Lesson Learned

I want to be important

Sugaya struggled to climb out of the plant pot while Mitsuko backed away slightly. "Like, seriously." He grunted, nearly tripping over. "What are you—whoa!" Her arms reached out when he fell forward.

"Careful," she hissed, steadying him before he fell flat on his face. "If my dad sees you he's gonna go crazy." She yanked him as he stumbled onto his feet. The plant pot fell and rolled on the carpet, scattering dirt everywhere. "What is wrong with you?"

Sugaya pulled his arm free, straightening up as he dusted himself off. His uniform had patches of dirt sprinkled over it and his black shoes were now an off-colour brown. "Well, I had to hide quickly. That secretary guy nearly saw me."

Mitsuko pinched the bridge of her nose. "Seriously?" She grabbed his arm. "Come on."

"Hey, not so hard," he complained as she dragged him along.

She ignored him until they were safely far enough from the office and just out of sight of the cameras. "You're such a moron!" she snapped, shoving him away.

Sugaya glared at her. "I'm not the one who decided to just go ahead and abandon everyone and then stand up and call E Class hell on earth."

Mitsuko fought back a cringe. "I never said anything."

"Yeah, you just stood by and let Takebayashi do all the talking— how long did you know about that"

"I only found out today, and he didn't even write that speech, it was Gakushuu's – I didn't even know about it until today." She gritted her teeth. "If you're just going to yell at me, then you can leave," she told him sharply. "You're not even meant to be here."

"Well, neither are you," Sugaya replied, frowning. "You're E Class, Mitsuko."

Her stomach gave a hard twist. "No, I'm not." She folded her arms, shifting uneasily. "Half the class doesn't even like me." Her brow furrowed, looking away. "I'm better off in A-Class, it's where I belong..."

"That's a load of crap," Sugaya replied bluntly. "You're one of us," he told her strongly. "Everyone in the class wants you back – You've even got Ritsu stressed."

"And Nakamura?" Something bitter crept in and made a lump form in her throat.

He froze up, faltering. "Uh..." Sugaya's frown grew. "Look, I don't know what happened—"

"Then why don't you ask Okajima, or Fuwa?" she said, narrowing her gaze. "I'm surprised they haven't blabbed it across the whole campus by now." She scowled. "Or maybe Nakamura beat them to it." Her eyes started to sting. "I don't see her here begging me to come back, in fact come to think of it, if everyone's so determined to get me back then where the hell are they?!"

Sugaya winced, edging back a little. "They..." He hesitated. "They're still trying to wrap their heads around what you and Takebayashi did...it caught all of us off guard."

"I don't need you to make excuses for them, Sugaya," she said bitterly, scowling. "The only one who wants me back is you."

"Well, isn't that enough?" he stumbled a bit over his words. "We're meant to be friends."

She grimaced, feeling guiltier. "And we still are..." Even though she couldn't quite look him in the eye. "I just can't be in that class anymore, or anywhere near Nakamura, to be honest..."

"Dude..." His face kept switching from anger to something sad. "Look, I don't know the whole story of what went down between you two, but do you really want to leave everything behind just because of a girl?" He kept looking at her in confusion. "E Class might not be perfect, but we're a team—and just look at all the stuff we've done!"