At Last || Saiouma fanfic

Math Class

       Shuichi sat, hunched over his desk, in sixth period math. He had a few minutes before class started, so he hastily pulled his homework out of his bag and began chipping away at the untouched assignment, although, seeing that there were two minutes 'til 1:45, he knew there was little hope of getting it done in time.

       Suddenly and without warning he felt hands on his shoulders. He whipped around as fast as he could and nearly jumped out of his skin. Behind him, with an evil grin, was Kaede Akamatsu. He breathed a sigh of relief that it was just her and not some random stranger, but the relief was quickly replaced with rage, not like someone just cut me in line at the ice cream store rage, more like that affectionate rage you feel when your friends are being annoying.

       "What the hell, Kaede?" He said, half laughing. "Gotcha!" She replied, her smile growing even wider. He forgot all about the homework, and shifted in his chair to better talk to her. "Hey, you've been out of school these past few days.. where were you?" Kaede sighed, but he couldn't tell if it was due to his question or the thought of why she had been out of school. He briefly regretted the question, but realized her expression looked all but annoyed.

       She rolled her eyes and half-smiled. "Rantaro hurt himself when we went out rollerskating on Saturday, and I had to look after him until he was able to get around the house by himself again." "Ah, gotcha," Shuichi replied. "What about his parents though?" Kaede cringed. "Er, you didn't know? He doesn't exactly have the best relationship with them, he moved out just a year ago." 

       "Oh, duh," Shuichi said, although despite his calm appearance, he was screaming on the inside for having asked such a dumb question. "How are you and him doing, anyways?" He quickly attempted to change the subject. Kaede took a deep breath and got that look in her eyes like she was about to rant for the next hour, but her enthusiasm was cut short by the door creaking open. 

       Shutting up the entire classroom simply by entering, in walked the teacher, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Kaede, poorly disguising her fear, attempted to sneak back to her desk without being noticed. She would've made it had one of her music-note shaped hair clips slipped from her hair and clattered to the floor with a painful clang. Ishimaru looked directly at her, his face plastered with a near-furious expression.

       "Akamatsu," He said sternly. "Y-yes, Ishimaru, sir?" Kaede said in her politest voice. "What is the first rule of this classroom, young lady?" He said, hardening his gaze even more. "Uh, b-be seated before the bell?" "That's right," His tone was incredibly intimidating, his bushy eyebrows furrowed. Shuichi rested his chin in his hands, he would've sighed, as he tends to do quite often, but he was terrified of upsetting Ishimaru further. He burned with envy of Kokichi, who was more than likely having a great time doing little to no work in Ms. Ishizaki's class. She was the coolest.

       Ishimaru took a deep breath and his face softened a bit. "Sit down, Akamatsu. You're a good student, so I'll let you off with a warning." "T-thank you, sir." She said, not taking his mercy for granted. She sat down and got out her textbook before she was even asked to. Ishimaru was strict as hell, Kaede had gotten off incredibly lucky. "My apologies for the interruption, class. We best get started," He said, moving to the left of the projector's view. "Please turn to page 24 in your textbooks."

       Shuichi reached into his bag and, with mounting horror, realized he had forgotten his textbook in the lunchroom. He disguised his fear the best he could and fumbled around for a different textbook. He didn't want to face Ishimaru's already shortened temper. Besides, he was planning to go over to Rantaro's with Kaede and Kokichi after school, and he didnt want to have to miss out because of detention. 

       He slowly pulled out his science textbook and turned to a random page, trying his best to look like he was concentrating. He found himself thinking of Kokichi again, and how easily he would've been able to weasel his way out of this situation with that skill of his. Despite how much it tended to bug him, it was admirable. Dragging himself out of thought, he realized everyone was looking at him. "..Ah, uh.. sorry, what did you say?" Ishimaru shook his head. "Please read the second paragraph, Saihara," He said, sounding slightly annoyed. "O-oh.. okay." He said. 

       He coughed twice in a last-ditch attempt to save his own ass. When he was in middle school, him and Kaede had said that if either one of them was in a tough spot and needed the other's help, cough twice, and the other would try their best to help out. Kaede didn't take notice, so he coughed twice again, this time louder and more deliberately. Finally, the wires connected in Kaede's brain, and she looked up at him with an inquizitive expression.

       He glanced down at his textbook quickly and then back at her. She made a sort of "Oh!" face and raised her hand. Ishimaru raised his head from whatever work he was doing on the computer. 

"Yes, Akamatsu?"

"May I read the paragraph, sir?" 

"I appreciate the offer, but I think Saihara should read it."

"Ah, in that case, may I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure."

       As Ishimaru looked back down at his computer, Kaede gave Shuichi a thumbs up, as she got up, she subtly took her textbook with her, and with one fluid motion, slipped it onto Shuichi's desk. Shuichi flooded with gratitude and smiled at her on her way out the door. Shakily, he began to read the paragraph.

       As he finished, Kaede came back in the door. She took her textbook back just as easily as she had placed it there and sat down. Ishimaru's expression told that he didn't suspect a thing. He had gotten through it, somehow. Now all he had left to do was pray to Atua that he wouldn't get called on again.

       And he didn't. Somehow, the rest of class went off without an issue. Once 2:30 finally came across the clock and the sixth period bell rang shrilly throughout the corridors, he finally was able to relax. All the students bolted out the doors and to their homerooms. Kaede went straight to homeroom, while Shuichi headed toward the art classroom, waiting for Kokichi, of course. After only a minute or so of waiting, Kokichi emerged from the doors, his purple eyes lighting up at the sight of Shuichi. "Shumai!" He said excitedly. "Hi Kichi, how was class?" He asked. And though he thought Kokichi couldn't get any more energetic, his smile grew even bigger at the question. 

       Kokichi went rambling on the whole way back to homeroom about what had happened in art class. He talked about how he defended Gonta from Angie's usual bullshit. Shuichi listened attentively the whole time. As they reached the classroom an embarassed look came over Kokichi's face. "S-sorry, I kinda went on a rant there, didn't I?" "Oh! Don't worry about it, I just like hearing about what you have to say."

       Kokichi smiled at that. "Hey, aren't we going over to that avocado-looking kid's house after we get outta here?" "Oh, that's right. I'll drive us." Shuichi replied, putting a finger on his chin. Without another word, he walked toward his locker and grabbed his coat and other things. He grabbed Kaede and Kokichi and walked with them toward the doors.