I can feel Rin glaring at me. He has been all day. Unfortunately, for me after my little temper tantrum in the first period, the fact that I now shared almost all my classes with my new 'friends' seemed to have slipped my mind. Logically I was both in the right and wrong. What I said was true, but I did not need to give that much attitude. It's not directly Rins fault we were partnered together. Maybe it's mine. But how? For being too smart? For working too hard? Maybe if I flew just a little more under the radar then I wouldn't have been partnered with him.
It doesn't matter anyways. I doubt anything would have changed the headmaster's mind. Trying to think positively about the whole situation has proven difficult. I lightly tap my pencil on my desk. Maybe if I could get Rin to focus long enough to figure out what demon we will be up against that will raise the working together part of the grade, and with those flames of his defeating the demon will be easy. I summon one of my familiars and attend to any wounds after I would show my skills as both tamer and doctor. That has a good chance of getting a decent grade.
"Miss Mika, could you please tell me the importance of having a strong bond with your familiars?" The teacher's voice brings me back to the classroom.
"Yes of course." I say while standing up. "The bond between exorcists and their familiars is important for a few different reasons. The most crucial one is that familiars draw their strength from their tamers. Stronger the bond plus a stronger heart equals a stronger the familiar in battle. The second crucial reason is your familiar is less likely to turn on you in a moment of hesitation. The bond they share with you will allow them to see you are not weak but rather taking the time to think things through. It's also believed that a stronger bond between the familiar and tamer allows the familiar to stay longer in Assiah with their tamer rather than having to go back to Gehenna. Of course, no matter how strong the bond, once the circle is broken the familiar goes back to Gehenna, until the familiar is resummoned."
"Perfect explanation. " The teacher goes back to the lesson. I sit back down, resuming the tapping of my pencil. I really should be paying more attention since this is a summoning circle-based class. I just can't seem to focus every time I get my mind off Rin, I hear his name or voice, and I get all worked up again. Finally, the bell rings and cram school is done for the day. I quickly gather my things to make my way out the door without having a run in with Rin. Avoiding my new classmate is currently at the top of my list. At least until he calms down if he ever does.
Honestly, if I was in his position and someone, I didn't even know started talking about me and what I did or didn't know I would be all sorts of angry as well. Thankfully the short walk to my dorm room is uneventful. I mean I doubt that Rin would even bother looking for me. I gave him my number shortly after the whole project was explained, but I'm certain he won't bother messaging me for a while anyways. I know I have to apologize so hopefully by tomorrow he'll calm down enough that I can be so sorry and mean it.
Once I'm in my room, I lay my bag on my desk and pull out everything needed for my homework. Yukio was kind enough to waive my homework for today as I do have a few assignments I need to finish for my previous classes. I get comfortable on my bed, turn on some music, tie my hair up, and start breezing through the work. Unfortunately, being part of the cram and the regular academy we have double the homework. On the bright side a decent amount of the cram school homework is literally copied from the textbooks and the other parts of it are based on how we apply the knowledge in real life scenarios. Most of the real-life bits have been watched over by instructors so the ability to fail isn't too hard, but it's gotten repetitive and boring. With this project we are completely on our own. By the sounds of it the instructors will only step in if it becomes life and death. If that happens it's an automatic failure since we failed to kill the demon.
Just as I am finishing my work there is a knock on the door. I look up confused. My roommate started the cram school at the same time, but she never made it past the first few days. I haven't received any news that I would be getting another roommate. Sliding the books out of my way I stand up taking a minute to stretch them out from being crossed for so long. Another knock comes from the door, so I walk over and open it. To my surprise I see Rin standing there. Changed out of the school uniform but still carrying that sword on his back. The shock of seeing him fades only to be replaced with thoughts of how he found my dorm room to begin with.
"Uh hi? Can I help you?" I ask the shock and confusion I feel is heard in my tone. "Wait... I didn't tell you what dorm mine was."
A light shade of red blush appears on his face as he looks away from me. He rubs the back of his neck before answering me.
"Yeah, well you didn't. I happened to see you walking by earlier and wanted to talk so I kind of followed you. I was gonna knock earlier, but I heard the music come on and thought you were busy." He says
"So, you followed me? Not going to lie Rin that's kind of creepy."
He whips his eyes to meet mine. The blush fades away instead an angry look replaces it.
"It's not like that! I just wanted to tell you I don't like the way you speak to me. Yelling at me in front of the class like you know everything about me! You don't!" He yells at me.
