Chapter Text
Ryoshu was earnestly interested in asking for Demian's help, she really really was, but there was no way she wanted to push past the crowds of:
"Morning Demian, did you finish last night's readings? I'm really struggling with it and I could really use the help..."
"Hey Demian, are you interested in joining a club? You see me and my friends recently started a needlework club and we think you'd enjoy it..."
"Oh Demian, do you have any plans after school? Y-You see they opened a new sweets shop by my house and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me..."
And whatever else swarmed him first thing in the morning.
This sort of thing happened every day with Ryoshu receiving a break from it when Demian decided to sit somewhere far away where the noise could fade into the background. On her first day all the teacher's stressed to her the importance of the seating chart and how other kids would get real upset if you broke it; but such rules didn't seem to apply to Demian, as occasionally he would start off the day at the front of class and slowly transition to an unattended seat by the window later in the day.
Ironically the seat he was in now was his actual one, which meant that everybody swarmed her desk too by proxy.
What made it worse was that Demian never made an attempt to silence any of their noisy classmates, today he was reading a book with no care in the world as they continuously talked at him with no response. It never deterred their classmates, instead they adapted by taking the slightest movements of his head or even his breathing as conformation for whatever they wanted to hear.
When it became too noisy to focus on anything else Ryoshu couldn't help but focus on this behavior and conclude that she wanted absolutely no part of it, not like the people who engaged in such behavior would want her around anyway. They were lost in their own worlds and she was lost in hers.
This memo was surely understood by everybody at this point. Most people understood that by now.
There was no doubt that her acquaintance Demian was one of the people more conscious of this fact, yet he dragged Ryoshu out of her own thoughts when he suddenly mentioned to the group, "You know everyone, despite being a new student too Yoshiside never seems to be invited to activities; so why don't you all take up your offers to her as well? I'm sure everyone could learn a thing or two from doing so."
Turning around everyone looked just as surprised as she was as the group-and everyone else in the classroom-went dead silent.
"Well-" The girl who had talked about the whatever shop was the only one of them to speak up, "I-I'm asking you on a date and I want it to be with you specifically Demian! Besides, I don't think that's something two girls can do together-"
"Why not? Why can't two girls go on a date? What would make them different from a hypothetical you and me?"
None of them had an answer, instead they all separated into new groups as the noise levels slowly returned to normal. Once she had processed everything that had happened Ryoshu looked at him like he was insane, "Did you D.T.O.P.? Could you have A.D.T.?”
He was resting his head in his hands when a small laugh escaped his mouth, "I knew somebody like you would see how obvious that was; and yes, I could have, but being subjected to behavior like that just comes with the territory of being an ‘influential' person I suppose. Rest assured though, it does have its benefits so I can and actively choose to tolerate it.”
”M.O.” She sighed as a glance at the wall clock revealed they only had three minutes until class started, “H.C.Y.H. me with math?”
”Well I don’t have the time to tutor you like Sinclair does, but I could at least start you on the right path. Today I need you to not skip class, instead you should try to pay close attention to what the teacher is doing. From there you write down notes about which process and steps are confusing-maybe even copy down the problems and their answers while you’re at it-so that when you see Sinclair you can show him exactly what it is you’re struggling with.”
Rarely did Ryoshu ever get embarrassed about anything, but when she did it hit her hard. Maybe it’s because this all took her back to a day where Araya asked for help with her homework and she didn’t know how do the problems her daughter found easy, but admitting she only understood the basics addition and subtraction was… “I’ll try it. T.Y.”
"I'm glad I could at least be of some assistance, advice is the area I tend to excel in." During the conversation Demian wore that same relaxed expression he always seemed to have. "But just know that if you need help with anything else, don't ever be afraid to ask."
Before she could even ask what he meant by anything else, the voice of their teacher stopped her right in her tracks, "Alright everybody quiet down, it's time for this weeks chapter quiz! Come on, right to it, back to your seats everyone!"
She was already walking around and placing the test on people's desks, meaning there was nothing that could be done but grab a pencil and stew on what Demian meant by that. Was he able to tell she was hiding something? Even if he could, what help could he possibly offer her?
Such thoughts made it harder to do the quiz since she skimmed all of those chapters while walking to school: Answering what the author meant by the making the curtains blue was harder when she could feel the gaze of Demian's blue eyes was cut into her as Ryoshu rambled in the answer boxes. She didn't know for sure if he was doing that, but there was no way to check as turning around would definitely void the entire test.
