The next day, Sato woke feeling tired. He showered and headed to brush his teeth, a groan escaping him internally. Great, it's Monday. The cycle of school begins again. God, I hate Mondays. He spat out the toothpaste and pulled on his uniform.
And I forgot to do my Essay assignment, he thought. It was supposed to be a 1000-word essay on my weekend. Usually, the teacher never really checks them because my weekends are always so boring, mostly sad, for them. But now that I think about it, my weekend was kind of interesting in a way. Ren's threat flashed through his mind. But I can't tell anyone what happened. No, too big of a risk. I'll just turn in an empty paper, pretending I did it. Yeah.
He went downstairs to put on his shoes, spotting his mom getting ready to open the restaurant. "Good morning, Mom, I'll be off to school," Sato said.
"Yeah, sure, sweetie. Just make sure you eat your breakfast and mind picking me up a few things at the market," his mother replied.
Sato sighed. "Not the market again. Fine, I'll do it, but on my way home."
His mom smiled. "Good. I'll be at the restaurant if you return." She headed into the restaurant, and Sato grabbed a piece of bread and his bag, then left for school.
Minutes later, Sato arrived at school and headed to the office of the Head of the Essay Department to submit his "essay" – which was literally a blank paper. As he stepped in, the Head of the Essay Department, Mr. Yami, immediately spotted him and walked over.
"Oh, hey, Mr. Yami, just came to submit my essay," Sato said.
Mr. Yami pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath, "Oh God."
Sato continued, "But don't worry, I promise the essay on my weekend was exciting!"
Mr. Yami looked at him. "Oh yeah? What was exciting?"
"I wrote a whole essay on how I went shopping for video games," Sato replied.
Mr. Yami visibly shuddered at the thought. He quickly stopped Sato from turning it in. "Look, here's what's going to happen. You get an A on the essay, but only if you promise to burn that script."
Sato hid a smile, maintaining his act. "Yeah, but wouldn't that be cheating? I don't know..."
"Do you know how depressing your essays are?" Mr. Yami interrupted. "You gave four of our teachers trauma. Among them, one quit, two haven't read anything since, and don't even get me started on what that essay did to Li!"
Sato's smile widened. "Poor Mr. Li. But if you insist, I'll go." He started to walk out, but Mr. Yami grabbed him.
"And anytime they give a report on an essay, please don't write one. Save us the stress," Mr. Yami pleaded.
Sato nodded and left, saying to himself, "That was too easy. Well, I guess that's what five years of gaming and my life can do." He walked into his class to see everyone playing and acting like animals. Aren't we supposed to be learning right now? What's going on? he thought in confusion. He shrugged it off, reaching into his bag for his earpiece when a ball hit him squarely in the face. He tried his best not to react. These are 11th graders acting like little brats. I must not let them get to me. Nothing is spoiling my wonderful day. Sato, already absorbed in his phone, adjusted his earpiece, oblivious to Kaito approaching from behind.
"Sato? It is you! I thought you were dead since you weren't picking up my calls," Kaito exclaimed, a wide smile on his face.
Sato clutched his chest, heart hammering in panic. "Give me a heads-up next time you want to approach me like that! You almost scared the shit out of me!" He yanked off his earpiece, trying to calm his racing pulse.
Kaito, however, was already speaking again, almost too loudly. "So, how was it? Your trip to—"
Before Kaito could finish, Sato's hand shot out, slapping him across the face purely on reflex. Kaito recoiled, holding his stinging cheek in pain and confusion. "Ouch! What was that for?!"
Sato grabbed Kaito and dragged him out of the classroom, pulling him into a secluded corner where no one could overhear them. "You have to keep your mouth shut! Nobody is to know I went to a Mafia's house!" Sato hissed, his voice low and urgent.
"Ohhh, yeah, so you haven't told anyone, okay," Kaito responded, rubbing his cheek. "But that doesn't mean you could f-cking slap me!"
Sato sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Let's just go in."
As they re-entered the classroom, Kaito whispered, "So, how was it?"
"Terrible," Sato muttered back. "I mean, there were guards everywhere, and I made a lot of enemies."
"That's not what I meant!" Kaito pressed, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Like, how was Hikari herself? How was the date? Did you find a reason to like her?"
Sato's face immediately flushed a deep red. "Wha—what a stupid question! Of course, she was not my type!"
Kaito grinned, his suspicions confirmed. "We both know that's a lie. Your face is all red! Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever seen you blush."
Sato frowned, trying to deny it. "I'm not blushing!"
But Kaito persisted, leaning closer. "What made you change your mind about her? Don't tell me... did you guys, like, have sex?"
"What?! No! We didn't, I..." Sato stammered, flustered, trying desperately to defend himself.
Just then, their teacher finally walked in, the students groaning collectively as they slumped back into their seats. "Sorry if I was late," the teacher began, "there was a forced decision to enroll two new students into our school, and they will be assigned to our class."
Everyone in the class began to murmur, wondering who the new students could be. Sato, however, didn't care, his mind still reeling from Kaito's questions.
"Now, can everyone please join me and welcome..." The teacher swallowed hard, forcing a strained smile. "...Hikari Kuroda and Sakura Tachibana."
Sato's eyes widened in disbelief, his mind screaming that what the teacher said couldn't possibly be true. A collective gasp rippled through the classroom as Hikari and Sakura entered. Sato felt an intense desire to simply disappear.
Hikari, her eyes scanning the room, finally spotted Sato. Her face lit up, and she waved exuberantly. "Sato!"
Every single eye in the class swiveled to stare at him in unison, confusion etched on their faces as Kaito whispers to him "cover blown bro". Sakura's gaze also landed on Sato, and a flicker of recognition passed between them. Then, Sakura spoke, her voice clear and carrying through the suddenly silent room. "Hey, that's the guy that touched my butt on the train!"
All eyes were on him.