บท 3: Chapter 4
"So what's the plan?" Ren poked at his brain one of their "study nights".
He was snacking while lying upside down on a couch. He should be doing neither of the actions, but Asano was all for living their own lives so he didn't scold Ren. In the first place, it wasn't his place to scold Ren anyway, he was just there to pat his back and give him 'told you so' looks while Ren eventually coughed his lungs out.
"We're going to take over the world, obviously," he replied dryly as he continued to write down his thesis level essay his father assigned him about the ocean currents and underwater life forms. It was actually a very interesting topic, he was glad he got assigned something this good instead of…hm, he actually found most things interesting so it actually didn't matter what his father assigned him.
Ren snickered, then flipped on his side and started hacking out a lung.
Gakushuu took a brief break from his studies to make sure Ren survived himself. After a glass of water and an experiment with ice cubes when they got distracted, Ren came back to the topic.
"No, what are you planning with the club? You started talking about that almost as soon as you knew about Kunugigaoka," Ren pointed out persistently.
Gakushuu bit down on one of the ice cubes and he considered. Well, it would be wrong to say he didn't have plans. But, honestly, he wasn't too bothered by the future. He was the type to live in the moment. Also thinking about the future gave him anxiety and no one likes that.
"Well, since Ikeda, it was a useful weak point. He always gives in a little easier to stuff like that." Gakushuu remembered his enthusiasm about martial arts and how easily his father had decreased his studying hours to make more time for his interest (he couldn't emphasize how much of a big deal that was).
He caught up after he got used to the new schedule, but still. Those few weeks had shocked him still.
After a while his father had taken up his martial arts teaching too. Something about incompetent teachers. Gakushuu understood. His previous teacher had started to fight against Gakushuu fewer times and his growth speed had actually slowed down. His father had been furious.
Ren hummed thoughtfully.
"So you just wanted to rub it in?" Gakushuu spluttered, surprised.
"What? No." He said reflexively because pausing to consider. "Okay, maybe. He totally deserves it for all the emotional blackmail."
Ren huffed out a laugh, a contradiction with the frown on his face. Gakushuu ignored the frown.
"It's not like I'll disagree," he mumbled under his breath before shoving some ungodly mix of snacks in his mouth.
Gakushuu went back to the reference material once (his father was going to give him a disappointed lecture about his lacking memory) before starting a second and hopefully final draft.
He could almost hear his father's voice in his head, 'Really now? A second draft, how plebian,' but that was better than 'You can start the research again with these many mistakes in your paper, what are you planning to do, get a 90 next?'
It was the milder versions of the degradation, but it would definitely be in a similar theme.
He sighed, ignoring Ren's glance of concern as he texted someone (probably his step mother who seemed annoyingly insistent about spending time with Ren).
Ren didn't have room to judge when his own family was this messed up. How Ren grew into a somewhat sensible person he wouldn't know.
He guessed his own influence and Ren's own nature, because there was literally no other reason.
He mentally sighed.
Powerful people were such terrible parents.
He couldn't even do much about things like this.
His own home was as fragmented as it could get, after all.
His introduction to the student body was the Entrance Ceremony. He would be on stage, get acknowledged, give a speech and get it over with.
Or so he would have done generally.
He didn't fidget, gulp or wipe sweat. He calmly made his way to the stage, caught Ren's eyes before scanning through the rest of the students and their parents.
There were kids who were bored, some being lectured about his marks, some staring at him with mild interest and some already sleeping.
He gave the audience a placid smile and spoke. His voice, tone and speech was charming, inclusive and welcoming. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close. Some of the kids who looked bored had even deigned to look at him in surprise.
But instead of the students, he kept his eyes on the parents. Some looked at him consideringly, some were searching out his general scores and history.
He hadn't been first in Japan, but his numerous achievements (where he had put in more effort than his marksheet) was impressive nonetheless.
That was, of course, where his first plan started.
He wanted to get in touch with Araki Teppei, second in rank, and son of the information industry.
He had grown up with information that would be hard to find casually at his fingertips. Only a fool wouldn't have used the knowledge lying about for him to grab, and Araki Teppei certainly wasn't foolish.
He had done his research too, and it helped Teppei was still young, because he could feel a hole being bored into him as he swiftly evaded crowds while trying not to get out of line of sight.
He was pouring himself water when Teppei actually approached him. His fingers trembled with nerves, but he braved it to stand in front of Gakushuu alone.
He spared the boy a glance but didn't initiate conversation.
Teppei gulped, his smile wavered before he introduced himself.
"Hello, I'm Araki Teppei. I got second place in the Exam." He introduced himself politely. Gakushuu let him sweat for a moment more before turning with polite smile.
"Of course. I am Gakushuu Asano, first rank." He introduced himself needlessly. "I heard you came from Kyoto."
