Chapter 30: Sano's Glory, Soujirou's Plans
Kenshin stared blankly at the problems on the board in his Math class.
"What's up?" Sano whispered to him.
"I have no idea what to do…" Kenshin mumbled hopelessly.
Saitou sat at his desk, puffing on a cigarette. "Any day now, people. I've got better things to do then see you all cracking under pressure."
"I'm hardly ever here. How am I supposed to know this stuff?" Kenshin whimpered.
"At least you have an excuse… I've just gotten used to tuning him out," Sano replied blandly.
"Oro… Oroorooroorooro…" Kenshin cried, his eyes becoming swirls. "I can't fail…"
"Shut up," Saitou said. "I'm trying to pretend I'm on a beach somewhere far away from here."
"-but life's a beach, Saitou-san!" Sano laughed.
"Yeah, and so is your girlfriend," Saitou responded dryly.
"Ouch…" Sano replied. "I think that one stung a bit, Saitou-san."
"I wasn't insulting. I was just stating a fact."
"Yeah? Well, I got you there, 'cause I don't have a girlfriend!"
"Ha ha, he admits he's a loser," Saitou said flatly.
"He got you," Kenshin whispered.
"I KNOW, I know…" Sano mumbled. "Damn Saitou."
"I heard that."
"ARGH!"
"oro…" Kenshin muttered, guessing his way through a few more answers.
-
"I knew I wouldn't do well, but this is terrible…" Kenshin scratched his head. "Is it allowed to give negative scores in test grades?"
"He just burned a hole in mine," Sano said, sticking his finger through the cigarette burn.
"Kenshin!"
Kenshin's cheeks turned red.
Kaoru approached gleefully, a smile on her face. "How'd you do?"
"Ah…" Kenshin crumpled the paper behind his back. "Not… too bad…"
"Liar!" Sano coughed.
Kenshin stepped on his foot.
Sano went quiet.
Kaoru smiled at Kenshin, then blushed a bit. "So, uh… tomorrow's uh…"
Yeah…" Kenshin replied shyly. "The… the dance…"
"WHAT!" Sano yelped. "IT'S TOMORROW!"
"Oro."
The two of them stared at him blankly.
"I DON'T HAVE A DATE!" He zoomed off down the hall. "I GOTTA FIND ONE OR I'LL LOOK LIKE A TOTAL LOSER!"
"I wonder if he realizes it won't matter?" Saitou asked, walking out the classroom.
The two looked at him just as emptily as they did at Sano. Saitou puffed on his cigarette. They walked away.
As soon as they were out of sight in the hall, Chou stepped around the corner, looking rather distraught.
"What's your problem?" Saitou asked blandly.
"Soujirou hasn't come back for days. We think he might be dead."
"Oh, well," Saitou said, shrugging.
-
Kamatari sighed in exasperation, sitting in the bathroom sing while twirling his hair with his finger. "Anji-kun!"
"Leave me alone please…" He moaned irritably. "I'm trying to go here."
"I was just wondering if you had ANY idea where Soujirou-kun could possibly be."
"I've already told you… SEVERAL TIMES… NO."
"-but Chou-kun told me that Soujirou-kun told him that Soujirou had a plan to sabotage Battousai-kun during the school dance which is tomorrow. By the way, will you go with me?"
"No."
"Whatever. I'll just force Chou-kun into coming with me. So, what do you think Soujirou's plan was before he dropped off the planet without so much as a goodbye?"
"I've got a good idea…" Anji said seriously. "Now, LEAVE."
"Okay, okay, don't overreact or anything."
Kamatari exited the bathroom and pranced down the hall and around the corner. "OOF!" He yelped, colliding right into someone. "Whoops!"
"Get… out of… my way…"
"YEEK!" Kamatari yelped. Aoshi looked incredibly threatening and scary -more than usual- today. "How's it going, Aoshi--"
"Any plan you might have to disrupt tomorrow's school dance, you'd better call off now… or I'll make sure you will."
"-but… I don't have any plans," Kamatari exclaimed. Well, it was the truth. He wasn't planning anything, even though there was something already planned. "You gotta date, Aoshi? I'd be really happy to-"
"I'm fine. Thanks," He replied, sounding all but thankful. He shoved past him and strode away.
"I just want to know one thing, Aoshi!"
He paused but did not turn around. "What," He stated.
"Did you do something to Soujirou at Kanryuu's place? I know you were there, and that was the last we had heard of him."
Repeating what he'd said to Kenshin, he responded, "I didn't kill him if that's what you're wondering."
Kamatari narrowed his eyes at him. "You better not have hurt him. Soujirou is our backbone."
"Shame," Aoshi shrugged, continuing on his way.
Kamatari clenched his fists and growled. What had he done to Soujirou? Where was Soujirou? What was he going to do to them?… and worst of all, what would Shishio-sama say?
-
"YAHIKO!" Sano yelled, grabbing the child and pulling him away from his lunch.
"WHAT?" He complained, angry to be interrupted from his lunch with his crush, Tsubame. It was totally uncalled for, he thought.
"I NEED A DATE!"
"Well, I'm certainly not going with you. Why don't you ask Saitou? Maybe he'll-" Yahiko spoke dryly until Sano started shaking him.
"NOW-IS-NOT-THE-TIME-FOR-THIS-BRAT!" He shouted. "I need your help.
Yahiko stared at him in a daze for a moment while he recovered from his dizzy spell then proceeded to kicking him in the stomach. "What makes you think I can help you? Ask Kenshin. He's way more lucky with the ladies than I am."
"Well, Kenshin's all distracted and stuff, and with all the stuff that's been happening to him, I thought it'd be better if I left him alone for awhile. Give him some air. Let him spend time with Kaoru, you know?" Sano explained, putting Yahiko back on his feet.
"And I'm your only other resort? I thought you were a jock. Girls should be crawling all over you," Yahiko shook his head in shame.
"Yeah… well… ever since I got beat by Kenshin, all my fan girls have pretty much switched sides. Kenshin's the most popular guy in school."
"Yeah, but you have the line that you are the most popular guy's best friend. Girls will want to be near you to be near him if you catch my drift."
"-but I don't want to date anyone who only wants to hook up with my friend. I'll end up bored to death all night."
"Then I guess you'll just go alone," Yahiko shrugged.
"DON'T SAY THAT!" Sano sobbed.
"Dude, you'll get a date. You have to. Even I have a date. It should be easy as pie for you."
"…but I failed cooking class…"
"Idiot. You're lowering my IQ just by standing here talking to me, man. Just look around. I don't know what to do for you."
Sano looked around frantically, then sighed. "When did I suddenly become the biggest loser on campus?… When… did I lose all my glory…?"
Kenshin walked out of the school next to Kaoru, both of them carrying their lunches, and he paused to see Sano, looking rather slumped and solemn.
"Did I do something… to upset him?" He asked.
"What?" Kaoru asked, waving to Misao.
"Nothing… It's nothing…"