55Target 3
Library Liability
At first glance, people would often mark Gokudera as a precarious troublemaker. But the Vongola Storm Guardian possessed superior intelligence and fierce determination which had saved his neck and others' countless times in the battlefield. It was important to note that hard work was a significant factor to Gokudera's renowned genius; he had always been strict with himself in combat training. But what would likely surprise people was that he was also very strict in studying.
Gokudera quickly headed to his favourite desk behind the science section, which he was glad to note was empty (except for a lone girl sitting in the far-end corner of the room), and laid out his textbooks and the review materials he was making for Tsuna. Their finals were fast-approaching, and he couldn't afford to slack off in studying and in assisting his boss. Apart from the inevitable come-and-go passers-by, he was left undisturbed in his endeavour, the sound of pen against paper filtering the silence.
Two hours later, Gokudera stretched in his seat and adjusted his eyeglasses. Smiling at the twenty-page questionnaire he made for Tsuna, he proceeded with answering his worksheets in Physics, Chemistry, and Trigonometry, all of which he finished in twenty minutes. Then a glance at the wall clock immediately set him on his feet.
"I should be at Juudaime's right now," he muttered, hurriedly grabbing his stuff and throwing them in his rucksack.
Then he was out of the library and on his way to Tsuna's.
"You're a life saver, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna exclaimed when Gokudera appeared on his doorstop at twilight, brandishing the questionnaire which would hopefully keep him from flunking the year.
"It's no sweat, Juudaime," Gokudera grinned, apparently pleased and took a seat on the floor of his boss' bedroom. "Shall we start reviewing then?"
Tsuna nodded and was about to start answering when, "Oh, before I forget... Can I borrow your Physics notes, Gokudera-kun? I kind of... lost mine," he said sheepishly.
"No problem," Gokudera assured and began to rummage through his bag. "Fuck." He suddenly rose.
Tsuna looked up. "Gokudera-kun?"
"I'll be back!" he cried as he rushed out of the room.
Gokudera cursed when he saw the huge clock at the town centre - the library was closing in fifteen minutes – and ran, ignoring the passers-by he bumped in his haste. Upon entering the library, he immediately headed to the table behind the science section. He spotted his blue notebook on the table and wasted no time grabbing it.
"The library's closing in ten minutes."
Gokudera lifted his gaze.
From the other side of the room, the librarian, who seemed to have come from the end section, regarded a girl seated by a table and surrounded by stacks of books. He noted that it was the same girl he saw several hours ago.
"Hahi! It's seven?" The brunette suddenly got to her feet and began collecting her things.
Gokudera gaped when he realized who it was.
"Don't forget to return the books to the correct sections, Haru," the old woman reminded before Haru disappeared behind the tall shelves of the literature section.
Before Gokudera could decide on what to do, the librarian noticed him and exclaimed, "We're closing, dear!"
Stumped, he nodded and left without a word, his thoughts lingering on his unexpected library rendezvous with Haru.
That particular day, Reborn had forbidden Gokudera from visiting Tsuna's house until the young Vongola boss would learn to review for his exams without having to ask Gokudera, who would usually be beside him, to help in solving every problem.
With nowhere else to spend the day, the Storm Guardian entered the library, grabbed a random book from the science section, and sat at his favourite table.
Then he searched for a certain someone across the room. He wasn't disappointed.
Haru – who had been visiting the library as frequent as he did butstudied more than him – was in her usual table and was deeply engrossed with a book. She had her chair positioned sideward, so he was able to view her face; her eyebrows were furrowed and she chewed on her lower lip as she read in deep concentration.
"Miss, can I borrow your eraser?" a boy from the adjacent desk asked her politely.
She seemed to have not heard anything and turned to the next page.
"Nerd," Gokudera scoffed before turning to his own book and began to read. He was on the fourteenth page when,
"Ah, yeah sure!"
Gokudera looked up.
