People avoid him as he walks down the corridor, his body piercing with their stares and whispers. Teachers shake their heads.
"Such a good boy," they'll say. "What went wrong?" they'll say. They'll talk everyday. That's just how it goes.
Gakushuu feels his chains pulling at him. He can barely move his feet, hearing the heavy clunk of expectation, fear, worry and death dragging behind him. He sighs wearily, rubbing his worn eyes.
"Asano!" yells someone, and Gakushuu looks up, an automatic response. He realizes too late it's a warning to him, called out by a faithful A-class student who has bolted in the other direction.
The headmaster approaches him, taking long strides towards him. Everyone scatters out of his way, aware of the head's cruelty towards Gakushuu. Gakushuu himself struggles to hide, conceal, don't show anything otherwise -
"Asano," the head says. Gakushuu doesn't respond. "I've noticed you've been having trouble with your studies lately -"
Of course. That's what cares about. Gakushuu blocks his head's voice out, readjusting his bag a little to get more comfortable. Though why he wants to be comfortable he'll never know.
"And I was wondering if, perhaps, you'd like to talk?"
Gakushuu blinks up at the head stupidly. "I'm fine, sir," he says politely. "I'm going to be late for class."
He knows brushing off the head like that will have consequences later on, but he actually couldn't care anymore. Even though he's in direct sight of the head, he moves out of the school building and out of sight.
Out of sight, out of mind, of course.
