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Like everyone in existence, Tetchou despises math.
It’s only been ten minutes since class started, yet Tetchou was on the verge of dying from boredom.
What can he do, what can he do…
Maybe he can continue constantly clicking his mechanical pencil— no, he already has annoyed his seat partner from clicking it too much… Perhaps he can see how far he can lean back on the chair before it falls over? No, then the teacher will see him and he’ll get in trouble. But what else could he—
Ah, how could he forget! He could simply talk to Jouno, that’ll ease all his boredom—
Oh… yeah. Jouno doesn’t sit beside him anymore because of The Incident. That being the teacher moving Jouno to the other side of the classroom, apparently because “they were being too disruptive during class.” (Tetchou thinks “consoling each other after being forced to do multiple fraction questions” is a better term.)
Well, it doesn’t matter. It won't deter him from talking to Jouno at all; in fact, he knows just the perfect plan to talk to him! Step one: get his attention. Step two: proceed to talk to him until class is over. Easy enough.
Now commences phase one of the operation: getting Jouno’s attention. Tetchou takes a bunch of sticky notes from his pencil case, crushing them up to make tiny paper balls. Okay, now all he has to do is throw them to Jouno in order to get his attention. Then he’ll finally be free from his boredom!
He takes one of the crumpled sticky notes, stretching his arm back as far as he can before throwing it across the room, hitting… the wall. That’s not who he wanted to hit.
He tries again, this time adjusting his arm to the left, where Jouno sat. He throws the paper ball and it… lands on the floor.
Surely the third time’s the charm. He slightly adjusts his arm to the right, throwing it and… successfully hitting Jouno! Yes! Now he’s got Jouno’s attention, and—
And Jouno isn’t moving at all, simply just sitting there and listening to the teacher’s lecture. Seriously? There's no way Jouno’s actually listening to that boring lesson.
He throws another crumpled sticky note onto Jouno, to which he has no reaction. Again, he throws yet another, and Jouno still doesn’t react. At this rate, Tetchou will go through all of his sticky notes. But that’s fine, because it’s Jouno. He’ll get his mom to buy him more sticky notes after school.
He throws another, and another, and another, and— Jouno is finally moving! Tetchou got his attention! Now he finally has someone to talk to—
A piece of crumpled paper directly hits his forehead, nearly knocking Tetchou to the ground had he not grabbed onto his desk right as he was falling. Who could have done that?! Was it Jouno? He’ll get him back for that—
Oh, wait! What if Jouno was sending him a message through the paper? Yeah, that’s why he threw it to Tetchou! Tetchou has to commend him for being so smart; he would’ve never thought of that!
As inconspicuously as possible, he grabs the paper from the ground as fast as he can, quickly opening it and finding—
A poorly drawn stickman slumped on a desk, their hands fallen to the side. Tetchou would have assumed it was because they were in a super boring lecture like he was, but he can see what appears to be blood leaking out of their head. Below it are the following words (that are barely legible from how messy it was), “I will do this to you if you don't stop annoying me”.
Oh that’s… very like Jouno. Okay, fine then! He never wanted to talk to Jouno anyway, and he definitely wasn’t looking forward to telling him about this new ant documentary he watched. And he definitely wasn’t looking forward to telling him what he was going to have for lunch, nope of course not…
Out of options to fulfill his boredom, Tetchou succumbs to listening to the lecture.
—
The following day, Tetchou wakes up and finds the gruesome stickman drawing imprinted to his right hand.
His first instinct is to wipe it off with his shirt, but it doesn’t come off at all. He tries to scrub it away in the bathroom, and it still doesn’t come off. Has he been poisoned?! Is he going to die—
Wait, wait. He’s heard a rumour going around his elementary school about this exact scenario. Apparently, from what he’s gathered in the hallways, a drawing will appear on your hand one day. And these drawings signify who’s your soulmate… huh? Drawings? Soulmate— what even is a soulmate? He’ll have to ask Jouno at school.
—
“Jouno, do you know what a soulmate is?”
“Huh?” Jouno tilts his head to the side, his mouth falling open. “You seriously don’t know? Have you been living under a rock this entire time?”
“Actually, I live in a super big, ginormous house! Not a rock!”
Jouno flicks Tetchou’s forehead, frowning. “It’s someone you’ll be with for the rest of your life. Stupid.”
After a few seconds, a wide grin appears on Tetchou’s face, his eyes lighting up as if lightbulbs were simultaneously lighting up in his head. “Oh, why didn’t I think of that! You’re my soulmate then, Jouno!”
Out of nowhere, coughs erupt from Jouno’s mouth, his arms swinging around as he falls to the ground in a very exaggerated manner.
“Uh…” Tetchou looks at the ground, finding a shaken Jouno lying in a pile of woodchips. “Are you okay?”
“You can’t just say that I’m your soulmate out of the blue!”
“But it’s true. You are my soulmate.”
“Wh— I told you not to eat that peanut butter and gravy concoction during lunch! You’re not thinking straight!”
“But your drawing’s on my hand! That means we’re soulmates!” Tetchou pouts. “Maybe you're the one not thinking straight!”
“Oh, really? How do you know that you didn’t draw that yourself?”
“Because,” Tetchou pauses, lifting his hand to his face and— yep, there it is, the grisly drawing saying hello to him. “There’s a dead stickman covered in blood on my hand!”
A contrast to his earlier sulkiness, Jouno begins laughing loudly, rolling on the floor. “You’re gonna have that stuck on your hand for the rest of your— ow, ow! Stop that!”
Tetchou grabs a bunch of woodchips from the ground, continuing to throw them at him. “Apologize first!”
“No, why should I apologize for— ow, oww! Okay, I’m—I’m sorry!”
“That’s what I thought!” Tetchou pokes his tongue out, crossing his arms. “Now you know not to mess with me!”
“You assaulted me!”
“Cause you were making fun of me!”
“I was not!”
“You were!”
“Was not!”
“You were!”
Jouno pouts. “Haven’t you heard that violence is never the answer?”
“But it was the answer right now.”
“That— whatever! Help me get up.”
Tetchou takes Jouno’s hand, lifting him off the ground. “Wanna play on the swings?”
Jouno nods eagerly. “Yeah! I’ll race you!”
“Okay, three… two… one…” Tetchou begins sprinting towards the playgrounds, giggling.
“Hey!” Jouno shouts, running after him. “You cheater!”