the girls' conversation topic switch to relationships, and Teruahshi was asked the question that was always asked at least once a week.
"Why haven't you gotten a boyfriend, Teruhashi? It's already your third year in high school."
It was a question that grabbed the attention of every male in the class, except for a certain half a dozen or so.
As usual, Teruhashi gave her song a dance that she had always given. "It's too early for me to think about that," she demurred. "I am a third year student. I should focus on my studies, get into a good college. Haven't you heard, even the college graduates these days are having a hard time finding a job. I want to be an independent woman and, eventually, be a dependable person for my future husband."
Her crowd of admirers, particularly the males, only looked upon Teruhashi like they were worshipping a golden statue.
"OFFU!" was uttered in unison by the boys, each and everyone dreamed, in near tears, of a future where they came home to Teruhashi's presence.
Perfect Teruhashi gave a winsome smile and flipped her hair like a famous actress.
The answer did not satisfy the questioning acquaintances who demanded more juicy details. One of the girls asked, "But Teruhashi, you must like someone, right?"
The briefest silence fired the imagination of Teruhashi's courtiers. "Yeah. I've heard that you really liked someone since second year."
"Oh, yeah" Teruhashi admitted with a sigh. A frown brushed her lips.
The effect on Teruhashi's court was immediate. People began to offer their allowances, their school notes, their prized possessions, even the blood of their firstborn they haven't had yet. Anything to wash away Teruhashi's briefest displeasure.
"But he doesn't attend this school," Teruhashi said as quickly as she could, plastering her angelic expression back on her face.
"Well, so which school does he attend?" asked a gossip-hungry girl.
Teruhashi was caught. Fortunately, she already had a truthful answer to give, "He used to attend Ten Star Academy."
Immediately, the crowd was impressed. Teruhashi certainly had some high standards. The top students of PK Academy simply did not compare even to the delinquents of Ten Star Academy.
Teruhashi quickly looked for an opening to get out of that line of questioning, "Hey. Chiyo-chan. How'd you do?"
Seeing how their goddess's attention was now back to the ordinary subject of close girlfriends and their wellbeing, the worshippers dispersed quickly.
Yumehara had her head and her arms stretched out on the desk. "I'm so dead," she said simply.
A sympathy crowd, made up of Kaidou and Kuboyasu, had gathered around Yumehara.
Teruhashi walked to five steps join the milling core friend group around Yumehara.
"That was a hard test, Chi," Kaidou caught himself last second, "I mean, Yumehara-san," said Kaidou sympathetically. "I'm sure you did better than last time."
Acutely aware of the near social slip that Kaidou had committed, Yumehara gave a grateful smile. The occasional slips like this made Yumehara's heart fluttered from time to time. Even if they've said not to do so at school and only around their friends. School gossip being school gossip. True friends all made the unspoken effort not to tease them. Still, Yumehara said gratefully, "If you say so."
"It's not that bad, Chiyo-chan," assuaged Teruhashi. To her, Yumehara was one of the few real friends and Teruhashi genuinely felt sympathy for her. Searching for support, Teruhashi looked to Mera. "Right? Chisato-chan?"
Mera was distracted. She was busy packing up her things, a poor sheet of paper, a snapped pencil, and a small, pebble-sized eraser, clearly preparing to run off to her part-time job. Oddly enough, Mera was beaming. "Right."
"What are you so happy about, Mera?" asked Kuboyasu offhandedly. "You aced the test?"
"Nah. I did average, I think," admitted Mera, the smile still on her face. "I'm just happy that you guys are so nice to me. You're such great friends." There was a dramatic look of extreme heartfelt feelings. "I hope we stay friends forever!"
A little overwhelmed by the girl's expression and curious, Kuboyasu asked, "How so, Mera-san?"
"You didn't have to leave me an onigiri surprise in my locker two days in a row," Mera said happily. "Saiko has already gotten me a month-long buffet meal plan. Although I've let my brothers and sisters share the subscription so I only get to eat regular food once a week. The onigiri really did help with the exams since I'm not distracted by my stomach all day!"
