And at last, I forced myself to finish this. Granted, it's a whole thousand words short of what I usually submit, but it holds good plot so I am not complaining. I apologize for the late update, I got into a slump and school started and boy, oh boy and am I having fun.
Either way, thank you everyone for waiting so patiently. I feel like the next chapter will be easier to write, and this one was pretty fun too!
Enjoy~
Rinto was never one for subtle messages.
"Don't talk to me," he snarled to Len and Kaito as they approached him in fifth period, his hood was drawn over his eyes and if the wind wasn't so particularly vicious that day, Len would have thought he was doing it to add effect.
Kaito frowned. "You're not blaming us for what happened, are you?"
"Blaming you?" Rinto laughed dryly. "For what?" He threw in a sharp glare at Len. "I don't care that you didn't punch him yourself, but I'm not going to sit there and twirl my thumbs and let you lecture me about how screwed up my ethics are."
Rinto sniffed and brushed past them, his hands shoved away deep from the cold. Kaito glanced down at the guilt-eaten Len. "You talked to him yesterday?"
"I told him how stupid he was for fighting and… we argued a bit," Len admitted regretfully. "Sorry, it looks like he's taking it out on you too."
"It's fine," Kaito shook his head, smiling if not nervously. "He's good at holding grudges, but Rinto can be forgiving if pushed enough."
"I…I don't know," Len tugged on his jacket. "I still don't think he should have punched Gumo, but…"
Kaito nodded understandingly. "Yeah, he didn't do it for himself. He's extremely protective of Mei, even though she doesn't need him to be. In any case, Gumo was playing dirty. He deserved that punch and a lot more, but I see where you're coming from." He patted Len's back encouragingly. "Come on, I'll buy you some lunch before you go to orchestra. You didn't eat yet, did you?"
As they walked out, Len turned his head away from the few boys that were whispering at the direction Rinto took off in; towards the school building. Kaito steered him into the mess hall and bought him food, refusing to be given any money.
"It's five dollars," Len said exasperatingly. "Why couldn't you have gotten the free lunch?"
"Because you look like you want to eat yourself whole," Kaito handed him the sub-sandwich he had just bought. "Rinto is angry for a lot of reasons right now. You aren't the only problem that has him so moody right now, don't worry about it."
Len blinked, surprised by the thoughtful gesture. "Thanks."
"You're the kind of person who puts a lot of blame on himself, right?" Kaito laughed reassuringly. "You won't survive with Rinto like that. Eat up. I'm going to practice now."
Len waited for him to leave before making it to his room, chewing as he went.
Rinto had not dropped by the room yet, apparently. Len, eating quickly, pulled out his violin and then took a nice, long warm shower. He was about ready to go for orchestra, he left his lunch half-eaten on his desk, when someone knocked on the door.
He had never ran across a room so readily, though he remembered that Rinto had his own key to the room before he actually opened the door.
"Hey," Yuuma greeted, not looking at all surprised when Len nearly pulled the door off its hinges. "You have a teacher meeting before your activity. They want to see you in your first period classroom."
"Teacher meeting?" Len could hardly keep the disappointment in his tone. "Did I do something wrong?"
Yuuma shrugged and jerked his head towards the exit. "You better go quick, it doesn't sound all too exciting."
"Thanks," Len sighed and grabbed his coat. The school building was already active, the extracurricular clubs having already started, and Len was tempted to swing by the mock trial room. However, before he knew it, he was standing outside his first period, peering into the window.
This can't be good. It was IA and Hiyama, two of his stricter teachers.
"Len," Ms. IA brightened and smiled at him welcomingly and Len took a couple cautious steps forwards. She beckoned him closer and he pulled down his hood.
"You called me down here…?"
"For supplementary worksheets," Mr. Hiyama set down a giant packet in front of Len, who jumped.
"Supplementary worksheets?" he echoed, bewildered by the size of the stack of papers. His heart sunk, slowly realizing what it was.
