Day two of having an immobile right hand and it's not going any better.
In fact, it's quite the opposite.
At the current moment, she's alone.
No, scratch that. She's definitely not alone. Her chances of finishing her lunch were slim, she decided. Why not spend the rest of lunch inside, she thought. It'll be calming, being around the rest of my classmates, she told herself.
Boy, was she wrong.
"Okuda-san, back early, hm?" The yellow octopus joins her as she walks down the hallway. He's busily munching on some sort of rice ball - his lunch, presumably. She thinks wistfully of her own - half-eaten in her bag. I guess I'll eat it when I get home.
"Y-yes, Koro-sensei," she replies, bowing. "I thought I'd go inside and j-join my classmates."
"Now, now, what did we say about stuttering?" Her teacher rests a slimy limb on her shoulder. "You must be confident, Okuda-san. If not when speaking to others, at least when speaking to me. I feel I must deserve at least that."
She smiles abashedly. "Sorry, Koro-sensei. I will do better next time."
This is what she loves about being in Class 3-E with a teacher like him. He knows each and every one of his students strengths and weaknesses. He perfected their strengths and built upon their faults. She knew he did it for her.
Right at the door, she is greeted by Sosuke Sugaya, the class artist.
"Okuda-san! Just in time! I have an idea!" He gently takes her left arm and pulls her in.
"Eep!" She squeals in surprise.
"Not so hard, now!" Tomohito Sugino appears out of nowhere. "You don't want to risk getting her injury worse!"
It makes sense. As a baseball player, he would know all about injuries concerning wrists and arms.
"Thank you, Sugino-kun." She flashes him a grateful look.
"Hey, hold out your arm." She directs her attention back to the gray-haired artist. She complies, offering her left arm.
"Other right," he corrects. She takes in what's in front of her. Brushes, paints, markers, and...an artist.
"A-are you going to…?"
"White is a bland color," he tells her bluntly. "If you're going to be wearing that thing for a while, I figured it might as well look good."
He's going to...decorate it?
"No, no...it's fine!" She assures embarrassedly. She doesn't need people fussing and fretting over her...much less spending their time doing unnecessary things for her.
Not to be ungrateful...but there's really no way to word that politely.
She doesn't say that, though, it would sound strange coming from the meek Okuda. So she feebly resists, stuttering despite her promise to Koro-sensei.
"Resistance is futile," he says jokingly. "Now, what should I draw…? It's very contoured, this should make for an interesting landscape…"
The last thing she needs is for it to stand out more. She doesn't know how to say no without coming off as rude or selfish and ungrateful. She looks back to Koro-sensei for aid - but he's gone. Probably finished his rice ball and gone back to get another one.
Luckily, someone else comes to her rescue.
"You can't do that, Sugaya-kun!"
Isogai-kun...she breathes a hidden sigh of relief. He's always been perceptive and sensible, he could probably see what she's feeling. It's a nice feeling to know that someone had your back -
"We all need a chance to sign it!"
"I-Isogai-kun!?" Even him? "N-no, please, you don't have to -"
A new voice joins the fray. "Of course we have to, Okuda-chan!" It's bright and bubbly, like a sunny day. It's Hinano Kurahashi.
"Everyone knows that casts are meant to be signed," she explains, as if it's obvious.
"Actually…" Kotaro Takebayashi pushes his glasses back up, a surefire sign of a long information session incoming.
"Shhh," the bug-hunter interrupts, putting a finger to his lips and stopping him mid-sentence. "Don't ruin my moment."
Sugaya takes advantage of the momentary confusion to inscribe his name on her cast - beautifully drawn calligraphy in black ink.
"S-Sugaya-kun…!"
"My turn!" Kurahashi grabs a red marker and scrawls her name beside Sugaya's in her messy yet adorable handwriting. "There, who's next?"
Yuma Isogai is next to volunteer. He graciously accepts a lavender pen from Sugaya, but hesitates before marking her. "Are you okay with this, Okuda-san?" He lowers his voice so only she can hear it.
Her earlier judgment of him proves true. However, he is a bit late, there's no point in saying no when two people have already signed it. "W-well, I -"
- guess so, as long as it's not too much. Her sentence is left forever unfinished to the fault of an unknowing student.
He's at his desk. The previous day's anxiety has faded. The prospect of admitting to his fault still terrifies him somehow. It makes no sense, no sense at all - he has absolutely no trouble with feats of courage, so this roadblock utterly confuses him. He's pushed it to the back of his mind for now - mulling over it will only distract him from his duties.
It's currently lunch period, but he doesn't eat. He usually eats while skipping the classes he feels are unnecessary - eating with other people just won't sit well with him.
No one is taking the liberty of talking to him. He isn't bothered, it's a usual occurrence and he's usually not present anyways.
He's on a break. He knows Okuda always eats outside. Maybe she likes eating alone as well. He wonders how she's faring - it couldn't be easy to eat with a non-dominant hand.
He looks up to the sound of the door opening, revealing a certain violet-haired girl on the other side.