The friends group of Kaidou, Nendou, Kuboyasu, Hairo, Teruhashi and Yumehara all looked at each other, confused.
"Err...we didn't..." began Kaidou. Unfortunately, he was cut off.
"That's because you had so much food that you've imagined the onigiri," said Saiko, looking all scintillating with sparkles of gold and the smell of old money about him. "Get on your knees like a dog and kiss my hand, peasant, for my generosity, and I might get you another meal plan."
The words immediately riled up Kuboyasu. "Saiko! That's not how you treat your classmate!"
"No. It's how you treat peasants," said Saiko, completely unruffled, making a show of looking at his money ledger that came out of nowhere.
"Come on, guys. Don't compare and don't fight," placated Hairo.
Before Kuboyasu could get in another word to the contrary, Teruhashi had already cut in.
"How did you do Saiko-kun?"
Since it was Teruhashi, the most perfect woman in the woman the world, asking, Saiko entertained her. "About the same as last time," said Saiko.
"What? No insult about how high and mighty you are, without studying?" jabbed Kuboyasu, finally getting a word in. It was as if he could not help himself.
For once, Saiko looked a bit contemplative. "Hey. I've been up all night every day for the last couple of weeks working on a business deal with Psi Industries while you buffoons are snoring in your flea-infested beds and drooling over rice balls. I'd like to see you author a 500-page contract."
"Boring," said Kuboyasu with a fake yawn, hiding his initially impressed expression, "Gang honor pledges are at least 550 pages long."
Saiko gritted his teeth. A young master such as him could never lose to some back-street punk who would never own, much less sat on, a golden toilet.
Good thing Teruhashi was there to placate the nerves. She said many sweet words, words that any guy would've paid their entire fortune to hear.
Saiko clicked his tongue and humphed. He supposed that he could do Teruhashi a favor and overlook Kuboyasu's insolence.
By now, Mera had already packed up her bag and left the classroom. Hairo went to additional tennis practice or his next civic activity, he did not indicate which.
"Hey, anyone wants to go get some ramen?" asked Nendou.
Kaidou shook his head. "No. I'd rather that we go get some gyudon. At a Sukiya."
"You've been wanting gyudon recently," commented Kuboyasu. "Don't you eat enough rice already?"
Kaidou shrugged. "I just felt like it. It's the last place that I saw Saiki, you know."
At the mention of Saiki, a cover gloom overcame the remaining group of Kaidou, Kuboyasu, Nendou, Teruhashi, and Yumehara.
They still haven't made progress on the project "Kick Shinoda out of Class 1." The study load of a third-year higher schooler had kept them busy.
Saiko though, the haughty rich boy, had learned to never allow such naked emotions to appear on his face. He wasn't particularly close to the magenta pink-haired boy, either. Saiko only tolerated that mop of pink highlighter head because the most desirable woman, Teruhashi, seemed to hold high opinions of that silent boy.
"Well, Let's go, then. In memory of pal," said Nendou.
As dumb as Nendou was, Kaidou and Kuboyasu nodded.
Teruhashi and Yumehara, though, had other ideas.
"I think I'll go study some more at a cafe," said Yumehara. She looked to Teruhashi and gave her a silent 'you wanna go?'
The silence was necessary since Teruhashi always drew a crowd wherever she went. At this moment, the girls were not looking forward to being disturbed. Yumehara probably had a lot of her mind that she wanted to divulge to a girlfriend.
Just then, the door to the Third Year Class 1 classroom was suddenly slid open with a bang, nearly derailing the door off its tracks.
Suzumiya, the girl from Class 2, stumbled in.
Everyone who was still in the classroom sweatdropped.
The poor girl's uniform was sliced up by...something. There were cuts in the collar of her blouse and her knee-length socks. There was a dried trail of blood on the side of her face and a slight bump on the side of her head from running into a wall. She was breathing hard, like she had run several kilometers in the 40 something steps that it would've taken to walk from Class 2 to Class 1.
"Suzumiya-san," called Satou, who was a few steps behind him. "I've told you to wait for me."
