Summary of events: In the beginning, during the underground battle to prevent the revival of the kishin, Kid was fighting the fake Free. Unlike in the usual story, however, he did not stop to explain the trick to Black Star when he came. They rushed ahead, saving quite a bit of time. This allowed them to intercept Eruka and Free before they even got near the kishin. Again, Kid made Free stay in place by shooting at Eruka. Without the hallucinations to worry about, Black Star successfully destroyed the Black Blood vial. Medusa still lost focus for the opposite reason, and still did the soul split, and somehow it worked, even without the madness of the kishin. Later on, the oldest golem still mysteriously went berserk. This was because 800 years was just the end of Giriko's patience. Spirit and Stein rescued the kids from Giriko, instead of Justin. The Death scythes were still called as all they knew was that Arachne was up to something extremely bad. The events that followed were pretty much the exact same as the manga, up until the battle to rescue Kid. While they still managed to rescue him, Noah did not get killed, and they both managed to get away.

The wind was howling around Dr. Stein's laboratory as he stood and stretched. He needed a break from his work. He was almost done marking the lab reports from the children's latest dissection class, but his head was pounding.

Suddenly a long ding resonated through the lab. As Stein shuffled to the front door, he wondered who was at the door. Marie-san would have surely just let herself in as usual. A loud thump was heard as he reached for the knob. As the door swung open, a figure fell inside, blood pouring from wounds in her stomach.

Stein leapt into action and picked up the fetal figure in his arms, striding quickly towards the operation room. As he put the woman down he looked at her face and gasped. It was Medusa.

He quickly set about the surgery, quickly locating the area that bled the most. Finally, what seemed like hours later, he was done, and Medusa's breathing had become regular once more.

"Stein? Are you in there?" Marie's voice echoed from the hall. "I brought home dinner. You okay with chicken?" The door opened and she almost dropped the bag containing their food. "I-Is that…"

"Yeah," he said. "Go call Shinigami-sama."

The hallway of Shibusen School was silent but for the muffled sounds of footsteps. Few students stayed behind this late, but for once, Kid was one of them. The library had just closed, leaving him with 8 books to bring home. Unlike the other kids, Kid didn't live in the apartments nearby, so even though he had his board, the way home was still longer. Liz and Patty were at home already as the whole reason for him staying so late was so that they wouldn't distract him. However, distractions seemed to be all around him that day. He had been unable to focus in class that day because he had glanced at the girl in the row in front of him and noticed that her pigtails…. Were perfectly symmetrical! He had been assigned homework, and wouldn't have even known, had Liz not told him. Kid picked up his pace. The books were heavy, and it was difficult to hold them symmetrically. The sooner he was home, the better. He rounded a corner when- CRASH! –someone collided with him.

"I'm so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going…" Kid looked up and saw Maka.

"It's alright, I was going pretty fast and wasn't really watching, as well," he replied. He suddenly stopped picking up his books as Maka continued retrieving her own. Her… pigtails… they were the same ones from the class. He'd forgotten Maka sat in front of him. She glanced at his last book and giggled.

"You're studying? I thought you didn't have to, being a shinigami and all…"

"Er," Kid glanced uneasily at the floor. Why was he nervous? "Liz and Patty are making me… They say I've been behind ever since I came back. They easily distract me, though, so I have to stay at the library in the afternoons."

"Well, if you need a quiet place, my place is always open. I'll see if I can convince Soul to hang out with Black Star or something."

"That'd be wonderful, actually. Are you free today or tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Maka smiled. "Do you wanna wait for me out front? I'll go check to see what Soul's doing later today."

"Sure."

"See you tomorrow, Soul!" Black Star's voice was audible throughout the whole school, of that, Soul was sure. Occasionally he would hear him while they were supposed to be in class.

"Yeah, see ya!"

"Black Star, you forgot your…. books… again…" Tsubaki walked up to Soul carrying a large pile of books.

"That's… a ton of books," he said, craning his head to see Tsubaki. "Want some help?"

"I'm used to it, he usually does this," she smiled, but he could tell she was struggling. He reached up and pulled half the pile into his own arms.

"Uhh, no offence or anything, but isn't this book for the next grade or something?" Soul glanced at the top of his pile as they started walking.

"That's actually our new textbook from now on. Didn't you hear Stein in class?" Tsubaki giggled. He hid his face behind the books as his face began to burn. That was so not cool, he thought.

"Eh, right, well, I'll be fine. I'm pretty good at this stuff anyway," Soul put on a large grin in an effort to regain his dignity.

"Really? I'm finding it a little difficult," Tsubaki put on her best shocked face. They both knew Soul wasn't really that good.

"Well if you need some help, or anything, Maka's got dinner tonight so I'm free." He knew he was pushing it a bit, but Tsubaki's cooking was mouth-watering, and he could probably do a crash study session before leaving, so he`d have something to show.

"Sure thing, what time do you want to come?"

"Uhh, well," he hadn't really thought this far. "Is 6 good?"

"Fine by me," she smiled and pulled out her keys. They'd reached Tsubaki's place. Soul put the books on a table and left for his apartment.