|Rumours

Shirou woke up, once again, with the help of his alarm. His eyelids struggled to keep up.Under the influence of his deepest desire, which was more sleep, they involuntarily closed in a manner which betrayed his feeling of tiredness.

A week had gone by and his seemingly average life became even more average. A whole week since he last interacted with any of them. Casual greetings were rare but on the rare occasion, that was about it.Even the charismatic Lucas could not do much in this situation.The absence of those three made it easier to survive the classes but that was all..Survive the classes. He didn’t have to blend into any groups when he could just blend into the background and transform his label from “weirdo” to “antisocial weirdo”.

---If I could skip school today, I probably would but then I’m pretty sure that’s not an option.

He rolled out of bed, nearly losing his balance in the process and got ready for another day of school.

---Besides…

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”

“I do.. Just a bit tired.That’s all.”

---It’ll be a waste of time

He looked at Lisara with a straight look, showing very little emotion. It looked more like he was too tired to waste his energy searching for expressions to make.

“Did you have trouble sleeping??”

“More or less. Also, I know this is coming late but I.. We want to help you out more.”

He turned to Yuuki and with a nod, he continued.

“I don’t need any help though.”

Yuuki snapped her fingers in excitement.

“You are not allowed to refuse.”

“Yuuki.”

“She’s right.”

“I’ll handle the dishes from now on. I’ll try cooking more too. You aren’t allowed to do them since that will be my thing now.”

“But what about getting to school early. Also, most of the time you are busy writing.Wouldn’t that be a bother??”

“We barely make it in time anyway so we would have to improve our timing sooner or later and for my writing, I don’t mind cutting a few hours everyday if it means I can be of help.”

“…….”

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

She poked his statue-like face while he struggled to eat. He dropped the slice of bread in his mouth and slowly muttered.

“Because I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Is that so?”

---If you want to hear my voice so bad.

“Well… Your cooking.”

She raised an eyebrow and continued poking his forehead even harder now.

“What about it???”

“It sucks, even I can do better.”

“Shut up shut up shut up.. Why don’t you handle the cooking then?”

“Shirou has to prepare for the final exams coming up soon so he’ll be really busy. Let’s not make it more stressful for him.”

“I would handle the cleaning. If Yuuki still can’t cook then we’ll have to switch. I can even do both if I need to.”

“WHO SAID I CAN’T COOK!?!?!?!?”

“It’s more of a proven fact than anything else.”

“Ughh okay maybe you should stop talking now.”

“Anyway, Mum.We can handle it.”

“But I don’t mind doing---”

“Let’s vote then. All in favour of Mum permanently handing the chores over..”

Yuuki and Shirou both grinned as they raised their hands. This was already a victory for them. Lisara, being the breadwinner of the family didn’t deserve to be tied down by chores when they could assist her. In Akate high, students were not allowed to take any jobs and even if they were, she didn’t approve of it regardless. The sole reason they came up with the idea now was mainly due to the indisputable fact that they sucked at house chores.

Shirou took twice as long as any normal person when it came to cleaning. All he had going for him were the dishes that he could wash with ease but that was all. His cooking skills were average at best while Yuuki was the very definition of abysmal. However, that was not a reasonable excuse at all. Learning is a thing everyone is capable of, no matter how terrible they may be so they decided to do just that.

“Seems like we win. From today on, you are hereby banned from house chores.”

“This is not a fair case, where’s my lawyer?”

Lisara’s fruity chuckle spread like a virus and they all began laughing. Yuuki checked the time and poked him yet again.

“The bus arrives in about 5 minutes. We’ve gotta get going.”

“I have to get going too,I can’t afford to miss my first day of work, right?”

---Goodluck, mom.

In School, Mr Ogami concluded the class with another “Well that’s the end for today”. They could tell exactly when he would reach for his pockets and call it a day. His sense of timing was so precise that more often than not, he walked out of the classroom at the same time the chime signalled the end of the lecture. This time though, it was 15 minutes away.Hirada stood up in objection.

“The class is not done. We still have over 15 minutes.”

He sighed loudly as Miss Claudia entered the classroom.

“Thanks for that but I was well aware of the time. I wish you would listen to me a bit more. All you do is wait for an opportunity to criticise me, not very bright. Anyway,we decided to give you a test that will cut across both your history and Literature scores to measure your ability to articulate among many others.”

Hatsune Claudia nodded her head in approval and continued from where he stopped.

“Like teamwork, insight, time management.”

