Omi's week went very pleasantly initially. After hooking up with Nakajima on the Monday afternoon, they subsequently spent all of Wednesday evening together as well, once again on Nakajima's bed. The older boy was a generous lover and extremely frisky, even more frisky than he had expected. So frisky that by the time he remembered that he wanted to ask the older boy for help with his Politics essay, as Kaoru had suggested to him, he was too worn out to be bothered with homework.
Everything started to go wrong on Thursday afternoon, when he showed up for Japanese class - his worst subject - and discovered that they would be tested on what they had learned that term the very next day. Additionally, he still hadn't finished his Politics essay.
As luck would have it, both Kaoru and Nakajima were busy that evening. Kaoru had treasury work to finish and Nakajima had disappeared off to a last minute family gathering in town. It was a disaster. Omi barely slept as he panicked to get everything prepared and finalised before Friday morning.
By Friday afternoon, he was feeling quite ill. He knew that he hadn't done well at all on either the quiz or the essay. He was sitting working in the Treasury, quite alone today as Kaoru had been asked to meet Niwa at the seaside, and feeling rather sorry for himself, when Nakajima came into the room.
"You didn't answer my message," the older boy remonstrated as he walked over to him. He sat down in the armchair - Kaoru's chair - and looked critically at him. "You're miserable. What is it?"
Omi forced his usual smile, but - for some reason - it just wouldn't stay on his face. "I'm a little worried about my grades," he admitted finally.
Nakajima blinked. Then he pressed his lips together, sighed, and pushed his glasses up a little. "Should I leave to let you study?" he asked. "Or do you want help?"
"Thank you, but no. I've already handed in the assessments. I'm waiting for the results, but I'm afraid they won't be any good," Omi clarified.
Nakajima nodded. "How's your work on the pacemaker sensors coming along?" he asked, getting up and going over to the window to look outside.
Omi smiled at his broad back. Now that work, he was pleased about. "It'll be ready before Wednesday," he said. "Will we be visiting the hospital again?"
"Yes. The Chairman has consented to another day trip." Nakajima turned slightly to look at him. "You're backing up your data on the project, aren't you."
Omi frowned, a bit confused by the question. "Of course. It's on an external hard drive," he reassured, smiling. "I suppose Tetsuya used to forget?"
Nakajima nodded and looked back out of the window. "Frequently."
There was a silence.
"What are you doing on Sunday evening?" Nakajima asked.
Omi snorted. "I'll be panicking about finishing our pacemaker and running it through simulations," he said. "Why?"
"It'll take all day, won't it," Nakajima said, looking back at him. He looked a little irritated and he adjusted his glasses slightly as he looked sidelong at Omi. "How about, on the Sunday after next, if we have not resumed our hacker battles in the wake of our project, we go on a proper date?"
Omi smiled and knew he was blushing too. "I'd like that," he said. That'd be really, really nice.
He continued to think of the idea as really, really nice until he got up on Monday morning after spending the night in Nakajima's bed and discovered, upon returning to his own room to shower and get dressed for the day, that his laptop was missing.
There was only one person who could have taken his laptop and that was Nakajima, who had left him alone that morning - stating that he had karate practice - about half an hour before Omi had gotten up.
It was when Omi went to the dojo and discovered that Nakajima hadn't shown up for practice that morning that he began to suspect that something bad was about to happen. He messaged Kaoru, who had gone ahead to breakfast without him, to see if Nakajima had shown there at all.
He's not here, was Kaoru's reply a few minutes later. What's wrong?
He's taken my laptop, Omi replied, already hurrying to the breakfast hall. When he arrived, Kaoru - looking very worried - was standing outside waiting for him. Beside him stood Niwa.
"Hey, Omi. What's going on?" Niwa asked, looking confused. "Kaoru said Nakajima took off with your laptop without telling you. Is that right?"
It was, but that wasn't the problem. "It has some sensitive data on it," Omi said vaguely.
He looked around when someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Shinomiya. The dormitory head smiled at them all and then handed Omi a slip. "Shichijo-san," he said quietly. "The Chairman wants to see you in his meeting room later this morning."
