บท 11: Chapter 11
Gakushuu woke up right before dawn. His room was cool, his windows were misted over, and both the harsh wind and the cold rain had stopped.
He went down to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. Even their chef wasn't awake yet, but there was already a variety of fruits in the kitchen, in case they wanted to eat.
Gakushuu took a thermos of strong coffee and went up to the rooftop. It had glass on all sides so as to not obscure the view when he sat. He brought a book from his room, planted a chair in the best position and sat there and read.
The sky lightened and the heat warmed him under his comfortable sweater. He watched the sun rise and when the sun rays finally fell on him, he took off his sweater and kept reading.
There was peace and quiet. There was no traffic, no unnecessary noises. It felt like…he was completely alone in the world.
For the first time, he felt the slightest uneasiness at the thought, and he smiled to himself.
It was a sign of improvement for him. The first sign of disharmony between him and the most prominent Asano mindset his father had instilled in him.
He closed his eyes and sipped his coffee quietly.
It was a truly tranquil time.
Hiking was tough with a class of not completely fit students. Ayaka was focused on her snacks more than her feet and Tomomi and Satsuki looked like they might start crying if they had to get up sometime soon. A few of the boys were just laying on their backs, staring at the clouds blankly.
They had barely started two hours ago and a lot of people were close to giving up already. Gakushuu was ready to let them, just so they could continue on.
The only one near as exasperated as him was Morisuke, or Mori, as he had asked to be called. He was mumbling under his breath something and 'wimps' and seemed pleasantly surprised to see Gakushuu not even breaking out a sweat.
"Let's fight on, everyone!" Hinata cheered, her face still lightly flushed from the effort. "We have promises of good food and an equally amazing view! Let's see it as a class!"
"I can't believe I'm actually going through so much effort. Dad would be so proud," Yuzuki said, leaning into Emiko tiredly.
The two best friends watched a few of their classmates get up before getting up as well.
The hike took longer and they left much of the class in the halfway rest stop, to catch up to them after a few hours of rest, while the rest made their way towards the view point and the team house that sat near it.
Gakushuu had been hesitant, but the strong aroma of tea broke through his inhibitions to consider tea.
They sat, relaxed and tried a few different teas and snacks they were given along with it. They had made it with a little more than a quarter of their class, and while it made for a slightly unusual combination, since both Ren and Araki had decided to stay behind, it gave more opportunities for him to see his classmates in a different light.
Masachika, or Chika, was an irresponsible eater. He tried to eat a little of everything, leaving everything else to be picked up by the rest of the boys.
Hinata and Shizumi had made it up, in spite of all signs otherwise, and had decided to sit far far away from the group of boys hungrily devouring everything the establishment placed in front of them.
Gakushuu would have liked to do that too, but he kept watching Chika's extreme tendencies like he was watching a train wreck. The only thing that would save Chika from a lifetime of obesity was his ardent love for physical activity.
He had been the one that had to be replaced from the baseball game at the last minute due to something he ate the day before. He was completely unreliable if food was placed in front of him, but otherwise, he was a relatively responsible person.
The boys left after they had filled their stomach, eager to explore a little more. Gakushuu, feeling at ease with the view and the cup of tea, had waved them off, which was about when Hinata and Shimizu joined him.
Soon Gakushuu and Hinata were bickering about Hinata's love for the thrill even though she turned red from the exercise two hours into the hike.
At some point they just devolved to throwing insults at each other.
"You're so stupid, stupid," Hinata pouted, her cheeks flushing with an obvious anger.
"I'm stupid? You're stupid, stupid," he retaliated with the same logic.
"Hah! The ever famous cold and cool prince of the school-"
"You're the one who started by calling me stupid-"
"-actually came down to the human level of name calling other-"
"Some people don't understand what I'm saying, so I have to bend down to your level-"
"-the absoLUTELY COLD HEARTED CLASS REP OF CLASS A-"
"-just because you're shouting doesn't MAKE YOU RIGHT-"
"-AND NOW HE'S SHOUTING-" Hinata shouted in his face and he felt his IQ physically lowering as he mimicked Hinata.
