Chapter 2 which basically covers Chiriko's first year in Kunugigaoka..!
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That second year of middle school flew by quickly for Chiriko; She felt like she was five years old again, being forced to attend a multitude of cram schools and extra-curricular activities, (As if just plain old school work wasn't bad enough!) except now it was even worse than before, because Mummy was gone, Gakushuu was like a stranger to her, and she was too big to hide in the back of the closet like she used to when she wanted to run away from the work load her father placed on her.
The Chairman was constantly disapproving of her.
"Asano-san, you have one of the lowest scores in the entire school. Grades dictate your worth. Do you enjoy being worthless?"
"Asano-san, you have skipped cram school for the entire week. It's almost as if you're aiming to be a failure."
Chiriko would just pretend the words didn't bother her (Although they did make her cringe). She had better things to do than to devote her life to grades and academics; She had started volunteering at an old people's home. That was much more useful than memorizing equations, in her opinion.
Chiriko's relationship with Gakushuu was strained too- for the first two weeks, he was coldly polite to her, but he became increasingly frustrated the more obvious it became that his sister clearly wasn't interested in school, or academics or reputation. Chiriko did try to pay attention when he tutored her, she promises! But it's so hard to listen to algebra, when Chiriko was pretty sure finding X in a complicated equation had no relevance to real life. Plus, the fact she knew her brother was only trying to help her to improve his own reputation dampened her motivation.
"I don't understand why you insist on being difficult. You aren't incompetent. I know you could do this if you actually tried." Gakushuu had hissed at her, when they were sat in his room one day, reviewing maths. Chiriko rocked back on the chair.
"I am trying." Chiriko insisted, although maybe that wasn't entirely true. Her and Gakushuu bickered a lot. He didn't like her attitude to learning, and she didn't like his elitist attitude towards anyone considered below him. (Although she did worry about him. For all her arguing, she was always the one who cooked him food when he was so busy with work he didn't have time to eat).
Kunugigaoka had to be the single most worst school on the planet, Chiroko decided. Sure, it looked posh and fancy (especially compared to the old school) but the system of throwing the 'undesirable' students into a purgatory called E class was just barbaric in Chiriko's opinion. Most of the people there were all like mini-businessmen, completely self-abosrobed, obsessed with work and reputation, completely elitist.
The day she first arrived there, she felt stricken with nerves, but everyone in the A class was incredibly nice to her.
"We hope you feel welcome here!"
"We're honored to have Asano-kun's sister as a classmate!"
"You're so beautiful! But I guess that's to be expected of Asano's sister."
It didn't take Chiriko long, however, to realize most of the niceness was fake. The only reason they didn't bully her when her grades took a nose-dive was because of who her brother was. They treated Gakushuu like a celebrity in the school, even the third years seemed to practically worship him. He had people wrapped around his finger. Realizing that people didn't really like her made her feel incredibly isolated. She longed for her own school, even if it was poor and a little rough, the people there were genuine.
It took Chiriko a while to find any proper friends, she ended up hanging around with a group of delinquents- Terasaka, Murmatsu and Yoshida and their female friend Hazama. They were jerks, but they were honest people. She started making lunch for them because she noticed how often they skipped it, much to her Father's disdain and brother's disapproval.
The next friend she made was a elegant girl called Yukiko Kanzaki. Chiriko first started speaking to her, because she noticed how she always seemed stressed and tired. It didn't take long for Yukiko to reveal that she was under intense pressure from her father to do well, and had started acting out and sneaking off to clubs to rebel. A crazy strict father was something Chiriko could relate to, so they bonded over that.
It was towards the end of the year when Chiriko first noticed Karma Akabane, a red haired boy in D class. She recognized the name from the top-ten lists in test results.
He was always alone. He never really spoke to anybody in class unless it was to argue with the teacher, when he showed up to class, and was constantly wandering around the school by himself like a lost cat, an indifferent expression on his face. A normal person would just leave him too it, but Chiriko was far more interfering than a normal person.
What if he's lonely? He might want friends but he's secretly too shy to make them? He might be going through a tough time or something?
