As the hours dragged on, school became less about classes and more about survival…
Like, can a man not sit down and learn his maths or basic language studies?
Realistically, in a normal world, I might've made it through the day, maybe got a couple of 'Ews' from the popular girls and maybe a 'get lost dork' from some of the jocks, but thankfully, I don't have to go through that. But what I do have to go through is the weight of four different stares burning holes into the back of my skull, while ironically the teacher is talking about Japanese culture and how we're all ways kind to each other.
"Yeah, teach, just open your eyes and look back here, I've got four girls each staring back at me:
One full of rage.
One innocent and sunny.
One blank as a robotic assassin.
And the last?
Smug. Flirty. Like she'd already won and was just waiting for me to admit it.
Yeah. That one was Arisa if you couldn't tell by now. Whoever, since our little encounter, felt like she was the queen of not the school or the world.
Just me… Little old me.
"What kind of Bullshit is this? I feel like I'm in a B-tech version of Chain Soldiers."
Still, though thankfully, staring only stayed at staring, though at one point, Yuki did get up to answer a question in class, and that evil, yet can be nice woman went by my desk and dropped something.
"A piece of paper?" I murmured to myself. Looking down at it, I narrowed my eyes before taking a glance at Yuki, who, whilst drawing on the chalkboard, had her eyes on me.
"Oh god, she wants me to open it."
"Please don't be like a bomb or something"
I took a gulp, mentally preparing myself for it to be a fart bomb or something that would just make my day one hundred times worse.
"Hey souta what's that?" Nao leaned over and whispered, though her whisper really was just her normal voice slightly dimmed down.
"Um. I don't know, we're about to find out." I replied, slowly opening the crumbled paper.
Oh, by the way, did I mention that Yuki was still staring right at me?
"Miss Yuki, is there something the matter?" The teacher asked, slightly confused about her shooting kamehameha beams at me.
"Oh, no, it's alright, I just thought I could do this without looking," Yuki replied with a smug tone as she solved the problem.
"My! That's amazing, Yuki. Everything's correct and doing it without looking, you really are a genius." The teacher replied.
Erm, no, she just knew that answer and just wrote without looking, I could do that.
If I knew that answer, that's of course.
Which was something I wasn't brave enough to say, but either way, I opened up the paper and saw what was inside.
"A letter?"
"Dear Souta. I want to say something to you, so please, if you can take some time to read the words on the other side."
Holy crap, is Yuki actually going to say sorry?
A smile crept across my face as I began turning the paper over, my heart happy, my feelings feeling less raw and less hurt.
"You know what, Yuki, because you're so cute and you did kind of save everyone yesterday, I'll forgive you because you say-"
"You're a bitch", the other side said.
"FUCCCCCC"
My eyes shot up straight to that caniving woman who was smiling back, and like an arrogant little version of Pricella, she mouthed. "Nice try,"
BANG
"OH dear Souta, are you okay? Why did you just slam your head onto the table? The teacher asked with a worried tone.
The entire class was now looking at me.
And he's right, why did I do it?
To cool off my sudden rage to kill… Maybe.
Or to look like a total idiot in front of the class… Maybe.
"Hahaha, just a slight twitch, sir", I responded with a smile, and just a red mark on the middle of my forehead. And I wished it ended there, but no, Nao, since she wants to get into everything, was poking my back every one and a half seconds, just asking me to relive that moment again.
"Souta, what did it say?"
"Souta. Souta Souta Souta did it say I love you?"
"Souta Souta Souta Souta Souta Souta."
"SOUTA SOUTA SOUTA!"
"IT'S SAID I'M A BITCH!!!" I screamed whilst turning around, finally having had enough of Nao's pestering.
"Oh… Nao replied as she and the rest of the class stared at me again.
And for a moment, the room was silent.
"Well, I think you're not a bitch, Souta", Nao replied in a cute voice.
"Well, thank you… WAIT NO! WHY DID YOU NOT JUST WAIT TILL THE END OF THE CLASS, OR IN FACT, FORGET ABOUT IT!!!" I cried out, taking my ass down back onto the seat.
Then the room was filled with silence once again.
"Sir, I think he's mentally unstable," the voice that belonged to Yuki muttered, breaking the silence.
As the final bell rang, I stood from my desk like a man on the verge of just ending it all. Yuki, no surprise, brushed past me without so much as a glance. Like it should be me doing that, not her, especially after today.
Nao and Reina followed close behind. And Arisa lingered at the door for a second before she waved, grinning ear to ear like a cat that had just found the cream.
"See you soooon, Souta~!" She sung, walking beside Reina.
"Oh hey..." I replied after walking outside just a second after her, to which she then added with a devilish giggle, "Mmm, since you're already here, it seems we can just walk there together. Nice and convenient~"
…I didn't even reply. I just sighed and kept walking.
"Yay!" Arisa shouted as we began my death march.
We kept walking, my head down, just making sure I wasn't going to get attacked by Yuki.
But then I heard it.
"Pfft, how much did he pay them?"
