Japan

"Yoh, I'm sorry, okay?!"

If Ieyoshi heard his brother, he didn't act like it. He sauntered along instead, like a conquering hero, infinitely proud and bigger than life, his every footfall one of authority and import, his face the epitome of equipoise, his fluffy brown hair gently bouncing back and forth as if being blown by winds from the lips of Zephyr himself.

From the waist up he was a total badass. Too bad that image was utterly shattered by his lack of pants and shoes. It's hard to look tough while walking down a hallway in cotton-white socks and your favorite batman undies.

There were some muffled giggles coming from a group of girls that were approaching from the opposite direction down the hall. They were making eyes at Ieyoshi, glancing in his direction—perhaps at his pantsless region—and then looking back at each other with such frequency that you could set your watch to it. Again, if Ieyoshi was privy to this, he didn't show it. His eyes remained forward, his pace never faltering.

Ieharu sighed. Even fully clothed and wholly unlike his brother, he hobbled about, clutching the straps of his backpack, his artificially-blackened hair swaying erratically, somehow managing to exude self-consciousness and a general lack of confidence. He sighed.

"Yoh, come on." Ieharu struggled to increase his pace, moving from a staggered gait in his brother's shadow to treading along beside him, his shoulder brushing up against the lockers that lined the wall. "I said I'm sorry." His voice had upped an octave higher, making him sound like he was about to cry. It was his big gun. It made him sound innocent and believable to adults, made his mother melt like butter on the stove, and it was the thing that always got Ieyoshi to pay attention to him. "I don't know what happened back there, I swear. It was like, one minute I was running down the stairs at home, and then I tripped, and it hurt, and then the front door, and then Godot shot me in the face—"

Ieyoshi pivoted on his heel rather suddenly, swivelling to face Ieharu, and smashed his palm into the locker several inches from the boy's face. The resulting bang! reverberated up the hall.

Of course, Ieharu was startled. "HEEEE!" Ieyoshi had him virtually pinned between his angled body on the left and his arm on the right, resting palm-flat against the locker.

"And on top of everything," Ieyoshi began, his expression as steely and unyielding as his voice. "Everything. You're gonna lie to me, too?"

Ieharu pressed his back into the locker door, though it refused to give him any more room to maneuver. At this point, their faces were close enough that he could feel his brother literally breathing down his neck. This was quite the unexpected development. "Lie?"

"Do you think I'm dumb, Haku? Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe you got shot in the face? With no wounds or nothing? Oh yeah? You'd be dead. Dead, Haku."

"But—"

"But you're not." Ieyoshi was staring Ieharu dead in the eyes. "So shut the fuck up trying to talk to me, okay?"

The words weren't underpinned with a tone of malice or anger, though Ieharu knew better than to judge his brother by appearances and expressions alone. More than anyone, he was in tune with his twin. He knew what he was thinking, how he was feeling. Even now, as they stared each other down—faces mere inches apart, Ieyoshi composed but adversarial, Ieharu with his hands up in surrender like a wolf pup before an alpha—Ieharu knew that all the extra attention of the day was beginning to irk his twin. He could feel it. Even though it hadn't even been an hour since the events of the morning, all the stares and gossiping and laughs and picture sharing was getting under his skin.

Ieharu relented first, turning his head slightly, averting his eyes. Ieyoshi acknowledged this as a win, sighing, exhaling from his nose and closing his eyes for a brief moment, internally reigning himself back in.

"If you want your pants back, you can have them," Ieharu muttered, blurting it out suddenly. His eyes were still focused off to the side. Immediately, his hands went to his belt. Proof that he was serious.

With that, Ieyoshi relented, taking a step back. Though they were the same height, he always seemed to tower over his twin in situations like these. It was at times baffling. Maybe it was because Ieharu always buckled at the knees. "Obviously, I don't care," he muttered in return, scratching at the back of his neck sheepishly. Now it was his turn to look away, perhaps realizing he'd been read like a book by the other other person on Earth capable of such a feat. Well, besides their mother, of course. "Godot dropped off a new uniform anyway or whatever, so whatever." He looked at Ieharu once again. "Keep them."

Ieharu looked forward as well, once again meeting his brother's eyes, but this time he had a huge goofy grin on his face.

"What?" Ieyoshi asked, puzzled by his brother's toothy smile. Did he perhaps have something on his face? "What?"

"Th-..." A streak of peachy pinkish red invaded the younger twin's face, starting from his left cheek, right under the eye, crossing the bridge of his nose, and ending at the other cheek. It was very faint, but noticeable at close range. "Thanks, Yoh. Really. For everything, I mean."

A particularly rare expression dashed across Ieyoshi's face. With the way he reacted, he may has well have been stabbed. But not a moment later the expression vanished, replaced with rolled eyes and pursed lips. "Yeah yeah. Whatever." He turned, smoothing his hair with his hand in a single curt motion. "Nobody messes with us, bro. Now let's just pick up this crap from the office and move before the next bell."

And so they did just that, side by side. Still the ever inseparable Sawada twins.





Quite a ways further up the first floor hall, back towards where the doctor's clinic was located—and in the complete opposite direction of the administrative offices, which were at this point in an entirely different building—a particularly tall woman in a white lab coat with matching sweater and slacks was conversing with a somewhat petite young girl with long black hair. Most distressing to the surrounding students, who were quickly filing out of the area in one way or another, was what looked like a sheathed blade slung across her back.

"That's my name. Who are you and how do you know it?"

Nurse frowned, her grimace deep, reaching across her face all the way to her brows, which furrowed immensely, eyes narrowed, her face catching shade as it contorted with what looked like the onset of a wrathful retort.

"Who...?" She began, her voice low and menacing. She almost sounded offended. "Who am I?!"

Suddenly, Nurse lept forward! ... only a single step, barely moving more than an inch, and literally tore her outfit apart with her bare hands in one fell swoop, as if her garments were breakaway stage clothes and she had planned for this all along. Underneath her outfit was a bedazzling silver and white bikini. Swimwear! In October.

"Why, I am the indubitable Nurse!" She announced, or, rather, declared, her voice firm but bubbly, like a sovereign throwing bread to her starving people. One would not be faulted if the claimed to hear epic music start playing in the background.

As would a model of the highest caliber strutting her stuff at the most regal of fashion shows, Nurse, now sporting a sparse two-piece bikini, her white gloves, and matching white lab coat, struck a pose. It was like something you'd see on the cover of one of those raunchy magazines. It certainly rested on the upper border of PG-13, that's for sure.

Several very-male students who happened to be around despite Makoto's intimidating presence immediately fell backwards onto the floor, their noses bleeding profusely after catching sight of Nurse in her getup. Some of the female onlookers cheered, shouting out "Go Nurse!" and "Yeah, Nurse!"

After doing a short 70's disco dance, which consisted of moving her arms in a circular fashion like a cat while percolating her shoulders, she ended by pointing—with her foot, no less—over Makoto's shoulder and in the opposing direction.

"Girl, you seem very lost. Classes are already beginning, yet you've reached the end of the hall. You must not be registered." Nurse switched legs, putting her first one down and resumed pointing with the other. Honestly, her dexterity and balance were quite phenomenal, though that wasn't what caught most people's attention. "If you're looking for the administrative offices, they're that-a-way. Far faaaaar that-a-way." She emphasized this by flexing her pointing leg, making a jabbing motion with her heeled foot. "Follow the hall into the next building and I assure you you'll find where you're trying to go!"

And with that, she ended with a penultimate pose along a nearby wall that accentuated the exposed skin along her legs. Out from under her perfectly manicured eyebrows, she eyed the girl—Makoto. "You should get going before you cause a scene, though—OOOOHH!"

What? Did someone just shoot her or something? Because that's how she reacted, her body reverberating from the imaginary blow, her arms and torso flowing backwards with all the drama and poise of a Broadway ballerina.

She'd punctuated her finale with that genuine cry of passion, lifting one leg into the air and freezing, becoming statuesque. The surrounding students, most of them males now, began clapping in earnest. Eventually, a few roses even found their way onto the floor at Nurse's feet. How some of the students acquired roses shall remain a mystery for the ages. Nurse certainly didn't mind, frozen in her pose, like a female rendition of Michelangelo's David but several thousand times more beautiful and breathtaking to behold.

One would not be faulted if they claimed to see literal sparkles and dazzling glints of light emanating from Nurse's body, as if the surrounding light had caught her at the perfect moment and held her there for an eternity.

Seems students in this school were used to Nurse's random clothing explosions and regression into swimsuit laden interpretive dance...

A fully clothed Ieyoshi sighed. It seemed to have become his default go-to reaction to events that weren't interesting enough to capture his attention. And precious few things were ever truly interesting to him nowadays. Perhaps this is what puberty feels like? Ieyoshi sighed again. How boring.

Currently, the elder-by-eight-seconds Sawada twin was making his way across the school's courtyard and towards the massive metalwork fence that marked its perimeter. He was accompanied by Damien, of course. Over the course of this, the first month of school, it'd become a sort of habit of the twins to meet up with Damien and Aobane at the outer gate after school and walk most of the way to their homes as a group. This day, Ieyoshi met up with Damien somewhat earlier, at the steps outside the main hall. Interestingly enough, Ieyoshi was not accompanied by his other half, which struck Damien as odd. The two were typically inseparable. If the morning taught him anything, it was that them being separated was an omen, if anything.

"Haku's not with you again? Don't tell me he's taking another run ahead of you," he asked while putting emphasis on another run. "He already got kids calling me the Hokage because of the smoke bombs."

Ieyoshi sighed again, this time in response to Damien's question. As they were walking, they'd passed by the area that several hours earlier had been the scene of their morning commotion. People had started calling him "batman" because of it, not that he cared—or, at least, that's what he told himself. "Yeah. And apparently I'm Batman." He felt like there was more he could say, but meh. The next order of business for him was making it home and questioning Godot about this nonsense Ieharu was spouting with guns and bullets and assassinations and all that. Knowing his younger twin, he was probably talking to a teacher about a book or a poem or something. Why he cared what they thought was beyond Ieyoshi's ability to fathom. "But if he comes running at me this time, I'll put him down."

Of course, he was joking. Maybe.

Damien did a fangirl pose jokingly. "Oh, my hero! Not the hero Namimori deserves, but the one we need!" He pretended to faint flinging his body towards the ground. Right before landing on his back, he caught himself with one hand with ease.

Despite himself, Ieyoshi laughed. His version of laughing was a curt smile followed by exhaling loudly. "Isn't your village missing you, bitch?" Ieyoshi's voice lightened considerably with his words. Joking around with Damien was always a welcome break in the grinding monotony that he called his daily existence.

Damien quickly popped up back to his feet. "Haha, you mean village full of bitches? Of course they are." He stood as if he were a Hokage with his hand on his invisible large hat. His other hand stood at his side. "Ladies," he paused for a brief moment, "I have returned." Ieyoshi made a face, rolling his eyes in dramatic dismissal. He always gave a slight performance with Ieyoshi and Ieharu for fun. They were close. "Anyways, I wonder what they're calling Haku?"

By now, they'd reached the ashen gunmetal gates that marked the entrance to and exit from the courtyard proper. Instead of going through the gates, Ieyoshi stopped, electing instead to turn and lean against the steel beam that made up part of the left gate's hinge, arms folded. His brother—typically accompanied by that Kuroiobashi kid—should have caught up to them by now, but he had yet to appear. "Pfft. Maybe they'll call him perv. Or idiot. Or crouching idiot, hidden perv fool."

"Haha, if only they knew how he really was. Poor Haku," Damien laughed.

"How about poor us," Ieyoshi responded, chuckling.

When five minutes turned to twenty, all the chattering first and second -years began evacuating the courtyard at a leisurely pace and heading home—long after the too-cool-to-hang third-years had swaggered their way through the front gates, of course. Still, there was no sign of Ieharu. Ieyoshi had long since closed his eyes, as if snoozing, though he was doing anything but. He was merely listening, taking in the sounds of the environment. Though his senses weren't nearly as sharp as Damien's, he could quite easily pick out some familiar voices amongst all the chitchat. Especially Ieharu's voice, which was like a lighter fluffier version of his own.

After several moments of hearing everything but his brother's voice, he sighed, opening his eyes.

He did hear someone interesting. Scanning over the various disparate cliques and courtyard gaggles that so poetically described high school life, his eyes landed upon a-a... a girl? Hmm. Ieyoshi frowned slightly, squinting. For some reason, the girl looked familiar. Like, really familiar. And though he forgot names fairly easily, he'd never forget a face he'd seen before. The girl was tall but sported a small figure, complete with intense blue eyes. Her smooth thin black hair somehow reminded him of one of his father's guardians. Lambo. That was his name. So, where had he seen her before?

He looked down at his folded arms, chewing through his own memories. Things like this really irked him. He'd seen her somewhere before, but where, damn it? After a few moments of pondering, Ieyoshi gave up, filing the question away somewhere in the back of his mind.

He looked up again, his eyes scanning the crowd for something else—anything else!—that would pique his interests and stave off the twin specters of boredom and annoyance.

He spotted Jett. Jett Hideaki. He was milling about along with his sister, though Ieyoshi didn't quite remember her name. He knew Jett, however. Though he personally abhorred watching sports, everyone knew the school's premier basketball champion and most valuable player, even the first-years. Ieyoshi wasn't quite sure how he felt about the Hideaki siblings. Jett especially. He was an imposing person, perhaps intimidating to some, but...

Ieyoshi began to chew on his lower lip.

Whenever he and Jett came within close proximity of each other, something inside of him... it was like he felt a sort of kinship with the guy. Like the two of them shared a relation on some sort of base fundamental level. It was strange, it was unexplainable, it was whatever.

He also spotted Izaya, who was running around the courtyard for reasons only Izaya was aware of. Like Jett, everyone in the school knew Izaya's name, but for less glorious reasons. Ieyoshi shook his head shortly after catching sight of the green-haired kid. Oh well. In any good action movie, the stupid ones always died first.

While following Izaya with his eyes, Ieyoshi crossed eyes with—

Again, Ieyoshi squinted. There were many unfamiliar faces in the crowd, but this one was quite... let's say odd. Red eyes, for a start. Blood red. Glasses. Hair slicked back, as if by hand. Average height. He looked like the type of person that turned out to be the crazy serial killer at the end of a horror flick, but for some reason Ieyoshi felt nothing when he looked him. Absolutely nothing. Not impressed. Not intimidated. Not scared. Not happy. Not even bored. He just felt nothing, a sense of no presence, as if he were staring at a whitewashed brick wall instead of a human being.

Certainly, the guy wasn't in his class. Ieyoshi would have remembered such a face. He didn't seem tall enough or cool enough to be a third-year, though, so he was probably part of the junior class. Interesting. Odd, but interesting.

He stared for a while longer before feigning a loss of interest, lest someone notice him glaring.

Full of unsated curiosity, Ieyoshi pondered asking Damien who the red-eyed guy was, or at least if he had an opinion about him. That's when something slipped by his left peripheral. Now typically, Ieyoshi would have paid it no mind, for such things always pass by one's peripheral vision without incident. This time, however, his body tensed up, the joints in his arms locking for a brief moment. It was a small panic reaction, a flinch, as if someone had tried to jump-scare him. This was a result of Ieyoshi's extremely acute intuition, which lent itself to a very hyper sense of awareness. It was a wholly passive perception and quasi- sixth sense, and one of the precious few areas that he had his friend Damien beat hands down—and that guy goes through Varia-style training regularly.

With a reaction spanning milliseconds, he snapped his head to the left, and saw what triggered his sense of danger.

Uncharacteristically vivid blue hair, like out of a cartoon, tufts of which stuck out from under his hood. A now-familiar face. A boy... at least, Ieyoshi was fairly sure he was a boy. The same one from this morning.

Ieyoshi followed the boy with his eyes as he passed through the gate and out the other side, walking between several others as he went. As far as he could tell, the blue-haired kid hadn't taken notice of him. On the other hand, no one else seemed to take notice of the kid, not even Damien. It was as if he were a ghost, or a rock, and people just seemed to move around him, passively acknowledging his existence. It was fascinating to observe, but eventually the kid moved out of view, and Ieyoshi didn't want to give off the impression that he was interested.

Ieyoshi sighed softly. There was something about that kid. Something about the red-eyed guy. Something about many of these so-called students. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on. One thing was for sure, though: he needed to hone his intuition. He got feelings all the time about places and people, but rarely did he know enough about what his instincts were telling him that he could act on them in an effective and efficient manner.

He did have one feeling he recognized: his intuition told him he'd be dealing with the blue-haired kid—dealing with all of these strange people—a lot more directly over the coming months. It was just his luck, after all. If he wasn't being tackled by crazy familial relations in the morning, it was gonna be something else.





Ieharu placed his hands under the one of the bathroom sinks' faucets. A stream of perfectly-warmed water met his hands instantaneously. His father always talked about how, "back in the day," water faucets always had "hot" and "cold" handles on them and you have to mix and match them manually to get it just right. Nowadays, they have faucets that have infrared thermometers attached to them. They set the water to the perfect temperature automatically, based on skin temperature. Honestly, Ieharu couldn't fathom having to twist little knobs to make water come out. It was dumb. If he wanted cold, he'd just say "colder" and the faucet would obey him. If he wanted warmer water, he'd just say "warmer". Why did it take people so long to think up such a basic idea?

The boy giggled at the thought. Living in the past must've really sucked.

The faucet automatically added the correct amount of soap to the water, so he didn't have to do anything but move his hands around a little before they were sufficiently clean.

Tucked under his arm was a book titled A Wrinkle in Time, by a long-dead American author named Madeleine L'Engle. Currently, it was Ieharu's favorite book, though the designation of "favorite" was doled out on a weekly basis to the works of prose that found their way into his hands, if that. He was truly a voracious reader.

The book itself, of course, wasn't any normal paper book. It was technically a paperback, sure. It wasn't one of those old-fashioned e-readers or anything—it was better. The book's "paper" pages were each a type of foldable hardware, and the pages themselves could switch text and content at the will of the reader. One moment, he could be reading A Wrinkle in Time, the next he could be perusing a newspaper or pretending to read his class's Social Studies book.

Gokudera—Damien's dad—always complained when Ieharu took it out. "You kids are spoiled rotten," he'd always say. "You don't need these all these newfangled toys! Isn't a smart phone and infinity internet enough for you brats?"

Haha, old people are funny.

Ieharu let his hands rest under the luxurious warmth of the running water for a while longer before removing them from the stream and moving towards the door. He waved his wet hands over a small silver plate on the wall, which unleashed a burst of air as his they passed, shearing the excess moisture from his skin like an air blade. The bathroom door opened for him shortly after, though Ieharu paid the automated marvel no mind. Such things were rudimentary at this point.

The school day had come to an end a while back, yet he'd gotten distracted talking to his teacher. They continued the class discussion about the nature of main characters in prose, with Ieharu relating what they'd discussed to A Wrinkle in Time.

Oh well, Ieyoshi would forgive him if he were just a little late.

Next order of business: go meet with Aobane and head down to meet Ieyoshi and Damien. He'd asked Aobane to wait by the elevators while he went to the bathroom, so he was probably still there. Hopefully. Ieharu's cheeks burned red with the thought of him having taken too long in the bathroom. Agh!

Turning on his heel, the boy began walking down the hall. The elevators where in a small niche on the right side at the end of the hall.

He made it about two-thirds of the way there before he was stopped.





"What is this guy doing?" Ieyoshi lamented, not bothering to hide his exasperation at his brother's absence. The courtyard was virtually empty at this point. Even some of the staff were beginning to head home. Creepy teacher Zenith-sensei had even passed him by, offering a creepy wave and generally being a creep. Ieyoshi wasn't quite sure why he didn't much care for the man, or why he seemed like such a creep, but...

Whatever. He'd give it five more minutes, max, and then Ieharu would be walking home without him. On second thought, maybe he should leave now. It'd do his brother some good to be independent for once. The elder twin looked over to Damien. "Wanna just go?"

Damien looked in the direction that Ieharu would walk in. Alone. He started to get a bit worried. "Eh, but shouldn't we wait a bit longer. I mean especially after today when he—"

"DAMIEEEEEENNNNN!" Enn charged forwards and leapt towards him with his arms outstretched, smiling widely. He completely ignored Ieyoshi. Behind him somewhere in the distance, a brown-haired third year with a jagged scar across his face watched in surprise, barely hiding anxiety as he walked towards the gate, green sweater slung over his shoulder. "Damien there you are I couldn't—"

Damien instinctively ducked on his knees and dodged Enn's charge. He knew in that instance, what this meant. Enn flew over him and rolled to a crouch a few feet away, continuing without pause. "—find you—" got up instantly and leant in low, sprinting towards Damien's back and lashing out with a punch. "—anywhere!" A grin fell on Damien's face as the punch flew in his direction. It was Enn's turn to be the attacker while he was the defender. He placed his right palm out and blocked the punch instantly.

