Mika stood outside the library the next Wednesday a quarter to four o’clock, scrolling through his music app while he waited. Sometimes it helped to have something on in the background for him to focus on while he studied. He adjusted his earbud as he selected an album of various anime score pieces, and adjusted the volume so it didn’t rattle his eardrum. He didn’t understand how Gen could listen to music so loudly…it would give him a headache if he tried.

He put his phone back in his hoodie pocket and rested his head against the building, closing his eyes as he drifted into the music. His friends had balked when he told them who his new tutoring student was. Kelly seemed much more irritated by it than either Riley or Marcus.

“He’s really weird and scary-looking, Mika,” she said. “He never says anything, never talks in class, nothing.” She had another class with him and apparently he was the same there as he was in Algebra. “He just sits there and glares, either out the window or at his desk. He doesn’t make eye contact with anyone. Why would you want to help someone who is obviously planning to murder people?”

Mika frowned. “He’s not like that at all,” he said. “He’s quiet, sure, but he comes off as more socially awkward than anything. I don’t think he knows how to interact with people.”

“And you wonder why?” she said. “Just look at him! Who would want to be friends with someone who looks like that!”

“Ever think maybe he looks that way to make people leave him alone?” Riley asked. “You don’t know anything about him.” If anyone could understand loners, it was Riley. He had been one all through high school. It had been so bad for him, he nearly threw himself into traffic. He met Mika on the way to the freeway and ended up at the mall with him instead of in a body bag on the way to the morgue.

Kelly’s shoulders sagged and she sighed, her expression softening. “Just be careful, okay? That’s all I’m saying. You don’t know anything about him and he knows even less about you. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you could end up getting hurt.” She had playfully knocked him on the top of his head and the mood instantly lightened. 

“Hey.”

Mika opened his eyes and lifted his head off the wall to see Gen walking up to him, hands in his pockets. Mika looked at his phone and raised one impressed eyebrow. He was early.

“Ready?” Mika asked, turning to the door nearby. Gen reached out and opened it before Mika’s hand even touched the handle. So tall, he inwardly gasped. He got a whiff of burnt oak and bourbon and his face flushed. He turned his head quickly so Gen wouldn’t notice. They headed in and Mika led the way towards the back where there were separate study rooms set up so students could talk quietly and not be disruptive.

They picked a room off to the side, flipped a sign that went from VACANT to IN SESSION, and closed the door.

“Okay, then!” Mika said, setting his backpack on top of the long table in the center of the room. There were six black plastic chairs surrounding it, but they chose the two at the end. They took out all their materials and spread them out on the table, sitting across from one another. “Let’s get started. Let me see your homework.” He reached out and Gen nervously handed it over.

He slumped in his chair as Mika’s expression slowly changed, apparently not too happy with what he saw. After a minute, he set the paper down on the table in front of him.

“It’s bad,” Gen said. “Isn’t it.”

Mika took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “This is awful, Gen,” he said honestly. “How you’ve made it this far in the world of mathematics, I really have no idea.” He opened his eyes. “What did you say your major was?”

“I didn’t.” He sat there, arms folded over his chest, a lock of his mohawk hanging in his face. 

Mika stared back, not sure what to say. The work in front of him looked like it came from someone who didn’t know what a simple quadratic formula was, or even how to plug in the right numbers. Did he even try? He asked that question out loud and saw Gen’s shoulders sag.

“Yeah, I did,” he muttered. “I tried remembering what you said last week but it didn’t help.”

“Did you write any of it down?”

Gen shook his head.

Mika pointed at the pen and notebook in front of his student. “Use those and take down everything I tell you, understand?”

Gen lifted his pierced eyebrow. The guy was bossy, that was for sure. He thought about snapping back but something in Mika’s eyes made him decide against it. Instead, he twirled the notebook on the table before flipping it open to a random empty page. He flipped his pen through his fingers and gave a crooked grin. “Ready when you are, Teach.”

 Mika sat back and folded his arms. “This is serious, Gen.”

The pen stopped.

“You’re on a scholarship, right? If you fail this class, you lose it and have to pay for school out of pocket. From what I understand, that’s not something everyone can afford.”

“Can you?”

“I’m on a full ride.”

The pen fell to the table.

Mika’s eyes held Gen’s, no trace of humor within them. He wasn’t playing around. Gen’s success in this class was important, it didn’t matter why. Mika did not like seeing people with potential and intelligence fail at something he knew they were obviously good at. In fact, it was pissing him off that Gen was being too glib about this. Did he even want to pass? He had to care at least somewhat to be at that table with him now.

“You need to pass this class,” Mika said softly. “I want to help you do that. Which means no dicking around and do what I tell you. I’m not going to go easy on you, either. If that’s not something you can handle, then say so, and we can stop wasting both our time.” He pointed at the homework in front of him. “You didn’t try on this, don’t bullshit me. I am not going to devote my time to you if you can’t even be honest with yourself. This is a literal tissue of lies. I know for a fact you paid attention to what I said last week. Professor Ybarra showed me the practice problems you did in class the other day. You did infinitely better than you did on the last homework.” He pushed the paper toward Gen, his voice rising with his temper. “So what the hell is this?”

Gen stared at the paper. The “tissue of lies” he worked so hard on bullshitting. He knew exactly what he was doing when he handed that over and Mika knew it. Gen was testing him. 

Mika sighed. “Give me the real homework you did.”

Gen turned the notebook around, flipping the pages backward. When what he was aiming for was visible, he stopped the rest of the pages by holding them down with his finger. Mika took the notebook and reviewed the problems.

Several moments later, he set the notebook down and turned his eyes back to Gen. “That wasn’t funny,” he said quietly.

Gen shrugged. “Wasn’t meant to be a joke.”

“So, you are serious about this, then?”

Gen nodded. “I can’t fail,” he said simply. “If you say you can prevent that, then I guess I have no choice but to trust you.”

“Did you not?”

“I don’t do well with people,” Gen admitted. “I wasn’t sure if you were serious about this, or if you just wanted to fuck with me, so I had to test you.”

Mika gave a genuinely confused look. “Why would I want to mess with you?”

Gen shrugged. “Why does anyone? Apparently it’s fun.” He looked away, his expression unreadable. He cleared his throat and picked up the fake homework, crumpling it up. “And before you call me a hypocrite, this wasn’t fun for me. I was physically uncomfortable making all this up.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. But at least I got my answer so…” he shrugged again and picked up his pen. “Let’s get this over with.”