“We split you up in threes….Less time consuming…”

“You all have a deadline of two weeks.”

“You’re all lucky she insisted on two.”

“The group leaders have already been decided.We have

Group 1: Akate Eric, Angie Lin, Nagasime Harry.

Group 2:Hirada Rei,Sawao Ai,Aki Kojo

Group 3:Nagasime Lucas,Akate Misaka,Tetsuji Keita

Group 4:Tenkawa Rinta, Sayaka Chizuru,Seki Itsuda

Group 5:Yato Shirou,Tenkawa Nire, Brent Wendy”

---What the flying fuck?

“Please remember, we are expecting originality and creativity, nothing less.”

Mr Ogami folded his arms and adjusted his glasses while nodding back in approval of her words.

“Sadly, creativity that is related to original ideas. If we notice any of you ‘winging it’, there will be consequences so you better be prepared. This will be your final assessment, after all.”

{hack} {hack}

Claudia Hatsune disguised her laughter with a cough. The words “winging it” caught her by surprise. Like a chink in her armour; talk about timing. Ogami could see her from the corner of his eyes.

---Well, that reduced some tension.

{ahem}

“Anyway,Hatsune-sensei is going to be the one with the topics.You have already been given a single topic each and you can’t change it.Also the students currently on suspension get to participate as long as the meeting place is outside school premises.I believe that’s all that needs to be said.”

“Do your best.”

The bell rang immediately after he finished talking as though it had been waiting patiently for him.

“Would you look at that, it’s time for your next class. If you excuse me.”

He took a quick glance at Hirada with a smirk while the only words in the caramel coloured haired boy’s head were “ignore him”.

During lunch, Shirou unpacked his lunch box and stared at the door before eating. As usual, he was on the rooftop alone.It was as though it was his habitat. He ate as slowly as possible. Relishing the taste with every single bite.

---This is just an ordinary sandwich but it tastes so good. I could add the same ingredients and it wouldn’t taste this good. My mother is a goddess. Sadly, this is the last time I’ll get to eat something this good in school(unless I use the cafeteria). Yuuki’s food sucks and I’m only a half decent cook.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

He continued with his lunch without paying much attention to the girl standing in front of him.

“You want to start right off the bat?”

“You could say that.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page, I also want to get this over with quick.”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes were all over the place. She was preventing an awkward situation but indirectly dragging herself towards one. Wendy was truly hopeless in awkward situations without Rinta by her side.

“Please try and talk to Tenkawa so we can discuss how we are going to distribute the work and also where we would meet for group discussions.”

“You’re right. Maybe the library?”

“No.. Feels restricted.. And I don’t like the atmosphere there. Besides research is the least of our worries right now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ll get into the details later when we meet up with him.”

“All right.”

“By the way, have you eaten??”

“Umm..”

---Don’t tell me you came up here without stopping to eat first?

“I’m guessing that’s a no.”

“Well, I’m not that hungry.”

“I can share mine.. That is if you don’t mind, of course.”

“Uhhh..”

“We can talk after. Here, have some.”

“Thank you.”

She sat beside him and nervously picked up a sandwich and nibbled on it. He stared at her with his dull eyes widened.

“W-What?”

---So cute…. Could I get Yuuki to do something like this?

{ahem}

“It’s nothing.”

“About what happened the other day…”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not!!”

Her loud voice was accompanied by a few seconds of silence.

“You’ve gone through a lot because of that stupid incident and nobody believed you and Harry was setting painful reminders.”

“Painful reminders??? My whole life is a painful reminder. You think I can live each day without remembering that I’m a main source of rumour?? Assuming I managed to forget it, just a single disgusted look could bring it all back.Why would anyone believe me in the first place??”

He said this in an undertone manner and his curved lips too sunk in as his mood changed.

“Besides, you didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly…. I did nothing…..”

“I saw the way you looked at me. You could tell I was lying, right?”

“.…”

“That’s impressive.”

“I’m sorry if that got to you. I just didn’t---”

“Don’t worry about it The only lie I told was the ‘that’s all I remember’. Every other thing was true.”

“It’s not like I was doubting you.”

“What you told me earlier seemed easy but it’s really tough to pull off. I might not be able to do it after all.”

He stared at the clouds and clenched his fists.

---Some things just don’t change.

“Hey you two, what’s going on.”

As they were on their way back to class,Lucas interrupted them. He told Wendy to leave without him but she refused so they decided to go back together. What was the worst that could happen because of something like that? Rumours?

