A Lesson on Complementing: Part 1

Author's Note: I've been working on this fic for an embarrassingly long time, and it's still not complete. But I'm hoping posting a chapter will encourage me to work faster. Let's hope so!

Let me know what you think!


Tuesday mornings were not special for the students of Shiroiwa Junior High. A Tuesday was just a Tuesday, and school was just school. So, it would come as no surprise that students had formed typical routines by late August.

For the neutral boys of Class B, that was definitely true.

Currently standing in the corner of the school-yard, where they did every morning, were Yutaka Seto, Shuya Nanahara, Yoshitoki Kuninobu, Hiroki Sugimura, and Keita Iijima. They were standing in a group as they watched their sixth member finish up his morning routine so that they could finish theirs.

Shinji Mimura was currently surrounded by eight girls, all but one in class 3-C. He was leaning coolly against the school wall as the group of girls flirted with him. It happened like this every morning, so Tuesday was no different. But still, there were some common subjects that you could revisit, even when they happened five days a week.

"How does he do that?" Shuya asked, eyeing Shinji from across the yard.

Shinji was currently being handed a bag of cookies from one girl and a small carton of milk from another, as a third girl put a hand on his shoulder while she whispered in his ear.

"Who knows?" Yoshitoki replied, watching in fascination as Shinji said something that made the whole group of girls break into laughter.

"They share him so well," Hiroki said, watching the way the girls would smile at each other whenever Shinji paid them special attention.

"Can't say there isn't enough of The Third Man to go around," Keita said, sounding more impressed than anything.

There were no further comments from the group as Shinji finally took a step forward and started saying his goodbyes. The girls looked disappointed, but they let him go, looking after him and giggling together.

Shinji looked perfectly smug when he joined his friends. "Sorry about that. It's hard to get them to let go of me," Shinji said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

"Oh, yeah, you looked like you were hating it," Shuya teased, lightly punching his shoulder.

Shinji winked at Shuya. "It's a lot of attention. Maybe someday you'll understand."

"You live for attention!" Keita was obviously trying to joke, or at least he was trying very hard to get some of Shinji's attention. "You'd probably die if you didn't have all those babes on you all the time, right?"

Shinji barely spared him a glance. There was very little Keita could say without irritating him.

"I don't think he'd die, but he probably wouldn't come to school so early," Shuya joked, patting Shinji on the back good-naturedly.

"No, Keita's right," Yutaka said, sounding somber and serious. "It's a scientific fact that if Shinji isn't complimented every 20 minutes, he'll die."

The whole group laughed then, well, except for Shinji.

It wasn't really a big deal. Sure, Yutaka, his best friend who he almost always sided with, had just agreed with Keita, who Shinji wished would take a hint and disappear, but it wasn't a big deal.

Shinji was very mature, and things like that ran off his back like sweat during a basketball game.

It certainly didn't bother him. Not one bit.

So, Yutaka thought he'd die without a compliment thrown his way every 20 minutes? That was cool. No biggie. It was completely fine that his best friend thought that about him.

It wasn't true, but Shinji wasn't so petty that he'd do anything about it. It wasn't like he'd come up with some plot to teach Yutaka a lesson. He was too mature for that.

"Funny," Shinji said, ruffling Yutaka's hair a bit.

No, Shinji would never be so immature as to plan out something to show Yutaka the error of his ways.

But… If an opportunity were to come along, that would be a different story. He was an opportunist after all.


It was almost a week and a half later when opportunity struck, not that Shinji had been waiting on it.

Shinji had already finished his morning flirt session with the girls and had joined the rest of the neutral boys at their usual spot in the school-yard when Shuya asked about seeing a movie after school, once Hiroki finished Kenpo practice.

The whole group began agreeing as Yutaka pulled out his wallet.

"Shit, I don't have any money. Can anyone lend me any?" Yutaka asked as he looked around the group.

Shuya and Nobu shook their heads, unsurprising given that they had to find odd jobs in town to make money.

Hiroki checked his wallet. "I've only got 1,500 yen, but you could have the extra." But of course, that would still leave him around 1,000 yen short.

"Damn, sorry, man! I don't have any extra. That sucks so bad that you won't be able to come with us." Keita did not actually sound like he thought it would suck so bad. In fact, he sounded a little excited. The kind of excited a guy got at the thought that maybe he could get the seat beside Shinji for once.

Yutaka looked to Shinji, his last hope, and Shinji was grinning like a shark.

Yutaka did not care for that.

"I do have extra money, but I'm not in a lending mood," Shinji said. He then drew out the moment by taking out his own wallet and counting out enough extra yen for a movie ticket. "However, I could give you the opportunity to make the money."

Oh, yeah, Yutaka definitely didn't like that.

Usually, when Shinji offered money-making opportunities, they were for Keita. Like the time he had given Keita money to get a milkshake in exchange for him drinking an entire bottle of hot sauce first. Keita's eyes had watered for, like, two hours and Yutaka figured he had to have shat fire later that night.

