Dear Knight of Silence, thank you very much! Well, that's a welcome change for me actually, most FanFiction I write will turn rather sad in the next few chapters, so besides the drama and one future event I will keep it a bit more light hearted.

Dear Redthorn13, thanks! I'm happy you like it. The drama will only be mentioned closer in the next chapter though.

Dear Guest, I hope this one is enjoyable as well (and you could wait for it).

Crosswalks and Crossed Hearts

Chapter 2: The student

Gareki's hands were hidden deep in the pockets of his new school uniform as he stepped into the almost empty classroom. Two teachers, one with an annoyed expression on his face, the other neutral talked in hushed tones.

He halted, listened in. "They can't be serious, he's a delinquent. Did you see his student record?"

The other teacher shrugged. "That might be true, but it's our job."

Gareki pulled the door loudly close behind himself. The teacher's eyes widened. "I was told I needed to write some tests for being sorted into a class" he scowled at them and sat down at one table in the middle of the class.

"Yes, it's mandatory here. At Kuronomei we try to sort the students into classes fitting their abilities and disabilities so they can receive the best education possible. Not that that would be interesting for the likes of you, Gareki-kun." The scowling teacher told him with an attitude Gareki already hated.

"He's a student here now too", the other teacher hissed at him and turned to Gareki, "We've prepared several tests for you, when you need a break give us a word, my assistant teacher will get you some food."

Gareki nodded at him. "Alright."

"Let's start then," he said and put a few mechanical pencils and pens along with a stack of paper on Gareki's desk. "When you finished one just put it on the desk next to you, I will start correcting then to save some time. Give your best, good luck, Gareki-kun."

And something about this was so awfully honest that Gareki stared at the paper for a few seconds before he did exactly what the teacher asked of him, answering these questions to the best of his abilities.

He didn't even spare the calculator a glance when the teacher, who could at least have given him a name, added it as soon as Gareki had reached the math and science section. The assistant teacher wore a cocky, winning smile, the real teacher looked up rather curious from the paper he was correcting when he didn't hear the soft clicking sounds of the calculator, but just the soft scratching one of the pen.

Eventually, Gareki could hear his stomach growl, he bit on his lip before throwing a quick gaze on the clock at the wall. "It's almost time for lunch", he mentioned nonchalant.

"Yes, it is" he said, "Is there anything you don't like?"

Gareki opened his mouth, just to close it again.

The teacher sighed slightly and motioned for his assistant. "Just get todays special. If he doesn't want to talk, we can't force him." And then he smiled gently at Gareki, "And you continue writing these tests until your food is here."

Gareki looked at the dish before him, blinking slightly. "Curry?"

"Don't tell me, we got the only dish you don't like Gareki-kun." The teacher said with a sigh.

Gareki shook his head. "I like curry, but I was under the impression it was a school canteen," he said. "This isn't school canteen food."

"It is. Eat up, Gareki-kun, the food here is always delicious and you'll need your energy for the last two subjects."

Gareki shrugged. "Whatever." But still started to wolf the food down.

"Only two subjects left?" The assistant asked his mentor, "Just how much did he leave blank?"

"Don't judge a book by it's cover, Gareki-kun might just surprise you in the end."

Gareki had already finished his food after this short exchange, not wanting to waste time, not really liking to eat with people he barely knew if he had a choice. "I'll continue now", he said just as he went back to the table he sat on before.

The assistant teacher mumbled something, but the only thing Gareki could understand was 'street rat'. Gareki decided that it wasn't worth the bother. Maybe this school was just as fake polite and honest as the ones he had been on before.

The teacher sighed next to him. "Gareki-kun", he called him, and Gareki looked up from playing with his pencil. "While I appreciate that you finished so quickly, could you please not take apart school property while I finish correcting your last few sheets?"

Now, it was Gareki who sighed and put the pencil back together, before putting it to the others next to the calculator which he had only needed for the last few pieces of math tests. And that was enough in his mind, more than enough in fact. He rather made honest mistakes than typos.

