Chapter Text
Teruki Hanazawa hung his bag over his shoulder with two fingers, a practiced look of effortlessness, and slid his homeroom door open. A few girls squealed upon his arrival.
“Oh my god! It’s Teru!”
“What product does he use for his hair? It’s amazing!”
“His skin is so perfect!”
“Those dimples? I’m going to throw up. He’s so cute!”
A perfect blend of imported shampoos, conditioners, and leave-ins, mixed with a clean makeup tutorial and superior genetics was the bare minimum one needed to look as handsome as Teruki. Anyone could have the ingredients, but what really mattered was following the recipe, and Teruki had mastered his presentation down to an artform.
“Yo.” He waved and offered a dazzling smile, sneaking his teeth behind his lips in the perfect ratio for maximum attractiveness.
“And look who’s coming this way!”
Glancing over his shoulder, angled deliberately to emphasize his jawline, he reveled in their sighs of appreciation, and oh yeah, sure enough his girlfriend was heading right over.
Asagiri Minori, set with enough of daddy’s money to last twenty lifetimes, could let cash spill out her bag daily and never see the end of his bank account. If you couldn’t tell by looking at her with her crisp uniform, manicure, makeup, hair, and posture, her attitude was a dead giveaway. She had no qualms about making fun of “commoners” and things like secondhand stores, friends unable to go out to save money, and summer jobs.
Her personality was viscous, oozing tar left to spread its reach further and further. She was snobbish and stuck up and rude and judgmental, but people still groveled at her feet. Ugly yet people still clung to her.
The only thing Teruki ever envied was her not needing to hide it.
It wasn’t like Teruki wasn’t well off (although living alone, even with his parents’ assistance, sometimes caused a financial strain that would sacrifice a conditioner here and there), he was, but there was a unique sort of tolerance people acquired for you when you are so disgustingly rich. As though they believed proximity to wealth was just as good as having it.
“Teru!” she called out in a saccharine voice, sweet enough to rot his teeth, wrapping her arms around his neck. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. Teruki resisted the urge to rid his skin of her lip gloss, gathering her things to carry into the classroom instead.
“Awww, they’re so adorable!”
“Ah! Teru’s so sweet!”
“Minori’s so lucky.”
“I wanna be in love too,” one of the girls whined.
He wanted to laugh.
As if “True Love” was real. It was created by corporations to thin out the wallets of hopeless romantics who had never been in a Real Relationship. They say to be loved is to be known, but the romance pandered through movies and thousands of awful love songs merely spoke of a fantasy. If people let others know the real them, it is as good as accepting death. That type of love just didn’t exist.
He could see it in the way the romance-crazy girls got stars in their eyes whenever they were together. They were in love with the idea of love.
Even when he was younger, Teruki knew in order to be loved, you had to sacrifice or gain. Hide away parts of who you were to become more palatable to others or amass so much desirability that people can ignore the rest. Unconditional love, care and consideration even in your darkest moments—it wasn’t realistic. You weren’t able to make it further in life if you didn’t use the tools around you.
Minori’s usefulness…it was probably a sign things were bound to expire if he was having trouble recalling what it was.
He mulled the thought over as they took their seats. Minori sat diagonally in front of him. The perfect position to keep their hands obnoxiously interlocked, a sight the Minori’s posse cooed at.
But not everyone was afflicted with lovesickness.
“Can I get by?” One of their classmates Hanzou carried his diorama for his class project for History precariously on top of notebooks. Teruki had finished that project weeks ago. Did Hanzou have missing fingers? In his mind, where he had no need to stay humble, he could judge their works and praise his own comparative genius.
“Get lost,” Minori snapped. Gone was her singsong from earlier.
“My desk is literally behind you guys.”
She placed her hand on her head as she peered around the room.
Hanzou squinted at her. “What are you doing?”
Teruki suppressed an eyeroll. Minori grinned, sharp.
“Looking for who asked.”
As with everything she did, Minori put on a show for any ounce of attention she could get. She sat back in her chair, smirk falling flat. Her friends’ high-pitched giggles grated Teruki’s ears. Teru checked the clock. Four minutes, new record.
With several students watching now, it was her turn to put on his act.
He glanced up at the boy going increasingly uncomfortable in front of them. “Sorry Hanzou. Since we’re just getting back off the weekend, Minori’s been feeling a bit touch starved. Gotta keep the missus happy, you get it, right?” Teruki offered a smile wide enough to be friendly but not so bright as to overshadow his apologetic-ness
“Whatever. I’ll just go around.”
“Great!”
Minori went back to talking with her friends, occasionally brushing her thumb across his knuckles in a way he assumed should have made butterflies stir in his stomach and not make his insides churn with the thought of having to spend all of their free time together. He couldn’t use the excuse of studying for midterms anymore, but maybe he could—
Maneuvering around Teruki, Hanzou lifted his things to clear his view and avoid tripping over different belongings students left strewn on the floor and hanging off their chairs. What he didn’t calculate was Teruki’s foot. Without remorse, he shifted it back under his desk before Hanzou could take notice and watched as his crude arts and crafts crashed under his weight.
Of course, Teruki was the first to respond.
