Chapter 30

When Shuya walked into school that morning, his steps felt heavier than usual. He kept putting his hand on his chest, wondering why his heart was beating so fast. He wasn't in a rush, he woke up early, ate breakfast with his mother, walked in a slow pace to school and was now headed to his classroom. But even still, he felt out of breath and he had been feeling that way ever since he opened his eyes. Was he turning sick?

“Good morning mr. Takahashi.” Shuya looked up, drawn out of his dace, as he heard the voice of his homeroom teacher speaking.

“Good morning, miss Nishida,” said Shuya and bowed.

“So, are you nervous about getting your results back for your finals?” asked Fuyoko with a wink and Shuya let out a nervous laughter. 

Fuyoko’s expression immediately changed when she saw the look in Shuya’s eyes.

“Oh no, you actually are nervous, and now I made it worse,” said Fuyoko, but Shuya quickly waved his hands in front of her.

“No no, don’t worry about me,” said Shuya, still with another nervous laughter following. “I just got the wrong leg out of bed this morning. I’m not really feeling like myself.”

“Are you sure?” asked Fuyoko and Shuya gave a firm nod. “Okay, I’m glad, because you, of all people, don’t need to worry.” The same words as Fuyoko had said so many times, suddenly hit in a different way and Shuya felt a sense of relief when he heard them spoken out loud. Looking at the stack of papers in Fuyoko’s hands no longer made his heart race and he didn’t have to force his smile anymore.

“Oh, and mr. Takahashi?” said Fuyoko, who was just about to go, when she suddenly stopped and started speaking again. “I’ve had a speculation for a while. It’s about you and miss Mikami.”

“Iyori?” asked Shuya and Fuyoko nodded. Shuya felt his cheeks heat up and he diverted his eyes.

“Well...” said Shuya, not really sure how you spoke about your love life to your teacher.

“You’ve been tutoring her, haven’t you?” Shuya looked up in surprise, the redness in his cheeks gone in seconds.

“What?” said Shuya and Fuyoko playfully punched his shoulder.

“Her grades just keep improving. I see you two together all the time so I figured you were the cause,” said Fuyoko and Shuya shrugged his shoulders a little. “Anyway, I’m really happy you are taking the time to help her. It looks like she will actually be able to graduate this year. I have been so worried about her.”

After finishing their conversation, Fuyoko continued down the hallway, walking towards the teacher’s office, while Shuya stayed behind, only a few steps away from the classroom.

She’s a good teacher, thought Shuya to himself as he stared in the direction she had been walking. 

“Hey look, it’s your boyfriend.” Shuya turned around, raising an eyebrow at the weird statement coming from a familiar voice.

“Hanako, what is wrong with you?” said Iyori and rolled her eyes before she left her sister’s side and walked up to Shuya. 

“Good morning,” said Iyori to Shuya.

“Good morning,” said Shuya. “But she isn’t wro–”

“Shh!” said Iyori and shushed Shuya. “I don’t want the whole school to start gossiping. That’s just too much to deal with on top of everything.” Shuya closed his mouth and zipped it with his fingers, whereafter they both walked into the classroom together.

“So, are you nervous about your finals?” asked Shuya after they went to their desks. Iyori let out a sigh.

“Why do you even ask? You know me by now, I’m not like you who can keep calm in these situations,” said Iyori.

“You know what, I’m actually feeling a little nervous too,” said Shuya and Iyori widened her eyes.

“Really?” asked Iyori and Shuya nodded. “Huh... That makes me kind of happy.” Iyori started smiling and rested her chins in her hands so they looked like round marshmallows.

“Why would that make you happy? Do you like to watch me suffer?” asked Shuya and Iyori lifted her head again, looking at him with a serious face.

“I do,” said Iyori and Shuya’s face turned white, until Iyori started laughing. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen that face on you.”

“Why–”

“No, I don’t like to watch you suffer, but it’s nice to know that you are just a human being too. Afraid to make mistakes,” said Iyori and Shuya’s expression softened. Both of them looked at each other without speaking, while Hanako were sitting at her desk, rolling her eyes as she looked at them.

After the bell rang, Fuyoko soon entered the classroom and started speaking like she usually did. Same procedure as always. After a speech about how important the exams were, how they would affect their chances of going to University or another educational institution, she began handing out the results. 

The class was abuzz when people looked over their results. But most of them didn’t care, reminding themselves that winter break was just around the corner and they just had to get through another day.

“81 out of 100,” whispered Iyori to herself as she looked at her results. She couldn’t remember the last time she got such a high mark on any of her tests. She blinked several times and even squeezed her arm. She even contemplated asking the classmate next to her if she was seeing things right, but in the end she didn’t. Instead she held the paper close to her chest, hugging it with a huge smile on her face.

Shuya, thought Iyori and turned around, I need to tell him!

But when Iyori turned around and looked at Shuya, she stopped herself. 

His face was white as a sheet while he looked at the paper in front of him. She tried getting eye contact, but he didn’t look like he was even aware of his surroundings. That was until Hanako stepped over to his desk, proudly showing him her results. Shuya raised his head and looked at her paper with dead eyes, but in the matter of seconds, they filled up with rage instead.

He ripped the paper out of Hanako’s hand, making her yell out in surprise, but Shuya didn’t even look at her. He just stared at her paper. Then stared at his own. Then back at Hanako’s again.

Iyori finally forced herself to get up from her chair, seeing that Fuyoko wasn’t done with the round yet and she quickly walked over to Shuya’s desk.

“Iyori, get your boyfriend to hand back my test results,” said Hanako annoyed when she saw Iyori nearing.

