Thanks for all the reviews! You people are really great!

I'm now recovoring from exam stress, which leads me right into post-exam depression... Scary, huh? The day after our exams end, and we start getting back our papers...

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Tensai, tensai, tell me why

Cherry lips curve into a smile of joy

The next morning, Shyoko arrived full of zest for life. After much pointing, she eventually found her way to her classroom.

"Hey, Fuji!" She slung her bag onto the chair. He smiled by way of greeting. "I learnt one of the most basic words in Japanese yesterday!"

"Shoot."

"Aishiteru."

Fuji, who was drinking water, choked and started laughing fit to burst.

"What's so funny?"

"Do you know what you just said?"

"...'I'? 'Me'?..."

"You just confessed your undying love for me."

"What?!!" She spluttered, her fists clenched. "Why, the nerve of that dirty dog, trying to trick me...!"

"What dirty dog?" Fuji asked, amused.

"That – that Atobe guy!"

Fuji's eyes flew open, revealing eyes an unearthly shade of blue. "Atobe Keigo?"

But she was not paying attention to him. "Your eyes! They're so..." She paused. "...blue."

He quirked an eyebrow at her novel way of describing his eyes. "So, how do you know him?"

"Him? Oh, right... Atobe. He's my neighbour. Why?"

"He's one of Seigaku's biggest rivals." Fuji shrugged. His eyes were closed again. "Didn't know he could speak English."

"He can't. At least, not very well."

"Then how did you learn that from him?"

"Oh." She grinned impishly. "It involved a lot of pointing and hand gestures. He kept pointing to himself, so I figured it meant 'me'. Of course, he did point at me once or twice, but I assumed that was to make sure I was following him."

"Figures." Fuji commented lightly. Atobe always loved himself best.

"Fuji?" He was jolted out of his thoughts.

"Hmmm?"

"How do you see with your eyes closed?"

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It was English again. But this time, Shyoko was not bored. She was bending low over her book, and Fuji wondered what was so interesting.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

She started guiltily, quickly slipping something under her book. But she wasn't fast enough. Fuji caught the glint of a mirror.

Never thought she'd be one of those vain ones.

He resumed reading. She, too, resumed her own private activity. Whatever she was doing, it definitely wasn't going too well, judging from the disgusted sighs coming from the general direction of her table.

"Fuji?"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"How do you close your eyes?"

You don't know how to close your eyes?!" He exclaimed.

"No! I mean, how do you close your eyes? How do you make them curve upwards like that?"

"Oh." He shrugged. "Smile more."

"I've tried. It doesn't work."

"You mean all this while you were making faces at yourself?"

"Not making faces!" She protested. "I just thought it would be interesting. I've never met someone who could close their eyes so consistently without bumping into anything, let alone curving them upwards."

He laughed. "It curves naturally. "

She was extremely indignant. "Are you trying to imply that I can't?"

"I don't know, but you're free to try as long as it keeps you entertained."

"!!!"

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"Darika-san?" Fuji turned to her.

There was no response.

"Darika-san." He repeated a little louder.

Still no reaction.

"Darika-san." He tried a third time.

Shyoko looked up and asked blankly, "Who are you calling?"

Fuji lost it entirely. He started laughing uncontrollably, not stopping even when she gave him a quizzical look. Her question of "What's so funny?" just made him laugh harder than ever.

"You – don't – even know – your own – name!" He gasped out.

"You were calling me?" The look on her face sent him into fits of laughter again. "Darika-san... Darika-san... oh!"

Realisation, as well as the hilarity of the situation dawned on her. Soon she was laughing almost as hard as Fuji, holding her sides. Together they made a very odd pair, causing others to burst into spontaneous laughter at the sight of them.

"I told you to call me Shyoko..." She wiped away tears of mirth.

"Oops..."

"Anyway, what did you want?"

He stared at her uncomprehendingly. "Oh, right. If you can't speak Japanese, then why'd you enroll in this school?" He repeated Yumiko's question to her.

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it," Shyoko said airily. "I've always had a knack for languages. Just you wait. In two weeks time, I'll be speaking Japanese as fluently as you!"

So, I'm sitting next to a language tensai? Interesting...

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Surprisingly enough, Shyoko's prediction came true. After two weeks of sleeping, eating and breathing Japanese, she could converse in Japanese like a native. And although her reading and writing skills weren't as good as her conversational Japanese, she was progressing by leaps and bounds.

"See? I told you!" Shyoko announced proudly to Fuji.

His ever-present smile stretched wider. She even had the usage of the –kun suffix down pat, but she still refused to call him Fuji-kun.

"Some things should be left as they are," had been her enigmatic reply when questioned about the proper usage of his name.

She did, however, tend to make occasional blunders.

Flashback

"Darika-san. Mira-san wa doko desu ka."

She looked at the picture, showing a person walking in a garden. The answer was straightforward enough.

"Mira-san wa niwatori desu." She answered confidently.

There was stunned silence for a moment before the whole class erupted into laughter.

She turned to Fuji, demanding an explanation.

"You said – Mira-san – was in – the – chicken!" He choked out between laughter.

"WHAT?!!"

End flashback

Her rapidly developing Japanese also expanded her interactions with others, which had previously been limited to him alone. In the same short period of two weeks, she had also collected a circle of friends. She normally ate lunch with a group of guys and girls, while in class she sat next to the honey-haired tensai himself.

Cherry lips curled into a mesmerising smile. Shyoko was always incapable of being moderate. She was either at one end of the spectrum or the other. Though the starry-eyed girl would never admit it, he was sure her life was exhausting. Being on a high and crashing down to the dumps in the same day definitely drained a lot of energy. How she managed to get through life with her attitude was one of the few mysteries the blue-orbed boy could not unravel.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Slender fingers waved in front of him, demanding his attention. "I asked if I could borrow your pencil."

He smiled. "Sure."

"And an eraser. And maybe a pen as well." She added as an afterthought.

His eyebrows shot up. "What happened to yours?"

"I...left my pencil box at home." She muttered shamefacedly. "Anyway, it's just stationery."

"Stationery doesn't appear out of thin air." He reminded her.

"It just did." She grinned mischievously, twirling a pencil between her fingers. His pencil, to be exact.

"..."

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