Guilty Pleasure Friends

Explanation Misinformation

A knock on the door snapped Licht out of his thoughts. He tried to ignore it, but it knocked a second time. Then a third.

"Angel-chan!" a familiar voice called in through the door. "Angel-chan, answer me! Did you fall asleep or something?"

Cursing under his breath, Licht slammed his textbook and notes on his desk, stood up and stomped over to the door, throwing it open and glaring at Hyde. "Shut up, bastard! I'm studying."

"Studying?" Hyde grinned playfully, either happily oblivious to Licht's barely-veiled anger or choosing to ignore it in a moment of exceptional stupidity. "Come on, Lichtan, studying's boring! Let's hang out and do something fun instead!"

Without wasting another word, Licht slammed the door in his face and went back to his desk.

Of course, the peace didn't last.

"Lichtan!" Hyde called, banging at the door. "Don't just ditch me like that, you jerk! Open up already!"

Just ignore him. Keep studying and ignore him.

"Come on, it's not like you've ever failed an exam anyway! Why do you keep trying so hard?"

Just keep studying and- oh screw it. Licht couldn't ignore him, not when he was spouting complete and utter nonsense like this. "It's because I study so hard that I keep passing, dumbass!" he yelled in the direction of the door. "It's all because of hard work! I deserve all my good grades, unlike you bastard!"

"C'mon, what's with that goody-goody attitude?" Hyde shot back, sounding increasingly annoyed himself. "You think you're so great just because you work hard? What counts is the results! You're an idiot for wasting your energy when you could get it all the easy way!"

"You're the one who's an idiot! A cheating, dishonest idiot!"

"And you think you're the world's moral compass! You're a stuck-up prick, Angel-chan?"

Licht stood up, rolling up his sleeves and striding to the door, flinging it back open. "I'll show you a stuck-up-"

Someone cleared his throat.

They both froze to find Crantz standing in the hallway, giving them both the death glare. "So," he asked in a deadly calm voice, "what's all this noise about?"

---

"How did we end up like this?" Hyde flung his notes back on the desk and groaned. "This sucks!"

"You started it!" Licht snapped at him. "Shut up, stupid rat, I'm trying to concentrate."

"I don't wanna do this! It's so boring! I can practically feel my brain cells rotting away from the boredom!" Hyde leaned back in his seat and placed an open book on his face. "I don't wanna study with you, Angel-chan! Can we stop this already? I promise I won't cheat or start fights with Lichtan anymore! You know, aside from the bit that I never start any fights in the first place, he's just too sensitive-"

"Hey!"

A pair of hands grabbed each one of them by a shoulder, straightening both their postures with an iron grip. "Shut up, both of you! If you have time to complain, revise your notes again! Or I'll make you do this every day until the exams!"

They both yelped, grumbled an agreement and returned back to their studies, trying to sit as far away from each other as their shared desk permitted. Crantz sat in front of them, arms crossed, and looked incredibly pleased with himself and the world.

---

Tetsu had been studying for the past half hour.

Well, calling it "studying" was one way to put it. "Staring at the same notebook page for thirty minutes on end in the hopes that its content would eventually start making sense" was probably the more accurate description.

So far, his strategy hadn't worked very well. The content of the notebook page was still as incomprehensible as ever, which was quite an achievement, really, seeing as Tetsu himself had been the one to write it down in the first place. He still had no idea what all of this was supposed to mean, let alone what it was for and how to remember it. Thinking wasn't exactly Tetsu's forte, but even he could clearly see that this strategy wouldn't get him anywhere.

So he did what any good athlete would do in his situation: He changed his strategy.

"Hugh?" he called, knocking on his friend's door. "You in there?"

A shuffling of steps approached, and a moment later Hugh's head popped out of the door, looking up at Tetsu. "Welcome to my abode, old friend!" he greeted him. "What brings you here today?"

Tetsu fumbled with his notebook. "I'm kinda stuck with studying, can you tutor me?"

"I wish I could," Hugh replied sadly, "but alas, I am quite immersed in my own studies. You should find someone else to help you... I know! What do you think of that purple-haired young noble from 2-B? I hear his grades are the best in his year."

"Misono-senpai, huh?" Tetsu's eyes went wide. "I see! Thanks Hugh, you always know what to do!"

He turned around and went in search of Misono.

His search didn't take him long. Tetsu found him sitting by himself in the chess club room, playing a game against himself. He was so immersed in the match that he didn't notice Tetsu coming in at all.

Tetsu waited for a few moments before he spoke up. "Uh, senpai?"

Misono jumped with surprise, knocking over his chessboard. "Wha-?!" he burst out. "Sendagaya! Don't sneak up on me like that, you idiot!"

"Sorry." Tetsu rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "You were just so focused... Why're you here, anyway? I thought there were no club activities 'cause of the exams and stuff?"

"Of course." Misono regained his composure, replacing his shocked and irritated frown with a proud grin. "But given my grades, I don't need to study anyway, so I might as well give my brain some real exercise." He threw a regretful look at the messed-up chessboard. "Or so I thought, until you came in."

"Yeah, um... sorry 'bout that. Actually..." Tetsu held up his notebook. "Speaking of exams, I was kinda looking for you. Since you're so smart, would you mind tutoring me a little? I'm kinda failing this."

Misono perked up at being called smart, but he wouldn't agree to anything yet. "Why should I do this?"

"'Cause you're the smartest person I know and I don't really know who else to ask." Tetsu met his purple gaze with his own blue eyes. "Please, senpai?"

Misono jumped to his feet in an instant. His cheeks tinted pink, and a proud smirk spread across his whole face as he took a step towards Tetsu, visibly flattered. "Well," he declared, "since you asked so nicely and I happen to be free anyway, I suppose it can't be helped. As your senpai, you can ask me anything you don't understand!"

"Cool!" Tetsu walked over and sat down at Misono's desk while his upperclassman moved the chessboard and pawns back to the shelf where they belonged. "Thanks a lot."

"Think nothing of it." Misono sat down next to him, taking a look at Tetsu's notes. "So what is it you don't understand?"

"Uh, everything."

Misono's enthusiasm dropped a little, but he kept calm. "We'll see about that. For now, let us take a look at your notes and tests."

---

Kuro's phone buzzed for what felt like the millionth time that day, indicating yet another new message. All from the same person. Kuro could figure that out without even looking at his phone.

He really, really felt like ignoring them all, but then again, they were getting more and more frequent and the constant buzzing was getting on his last nerve. Even if he didn't read the messages, to say nothing of replying, he at least had to mute his phone or he'd find himself forced to throw it out the window or into a tub full of water. And he still happened to need his phone, even if it was mostly for games.

Groaning, he reached out his hand and turned on the screen. As soon as he saw the number of new messages it displayed, he almost turned it off again. Throwing his phone away was beginning to sound like a pretty good idea, after all.

He didn't throw it away. Instead, he resigned himself to his fate and opened the message thread. They were all from Mahiru, just like he'd guessed, and they were hugely repetitive.

Are you studying for the exams, Kuro?

Kuro, it's been an hour and a half. Are you planning to answer anytime soon or are you procrastinating again?

Kuro, answer me! Are you studying or not? Need any help?

So I get it you're NOT studying. Get up and do your damn work, lazybones!

And don't tell me you can't do it or anything! You CAN do it if you want to, remember the bio assignment? The problem is that you DON'T WANT TO!