Suzumiya pulled out a handkerchief from one of her infinite-space pockets and wiped the blood from the side of her face.
Not that it appeased the worried look on Satou's face. "Are you sure you don't need to go to the nurse's office?"
Suzumiya shook her head so vigorously that she almost fell over.
Good thing that there was a desk nearby for her to brace against.
"Toritsuka-kun!" yelled Suzumiya like it was her destiny.
Speaking of which, the class branded 'germ' of the Third Year, Toritsuka whipped around. He looked slightly green when he saw Suzumiya. "Oh Hee...ey, there, Hii-chan."
Immediately, the address got several kids who were still in the classroom began chatting in a hushed whisper.
Everyone thought that Suzumiya was dating Satou-kun.
Shinoda, though, looked at Toritsuka appreciatively.
Satou had a disgruntled look on his face. Why would the school pervert, self-proclaimed medium, address Satou's girlfriend with such intimate honorific?
Still, Satou was a normal person, and a normal person like him, at age seventeen, going on eighteen, had enough patience and poise to settle his displeasure in private.
Suzumiya, though, was not normal.
Suzumiya had a special place in her heart for Toritsuka, since he was the only boy who dared approach her when she first transferred to PK Academy. He was one of the few who showed interest in her too, though Suzumiya far preferred Satou-kun.
Toritsuka was into overly exotic topics, in Suzumiya's humble opinion.
Toritsuka, who was in deep conversation with Aiura and Akechi prior to Suzumiya's grand entrance into the Class 1 classroom, shuffled away from Suzumiya. He wedged himself in between Aiura and Akechi, as if using his two friends as a shield.
Aiura, the popular fortune-telling gyaru who found a lot of people's lost pets a few weeks ago rolled her eyes. "You dumb prick, her aura has vastly improved."
"From what? Satan's death skull to a grim reaper?" asked Toritsuka.
"You know, Toritsuka, what you're saying are technically the same things," stated Akechi. "You are saying that there's no improvement in her aura, after your guardian spirit trained him to protect her better. Are you that useless?"
"Not me," clarified Toritsuka. "My guardian spirit is thatuseless." He scratched the back of his head mumbling, "Though, he might be the reason why I can't ever get chicks. Maybe he needs training too."
"No, Toritsuka," said Akechi. "You don't get the attention of the females that you want the attention of. That's the main difference." Akechi began to digress into a long diatribe about the different girls that Toritsuka had unsuccessfully asked out.
Suzumiya was used to the nonsense dialogue of the people around her, so the weirdos of Class 1 did not phase her at all.
Satou tried hard not to make a face at the strange dialogue he just heard. He was a polite young man, after all. His concern was only for Suzumiya and he stepped closer to her, as if his mere presence could protect her.
"Toritsuka-kun!" called Suzumiya cheerfully, again, completely ignoring the fact that her head was starting to swell and blood was still trickling out from somewhere above her hairline. "I've been trying to talk to you for the last couple of days, but I kept on getting delayed!" From there, she described the various accidents that she had, trying to traverse the few steps between Class 2 and Class 1. It had something to do with mop buckets, a bow and arrow, and an errant baseball.
Of course, the fact that they had the first term finals put a dint on any socializing among the classes. So Suzumiya focused on getting back to class on time for her exam, never mind trying to tell Toritsuka whatever was on her mind.
Aiura struggled not to roll her eyes at the long, endless descriptions of Suzumiya's hazardous adventures. "Well, that sounded a lot better than what I've seen," muttered the gyaru. "I saw a crapload more really bad shit. Like exploding chemistry set, weaken concrete floor, and getting herself cut on the bathroom mirror."
Toritsuka, who wasn't paying attention to Suzumiya, caught that. "Wait... Tits, aren't your fortune-telling supposed to be 100% accurate?"
"Always," said Aiura confidently, "unless one of us take action to the contrary." She gave Toritsuka a shifty look. "Did you suddenly decided to become a saint?"
"No, bimbo princess," said Toritsuka plaintively. "It's more likely that the Mr. Normal actually improved her luck to the point that she avoided all that shitty luck."
