Room 304, Diety Hall

Author: Yukimi2 yukimi2@yahoo.com

Comment: Gackt and Mana cameo ^_^ OH-hohoho. Shinchan makes a discovery he’ll never forget.

Episode 11: Incomplete?

Die burst out of the oppressive lecture room. He jumped around, did cartwheels, and cheered on top of his lungs.

"YES! I PASSED! I PASSED! *^________________________^*"

Kaoru shook his head. "So, what’d you get Die?"

Die shoved his paper in front of Kaoru. "Look, look! I passed! I freakin’ PASSED!"

Kaoru read the comment on the paper, which was written in red ink. " ‘Your paper is fairly well-organized and would have been enjoyable to read if more effort was put into the writing. The supporting statement is terrible and because the paper is incomplete, the idea you tried to bring out is inconclusive…’"

Takeo, who is behind Kaoru, read ahead. " ‘…But since this is the best writing you have ever written, I shall give you a C+.’ "

Kaoru turned to his friend. "Takeo, you got an A+, didn’t you?"

"Of course, why would it be otherwise?" Takeo calmly said with a grin. "And I assume you have a B or B+?"

"Hai, Detective Takeo. I shall ask again, how’d you know?"

"If you had an ‘A’, you’d act like that." Takeo pointed to Die, who was still doing cartwheels. "If you had a ‘C’ or less you’d mope. As calm and nonchalant as you are now, a ‘B’ is the most logical conclusion."

"Yep. Got a ‘B’. What’d you get, Jun?"

Jun smiled shyly. "A+"

"Really?" Kaoru gasped, "I’m not trying to insult your intelligence or anything, but that’s truly amazing! No one except Takeo ever gets A’s in Prof. Pata’s class!!"

"I understand. That’s because everyone sleeps during lecture," Jun giggled, "except for Takeo-kun and he helped me with this paper."

Kaoru frowned. "That’s not fair, Takeo! Why don’t you help ME with it?"

"Sorry, Kaoru." Takeo shrugged. "Maybe because Jun bakes me cookies and you don’t."

Die, who was done cartwheeling, spoke up. "Kaoru? Cook?!?!?! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

>-< Kaoru pouted.

"Hey, have you guys seen Kirito?"

Everyone turned around to look at Kohta, who just got out of the lecture hall. His physical appearance suggests that he was practically pushed and dragged out of bed. His hair was a mess and his clothes were wrinkly and he forgot to shave. He was a worse grouch than Kaoru in the morning.

"No, I haven’t." Jun replied.

"Usual Monday morning," Takeo replied. "Most likely your brother is molesting Aiji in the Men’s Room."

"What are you talking about, Takeo? Kirito’s not my brother…heh…heh…heh…^x^;;;."

Jun giggled then whispered to Kaoru. "Yeah. Typical sibling relationship. It’s so cute."

"I heard that!" Kohta growled. "If you had a brother like him….>_<;;"

Jun sighed. "At least you don’t have a sister like mine…." {You all know about his sister, ne? ~Yk2}

"Ne, Kohta!" Die piped up. "I PASSED!!!" He howled.

"NO WAY!!"

"YES WAY!!"

"Dammit, Die. You’re bullshitting me. I don’t believe you!"

"Hey! I’m not that dumb! Here. Lookie!" Die showed the paper to Kohta and pointed at his grade mark. The blonde gawked in disbelief. Die began to sing and dance happily. "No more ten paged paper. I passed. I passed. I passed!" Die took his paper and began to tear it to shreds. Everyone else shook their heads and smiled.

*****

Hours later in Kaoru’s later class…..

Kaoru leaned back on his seat as he watched Prof. Yoshiki stroll into the lecture hall. Shinya sat beside him. Though the younger man showed no physical sign of tension, his eyes gleamed with anticipation. Shinya eyed his idol as he walked to the chalkboard and write down the number of people who achieved A’s on the previous music assignment. Two. Two people out of the large class of 100 people {It’s a BIG college, ne… ~Yk2} earned A’s….

"I finished grading all your compositions." Yoshiki announced. He tossed a stack of papers on a desk.

~His voice is so husky….How sexy…~. Shinya thought dreamily.

Yoshiki caught Shinya’s gaze and cleared his throat. The younger man blushed and hastily looked down.

"Only two people in the entire lecture earned A’s." Yoshiki continued. "Frankly speaking, I am disappointed in a lot of you. More attention should be emphasized in the feeling and artistic attributes of the music rather than the technical aspect of it."

Shinya closed his eyes. He worked so hard on the paper; he surely got an A.

Kaoru stared at his companion. "Shinya? Daijoubou?"

"Ah, hai! I’m alright." Shinya shook his head.

