The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

Chapter 7

'WHY DON'T WE HAVE a morning, or say, an afternoon delight tomorrow at my place?' Alasdair suggests that as soon as Watanabe finishes listing down all the assignments they have to answer for the coming weekend.

They didn't have the chance to have their regular lunch together. Declan moaned that it could've been Eien's first time eating with them.

They dissected rats and worms in the lab. Jaxon's hands trembled; he had accidentally cut himself. Noritaka withdrew from participating, not because he loves animals that much. He said he found the activity cruel.

Unsurprisingly, Declan was calm but not precise. He tore his specimen into an unusable state. Alasdair thought it odd at first, considering his gift—which was, of course, not as good as Alasdair's. No one had come close to his result. They have a farm, numerous farms, and anatomising animals is nothing new to him.

Now it's five in the afternoon, and the six of them—although that's debatable since Eien is at the far end of the hallway, observing the trees through the window—are gathered outside their classroom, talking about how they should spend their weekends.

'Why not tonight? It's Friday!' Jaxon says. He clasps his hands together to hide his plastered finger.

'We cannot. We need to attend Gakushū juku,' Watanabe responds. The venom hasn't left his tone yet. The older boy inclines to be the best. And being the second-best doesn't help to cool down the building ire inside him. Alasdair isn't troubled, though. Everyone knows deep down that, despite his rough attitude, Watanabe doesn't have it in him.

It doesn't hurt to be careful, Alasdair hears his father say. He swats it away as he concentrates on Jaxon asking what juku is. Watanabe willingly explains it to the blond, masking it with fake birse.

'So that's what juku is. Why you gotta do that? As if regular schooling isn't enough, you gotta do cram school too? Your brain's wonky o' somethin'?'

'Hey, shut up. You sound like a drunkard,' Declan barks. He kicks Jaxon's knee, but not hard enough to send him into the next room, unfortunately.

'This is how I normally talk, just suppressing it cuz I know no one would understand me if I used my real accent.' Jaxon rubs the kicked area of his knee, glaring at Declan.

Alasdair says, 'You are making me tempted to speak my mother's language.'

'But it's English,' Noritaka interrupts.

'No, it is quite different. You'll understand once you hear it,' Alasdair corrects.

'Dobber,' Jaxon mumbles.

His head snaps in the blond's direction. 'I heard that. And for your information, I do understand what 'Dobber' means.'

Jaxon's face blanches. He fans himself with his hands as he tries to find a way to justify his derogatory remark. Alasdair lets it build up for a few more seconds before defusing it. 'Hey, it's all right. I've never learnt how to speak like a true Scot. Anyway, back to what I was saying, are you all up for it? It's going to be fun. Ask Watanabe and Noritaka.' He gestures to his best friend and close friend. They nod in unison.

Jaxon scowls. 'With them robotically agreeing, this all doesn't look so convincing.'

So you coming on'no?'Declan says, with a weird accent that makes everyone stare at him as though a tail grew from his back. 'What? If Jaxon does it, it's fine?'

'Hey, I don't talk like that, tosser!'

'Enough, enough. Are you coming or not?' Alasdair asks.

'I'm coming, OK? Does sarcasm exist in this Zone?' His defeated tone prompts Declan to chortle, causing every student to stop cleaning and gape at how loud the Zone 2 boy is. Once he realises what he's done, Declan apologises. He stifles another round of laughter.