"You aren't failing yet," IA explained calmly. "But your grades are slowly dropping. Together, all of your teachers have created a packet that will go over everything you missed and everything that you are not yet good at."
Len stared. "You're giving me homework?"
Classes did not usually do that, give homework that is, or rather, they don't do that at all, at least not at Yamaha. Rinto had explained to him before that there was no need for homework since the classwork was hefty enough. Usually, teachers would bring students to their classrooms after school if they needed extra help. That said, the homework Len thought Rinto had been doing every day after school was really just some extra studying.
Which made Rinto that much more admirable, but Len could not bring himself to admit it.
"Something like that," IA smiled sympathetically. "It's really not so hard, though it is due in two weeks. You are a scholarship student, Len. The chances of you getting kicked out are far greater than a standard student. We don't want to let someone as musically talented as you to get out so easily."
"I…see," Len swallowed and gathered the packet, not too thrilled by its weight.
"If you need help, feel free to come by to any of your classrooms after school," Hiyama added curtly. "This packet is supposed to boost you up. We can't have you failing in your first few weeks here."
Len picked it up, feeling his elbows stretch at the weight and hoped that he didn't look as ungrateful as he felt. Absentmindedly, he realized the top page had his name, class numbers and the number of pages each class had.
Fifty-four pages total. Lovely.
"Is that it?" he dreaded to ask. He looked at his teachers and IA nodded.
"Your grades will be based on your improvement and the quality of that finished packet," she told him. "I recommend you get to your activity-Orchestra was it?-and look it over before you sleep."
Len nodded, muttering a halfhearted thanks as he walked out of the room, securing the packet so it would not be blown by the wind.
His dorm was still quite empty but there was a pair of discarded socks on Rinto's bed, indicating that his roommate had dropped by earlier. Len dumped his homework onto his own desk, sighing deeply, and reached down for his violin.
On the way to practice, Len bumped into Dell who was also running late, his violin case slung over his shoulder.
"Hey Len!" he greeted and slowed down to let Len catch up. "I didn't figure you would ever be tardy."
"Had something to do," Len replied, forcing an apologetic chuckle. "And you?"
"Roommate destroyed our showerhead," Dell scowled though it was clear that he had been laughing about it earlier. "Yuuma started screaming at the both of us so we're both late."
"Ouch."
They both slipped in through the back of the concert hall, Luka glaring at them as they sat down in their respective seats.
"Kagami, Honne," she cleared her throat expectantly. "Is there a reason as to why you're both late?"
Clumsily, they both explained their situations to which she shook her head disapprovingly. "We have a concert coming up and you are both vital to the performance. Set up! You two are leading warm-ups today!"
Dell snickered as he unclipped his case, handling his instrument and bow deftly. Len was not so confident, his bow felt awkward and unusually unresponsive in his grip. He tuned his violin, but ended up having to ask Dell for reconfirmation. Even once they started to play, Len's notes were offbeat and uneven. He winced as Luka turned her glare onto him and he stopped playing, holding his bow aloft.
"You're just having an off day," Dell assured him in between breaks as he pointed at their current number. "Everyone gets them. Just don't play as much and it won't stand out."
"Perhaps that works during practices," Luka added loudly, making Len shrink. "But we are preparing for a concert with all sorts of guests coming over to observe you. Len, I understand that you are still trying to settle in, but please bring it together or I will have someone replace your chair."
"Y-yes ma'am."
Choir didn't turn out so well either. Because of his high voice, Len was given a solo piece, but his missed his cue and ended up stumbling into his part. Luka stopped the music and scowled disapprovingly- the same look Mr. Hiyama gave him as he received his homework- and his stomach clenched. Len was unable to meet anybody's eye after that.
"Fix out whatever you have on your mind," Luka warned him as he was about to leave, opening the back door for the band students. "Or you can switch your activities."
Len lowered his eyes. "Sorry."
"I'm sure you are," she shooed him out, pushing in the band students who were lingering by the door.