The boy smiled at the abashed-looking Haru – he seemed to have succeeded in borrowing her eraser. Haru returned to her book not long after, and he noticed that this time, she was also preoccupied with writing. Her forehead scrunched as she alternated gazes between the Trigonometry textbook and her notebook. She scribbled something on her pad then she resumed her reading. A few moments later, she furiously jotted something down then turned to her right – the boy was still using her eraser, completely focused with getting rid of the sketch on his ledger and was taking eons to finish.
Without thinking, Gokudera reached for his own eraser and aimed at Haru.
The rubber eraser hit the back of her head, and she swivelled towards his direction; but Gokudera was quick enough to cover his profile with the enormous Anatomy book he was previously reading. He ignored the looks he received from people he was sharing the table with and was rather thankful they weren't the only ones in the library that day. After counting to five, he peeped from the corner of the book.
Dismissing her bewilderment, Haru decided to settle with his eraser, a small, uncertain smile on her face that he couldn't help but mirror it.
For the next thirty minutes, he read the Anatomy book, all the while sparing Haru short glances. Presently, she looked extremely problematic as she glared at her paper.
Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He got it and flipped it open.
Can you check my answers, Gokudera-kun? I'm done with your questionnaire. :) ~ Juudaime
At that same moment, Haru got up from her chair and disappeared in the mathematics section. Unable to stop himself, Gokudera stood up, headed over to her desk, and peered at the paper she was currently working on.
What is sin(4ᴫ/3+2k1 ᴫ) + cos(7ᴫ/6 + 2k2ᴫ) if both k1 andk2 are integers?
Gokudera grabbed the pencil lying on the table and quickly scribbled on the worksheet. "Stupid woman," he murmured before heading out.
Haru was surprised to see all her problem sets answered complete with solutions when she returned.
A week before the finals, Gokudera had already finished studying and planned to devote the remaining time helping Tsuna study. But that didn't stop him from visiting the library to do something of great consequence.
"What's this?" the librarian raised her eyebrow, eyeing the book on the counter.
Gokudera nodded, shouldering his backpack. "Please pass it on for me."
The old woman looked amused. "She'll be here in a few minutes. Why don't you give it to her personally?"
At this, he blushed faintly but covered it up by saying, "Juudaime's expecting me over now. I need to go!" And then he ran out, leaving the librarian to shake her head, smiling.
Sure enough, Haru arrived several minutes later and took a seat in her usual desk. She unzipped her bag and took out her books and notes, scattering them on the table. Deciding to start with the subject she found most difficult, Haru flipped her Trigonometry notes open and began to go over them. In the middle of marking the Sine and Cosine Laws in mind, a thick hardbound book landed on top of her desk.
"Hahi!" She looked up.
"This might help," the old librarian smiled warmly.
Trigonometry for Dummies, she read.
Haru gingerly opened the book; it was all there: Circular Functions, Trigonometric Identities, Oblique Triangles, and other topics she would usually have a hard time understanding but was explained so simply in the book that she truly understood. For three hours, she drank it all in.
"Thanks for the book, obaa-chan! It really helped Haru!" she returned the book to the librarian by the counter ten minutes before closing time.
The old woman paused from her typing. "Oh, it's Hayato you should be thanking."
Haru blinked. "Hayato?"
It was Namimori Middle School's finals in two days.
Although it was a Saturday, the library was packed. Every table was occupied and the place was buzzing with the sound of pen scratches and flipping pages.
It was a matter of frustration when Gokudera found himself unable to concentrate on what he was doing – which actually had nothing to do with studying – when he found himself surrounded by people who saw the need to say something every five minutes. He noticed that Haru was in the same boat. Again, she was seated sideward and he was open to view her expression. Similar to when she was having difficulties with Trigonometry, the girl's forehead was scrunched in exasperation as she glared at her book.
For several moments, he couldn't stop himself from staring.
Then she looked up.
Green met russet.
He turned to his notebook, a flush on his face and a half-hearted grimace tugging on his lips.
"Can we sit with you, Gokudera-kun?"
Two girls from his class were standing by his table, expectantly waiting for his reply.
He shrugged.
They quickly took their seats and smiled at him, but he ignored them the rest of the time and focused on the symbols he was drawing.
