Ironies of life

CHAPTER 2: Move away

Fortunately, the only class Naoki shared with Dante was Gym. Well….perhaps unfortunately.

He walked there slowly since Loin had a broken ankle that he acquired three weeks ago, so he walked with Loin at his crutch shuffling speed.

When they arrived at the gym, his best friend sat in the stands to watch the class while the coach was explaining the exercise of the day.

“-In this table you have the basketball exercises for today. Find a partner and start working. At the end of the period we will have a match.”

‘“Partner”...we have to be in pairs?’

“Partner” The word Naoki hated most. He didn’t have too many friends in the class so he always ended up with the plump dude who no one wanted to team up with as anyone who did got a bad mark. Lost in thought, Naoki suddenly felt someone grab his arm and push a basketball against his chest. It was Dante.

“You’re my partner for the day,” declared the blond. It wasn’t a question.

‘What’s he playing at? Why’s he doing this? What does he want from me?’

“Why me?” Naoki interrogated. He was incredibly displeased with the situation Dante put him in.

“The coach said we should look for someone with a similar height and weight. You fit best.” The lie was covered with a casual smile. If Naoki didn’t know Dante, he might have believed him.

“You have several friends as heavy as you, and you’re taller than me, so get lost Dante.” It just so happened to be the moment the coach looked over and saw Naoki’s expression and, understanding the situation well enough, raised his voice from his seat at the bottom of the stands.

“Dante! Are you bothering Naoki?” Dante looked at the coach with a slightly confused but easy going expression.

“No, sir. He’s my partner today.” Naoki wanted to deny it, but he wasn’t fond of causing a scene or yelling in front of the class.

“That’s unusual, Dante.” The coach indirectly questioned. He approached them with a few quick strides.

Dante kept up his easygoing attitude, lying through his teeth as smoothly as a professional:

“I saw him play the other day and I thought we might get a good mark if we worked together. I find this course to be very important and if I had one of my buddies as a partner then I’d be distracted, so even if I don’t know Naoki very well, I’ll make an effort to get a good mark.” Dante radiated self-confidence and that charming smile of his convinced the coach to let it go and he left, returning to his seat with no idea that he had just been manipulated.

“Nice speech,” Naoki commented sarcastically the moment the coach sat down. “I can’t believe he bought that.” Naoki half glared at Dante.

“He trusts me because I’m intelligent.” Dante smirked at him smugly.

Naoki rolled his eyes, adding, “And so humble.”

“I’m not humble at all.”

“Do you know what the word “irony” means?” Naoki was disturbed. How could Dante call himself intelligent with so much self-confidence? Especially being a huge i***t. No, not an i***t. He would win the award for World’s Biggest i***t.

“Of course I know what it means. In fact, don’t you think that this is the most ironic situation you have ever been in?” Dante shot back rhetorically.

Naoki didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to point out that it was true, but being Dante’s partner was definitely the most ironic, not to mention the most unpleasant, situation he had ever been in.

Of course, to make things worse, Dante had to pull him out of his thoughts by throwing the ball back.

“What were you looking at in the cafeteria?”

Naoki barely caught the ball.

“E-eh?” The question caught Naoki off guard.

Dante snickered as Naoki shoved the ball back at him.

“I know you’ve been Gala’s friend for a long time but, honestly, she knows you’re in love with her, so she asked me to be discreet about our relationship in the school because she doesn’t want to hurt you.” That story didn’t match with what Naoki saw in the cafeteria.

“I didn’t ask anyone to be careful with my feelings. You can do what you want,” Naoki replied coldly, throwing the ball back to Dante a bit more aggressively. ‘I knew he chose me as his partner for a reason. He just wants to tease me again.’

“I’m only saying that it’s very desperate of you to look at her secretly while she’s dating me, don’t you think?” Dante’s voice was condescending with a thin cover of pity on top. Like carefully crafted venom. Naoki could feel his face and ears burn, though from embarrassment or rage he couldn’t pinpoint.

“She’s also my friend, and I can do what I want, I won’t walk away from her.” Naoki found it hard to reign in his anger, but with every word he spat out, he felt more in control of himself. Naoki threw the ball back and tensed as he saw Dante dribble the ball before executing a few impressive tricks. Naoki found it hard not to flinch as Dante got closer to him, bouncing the ball very close to hitting him, throwing it through his legs as Naoki stood frozen in silent fury, his jaw clenching as Dante picked up the ball and spun it on his finger before stating, “You are pathetic.”

Naoki clenched his fists, but knew he wasn’t one to start a fight. ‘I was wrong. I don’t know if he has any place on the list of top idiots, but I’ve no doubt that he’s at the top in the cruelty and inhumane world record.’