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[hr][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][sub][b]Nashiro City [/b]--[b] Hyakusawa Academy, First Floor[/b]
[color=gray]April 19th, 2019 | 3:15PM[/color][/sub][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][hr][/center]

For all the fanfare that accompanied his shift from middle schooler to high schooler, Kazuki didn’t really feel as if anything had changed. Outside of the smarter kids from his graduating class, most people stuck with the elevator school option of heading from Fukuyu into Hyakusawa, and as a result, Kazuki more or less knew everyone in his class already. That was a good thing, really. Didn’t have to worry about any new troublemakers popping out of the woodwork, and so long as he stayed on the first floor of the building, there was basically a zero percent chance of him having a random encounter with those troublesome upperclassmen delinquents, the ones that were literally just a year above him. Rumors had a habit of trickling down, after all, and by Friday, Kazuki knew all about it. The American giant, the ‘delivery boy’, and the Warden of the council. All bad news of varying sorts, but at least they had obvious tells to their identity. Red hair tended to stand out, after all, and being a tree amongst saplings did too.

Looked like he’d be able to coast through school too, if the lesson pacing continued this way.

With the impeccable punctuality expected of a Tokyo U mathematics major, Mr. Seishiro finished the last of his notes for the day with a flourish of his chalk, before pushing up his glasses. [b]“We’ll be advancing to the next chapter on Monday, class. Please read ahead and do the exercises to prepare yourselves. As always, if you have any questions about the content we’ve covered today, you can speak to me in the teachers’ room.”[/b] The young man paused, his thumb and middle finger pressed together in anticipation. [b]“Class is adjourned. Have a productive weekend, everyone.”[/b] And with a snap of his fingers, the school bell rang, the silent classroom suddenly filled with the noise of chattering students.

It impressed Kazuki every time, how well Mr. Seishiro kept track of his time. The lessons were never rushed, he always had just the right amount of time to answer questions during class, and above all…

[b]“Um, Mr. Seishiro, do you mind going over the material with me again?”[/b]

…the teacher was [i]handsome[/i].

Normally, Kazuki wouldn’t really mind watching his female classmates fawn over the most eligible bachelor in Hyakusawa Academy, but this time, he was on class duty with one of them. Which meant he would soon be on class duty alone. Which meant he’d be late to the Bodybuilder’s Club today. Which meant he’d start his workout late too. And that’d mean he’d have to bust his ass biking to Royo’s Necessities, if he wanted to have any chance at all of getting there before all the discounted groceries were sold out. Which would suck.

…

Not that he’d do anything about it though. Wasn’t a fight worth fighting.

Casting another glance at the Seishiro Fanclub, Kazuki shook his head and sighed deeply, sliding his textbooks and notebooks into the bag he had since the first year of middle school. Maybe there was a friend he could rope into helping him? Yuuki had already left for his part-time work, Banri had scampered off immediately to the Literature Club, Rin still had a broken arm from when he broke Hanami’s heart, and Fumio didn’t even show up to class today.

Which meant Kazuki would have to give him class handouts today too. Good, if he remembered this now, he wouldn’t forget this later.
Rising from his seat, the brown-haired boy strode towards the blackboard, ready to clean up the erasers first. Along the way, one of the classmates he didn’t recognize looked at him. He looked back. They both looked at each other, but neither of them said anything. He tilted his head awkwardly. [b]“Uuh…”[/b]

The stranger stood up suddenly. [b]“Oh, um, like, do you need help?”[/b]

Kazuki took a step back at this, bumping into the desk behind him. The response came automatically though, before he even thought about it. [b]“No, I’m fine.”[/b]

[b]“Oh…”[/b]

[b]“Yeah…thanks though?”[/b]

Kazuki rubbed the back of his neck while his classmate sorta just deflated. Very awkward now. Maybe he should have accepted her goodwill after all? But now it’d be even more awkward to just go back on what he just said moments ago. So in lieu of further embarrassment, the boy made an awkward smile and shuffled sideways away.

Work. Right, he had work to do! Hell, he had twice the amount of work to do, so he definitely had to get his act together now!

Shaking off whatever the hell [i]that[/i] was, Kazuki began again his duty as classroom cleaner-upper.