A/N: Hey-o! First fanfiction I've written in QUITE a long time, but I've fallen in love with the Ib game and I just had to do this college AU. I'm praying I keep them in character as much as possible, so crossing my fingers here. Enjoy~ (reviews and all that are very appreciated, as I'm sure you know!)

Disclaimer: Ib doesn't belong to me, just this silly idea.


The evening was quickly falling down on a group of young students as they toured their future university's campus. Orientation for the recent high school graduates had begun earlier the following day, and for most had been an exciting affair. But, for one eighteen-year-old girl, it had been nothing but dull.

Ib was impressed with the university's buildings and resources, and she was extremely proud of her admission there, but she had visited before and seen everything she had wanted to see. Now, every tour was redundant and her interest was lost quickly. She really just wanted to explore for herself, searching for the hidden nooks and crannies it took some students their full four years at the school to discover.

"This is one of my favorite spots on campus. The university asked one of our alumni to complete this…"

The upperclassman who was leading the tour had stopped the group to admire a mural on the outside of the student union, giving Ib a chance to finally inspect her surroundings without the probability of bumping into the back of someone. His voice was eventually drowned out by her own musings as she found a particularly interesting group of people to observe, feeling a little inadequate as a college student. She refused to smoke or wear ironic sweaters, or dye her hair wild colors or pierce anything but her ears. She knew that not every college student looked that way, but staring at that group of people, laughing at something amusing on one of their tablets, made her wonder if that was the only way to clearly identify one. Looking down at her own clothes, a white, short-sleeved blouse and denim shorts, she knew she wouldn't fit in well with that group of people.

"How odd…" she mumbled to herself, blinking away her stream of thought. She turned back to inspect the mural that the tour leader had pointed out, but found herself alone. "Oh."

The group had continued on without her, it seemed, and she was left to make a decision.

She could try to catch up with them – they couldn't have gone very far at all, probably just inside the student union building – or she could go on her own adventure. It would be much interesting that way, she knew; more people to watch, more places to explore. From the moment she checked in the day before, she had been led around like a stupid lamb, shepherded from building to building (not even some of the most interesting ones she had read up on) and told which classes to take and how to plan her future. There had not been a moment of independent thinking that entire time.

Now, as she was standing alone, finally allowed to do as she pleased, she realized that her choice was an easy one.


"Listen, I know that this book is overdue, but I was going to check it out again anyways. I don't see the point in paying the fee if I was just going to check it out again."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but that's just how it goes here. You don't turn in the book, you have to pay the fee."

"But, I don't have the money for the fee right now! That's what I'm getting at here."

"I am sorry, Sir. But I can't do anything about it. Your book was overdue two weeks – the fee is nearly twenty dollars. You should have had the book back at the library when you were supposed to and check it out again here."

"Ugh. Fine. I'll just bring the money tomorrow."

Garry was clearly defeated. As ridiculous as the situation seemed to him, the book in question was indeed two weeks late and he would have to hand over the money if he wanted to check anything else out from the school's library. As a grad student beginning his second year, he would need as many free resources as he could get his hands on. A thesis paper was expected from him at the end of the next summer, and without even an idea of what to write for it, he knew that he'd be spending most of his time outside the studio among the old and dusty books.

Pushing the faded purple hair from his face, the tall man braced himself for the summer heat and stepped outside. He reached into the pocket of his jeans (even in this weather he couldn't bear to wear anything else) and pulled out a cigarette, fumbling with the lighter.

"E-excuse me!"

The cigarette had just barely brushed against his lips when he heard the voice. After his argument with the librarian, he was half expecting her to have followed him outside for some reason, probably to just agitate him further about his lack of money or responsibility to turn a book in on time.

"What? What is it that you want now?" he began with an angry start, turning to face the librarian he expected to be there.

He immediately regretted it.

"Pardon?"

The girl looked pretty young, long dark hair framing a stoic face. She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful or physically fascinating in any way, but there was something about her that Garry felt was familiar, like he knew her in a past life (if he even believed in that sort of thing).

"Um, could you direct me to the freshman dormitory?" The girl furrowed her brows at him, voice a little quieter than he expected for such a determined looking person. It became immediately obvious to him that she was an incoming student there for her summer orientation and she was lost.

Unfortunately for her, though, Garry wasn't quite sure where the freshman dorm was. There was no way a twenty-seven-year-old would live on campus, so he didn't even bother with learning the dormitories' locations.

You can't just leave her here by herself, though, he thought. She's so young and small – one of those frat guys could easily give her some trouble. The idea of her being approached by some unsavory characters made him feel uneasy. Even if he had only just met the girl, he felt this odd responsibility to take care of her.

"Sure! I know right where to go!" Garry lied. "I'll even escort you there myself." He flicked the barely lit cigarette onto the concrete and crushed the burnt end with the heel of his shoe before flashing her a smile. "The name is Garry, by the way. What's yours?"

"Ib," the girl answered simply.

"Ib, huh? That's a pretty interesting name."

"Uh, yeah. I suppose." She looked almost embarrassed, but it was too hard to tell with how her hair fell in front of her face. Either way, Garry thought she was cute and he would try his best to find that dorm, even if he got lost in the process too.

Starting towards a mainly glass building across the street from the library, Garry stuffed both hands into the pockets of his jeans and said, "I like it, the name 'Ib.'"

For the first time that day, Ib felt herself smile, and as she followed the much taller man, she was suddenly very glad to have strayed from the flock.