Rukawa Kaede || When Nuisance Turns Into Something

9

"Oh, I get it... So this is how you solve it? How could I not see this before?" Yuzuki muttered, her voice tinged with frustration.

"Hn," Rukawa replied simply, his attention remaining on their Mathematics assignment.

For the past hour, Rukawa had been guiding her through the equations. While he had taken the time to explain the logic behind the formulas, Yuzuki found herself occasionally taking the easy way out—copying his work whenever the problems became too dense.

Rukawa didn’t seem to mind. To him, it was a fair trade; as long as she helped him navigate the complexities of his English homework later, he was content to let her borrow his math skills.

"Huuu! Can we please take a break?" Yuzuki groaned, leaning forward until her forehead rested against the cool surface of the table.

"This one is actually impossible. My brain can’t solve this..."

"Mhm. Okay," he murmured. Mimicking her, he also leaned his head down on the table, resting his cheek against his arm.

After a moment of quiet, Yuzuki lifted her head to check her watch. 3:07 PM. It was still early, but the silence felt heavy. When she turned to look at him, she was startled to find him already staring at her.

She felt herself getting lost in his gaze. Staring back at those calm, dark eyes made her heart skip a beat. For several long seconds, neither of them moved. Eyes locked in a quiet, heavy silence that made her pulse race. Realizing she was holding her breath, she snapped herself out of the trance, shook her head slightly, and forced her eyes away.

"O-oi, Kaede," Yuzuki stammered, her voice betraying her nerves as she looked away.

"What did Komako-sensei say? You said you passed the papers that day even though you were late. How did you manage to get them to her? She said she had a meeting, which is why she dismissed us so early."

Desperate to erase the awkwardness, she began to fiddle with her pen, her eyes glued firmly to the wooden grain of the table.

"She considered it," he said simply, his gaze still fixed on her with that unblinking, heavy intensity. "But don't be late next time."

Yuzuki let out a long, weary sigh, her shoulders slumping as she turned her focus back to her notebook. She began to doodle aimlessly on the edge of the paper, the pen scratching aggressively against the page.

"Tch. It was your fault for not responding to my messages in the first place," she grumbled, pointedly refusing to meet his eyes.

"Whatever." He turned his head the other way, staring off into space. A small, nagging pang of guilt flickered in his chest, but he made sure his expression remained a mask of pure indifference. He wasn't about to let her see him sweat.

"And the number I was texting all this time... it was your mother’s!" Yuzuki groaned, her voice rising in a mix of frustration and pure mortification.

"Argh! That was so embarrassing, Kaede! She probably thinks I’m incredibly rude." She continued to doodle, her strokes becoming more jagged as the memory of her frantic texts to Mrs. Rukawa played back in her mind.

"You are rude," he replied coldly—though there was the faint, sharp edge of a tease hidden in his tone.

"Huh?! Oi!" Yuzuki snapped, spinning around to face him with a visible pout.

"Just so you know, I only did that because I don’t want us to fail this project! Tch. Maybe you want to fail, but I don't." She huffed, crossing her arms and looking away again.

"I already apologized," he muttered. He closed his eyes and, after a moment, let out a deliberate, exaggerated snoring sound. It was his way of ending the conversation; he still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that he had actually apologized to a girl.