Notes – For the gx_100. Not set at any specific point but probably pre-GX. Ryo's talks with Samejima are a reference to Tag Force.
---
He was known as the top ranking student at Duel Academia, or one of them at any rate, but for all Ryo knew he was intelligent he also knew he was not perfect. He knew well the limits of his abilities, and one of those major setbacks included social confrontations.
"Conversations", they were called, but he preferred to view them as a confrontations. The reason being that he found talking to other people so difficult. He envied those who could just talk away for hours as if it was second nature to them, while he was quiet by default and felt plain awkward talking to others. Anything he was thinking tended to either stay in his head or be put on the exam paper in front of him. Other people had a habit of becoming confused when Ryo tried to say what was on his mind. That and not a lot of people seemed interested in the sort of things Ryo enjoyed thinking about.
For the most part this was not an issue. At Duel Academia students were graded on their academic ability, not their conversing skills. If anything the latter only seemed to demote you in the eyes of lecturers if you were caught doing it in class. Only Fubuki seemed able to get away with talking in class, and that was only because his work was as flawless as his conversations were. But even in an education facility there comes a point where being bad at talking becomes problematic.
So there is Ryo in need of advice. Ryo, who is known for being the smartest student in the academia, doesn't really have many options of people to turn to for advice. Ryo, who doesn't mix well and therefore doesn't have too many friends, doesn't really have many options of people to turn to for advice either.
There was Fubuki, but, as always, he was part of the problem and not the solution.
On the entire island there was one person he trusted enough to talk to, though a subject like this was somewhat embarrassing to discuss with anyone at all, let alone someone who was probably twice your age. But then, it wasn't as if Ryo didn't go to this person's office everyday anyway.
It was almost a ritual. Each morning before class Ryo would go to the principal's office and tell him of anything that was going on at the academia that may be of interest. He may not have been good at talking, but Ryo did hear a lot and Fubuki confided a lot of gossip to Ryo, it was just up to Ryo to pick out the parts that were relevant. Not that he would ever incriminate the other students, because if he had mentioned half of the things Fubuki told him than Fubuki would have been expelled a long time ago, but principal Samejima tended to take a general interest in what the students thought of lessons and card tactics. It was no trouble to Ryo to tell him these things.
That may sound like an odd relationship for a student, even a model student, to have with a principal. But the connection between the two went years back. As before he had become the principal of the academia, Samejima ran the Cyber Style dojo. When he was a child Ryo had been his most gifted student and was entrusted with the Cyber End Dragon. It surprised Samejima that someone so young would take such a keen interest in the study, as the dojo was based in a mountain, far away from civilisation, and there was no one else there of Ryo's age for him to talk to. But it didn't take long to see just how devoted Ryo was to his studies. And when Samejima was approached about becoming the principal of Duel Academia he knew that Ryo would be an ideal student to go there.
That brought him to the current day, when Ryo was standing before his desk ready to give him the daily news before going to class. Only, there was something different today.
When you've known someone so long you didn't need them to talk to you to be able to tell when something was on their mind. Mannerisms give them away. So it was easy for Samejima to tell from the frown on Ryo's face and the slight way he kept glancing out of the window that there was something wrong with the boy.
"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?" he asked, as Ryo finished reeling off the sort of information he usually told Samejima.
"No," Ryo replied, expression still blank. Then, after a moment of Samejima watching him with that vague, inquiring smile, he looked down and said, "Actually there is."
"By all means, feel free to tell me what's on your mind," Samejima told him. The two of them had always been too formal with each other, but the principal would have liked for Ryo to be more open with him about his problems.
"It's… not particularly a subject that I feel able to discuss, without any offence meant," Ryo said.
Shaking his head a little, Samejima retorted, "I'm as human as you are Ryo. If it's embarrassing than I've had as much experience with that as anyone else."
"Yes but this is about roma- …" Ryo cut himself off before he could finish.
"Romance?" Samejima laughed light-heartedly, highly doubting that Ryo wanted to ask him about the more historical subject of Romans, "You think I know nothing of romance."
There was no response this time, but the answer was clear. In truth Ryo even asking him about the subject surprised Samejima more than anything else. All the time he'd known the boy not once had Ryo expressed interest in the opposite gender.
"I'll have you know I was quite the romantic when I was younger." Samejima had heard that quote somewhere before, and was amused to see that, even though he tried to hid it, there was a hint of the sort of distain that children had when their parents started to talk about such things visible in Ryo's eyes.
"Well I don't doubt… but this is… different," mumbled Ryo, not sure that getting Samejima onto the subject had been a good idea at all.
"Girls don't change through the years Ryo," Samejima said sagely, "They always value heartfelt gestures and gifts."
"The, um, girl that I'm looking for gets a lot of heartfelt gestures and gifts already," Ryo said with certainty, "I wanted to be different, so it didn't feel fake."
"Does the way you feel about her seem fake to you?" Samejima said, seriously.
"Not at all, but…"
"No buts, that is all that matters. If you are more genuine than the other suitors than she will put you before them," advised the principal, "She'd be lucky to have you I'm sure." In his own mind he added, hopefully she'll be good at talking too, because it'll be hard pressed getting conversation out of Ryo.
There was a small nod from Ryo, a sign that this answer was acceptable to him.
"Thank you sir, that really will be helpful," said Ryo, in a tone that suggested he didn't want to talk further on the subject.
"Is there anything else you want to talk about before going to class?" Samejima said.
After a brief pause, Ryo shook his head and replied, "No, that's all. Thank you." They bid each other farewell and he turned to leave.
It was probably not a good idea to tell Samejima that his attraction was not to a girl, but to a boy. A boy called Fubuki, who happened to be much better at conversation than Ryo was. And also happened to be waiting impatiently down the corridor for Ryo so they could go to class.
He passed Tome in the hallway while walking towards him, but didn't pay much attention to her other than saying hello.
The stout woman walked into Samejima's office, bringing him his morning sandwich as she'd got into the habit of doing each day. If someone didn't look after than man he'd work himself to death.
"Your meeting went well?" she asked cheerfully, referring to his talk with Ryo.
"Yes, quite well," he answered distractedly, "He wanted to ask me about his love life, would you believe?"
"That'll be some lucky lady who gets him," Tome answered, "He's supposed to be the best looking boy in school, save for the Tenjoin boy."
"Not a girl as such," said Samejima, who laughed a little as Tome looked at him with confusion, "He thinks I don't know him well enough, but I know him better than he realises. I'm just glad he's being honest with himself."
Samejima would always give Ryo advice if he wanted it. But to save Ryo's dignity he would also always pretend to be the absentminded old man.