*awkwardly pokes head out*

Ha ha... hi guys? Remember me? The author of this cringe-fest of a story?

Yeah, I'm so sorry for not updating for months! I'm terrible, I know. Writer's block is the ultimate worst. I've rewritten this chapter over and over and OVER again these past couple months until I finally came up with this. It's still not what I initially had in mind, but whatever. I've kept you guys waiting long enough.

That is, if I still have any readers left ha...

I want to promise I'll update regularly from now on, but instead of promising, I'll just tell you I'll do my very best to.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

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CHAPTER 13

"Miyuki!"

The screech of my name halted me in my tracks. I briefly contemplated on ignoring it but the anger in their tone didn't sound as if it'd end well for me if I did. And here I thought I was doing a pretty good job of not getting on people's bad-sides lately...

With a sigh, I spun around and wasn't even the slightest bit surprised to find the cause of all my nightmares—the devil herself, Suzuki-sensei—thrusting a sheet of paper all up in my face.

"Miyuki!" she shrieked yet again, practically shattering my eardrums. "What is the meaning of this?"

My body stiffened, and I tried my best to avoid her eyes as well as the other students' that were loitering around in the hall.

"Hoshino Miyuki, I am talking to you! Don't you dare ignore me!" I winced as she continued to yell. I reluctantly met her eyes, the back of my neck burning in embarrassment. Suzuki-sensei rose an eyebrow. "Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Uh..." I feebly began, swallowing hard. "Hoshino Miyuki is not available at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep—"

"No, I will leave a message right now!" she bellowed. "And she better be available if she knows what's good for her!"

I jolted, not really expecting her ballistic anger. Was she that mad? "Um, uh—" I spoke again.

"Hasn't being in a club taught you anything yet?" she cut me off with a snap. "You've obviously cheered up since you joined so make it evident in the essays I assign. Instead of how wishing on these... Dragon Balls can somehow bring the dead back to life!"

I let out a small snort in remembrance to that reference I had made in my essay. Then, I frowned. "I didn't change at all, sensei," I informed her easily. "I'm still the same old but young Hoshino Miyuki you know. That just goes to show that my involvement with that club is pointless. So does that mean I can leave that club today—"

"No," she enunciated, hands at her hips.

I puffed my cheeks. "Aww."

"—Anyway!" she said and yanked me by the ear. "You're coming with me! It seems I need to give you yet another lecture about your horrible grades!"

"No!" I whined, flailing my arms. "Somebody, save me!"

"Nobody's coming to save you," she hissed, dragging my sorry self down the hall. "Your goddamn nerve all the time... You'll need a hearing aid after I'm done with you!"

——————————————————

"She's been lying there like that ever since she came in here..."

"Do you think she's okay?" Wannabe asked.

"I heard Suzuki-sensei yelling at her in the halls," said Hiro. "'Got cornered because of her grades."

"What, really?" asked Yuji in surprise. "I overheard a bit, but... Suzuki-sensei was that mad because of her marks?"

From where I was laying, I traced the lines of the ceiling, making imaginary pictures in my head. My ears were still ringing and whenever I closed my eyelids, her evil face appeared. Man... that was absolutely horrible. How could such an old person be filled with so much rage? It was like she was a ticking time bomb, and I was the idiot who always managed to cut the red wire that made her explode times and times again.

But compared to a bomb, she was one hundred times more destructive...

"Are Mi-chan's grades that bad?" I heard Saki ask the others. "She always slacks in class, but..."

"Looks to me she should try harder," Yuji insisted.

"She should," agreed Wannabe. "Why doesn't she?"

"Her brain's full of nothing but anime so that's probably why," Hiro said in reply, narrowing his eyes. "But if that's the case, I don't think she deserves—"

Deserves? My ears perked. Immediately, my eyes darted right and left to spot what Hiro was referring to. When met with nothing, I lurched upwards from the couch, hastening towards him with brightened eyes. "You got something for me?" I thrusted out my hands, grinning from ear to ear. "Then what are you waiting for? Gimme, gimme—"

"Never gets," Hiro snapped, instantly downgrading my mood. "Get your hands away from me. I don't have anything for you."

Pursing my lips, I retreated my hands back. "Then why the heck did you say you did?"

"I didn't." He rolled his eyes, scoffing as he continued, "But even if I did, you obviously don't deserve it if you're failing all your classes."

"I'm not failing all of my classes." As the words left my mouth, I cringed. "Most, a bit, but—"

"Even if you like this anime stuff so much, you shouldn't fail your classes, Mi-chan!" Saki scolded, joining Hiro. "Midterm exams are coming up soon too!"

I breathed loudly, sagging my shoulders. "What does it matter? My poor excuses of my grades shouldn't even concern you people."

"What are you saying, Hoshino? Just like the saying 'if one body part hurts, the entire body will suffer;' if one of us fails, we all automatically fail!" Tamaki-Wannabe strolled up to me, clenching his fists in determination. "We have to strive to be the best we can together! You can do it!"

