Ryoma blinked his eyes open from another dreamless sleep.

Goddammit. He'd slept in again.

He groaned, draping his arm over his eyes. He stumbled out of bed, still clad in the clothes he wore yesterday. He smelled like shit.

He ambled away from bed, weary-eyed, and looked at himself in the mirror. All the sleepless nights wandering around campus had taken a toll on him. A grimace was plastered on his face, and he rubbed the defined dark bags under his eyes. He looked like shit, too.

Whatever. He didn't care anyway. He would just eat a piece of toast or something and go back to his room. Nobody would notice anyway.

Not even changing into a new set of clothes, Ryoma stalked down the empty sidewalk towards the cafeteria, not even realizing that he had forgotten his hat.

He swung open the door, catching the attention of all of his classmates.

"Ah, Ryoma! You're here!" Kaede said cheerfully. Ryoma glanced over at her, giving his most convincing smile.

"Ah, Ryoma, you've arrived. We have all been waiting for you. We agreed to eat together this morning, did we not?" Kirumi added, her maternal attitude slipping out.

'Shit,' Ryoma thought, 'we did, didn't we? Today we would be meeting the other classes.' He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Instead of answering the question, he sat in a seat at the table. 'Why am I even caring about this? I shouldn't have ever gotten out of bed.'

"Ew, degenerate male! Did you even change your clothes?!" Tenko shrieked. It seemed she was the one who he had seated next to.

Ryoma turned his tired face to the girl. He sighed and shook his head shamefully. "Who cares anyway."

Ryoma downed his coffee immediately, not even taking the time to let it cool.

Tsumugi looked at him with worry. "Are you okay Ryoma? That coffee was really hot..."

Ryoma looked up at her, panting a little to cool off his scorched tongue. "The burning wakes me up. That's all."

All of the students sat around the table in uncomfortable silence. Ryoma seemed to have felt it, too.

"I'm gonna go take care of something." Ryoma said, hopping up from his seat and walking towards the exit.

"Wait, Ryoma!" Kaede said, getting out of her chair and chasing after Ryoma, "please wait just a second, at least have breakfast with us!"

She rushed up and grabbed Ryoma's forearm, but upon seeing the wince of pain given by the boy, she let go. "Oh! I'm sorry Ryoma. Are you okay?"

Ryoma cradled his arm, visible beads of sweat forming on his face. "Y-yeah. I'm f-fine." He said nervously.

"Are you sure? I can check if something is wrong, I'd be happy to help!" Kaede still offered, taking the initiative to grab his arm and attempt to examine it.

Ryoma jerked his arm out of her hands. "NO! I-I mean, uh, no need. I'll be fine. I'm just gonna shower real quick... And then I'll be back..." He said, running out the door.

As he ran, he could feel Kaede's eyes burning into the back of his skull.