"I wasn't shouting!" He defended loudly.
"TO THINK! Kunigigaoka has fallen SO FAR! THE SON OF THE PRINCIPAL-"
"HEY!"
"HE'S-"
And that was the scene the rest of class A stumbled on to.
Gakushuu and Hinata, wearing similar expressions of flustered anger, half standing from their seats, looked at their audience while Shimizu giggled quietly to herself.
"We heard shouting…" Ayaka hesitantly explained with a deer in headlights look. The rest of the class looked like they weren't sure if they wanted to ignore the two, take a picture or just leave.
After a while, Ren came in and collapsed on a chair. Gakushuu sighed, cleared his throat and sat back down. Hinata copied him with an obvious pout.
"How about a truce?" He asked politely. Hinata scowled.
"You were making fun of me!" She pointed into his face. He grabbed her arm and lowered it with the same smile on his face.
"I won't tease you about this. How about it?" He offered.
"So you admit you'll tease me about other things?" Hinata eyed him suspiciously. She caught onto it far too easily. Was he slipping or was she too used to his wordplay?
He kept smiling.
A few someones giggled in the background.
Hinata kept scowling, but she extended her hand out for him to shake. When he grabbed it, she pulled him forward.
"But I'll find something to tease you about soon enough. You better be ready." She threatened, a pout still on her lips.
"Try your best," his smile turned slightly mocking. She bared her teeth before turning away with a huff and bothering Shimizu.
Gakushuu leaned back and drank his cold, bitter tea. The weather really was far too cold.
The class saw the sunset then caught a few cable cars to back down. They caught the tail end of the sunset from the mansion and spent time doing random things.
Gakushuu ended up cooking one of the dishes for dinner, with the help of Miyuki, who claimed to be a pretty good cook (she was).
His was slightly too spicy, according to a few, but most seemed to have enjoyed it. Though, Akira seemed to have taken it as a challenge and ate it with almost a liter of water.
The dinner was enjoyable and they had been so involved with each other, laughing and enjoying their last night, that they didn't notice the weather take a turn for the worse.
Unnoticed by them, the rain continued pouring on and on.
"It's quite heavy now." Miya commented, a hand over his head as he tried to peer into the distance. "Is this okay?" He asked.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Ren added in, looking at someone other than Gakushuu for once. Hinata frowned at the sky.
"No, I need to go back," she shook her head fiercely. Shimizu joined in, nodding. Kimiko looked out at the pouring rain and then at the other two girls, before signing heavily.
"How about this? A few of us will go to pack and bring everything back here. This place was more structurally sound, right?" She asked Gakushuu, standing behind Ren, looking at the rain with a forced neutral expression.
"Yeah, it's been like this for a few hours already," he said, looking around at the road almost pouring out what looked like a small stream. A silent intimidating aura came from his expressionless face and Hinata looked unsure for a moment before pulling up her shoulders in stubbornness.
"It'll be better if I just go and get what's important instead. I don't want to put anyone else at risk," Hinata said quietly, even though she didn't change her desire to go back.
Everyone sighed.
"I'll go with you. Hinata, Kimiko and Mori. We'll leave now. Dress warm. Everyone else, if there's anything important you need from the place, people tell us right now."
Shimizu shyly told Gakushuu about a small bag she kept on the table which held a few religious items, hesitating, but didn't add anything else.
He put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"If nothing happens to that place, we should be able to get it back just fine."
Then he turned back to look for Hinata.
"-my mother's. I can't leave it behind." She was quietly saying. There was an exasperated sigh, then a moment of silence. Gakushuu cleared his throat and saw Kimiko and Hinata emerge from the kitchen with slight blushes.
"Right. Let's just go steadily. Keep holding onto each other and DON'T PANIC. There's a support at the edge of the road, so even if you slip, you won't fall," he continued to regurgitate all instructions he thought might be helpful until he reached the door.
Then he gave them a smile.
"Well, it's going to be one adventurous walk, at least," Hinata gave a small giggle before clasping hands with Gakushuu, while Kimiko did the same with Mori.