"Are you done studying, Gokudera-kun?"
Both girls were looking at him curiously.
"Sort of," he replied then glared when one of them leaned close to him to look at his notebook.
"Oooh, these are really good!"
"This is the library, not a place where you can chat and flirt with someone," the librarian snapped from one of the shelves.
The two girls quickly returned to their studying while Gokudera smiled at the old woman thankfully. But she frowned at him.
"The library is also not a place to ogle other people studying, Hayato." Then she walked away to reprimand the other people polluting the area with their noise.
Gokudera irritably doodled on his notebook.
"Psst, Gokudera-kun. Can you help me with this problem?" his pigtailed classmate whispered from across the table.
He sighed, "Give it to me."
"Thank you," she mouthed after getting her notebook back from the boy who immediately returned to his doodling.
"Gokudera-kun, what's the second law of thermodynamics again?" the one beside him asked this time.
He twitched but answered nevertheless. "Energy transformation is always accompanied by a degradation of energy...from a concentrated to a dispersed form, from organized to less organized, and from freely available to less available form. Basically, it's high quality energy to a low quality one," he muttered, not removing his eyes from the sphinx he was sketching.
"Thanks!"
"Gokudera-kun."
"What?" he snapped and looked up.
"Hahi!"
He coloured slightly when he realized Haru was standing right beside him.
"H-Haru was just wondering whether she can borrow your book again... The Trigonometry for Dummies?"
Gokudera's eyes widened in surprise, but recovered in a snap. "I didn't bring it with me."
Haru looked disheartened. "Oh."
"I know the library has a copy." He was highly aware of the gazes his classmates had on Haru.
She looked hopeful. "Really? Haru had checked the mathematics section several times but she never saw one before! Are you sure about this, Gokudera-kun?"
"Of course I am! I'll show you," he collected his notebook and stood up.
Haru was blushing all of a sudden. "No, it's fine! Haru can find it on her own, so continue with whatever you were doing!"
Gokudera glared at her, "You won't be able to find it on your own, so just shut up and be grateful."
Haru looked affronted. "Haru just wanted to—"
"If you don't keep your voices down, I will have to kick you out." The librarian appeared out of nowhere and was glowering at them.
"Sorry, obaa-chan," Haru apologized as the old woman walked away. Then she turned to Gokudera. "Can you stop being so infuriating?" she hissed.
"If you stop being so stubborn, stupid woman," Gokudera snapped. Before Haru could retort, he added, "Well, do you want that book or not? Follow me."
"Haru has never been in here before!" she exclaimed, gawking at the shelves of enormous books in the innermost sections of the library. Her eyes drifted from title to title and gasped when she saw a black book stained with what looked like dried blood.
"Hahi!" She ran and stuck close to Gokudera. "What section are we in?"
"The supernatural section," he said fondly, his eyes fixed on the books on the topmost shelves. "All you need to know about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, mythical creatures, and aliens are in here... they're all very enlightening. And if you ask me, people should be interested in this subject because it's only a matter of time before creatures from a different world would come and invade ours, so it'll be wise to get to know them."
Haru blinked, "You're weird."
Gokudera blushed and glared at her over his shoulder, "Shut up, costume-freak."
After a moment of silence, they finally reached their destination.
"The Dummy Section?" Haru whispered, looking rather dubious. "There's actually a section like this?" She saw titles like: Chemistry for Dummies, Information Technology for Dummies, Baby-sitting for Dummies...
"Here," Gokudera handed her a familiar book, snapping her from her momentary reverie with the large number of Dummy volumes. "Trigonometry for Dummies."
Haru reddened slightly when her fingers brushed Gokudera's, "Thank you, Gokudera-kun!" she grinned.
Gokudera looked away to hide his own blush and began walking. They were back in the main sections not long after.
"What are you doing?" Haru asked when the silver-haired boy took a seat beside her.
"I'm taking a seat, stupid woman," Gokudera drawled, dropping his things on the desk.
Haru gaped, "But you had a free seat in your table!"
Gokudera flipped his notebook open, "It's now occupied. And besides, I couldn't concentrate there."