“Nothing important.”

“Got any plans today??”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re coming with me. Just drinks.”

“I just said yes.”

“Then cancel them, we’re gonna have some fun.”

“I’m afraid I can’t….”

---He is usually pushy but this is more than the usual.

“Is it because of..”

He grinned and winked at the both of them.

“Huh?No. We have group meeting later on.”

“Yikes.. Rain check??”

“I’ll check my schedule.”

---I don’t have one.

“You’re breaking my heart here.. Anyway,starting already with the project?? That’s boring.”

“Well it’ll make things easier.”

“Yeah.”

“Let me leave you love birds alone.”

“What??????”

He smiled wryly as she glared at him with a flustered look then walked away.

Meanwhile, Miss Claudia and Mr Ogami were in the staff room, she brought an egg sandwich she got from the vending machine nearby. The staff rooms were on an entirely separate floor and contained a pair per room. They were both assigned to a single room.

“Why are you being so soft on them??”

“I think the question should be why are you being so hard on them.”

“Am I??I believe I’m quite lenient…”

“Sure. The students think that too.”

--Sarcasm is my thing.

“They need to grow up, not only physically.”

“A perfectionist to the core, huh?”

“You know me so well.”

“Of course, darling.”

“Huh?”

Cladia looked the other way and pouted in disappointment while Ogami was readjusting his glasses.

“What do you mean by ‘huh?’”

“You’re lucky we have this room to ourselves. Well, not like that isn’t how it normally works but you know what I mean.”

“You don’t have to get all flustered. Relax, I’m just teasing you.”

“How do you get along with Hirada??”

“I really don’t.”

“What about Tenkawa?”

“I’ll leave that to you to figure out..We never actually got along at first so I think you two would get along just fine eventually.You seem to have taken a liking to Yato-kun too.”

“There’s a lot more to him than he’s letting on.”

“I agree….Quite intriguing.”

“Hey Claudia, you know we don’t have to be so friendly in front of them. They might catch on.”

“Is it wrong to be nice to each other all the time?”

“No just---”

She stuffed the sandwich in his mouth.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry, you don’t have to say anything.”

“This is really stressful.”

Shirou walked behind Nire who increased his pace after seeing Shirou behind him.

“Hey, Tenkawa-kun”

“…..”

“Tenkawa.”

“What do you want?”

---Wendy asked me to talk to him but I don’t see us ever getting along. I must swallow my pride and get this over with quickly. He’s a pain in the ass.

“I just wanted to talk about where we will be meeting up.”

“Oh, you’re the group leader, I almost forgot.”

“Yes.Brent and I have a clear schedule but I wanted to ask you first.”

“I’m really busy.”

---Does it look like I am asking you to hang out or something?

“That’s too bad because I wanted us to start right away.Brent too.”

“Your trick isn’t going to work. I’m busy and that’s that.”

---Why am I trying so hard?

“Suit yourself. We would start without you.”

“Whatever.”

He continued walking while Shirou headed to the Kendo dojo but on the way, he heard various murmurs as he walked away.

“Why does Brent even bother with this guy?”

“Doesn’t she know there are tons of rumours or is she just being ignorant?”

“I’m lucky I don’t have him in my class, he looks like a creep. I’m sure he’s worse when he opens his mouth.”

He couldn’t help but hear what they said. This was not his first time but he noticed something different this time around. He wasn’t the only one getting trashed.

During their spar, Misaka didn’t utter a single word and used a more lenient approach. Something that he picked up on almost immediately.

“Stop going easy on me.”

“I’m only being considerate.”

“Thanks but I didn’t ask.”

“Well if that’s what you want.”

She swooped in and landed a hit faster than he could react to.

“Too slow.”

---How fast was that?

“Let’s take a break.”

He reluctantly nodded his head.

“You were not fully focused today. Your movement was sloppy. That was why I said I was being considerate.”

“If that’s the case then I’m at fault. My bad.”

“May I ask what has gotten you so upset?”

“Just a rude classmate spoiling for a fight.”

“For a moment there I thought it was something else.”

“You can go practice some more while I cool off.”

“I want to stay here. I might be of help.You can’t like everyone and everyone can’t like you. No matter what it is you do for them or try to be.They simply won’t.”

“I’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way. In most cases, I can easily withdraw from that person completely but we are working on a project together and I know I can’t work with him.”

“Then you put on an act. Something so plainly obvious but untouchable. Something that would bring the two of you together as known enemies and nothing more.It works.”

