Touya scowled deeply as he yanked the door to his classroom open and shut it behind him with a rattling thud before slouching to his seat. He hadn't slept well again last night. Some new magic user had just moved into town, and whoever or whatever it was didn't have enough manners to muffle their magic. Even now it was like an annoying, constant thrum in the back of his mind. It was moon-aligned magic, too, and Touya was particularly sensitive to that kind of magic. If it didn't change soon, he was going to have to track the idiot down and knock some sense into him, her, or it.

Trying to drown out the pull of the power, Touya put his arms on the desk and his head on his arms to sleep until it was time for class to start. He dozed for a while, half-asleep and half-awake, until he suddenly realized that the power was getting a lot closer, almost at the school's threshold. He sat up and looked around suspiciously. That power was shockingly pure, the purest he'd ever felt. The magical part of him wanted to run to the source of that power, but he pushed the impulse away.

The door opened, and Touya turned to see a silver haired boy his own age entering the room with a cheerful, curious expression. He had brown eyes and a slightly stupid-looking smile, and he was leaking magical energy like a faucet. Touya felt like a moth must feel when it sees a flame—his eyes were drawn to the kid, even as he scowled fiercely at him. This brat had no manners, and what was a kid that age doing with that kind of power anyway? But instead of responding to Touya's glare, he just smiled back.

Touya turned forwards again, fixing his eyes on the board as well as he could. Maybe he was doing it on purpose to find out if there was anyone around who magical talent. Well, he wasn't going to get any help from Touya, that was for sure. He felt the boy go to an empty desk one row over and two behind him. Great. That was just great. How was he supposed to concentrate with that behind him? It was like trying to focus with a raging wildfire at your back.

A few minutes later, the teacher came in. After taking attendance, he motioned the silver haired boy to the front of the room. "Everyone, this is your new classmate, Tsukishiro Yukito. He's just transferred here. Please make him feel welcome."

Tsukishiro bowed and smiled that stupid grin at everyone. "I'm pleased to meet you all."

"He'll need someone to show him around." The teacher looked around and to Touya's horror, the teacher's eyes settled on him. "Kinomoto, will you show him where everything is?"

"Yes, sensei," he said. Just his luck, getting stuck with Mr. Overpowered for the day. Well, hopefully he could show him around and then get rid of him, or something.

Tsukishiro took his seat again and Touya did his best to concentrate on the lesson. It wasn't easy, with the constant pull of the magic behind him. He made several mistakes during English class, and during music, he couldn't seem to get the notes right. He kept catching himself staring at Yukito, then getting annoyed with himself for staring, then being distracted by the effort it took not to stare at him.

By lunch time, he was thoroughly sick of Tsukishiro. He grabbed his bento box and tried to hurry out the door with the other students before Tsukishiro could catch up, but he wasn't fast enough. The boy was taller than him and he fell into step quickly with Touya, apparently not noticing that he was being ignored. "Ah, this is much more crowded than my last school," he said cheerfully as they walked towards the lunchroom.

"Hn," Touya grunted, weaving his way through the hallways. Well, if he was stuck, he might as well do the job. "That's the music room, we were in it this morning," he said as they passed by it. "The gym is down those stairs, by the main entrance. The lunchroom is up ahead, on the right, and the playing fields and area we use for recess are out there. That's pretty much it."

"Wow, you know your way around this place pretty well." Tsukishiro said, head swiveling from side to side so he could look at all the classrooms. "Have you lived Tomoeda long?"

"All my life," Touya said.

"Oh, that must be pretty neat. I lived in a small town with my grandparents before this." Which explained why he thought that a little school like this was crowded, Touya thought.

He found himself a little curious despite himself, so Touya asked, "What about your parents?"

"They died in a car crash not long after I was born, so I don't remember them." He still looked perfectly cheerful as he said it. What was up with this weirdo? "This is my first time living on my own, though."

"Great," Touya said, a little sarcastically. They finally reached the lunchroom, which was warm and noisy with all the students finding tables or talking with friends while they got something to eat. There was a long line for bread near the front. "You get food there if you didn't bring lunch," he added, and then hurried away before Yukito could say anything.

Touya bought some juice from a vending machine in the hallway and took it outside to his favorite lunch spot, a shady tree near the fence that surrounded the school. He opened his bento and his juice and started to eat when he suddenly felt that overwhelming magical presence come up towards him again. Now what? he wondered.

Tsukishiro waved and grinned. "There you are, Kinomoto-kun! I thought I'd lost you!" he said.

Touya almost yelled at him, but he settled for a silent scowl. Nobody could possibly be this clueless, right? This had to be an elaborate way of assessing his power, or at least getting on his nerves. Either way, Tsukishiro sat down next to him with his lunch. "I humbly accept!" he said and then started eating.

At this range, Touya couldn't keep himself from staring, but the other boy didn't appear to notice. Finally, after ten minutes of this, he burst out, "Tone it down, would you?"

Tsukishiro stopped mid-bite, staring at him in apparent confusion. "What?"

"Just tone it down! I don't know what you're up to, but it's really distracting!" Touya scolded.

"Ah," he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Kinomoto-kun."

Touya stared at him for a few minutes. He was either the best actor Touya had ever met or he had no idea he was letting off magical power. Was that even possible? The power didn't feel latent, but it didn't feel entirely awake either. Now that he focused, it felt like Tsukishiro was overshadowed, or possessed. Maybe it wasn't even him who had the magic. He might not even know about it.

"Nothing," he said shortly. A long pause, and then, "You know anything about magic?"

Tsukishiro laughed. "That's a funny question to ask! Not very much, though. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Touya grunted. "Forget it."

"All right," Tsukishiro agreed. "But if we're going to be friends, you should call me Yukito."

Touya looked at him again. He supposed Yukito wasn't too bad, even if he was leaking magic like a sieve. "You can call me Touya, I guess."

"Pleased to meet you, Touya," Yukito said with another of those dazzling, kind of clueless grins. "I can already tell we're going to be good friends."