Rei sighed as he stared at his tablet. The dates of the upcoming fights and exams were written down, and he groaned as he realized his poor luck. While his class luckily wasn't one of the first to have to compete in the class fights, it was set on the 13th of September - which just so happened to be one day after their first written test. Balancing physical training and academic studying was difficult enough as is, but the uncertainty of how the class battles would go added a lot more pressure onto it. Whenever he had free time, Rei's mind could not stop itself from wandering down into anxiety. A battlefield, with guns and weapons and people he knew. And all of that in a real-life-imitating simulation, how could he not worry?
He remembered when he had shot himself inside the simulation. The cold, creepy feeling of falling down into nothingness, of everything around him vanishing like his entire life had just been a dream that he was waking up from; there was a good chance that he would have to experience it again, if not worse.
"Alright everyone, sit down and shut up," Miss Nageko came walking in with a rather foul mouth, ignoring the fact that the classroom has been dead silent anyway. Classes had only just finished a few minutes ago, so why was she back again? "I forgot to inform you about tomorrow's trip. Just make sure to be outside the gate at 8am, and be prepared to walk a lot, so make sure to have enough energy. That's all."
And just like she appeared, Miss Nageko walked out of the room, the door closing behind her. If anyone should be worried about not having enough energy for the trip, it's her. Rei couldn't quite understand why she was hired in the first place, surely there would be better candidates for such an important position?
"A class trip! This will be our first, so we better make the most out of it!" Akari swayed left and right in her chair, humming. This one got too much energy.
"I doubt it's anything big. They didn't tell us to bring anything or where we're even going, so we might just go visit a place close by."
"You're always so negative, Rei. A class trip is a class trip, and I will not allow you to not enjoy it!"
Rei grimaced at the threatening positivity. He wish he had the time to prepare for the upcoming exams instead of going for a trip, unless the trip had something to do with the tests of course.
Silently, Rei stood up from his place, packing in his tablet as walking out of the room.
"Wait, where are you going?" Akari called after Rei, who in turn made the big mistake of stopping in his track and turning around.
"To study," he replied. Why was she always so curious, it's not like Rei was doing something interesting.
Plus, Akari probably wasn't the type to study.
"In that case, I have the perfect idea!"
This can't be good.
Rei was now sitting at a table with an annoyed expression on his face. The person sitting on the opposite side was smiling, but his blue eyes weren't. Yoichi, Akari's so called childhood friend, clearly wasn't very welcoming. Rei felt the same - he didn't know that this guy would be here. He was 'convinced' - or rather pressured - to join Akari to study in one of the study rooms. It was right next to the cafeteria provided a bunch of desks, together with a few tablets and PCs that the students were allowed to use.
"A study group! A great way to get to know each other while also helping another out!" Akari, who was sitting next to the white haired class D student, explained, clearly proud of her ingenius idea.
Was she oblivious to how the two guys felt about this or just too optimistic to give up?
"Ummm, that's a great idea. But... could I just have a minute with you? Alone, I mean... I have something to discuss," Yoichi directed his attention towards Akari, completely ignoring Rei's presence - not that he minded.
With Akari's energetic nod, the two of them stood up and left the room, leaving Rei to himself once again. If it would turn out like this either way, he just should've gone to study in his room. Akki surely was spending time outside anyway, so he'd have the room all to himself.
After about 20 minutes, Rei was already trying his best to study by himself. History was a relatively easy subject for him, especially since the topics weren't all that boring. He only noticed that Akari had returned after she sat down on her chair in front of him. Yoichi was missing, and while Akari had a comforting smile as usual, she was silently staring down on the table, not saying a word.
Rei knew that something was up. Did Yoichi tell her that he didn't like him? If so, would that really explain her behavior? Sure, she might've wanted them to get along, but Rei had thought that someone like her would be better at handling a situation like this. It's not like Rei and Yoichi hated each other - they were just not interested in becoming friends.
"Did your friend leave?" Rei probed.
"Huh? Ah, yeah, he had something to do..."
What a surprise, so even Akari can lie. Rei had expected her to say something along the lines of 'yeah, you're too weird for him!', but instead Rei was now stuck with a silent, deep-in-thought version of Akari that he had never met before. All this just because her friend didn't like him?
Should he ask if she was okay? No, what was he even thinking about? She clearly did not want to talk about it, nor does he need to get involved. He and Akari are not friends, and he doesn't intend to change that.
Staying away was best for everyone involved.
"I see. Well, I didn't know that he was going to join us anyway," Rei added. The last tging he wanted her to think was that he was offended or disappointed, and yet she didn't seem to care much for his comment.
"Yeah..."
As the studying went on, Akari quickly regained her energy, while Rei gradually lost all of his own. His study partner would talk endlessly as she worked on the papers, asking Rei questions and explaining things to him that he didn't even want to know.
"I'm spent..." he finally admitted, resting his dead on the table.
"You are weak, Mister Kawakami, it's not even been 2 hours!"
Rei was surprised. He had thought that someone like Akari would suck at concentrating on her studies, and yet she clearly proved him wrong. Of course, in his case, it was Akari that had drained all his energy, not the studying.
"...how do you keep yourself concentrated without getting tired?" he dared to ask. Akari seemed surprised, before a smug smile formed on her face.
"Oh, what is this? Do you seek my advice? Fine, I don't mind to share my wisdom with you, so make sure to take notes," she beemed as she started to go ramble.
"Nevermind," Rei interjected, but it was too late.
