Chapter 109

Rin.

After breakfast, Len and I packed our things before getting into the car. Kai was in the driver's seat, and as soon as he started the vehicle, Len sat up straight and gasped.

"Mr. Banana!" He exclaimed, looking at me with a worried expression.

"Wait, who?" I frowned.

"M-My cat, I haven't fed him!" Len panicked.

"Kai, Len's house first, please!" I instructed. The driver nodded wordlessly.

We were at Len's home in no time, and even before the car had stopped, Len pushes the door open and jumped out, running towards the front door. I could see his cat, an orange tabby, inside, by the window, yowling at the sight of the blond boy.

"I'm coming!" Len unlocked the door and ran in. The cat jumped off the window ledge and out of my sight. Len came back out a few minutes later, locking the door behind him.

"Is your cat okay?" I asked. He nodded and sighed.

"I can't believe I forgot about him...," he mumbled, getting back into the car. Kai drove us to school, and the grounds were empty.

"We're late," I said, glancing at Len, "Both of us."

"For once," he smiled. I laughed and we walked into the schoolyard, slowly approaching the school.

"You're both late," our teacher looked at the two of us, surprised to see even me being late, "Rin, you too?"

"I'm sorry," I shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "Len wasn't feeling well and couldn't sleep and..."

"Rin!" Len elbowed me and I stopped, "That sounds...you know...weird!"

"Er, right...," I glanced at my teacher, who looked back questioningly. We hurried over to our seats. Some students snickered and giggled, and we both blushed.

Meiko.

"So she went out with you?" I was loud, almost too loud, even though I was sitting right next to Gakupo. The class, thankfully, was busy sketching fruit.

"She confessed her love to me, Meiko!" Gakupo whispered back, his face flushed, "She kissed me!"

"Wow!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together, "And all this time, I thought you'd never get her..."

"Well, I did," Gakupo grinned, "And to think, it all happened because of Kaito."

I leaned forward slightly, a small smirk on my face. "So, what restaurant did you take her to?"

"It was this Chinese one," he answered, "She was so cute, Meiko, blushing and staring at me! I really, really like her!"

"And where'd you kiss?" I asked excitedly, rubbing my hands together, "In the restaurant, in the car, in..."

"At my place," he answered, "Did I tell you about how she got me a kitten?"

I shook my head. "You mean after Meringue died?"

He nodded. "Yeah! Anyway, I took her to my place and showed her the kitty! And then she kissed me!"

"Wait, what? She kissed you because of the cat?" I frowned, "That doesn't sound right..."

"I don't think it was the cat, Meiko," Gakupo smiled, his eyes sparkling, "She just...we were sitting on the sofa and my kitten was in her lap. She just leaned forward after that, and I responded."

"Did she open her mouth?" I asked, my voice low.

"Y-You don't need to know the rest!" He sputtered suddenly before pausing and putting his head down on the desk, "Maybe...but only because I...well, whatever..."

"I want to hear more! This is so juicy!" I laughed and got up, smacking my teacher on the back, "Congrats, Mr. Gakupo!"

"Right...," he looked up at me, "Go back to your seat now."

Oliver.

"There you are," Neru looked at me with half a smile, leaning against her locker, visible only in flashes as students passed by, "Knowing you, I thought you'd be late!"

"I'm not," I answered cooly, "Now, are we going or not?"

Neru nodded and led me downstairs, "The Slurpee place isn't far from here."

"So it's called 'the Slurpee place' or something?" I asked. She laughed a little and punched my arm.

"No," she answered, "You'll see when we get there."

I nodded and we walked through the crowds, pushing and squeezing past the masses. I nearly lost track of the blond girl, careening towards a wall so that I wouldn't be trampled over.

"Come on," I felt someone grab my hand, "You'll lose me."

"Right," I realized that it was Neru. She pulled me along and we reached the stairs, hurrying down. It was nowhere near as crowded here, but she hung onto my hand.

"I'm not going to let you fall off the stairs and get me in trouble," she mumbled, glancing at me. I nodded and we headed outside.

The sun was shining, and I had to squint with a hand shielding my view. Neru guided me across the yard, past students as they played ball and walked around.

"It's hot," I commented, tugging at my hat so that its shadow fell over my eyes. We passed the school entrance and walked down the street.

"What did you expect? Summer's around the corner," Neru's voice was softer than usual, "We'll have to get used to this kind of weather. See, this is exactly the kind of weather that requires a Slurpee. They come in lots of different flavours, you know, a-and you can mix them up and if you drink too fast you'll get brain freeze..."

I laughed as we crossed the street, and she turned to look at me questioningly before smiling warmly.

"You're so excited," I explained, "That's cute, you know."

