The end of the day hadn't come fast enough for Ryuji, who felt like his head was still spinning from the shock of his new partner. What the hell had possessed Kawakami into thinking that this could possibly work out? This frigid robo-girl was way out of his league intellectually and she probably already thought of him as a delinquent because of that shit with Kamoshida. Especially considering how she hung around the principal.
The final bell rang and Ryuji shouldered his way through the rush of students making their way home. Ryuji sucked in a deep breath and walked out of Shujin's Gate, keeping his head down to avoid being noticed by Kamoshida. He hated that bastard, but the last thing he needed right now was to get baited into another fight. His leg throbbed at the thought of Kamoshida. He kept expecting for that bastard to make some kind of jab at him, but he managed to get through unnoticed.
Once he was out into the street, Ryuji let his breath out in a noisy sigh. What a weird day he'd had. He toyed with the idea of heading over to The Pour House and ordering a gingerbeer, but the stress of the day had left him too tired. He'd just head home and try to get ready for tomorrow.
Ryuji's leg jiggled the desk in front of him for the fourth time today. The student in front of him had given up on glaring at him, but they did kick Ryuji's desk. This jolted him awake in the middle of class just in time for him to be aware that he was being called on by the professor. "Sakamoto!" called the professor, looking at him sharply. "What did Socrates say evil was born from?" asked the professor, eyeing him.
"Uh..." stumbled Ryuji, feeling not unlike a deer in the headlights. He'd actually done the assigned reading last night, but the words were sliding through his mind like hot sand. For whatever reason, he could remember more about the rogue philosopher Diogenes. Admittedly, that philosopher was a lot more comical than Socrates. But he concentrated, trying to remember from the pages of the book last night.
"...Ignorance?" he said, his voice rising on the end to make his answer more of a question. The professor's eyes narrowed and Ryuji swallowed, his throat suddenly quite dry.
"Well, it looks like even brainless thugs can turn it around. At least for one class," said the professor grudgingly and Ryuji pumped his fist. Hell yeah! It'd been the first time he'd gotten an answer right in like, two weeks. Maybe today would be alright, in spite of the downpour.
Ryuji left the class feeling a little better about the day, humming tunelessly. He was almost to the stairs leading to the roof when a hand landed on his shoulder. Ryuji jumped nearly a full foot in the air with a yelp. He spun around, looking for Kamoshida and instead saw...Niijima. She had drawn her hand back with an expression of surprise stamped across her face. The panic that had risen in his chest turned to aggravation. He bit his tongue to keep from shouting at her, glaring at her before he felt like he could talk without yelling.
"What the hell Niijima? You almost gave me a freakin' heart attack," he snarled. Niijima actually looked a little taken aback, and her eyes flicked over his features as she tried to think of what she wanted to say.
What she said surprised Ryuji a little bit. "I'm sorry Sakamoto. I wasn't trying to scare you," she replied, her voice actually sounding apologetic. "I wanted to know if you'd brought your books today and to let you know that I got us a table in the library," she continued, dropping her hand and her gaze. Ryuji let out a shaky breath.
"Uh...yeah I did," he said, feeling relieved. His tense muscles relaxed and he felt his heart rate going down. "I brought my backpack and my notebooks so uh, we could get started on the class I wanna start with," sighed Ryuji, looking more relieved.
Niijima searched his face for a moment before she asked a question that completely floored him.
"Are you okay?"
Ryuji stared at her for a beat too long, trying to get over the shock of freezer bot showing some human empathy.
Niijima's expression turned annoyed, as if she could read his thoughts. "Hey, it's not like I asked a weird question. I'm making sure I won't be wasting my time tutoring someone who won't get anything out of it," she snapped, her eyes meeting his.
"No I just uh..." Ryuji sputtered, trying to think of what he wanted to say. "Thanks for checking in on me, I'm uh...I'm fine, and I promise I won't be wastin' your time," he said finally, after a beat of hesitation. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to say, but it was close enough.
You're the first person to ask me how I've felt in like a month and you're maybe the last person I thought would ask was closer to what he wanted to say, but he figured that would require a much longer conversation to explain and he didn't feel like talking about that kind of thing with her just yet.
Niijima glanced away, her features relaxing from their tight, frustrated look. "Of course," she replied, the tension draining out of her tone. "Anyway, let's get going to the library," declared Niijima, marching off to the library with almost military formality. Ryuji watched her go for a moment, still lost in thought. When Niijima turned around to check if he was following, he snapped back to attention and hurried to catch up with her.