A Troublesome Life

Three - Daikiya

(Daiki + Takiya = Daikiya :))

  "To help with this project, top scorers from the last two years will help you for the next two weeks." The teacher turned towards the older few students, motioning out to her own students.

  "You may go pick two students to partner up with to help out."

  Daiki made eye contact with the tall, blank faced male. Looking down at his lap, his mind and heart raced a mile a minute as footsteps were heard around the room.

  A girl clung to Takiyas arm while asking to be one of his two. He just silently nodded, making his way up as the girl followed like a lost puppy.

  "Ew, you don't want to choose him, he-"

  Ignoring her completely, the tall male sat in front of Daiki, giving the girl no choice but to let out a huff and take a seat.

  The two males eyes finally met, causing Daiki to nervously look away. "S-so, where do we start?"

  Takiya set down a folder, giving two copy's to both youngers. "This was my project from two years ago. You pick a topic to research and write a short story book with it."

  "This... Seems like a lot of work." The girl looked at the paper in disgust. Looking around, she had noticed the teacher had stepped out. Leaning back in her chair, her arms folded across her chest as she chuckled. "Y'all can handle it, right?"

  Takiya looked at her with a blank stare, a single brow slightly lifting. "This is a solo project, not a group one. I'm here to keep you on the right track, not do the work for you."

  She rolled her eyes. "Daiki, you'll handle mine, yeah?"

  "No, he won't. I'll make sure of that."

  Sitting there without a single word to say, Daiki felt a nervous pit in his stomach.

  Why is this man standing up for him again?

  What did he want?

  "And why not? It doesn't concern you, does it?" She snapped. Without another word, his head turned towards the younger male.

  "Don't do any of her work. I'll be telling your teacher of her uncooperativeness later after class. Go ahead and take my copy home and use it as much as necessary. Miss ahn, I'll give you the rest of class, then I'll be taking my copy back."

  She scoffed. "That isn't fair! I'm going to tell-"

  "The teacher? Go ahead. She knows I wouldn't do something like this without a valid reason." He informed, opening the first page. "The more it looks like a professional book, the better. You can give me your final copy and I'll polish it off like mine with a hard cover."

  "Isn't it part of our job to do that?" Daiki softly questioned, giving a small frown.

  Takiya nodded. "Yes, but I don't mind helping. You already have so much to do, I remember feeling so cluttered this time two years ago."

   "Thank you.. for standing up for me... As well as the help for the project." Daiki bowed to the older after the class had emptied.

  He swung his bag over his shoulder and nodded. "Don't worry about it. Let me see your phone, I'll put my number in in case you have any questions about the project."

  Thanking him once again, he dug out the brand new phone so he wasn't embarrassed by his old, beat up one. After he typed for a moment, he handed the device back. "See ya around, Daiki."

"You too, Takiya." The boy spoke, feeling as though he was zoning out or day dreaming. He watched the older disappear into the hall, snapping himself out of it to head for the cafeteria.

Before he could even sit next to the girl, she surprised him with a sudden explosion of words.

".... And I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but when I'm talking to her or texting I feel all gittery and I don't know-"

"Maemi." He stopped her, setting his school bag on the ground. "So, you think you like her?"

She let out a huff. "I don't know. If my mother heard me right now she'd literally kill me."

"It doesn't matter what she wants, ya know? My father would probably also kill me. I think my mother already knows." He shrugged, taking a bite of his food. "You don't have food?"

She shook her head. "N-no, I ate a large breakfast and my mom is making a fancy dinner tonight."

---