Then they walked out into the rush of water.
Almost immediately Hinata slipped and Gakushuu picked her up completely, not letting her panic for more than half a second before gently setting her down. Mori gave him a relieved look before focusing on his and Kimiko's footing.
Gakushuu led the way, tracing his path from the night before, keeping his foot away from any holes or slippery surfaces. He heard a yelp from behind them, and Hinata almost turned and slipped but he held her tight until she stopped trying to struggle. He slowly turned his head and saw Mori give him a nod with a slightly pale face, then he kept walking.
He could barely see a foot in front of him. Honestly, he would never have let anyone out at all, but, Hinata's urgency and made him take the risk. His father was going to go into worry/panic and then forbid him from being reckless with his life.
He almost felt his hands ache with phantom pains at the memory of writing all the common ways of death in the world by percentage and how to avoid them.
Hinata slipped a few more times, but aside from a moment of panic when he almost couldn't hold onto Hinata's arm due to the rain, it wasn't too bad.
They reached the place, carefully trying not to slip in front of the tiled front door.
They all let out a sigh of relief when they left the loud rain behind, finally able to hear each other better again.
"I feel like I almost went deaf," Hinata said a little shakily. Mori shook his head and Kimiko rolled up her tied hair and tried to get the water out.
"Let's finish up fast," he interrupted their relief. "I have Shimizu's. Spread out and get whatever you need and meet here."
Kimiko nodded, leaving her hair alone.
"Right. Do your thing, Hinata. I need something from mine and Miyuki's room."
They separated. Gakushuu entered Shimizu's and immediately spotted a small idol outside and what seemed like well wishes in a small bag. He put everything in a plastic bag before putting it in the cloth bag, which would be easier to carry in the rain.
They gathered up in a few more minutes, and Kimiko was looking outside the floor to ceiling windows to the rain.
"I think it might start hailing," she whispered. Gakushuu's face was blank when she looked up at him, a friend on her face.
"Don't worry about it. We can stay in until the rain finishes and afterwards, we'll be able to leave. My dad isn't an irresponsible person," he patted her head a few times reassuringly.
Kimiko gave him a shaky smile.
"I really don't get your weird faith in your father. He's not invulnerable." Then she hesitated. "Right?"
Gakushuu cracked out a smile.
"Everyone I can do, he can do better." He said, "Everything I know, I learnt from him. He formed my philosophies in life, and he trained me to be who I am. I'm not him," he whispered it like a secret, "but he's not me either."
He looked at the obscured clouds above. It was white washed, but he wouldn't be surprised to know something like his father decided to plane drop into the middle of a storm to rescue Gakushuu. Though he probably would have thought him to have far more sensibilities than to wander into such a heavy rain for some inane reason or the other.
"He's super strong," he smiled. He wasn't sure of the kind of face he was making but Kimiko looked at him before looking away like she couldn't bear to look anymore.
"... sounds like you wished he wasn't," Kimiko said just as quietly.
"Do I?" Gakushuu said, his hands coming up to cover his smile. It was upturned in the kind of smile he had always been trained to have.
"Super depressing, but let's go. We're here," Mori said, clearing his throat. The two of them turned to look at Hinata carrying a purse stuffed full and a small velvet bag with a string around her wrist. Mori had a plastic bag tied up, hanging from his elbow.
He nodded.
"Want me to carry either of the bags?" He asked Hinata. His face telling her it wasn't an option to refuse. She hesitantly gave him the purse. He separated the straps and swung his arms through each hoop and let it settle on his back.
"We have things in our hands now, so we have to be extra careful now, okay? We'll go slow and steady, just like before," He reminded and Hinata shut her mouth to all protests at his way of carrying the purse.
He put his hand on above Hinata's elbow, an easy way to control her whole body with one arm and they set off into what seemed like a river pouring down on top and around them.
He almost slipped on the tile before catching himself, keeping his footing as stable as he could. He remembers the rails that had seemed plenty safe before and winced.
