Title: Stumble and Fall
Author: Avelynn Tame
Disclaimer: I do not own Gokusen.
Summary: A new teacher has arrived at Shirokin, and he's not bothering to hide his attraction to the homeroom teacher of a certain delinquent class. 3-D greet him with their usual kindness and warmth, but Yankumi is far more interested in the reaction of one Sawada Shin…
Author's Notes: This chapter is a bit longer than usual – in fact, they seem to be getting longer every time. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far – it really gives me a thrill to open my inbox and read what you've been saying. The general consensus about the 'M rating' issue seems to be that most people change their filters anyway, so you should still see when it's been updated. I will try to tell you when I'm going to change it a chapter in advance.
Chapter Five
It was not unusual for Maruyama to invite Kumiko to do something after school – usually to go and have dinner at a nearby restaurant, or just go for a walk through the park. She enjoyed spending time with him; their conversations were always long and spirited, and hopped rapidly from one topic to another.
Very occasionally, she would feel that very faint spark of attraction flickering into life, but thankfully it would always pass away and leave her in peace. She was happy with their friendship. As much as she'd liked him back at university, she didn't want things to go any further than that. What they had now was good, and real, and reliable.
Just thinking about it made her glad that she'd never confessed her feelings all those years ago. He would certainly have rejected her, she would have felt humiliated, and most likely their friendship would have deteriorated and died soon after. Keeping her silence had been a long and difficult struggle, but it had preserved their relationship; her restraint had paid off. She'd not only spared herself the mortification of rejection, but also been able to avoid putting poor Maruyama in an awkward position.
To Maruyama, she had first been the friend of a friend, and then his friend – that had been all. His feelings for her had always been purely platonic.
And that was what she'd always believed.
Until one afternoon during his second week at Shirokin…
She was doing the register one afternoon, a handful of confiscated dirty magazines tucked under one arm as she ignored Minami and Mouri's bitter complaints, when her attention was caught by a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. A hand, holding two pale pieces of card, had appeared from the edge of the doorway."Hmm," she said loudly. "Floating paper. Maybe this is the famous Shirokin poltergeist?"
A distinctly male laugh echoed in the empty corridor.
"A talking poltergeist," she added. "Is anyone here trained to perform exorcisms?"
"I know a guy," said Horibe from the middle of the class.
She did a double take. "Interesting," she muttered under her breath.
The hand slipped inside the classroom, followed by an arm, a shoulder, and finally Maruyama's head. "Ah, it's just you," she said, as if this hadn't been obvious.
He waved the paper at her. "Tickets," he told her, raising his eyebrows significantly.
She waited. "And," she said eventually, when it became clear that he wasn't going to give out any more information, "what are the tickets for?"
He looked half-horrified, half-amused. "What for?" he repeated. "The latest Kitano Takeshi film, what else?"
If she had appeared composed before, that illusion was lost now. She shot to her feet, nearly tipping her chair backwards. "That's out already?! I thought it wasn't until next week!"
He winked. "Special screening. Tonight only, very fancy."
She grabbed her bag. "Do I want to know what you had to do to get tickets for that?"
He shrugged. "I have a friend who has a friend. Anyway – you're coming, right?"
"Of course!"She turned to wave goodbye on her way out of the room, but her excited smile faltered when she saw how annoyed they all looked. They were casting bitter, frustrated glances at her, as though she had just let them down badly. "See you tomorrow," she said, as brightly as she could manage, forcing herself to walk away.
Their bad mood had come back. She could already feel her anxiety forming a knot in the pit of her stomach – when they were like this, she couldn't help but worry. Especially as their mood seemed to be linked to the man walking next to her.
So, they didn't like him. She'd begun to suspect it last week, when Shin had mentioned something. And now she'd had her confirmation – every time Maruyama showed up, the atmosphere became distinctly darker and more discontented.
She knew what she had to do. It was her job, after all, as their teacher to make sure that they were happy and well looked after. In this case, she was going to have to help them to realise what a good teacher Maruyama could be, if they would just accept him. And if that meant forcing them together at every available opportunity, then that was what she would do.
