Chapter 9: Bases Covered Time
The girls had all decided to go out shopping, it felt nice to have some quiet time to myself for the first time in a while. "Hey San!" Nagisa waved me over. "Been a bit, but Sugino and I were wondering if you wanna walk home with us."
"Sure Nagisa," I said, not wanting to be rude.
"Dude, what is up with you?" Sugino asked as he looked me up and down. "You look like you haven't been getting much sleep." He wasn't wrong… Ever since I saw what had
happened with Ame and the pressure ray that Shiro had, I'd been trying to design my own. Not for any malicious reason, but to help her train to overcome its effects… I didn't want her to have the wrong idea so I didn't wind up telling her.
"Y-yeah… Rio and Hina have been staying over in Sis' room for the last couple of nights… Even Ritsu-chan is spending more time with them than with me," I worked a smile on to my tired face. Between Ritsu-chan and Horibe's arrival I was maybe working on 4 hours of sleep a night, and the arm and chest, while recovering, were still not helping the sleeping issue.
"You know… Any other guy our age, save the Bot and Nagisa, would relish the chance to be living with a house full of girls. You're a real drag Shuri…" A voice came from a nearby tree as Akabane hopped down.
"Hey Karma!" Nagisa exclaimed with a nervous look on his face, "You guys please don't fi-"
"Uhhhh…! Crappy weather is finally over!" Sugino cut Nagisa off with a yawn.
"It's gonna get hot soon." Nagisa replied, catching on to what Sugino was doing, both Akabane and I looked at each other for a moment before shaking our heads and paying each other no mind.
"Let's start spending more time outside, by the way your arm almost healed up there Shuri? It's been more than a month." Sugino turned to me.
"Yeah, doc says I should be good to go in the next couple of weeks, barring I do nothing that will cause the injury to become agitated. Problem is… Doc doesn't live with four girls…" I looked over at them and noticed all three of them giving me side-eye. "N-Not like that!" My eyes went wide with the realization of what I had just insinuated.
"Anyway… About being outside more often," Sugino returned to his original discussion.
"Sounds good, you know I'm game!" Nagisa replied.
"How about some fishing?" Akabane said with his usual hint of underhanded malice.
"Fishing, that sounds like fun, what's in season?" Nagisa asked, oblivious to Akabane's implication.
"In the summer months, delinquents are out in droves, we'll use Nagisa as bai-"
"Not happening Akabane…" I cut him off and gave him a threatening glare.
"Oh like you can stop me Bot Boy!"
"You think I've just been sitting around with this cast on! This isn't gonna happen again Aka-"
"Hold up!" We were once again cut off by Sugino… "Geez you two need to stop all this, we're supposed to be working together… Hey…" We were passing by the campus baseball diamond. "How about base…" Sugino trailed off.
"Hey, hey! Look who it is! Long time no see Sugino!" The team was in mid practice, but that didn't stop the lead pitcher for Kunugigoaka's varsity baseball team, Kazutaka Shindo, from calling out to Sugino.
" 'Sup dude!" One of the other players greeted him as the rest of the team rushed over to greet him.
"Way to never stop by and say 'hi' to your old teammates," Another member complained.
Sugino was getting a lot of compliments, before it quickly turned into a slew of unknowing insults towards E-Class. It all culminated in, "Hey come on, be nice!" from Shindo. "Don't make such a big deal out of it. He won't understand, burning the candle at both ends is a privilege of the gifted."
I stepped forward to counter as I saw Sugino slinking back, but to my surprise another of our E-class representatives took to arms against the words spoken, "Humility much?" Akabane confidently stepped forward. "Wow, sounds to me like someone thinks they're one of the chosen ones… Just what did you get on the last exam… because two of us here finished in the top five for the entire school. What's that about burning the candle at both ends again? Please enlighten me… Chosen one."
"Oh but I am… don't believe me? Fine! See how you feel after watching me in the tournament." Shindo stood confident, staring down Sugino, Nagisa, and even Akabane.
"There's great and then there's everyone else… That's just the way things are. I don't make the rules."
Ah yes… The classic school motto. I rolled my eyes. "Sugino, come on, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about…"
"Excuse you?!" He growled.
"Let's go you three," I continued, ignoring Shindo's daggered glance. "Yes, even you, Akabane. We'll come up with a game plan back at my place…"
"Don't ignore me, you one armed lesser!" Shindo confidently boasted.