I pull my hair out of its pony and let out a sigh. I start twirling a strand of hair around my finger. A habit I only recently picked up when being confronted. I met his eyes once again before saying.
"Yeah, I know. It was uncool of me to speak like that to you. Especially since I hardly know anything about you. I'm sorry. It's not your fault that we got paired together for the project. I shouldn't be taking my frustration out on you. Technically I am right when I say you need to start thinking before you act, I should have never taken that tone with you. There are probably a hundred nicer ways of me saying that. Although I won't apologize for the creepy comment you could have texted me instead of following me around."
"Wait what?" The anger disappears and now confusion is left in its place. "You're apologizing? Like for real?"
"Yes? I apologize when I'm in the wrong? Do people not do that around you?" I am now confused too.
"They do, I guess I just wasn't expecting it from you so straightforwardly." He says quietly
"Okay so now look at who's judging people based on a split second interaction. " I said a smile making its way on my face.
"No! That's not what I'm trying to do."
"Rin chill, I'm only joking."
"Oh, yeah I knew that." he says
A full-blown smile appears on my face, and I let out a little laugh. Rin looks at me with a confused goofy look which makes me laugh harder.
"Rin, you seem to be a funny guy. Maybe working with you won't be a bad thing."
Another round of blushing creeps on his cheeks which leads him to break eye contact once again.
"Uh yeah sure. whatever you say."
"Well, if that's all I have homework I need to get back to."
"Actually. Would you mind possibly helping me with some math homework?" He asked me.
"Why not that happens to be my last subject. Although no offence, my math might be a tad more advanced than yours."
"Oh." His face drops and he looks defeated?
"I'm not saying I won't help, all I'm saying is don't get mad when your brain hurts looking at my work okay?" I offer gently.
"Okay you got a deal." A small smile works its way onto his face as I open the door and step aside to let him in. As he walks in, I debate keeping the door opened or closed. If I keep it open people will see Rin in my room with me and who knows what rumors will start from that. On one side undoubtedly people have already seen him following me and then standing here talking to me. If I shut the door I'm alone with Rin and who knows what will happen. My main worry is the whole burst into flames when angry I make the quick decision to leave the door opened just a crack.
I sit down on my bed and pull my math supplies. Rin pulls the chair out from my desk and makes himself comfortable. He pulls out a single piece of paper from his pocket and uncrumple it. I lean over pulling out extra supplies from the drawer laying them in front of Rin. He mutters a thank you as I look over his homework.
"Okay I can see where you are messing up." I point to a spot on his page. I write the problem on some scratch paper. I solve the equation then show him each step individually. I have him redo the problem on his own then correct mistakes as they appear. We do this for each problem he has eventually he starts catching the small mistakes. He works on the second page while I work on mine. Occasionally he asks for help which I oblige. He finishes his homework in the meanwhile.
"Hey, you forgot to add it there." He says pointing to my page.
"No, that's not right for this equation. It's the longer version where you have to do each step individually rather than combining the steps. It's supposed to make you think harder or something." I say "See watch."
I showed him how to solve the problem. I try to go slow but having already solved the problem, slowing down seems to be harder. My pencil just glides across the page as the numbers run through my mind. When I get the problem done, I look up to see Rin with the most puzzled look on his face. I swear if he was a cartoon smoke would be coming out of his ears. I give Rin some more problems that are more his speed so I can take my time working through my homework. Thankfully, I'm able to get my work done just as Rin is finishing his.
I'm going over his work correcting mistakes again and trying to explain them to him but when I hear a low rumbling coming from Rin. He looks embarrassed as he explains he hasn't eaten since lunch. He begins to gather his things and head for the door. I walk over to my closet pulling out a snack cake and offering it to him.
"Here you worked hard today. It's not much but it should hold you over until you get back to your place to get a real meal."
"Really? Thanks!" He takes the snack cake from me "You know you're a pretty cool person. Thanks again for the help and the snack." He says as he leaves the room. I watch him walk for just a bit happily munching on his snack cake. I shake my head a little and get ready for bed. The little image of Rin's goofy smile continually popping in my head. No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get it out. I lay into bed drifting off to Rin munching on his snack cake. Something so little seemed like a huge deal for him. I mean it's just a snack cake that I happened to have, and he was hungry. Almost as if no one looks out for his wellbeing despite the fact he's always looking out for others. My last thoughts before slipping into a deep sleep revolving around Rin and that damn snack cake.