Chapter 21: The Critical Feedback

Did Suzuki do good? Or did he not? Right now, Suzuki will find out as his classmate's applause slowly fades.

Then, snapping back from the embarrassment, he moved and unhooked his computer. "Oh, I did bad." He told himself while shaking. "Go back, back to my desk." He picked up his computer.

"Thank you, now I will begin the critiques." Said professor Tora as he got up and moved to the front of the class. "Who wants to go before me?" He asked the class with excitement.

After a short while, he patiently waited for a volunteer, but nobody seemed to budge.

"Ahh?" He said with a disappointed expression. "Fine, I'll go, thanks." He inhaled an enormous amount of air. "First, you pulled it to the end, Suzuki." He looked over at him. "It was a great speech, loaded with information that has helped us understand what gravity is." Tora was nervous.

"I hope he doesn't kill me." The Professor prayed inwardly, scared.

"Though it was a little shorter than I wanted, it was still very well structured." He spoke out loud as he walked over to the board.

"You're not a natural speaker, nor are you fit to do a public speech, but I liked it because at least you tried." He smiled, looking back at his students.

Hearing these unnecessary compliments, Suzuki buried his face into his arms, unable to take anymore. The room went silent as he listened to the marker squeak against the board.

Then, slowly lifting his head, he found Tora facing away, writing his name with a star.

"You've done well, Suzuki," Professor Tora praised Suzuki, blushing.

"Suzuki, you really do remind me of myself." He inwardly said, placing the marker down.

"Okay, class! Suzuki finished one speech, and one critique' finished as well. Thirty-two more to go, so let's finish it!" He announced with a proud face.

"No way, your critique was fast." Said one of the students in a hasty matter.

"Eh, can we please just go off what you say to others?" Another classmate stated discontent.

While this background chatter took place and the class livened up, Suzuki remained in his position. Then, blushing with mixed emotions, he rested his head with a smile.

"I found your speech very interesting, it was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed you battling against your social anxiety." Said the final classmate as she critiqued Suzuki, who was surprisingly sitting upright in his chair, blushing.

"So hot." She told one of the female students about Suzuki, sitting a few seats behind him.

"You're so right. It sucks that Suzuki's so unapproachable." Whispered the girl next to her into her ear.

Though hearing such comments, Suzuki's happy face remained on, and he felt a jolt of contentment. "All of them said something nice." He sincerely smiled.

"I'm so happy." He expressed with a content expression. "But, I'm going to kill this asshole of a professor." He groaned under his breath with an evil face.

"Hah, I somehow feel a sinister glare onto my back." Tora picked on the negative aura, trying not to face Suzuki.

As the final student finished their presentation and returned for critiques, Suzuki struggled to think of something as feedback. Instead, he used everything he considered to say, and now he was left facing his classmates with despair.

"What do I do?" He listened in for other classmates' statements.

Yet nothing made sense. A classmate spoke and handed inconstant feedback to the presenter after another.

"Uhh, more words are being used with each passing student." Then, he thought of a clever idea. "Maybe I should go next to spare a comment for myself." Sweat drenched his face.

"Shit, I'm gonna do it." He pumped himself up and raised his hand.

"Hmm, yes?" Answered Tora with a befuddled expression.

"M-Me next!" Suzuki held his breath in, turning red.

"It's your turn now, you the last one." He informed Suzuki with an uneven smile.

"No, no way everyone has already gone?" He inwardly said in urgency.

"I didn't hear anyone else speak, though." He looked at the floor. "I'm sure everything I could've said, someone else has said it." He stood alone in despair.

"Oh well, whatever." He said in a gloomy aura. "Just say something." He stood up with a grim aura surrounding him.

"I-I liked your presentation. It was thoughtful of you to bring such an important subject to awareness." He stated in a hurry. Finally, he finished and immediately jumped onto his seat with a blush.

"Oh shit, that was longer than I wanted." He inwardly declared with a worried expression. "I knew I shouldn't just spit things out." Then, finally, he rested his head down into his arms' crease.

"Thanks, Suzuki-San." The classmate thanked him as he lifted his head slowly.

"Mhm, thank you, everyone. You all did a fantastic job." Tora shouted at the end of the project.

Though not entirely happy, Suzuki placed his smiley face down with contentment as he thought about today's lovely comments.