Chapter 10: Being born with photogenic memory can sometimes be a curse too

POV Katsura

"Katsura Takada". Thet teacher calls out my name.

The tone used by her; I could feel something was off. Either she was going to praise me or she was going to accuse me for cheating. I walk up to her, head held low, I didn't want to attract too much attention.

 She hands me my test paper, "Excellent work, this is your first test I presume?"

I nod. So, I was out of the woods for being accused for cheating. What a relief!

"Hori, you gotta up your game if you want to stay top of this class" the teacher calls jokingly. My score was 99, Hori sans score was 97, I know it because she got her paper back before me.

Hori san and the others look at me astonished. Miyamura calls out, "Wow, awesome Zura , you got even higher than prez" The other people give a polite laugh. I return to my seat. I could feel the cold glances of Yoshikawa san and Ishikawa san on me. The teacher continues teaching for the remainder of the time and leaves.

"Well look here, we got another good student amongst us" Yoshikawa san says trying to put up a mean front. But it didn't fit her nature so it just came out weirdly in between a taunt and a compliment

 "Hey man, if you knew you were gonna do so well, why didn't us help me out, Hori didn't show half the answers" Ishikawa san groans, I could see their black auras trying to engulf me. "

Sorry. Sorry, I should have known" I say meekly.

"Why are you apologizing Zura, you did nothing wrong, if anyone should be sorry, it should be these two, who promised me that they would at least study for this test" Hori san stares daggers at the others.

Ishikawa and Yoshikawa san quickly turn away avoiding her eyes, no one could match Hori sans angry glare. Scary!!

"You actually surprised me, beating Sengoku isn't easy you know. He will be pissed. Are you actually a genius?" Hori san asks.

"I..I.." I stammer. The cat is about to get out of the bag. My greatest humiliation, the guy who could take down cartels and terrorists, can't even handle high school syllabus, I could feel myself blushing.

"Yeah, really, you are a genius, please help us learn your ways Zura sensei!!" Yoshikawa and Ishikawa chime in, they start pestering me to help them up their grades

"…..come on now, we will even treat you to lunch everyday….." I don't let them finish; I stand up abruptly.

"Ahha.. I think I need to go to the bathroom" I say awkwardly, before giving them a chance to finish, I rush out of the class.

PV switch Hori san

"Do you think we irritated him too much ? " Yuki asks me, Zura left abruptly, for a guy of his composure and nature, it was a really strange behaviour, I couldn't understand why he was blushing like crazy.

As if he was almost ashamed. Was it another one of his secrets? "I am sure, its not that easy to offend him" I say, to reassure them, truth is, even I don't believe mysef.

I get up too. "Please excuse me for a moment…"

"Hey !!!! where are you going off to…" I could hear Toru say, as I leave the classroom.

It takes me about five minutes to find Zura, he was in the empty Physics lab, sipping from a packaged drink. Sulking. I have never seen him sulking. I have seen him at his most vulnerable, his most charming self, but I was surprised to see him sulking. It was a first for me. He looked like a child who had broken a vase and felt sorry for it.

"There you are" I say.

He looks up at me "Oh.. Hori san… it's you. I am sorry I left so abruptly" he looks down again. I sit beside him, and hand him my bun, "Here have this. You left your lunch in class" He takes the bun from me reluctantly.

"Hori san?" He calls my name with a subtle apprehension in his voice

 "Hmm?"

"Can I tell you something?" he asks, still unsure whether to say it or not

"Seriously Zura, after all this time, do you still need to ask." I sigh.

"Promise me you won't laugh" the way he said it almost reminded me of Souta. I resist my urge to pat his head to reassure him. This was serious for him.

"I promise" I say

"Hori san, … I.. actually.. well, you see… I just memorised the entire book page by page and all the questions which came along with it. I don't understand one bit, what the textbook said, far from teaching the others, I don't know that stuff myself" he blurts out.

I am astonished for a moment. I don't know what to say. Seriously what do you say to the guy who aced a test and claims he doesn't know anything, that he just memorised it?

"No way. You must be joking" I reply.

He picks up the physics textbook from the teacher's desk, tosses it to me.

"Pick up any exercise, just tell me the page number and the question number"

I do as he says. I flip to a random page and ask him a question.

To my utter disbelief he just repeats every bit of the answer step by step, number by number.

"Do you believe me now?" he asks.

It takes me some time to reply, My mouth was hanging open, I have memorised some subjects myself, but my ability was not nearly as close to his, memorising history or language was something, but reciting a Physics problem word for word, variable for variable was something else entirely. I pick up another page and ask another question. He does the same magic trick.

"You are really amazing, you know that" I say.

"No, no Hori san, it's my curse, I was born with photogenic memory. I have used it since childhood, now I can't seem to study normally, I memorise maths Hori san maths !!" he cries out.

I try very hard to stifle my laugh, but it escapes out

"Hey! you promised you won't laugh !" he turns away angrily.

"Well… don't be angry, fu.fu..fu.., this is the first time I see someone get upset after scoring well in a test" I manage to grab him by the shoulder while shaking with laughs.

"Hori san please help me! It feels like I am cheating, I want to study like you, not like the way I was born" he pleads.

"Well, that's no problem, you are coming to my house everyday anyways, I can always help you" I say.

"Thanks Hori san" he says, smiling. His smile looks so innocent. Seriously! I didn't know how someone could be so innocent yet so deeply poignant at the same time. If Yuki or Toru had his abilities, they would literally be dancing right now. He gets worked up over the smallest of things. Actually, I think I like it, it's so cute sometimes. 

"Dummy, you should be proud, but here you are moping, why do you always have to be so negative?!, come with me, the others are worried too you know." I say exasperated.

"Sorry?" he says.

Urgh… sometimes I can't stand how polite he is. I don't say anything further. I drag him back to class.