"I simply imagine the material as stories. This is especially easy for something like history. Take Enomoto Yasao for example; a genius inventor who not only revolutionized smart home and home security technology, but is also the person credited with creating the Kaizen Simulation... all by himself."
Akari listed down his achievements with excitement, her eyes closed as she seemed to imagine this so called genius.
"He kept all his information private, and so did the government. The public didn't know who he was, not even how he looked like, how old he was - nothing. His name was accidentally leaked by a government official, together with the description 'one handed genius'... apparently he was missing an arm..."
Akari tilted her head, her eyes still shut. What was she imagining inside her little brain?
"Of course, someone had to have found out more about him, because before he could even make his simulation public, he was assassinated. Newspapers called it 'the death of the future', pretty dramatic."
Rei listened in closely as Akari told him what was essentially a summary of what they had read.
"So? These things are easy to remember, what's annoying are all the dates and technical terms surrounding his life."
"But aren't they also easier to memorize if you view Enomoto as a character in a story, instead of some random real person?"
"A character?"
"Yep! Your own character that you are obsessed about. Someone who you spend time daydreaming about anyway, someone who you want to know everything about and create your own stories with!" she explained with a smile, raising a finger.
"...what? You do that with characters?"
"...huh? You don't?"
The two of them stared at each other in silence, before Akari averted her gaze.
Ah, so even she feels shame sometimes.
Rei had learned a lot about this girl today.
"I'm even more confused that I was," Rei sighed, making Akari apologize. A character, huh? What kind of person was this Enomoto? He kept absolute privacy as he released his inventions, all of which served the general public, apparently selling them to state owned technology companies. Then he suddenly started creating a military simulation, working on it for years, finishing it, but dying just before he could sell it, at which point the government picked it up themselves.
Talk about suspicious.
Did the government kill him to avoid buying it from him? Maybe he didn't want to sell it? But then why would they even bother to credit his name? Maybe he wasn't the one who invented it and the government was hiding the real creator?
Rei's mind was racing, creating all kind's of theories, to the point where he had to stop himself. He had the habit of doubting the government way too quickly. He was now someone working for them, so it was something that he had to stop doing. Sure, Kaizen Academy wasn't controlled by the military - it was it's own institution - but it was still working for the government.
When he finally stopped his onslaught of theories and looked up, Akari was grinning at him.
"Seems like my advice is working well."
"...Shut up."
"Come on, admit that you like my advice! I'm sure Enomoto studied this way as well!"
The poor man is probably turning in his grave at that mischaracterization.
Although Rei barely managed to make progress in his studies, he also forgot most of the worries when it came to the written exam. As for the class battles... that was a different issue; one that could be tackled another day.
"Huh, you told her!?" Miwami Sara, a Class D student, exclaimed loudly as she was listening to his friend talk. Her voice rang through the empty hallway; the three Class D students would often hang around in the top floor hallway after classes, as there wouldn't be any nosy people around.
"Can you not be that loud? My head is going to hurt from your voice..." Yoichi complained with a sharp annoyance in his voice. His mood had been ruined.
"So, what did she say, hmmm~? Judging by how you look I doubt she accepted your confession," Miwami kept on digging around in his story, leaning forward. She was very much enjoying this, though her friend definitely wasn't. Her blonde hair had been dyed with a pink-ish fade and styled in a side ponytail. With her long, painted nails, well done makeup and her school uniform having been redesigned by herself, one could clearly see her interest in fashion.
"Yes, she rejected me, but it's not funny. Do you guys have any idea how much I've helped her? That girl was dirt poor with a sick mom, and who do you think he has to thank that her mother is still alive? I've stuck with her through all her problems, and for what? All just for her to reject me and then act all awkward about it," Yoichi clicked his tongue and leaned against the wall.
"Typical men, thinking just acting nice and supportive gives you the right to get in a girl's pants," Miwami returned with a grin.
"Do you really think like that, Yoichi?" Riberio, the third person in the small group, asked. He wasn't a very talkative person, but still paid close attention to the discussion.
"Of course not, that's not what I mean. Do you know why I confessed? Because she showed interest in me! She acted like she was into me, like she liked me! But no, that girl just lead me on, tricking me into helping her while still having the guts to act all innocent and kind... how did I fall for a girl like that!?" he cries out his frustrations, kicking the wall besides him, only noticing the person walking past the hallway after he had yelled out his feelings.
"Ummmm.... just ignore me, I didn't hear anything," Akata spoke with an awkward smile and even more awkward chuckle, before quickly walking past them, avoiding eye contact. Yoichi just wanted to disappear at this point. Ribeiro was about to go after Akata, but was stopped by Yoichi.
"Stop, I don't want to get into trouble."
"Plus, you didn't say it was Ahane that you're talking about, so he doesn't know! And if people do find out about your oh-so-pure love, then you at least know who to beat up!" she half-joked, patting her friend on the back.
Why did it have to turn out like this? Yoichi had always believed in the concept of karma. 'If you do good, good will come back to you' is what his parents had always told him. Both of them run a hospital, which is how Yoichi was able to help Akari out a lot... her mother was still at the hospital to this day.
But it turned out that his parents were wrong. The world simply does not care for good deeds. He tried his best to be his best version for Akari, even following into this academy for her. His parents even tried to stop him, telling him to study medicine instead, but he had already made up his mind. He sacrificed so much for her and got nothing in return.
"Let's go outside, I need a smoke..." he said, his voice barely above a whisper. Even after all this hurt, did he still have to continue to be a good person? Would he ever get what he deserves?
Ah, why can't the world just be fair?