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The amount of Ds flooding your report book was enough to send any parent into a state of shock. It was a nightmare coming straight out of a nightmare itself. Who would have known that you would be this stupid?
If only you could treat the warnings given to you by your teachers as a love letter. You’d have many admirers then.
“At least you’re not the lowest y/n,” said your best friend, a tall boy who went by the name Nakamura Naoki. “I heard that Okuyasu broke his own record once again. As if his grades weren’t already bad enough. But apparently that Josuke improved.”
A curved smile carved onto your face at the mention of Josuke. Would it be a surprise to know that you liked that idiot?
Naoki knew of it, and he was disappointed.
He took notice of your stupid little smile and sighed. “Seriously why do you like that idiot?” He asked.
“Naoki, you have a crush on Hirai Rei! She couldn’t do literature to save her life. Have you not read some of her poems she wrote for one of our projects last year?” You retorted back. Teasing each other about your crushes was a hobby, and a need, developed by the both of you. Partially because Naoki kept on liking funny kind of people while making fun of you for liking Josuke.
What was wrong with Josuke anyway?
“Rei is good at math and she can help me with it at least. What can Josuke help you with? Getting into trouble?” Naoki replied.
It was unfortunate that Rei just so happened to be the top student in the school for math while Josuke was known for getting into a bit of trouble. Resulting from too much games and a lack of homework being done. You had heard that his nephew was a well-accomplished young man with a wife and daughter.
“Josuke has a rich nephew,” you replied. But before you could say anymore, Naoki stopped you from producing words as stupid as Okuyasu.
“That man is married. I know you’re joking but seriously,” Naoki stared at you, straight into your eye. The seriousness of his eye contact filled with intensity froze you from the inside out. Never have you seen him so serious before.
You and Josuke were in the same class, he sat behind you. You could always feel his stupidity from where you sat but it was a trait that you had admired from him. You didn’t know how your crush on Josuke started out. it was out of the blue, you were just ranting to Naoki about how most of the guys in class were annoying pricks, a rant that even Naoki took part in. He was a boy in band and hated most of the boys. You were in the art club. Josuke just happened to be one of the more tolerable ones and you just started paying more and more attention to him then. It didn’t help that he always started conversations with you and most of it always went from school related to something stupid. But it was never enough to spark a friendship.
Until your weak little heart gave out and started to catch a kind of virus — feelings.
Naoki noticed it way before you did. You refused to believe that you had caught feelings for Josuke and denied it. But you knew it was as truthful as saying the Earth was flat.
Before you knew it, it had turned into something your mind was too weak to reverse. The worst part was that he sat behind you so you could always hear the stupid little shenanigans he was always up to. It got worse when Okuyasu joined the school. The level of stupid reached an all time high that made Naoki question your sanity for liking Josuke.
Months had passed by since then, you and him barely exchanged any words, only ever talking when he started it, but he had been talking to you less these days. Naoki ended up dating Rei and they were happy together. The stark contrast in achievements made you the laughing stock for him and Rei. But hey at least you befriended someone enough to tell her about your hopeless crush on that Josuke.
“Nao is right, Josuke is a stupid guy. Did love blind you to the point that even Josuke can catch your attention?” Rei commented after finding out about your crush on Josuke.
“I am not listening to anyone who’s dating Nakamura Naoki!” You replied.
What was worse was the fact that exams were arriving sooner than your love life finally having something interesting going on. Your grades standing at a failing rate was simply not allowed. Naoki and Rei were studying with each other and you did not want to interfere with their little date.
But you could really use a study buddy.
You even told your mother that you would be getting a tutor for your poor grades so there was nowhere out.
There were virtually nobody you could ask.
And so one day when you were in class glancing through your biology textbook, Josuke approached you.
The Josuke sitting right behind you.
The Josuke whose special talent was being an idiot.
The Josuke you liked.
“Biology is so hard to revise,” he mumbled as you looked up to see his face masked with a grin. He looked like a moron.
This was an opportunity in disguise.
You looked out of the class to see Rei winking and cheering you on with Naoki beside her, shaking his head in disapproval. Naoki must have been forced into it.
“We can study it together!” You replied with an innocent smile that you hoped would not expose your crazy heart going absolutely insane over the both of you finally having the opportunity to spend time together.
he seemed surprised. Your heart sank, heart beat gone. He was going to say no wasn't he?
At least you tried your best. It wasn’t like you never tried anything before. You could live with this.
“Sure!” Josuke surprisingly agreed, making you question if he was really the Josuke you know and love. “Just us or do you want me to invite Okuyasu?”
He was really an idiot.
“The choice is yours. But we will be studying at my house if that is alright with you. The library is really crowded these days,” you replied, trying to be as normal as you could possibly master.
Josuke went silent once again, deep in thoughts inside his empty brain. You really wanted to know what kind of things this boy thought of everyday. It seemed like it would be a never ending land of chaos, would you love it? Probably.
“I will not invite Okuyasu then,” he finally replied. “Today? I’ll see you after school.”
He left before you could even say anything.
What in tarnation had just happened.
You didn’t even have time to fully process everything because Rei barged into the classroom like a rabid creature and Naoki followed behind like he was a sick old man.
“Y/n is finally getting a boyfriend,” she grinned.
“I hate you,” you replied. “What just happened?”
“Ask Rei, she got me to ask Josuke to approach you because you apparently need friends,” Naoki replied.
“He couldn’t resist my charms,” Rei chimed in. “He is like a dog.”
Naoki froze in terror from the sentence and you laughed. Naoki being with Rei was the best thing ever.