These were the types of things Chiriko often thought about people. She was the type of person who was always looking to help, whether it was a good idea or not.
So, that was how, one cold November morning not long before Christmas break, Chiriko walked up to the roof of the school, were she was sure the red haired boy would be. Sure enough, when she opened the door, there was Karma Akabane, lounging across the hard stone floor, as if he were in a warm comfortable bed, not a cold rooftop.
"Um. Excuse me?" Chiriko said, to get his attention. Karma opened one eye, revealing an amber orb. He glanced over at Chiriko with a half smirk on his face.
"Oh. If it isn't my stalker." Akabane said, his mouth widening slightly to reveal fang-like canines. He turned to face her more fully. "You've been watching me for a couple of days at this point- what is it now, a love confession?"
"No!" Chiriko spluttered, feeling her cheeks redden slightly- He'd noticed her? It wasn't like she was really stalking him, anyway! "And I wasn't stalking you! You must be imagining things."
"Whatever you say." Karma replied, still with that infuriating half-smirk on his face as if he knew all her secrets. He sat up properly now, facing her. "So. What is it that you want?"
"I just wanted to eat lunch here. Because the view's nice." Chiriko said, with a friendly smile. Saying I decided to sit with you because you have no friends sounded a little too patronizing. She walked closer to him, and sat down opposite, she tried not to be put off by Akabane's attitude. She knew a lot of insecure people could be harsh at first, as a defense against being hurt. "Akabane, right? I'm Chiroko Asano. But you can just call me Chiroko."
"Of course I already know who you are." Karma replied, rolling his eyes. His expression darkened, and their was anger behind his amber eyes, although his smirk didn't falter. "And the answer's no."
"No?" Chiriko said, confused. She hasn't asked a question, had she? Karma narrowed his eyes.
"No, I don't want to be another one of your pity-cases, Chiriko Asano-san." Karma said, in a low voice. He was staring at Chiriko as if he could see through her soul. "I've seen you around, Chiriko, you seem drawn to people you view as more pathetic than yourself- Stupid delinquents, girls with low-self esteem and failing grades. The poor little loner." He hissed, then grinned sadistically before adding. "It's pretty pathetic, if you ask me. You feed of their life problems so you feel better about your own."
Chiriko's Amethyst eyes widened in shock as he took in his words, then a scowl formed on her face. She stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "That's not true! I view them as friends, and I don't think they're pathetic at all!" She shouted at him- had he really interpreted her that way? "I don't think you're pathetic either, if that's what you think!"
Karma cocked his head to the side. "Everyone says you two are opposites, but you and your brother are quite similar, you know. The only difference is that he pushes the 'undesirables' away to make himself feel better, while you keep them close to boost your own self-esteem." He got up, and slowly walked over to Chiriko. A dangerous aura seemed to radiate off him, and Chiriko instinctively took a step back, bumping into the wall.
Karma loomed over her, effectively trapping her. He grabbed her wrists, pinning her to the wall. For one terrible moment, Chiriko thought he was actually going to try and hurt her. She realised that she wouldn't be able to fight back, or even call for help. An icy cold dread settled in the pit of her stomach. But instead of of hitting her, Karma just leaned forward, closer to her, and hissed into her ear.
"Sorry. I'm not interested in fake nice girls." Chiroko flinched away as she felt his teeth graze the lobe of her ear, but the next thing she knew he had let go of her, and walked away. She heard the door slam.
Chiriko sunk to her knees once he had left, still feeling shaken. Her cheeks burned in humiliation. Karma had made her feel like an idiot.
"Jerk." She muttered to herself, rubbing her wrists. But part of her was still worried about him, as absurd as that sounded.
"I heard you were with Karma Akabane today." Gakushuu had said to her, as they walked home from school together that day. Chiriko didn't even bother to question how her brother seemed to more or less know everything about whatever went on in the school. She had decided he must either have spies everywhere or had worked out how to hack into the school camera security system. Probably the latter.
"Yeah, what of it?" Chiriko replied, dejectedly. She was still annoyed about her confrontation of him.
