This took longer than I wanted to, but here's the next chapter!

Once again the classroom was bustling with life as he entered. Echoes of "It must be true!" and "The ring looks just like Yamamoto's" had his insides twisting in cold terror and he briefly considered turning and fleeing. Deciding that since he had already suffered through crawling out of bed and getting to school, he might as well get the whole thing over with.

Besides, fleeing was totally unbecoming of Tsuna's right hand man. Steeling his mind towards him impending doom, Gokudera dragged himself to a table and slumped down.

To his confusion, no one seemed to pay him any mind. Hoping that this only meant that he had been stealthy enough to go unnoticed, Gokudera rummaged through his bag for his notebook and pencil. After placing them on the table he started listening to the conversations around him. Despite Yamamoto being mentioned from right to left, they were suspiciously lacking his own name.

What if they were not talking about him?

But then… who was supposedly wearing the same ring as Yamamoto?

He got the answer sooner than he had wished for, when one of the girls squealed something about a Tanaka-san.

"She told me they got them together!" Seething anger building up inside him, Gokudera had to bite down harshly on his lip to keep himself from yelling at them. How fucking dare she?! The girls were giggling away, unaware of the rage they were about to unleash upon themselves.
"She's so cute! They make the perfect couple!"Trying to keep calm, Gokudera inhaled furiously through his nose, hands balling into shaking fists. He was not going to have an outburst in the class room. He was not going to-
"I know!" Gokudera was pretty sure his lip was bleeding by now. One more comment and he was going to- "I'm so jealous!" One hand unclenched, fingers digging sharply into his thigh. That was it. He was about to rise when another giggle rang through the air. Then there was a loud snap and a sharp pain coming from his hand. Bewildered, he glanced down, only to see the remains of his mechanical pencil torn apart beneath his whitening knuckles.

He was going to find this bitch and tear her lying little face apart.

As soon as the lecture was over he stormed out. In a flurry Gokudera pushed past the, most likely, innocent bystanders, ignoring their startled protests, and marched over to the student office. Once there he raised his hand to knock, only to falter when he realized that he had no idea what to tell them.

Determination washed off his face and Gokudera was left standing outside with his hand raised.

What had he been thinking? That he would barge in there and demand to know who was claiming to be Yamamoto's girlfriend?

A defeated chuckle left his lips.

Digging his traitorous hand into his pocket he felt a hard edge against his fingers. Hesitantly his fingers curled around it, skimming over the surface. He knew he should not. I need air. He headed out the opposite way he had come from, clutching the packet firmly.

Gokudera watched the trails of smoke dissipate into the air. It was strange how calm it made him. He could feel his high-strung nerves unwinding themselves and his mind becoming clearer. He sighed and rubbed his temple. The whole ordeal was wearing him down more than he would have liked to admit. Closing his eyes he took another drag and contemplated his options.

Getting worked up over every little thing was not helping him analyze the situation and deal with it with minimal damage. Albeit not liking to admit it, Gokudera knew that he, at times, got a little too hotheaded and tended to act irrationally.

Having realized that raging through the school in search for the perpetrator was rather counterproductive, Gokudera chose the next best option.

Texting.

[Who the fck] he swore loudly and slammed his thumbs against the screen in frustration. [fcuk] The damn uncooperative device was not improving his day. [fuck is she?!]
[Who?] came the almost immediate reply.
[The lying bitch!]
[Oh! You mean Tanaka-san?] Gokudera did not really care about what's-her-face. Instead, Yamamoto's calm awareness of the situation only served to irk him further. Before he had the chance to call and tell him that in person, however, his phone vibrated again. [I'll talk to her! Don't worry about it!] You better! Gokudera grit his teeth and growled at his phone. Then he saw the second part of the message.
[Who said I was worried?!]
[(^w^)] Defiantly he shoved his phone into his pocket without answering it. Of course Yamamoto was not taking it seriously.

However, as the classes passed, he noticed that the gossiping diminished and there were no more mentions of the moronic girl. In fact, the interest in the topic seemed to have dwindled to a minimum. It left Gokudera wondering what exactly Yamamoto had said. Not that he cared really. He was just less annoyed now that he could finally relax. Or almost at least.

There was still one problem left. Takeuchi.

This particular matter Gokudera was more eager to deal with. He had always prided himself over his particular skill of exploiting and subduing those that had wronged him.

Apparently the lingering sour mood was quite visible on his face, because Takeuchi flinched back when he corned him on the way to baseball practice.

"Uh, can I help you?" Takeuchi scratched the back of his neck, eyes flickering to the side. "I haven't seen Yamamoto yet if you're looking for him, but I bet he's at the field already."
"No." He growled, before taking a deep breath and starting over. "No, I want to talk."
"Okay." Takeuchi sounded somewhat hesitant, but nodded in agreement.
"Don't…" Gokudera cast a quick glance around them. "Don't tell anyone what happened at the shop last night."He must have glared, because the other male threw up his hands in defence.
"I won't tell anyone else that you guys are friends!" He adverted his eyes. "I might have mentioned it, but I won't say anything about it again!" Gokudera watched him carefully, unsure if he was being serious. Did he believe that that was what this was about? That he would chase him for just that after what had happened the day before? It was almost as if he had not understood… "I don't know why you want to keep quiet about it, especially not when Yamamoto seems to care for you so much." The baseball player shot him a frustrated glare. "Hell, he almost treats you like his girlfr-" Gokudera was sure he could tell the exact moment when the realization dawned upon Takeuchi. For a moment they just stared at each other, and then the other male stuttered, eyes widening almost comically as he let out a high pitched 'Oh'. Gokudera was torn between kicking himself for inadvertently causing the very thing he had been trying to avoid and laughing himself silly over the fact that Takeuchi had not been able to come to the conclusion himself.

After a moment of looking anywhere but each other, Takeuchi seemed to have found his speech again.
"Uh. I wasn't quite expecting that. Not that I mind!" He gave Gokudera a quick glance as if wanting to gauge his reaction and offered a meek smile. "I won't tell anyone I swear."
"Yeah, whatever." Gokudera pinched his nose, feeling a headache coming. "Just go play your game." Takeuchi gave him a short wave and took off towards the field, jogging to catch up with the others. Once he was out of sight Gokudera buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly.

Why did he end up doing these things to himself?

Walking away, he was hit by a sudden epiphany. She had not told him.

Despite how harshly he had treated the annoying girl, she had not said a word.