Shaman King Fan Fiction ❯ Hoshi ga Hoshii desu ❯ exams ( Chapter 7 )

H o s h i - g a - H o s h i i - d e s u

"I want the stars"

by Lucathia

-chapter 7: exams-

Hoshi ignored the class's murmur. He had to concentrate on taking his exams. In times like these it wasn't necessary to be able to hear people's thoughts in order to know what they were thinking about. They whispered way too loudly.

"Why didn't he give us his family name?" That so-called whisper came from his left. It was from some random guy.

"I don't know. But that doesn't matter. He's cute!" That loud whisper came from the girl sitting next to the guy.

"His hair's so long. It looks so silky. I'd love to run my hands through his ponytail!"

Hoshi shuddered from that "dreamy" whisper. Maybe he should have taken Tsuki's advice, although the class's reaction to his long hair was different from what Tsuki had in mind. They didn't mistake him for a girl because of his long hair, but rather wanted to "run their hands" through his silky hair.

"Bah. What's good about him? He's so girly."

Okay, never mind what he said. The people in the class thought the same way Tsuki said they would. Ignorant people.

Ichi-sensei truly did cover a wide range of subjects. Throughout the evening, the teacher managed to touch upon algebra, geometry, history, government, English, Japanese, writing, literature, and science. After the third subject switch, most of the class stopped paying attention to the teacher. Instead, they focused on gossiping about the new student. Hoshi didn't see how the teacher was able to fit all that information into such a small amount of lecturing time anyway. It was sort of surreal.

During one of the later subject switches, the teacher decided that Hoshi wouldn't be able to determine his grade level just by listening to him lecture. He seemed to have a better idea and quickly gathered numerous exam forms. What better way to find out a person's grade level than through exams? The stack of exam papers that Ichi-sensei handed Hoshi was at least four centimeters high. Hoshi had to start working immediately, his hand scribbling nonstop. So while the rest of the "studious" students continued "listening" to Ichi-sensei lecture, Hoshi was busy taking his exams and trying to tune out the class's whispers about him.

Clearly, Ichi-sensei didn't expect Hoshi to be able to finish the exams. Hoshi looked to be either a middle school student or a really young-looking high school student. The exams that he gave Hoshi were at least college-leveled. No student short of a genius would be able to answer all of the questions in the little time given.

So when Hoshi handed the exams to the sensei, completely filled out before the end of class, Ichi-sensei's eyes widened.

"Uh...did you finish all of it?"

Hoshi nodded.

Ichi-sensei was unable to believe Hoshi.

"ALL OF IT?"

Hoshi nodded again. "Of course. You gave them to me because I'm supposed to finish them, right?"

Ichi-sensei was bewildered. Well, just finishing the exams didn't mean that he got all the questions right! "I guess you can go now. Come back in a few days to check your results.

"That means I don't have to come before then, right?"

Ichi-sensei sighed. "You don't have to attend any more sessions for now."

Hoshi gave a little smile and left the class.

The girls gave a unified sigh. Not only was the new student cute, he was also smart!

All the boys in the class were jealous of the new student, all except Oyamada Manta. Manta's eyes followed Hoshi until Hoshi left the room.

Manta stood up with his humongous book in his hand, all ready to leave. "Ichi-sensei! Excuse me! I have to leave now!" He didn't wait for the teacher's permission and left immediately after his words.

The class blinked as Oyamada Manta rushed out of the classroom.

Ichi-sensei frowned and muttered under his breath. "Kids these days!"

-

Manta walked as fast as he could, trying to catch up to the new student. Manta had been busy looking through his book when the door to the classroom slid open and the new student walked in. "Yoh-kun" was the first thought that had popped into his mind when he laid his eyes upon the new student. Manta had been shocked because he had thought that Yoh-kun suddenly decided to go to cram school with him! And that would be very unlike Yoh-kun because Yoh-kun just didn't like to do extra. Since cram school wasn't required, Yoh-kun wouldn't take it.

Manta mistook the new student for Yoh-kun because...well, they looked exactly the same and they wore similar clothing. The new student's hair was tied up, so he couldn't tell how long the new student's hair was. The clothing—greenish pants and short sleeves—reminded him of Yoh-kun. The only thing that was missing was Yoh-kun's orange headphones.

Manta's thoughts were all jumbled and became even more jumbled when the new student introduced himself as "Hoshi."

The new student wasn't Yoh, that he was certain of. But if the new student wasn't Yoh, then that meant he could only be...Hao. And that couldn't be possible either because Hao was defeated and that meant that he was dead and...

Or was he?

He didn't want to think that Hao was still alive and about. He remembered how much danger everyone was in when they were battling Hao to prevent him from becoming Shaman King. If Hao had managed to become Shaman King...the world would be an extremely different place now...and certainly not a better one.

The new student didn't feel like Hao either though. For one, he didn't have that smirk that Hao always wore. And second, the new student was able to finish that fat stack of exams! Would Hao be able to do that? Hao didn't care about normal humans at all. What would he know about school and its subjects?

Manta didn't know what to think. All he knew was that he had to follow the new student. He couldn't let "Hoshi" out of his sight.

He finally saw Hoshi near the door of the building. Seeing Hoshi walk out of the building, Manta quickly followed him.

Once outside the building, Hoshi stretched and turned towards his left.

"Gomen, Hoshisuke. That was boring ne? Well, let's stay away from this boxy building for as long as we can." As Manta rushed through the door, Hoshi's face became visible. Manta noticed the wide smile across Hoshi's face.

Manta's eyes widened.

Not only did Hoshi's words sound like words Yoh-kun would say, that wide smile also reminded him of Yoh-kun.

It was like seeing a replica of Yoh-kun.

Hoshi certainly couldn't be Hao. He was way too different!

Could Yoh-kun, Hao, and Hoshi be triplets?

Manta shook his head. He was going insane with these thoughts.

-to be continued-

A/N: this story has already been finished at 46 chapters on February 21, 2005.  I have the entire fic archived on www.fanfiction.net/~lucathiarykatu  and at www.livejournal.com/users/lucathia_rykatu .  I will be slowly upping the chapters here on mm.org as well.

Next chapter: the bridge

please review:)