The Science of You — part 3.
An extra long chapter yuh
Literally yoru throughout this whole part:
The smell of hydrochloric acid filled the air as Killjoy slowly lowered the piece of magnesium into the acidic pool in the tube. She has to gently lower it, lowering it too fast might cause the the acid to splash onto the table (and on her). Dr. Sabine was watching closely, evaluating them. Killjoy can't afford to lose this, this is a chance to impress Dr. Sabine, maybe make her smile a little.
The metal dropped into the beaker and sizzled.
She could hear the people in her class applauding, cheering on for her.
"Well done, little mouse. I'm impressed," she heard Dr. Sabine say before she left for the next table.
"That was so stressful for nothing!" Killjoy says, letting herself rest on her chair as she watches the metal sizzle and pop in her beaker. The mad scientist in her wanted to see what would happen if she mixed in strong acid, but knew better not to mess with anything in Dr. Sabine's classroom.
"I honestly didn't expect that to work," she says sheepishly, earning a pat on the back from her beloved Raze.
"Ahh come on, Killjoy. You could never fail an experiment. You're the most hardworking person I know," Raze replies, sitting down on her chair as she writes the rest of the conclusion on their report. Killjoy smiles. It's nice knowing that someone acknowledged her long nights of studying.
"Hey nerd," she hears an all too familiar voice behind her and turned to face none other than-
"That was uh- cool. Good job," he says before turning back to check on the report Phoenix was writing.
"Oh!" Killjoy says, slightly taken aback. "Thank you! That's very kind of you-"
"Don't mention it." He replies coldly.
"Hey, a bet is a bet!" She says happily, clapping her hands together.
15 minutes earlier (Yoru's POV)
Yoru grimaces as he watched Phoenix struggle to understand the instructions on the paper. "Do you not know how to read?" He asks, getting a little impatient at the way he was going back and forth from the paper and the metal pieces in front of them.
"Hey! We're a duo remember? You're the brains, and I'm the brawn!"
"I believe I have twice the amount of brawn than you but thank you for the compliment."
Phoenix rolls his eyes. "How about you do the experiment while I write the report? Win win situation, here."
"Fine, but only because this lab would explode if you did it." Yoru says, taking the paper from Phoenix and going over to the shelf to pick out the things needed.
As he arrived at the shelf, it was still crowded from people trying to grab whatever they can. Everyone wanted to finish first so they could leave early. Yoru didn't mind. As long as the experiment was completed and they got graded, he had nothing to complain about.
"Sigh, honestly why are they fighting over who gets to the acids first?" He heard a voice beside him, and turned to see Killjoy, holding the same piece of paper he was holding.
"Don't know, maybe they all want to impress Dr. Sabine. What about you? I thought you wanted to impress her too."
"Yeah but, you know, as long as I do it right I'm sure she'll be impressed."
"Do you wanna bet on it? If you impress her, I'll treat you to whatever you want this evening."
"But if you don't impress her, you have to carry my bag and books for the rest of the semester."
"Hmmm bet!" She says excitedly and runs over to the shelf.
Something about that little skip to the shelf and excited smile made him soft that day.
Once class was over, Killjoy walked over to Yoru who was waiting for her by the building's main entrance.
"Where's your girlfriend?" He asks, swinging the helmet in his hand by its strap.
"Girlfriend?" She replies, slightly confused when she earned an eyebrow raise from the boy. "Oh you mean Raze!" She giggled. "She's with Jett and Neon, they're gonna go to the swimming pool with Phoenix I think."
"Oh, that sounds fun. You don't wanna join them?"
"And miss out on free food?" She laughs, walking past him. "I rarely win any bets you know so this is a first for me."
Yoru hears a buzz from his phone and looks down to it.
Phoenix: I've got you covered, have fun on your date fam ;)
"Ugh, he's so annoying." Yoru mutters as he keeps his phone back in his bag. He walks with Killjoy all the way to the main gate where he goes to his motorcycle. He lifts up the Jiffy stand and pushes his bike out before noticing that Killjoy hasn't move from the front gate. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He says, staring that the girl who had a surprised face.
