A/N :
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also if you haven't read the previous chapter yet ( chp 2 ) ,
i suggest you read it before this chapter. also please remember to vote the previous chapter if you have accidentally missed it. ⭐
anyways , enjoy 😊

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟑-𝐀 sign board was shown outside of a classroom, the students were silent , tense from the uncomfortable atmosphere hovered over the air. for some reason, the room was covered in a malignant purple aura coming from an unseen occupant sitting at one of the desks in the front row.

"ano... does asano-kun seem a bit annoyed to you?" someone murmured.

"yeah," a guy whispered from the back. "i wonder who or what pissed him off..."

even the teacher, who was copying down the chemistry equations on the blackboard and had his back facing the class, could feel the uncomfortable atmosphere coming from behind him.

"then next i'll have..." the teacher nervously turned to one of the students. "yuri-san !"

a girl with two braided pink pigtails who was sitting in the middle row looked up from her desk in alarm. "h-hai !"

on the blackboard was shown an XY diagram chart that plotted two groups of numbers as one series of XY coordinates. "can you tell me what the equilibrium is between X and Y?"

"etto...is a state in which a pure component or mixture exists in both the liquid and...vapour phases..?"

"correct!" their teacher continued the explanation. "the phases are at equilibrium, meaning that there were no changes in the macroscopic...."

gakushu watched as their teacher copied down the formula from his text book as he continued to speak in the background. "...given by Y has the same temperature as Z. So Y and Z are in thermal equilibrium."

after their fourth lesson, the bell chimed loudly, causing their teacher to look away from the blackboard and stop his lecture. "ah, it's already time." he put his chalk down and closed his textbook. "alright then, we will resume the lesson tomorrow."

"all rise!" gakushu stood up, followed by the whole class, which stood as one. their bodies upright, legs straight, and arms beside them. "arigatou gozaimas." the whole class's voice rang out as they bowed in synch. "otsukaresamadeshita."

the teacher nodded his head back. "yes, thank you for your hard work."

"see you tomorrow."

gakushu grabbed his stuff and exited the classroom. instead of following the crowd, he headed in the opposite direction, but just as he was about to do so, someone called out his name.

"asano-kun !"

the mentioned boy looked over his shoulder to see a group of four boys standing behind him.

narrator: "introducing the big five accelerated class 3-A! we're coming in second place on midterms!" the profile showed a boy with glasses who looked a little chubby. he had two dark black eyes, a somewhat prominent nose, and short, dark green hair. "someone who holds another identity as a food reviewer at each restaurant he goes to," a flashback scene showed him finishing a bowl of ramen in the shop as he adjusted his glasses in a serious manner,"as he consistently searches for foods such as ramen and puts his thoughts after eating." he whipped out a note book and began analysing the ramen. "this place surely does have a very solid image. caramelised noodles with a bit of garlic and some veggies are the best combination--"his review seems to be considered very truthful, as rest areas where he leaves a good review are reputed to have lines of customers the next day." the restaurant was suddenly packed with people the following day."in this school, he is known as the mass-media hopeful whose social studies knowledge crushes the competition, media club-araki teppei !"

"next ! in third place, we have the 'narcissist'..." the narrator reads. a profile of a fair-skinned teenage boy with brown hair that is fashioned into a kariage hairstyle where it is flipped to the right side and almond-shaped green eyes who was shown staring at his own reflection through the window as it showed the boy smoothing his hair."this word comes from a story in greek mythology in which the comely youth narcissus falls in love with his own reflection while gazing in fascination upon his own form." another scene flashed as he was shown adjusting his hair before leaning in, nearly kissing a girl."he is the dominator of competitions in the humanities, the perspicacious poet : student council secretary - sakakibara ren !"

"moving on to fifth place, we have the fastidious..." the scene changed, and it showed the whole school restroom sparkling. "the sort of people repulsed by injustice and impurity." even the toilet paper was folded into a neat triangle. "they would accept no compromise, seeking a perfect lifestyle." the person could be seen kneeling on the ground, wearing a pair of pink cleaning gloves and a sponge in his hand. he wiped the sweat off his forehead after finishing scrubbing the whole school's bathroom stall clean. he stood up and was found washing his pair of black-framed glasses carefully in front of the school sink; after drying them, he put them back on his face. "they are also claimed to be the memorization monster in academics, driven by his grudge against akabane: " through the restroom mirror's reflection, he was shown smiling overly large and arrogantly to reveal his crooked teeth. his hair is black, long, and shaggy, giving him a disgruntled look as he squinted his eyes, causing his unibrow to close in, accentuating his strangeness."he is the biology club president : aka the clean freak, - koyama natsuhiko !"