"Mmm, close but not there yet," Damien replied. At this point his body was faced towards Enn and his eyes were fixed on his every move.

"Don't worry," Enn grinned happily, a wild look in his eyes. Ah, fighting Damien was fun! So much fun that Enn didn't want to think about even trying to kill him. He hadn't had this much fun ever after he left Italy and couldn't take part in hits as much as he liked anymore, since Shou didn't like it. Shou was right, high school was great! He grabbed hold of the wrist of the hand holding his own hand and pulled as he whirled and bent, hurling Damien over his shoulder. "I'm just getting started!" The game of attack and defense went on. Enn attacked furiously, sending flying kicks, punches, a flurry of blows were all thrown at Damien. To each, he merely blocked, ducked, and jumped back, and it was clear to those who knew them well that they were just playing around, albeit semi-seriously.

Ieyoshi merely looked on at the two, mouth slightly agape, a disturbed look fresh upon his face, as if someone had told him one plus one equaled fish with a zealous fervor. He wasn't really familiar with this kid who so cavalierly attacked Damien, though he knew his face, and knew his reputation. He was a fellow first-year, and one of the more annoying ones, too.

Great.

After a few moments of observation, he sighed and looked away, bored once more. Maybe he'd just go home anyway.

"Enn, why'd you run that fast—" the brown-haired third year came to a halt as he stared at the scene, panting a little. A group of emotions rapidly cycled over Shou's face before settling on a strange sort of resignation (and relief that his brother wasn't seriously trying to kill someone) and a mixture of worry and anxiety. "Oh no stop..." he straightened and turned to Ieyoshi, eyebrows creased in worry over the situation. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I'm so so sorry," he apologised frantically, bowing a little in apology. "Enn was waiting for me to finish with club and then he ran off before I could stop him I'm sorry!"

Ieyoshi eyed the guy before him. Shou, was it? He wasn't in Ieyoshi's class, but he'd seen seen the guy around—primarily around Enn. Most likely a third-year, though he didn't have the air of one. If memory served, Shou and Enn were brothers.

Great.

Shou didn't seem as bombastic and frenetic as his brother, so that was a plus. "It's whatever," he said, shrugging in acknowledgement of Shou's apology. "Hey, you haven't happened to have seen my brother around, have you? He looks just like me, except his hair is dyed black for some reason." He shot a glance over at Damien and Enn. "And I'm about to leave him to walk home alone, too," he added, grumbling under his breath.

"O-Oh," Shou said, straightening up from his bow into a sort of relaxed posture, hooking a thumb around his bag-straps. He thought back throughout the day, trying to think about whether he saw—um, Iehaku? That was his name—going about his day, Eventually, he shook his head. "I don't think I saw him," he said regretfully, shaking his head. "Sorry."

Ieyoshi was about to sigh for the thousandth time this day, when his intuition pricked him. Looking away from Shou, a figure in the distance was approaching them, moving most expeditiously in their direction. Ieyoshi raised his eyebrows in expectation, frowning slightly at the realization that it certainly wasn't his twin brother.

Time wasn't of any essence. In fact, time wasn't even a thing in existence. In school time is usually the most precious thing to a student. More time meant less time and vice versa. In some cases that was a good thing, like for those students who liked talking more than listening and for others, mainly the students who liked school, less time meant less learning. Here and there you would find that the opposite can apply to both types of students. For there are students who dream for that extra minute in class so that they can finish their homework and enjoy the time they have a home or work. With the students who like school, more time sometimes hurt. For the truly smart students learned better without their teachers input on what was already in a text book for them to read.

However, to Joel, there was no concept of time in school. There were long days and there were short days. Some days even passed like minutes. Today was one of those days. Probably would have been faster if he didn't have to change rooms for classes. He remembered eating lunch and changing into his next room, but as soon as he took his seat the bell had already rung. He never did understand when people rushed out of their seats, gasping like they had just been brought back to life all while saying, "Man that was a long day. Sure do hate Mondays."

Is that what people used to start conversations these days. How was he supposed to respond? Well, if he was asked that personally, he'd probably tell the other person to count there blessings. There were worst places to be than school. Though, he realized he may have been saying that just because he was going to graduate soon. What then? Title or no title, the job stays the same. Do what you're told or get handled. He wasn't one to fear consequence, though he made sure to remind himself that there was one. Call it fuel to his already sparked fire. Though even if the fuel wasn't there, all he knows is the Vongola. So what would he do without them. He wondered if he'd make a good chef.

While packing his things a few groups of students left out and he even gave his farewell's to a few. His phone buzzed once he turned it on and read all of missed messages sighing at the last one. He was one of the last students to leave due to his attempt to beat the Monday door rush. Once again, he found himself shaking his head at the fact that some seniors would act such a way. He was thinking about switching his last class, business law, with another class. It was an easy class that had the same formula for studying as history. All he had to do was know definitions and write essays of how he would solve problems such as fraud and extortion within his own company. It was boring though. There wasn't much to do but to stare at the teacher and practice his lip reading technique. He planned on being expert level by the end of the semester.

As he walked the hallways he found himself wondering if there was a class for lip reading anywhere and if there was if he could get a pass to do that. It was a random thought to pass the time and block out the mindless chatter of the other students. When he stepped on the last step leading to the 2nd floor from the third, he caught a glimpse of sleek black hair that made his stomach curl. Today wasn't a good day for foolishness. He went back up the stairs and decided to leave from another exit. He stopped himself finding himself looking out the window and seeing Yoh and Damien. Sometimes he found himself wondering if he was younger, would he be able to hang out with them too. Being older now, he really didn't feel like being around a group of playful's, but they sure did look like they were having fun. He was happy for them. One more peaceful day to check off the books.
A few more minutes went by and he stopped staring out the window. He liked just look at the scenery, especially if there was movement to the picture he could see with his eyes. He turned around and leaned against the window to stretch before walking the rest of the way down the stairs. Joel knew that the younger members of the family weren't up to much today. Even though he could have sworn that something was going to happen, nothing came out of it. At least not yet. So, in hindsight of the time he had left, he decided to check on another member of the family. Why? You could say he had a lot of reasons. Though the most important one would be the fact that it'd make the already non-existent time faster. What would you call that? He thought if there was a word for it then he should know, but it didn't matter. It wasn't like he was going to go anywhere with the knowledge.

*Creak*
Every other door was old and faulty. It made him wonder how the school could fix one door, but leave one broken only to fix the next. Maybe it was a theme. Joel disliked themes that weren't good. He also disliked having to look for people. It wasn't exactly like finding Waldo, but more like finding a honey badger in his natural habitat in different locations. Luckily for him, this honey badger had a sleeping call.

One of the last doors to be checked and what do you know, it was one of the good ones. Must be pretty nice in there to spend an entire day. Coming to find out it also had a lock on it, he kicked the edge of the woodwork, busting the knob off completely. Joel open the door only to see an all to familiar face. He looked around the room and the first thing he noticed was the song of his old school around three years ago. If he hadn't known the man, he'd think he was stuck in the past. It wasn't a bad song however, which he had to admit. Still, as he asked himself more of what he was going to do as an adult, it made him worry for Mamoru. Joel turned on the lights and opened the blinds hoping that if the man wasn't up, he'd wake up now. Of course he knew he'd have to stance up once he did wake up, because he never woke him up nicely and each time..... There was a ruckus to say the least.

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¦█¦In his own world, Mamoru had the irreversible silence and a freedom unhindered. There was nothing binding him and no one that would dare to do so. This was paradise for him and it is the reason why anyone who would dissolve that would face quite the hellish irritation. The melody of the Namimori Middle continued to echo, though there was a sound which does not belong. Another few seconds there was a presence that he does not welcome. His eyes fluttered open in a manner that quickly settled into a glare. He does not take kindly to anyone and more so, to people who intrude to his dominion. Those silver eyes resembling that of a steel sword landed on one entity whether there is familiarity or not, it was not seen, because it was blanketed by sheer annoyance.

"Get out." His voice held no room for any negotiations, even though he was still laying on the couch and the light shining on him, creating a visage of some kind savagely beautiful creature of darkness.

Joel looked out the window and then down to his supposed class mate. He rolled his eyes to himself not wanting to have to try too hard to wake him up. However, Joel had a lot of practice waking people whom most would consider lazy. Something he could thank his father for. Crouching down, he poked Mamuro's face a few times. "Hey. You can skip classes all you want, but if you forget the homework and don't talk to your professors then you'll have to get a job instead of coming to school." He thought about it for a minute. "Actually, what are you going to do after you graduate? They don't pay people to sleep."

Waking him up is one thing, but touching his face as if they were something as revolting as friends, is another matter even more so when his personal space invaded. "Tsk." Mamoru grabbed that finger and placed enough pressure to break it before shoving this irritating guy away from him with that grabbed finger. He then stood from his position and grabbed his player in which has already stopped playing. There was instantly a notable distance between them as he was now by the door, it was quite easy with his long legs while he has a perpetual scowl on his face. "I don't answer to you."

Joel winced at his finger being grabbed. Had he not broken his fingers more times than one could count he may have had a broken finger, but luckily for him, the bones in his hands were now strong. "No need to try to hurt people. I just came to see if you ate lunch. Not trying to get you to answer to me." Joel sighed and stood up straight. He rolled his neck around to crack it while using his thumb to crack the finger Mamoru had grabbed. "Really though. You miss a lot when you sleep the day away. Meeting people you rarely talk to even though you should, learning some social skills..... Did you even eat today?"

All of the words being thrown was like the sound of buzzing flies to him. The natural reaction for Mamoru was to swat it away, in a mental manner of course. He was not even listening and thus, there would be no consideration on that part. Surprisingly though, his body did react to one key word, hungry. He could feel his stomach growling in response. That is right, he only had that bread as breakfast and judging by the sky outside the windows. The school has ended which meant, he slept through. That's good. "Hn," That is all he said as he exited the room with an intent to get something to eat it. Ignoring the fact, that there was another person inside with him earlier.

He wasn't happy with the results. Joel considered a lot of things, but one thing was certain. He wasn't about to be disrespected. It was a waste and had it been any other person besides from someone who Joel would consider an equal he would have just threw the homework in front of him and left. However, Joel cared for people's well-beings. Also, he didn't like being disrespected. On impulse he reached in his pocket below the phone to the b-class ring he would wear whenever he was in tight situations. Also, it gave him a good enough boost and control that he could get around without moving his legs. He paused though, thinking that wouldn't do much but make a situation bad. He had to approach this with care. Even now. It was quite tiresome. He pulled out his phone only to suck his teeth at the time. He'd only have a few more moments of freedom before he had to work and he was going to make the most of it. He picked up his bag and pulled out a few pieces of paper, neatly rolling it until he could wack his hand without bending it.

Joel followed Mamoru seconds after he left the room nearly skipping to catch up to him. At least that's what it would look like, but his straight face didn't follow his movements very well and when his hand when up in the air, it was obvious that the skips were just to build momentum so he could make more of a *SMACK* against Mamoru's head. He stepped back a few paces, ready for what may, but unfolded the papers to reveal a bunch of words, parted by lines and numbered from top to bottom. In other words it was homework. "A shame. You could have gotten free food, but now all you get is homework." Joel's voice was low and didn't give any waves of emotion. Still, he smirked and rolled the paper back up. "If you don't want it, then I'll make it disappear by using the force of smacking you with it to dissolve the paper. It should work. Though, that seems like a real pain. I say...." Joel pointed the paper at Mamoru in a nature which looked like he was offering it to him, while at the same time holding like a sword pointed to its target. "stay calm and take the work."

That reminded him of an irritant. Mamoru was not hurt if that was supposedly the purpose of that useless blow. The words that were being said held really no meaning to him. No words held any relevance to him, that is a point. But, there was no denying that action had well enough incurred his annoyance. He turned around to face the one who dared so and much like how a cobra would strike, his hand reached out and held the other male's neck in vice grip. Did this guy perhaps think just because they had seen each other around either in school or back at Vongola, he could as he pleased. That is absolutely wrong. Heck, He could not even remember that name of this guy. He never cared. "Piss off."

Just like so, he lifted the man with ease and threw him through the window beside it, not minding the damage on the property or on the person, itself. Fortunately, they were on the first floor, but still, that was in no part out of consideration, because even if they were on top of the building, he would do it. His silver eyes reflecting his clear cut irritation, much like a gleaming sword coated in dark moonlight. It did not take long for some of the students who were still present to take interest at what was happening due to the noise, but they quickly backed away seeing the presence of the one person no one wants to cross paths with.

Joel felt a hand wrapped around his jugular and in an instance he felt the wind in his hair as he flew. Looking towards the glass window, he fixed his posture, using his trained abdominal strength, resulting in his feet being first through the window. With a crash and echoes of shattered glass, he twirled out like a spear. Using his hands to hold the speed, he slid on the pathway leaving skid marks from his shoes. Standing up and ignoring the gazes of the civilians around him, Joel once again looked at his phone. There wasn't much time left. "You take things for granted as well then? You just don't care?" Joel held out the paper. "Well too bad. It's just homework. You got to senior year. Wouldn't it be a waste to have to repeat and feel these children gawking at everything you do? Take the papers and I'll leave you alone. Sounds like a deal."

Ever since that moment, Mamoru had never listened to anyone nor did he ever concerned himself with the consequences of his actions. He was simply the kind that takes it and does with it however he pleased. That was not going to change any time soon, apparently. At the same time, he never liked people telling him what to do and he never did so, as he preferred doing it in the way he wants it. His presence alone made the so-called crowd give a very very remarkable distance. They didn't want to be caught in the crossfire or worse be involved in the infamous Hibari of Namimori. "Shut up." The notion about repeating a year and whatever, that did not held any ground on him. He will do what he wants and that is simply it. He would remove anything that he hates and that is it.

He walked over to Mamoru's location while smacking the wrinkles off of the papers. His eyes closed most of the way. He wasn't afraid to show his need not to look anyone in the eyes at the moment. Though, when he did open them, his friendly face was somewhat turned into a pestered one. No. It wasn't an indication of impatience, even though it may have seemed that way to some. He just didn't feel like playing around if it wasn't going to work. He also didn't have that much time left. He looked his Vongola brethren in the eyes. "You leave me no choice then. I'll have to burn it. Then you'll have to hear your teacher's mouth instead of mine. Sounds like a hassle to me. If that's not good enough for you, you could hear your parents and others as they find another reason to talk to you. Unless you like all the attention." Joel was sure otherwise, but it wouldn't hurt to bring up the repercussions for ignoring him.

Who does this person think he is, really? Mamoru could not care less about school work or the likes. All of those words were not even being filtered through his ears. He was simply annoyed that this person dare talk to him and act as if he had a hold on him which was not going to be the case ever. He will not succumb to anyone or would he be connected to anyone whether by blood or whatever bonds they think existed in this world. He was really getting irritated as those eyes of his deepen, turning into a darker shade. "I don't care."

"Well whatever. I was going to give you the gyoza I had left over from lunch, but I guess since you're ignoring everything then it's whatever. I gotta go to the cafe. Offers still on the table until I can find a lighter." With that the young man's smirk returned and he walked away with his bang hung over his back. It was a problem he had. One which he found himself in. He couldn't make that many long lasting friends or family members because of his job as a mafioso and he believed that was the reason Mamoru hated him. Or did he just dislike him? Joel didn't know. It was something he could work on which would kill time. Kill time until when? He would have to think about too.

"Tch." The mention of gyoza reminded him of his hunger which had been forgotten in favor of his irritation. Without a moment too soon, he grabbed the so-called homework and then with another hand, grabbed the man's face and then pushing it to a nearby wall, holding it against there. His eyes deadly cold and clearly not showing any respite. "Never assume anything about me. I don't know you." He released the face as he then proceeded in tearing the bundled homework in one go, showcasing his raw strength. It was also a clear rejection of any aid or any attachment to his what as labeled as school work. s for the gyoza, really, he was tempted, but his irritation was far greater. It was indeed a mystery on how he reached his senior year and why he even bothered going to school in the first place. After that, he went on his way as the crowd parted before him like the sea to Noah. They would not want to get caught up with any of it.

He soon disappeared from sight, well he was known to be someone hard to find in the first place.

---

*Collaborative post with Damioa for Joel! (Thank you very much!)

Tapping the end of his thumb on the transparent enter button of the keyboard of his BluScreen which he had set on it's larger screen mode. He'd been standing for a short time by the elevators, waiting there as his spiky haired friend had asked him to, so he could catch Ieyoshi and Damien if they happened to not have already made their way to the front gates of the school. Personally he would've preferred it if Ieyoshi and Damien had left already. He wasn't very fond of the older twin already, but after watching him beat some poor kid to a pulp that morning he was even less in the mood to be in the same space as him.

A light flashed on the BluScreen in front of Aobane and he grinned slightly as he read the message from one of his many online friends. They were having a debate over whether or not a pair of characters from an anime would make a good pair or not. Aobane didn't think so, but his friend was putting out quite a reasonable argument as to why they would be, not that any of his words would change Aobane's mind. Those two characters were just not right for each other no matter how you looked at it. He was pretty focused on their debate, not really paying attention to the fact that Ieharu seemed to be taking a little more time in the restroom than usual, and quickly began typing up a counter argument.

Behind Aobane, the elevator dinged to a stop. The doors opened, revealing a group of kids who streamed out like a pack of fish in the sea, chattering to each other as they passed Aobane. He lifted his eyes from his BluScreen and smiled as a few of the students wished him a good evening. Aobane nodded in acknowledgement before he turned his attention back to his screen and continued typing until one of them bumped into Aobane. He swayed slightly from the weak impact, taking him a second to realize that another body had met his before he blinked a couple times, pulling his mind away from the conversation on the screen in front of him, and turned his head to see who had collided with him. His expression brightened when he recognized Ryuu, the fellow 1st year who had helped them with the injured Chitose that morning.

"Oh," Ryuu said, looking up at Aobane with the customary faint frown on his face. Today hadn't been a good day for him - Incident Underwear (which was what Ryuu had decided to call it) had been on his mind for most of the day, and club had ended earlier than usual. Practice had gotten it off his mind, but now that it was over Incident Underwear was back into the front of his mind like dried gum stuck to a chair, especially now that the classmate that had helped him bring Chitose to the nurse's office was in front of him. "Sorry."

"Ryuu!" Aobane exclaimed cheerfully, though his smile lessened slightly as he stared at his classmate. So he hadn't imagined it this morning, after all. After all the commotion in the courtyard, it was no surprise to be able to feel the tension in the air around all those students who had witness Ieyoshi and Ieharu fighting, but when Ryuu had stepped in to help carry the injured student to the nurse Aobane couldn't help but get a touchy vibe from the blond student in particular. He wrote it off as just the mixture of negative emotions from the gathering of students, but now that Ryuu was standing next to him alone, it was obvious that something was bothering him.

Aobane closed his BluScreen and wrapped the device around his wrist as he shook his head. "I'm kinda in the way of the elevator, so you're forgiven this time. Still recovering from the show this morning?" That may have been a little straightforward. "I mean I'm still surprised Yoh chose to wear those boxers!" he said, his words followed by a brief chuckle.

"Yoh?" Ryuu's eyebrows wrinkled for a moment, then his face cleared in recognition. "Oh, Ieyoshi," he muttered to himself. "A-Ah, yeah. Those boxers were pretty shocking, yeah," he said to Aobane. "Bet the girls loved it though," he added wryly, remembering how some of the girls had squealed as he pulled his pants off for his brother to wear. Though what happened after...

No point remembering that now. He'd deal with it later. Pushing the thought away from his mind (unsuccessfully, like the past hundred times he tried), Ryuu casted his brains around for another subject. He didn't really feel like going home yet. Changing the subject, Ryuu hooked his thumbs into his pockets and asked, "What's so interesting about your BluScreen that you forget to move out of the way of the elevator?"

It seemed like fireworks had exploded in Aobane's chestnut eyes as they widened excitedly in response Ryuu's question. The look of utter enthusiasm lasted just a few seconds before Aobane closed his eyes and raised a fist to his chin. He let out a couple short laughs and then opened his eyes slowly, his actions being rather dramatic. "I thought you'd never ask. Ever heard of [BLANK]? If so, then you should know that there's been an online debate, or some call it a battle, since the anime aired last year about who Hime-chan's soul mate really is."

