A/N: While I'm really in no position to start any new stories, here we are anyway. I've had this idea for a while now. Might as well list out my priorities for my active fics:

1. Orange City

2. Days of Shouko

3. Lizard Queen

This fic is at the bottom of the priority list, meaning that it should be updated the least often (but don't count on it because inspiration comes at weird times for me in the shower).

School is starting soon so it's likely I'll never finish any of these fics.

Summary:

After getting caught out doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing, Hinata Shouyo finds himself to be the household slave of a girl who can't seem to fend for herself.

Little does he know that he keeps the company of the daughter of the former kingpin of an underground fight organization specializing in a 'game' called STOMP.

But, pfft, why would THAT matter? This is a story about a girl who likes lizards far too much and a story about a boy who likes volleyball way too much. Do they fall in love? ... Can you ask an easier question?

Part of "Kindergarten Bully" universe. First chapter inspired by Lookism.

The classroom was simple, though not to the point of being drab. On the walls, near the ceiling, hung a multitude of paintings done by children, whether it be by hand or by brush. It gave the room an atmosphere of the child's eye—muddled by naivety and lack of exposure to the world's many vices.

Each student had their own table after advancing to fourth grade, which was a cause for excitement as it made them feel independent and grown up.

Hinata Shouyo was not one of the children who enjoyed sitting at their own desk. He rather like sitting on a large table with his peers and socializing the day away. It wasn't like he could still do that, but now...

It felt like there were new boundaries—imaginary shields that kept him from getting too close.

No, he decided, he didn't like it all. The room was filled with color and the sound of squealing laughter but there was something that hadn't been there before.

Maybe it had something to do with his height, but he didn't like that idea. He was shorter than all of the boys in his class, and a few of the girls were taller than him as well.

"Shouyo!" one of the boys, Ichirou, called him over, a big smile on his face. There was a bandage perpetually on his right cheek. Hinata admired that little detail; he thought it made Ichirou looked strong and tough. Not to mention that Ichirou was the tallest boy in their class and everybody (except the teacher, of course) was always literally looking up to him. "Did you hear about the new transfer?"

Hinata smiled back at the boy. Maybe he had been paranoid. Ichirou was still as nice as ever. "Transfer?" Hinata tilted his head to one side, curious. "No. Are they a boy or a girl?"

"A girl, I think, but they said she's from the countryside!"

"She must be some kind of hick!" a girl put in quite meanly.

Hinata thought that it was funny that she would say that, considering their location wasn't exactly an urban area. He said as much, and the girl frowned at him, pouting.

At last, the teacher arrived with the student in tow. She had short brown hair that curled at the ends and a face that reminded Hinata of a pixie; sharp and delicate.

She wasn't quite as thin or frail looking as the other girls, though it was hard to tell by the baggy lime green sweater she was wearing. She also had on a yellow plaid skirt that went down to just above her knees and was wearing a pair of green velcro-strap shoes.

Her legs were lean, but there was the ripple of muscle beneath her tan skin. Ichirou had said that she was from the countryside, so she must be used to some hard farm work, right? It only made sense that she was taller, broader, and more muscular than her female peers.

Respectfully, they all sat down at the teacher's order while the girl assumed a position of standing at the front and facing the class.

"She's taller than Ichirou," one girl whispered to another.

"No," the girl's friend replied quietly, "I don't think so...!"

The transfer girl gave them all a polite smile before saying, "Hi. My name is Saito Maruichi but please call me Maru-chan. I'm nine years old and I used to live on a farm before I moved here. I like lizards. Please take care of me." She bowed once before lifting her head.

The teacher introduced himself to her first, then asked his class, "Does anyone have any questions for Saito-san?"

Someone raised his hand. "Is this your first time going to school?"

Maruichi nodded. "Yes. Before coming here, I was homeschooled."

The same girl who had called her a hick before she had arrived smirked and raised her hand. "Farms smell. Does that mean you smell as well?"

"Hey!" Hinata glared over at the girl. She was being far too mean for his taste. "Don't be mean. I'm sure she doesn't smell."

The girl scowled but stayed quiet, glaring at her desk.

"Thank you, Hinata-san," the teacher said, clearing his throat before chiding the rude girl. "Anymore questions?"

There were none, though Hinata was sure that the others were itching to ask some more. It did not escape the orange-haired boy that Maruichi staring intently at him. Before she could drill holes into his head, however, she turned her eyes away and sat down somewhere behind him in a free seat.