"Don't get involved with him." Gakushuu commanded, glancing at her sideways with amethyst eyes that matched her own.
"Eh? I thought you wanted me to have friends with better grades?" Chiriko replied, although she couldn't ever see herself and Akabane becoming friends in the foreseeable future.
"I'm serious about this." Gakushuu said firmly, which Chiriko didn't find particularly striking, because he was serious about pretty much everything. "That guy's bad news. He's dangerous. He fights for fun. You will just get hurt."
Chiriko felt a rare rush of affection for her twin. Ah. He actually cares. How sweet. She skipped ahead, smiling slightly.
"Don't worry. He doesn't seem to like me much anyway." Chiriko said, she turned back to look at her brother. "I'm going to cook your favorite meal tonight, okay?"
A few weeks later, Gakushuu no longer had to worry about Chiriko befriending Karma. He got in some big fight with the number one pupil of A class, and got himself suspended until the next year, were he would be shunted to E class. Chiriko saw the upperclassman limping around school with an arm in a cast, and head bandaged, and she couldn't help but agree with her brother for once. Karma was bad news. He's dangerous.
"In light of your grades and attitude, I have no choice to put you in E class. I'm sure you'll fit in perfectly, Asano-san." The Chairman told Chiriko the day after she received her results on finals that February. They were stood in his office, her Father sat in his desk, Chiriko stood opposite with Gakushuu by her side. She didn't even flinch- she had been expecting this. Her father and brother had spent the whole year saying "If you keep this up you'll be sent to E class!" As if that were the worst thing in the world. Compared to loosing your mother, and having to live with a psychopath father and control-freak brother, this was nothing.
"I'm sure I will. I hear the view from the E class building is really quite lovely. I look forward to going." Chiriko said, glaring straight ahead at her father, refusing to show any signs that she was bothered. She saw Asano smirk and stifle a laugh from the corner of her eye.
"And you, Asano-kun. It really highlights how incompetent you are as a leader that you couldn't even prevent your own own sister from becoming a worthless outcast. I delegated you the task of raising her grades to a standard as high as your own, but you couldn't even raise them to the point of being average." The Chairman said to Gakushuu. The boy flinched slightly, and Chiriko felt a sudden rush of guilt for being so lax in her studies at her brother's expense. Gakushuu forced himself to maintain his polite smile.
"Perhaps Chiriko's current situation highlights how incompetent you are as a father." Gakushu replied bitingly. This father and son had a strange relationship. They had no qualms about slinging back and forth hurtful words, dressed up with polite speech. The Chairman paused for a moment before answering.
"Don't be mistaken. I may technically be your father, but I am your Chairman first and foremost, and I can not give any pupils more help than others, regardless if their related to me or not." Their father said. "In short, both of you failed to reach your goals; Asano, you aren't fit to be a leader, and Chiriko, at your current state you have less value than a human."
"Well you aren't fit to be a father! All you are to me is a sperm-donor!" Chiriko hissed, turning on her heel to leave, filled with anger. She always acted as if it didn't bother her, but constantly being called a worthless failure by her own father made the girl feel like trash. And hearing him say it to her brother only made it worse. She wondered how Gakushuu felt being berated, was he used to it by now, or did it still hurt?
Oh well. Maybe E class would be better, far-away from her Father and almost the entire school. Plus the treck up there would probably make her super fit! Then Chiriko remembered Karma Akabane was due to be in E class, and suddenly she felt even worse.
I didn't want Karma and Chiriko to get along at first, because I like stories were people go from enemies-friends-lovers. Karma seems harsh (probs OOC) But this is set in 2nd year before he meets Korosensei and becomes a little nicer.
Besides, what he was saying isn't completely false, because Chiriko is attracted to miserable/lonely/vulnderable people, because helping them means she doesn't have to face her own emotional problems. She compulsively takes care of others because she lacks control and doesn't know how to care for herself in her own life (eg she neglects her studies and stuff). I didn't want to make her a Mary-sue, so she isn't some angel, and she does mess up a lot.
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