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Dr_Danny_
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RELEVANCE
[Kiyotaka Ishimaru x Depressed!Female!Reader]
— —

For you, it was all fun and games until high school began. In junior high, the insults and stupid notes in lockers didn't get to you, because you really didn't care. You told yourself that their words were unimportant, and you stood by that. So, what changed? Ever since you got scouted into his school of elites, it started to get to you...

"Pretty pathetic for the Ultimate (Talent of Choice), if you ask me."

"That's your talent? Geez, when did they just start letting anybody into this school?"

"Why don't you go home, and take your so-called "talent" with you."

You had been specially selected for that talent you had, and yet, you were being put down for it... you might as well have grown to hate it. Matter of fact, you did. And the only reason you didn't drop out right then and there, was because of your parents. Due to your Ultimate, the school is able to gather fundings from it and your productions and performances, so your parents, who were financially struggling, were at last living the simple life they had wanted ever since you had been born. You didn't want to let them down.

All the weight, all the pressure, it was beginning to cloud your judgement, and you could barely get yourself to act anymore— honestly, you were just tired. You wanted a break, you wanted it to end. Getting up every morning was a chore, and for once, you just wanted someone who could help you get through that morning. That fateful morning.

"Got chemistry next period..." you huffed, holding a hand to your chin as you practically hid inside your locker. "...so if I bring this book with me, and these... I should be set for the next three classes without having to come back here, and can avoid this God-forsaken—"

The timely clicking of high-heeled shoes, four pairs of them, interrupted your self-indulgent muttering, and a slam at your locker door; causing it to bury itself into the side of your face and knock your temple against the other side of the metal frame. "Whoops! My bad there, (Nickname)! Guess it shut up that weird muttering of yours, though!"

Four separate laughters pierced through your ears, and you released an ever-annoyed breath from your nose, before straightening your face, and slowly shutting the metal door in front of you. "Thanks for that, Ichika..." you scorned through monotone eyes. "Here," you already knew the drill, and began rummaging through your pocket for the multiple sheets of paper, before handing them to her. "Homework and test answers for the next two weeks. Thank you for your patronage, but I've got a chem class to get to." You gave a sarcastic smile, then proceeded to walk away, of course, Ichika had to have the last word.

Pocketing the cheat codes, she used two of her fingers to spin you around and face her again, getting up in your grill, so the smell of her peppermint gum burned your nose. "Forgetting something?"

You were about to shove her off, when the most unexpected of events happened. A rather loud voice called out to Ichika, though not quite in a shout, as you watched a boy around your age in a white suit speed-walk his way over to your group. "Miss Sara! I will not tolerate gum-chewing in the hallways, and those papers better not be answers!" He completely approached now, holding out a hand, his intense crimson eyes looking down at Ichika. He may have not been looking at you, but damn you could still feel the tension from him anyways. "After I caught you last week, it'll be a detention if you don't turn them in!"

Ichika just muttered under her breath, and shoved the parchments into his hand with furrowed brows. "Whatever you say, Hall Monitor." She spat, before turning on her heel, releasing you from her two-fingered grip and stamping off with her three friends trailing briskly behind her.

Hugging your supplies to your chest, you watched as they stormed away, kind of surprised that she didn't give the male student any lip as she did so. You turned to him, with a tired, almost apologetic expression. "Sorry about that."

You had barely managed to finish your sentence when he began his reply. "No need to apologize!" He then seemed to have a hint of recognition in his eyes. "Say, you're the Ultimate (Talent of Choice), correct? (Y/n) (L/n)?" He quizzed, his voice toned down just a bit from speaking with Ichika.

Your brows piqued; the fact that is boy who you had never talked with before knew exactly who you were, and what your talent was. "Oh, um... yeah, that's me. Hello, I think we're in some of the same classes..?" You inquired, seeming to finally recall his studiousness. "Ultimate Moral Compass?  My bad... I forgot your name." You admitted sheepishly.

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, but please, Taka is just fine! It's a pleasure," he grinned, giving a rather aggressive solute. "I've noticed that Miss Sara takes a bit of a liking to picking on you... are you alright?" He asked, "I've been meaning to intervene sooner."

"You noticed?" That made you a bit embarrassed, but soon waved it off for the sake of the conversation. "But yeah, it's fine, you don't have to worry yourself over that." Your lack of sleep from the night before was getting to you, and you rubbed an eye for a bit with the back of your hand, holding in a yawn. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before." That last bit more or less was an accident.