"Oh, Markus and Ojito right?" Ryuu was currently watching it. What? Anime was pretty cool, no matter what his relatives might say. The story was about a princess trying to take back her land against the evil Kihou, the magistrate who was reigning on her place, with the help of her love interests Markus and Ojito. The princess wasn't a pushover when it came to battle, and the artstyle and character designs were visually stunning. "I think she'll end up with Ojito." he mused thoughtfully. "I mean, she's got good chemistry with him, and they've known each other for a long time now."

"So you're on OjiHime's side, huh? I can understand that, but there's another character that is supposed to have her own story in the second season coming out this year. Markus's second in command, Aneko! She hasn't had a lot of screen time but it's pretty obvious she's taken an interest in Ojito. She's related to Markus so giving her a major role in the second season would be pointless if it didn't lead anywhere with her only available love interest, Ojito." He ended his sentence with a confident grin, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he eagerly awaited Ryu's response. He'd once been on the side of Ojito and Hime too, but halfway through the anime he transitioned into the MarHime shipping zone. Not just because he liked Markus's serious, yet charming personality, but also because it was clearly obvious that that was the ship that would reach canon level by the end of the anime.

"Oh, please," Ryuu's back straightened and he raised his hands to readjust the fedora resting on his head. Somehow, the action made him look like he was gearing up for a fight. He smiled faintly, mustering his argument. "Aneko is there because she's the captain of the much-needed reinforcements, and although she showed signs of having a crush on Ojito in the trailers there wasn't much sign of him showing the same interest back, merely interest as a battle partner. Also, although Hime works better with Markus in battle and Ojito seems to be a playboy, he treats Hime specially and in episode seventeen, the duo were shown blushing like newly weds when they were hanging out in the sakura park. Newly weds." He crossed his arms and leaned back, sure of victory. "How could Hime and Ojito not be getting together?"

Aobane uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips, shifting his weight to his right leg. "Trailers only show you what you want to see. It would spoil the surprise if they made their sure-to-be relationship obvious. Anyway, Akeno has way too much potential as a character to just be some side commander that gets brushed off at the end. Markus's character would also end up being a waste if Ojito and Hime end up together unless they introduce some random new character that Markus falls for which would once again lead to Akeno being brushed off and it wouldn't fit with the plot that the first season has created."

"Good points," Ryuu admitted semi-grudgingly, "but I still believe Hime is going to end up with Ojito. Also, you're forgetting Rinne, Markus's ex-girlfriend and the bad guy's female general who's still got a crush on Markus. Part of the reason Markus joined Hime in the first place was to show that she was in the wrong to believe in Kihou, who's an asshole."

Clicking his tongue a few times, Aobane crossed his arms in front of himself again and shook his head. "Using Rinne as a backup? Sure, her and Markus might've had something but she's one of those characters that will likely realize they're wrong and then sacrifices herself shortly afterwards."

"There are hints that Markus still has lingering feelings for her, so it's still a possibility that they could end up together." He said stubbornly, faint smile turning into a small grin. Then a thought crossed his mind and he frowned, puzzled. "Hey, not that I mind the shipping-talk, but why're you waiting outside the elevator this late? I thought you didn't have club?"

"Rinne's there to be the obstacle Hime-chan has to cross over to get closer to Markus. Anyway she's, oh--" Aobane looked a little confused for a second. He'd gotten so caught up in their debate that he pretty much completely forgot that he was waiting for Ieharu while he went to the bathroom. How long had it been since his friend first left him there to keep watch for Ieyoshi and Damien? He suddenly started feeling concerned, but didn't want to look too worried in front of Ryuu after they had been having such an interesting conversation.

"Excellent question!" Aobane gave Ryuu a mischievous grin and raised one of his index fingers in the air as if he was about to start conducting an orchestra. "I happen to be waiting for the infamous Mr. Raging Underpants himself! Also known as Haku."

Aobane lowered his pointing hand and shifted his weight onto his left leg, tilting his head slightly as he continued. "Actually he's been in the restroom for over fifteen minutes already. He must've had something bad for lunch."

Huh, who knew that Aobane was so great to talk to? Ryuu uncrossed his arms, tension down. Even Incident Underwear didn't seem that bad now, even though the memory of his helplessness came back when Aobane brought Ieharu's name up. Guess that meant that all he really needed was someone to talk to. Aobane seemed a bit worried for a moment, but that was replaced with cheer so quickly that Ryuu wasn't sure whether he'd imagine it.

"Must've been the mashed they were serving for lunch in the canteen," Ryuu agreed, wincing at the memory. Normally it was pretty good, but the mashed potato tasted like rotten bananas that had been pureed in mouldy potatoes. Ryuu had taken one bite and promptly spat it back out and refused to touch it. "That thing tastes mean. Whatever you do, don't eat it."

Aobane promptly shook his head. I never eat already-made meals." he said, then brought a thumb up to point at himself as he smiled proudly. "I'm the only chef I need! Plus, girls love a guy who can cook! Haku wouldn't want to eat school lunch anymore if he had one of my bentos!"

Aobane turned himself towards the hallway just beyond the elevators, placing one hand on his hip and scratching the hair on the back of his head with the other. "Not that I care much, but Yoh and Damien are going to take off if Haku takes any longer. Maybe he fell in?"

Further up the hallway was Ieharu, who'd found himself stalled, separated from his friends by a wall of sorts. Four burly intimidating dudes—no, six, counting the two that were leaning against the wall around the corner to the left. He'd been stopped at a small T-shaped intersection in the hall, a dozen or so meters before the hallway opened into the elevator niche on the right.

"Uh..." The guys, who Ieharu could only assume were seniors, all looked up at him at the same time, where before they were busy tapping away on their phones. They locked onto him like six laser-guided missiles, the intensity of their glares making Ieharu's voice stick in his throat. Along with his breath.

Something about this didn't feel quite right. In fact, it felt downright bad. Out of habit, Ieharu stepped to his right, and Ieyoshi stepped up in front of him— ... for a moment, that's how it went in Ieharu's mind. It took him entire seconds to remember that he was alone here. His brother, his inseparable twin, didn't have his back this time.

That's when the color drained from the boy's face, and the upperclassmen staring him down saw it happen, too.

A form of glee entered their expressions, like wolves spotting a limp buck.

The two that were closest to him pocketed their phones and took a step forward. And then another. And then another. Their shadows, long and ominous, crept upon Ieharu's comparatively small and frail body, eventually engulfing it entirely.

For his part, Ieharu summoned the courage to take a step back, but he could only manage that one step. He clasped his hands together and brought them to his chest so that they rested under his chin, as if in prayer. He was panicking, that much was obvious. Too many thoughts were occurring at the same time.

"Hey," one of the upperclassmen said. He was the closest one. His hands were in his pockets, his posture relaxed, as if he were taking a stroll through the park. It was his eyes that gave him away. "You're that Ieharu kid, right? That one from this morning?"

By now, the others had started advancing, flowing as water around him, yet Ieharu remained frozen in place, like a statue.

"No way, that's totally him," one of the others said, ribbing the first guy with his elbow.

"Yeah. Just imagine him in his wittle undies and it's impossible not to see it!" Ieharu flinched. This voice came from behind him, but he didn't dare turn his head, let alone move. He soon realized that he wasn't breathing, and so slowly, quietly exhaled. "You're him though, right? You're Ieharu Sawada." The guy who'd moved behind him asked offhandedly. His voice had a jovial quality to it. He sounded like a nice guy, and despite his better judgment, Ieharu clung to that sliver of hope, that chance for deliverance.

"Y-Yeah," he muttered.

"Speak up!" One of the others said, shouting, spittle flying from his mouth. That made Ieharu nearly jump out of his skin.

"Yeah!" he enunciated, speaking a little louder this time; "with your chest if you want respect!" like Ieyoshi always said.

"Good," the first one spoke this time, pulling out his phone as he did. After some awkward moments of silence while he tapped his fingers along its little screen, he leveled Ieharu with another look. "Hey. Wanna come with us?"

"Uhh... I'm kinda... m-meeting with... supposed to... um..." Ieharu trailed off.

"Whaaaat?!" he replied with mock confusion, leaning in, grinning. "I can't hear you, kid. Stop mumbling." At the same time, the guy who was standing behind him placed his hands on Ieharu's shoulders.

Unable to control himself, Ieharu screwed his eyes shut. It was his default go-to reaction when he was out of options. At this point, he was shaking pretty badly, which elicited chuckles from the group.

"You guys hear that? I think he said yes. You heard that?" After receiving several nods from his compatriots, the upperclassman's benign grin mutated into a sneer. "Good. Let's not keep the queen bitch waiting."

Aobane felt his shoulders tense, an involuntary action, and goosebumps formed under the sleeves of his uniform. He knew what ill intent felt like. He suspected something was itching at Ryuu's mind since that morning, but the somewhat disappointed and mostly upset sensations coming from Aobane's blond classmate was in a separate category from this one.

Without saying a word to Ryuu, Aobane stepped out of the niche where the elevator was located and turned the corner to stand in the hallway. It didn't even take him a second to find out why he had suddenly felt uncomfortable, and also what had been taking Ieharu so long when he usually would've tried to be quick since Aobane had been waiting for him.

He swiftly identified the six upperclassmen that had Ieharu surrounded. Aobane had said hi to each of them at least once, but preferred to keep his distance from the seniors of the Martial Arts Club after witnessing them discreetly harassing a couple other students from time to time, and now it looked like they had their sights set on Ieharu for some reason or other.

Aobane hesitated for a couple moments, trying to think of some way he could step in and safely drag his friend away without having to be too forceful. He wasn't sure what was going on exactly, so Aobane couldn't feel angry about them corning Ieharu just yet, but it wasn't like he'd stand a chance against a bunch of much larger upperclassmen anyway. He swallowed dryly and tried to put on his most convincing smile. Maybe he could try to laugh off the situation and walk off with Ieharu before it got too serious. However, before he could take a step forward, Ryuu brushed past him in a hurry.

"Oi." Ryuu's voice rang out loud and clear, almost like a shout. He sprinted up to them, jaw set, determined to stop what was obviously going on. "What's going on here—"

Ryuu's face turned confused as he caught sight of who it was. "... Senpai?" He hadn't expected to see the seniors that had missed practice hanging out in the hallways looking like they were ganging up on someone, and he definitely hadn't expected that person to be Ieharu, of all people. Aside from looking like a black-haired carbon copy of his brother, the kid looked scared, almost terrified. Ryuu looked at the upperclassmen suspiciously, hoping that he was wrong. "What are you doing?"

Ieharu opened his eyes and looked upon the fedora-wearing guy with naked terror, failing to remember that he'd seen him help an injured student earlier in the day. Without warning, the pain in his chest returned with a vengeance, causing him to wince. Yet another strong guy had joined their ranks, bringing the number of wolves to seven. And they probably didn't want to take him somewhere nice, either. What were they planning to do with him? Did they do something to Aobane? Could he maybe call Ieyoshi while they were talking amongst themselves? No. Being bullied wasn't something new for Ieharu, and he knew the rules. One didn't dare reach for one's phone or make any sudden movements, lest one anger one's assailants. And their anger would certainly lead to a bad outcome.

The upperclassmen turned to Ryuu, offering him a series of warm and disarming smiles. The darkness in their eyes receded, replaced with a genuine glow of compassion. Like a mob of wolves masquerading as sheep. They could have actually passed as a group of samaritans, too, save for one fatal oversight. The upperclassman who'd placed his hands on Ieharu's shoulders only tightened his grip, forcing another wince out of the boy.

"Ah, new guy! Um... Morimoto!" The upperclassman who had been sneering in Ieharu's direction up until a moment ago spoke with an affable tone, sounding relieved at remembering the name. He widened his smile, erasing any trace of menace from his expression as he walked towards Ryuu, slinging an arm around the kid. "Why, we were just asking this guy to hang out with us. What's up? Practice ended yet?"

"... Yes. We ended early today." Ryuu answered his seniors politely, although annoyance was sharp in his tone. He subtly shouldered the arm slung around him away. He didn't really like people touching him without his permission. He took a step forward as the guy stepped away, hands up in the air like he was training for the best getting arrested award. He glanced at the scene, his eyes lingering on the hands laid on Ieharu, seeing how they were clutching his shoulders, the wince he gave. His eyes narrowed. He turned to the guy who had done a one-armed hug on him instead, the curiosity and annoyance on his face overshadowing any suspicion he felt. "Ishiki-senpai, where were you guys? Minneguchi was asking everybody where you were, it was annoying. What're you doing with Ieyoshi's brother?"

At the mention of his name, Ieharu's ears perked up, the light of hope nipping at the shadowy malaise of inevitability that had settled over him like a heavy sweater. The guy had said his name with such concern... Oh! Suddenly, he remembered. Ryuu. Aobane had said his name earlier, in the morning. It was Ryuu! The guy that helped Chitose get to Nurse. Aobane knew him, so he had to be a good guy!

"Oh, here and there," the guy now known as Ishiki-senpai said airily, waving a hand around in a gesture that meant does it really matter? He gave a short laugh. "Minneguchi, huh? Yeah, I did promise him that I'd show him how to do that thing with the bokuto... he must be pissed." Mirth danced in his eyes. "I'll make it up to him later. As for what I'm doing with this kid..."

He looked back at Ieharu, and Ryuu and Aobane didn't miss the way his eyes narrowed menacingly, or how his grin gained an edge like a wolf baring his fangs. "We're just... showing him the ropes, you know? He's got potential to be in our group, especially with the incident that morning." Then his eyes light up with an idea, and he grinned again. Ieharu's hope wavered. "Hey, Morimoto," he said slowly, like he was savouring his words. "You're in the same class, right?"

Ryuu nodded, and Ishiki's grin grew wider. Ieharu's gut sank low as the upperclassman said cheerily, "why don't you help us convince him? You know him, he knows you, so on and so forth, what do you think? C'mon," he cajoled, "give it a go."

Aobane had taken only a few steps closer as Ryuu confronted the upperclassman, wanting to keep a safe distance so not to draw attention to himself. Wtih Ryuu's intervention, though, he felt less of a need to jump in. There would be no one to fetch help if Aobane also placed himself in the middle of the group with Ieharu. Even with Ryuu being a member of the same Martial Arts Club, he was still just a 1st year. The three of them up against six 3rd years would be a suicide match. Luckily, it seemed like Aobane was being mostly ignored by the upperclassmen since he wasn't much of a threat to a bunch of senior martial arts students, anyway. He took a couple steps back, moving his eyes from Ieharu to glance at Ryuu for a few second before he turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

"Stall them as much as you can, Ryuu!" Aobane thought to himself as he quickened his pace from a jog to a run. The stairs were further down the hall, but it would be faster than waiting for the elevator. There was only one thing he needed to focus on right now, and that was finding Ieyoshi and Damien and alerting them of Ieharu's situation. Aobane would be back for sure, though, whether Damien and Ieyoshi were still waiting by the gate or not.

Almost as if he'd heard Aobane's thoughts, Ryuu looked towards Ieharu, who had turned white as a sheet. Then he looked at his senpai. "Um, no," he said, striding forwards. He grabbed Ieharu's arm. "I don't think he wants to be here, and coercing someone to join the club isn't something I like to do unless he wants to." He brushed his senpai's hands off Ieharu and gently pulled at his arm, steering him towards the elevators. "Plus, his friend is looking for him. Sorry, Senpai." he said behind his shoulder, only sounding slightly apologetic.

The depth of Ishiki's grin didn't falter for even a moment, but the feigned warmth visibly drained from his eyes, leaving behind a steely frost that practically radiated malicious intent. He didn't step so much as slide over, like a ghost or a wraith, blocking Ryuu's path. Suddenly, the other upperclassmen were there as well, encircling them, as if activated by Ishiki's actions. The two first-years were completely surrounded, but that didn't seem to phase Ryuu, who refused to relent. This placed him on a collision course with Ishiki, looking as if he fully intended to push past him. Ieharu recognize this almost immediately, looking up at Ryuu's back as he was lead forth by the arm.

It felt strange, like a sort of deja vu. This wasn't the first time he'd been in a tumultuous situation. It wasn't the first time he'd succumbed to panic, unable to react, yet his brother had always been there to bail him out. To offer his hand, his warmth, the guarantee of his protection. This time, though, it wasn't Ieyoshi, even though it felt just like him. The air of confidence. The sense of purpose, of inevitability, of implacability. Tears burned at the corners of his eyes, threatening to breach the dam and stream down his cheeks, but he held them back, instead cursing himself for being so pathetic. Once again, it was Ieharu the failure, the loser Ieharu who was too scared to defend himself. Ryuu was going to fight for him, just like Ieyoshi would have, and he knew how that was going to end.

"Senpai." Ryuu's tone was cordial, but brook no argument and sounded like he was holding back a growl. He looked up, meeting Ishiki's eyes in a heated glare that threatened to melt the ice and promised a kick to the balls if he didn't move out of the way. For someone who was the shortest amongst all the people present, he painted a remarkably menacing picture, although nobody but Ieharu noticed the way his hand tightened on his wrist, like he was worried about what was to come. "Please move."

Ryuu didn't want to admit it, but he was worried. He knew he wouldn't be able to beat them, especially Ishiki-senpai. There was a reason Minneguchi wanted him to teach her. Plus he was unarmed, though maybe he could use his schoolbag. To top it off, he had someone else with him. He couldn't really drag other people into fights, especially not when it was six-on-one. Two-on-one sure, maybe even four-on-one if he were armed, sure, but not six. This wasn't an action movie. There were too many, and they didn't seem to be going anywhere.

There had to be something he could do. Ryuu didn't like the idea of Ieharu getting hurt because of him.

Oh, right. There was that. Hopefully it'd result in him being the only casualty. Ryuu scowled, his free hand tensing as he took a step forward. The plan was: he'd step forward, push Ishiki-senpai to the side, and give Ieharu the chance to escape before the upperclassmen pounced. At the back of his mind, Ryuu idly wondered if he'd get expelled from the club afterwards, but that could be dealt with later. He faced the upperclassmen and took in a deep breath, clearing his mind.

For now, he had people to fight.

A transient sort of zen-like calmness settled over Ieharu body, though his mind raced. He was still scared, that was for sure, but it suddenly took a back seat to something greater. With one curt motion, he twisted his arm out of Ryuu's grasp and took a step backward, to the surprise of everyone involved, himself included. Though his legs were shaking, he still dared to channel his brother. Ieyoshi would say: if you're gonna go down, best to go down alone, right? No use getting more people hurt just because you fucked up. Right. That was the logical thing to do... right?

Ryuu looked back at him, and Ieharu caught his eye. "What are you d-doing, Ryuu?" He asked, looking off to the side and wiping an eye with the back of his hand. "I..." He offered Ryuu his best smile without making further eye contact. "I want to go with them, so just go follow Aobane, okay?"

"W-What?" Startled, Ryuu took a step back, thrown by Ieharu's words. He stared at Ieharu in disbelief, then his mind connected the dots on what Ieharu was trying to do and his eyes narrowed. He'd be impressed if he wasn't so busy cursing Ieharu for being such an idiotic, self-sacrificial turd who had zero sense of self preservation. What the hell was he doing?! Who knew what Ishiki-senpai and the others had in store for the guy? Probably a beating, if Ryuu went by past experience, but did Ieharu really knew what he was getting into?!

"You—" His voice strucked dumb with sheer incredulity, Ryuu stared at Ieharu, his hands curling into fists, almost shaking from the mixture of rage and worry coursing through him. "Are you fucking serious?!"

Ieharu shoved his hands into his pockets, mostly to hide the fact that they, too, had begun to shake. He looked over Ryuu's shoulder and up at the upperclassman that stood before him. Ishiki. "Well?" He muttered, adding as much steel to his shaking voice as he could muster. "Let's go."

Ishiki grinned, and as if on cue the other club members closed in around Ieharu like a well-trained wolf pack and started to lead him away. "There, you see?" Ishiki said truimphantly, back to being non-menacing. Unpreturbed by the glare Ryuu was sending him, he turned to follow the others. "Well, see you tomorr—"

"Wait." Ryuu strode towards the upperclassmen in a way that was almost aggressive, maintaining his icy glare. "I'm coming too," he said grumpily, tone holding a note of finality as he came to a stop beside Ieharu. The boy threw Ryuu a look that was equal parts confusion and dismay, and Ryuu cursed himself for sticking around Ieharu when it was obviously going to end in tears and the apocalypse. Why couldn't he just not feel guilty whenever he thought about ditching the whole situation? God, he was such an idiot! Ignoring Ieharu, Ryuu looked at the others evenly, his jaw set. "Is that alright, Senpai?"

