"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"
Liam crushed the empty soda can he was holding and hurled it into a faraway trash droid. He barely registered the fact it fell in before turning to glare at Nanami, who was doubled over, laughing.
"Can you... please be quiet?"
Nanami wiped imaginary tears from his eyes before facing Liam with a grin. "Oh come now, PaxWiki, you're our Class Guru now. You don't have to take it personally; it was unanimously decided, so don't take your anger out on me."
Liam's gaze was cold. "I'm surprised you can use a word like 'unanimously'."
Lee, who was standing nearby, put a hand on Liam's shoulder. "Okay, Liam, that's enough."
"Yeah PaxWiki—"
"Shut up, Nanami." Lee sighed. "You're the one I'm protecting."
Liam turned his eyes to Lee. "Excuse me, but weren't you part of the 'unanimous vote' this extroverted, loudmouthed, annoying, talking power bank mentioned?"
"...H-huh?" Nanami blinked.
Lee looked away, scratching his cheek. "...You're good at homework. You can teach the class."
"To hell with that!" Liam yelled. Lee barely flinched, since Liam sounded like he had just raised his voice a little.
"Who said I wanted to stand in front of an entire classroom?! Who thinks I want to solve questions beforehand and hand them out?! Do I look like a teacher?!"
Nanami reached out, a slightly confused look on his face. "Um, Liam. Am I the power bank?"
Liam turned to him, eyes flashing. "Who else would it be, huh sparky?!"
Nanami flinched backwards and looked away. "L-look, I didn't know—"
"Of course you don't know! Do... ugh."
Liam covered his mouth and turned around, then began walking away.
Lee watched him walk away, then turned to Nanami and the three other guys.
"Well this is bad," he murmured as he looked at Nanami.
The blue haired boy looked crestfallen, and actual tears could be seen at the corner of his eyes.
"I'm s-sorry..." he sniffed. "I didn't... know..."
Lee sighed, then patted Nanami on his back without saying anything. He then addressed the others.
"Jay, Caesar, Rex, we're going to Liam's dorm. Since it's right beside mine, if he doesn't let us in, we'll go to my place."
Rex nodded, then turned to Nanami.
Those two... are weird, Lee thought.
Though the weather wasn't especially cold, Jay was wearing a hoodie. The hood was up, and his hands were in its pockets. He was a little hunched over, so he gave off the impression that his surroundings were cooler than he could tolerate.
Meanwhile, Caesar was constantly fidgeting, and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his face. He was rather short, and because of his roundness, Lee couldn't help but be reminded of a bowling ball. However, that wasn't what Lee found strange.
He managed to avoid being last in an exam that leaned rather heavily into physical prowess. On top of that, he slimmed down mid-run. That definitely had something to do with his Venma, but what would his Venma even be?
"...Let's get going." Lee said as he turned away.
****
"Liam."
Lee knocked on his door for the fifth time.
"Liam."
There was no answer, but all of a sudden, the door slid open.
"..." silence fell over the boys.
Liam observed them for a while, then scratched the back of his head. "Come in."
Lee gave the others a thumbs up as Liam turned and walked back inside.
"Um, please leave your shoes, er... at the door," Liam said. The boys murmured their agreement as they took off their shoes.
"By the way, Liam." Rex spoke up. "We came over for the group study. What do you think we can learn?"
Liam blinked repeatedly at him, then scratched the back of his head again. He murmured something, then shook his head and said aloud:
"I-I don't really know, s-s-since we haven't yet discussed anything... also..."
Liam looked directly at the silent Nanami. Noticing the gaze, Nanami pursed his lips and looked away.
"Um, Nanami..."
The boys fell silent, and Nanami looked at Liam. "...Yeah?"
Liam began to fidget. He scratched his hair a few times, then cleared his throat.
"I am, um, sorry for insulting you. I really don't like being forced into situations where I know I'm going to embarrass myself, and I really shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
Nanami blinked repeatedly, then laughed nervously as he waved his hands in front of him. "Don't worry about it! Let's just get this show on the road, yeah?"
Liam stared at him for a while, then chuckled. Nanami flinched.
"What's so funny?" he asked with wide eyes.
Liam looked away. "Ah... well, you're never nervous, so it's kinda... funny? I dunno. It's just weird to see the usually cheerful guy be so... nervous."
Rex chuckled, and Nanami's head swiveled towards him.
"H-hey! Don't laugh at me!"
Rex grinned, and Lee chuckled as well. Nanami pouted, sighed, scratched his hair repeatedly, then stormed up to Liam. Liam stumbled back as Nanami got closer, and stopped at the serious look in the boy's eyes.
"Stop being awkward. Yeah, you insulted me, and it kinda hurt, but that's in the past!"
Nanami smirked as he put a hand on Liam's shoulder, making the boy flinch. "I guess I kind of deserved it, since I never asked for your opinion, but we're going to let bygones be bygones!"
Liam blinked repeatedly, not knowing what to say. Nanami sighed.
"AWAKEN!" he yelled.
Liam immediately jumped away as a sharp electric feeling shot through his body. He shivered a little, then frowned.