"Er...okay?" Neru blushed and looked down at the pavement. She was wearing flats, and the sun made her feet glow yellow, almost. They must have been burning, I thought, because my sneakered feet felt as though they were being roasted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," I apologized sheepishly, "Your excitement's contagious. That's a good thing."

"Huh," Neru glanced at me, "I guess...I just really like Slurpees."

"I can tell," I smirked, "Say, did you get over you know who?"

"Huh?"

"You know...Len?" I smiled slyly and she pouted her lips.

"What am I, some lovesick fool?" She shook her head, "Of course I'm over him! I'll find myself another boy!"

"So you're hunting," I laughed. She huffed, pulling her hand away from mine and crossing her arms.

"I am not!" She yelled.

"So are you observing? Watching? Getting ready to confess?" I shrugged casually with a wry smile on my face.

"I'll...I'll tell you when I have an update on that," she scoffed, "Asking questions like that won't get you anywhere, Oliver!"

I found myself hoping that she actually liked me.

Yuma.

"We're not running today," Gumi said as we settled down in our usual spot, "I don't want you to push yourself."

"Awesome," I smiled. She crossed her arms.

"Lucky you," she stuck her tongue out at me, "I'm not running because of you."

"Oh really?" I smirked, "Go ahead, Gumi, I don't mind. I'll just wait here for you to come back."

"N-No, it's fine," she answered. I chuckled and draped an arm around her shoulders.

"You just want to be with me, isn't that right?" I whispered. She blushed.

"S-So what? Is that a crime?" She burst out. I laughed and pressed my forehead against hers.

"You're so cute," I said, looking into her eyes, "I wish I could be with you forever..."

"What?" She looked up at me, brows furrowed, and I frowned, "What was that supposed to mean?"

"N-Nothing," I answered quickly, "I meant, I wish we could sit here like this forever and not have to go to separate classes."

"Hmm," she smiled, worry washing away from her expression, "You should've worded it better, then!"

"Right...," I nodded, brushing my nose against hers, "Gumi, can I...kiss you?"

"Y-You don't have to ask...," she whispered, "Of course you can..."

We were about to kiss when a certain blue haired teenager showed up. "Yuma!" He exclaimed my name before sitting down beside me, "You had calculus last semester, didn't you?"

I frowned at Kaito. "Yeah...why?"

"Could you help me out?" He grinned. Miku showed up moments later, sitting down beside Gumi. The green haired girl exchanged glances with me, smiling and shrugging.

"Of course he can," Gumi grinned, "He's very sweet."

"Of course you'd know that," Miku elbowed Gumi and they giggled. I ran a hand through my hair as Kaito pulled his backpack off of his shoulders and removed a few sheets and a pencil.

"It's just...I don't get the product law," Kaito shook his head sombrely, "We're going to have a quiz on it next period, too..."

"You should've come to me earlier," I frowned. I wasn't a math genius or anything, but I knew the stuff. Kaito, on the other hand...well, let's just say that he was better at driving than at math.

"I wasn't here yesterday, remember?" Kaito explained, "Rin just told me right now, and I started panicking."

"It's fine," I nodded, taking his pencil from him and looking through his worksheets, "Can you differentiate a simpler function?"

He nodded. I felt Gumi and Miku's eyes on me, watching as though I was about to perform some sort of alchemy or something.

"Okay, then. So, when you've got two functions, like so...," I tapped the pencil against a problem, "They're two functions, separated by brackets."

"Which means multiplication," Kaito said. I nodded.

"Exactly, hence the name 'product law.' So, first you have to differentiate the first function," I scribbled the derivative of the first function down under the problem, "And then you just write the other function as it's given."

"He's so cool!" Gumi gushed.

"Then you put a plus sign...," I made a plus, "Then comes the part where you have to pay attention."

"Okay, okay," Kaito nodded furiously, glaring at the problem murderously.

"Now, we have to write the first function as it was given," I did it as I said it, "Now, we have to multiply that by the derivative of the second function."

I finished off the problem and Kaito kept staring at it. I handed the pencil to him.

"Now you try," I said, "It's simple. F prime times g, plus f times g prime."

"Simple, uh-huh, sure...," Kaito chewed on the end of his pencil.

"Kaito, you suck at this!" Miku yelled from behind. Kaito sighed and began writing down the answer.

"Here," he gestured towards it once he was done, "Is that it?"

"Don't forget to actually multiply them and simplify," I nodded, "It's right so far."

Kaito slumped. "Okay..."

Sorry for going all math-mode on you! I just...well, Kaito's not very good at math, and I can sort of relate to him in that way, so I wanted to express that.

Also. This chapter is okay. ^_^

See you next chapter, where things will become more interesting, I hope!