There was very little chance it would be able to catch them if they slipped and hit it with their full body weight. And even the slight jutting out part of the mountain wasn't going to keep them alive with the amount of water flowing.
If they slipped, they would probably just fall straight to their deaths.
He shook his head off the negative thoughts, and took care with his steps, building Hinata away from a slippery spot she had slipped on, on the way back.
Then he instinctively turned, took a step out and caught Mori's arm right after he stepped on a slippery spot. He had let go of Kimiko's hand, but Kimiko had turned to hold onto his arm, giving him more stability.
Gakushuu sighed in relief, nodded at Kimiko through the white wash, and ignored Mori's slightly shaky hand. He wondered if Mori had figured that his reassurance about the support beams catching him was bullshit.
He turned around to hold Hinata's arm again, when he suddenly noticed Hinata windmilling her arms at the sudden loss of support he was giving her.
The small velvet bag slipped from her wrist and he reflexively tried to catch it.
It was a mistake.
His foot was in the middle of a strong rush of water and his footing was already unsteady by the hasty step he had just taken to save Mori.
He slipped and fell.
Gakushuu praised the owners for the lack of maintenance of the mountain roads, as he looked at the slight hole he had managed to fit his fingers into and catch himself, half on his knees.
One of his nails broke at the harsh jerking and he tightened his grip on the hole and steadied his footing, his center of gravity still low.
He looked up, Hinata was frozen stiff, her mouth open in a scream. He lifted his other arm and showed her the velvet bag he had managed to grab and then motioned for her to stay there.
She was either still frozen or had seen his motion for her to stay still because she didn't try to do something stupid like run to him.
Mori looked like he had taken a step towards him but they still managed to steady themselves when they saw him stop.
He slowly navigated towards somewhere with less rushing water before making his way back to Hinata, his hands still hovering near the road in case he slipped again, before he stood up straight beside Hinata again.
"Keep going," he yelled into her ear. Then, "Steady!" when she wavered on the spot for a moment.
She took a deep breath before nodding with determination, channeling her worry into focus.
They made their way back to the mansion with no other major incidents, and there were people throwing towels over them and rubbing out the water before he even said anything.
They must have been anxious, he laughed to himself.
Then he heard actual laughter and realized it was him. Even he could hear the relief in his voice.
"Ren, first aid," he grabbed the towels thrown on him and covered his hair and shoulders before dropping the bag, the velvet bag and the cloth bag on the table.
Hinata burst into tears and everyone else started panicking- at him getting hurt, at Hinata crying.
Kimiko went and hugged Hinata, rocking slightly and rubbing her arms warm.
"Go take a warm bath, I think we still have that for now," Gakushuu reminded, and Mori ran a hand over his face.
"Why are you like this." He groaned. Gakushuu looked at him, slightly confused.
Mori threw his towel at his face before marching towards the bathroom. Everyone else looked at him for an explanation.
"It's probably because I almost fell," he said, showing his broken nail where he had grabbed the hole with to stop his body momentum from increasing.
Araki and half a dozen of his classmates paled almost immediately before rushing at him in loud, angry worry. Gakushuu sighed.
Ren carefully bandaged his fingers, taping up his other fingers as well, with a frown.
"We should get away from all the windows," he told Ren, and he nodded silently, his lips pulled tight.
They cleared up the kitchen area and put a cloth then pulled down a few mattresses from a few beds and brought down almost all the warm duvets. Their travel bags were packed and shoved to a side and they huddled together, as the windows vibrated and cracked.
There was a sense of anxiety in everyone, but there were enough level headed people to maintain a sense of calm, and soon a few fell asleep, and then even more.
Gakushuu stayed awake, falling into the lightest doze at worst. He was woken up sometime when it was pitch black to a sound he was sure was the breaking of a glass.
He met Kimiko and then Chika's eyes before he carefully left, making sure not to disturb anyone.
An ice ball the size of Gakushuu's hand was lying right by the door to one of the previously occupied rooms. There were smaller hailstones filling up the room even as he watched and he quietly closed the door.
