[Yami no Matsuei] "College Daze" (PG)
Nov. 12th, 2012 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtxref_ficAuthor's Note: Written for Author's Choice, Author's choice/author's choice, "I've never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain Featuring a high school-aged Muraki and Oriya.
Since they had first met, Oriya had noticed something unusual about Kazutaka Muraki, something that left him unsettled and envious: unsettled because no mere human should be able to process information like that, and envious because he certainly could use some of his pale classmate's talent.
He sat over that term's paper, beating his brains out, trying to parse the next sentence. He knew the material, but his mind refused to frame it in a way that did not wind up sounding like he had copied it off someone else's paper. Sure, it did not have to sound like fine literature, but still, he hated sounding like a duffer.
Kazutaka, on the other hand, had finished the assignment, and now lay on the other side of the room, curled up with a book that he was not reading for an assignment.
Oriya looked up, stifling an annoyed harrumph. "How do you do it?" he asked.
Kazutaka looked up from his book. "Do what?"
"How do you finish your assignments so quickly?" Oriya demanded.
Kazutaka closed his book and sat up. "I finished them because they're absurdly simple," he said.
"Simple? Are you daft? I swear they create these word counts just to keep us dancing from one foot to another," Oriya grumbled.
"They probably have," Kazutaka replied, with a sympathetic half smile. "I know the material, so it's just a matter of framing it right."
"Don't tell me you cheated by making the margins wider," Oriya said, side-eying him.
Kazutaka emitted a cough of a laugh. "No, that's for slackers, and I don't tolerate slacking off: I'm not Saki, he'd do something like that.
"So what do you do? pull all-nighters that I haven't seen you do?" Oriya said.
"I'm in pre-med, I'm supposed to be caring for my body and set an example of proper health," Muraki said. "No, I'm simply gifted in not letting my schooling get in the way of my education."
"What?"
"I'm used to outsmarting bullies and what's a teacher but someone who holds their authority over us? Institutionalized bullying: as long as they're not pummeling me and they're using wits, I can figure their strategy and work around it," Kazutaka said.
"Is that just a fancy way of saying you're a genius and you outsmarted the professors?" Oriya asked, glaring at his classmate.
Kazutaka blinked behind his spectacles and turned his gaze to his right, not turning his head. "You always did find out my secrets, Oriya," he said.
"You can get mad and snark at me for seeing through you," Oriya said, with a small smirk.
Since they had first met, Oriya had noticed something unusual about Kazutaka Muraki, something that left him unsettled and envious: unsettled because no mere human should be able to process information like that, and envious because he certainly could use some of his pale classmate's talent.
He sat over that term's paper, beating his brains out, trying to parse the next sentence. He knew the material, but his mind refused to frame it in a way that did not wind up sounding like he had copied it off someone else's paper. Sure, it did not have to sound like fine literature, but still, he hated sounding like a duffer.
Kazutaka, on the other hand, had finished the assignment, and now lay on the other side of the room, curled up with a book that he was not reading for an assignment.
Oriya looked up, stifling an annoyed harrumph. "How do you do it?" he asked.
Kazutaka looked up from his book. "Do what?"
"How do you finish your assignments so quickly?" Oriya demanded.
Kazutaka closed his book and sat up. "I finished them because they're absurdly simple," he said.
"Simple? Are you daft? I swear they create these word counts just to keep us dancing from one foot to another," Oriya grumbled.
"They probably have," Kazutaka replied, with a sympathetic half smile. "I know the material, so it's just a matter of framing it right."
"Don't tell me you cheated by making the margins wider," Oriya said, side-eying him.
Kazutaka emitted a cough of a laugh. "No, that's for slackers, and I don't tolerate slacking off: I'm not Saki, he'd do something like that.
"So what do you do? pull all-nighters that I haven't seen you do?" Oriya said.
"I'm in pre-med, I'm supposed to be caring for my body and set an example of proper health," Muraki said. "No, I'm simply gifted in not letting my schooling get in the way of my education."
"What?"
"I'm used to outsmarting bullies and what's a teacher but someone who holds their authority over us? Institutionalized bullying: as long as they're not pummeling me and they're using wits, I can figure their strategy and work around it," Kazutaka said.
"Is that just a fancy way of saying you're a genius and you outsmarted the professors?" Oriya asked, glaring at his classmate.
Kazutaka blinked behind his spectacles and turned his gaze to his right, not turning his head. "You always did find out my secrets, Oriya," he said.
"You can get mad and snark at me for seeing through you," Oriya said, with a small smirk.
