▃▃▃▃▃ "why're you late?"

etsuko flinched as she suddenly made her way to kita, who was at his desk reading.

sitting beside the stoic male, etsuko awkwardly shifted from left to right as she glanced over at kita, who did not even look away from his book for a moment.

     "well?", kita questioned, calmly flipping a page, though etsuko felt that kita was not calm in the slightest.

"I...well...there was a bit of a delay on dinner because you see, there was this pi—I mean drunken old man that was trying to molest this girl and I..I kind of saved her?

I mean...kuroo and bokuto saved my ass because of their fathers, but that's not the main point!!

we finally got our food after that was taken care of and then kuroo and bokuto drank so much that akaashi, kozume, and I had to make sure they didn't make any noise while coming back.

and so...so...I came back late...", etsuko explained.

kita passive aggressively dropped his book onto his desk.

"you promised me last time that you wouldn't be late", kita said.

     "I-I know kita, but...I mean...if you're going to tell on me, can you not pull kuroo and them in?", etsuko begged.

"you'd rather take all their consequences for yourself than let them get punished with you?"

"I mean yeah! you'd do it for osamu-san and them right?", etsuko asked, to which kita was hesitant to answer.

     breaking his perfect record for those two troublemakers and suna would've most likely depended on what they did and why they did it.

     "anyways, please don't tell on them kita! I'll bring you another egg soon", etsuko pleaded, pouting her lips as she unconsciously clung onto kita's arm.

kita glanced down at etsuko's round doe brown eyes, to which he just sighed.

"it's fine", the boy said, making etsuko confused.

"what's fine? like you won't tell on kuroo and them, fine? or it's fine that we all get in trouble?"

"it's fine. I won't tell the teachers", kita repeated, standing up as he blew out the candlelight at his desk and headed towards his futon.

etsuko's jaw dropped.

'maybe...maybe someone hit kita on the head and he lost his mind? is he for real going to cover for us? maybe he just really wants an egg...'

"thank you kita!!"

the boy didn't reply as etsuko just smiled, taking her clothes as she snuck into the washroom to complete her nightly ritual.

▃▃▃▃▃

"excuse me principal nekomata, but where's takeda-sensei?", daichi questioned.

     "takeda-sensei took a day off because of some family problems. and since today's your literature exam, I'll be overseeing it, grading it, and revealing the results during class", nekomata explained.

a few students tensed up meanwhile etsuko didn't particularly care. the girl smiled as the school supplies had finally arrived.

"now, without further ado, the topic today is equal rights. I wish you all the best of luck as the time starts now", nekomata said as he lit up a single incense to count for time.

as everyone picked up their brush, they swirled it in their ink stone as they immediately started writing furiously.

daishō glanced over at etsuko, who had her arms crossed as her eyes were closed.

nothing was written on her paper, making daishō softly snicker.

'he probably forgot everything. pathetic!'

etsuko finally opened her eyes as she stared at her blank scroll. finally picking up the brush, etsuko hovered the brush above the sheet, debating whether it was worth it or not.

     it was true that etsuko wanted to beat daishō and get the 1,000 mon so that she'd finally be out of debt with doctor tosuto.

however, that didn't mean that etsuko was doing it all for the money. the girl wondered if she'd get in trouble for expressing her true thoughts on the topic.

hypothetically speaking, the school should accept the students' ideas, but they could also harshly punish them if the answer's offensive.

shaking her head, etsuko wrote two lines meanwhile everyone else had taken up the entire scroll.

as everyone turned their papers in, nekomata sat at the front grading them, allowing the students to quietly converse amongst themselves.

"kita, how'd you think you did?", etsuko asked.

the boy beside her hummed a bit. "I feel very confident that I'll place first this time. how about you?"

etsuko deadpanned. 'how confident...'

"mm...I'm not really sure, but I mean worst case I place last right?", etsuko lightly chuckled, to which kita's brows furrowed a bit.

