Free My Heart (Zero Kiryu x Reader)

Chapter XII - A Vampire

“Alright, class.” The history teacher announced, “you are exempt from homework for an entire week!”

“Yes!” the whole class erupted in a loud cheer. “Finally!”

“Teacher? Uh… Are you feeling okay? You’re being too kind and generous, unlike your usual self. Are you sure you’re well?” Heinrich Rötger, one of the most troublesome students of your class asked in obviously fake concern, making the others laugh at his witty questioning.

The middle-aged teacher smiled almost too sweetly at the class: “Yes, I am perfectly fine, I can assure you. But, I do beg to disagree… I am always nice. You see, I realized that having you spend hours and hours on your own only to do homework is just so unfair and quite… tiring. So I, your awesome teacher, have come up with a brilliant idea to make your assignments more… well… entertaining.”

At his utterance, the smiles on the students’ faces fell, replaced by a look of worry. Satisfied with the effect that his words have had on his students, the teacher smirked and added: “I have decided to give you all… a project.”

“No!” Cue the loud complaints of the class. “What!? But you just said-”

“And that’s my point there,” the teacher interrupted, “you won’t have to do your assignments individually. You’ll get to complete them in groups. This is where the two words ‘homework’ and ‘project’ differ. Is that great, or what?” He announced with an enthusiastic, yet teasing, grin.

“Teacher, that’s not cool!”

“So unfair!”

For once, Zero found himself in agreement with the rest of the class. He grumbled, “Just perfect…” and dropped his head, hitting his forehead against the surface of the desk.

“Oh my beloved students, how I admire your enthusiasm!” the teacher expressed sarcastically. “Alright, let’s be serious now. You are to present your project a week from now, so it’s going to be next Thursday. I will write on the board the material that you are going to handle. But for now, let’s talk about the groups.”

A girl that sat a couple of rows in front of you raised her hand, and the teacher motioned for her to speak. “Sir? Can we choose the members of our groups?”

“No. The groups are already set and the members are chosen. Four students per group.”

“Teacher?” Kageyama, the bi-spectacled class president, stood up from his seat and raised his hand: “May I be in the same group as Miss _______?”

“Oooh!” the class cooed at Kageyama’s request, which was enough to make your cheeks flush in mortification. “K-Kageyama!” You pleaded, embarrassed.

“Someone has a crush on _______!”

“Rötger! Shut up!” Kageyama shot back, his own face turning ardent red in an instant.

“Kageyama, I have mentioned it already.” The teacher replied, “you don’t get to choose your partners.”

“Sorry sir.” He lowered himself back on his chair while pouting like a little child.

“I have a question.” You were a bit surprised to hear Zero’s voice speaking at that moment. He barely spoke in classes – or out. You could tell that other students were surprised too, as a few of them turned in their seats to look at the silver-haired guy at the very back of the classroom.

“Yes, Zero?”

“Can I work alone?” You could clearly detect the annoyance in his tone. Typical Zero.