“I saw your latest test scores, (Y/N). They were pitiful, I doubt you even tried,” one of the A-class students said, appearing out of nowhere.
You froze as he slammed his hands into the wall next to where your head was, leaving you trapped. He was far from looking pleased with you and you couldn’t blame him. He was right, your test scores were pitiful and no matter how hard you tried, nothing helped your grades. Not even getting assigned this A-class student as your tutor.
“I-I’m sorry. I really tried,” you stuttered in response.
“That’s not good enough! It’s bad enough that they assigned me to a hopeless D-class student like you, but what’s worse is that you’re not even teachable! They should just send you off to E-class now and quit wasting their time with you.”
“They won’t have to send me to E-class. I promise I’ll do better.”
It was far from a lie. Like everyone else at the main campus, your worse fear was to be sent off to E-class. The ridicule would be unbearable and you’d lose every single one of your friends that you had. But even with that in mind, it wasn’t enough to bring back your grades. You needed someone who could actually tutor you efficiently and not this A-class asshole who only cared about himself.
“Oh, really?” he sneered. “You’re already failing in D-class and after your recent test scores, where else can they send you? Go ahead and join those E-class nobodies for all I care but don’t you dare ruin my reputation in the process. They’re going to blame me that you’re failing so you better pull it together until I’m no longer your tutor!”
He raised his fist in the air and you flinched away. It was a known fact that most A-class students would resort to anything to maintain their grades and reputation, but you never thought that this one would resort to violence. Your eyes quickly darted around to try and see if anyone was around, but this guy was smart. He followed you behind the school and made sure no one was around. Even if someone did witness this whether they were a student or teacher, they wouldn’t care enough to interfere. After all, he was an A-class student putting a future E-class student in their place.
“Please don’t!” you begged desperately. “Violence won’t help me do any better.”
“I already gave up on trying to help you. This is for bringing me down with you.”
He brought his hand back and was ready to strike. Closing your eyes, you held you shielded your face in an attempt to block the hit. Moments went by of anticipating the blow that never came. Instead, a voice stopped him just before his hand made contact with you.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” a sly voice asked out of nowhere.
Moving your hands away from your face and opening your eyes, you noticed an amber-haired boy standing only a few feet away with his hands placed behind his head. Before the A-class student could say anything, you already knew this guy was in E-class just by the fact that you had never seen him once on the main campus before.
“What are you doing over here, Akabane? Go back to where you belong,” the A-class student told him, but you could detect a tinge of fear in his voice.
Akabane… You knew that you heard that name before. That’s right, Karma Akabane. Stories of his violent tendencies were always being spread across the school. Everyone, including the A-class students, feared him and from what you’ve heard, for good reason too. Rumor was that the sole reason why he got booted to E-class was because of that violent nature of his.
“What are you doing over here picking on an innocent girl?” Karma fired back, clearly not intimidated.
The A-class student on the other hand slowly backed away from you and stood up straight, trying to feign bravery against this opponent of his.
“That’s none of your concern. I’m the superior to the both of you so it’s my job to put her in place. That includes you, you worthless, E-class scum-”
In an instant, Karma was already standing in front of the guy and knocked him to the ground. Before he had a chance to stand up, the amber-haired boy slammed his boot against the back of his head, keeping his face pressed down in the concrete.
“What was that? Sorry, I can’t make out your bullshit through the sound of you eating gravel,” Karma laughed.
He kept his boot planted on the other guy’s face for a few more seconds before finally releasing him. The A-class student quickly got to his feet and ran away while clutching his bleeding nose. You stared at Karma, unable to take your eyes away from your unexpected savior.
“Why did you help me…?” you asked hesitantly.
It was something you couldn’t help but wonder. He honestly had no reason to help, after all, you were still in an upper class than him. Why would he take pity on one of the people who contribute to the hell he and his friends endure nearly every day?
“I believe people should be treated equally. That being said, if he was going to treat you like shit, he had what was coming to him,” he said, flashing a sadistic smile.
Every fiber of you told you that you should be scared of this boy, but for some strange reason, you weren’t. You knew he had no intention of harming you. You… you trusted him in a way.
“Thank you,” you told him.
Showing your gratitude seemed to have caught him off guard but nonetheless, he recovered quickly. He began to walk away before stopping mid-step.
“You know, if you’re failing your classes I can try to tutor you. I think I’d help you more than the last guy,” he said, never turning around to face you.
“How could you tutor me? You’re in E-class.”
You didn’t mean to be so blunt about it, but it was the truth. E-class was the lowest of the low, you probably had a better chance of studying by yourself than accepting his help. At least, that’s what you originally thought. Thinking about it more, you had a feeling he was smarter than he let on.
“Suit yourself then. Just so you know, people are put into E-class because they don’t apply themselves enough, not because they don’t know anything,” he told you. Before you could reply, he started speaking once again. “But hey, you don’t need to accept my help. Maybe I’ll see you in E-class soon.”
After meeting Karma, you were starting to think that perhaps E-class wasn’t too bad after all.