"Then I guess you'll just have to prove yourself superior in the game that you're so 'destined' to win." Every year Kunugigaoka hosted a baseball tournament that Class-A always won… They'd even let Class-E compete in an exhibition game against the varsity team, usually to humiliate the students in the class in front of their supposed superiors… With Shindo's comments though… There was no way I was gonna let him dampen Sugino's mood. I walked off without giving Shindo a chance to respond. Nagisa tailed after me. Sugino waved to his former teammates, and Akabane smirked as we left a visibly angry Shindo.
When we were out of earshot of the baseball team I called for Ritsu-chan. "Yes Onii-sama!" Her pleasant voice cheeped in anticipation, as she popped up with her usual cheerful expression.
"Let the girls know I'm bringing some of our classmates over. Also if you can see what Kanzaki is doing, and if she's available, can you see if Sis would be willing to go pick her up?"
"Roger!" She saluted me and left my phone.
"Alright you guys… Time to set up a game plan!" I smiled as we walked back to my place.
*/*
"San! Of all people to invite home with you…" It was the next day at the beginning of lunch and I was still being read the riot act from Ame, as Akabane sat there menacingly smirking at her. "HIM! The guy who broke your arm and ribs-"
"Sis enough…" I dropped my head into my desk.
"He was eating our SNACKS!"
"Say what you will, but if we're gonna get Sugino the win in the baseball game, I'm gonna have to work with people we don't like."
"I know… but HIM?! San… your arm… flirting with me…" I sighed as Ame had a slight meltdown.
"Geez, Shorty, rain on my parade, why don'tcha?" Akabane smirked as he sat down at his desk. "Besides it's all Shuri's ever wanted…" His smirk shifted to a sinister sneer, "An actual brain to think for him…"
"And yet I was the one coming up with all of our core strategies by working with someone more experienced in the specific field while you were making passes at Ame, Rio, Hina, AND Kanzaki…" I calmly replied, not giving in to his dig.
"Hey you got your robot girlfriend now, and excuse me for taking a shot at the class idol while I had my chance…" He flicked his hand as if to blow my counter back, as the sound of a clinking metal was heard.
"Ritsu, I know he just said some stupid stuff, but you can't shoot him… even though I really want you to shoot him!" Ame tried to cautiously calm Ritsu-chan down who after overhearing Karma's comment pointed every known gun in her arsenal directly into his face as he finally realized the faults of his actions.
"Don't you dare talk that way about Onii-sama again! He's SOOOOO much smarter than you'll ever be!" Ritsu-chan was the most fumed I had ever seen her.
"Twice in a week Bakabane… You're losing your edge!" Rio confidently strutted up to him before sitting on Ame's desk. "Emasculation by someone 'better' than you is starting to become a regular occurrence… First, Tenta-brat Horibe and now Ritsu, keep it up and I bet once San finishes healing up he'll surprise you, Ego-Trip."
"Tch! As if!" He gritted his teeth with wounded pride.
"Alright everyone, settle down!" Isogai called our attention to the front. "Lunch is almost over and per Sugino's request we are going to talk with Koro-Sensei about the exhibition sports matches."
A few moments of waiting for our teacher's return from his usual global lunch trot and in he zoomed, much to the casual bewilderment of those that sat in the front row like Hina. Isogai would then explain in detail about how our school would do class versus class gender specific sports. Our tentacled teacher was all too happy to hear that E-class was actually considered for inclusion, instantly approved before Sugino explained that the allowance was more to the point to show the superiority of the other classes over us. However Koro-Sensei was far from stilted with this realization, and neither Akabane nor I were about to let that varsity snob Shindo get the better of us.
"We've devised a strate-" I started before Akabane cut me off.
"I'VE developed-" Which only got cut off by Ame's interjection.
"HE'S-"
"Sis… it isn't just my work and it's mostly Sugino's. I just put it to data and Ritsu-chan and I organized it."
"Not to be negative…" Sugino spoke up, "But we're screwed… like royally." He winced. "The Kunugigaoka team has Shindo as their captain. Dude can throw a fastball-"
"Sugino!" I cut him off much to the dismay of the already disheartened class. "That mentality is why I wound up with this broken arm."
"Or how a number of us ended up here in E-Class." Rio chimed in.
"Your classmates are making fine arguments." Koro-Sensei affirmed.
"Yeah bud, I'm not much for which to speak, but you're no slouch." Nagisa turned to give a smile.
