Chapter 124: Arc 3, - 34: Another Day
It started with random sketches on notebooks, trying to drown out the noise of the teacher droning on about some math equation too complicated to understand.
The marked exam papers right in front of him—he barely turned a page. The red F on the top already had him leaning against his palm in a sigh.
He doodled and drew; the final year of high school. Drawings of objects from the games he’d play, characters from the shows he’d watch.
The school bell rang as Jotou clicked the pen. Eyebags, hair barely kept together and running on three hours of sleep; nothing different, just another day.
Waking up, sleep deprived, going to classes only to fail and be pressured even more to do better, only to realize none of the information is being absorbed.
Try and try again till there’s no time for sleep. Waking up, sleep deprived, going to classes only to fail- This cycle, again and again and again.
Jotou grew more careless, taking a misstep down the stairs, walking into doors or poles before waking up fully, nearly falling asleep while driving.
A pain in the neck from sleeping haphazardly, forgetting half the conversations he had, like life was just passing by at the speed of light and trying to remember any moment felt cloudy.
Jotou tore up the exam sheets, marked again with a failure. He tossed it in the trash as he walked out of class—alone he walked.
He stopped and sighed, "How am I gonna tell mom and dad...? Finals are coming up soon and I haven’t shown a single paper since the start of the year.
Whatever, I’ll just tell them I got a B minus. I should go draw something to take my mind off of it. Maybe I’ll call Daiyu or Crispy later."
Jotou looked up at a booth set up, promoting university applications. The counsellors had set up posters and banners whilst some students helped pass flyers around.