"What kind of opportunity?" Yutaka asked cautiously.

"Do you remember about a week and a half ago when you said if I didn't get a compliment every 20 minutes, I'd die?" Shinji asked.

The tension that Yutaka hadn't realized he had in his body released. It was replaced with a couple of feelings.

First was guilt as he realized that he'd hurt Shinji's feelings. Shinji wouldn't have brought it up otherwise.

The second was frustration because Shinji was seriously so bad at talking about his feelings. It was the one thing Yutaka could think of that he was better at.

Because, seriously, if Shinji had just told him a week and a half ago that his comment had hurt his feelings, Yutaka would have apologized. He wouldn't even have pointed out that his comment was at least 95% accurate; he would have just said that he was sorry and that he didn't mean it.

Instead, Shinji had held onto it for a week and a half and waited for the perfect moment to catch Yutaka with a lesson.

Yutaka wondered if Shinji knew that Yutaka knew that he did that.

Because that was always the method. Shinji never just said he was mad. Instead, he waited for opportunities to prove his points. Well, if he didn't just stop talking to someone.

It was so fucking annoying.

But Yutaka had hurt his feelings. And even if what he said was true, he'd never wanted to do that. Shinji never went around hurting his.

So, he'd learn whatever lesson Shinji wanted him to learn, and that would be his apology.

He didn't have much of a choice anyway. Even if he said no to whatever Shinji proposed, Shinji would just wait for the next opportunity, and by then he'd have had even more time to stew on it.

Better to take his lumps now.

"I do remember that," Yutaka said, waiting to find out what Shinji had cooked up.

"Well, I thought about it a lot," Shinji told him.

Yutaka wanted to say, 'No shit.' But given that Shinji was his best friend and was clearly trying to process his feelings, Yutaka withheld.

"And I decided that you're right," Shinji said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Yutaka's right eyebrow rose. That wasn't what he was expecting to hear.

"You did?" Yutaka asked skeptically.

The rest of their friend group was looking at Shinji just as skeptically.

"Yeah, I just thought about it and realized I do really love attention. I really crave it. If someone's not complimenting me, it just really messes with me." The sarcasm couldn't have been much thicker in Shinji's voice.

On the plus side, things made sense again.

"So, I figure I should just pay you to do it," Shinji said simply.

Yutaka had to hold back an eye-roll. What even was the lesson there? Was there one, or was it just humiliation?

Fuck it, he complimented Shinji all the time anyway. If that was what Shinji wanted, he'd do a damn good job with it.

"State your terms," Yutaka said, crossing his arms. It wasn't often he took on a challenge from Shinji, but when he did, he brought his 'A' game. You kind of had to against Shinji.

Shinji grinned. "This is very easy money, Yutaka. So, the terms are simple," Shinji moved so that they were standing face-to-face (well, as close to that as their height difference allowed), only a few centimeters apart. "Anything that comes out of your mouth today is about me and how great I am. I want you completely obsessed with me. It doesn't matter if I'm there or not to hear it, you're only thinking and talking about me. And no ignoring people to avoid saying anything; that's cheating."

"Okay, when specifically does this end?" Yutaka asked, his facial expression determined.

"We're going to the movie once Hiroki gets out of practice. Make it until Hiroki's done, and you get paid. Got it?" Shinji asked, waving the yen in his face.

Yutaka nodded, a grin on his face. "This really will be easy money; I could compliment you for hours."

Shinji grinned, "Don't worry, you will."

Their friends looked at each other, unsure what to expect. All they knew was that the day was about to get more interesting.


The neutral boys were only outside for a few more minutes before the first bell had rung and they headed to their homeroom class with Mr. Hayashida.

During those few minutes Shinji had picked at Yutaka a little, but it hadn't been anything he couldn't handle. Shinji was all about taking things slow (unless a girl was involved, of course), after all, he had all day to show Yutaka how much the compliments meant nothing to him.

Because that was the plan. To have Yutaka compliment him all day and for Shinji to barely react. An easy lesson that would also embarrass Yutaka just the right amount.

At the moment, though, there was no embarrassment to be had. Dragonfly was trying to teach them math, and half of the kids in class had their eyes glazed over despite math being their first class of the day.

Mr. Hayashida finished writing a problem from their homework on the board and Shinji halfheartedly looked down at his paper, which he'd rushed through the night before. They'd been working on this type of problem for two days now. Shinji could do them in his sleep, but a lot of the class was still struggling.

"Okay, so here's another problem from the homework," Mr. Hayashida said as he pointed up at the board. "Hmm, Seto, can you tell me what you got for this one?"

Shinji perked up at Yutaka's name and looked over to where the boy was sitting. Yutaka frowned.

On a normal day, Yutaka wouldn't have been happy to be called on in math. It was his worst subject, and Shinji usually had to help him cram before exams.

But today Yutaka was probably unhappy for a different reason.

Yutaka looked over at Shinji and raised an eyebrow, silently asking, 'Do I have to do this in front of Dragonfly?'

Shinji winked, silently answering, 'You sure do, buddy. Have fun with it!'