Araki nodded his head, his eyes lighting at the offered conversation topic, completely missing Gakushuu's point of having done background research on the other.
"There was a lot of good reviews about Kunugigaoka, so mom insisted. I was surprised to find someone scoring higher than me on the exams though. Those were pretty tough. I guess Kunugigaoka lives up to its name," he said slightly sheepishly. Gakushuu blinked, surprised. That was more casual than he had been expecting.
He glanced at Ren. He seemed involved with a group already, talking about something. He felt like a switch flipped with realization.
Right.
Kids.
He let himself break his own professional smile in return and talked to Teppei a bit more casually. He caught a slight flash of surprise in his eyes and he made sure to drop plenty of hints of his own.
Teppei seemed surprisingly willing to follow Gakushuu's lead, but he would need to be more thorough to check deeper before he actually trusted the boy. But that would happen in school.
His goal for the Entrance Ceremony was already achieved.
His next actions would need to be subtle and he needed to mostly blend with the student body.
After all, the people who rose first and highest, ended up falling the hardest. Not to mention, he would only be able to understand their natures better after their next ranking in school.
His father was influential and manipulative. He had no doubt the student body would change drastically in the coming months.
That's when he would start his actual work. Until then…
He would go around and make some genuine friends.
The morning of his first day, he woke up at 5am. He ran, took a bath, wore his new uniform and sat down with his father to eat breakfast.
Mimi had already set the table and they ate quietly after wishing good morning.
After they were done, Gakushuu expected his father to leave, but he set down his cutlery, wiped his mouth and looked at Gakushuu.
"From now on, I expect you to call me 'Principal' in school at all times. Is that understood, Asano-kun?"
Gakushuu flinched imperceivable before dropping his head in a nod.
"Of course, father," he replied with a flat smile.
Gakuhou gave him a look before he got up and completed the rest of the routine and getting in the car and leaving for school.
He hadn't exactly been expecting a ride to school, but- he scoffed- he wasn't expecting even more distance between them.
Were they even a family anymore?
He frowned before shaking his head and getting up. He needed to meet Ren soon. He was planning to lay low, and the best way was to already have a clique.
People found it hard to enter established friend circles, not to mention his last name. He would let rumors die down before he did anything.
It was surprisingly easy. At first there were some people who approached him about his last name being the same as the Principal and after they verified the rumors, people started being a bit more wary of him.
He also tended to not break his mask in school, responding even to Ren politely, much to his distaste.
There were some people who tried to bother him, or be friendly, but he had a lunch companion and school was supposed to be busy anyway. Some of them seemed surprised by the fact that they didn't even lax on the first day, but-
Well, they'd understand soon enough.
He exchanged polite remarks with his classmates and about ignored anything to get him involved deeper.
Friend groups established in the beginning tended to not last much either.
Teppei had approached him, but he seemed to be socializing well enough on his own and didn't bother Ren and him during the lunch, which was a relief.
The first day went by easy.
There was an assembly though, and his father spoke to the student body about academics, and ranks and strength and so on.
Most people were weirded out, while a lot of them just ignored it. It wasn't like it was important or anything, yeah?
Attention towards him increased and decreased, but people stopped trying to talk to him much after the assembly. They got the message that he wasn't really interested in being involved with them.
Teppei hesitantly kept contact but even that had drastically decreased.
That was okay. There was still some mild interaction with his classmates and it wasn't like they were avoiding him or anything so blatant.
He kept track of the rumor mill through Ren, and sometimes talked to a few random people.
He became friendly with this one girl from 1-B, Kimiko who had already started to crush on one of her classmates and did ballet. She hadn't recognised him at first, but he had recognised her gait and became interested enough to talk.
She was pretty nice about it too. Mostly because he had managed to create a pleasant impression first before he got recognised.
They talked about ballet shoes, and her classes and competitions she took part in. He entertained her with his own attempts at accompaniment for a music and dance showings.
It was a nice and friendly conversation. They didn't exchange numbers though, but he was sure by their second and third meeting they would be close enough to.
And time passed as he blended with the student body. Well, he registered for a few clubs and there was a slight initiation for them, which wasn't particularly hard.
He kept his abilities on "promising but not star level" which was nice. He didn't need to deal with jealousy so soon.
It, like everything else, would come later.
Though his seniors were eyeing him down like meat already. His last name was keeping them mostly at bay.
He guessed they too, were waiting for the scores in the next exam.
Not to mention, he was still busy with his lessons outside school hours and his father soared time once a week or so to check up on all his skills.
Gakushuu was doing pretty well in that regard. Once a week, he would take up a topic, research it out and then write a thesis for his father to look over. Mostly, his father looked over his results, gave a couple comments on how to improve himself, and did his own Principal work.