"Huh?" I said as I looked up, I turned around and saw two guys just snickering to themselves, before they turned back to me with an evil stare.
"Yeah, yeah, keep talking", I muttered before lowering my head again.
"Ew, why's he with them?" Another voice called out, this time female.
The same thing happened again. I lifted my head and saw two girls snickering ot each other before giving me death stares.
"Wow, I can't even walk in peace with these guys", I murmured.
"Don't listen to them Souta, it's you who's with me" Arisa beamed.
"She's actually going to study with him?"
"Lucky ass loser."
"She probably feels bad for him…"
The words continued, like what did I do? It's not what you think! But who am I, just the rando, with a hot chick besides me?
But each time… Their words were going from little pokes to straight-up daggers.
"I hope he gets run over."
"Oops, I hope he accidentally gets stomped on."
You know what… I hope it hurts. I hope they all burn, take the piss out of me all you want, I'm living it.
Let this loser bask in the glory of the hotties. I don't care anymore; these words don't hurt me.
I think?
The library was quieter than usual, end-of-day silence hanging in the air. We said our greetings to the half-asleep receptionist and walked toward the back, heading for the same study table as last time.
But even before we turned the corner, I could feel it.
Something was off.
Like the world was setting me up for failure… Or fanservice?
As we rounded the corner, my eyes slightly widened as I saw what my brain was telling me to look out for.
"...Nao? Reina?" I blinked.
There they were.
Two blondes.
One with a pin in her hair.
One without.
And both were sitting exactly where Arisa and I were supposed to be alone. Of course, I turned to look at Arisa, whose cool, casual, seductive smile was now long gone, mixed with something that I wouldn't want to be on the opposite side of. Her eye twitched. The silent rage radiating off her skin was hotter than global warming.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," she muttered through her teeth.
Nao waved like this was all totally normal.
"Heyyy Souta! Fancy seeing you here!" She said way too loud, way too cheerful.
I swear I could hear Arisa's soul explode.
"That little…" She said something, but by the time I could hear her, she was gone.
She stomped to the end of the table and took the seat like she was ready to go to war. I followed, cautiously sitting beside her while shooting a polite nod at Reina.
"So… You guys here for something?" I asked, pretending I didn't already know the answer.
Both girls pointed to their books in perfect sync.
"Homework," they said in perfect unison.
Arisa narrowed her eyes, her voice flat.
"Sure. Definitely just homework. Jerks."
She didn't even look at them.
Didn't have to.
The smirks Reina and Nao gave each other said it all.
Me?
I was just the random guy who sat on the train between two people arguing, confused.
Tired.
Hungry.
But mostly confused.
But eventually, after Arisa stopped pouting, the session began.
"Alright, what are we covering today?" I asked, opening her textbook.
"History," Arisa grumbled.
"Oh boy," I said, scanning the lesson.
And of course.
Romeo and Juliet.
Bloody figures.
"So… Let me get this straight."
I squinted at the textbook like it were written in alien.
"You're telling me you've never heard of Romeo and Juliet?"
Arisa blinked, arms crossed under her chest. "They sound like a TikTok couple."
"…Arisa. They're literally dead. And TikTok never existed back then…"
She tilted her head. "Oh, so they're like one of those sad influencers?"
"…Close enough."
I sighed, flipping the page.
Reina silently took notes across from us while Nao casually shoved another cookie into her mouth, watching the chaos unfold like a live drama. She wasn't even pretending to study anymore.
"I just don't get it," Arisa said, frowning at the passage. "Like, why didn't Juliet just FaceTime him or something?"
"For the last time, they lived in the 1500s, Arisa."
"Yeah? And?"
"They didn't have phones!"
She blinked. "Then how did they update their Insta?"
Nao nearly choked on her cookie.
GODDD WHY ARE THE CUTE ONES SO STUPID!?!
Reina adjusted her glasses without a word, but the corner of her mouth twitched. She was either holding back a laugh or mentally updating a report to Interpol.
I rubbed my temples, trying to stay sane. "Okay, focus. Let's break it down. Juliet fakes her death, Romeo thinks it's real, so he offs himself. Then she wakes up, sees he's dead, and offs herself for real."
Arisa stared at me, horrified.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"It's tragic!"
"It's stupid!"
"Well. People say it's romantic."
That was the mistake.
Because now, Arisa leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand, and gave me that look. The dangerous one.
"Ohhh? You think dying for someone's romantic, Souta~?"
I backed up in my chair like she'd pulled out a hidden blade. "D-don't twist my words!"
She smiled. "So if I died, would you cry?"
"W-what kind of question is that?!"
Nao, now fully invested, whispered to Reina like a spy.
"Operation Love Trap is going very well."
"Confirmed," Reina said softly. "Subject A is sweating."
"Excellent. Or wait, not excellent? I dunno how I feel about this?" Nao mumbled now, somehow confused about her mission.
Just as I was about to explode from second-hand embarrassment,
SLAM.
The library door burst open with the subtlety of a war crime…