"What's the big idea? Is this some sort of payback for what I said?"
"YES! I MEAN NO!" Nanami yelled grandly, hands on his hips. "You see? You're not stammering anymo—OW!?"
"Not cool bro," Rex shook his head after slapping the back of Nanami's head. "You don't pull that kind of nonsense after an apology."
Liam nodded. "Yeah, what he said." He held his shoulder, stumbling a few times. "Man, it hurts."
Nanami instantly paled, then jumped onto the floor, prostrating himself.
"I'M SO SORRY—!"
"Ignore him, Liam. Let's just go in."
"Oh, I can do that? Okay. Follow me. Um, hi again, Ares. Hello Caesar."
"Hi."
"...Hello."
Nanami looked up, tears in his eyes. "Why are you ignoring me?"
The others were already in the living room.
****
"I thought this was going to be more... awkward? Subdued?"
"Why would you think that?"
Lisa's mouth almost fell open, but she quickly turned it into a smile.
"Um, because I assumed almost the entire class was scared of me?"
The other five members of Lisa's group were all girls: Ruby, Hannah, Tiffany, Elsie, and Eris.
Currently, they were in her dormitory, and Ruby was hugging her from behind, Hannah was lying on her couch, Tiffany was lying on the floor, Elsie was sitting in a perfect seiza position by the coffee table, and Eris was fidgeting.
"Well," Ruby said as she played with Lisa's shades. "That's a silly thought."
For some reasons unknown to her, the others had decided to come over to her dorm, and after five minutes of pressure Lisa allowed it. When they had arrived, she had gone to her room to put on a pair of sunglasses to reassure them, but five seconds after she got back, Ruby had stolen them.
"I'm so bored~!" Ruby groaned as she put on the sunglasses and detached from Lisa. "Let's do something fun!"
She dashed towards Tiffany, arms outstretched, and was immediately halted by a low growl.
Tiffany sat up, her glare as sharp as a dagger. "Don't you dare touch me, you little gremlin."
Ruby pouted, then folded her arms. "Tch, whatever."
She looked away, in Eris' direction, then immediately appeared behind the girl.
"That eye-patch—"
"GAHHH!" Eris jumped.
"—what is it for?" Ruby reached out, and got her hand slapped away. Eris stood up with a nervous shout:
"D-don't touch my eye-patch!"
"..." Ruby craned her neck to look up at her face, then immediately frowned.
"Oh, I see, you're using your height to mock me right?"
"Huh?"
Ruby clicked her tongue. "All of you tall people are always showing off your 'height'. Hmph! If this was an alternate dimension, I would be taller than you!"
A confused silence fell over the small gathering, and everyone looked at Ruby.
Lisa chuckled, then laughed. "How adorable! Anyway, you really are tall, Eris."
Lisa stood beside the girl, putting a hand on her head and using it to measure. It reached Eris's shoulder.
"Looks like I have some growing to do," Lisa laughed.
Ruby folded her arms and pouted. "M-me too!"
Lisa blinked, and in a flash, she grabbed Ruby.
"Hey guys."
Everyone looked at the pink-haired girl stroking the head of the small, brown-haired monkey of a girl.
"I'm adopting her. Any objections?"
They all shook their heads.
"Cool!" Lisa grinned as Ruby shouted a bunch of stuff nobody listened to. Lisa took a seat on the carpet by the sofa and sighed.
"By the way," she asked, "what's everyone's favorite food? Mine's curry rice."
Silence descended on the group once more.
"Chicken soup," Hannah answered.
"Peanuts," Ruby said as she played with Lisa's long hair while sitting in her lap.
"Er... I like pancakes," Eris muttered.
They turned to the remaining two.
"Not interested," Tiffany clicked her tongue.
"I have no reason to answer," Elsie said, her tone cold.
Lisa blinked, then smiled. "Well, alright then."
Tiffany frowned at her expression. "Don't get the wrong idea, Manabe. I'm only doing this because Raidou said we should. I have no interest in becoming your friend."
Lisa tilted her head. "I never asked for you to be my friend."
Tiffany gritted her teeth and was about to stand up when—
"Stop being childish, Tiffany," Elsie said. "We're here because of the class's collective decision, yes, but there's no need to be uncooperative."
She turned her cold blue eyes to the other girls. "I know this meeting is to get to know each other, but we should do some studying next time."
Lisa nodded. "Alright. You can be the group leader then. Any objections?"
"No," the others, apart from Tiffany, said.
Elsie bowed her head. "Alright then. Thank you. I shall lead you to the best of my ability."
The four other girls glanced at each other, then Lisa sighed. "Do you really need to be so formal?"
Elsie shrugged. "There's a popular saying in my country: 'Exactness is the courtesy of kings.' It means that being punctual, structured, and formal is the highest form of respect you can show another person."
The others gave her a collective stare.
She pursed her lips in discomfort, then glanced away.
"I'll just... try to be less formal then."
Lisa beamed at her. "Good. We're all classmates here."
"Speaking of which..." Ruby smirked as she poked Lisa's cheek.
"What's up between you and that Liam guy?"