"-and that's how eggs can be used to make omelettes. Thanks for listening!"
…Seriously? That was it? Their entire presentation was basically just.. egg recipes—and its mainly about omelettes and breakfast!
Meanwhile, we'd spent hours digging for sources, lost them all, rebuilt the whole thing from scratch—and they just… Bookled breakfast....
"What a world, huh?" Yuki muttered.
"Yeah, it is," Daiki replied.
A sudden snicker left Yuki's mouth.
"...what's so funny?" Daiki asked.
"Oh, nothing," Yuki said, his smirk refusing to fade. "I just figured you were silently cursing how unfair our topic was, judging from your face."
Daiki had a visible grunt on his face. When Yuki realized and told him that, he flinched. Not a dramatic flinch—just enough to betray his usual demeanor.
"It was drawn by lots, so don't stress," Yuki added. "We just happened to get the second hardest one."
Lucky us… Daiki thought bitterly.
"Anyway," Yuki continued, "we're up next. I'll handle the talking, you switch the slides when I gesture behind my back. "
"Alright."
"Akezawa and Sato, please come to the front," the teacher called.
-----
Yuki stood confidently at the front, phone in one hand and a faint smile on his face, while Daiki positioned himself by the laptop to control the slides. The projector flickered to life, revealing their first slide—clean, minimal, and surprisingly polished given the last-minute scramble earlier.
"Good afternoon," Yuki began, his voice steady and clear. "Today, we'll be discussing…"
Daiki kept his eyes on Yuki's gestures, clicking through each slide exactly when prompted. He didn't need to speak, but he found himself quietly impressed at how natural Yuki was at explaining their points.
Yuki sprinkled in small anecdotes and examples to make the topic less dry, and every so often, Daiki caught some classmates leaning forward with interest.
While Yuki was asking a trivia, a classmate suddenly spoke up.
"I thought you guys had to redo everything? This looks cleaner than ours!"
The class burst into discussion.
Yuki just shrugged it off, telling everyone that he couldn't have done it without some help, as he glanced towards Daiki.
Halfway through, Yuki cracked a harmless joke that earned a few chuckles, easing the room's atmosphere. Daiki couldn't help but think that maybe Yuki was born to be in front of an audience.
When they reached the final slide, Yuki gave a neat conclusion, thanked the class, and signaled to Daiki to close the presentation.
Daiki let out a small breath of relief. They'd pulled it off.
---
"Nice work up there. I'd say we made a miracle out of a disaster."
Daiki gave a faint shrug. "You did most of the talking."
"Yeah, but you had all the research. Without that, I'd just be up there saying 'uh' every two seconds."
Daiki smirked faintly. "Guess we're even, then."
Yuki put up his hand in a motion for a high-five.
"Hmm?" Daiki asked.
"Its a high five, dont leave me hanging!"
"Uh.. fine, sure."
Daiki lifted his hand halfway, and Yuki met it with an easy slap, grinning like it was their little victory.
With a casual wave, Yuki thanked him again before heading off, and the two went their separate ways.
Daiki and Yuki went back to their seats, the faint buzz of chatter resuming as soon as the next group was called.
"Yuki sure is amazing, huh?"
Daiki overheard a female classmate talking to her seatmate..
"Getting everyone involved surely is not an easy task."
"You can say that again."
Yuki surely has everything I wish I could have… Daiki thought. His quiet observation broke when someone tapped his shoulder.
"Yo! Your presentation was neat!"
It was his seatmate, Ren Takahashi.
Daiki tilted his head to look at them.
"Yeah, ours was a mess," Ren's project partner added with a laugh.
"Hard to believe you two pulled that off over a lunch break. Guess that explains why you were half-asleep in class," Ren remarked.
"It was only possible thanks to Yuki," Daiki replied, ignoring the sudden revision.
"I'll give him that," Ren said, "but Yuki's hardly the type to keep things organized."
"Yeah, remember that time he just gave up trying to clean his notes?"
"That was certainly unforgetful!" Ren snickered.
Ren and his partner kept needling Daiki until the teacher's voice cut in, telling the class to quiet down.
"Anyway, great job on the entire thing." Ren added before turning away.
Daiki gave a short nod. Compliments felt like foreign currency — easy to pocket, hard to know what to do with.
"Thanks… I guess."
He faced forward and returned to his default blank stare, but his eyes drifted toward the front. Yuki was leaning back in his chair, one arm slung lazily over the backrest.
Yuki met his gaze, and let out another smirk.
Daiki glanced at him, a little surprised by the casual confidence.
He does kinda deserve it, though.