"Have you already met Tsukumo-kun?" he then asked, startling Gareki not even two minutes later.

"Tsukumo?" he asked, confused, and shook his head. "I think Yogi might have mentioned someone with that name yesterday?"

"She works for Circus as well, she is your Sempai at the business, but as I see it, she will become your classmate here."

At that, the assistant teacher spluttered. "There is no way, he" he sneered while pointing at Gareki, "could get into class A! I never even got into it and I had some of the best tutors!"

"Calm yourself immediately. Do you doubt my assertion? The tests? Or are you saying Gareki-kun cheated in all subjects?"

"He must have. There is no other way." The assistant declared.

The teacher drummed his fingers on the table. Slowly losing his patience. "Then explain me the how and the why or I will file a complaint."

The assistant, Gareki noticed, was looking at him, or more exactly at his hands. "He must have written the answers on his wrists!" he exclaimed angrily and didn't even notice how the eyebrow of his mentor rose unbelieving.

Gareki appreciated that, but knew what would come next and already felt himself resigning a little bit.

"Do you mind, Gareki-kun?" the teacher asked, leading Gareki to look at him in surprise. "Exposing your wrists to prove your innocence."

Gareki looked at him disbelieving, but nodded. "Sure, because I'm the one who has to prove", he answered bitterly, but pulled his sleeves up and showed his underarms to them.

The assistant fell quiet. "So, now not only your complaint about Gareki-kun's test score is proven as wrong, but it also had the consequences that Gareki-kun is mad not only at you, but the whole teaching staff in general and he was also treated unfairly. This is not only a shame for the school image, but shame for every single teacher teaching in this school. What do you intend to do now?"

Gareki blinked. The assistant still looked angry at him. "As if it was important what a poor street rat is thinking about Kuronomei," he sneered softly.

The teacher's finger stopped drumming on the table and collected the corrected tests and his own notes from the desk he sat on. "It's still half an hour before the current lesson ends," he mentioned towards Gareki. "I'll take you to the school nurse, I want these bruises on your arms looked at." And then he slid the papers into his bag and stepped towards the door, "Come, Gareki-kun."

Gareki threw one last gaze at the assistant, who he sincerely hoped for was the exception in this school, before grabbing his jacket from the chair and caught up with the teacher who was already walking down the floor.

Gareki recognized Tsukumo as soon as he saw her, and his biggest hint was probably that he remembered how proud Tsubame had been when she had saved enough money to buy a limited CD of hers. He hummed slightly when he waited next to the teacher in front of the classroom. "Fan of Tsukumo?" the teacher asked nonchalant.

"No." Gareki answered.

"I thought you hummed one of her songs."

"My adoptive sister is."

The teacher nodded and the bell rung. "Let me introduce you then."

Gareki sat on a small library table with Tsukumo, flipping through the script he was supposed to learn. "Why aren't you with your class?" he asked.

"At Kuronomei we get a free pass with PE since we already have training", she answered, looking up from the homework she was doing. "If I had PE on the same day as dance training, I already would be exhausted, so the agency talked with the headmaster that we get a free pass. Besides, since the afternoon is always busy it's a good opportunity to do homework." She fell silent again, concentrating back on her homework.

He concentrated back on his script.

The former thief stood in front of the school, starring at Yogi wearing sunglasses, leaning against a rather petit bright orange car. "Gareki-kun!" he greeted him happily.

"The hell are you doing here?" Gareki asked, a rather irritated expression adoring his face.

"I thought we should go shopping together!" Yogi told him chipper. "You have no cloths at mine and even though I could keep lending you some, it wouldn't be right to let you outside like that. They are much too big. Oh! Hirato-san also asked me to get a mobile for you since you arrived without one."

Gareki felt slightly uncomfortable, concerning how many stares they attracted or more exactly how many Yogi attracted. Gareki then shifted the school uniforms he carried and the school bag with his books slightly. "Let's go then", he mentioned.