"Hmm," Ishiki tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully, then smiled. "Why not?" One of the other members looked like they were about to protest, but Ishiki waved him off. "He's a part of the club, he's got to learn how things are run here sooner or later." He smiled at Ryuu, a nasty, not-entirely-friendly gleam in his eye. "Why not now?"

And so they went, Ryuu walking close to Haku as they were herded away.

On the floor below, Aobane kicked up dust as the bottom of his shoes met the dirt outside of the school's entrance. He'd already been scolded by a teacher once that day for wearing his indoor shoes outside, but now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. The courtyard was nearly empty and he was able to catch sight of Ieyoshi and Damien standing near the street on the other side of the gate, and they weren't by themselves either. "Heeyyy!!" Aobane shouted as he ran towards them, wanting to get their attention in case they were just about to give up waiting and start walking home before he could reach them. He cleared the distance fairly quickly, though, and skidded clumsily to a stop a few feet from their position.

Now that he was up close he recognized the other bodies that he'd seen standing with Damien and Ieyoshi. They were the brothers Enn and Shou. He would've greeted them cheerfully, but there was a more important matter at hand right now. Aobane let out a couple short breaths, trying to get his heartreat to slow as best he could, before taking a deep breath and saying rather loudly, "Haku's in trouble! Follow me!"

Before wasting a single second, Aobane spun on his heel and began sprinting back the way he came.

---

Collab between Xunmanius, Alle9009 and Karkastic Red for Haku, Ryuu and Aobane.

---

Akira went over to Cross, a smile on his face. "Hey, what class are you in?" he asked, leaning over Cross's shoulder to see the schedule. "I'm in class 2-A, I'll show you around if we're in the same class. Or even if we aren't in the same class, we'll just have to meet up during break then."

Cross looked at the roster which was divided by name order, just as he thought. He also couldn't help thinking it was kind of cliche how classes were set up, but thought nothing of it. It was only homeroom and from there he would learn where his elected classes were. Still, if they were all the same it'd mean seeing the same people. Akira being in every class would be cool, but he didn't want the same set of girls to look at. Girls got boring the more he was around them he found. A lot of things did. "Same, same." He replied. "After Home I have the math's. Where's that at?" Cross glared at his paper and the line up he was given. All of the classes sounded the same as the ones he took years before, but with numbers and extensions.

"We are? Cool. Hold on let me see you're schedule." Akira reached over and took the schedule, glancing through it. "Oh, that's Kichiki-Sensei's class. Classroom 32, blk 4 level 5. I'll show you were later, we're in the same class for nearly everything." He handed the schedule back to Cross. "Weird coincidence, huh?" He said, somewhat wryly.

"You're telling me," the brown haired boy replied while stuffing the roster into his bag. A mischievous smile appeared on Crostoph's face as they walked away. "So.... We have any female teachers?"

"A lot," Akira answered promptly. He walked off together with Cross, waving a cheerful goodbye towards the other two students and a polite bow to sensei. "Minnochi-Sensei teaches english, Azanari-sensei teaches science for the first years, Senzunbori-Sensei teaches history for the third years... there are more male teachers though, I think. Oh yeah!" His voice turned suspiciously innocent. "Our Homeroom has Marizuni-Sensei, she's pretty young... and cool about things."

"I do like things..." Cross was caught up daydreaming about things that set his mind at ease. He felt that as long as the classes he didn't have his newfound friend in had cute women around him he'd be okay. He just hoped none of the delinquent ones were around. Really killed his mood."You know when lunch is? I skipped breakfast because I heard they serve lunch here."

Akira frowned thoughtfully. "At twelve, I think." he turned right and headed into the building. "I'm not too sure, I kind of forgot," he admitted sheepishly.

Cross cursed himself for skipping breakfast. "Guess I'm out of luck until we get to homeroom. I can sneak something. I'll give you a cookie to keep watch." He put up his index and middle finger in a peace sign.

"Deal," Akira answered, walking into the building. He looked up thoughtfully, running the schedule through his mind. "Homeroom first period." He muttered decisively, walking towards the lift. He smiled. "Leon might have some food with him, I'll ask him."

_______________________

The lunch bell rang, and Akira stood up with a stretch. "C'mon, I'll show you the cafeteria." he said to Cross. He slipped out of his seat and waved goodbye to Megumi, who was already tucking into her bento. A smaller empty box lay at the corner of the table, lid open. It used to contain brownies she'd made, but she'd been quite willing to share once she heard Cross hadn't eaten breakfast. The girl from earlier - she'd introduced herself as Florence Sterling - was in their class too, but she hadn't really responded to anyone and disappeared by herself for lunch. Akira hoped she knew where it was.

Cross waved along with Akira and followed him. "I'm glad it's lunch time. I'm hungry again. I just hope we don't get the prison food they served the last time I went to a school. It'd be a shame for me not to get a good meal in a school so big. While walking it seemed other students were lining up for something. "What's that over there? We have amusement park rides here?"

"I wish," Akira laughed lightly, following Cross's view. [color=#FF0000]"That's the breadshop, currently runned by Lilith. She's really pretty, and the bread's delicious too..." Akira brought his wrist up, checking his bluescreen. [color=#FF0000]"One more day till the bread wars, huh..." he muttered to himself, looking at the date. Looking back at Cross, he smiled and said [color=#FF0000]"You might want to avoid the breadshop tomorrow, though, its going to be a bloodbath."

[color=indigo]"Oh really? What's the bread wars? Do I get to hit people with Italian rolls?" Cross thought the whole idea was fun. He was sure if he got to be part in it he'd find a way to take it to a higher level. "Yeah, we should probably watch before we act. The precious awaits. This school has everything huh? Except for a magician with a magic hat."

So Cross had overheard him, huh? Akira wasn't sure how he'd react to the Bread Wars, but more importantly... "Did someone say magician?"

Out of nowhere, Akira smiled mischievously and produced a white top hat with a wide red band near the brim. He showed the hat's inside to Cross, who saw that absolutely nothing was inside, then twirled it and placed it on top of his head with a flourish. There was a muffled coo from inside the hat, and when Akira took it off with a flourish there was a confused looking white pigeon sitting on his head. Cross looked in awe at the pigeon and clapped his hands together on impulse as Akira bowed, the pigeon fluttering off his head to land on his outstretched arm. Straightening up, Akira smiled at Cross teasingly. "You were saying?"

"Where did the pigeon come from." he asked eye balling the bird as if it were a science project. "Is it a real bird or one of those crazy mechanical ones?"

"Torizallo? Oh, he's definitely real." The pigeon cooed and flew to his shoulder as if on cue, where it fluffed its feathers and eyeballed Cross back. Akira stroke a finger across its feathers affectionately as he dug into his pocket for a treat. "I got him from my uncle a few years ago, he's really nice. As for where he came from..." Akira gave a small smile and put a finger to his lips. "Trade secret!"

They continued to walk towards the cafeteria. "Do you wanna pet him?" Akira asked Cross as part apology, part friendly. He fished up the treat and handed it to Torizallo, who took it with a satisfied sounding coo, "He won't mind, he's really docile."

"Sure I'd like to pet.... Er... Uh... I'ma just call it Pidgy. Torizallo or whatever it is, is too hard to pronounce." Cross stuck his tongue out. He then motioned to Torizallo. "We need some food to wash down the linguistic torture I've just been put through by repeating such a foriegn name. You should eat something too. I hear when things are said in different languages over in countries with people who don't speak the language you can summon the Octonon. So I've been told."
Cross put his hand on his chin. "Though that guy did have a little too much make up on his nose when he told me. Still, you can't judge a book by its cover when it comes to things. Let's chow!!!"

Cross was from a different country? Well, it wasn't really his problem, although Akira did make a note to see if he needed help with linguistics. "Sure! Hey, we're here," He said instead, opening the door. Shigashina fluttered to the top of his head. The sight was so familiar that pretty much no one but a few of the third years and most of the first years would blink an eye to it any more. "I'll tell you about the Bread Wars while we eat. Just make sure to avoid the Mashed Potatoes, those things are as hard as rocks..."

_____________________________________________________________________

Florence pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a small sigh. She didn't anticipate that the jet lag would get to her in class of all times. The different language the teachers used while teaching didn't help with keeping her attention on them either, and she struggled with the growing feeling of drowsiness until she finally succumbed to sleep in the last period. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone noticed, and if anyone did they didn't bother to wake her up. Rubbing her eyes, Florence cast her gaze around the classroom, mostly empty except for two more sleeping students. The two students she had just met today, no less, Akira and Crostoph. "I should probably wake them up...?" Florence muttered to herself under her breath as she inspected the clock, showing that hours have passed from the end of school. She made her way over to the closest desk from her and shook the shoulder of the red haired student gently. "I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, but school's over hours ago."

Akira let out a muffled sounding groan. "Mmmmwha....?" Blearily, he lifted his head up from where it had been resting on his arms to look up at the student he'd seen outside the central office. The time spent helping his uncle with work had finally taken its toll during last period, and he'd fallen asleep halfway through the lesson. Her words failed to penetrate through the fog of sleepiness clouding his brain, although she looked vaguely familiar. Umm, what was her name again..? Florise? Flourese? "Whazzut?"

"School has ended hours ago." Florence reiterated her point calmly, raising the volume of her voice slightly. At least he woke up, if not completely. "You should want to leave now, unless you choose to spend the night in the classroom. Your parents will be worried."

Akira rubbed away the sleep from his eyes with his hands, still half asleep. Hearing the question but not quite awake enough to filter it, he answered without thinking, voice slightly slurred with sleep. "My parents aren't around anymore, so I don't think they will..." He yawned and stretched, not realising what he had said. Then his brain registered what he'd said and he froze midstretch. "Um." he said uncomfortably, very much awake now. "I mean, my uncle's overseas at the moment on business, so I don't think he'll notice if I'm back late." he backtracked hastily, giving her a bright smile.

"Oh. Um..." For once Florence seemed a little lost for words. "My deepest condolences, I didn't know that." Akira didn't seem too bothered, but she still felt that she shouldn't have neared such a sensitive subject. Who would have thought? Were all schools littered with students with tragic backgrounds? Perhaps she should watch her words the next time she spoke. "Do you not have a place to go to? Is sleeping in the classroom an activity you always do?"

Whoops. Backtracking hadn't worked. Still, Akira relaxed and gave her his best comforting, I don't mind really smile. It wasn't like the subject bothered him too much, it had happened years ago and he'd gotten over it, mostly. "Nah, No worries." It wasn't like she'd known after all. He finished his stretch and placed his hands back on the table. "I was tired after helping my uncle out with work last night. Didn't get much sleep, haha." He scratched his neck sheepishly. "That's why I fell asleep last period and didn't wake up till now. Otherwise, I would've gone back home after showing Cross around."

"I see." Florence offered one of her rare smiles in return. "Are you returning now? If it's you don't mind, would you mind showing me around as well?" She asked politely, taking note of the fact that it was possibly too late to be looking for her brother. That would have to wait until tomorrow, but right now knowing the school was important for better navigation the next day. Florence didn't want to get lost in the school grounds like she did today.

"Sure, why not?" Akira smiled. He didn't really mind, and it'd be nice to make a new friend. "I'll show you the bread shop tomorrow," he promised, getting out of his seat. "It's one of the seven wonders of our school, and I already promised to show Cross there tomorrow. I don't think he'll mind if an extra person comes along." And if he did, then Akira would just show her around anyway. He walked over to his friend's desk and gently shook Cross's shoulder. "C'mon, Cross, wake up," he said, 'It's like almost sundown, I don't think you want to stay in school longer than you have to."

For some reason it was dark and the only sound he could hear was the sound of dripping water. Every drip was an echo lasting longer than the last and he was sure he knew exactly where he was. It wasn't as if he would have had a hard time remembering such a place, just that he'd rather not have the memory to begin with. Was this a dream? He hoped so. Between the vibrations that he could feel under his cold bare feet and the humidity of the air around him, he was feeling his heart beating slightly faster and faster as his time there went on. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid. There wasn't nothing to fear from the dark. Was there? "I'LL BREAK THROUGH THE DARKNESS!!!"

Cross leaped out of his desk, surprised by his newfound site. He quickly remembered he was in school, but found himself at a loss to why. That was, until he saw his newfound pal landing on the floor with a yelp and... past acquaintance. 'Damn.' Totally not cool. What if he was talking in his sleep? He was sure Akira wasn't going to say anything, but girls talked a lot. There was only one thing to do. Looking over at the time he saw that it was well after school hours which was perfect for the occasion. "Hahahahahahaaa!!! You startled me. I was thinking about purification rituals for the demon clan." It wasn't the best way to make up for his abrupt awakening, but it would have to do. "Ahem. So, uh.... Hi." He smiled and through a small peace salute to the white haired girl. He wasn't going to ask her name for that would also be embarrassing. He was it was given after his trip, but he was too embarrassed to listen.

Quickly changing over topics he gave a great stretch, yawning and curling his hand to caress his cheek like a cat. "That was a great nap. That makes..... four successful naps today. Who would think school would be so easy?" He looked over at the girl and then back to Akira. Given the time, it was about time he let the school grounds, but he wondered about them. "So, what are you too going to do now? No use sitting here twiddling thumbs right?"

"Sounds like the rituals were failing from the way you jumped," Akira said jokingly from where he had fallen on the floor. He picked himself up and dusted himself off, adding somewhat seriously, "Did you try salt circles? I think those work. Throw salt and then draw a circle, and poof!" Akira drew his hands wide like he was gesturing for an explosion. "They're trapped."

"Isn't that supposed to be bad luck? Or was it pepper?" Cross was thinking about which one had a certain taste to it. He was pretty sure salt was something that made people sneeze. Or was that epsom salt? "It's okay. I'll figure it out. Demons must be handled by those who do the duty of quelling them."

"Nah, that's when you throw them over your shoulder." Akira said cheerfully, walking back to his desk to take his bag. He gave a soft, high-pitched whistle that sounded almost like a birdcall, and Torizallo fluttered through the window to land on his head. He grabbed his bag and turned, facing the two of them. "Florence, meet Torizallo, also known as Pidgy." He gestured at the white pigeon on his head, his tone turning almost business-like, although still friendly. "Torizallo, Florence."

He turned to Cross and gestured to Florence, keeping the same business-like friendly tone. "Cross, she's Florence Sterling, a new student like you. remember her from earlier at the principals office? I'm showing her around too, she'll be coming with us for the Bread Wars." He turned to Florence. "Florence, this is Cross." He smiled brightly at the two. "Hope we get along!"

Demon clan? What in the world were Japanese schools nowadays? Florence had no idea where the supernatural factored into their situation now, but she watched as the two boys went on about throwing salt and other activities to fend off demons. "Is that yours?" She only spoke as the pigeon flew in at the tone of Akira's whistle, her love of birds factoring into her curiosity about the pigeon. Akira must have trained it somehow... her hand reached out involuntarily to stroke it's soft feathers, only looking up when she was introduced to Crosstoph once again. "It's nice to meet you Cross. I'm sure we will."

Cross grinned. "You betcha," he said, looking as Chesire as ever. He was happy to finally have a posey on the school grounds. An extra set of eyes and ears. "So you'd be Judgment?.... Chariot?.... Hmmm. Sterling sounds like a nice name. Do you come from a heritage of kings?" His eyes opened wide as he grew interested. "In that case, you'd be the queen card. Akira. Is there a queen card?"

"Probably. If there's a king, a queen would turn up somewhere in the mix for sure." Akira glanced at Florence's outstretched fingers and a small smile crossed over his face, almost mischievous. "Stay still," he advised her, and gave another whistle that sounded sharper but lower that lasted only a few seconds.

Torizallo flew towards Florence and landed on her shoulder, a light but warm weight that was somewhat ticklish thanks to the feathers. Florence tensed up instinctively, and Akira smiled at her. "Don't worry, Torizallo won't bite." He paused. "Or peck, since he doesn't have teeth."

So the pidgeon's name was Torizallo? It's name was rather unconventional. She reached a hand out tentatively to pet it once again, a small smile crossing her face for a second. "Thank you, Torizallo's adorable."

Cross tossed his books into his bag. "So Flo, what do you usually do after school? Kinda thinking there should be a napping club." He then turned to Akira and tapped Torizallo's beak. "We should work on doing that Aki."

"I'm not sure a napping club exists yet, but we could always ask," Akira said, shrugging. He grinned, taking the lead as they walked out of the classroom. "I don't think I'd be able to join though, since I've got work." He paused thoguhtfully. "Hey, maybe I could be a honourary member, that could work!"

They walked on like any trio of normal students heading home after club activities, chattering about nothing in particular. Akira waved goodbye to a few classmates and friends and told Florence and Cross a few stories about them, and he was trying to act out a scene where Torizallo had scared the crap out of everyone (long story short, they had been holding a ghost story contest during homeroom and Torizallo had fluttered towards the flashlights just as they'd finished hearing about a bird who ate humans for breakfast) and was failing miserably when they caught sight of what looked like two first years duking it out like a showdown at the O-K corral and an annoyed looking brown-haired kid talking to a third-year that had a jagged lightning-like scar coming down the left side of his face.

They paused to watch, interested. Akira's eyebrows rose in surprise at seeing a fight happening outside the breadshop instead of in it. Florence stopped abruptely once she caught sight of it, tilting her head in curiosity at the commotion, Cross looked over at one of kids eying each of them over. Biting his bottom lip, he clenched his fist and pumped them in the air slightly as if he were cheering the boys on. Torizallo cooed loudly like he agreed with Cross, fluttering to the top of Akira's head and nestling there, turned his head to watch, beady black eyes looking assessively at the weird quartet just as someone brushed past them and headed straight for the two brown-haired students talking together.

---

Collaborative post between Alle9009, moahi and Damoia for Akira, Florence and Crostoph.

"Heeyyy!!"

Ieyoshi narrowed his eyes, recognizing his twin brother's friend. The kid skidded to a stop a few feet from where he stood, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did. Giving him a quick once-over with his eyes, Ieyoshi noted his haggard look, his rough expression, his gasps for breath. Obviously, he'd been running as fast as he could. Interesting.

Perhaps Ieharu was running with the track club again? That would explain why he was late. Ieyoshi sighed. He didn't understand sports, especially running track. Why would anyone waste the ti—

"Haku's in trouble!" Aobane declared, speaking between gasps. Follow me!" Without further ado, he turned and began running back from whence he came. Ieyoshi stared for a moment, mouth slightly agape, his expression incredulous, but again, that lasted for but a moment. Within an instant, his look of befuddlement was replaced by something else entirely. It was the type of look a seasoned veteran of war would don after hearing that he'd been deploy for a fourth tour of duty. It was a look not of fear, or anger, or even excitement. It was a look of expectation. A cool steely countenance that did nothing to hide the boy's willingness to commit abject violence in the name of his family. In the name of his brother.

Aobane had made it only a meter or two before Ieyoshi began running in his wake, surging forward like a mighty hurricane. With only a few footfalls, he caught up, running side by side with the panicked Aobane. As they ran, there were no words spoken. Nothing needed to be said. In this moment, side by side, Aobane had Ieyoshi's complete and unadulterated trust. It wasn't something that he gave out lightly, or easily.

The two burst in through the main school building's front doors, nearly giving a janitor a heart attack as they did. Cutting to the right, they ran down a hallway, lined on both sides by the skeletal remains of vacant lockers and doorways to empty void-like classrooms. Through a door. Up some stairs. Out into a new hallway. Past a niche that housed several elevators. It was eerily silent here, save for the footfalls of Aobane and company. It was as if they were running down an alley in a ghost town. For a moment, Aobane slowed, a confused look on his face. It was as if he expected something to be here, but it wasn't. Suddenly, his eyes snapped forward, and Ieyoshi could almost see the lightbulb go off above his head. Moving swiftly, Aobane took a curt turn down an adjoining hallway, and then another. Through yet another door. All the way down the stairs. Out through a featureless silver and gray gate that opened up into a small abandoned lot outside. Looking around, Ieyoshi recognized this as the hidden spot that some third years would talk about when they wanted to smoke or drink without the faculty bothering them. The fact that Aobane knew of its location shouldn't have been a surprise.

After several meters, the protected little inlet opened up into a vast parking lot. Save for a few cars here and there, it was largely abandoned since most of the teachers and staff had retired for the day.

