Lesson Learned

You're my Accomplice

The bearded man locked eyes on her and matched her glare with his own. "Asano-san..."

"Sir." Gakushuu cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at the man. "Perhaps you could resume? We are running out of time before lunch after all."

A few students sniggered, making her smirk.

Hisaya bristled, looking back at his student's expectant gazes. "Hm." He turned back to the board. "Everyone stay focused, we don't have time for distractions!"

"We barely have time to breathe," Mitsuko murmured, continuing to write.

The lesson continued without interruption up until Lunch when Mr Hisaya decided to end the lesson five minutes early so he could angrily toss his ruler on the desk and gather his bag.

"Class dismissed," he snapped almost petulantly before he marched out of the room before they even had a chance to stop writing.

The class stared at the door curiously when it slammed shut.

"Oh, wow..." Hashizume laughed from the back of the room. "You really pissed him off, Mitsuko!"

Mitsuko scowled. "I didn't even say anything..."

"He's been really angry since you insulted him last week," Kondo said, grimacing. "I haven't seen him so angry since his wife left him for that Personal Trainer..."

"I thought she cheated on him with their gardener?" Satsuki asked while taking out a lunchbox form her bag.

"It was the decorator." Gakushuu corrected dismissively, closing his book to glare at his sister. "But regardless, try not to irritate him any more, Mitsuko."

"Yeah, he's already a jerk," Tsuda remarked. "No need to make it worse for the rest of us just because you're stubborn."

Mitsuko scowled. "Well, excuse me for having a backbone!" She crossed her arms. "Seriously, he was the one trying to embarrass me, and besides all I did was point out there was a better theory."

"Yeah, a wrong one." Seo scoffed.

She glared at him. "It wasn't wrong, Seo." She looked at her classmates. "Come on guys, I got the right answer and everything, don't act like I didn't have a good point."

Most of them started to look unsure.

Kondo frowned. "It was easier to understand..."

"Yeah, it was." Juba adjusted his glasses. "It helped me a lot for studying."

Mitsuko smiled at that. "Glad I could help."

"Speaking of studying." Gakushuu stood up, gaining their attention. "Midterms are only two months away." The class started to tense up. "And after the catastrophic failure which was finals." He glared at his friends who quickly looked away. "We cannot afford a repeat. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Asano!" The Class replied in unison.

Mitsuko rolled her eyes and sighed. "So what's the strategy this time?"

"We'll be holding more after school study sessions and individual group sessions for the next couple of months," her brother explained curtly. "Any questions?"

"Oh, I have a question!" Miura's hand shot up.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Can we pick our own groups, please?!" she asked excitedly.

Gakushuu sighed deeply. "Yes, I suppose so."

This seemed to brighten up the others as they started to turn to their friends and chat excitedly.

Mitsuko smiled in amusement, enjoying the look of annoyance on her brother's face.

"Um, Mitsuko?"

She glanced over and nearly did a double-take when she saw there were four other boys surrounding Juba's desk. "Uh, yes?"

"Can we be in your group?" Juba asked timidly.

"Yeah!" Kondo nodded, frowning. "I wanna know how you figured out that theory on DNA."

"Or how you can remember all the stuff on economics," Tanaka added, looking embarrassed.

Mori nodded enthusiastically. "Can you explain it?"

"Yeah, we'd appreciate it a lot," Aoi said, smiling. "And if you want bribery, my house has all kinds of food."

"My house has a pool," Mori said.

"Uh..." Mitsuko stared at them in disbelief. "Yeah, sure...I..."

Then she got an idea and nearly grinned in excitement when she stared at these five perfect walking alibi's which would be putty in her hands.

"I'd love too!" she replied brightly, smiling sweetly the way Bitch-sensei had shown her. "It could be a lot of fun."

"Mitsuko," Gakushuu was walking over. "We can—"

"Sorry! I already have a group!" she interrupted, smiling brightly.

Her brother stopped and frowned at her. "What are—?"

"You're already the Big Five, no need to make it a six." She waved him off dismissively. "And you said we could choose groups."

Gakushuu's frown deepened when he looked over at the four boys, making them shy away. "Really?"

"Yep!" Mitsuko slipped off her seat and onto her desk, crossing her legs. "So you can run along now and leave us to it, okay?"

He looked annoyed, but what else was new?

"Well, it seems you have everything arranged then," he replied evenly, casting a dark look at her new group-friends. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Uh, should we be worried?" Juba asked warily as they watched Gakushuu walk back over to the other Big Five.

Kondo gulped. "I feel we should be..."

Mitsuko rolled her eyes. "It's fine, he's just being his usual stubborn self." She smiled at them. "So, whose house are we crashing at first?"