"My point is… If we keep talking ourselves down we just prove Principal Asano correct in his philosophy. One player does not a team make. False perceptions also lead to sloppy evaluation. The Varsity team tore into you because they see E-Class as the easy way out… I don't know about you, but I'm not resting on my laurels, and I know for a fact," I presented my broken arm, Akabane isn't either… nor Ame, Ritsu-chan- Point is… There's a list. You gonna count yourself out before even putting up a fighting chance? Well that makes one of us… Oh and Terasaka and his crew… but I know we can still win. I may not be able to bat, but I ask for the class' support in being the student coach and statistician."
Sugino smiled as I finished my speech, he became more invigorated. "I wanna beat the arrogant SOB at his own game!" He stood up and slammed his hands onto the top of his desk. "Baseball is my first love! My life! It took getting kicked off the team to learn that. The odds aren't in our-"
"Swing batter, batta!" Koro-Sensei changed into a complete baseball oriented outfit.
"Sugino, trust us, okay?" Nagisa spoke up.
"I wanted to be the no nonsense sports coa-"
"Sir… San is the coach…" Ame interjected. "Besides he's a little less… distracting…?"
"Depends on who you ask," Rio said with a wink in my direction.
"Awwww, but I even brought a table to flip…"
"Th-that's a little extreme!" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Anyway gang… What do you say we get down to business!" I walked over next to Sugino and raised his arm.
"Yeah, let's do this Shuri! No… Let's do this E-Class!"
"Yeah!" The whole class cheered.
*/*
It was the next day and we had just been called to the field for the exhibition match.
"Only the chosen ones get bragging rights my friend, remember that," Shindo began with his aura of arrogant over-confidence. "Victory goes to the player with the most skill, both on the field… and in the classroom." He smiled menacingly down at Sugino, who looked over to me as I confidently nodded, not giving into Shindo's taunts. "So not a lot of hope for you… but whatever… good luck…" He said with derision.
I glanced over to the corner of the field and noticed a rather large white protrusion popping out of the ground. Good the invasive species has taken his subtle enough position… I thought to myself.
"Let's play some ball!" The crowd cheered as I took my spot in the corner of the dugout with my laptop booted and running the simulation data Ritsu-chan and I had strung together. Most common pitches… Shindo's judgements based on opposing stance and height… So we scramble to throw him off his expected ratios.
"Kimura!" I yelled for one of my classmates. "You're up first."
"Right!" He nodded before grabbing a helmet, and walking out on the field. Koro-Sensei held off from his signaling that he had let me know of prior, as Shindo delivered a devastating first pitch that flew by impossibly fast. 130 kmph… Sugino and the data were not lying. His throw is way above the average for a student our age. I glanced over in Koro-Sensei's direction and nodded. Let's throw them off-base. I smirked to myself with the pun in my head. With a signal Kimura choked up on the bat and just as Shindo let loose his throw. *CRACK* Hard across the bat the ball collided as Kimura caught them all off-guard with our first-inning winning strategy.
Nagisa was next to follow, and he delivered much the same result as Kimura as he bunted his way to first base and with careful angular planning from yours truly Kimura was even able to make it to second without issue as the ball sped down the third baseline.
"No way!" I could hear the varsity coach exclaim in disbelief. "You don't bunt a fastball like Shindo's and get it to go where you want!"
"Nice work coach!" Maehara nodded to me. "You and Ritsu really did all these calculations just for the first two bats.
"Nah Ritsu's with the girls, and my laptop's offline. Predictive software can only do so much… These calculations are all me…"
"WAIT! REALLY?!" He gasped back. "Dude you learned that much in only three pitches?"
"Three pitches and a whole bunch of background data from the other night. I just need to string it together as it arrives."
"Yeah between you and playing against Koro-Sensei, this game should just be a walk in the park."
"We'll find out as we go along… Bunting can only work for so long…" I told him as Isogai delivered yet another bunt. This one was a tad bit riskier since Kimura had to get to third base and Nagisa, who was the current slowest of the three on the field, had to make it to second as well. So instead Isogai used the skill he practiced and had the ball stop at the very edge of the third baseline toward the very edge of the outfield. The mere stun that it had stopped at the point right before it could have been declared foul gave Nagisa enough time to make it to second and have bases loaded for our next batter. "Hey Ace…" I winked at Sugino. "Take 'em home! Swing for the fences!"
"Right! Thanks Shuri!" He smiled before heading out and falsely presenting the bunt, causing Shindo to have a momentary panic attack.
"GIVE 'EM HELL, SUGINO!" I roared as he reared the bat back as soon as Shindo let go of the pitch. I could see the look of pure disillusionment on Shindo's face as Sugino let drive a devastating hit to the center-right field, giving him enough time to have Kimura, Nagisa, and Isogai all make it home and landing him a triple all at once.