You would never know the meaning of boring while hanging out with them.
It felt like eternity until the school bell finally rang, allowing you to run like there was a serial killer chasing you. Your final class for the day was different from Josuke’s so you would have to wait for him by the school gate and walk to your home. There Josuke was, standing by the metal gate like the dashing young teenager he was and oh you could not wait for the events to unfold.
The events would just be you and him talking.
He smiled when he saw you and waved. It made you feel like you were floating in heaven.
Maybe you should stop being so crazy.
Okuyasu went with Koichi to study. So you and Josuke were truly alone. Ain’t this fun?
“Your mum wouldn’t mind me around?” Josuke asked.
“She is used to me bringing guys over all the time,” you replied without thinking. Only realising how horrible your words meant after it escaped your mouth. “Wait no I only brought Naoki over and now he is always crashing at my place with Rei and making me sit on the floor of my own room like they are the ones living there!”
“So you only had Naoki and Rei over?” He asked, looking amused. “You got so flustered.”
You hated this.
“Sorry,” you apologised meekly as your doorstep finally greeted your face.
Quickly, you and Josuke entered and made the way to your room. It was filled with books and music, the sight of games were practically non-existent. Josuke was appalled by the different your room was compared to his. The thought of living without games was simply foreign to him, something impossible.
The both of you managed to find a comfortable spot on your room floor and sat down. He looked through his textbook like it was plotting his murder. “I don’t understand physics at all. What is the principal of energy conversion, whatever its called.”
“I think its that energy cannot be lost or destroyed, only converted from one form to another?” You replied, equally confused and began to look at your own textbook. “Oh I am right.”
Josuke was extremely weak when it came to his sciences so he spent most of his time on that. You couldn’t do math so that was your main area of focus.
“What is the difference between alkanes and alkenes again?” He asked.
“Hold on let me check…” You muttered, moving yourself so that you would be beside him. You took a glance at the textbook he was holding, unaware of the gap that would almost cease to exist between your cheeks. He was aware of that however, but remained frozen in his posture while your eyes scanned the words printed on his textbook.
“Oh alkanes have a single bond with carbon while alkenes have a double bond with… carbon as well,” you replied. “Why is chemistry so hard, the spelling of alkane and alkene is so similar!” You whined. “How would anyone tell it apart?”
Math got worse for you when you got to trigonometry and whatever the name was for the topic that needed you to find the volume of shapes. What the hell were your eyes registering into your brain?
“What is the hypotenuse of a triangle?” You asked in distress. Your mind in shambles from studying, too tired for anymore.
“The longest side?” Josuke shrugged. “I don’t know either.”
You glanced at your math notes once more, flipping through like a sane woman gone mad. He was… right?
“Why are you actually correct?” You answered in shock.
He looked just as surprised as you to learn the fact that he wasn’t that stupid. His grades only went from failing grades to barely passing. But an improvement was still an improvement.
Time ticked by as the both of you continued your mindless studying. The only dialogue exchanged were questions relating to subjects and the, sometimes insanely wrong, answers to them. Josuke once thought basic oxides were the same as acidic oxides. It was a funny one. It made a good laugh escape your lips.
The sun soon vanished from the sky, replaced by the moon and its’ dark shine over the Earth.
Your mother arrived home and cooked dinner for Josuke. She saw you bringing a guy that wasn’t Naoki back home and immediately started to do an interrogation. Swore it was for your future as well.
The aroma was sweet, filling every corner of your home. But the stare from your mother felt intense. Josuke could feel it too.
“So you’re the smart tutor y/n decided to bring home to save their grades?” She asked.
Josuke turned to look at you with a funny expression. You had no idea what it meant but he nodded his head with a smile before returning to face your mum. “Yup, top of our class.”
Oh he definitely was.
“What does your parents do for a living?”
“My dad is uh… overseas with my nephew, my mum is working at a bank,” Josuke asked. He seemed hesitant about his father but answered rather smoothly.
Dinner went by without anything weird coming from nowhere. The chicken your mother made was as amazing as usual and the curry she made tasted just as good, you loved the spice burning your tongue senseless. After all three of you finished your meal, your mother decided that it would be a good idea to have you walk Josuke home.
“So… what was that about me being smart?” Josuke asked, grinning in a smug manner.
“Nothing,” you tried to shrug it off.
“We both know the top of our class isn’t me. I am nowhere close,” Josuke explained. “So?”
You sighed, it wasn’t like any lie would make sense anyway.
“Told my mum that I would ask a smart one for help but I asked you instead,” you explained.
“Why though? Naoki only told me to talk to you…” his voice became softer, his mind turned heavier.
It could only mean one thing…
“Wait… do you like me?” He asked. Your mind stopped producing thoughts. Your heart kept making heart beats.
He looked at your reaction and that gave him all of the answers you needed. “So you do…”
“So?” You replied, trying to sound nonchalant as you could.
Josuke looked like a happy little idiot. “And I thought I was the only person who would like someone who barely talked to me. I thought you didn’t like me because you barely talked to me, only I started the conversations so I just stopped, until Naoki told me to approach you.”
Oh…
He mistook your shyness for a sign.
“I was just shy…” you explained. “But yeah I do like you…”
Josuke’s smile appeared brighter than the street lamps at that very moment when you admitted your feelings and you felt him suddenly holding your hand. “So can I be your boyfriend now?” He asked.
“After our exams,” you shot back.
For the rest of the walk, he would never stop complaining about how he has to wait.
The exams came and went. The results? Both you and Josuke had improved quite an amount, even Naoki was surprised.
What reward did you get for it?
Higashikata Josuke.