Shin, Uchi, Minami, Noda and Kuma went out for ramen that evening. There had been a definite drop in the general mood at the end of the day, and they were all reluctant to acknowledge why.
Fortunately, Kuma had a tendency to say what everyone was thinking without worrying too much about how it reflected on him. "That Maruyama guy bugs me," he confessed when they were all sitting around the table nursing their (non-alcoholic) drinks. "I don't know why – he just does."
As usual, once one person had said it, the rest of them felt that they had permission to agree.
"He's annoying," Uchi muttered.
"It's not like he does much teaching," Minami said, running a hand through his hair. "Just kind of… stands there, watching Yan –" He broke off abruptly, looking embarrassed.
Kuma, immune to embarrassment, picked up on this train of thought. "Yeah, he keeps hitting on her, have you guys noticed?"
Noda snorted. "I think she's the only one who hasn't noticed. For someone who's good at maths, she's kind of dense, isn't she?"
"Tell me about it," Uchi laughed. "He always sticks so close to her – you'd think she'd realise why."
Minami turned to look at the person sitting next to him. "Shin, you're quiet. What do you think about this guy?"
Shin was staring into his bowl, playing with his food but not eating. His expression, as usual, was impassive, but there was something noticeably tight and uncomfortable about his voice when he spoke. "I think," he said, his eyes still down, "that I don't like him. And I'm not sure I trust him around Yankumi."
They were all silent for a few moments, mulling this over. "I agree," said Kuma eventually.
"But he's gonna be with us for the rest of the year," said Noda. "It's not like we can get rid of him."
"Unless he slips up," Uchi suggested. "Everyone has their secrets, right?"
"I think we're stuck with him," Shin muttered, finally pushing his untouched bowl away. "But the important thing is to keep him away from Yankumi. He seems pushy – he might go too far one day."
They all understood the implication of this. "So," Uchi leant forward over the table, "what's the plan?"
There were a number of things that Shin thought about as he was walking home that night. One of them was that he hadn't been entirely honest with his friends, although he couldn't honestly say he felt too guilty about that. There were bigger things at stake.
He hadn't been honest, for example, in leading them to believe that their teacher might be in some kind of danger from Maruyama. The idea of Yankumi being in danger was fairly laughable – it was others who were more likely to be at risk from her. Even if Maruyama did get too forceful with his 'affections' (and the thought made Shin's hands curl into fists), Yankumi would have no trouble fighting him off at all.
He'd also gone along with the idea that Maruyama's feelings were one-sided. If he'd been truthful, though, he would have had to say that there was a chance that Yankumi had feelings for Maruyama as well.
It pissed him off.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. He'd just wanted more time, was that so much to ask? Just a bit longer, until he'd graduated, and he could start to pursue her as a man instead of a student.
Only now, he had competition. The kind of competition who could romance her freely, who wouldn't have a second thought about taking her away and making her his own. Whereas he, Shin, was stuck at a lower level of existence which made that kind of thing impossible. All he could do was watch.
If he could hold this guy off for a little longer – get in his way, trip him up a few times – he might be able to get through the year and finally be able to stand up as an equal competitor.
He just needed more time.
Kumiko was wearing a skirt. She hated skirts.
But Maruyama had been very clear that this was a fancy event and that there would be a lot of social mingling before and after the film. He was going to wear a suit, he'd said.
Her first thought had, of course, been the kimono, but if certain parties were to be believed, it would be a bad idea.
She didn't own dresses at all – she found them to be impractical and restrictive, and who needed either of those qualities if there was a chance you could get into a fight?
Her only concession to feminine clothing came in the form of three skirts. At least with a skirt she could wear shorts underneath, and just take the damn thing off if she needed to move more freely. She also had a number of tops and blouses which Fujiyama-sensei had called 'barely passable' – considering what she'd said about the rest of Kumiko's wardrobe, this meant that they must be the height of fashion and beauty.
She'd agreed to meet Maruyama at the cinema – when she arrived, he was lurking outside looking a little nervous.
"Relax," she said as she approached him – and naturally he jumped about three feet into the air. "It's just a film, right? What can go wrong?"