However… Our short victory was just that… As I saw the ever threatening presence of Principal Asano step into the opposing dugout. The real game was about to start.
*/*
"Look, there he is, girls!" Rio called as they all gathered at the fence directly next to me. Time had been called from Principal Asano as he walked out to discuss with his team.
"Hey San what's with the-" Rio noticed my sharp glance and followed it before immediately freezing. "What the hell? What is he doing here?"
"Wait, you guys are up three points? How did you all manage that?" Okano gasped with surprise.
"Please… I'm trying to concentrate, girls. I planned for this, but I could only plan for so much off the bat."
"Hah! Good one San!" Sis laughed at my unintentional pun.
"AME-ANEKI!" A voice yelled from Ame's pocket.
"Oops sorry, Ritsu!" Ame pulled her phone from her pocket and turned it around towards me.
"Is something wrong with our calculations Onii-sama?" Ritsu-chan asked me as she looked over my stern face.
"No! I'm just prepping for the worst Ritsu-chan…" I said scratching my chin. "He's probably gonna call this…" I said tapping out thoughts in the air as I thought of everything I thought Principal Asano capable of doing.
Another lie from the announcer about how the varsity coach was sick and the game was back on with a heavy air of malice claiming the field. Maehara was now up to bat and our pitiless principal had enacted the exact counter strategy that I had been anticipating… Normally I would have sent in Akabane after this to throw Shindo even further off his game, but Maehara had jumped the gun and was ready to continue 'racking up the points like the rest of the gang!' as he put it. Now he was met with an all-in-field blitzkrieg like strategy that wouldn't allow any real ground for a bunt strategy to be plausible. With a quick bunt pop-up Maehara was the first casualty of Principal Asano's quick thinking. Okajima was next up to bat but after seeing his partner-in-crime's less than stellar performance he was shaken to his core. Koro-sensei also wasn't much help as he had been completely flustered by the principal's appearance. I on the other hand was trying my best to come up with a solution to bring Sugino home if I could, but with the pace the six pitches were thrown I had no time to enact a counter as even Chiba who was another of my planned called-shots had suffered a strike-out.
I was given some time for reprieve as Sugino began his pitches, he didn't hold the switch-up against me and knew that I'd figure out something for the following round.
"THE WILDCARD!" I nearly knocked my laptop off my lap as I looked up with a wicked smile on my face. "Akabane's up next!"
"So you figured it out too, Shuri!" I was startled as the spherical head of our teacher poked his head out from the dirt.
"K-Koro-Sensei… Yeah… I did…"
"Isn't he sexy girls, getting all hyped up like that while coming up with an idea!" Rio continued her flirting.
"Y-yeah…" Ame muttered. I caught Hina blushing out of the corner of my eye as I instantly felt blood rushing to my cheeks as well.
"R-Rio, quiet! I'm trying to focus here!" I put my hand to my chin as I looked down at Koro-Sensei… "It's a bit unconventional sir… but… how about…" I typed something out on my keyboard and gently tilted the screen towards him.
"Right! We agree!" His head popped back into the ground as he left to relay our plans to Akabane.
Some time passed and with the tricky wordplay of our devilish linguist, the whole crowd was riled against him. Unfortunately it wasn't gonna have any effect in the immediate, so we were forced into another round of three outs in quick succession. Followed a string of their first scores mostly driven by Shindo, who was playing like a man possessed with how vicious his glance was, and we hadn't gained any further ground run wise since the change in coach… I felt miserable as I kept failing to find a hole in the Principal's Ironclad offensive tactics.
"Some coach! He couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag… or perhaps I should say an arm sling…" I growled as I heard the taunting voice of the cockroach of the science department, Koyama's voice, say as he and Seo watched from the sidelines. I took a deep breath and ignored them. It was the bottom of the third inning, the final inning in our exhibition, we had barely kept a one point lead, I needed absolute focus.
"Sugino, he's gonna try to reverse our play against us… let him think it's working…" I said with a sly smile, though the confused look from my friend in response didn't build my confidence.
"Damn, I love when a guy takes charge and gives those come hither eyes, don't you Ams? Hina?" Rio said with a mischievous grin as she clung to the fence and pressed her body into it.
"Got no arguments from me Ri!" Ame agreed, flirtatiously flittering her eyes at me. The only response from Hina was a quiet whimper and further deepening red of her cheeks.