Speaking of luck, Satou moved to grab Suzumiya before she hit the floor.
"Oh my goodness! Suzumiya-san!" cried Satou. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. I'm just a little dizzy from the blood loss," whimpered Suzumiya. She leaned heavily against Satou.
Many of the onlookers sweatdropped, not sure how to react to such a declaration.
The situation had put a lot of attention on Satou, for which he blushed a bit and felt rather self-conscious.
Plus, Suzumiya was pressing her body against him.
Satou never realized that girls could feel so soft, like jello. He had laid his head on her lap before, and held her hand. Both of those actions caused the inexperienced young to blush. But feeling the weight of her entire body? No. He felt a lump develop in his throat and a tightening of his pants.
Suzumiya was also pretty heavy. She was a relatively meaty girl from having to escape all the disasters that had befallen her for most of her life.
Satou only had an average amount of muscles. As a shortstop and fielder on the baseball team, he was built and trained more for sprinting than lifting. He certainly could not carry Suzumiya bridal style. However, he wasn't about to carry her like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder.
Nendou, came stomping and staring. He hunched his back so he was nearly eye level with the green-haired girl. His beady black eyes, poorly shaved face, mohawk, large ears, and mouth full of teeth made him look exactly like a villain. "You need to go to the nurse," he growled in his deep voice.
Suzumiya eeped, fear running through her. A tear almost came to her eyes. "Ah! It's an ogre!"
"No. It's just a Nendou," placated Kaidou. He had broken away from his clique to make sure that Nendou did not get into trouble again through no fault of his own. Kaidou, having been the large oaf's friend for so long, was used to people's unreasonable reaction to Nendou's face and having to talk for him. The number of times that the four of them, Saiki, Nendou, Kaidou, and Kuboyasu, were stopped by the police due to Nendou's face was ridiculous.
Kuboyasu, lured into the conversation by his two close guy friends, took a look at Suzumiya and said, "You need to go to a nurse. Do you need help?"
At this moment, Saiko decided to make his presence known. He snapped his fingers.
Out of nowhere, a medical doctor and two nurses, at least people who dressed in the stereotypical medical staff garbs, suddenly appeared.
"Anyone call for a doctor?" said Saiko. He looked smug, with imaginary stars and sparkles about him.
The situation had become untenable for Satou. He wanted to look heroic in front of his girlfriend, but knew that he could never carry her, nor could he afford private doctors.
Sweet Suzumiya did the one thing that made Satou like her even more. "No. Satou-kun can help me," she said, leaning heavily on Satou. "Come on, let's go."
Relived, Satou slung one of Suzumiya's arms over a shoulder and began to leave the classroom.
"Wait a second," called Aiura. "Hiihii, aren't you here to tell this twat here something?"
"Hey! I resent that!" yelled Toritsuka. He was somewhat used to being called names by Aiura, but rarely so publically.
Seeing that Suzumiya wasn't feeling all that great, Satou answered for her. "Oh. She hasn't told you that Saiki Kusuo is in my class?"
At the mention of Saiki, half a dozen people in Class 1 froze.
"What?" whispered Kaidou, a look of betrayal on his face.
"Partner's back?" asked Nendou, looking astonished.
"Saiki's back in school?" asked Yumehara, she was almost out of the classroom.
Teruhashi had already left by then, so to avoid the annoying crowd at the cafe.
"Yeah," answered Satou. "He started yesterday, the first day of finals. I hope he did alright, since he's always the first person to turn his papers in."
Interests piqued, Kuboyasu asked. "Well, is he still in the classroom?"
Saitou shook his head. "No. The last period is study hall and he left immediately after roll call. He just got up and left. He didn't even say farewell to the teacher." Satou looked thoughtful. "He's going to get a note on his report card if he kept this up." Then stiffened his back. "Come on, Suzumiya-san. Let's get you to the nurse."
The ones left in class who had called Saiki their friend all looked at each other.
Why hasn't Saiki told them that he was coming back to school?