"last but not least. in sixth place, the man whose sharp tongue," a boy with short, flat, dark brown hair that goes to his nape, almond, dark eyes, a big nose, large lips, and fair skin."has a tendency to say very critical things to people and have no qualms about telling someone off," a flashback showed him getting punched in the face by a bigger guy on the street after he couldn't repress his snarky comments about the guy's hair shape looking like a rolled condom, which resulted in him laying in the hospital bed the next day, beaten up badly."his LA-honed language skills are light years beyond the rest :" a picture flashed to him in the process of recovering: he had almost half of his body bandaged up as he stood proudly with a cane and a thick bandage wrapping around his broken arm.an arrogant grin continued to glued across his very busted face, getting both big black eyes that were swollen to the point he could barely see. "the student assembly chairman and the speaker of the student council - seo tomoya !"

the introduction quickly ended as the scene cut back to where their conversations had left off.

"where are you going?" araki questioned him a little apprehensively. "the accelerated programme is about to start."

"ah," gakushu smiled reassuringly. "you guys go ahead first for your independent study; i'll just need to send some documents to the teacher's office."

ren frowned. "ne , did something happen, asano-kun?" he asked, putting a hand on his hip. "you've looked a little tightened up ever since you got back from break. Is there something bugging you?"

"no," gakushu replied almost in a beat, trying not to let his irritation show. 'at least, not anything particularly important.....' he averted his eyes as he imagined the previous instance of akabane running away from him, only this time he appeared to have a pair of devil horns and a tail, crackling evilly at gakushu's failed attempt at catching him as he ran away, which left an irk mark on gakushu's forehead.

"ah...okay..." ren said warily.

the scene flashed back to gakushu, who waved his hand dismissively at them. "anyway, i'll join you guys later. you really don't want to be late to your next class."

the group exchanges some unsure glances.

"alright," shrugged koyama, "we'll see you in the conference room then!"

the groups waved as gakushu nodded his head at them.

。。。

'akabane had another thing coming if he thought he won this one.'

gakushu, with the patience of a buddha, stomped through the hallways of the main building of kunugigaoka junior high.

narrator: "and finally, reigning over all these from the very top...." a boy with short, strawberry blonde hair that reaches his ears."...in the first place, coming in first on the national mock exams with his perfect mastery of all subjects," he wore a winter grey jacket with black-lined edges, a white button-up shirt, and a black tie just like everyone on the main campus. his violet eyes narrowed."the man with leadership in his genes: the student council president and the leader of the "big five group." of which the red armband that stood out around his blazer shows proof of being part of a student council and a leader."he is also the board chairman's, asano gakuhō's, one and only son-"

if it weren't for the students that are in class right now, he would have parted the crowd like moses did to the red sea, as he swore that one day he was going to commit murder. it was a done deal. this wouldn't be his last straw; he would have pushed his hand down that bastard's throat if it was, and it would be the day when he was no longer-asano gakushū.

akabane was a detestable person in his point of view, and someone who he liked to call an "imp," with a hobby of- ( gakushu isn't someone who cusses, so in the author's words : )- torturing the fuck out of him. there was never a day when gakushu had peace, ever since he met that spawn of the devil. akabane had a sadistic agenda towards him, and when the time comes, gakushu will make him taste sweet heaven when he destroys him again in academic battles.

the anger bubbling below the surface of his skin was still boiling, but he knew he would lose if he lashed out at someone like that little "imp," because he knew that was the trophy the other was hoping for. that imp always tried to get under his hardened crocodile skin, but gakushu would never let that happen because once he got too riled up, he knew akabane would take pride in that.

akabane karma ( japanese pronounced "ka-ru-ma") was asano gakushu's self-proclaimed academic rival from the start of kunugigaoka junior high. now they are a duel between both aces of class-A and class-E. gakushu had always been at the top of the class and a smooth winner ever since he was young; he had it all-wealth paired with his looks, athleticism, and brains. however, when he entered his first year of junior high, that was the first time that he ever felt eclipsed by a boy named akabane; in fact, it surprised him to think a delinquent like him could tie with gakushu in academic aspects.

gakushu thought back to their unwanted first encounter; he remembered introducing himself as a top student council member and the principal's son. he was asked to be put in charge by the teacher and go around the room to observe the class while they were taking a quiz or even help out the students to see if they needed any help or had any questions about the paper that was given. as gakushu was going around the room, helping the students in need by using the correct methods that he had taught to memorise from the whole textbook, he noticed that one particular student wasn't even writing or paying attention to class. in fact, he wasn't even awake.

the mop of his red hair lay snuggly against his crossed arms, his body steadily rising and falling with each breath. his face was facing the other way, but the bright colour of his apple-red hair was enough to catch gakushu's attention.

gakushu felt his gaze narrow as he walked towards the sleeping redhead and stood in front of him before clearing his throat loudly enough for him to hear. "excuse me,"

the red-haired boy shifted slightly in his seat; his eyes eased open briefly, revealing savanna-sunset-coloured irises. 'akabane karuma', gakushu watched as the person yawned a bit, before glancing up as if he had just noticed his presence, and just as their gazes met, a playful smirk pulled on the person's lips as if he had already known that sleeping in class was disrespectful, but gakushu got a "couldn't care less" vibe from him.

gakushu felt his eye twitching in annoyance.

'he's given me a bad impression ever since we first met.' the present gakushu narrated in his head.'not only was he the latest to class, but he even fell asleep during the quiz.'

