With Tragic Eyes and Bloodshot Dreams

Chapter 8: God damn right you should be scared of me. (Who is in control?)

"Gakushu?" He looks around to meet eyes with Ren.

He doesn't answer, just turns away. He doesn't want his ex-friend to see him like this. Drenched, shaking, with wide, raw eyes. And he's still dizzy, so he's fairly sure he's stumbling.

"Wait—what's wrong?" Ren carefully places a hand on his shoulder. His eyes are scared.

He's never seen Gakushu like this before. He's not their strong, fearless leader now, is he?

"You're the one who doesn't want to be friends, even secretly. Why do you care." His words lack heat. They come out tired.

"You are my friend, Gakushu." Ren holds onto him tighter when he stumbles. "I just—I thought you were better without me, but—you look really bad right now. Are you sick?"

"I'm fine." He snarls, all while leaning into Ren's arm.

"I'll walk you home."

"I don't need your pity."

"I don't pity you, Gakushu. I just want to walk you home so you don't pass out in the middle of a street."

Gakushu has a feeling that might happen too, so he sticks with Ren.

"It's not you," Gakushu speaks at last, as they approach his home, "It's not because of you that I'm like this. That's all me." He runs a hand over his face, "I understand if you can't associate with me in public, but I really hope you don't just ditch me again."

"Let's have this conversation another time," Ren says, his voice tense.

And Gakushu swallows hard.

"Just, take it easy for the rest of the day, alright?" Ren says casually, as he nods his head goodbye.

Gakushu is silent.

———————————-

The final exams for the first semester are approaching, and Gakushu is not looking forward to it. He is incredibly exhausted after the last few events at 3-E. His near drowning experience has left him with nightmares. He wakes up in the middle of the night panting, suffocating. He hyperventilates until he remembers that he's not underwater anymore.

He barely gets sleep anyways, but now he has permanent purple circles under his eyes that he covers up with makeup. He can't have anyone seeing them. Can't let them pity him.

Koro-Sensei presents them with a challenge: he'll let them shoot off one tentacle for every subject they get a perfect score on.

Gakushu is reminded of the challenge the other Virtuosos made with E class. He feels a pang of guilt at how he planned on manipulating them, but knew he would do it all again if there was a chance to get one over his father, to force him to acknowledge him.

"Well, there's no point in having this challenge, Sensei," Akabane speaks up, "In case you forgot, we have this genius in our class. He'll undoubtedly get first place in every subject, so why should the rest of us bother?"

Koro-Sensei flails around for a bit in panic before Gakushu sighs.

"I might not take first place in every single subject, I occasionally get second. But it's not uncommon for people to tie for first place with me."

Then he gets an idea. He doesn't actually want to kill Koro-Sensei, but he hates losing. And he's fairly certain Koro-Sensei won't actually die even with all the handicaps. So he lets a sly smile make its way to his face, "Though if you want to be fair, you could consider offering a tentacle for anyone who ties with me in first place as well?"