After school, Hinata took his usual route home. He was learning how to ride a bike and was starting to get the hang of it quickly. But for now, he would have to content himself with walking as his mother wanted him to be confident enough first before riding back and forth to school.

He hadn't even left the playground when it started to rain. Hastily, he unzipped his backpack and took out his crumpled yellow raincoat before putting it on. His bag would be out in the rain, but that was fine because it was waterproof. Nothing inside would get damaged.

"Oi, Hinata!"

The boy in question turned around to see Kana, the rude girl, marching toward him with a sullen look on her face. Her brother from the sixth grade was walking behind her, looking faintly murderous.

Hinata's blood chilled. What did she want?

"Y-yeah?" Hinata stammered out as Kana and her brother stopped right in front of him.

"I don't like how you talked to me today," sniffed Kana. "Apologize!"

"Eh?!" Hinata flinched. "But... but you were being mean to her!"

Her brother grabbed him by the shirt collar. "Didn't you hear her?! Apologize or I'll beat you up!"

At the prospect of being beaten up, Hinata readied himself to apologize to Kana. But how could he do that. If he apologized, that would be so... so lame! "No!" Hinata refused, squeezing his eyes shut. "I won't!"

Stars filled his vision and he felt like his face exploded as Kana's brother's fist met his face. Tears slipped out of his eyes and down his cheeks, which only gave the older boy more pleasure.

Kana looked on impassively, though the glint in her eyes told anyone watching that she was taking immense pleasure out of Hinata's pain.

Stay strong, Hinata coached himself as he was thrown into the ground like a rag doll, his back hitting the fence painfully. Awkwardly, he lifted his head up, desperately searching for anyone to help him. But there was no one around. Just him, Kana, and his tormentor.

"Hmm? What's going on here?" a new voice asked, and Kana and her brother whipped around to see—

"You! Country hick!" Kana blurted.

Saito Maruichi raised an eyebrow, the ends of her short brown hair poking out from the hood of her raincoat, which was a pale green with polka dots.

Kana's brother took over from here. "Hey, brat, get outta here! This is none of your business."

A small, almost creepy smile made its way up Maruichi's face. "No. I don't want to."

"Eh?!" The bigger and stronger boy was not intimidated by her act. He sneered at her. "Who do you think you are?"

"Yeah, who?" demanded Kana.

"Please... just go," wheezed Hinata. Maruichi might have been one of the tallest in his class, but he doubted that she would be any match for a sixth grader. You can still save yourself!

"Who am I?" Maruichi mused, totally ignoring Hinata's urging. To the bullies' surprise, she sneered right back, her gaze darkening. "I'm a villain. Just like you guys."

"I'm not afraid to hit a girl!" Kana's brother threatened, swaggering up to her and using his taller height to try and make her back down.

Maruichi didn't move, only watched him tauntingly.

With a shout, the boy backed away before charging at her, expecting to bring her down with a kick. Hinata, his body still on fire, shut his eyes, unable to bear the sight of Maruichi being knocked down.

Maruichi stepped back tantalizingly slow. Then she lifted her knee and jabbed it in his gut. Kana's brother let out a strangled scream before falling to the ground on his knees, clutching his stomach. From Hinata's perspective, her knee jab hadn't even looked that hard, but Kana's brother's shrieks were telling him otherwise.

"H-help!" Kana cried weakly, Maruichi's deadly glare stopping her in her tracks.

"You tried to hit me," Maruichi said casually, sauntering up to where Kana's brother was kneeling in agony. "That's not good. Do you know what I did to the last guy who tried to hit me?" She stomped on his hand with the heel of her shoes, causing him to cry out again. The sound sent shivers down Hinata's spine. "I broke all of his fingers." She crushed his other set of fingers. "Both hands."

"Stop!" Kana's brother managed to ground out, his bladder loosening as a dark wet patch stained his pants. Hinata pretended that it was the rain. The thought was somehow more comforting. "Why... why are you doing this?!"

"Eh?" Maruichi's smile returned and she tilted her head to one side, as if she was genuinely confused by his question. "Don't you know?" She pointed at Hinata. "Just like you did to him, I am doing it to you too."

Kana's brother's eyes flashed with pure fear and—was that regret?

"I am also beating you for no reason," Maruichi told him, the smile on her face growing more sinister. It was a grin that didn't belong on any nine year old's face. "You see, people like us... we understand each other. Did you hit him for a reason? No, you just made one up to hit him." There was the sound of shouting and Maruichi started to walk away. "Oops, teacher is coming. You and your sister... don't tell, okay? Or else I will beat you both next time. I'm not scared of the teacher."