And that's when Ieyoshi saw them, leaning against the side of the auxiliary building on the other end of the lot. Two guys dressed in the typical Namimori High school uniform, though it seemed like they had purposely ruffled their hair and donned generally disheveled appearances. Second years, by the look of them, trying to seem tough. Ieyoshi rolled his eyes. Hard.

When they got to within a few meters of the second years, the two upperclassmen turned nonchalantly, hands thrust into their pockets. When they saw Ieyoshi, they grinned. One of them deigned to hold out his hand, palm facing the incomers. The intent behind the gesture was clear.

Stop.

Ieyoshi came to an immediate halt, using his leading foot to catch himself. At this point, he was perhaps a meter away from the two second years.

"Hey, you're that underwear kid, right?" Said the one on the left, looking at Ieyoshi. "The brown-haired one, I mean."

"Where's my brother?" Ieyoshi muttered, the downright ominous tone in his voice carrying over the small gusts of wind that gently whipped his hair to and fro. His face was impassive, but his confrontational stance betray his underlying thoughts.

"Who?" Said the one on the right. Ieyoshi leveled him with a frosty glare but otherwise said nothing. After a few awkward moments, the upperclassman changed his answer. "Calm down, you kid." He coughed up phlegm and spit it out, the glob of spittle landing mere inches from Ieyoshi's feet. "Your bro wanted to hang with us." The guy looked over to his compatriot, grinning. The other one mirrored his expression. "So we were nice enough to let him."

Fists clenched, Ieyoshi took a step forward.

Immediately, the second year on the left raised his hands in surrender. "Chill bro, chill. We'll take you to him."

"Yeah," the one on the right agreed. At that, Ieyoshi relented, the tension draining out of his shoulders. However, the upperclassman hadn't finished speaking. "But if you wanna come onto club turf, you gotta come alone." He motioned at the others with his chin. "They can't come." With the way he said it, it was clearly and unequivocally a threat of sorts, though to what end Ieyoshi was not sure. Frankly, he wasn't sure why any of this was going on, or what the end game was here, but fine. He'd play their game for now.

The mere thought of the idea of Ieharu being around these two thugs made Damien's blood boil. "Oh, you want him to come alone?" He said, extending his left arm for a slight stretch. Two men might die tonight. Maybe more. "First of all," he paused as he held his index finger up, "I need you to tell me where Haku is. Second," he mentioned this with two fingers up, "I'm coming along." Now he bawled his fist and placed it into his palm, his very stance a threat. "Third, I dare you to try and stop me. Please try." The look on his face completely shifted to that of a apex predator about to smite its prey. Playtime was over.

Seeing Damien's face change, Enn's grin grew bloodthirsty as well. Their match had been interrupted, so maybe these people were going to make up for that? He grinned and looked towards them, his stance shifting into something looser, ready to move. "If you're going after them, let me join in~!" he said cheerfully, raising his hands up. Despite his face remaining light and jovial, a menacing aura settled around him. Shou spluttered a few steps behind him in response.

Ieyoshi tilted his head slightly, his eyes darting to the left, catching Enn in his peripheral vision. And then to the right, catching Damien just as he finished his response. He didn't need his intuition to know that these two were mere moments away from taking decisive action.

He sighed bitterly, closing his eyes. And what would a fight here mean for Haku?

With one outstretched arm, Ieyoshi placed his palm firmly against Damien's chest, preventing him from advancing. This was not a question of strength. The Sawada twin knew from experience that his mere hand was not enough to stop his childhood friend, yet either out of respect or friendship or maybe both, Damien did not force his way past him. At the same time, Shou frantically grabbed Enn's arm almost gingerly, like he was expecting his little brother to whirl around and attack him. He relaxed when Enn didn't move towards him, merely turning around to glance at him with a puzzled look in his eyes before facing the two goons in front of them with the same blood thirsty grin. Although the black aura surrounding Enn dissipated somewhat, the snarl that had adorned Damien's face did not abate.

For an instant, Ieyoshi's brow was cloaked in shadow, his head tilted downward in consideration. It didn't take him long to reach a conclusion.

"Damien," he started, his words little more than a susurration. He balled his outstretched hand into a fist and lightly tapped his friend's chest. It was a friendly gesture. Slowly, he tilted his head upwards, locking eyes with the two upperclassmen. All the while, a heinous grin was slowly worming its way onto his face. This must've been what his brother refered to as the supervillain smirk. "This one is mine." He dropped his arm and began walking forward. "Don't interfere."

Beside him, Shou pulled Enn back, leaving Ieyoshi and Damien to stand at the forefront. He breathed a sigh of relief when Enn complied. "Let them handle it," he whispered. He'd heard what Ieyoshi had said, and was more than happy for the both of them to stay in the shadows. "Please," he pleaded quietly, the sound barely making it past his lips. Enn didn't say anything, merely looking at the upperclassmen with an assessing look in his eye, like a gamer looking at his opponents stats.

The message was clear: if they proved to be weak, then Enn would ignore them, losing interest in them the way a child would do to old toys. If they were strong, then, he'd be like a child with new toys—completely ready to play rough even if it wrecked the toy, at least until he grew bored of it. Still, he stayed, and for Shou, that was good enough.

Ieyoshi walked right through the two upperclassmen, and they let him. Once he advanced a meter or so, one of them turned to follow the first year. The other stayed, leaning against the side of the auxiliary building, staring at the gaggle whom Ieyoshi had left behind, presumably to ensure that they did not follow. Despite Enn's menace and Damien's threats, the guy didn't seem phased. In fact, he pulled a cig from his pocket and lit up, blowing smoke from his nostrils a moment later.

He didn't take his eyes off the others for a second.

Further ahead, Ieyoshi followed the sidewalk that marked the perimeter of the auxiliary building, turning right and moving out of sight of Damien and the others. Even on this side of the building, the lot was still empty. Though he'd been coming to the school routinely for nearly a month, Ieyoshi had never been around this side of the school before, and so took in his surroundings with measured haste. Weeds grew in the grass alongside the auxiliary building, which was unusual. Most of the school's property was kept pristine at all times by the janitorial staff. This meant that this side of the school rarely saw much attention.

The perfect place for a trap, then.

The upperclassman that'd tailed him let out a bark of laughter as they walked. "I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually agree to come alone, kid."

So that confirmed it, then. They did have ill intentions.

"Well, you asked," Ieyoshi responded, his tone as measured as his pace.

"Yeah, but still. Kinda dumb, don'tcha think bro? You know what comes when you round that corner, right?"

Suddenly, Ieyoshi stopped walking, choosing instead to turn to the second year, who'd himself come to a stop right behind him. The twin had a somewhat confused look on his face. "But we didn't even—"

Suddenly and without warning, Ieyoshi smashed his heel into the guy's groin. The upperclassman responded with a yelp, crumpling to the ground in pain.

Ieyoshi waited for him to grab onto his groin—the customary male response to being kicked in that particularly sensitive spot. When he did, Ieyoshi took the opportunity to stomp on him a few more times, making sure to smash his heel into the guy's knuckles. With each kick, the second year let out an agonized yelp. When he tried to roll away, Ieyoshi stepped on his chest, preventing him from escaping. At this point, the twin let out a bark of laughter, a cartoonish imitation of the upperclassman's earlier laugh.

"I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually fall for that, kid." Ieyoshi said, mimicking the guy's voice. He gave him one more stomp for good measure. "And I'm not a kid, kid. Don't call me kid. Got it, kid? Or I'll make it so that you never have kids." From the tone in his voice, Ieyoshi was obviously not kidding around. The upperclassman nodded furiously in response, tears streaming down his face.

Ieyoshi closed his eyes, his expression morphing into that of one who was sleepy. "Whatever," he muttered, taking his foot off the guy's chest. Pivoting on his heel, he resuming his slow walk. If they wanted to trap him and fight him for whatever reason, then whatever, but Ieharu wasn't a fighter. He wasn't the type to start fights, either. Why would they pick on him? Was it because he looked weak or something? Ieyoshi picked up the pace. He was nearing the end of the auxiliary building. Perhaps it was because of that kid he punched in the morning. Perhaps that kid was someone important. Maybe he shouldn't have punched him. Ieyoshi recognized the two second years not by name or face, but by the way they wore their school uniforms. It was emblematic of the infamous Martial Arts Appreciation club. Maybe these club guys wanted revenge.

And so they used Ieharu to get to him, instead of approaching him on their own.

"Tch." Ieyoshi shook his head is utter disdain. Uncle Ryohei would call these types the "extreme losers".

As he prepared to round the corner and face this unknown threat, Ieyoshi realized that he hadn't really developed his plan of action any further than "beat up everyone and save Haku". He frowned. This wasn't like him. Not at all. Where were the tactics? The strategy? He hesitated in his step, looking around, taking stock of the tactical value of his surroundings for the first time. No weapons. Nothing that he could use to his advantage. Nothing to hide behind. Nowhere to retreat to that wasn't a wide open area where he wouldn't be surrounded. Plus he left an enemy—that second year he kicked in the balls—still potentially viable and in his wake. If this were a horror movie, that'd be the guy that pops up in the final scene and, to the complete dismay of the audience, cuts off his escape and stabs him in the side, sealing his fate.

Great. A total trap. Though it's not like he didn't see this coming, right?

Ieyoshi sighed for the umpteenth time.

Whenever his brother was involved, he always found himself rushing recklessly. It was annoying to be forced to acknowledge that he was so easily capable of acting illogically, but whatever. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Whatever indeed.

Ieyoshi rounded the corner, his gait confident, his visage menacing. It wasn't up to his usual standards, but it was the best he could do on such short notice.

The first thing he noted was the rundown ramshackle nature of this setting. An overturned trash bin. A pile of dusty tires. Weeds run amuck. The random discarded can or obligatory used condom every couple of meters.

The second thing he noticed were the four burly hulking seniors—third years—all sporting the Martial Arts club look. And they noticed him, too. All four of them turned in union, aligning their bodies to his like pit bulls or police dogs. All they needed was for their master to yell "Sic 'em!" Ieyoshi took a step backward, his foot sliding across the loose gravelly pavement.

He took care to note that the chunks of rock felt like sand under his feet.

These muscle bound upperclassmen made those two second years from before look like emaciated children. His first instinct was to run, to retreat to a spot where he could find some sort of tactical advantage, some way to split them up, fight them one at a time. This wasn't an action movie, and though he held himself and his skills in high regard, he wasn't an idiot. Even professional MMA fighters would have a hard time taking on four people at once in real life, and he wasn't even a professional. Not yet, at least.

Instead of retreating, however, Ieyoshi took a bold step forward. Though he was nervous, his hands didn't shake. Though he watched carefully for any sort of hostile movement from these four thugs in his peripheral vision, his arrogant visage did not crack. What kept him rooted in place, what kept him from running, was the same thing that caught his eye, that prevented him from averting his attention.

Several meters ahead of him, behind the four thugs and off to the left, was a first year. Ieyoshi wasn't sure of his name—he wasn't really good with names—but he remembered the face. Pale skin, bright blonde hair clipped behind his right ear by four red pins, annoyingly large blue eyes. He'd definitely seen this guy around before. Fairly recently, in fact. The guy was being restrained by two upperclassmen, and, by the looks of him, they'd roughed him up a bit.

Welp, that brought his number of enemies up to six. If the odds weren't in his favor before, they were approaching suicidal now.

Still, the blonde-haired first year was not the object of Ieyoshi's attention, for behind the wall of thugs and off to the right were two others: a particularly tall man and a girl.

The girl appeared out of place among the guys, dwarfing the tall man whom of which she stood next to. Probably the most striking detail about her was her long, sand-colored hair, which had somewhat large "drills" on it's sides. It appeared to be dyed that way as her hair was brown at the roots. Her BluScreen was activated on her wrist, making it easily visible. She stood quite close to the man, apparently affectionately. "Ishiki~!" She called playfully, seemingly rather giddy, "That's the other boy, no doubt. He's got that mean look in his eye. So terribly frightening." The girl's tone wasn't serious at all, bordering on sarcastic.

Ieyoshi's ears perked up. Ishiki. One of the few names around school that he had committed to memory. So this was him. Ishiki Kurorugi, captain of the Martial Arts Appreciation Club, Bokken combat artist, and the so-called "strongest third year".

Still, what Ieyoshi was staring at was not Ishiki per say. The guy had one hand balled into a fist, raised threateningly. He was using his other hand to press against Ieharu's chest, keeping the younger twin pinned to the side of the wall. That's what he was staring at.

Ieharu's face didn't look so good. One eye was blackened considerably. One cheek was somewhat swollen. There were traces of red around his nose and lips, and there was some dried up blood on the front of his school uniform.

They'd laid hands on his brother.

"HEY!" Ieyoshi roared. Now, a shout from him is akin to a normal person raising their voice somewhat. For Ieyoshi, such a thing was completely out of character. Still, it had the intended effect. Ishiki froze for a moment before finally turning his head to look at the newcomer.

Then he smiled. It looked disgusting on his face.

"Hey, what's up, kid?" He said, releasing Ieharu. The boy slid to the ground, unresponsive. "Good timing. You two look just alike, you know? Seriously, you're identical, besides the hair. It's pretty weird, actually." He curved his neck to the side, eliciting a series of cracks and pops as air escaped from between his joints. "Anyways. Now we can get this party started."

"Ishiki, do your best, okay?" The girl next to him said teasingly, giving him a smooching gesture before backing off. "You know, this is for Rosa's sake, and you know when Rosa's happy, I'm happy too." This girl's cheery attitude was close to nauseating in terms of how sweet she was trying to be. But then, her expression changed to one that was much more sinister and much more true to her character. She looked directly at Ieyoshi. "Indeed, disrupting school order and dishonoring our wonderful Ms. Rosa..." She leered at Ieharu, who sat on the ground behind her, bringing a finger to her lip. "... comes with rather heavy penalties."

Was that Yoh? Chester had just been passing by that particular area, searching for the butterfly that had eluded his eyes when he spotted the fight from the edges of his peripheral vision. He stopped for a second, observing it more closely. It was the twins, there was no question about it. Just after the scene they made this morning too, did they get themselves involved in another serious one? It wasn't as if it mattered to him. Chester tried to reason with himself as he turned away from the commotion, fixing his eyes on anything other than the group of people. He didn't know them anyway, and they could settle it on their own, right? Averting his eyes might be the coward's way out, but the coward is the one that survives in the end.

Or maybe not. Just as Chester turned to leave, movement caught his eye. He turned to see a struggle going on some ways away at the back between two second years and... "Ryuu?"

Well, this can't be helped. It's just going to weigh on his conscience until who knows when. Chester sighed quietly as his eyes scanned them, looking for any blind spots he could vanish into. Moving up discreetly behind the two upperclassmen, who were struggling with keeping the first year still, he paused for a second before pushing them as hard as he possibly could. It wasn't the most ideal scenario, but Chester found it hard to think of what to do other than assassinating them.

The two second years and Ryuu stumbled forward, hold on the first year loosening momentarily. Ryuu regained his balance first, wrenching an arm free from its vice as the one who'd been trying to grab Ryuu's legs straightened up and he turned. "What the hell?" he looked around angrily to beat the culprit down. "Oi, what-"

Wasting no time, Ryuu slammed his elbow viciously into the gut of his captor. The guy, who had been distracted by Chester, received the blow with a grunt of pain that dragged the other upperclassman's attention back to them but refused to relinquish his hold, raising his other arm up to loop around Ryuu's neck instead. Ryuu gritted his teeth and jabbed back with his elbow again as hard as he could while wrenching his arm out of the guy's grip, then raised his leg to slam it back down against his captor's knee with an audible thud. For good measure, Ryuu raised it again to bring his heel down onto a devastating stomp on his captor's foot, and the upperclassman let go of him with a hastily stifled yell of pain, alternating between clutching at his injured hand and foot like he couldn't decide which one hurt more.

"Shit!" The other club member raised a fist speedily, but Ryuu ducked low to scythe at the club members legs. The older teen fell, and Ryuu took the opportunity to kick him in the gut. He doubled up with a groan, instinctively wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"Thanks for treating me so nicely, senpai." Ryuu said sarcastically, scowling angrily down at him. "Allow me to return the favour." He kicked at the fallen teens side one last time before walking towards Chester, refusing to look back at his two former captors.

"Thanks," he said, frowning slightly from the aches in his body as he rotated his arms with a crack. Dammit, he knew following Ieharu was a bad idea! He backed up towards Chester, away from the club members, Much to their credit, they had already gotten back on their feet, although they were groaning like zombies after brains. In this particular case, Ryuu had no doubt as to which brain they wanted. Not for the first time, he wished his bag was there. "So... anything else up your sleeve?" he whispered to Chester out of the side of his mouth, raising his arms in a sparring position.

"I-I can take one of them if you'd finish the other." Chester whispered back a little urgently, his voice high with panic. Ryuu nodded, eyes narrowing sharply as he focused on the one who had beaten him up earlier, but before they could do anything somebody fell out of a tree. Everyone stopped in their actions for a split second, all eyes fixating on the strange man. There was an awkward silence, then the man asked where to find the nurse's office. Chester simply stared at him, unable to process what had happened in a matter of seconds. There was an intruder in school, and he just fell from a tree and hurt his ankle. It was all rather hard to take in, but the rest seemed to be alright with it, Ishiki pointing him toward the nurse's office.

Ryuu summed it up somewhat appropriately. [color=#000080]"What the fuck?" [/color]He said, nonplussed, hands still raised in front of him like a fighting character in a video game. Good thing it wasn't a teacher though, since his scholarship would've been in danger, but why did he fall out of a tree?! He scowled as Ishiki lied to the weird man about the nurses office, relief in the air showing up so much that it would take a rocket to destroy it. He obviously wanted the man out of the way so that he could continue what he was doing before, like beating the twins down to steal their underwear. Seriously, underwear, what the hell? What did that shallow bitch want to do anyway, wear them on her head? The girl in question aided the lie, and Ryuu was just about to call out bullshit when Ieharu called out the guy's name.

A brief look of surprise crossed over Ryuu's features before turning into a puzzled frown. What the hell was going on here?! By then, the four had forgotten about scuffling with each other in favour of watching the scene between the twins and Godot like they were watching tv, although Ryuu still kept his sparring pose. Was the man insane? And it was quite obvious that the twins were in trouble, why the hell was he not helping already?

It's because people didn't really give a damn so long as it doesn't involve them, his mind said, and Ryuu chose to ignore that in favour of a confused scowl instead. Now wasn't the time.

That was when Godot turned terrifying. Chester bit back a scream as the stranger shot Yoh right in the head, ready to bolt and call the nearst adult and a hospital. That man was obviously out of his mind, what had he gotten himself into again? Beside him, Ryuu's eyes went so wide it was like they encompassed his face and his whole face turned white, but he made to move forwards like he planned on attack the gunman himself in an effort to give the others - especially Haku, who was the closest one to the guntoting man - time to escape, eyes glaring frantically around the scene for a weapon. Chester grabbed Ryuu's arm immediately, pulling him back and shaking his head frantically at him. Haku was terrified and Chester knew that there was a need to get him to safety, but this was the point of time where casualties should be kept at a minimum. Ryuu interfering wouldn't do any good to their situation apart from drawing more attention to themselves.

The jerk to his arm snapped Ryuu out of it, leaving the rage bubbling under his skin in a way that kept away and mixed with terror. He shook with it, body trembling so hard with adrenaline that it was like Ryuu was shivering from the cold, but anyone could see that he was burning with the fire of emotion. He jerked his arm away from Chester sharply, but didn't move forwards. Now that he was thinking instead of acting on blind instinct and emotions, he knew he needed a plan. God, he never expected a gunman to turn up at school! What could he do to keep them all from being killed?!

Or well, Ieharu and the others dying. Ryuu definitely didn't want to die, but the others took priority. People would miss them if they died, after all, even if they were complete bastards.

Some of the things Ieharu - oh god, Ieharu had just seen his brother die before his eyes they had just seen a person die because of some sickass bastard who appeared out of nowhere - said made no sense though. It was completely nonsense as far as Chester was concerned. "I think we should run?" He suggested quietly to Ryuu. The attention of the upperclassmen was not on them any longer, which made this the perfect opportunity to escape. Most of the attention of the supposed psycho was on Haku too, perhaps they'd even be able to get the police there on time.

"We can't just -" Ryuu was interrupted by ... Yoh standing up like a drunk man instead of lying on the ground like the dead person he should be. Holy flipping shit! Ryuu's jaw dropped as his eyes grew wider, pupils looking like small pinpricks on his face. He turned even whiter as he stared at Yoh like the others. "wh-he-bu-" Ryuu gave up finding words, voice shaking before he shook his head, visibly getting a grip on himself. "- he got shot! In the head! What the hell! Is this for real?!"

