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The ticking of a clock mounted on the classroom wall was driving Ibuki insane.
The only good thing about it was that it had some semblance of a beat- she could easily imagine herself singing some songs to it. Or, she could imagine herself doing the thing she wished she could be doing instead of being stuck in class like this.
(Why do I have to stay here? My talent has nothing to do with math. )
The teacher- someone that had been brought in while the class’s regular had called in sick- had the most monotone voice in all of existance. Even if he was talking about going on the tallest rollercoaster in the world while fighting world-destroying aliens, he would somehow find a way to make it boring, in Ibuki’s mind.
Speaking of Ibuki’s mind...
It was drifting to other places now. The ever exciting topic of algebra and the slow ticking of a clock could do nothing to stop her as she thought about something, anything that was better than this.
Flashes of red hair and metal piercings filled her mind. (Why do I always seem to come back to this?)
That dumb boy she’d seen in passing after class 78’s orientation- the baseball star. The one her sporty classmates reported as being “unappreciative of what he has” and “a lazy show off”.
Why does her mind have to be filled with him constantly? Whenever she has nothing left to think about; he’s always there. Ibuki’s pretty sure he doesn’t think about her the way she does about him- after all, one of the things he was also reported to be was a “player”. So the logical thing to do was to forget about him.
But... still.
Ibuki didn’t want to think about him... but she also didn’t want to forget about him completely.
Maybe she should just... keep him in the background. As a backup, in case she fails to think about her guitar or the ticking of a clock or anything else during another horribly boring class.
Just in case.
———
Someone bumps into Ibuki as she’s (finally) exiting her math class. She drops her books- they scatter all over the floor.
The person that bumped into her immediately crouches down- and Ibuki sees the red hair and piercings.
(Perfect timing, isn’t it?)
”Sorry ‘bout that!” The boy says (his name is Leon, right? That’s what Akane and Peko said.) as he hands the books back to her. “I was rushing to get out of here.”
”...” Ibuki was at a loss for words. (Why? You’ve never been at a loss for words before.) “That’s... okay! Ibuki hasn’t dropped her books before, so this was a learning experience!” (Oh god, why did you make yourself sound like that? You never sound this.... stupid!)
”Ah, okay!” Leon grins. He laughs a little, then heads off in whatever direction he’d been going- Ibuki was too absorbed in her thoughts to care.
(Why does his laugh have to be cute?)
Ibuki didn’t think she’d be able to keep him in the back of her mind.
———
(Somewhere across the building, a certain baseball star couldn’t keep her out of his mind, either.)