The roof was completely ruined as well. The glass lining the roof was shattered and he wondered who was irresponsible enough to build a glass house in the middle of a mountain.
He remembered being impressed by how pretty it was, but now he was just exasperated at the lack of safety features.
He was aware that there hadn't even been a proper storm in the area for 5 years and hail storms this bad in 10. But honestly, it was still negligent.
He had been slightly doubtful when he had noticed the slight instability in the other mansion's geographic area but he now believed that the one who built it hadn't considered the environment at all.
They had just chosen it for the view and what would look prettiest.
This was another mark on the list of reasons that proved his father wasn't omniscient. He wondered if his father had even come personally to look at the place or if he had just asked someone else to investigate a list of places and picked whatever seemed the most suitable.
Probably the latter, with the state of things. Even he had noticed the state of the other place, when he had seen it.
He went back to his classmates.
He shook his head and explained what he saw to Chika with sign language, and saw him nod and then lean towards Kimiko, whispering into her ear.
The three of them had decided to stand guard. Kimiko was a sort of unspoken, unofficial leader for the girls even though Hinata would be the more spiritual leader. Chika was someone who understood sign language due to one of his friends who lost his hearing early due to an accident. He kept a steady head when he wasn't trying to kill himself via various foods.
Gakushuu was awake for an obvious reason. Everyone found him reassuring. If someone woke up due to some or the other reason, he would hold them or quietly reassure them and either let them sit with him or let them fall asleep by themselves.
Also, he couldn't really sleep, not that it had ever really stopped him from sleeping. But he didn't want to, so he didn't.
The rain went on and on and on.
They had no news from the outside.
Everyone woke up to continuous rain outside and Gakushuu and a few more people busied themselves in the kitchen.
So much so that Gakushuu ended up leaving halfway, letting an anxious Hinata take over for him.
They ate breakfast quietly, then Gakushuu heard Ayaka start humming a song under her breath. Ayaka was normally a loud person, so just her keeping quiet for so long was practically a miracle.
He took her humming and started singing. It was a soothing song about lost love, and Ayaka looked at him with sparkling eyes before she started singing another song and he picked it up after a couple lines and he started tapping a beat to his and Ayaka's singing male and female parts of the songs.
They switched songs and Ayaka faltered at a particularly high pitch and he grinned taking over for her and she watched, laughing, as he hit an incredible pitch and dragged it out, smoothing out the switch from female voice to male and he heard whistling and a few claps as he ended the song.
"I can't freaking believe our class rep-" Ayaka gasped out between her laughter and Gakushuu grinned.
"I took vocal lessons," then conspiratorially, "You won't believe the things I can do with my voice," he winked.
Ayaka gasped dramatically.
"Are you flirting, class rep? My, oh my!" She giggled, waving at her face.
"Why, my lady." He matched her, "I certainly am not. I have reached a pitch so high your ears would hurt if you listen to it," he bowed with a flourish.
"Oh no," Ren groaned.
"Oh yes," Mori grinned.
"Wait, wait. I need to record this!" Hinata fiddled with her phone, "Aw, damn it's dead!"
"You can use mine," Miya offered. Gakushuu shook his finger.
"No recordings, or you won't hear it."
"Ugh," Ren repeated his annoyance and out his hands over his ears with exasperation. Even more curious, the class abandoned their phone, though Satsuki sneakily turned on an audio recording slyly, along with a few other students.
Gakushuu glared at them but didn't stop them.
Then he started with a normal vocal range, and kept going up by a pitch. Some started to rub their ears when Gakushuu went up another pitch and a few flinched.
He stopped abruptly leaving them with ringing ears.
"Holy hell," someone whispered. Everyone silently agreed.
"Is there anything…you can't do?" Akira asked, a disgusted look on his face.
"Can you even call something like this-" Asahi motioned to Gakushuu, "-just talent anymore?" Asahi protested, slumping into his arms in defeat.
"Ugh," Ren protested again. Araki patted Ren's arm.
It was noon when the rain paused and almost half an hour after, there was a sound of a vehicle.
