Chapter Text
[Parking lot, Monday, January 24th, 1:47 PM]
Shoko (lights a cigarette, takes a long drag, exhales): "I've got three qualifying exams to sit before the end of the year."
Satoru: "What did you expect, going into medicine? If a lung cancer doesn't finish you off, the eleven years of school ahead of you will get there first."
Shoko (leans back against the wall behind them): "Your family's rich. You could bribe the board for me."
Satoru (copies her): "And what exactly would I get out of it?"
Shoko: "My eternal gratitude?" (Satoru shrugs) "You'll say a few words at my funeral, at least?"
Satoru: "I've got an opening ready — 'her beauty mark was fake, folks, go home…'"
Shoko: "Why do you even still bother with physics and astronomy, anyway? You could just buy yourself a trip to space if you wanted."
Satoru: "Money doesn't solve all our problems, Shoko."
Shoko (drags on her cigarette): "Of course it does."
Satoru: "Okay, of course it does." (A biker pulls in not far in front of them, dressed head to toe in black. He takes off his helmet, letting his long ebony strands breathe. Satoru watches him peel off his gloves, watches the arm covered entirely in tattoos and the piercings scattered across a face with fairly attractive angles. The biker ties his hair into a quick bun, leaving a single strand loose in front. Satoru snickers.) "Would you look at those bangs."
Shoko: "Someone you know?" (Satoru shakes his head, eyes still locked on the biker, who secures his bike before heading their way.)
Bangs: "Are you allowed to smoke here?"
Shoko (wary): "You look pretty young to be faculty."
Bangs (shakes his head, amused): "Well, I'm not. I was just asking, out of curiosity. I need a smoke break myself sometimes, but the rules are super strict around here, so sometimes I have to leave campus entirely and it's a real pain."
Shoko (shrugs; her cigarette is nearly done): "Pretty sure it's banned here too." (about to stub the butt out on the ground) "But I've never been caught, so—" (Bangs produces a metal pocket ashtray) "Thanks." (drops the butt in) "Nice cruiser."
Bangs (gives her a smile): "Harley Davidson. Customized it myself. You like it?"
Satoru (adjusts his glasses, to himself): "Holy shit— he's got a dimple—" (impatient, to Shoko, but loud enough for Bangs to hear too) "Who gives their bike a full name?"
Bangs (turns his gaze on Satoru for the first time, eyes narrowed, as if he'd only just noticed him): "It's the brand." (with a fake-polite smile and a condescending tone) "Harley Davidson."
Shoko: "Just for the record, I don't know him." (Bangs only offers a more genuine smile. Once he's gone, Shoko elbows Satoru in the stomach.) "You suck."
Satoru: "Yeah, well, we're not all moped enthusiasts." (grumbling) "At least I wasn't the one blowing him in broad daylight."
Shoko: "Why are you being so obnoxious all of a sudden?"
Satoru (visibly irritated): "Why are you being so straight all of a sudden?" (kicks a pebble) "I don't like his showoff face. Or his little smirks. I don't like him."
Shoko (rolls her eyes): "Here we go, you're doing your Satoru thing."
Satoru (spinning to face her, grimacing): "And what's that supposed to mean, exactly?"
Shoko: "It's an obsession with you. You can't stand anyone cooler than you because of that oversized ego of yours, so you make their life so miserable they end up hating you."
Satoru (indignant): "Hold on— he is not cooler than me."
Shoko: "Of course that's the only part you took away." (heads for the parking lot exit)
Satoru: "Hey— where are you going? Shoko— Shoko! Okay, she's actually leaving…" (long pause) "And then she has the nerve to call me the rude one."