Big Book of Writing

Arachnology (Veronika & Teruko, DRDT)

This was made for the Fangan Gift Exchange for Kanade! I hope they'll enjoy this!

***

"Hey, Veronika. Do you have some time?"

The girl in question turned around to see Teruko walking to her, carrying a stack of books. "Oh, hey! Did you need something?" Veronika chipperly asked.

"Listen, I've been called to work retail tonight, so I can't study well for the biology test tomorrow," Teruko sighed.

"If that's the case, why don't you go ask Min for help? She's a lot smarter than I am," the horror fanatic pointed out. She began twirling a pencil in her hand as Teruko began looking more and more uncomfortable.

"She's busy, Mai asked her for study help earlier. And besides, I figured you'd know a lot about spiders, being into horror and all," she explained. "The rest of the insects are easy to learn, but spiders and things like that are tripping me up."

Veronika's face lit up at the opportunity to ramble about her knowledge, and she sat up straight and pulled her chair forward. "Okay, so-"

"Hold on, let me get my notebook out!" the lucky student exclaimed. Veronika giggled at how frantic the other girl looked as she pulled out her notebook for the impromptu lesson. Taking a deep breath, Teruko raised her pencil. "Okay, I'm ready now."

"Alright! Spiders are arthropods that are part of the arachnid family, with many different breeds and subspecies. They have two parts of their body, the head and the thorax, and they're known for producing silk to make webs to catch prey." Veronika suddenly paused her rambling, looking at the other girl across the desk. "Should I continue?"

"What about their diet, their habitat, and how they live?" Teruko questioned. "Didn't the teacher say that some of the biology questions would focus on them? I hate this stupid 'insects and the environment' unit..."

"At least spiders are my area of expertise!" the horror fanatic joked.

As the girls were talking, Teruko suddenly felt someone bump into her from behind. "Hey, watch it," she began to scold, turning around in her chair.

Eden backed away from her, holding a broom tightly in her hands. "I-I'm sorry, Teruko! I was just cleaning the classroom, I didn't see you there..." she stammered out.

"Aw, it's okay! We didn't mean to get in your way!" Veronika replied. Teruko chose not to comment on the fact that they hadn't moved from their spots while Eden was cleaning.

"Um, there's something else too..." the clockmaker quietly began. "The other class's pet escaped its cage, so I've been looking for it too. Could you let me know if you find it?"

"Sure, we'll keep an eye out!"

Satisfied, Eden let out a relieved sigh and left the classroom, though Teruko didn't know if it was because she had finished cleaning or if she didn't want to get in the other girls' way.

Veronika's eyes darted to the floor for a quick moment, then back to Teruko. "Oh, you've got some dust on you. Let me get that off," she offered, standing up.

"I can do it myself-"

"Unless you have eyes on the back of your head, I don't think you can see where the dust is," she giggled. "Ooh, but if you DO have eyes on the back on your head, let me know so I can check them out!"

The lucky student groaned, finding it useless to argue with her. Veronika began roughly brushing something off her back with her hand, though Teruko could've sworn she felt something else as well.

Veronika sat back down nonchalantly. "Sorry, I'll continue now." She cleared her throat. "Spiders live practically anywhere with some warmth, unless it's too cold. Most of the time, they can be found in places with shelter, like in forests or inside human buildings."

"That explains a lot," Teruko commented, continuing to take notes. "And their diet?"

"Contrary to popular belief, they don't eat humans. Spiders mostly eat insects, but they can sometimes eat frogs, lizards, birds, and bats. Although there is a species of jungle spider that keeps frogs as pets to guard their eggs, while the frog gets food and protection in exchange." Veronika paused for a moment to breathe, then began again. "Though it's because of the number of species, which can be venomous sometimes, and the occasional diet of larger prey that make humans scared of them-"

"You're getting off-track," Teruko interrupted. "What does that have to do with biology?"

"Well, nothing I guess! But spiders eat a lot of things and live anywhere. They even live in places that you least expect it!" she exclaimed, and pointed to Teruko's shoulder.

To the other girl's horror, sitting on her shoulder was a large brown tarantula. Teruko shrieked and backhanded it, sending it flying into the floor. Veronika doubled over in hysterics as Teruko gasped for breath.

"What the hell was that?! When that that get there?!" the brunette exclaimed. While Veronika walked around her and picked the tarantula up, Teruko was glaring daggers at her.

"I saw it after Eden left, so I helped it out when I was 'getting some dust off your back'," Veronika giggled, stroking the back of the relatively unfazed tarantula.

Not even a minute later, Teruko chased Veronika out of the classroom, yelling obscenities as other students in the hallway stopped and stared. She would continue to get chased until Teruko ran out of breath after rushing up two flights of stairs.

In the end, the class pet was put back in its terrarium. But Teruko still failed her test.