Naomi Koizumi's Story

Gulping, Tails stood up and walked to the rope. He jumped on to it, and slowly climbed up. His hands were on fire. It took all his will not to cheat using his power. He was actually doing it to his own surprise.. He grabbed the bell, and rang it. He the hopped from the top of the 15 foot rope, stopping an inch before he hit the ground. He put on a grin even though his hands hurt like hell. He returned to his seat relieved.

Naomi looked up at Opal, raising a eyebrow in confusion. She took the leaf and smiled a little. "Thank you, Opal." She took a drink from the leaf. She looked over at the newcomer, but lost interest quickly, there were a lot of new people here. She then noticed the flower in her hair. "Eh?" She took it down and studied the small flower, smiling warmly. It was hard to tell if she knew Opal did it or not.

Mr. Hayato looked over at the new comer. "You don't have to announce what you were doing across the whole room, what, do you want people to know you were at a doctor's appointment? Sit down and wait your turn."

Mr. Hayato checked Tails off the clipboard. "Good job! You too Kojo!" He looked down at his watch. "... Well, we won't have time to do everyone else, the bell is about to ring. I suggest you use the remaining 5 minutes of your class to change back and head to lunch."

Isamu let out a heavy sigh of relief. He went into the locker room and changed back into his pants. After, he went and sat on the bleachers in the gym with his chin in his hands. He did not eat very often, and so, he did not wish to go to lunch. Although, Art class was next, that was something that he was good at.

Kojo grinned and hurried to get dressed, then ran off to the cafeteria. He was the first in line of course and demanded each lunch lady to give him extra servings. He then sat down and began pigging out.

Hearing the bell, she sighed in relief and stood up. Naomi walked to the girls locker room. She changed back into her normal uniform and headed for lunch. She sat down at her empty lunch table and took out her bento box. She looked up at her "antennas" and tried to flatten them, but the pieces of hair just popped back up.

As Kojo pigged away at his food he noticed that Naomi was sitting all by herself. He felt bad for the girl, being called antennas. He thought the way her hair stuck up was cute, and she should too. There was no reason on Earth that a teacher had the right to treat a student like that. So, Kojo picked up his tray and walked over, then sat down across from her.

"Hey you know, don't listen to him.... he doesn't know anything," Kojo told her with a smile.

Naomi looked up at Kojo. "Eh? O-Oh..." she blushed a little and smiled. "Thank you." She stopped messing with her hair and untied her box lunch. She opened it and it turned out to be curry. But when she opened it, it made Kojo's eyes sting and his nose run. There is no way a human, or any creature can eat something so spicy that it almost makes you cry. Naomi on the other hand didn't looked disturbed at all, even though the curry was way too spicy for anyone's stomach to withhold. She picked up her spork and stabbed a piece of curry and took a bite. Her face was neutral as she stuffed her mouth with curry... impossible!!

Kojo rubbed his watery eyes and watched as Naomi tortured herself with the dreadfully spicy food. He had a keen sense of smell and so, the smell bothered him more than it would most people. "How can you eat that?" he asked as his nose scrunched. He didn't mind if it smelled funny, Naomi liked it, and so, it was not Kojo's place to say anything. He had grabbed a chicken sandwich, and well, some people may not like the smell of that either.

Kojo then caught sight of the pale girl with quite a bit of scar tissue. he watched as she opened a blood packet and poured it into a cup. "It looks like we have a vampire here too..." he told Naomi.

Naomi took the bottle of hot sauce and poured some more onto her curry. She glanced over at the vampire. "... Isn't this place for powers, not monsters?" She set down the bottle and continued to eat. "Eh, all well. I'm keeping my distance from her. I mean, if she talks to me then of course I'll answer her back, but other than that, I just don't want my blood sucked. Hopefully she won't turn out with no friends, but she seems like she'd fit in, no problem about that."

"Just because shes a vampire doesn't mean she will suck your blood," Kojo commented. He thought it a bit unfair that Naomi was hesitant to speak with the girl simply because of her race. The girl seemed okay to Kojo. he wasn't too afraid of vampires, though he hadn't really ever met any of them. But from what he had heard, they could make pretty loyal friends.

Naomi nodded. "And you're absolutely right. But my history with vampires are rather... disturbing, so to say. I rather not talk about it." She finished her boxed lunch. "But for all I know, she can become my friend. Ironic things like that happen, ya know?" She smiled warmly.

Helena was sat taking the white bits off the lettuce in her sandwich and drinking some of the milk when she realized that she was being talked about. She could usually feel eyes on her, but her healing was easily acute enough to work out what was being said, and some pretty hurtful remarks in regard to vampires were being made.

Lena looked round biting her lip, feeling suddenly self-conscious and rather upset by the remark.

"I'm not a monster." she stated aloud, getting to her feet, suddenly not hungry.
"I don't and have never bitten anybody, and I resent the implication. My family of 'monsters' fund this school. I have as much right to be here as you do."

Her paternity was a very touchy issue, not simply because it had caused a massive upheaval in the family. An upheaval that had had some extensive consequences.
"I don't think I want to be friends with anyone who thinks I'm a 'monster'."

She grabbed her bag and walked out, leaving her lunch behind, deciding she might as well just sit and read outside her class. At least she wasn't going to be subject to judgement as to whether she was worthy of them there.

Kojo was about to reply to Naomi when he watched Helena stand and make a remark in defense, then hurry off while leaving her tray behind. He felt terrible, not that he had said anything wrong himself. Kojo stared at the rest of his meal, suddenly not feeling so hungry anymore either. He stood and grabbed his tray, "Ill see you in class," he told Naomi quietly. He then picked up Helena's tray and took care of it, along with his own.