Yoshiki went on. "Because of the majority of low scores in the class, I am assigning another music composition. This time, I want the composition made for guitar instead of piano. The assignment is due end of next week. You should know by now I do not tolerate late assignments."

Yoshiki picked up two compositions from the pile. "These are the top two scores. Gackt with a 96%."

Gackt stood up to get his paper and beamed proudly. He blew kisses to everyone in the lecture hall, though nobody really cared except for himself. He threw a glance at his archrival, Mana, and smirked. Mana remained cool and calm throughout the scene before him.

Yoshiki rolled his eyes. "You may be seated, Gackt-kun."

Gackt gave a final bow then sat on his seat, still grinning like an idiot.

"Mana achieved the highest score of 97%."

Mana quietly got up from his seat. He had no expression on his face. Mana didn’t walk, but practically floated over to Yoshiki and took his paper. Gackt grumbled angrily and crossed his arms over his chest. Kaoru smiled and shook his head. The rivalry between Gackt and Mana made music class more amusing and fun. The competition was always interesting, but Mana always had the upper hand, no matter how cocky Gackt got.

"The rest of you can pick up your papers here." Yoshiki picked up his suitcase. "Class dismissed."

A swarm of students ran to get their papers.

Shinya was confused. ~Didn’t I get an A?~

To Kaoru’s surprise, the younger man jumped and rushed to the crowd. Kaoru joined Shinya after the crowd died down. Shinya picked up the last paper on the table, but frowned. "It’s yours." He handed it to Kaoru. ~Where’s my paper? ~Shinya thought. ~I turned it in the day it was due!~

Kaoru stared at his paper and frowned. "Man! Prof. Yoshiki marked off just because I wrote the notes off the music staffs!" Hearing no response from his companion, he looked up. Shinya was frozen and staring at the empty table. His face was unreadable. "Shinya?"

"It’s not here." Shinya whispered. "My paper’s not here!" He got to his knees and looked under the table. ~Doko? Doko??~

Kaoru blinked. "Ne, Shinya. Maybe you should ask Prof. Yoshiki where it went. It probably got mixed up with other paperwork."

Shinya let out a deep breath after a few minutes of scanning the floor. He nodded quietly. "When is Prof. Yoshiki’s Office Hours?"

"In an hour."

"Sou ka?" Shinya slowly got up as he dusted his skirt from dirt.

Kaoru was a little worried about the younger man. Going up and facing the ‘Akuma-sensei’ in his lair was not a feat anyone ever accomplished. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Iie."

"Sure?"

"Yes." Shinya flashed a dazzling smile. "I’ll go by myself. What could be so hard facing Prof. Yoshiki on my own?"

Kaoru ~sweatdrop~.

*****

An hour later, Shinya walked up to Prof. Yoshiki’s office door. He raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. He didn’t think he would feel this nervous, but knowing that his idol was near caused his heartbeat to multiply and his palms to sweat. After a deep breath, he raised his hand again, but before his fist could come in contact with the wooden door, a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Shinya practically jumped out of his skin. He whirled around.

"Excuse me."

Shinya thought his bladder was going to burst. He stood frozen in front of the door, but hastily and shyly moved out of the way. "K-konbanwa, Prof. Yoshiki."

Yoshiki raised an eyebrow. "Konbanwa. Is there are problem with my office?"

"Um, ah, no!" Shinya stammered. "I, uh, I came to see you."

Brief silence. "Do I know you?"

Shinya’s heart sank, but he lifted his spirits up immediately. "I’m part of your Music366 5:30 pm lecture. Ah…I, um, need to speak with you…" Shinya stared at his feet in hopes that his hair would hide his flushed cheeks.

Yoshiki hid a smile and opened his door. "Come in."

They seated themselves comfortably at his desk. Shinya looked around the room. Several plaques and trophies of famous musical competitions were displayed everywhere. The chairs were made of expensive and very very soft leather. Even a baby’s ass wouldn’t be able to compete with its softness! The table was neatly organized with a stack of papers on one corner and a crystal pen holder on the other. The pen itself was one of those really expensive gold ones with Yoshiki’s name engraved on it. Shinya felt as though he was dirtying the office somehow. But there was an object in the room that felt out of place: a picture frame set in the corner by the pen holder. It looked like something one would get at a thrift store and was lined with fuzzy tiger prints on the sides. The frame held a picture of Yoshiki with his arm around someone…

Shinya felt his heart sink again. Maybe his koboito? He shook his head. As far as he knew, that person could be anybody to Yoshiki….

He stared at the picture. The other person didn’t even look like Yoshiki’s type. He wore bright and clashing clothing, totally different from Yoshiki’s preppy physique. One aspect of the picture captured Shinya’s eye: Yoshiki was smiling. He never does that in or out of lecture. At least, he never smiled the way he did in that picture. Yoshiki seemed so….happy….