Omi nodded, his mouth too dry and his head too confused with panicked thoughts to formulate words.
As requested on the slip Shinomiya had handed to him, at ten o'clock Omi headed alone to the Chairman's meeting room. Kazuki was there at the head of the table, as was Mr. Kurosawa and a few of the board members. There was a pained smile on Kazuki's face as he greeted Omi and told him to take a seat.
"Kurosawa-sensei," Kazuki said then, looking at the teacher. "Please repeat your concerns to the board so that Shichijo-kun here may hear of what he is being accused."
"As you wish, Chairman-shacho, though as you all know, the evidence speaks for itself. Shichijo-kun is a failing student who - I personally believe - should never have been admitted to this academy. There are inconsistencies between his platinum paper submission and the grade recorded on the academy's score sheet, which I have sent to the Japanese Education Committee for investigation. Additionally, his grades have been average at best, failing at worst as his last two assessments testify."
"Your politics essay and Friday's Japanese test, Shichijo-kun," Kazuki clarified in his quiet voice. "Kurosawa-sensei, I understand your concerns, but Shichijo-kun here is hardly the first student to have been accepted with decent grades and then performed less well on subsequent assessment."
"True, but he is the only student, Ito Keita aside, to have been accepted with average grades without an outstanding talent."
"What about his skill with computers?" Kazuki questioned. Omi noticed that the young man - truly professional at work - didn't even blink at the reference to his boyfriend, Keita. "I understand that he is currently designing a pacemaker for AI Hospital and that that project is going very well."
"Yes, however, I paired him with Nakajima Hideaki, the best computer studies student in the school. On your request, I might add," Kurosawa replied coolly. "It is my understanding that Nakajima-kun is doing most of the programming."
That was true. And it was because Omi was doing all of the electrical engineering and only doing computer related tasks when he specifically requested them of Nakajima. Omi suddenly felt like he had been punched. His hands clenched into fists.
"There are also reports that Shichijo, intermittently since coming to the school, has been designing malware programs - viruses and trojans - as a kind of game to upset the Student Council," Kurosawa continued.
The Chairman was now looking very worried. "Can you prove either of these claims?" he asked.
"I'm working on his laptop currently," Kurosawa said. "I'll have the results by the end of tomorrow."
Kazuki nodded. "Thank you. Come and see me when you have the data." He looked at Shichijo. "Shichijo-kun, please go back to class for now. I will contact you later."
Omi rose, bowed, and silently left the room. Feeling a little dazed, he went to a nearby bathroom to splash water on his face. After drying his face, he took out his phone and tapped out a message to Kaoru. His hands were shaking.
Meeting just finished. Kurosawa trying to get me expelled.
He sent the message, then pocketed the phone. Moments later, he jumped when the phone buzzed angrily. It was Kaoru. He flicked it open.
"What do you mean by expelled?" his friend exploded.
Omi winced and turned the phone's volume down. He left the bathroom and headed down the deserted hall, quietly relating what had occurred in the meeting.
"I'm going to kill Nakajima," Kaoru promised. "What about Kazuki? Didn't he say anything about taking your computer without consent?"
"I don't think he knew that Nakajima took it," Omi said. "I'm still assuming it was him."
"It was. Niwa messaged me after you left," Kaoru said, changing the subject. "He said that he asked Nakajima and that Nakajima admitted to taking your laptop."
"Ah." That was all Omi had to say on the matter. Had it all been a lie, then? Flirting with him, not hacking the treasury any more, smiling whilst working with him, having sex with… He ducked behind a garden hedge when he felt tears prick his eyes. Damn it! He was going to cry.
That bastard. All for what? He really hates me that much for cheating?
He wiped at his face with his hands and waited until he felt calmer. Then he continued trudging back to class, detouring on the way to wash his face. By tomorrow, he supposed he'd know the board's verdict. And even if they did consent to keep him, if the problems with his platinum paper reached the national committee, what would the academy's official statement be? A top school consenting to keep a mediocre student would not go down well at all.