Chapter Text
Ever since he transferred, Akechi had little success befriending any of his classmates. He thought maybe he could get a fresh start with someone new, from a different class. Ideally, this person would be pleasant and approachable, but still in need of new friends for one reason or another.
There was one student who fit this description exactly: Hii Suzumiya, a transfer student in Toritsuka's class. The only problem was her contagious misfortune. It came from her guardian spirit slacking off, although he was doing better after apparently meeting another spirit. Now Hii seemed to go through cycles of average luck that would last for two weeks at most, then longer periods of terrible luck. Toritsuka said her guardian spirit needed his to stay on track, therefore they had to be together, but Kusuo argued that Satou was a better match for her, since he neutralized her bad luck when he was around.
Today was as good a day as any. She wasn't having as much misfortune as usual, although that wasn't saying much. Satou was keeping his distance today, most likely trying not to appear too eager. At the moment, Hii was scanning the room and the floor. Akechi walked up to her.
"Are you looking for something? Not to brag, but I'm good at finding stuff. It comes easily to me, since I was very young. I can't remember how young exactly-"
"I lost the watercolour paints I was borrowing for art class. I had almost finished my painting, but someone tripped and spilled a smoothie on it, so I had to start over. I needed more time, so the teacher let me borrow it as long as I brought it back."
"Where did you last see it?"
"When I put it in my backpack. I must have forgotten to zip it up all the way."
"It's in the potted plant at the bottom of the north staircase."
"What? How did you know that?"
"You were jumping down the stairs in a hurry. If it landed on something hard, you would have heard it, so it must have landed on something soft. The potted plant is the only soft thing at the bottom of that staircase."
"Let's go see if you're right!"
They started walking.
"That plant is some type of fern, but I'm not sure what kind exactly. Did you know that ferns predate flowering plants by 250 million years? When flowers first evolved, they had no nectar, instead insects would be attracted to the pollen itself. Did you know that pollen is actually more like its own generation of plant than plant sperm? The pollen makes actual sperm once it reaches a flower, then fertilization occurs."
"Look! You were right, it is here! Thank you! What's your name?"
"I'm Akechi Touma, although my family name was Asumi before my parents got divorced. That was the reason I transferred to P.K. academy. Many people think that a family can stay together for the sake of a child, but that's rarely best for anyone. Ever since my mom said-"
"I'm Hii Suzumiya. I just moved here recently. I'm hoping I can make more friends, even though I'm so clumsy I ruin everything."
"I've had a hard time making friends since transferring here. I only really know two people in my class, although one of them is a bit more of a friend of a friend situation, as they say. I also know Toritsuka from your class. Although it is only the same friend of a friend situation. If I started counting acquaintances, then I would have- How would one define an acquaintance anyway?"
"Maybe we could be friends!"
Akechi nodded. That was easier than expected. Were they friends now? It had taken Kusuo much longer to declare his friendship in elementary, but he had a much different personality. What did one do with a new friend at this age? Was that bulletin board slanting forward a bit? Yes, it was loose and ready to fall on Hii.
"That bulletin board is going to fall in approximately 80 seconds, you should move out of the way."
She looked up at it and moved away from it. Less than a minute later, the bulletin board fell.
"Wow! How did I miss that it was about to fall? I should have paid better attention."
She slipped on a piece of paper and fell into Akechi.
"I'm so sorry! If you don't want to be friends after all, I understand."
"I don't think that's a reason not to be friends at all! Of course, it would be a different situation if you were intentionally smacking into me, especially more than once, but that didn't happen."