Jumping out of his chair, he felt immediate relief as he offered his newly freed hand to help his classmate to his feet. “Here, up you go! Hanzou, are you okay? Aw man, that totally sucks about your project…”
Hanzou stared at the rubble on the ground in silence, barely even acknowledging Teruki. Uh oh. What good was a good deed if you didn’t make someone else a little more indebted to you? This wouldn’t do.
If he was going to get what he needed, Teruki had to steer the conversation exactly how he wanted. He clapped a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Say, what if I help you restart during lunch? I even bet if we talked to Mr. Rekishi, he'd give you an extension.”
The boy met his gaze. In an instant, he caved into himself, letting out a fluttering sigh of relief.
“Thanks Teruki.”
After throwing away his completely wrecked project and trudging to his seat, their homeroom teacher finally entered the classroom.
“Everyone settle down, I have an announcement.”
Comfortably sitting with his spontaneously formed lunch plans, Teruki feigned innocence as he pointedly ignored Minori’s withering glare she sent his way before they both turned their attention to the front.
“Everyone, please welcome your new classmate—” Teru sat a little straighter. Fresh meat. Perhaps a cute new girl he could woo and dump Minori for. “--Shigeo Kageyama.”
Or not.
“H–hello everyone, my name is Shigeo Kageyama.” He bowed.
Teru went into a hacking fit upon seeing the kid.
His uniform was ill-fitting, his face a blank, expressionless slate, his hair—his hair! He almost felt pity for the boy and outrage on his behalf for everyone who didn’t have his best interests at heart when failing to mention choppy bowl cuts had been out of season since they were invented.
“Hanazawa?” his teacher called, “is everything alright?”
Teruki swallowed the last of his coughs, and in a forceful plight, spread a wide smile onto his face. “Everything’s just fine.”
He glanced over at Minori. When most everyone was your yes-men, being ruthless got boring quick. Everyone gets so quick to appease you that their spinelessness provides no support for quick and easy good old-fashioned entertainment. Her eyes glinted like a starved shark, and Kageyama was fresh meat.
-*-*-*-*-*-
“Teruki, you asshole! You totally did that on purpose!” Minori shouted at him once they were alone in the classroom.
He pursed his lips, scratching behind his ear lobe. “Did what exactly?”
He didn’t particularly care what happened to Kageyama either way, but he knew the type of person Minori was, and he was exactly her type of target. Just by looking at him, Teruki knew it would be too easy. What made him realize he wasn’t as sneaky as he thought was that she didn’t chase after Kageyama, opting to argue with him instead.
Teruki might have messed up.
“Oh please ,” she spat. “Don’t play dumb with me. I never once fell for your nice guy act, so don’t try playing it up now.” Her tone was vitriolic at best. Teruki was almost certain if she kissed his cheek again, there would be an acid burn in its wake.
Ugh. It was annoying how high maintenance Minori was becoming, but at least right now this seemed a little entertaining.
“Act?” He smirked. It was a carefully constructed mask, crafted to perfect fitting.
“Yes! You expect me to believe you wanted to help Hanzou out of the goodness of your heart?”
Teruki lifted a brow. “What would make you think otherwise?”
“It just so happens every time I want to hang out after school, you’re too busy. You don’t want to go out on dates. You don’t have weekends free. You don’t even know a single relevant personal detail about me, do you? You just offered up lunch because that’s the only time it’s just us.”
Teru took her hands into his. For a second, Minori looked calm, a wash of confusion smoothing out her features. “Minori…how long have you been feeling this way? Please, I want to work on this. On us .”
She thrashed her hands away, using one to point accusingly instead. “You’re not as perfect as you make yourself out to be, Teruki” She laughed. “I know because then you wouldn’t be going out with me.”
Teruki opened his mouth to retort, but Minori didn’t give him the chance.
She invaded his space until they were nearly nose to nose. “But make me out to be some desperate loser, and there will be hell to pay, Hanazawa Teruki.”
Once she left, Teru waited a few moments before exiting as well, on his face he plastered a picturesque, carefree smile plastered over his irritation.
“Oh my gosh, Teruki, are you alright?”
“Yeah, we, like, heard yelling. Minori’s a total—”
Teruki lifted his hands placatingly at two of his classmates, Nana…and Hikari? Hikaru, was it? “Woah, woah, let’s stop there.”
“Sorry…”
“No, not at all! I only mean to apologize myself.” He scratched the back of his neck, letting his smile turn sheepish. The duo leaned forward with pinched brows, a frown forming. Perfect. “I hadn’t meant to get so loud. I’m sorry you guys had to hear all that, but no need for concern!”
“Nah, you’re good, man. We were just checking. Sorry for the trouble in paradise.”
“Teruki! You should come sit with us for lunch!
“My heart feels so warm. Thank you …” Ah. Better not to risk getting the wrong names. “But unfortunately I must decline. I agreed to help Hanzou with his project that got destroyed this morning.”
Hopefully this reminder would be enough for them to forget his and Minori’s argument and focus on what a good person he was. The best.
He shot them with his trademark charismatic smile. The same one that had given him an extension on deadlines at least three times. “Bye bye!” he waved.
“Wait, wasn’t Hanzou being a total jerk in the morning?”
“Yep.”
“And he still offered to help?”
“That’s Teruki for you!”