The Silent Desire

Chapter VI - Whimpers of A Fool

"Uuh... Ken, do you mind telling us why are you standing like a frozen statue man?"

Ike's words brimmed with curiosity and confusion, which were mirrored by my classmates, rang through the classroom. It was a surprising sight to see. If it was not for many other inconsistencies in Sudo's behavior over the last couple of days, maybe he would have been ignored and disregarded, but Sudo had been much quieter, more guarded, and alert in his behavior.

The same could be said about my classmates. While the news about Kushida's expulsion still hung in the air like a corpse in need of burial, the stench of it was getting easier to ignore. Although distrust and depressed aura that the whole class was emitting at the moment, did not lessen, and in fact, was only getting more pronounced as the days passed.

My precious tools were wary of each other, of the possible hidden personas and agendas. Who knows, maybe a friend today would stab you in the back tomorrow like Kushida? Till such fears existed, the class would never have a proper foundation and trust to move on and grow.

In the end, it was all up to me. Either I dragged the class to its optimal working state by directly and indirectly influencing people vital for its successful operation, or I would stay back in the shadows, silently observing the slow collapse of class D and its gradual drowning in the abyss of hopelessness.

My thoughts went back to Sudo. Throughout the week, I tried my best to tutor him with the last year's midterm exam questions and other supplementary study materials. At times it was rather hard and annoying, he knew too little for a supposed high school junior student, but with patience and determination he made steady progress and whatever we could not cover in a week, was compensated by the cheat sheet, the 39 copies of which currently was laid on Chabashira-sensei's desk.

Me and Sudo already had our copies and another one I personally delivered to a certain classmate of mine. But if someone counted the numbers they might have found it suspicious. It was better to be careful than sorry down the line.

Scratching his head lightly and with a sheepish expression, Sudo replied to Ike: "Uuh... shit man, this is hard. I revised in my head what I would say, but now I am standing here and it's like my brain has left me".

"Hey, man it's all right, not like you had one in the first place. Don't stress it too much". - Ike's reply caused a lot of snickers to erupt in the classroom. Many were trying to suppress their amusement, but it was futile. Ike's impression of a serious voice and Sudo's deadpan expression only increased the joyous atmosphere and everybody was starting to feel more at ease than usual.

'I see, so Ike in his way wanted to lighten the atmosphere and make Sudo relax. Smart, definitely cunning of you Ike. It is not very surprising though, you do have a knack for reading the social cues and the general situation of the room quite well.'

Sudo lightly huffed and in an annoyed tone cut off Ike from making further jokes: " Tch, whatever. I am getting tired of this so just gonna quickly say it how it is. Right here, the stack of papers you see is the questions that will be on the midterm exam in two days. There are also answer sheets attached to it as well. Take it and study it".

Immediately the light atmosphere of the classroom crashed as if it was never there in the first place and stony silence spread through the room. My classmates were looking at Sudo in absolute disbelief, confusion, and bewilderment. From the perplexed expressions that I saw on some of their faces, it seemed that many did not even properly process what Sudo said.

Finally, the silence was broken by my new seatmate, a girl with short brown hair and yellow eyes with a hint of rich violet in them. Her tone was friendly and inviting, she seemed naturally excited and excluded a warm, welcoming aura. 'As far as the similarities go, there is none. Comparing sitting next to Horikita, this is like going from straight hell to heaven.'