Learning To Fly: A Saki Enomoto Pseudo-Route

Countdown :: Rough Idle

AN: Artwork done by jmc on DeviantArt

Act 2 begins!

No good deed goes unpunished, as some supposedly wise man once said.

I paid for the good time I had yesterday with the hell of waking up this morning. The excitement of the past week, the festival last night, and the machinations of one or more random deities conspired against me to turn my blanket into a lead sheet. I hit the snooze button as many times as I could safely do so, then twice more for good measure.

The cold shock that went through me as my bare feet hit the floor made my body scream at the injustice of it all.

I don't even remember taking a shower or getting dressed. I must have, because my scalp is damp and I'm not naked. I don't remember the walk from the dorms to class, either. Just some vague recollection of climbing some stairs and the residual pain from hip-checking a banister on the landing.

I think I just magically teleported from bed to class. That's the explanation I'm going with. I think I saw an old black-and-white TV show that had a plotline like that once. Any further thought into the issue would require the wheels in my head to turn, and the hamster there isn't just sleeping; he's in a coma.

At least the desk feels cool against my forehead.

With a groan, I force myself to sit up and at least take in my surroundings. The rest of the class that bothered showed up looks as anemic as I am in the post-festival crash. Two of the girls in the back have their heads down, using their arms as pillows. Someone is actually snoring lightly, although I can't tell who it is. There are a few more empty chairs than usual, including two next to me that make me raise my eyebrows.

I beat the dynamic duo to class for once? I really should walk down to town later and buy a lottery tick-

"Good morning, everyone~!" comes a voice from the door, easily twice as loud as it needs to be. Someone may as well have just used the chalkboard to file their nails, given the reactions I see; scrunched faces, rolled eyes, wincing, and at least one of pure murder.

The wall of enmity hits Misha full on and she stops, a confused look on her face. "What's going on? Why is almost everyone still asl-yeep!"

The last part of her question comes out as a squeal as she stumbles into the classroom completely, having been shoved from behind by a rather annoyed looking Shizune. This raises a few chuckles from the seat behind me, and I just decide to put my head back down.

Maybe their vision is based on movement. If I just stay as still as possible, they shouldn't be able to see me, right?

Yeah, my brain definitely isn't firing on all cylinders yet. The wheel might have started spinning, but the hamster isn't awake yet. Just making steady, muffled thumps.

"Hicchan~!" I hear, not quite as loud in volume but a lot closer in proximity. Misha's spotted me.

Damn it. The surface of the desk is no longer cool.

"Morning," I mumble, keeping my eyes closed. Just five more minutes...

My thoughts are interrupted by Misha playfully tousling my hair. Resigning myself, I sigh and look up at her. Her companion looks back and shakes her head with a tsk-tsk-tsk motion before rapidly starting to move her hands.

"'Shicchan wants to know why you can't seem to stay awake, Hicchan," Misha scolds.

"A dozen other people in this class and you single me out?" I ask, raising my eyebrow and looking around.

"'Almost everyone here worked hard to make the festival a success~'," Misha translates. "'It's only expected that they're going to be tired.'"

"And you're saying I didn't, is that it?" I reply incredulously. I think Shizune's teasing me by the glint in her eye, but I'm really not in the mood for it. I'm not sure what passes for sarcasm when using sign language, but I'm sure having Misha as a filter anywhere in the process doesn't help matters any.

"Well, we barely saw you all week after you got the art supplies for us, Hicchan," she answers, her hands on her hips. "We thought you might be blowing us off."

"Well you're wrong, both about blowing you off and not helping. I did plenty of work to help out the festival. I poured sweat, blood, and tears into it."

Blood and sweat, anyway. I may have wanted to cry when I dropped a pipe on my foot when helping to put the stage together. I settled for a string of words I would never repeat in polite company hissed through clenched teeth.

"'We were looking for you, but we didn't see you. We thought you didn't go at all,'" she says, the tone of her voice not matching Shizune's words. This constant discrepancy is something that I don't know if I'll ever get used to.

"It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, so I guess it's no surprise we didn't run into each other. Are you sure the two of you went? I didn't see you either."

Misha signs this and guffaws, while Shizune just gives me a blank look as if I'm a moron for even suggesting that the student council president wouldn't be at the school festival.

"Don't worry, Hicchan. Did you have fun?"

"I did, actually. The food was good and the fireworks were pretty impressive."

"Oh, and is that all you did?" the pink-haired girl questioning me asks, lowering her voice in a way that instantly puts my guard up.

"I...checked out the band's performance," I say, not sure where she's going with this.

"Wahahaha, I knew it, I knew it~!" Misha exclaims, her voice right back at full volume. "I saw you eating lunch with Saki. I didn't want to bother you though. You looked like you were having a good time."

Thanks, Misha. Now everyone in the class kno...wait, if Misha saw me but Shizune says she didn't, does that mean Misha purposely didn't point me out to her?

I don't have time to ponder this before a very flustered Shizune throws up her hands and stomps the few steps to her desk. I realize that Misha hadn't been signing any of this exchange to her.

"What's her problem?" I ask Misha as Shizune angrily takes her seat, the feet of the chair squealing in protest against the floor as she scoots into position.

