Black Nightshades

Chapter 8 • New

The next day came and Senku went to school. Taiju was waiting with Yuzuriha at the entrance with his loud personality.

"SENKU!" He yelled as he waved vigorously.

Yuzuriha adjusted her headphones around her neck. "Hi!"

Senku greeted back and they walked inside the school building. Taiju left them halfway to get to get to his classes while the other two walked to the class they shared. The morning went by in a breeze with Senku focusing on his lessons with pleasant calm. He answered all questions, got them right and was appreciated for it instead of being told off for being distracted. He managed to maintain this until lunch. Finding a secluded place he decided to write to his soulmate ignoring the tiny and completely illogical hope that it would be Gen.

Senku: yo

Knowing he had to wait, he started his lunch. He had no idea what he wanted to tell his soulmate. Maybe he just randomly wanted to talk to them. Neither did he understand nor care.

The more he waited, the more anxious he got. They weren't answering and it's been three minutes already. The two times that he spoke to his soulmate, he had received an immediate response. But this time he was disappointed. Though he intensely stared at his hand for a whole of five minutes, there was no response whatsoever. Were they busy? Or were they purposely ignoring him? But why would they ignore him? It wasn't like he had done anything wrong.

As Senku sat there reminiscing his previous conversations with his soulmate, another fact caught his attention. The last time they had talked was during his biology class the previous day. He certainly couldn't have done so when he was in the middle of a class. That only left the possibility of him being anywhere other than his class. But why would a Senku bunk a science class?

Then it hit him. He had been told to meet the head of the science department, Sora Sensei. But he had slacked off and had come to his lunch spot instead. Senku had to make a decision—either to meet his teacher or wait till his stupid soulmate replied. The latter did not seem to happen anytime soon. So he decided to go with the former.

Senku gobbled his lunch, packed up and straightened his uniform. Swinging his bag over his shoulders he hurried to the staff room. His teacher sat there grading some test papers. Swallowing his guilt, he approached her and said, "Sensei? You called?"

She quickly got over her initial surprise. Was she not expecting him? "Ah, Senku. Yes, there is something. But I had called you yesterday?"

There it was. He had outright just ignored her call the previous day. "Uh, ahem, there..." Senku muttered, "was a misunderstanding ..."

"Oh?" She said sceptically. "Did you at least check the notice board?"

So much for being the top student in science. "No."

Just when Senku thought things were beginning to get awkward his teacher said, "I'll get to the point. There's this exhibition coming up and I want you to participate in it."

Relieved, he listened attentively. It was the only way to make up to her. "This is an initiative taken by the schools to spread interest in science among the public. An exhibition will be held two months from now. Each school is allowed three experiments and twelve to fifteen students. And it's an open exhibition, as in anyone and everyone can come to see your presentation at will."

"Oh." If she was asking him to participate, it did not sound like a bad idea. It was excellent, in fact.

"Yes. It's during school hours. Transportation, lunch and such will be provided. There's no need to worry about that. Oh and I've asked some other students to participate and I'm waiting on their answer. So do think and let me know if-"