My expression fell. Similar to as if I were being blinded by the sun, I had to shade my eyes for a bit. "Is this what people call an optimist?" I murmured. "So those actually exist...?"

"Miyuki," Yuji piped in. "Although you say you're fine, didn't Suzuki-sensei say you have to get a tutor?"

Shifting my attention away from Mr Sunshine in front of me, I rose an eyebrow at him. "Tutor...? Did she say that?" I asked. "And how do you know?"

"I was passing by her office and heard lots of screaming and colourful—and I mean, extremely colourful—words come from her mouth," he answered, teetering on his chair and grimacing at the memory. "I thought you did something worse than horrible but I'm surprised it was only because of your grades."

"See," I said, puffing my cheeks. "Feel for me a little guys. She overreacts over every little thing."

Shutting my eyes, I tried to recall that very topic of a tutor but nothing came to mind. To be completely honest, I blanked out the moment she started yelling, which wasn't uncommon considering I tuned out all of her lectures.

My shoulders sagged even more. But, a tutor? I'm pretty sure my averages were a solid D+ so it didn't exactly need much improvement. Besides, getting tutored by an instructor did not sound like a good idea at all. It was way too time-consuming.

"I'm fine," I mumbled for the umpteenth time.

"Not you're not," Yuji said. "Hiro, you're good at math aren't you?"

Hiro shrugged. "It's an easy class."

At his reply, Yuji clasped onto my shoulders. "Great! Tutor Miyuki then. If she doesn't pass the math midterm there's a chance she'll have to repeat the grade!"

The moment I glanced up at Hiro, we both flinched. Disgust consumed both of our faces. I wiggled out from Yuji's hold to glare at him.

"Yuji, what the heck?" I demanded.

"Yeah! Me, help her?" Hiro agreed. "That's impossible!"

"Yeah, that's—" I stopped myself to look at him. "Wait, what do you mean impossible? Are you implying that I'm incapable of being taught?"

"Huh? No I'm not," Hiro refuted. "I just meant—"

"That you think it's impossible for me to absorb any kind of information," I finished for him, folding my arms over my chest. "Just because I have a low grade you're looking down on my math abilities is that it?"

"I was trying to make a point," Hiro seethed after a pause. "Why're you taking this so seriously?"

"Because your point is offensive," I retorted back. "I think the reason you're saying this is 'impossible' is because you don't believe you're good enough at math to tutor me, not the other way around."

"Yes I am. Helping you would be easy!"

"Why don't you prove it then?"

He squared his shoulders. "Maybe I will."

"Wait, wait," Saki whispered in the background, "so Hiro is helping Mi-chan with math?"

"I guess so..." Yuji murmured, in awe as both Hiro and I scowled at each other.

"Their friendship is really refreshing." Beamed Wannabe as he watched this unfold with stars in his eyes.

Both Yuji and Saki sweatdropped.

"They look ready to kill each other, Kazuya," Saki murmured with a forced smile.

"Learn to read a mood," sighed Yuji.

"H-huh...?"

——————————————————

Sitting before him in the library, sheets sprawled out on the table in front of us, Hiro and I shared an intense stare-down with one another. It must've only been going on for a few minutes now, but it felt longer than that. And none of us would relent unless the other caved first.

"Did you bring your books?" Hiro finally spoke, not faltering his expression at all.

"Are you unable to see?" I scoffed, beckoning to the books scattered on the table between us. "They're in front of you."

Hiro gritted his teeth, his glower intensifying. He didn't appreciate my answer. "Why are we here?"

"You're the one that said you'd help me," I said.

"I know," he snapped. "And I already regret it. We don't even get along in the first place."

Letting out a sigh, I rested my arms by my sides, picking up my textbook. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just leave this negative stuff behind us and focus. I'm counting on you to teach me, Hiro-sensei."

His scowl slipped from his features and he picked up the workbooks from class. "So what exactly are you learning right now? I'm not in your class, so..."

After a few seconds, Hiro glanced towards me, puzzled by the silence that followed. My brows knitted together, eyes shut, and I tilted my head to the side in a pensive manner. "Um..."

Hiro's jaw fell. "No way. You don't know?"

I pursed my lips together, drawing apart my eyelids. "It has something to do with triangles I think."

"You think? Saki did mention you slack in class, but..." Hiro sighed. "I can't believe this."

"I'm a bad human being who can't remember shit, I know. You don't need to reiterate what I always hear." Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I avoided his eyes. "This is why I didn't want a tutor... Is pointing out my incompetence so much fun for you?"

Hiro didn't respond, and despite the mortification crawling up my spine, I returned a steady gaze to him. After what felt like centuries of staring into his bright blue eyes, Hiro relented with a puff of air and shook his head.

"Okay look," he said, catching me off guard, "I think we got off on the wrong foot here so let's just start over. As I'm apart of the Humanity Club and you need assistance, it's my obligation to help you pass your exam so you can proceed past your first year of high school."

A self-implemented duty was it? "Why are you apart of the Humanity Club anyway?" I asked him, resting my chin on my palms. "You look like the last person to ever join one."

