Chapter Text
Sanemi shouldn’t have even left the house that morning. The second he tried to tie his shoe and his laces broke he should’ve taken the sign from God and crawled right back into bed. But no, he had to be a responsible fucking adult and haul himself down to the school at the asscrack of dawn. He envied Genya, who at least didn’t have to get to class until after the sun was up.
Everything that morning pissed Sanemi off. His right shoe was barely hanging on his foot because he had no fucking laces, his windbreaker had a tiny hole in the armpit that let all the cold in, and he’d missed a spot shaving his face, which was damn well going to get on his nerves all goddamn day. Not even seeing a mother cat leading its kittens over the crosswalk had been able to cure his awful mood, though that shit was fucking adorable.
At least the school was mostly empty when he got there. Sanemi didn’t feel like making small talk with any of his esteemed (batshit) colleagues first thing in the morning, save for the principal, Ubuyashiki. That man was the only one whose voice didn’t give Sanemi a pounding headache before he’d had his coffee.
On the other hand, his alone time was spent almost exclusively grading schoolwork. And considering the class average for the latest test, that provided its own share of pain. For fuck’s sake, he spent two whole class periods just reviewing for the test, and this was the result. Though he’d have to revisit his own study plans to check for flaws, he suspected his students were getting complacent in the middle of the term, leading to a slew of stupid mistakes. There were, however, a few standouts, for one reason or another.
Tsuyuri had a near perfect score due to her ability to retain information like a goddamn computer, and Kamado did fairly well, despite a bad habit of showing incomplete work. He had a head for numbers, but almost nothing in the way of common sense, apparently. Genya, Sanemi noted with pride, was only a few points behind, a marked improvement from his last test. Hashibira’s score was abysmal as usual, but at least he’d been showing up to class more lately. Sanemi guessed that with the cooling weather it was probably getting harder for a kid who refused to wear shoes or a complete shirt to run around outside all the time.
There was one constant throughout every test or homework assignment he graded. There was one miserable bastard that was always either teetering on the brink of a failing grade, or falling face first into a single-digit score. And maybe Sanemi wasn’t the best teacher out there, but he wasn’t so shitty as to just stand back and let some poor sap bomb intermediate-level algebra without any help. No, Sanemi would give the kid remedial lessons, cram math into that blond head until his brain stem gave out. The thought of such a challenge brought a grin to his face. Luckily, it was only a half hour before classes began, and Sanemi knew exactly where to find the little punk.
He stalked across the high school campus, all the way to the front gates. In filtered dozens of students, more or less meeting the school dress code, but Sanemi wasn’t interested in them at the moment. He was focused on the high schooler standing at the gates, holding a clipboard and wearing an oversized yellow sweater.
“Agatsuma!”
Sanemi announced his presence by calling (roaring) out his student’s name. He came (stalked) closer, a friendly (maniacal) smile on his face. Agatsuma took one look and bolted.
The clipboard went flying, the papers fluttering through the air like doves or some shit. The crowd parted, making way for an object of high velocity. Make that two objects, actually. Without even thinking about it, Sanemi was in hot pursuit. Physical exercise is good for the brain, he reasoned. He might as well get Agatsuma a workout before laying the news about the remedial lessons on him. That, and he was fucking pissed the brat had the balls to run away from his responsibilities.
They ran through the streets of the sleepy town, passing scores of astounded students. They were keeping a good pace, surprisingly. A scrawny kid like Agatsuma had no business being this fast, he thought to himself.
“Get back here!” Thankfully, he managed to censor out the other expletives on his mind.
In response, Agatsuma let out an extended wail that seemed to linger on the wind in his wake. It was impressive, and extremely annoying. Simultaneously, they both picked up the pace.
Suddenly, Agatsuma made a sharp turn, cutting across the road. He was betting that Sanemi was clumsier as well as older, giving him the advantage. He’d made the wrong call, obviously. Sanemi turned on this heel to follow. However, despite all his athletic ability, the math teacher had made a fatal miscalculation. The factor he’d failed to account for? His untied shoe.
Sanemi put his foot down, only for it to slide completely free of its cheap leather confines. Just like that, he was pitching forward, completely untethered from the ground. There was absolutely no way to right himself. Dimly, he heard a loud noise blaring in his left ear. In a detached sort of way, the entire situation irritated him.
Considering the kind of day he’d been having, he wasn’t even that surprised when the car hit him.