"akabane-san." gakushu reprimanded him. karma blinked lazily, still staring at the strawberry blonde. "as you know, sleeping in class is against the rule," he said, with a smile still remaining on his face; only this time it seemed more irritated. "how about you continue the work ? and if you're stuck on a question, it is possible for you to ask for hel-"

"ah, īe , that wouldn't be necessary." karma smiled, cutting him off as he leaned back against his chair. "i'm already done with it; here's my quiz!" he slid the paper to the front of gakushu with his fingers. the strawberry blonde raised both of his eyebrows; surprised that he was the first one to get the quiz done before anyone else despite coming to class 10 minutes late and seemingly being asleep the entire lecture !

explanation : ( "īe" = "no", in japanese , though commonly used in reply to "thank you", to mean "you're welcome" or "not at all," you can still say it outright in conversation when you're trying to disagree with or reject an idea as a no).

as gakushu checked through his work, much to his disbelief, he DID get everything correct, but.... "akabane-kun, what is this ?" he asked, gesturing at the paper on the table.

"eh?" karma looked over. "school pres, for a top student genius like you, you don't even know what a paper is ?" he taunted him with a mischievous grin. "you sure someone like you didn't cheat all the way to the top of the class, did you ? should I do a background check just to make sure ? puh, puh, puh," he laughed.

^
( this is not karma ,this just a random redhead from another anime - but i'm describing the expression that karma made is similar to this guy )

a vein popped at the back of gakushu's head as his face turned a little pink with embarrassment before scowling. "of course i know it's a paper !" he shouted. "what i meant is that your method is different and is clearly not an appropriate way to solve it."

"how so?" karma challenged with an eyebrow raised, ticking the other even more.

"the textbook itself had already shown you the correct method of how to solve the question in a proper way; i even taught you along with the class just a while ago; weren't you listening ?"

"ehhhh....." karma whined, "but class pres, your method of solving is really..." he rested his head on his right palm. "...boring."

as soon as those words came out, gakushu immediately paused all of his movements, and his face changed. his eyes widened slightly, and the scowl he had a few seconds ago completely dropped from his face in a beat. 'did he say... boring...?' he didn't respond immediately. "hm ?" karma blinked in confusion, still smiling as he stared, waiting for any response from gakushu. 'my method....?' the shadow of the boy's strawberry blonde hair cast over his own faces, causing his expression to darken as he continued to stand in front of his desk.

the redhead's previous comment seems to sparked up the majority of the class, who had been major fans of gakushu's ever since the first time he stepped into the class, and instantly flared up, throwing up poisonous remarks towards the redhead.

"WHA....!?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TALK TO OUR GREAT LEADER : ASANO-SENPAI LIKE THAT ?!" a boy yelled.

"you've been disrespectful and acting all mighty ever since you've been in class, if you've got a problem, then GET OUT !"

while the whole class was raging at the redhead for disrespecting the most academically proficient student, karma just lazily stuck his tongue out at them.

( everyone )

( karuma-kun 👇 )

meanwhile, a boy with long, aqua-coloured bangs that completely covered his eyes spoke up. "w-well, the method that akabane-kun has taught does seem easier for me to follow up with..." he mumbled.

"mhm!" nodded a girl with white hair, olivia, who sat in the front row with the boy and agreed with his statements, smiling politely. "i agree with both akabane-san and kouta-kun; i think there's no harm in finding different solutions to solve a problem."

kouta sighed with slightly more relief to have at least someone stand by his side, but he quickly froze when he suddenly became aware of the few demonic daggers shooting his way. 'oh, sh*t.' he winced and quickly looked away, as if he were regretting speaking out. he used his quiz paper to shield himself, as if that would make him invisble from any conflict and unwanted attention shooting his way, while olivia continued to sit there, smiling cluelessly, completely oblivious to the glares and tension that were now directed at them.

"hold on," gakushu suddenly spoke up, raising a hand and bringing the class abruptly to a stop. he turned to karma with a smile still remaining on his face; only this time it seemed more irritated, but karma didn't seem to be affected by the threatened atmosphere as he remained with a poker face while gakushu continued. "if you're going to say that much, let us see your ability in the future when the exam comes, shall we?" he said it with an eye-closed smile that gave off bloodlust.

"then i wouldn't mind being put under your care, so show me what you've got," karma smirked, tilting his head up challengingly. "school pres~"

gakushu glared back, gritting his teeth, as the two got into a standoff. 'he did whatever he pleased without fear and was absolutely brilliant.'

the flashback shows that this incident caused sparks to fly between their eyes, as so did the beginning of their rivalry.

narrator: 'the boy that aims for the top' gakushu was still walking down the hall, showing no emotion as his eyes glowed with bloodlust. 'and the other that looks for "infinity" ', an image of karma suddenly appeared, looking down at him with his chin angled upward, cockily. 'their meeting' ; in the flashback, it showed both karma and gakushu having a staredown.

'and their story starts here.'

Q/A : what's your favorite story trope ?
i am a sucker for enemies to lovers 👀🚀

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