Slowly, Hinata sat up, shocked by what had just transpired. Wha... What happened?! She beat him up so easily?! Ehh?!

Boots squelched on the wet surface and Hinata suddenly found himself looking at an outstretched hand.

"Well?" Maruichi prompted. "Get up. You look really sad down there."

"Thank... thank you," Hinata gasped, taking her hand and grinning. "You were so cool back there! You—you, how did you get so strong?!" And she was a girl too, even if she was taller and stronger than he was. He'd be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't scared of her, but she seemed less... intent on murdering someone now.

"Hm? Oh, that's because my family likes to play a game. It's a fighting game." They walked down the concrete path, ignoring the shouts of the teachers and turning a corner so that they escaped their vision.

"Fighting game?"

"Yeah." Maruichi smiled at him, the gesture warm and friendly this time around. "Have you heard of it? It's called STOMP."

"Eeyaawww..." In the bed, a girl with long, messy brown locks sat up and yawned, her eyes droopy with sleep. She shifted in the blankets for a bit before feeling around for her glasses on her bedside table. There was no alarm clock—her body clock worked well enough. She rubbed her eyes, blinking slowly when she removed her hands from her face.

Finally, she found her spectacles. After wiping them down with her nightdress and making sure that the lenses were free of dust and dirt, she placed them on her nose, her world suddenly becoming clearer.

Getting out of bed, she shuffled against the tiled floor of her bedroom. The first day of school was today; it would also be her first day at Karasuno High, where she would be starting as a second year.

As usual, she cooked up some instant ramen for breakfast, the steam fogging up the lenses of her huge, bug-like glasses.

When she finished getting ready (which didn't take very long as she only had to quickly shower, dress, and clip up her messy bangs).

"Good morning, Levi. Good morning, Bean," she greeted her pet lizards, which she kept in a special tank. "You're coming with me to school, today. I don't want to eat lunch alone."

She draped a cloth over the tank to conceal it, and carried the entire thing in her arms. It was hardly any effort for her. She left the gates of her house, pausing only momentarily to examine the shiny plate that declared that the house as the 'Saito residence'.

"A new school," Maru said to her pets. "It's going to be a lonely experience. I'm lucky that I have you two."

The walk to school wasn't far as she lived close by, and she was there within ten minutes. She could have arrived earlier had her way not been made a hindrance by an obnoxiously steep slope.

"I'm going to need to put you guys somewhere." She walked up and down the school hallways until she found a relatively secluded corridor with locked closet. There was probably some cleaning equipment inside. "Locked, huh...?" She put down her lizard tank and yanked at the door to no avail. Grumbling, she stuck out her leg and kicked it open, the lock breaking upon impact.

Just as she had guessed, it was a spacey broom closet. She hopped inside and closed the door behind her, making sure to take her lizard tank with her inside. She nudged some cleaning equipment aside, putting the lizard tank on a high shelf. There was a high window in the closet that made sure that the closet had plenty of ventilation. It also gave the lizards some well needed sunlight.

It was perfect. She moved the cleaning equipment back in order to conceal the tank, then tore a page from her notebook to use it to write 'out of order'.

Something tells me that they'll fall for it.

Maru was gone seconds after sticking her crudely made sign in the wooden door.

"Shouyo!"

Hinata was glomped by a shorter girl with blonde hair and big brown eyes. Instantly, he grinned and twisted his body in her grip so that they were effectively hugging.

"Miku!" he returned, kissing her forehead and causing her to giggle.

The two second years had been dating for nearly a month now. Kimura Miku was Hinata Shouyo's first and hopefully last girlfriend.

"What class are you in this year?" Miku asked him, grinning. "I'm in 2-3."

Hinata groaned. "2-2! Dammit, so close."

"Aw, it's okay," Miku comforted him, touching his shoulder. "We won't be far apart. We can visit each other as much as we want."

Hinata perked up. "Yeah, I guess. And you'll come to volleyball practice at lunch, right?"

"Mmhm!"

Miku kissed him on the lips, forcing a blush up his neck and face.

"G—geh—"

He promptly fainted into Kageyama's waiting arms (the setter had just come by). The black-haired boy scowled. "Oi, wake up, dumbass, we have class together this year."

Miku smiled, laughing. "I'll leave you two to it."