Due to this momentary distraction I hadn't noticed that two more bunts had taken place and what was even worse was Shindo had just been called up to bat.
"Hey Seo, you hear what they say about best laid plans… Guess the bot kid was too busy working on plans to get laid by those floozies in E-Class." Koyama prodded.
"Tch, yeah, figures, not everyone can just bend chicks to their wi-"
"Quiet!" I glared at Seo before he could finish his derogatory comment.
"M-Make me, one arm!" He flinched.
"I'm too busy winning a game!" I smiled back. "AKABANE!" I yelled down the field before calling a timeout to join my team on the field.
"Right, new marching orders from coach." Akabane walked over after having talked with Koro-Sensei. "Since they wanna play dirty, who feels like doing the same with me?" I nodded at him, and he actually responded in kind.
He walked in the direct line of fire with the bat, and Isogai joined him in my stead, as I wasn't allowed on the field in a player sense since I hadn't played all game. AKABANE continued with his usual anti-authority schtick and it was completely bewildering the umpire. One strike as Shindo's will wavered and the Principal called out Red-Haired Menace's underhanded tactic. "Hey Akabane, you're back too far, playing cautious today? You?" I played into the strategy. "This is more underhanded than the encroachment that our illustrious Principal used to block our bunt strategy. I say, game on!"
"Yeah, yeah I got it Bot Brain!" Akabane and Isogai took another step forward further shaking Shindo. A pop-up was all Shindo could muster as Nagisa frantically picked up the ball, tagged home, threw to third, and then over to first for a devastating triple play to end the game in our victory, much to the Principal, Koyama, and Seo's collective chagrin though only two of them were showing it.
"Thanks for the assist Isogai," I walked up to Akabane and him.
"Yeah no problem, happy to help," he responded in his usual chipper demeanor.
"And Ego-Trip… I couldn't have done it without my greatest rival." I genuinely smiled at Akabane for his willingness to put himself on the line for his classmates.
"Yeah, don't I know it, Bot for Brains, takes a real man to get off the bench and put himself at risk," he playfully retorted, extending his tongue. "But I guess the sooner that faulty arm of yours heals, the quicker I'll get to test your mettle," he said with his usual smirk, but somehow it didn't seem as harsh. "Get better already, I wanna test this new hardware update soon."
"Hey Shuri," as soon as Akabane had finished Sugino had run over to me. "Thanks man! I really don't think we could have done that without you."
"You would have been fine bud, have some faith in yourself," I said with a warm smile. "Though if ya wanna really thank me, call me San next time, we're friends bro."
"SAAAAAAN!" I nearly dropped my laptop as I was hit by a featherweight wrecking ball that had run near full normal speed into my good arm.
"Geez calm down sis… do you want me to re-break my ribs…"
"S-Sorry San, I was just so happy you won I couldn't contain myself…" Ame's eyes began to water up.
"I hear ya on that Ams," Rio followed up behind her… "The way he took charge of the team… Mommy li-"
"You… Did not just call yourself 'Mommy'." I shuddered. "Rio… for the love of the Gods above, STOP PLEASE!" The entire class turned to look at me due to my outburst.
"Perfect… Just as planned… You aren't the only genius in our group…" She smirked. "PARTY AT SAN'S!"
"WAIT… WHAT?!" I gasped in disbelief.
"Hey…" Another person walked up behind me… "I came to apologize… The red-haired guy wasn't taking it, but you seem to mostly have a level head on your shoulders…" It was Shindo, calmed down from the induced rage inspired by our dear principal. "The teachers, the big five, and the principal all say that you guys just slack off… Us regular students all take them at their word. After all, why would our superiors lie to us…? Well it seems they're a tad off base. It takes real courage to face odds like this and here you are not only facing them, but turning them on their head. You ask me… Our principal is scared of change… and you're the new wave that's coming in… Keep rocking the boat Shuri…"
"Thanks Shindo, I appreciate the encouragement, and I don't plan to slow down anytime soon."
"Dude… You also gotta teach me… How the hell do you not only do all that math in your head… but do it while all these hot chicks are hitting on you? Come on, you gotta tell me!"
"I'm gonna walk away now…" I nervously chuckled and started backing away… "Rio, Hina, Sis! If you really wanna have this party we have to leave now."
"Hey, so the short one is your sister is she seeing-" I could hear Shindo yelling behind me.
"I only have time for San-Nii!" She replied back as she chased after me.
"Hey San, let us come help too!" Nagisa shouted with Sugino in tow.