"That's yours?" Killjoy asks, pushing her glasses up as she gets closer to look at the shiny vehicle he had. "Oh my god, she's beautiful."
Yoru could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks and before he knew it, he put his helmet on her quickly, hastily clicking the buckles. Killjoy, out of confusion and concern, lifted the visor up. "Why are you giving me your helmet?"
Yoru looked visibly confused. "Can't I?"
"Well, its your motorcycle, shouldn't you be the one to wear the helmet?"
"I've been driving this thing for almost two years now. I can stand a few scratch and bruises if we ever fell over." He says, getting on the bike. "Well, get on then."
As Killjoy sheepishly gets on, he starts up the engine. "So where are we going?"
"Hmm..." Killjoy stopped to think for a moment. "I honestly don't really know. I haven't been craving anything. Ooh! What about we go to your favourite restaurant?"
"What?" Yoru replies, looking back at her.
Yoru thinks for a moment before he replies. "There's this ramen stall near the neighborhood, they serve the best sobas I've ever tasted."
"Good! Take me there then!" She says cheerfully, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Yoru could feel the blood rush again and looked to the front, he silently took off driving.
He could look in his mirror and see how excited she looked. She has a big dumb smile plastered on her face as she looked around town. Why was he loving how excited she was? It wasn't like it was anything special. He just lost to a bet and has to splurge his savings on a girl he barely talked to in class.
Who does she think she is to make him feel this way?
They arrived at the stall and it was visibly crowded, Killjoy could see that most of the tables were occupied by people who were in their middle ages and older.
"Do you know these people?" Killjoy asks as she gets off the bike, taking the helmet off and shaking her head a little to get her hair out of her face.
"They're regulars, I don't really talk to them though," he says, leading Killjoy into the stall and to the back.
Killjoy's mind races as Yoru opens the door to the back of the place. Why is he going back there? Did he need the bathroom? Am I being kidnapped??'
"Are you just going to stand there?" Yoru says, still holding the door open for her. Killjoy, slightly terrified, follows in.
In the room, to Killjoy's surprise, had a table with a few chairs. The room wasn't too small nor too large. Just enough for a few people, a friend group perhaps.
"Private room?" Killjoy asks, sitting down on one of the seats. "That's a bit fancy for a roadside stall.
"It's usually reserved for important people. But sometimes they let me come in, per my request for somewhere that doesn't have people screaming at a football match on a big screen," the boy replies, sitting on the seat opposite hers. "So, what do you want to eat?"
"... Is there a menu or...?"
Yoru chuckles. "This is a road side stall, it's nothing fancy so you won't find any menu here. They've got mostly noodles."
"Umm, well, what do you recommend then?"
"Hmm, like I said earlier, there's their famous soba if you want to try that. I promise it's delicious," he says, almost chuckling at how nervous Killjoy looked when she learnt there was no menu.
Earning a nod from Killjoy, Yoru calls for the waiter and orders two sobas.
"You didn't have to choose this spot you know, it looks like we're going on a date," Killjoy chuckles.
"W-What? No of course it's not a date, I just don't like noisy places," Yoru says, giving Killjoy a glare.
"I'm kidding," she laughs, giving the boy a smile.
Two bowls of hot steaming noodles arrive at their table, peaking Killjoy's interest. She leans forward as Yoru brings her bowl closer to her and his to him. It smelled amazing, it smelled as if you were home again. It was quite comforting actually.
"Do you need a fork?" He asks, about to reach over to the table behind him for the utensils.
"I'm good, thanks," the girl replies, swiftly picking up the noodles with her chopsticks.
'Impressive,' Yoru thought before digging in to his meal.
Killjoy had a taste of her soba and immediately was taken aback.
"Gah! It's hot-" she says, sputtering a little.
"I know I'm hot," the boy replies, holding back a snort as Killjoy gave him a poker face.
"Honestly I thought you weren't as cocky as Phoenix was, turns out you both are the epitome of being cocky."
"Hey I may be cocky, but at least the things I'm cocky about are true," he says. "Phoenix, on the other hand, isn't half as stunning as I am."
Killjoy laughs. "You two are like a married couple honestly, are you sure you both aren't dating?"
