Jun was steadily doing his homework when one of his female classmates approached his desk. He watched her fidget from the corner of his eye before he finished writing and looked up.
"What?"
"That... there's someone here to see you." The girl was making a strange expression.
He glanced behind her towards the door, but he couldn't see who was standing in the hallway. A group of girls had gathered near the doorway, blocking his line of sight.
Jun sighed and stood up from his desk. If it was another freshman coming to talk to him, they would leave disappointed. The beginning of the year was always the worst. New students were curious to see what the top student was like, or they wanted to let him know how much they admired him, or girls would come just to stare at him before flushing and running away.
He didn't understand.
As he walked to the door, his female classmates parted to make way for him. When he finally saw the figure standing in the doorway, he was surprised to see a head of white hair.
Roy stood there, talking to her.
"If you're looking for someone to tutor you, I would be happy to help."
"No thanks, I'm just-" Emery tried to speak up, but Roy interrupted her.
"Or if you want help trying to develop your power, I can also assist with that."
"No, that's okay-" A vein began to pop out on Emery's forehead.
"A cute girl like you shouldn't have such worries when you're so young. Don't fret, I'll take care of you."
Jun waited until Emery noticed him. The anger on her face disappeared as her blue eyes met his. Just as she'd said, it had been exactly one week. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get any words out he grabbed her arm and began pulling her down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" Emery let herself be dragged along, her short legs struggling to keep up.
"Roof."
----------------------------------------
Roy stared after Jun and the girl. Jun had dragged such a cutie away from him! And he'd almost convinced her to let him tutor her, too. Of course he'd recognized her as the infamous 'lowest ranked student' Jun was interested in these days. She was prettier than he thought she'd be.
"Should we follow them?"
"We better not. If the emperor discovers us, we'd be executed."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Roy turned towards the voices and saw two students standing near his classroom, whispering suspiciously. He remembered the male student as the top student of class 6, but he couldn't recall his name. It was a pity the guy didn't have a stronger power, otherwise he'd definitely be ranked higher in the school. Roy always tried to push for him to be bumped up a class every year thanks to his grades, but there was never enough seats in class 5.
"Can I help you?" Roy walked up to the students, flashing them his best student council president smile.
The female student let out a little squeak, her entire face turning a pretty shade of pink. "N-No, we were just passing through!"
"Is that so." Roy raised an eyebrow. "I thought class 6 was on the other side of the school building."
"You are absolutely right. We were just on our way to the staff room. Please excuse us, president." The male student gave Roy a nod, quickly disappearing down the hallway. The girl stared at Roy dazedly before she realized her classmate was already leaving. Her entire body jolted as she ran after him.
Roy had never paid much attention to students in class 6, but he was discovering they had hidden away a lot of cute students. Though he had lost many of his own classmates to Jun, perhaps he should broaden his horizons.
----------------------------------------
Emery was getting far too used to being pulled along by the emperor. She never would have imagined a day when she would be dragged anywhere by another person. Her legs couldn't keep up with his long ones. He had to be at least 30 centimeters taller than her. She remembered at their first meeting she had thought he was tall, but now after having to jog to keep up with him she thought he was a giant.
As she was catching her breath, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and unfolded it, seeing it was the submission form for the inter-school tournament.
"What if I was going to say no?"
"You weren't."
Emery looked up from the mostly filled out form into his eyes. He had called her arrogant, but she didn't know anyone with as much self-assurance as him.
"How can you be so sure?"
"You would have already said no." Jun shrugged. Emery couldn't help but give him a small smile. He was right.
"Before I say yes," she said, "I have a few conditions."
Jun nodded. Though she couldn't be sure, she thought he seemed excited.
"First, before the tournament begins, don't go around announcing to the entire school who your partner is. Second, don't tell others the name of my power. And third..."
Emery paused. She was sure he would say yes, no matter what her demands were, but that didn't change the fact that it was embarrassing to ask. The final demand had been Victor's idea. "If you want to start thinking seriously about college, you'll also need to raise your grades in other subjects." He was so unsympathetic. Emery knew he was right. Just proving to the school she wasn't powerless wasn't enough.
She cleared her throat. "I want you to tutor me."
Jun's facial expression didn't change. "Deal."
She blinked a few times in surprise. There was no hesitation in his response.
"Just like that?"
Jun nodded. "How many times a week do you need tutoring?"
"T-Twice should be fine." Emery felt like she might choke. She agonized over asking him to tutor her for hours. She didn't want him to know she was stupid as his partner, but if she didn't bring her grades up, there was no hope for college.
"What's your worst subject?"
"English... or history."
Emery couldn't believe how easy this was. He didn't care at all! He just wanted her to compete with him. She could probably tell him home economics was her worst subject and he wouldn't notice.
"Cellphone." Jun held out his hand.
She slowly pulled her phone from her pocket, placing it into his palm. He began to type something on her screen before he handed it back to her. It was a phone number.
"Save it and text me. Are you free after school?"
Emery looked up at him and mutely nodded.
If any other girl in the school found out she had the emperor's phone number, she would be slaughtered out of jealousy. Her hands began to shake a little from the pressure as she typed his information into her contacts. She quickly typed a text to him and sent it. He pulled out his phone and repeated her actions, saving her information into his phone. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and began walking towards the staircase.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob. "I'll leave that with you to finish filling out." His black eyes turned towards her face. "What's the name of your power?"
Emery couldn't believe how quickly this was developing. She had barely agreed, but he was already leaving. It was like her agreement was a minor detail. She glanced down at the form in her hands. It was filled except for the space for her power and her medical information. Everything else from her birthday to her school ID number were filled in. He was holding onto her student handbook for a month, but he had filled in this form with such confidence. He didn't doubt for one moment she would agree to be his partner.
"My power is 「GRAVITY」."