Speak of the devil. Although, he supposes, maybe 'devil' wasn't the correct word to use in this scenario. How about…
His mind flashes back to the time when Sugino had described Okuda to him. It was about when she was describing her super ex-lax, Victoria Falls. He had said something about a "scary glint in her eye", something she would only exhibit when talking about science.
Everyone in this class was a devil in their own right. For some, it was less obvious than others, but for people like Karma - he didn't have to hide it. He knew it was his nature, he didn't care if it pushed them away. It was what he was used to.
He shakes himself out of unusual deep thoughts and is met by the sight of, again, a crowd.
What surprises him most about it is that...he's angry.
"Jeez," he mutters.
"Why don't ya'll give it a break?"
He doesn't say give her a break because he wants to protect his pride.
He's tired of seeing it all the time. It's not jealousy, it's just weariness. Seeing them all over her is a testimony to his guilt. Maybe he doesn't want to be reminded anymore.
I'll apologize...someday.
After hearing Karma defend her, and her friends backing off (they didn't want to risk incurring the wrath of Akabane) she felt torn between two sides. She appreciated the attention, not in a pompous way of course, but she also wanted to be treated the same as any other. Her only misgiving about voicing her feelings were her being seen in a wrong light.
Karma had done more than defend her, however; he inspires her. If someone could go to great lengths for her, then why couldn't she do the same?
"Th-thank you, everyone," she bows. "But I'd like it if y-you could treat me the same as before a-and forget about my disability."
Just like that, back to square one with self-doubting, she thinks glumly. What was it she promised Koro-sensei? To be confident?
"Well if that's what you want, then that's what you'll have," Isogai assures, clapping her on the back. "We'll respect your wishes."
"Thank you, Isogai-kun," she replies, pleased her voice is straight.
"But…" Sugaya frowns, eyeing her cast. "It looks weird with just a few signatures. I can cover them up with white or we can all sign it, if you want. Either way, it'll make it stand out less."
Faced with another choice? All her confidence, down the drain. "Um, I-I'm fine, S-Su -"
""Haven't you heard her?"
Invisible glass shatters, setting free an onslaught of water, washing away sense and breaking limits.
"Lay off her already!"
All conversation in the room comes to a halt. He'd raised his voice higher than intended - whatever. The amount of people witness is bound to change.
He gets up, trying to suppress his emotion. He walks with controlled rage to the door, ignoring curious faces and striding past shady whispers. The door opens to his teacher, who is happily eating a rice ball.
"Sensei, I'm skipping again, hope you don't mind," he mutters as he slips past, not bothering to stage an assassination.
His teacher is powerless to stop him, as always.
I need to stop this.
The only way to stop is to tell.
He touches upon the subject that has been thought of countless times.
What am I scared of?
Just be upfront about it.
Why don't you tell someone?
That's just it. He has to keep up a front. Letting anyone, anyone in is not an option.
Tell someone and you'll feel better.
Share the burden.
"I'll tell her tomorrow," he resolves, unconsciously saying it out loud, going against his own thoughts.
Even before it happens, he knows he's going to have to step up his game. There's been way too many people sneaking up on him in the last couple of days. Two people, and that's two too many.
"Tell who what?"
It sounds gruff and uncaring.
"Terasaka-kun."
"That's me."
"Care to tell me why you're following?" He turns around, hiding his mortification. He's ready to punch the lights out of him in the blink of an eye.
"Hey, don't get so mad with me," Ryoma Terasaka protests, stepping back.
That's right, cower beneath me.
"I just wanted to see what's wrong."
"Ha, you?" the redhead laughs harshly. "Of all people, you?"
"I know how stupid it sounds, I get it, me, the big bully," he says sheepishly. "But after...what happened, I want to get..more...involved. With you guys."
Guilt can do wonderful things.
Karma's not even listening. He's pinching himself in various places.
"What're you doing!?"
"Gotta make sure this isn't a dream. If you're having deep thoughts, I must be dreaming."
"Thanks for the compliment," Terasaka snorts. The next moment, he's reeling from pain.
"Shit, what was that for?" He shouts, his cheek red from being slapped. Hard.
"The second reason would be that you're a thought projection," Karma explains offhandedly, examining his hand. "I wouldn't be able to slap you if you were."
"Hmph." He crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "Mind telling me what's up?"
"...don't look at me like that!"
"It's weird to see you being the understanding one," Karma says finally. "I didn't know you could understand anything."
"...you're right, this is stupid." Terasaka turns and head back into the building. Karma is open-mouthed. One, did Terasaka just admit to him being right?
Second, did that just happen?
Oh, boy. He crouches down, trying to comprehend it. Terasaka. Big, strong, isn't good with words. Did he just offer to listen to his problems?
Like hell I'd go to him.
They part ways.
Terasaka goes back inside, grumbling.
That was stupid. Why did I think he would ever open up to me?
Karma walks off.
Sheesh...what the hell was that?
"He's like your knight in shining armor," Nakamura teases relentlessly.
Okuda just buries her head in her arm and wishes for the day to be over.
Alright! So, sorry I'm dragging this on longer. It's kind of become my centerpoint, like, everything's revolving around it. I mean him not telling, of course. I promise the next chapter will have more interaction.
Until next time!