Potential Promise - Manjiro Sano x Reader

Chapter 18

Warnings: Language       Word Count: 3006

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I approached the school entrance and tried to ignore the pain in my ankle. I should've stayed off of it like my brother told me to... I sighed and walked to the locker area, putting on my school shoes and fixing the flyaways that my hair had developed. After I closed my locker, I made my way to class, walking amongst the other students at the high school. I opened my classroom door and saw that Renji had gotten here early. I sat down in front of him, and we talked for a bit.

"Good morning Renji, how'd you sleep?" I asked, my cheerful attitude perking him up from his drowsiness.

"I didn't get much sleep. We had a hardcore practice yesterday and when I got home, my dogs needed to go for a run, and when I got back from that, my dad asked me to help with house repairs, and when I finished all that, I still had homework. I went to bed pretty late so I'm not doing too great right now." He replied, his eyes struggling to stay open.

"I can check over your homework and make sure its right if you wanna talk a bit more. It'll help you stay awake." I suggested, his face was blank as he nodded. I found his homework and began comparing answers, not wanting to look him in the eyes. He got 3 out of 14 right... I don't have the heart to tell him. He's way too tired. I thought to myself as he talked.

"Oh yeah, I saw Makoto at practice yesterday. I guess he tried out and got a place on the standby team. He did pretty well too. Hopefully he proves my first impression of him to be wrong." He said with a sigh. I smiled softly.

"It's good that you two found something in common. I hope he does well too." I said as I changed up his answers to be the correct ones. I glanced at him once more and saw him about to fall over in exhaustion and I held back my laughter. I reached into my bag and gave him a 5-hour energy drink. He happily took it and chugged it, coughing a bit as it caught him off guard.

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I went back to my seat and pulled out my notes, figuring that I should study a bit more before class started. More of my peers trickled into the room and Nakoya sat behind me for a moment before going to talk with Mari. When Nari came in, she leaned her head back on my desk.

"Hey Nari, how's your morning?"

"My mom was late for work again and I had to deal with taking my brother to school again."

"Yikes, was he better this time?"

"Not even close. he cried the whole way there. You'd think kids would learn not to throw tantrums in public, but nooooo." she sighed with frustration. Kids definitely weren't her thing. I was about to respond when Hana came up to me, her joyful aura almost overpowering.

"Hey ___, good morning!"

"Ah, good morning Hana, what's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for telling me about Makoto yesterday. I stopped by the practice gym yesterday and watched the boys playing basketball. He was there and he saw me! Gah, he's so cute! I hope I can talk to him a bit more today." She said happily, a little loudly at that. Her friends cheered her on and I responded.

"I'm happy it's working out for you! I wish the best of luck for you and Makoto." She beamed and nodded at me. I glanced past her and saw Nakoya with a surprised look on her face. She picked up on my gaze and quickly smiled, encouraging Hana on her romantic journey. Before anything else could happen, the bell rang for the start of class and my peers took their seats as the teacher came in.

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Class was the same as it always was. The only new thing to take place was when our history teacher passed back our exams. I had passed with flying colors, Nari passed with the bare minimum, clearly quite proud of herself. I made sure to jot down all of the content I could since this day was the start for the material on our next exam. Before I knew it, the lunch bell rang, dismissing us from class. I walked with Nari to the lunchroom, waiting for her in the hallway as she used the bathroom.