"Yeah I'm the one that gotcha into this mess, least I can do is help out!" Sugino agreed.
"I'm willing to help too," The surprising voice of Kanzaki chimed in.
"Maybe if I help Ame will teach me how to make those little cream puffs she makes! They're so good!" Kayano had also joined the crew.
"Glad to see you don't have ulterior motives Kaede…" Sis rolled her eyes. "Hina do me a favor and help San change his bandages when we get home… I'mma be too busy making snacks for the party… and I'd rather not have Rio… well pulling a Rio…"
"I-I'll do my best Ame…"
"Not so fast E-Class chumps!" A hand reached for my shirt.
"Ame, take my laptop, Hina, and the rest of the girls and head on home." I glared into the eyes of Seo as he and Koyama stared us down.
"I ain't going anywhere San! I'm with-"
"Ame!"
"I can handle-"
"I got San, Ams! The boys and I will handle this. He's asking you to look out for everyone else." Rio gritted her teeth.
"Yeah! Please Ame, look out for everyone!" Sugino agreed. "Come on, Nagisa!" Seo attempted to reach for Kanzaki as she and the rest of the girls ran past, but I caught his hand.
"Putting hands on your betters will-"
"So what you're saying is… You aren't trying to attack us because we just beat our so-called betters in baseball… Oh… AND Akabane and I kicked you guys out of your top five placement…" I looked down at Seo who himself wasn't a person small in stature. "You saw my injury, saw that I was traveling with a few young ladies, and both you and Koyama thought you could take advantage…" I shook my head. "I'd expect something like this to come from Sakakibara, this is right up his alley."
"Mind if I jump in San?" Rio asked. "You don't just have one person that outranked you in English on the last Midterm… I'm here too! Get over your superiority complex!" She rolled her eyes. "Just because you spent a year in Los Angeles, doesn't mean that there aren't those that-"
"SHUT UP BITCH!" He swung at Rio with his other hand.
"Now… That's just simply uncalled for… These are the top students of our generation… and one of them is recklessly attacking the others… and they'll probably attempt to swing it against us later…" For once I was happy to hear a familiar condescending tone, as my red-headed rival caught Seo's other hand. "Now… I'm gonna give you and the glasses geek a chance to walk away from all of this with your hand still intact. Walk away ya Muscled 'Merican Wannabe, because with me here… That makes three. Remember us, asshole! You may be part of the Kunugigaoka Big Five… We're the KSAC Big Three!"
Rio gave me a wanting look… As she motioned her head between Seo and the ground. I looked at her with a confused look for a few moments as she kept motioning in a certain direction. I finally got what she was implying as I frantically shook my head 'no' and let go of Seo's wrist. "You're getting off free today, boys! Now run off to your ringleader!" The two of them scattered without further issue.
"You guys are way too trusting… They're just gonna retaliate until they learn…" Akabane sighed as he joined us on our walk back to my place.
"I don't know Karma… If you had done something it might have just led to us getting Koro-Sensei in trouble… Or worse… Us expelled," Nagisa rubbed the back of his head.
"Then we came to the same conclusion, Nagisa." I nodded. "They're seen as the top students, and all we are seen as is delinquents… even if you and I outrank them Akabane. As much as you like to boast… at the end of the day… What affects you while in the class, affects us all. The sooner you acknowledge this, the better."
"Yeah, yeah…" He scoffed. "I'll keep that in mind next time one of your 'close friends' is about to be hit."
"You arrogant jerk!" Rio growled, "What makes you think I can't handle myself! I'm in the same class you are… and we just established I'm just as smart as you."
"Well I wouldn't go that far…" Akabane shrugged visually with his arms raised and typical condescending grin, only to freeze up when he saw how visibly pissed Rio was looking with her face deep red.
"Guys… Let's all calm down!" Nagisa sheepishly chimed in.
"One day Bakabane, your arrogance will catch up with you, and this whole Alpha Male personality you like to think you give off will come crumbling down… Take it from someone who knows! Superiority is just another word for 'loneliness'. One doesn't become the leader just by being the most brutal or having an air of superiority." After taking a deep breath Rio returned to her normal composure. "Now… You can still come to the after party… You did help the team achieve victory after all… but come near Hina, Ams, Kayano, Kanzaki, Ritsu, or me and don't think we won't throw you out on your ass, Ego-Trip…" As we entered the park by my apartment complex she took a moment to separate from us and sit on the swing set.
*/*
(Author's Note: Sorry for the wide page breaks, readers, for some reason the asterisks weren't working)
