Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Art of the Bribe
Principal Darwin’s office smelled like stale coffee and administrative despair. Across the heavy oak desk, Sae sat slumped in a chair, looking like he’d rather be literally anywhere else on earth.
"Look, Sae," Principal Darwin sighed, rubbing his temples as he stared at the disaster report that was Sae’s academic transcript. "Your grades since the start of the semester have been very bad. But now? OMG. Do you just not put any effort into this?"
Sae was currently staring blankly out the window, completely tuned out.
"Are you even listening to me?!" Darwin’s voice cracked into a minor screech. "Sae!"
Sae blinked lazily. "Hmm?"
"You know what? Let's just leave this bullshit behind, okay? I'm getting you a tutor."
Sae’s entire posture stiffened. "A what?"
"A. TUTOR," Darwin enunciated, like he was speaking to a particularly stubborn golden retriever.
Sae scoffed, crossing his arms. "Tsk. Why? I don't need a tutor."
"Judging from what I see right here? Yes. You absolutely do," Darwin countered, tapping the failing grades aggressively.
"Ok, whatever bro. I'm leaving," Sae grumbled. He launched himself out of the chair—which had been kindly offered by the principal, mind you—with impressive speed.
(Tsk. I wish his brain cells worked as fast as he got up,) Darwin thought bitterly, watching him bolt for the exit.
"Sae, one last thing," the principal called out.
Sae paused at the door, hand on the knob. "Hmn?"
"Stop sagging! Remember, you are in a somewhat respectable school here, so pants UP!"
Sae paused, looked down at his dangerously low waistband, and then—with pure, unadulterated malice—yanked them down even lower into their original, gravity-defying position.
"Thanks, 'mom'," Sae smirked.
"Get out of my office!" Darwin yelled, throwing his hands up. "And tell the boy with the glasses outside to come in!"
The door clicked shut behind Sae, and a few seconds later, Shidou Ryusei slouched into the room. He adjusted his glasses, looking thoroughly irritated to have been pulled away from his routine.
“RYUUUSEI SHIDOU,MY FAVORITE STUDENT OF ALL TIME…how is your life going ?”.
“...it's the same as always.”
“Now get to the point, why am I here? I don't have enough time to stay here” he says with Clearly no envy of being in this office
“Listen … I want you to do something for me ok…”
“Go on. My ears are wide open”
Darwin didn't even waste time. “I want you to do a little bit of tutoring for one of the students here.”
Shidou raises an eyebrow not really sure of what he is hearing right now.”what?...tutoring for who?”
Principal Darwin clears his throat before mumbling.”Sae Itoshi”
“Excuse me?” This “excuse me” didn't seem like he didn't understand it seemed like he wasn’t feeling whatever this crazy a$$ principal just told him.
“Sae Itoshi will be the student you'll be the little teacher of mkkay?”
“Oh hell nah,Not <
>. I'm not doing that, he'll just waste all my time for nothing. You should know by now that I HATE wasting my time on dumb childish things.”
"Now, Ryusei. You think I don't know about your little anime books that you spend all your free time on? This is rather childish and dumb if I can say."Ryusei’s eye twitched. "First off all, it's called manga. Second of all, I don't spend all my free time on it.?Darwin raised an eyebrow, entirely unimpressed. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"So you won't do it?"
"No," Ryusei said flatly. He had a reputation as a quiet, no-nonsense nerd to uphold, and babysitting a failing frat boy was not on his schedule.
"Even if I pay you?" Darwin leaned forward, a demonic gleam in his eyes. "Oh, oh! Even better. I pay you, AND I buy as many of those little anime books you want. Deal?"
Ryusei narrowed his eyes behind his lenses. "Are you... bribing me?"
Darwin offered a shameless, desperate grin. "Well... is it working?"
Ryusei stared at him for a long, agonizing moment, weighing his dignity against a mountain of free manga. "...Kind of. Okay, deal."
"Okay! GOOD! Yes! Oh my god, thank you so much, Ryusei!" Darwin practically wept with relief.
"Uh, wait," Ryusei interrupted, realizing he hadn't negotiated the specifics. "How much are you even paying me?"
"How much do you want?"
"Fifty bucks an hour," Ryusei stated blankly.
Darwin’s jaw dropped. "You are so fucking greedy, ain't ya?!"
"It's money. I genuinely don't play about my cash," Ryusei replied smoothly. Then, Darwin looked around the lavish office, muttering under his breath, (Isn't he literally a millionaire? Rich kids nowadays)
Shidou cleared his throat, brushing past the comment. "Yeah, whatever, now..."
Monday morning was just another typical Monday for Ryusei. He was perfectly content being a normal, quiet teenager, minding his own business and trying to survive the school week.
That was until his phone buzzed with a message from an ‘’unknown’’ number.
UNKNOWN: Principal Darwin told me that you would be my tutor and forced me to have your number so what's the name
UNKNOWN: mine's Sae if you didn't already know 😋
Ryusei stared at his screen, completely deadpan. He adjusted his glasses and typed back with zero enthusiasm.
YOU: Yeah, I K.
YOU: [Replied to: "So what's the name"] Shidou Ryusei. That's "the name".
The bubbles popped up immediately. Apparently, the frat boy was a fast texter.
UNKNOWN: ouu shii 👀👀 Sae: cool name
UNKNOWN you've got here 😆
UNKNOWN: doesn't it mean dragon samurai warrior in Japanese? (or smth close yk)
Ryusei stared at the screen. He could feel a headache forming already.
YOU: ...
YOU: Yeah…
YOU: Anyway, see u this evening.
But Sae wasn't done playing twenty questions.
UNKNOWN: ok. Yk I've never heard of you before.
UNKNOWN: I really wanna know how you look like 👀👀
User has been changed to: SAE
Ryusei threw his phone onto his bed and groaned into his hands. This was going to be a very, very long semester.