"Mhhm, just put the uniforms on the back seats. What kind of clothing do you usually prefer? Maybe I should take you to the coiffeur as well." Yogi told him, smiling brightly, and stepped around the car on the driver's seat.

Gareki took care that the uniforms didn't wrinkle and then sat down on the passenger's seat next to Yogi. "Cheap and my hair is fine."

Yogi nodded half-hearted and started the engine.

This wasn't quite what Gareki had expected when he went shopping with Yogi. Maybe it was. But that was beside the point. Yogi looked at him and looked amused. "You make the decision pretty hard Gareki. What did you like best?"

Gareki crossed his arms, the Kuronomei jacket still hanging in the changing cubicle. "It's all too…" He sighed, shook, his head. "Listen, I'm only here for three months. There is no need to buy me a whole wardrobe, can't we just drive down to Karasuna so I can grab some clothes?"

Yogi shook his head. "But if you don't want to choose… You looked pretty comfy in the hoodies didn't you? They're a keeper then," he said and gave them to the shop assistant. "Hm, as for pants, the short ones in white and black, the slightly edgy jeans and some a bit more combat-y looking cargo pants. Then the ripped shirt and the two black ones, they looked attractive on you. Then some undershirts and underwear, socks too. Mh, now that I think about it, you need some more shoes too. And a warm jacket!"

"It's almost summer," Gareki contradicted, looking at the already impressive stack of clothes.

"It's barely spring. There are bound to be some rainy days."

Gareki wasn't quite sure how he could argue with Yogi in a way that he understood without him actually saying it, so he shrugged slightly, disinterested.

"What shoe size do you have?" His hands trailed up Gareki's underarms.

"What the fu—"

"26, right?" He asked with a brilliant smile. "The underarm is roughly the same size as the feet."

"Yeah, but—"

Yogi already turned around. "That's tiny, but you're still growing."

"My feet are not tiny!"

Yogi just laughed, "Alright, Gareki-kun!"

Gareki threw an unsure gaze at the bags he and Yogi had placed in the bag of the car. "That's a lot," he mentioned almost absentminded.

"Well, you need to look good all the time once we publicly introduced you as part of the agency," Yogi answered. "So, now after we got you all clothed and technified, we should probably go shopping and grab some dinner."

Gareki nodded. "What do you want to eat?" he asked Yogi who shrugged slightly.

"I was just going to ask you. There is pretty much everything delivering where I live."

The teen shook his head. "I meant, I'll cook, because you made breakfast. Chore splitting?"

"Oh, mh…" Yogi hummed, "How… How about Sukiyaki?"

Gareki shrugged, "Fine with me. But you need to buy the sake."

Yogi bedded his head on his hand as he looked at Gareki with a content gaze. "I'm actually jealous of the person that wins your heart, Gareki-kun."

Gareki swallowed the last bite of food before he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Like you're really handsome, smart and you can cook. Considering that Hirato got you, probably even talented to the boot. That person will make the best match possible with you."

Gareki laughed cheerless. "As if you're one to talk. Everybody fawns over you."

"You say that as if it's a bad thing. I'm an idol, I need people to do that." Yogi mumbled, sleepy.

Gareki shrugged. "Sounds annoying to me."

So, first of all some explanations: Even though I'm rather orientating myself on the K-pop business (or to be more exact I orientate Circus on it), I use Japanese shoe sizes in this, in Germany and other European countries(?) it's equivalent to 42, in the US it should be like an 8? (Maybe though that isn't tiny for Japanese people, but let's call it creative freedom, because I honestly don't know.)

I'm aware I used Tsukumo-kun, it can be used when a teacher addresses a female student.

Sukiyaki is a rather common dinner (for families) in Japan. And we all know Yogi craves family that doesn't change in this story either.

I think that's all? I hope this chapter was enjoyable.

Sincerely,

Mal