Everyone rushed to look outside and they found what looked like a military van or maybe a little like a tank, going up the path towards them. It stopped in front of them and a tall, well built man got out.
He stopped in front of all the students, his eyes roving over all the students who were gaping at him, and his frown eased when he spotted Gakushuu who had stepped out when he had seen the man's eyes fall on his classmates.
"Asano, right? Your father sent me to get your kids off the mountain. Leave your luggage and just get in," he motioned to the vehicle. Gakushuu was unmoved. He silently stared down the other man, and the man frowned deeper before his brows relaxed at a sudden realization.
"Right. He said you wouldn't trust me unless I told you this. 'Empty springs lead to no growth, and without growth the chance to win will slip. Winter will arrive without a moment and you will fall from your throne.'"
Then the man cleared his throat awkwardly. Gakushuu nodded after a moment.
"Everyone is accounted for," he said. Then, he turned his finger in a circle, and his classmates turned and went back inside. They talked, relieved, as they grabbed their few essentials and lined up to get inside the vehicle.
Half of them got in, while the other half stood by. Gakushuu nodded at Ren and Chika as they got in.
"There's a bus waiting for you all down there, but the path up wasn't very good so we'll have to divide the class up for now. Don't worry, you'll meet again." The man tried to sound reassuring but ended up sounding awkward.
Gakushuu didn't acknowledge the words and darted his eyes to capture Mori's and he silently replaced Hinata who wanted to take the last seat.
Hinata pouted.
The man sighed, looking at the silent instructions thrown about by the child.
'Like father, like son' he thought before getting inside the car and slowly bringing it down.
He made a second trip and brought the rest of them down, before sighing in relief. He was already sweating. It felt like he was in training with a demon instructor telling him, '100 squats for the mistake'.
Watching the children gravitate towards the Asano spawn, he had the distinct thought of 'Letting a terrifying man like Asano Gakuhou procreate was probably their biggest mistake'.
Not to mention, he seemed more mentally stable than his father, which was surprisingly a terrifying thought. Asano Gakuhou had accomplished a lot, but he had always been focused on the education district. His gray morality had given him as many allies as enemies. It was far more terrifying to imagine a mini-Asano with a pack of hounds, especially ones that influential.
He remembered the daughter of one of the bigger telecommunications companies, the son of the newspaper company, and the son of a multinational company just at a glance.
He wondered if it was big enough to inform his superiors. Then he shook the thought off.
The kid might be an Asano, but he had heard he didn't gain the terrifying learning talent of his father. Gakuhou was a perfect student, as much as he was an educator. His son was far from it.
He silently reassured himself. Then wondered if he should have removed himself from military politics by now if a kid was making him over think. Weren't private contracts supposed to be easy? Why did he have cold sweat down his back?
The Asano child turned around right before he got on the bus and caught his eyes accurately from a distance. He froze.
The kid smiled and nodded before getting up on the bus. He watched the bus depart and silently wondered if it wouldn't have been better if the landslide had killed the kid before he ruined what few good things the world had left.
Then he shook off the momentary terrifying thought that would lead to his life being in danger if he ever came in front of Asano Gakuhou, and went back to his borrowed van.
Either way, he wouldn't have anything to do with that family again. Probably.
How often did a principal of a school end up needing a private contractor anyway?
Not much, he guessed.
His eyes went to the departing bus.
Not much, he hoped.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Siera_Knightwalker
Siera_Knightwalker Students of Class A:
Shuu
Ren, bestie of the year
Araki, new info gatherer
Tadashi Morisuke, self declared eternal rival
Miya, silent support for Morisuke
Kazuki Mimeya, messy guy
Akira, sexist dickbag
Masachika Satoi, foodie
Seiji Shiba
Kaito
Asahi, tsundere Shuu stan
Kimiko, ballet girl
Amami, introvert friend
Hinata, extro crier
Anaya, stoic babe
Keiji Shimizu, independent loner
Ayaka, loud baby
Miyuki, shyest
Frnd Grp
Tomomi, baby#1
Satsuki, baby#2
Emiko, tired of shit
Yuzuki, proud richie
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