"Seto?" Mr. Hayashida asked again.

"You know who'd be really great at answering this question?" Yutaka asked, abruptly facing Mr. Hayashida, a renewed energy about him. "Shinji. He's so good at math. Probably the best in our class."

A couple of kids laughed, and Shinji watched Motobuchi's head snap around to look at Yutaka offendedly. Shinji only grinned as Dragonfly gave a light laugh. He was good about taking Yutaka's jokes in stride.

Too bad this joke wouldn't be over until the end of the day.

"That may be true," Mr. Hayashida said, causing Motobuchi's head to snap toward him, a disbelieving look on his face. "but I would really like to hear from you."

Yutaka sighed, but he didn't actually look put out. He knew where he was going to take this. Shinji watched in anticipation.

"Look, I can tell you that I think the answer is 27," Yutaka said, putting his hand to his chest. "But Shinji would know if the answer is 27. He's so smart, I bet he got every question right. Probably didn't even have to try. He's that good."

Dragonfly seemed like he was putting two and two together. He looked over at Shinji, obviously seeking an explanation.

"The answer isn't 27," Shinji said, ignoring Dragonfly's silent question in favor of the math one. "It's 33. He didn't carryover."

Dragonfly didn't get a chance to answer before Yutaka was back at it. He slammed his fist against his desk as though to stress what he was about to say. "This is what I'm talking about! Did you see how easy that was for him? This man," Yutaka said while pointing at Shinji dramatically. "is an absolute genius. And we don't talk about it enough."

Dragonfly looked at a loss as kids continued to snicker. Shinji couldn't help the grin that was on his face.

"Okay, uh, Motobuchi, why don't you come up to the board and work the problem?" Mr. Hayashida had obviously decided that his best move was to take Shinji and Yutaka out of the equation. And he'd made a good choice in who to pick instead because Motobuchi looked like he had something to prove.

As Motobuchi worked the problem, Yutaka looked over at Shinji, a smug look on his face. But Shinji only grinned at him. This was only the beginning.


After class, Mr. Hayashida asked Yutaka to stay behind to talk to him. It wasn't really a surprise given Dragonfly's reputation for checking in with students who seemed off. Still, Yutaka had looked a little surprised by the request, and Shinji had taken delight in that as he took his time leaving the classroom. When he was the last one out, he left the door cracked open. He wanted to hear how Yutaka would get himself through the conversation.

"Seto, I just wanted to check in on you. Your behavior this morning was a little… odd," Mr. Hayashida started. He was leaning against his desk casually, but his eyes were focused and caring. "Is everything okay?"

Yutaka briefly looked toward the door. He knew Shinji Mimura was standing behind it waiting to hear what he would say. Well, Yutaka could deliver.

"Everything's great! I mean, Shinji's here today, and any day I get to spend time with Shinji is a good one," Yutaka said a little louder than he needed to.

Mr. Hayashida's brow furrowed. "Do you and Mimura have some kind of bet going on?"

Yutaka scoffed. "As if I could ever win a bet against Shinji. Have you met him? He's the best at everything," Yutaka said. He was perhaps overplaying things, but that was okay. Tone was not part of their agreement. "He's just presenting me with a money-making opportunity because he's so generous."

In the hallway, Shinji was laughing. Hearing their conversation was definitely going to be worth being late to his next class.

Mr. Hayashida nodded his head. "I believe I understand," He then leaned closer to Yutaka, perhaps realizing that Shinji was listening on the other side of the door, and whispered, "And you don't need any outside assistance?"

Yutaka grinned. "If I need any assistance, I know Shinji has me covered. He's the best friend a guy could have," Yutaka said, accidentally sounding genuine. Well, it wasn't his fault. It was hard to sound like he was joking about something that was so true.

"All right, then I'll see you tomorrow, Seto," Mr. Hayashida said, as he wrote Yutaka a pass for his next class.

Once Yutaka had the pass, he waved goodbye before walking out of the room and finding a grinning Shinji just where he had expected him, leaning coolly against the wall next to the door, school things in his left hand.

"I hope that pleased you. You deserve the best," Yutaka said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, it pleased me very much," Shinji said smugly as he stepped away from the wall. "Now hand me that pass so I can add my name to it."

Yutaka did as he was told, and Shinji pulled a pen out of a spiral-bound notebook and added his name to the pass. Truthfully, their next teacher, Mrs. Kikuchi, probably wouldn't even inspect it. She was a little too trusting.

"Perfect. Also, I'm feeling a little weak— lack of compliments, ya know? Would you mind telling me more about how I'm the smartest person you know?" Shinji asked pointedly as they walked toward their science class.

Yutaka laughed. "I'd love to. For starters you're…"

Shinji grinned as he listened to Yutaka ramble on about his genius. Paying Yutaka for compliments had been an amazing idea. Yutaka was learning a lesson and Shinji… Well, Shinji had never said he didn't like compliments. He was certainly enjoying the way they flowed openly from Yutaka's mouth.