The Moral Compass didn't seem too convinced with your wording, as he dropped his arms down to his sides and furrowed his brows in disbelief. "I highly doubt that! But if it's what you say, I just have to take your word for it! Though, I do have to ask... in classes, you seem to nod off quite often, which isn't very helpful towards your education!" He confirmed.

"Uh, my bad, I guess... I don't get much sleep at home— I'm usually up pretty late doing homework or..." you paused, and thought. "Helping my parents." You finished, truthfully.

Taka began thinking that over, "Schoolwork is important, but so if maintaining a healthy sleep schedule!" Almost unknowingly, the both of you began walking to your chemistry class together, listening to him ramble on about the importance of health habits and schedules. Honestly, you just kind of dozed off as he was talking, not to be rude, you were just that tired after the previous night of work.

"Miss (L/n)?"

You snapped out of your daze and jolted up, smiling towards him. "Yes, yes... I'm listening, sorry. A-And just (Y/n) or (Nickname) is fine."

"I must ask you to refrain from apologizing! You haven't done anything wrong... but you're too tired to hold a conversation, would you like me to escort you to the nurse's office to rest? It would be difficult for you to keep focus during a class in this state." He offered, kindly.

The genuine concern in his voice, it made you feel weird... weird? Abnormal. You hadn't heard that type of vocals in a while— not even your parents caught on to your fatigue as quickly as he did. It was almost heartwarming.

"Oh, that's alright..." you shook your head, namely in attempt to brush the exhaustion off. "I'll be alright for class, dozing off is what I do during passing periods and lunch." You determined, yawning again and scratching the back of your head, ruffling your messy (hair color) hair, though it was untamed to begin with, so it didn't matter to you. "It may not seem like it, but I've got a schedule."

Again, Taka just gave you that same worried look of disbelief, but, he didn't feel like arguing, so he didn't.
— —

Though, it turned out, that the two of you had more classes than you would have thought, almost half of them, actually. So, considering you had "no friends," and he found you rather easy to talk to, compared to other students, the both of you stuck together for the remainder of the day. Working together during classes, and you both even got paired together on a group assignment in your English period. Granted, you got to pick partners, but you found the time nice, which leads you to now.

"May I see your phone for a moment, (Y/n)?" Taka asked, somewhat abruptly, and with a complete straight face— it almost worried you, but nevertheless, you complied and unlocked your phone before handing it to him.

"What for?" Was all you managed to quiz as he also placed his own into your palms.

"If we are going to get a perfect grade on this project, we are going to want to keep in touch outside of school environment, correct?" After typing in his phone number, he didn't set a picture, then saved the contact under his name, and waited for you to be done with yours.

You felt your face flush a bit, immediately turning down to enter your number, and were seriously considering assigning your contact as "Ultimate Trashcan," but refrained and input your name. "Yeah, um... that makes sense to me." Then proceeded to swap phones back to one another. "I've always got my phone with me, so if you've got a question about my half of the work, you can always text or call... I'll reply usually pretty quickly."

"As will I!" Taka stuffed his phone into his pocket, and beamed that warm smile he liked to give. "I'll message you when I get home to assure you that the conversation is open... until then!" He waved, and you two went your separate ways.

While you walked by yourself, you discovered a newfound smile painting itself onto your tired face. You didn't know for sure yet, but you believed you just found yourself a friend; and a genuine one, at that. You enjoyed listening to him ramble on about school and his education-related hobbies; it was somewhat funny, and you found it enlightening.
— —

That fateful morning.

You woke up to the sound of your phone going off, alerting you of a text message as your screen brightness burned into your groggy eyes. Talking to Taka that previous night, he managed to convince you to get a full night of sleep, and actually keep your word to go to bed. But alas, you figured that morning would be just the same as every other morning.

But to your delight, is wasn't. It was the wakeup call you had been patiently waiting for; both literally, and figuratively. Waking up to the sight of such a message, and your heart jumping at the person behind the screen:

Kiyotaka Ishimaru (5:45am)
"Good morning, (Y/n)! I hope you slept well after our call last night!"

Ever since the beginning... you just wanted to feel appreciated, to feel relevant.

Now, you were relevant to him.