He gave her a stare which suggested that she had missed the point. Then he did a double take as he looked her over. "Ah, you look really nice."
She felt a blush rising in her cheeks. "Thank you."
He offered her his arm, and they went inside.
It was obvious that the building had once been an old-style theatre which had since been converted to house modern big screens. It had retained the beautiful architecture – the high ceilings and tall columns that must have been inspired by old European designs.
"Impressive, isn't it?" said Maruyama, his voice close to her ear. His breath brushed her cheek and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, her nerves tingling pleasantly. Kumiko murmured a brief reply, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She wasn't used to being so close to a man (other than in a fight, of course). It had been a very long time since her last proper date.
Not, she reminded herself hurriedly, that this is a date.
But Sawada's words rang clearly in her mind: "The way he looks at you makes me think that he wants to date you."
She glanced up at Maruyama. How had he been looking at her? She hadn't noticed anything.
Maruyama's friend of a friend must have been very well connected, it turned out, because they had front row seats. Kumiko's heart was pounding as they sank into the plush velvet and made themselves comfortable.
"This is amazing," she whispered to Maruyama, unable to hide her excitement.
He gave her an amused look. "You're such a simple person."
"Hey," she protested. "I'm not – "
"I mean," he went on, talking over her offended sputtering, "that whereas it takes expensive jewellery or a fancy car to impress some women, you'd prefer a good seat for a film. It's a good thing."
She was quiet for a little while. She liked the hush of a theatre before the production started – everyone gathered together in one room, waiting for something good to happen.
The lights went down.
Maruyama leaned over, his mouth right next to her ear. "Did you know that I liked you when we were at university together?"
"W-What?!"
By the Wednesday morning, everyone in the class had been informed of the plan devised by Shin and the others the previous evening. It was extremely simplistic, but would hopefully be effective.
One of Yankumi's preferred methods of teaching was to set a batch of problems to be completed in class. It served a dual purpose – first, to make sure they actually did some work, and second, to allow her to move around the class at her own pace to help those who needed it.
Traditionally the boys would wait until she was engrossed in explaining something, then take up another activity (Minami had taught them all how to hide adult magazines in between the pages of their textbooks, and a number of them were getting good at kicking a ball around without being noticed).
Of course, the benefits of having fun had to be balanced off against the risk of getting caught by Yankumi and sustaining mild to moderate injuries (Matsudaira claimed that some of his hair had fallen out as a result of being hit on the head one too many times.)
With the addition of Maruyama, it would be easy to assume that they were now at double the risk of getting caught, but anyone observing the class that day would see that Maruyama was far too busy to spot such things.
"Maruta! Over here, I need help with this one."
"Okay, I'm coming."
"Marutaaaa, help me next!"
"Yes, yes…"
Yankumi had been patiently taking Kuma through things from scratch, crouched low by his desk and murmuring explanations in a soft voice. However, she was becoming increasingly distracted by the fact that 'Maruta' (as 3-D had nicknamed him that morning) was in constant demand.
She left Kuma and came over to Shin, who had finished the work and was reading a novel. He looked up at her as she hovered by his desk. "I don't need any help."
"I know that," she hissed. "I want to ask you – what's going on?"
He feigned ignorance. "What do you mean?"
She gestured vaguely at the rest of the classroom. "That. The others – and Maruyama-sensei –"
He shrugged. "Maybe they think he's not so bad after all."
"Really?" Her face split into a wide grin. "That's great!"
He scowled at her. "Why does that make you happy?"
"Why wouldn't it? If they've accepted him – it must mean he's a good teacher. And that they're capable of trusting other adults." She clasped her hands and tipped her head thoughtfully. "And I was thinking I'd have to force you guys to spend time with him."
Shin choked violently, and Yankumi whacked him on the back in an absent-minded manner.
One week passed, and then another.
Maruyama's timetable, initially sporadic, finally settled into a stricter pattern – he would split his week in half, and spend the first half until midday on Wednesday with Kumiko, and the latter half with Nakano-sensei teaching physics.