Head down, Len went back to his room, his violin shoved roughly under his bed and sighed loudly, angrily. He paced the room, self-hate and frustration twisting like snakes in his stomach. Once he had rubbed his feet raw into the carpet, he sat down heavily on his desk, glaring at his "supplementary worksheets".
And where was Rinto? Mock Trial ended thirty minutes ago, plenty enough time to travel back to the dorms. Len shook his head and put his forehead on the desk, groaning.
Maybe he should drop out now, since it seems he was just screwing everything up anyways. But the little mental image of Rinto's snarl of disapproval kept him from thinking that for too long. He began to grumble, and buried his head in his arms, covering his ears with his hands.
He was not even sure if he liked Rinto at all, but the thought of leaving Yamaha and leaving all these newfound problems felt traitorous to the short blond. Len could get out easy, probably, but Rinto had said that he did not have that luxury. He said something about 'them' not letting him go.
Funny. Len's conscience seems to like Rinto quite a lot, at least.
Anyways, there was no way Len was going to be able to find the motivation to do his homework now. The day had been bad enough, he could not stand another hour of productivity without breaking something. Nothing productive he had done actually helped anyway.
His bed was a good two feet from the desk, but Len was not feeling like moving. It was only four and his sweater had just settled nicely. He yawned and pulled over his hoodie, dimming the rest of the light.
A little nap at the end of this awesome day should do him some sort of good, he hoped.
Groggy and feeling quite like a puddle of mud, Len woke up and groaned. He rose and his blanket fell away, a refreshingly cold breeze hit his neck. It was really dark now and the clock on the wall was too dim for him to read. He yawned and fell back on his pillow, trying to remember how he got himself to his bed.
The bathroom door opened and Len shot right up, swinging his head around to meet Rinto's dark silhouette.
"Calm down," his roommate greeted gruffly. "It's ten o'clock; past curfew."
Len stared, dry mouthed, as Rinto walked over to his desk and flicked on the lamp.
Rinto had just taken a shower, and if it was not mentioned earlier, Rinto was usually decent after showers.
"I…Thank you," Len coughed awkwardly, realizing that it must have been Rinto who brought him to his bed. "And… um…" His voice trailed off hesitantly, unsure of what he wanted. Rinto paused for a second, as if waiting, but when Len didn't continue, he sat down and pulled out a fresh pack of bandages. He tended to his wounds, which were looking a lot better now, and pulled out a textbook when he had finished. He began to read and Len felt like a complete idiot as he lay back down and rolled over.
And then Rinto spoke up again, his voice taut but not entirely hostile. "Are you failing your classes?"
Len felt a shiver run down his back, but he nodded to himself, figuring that the packet on his desk wasn't the most obscure thing in the world. "Not yet."
"When is that thing due?"
"In two weeks."
Rinto fell silent once more, his pencil scratching paper, and Len wondered what he was studying now. Maybe he should watch him, maybe he would learn something from him. He turned around, ready to speak, but bolted upwards quickly—Rinto had brought Len's homework to his desk and was dissecting it critically, much to Len's shock.
"Go to sleep," Rinto didn't look up from whatever he was doing, and Len considered telling him to go away.
"What are you doing?" Len could not contain the heavy suspicion in his voice and Rinto stopped to sigh. Len shrunk apologetically. "I mean-."
"Go to sleep," Rinto ordered tersely. "Don't worry. I won't burn it."
Len was about to argue that he probably knew everything in there already, but Rinto's eyes were dark with determination and so he just settled back into his bed awkwardly. Several minutes later, Rinto turned off the lamp and slithered into his own bed, falling asleep almost instantly. Len, however, stood up well after.
How did Rinto feel now?
He certainly didn't look as irate as before, but he wasn't exactly opening up either. He had come back to their dorm, at least, and he even hauled Len onto his bed. Was he no longer angry, or was he just acting as the good roommate? Len shifted, uncomfortable with his thoughts and raised his hand a bit to close the window.