He was surprised to note that he had been given slightly more freedom. As long as he completed his work per week, his father didn't hover or control his lesson timings. The amount of punishments had decreased as well.
It almost felt like a vacation. He had PTSD, wondering if this mistake would make his father come out of nowhere and lock him up.
Ren said the freedom was a good thing, but Gakushuu was just mostly suspicious. It didn't feel like his father was planning anything, so he just tried to get over his paranoia and adjust to the new normal.
He managed to actually have a few more outings, celebrated a few birthdays and even went off hiking for a weekend. The extra time did him wonders.
It cut into his sleep though, because he had to rush to finish his weekly quota. He might have gotten a tad excited.
His father, aware of his plans, gave him disappointed looks but didn't actually take any actions (he was stunned).
But overall, it was a refreshing month. His occasional sneaking into class E hill was successful too. He liked to visit the stream and just have a place that seemed so cut off from the rest of civilization.
It was funny, because even Ren commented how much of a complete proper city boy he seemed. But he enjoyed being completely alone.
He remembered even his father had been quite surprised to see him wander off to another city all by himself just to have their traditional foods and sightsee and come back.
His father had never begrudged his independence. Of course, it helped that he didn't actually ask for money from his father.
He remembered when he was really young, how he had helped his father with become a shareholder of a company that ended up becoming well known. He slightly regretted those now. He wouldn't have given him so much free information if he knew his father was already rich and him.
And so the month passed by. The first test for their academic abilities came up. The seating arrangement got shifted around. He spotted a new name in the top five- Akabane Karma.
He had been clearly above average in the Entrance Exam, barely scraping into the top 10, which was a significant result, if you didn't take his lackluster attitude into regard.
Gakushuu had predicted his ranking to decrease.
But.
What?
He watched Akabane carelessly get into his new seat. The rankings shifting meant more than just seat changes. It meant, there was a list of names in the red now.
People who would be dropped down a class if they maintained their rankings. After that, there was a rush of praise from the teacher for all the top students and disdain at the few students who might be dropped.
The class ranks were posted up in eyesight, and the teachers' mild attitudes changed. So did the attitudes of the seniors in the academics clubs.
Class E didn't face any significant changes aside from a few students doing much better.
Suddenly, Gakushuu was at the height of popularity among the teachers. All the academics clubs that had him were smug and didn't refuse any of the sign up requests he got.
The teachers got surprised for a while, then disappointed. It would depend on his capability to see how many clubs could retain him now. It was impossible to attend all the associated tests and such, after all.
Gakushuu's workload increased tremendously.
On the other hand, students started getting up in arms. Some reported him for cheating, some of the people he was acquainted with took a step back, some took a step forward.
A lot were simply confused and tried not to get affected by the teachers and seniors. But it was hard.
You would have had to not participate in any clubs to have that happen, and class A had mandatory club participation. It was the first class to get affected.
Akabane didn't though. He hadn't actually attended any clubs as far as Gakushuu knew. Not to mention, he didn't really seem like the kind of person who overly cared about peer pressure. He didn't seem like the kind of person who had peers at all, actually.
Gakushuu was curious.
He felt like he could sense something in Akabane. Something that felt…familiar. Not the other life thing, but something that felt quite similar to himself. He couldn't point it out though.
Akabane seemed like he couldn't care less about class rankings that was posted in front of his face, or the way clubs hounded him to get registered.
He looked like he went through life without a worry.
But somehow, Gakushuu felt like Akabane was watching him back.
It was a normal day. A normal end to classes. A lot of students who didn't have clubs that day left school.
Gakushuu was watching the students leave for the day when suddenly for no reason he could tell, his eyes caught red .
Hair the colour of red glowed brightly, almost furiously. Gakushuu was well aware of the student possessing that hair.
Akabane Karma.
Somehow, it felt like Gakushuu was watching Akabane a hell of a lot more recently.
But it bothered him. He didn't know what bothered him.
He cupped his chin in his hand as he stared.
It was a nice colour… he admitted after a few moments.
He stared some more.
Then, Akabane turned around, his eyes accurately catching Asano's without hesitation. He was startled, but he didn't have the habit of fleeing before he had even confronted an opponent.
For seemingly no reason, Gakushuu felt like it was their first confrontation. They sat relatively close to each other in class now, and Gakushuu had his attention on him, almost all the time now.
But this time, they stared at each other across a difference of 3 floors and a crowd of students.
Asano felt a slightly odd feeling creeping down his spine. Karma turned away, seemingly bored and Asano subconsciously gripped the window.
He still felt like he was being stared at, even when Akabane had turned and walked away. He had felt it before, the first time Akabane changed seats.
He watched him walk away, before he continued on with his own work.
It felt odd, for some reason. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened that hadn't happened before.
He buried himself in paperwork.
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