“Oh, like what you and Brent do??”

“No, that’s completely different.”

“I see.”

“Cheer up. I actually thought that without Eric, people would have low morale and some people might be more hostile towards you but I guess I was wrong.”

“That’s half true.He’s going to be back in a week or two though.”

“It’s just so peaceful.”

“Just noticing.”

“You never cared since at the end of the day, you were not liked by most people so that’s justifiable.”

“I’m not that cold.”

“It’s fine. If I were in your shoes, I’ll do the same ……..or even worse.”

“You scare me sometimes, you know that?”

“Oh, is that so…”

“Misaka, I don’t know how to say this but…I’m really happy that you were the first person I got to meet.”

His soothing words pierced her heart unexpectedly, breaking through all her defences. Perhaps it was because this was their first real conversation in a week. Was that the reason this hit was effective? She turned beet red.

“I’m glad you feel that way about me. Shirou?”

“Yes?”

“What would happen if everything you thought about me was wrong?”

“The perception of Akate Misaka I have?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, if that were the case… I’ll simply adjust to it accordingly. We all have certain parts of ourselves we show and certain parts that we keep hidden. If it was not real then you wouldn’t be able to keep up with it for long. That’s what I think.”

“For some reason,I still don’t feel better.”

“Why??”

“I’m just worried a little.”

“Now you sound just like my Mom.”

“I didn’t want to talk about it but also didn’t want to be the one to not talk about it. Unfortunately, we can’t pretend nothing happened.”

“If you are thinking like that then why don’t you just ask me?”

“Fine..I’ll ask. What are you going to do??”

She moved closer to him in anticipation of his response. He looked down at his sweaty palms and closed his eyes.

“I don’t know yet. I don’t know what to think or do anymore. Everything is a contradiction.”

---Even a goddess might be burned this time. No one is immortal.Whether knowingly or not, the scars are proof.

After club activities, he followed the location of the public library Wendy recommended.

“At least it’s not another cafe.”

“This place is really peaceful and rarely used at this time…”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I visit regularly. Also, I doubt people from school will see us here.”

“Why does that matter?”

“It’s nothing, really.. I just prefer it, I guess.”

The hesitation in her words gave her away.

“Don’t worry about it.I’ve got nothing to lose but--”

“Stop.”

The sudden change in tone surprised him and this time, his smile angered her.

“You’ve not even heard what I have to say.My mom always took me here when I was little.Yeah it’s not really fancy and just a regular library, not so impressive but we had a lot of fun memories here and for some reason it was..No..It’s still my favourite place in the world. Do you understand now?”

“I do..My bad.”

“It’s not your fault, I brought you here without telling you why. That’s kind of my fault. I guess I just feel so relaxed here.”

“Oh, well. Let’s get started.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey..there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

---The first person undoubtedly has to be you

“I’m listening.”

“After this project is over, I don’t want us to be friends any longer..”

“Huh?”

Meanwhile, Harry and Lucas were a few blocks away from their home and as usual, Lucas filled the silence with some small talk.

“My group’s the worst.. I got Misaka and Tetsuji.”

“The pervert of a brother I know would rejoice as he gets to spend time with a pretty girl.”

Lucas bashfully rubbed his head.

“Haha.That would have been true but Misaka is really scary when it comes to stuff like this.. My grades aren’t that all that so she might end up overworking me.She’s a slave driver, after all. I wish I got Sayaka.She’s so cool headed. We seem like the perfect fit.”

“I don’t think anyone is a right fit for you.”

“What a tragic end to my hopes of getting a girlfriend before I graduate….”

“Yeah right. You turn down so many girls that it’s hard to keep count.”

“If I reject you then that means we are not the meant to be, that’s all.”

“Whatever you say.. Speaking of teams. I wonder how I’m going to handle those people.”

“You know,I just realized that you lack leadership skills but then you are the Student council President. Wonder how that happened.”

“What are you implying??”

“All I’m saying is, you might be book smart but not people smart. Reminds me of the word ‘right fit’.”

Lucas walked ahead of him as Harry stopped, completely puzzled by what just happened. His behaviour had been normal up to a few seconds ago. Was he in a foul mood all along?

--He really is tearing into me. He’s not acting like himself. With each passing day, he becomes even more unrecognizable.

( “---” represents the thoughts of the main character. “--” represents the thoughts of any other character. “[]” represents an important event, most likely past events. “{}” represents various sounds made.)