Hiro's brows knitted together. "Why is that?"

"You seem more like a sports person if anything," I truthfully answered, narrowing my eyes. "Hmm, baseball? All three years of middle school?"

Shocked, he inched back in his seat, hand going for the cap on his head. "How do you know about that? Are you stalking me?"

Ha, knew it. "Maybe if I was a perverted alien I would feel obligated to," I snorted. "So? Were you forced into giving it up too? I seriously can't fathom why anybody would ever join that volunteer club unless they were forced—especially if by an unruly demon and not a great one like Rin, mind you—"

"There is no reason," he responded, frowning in the act. "I just did. Baseball wasn't so fun anymore."

"Um," I drawled, tilting down an eyebrow. "I find that very hard to believe. Baseball is an amazing sport, and high school baseball is in a whole league of its own—"

"Maybe in that anime you watched," he said and sighed, slouching in his seat. "Jeez, I don't know. In the beginning of the year when clubs were scouting first years, I met Kazuya who was desperately trying to gather members to join the HC. I felt a bit sorry for the dude since he really wanted to start up the club. And Yuji, Saki and I are childhood friends so Saki kinda convinced us to join until woo-hoo, here I am now, attempting to tutor a girl who's so easily distracted by pointless backstory."

Hiro picked up the books for emphasis to get started and I groaned as a result. I guess we kind of had to now. But, I did kind of had the idea that those three knew each other for a while. Considering they were all first years like me, having such a tight bond couldn't just sprout from a couple months of knowing each other.

"What about Hinata?"

"Is today local curiosity day?" Hiro demanded. "Why do you care so much?"

"Just tell me," I said. "Well, knowing Hinata he probably joined 'cause he's too kind of a guy to let that Tamaki-Wannabe down either."

"That seems reasonable, but I'm not entirely sure." He rolled his eyes with a shrug. "All I do know is that the guy works himself extremely hard but never seems bothered by it. Prep courses right after clubs all the time, getting involved and volunteering at every opportunity. He never gets home until late everyday; it's been like that since the beginning of the year. More than that most likely, considering we did only meet this year."

"No way," I muttered with a dropped jaw, shaking my head with my chin still on the table. "I didn't know that. Poor guy."

He deadpanned. "You should be aiming to become someone like Hinata. An active member in your community and school."

I leaned back in my seat. "Hiro, we're not here to joke around."

Hiro opened his mouth to retort something but settled for heaving an exasperated huff. "I swear you..."

"I don't get it," I said.

"Nobody gets you either."

I glared. "Not what I meant," I said. "I mean, I don't get how he could work himself so hard like that and still function so well."

"It's not that difficult; lots of people do it."

"I know... that's why I seriously salute those very people for actually putting an effort into their studies." I pouted. "Just imagine how well I'd be doing if anime were a subject...."

Hiro sighed. "Whatever. Stop fooling around and get memorizing. Since you're failing we should probably start from the fundamentals," he ordered, already flipping to a page and pointing towards it. He fiddled with his bangs. "I swear, if only Hinata were here, not me. He'd be a way better tutor."

"What happened to the guy anyway?" I inquired. "He hasn't show up to the club at all lately."

"Don't worry about that. Unlike you, he's for sure spending his day productively," Hiro stated.

"What do you mean 'unlike you?' I spend my day productively," I defended.

He gestured to the math textbooks with a cocked eyebrow. I easily sweatdropped.

"Okay, maybe not productively productively," I relented. "But productively enough."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Since he's so busy he told Kazuya ahead of time he's taking time off from the club for awhile."

"Lucky," I drawled. I clicked my tongue. "I tried that card once but Wannabe didn't let me."

"Because your busy is different from society's 'busy.'"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Okay, okay, I'm done receiving these bullets from you. Let's just get serious; I need to get home sometime today."

"Gladly." Hiro heaved in relief and tapped on the sheet. "So start from here."

I rose my pencil from the table and nodded my head at the problems he'd pointed out for me to do. When he withdrew, the corners of my lips quirked up. I exhaled, "Thanks, Hiro."

His reaction was quite comical. "H-huh?"

"What?" I demanded, my amusement slipping the slightest. Why was he staring at me as if I'd just sprouted two heads?

Only proving my idea true, the guy dramatically shivered. "You just uttered a 'thank you.' To me. A human."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. Exactly what kind of image did I give off to these losers? Did they want me to ridicule them all the time or something? What masochists.

Due to my silence Hiro eyed me with utmost caution, making it harder to fight back a gratifying smile. I was getting to his head.

"I'm counting on you to help me pass my exam," I reasoned, gesturing to the first question.

"Yeah... I'll do my best," he said, tenseness relaxing a bit. "You're... welcome?"

Though I resumed to work, the silence that lingered only induced further paranoia from him as he fidgeted back and forth. He frowned before slamming his palms onto the tabletop.

"You're totally plotting something aren't you?"

My smile didn't fade as I scribbled my (most likely incorrect) answer onto my notebook. "Just accept the thank you, Hiro."

And he did. This time, at least. With a genuine smile of his own.