Kojo left the dining hall and went of in search of the vampire girl. "Hey!" He called after her once she was in his sight. Kojo jogged over to her and tilted his head, a worried look playing on his face, "Are you okay?"

Before Helena could answer, there was a call in the distance. "Hey, waiiiiittt!!" Naomi stopped running over as soon as she was in front of Helena. After she caught her breath, Naomi looked Helena in the eyes in a serious matter. "... I'm... I'm sorry. When I said 'monster' I didn't mean it in a way as in something vicious and disgusting, but a category.... w-wait, no! That sounds bad too, I-I-I DIDN'T MEAN--" Naomi stopped and took a deep breath. "... What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for offending you. I was completely idiotic, immature, and absolutely rude to question why you're even here, and to top it off, hurt you by saying 'monster'. I don't know what's gotten into me, I'm never so judgmental like that... maybe it's because I had a rough day, everyone bringing me down all at once, and I ended bringing you down too... but even so, there is no excuse to bully anyone." Naomi bowed her head. "Will you... will you please forgive me for being so ignorant?"

The halfbreed smiled slightly.
"I'd like that, thank you." she replied, shaking his hand.
"I'm Helena, Most people just shorten it to Lena. And honestly I wasn't gonna ask. That kinda thing never worried me much. Pleased to meet you Kojo."

She then turned, hearing the girl from before approaching and apparently trying to explain herself.
"Monster is derogatory.. it isn't a very pleasant thing to call anybody, even variants like vampires, particularly in the historical context." she replied.
"I don't want to fight with you, I just think it's bad to assume. Even if you have had a crappy day. You don't know what my day was like, right?"

She ran her hands across the scar on her chest that ran along her shoulder.
"All this was because some family didn't like the idea of a kid who is half vampire. And one of the people tried to show this dislike uh...directly. So yeah I don't really feel like a person who is harmful."

That whole thing had been pretty terrible, moreso for her family than for her as she'd not really been awake for the vast majority of what had happened. Still it was not a nice matter, that someone had wanted her gone for her genetics.

Helena was fairly conflict averse, but evenso the whole thing bothered her and she didn't really want to drag it out any more than possible, and sought to occupy her mind with something else, namely the next class.

She pulled a curled sheet out from the pocket in her bag.
"Looks like I have art too, as well. Probably one of my better subjects, most of the time. Not the best at concentrating for a long while. "

Naomi tried her best to say sorry, and even though she saw that Helena didn't exactly want to forgive her, she just dropped it. "... You're right. You're absolutely right... there is no excuse to just assume someone is going to do something before you know them." Naomi sighed quietly. "Well..... ja nee." She forced a smile, obviously filling up with guilt. She walked away to leave Kojo and Helena alone so she can return to her empty table.

Kojo sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "I have never actually met a vampire up until now... if you do not like the term vampire please let me know how you would like for me to refer to your race... I don't want to upset you or any one else I may meet in the future..." he began blabbering as he walked towards the art room. "So you are good at art? I love art as well!" The young many was very excited for the next class, it was so hands-on!

Opal wasn't in the mood to eat. While the others had gone off the cafeteria, he had cut through the halls to explore more of the school. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, nor was he quite interested in what he saw, but it allowed him to be alone for a bit. Down the halls, he heard some chatter. It would be too obvious for him to try to avoid it, but he could hide behind the wall where they stood. A some-what interesting conversation about connotations of the word "monster" took place, followed by apologies and new friendships.

He nearly threw up.

That being said, Kojo and Namoi weren't all bad. He just didn't like all the talking. What was the big fuss? You are what you are, so deal with it.

He considered skipping the next class to go outside where he could use his powers the most. The others started walking off towards the artroom, nearing him. Opal turned the next corner and decided to distract Kojo from his sad attempt at flirting. The vase nearby contained an ordinary house plant. He wiggled his fingers and it started growing expenentionally--wouldn't his bio teacher just love that?--and its stems extended out to trip Kojo, tangling around his feet.

Opal's chest rattled with laughter at the boy's awful fall. It worked beautifully; in front of the girls, too.

The vines contracted immediately and returned to its form as the original house plant. He jumped at the sight of Kojo's transformation, but recovering quickly, formed an icicle in his hands with sharp, pointed end. Opal held it up in defense even though its bitter cold surface nearly turned his fingers blue. He crouched down, poised and ready for action. Of course it was all play--Opal may have been harsh, but he would never hurt others (phsyically that is) for no reason. A gentle play meant no harm. Plus, it meant less time to be in class.

Naomi walked into the art room a few minutes later. She looked around, but she was not very impressed. Naomi wasn't the best at art, she even had personal drawing lessons and screwed it up. She didn't make eye contact with Kojo or any of the other students as she took her seat. She took out all the materials she needed for the class and waited for the teacher to enter the classroom. "Everything I did today ended badly for me... lets hope art isn't half as bad." She thought to herself.

Helena watched the tussle with her arms folded, Atzy resting with its front legs draped over them. The whole fighting thing didn't really faze her too much. Her brother was getting into similar scrapes all the time, and that was with friends of his. She regarded the two sceptically and chuckled, before walking in as they did.

"For the record." she added, looking over in Kojo's direction.
"Vampire's not at all offensive, though I'm only half. Hybrid. It's a bit of a long story." she explained as she sat down.

There being no teacher evident she sat down and pulled out a sketchbook from her stuff, setting the form of Atzeal across and opening it up. It was already occupied with
a large number of drawings of peculiar creatures or surreal panoramas in intricate scenery pictures. Helena started to draw, though oddly enough apparently began doing so with her eyes shut.