"It" Can't Be Helped (Revised) | ✔️ | Blue Exorcist

27

Thank you Nawulf for letting me know this part didn't publish properly! Sorry for the late update, I'll have to double check from now on

God, I hated calculus

Not because I was failing the class or anything. It was just one of those subjects that taxed my brain. With a million other assignments handed out this week, it seemed borderline abusive to have us show every little detail on how we got to the dozens of questions listed in the packet. I could understand why we needed this skill about thirty years ago, but dammit, I have a phone with internet access. If I needed to graph something — which I highly doubted I'd need to do after school — there were online calculators for it now. I stared down at my paper in disapproval. Currently, there was more graphite from my pencil than ink from the printer. And I was only a fraction of the way through the assignment. I glanced up at the clock and sighed; I wasn't finishing this tonight.

There was a groan to my right and I startled. I'd forgotten Ryuji came over. We'd both been silent for so long that Kuro had fallen into a deep slumber in my lap. My eyes flickered up to my classmates expression, and I realized he was just as fed up with his homework as I was. He flopped back onto the wooden floor, his hair was getting long and it splayed out above his head. "Hey," he started, his voice breaking from inactivity. He cleared his throat before continuing. "What's up between you and Kamiki-chan?"

Trying to play it off smoothly, I shrugged my shoulders. However, my voice wasn't as confident. "I don't know what you're talking about." He rolled his eyes and turned to face me. Propping his head up on his elbow, he gave me look of dull skepticism.

"Bullshit, I've seen the way you two look at each other. You two are all buddy-buddy in class, and I've heard you talking about studying together."

I snorted, "we're looking at each other right now, and we are studying. By your standards, should we go ahead and kiss?" A grunt sounded from him and I waved my hand flippantly in his direction. "Izumo and I are friendly. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean there's anything going on between us."

My skin began to itch as he looked me up and down. Finally, after careful scrutiny, he narrowed his eyes. "Do you want there to be anything?"

My breath hitched and I inhaled my own saliva. I coughed and averted my face away from him, hiding my embarrassment. "No," I said weakly, and I berated myself internally for it. Bon's laugh echoed off the bedroom walls and Kuro shifted in my lap. My feline familiar stretched briefly before tucking his legs once more and falling back into slumber. Instinctively, and maybe a bit for comfort, I ran my hand over his silky fur. Kuro's soft purrs vibrating against my palm.

"You don't sound very convincing," he retorted and his playful jabbing irked me. I shot his a glare, but he only found more humor in it. "Dude, it's okay if you like her. We're not in junior high anymore. No one's going to bully you on the playground for having cooties."

"It's not like that," my voice held an edge and even I found it a bit defensive. Obviously, this conversation had my emotions in some turmoil, but I didn't really know what those feelings were. I sighed, "She doesn't like me like that, anyway."

Bon mirrored my action and sighed, running his free hand through his messy hair. "You're oblivious, you know that?" I simply shot daggers through him with my eyes. With a grunt, he pushed himself back into a seated position before gesturing to me. "Kamiki-chan is the moodiest bitch I've met, besides Shima. Yet, when she talks to you, she's all shy and polite-"

I laughed, "she calls me a dumbass every other sentence, dude. How the hell is that polite?"

"Okay, that's just her, to be honest. But she calls you a dumbass without being mean, if that makes any sense." Eh, I kinda knew what he was talking about. Izumo had a sharp tongue, but she wasn't ill-mannered. "Do you really believe she sees you as a friend?"