Hitomi froze. Oh this was it. This was the repercussion for acting normie. She didn't want to face the consequences, she didn't want to get involved in these interrogations again. Hadn't once been enough? Did she really need to get talked down to or looked at like a freak again?
"Hey, are you listening?"
She hadn't even heard what he'd said, she was already blocking this out. She clenched her eyes closed and shook her head. Covering her ears was involuntary. She could almost hear what he was saying through them. Almost.
"I said we're going to be partners for this thing!" Okay, she heard that. Loudly. And something was clenched around her wrist. She peeped one eye open to see that it was a man's hand. James' actually, as she followed it up the arm. He must have pulled her hand off of her ear.
Also what?
"H-huh? What?" Hitomi asked.
"I. Said. Let's. Be. Partners. For. The. Project." He said, slowly stopping between each word.
"Wha? W-why me?" Hitomi flustered.
James glared a bit, but wiped that look off his face as he let go of her wrist and brushed his hair back. "What? Why not? You're smart, aren't you?"
Hitomi didn't really know how to answer that. She didn't think she was very smart herself. But if he did…
"I-I'm not going to do your work for you!" Hitomi stammered out. Truthfully even in the absence of everything that had been happening she just couldn't think of any other reason for this event. Honestly it only made sense that if he was assuming she was smart he'd be one of those people that just lean on your work.
To be fair, she didn't even have a lot of experience with that. She never stood out as "the smart kid." She just did well by studying because she had an overabundance of time.
"Ehhh?" James stared at her like she was an idiot. Yes, it made her looked down on, but it really had the most impact on him, making him look… well his face was just plain weird.
"U-unh…" The whole thing was becoming way too creepy. "W-what's that look for?!"
"You, stupid." James answered her forthwith, confirming every single suspicion she'd made so far. "Did I say I was making you do anything?"
"W-well.. No… but the implication was there!" Hitomi mustered up some leftover courage, enough to make her position clear on that point.
"What fucking implication is there in picking parters!?" James raised his voice. Pretty much everyone had filtered out by this point so really only the teacher and whoever had straggled to ask questions were there, but Hitomi could feel them look up. "Do you even have anyone else to pair up with?"
The question went right through Hitomi, planting itself right in her chest like an arrow. The answer was of course no, as she had resigned herself too, but she really didn't like that right now. "W-w-well… I mean, someone would've…" She poked her fingers together as she trailed off.
"Someone would've what, had to take you?" James raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Wow, sorry for stepping in the way of that, my bad." He was glistening with sarcasm. "Well too bad, you're not getting off the hook again after pulling that stunt earlier. You really… just… whatever, you're pairing up with me, or you're waiting till there's no one else."
Ah. It seemed like there really wasn't a way out of this. If he was really that committed and waited till they were the only ones left… Yeah that would probably have worked out that way. And as good as Hitomi felt after venting at him earlier, she had indeed let whatever fallout that came of it, fall on him.
But the part that really made the decision for her was also the part that had just made her feel even a little guilty. The best way out of this, whatever was going on now, was to accept those terms. They weren't bad ones, if he hadn't been trying to make her some kind of project slave at least. It just meant a little more interaction, and the awkward "quest" was already over.
A few hours working on homework seemed like a reasonable price to pay if she was going to get paid for that. God, she hoped she was going to get paid for this instead of getting bizzare game tools.
"F-fine… B-but you better be serious, I-I don't want a b-bad grade."
"Well you're not the only one!" James responded instantly, making Hitomi squeak and step back. It wasn't that he yelled, just that he was very quick to jump on it. "Good. So… what exactly was your name again?"
Oh right. She knew his name because of his profile, but they were just classmates. And she wasn't exactly a standout. It still seemed… off somehow. Even though there had never really been a point where they were properly introduced it struck her as a bit awkward to only be asked that now. And a little rude! But Hitomi bit her tongue because it had to happen eventually.
"H-Hitomi." She answered. She still wasn't able to act like it was an entirely pleasant greeting and looked off to the side.
"Hitomi. Huh. Not bad…" He rolled it over his tongue and Hitomi felt weird. Don't say her name like you're filing it in some sort of blackmail folder! "Alright Hitomi. Let's go."
"H-huh? W-wha-where?" Hitomi struggled to speak out and ask the already turning around James.
James sighed and crossed his arms, giving her an intense look. "The Library."
"W-why?" Hitomi asked, confused. They didn't even know what they were going to be doing a project on yet.
"Because…" James took a second as the tension between them became palpable to Hitomi again. He was gritting his teeth, but he didn't seem to be menacing AT Hitomi. At least, not directly. "You're going to tell that fucking librarian that I'm not some creep!"
Hitomi gulped. Oh. Ooooh. Maybe running away wasn't a very good problem solving tactic?