A/N: I've had this concept going on in my head alongside "Saturdays With the Ice Queen", but I had kept it under my files and burried it in my memory for a long time only until recently. Luckily, though, I always keep the initial manuscripts of all the random stories that I get in this cluttered head of mine.

I know, I know, I've been on hiatus for like, forever! haha. And I'm probably out of practice. But here I am again! ^^ And I hope you'll enjoy this.
P.S.

The first three chapters would probably be for establishing a thing or two. But I promise to make things a bit more interesting in the later chapters. I hope you still like it, though! Enjoy! :))

Prologue

"Nogi." The slight rumble in the class seemed to die down a bit as I stood up and walked to our teacher's outstretched hand holding my exam result. By the look on his face, I could almost read his disappointment. Averting my eyes, I tried to ignore how the class seemed to be watching.

When I reached to take the paper, he raised an eyebrow at me quizzically, and all I could do was to look away. Couldn't he just drop it? Physics isn't a piece of cake. In that brief moment I waited for the humiliating words, but they didn't come. Instead, he crossed his arms on his chest and leaned on the table as I turned my heels to walk back to my seat at the back. "Care to explain what went wrong, Mr. Nogi?"

I paused to look over my shoulder. Feeling the blood rushing up to my face, I glanced down to my paper for the first time, quickly scanning over the X's. "Uh, half of everything, sir."

There were scattered laughter in the room, and now I felt strongly sure that I would be reprimanded. But then the man simply sighed, his face suddenly sympathetic. For some reason I hated that look. He took a moment to stare at the empty chair up front, and then to the one at the back. And after a few dreadful seconds, he looked me straight in the eyes.

"In that case from now on you take this seat up front." I blinked, and strangely, I heard my pulse thudding on my head. "For the rest of the course, until you graduate."

"B-but that's…that's for another eight months." I choked out, imagining myself sitting up front beside...No, I don't have a phobia or something, but really, I don't find it specifically helpful.

"It'll help you focus more." He said, apparently noticing my erupting objections.

I sighed, defeated, and walked back to my seat to get my bag. None of this would have happened if not for the sleepless nights I've suffered. All this I could only blame to one person and no other. Turning back to our teacher for further instructions, he nodded towards the empty seat up front. And I found myself gulping. "You'll be sitting beside Imai."

The steady noise in the class was back now, which was good because it meant that not everyone was paying much attention to me, but I didn't miss a snicker coming out from Koko. Glancing at him, he face-palmed and zipped his mouth, keeping a straight face. I thought I heard a few scattered squeals, and others had that Koko's grin on their faces. It took everything in me to push the thought away, and make my way to the empty seat.

Our eyes met for a brief moment as I sat down beside her, and it took me back to the sleepless nights that were altogether the reason why I ended up in this position. But then as quick as my heart changed its pace, she looked away.

"Oh, and by the way…" Everyone looked up as our teacher turned back to us. Surprisingly though, his eyes were fixed on my new seatmate. "I'm assigning you to be Nogi's tutor."