This presented interesting results for Kumiko, who began to notice something.
Every class other than 3-D seemed to respond well to the combination of Yamaguchi and Maruyama. Every class other than 3-D, therefore, became highly productive on the days that Maruyama was present, and then appeared to be less enthusiastic when he wasn't there.
Conversely, 3-D reacted in a bizarre manner to Maruyama – monopolising his attention but still treating him with contempt. When it was just Kumiko on her own, they became much better and apparently enjoyed the class a lot more.
Eventually she decided that there was no way she could win, and she'd just have to make the best of it.
Since that night at the cinema, Maruyama hadn't brought up what he'd said, and she'd avoided the subject as well.
"Did you know that I liked you when we were at university together?"
Had he been serious? Or was he just teasing?
He had just smiled mysteriously when she'd half-shouted, "What?!", and refused to respond.
She'd hardly been able to concentrate on the film after that – her mind was full of questions and baffled thoughts. She half-wondered if she'd misheard, but the words were so firmly embedded in her brain that she couldn't even begin to convince herself of that.
But if she'd heard him right, and if he'd been serious – well, then, what was his reason for telling her?
The whole thing was giving her a headache.
Her worries didn't end there, either – Sawada's behaviour was a source of concern.
He'd developed a habit of not turning up to class on the days that Maruyama was around. She'd scolded him for it a number of times and given him strict instructions to turn up, but she obviously wasn't getting through.
Finally, enough was enough. Sawada had skipped both of her and Maruyama's classes this week, and at the end of another weird lesson watching Maruyama run from student to student, she made an excuse and stormed furiously up to the roof.
She slammed the door open and it hit the wall with a resounding smack.
Sawada, flat on his back with a set of headphones in his ears, sat bolt upright and stared at her.
She marched right up to him, bent down and yanked the headphones out. "What," she ground out, "are you playing at?"
He glared at her stubbornly. "I'm not 'playing' at anything."
"Then why aren't you coming to my classes?"
He gave an exasperated grunt. "Because I don't feel like going. And it's not like I need to, anyway – you're just going over old stuff, aren't you?"
"Attendance is compulsory," she said firmly. "You have to come."
"But I don't need to," he repeated through gritted teeth.
"Oh, for crying out loud, Sawada – you may not need to be there, but I need you there."
His jaw dropped. "What?"
Oh. That hadn't come out right. "What I mean is – well – " she backed away from him rapidly, feeling flustered. "It's good for the others if you're there. You're a good influence. Which… makes it easier for… me. Yes."
She had managed to put some distance between them at first, but now he was standing and following her. "You said you need me there." His eyes were dark. His longer legs could cross the space that divided them faster than she could move away.
"Well, yes, I – but I just explained – " Work, brain, work! How was he doing this? She was supposed to be able to ruffle his feathers, not the other way around. "Anyway! The point is, you should start coming. I can't keep overlooking it."
Her back hit something solid. Ah, yes. The wall.
Sawada stared at her intently, towering above her. "So," she said, rather weakly, "that's… settled, then?"
His hands hit the wall on either side of her.
For a few moments, her mind went blank. She couldn't think. She could hardly even breathe. He leaned close to her and as their breaths began to mingle she had one half-coherent thought: he's going to kiss me.
The sound of heavy, thudding footsteps in the stairwell brought her back to reality with an unpleasant jerk; she just had time to duck underneath Sawada's arm and move away from him before Kuma appeared. "Shin, you want to go – ah, Yankumi."
"I'm going," she said quickly. Hesitating briefly, she turned to look at Sawada. He was half-leaning against the wall, his face hidden from view. "Sawada, start coming to class, okay?" It came out softer than she'd intended, but maybe that was no bad thing.
He gave no sign that he had heard her.
She waited until she was all the way down the stairs and through the door at the bottom before she let out a loud groan. What the hell had just happened?
Author's Notes: I am currently feeling good – had a good week, about to eat some Chinese food, what more could I want? Here's to Fridays, and the weekend, and to glaring resentfully at the alarm clock next to my bed which I will inevitably have to set on Sunday night. Sigh Have a good one!