The brunette looked highly agitated. "Well, don't do anything to ruin Haru's! If you disturb Haru even once, you're going to be really sorry!"
Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "And what are you going to do?"
Haru grinned deviously. "Bianchi-san."
Gokudera's expression was a mixture of horror and anger, "I won't waste my time on you anyway, so stop flattering yourself!" he growled and began to draw.
Satisfied, Haru resumed her studying.
However, for some unexplainable reason, Haru found it extremely difficult to process the words in the book. She didn't get what was wrong. She perfectly understood everything when she first read it, so why would it be any different right now?
Instinctively, she shifted her gaze from the book to Gokudera.
For the second time that day, she caught his eyes.
"Is there something on Haru's face?" She gave him a half-hearted glare.
"Are you that stupid that you're having a hard time understanding from that book?"
Haru was looking at him accusingly, "You're causing Haru's loss of concentration."
Gokudera was thrown by the statement. "What?"
"There's something about you that's getting in the way of Haru's focus," she reiterated, glaring daggers at him.
Gokudera reddened at the implications.
"Please leave Haru alone, Gokudera-kun. She can't concentrate," she said with finality before returning to her Trigonometry book.
But Gokudera didn't budge. Instead, he muttered, "So you're saying I'm distracting." He sounded oddly pleased.
It was Haru's turn to blush, "Haru didn't mean it that way! It's just that... you're really irritating, you know? So whenever Haru sees your face, she is repulsed and is unable to concentrate on anything else!" she spluttered.
Gokudera grimaced. "Repulsed? So now you're saying there's something wrong with my face?"
Haru nodded, as if assuring herself, "Yeah! Your face is really repulsive and I can't stand looking at it that's why I need you to leave right now!"
"Actually..."
Both Gokudera and Haru turned towards their new company.
It was the librarian, and her expression was stern.
"I would have to ask the both of you to step out of the library... now."
Awkwardness hung thick in the air as they walked side by side in town. Gokudera occupied himself by looking at the sky while Haru's eyes wandered around the shops in the street. Then the silence was broken when Haru stopped in her tracks and leaned towards one of the glass windows.
"Oh, look! Those are really cute!" she gushed, turning to look at Gokudera who eyed her curiously. "Let's take a look!" Much to his surprise, she grabbed his hand and dragged him inside.
She let go when she reached the glass counter containing colourful, miniature objects.
"What are those?" Gokudera asked, peering over her shoulder.
"Good luck charms," she smiled then said to the woman by the desk, "I'd like two of this, please! The pink and red one!"
Gokudera didn't know what to say when Haru handed him the red good luck charm upon coming out of the shop several minutes later.
"Take it," Haru said, dangling the trinket in front of him.
Gokdura got it and turned it in his hand, "It's a fish."
Haru grinned, "Don't you think it's cute?"
Gokudera stared at her.
Feeling his eyes, the brunette became self-conscious all of a sudden. "W-What?"
"Why are you giving this to me?" Gokudera looked serious.
"It's your exams next week, right? Haru wishes you luck!" she smiled at him warmly.
It annoyed him that he was so affected by that simple gesture but was thrilled that she gave it to him, not Tsuna or anyone else.
"And... Haru is grateful to Gokudera-kun for helping her in the library." She blushed and looked uncomfortable all of a sudden.
He followed suit and tried to hide it, but failed, "Yeah, you were quite the liability. I've been wondering the entire time why you're having such a hard time with Trigonometry... You must be really stupid."
Haru twitched and grabbed the charm from his hand. "You git! Haru's taking this back!"
Gokudera was at a loss. "Fine! I don't need that stupid charm anyway," he said through gritted teeth.
"But it's such a waste," Haru feigned regret. "Maybe Haru'll drop by Yamamoto's to give him this—"
Gokudera instantly grabbed it back from her, "I was joking... stupid woman."
A/N: Nerd power, lol. I hoped you liked it! Review and I'll be prompted to post the next instalment soon. The rest of the Vongola Guardians will be making their appearance in the next one, teehee. Anyhow, thank you for reading! (:))