All that meant is that she had to wait until class was over, not a big deal.
Yet the minutes felt like hours despite her senses constantly assuring her that time was flowing as normally as it always did, yet her brain still ruminated on the subject. Despite having no real reason to think it was, Demian's words seemed important.
Once that bell finally went off Ryoshu wasted no time in asking, "What's A.E. about?"
"Anything else just means anything else, but if you really want clarification I don't mind giving it to you." As if he was telling her a big secret, Demian leaned forward and lowered his voice to continue the conversation, "I'm sure you're aware by now, but me and Sinclair are friends, and as friends it's only natural that I want to support him in becoming the best version of himself. I tend to help guide him through a problem or give him advice, nothing too serious, but lately I've noticed a slight change in him since you showed up."
Worried this was going to turn into another Kromer situation Ryoshu couldn't help but fight back a grimace, "You're not M.A.M. right?"
"Of course not, I mean all of this in a good way: You've been inspiring positive change. Now I'm sure if you pay close attention to him you'll see it eventually, but Sinclair has been growing more confident in himself. Perhaps it's all just coincidence, but I feel that if we're both helping out and spending time with Sinclair we might as well become friends too; and if you become my friend, I would be more than happy to provide my assistance to you as well. How does that sound?"
Seriously? What a roundabout way to ask such a thing...
Something was definitely off about Demian. While he seemed to be nice she just couldn't understand why he was doing this, why he would want to get to know her over anybody else in this room. Was she seriously that important? Surely she and Kromer weren't Sinclair's only friends, right?
Yet again, Sinclair seemed to place a good deal of faith in him; besides, what right did Ryoshu have to call somebody else strange and write them off entirely? Outside of that there was no reason not to at least try it out. Trusting her gut on this one she reciprocated his offer, "F.B.M."
Looking satisfied with himself Demian leaned back and relaxed in his chair, "So, do you want to do anything before class starts? If you wish to return to your own business I wouldn't mind it, but if there is anything you want from me Yoshishide don't hesitate to ask."
"F.O., call me Ryoshu." She started, "S., W.A.Y.T. on S.A.N.G.R.I.A.? I see you M.M.U.S.E. and want to gather your U.M.A. of it."
"N.A.P., L.G.S."
The two of them carried on for the rest of break period in a surprisingly casual conversation. Demian explained how he was able to decipher her S.A.N.G.R.I.A. while Ryoshu explained all the intricacies of shortening to him, "Y.S., it's all about O.E.W.S. so in a S.C. like this one where you have the N.A.V. it is more O.T.U.F.; unfortunately, there are C.W.H.I. who are S.T.U.B. so I must S.T.C.L."
Nodding along he followed up with a question, "Do you I.M.W.P. with it?"
"Intentions or coincidences, art A.R.T."
"W.S."
The conversation went well until the inevitable happened, he eventually excused himself so he could try take and take a seat by the window. When he asked if it was alright Ryoshu couldn't help but respond with a question of her own: "Why do you risk G.I.T. for that spot?"
She could see Demian's eyes widen a bit when she said that, yet his composure remained the same nonetheless, "You see Ryoshu, it's a great view to go bird watching. Since all us noisy people are in class the birds become far more active, especially the fledglings. With Fall almost upon us you can see some still relying on their parents for food, but you can also see others beginning to scavenge. I even saw one brave fledgling already flying solo not too long ago, isn't it remarkable? So much anticipation wells up inside me as I watch them... will they sit helplessly as they get eaten by a predator or will they find the drive to survive and take flight? So many possibilities, even if they are predictable."
He seemed really passionate about the subject, but she really couldn't keep up the same energy he had right before class was about to start, "Eh, birds aren't M.T."
"Apologies if I went a little overboard. There was no need to go into that much detail." Demian spoke as if he was correcting himself before passing judgement on to her as well, "I can't dwell on this, but I you should reconsider your perspective on birds, Ryoshu. I'm sure you can glean some sort of insight from them. I certainly have."
Now he was being cryptic, just like Sinclair said he would. At this point all she could do was trust the process as she prepared for the next class, the class after that, and the dreaded math class that followed.
The lecture still made as much sense to Ryoshu as it did on her first day of school as she copied down bit by bit what the teacher was doing with no ability to input anything of her own perspective into the process.
As a dizzying headache started to overcome her, she couldn't help but wonder what Kromer was getting up to. Because no matter what it was, surely it would be more enjoyable than having to listen to this drivel.