Beside him, Chester pinched himself hard to see if he was in a dream. "No way... Maybe we're in a... movie?" Chester suggested weakly, trying to find some sense in this scenario. Still, the bullet fired was most definitely not a blank. Yoh moved toward the four upperclassmen and Chester could do nothing but stare as he stated everything out with astonishing clarity.

"If this is a movie, I sure as hell hope it isn't a zombie flick." Just like Chester, Ryuu pinched himself. Ow. Nope, this was reality alright. Which meant that Yoh had somehow survived what was a very clear gunshot to the head and was now chewing out the other club members, who looked just as freaked out as he felt. Oh dear lord, Yoh wasn't a zombie was he?! They didn't have anything to chop a head off, they couldn't fight a zombie! Ryuu's weapon was in his bag, and he didn't even know where that was. "Seriously, wha- hey!" Terrified confusion shoved to the side by (not so) righteous anger and worry, Ryuu moved to dart forwards as Yoh started fighting one of the club members, but Godot said something and he wavered, torn between wanting to find out just what the hell was going on and stopping the fight before Yoh died from brain damage or something.

Fuck it. Ryuu silently came to a pause beside Chester a few feet away from Godot and Ieharu, listening to them intently. The club members could do with a little beating up themselves. And if Ieyoshi was on the loosing end, well, it would count as revenge for that kid he beat up that morning. Who was he to disregard such an act?

The explanation in it's own sounded rather ludicrous. Psychological factors of determination aside, there was no way it can be that easily brought out with the power of a bullet. It seemed as though that strange man was just trying to make up an excuse for killing a child. Yet, there was no denying that Yoh was acting oddly just now. Chester felt a pang of worry as Yoh picked a fight with the club member, but he detisted in action until he got further clarification on his doubts. Which isn't going to come soon, with that strange explanation about bullets and determination the man just gave.

Ryuu kept an eye on the fight between Yoh and Ken-Senpai, wondering whether he should intervene or not. Eh, Yoh just made Ken-Senpai passed out. No need to do anything then. And it didn't seem like the crazy tree-falling ankle-breaking wacko planned to shoot anyone else, which meant they were all safe. Yeah, right. Ryuu wasn't going to trust that guy an inch. Then Yoh passed out and Ryuu tensed, raising his hands up in a sparring position again as the upperclassmen looked to them like a pack of wolves who had just realised that the threat was gone, leaving behind nothing but yummy, delicious meat to devour.

Ryuu did not plan on getting eaten without a fight. "Heads up," He warned Chester, eyes focusing at the upperclassmen in front of him. They'd been heading Ieharu's way, but after what seemed to be a second of consideration they loked at one towards Chester and Ryuu's direction. Not liking the look in their eyes, Ryuu resisted the urge to back away and stood his ground instead, scowling as he settled himself sturdily into a sparring pose.

Ryuu took a deep breath, face turning cool and even. Let the breath out slowly, cleared his mind to focus on the battle to come and shutting out the sounds of Ieharu freaking out a distance away behind them. "Looks like we're going to get mobbed."

"Run now?" Chester questioned again, his eyes flitting from one opponent to the other. Backing away a few steps, Chester considered his choices carefully. He should've taken the chance while they were distracted, now he was at risk of being hurt again. They upperclassmen were not idiots, after all. He could already see the signs of their attention shifting to the two weakest in their surroundings like they had planned on doing it all along. Ishiki yelled and looked frustrated, but they ignored him, heading towards the first year duo with the determination of a bully who had spotted someone they knew for sure couldn't fight back.

"If we had superspeed, then sure." The route out was blocked by the upperclassmen. The only way out was through fighting, even if the odds were against them. Ryuu raised his fists as they got closer, but then -

BANG!

Ryuu flinched at the gunshot and whirled around at the sound, ready to duck to the floor the moment he saw the gun pointed at his direction. Beside him, Chester tensed up as though ready to make a run for his life at the slightest opportunity and both of them were just in time to see Ieharu falling to the ground in a scene identical to Ieyoshi being shot, Godot still pointing his gun towards Ieharu. It was pretty obvious what had just happened.

Ryuu's voice shook, and not just from terrifed anger. "What the fu-"

"REBORN!!!"

Ieharu literally exploded, most of his clothes burning away to ashes, his then-dead body springing to life in nothing but his underwear. His eyes were wide and full of determination, his pupils dilated, his irises practically glowing as he grinded his teeth in seething rage. Both Ryuu and Chester gaped at the sight of the massive orange flame located right in the middle of his forehead, the blaze shifting and pulsing to some unknown rhythm.

Chester's eyes widened yet again at the flame burning in his forehead. What was that? That had to be burning him, right? Besides, he just got shot in the head. Haku had to be damaged somehow, if not in the zombie state his brother was in. Beside him, Ryuu was gaping in shock at Ieharu like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, although it quickly morphed into a look of horror as he saw the flames and look on Ieharu's face, and it was obvious he'd came to the same conclusion Chester had came to too.

A small hand, fingers spread, lain flush against the frosty glass pane. It's fogged over slightly, with drizzles and droplets streaming down its surface, leaving little streaks in their wake. A dazzling flash of light. The crackle. Seconds of expectation. And then suddenly: Boom! The thunder roars. The window shakes. There is a visceral reaction then. A sort of slow-burning fear claws its way up from the gut of every human being. Instinct grips your heart between its shadowy tendrils and squeezes, and for a very brief moment, you are afraid. You are bowed by it. Before this sheer force of nature—this chaotic machination that is greater and more powerful than you, that is completely outside of your control—you are confronted by your own frailty. Inability. Ineffectuality. You are no match. But then you remember. You remember that it is on the outside looking in, and you are on the inside looking out. You are protected. The glass guards you from the torrential rain, from the threat of lightning, the raging thunder, the howling winds. Here, in this place, in this room, you are safe.

You are safe.

And so that inkling of fear, that instant of anguish, that momentary pressure in your chest—it vanishes. As you gaze out of the window during this, a particularly terrible storm, you take solace in the fact that you are in here, and it is out there.

And, for however brief the interlude may be, you are spared its wrath.

For the boy, it was not a window that guarded against a furious torrent of consequences, but a simple door. One that was tall and brown, closed, opaque and impenetrable. Like the rest of the bedroom, it too lay shrouded in shadow. A sort of rayless murk overwhelmed the place, choking the room with its consummate darkness. Even the windows were blackened with an inky obsidian, as if someone had painted over them with black paint, rejecting completely the effulgence of high noon. Inside this room was peaceful. It was quiet. With the darkness came a sense of harmony. Serenity, even.

It was safe. He was safe.

For now.

Outside the room, on the other side of the door, a storm raged. Not one of cloud, rain, and thunder, but one of men and mortals.

Though the sounds were muffled, one could hear their boots as they stomped and clacked along the ground, often in lockstep. Orders were barked by a frenzied authority. Coats flapping. Weapons—guns by the sound of them—drawn, checked, holstered, redrawn, and checked again. And then again. And again. And again. Commotion. Mobile devices chiming. Hushed whispers.

It was a storm of sheer pandemonium, and it was terrifying. But it was out there, on the other side of the door. Not in here—

BEEEEEEP—click click!

With the house on lockdown, each and every door had its steel-reinforced triple bolt engaged. It wasn't simply a door you'd be able to smash your way through. That sound, however. Those clicks. That was the sound of the door's locks being disengaged. Only a very select handful had the authorization to do such a thing during a lockdown, and whichever one of them that was about to step through that door was guaranteed to bring the storm outside in with them.

To the boy, those clicks were like the crackle of thunderclouds. Instinct—fear—gripped his heart with a vicious ferocity in those interim moments of silence that stretched on for eons. These were his seconds of panicked expectation. For he knew what came next: the thunder. The divine punishment. For his crimes, he would surely be smit.

Whoever it was, it was someone the boy definitely did not want to see. Not now. Maybe not ever.

The door swung open. It was done slowly at first, deliberately, as if the person on the other side were peeking in. After a moment, the door opened completely. All of the sounds—the chaotic barking, the running, the whirl of weapons being drawn, checked, and holstered, it all ceased, as if a cone of silence had descended upon the area. The only indication that the door had been opened at all, other than the initial clicks, was the entrance of light from the hallway—a brilliant incandescence that waged holy war against the boy's crepuscular and consummate dusk.

This was a war the darkness could never win. It was forced to retreat, clinging like cobwebs to the corners of the bedroom.

The door remained open for a rather short amount of time—just long enough for a figure to step through it—then it closed, returning the room to its pitch-black state.

For a while, nothing happened. The storm outside the door did not resume—the muffled sounds of commotion and pandemonium from earlier had not yet returned. Likewise, the bedroom regained its internal peace as the darkness resumed its reign. Then suddenly, there was a soft beep. It was the touch panel—the room's light controls—being interacted with.

Someone was trying to turn on the lights.

But the boy, like all children his age, was particularly tech savvy, and he wanted it to stay dark. It's why he'd locked the light controls some time earlier. After a few attempts, the figure realized this as well and stopped. Again, it seemed that nothing was happening. The darkness masked any sort of activity, and the figure moved without making a single noise. The next sound the boy heard was a tap, like a knuckle knocking on glass. It was then that the boy realized his mistake, his oversight, but by then it was already too late.

There was one final tap, and then a confirmation beep as the windows themselves acknowledged the touch command. Ever so slowly, the inky paint-like blackness that tinted the massive glass windowpane began to fade away, allowing muted streamers of sunlight to enter the room. Once the opacity was reduced by around a fourth, the figure removed his hand from the window, halting the process.

The room was no longer dark now, bathed instead in a gentle milky sort of glow, as if by candle light. It was a compromise between the dark and the light.

The abode was square in shape. It was definitely not small, though it was not massive either. On one side of the wall was the entrance, the door. It was surrounded by posters of comic book heroes. Mostly Batman. Adjacent to that wall was another. This one featured two small desks, two dressers, and a paper-thin television mounted into the wall. There was also another door on this wall that lead into a small bathroom off to the side. The next wall was composed entirely of a sheet of glass. It was bulletproof, shatter-resistant, and entirely electronic, able to change its tint to become completely opaque or completely transparent with a few touch commands. On the final wall was a particularly large wooden bunk bed.

The figure noted that the top bunk was empty, though there was an unmoving lump lying under the comforter on the bottom bunk, as if hiding. With a sigh, the figure moved across the room to stand before the bed, towering above the child-sized lump beneath the covers. For nearly a minute, nobody and nothing moved, save for what the figure realized was the delicate rise and fall of the comforter, timed to the breathing of a person. This seemed to satisfy, for the figure disengaged first, moving back across the room and grabbing a chair. He slid it across the floor to rest between the center of the room and the edge of the bed before taking a seat, his back to the massive window. Under his arm were a stack of papers, and in his free hand was a plate of some kind. He set the plate down to his right, close to the bunk bed, and the placed the papers on his lap, pulling a pen from his coat.

The figure ran a hand once through his short spiky brown hair, exhaling softly before crossing his legs and getting to work.

For the better part of thirty minutes, the room remained mostly silent. The only sound that could be heard, aside from an infrequent footstep or murmur from outside the door, was the scribbling of pen on paper.

It was not the figure that broke the silence.

"Tsunayoshi." Came a small boy's voice, almost like a hiss, from under the covers. The word was said with such disdain, such venom, that the boy may as well have been reciting the name of a plague, or demon.

The figure, Tsunayoshi, stopped writing, the pen becoming still atop the paper as if someone had paused time. He smiled then, the skin around his mouth and eyes crinkling. It was a smile so genuine and all-encompassing that it nearly brightened the room all by itself. "Ieyoshi," he replied, his tone light and full of warmth. Tsunayoshi—Tsuna—had been waiting for this moment. Though he didn't get to see him as often as he would have liked, he knew by now that interacting with the boy required extreme patience on his part. "The boys," he began, nodding his head toward the door and the Vongola hitmen standing guard outside it, "tell me you haven't come out since momma left with your brother. Is that true?"

There was no response. Tsuna continued.

"Well, you're gonna have to eat sometime, Ieyoshi. Here." He pointed to the plate on the ground. Not like Ieyoshi was looking since he was still hiding under the covers. "It's PBJ. I made it for you. Momma's been telling me it's your favorite now."

Ieyoshi responded by pulling the comforter more tightly around himself, adopting a fetal position and remaining absolutely silent. Tsuna expected this, and after a moment went back to scribbling on his papers. Again, patience would be the key to meaningful interaction here.

Several minutes passed before Ieyoshi spoke again. Where before he sounded confident, jaded, annoyed even, this time his voice was much softer and child-like. Tsuna recognized the fear that underlined it—the pain—and it nearly broke his heart. "Dad," Ieyoshi muttered. Never once had he uttered that word in reference to Tsunayoshi. Not once. "... is he... is Haku..." The tendrils of instinct, of fear tightened their vice-like grip on the boy, forcing his voice to climb even higher in pitch. He sounded as if he were about to cry. "Did I—"

"He's fine," Tsuna interrupted, his tone remaining warm and upbeat. "He's sleeping now, and they tell me he might even come home tonight."

The truth was, Ieharu wasn't fine. When Kyoko called him up, sobbing, Tsuna dropped everything, flying back to Namimori that same day. Unfortunately, it was a 20-some hour flight. When he arrived at the intensive care wing, the staff wouldn't let him see Ieharu. They kept repeating over and over again that he was was suffering through convulsive status epilepticus, or "a violent seizure that won't end" as the nurse put it. Apparently, the only way to stabilize him was to induce a temporary coma. What was evident, they claimed, was that he suffered some sort of serious metabolic disturbance. It was as if his very cells were robbed of the energy necessary to perform their vital life-sustaining functions.

"So don't worry," Tsuna continued. "Okay?"

This time, Ieyoshi didn't wait before he responded, bursting out from under the covers like a powerful geyser and sitting upright, propping himself up with his free hand. Immediately, he locked eyes with his father and scowled. "I'm not a kid! You can't just lie to me anymore, Tsuna!" He hissed, his frown deepening.

While another parent may have been flustered by the blatant lack of respect on part of their offspring, Tsuna merely laughed. A good genuine belly-laugh. He laughed so hard that his son's cheeks flushed red with chagrin and confusion. "I'm pretty sure 10-years-old means you're a kid still, buddy." He grinned again, pointing a finger down towards the plate at Ieyoshi's bedside.

Ieyoshi gritted his teeth, gripping his pillow by its case and arching his arm backwards, preparing to hurl it at his father. "Why can't you just go away!"

The mirth in Tsuna's expression melted away, his smile disappearing, replaced entirely by the intimidating steel of an annoyed parent. "Don't throw that at me," he commanded. Ieyoshi froze, his eyes widening slightly before he relented, gripping the pillow with both hands and laying it on his lap. Again his face flushed slightly, his eyes downcast. It was very rare that Tsuna became stern with his sons, and it caused Ieyoshi's demeanor to shift instantly, his shoulders slumping, his body language becoming more submissive. Tsuna sighed, willing his joviality to return. "So what happened, Yoh?"

Ieyoshi's eyes, still cast downward, shifted guiltily to the side. When he began talking, he spoke quickly and quietly. "Well, we were wrestling and we rolled and stuff and he was winning so then... and then..." He chewed on his lower lip as he searched for the right words, tears brimming at the edges of his eyes. "And then the monster got him." Ieyoshi muttered with extreme caution, as if uttering the words would bring the creature back into reality. His tears began to fall in earnest, streaming down his puffy cheeks like rain down a window pane. "The monster from before. The one that's always inside me."

Tsuna was nonplussed, opening his mouth to respond but closing it right after. This was the eventuality he'd always feared finally come to pass. Still, he wanted nothing more in that moment than to hug the boy, to make him believe that everything would be alright, but such a display of affection would only serve to aggravate the child further. The best strategy to assuage Ieyoshi was to comfort him with logic—to use words.

Ieyoshi languished as the silence between them grew to a deafening level. He still refused to meet his father's gaze, trying his hardest not to stammer as he made his next inquiry. "Do you hate me?"

Tsuna was literally taken aback, reacting as if he'd been slapped. Surprise raced across his countenance like a rocket, leaving him stunned for a brief moment. Then he smiled. It was a positively sanguine expression. "Ieyoshi," he began, chuckling softly. "That's just not possible. There's nothing you could possibly do to make me hate you."

Ieyoshi chanced a glance up at his father before casting his eyes downward once more, still refusing to keep Tsuna's gaze. He began to knead the pillow between his hands as if it were Play-Doh. By now, the top of the pillow had become noticeably dampened. "Have you ever hurt someone by accident?" He asked in that uncharacteristically sheepish manner of his.

Tsunayoshi didn't respond at first. Instead, he simply took stock of his son, absorbing the scene before him while pondering the question. Clearly, Ieyoshi was in pain. He had been left alone and in the dark about his brother for nearly 24 hours, since Kyoko couldn't be at two places at once and Ieharu was at the hospital. Yet again, Tsuna's work with the Vongola had gotten in the way, and when his family needed him most he wasn't able to make it in time. He'd failed. The Vongola Decimo stood, deftly catching his important work-related documents as they fell from his lap and placing them down on the chair. Had he ever hurt someone by accident? Tsuna looked down at his boy, his flesh and blood, with a solemn expression. "Every day, Ieyoshi," he finally replied. "Every day."

BEEEEEEP—click click!

Tsuna glanced at the door as it opened while Ieyoshi furiously wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands. Standing in the doorway was none other than Hibari, current Vongola Cloud guardian, in his immaculate jet-black suit and tie.

"Herbivores," he uttered in an almost disinterested tone. It was his form of a greeting.

"Hibari!" Tsuna replied, grinning awkwardly. This was an unexpected visit. "Welcome!"

Ieyoshi turned his body in an attempt to hide the fact that he had been crying. Not that Hibari could so easily be fooled.

The cloud guardian grunted in acknowledgement. "Still hard to believe that you multiplied," he remarked offhandedly. "But I came as soon as I heard. I believe we have a solution for your other little one."

Both Tsuna and Ieyoshi gaped at Hibari with wide amber eyes, asking the same question in unison: "We?"

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---

"The past is not always where you have left it..."

"Sakura-sama, do you really believe this is wise?" Eyes resembling the golden sheen of the sun showed no waver as it gazed at the fluttering pink petals entering the room through the opened window. "Wise, you ask." She looked at a lone petal that landed inside her tea. "It is a result I yet to know, if it would warrant that description." She reached for her tea and drank from it with elegance uniquely hers. An odd vision she was surrounded by Japanese tradition, for she was garbed in a dress of simplicity yet the regal definition of a noble woman of the western world.

"Despite it all, they are children." She placed down her tea on the nearby table and stood from her position. "Yet to bloom, we can only nourish and guide as to who they ought to be under their own volition." She made her way to the opened shoji doors as her trailed behind like silken curtain. "In the end, we only have hope. That it would be enough for their sake."

"Sometimes, it is in front of you hounding for the future..."

Yume walked along the rather quiet hallways of Namimori High. Her eyes looked towards the window panels lining up her path as they provided a reflection of a peaceful scenery. The light defined her form creating such a silhouette of graceful radiance. So, it was not far-fetched as why the passing students could not help but be captivated by her presence and yet her attention was taken by the view upon the glass. It portrayed the grounds and the sporadic flow of students coming in. This was rather explainable as she had heard the lunch bell rang as she entered the school earlier. Most of the students must be at the cafeteria now.

Apparently, she had arrived quite late for the morning classes and managed to attend by noon. It seemed that her duties had been taking much of her time. She did have to leave early yesterday. Though, she does regret that decision to do so. Hiroshi had informed her of the events which transpired after class had ended yesterday on the way here. It seemed her mother had sensed the anomaly, clearly presenting the difference between their abilities at the moment. Nevertheless if she was present, perhaps it would not have escalated to that point. It could have been avoided entirely and yet, what is done has already been done. All one could hope to do was to stand and gather the broken pieces in an effort to compensate for that error, if only possible.

That was probably reason why she has yet to make her appearance at the cafeteria where she had heard some event was about to happen. Just like so, her gaze was not meant to linger or to understand. It was to search for an individual, to know. Then again, she has already an answer. What she required was not it at all, but beyond what is clear and sure. Just like so, she continued her pace as she stumbled upon some of the maintenance staff installing a new window. She halted at that point and recalled another portion of what Hiroshi had spoken to her. It seemed that her Ani had been in an altercation with a fellow senior. The result, a broken window as the one who went up against her brother was thrown out of it. And of course, she had to pick up after him which she did.