"Honestly, I think it's because you didn't spend the day with her," Misha says with a wink while moving to her own desk. "Did you have any plans for lunch today?"

"Not really, no."

"Great~! Want to spend it with us then?"

I didn't really know what I was going to do for lunch. I'm so tired that the idea that time would advance forward to get to that point is one I can't even fathom. Well, we all need to eat, and hopefully Shizune will have calmed down by then.

"Sure."

Heavy footsteps echo from the hallway as Mutou trudges in, looking like death warmed over. He's unshaven, his hair is a more of a mess than usual, and his eyes are rimmed with red. It looks like he got about as much sleep as the rest of us in class did. All the normal classroom buzz turns silent as he makes is way across the front of the room, either from respect or amazement at the state he's in.

He reaches his standard spot by his desk, then turns to face us, taking us in with a slight smile. "I don't have to even ask if you enjoyed the festival, judging by how many of you are here and awake," he says, running a hand through his hair. "I did have a pop quiz scheduled for you to take today..."

He's cut off by a collective groan from the class.

"...but given that about a third of the class isn't here, and those of you that are look like you couldn't even spell your own names right now, I'll hold off on it until tomorrow. It's not a big thing, but it helps me assess your own individual progress with understanding the course material. So I guess you can see why today wouldn't be a good day to take it."

Honestly, chances are he's in about as much shape to grade the tests as we are to take them, but I'll be happy to go along with the charade.

He turns around and writes a series of page numbers on the blackboard.

"We'll be covering the last three chapters from the textbook," he explains. "Pretty much every question on the quiz will be from those chapters. You can spend the the next hour reviewing the pages I've written up here, reading, putting your heads down quietly, or doing assigned work. We'll do some oral review tomorrow before the quiz if you have any questions you want to go over," he finishes, that trademark grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.

-~*~-~*~-~*~-~*~-

The lunch bell might as well be the alarm at a prison warning of an escape. The tension in the air from everyone waiting for it finally explodes, and the room comes alive with students eagerly trying to free themselves from its clutches.

Shizune is one of the first on her feet, signing frantically to Misha, who matches her intensity.

"In a hurry?" I ask cordially, leaning back to stretch and feeling a few of my vertebrae pop.

"Sorry Hicchan," Misha says with a sad look. "Shicchan says we have to take care of some stuff for the council from the festival. I thought it could wait until after school and we could all get something to eat, but..."

"Don't worry, I'll manage. We can grab lunch some other time."

Whether Shizune's still upset or she has legitimate business to to take care of, I don't know. My guess is that it's a little from column A, and a little from column B. Either way, I'm partially relieved I no longer have to worry about it. With another apologetic glance, Misha follows Shizune out the door.

I stand, having waited until most of the other students have left. Maybe there's something appetizing in the cafeteria. Then again, almost anything sounds good at the moment, given that I haven't had anything since the food at the festival yesterday.

I step out the door and narrowly avoid a collision with Mutou, who was walking down the hall. It seems he's just as eager to get to lunch as the rest of us.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I say, taking a quick sidestep to keep from bumping into him. He seemed to have jumped at bit as well, leaving both of about a meter apart. I intend to let him pass me first, but he stops.

"Hold up one second, Nakai. I forgot to tell you something earlier."

"Um, sure."

I wonder what I've done to grab his attention. He glances through the door and gives a weak, cursory smile. We both stand off to the side, letting the rest of the students vacate until there's just the two of us standing in front of the classroom.

"Just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay," he starts, putting his hands casually into his pockets. "You just finished up your first week, and I wanted to see how you were adjusting to everything."

"Oh," I say, relieved but not completely relaxed. I thought that I might have been in trouble, but this still isn't an easy topic of conversation for me. "I guess I'm settling in alright."

"How are the classes? I was worried that you might have some problems because of how long you were in the hospital. We're not going too fast for you, are we?"

"Not at all," I reply. Science was always something fascinating to me, and while I slacked off on most of the coursework that my classmates and parents brought to me in the hospital, I legitimately tried to keep up with that part of it. "I've always liked science, so it wasn't that hard to get back into it."

"Good. Great, actually," Mutou says, a look of relief on his face. I get the feeling his subject of studies isn't appreciated by many of his students. "How about your other classes? Any problems catching up?"

"I'm having a hard time with English, but I don't think it's because of the hospital stay..."

The older man chuckles at the joke I make. "I understand. That was pretty much it. I would have had a better idea after the test I was going to give today, but I thought I'd just ask. Oh, one more thing - stop by the nurse's office."

"Do I need to go right now?"

"No, Nurse didn't make it sound like it was urgent. Just swing by when you're able to."

"Alright," I haven't been avoiding Nurse, but with everything going on last week and after the run with Emi, seeing him just hasn't been anywhere on my priority list. Maybe I'll swing by later after classes. I wanted to ask him about my insomnia, at any rate.

"See you later, Nakai," Mutou finishes with a smirk. "If you're really not having any problems, then I expect you to get a good grade on the quiz tomorrow."

Well, I'm pretty confident I don't have to worry. All I do is nod and continue on my way.