He didn't even like Rinto, as he had decided before, so he shouldn't care. Be good to him. Act nice. He was someone to hang out with. A school time companion. Nothing more, nothing less.
Well, not quite.
Len closed his eyes tight and exhaled, trying to ignore that nagging feeling in the back of his head.
He really, really wanted to get along with Rinto, as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise. They had just met, and they weren't exactly two peas in a pod, but they were still roommates and they would remain roommates until the end of the year, and possibly until they graduated. Thinking that something like this would force them to stay apart for four years was eating Len alive.
He turned and stared at Rinto's sleeping back, turned back around to face his wall and kicked at his blankets unhappily. Eventually, after he had evaluated the meaning of his life and his existence, Len forced himself to relax and fall asleep, deciding that it was too late to be thinking about those things and if he wanted to fix his problems, he could do something in the morning.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon, the next day, and Len had just come back from a rather successful session of choir when he walked into his room to find Rinto working at his desk.
"H-hello," Len greeted awkwardly as he passed by to drop his violin. Rinto grunted in reply.
Well, at least they could be in the same room again.
Len sat down at his own table and fished for a pencil, hoping to seem at least somewhat productive. Realizing that Rinto still had his homework, he turned around to call for it, but his roommate was already stalking his way; packet, notebook and a chair dragging behind him.
"Sit," Rinto swung the chair around so that he was right beside Len. "Scoot over."
Obediently and a little bewildered, Len did as he was told, pushing his seat to the corner of the desk. Rinto spread out the worksheets and opened his notebook with the same determined expression he wore the night before.
"What are you, um, we," Len corrected after his pencil was pushed into his hand. "Doing exactly?"
Rinto exhaled slowly and stared into his eyes, "I'm going to tutor you."
"Tutor… You'll tutor me?" Len pointed to himself.
"You need help, don't you?" Rinto indicated the packet. "They don't give those out just for fun."
"But… You tutor me?" it sounded a lot ruder than he intended it to be, but Rinto didn't seem to mind. The blond nodded.
"Yes, is that a problem?" he scowled. "You need help and even I can't just ignore that." Len opened his mouth to argue-Rinto was the last person he wanted help from at the moment-but his roommate wouldn't let him speak. He pushed his notebook to Len and dumbly, Len read it.
"What… is this?" he asked piteously.
"Formulas, equations, definitions- stuff you were supposed to remember but evidently didn't," Rinto was quick and curt, he opened Len's homework and showed him the page. "All these questions here use this formula here."
And soon, Len was unable to keep up with the awkward barrier between them. Rinto taught at a quick pace, but he was patient and he waited for Len to get up from his mistakes before moving on. He was certain and deft and had the neatest handwriting Len had ever seen, or expected.
"When was the last time you saw a question like this?" he would question Len.
"Never…?"
"Good God, Len."
He went on and on about the math of different grade levels and basics and theories and Len was surprised to find himself understanding a bit of what was spewing out of his roommate's mouth. When at last Rinto went silent and began watching Len work independently, he relaxed in his chair, looking satisfied.
Len scribbled down the last few answers and opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again.
"Question?"
He jolted a bit and offered an embarrassed smile. "No, it's just… Never mind."
Rinto narrowed his eyes. "Liar. What's up?"
"Why… Why are you helping me?" Len leaned back in his seat. "Aren't you mad at me?"
"I was… Actually still am," he admitted, as if he had been expecting the question. "But you were just being 'the good guy' so it's hard to blame you for shouting at me." Len flinched at the reminder.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have been so angry."
"And to think that I was the one to tell you to stand up for yourself too," Rinto sighed. "I'm just a condensed ball of trouble and hypocrisy, aren't I?"
"You're good a school though," Len offered, managing a thin smile. "Thanks for tutoring me."