"why didn't you ask for my help? don't you remember the bet you made with daishō-san?", kita reminded.

"hm? kita, are you perhaps worried for me? is it because you'll be lonely if I get kicked out of school?", etsuko teased, to which the male made a displeased face.

     "it'd be a pity if someone as brilliant as you were to leave the school. someone like you could have a bright future, perhaps you'd even be able to serve under the shogun", kita reasoned.

     etsuko paused. "I'll never be able to", the girl muttered, turning back to the front as kita wondered if he had said something wrong.

     as nekomata cleared his throat, the man announced second place, which was kuroo, followed by oikawa, daishō, akaashi, shirabu, sugawara, and the rest, with bokuto placing last.

     though bokuto passed, the boy was still depressed that he wasn't one of the top scorers. though to be fair, all the grades were very close, to the point that some were only a tenth of a point away.

     "and first place is kita shinsuke", nekomata announced, to which etsuko lightly clapped as everyone looked at her weirdly, except kita himself.

     "umm..principal nekomata, what about haru?", bokuto asked, to which everyone suddenly realized that the girl's name was not called.

     nekomata suddenly stood up with the girl's exam paper, signaling for etsuko to stand before him. hesitantly doing so, etsuko shuffled her feet as she didn't dare look at nekomata in the eyes.

harshly throwing the paper on the floor, everyone was shocked, staying so silent that some could even hear their own breathing.

"read to everyone what you wrote!", nekomata demanded.

gulping, etsuko nodded. "without equal rights, where comes the discussion of equal rights".

a few gasped as they stared at etsuko and their principal's furious face.

"explain".

"since ancient times, people have been divided into different, sometimes degrading, categories. rich and poor were born a long time ago. where do we even start to talk about equality?

the rich get to drink, eat, and play. as long as you have money, you can do whatever you want. meanwhile the poor can't afford to dress warm or even eat well.

as long as they're the child of an official, even if he is ignorant, he can attend school and be taught. and what about the poor?

despite them perhaps being sharp-witted, having an open mindset, and being the kindest person on earth, they can only sigh as they can't afford to pay for school", etsuko said, making her classmates utterly baffled.

"and men and women. if men can attend school, why can't women? they're only responsible for staying at home: cooking, cleaning, birthing children for men.

why do we not give them a chance to attend school and help create a better economy for the emperor?

hence why I question: where is the so-called equality?

to me, the so-called equal rights is nothing more than just wishful thinking".

"the audacity!! you know you could be hanged for saying this! you're disrespecting the emperor and shogun with your mindless words!"

immediately etsuko kneeled, to which daishō had snickered, seeing as the girl's about to get in trouble.

"p-principal...I'm sure that haru-chan didn't mean to—"

nekomata inched closer to the kneeling girl, to which she had thought that this was truly the end.

"let me ask you this. if I gave you another chance, would you still write and say all this?"

etsuko glanced over at kuroo, who had shook his head, meanwhile kita remained still, though his dull eyes seemed to hold a bit of concern.

     "yes, because I've said nothing wrong. if I get hanged because of what I said, then that means that what I said was absolutely correct".

     everyone's breath hitched, with daishō secretly praying that etsuko would get hanged. after all, that peasant shouldn't even be here.

     nekomata suddenly laughed, clapping his hands together as everyone looked up in confusion.

     "good!! very good! stand up haru! everyone, I hope that can follow haru's example and stand up for what you believe in.

     this kind of courage and discussion is exactly what we wish to see in students. though rules are important, they were changed throughout history for a reason.

     and to make a change, it starts with each of you", nekomata explained, to which everyone had nodded with determination.

     "so for this time's first place, it's haru etsuko!"

     claps were heard as the girl happily turned around, giving a thumbs up to kuroo and the rest, along with kita, as she suddenly turned to daishō, who's body was brimming with anger.

     "better luck next time, snake boy~"

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セレンディピティ
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