The older man cleared his throat and put his glasses on. "Ahem. You wanted to talk to me?"

Shinya blinked. "H-hai. It’s about the first music composition."

Yoshiki nodded slowly.

"Well, I…" Shinya stammered. "…I, ah, didn’t get the paper back…"

"You must have turned the paper late."

Yoshiki pursed his lips to keep from smiling. Amazingly as it seems, the young man was amusing him greatly. "What is you name? Maybe I mixed it up with the other papers…"

"Shinya. Terachi Shinya desu."

"You must be the foreign exchange student. I’ve heard about you." Yoshiki commented as he looked through a pile of papers.

"Hontou desu ka?" Shinya blushed and stared at his hands, which were gripping his skirt tightly. God…he was SO nervous….he really needed to pee….

"Hmm…" Yoshiki adjusted his glasses. "Your paper is not here."

Shinya gripped tighter. How can it be? His paper had to be there somewhere. "B-but I handed it---"

"Apparently you didn’t hand in anything." Yoshiki stared calmly at the young man. He leaned back on his expensive leather chair.

"D-demo---"

"I don’t accept late work---"

"GODDAMMIT!! I TURNED IT IN!!!" Shinya yelled and stood up. The tension and the stress was too much. If he received an F on the assignment, he would not be able to pass the class. And he would not be able to impress Yoshiki. Yoshiki stared at Shinya in amazement and amusement, but the younger man didn’t seem to notice. After Shinya realized what he did, he turned crimson then clumsily apologized to Yoshiki. "S-sumimasen, Prof. Yoshiki." He stuttered. "Domo sumimasen!" He felt like such an idiot. He just yelled at his idol here! How could he? "I-I won’t bother you any further." Shinya was about to turn and leave, but he flet a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Shinya-kun."

Shinya’s breath stopped. He slowly turned around, but kept his face to the floor. {he sure does that a lot, doesn’t he? ~Yk2} Then suddenly, a packet of papers were displayed in front of him.

"Dozo." Yoshiki said. "It’s your paper."

Shinya, still in shock from the hand on his shoulder, stared at the composition.

Yoshiki, sensing no answer from his student, went on. "Shinya-kun, I expect a lot from you. As I’ve said, my colleagues mentioned your name with great praise." Yoshiki took his hand off Shinya’s shoulder. Shinya, startled, finally broke out of his trance. Yoshiki took a deep breath. "I am very disappointed in you."

"W-what?!" Shinya squeeked. How is that possible? The composition is perfect.

Yoshiki gave Shinya the paper. "The composition itself was techincally able and flawless. Unfortunately, technical skill does not bring appraisal from listeners." He walked over and stood by the window. He watched the beautiful red leaves flutter from the tree branches and gave a sad smile. "It also needs to convey feeling."

"Feeling?" Shinya asked, confused.

"Yes, feeling. That’s why I’m having everyone compose a second assignment in guitar. Majority of the M366 students only play piano. Having everyone compose in an unfamiliar format requires students to engage with others, thus causing better compositions from the human interaction."

Shinya bit his lip. "A-ano…Prof. Yoshiki. I don’t have a grade written on this---."

"You receive an ‘F’."

Shinya winced. WHY??? He wanted to ask.

Yoshiki saw the hurt and questioning look on Shinya’s face, but kept his own face calm. "It’s not because you lacked warmth in the writing. I deducted because it was incomplete."

"Incomplete??!" Shinya flipped through all the pages. The last four pages were not even music sheets. They contained typed paragraphs with very bad grammar….

Yoshiki tried not to chuckle. "Apparently somebody had an interest in the effects of being in sports management."

Shinya stared in shock. "How…?"

Suddenly, flashbacks formulated in his head. That windy day….the collision…the papers….that…that…red headed jerk…. If Yoshiki was not there, Shinya would have raised bloody hell!

Yoshiki felt Shinya’s pissed off aura and said. "Shinya-kun, because you are an exchange student with high potential, I am giving you a chance to make up for it."

Shinya widened his eyes. "Hontou?" he gasped.

"If you submit the completed composition of that work, I will give you an A+."

Shinya beamed. He wanted to jump around for joy, but Yoshiki’s neat office persuaded him otherwise. Besides, he still had one excruciating obstacle to face. If he wanted that A+, he had to see that red headed jerk and take his paper back.

CONTD ~ @ Part 12: 1..2…3…DRINK!

{Yk2: GyAH!! Too bad Shinchan won’t be seeing his composition…at least not in legible condition ^0^!!! Well, comments pls ^_^}

to be continued~