Rinto shrugged and put his elbows on the desk, toying with the edge of the bandage on his cheek. "I have to use this brain somehow, before Gumo smashes it to the wall."
Len flinched. "You're not going to fight him again, are you?"
"I don't plan to do anything," Rinto replied, an edge returning in his tone. "Ever since I've entered this school-," he stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowed, and then restarted. "Things just aren't going my way, right now. I try to get along with Gumo, I do, and at the start we were close friends. Then one day, he goes and calls me certain names and starts throwing dirt all over me, and what am I supposed to do? Beg for his approval?"
"You still could have avoided a fight," Len was shocked by his own voice and sat still, expecting another eruption from his volcano-roommate, but Rinto remained quite lax.
"I could have," he agreed. "I could have walked away. I could have reported him, heck I could have just told Meiko and she would've handled it her own way. But I was just sick of it. You did not know Gumo before he turned face. He acted like an older brother, more so than Kaito, believe it or not. He-," Rinto stopped and shook his head. "It's disgusting. To think someone like him is so fast at stabbing your back."
Now that he thought about it, Gumo did not make trouble with the other students. Len set down his pencil carefully, remembering that he had seen Gumo wandering the school often, a friendly air about him. However, when mixed with Rinto, he would turn terrible, as he was two days ago.
"Pick up your pencil," Rinto spoke up again, shocking Len with the power behind his voice. "You have not finished a single page and you still have problems with this formula."
"Well… It is a long formula."
"If you can remember scrolls and scrolls of music notes, then you can remember Pythagorean's theorem, now if you please."
Len had never experienced a morning so exhausting. Granted, there was great relief in having his bedroom close to the school building, but when he spent all night listening to Rinto's educational blurps, it gets hard to drag his body out of bed.
"Rinto is snoring up a storm," Kaito noted as Len shuffled out of his room. The blond yawned widely, nodding in agreement.
On their way to class, Len bumped into the wall twice, hardly moving when he started leaning on the pillars. Kaito, ever the older brother, simply pried him from the walls and guided him to his class, setting him down in his seat. "By the way, your hair is still down."
"It's cold," Len replied drowsily. "My hair keeps my ears warm."
"You look like Rinto—speaking of whom, have you two made up yet? There is a less of a depressing air about you."
Len shrugged, pinching his cheek to keep himself from falling asleep. "He tutored me yesterday, and I apologized."
"You apologized?" Kaito snorted. "He's the one who should have said sorry! But, that's just how you work with Rinto, isn't that right?" Len shrugged again, shaking his head repeatedly to buzz himself.
"Kaito," he groaned. "I'm going to pass out in the middle of class."
"Well, Hiyama isn't here yet," Kaito noted. "He's usually here early, maybe you'll catch a lucky break and have a free period. I have to run to class now, good luck. Tell Rinny-to I love him."
Only if I wanted my neck to be snapped in half.
The bell rang and Len forced himself to sit upright, digging through his backpack for a pen.
"Oh wow! Good morning, class!"
Len dropped his pen.
Nearly hitting his head against the corner of his table as he looked up, he stared, bewildered, at the beautiful young woman who was most certainly not Kiyoteru Hiyama. All around him, the boys sat, stunned at her sudden appearance. She beamed at them, perfectly done make-up giving away to nothing except for a cheerfully positive grin. She walked over to Len, picked up his pen and set it on his desk, her red eyes gazing at him warmly.
"My name is Tei Sukone, please just call me Ms. Sukone, as I will be your new math teacher!"
Chapter 3 Fin.
I am glaring at my computer screen as I write this because I have forgotten how to write fanfiction.
I still feel the lingering trace of RinxLen in my heart though, because one never forgets the OTP, but still. Writing has become difficult for me lately. Thought I'm just ranting now and Ms. Lame-Butt-Procrastinator here needs to work on next chapter, amirite? Thank you everyone for waiting for this chapter and hello new readers who may have started reading now! I hope you continue to support me! Thank you!
Mush Luvve
~asianchibi