“Shuya,” said Iyori questioning and tried to get eye contact with him. “Shuya... what’s wrong?”

“He’s mad because he can’t believe I got a higher score than him on one of the finals,” said Hanako in a mocking tone and stuck out her tongue, but she nearly had a heart attack when Shuya looked up at her, eyes bloodshot and filled with rage.

“This is bullcrap!” yelled Shuya and gained the attention of everyone in class, including Fuyoko who raised her head and looked in their direction.

“Shuya... calm down, please,” said Iyori and reached out to Shuya, but he quickly drew away from her touch.

“Students, what is going on here?” asked Fuyoko after walking over to the commotion. Shuya looked up, still with as much anger in his eyes as before, an expression that even made Fuyoko wide her eyes.

“This!” said Shuya and showed her the results. “What the heck? You told me I didn’t have to worry! You told me the same thing you always tell me, but I didn’t do as well as I always do!”

“Now, calm down, mr. Takahashi,” said Fuyoko, still surprised by the harsh reaction from him. “The test you got the worst result on was a 98 out of 100, the others were 99 out of 100 and even 100 out of 100. Those are some amazing results.”

“Amazing? They’re not perfect, they’re not the best, they’re not me!” yelled Shuya and got up and slammed his hand into his desk. Fuyoko and the rest of the students stared at Shuya, no one saying anything or doing anything. As if the situation was a puddle of gasoline and their reactions would be the flame to start the fire. 

“Mr. Takahashi,” said Fuyoko after a while of silence, but before she could continue, Shuya had crumbled up his paper and ran out of the classroom.

Whispers and chatter started filling the classroom again, but it wasn’t about grades or holidays anymore. Fuyoko looked slightly shaken, Iyori even more, and for a little while, they simply stayed put.

“Miss Nishida,” said Iyori and turned around, looking up at her teacher. “Please let me go after him. I think he just needs to calm down. Maybe I can get him to come back to class.” Fuyoko looked at Iyori while wondering what to do. She looked at the open door, where her top student had just run out and then looked back at Iyori with a sad smile.

“Please do that.”

Iyori ran down the hallways while trying to call Shuya from her phone, but after a while she realized he might’ve forgotten his phone back in the classroom. Instead she focused her energy on thinking about which places he could’ve gone to. The club room? Outside? The rooftop?

The staircase leading to the rooftop weren’t far away so she decided to look there first, and thankfully so because when she arrived at the top, she saw Shuya standing by the edge, looking into the horizon.

“Shuya,” said Iyori and immediately caught his attention, but the look in his eyes weren’t of happiness or relief.

“Why are you here?” asked Shuya and turned his back to her. Iyori stopped when she was a few meters away from him, thinking it was probably better to give him a little space while they spoke.

“Won’t you come back to class?” asked Iyori. “Everyone is worried, miss Nishida most of all.”

“I won’t go back, I can’t after losing face like that,” said Shuya.

“Because of that? No, people won’t care about your outburst, after a while everyone will have forgotten about it,” said Iyori and Shuya suddenly turned around, glaring at her from afar.

“Because of my outburst? I don’t care about that one bit,” said Shuya. “I care about my grade. My results. How can I face everyone?”

“What?” said Iyori and Shuya rolled his eyes.

“Exactly, you don’t get it,” said Shuya. “You don’t understand a thing because you’re climbing the ladder, slowly getting better and better. When you’re at the top, you just have to keep staying there by all means. Even one misstep and you’re going backwards.”

“But–”

“No, don’t even try to speak as if you understand how I feel,” said Shuya firmly. “You will never understand.” Shuya took a step forward and walked right past Iyori who quickly turned around and yelled:

“But I want to understand.” Shuya stopped in his tracks, but he didn’t reply. Iyori waited and waited, until her final drop of patience had run out and she walked up to him, grabbing him by the collar.

“Fine, if that’s how we’re playing then let’s play!” yelled Iyori directly at Shuya’s face. “Why would I want to understand you anyway? You don’t make the slightest bit of effort to understand me or be there for me. You can’t even be happy on my behalf, all you care about is whether you lose face to my sister. Maybe you should just date her if you care so much about her opinion of you!”

“What? Are you out of your mind?” yelled Shuya and released himself from Iyori’s grip. “I don’t care about her specifically. I care about my reputation and my grades overall. I care about my future, more than what I can say about you.”

“I care about my future!” yelled Iyori.

“Oh really?”

“Yes!”

“Well then, welcome to the club. The pressure you’re feeling now, I have been feeling that for years.”

“Pressure? You don’t think I’ve been under pressure too?” yelled Iyori. “And what about my other situation? You said you would be there for me. Making sure I would never be alone with my problems.” Shuya’s expression suddenly softened, hearing his own words spoken from Iyori’s mouth.

“Well, if you weren’t prepared for what you said yes to with all this,” said Iyori and gestured at herself. “Then I should’ve stayed as your fake girlfriend through my company... Maybe this was a mistake... All of it.” Iyori lowered her head and walked towards the door, Shuya staying in the same spot without being able to move.

“Iyori,” yelled Shuya, with a more gentle voice than before. 

But it was already too late, Iyori had disappeared through the door and Shuya was left behind on the rooftop. He looked up to the sky and let out a sigh.

“You’re such an idiot, Shuya,” he sighed to himself.

It seems we're having some trouble in paradise. But then again, it was bound to happen with how different both of them are.

What do you think? Can you relate to Shuya's feelings or are you more leaning towards Iyori? Or maybe you relate to both of them? Let me know in the comments down below.

Also, I hope you're doing well, wherever you are. The world gets scarier everyday, so we have to take good care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Stay safe!

Love, Annalise~