Many had suggested for her to simply give up on her brother. It was the best solution for in the end, his problems should not be hers. They say that at some point, even family has limitations. Their belief that she was holding on due to blood ties was not even part of the reason. She is here for him, because, she is responsible and she wanted nothing more but to be... "Witch." That voice prevented anything else to be processed by her. Her eyes met with the same silver eyes that she was born with, the greatest difference was the emotion conveyed through it. Hers, it was of surprise, a pleasant one. On the other side, it was of pure contempt. "Onii-sama. Good morning." She smiled at Mamoru with such gentleness and was rather glad to see that he had come early, that meant he was interested attending school. "I see you--- "

"Get away." Effectively cutting anything else needed to be said at that point, he walked passed Yume as if she was nothing and also ending the conversation, if that was to be considered one. She maintained her ground as the smile much like crystalline drop of water vanished into a vapor under the sun. Still, she looked over her shoulder to see her brother's back moving away without interruptions as it faded out of her sights. There was sadness present upon her facade and also something deeper, yet not truly clear to anyone's eyes. She then faced forward once more and continued onto her path. This had been their relationship for quite some time, she should say that she is used to it, but really she couldn't.

It was at that point, she caught sight of the one she was looking for accompanied by two people quite dear without doubt. Her face lit up with such warmth and kindness, yet at the same time those silver eyes held an understanding deeper than any of them could ever understand. She knew most what he might be feeling at this moment, the condition of the boy now in the hospital. As such, she began her approach when a sudden feeling awash her, making her take a heed from having another step. From the corner of her eyes, she saw something ethereal. She turned to get a better look and indeed saw someone beyond the windows. As if certain, her attention was caught, this someone began to talk and she of course listened intently as much as she could. Her focus was absolute on her expression as her eyes locked on that someone without fail, only to be broken with...

"Yume-san?" Without a moment lost, she looked at the one who called her and it was one of her classmates. "Yes?" The concerned student answered that question. "Are you all right? Is there someone out there?" She then looked back only to see that there was no one there anymore, not even a trace. "A guardian angel..." Her fellow senior looked at her oddly in which she responded with a small smile. "Do not worry about it, thank you for your concern." It was better to not speak anything further about it. "...Okay, I'll see you later." She assured her classmate with a nod who then bid her a wave and left, seemingly satisfied that she was fine. As for her, she looked back at the window and then to corner of the corridor barely catching the one she had been seeking vanishing from her line of vision.

"I wonder what to do with one who is full to the brim and one who is infinitely empty." Her voice whispered it to the winds as she began to walk once more.

Ryuu scowled around the room, ignoring the din as he reached a hand up to his hat - a fedora that had a wide band near the brim that was the colour of the school sweater he was wearing over his uniform - to jam it securely down on his head like a helmet. He looked around suspiciously at the room, taking note of everyone's position.

He, Chester and Izaya were nowhere near the outside tables - those belonged to the popularities and bullies, the rest of the normal people were at the tables inside, discussing strategies or just fidgeting in place as they waited for the Godbread battle to begin. Why there was a battle with bread as the prize Ryuu didn't know (it wasn't even free, the last time he'd taken it he'd had to pay for it at the counter), but damn lunch period if he wasn't going to get that bread, even though he was still bruised and hurt from the fight yesterday. It had been scarily delicious, almost like those first class bread you could get in Tokyo that costed more than he knew-not-what, a car maybe, but definitely a lot more than a highschool student could afford.

No way was he missing out on this. Especially when his new club members where joining in on the fun too.

How did it even begin in the first place anyway? Some student from the beginning going "bread mine, no touch" with another going "hurhurhur, me no care" and swiping it from student 1, starting a food fight that ended up like the world's first MMA match, only with more amateur violence, praising of the gods (ALL HAIL THE BREADMAKER!!) and bread as the winning prize they had to pay for? Talk about weird. All the schools he'd been to never had sanctified food wars taking place ever.

(The how and why of it was a lot more simpler than what Ryuu was thinking. It actually involved a mix up where everyone was only able to eat bread for a week straight when all the shops but the breadshop closed, two students fighting over a piece of bread with the ferocity of starving wolves who had just spotted a small baby bunny with crippled legs and knowing that only one gets to eat it, a serious of incredibly bizarre coincidences involving a container of hot bacon soup, a group of back packs and a bully trying to get someone to do his homework for him, and a baguette. And also a wallet. The result had been a fight on the scale of Ragnarok with the noise of a tank at close range and only broke up when the bell rang for classes to begin. No deaths were had, but many of the students afterwards had to go to the infirmary.

And thus, the Breadwars began. Never let it be said that students had no clue how to hold a food fight.)

The sounds of bookies and tactics and just noise in general around him went down as the BreadMaker appeared, and Ryuu faced Izaya and Chester. It was about to start. Time for one last debrief. Ryuu tried not to grin from the anticipation.

"Alright, its about to start," He said quietly, stretching his arms in preparation. He straightened forwards from his slouch to half out of his chair, ready to move the moment the signal was given. "We all know what we're gonna do during the battle period - Captain, I am not bailing you out if you get hurt, and I won't hold back if we're facing each other Chester - but..." Ryuu's voice grew smaller and more hesitant, like he was half-hoping for them not to hear, and he kept his gaze locked on the Breadmaker. "good luck."

The plan was simple, really. Ryuu and Chester were going after the bread, while Iz (who was just plain weird, seriously) went around to help people or do who knows what. Why he wanted to shift them around instead of join in Ryuu had no clue (it wasn't like they wouldn't be capable of moving themselves up after waking up and it wasn't like they weren't prepared for it), but eh. It was what he wanted to do. Ryuu saw no point in going against it, so long as it didn't involve Ryuu ditching his original objective.

As for Ryuu's plan, it was simple - go after the Herabread, stay out of Chester's way, and hopefully manage it without aggravating anything. Oh, and fighting. Lots and lots of fighting, yay. Izaya could do what he wanted on his own, Ryuu had no plans for helping out -

The woman at the counter started to talk, and Ryuu readied himself just like everybody else, body tense, eyebrows furrowing downwards. Wait for it....

"Welcome to Namimori Cafe! We are Now Open!"

Having only gone to sleep two hours prior, Cross was disgusted when he was awoken by his alarm clock. His aching body moved over to turn the alarm off and he could feel drowsiness trying to pull him back in the vile clutches of sleep. Rolling out of his bed and landing with a hard thump, he was in enough pain to keep his eyes open and wake his mind up. With his excitement from the first day of school completely diminished the only thing on his mind was being able to see the friends he had made again. When it passed his mind he had doubt on if he should be excited, but decided it was okay. As far as he was concerned, as long as he was working and stuck on watch there wasn't much else for him to do to keep him preoccupied, so friendship was a good way to kill the boredom.

As the sun began to shine through his windows, he walked over to close the blinds in an attempt to miss out on as much sun light as possible. He was very picky on when light was needed, preferring to keep the house as dark as possible. Having to walk around and be exposed to constant light during the day was not only a pain to his eyes, but it peeved him in a gut churning way. If there was one flaw to this easy job it'd have to be that. Still, he decided the money was worth the work. Making sure his house was as dark as the deepest part of the ocean, he put on his shoes, counted the number of messages on his answering machine, and left house, making sure to lock the door behind him.

During his walk to school he thought about how much fun and trouble he got into the day prior. He was excited to see if this day would give him even more entertainment. Remembering what Akira had said about the bread wars, he was ready to declare war on bread. He was going to kill all the bread he could for the winning prize. He wondered if that was the objective and had problems remembering the explanation Akira had given about the event. He was sure he wasn't too far off though and still pumped himself up for it.

..........................................................................

The test of his patience was hard, but he prevailed. He had fallen asleep that night in the corner of the store, the waiter who was serving him forgetting he was there because of his constant banter about waiting for someone. Joel hadn't realized how long he was waiting until he awoke the next morning and found the shop completely empty. Checking his phone, it was only a few hours before school was going to start, so he was sure that he was locked in the cafe until then. He spent the first hour switching between playing solitaire on his phone and thinking about how he was stood up. No. He decided not to take it that way after some thought. There had to be a reason. After all, they were both part of a busy organization where time is only a matter to the one who makes the calls, so he was probably called to do something else. Then Joel began to think of something else. What if he was called to wait on purpose? the very thought seemed preposterous, but wasn't out of the question considering the events of the past morning. He decided to think about it more over some coffee and a crepe. He made sure to put money on the counter for his usage and wouldn't usually resort to counter hopping, but he had never been stuck inside a store before with an empty stomach. He did make sure to clean his mess when he was done, so he hoped that the workers wouldn't be too made when they realized a pack of coffee and a crepe were missing.

The crepe filled the void of worry in his stomach and the coffee cleansed his guilt making him feel a hundred percent and ready for the day, which he planned on taking on normally as any other day. He hid in the bathroom until he heard voices and left a little while after the store opened. He made sure to text Godot, "Couldn't wait during school hours, but text me again if you want me to wait again," before entering the school building and then went to his homeroom class.

At the word 'go', most of the students involved in the breadwar started to charge, the noise level exploding from the decibel of the screams. Some leaped on the tables to use them as a stepping stone to the godbreads, while others crowded through the narrow openings between the tables and chairs to try and push their way through to the bread in a classic example of a zerg rush. Yet more slipped through the cracks between the people, only to get stopped by the people crowded around the statue, and everyone was throwing and exchanging punches or kicks or scuffles. Some of them had already broken from the main group clustered around the statues to scuffle with each other, snarls on their faces as they tried to take each other out.

It was pure pandemonium. Not for nothing was the title called breadwars. The scene resembled just that - a war being fought by soldiers who banded together, determined to snatch the bread, looters who aimed to steal it, lone warriors who prefered to attempt for the bread alone and knights clashing their swords against each other, all in an effort to grab the bread. And at the center of it all stood the five godbreads, the statues being seiged by so many people that it bore a twisted resemblance to that of the rush hour in early mornings, people crowding near the entrance and trying to elbow others away so that they could board the train first.

The Breadwars - the war of the epynomous godbreads. The war that over a hundred would join, but only five could win. And it had just begun.

Close to the edge, people were shoved out of the way as Ryuu pushed his way through, slipping through the space between people when he could and elbowing them away when he couldn't. Those who reached out to try and stop the rapidly advancing blonde, meaty hands reaching out to grab him with a nasty grin - and found themselves emptyhanded when he avoided their grabs and knocked them down with a couple of well-placed punches or elbows or kicks before going on his way, determination shining in his eyes, movements still fluid despite the injuries he had. Dumbfounded and out of breath, they gapped at his back in an attempt to figure out what just happened, forgetting about the battle for a moment. Impossible! He was new meat, new to both the school and the breadwars and injured to boot. They were the ones who were suppose to defeat him like it was a light workout to them, not the other way round. How could a diminuitive first year defeat them, veterans of the breadwars?!

Those who knew enough to associated Ryuu to the Mad Hatter, either through face or hat, barely raised an eyebrow. They had been there, after all. They knew what he was capable of.

As for Ryuu himself, he didn't really care what people thought so long as he got the bread. He knew that he'd made a pact with Chester (who had disappeared from sight) to help each other get the bread, and he was determined to do the best he could, keeping an eye out for people and an ear out for announcers. Duck dodge ugh, thank goodness I'm short enough that people won't see me go through them - wait forget that train of thought. Where's the bread? Who has it?

Chester muttered to himself, though he pulled the hood of his jacket more firmly abouve his head to hide his brightly colored hair to avoid being spotted. He stood with the crowd, though he was as still as a stone in the stream of people, blending in as yet another annoyed student as he waited for his chance to strike.

"Ah, seems like Mariboshi has the Herabread!" A student dressed in grey was sprinting down the sides like a linebacker doing his last play, face crossed with determination as he pushed people out of the way - only to trip on someone's outstretched leg. The watchers winced in sympathy as he landed on the ground with an earth shaking thud. "Ooo, that's gotta hurt folks! The Ice Witch knocked him down with one of her deadly legs, famous for their high kicks to the face! Poor Mariboshi won't last long - but wait! He's not running. He's staying to fight!" The announcer rose out of his seat, eyes wide with excitement as he tracked their movements. "Good block there, Mariboshi! But the Ice Witch is just warming up - wait, the bread isn't in their hands! Where is it?! Who has the bread?!"

Before anyone else could strike, Chester's arm shot out with a blur and snagged the bread without a pause, mentally thanking the announcers for doing their job. Of course, now he was going to be on the receiving end, and would have to evade the many outstretched arms of the crowd. Instead of shying away however, Chester stuffed the bread under his jacket and dived right in. The god bread was going to get a little flattened, but it was a small price to pay for its ownership.

"I don't believe it!" The announcer roared, standing up from his seat. The two fighters yelled and charged at Chester, but he ducked swiftly out of the way and and dived into the crowd. "GHOST HAS GOTTEN THE BREAD! Appearing out of the crowds, the Ghost, has snatched the bread! While Moriboshi and Ice Witch were distracted, he apparated out of the crowds like his namesake and disappeared back into the crowds as quick as he came! Finding him in the crowd is going to be no easy task! For a newcomer who only got his name last month, he's doing surprisingly well!"

"Hey, get outta the way!"

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

"What the-" "EEK!" "Gross!" "What the hell, dude? Wait, who?" "Did she really just-?" "Hey, you-" Thwap!

"Pwa~aah! Ain't nuthin." A short haired girl spat toward the boy who laid at her feet before grinning wickedly with a canned soda in her hand. She quickly began to chug the drink until her cheeks were full and the can was empty. That was when she locked eyes with Chester as people avoided standing in the direction she was facing. If she covered that bread in spew, nobody would dare touch it. It was gross, but that didn't bother Erin as the bread would belong to her anyway. Rosa declared it so, after all.

"It seems someone is up to the challenge! Erin has loaded another round of cream soda into her mouth! I'd pity the poor guy who got spat on just now, but he really should have gotten out of the way of the Spitter. Cautious about the soda she's just spewed and wary that more might come their way, the participants part ways around her! She's making for Ghost - but wait!"

Elbowing the last person standing in his way aside, Ryuu burst into the small bubble of space Erin had created at a run and sprinted to tackle her from behind, fedora jammed firmly down his head like a helmet as he charged quietly at her back. Erin, however, seemed to expect him coming—her basketball experience possibly attributing to her spacial awareness—and made a wild swing backwards. Flinging his torso backwards, Ryuu ducked under her arm and skidded on his knees on the floor like a limbo dancer on wheels, bringing himself to a stop in a crouch near the edge of the circle. Leaping to his feet, Ryuu quickly brought his fists up in front of him, lowering his center of gravity as he glared a challenge at Erin. They looked silently at each other, eyes refusing to break their gazes from each other as the commentator continued to yell from the side, the air surrounding them crackling with tension.

"It's the Mad Hatter! He's intercepted Spitter!" the announcer crowed enthusiastically. "It seems that he's covering for the Ghost's escape, and isn't willing to take no for an answer! Will she be able to defeat the Mad Hatter, or will the Mad Hatter triumph?! Or-" he slammed his hand on the table dramatically " - will she ignore his challenge and go after the Ghost, who has disappeared into the crowd like a clownfish hiding in a bed of coral?! What will the Spitter do now?!"

Erin seemed to have a moment of hesitation as she breathed heavily through her nose and sloshed the liquid in her mouth from cheek to cheek. Her ultimate goal was the bread, yet truly, Erin didn't really care about the bread, besides the fact that Rosa was relying on her to get it, even if it meant getting a stupid nickname like 'the Spitter'. The 'Mad Hatter' here had managed to gain one of the breads last time, so he definitely was a threat that Rosa had warned about. Also, from what Erin was aware, this was one of the boys that Akako believed was there to beat the crap out of the MAA club leader. Naturally, he was going to be a target for Rosa, so it would be sensible to take him down here, to get rid of his prestige and raise her own, all for Rosa's sake of course. Even if the real reason Erin was compelled to fight this guy was simply out of selfish desire, Rosa would still forgive her, right?

Eventually, Erin concluded that Rosa always had a plan that they could fall back to if need be and that simply fighting this guy would still be beneficial in the long run. With that reasoning, Erin could finally start thinking for herself and have some fun for this brief moment, as long as this guy didn't hold back because she was a girl. Erin cracked her knuckles and hunched over in a fighting stance not too dissimilar to a basketball one. In one swift motion, she went for a powerful upward jab.

She needn't have worried. Ryuu dodged to the left as he deflected the blow, rushing forwards with a punch of his own as the announcer began doing his job - yelling about what was happening like a maniac, mostly. "And it seems like the Mad Hatter and the Spitter has begun!" The announcer leaned out of his seat, craning his head this way and that to try and get a grip on what was going on. "The Spitter goes for first blood, but Mad Hatter dodges and gets in a blow of his own! They're going at it like rabid beasts! Care to explain more, Neri?"

"Naturally." Neri turned towards the two fighters, eyes narrowed as he tracked their movements. "Interesting! Spitter seems to have adopted an offensive style, sending blows towards Mad Hatter fast and wild," He said, voice ringing out clear above the sound of the crowd. "Although she is showering furious blows towards Mad Hatter - his style seems to be cautious and focused on deflecting blows while landing the occasional hit on her, a good tactic to use in this situation." Despite the blows raining on him, Ryuu kept calm, evenly deflecting and blocking any blows that Erin sent his way. The audience roared as his arm lashed out like a coiled spring to her right, Neri's voice resounding above all the clamor as he continued to narate. "Strong punch, and fast too. A formidable opponent indeed. What shall Spitter do?"

Erin dodged to the left, a smug look in her eyes that widened with surprise when Ryuu followed up the feint with a whip-like kick to her face from the left, body twisting gracefully as his foot made his way towards the side of Erin's head. His leg landed against Erin's arm with a thwack as she raised it up lightning quick to shield her face, and she swayed to the side from the blow. Scowling, Ryuu tried to tug his leg back but couldn't - Erin had reached up with her other hand to grab at his leg, holding him in place.

"Good block and grab, Erin." He sounded somewhat impressed by the fight. "Mad Hatter, however, is putting up a fight just as good, as seen by the impossibly fast roundhouse kick to the face with his other leg, using her iron grip on his leg as an anchor to carry out the blow. But oh - The Spitter let go of him and he fell to the ground! Mad Hatter gets back to his feet. But they're not out yet - they're back to exchanging blows!"

However, Neri had not forgotten what was at stake here. Breaking his gaze away from the brawl taking place, Neri scanned the crowd for a hint of blue hair, someone holding a container. "Although the fight seems to be on even/odd terms, It seems Mad Hatter has accomplished his goal." Neri said drolly, voice blasting out over the microphone he was using. Hidden by the people, Chester shot Ryuu a grateful look for the diversion. The announcers' attention was mostly fixated on the fight, giving Chester the opportunity to blend in as another member of the curious crowd, making his way slowly but steadily toward the counter. It was going to be their victory if this situation continued, they could split the bread among themselves later. "Ghost has disappeared from sight, and it is doubtful that Spitter would ever hope to find this particular needle in this constantly moving hay stack." It seemed that the two of them had realized it too. Ryuu's face broke out into a satisfied grin, proud of his success.

"So," Neri said curiously, almost bored, leaning forwards against the table. He steepled his fingers, eyes locked on Erin's figure. "Mad Hatter has completed his goal, while Spitter has failed hers. What will they do next?"

Erin appeared to be protecting her face, her pressing against her mouth tightly while. Her cheeks were still full with that sticky drink. What could she possibly have been saving that for? Erin then wipped the corner of her lip with her thumb and confidently smirked. All the attention was on her, and Erin didn't mind it at all. After all, they weren't commenting on her fashion sense or her social status, they were ignoring those entirely. Those things didn't matter to Erin anymore, only her toughness and her ability to fulfill Rosa's will. Although the bread was now far from her grasp, little did the little fly know that he was being led into a trap. As long as Erin grabbed everybody's attention with a show that everybody was looking for, nobody would pay attention to the acts that could only be committed in the shadows by the true masterminds. That's how Rosa would have put it, at least.

That's it, Neri. Pay attention to me like I was some spoiled princess of death!

---

---

At some point, Lala left Rosa and the others just for a little while when the bell for lunch echoed through the school. She of course made sure to tell Rosa and that she would be meeting them at the cafeteria where the most entertaining part of the day would begin. Actually, the girls are going to join in too, so it would be definitely be exciting. She would also have a front row seat as she's one of the announcers so to speak for the infamous, 'god bread wars'. It was rather funny to think back how she got involved in all of it, but there was no time for her to reminisce since she does have a schedule to keep as she took a deep breath and then had this timid look on her face. Those crimson eyes of hers looking at the bento box she was holding in her hands. This was for her brother, Daiichi, but...

