Needle and Thread - Oumasai

Stand in your place

The navy-haired boy pulled his hat to cover his face as he anxiously made his way down one of the longest corridors in the school. The new week had begun, which meant only one thing to Shuichi.

On every Monday morning, all of the students were allowed to use their registration time to check the student ranking list that was displayed on the wall, covered by about 3 sheets of glass.

He turned the corner into the next corridor, but he froze when he saw all of the rest of the students gathering around the overprotected piece of paper.

"Shuichi!" A blond-haired girl ran up to him, hugging him tightly for a few seconds before letting him go. She looked straight into his golden eyes and smiled warmly, making his face flush a light pink.

"K-Kaede!?"

A cute laugh escaped her mouth as she continued to speak, "Just go look at the rankings! Go look! Seriously!"

Shuichi took a nervous glance towards the board before shaking his head in reply, "I'll look later, when there isn't as many people." Kaede rolled her eyes and let out a huff, "Well, I'll just drag you there myself!

The girl grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd of people, despite his loud protests.

"Congrats, Shuichi!"

"You did great!"

A few of the students gave the tall individual compliments and moved out of his way. Shuichi finally set his eyes on the paper.

1) KYOKO KIRIGIRI

2) SHUICHI SAIHARA

3) BYAKUYA TOGAMI

4) RANTARO AMAMI

5) PEKO PEKOYAMA

...

..

.

He let out a sigh of relief; Second place was exactly what his uncle needed him to achieve. As the bell rang, all but one of the students dispersed to their classes. The male approached the glass with a blank expression and scanned through the list.

"....nishishi~ 147? That's a new record~.." he smirked and spit at the display before walking away.

Meanwhile, Shuichi was sitting patiently in his desk as he and the rest of the class were waiting for the late teacher. The blue-haired individual turned his head around as he felt a rough tap on his shoulder, "Looks like my side-kick's smarter than I thought! Maybe you'll get up to the #1 spot one day!"

Shuichi nervously chuckled, "I don't know about that, Kaito..."

"I wouldn't doubt it," another voice chipped in as a green-haired student walked over, "Imagine all of the praise you would get. All the girls are gonna come running."

A faint blush formed on Saihara's pale face, causing Kaito to burst into laughter, "I've never seen a high rank get as flustered as you!"

"It's quite ironic if you think about it," Amami chuckled, "High ranks aren't just supposed to be intelligent, our personalities should match our superior appearances."

Saihara sighed and stood up to stretch and yawn, "I know, I know..." The spiky and purple-haired student playfully elbowed Shuichi, "Don't worry! We'll keep working on it!"

Rantaro smirked at this before slightly tilting his head, "So....did you tell her yet?"

"...tell who what?"

"Kaede, of course."

Shuichi went to open his mouth, but Momota answered for him, "What would be the point if he confessed? That goes against the strings!"