"I'm fine on my own, okay!?"

The conversation from the other day played in her head. It was really depressing even more so, when she didn't get a chance to talk to Daiichi last night and even this morning. He was avoiding her and that only made her sadder. Is she a terrible sister that she didn't notice? Is that why he doesn't want her to be around him anymore? She really wanted to cry now as she could feel the tears pooling in her eyes. "Lala-chan?" She instinctively looked behind her to see a classmate of hers whose initial expression of curiosity changed into that of worry. "What's wrong?" She lightly giggled at this and then wiped away the tears. This caused a confused expression of her classmate who didn't expect that reaction. "I'm trying to see how long can I not blink!" An answer given with a bright smile and enthusiasm, nothing was completely wrong at all.

"Eh?" Confusion was understandable as Lala simply used that to her advantage. "I'm going to tell Lyn-chan about this! I wonder how long she can do it... Hmmm.... I'll see you later okay?" She excused herself and gave a wave before happily skipping away. She got out of that one as for her depressive mood earlier it was now altered into that of determination to find his little brother somewhere in this school. This was not something new or hard to do especially for her, when she wants to see something or someone, it just comes to her which she often relates to a woman's intuition. During these moments, she simply goes with her gut and that's what she did. "This way!" She happily announced to herself while carrying the bento box she made, though she didn't move to that direction immediately. She looked at corner leading to the stairways with a rather pensive expression.

"Tsuneo-senpai, did Rosa-chan call for you?" There was a light laughter which sounded eerily as the hallway was vastly empty with only the two of them present. Lala's grip on the bento tighten. She never felt at ease when the purple-haired senior is present or even if he's a friend of Rosa. This man is very dangerous. He can't be trusted that's what her intuition is telling her. The laughter stilled and then he came out from the corner with that playful smile of his. "I'm still a student here, don't I? And I just wanted to see the cutest dolls around Namimori." Those eyes of his that held the color of rustic orange gazed on her form. It made her shiver in fear as she took a step back. "And here I found one, how are things Lala-chan?"

"Everything seemed to be fine, though, Tsuneo-senpai about Ishiki-senpai..." Tsuneo placed his index finger on his lips. "The Queen has spoken and that is all there is to it." He winked at her and then walked passed her. "Be careful, Duchess, you wouldn't want to go against the Queen, then again, it might be fun." Lala bit her lower lip and then glared at Tsuneo's back. "I'll never betray a friend! I'll never betray Rosa-chan!" The only reply she got is laughter and Tsuneo vanished without a trace. That guy is really bad news. She had told Rosa about her feelings about him before, but she was told that it was not a concern at all, but her gut tells her that was not true not even one bit.

She lowered her head and came to see the bento. "Dai-kun!" She quickly made her way to her little brother as if nothing scary had happened before.

Daiichi can't help but to mentally and physically bang his head on a nearby glass panel that's thankfully reinforced. His sister found him which was a given. He swore his sister must have some inborn tracking system that would make all technology and those sniffing dogs cry in shame, but that's not really the reason. He was now in the cafeteria forced (he says so, because he only promised so he won't see her sister cry and he's very weak to that which always happens) to eat the overly decorated bento box in which he could feel every manliness of him would be erased in each bite.

The other reason would be these ridiculous fights for some breads elevated to godhood. He doesn't even know how to start with how this sounds completely crazy. "Am I going crazy?" He can't help but ask himself that question ever since he entered Namimori High, because nothing about this school is normal at all, but everyone else think otherwise.

"Lala-chan? An upperclassman asked her. "Hmm, yes Senpai?" She looked and saw that her senpai was pointing at the direction of her little brother. "Is he alright?" Lala nodded happily at that question. "Of course, isn't he cute, my little brother?" Her senpai looked back at her and sighed while Lala waved back at her little brother who now shook his head in defeat. There was just no going around his sister, but in the end, he just really can't deny her. That's why he is here really, going to eat the bento and watch this, in his opinion, idiotic fight over a piece of bread. He will just surrender for now... yeah for now.

In regards to Lala, she was on high today. She forgot the reason why she was in tears earlier already or her encounter with Tsuneo. She was more attune as to her brother eating the bento she made. She was also excited to do her announcement duties. She really wasn't a spokesperson of using violence and all of that. She isn't even a combat-oriented person, but she does respect the tenacity and determination of the students who participate in them. They really worked hard for something and somehow, it's rather sweet of them and very passionate. That's something she does understand well. She soon reached the announcer's table and saw familiar faces. She seemed to miss some of the action, but it didn't mean she would not witness the rest.

"Hello everyone! So, where is the rumble?" She found Erin and waved happily. "Hey Erin-chan! Give them your best spit!" Just like that, Lala joined the mess of an entertainment segment of lunch time.

Slam!

"AGGGHHHH!" A muscular third year slammed against the table with a thud and dropped to the floor, groaning in pain as he clutched his side. Enn looked around gleefully at the rest of the equally muscular gang, a hand gripping another groaning boy by the collar of his shirt. He smiled at them, wide and happy like a child who had just gotten candy from Willy Wonka's.

Combined with the dark aura radiating out from him like smoke from a bonfire, chilling every person it touched to the bone like a serial killer was about to come up from behind with an axe, it felt like the smile from a devil.

The remaining Soccer Hounds shivered and made no move, cold sweat trickling down their faces as they stared at the albino boy, who gave the groaner one last punch that knocked him out. Despite the fact that there was only one of him and five of them, they had seen first hand how he had taken down one of their members, muscles rippling smoothly in his body as he took his opponents down fast and skilfully like he had done this many times before.

They met each others eyes, a silent message passed to each other. This boy wasn't someone they could take on one by one. They'd have to rush him and hope that numbers would help them do their jobs.

Enn smiled at them. "Come on!" He yelled cheerfully, dropping the unconscious student he was holding. His eyes sparkled with glee, and he straightened up, pose casual and waiting and ready to move at any second. "This is boooorrring, hurry u-"

Before Enn had finished, the five charged forwards and surrounded him, lashing out impossibly quick with their legs. They had to defeat him, for the High Queen's sake!

CRACK Thud smack BASH "Nnnngggghhh..."

"I DON"T BELIEVE IT!" Another announcer roared, slamming his hand on the table. Some looked his way while others focused on other battles, voices cheering and booing loudly in the air. "THE SOCCER HOUNDS ARE OUT OF THE RUNNING! Famous for their teamwork and deadly kicks, the Soccer Hounds have won the Godbread twice every year! They were taken out by a first year with white hair! WHO IS THAT KID?!"

Enn casually stepped off the battered soccer player and smiled sunnily at the announcer as if he had just been given free icecream. He moved away from the pile of groaning soccer players, flitting around the battle like a butterfly of chaos as he defeated everyone who came his way with a quick punch or kick. They wouldn't be able to beat him, they were too weak! Some were entertaining, but they fell too easily. They'd have died in the facility, hahaha! Where was Damien?! He still owed him a fight, haha!

A glimpse of gold caught the corner of his eye, and Enn whirled around with a large grin. There he was! Enn smiled happily, but his smile grew dimmer when he noticed Ieyoshi fighting Damien. Awww, they couldn't play anymore! Boorring. Looking away, Enn went back to bouncing around the battlefield until he came across a blonde girl who seemed familiar.

Where had he seen her before?

Enn frowned thoughtfully, then smiled as recognition hit. Ah right! It was that girl from yesterday! The one who had scolded the one Damien had fought, hahaha! Maybe she'd be a good fighter! Ducking around two girls doing their best to kick each other out, Enn spun and landed directly in front of the girl from yesterday, leaning in so close that his face was inches from hers.

"Hi!" He said sunnily, ignoring the atmosphere around her. "Want to play?!"

_______________________________________________________________

Leaning against the wall beside the announcers with a sigh, Shou crossed his legs neatly as he opened up the bento box he had brought from home, revealing a neatly packed lunch of rice, chicken and potato salad. Balancing the box on top of his knee, Shou paused and looked up at the battle.

Shou hadn't wanted to get involved in the breadwars, even though his brother took part the moment he figured out what was happening. He didn't want to take part in it at all! Normally he avoided the cafeteria whenever the Breadwars took place, but this was the first time Enn was taking part and Shou was worried. He knew he shouldn't be since Enn was a good fighter, but he was still worried about the people Enn might be facing. He had to see for himself that they wouldn't be hurt too badly.

He'd worried for nothing, as usual. Enn was happy, bouncing around here and there. Shou sighed and snapped open his chopsticks. Picking up the box. Japan had some really weird customs, eating rice with chopsticks. It had been three years, but Shou still had trouble with manoeuvring the chopsticks what he wanted them to pick up sometimes. Chopsticks in one hand and bento in the other, Shou looked down and dug in, filling his belly with food as he did his best to ignore all the screaming going on.

One...

Leon cocked his head to the right, examining the scene in front of him with a small gleam in his eye. Lifting the camera in his hands carefully to his eyes, he looked through the lens, the vision through them just as clear as it had been without them, if not better.

Two...

He had to hurry. The battle had started only moments before, with Leon being lucky enough to be close enough to film it, but it could end at any second, the way fights so often did. Leon privately didn't think it would end so soon, seeing how much fun the two teams seemed to have sparring for the bread, but that was no excuse.

It's my job to film this on tape, after all... and Leon might seem lazy, but he always took his job seriously.

He pressed the button, and the camera started to film with a faint click.

Three.

During the three seconds after the fight had started, Leon had pulled out his camera, found a good spot to take video from where he wouldn't be involved in the battle, an angle that took advantage of the lighting and pressed the button that started the recording. Not bad for someone who looked as if he were half asleep most of the time.

But the angle wasn't right.... Leon's eyebrows creased together behind the camera, a minute action that those who knew him could use to classify as 'vaguely displeased'. The lighting was good, yes, highlighting the sparring boys without setting their features into shadow (mostly), but that was only if they stayed in similar positions.

He would have to move to capture the fight properly.

Eyes focused on the scene through the camera, Leon started to shift around, weaving through the spectators with ease that seemed at odds with his seemingly slow pace. Despite the constant movement, the camera skilfully caught the fight in the best light, zooming in and out at appropriate moments all without losing focus, thanks to Leon's deft hands and the constant practice he had placed in using a camera for the past ten years. Even when he bumped into someone halfway around the circuit he was making to capture the fight the best he could, the camera remained steady in Leon's hands.

Still filming away, Leon turned his head towards the right, a clear apology in his eyes. The person he had bumped into was a third year, with dark blue hair cut short to his head with dark skin tone. He seemed vaguely familiar...

Now wasn't the time for reminiscing, though. Leon would have done his usual thing (radiating apologetic vibes that said 'sorry for bumping into you' with the same sentence clear in his eyes), but he couldn't afford to have a misunderstanding right now, in case the third year didn't realise what Leon was trying to project. He... would have to speak.

Difficult.

Furrowing his brows in concentration, Leon focused on gathering the appropriate words in his mouth, the camera he was holding guided on semi-autopilot as he did so. "... Sorry." he said, the word coming out monotonous. It only sounded slightly apologetic, like he hadn't meant it, but the rueful aura surrounding Leon added to its sincerity.

Cain walked on the long path to school whistling with a bounce to his step. He was on complete autopilot, focused more on the fact that he was getting used to being called Cross and wondering if he should just ditch his real name completely. He liked his alias name. It worked in any place. He could be Cross to appease the peasants and Crostoph to cater to the nobles. It was truly a good alias, but it would probably work better as an alias, if only for the fact that he could use it anywhere.

He was abruptly snapped back into manual movement when he bumped into what seemed like an ox or some type of cattle of some kind. Taking a few steps back he realized that it was a back of a man... a student!? When the giant of a teenager turned around,it was apparent that he was hunched over, having a few more inches to offer to his already tall stature. Cross was beginning to laugh, struggling to stop when he saw the pissed off face the guy had and the soda stain on his shirt.

"Wha?! You think this is funny," The hulkish student interrogated.

"I don't know, but it sure triggered something. Sorry about your shirt." Cross gave a generous smile, trying to look as humble and friendly as he could to avoid a problem. It wasn't because he was actually sorry, but he didn't want to cause a scene so close to the school.

"Shut up.Look at you and your chicken feather arms. You know I can snap your joints like twigs."

Cross noticed some smaller, muscle heads behind the monarch of them all. He realized they were trying to bully him immediately and looked at the bigger boy who was standing way to close to his face.

"You know who we are? We're the five time bread wars winners of the senior weight lifting club," the larger male said. "We need all the bread we can get to carb up. Carbs are energy. Energy is mass. Mass means your swole."

"Swole!!!" The boys behind him cheered while flexing their arms, muscles bulging like hard lumps growing at lightspeed.

"Yeah.That's right. So you better watch out. We'll settle this later at the bread wars chump." The bigger lad shoved Cross to the ground and the three boys laughed and walked off.

He had avoided a fight and a scene, but found he was left with the taste of defeat in his mouth. It made him anxious for lunch to come. Then he would show those boys that he wasn't the person to start bullying. Sometimes you had to lose a few battles to win a war.

Once he was in class he sat in his chair and pulled out his cell phone. The message number was the same as his answering machine at home. He always checked his messages on anold answering machine, but that was because he didn't like talking too much on cellular devices. It was always good to count though.

"Cross, morning." Akira waved perkily from his seat, a pencil in his other hand. He looked entirely different to what Cross felt about mornings - cheerful, completely awake and ready to greet the rising sun with a smile and the large, gigantic cup of coffee currently resting on his table. Or anything caffeinated, really. Akira wasn't too picky. "Ready for the bread wars?"

Cross glared at Akira before dropping his guard for a sigh. "You bet I am. There will be no survivors," he said while thinking about those so called bullies. "Even if I have to burn all the bread. Hehehehe." Laughing it off he took comfort in the presence of his friend. Not only was his cheerful aura good to be around, but he could answer more of Cross's questions. "So. The bread wars.... What exactly do we do? Are we just going to beat up on the other students?"

"If you burn the Godbread, I'll burn you to ashes," Akira said pleasantly, but even though he was smiling his eyes promised terrible, terrible things if Cross actually did produce a lighter in presence of the bread. It would practically be a mercy kill compared to if others found out that someone wanted to destroy the Bread, anyway. "Nobody will ever find your remains, it'll be the greatest disappearing trick I've ever done. I'll do the same trick if you need help hiding the bodies though. Jokes aside!" He said brightly, sitting up straight in his chair. "Here's what's going on..."

The short version of it, Akira explained between sips of coffee, was this - there were five Godbreads, only one bread could be taken by one person, who would have to be able to defeat the free-for-all taking place for said bread and make it to the counter of the breadshop without it getting stolen or out of his hands, which would be when he paid for the bread to Lilith, the cashier lady and Pricing God. No weapons were allowed, and there'd be a group of announcers near the side talking about what's going on and the center was normally where the normal students who didn't want to participate ate lunch in peace, and finally and most importantly the winners of the bread tend to get names given to them. "Like with the Hokage, Mad Hatter and Ghost. They won the Godbread last battle, so they got nicknames." Akira paused and stroked his chin, frowning thoughtfully. "And we want to get the bread for ourselves by any means possible that doesn't involve breaking the rules or we'll receive a coinflick to the forehead that feels like a truck hitting you in the face. Not a fun thing." Akira shuddered as if he was remembering it taking place, then got back to reality. "And as for the plan... We'll stick to the one we came up with yesterday. That's about it, I guess. Anything else you'd like to know?"

"No. That explanation will suffice." A quiet voice came from behind Akira as Florence seemed to appear out of nowhere. Akira made a squeak of surprise and whirled around in his seat, hand gripping the back of his seat as he tried to see how Florence was behind him. There was no telling how Long she had been there all along, but it was Long enough for her to get a gist of the competition. "It's nice to meet you again, Akira, Cross. Home room is starting soon, we should discuss later."

As if on cue, the teacher came in. "Oi, you guys, class is starting," He called out, and the trio hurriedly returned to their seats.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The girl was silent, calm, deadly as she danced her way through battle, her long legs lashing out as she kicked her opponents away. She was not beautiful, but she was pretty in a faded way, like an old photograph, her long green hair flowing behind her as she weaved her way through the other students, battling with grace that could belong to only a dancer. She was from no group, and had no title, but that did not matter to her - nothing did, except for the Bread and the chance to test her mettle against her fellow students.

Camaraderie? Grouping up to take the Bread? Dogs, the lot of them. And she was not a dog. She was a wolf, lonesome and deadly, like an assassin in the night. She was not one of those foolish pack dogs who followed their leaders and got only scraps of the Bread as reward. She was not that weak. If - When she won the Bread, it would be by her hands alone, and the victory of winning would make it all the more sweeter.

And if she was not able to get the Bread, then she would not make it easy for the others. There were many groups and fellow battlers to take her ire out on, in those times.

Everyone around her was fighting. Picking off a few stragglers, the girl wandered closer and closer to the center, flitting here and there for an opponent until she spotted a group of three in the center of the chaos.

A redhead, a brunette with a baguette in his hands, a blonde girl. The redhead was talking animatedly to the other two, although she could not hear them over the din her fellow combatants were making. The girl smiled to herself, secretive and pleased as she silently made her way towards them, ducking out of sight and using the other combatants as coverage.

"ALRIGHT GUYS, REMEMBER THE PLAN!" The redhead was yelling, once she had gotten close enough to hear. The Judo captain a few feet behind him grabbed a third year student and flung the student sky high, and the redhead ducked as the student flew inches above his head with a high pitched scream that continued until he landed against a group of other people with a thump. They fell over with screams and thuds like a pack of skittles, but the girl paid them no attention, her gaze sharpening on her targets.

The redhead, she thought decisively, nodding to herself. He looked the weakest out of them all, scuttling closer to the other two as he looked around warily for any other attacks. He was also too busy talking like an idiot to actually notice her. She ducked behind a couple running to the Artemis statue, then creeped steadily towards the redhead, slowly but surely approaching his back, If anyone saw her, they would have felt a similarity to a snake sneaking up on a small, harmless bunny, hungry for prey.

The boy failed to notice her, fool that he was. He had his back turned towards the girl as he talked with his other teammates, huddling in closer to them as if they could help ward off any attacks. Inwardly, the girl scoffed - foolish! If they were weak enough for the need to group in order to get the Bread, then why join at all? - but outwardly her face remained stoic. She was close enough to hear the red headed student over the din as he spoke his next words. "WE - I mean we're gonna get the Bread! Herabread and Apollobread is gone and Zeusbread is guarded by two fighters" - it seemed that the boy had been keeping track of what the announcers had been saying - "But we've still got two more!"

She had to act fast, before they noticed her. The boy was already finishing sharing his plan, and she had wasted enough time getting close to them. Silently sneaking through the remaining distance, she approached the redhead hummingbird fast as he concluded with, "You guys get them while I find Luka, ok?!"

He was already half turning around, crimson eyes growing wide as he noticed the shadow she casted as the girl swung her long leg in a vicious arc against his head, but it was too late. The girl felt a faint smile appear on her face. Victory was hers -

There wasn't a pause as Florence blocked the kick with one of her own, catching the girl by her middle with the arc of her leg and kicking her back into the crowd. It wasn't a particularly harsh one, Florence kept herself in check for violence in public. "Be careful Akira." She reminded him before nodding at his instructions. Scanning the crowd with her blue eyes, Florence spotted the pedestal that held the bread. Most of them were surrounded by hordes of desperate students, fighting each other to get closer to the statue. She subconsciously reached for the knives, before remembering the rules Akira briefed them about. Instead, her hand pulled out a few chopsticks from the inner pocket of her jacket. They weren't as sharp as she liked, but they would have to do for now. A student charged at her as Florence tried to dive in to the crowd, but was greeted with a swift and brutal kick to the stomach. Florence glided on by calmly, hardly fazed by the attack.

"Thanks Flo! Got it!" Akira continued to rush onwards as the trio split into groups, dodging and avoiding the other fighters. He dove into the melee with his eyes wide, dodging and weaving around the other battlers with keen eyes. Ducking as a student dressed in towels flew over his head with a bloodcurdling yell towards another student holding a tray, Akira kept his eyes opened for Luka. Spotting someone with familiar black hair, he darted forwards and tapped his classmate on the shoulder. "Luka!" he yelled over the din, a harried grin spreading on his face. "Found you! We're gonna go find the other bread, would that be ok?"