CHAPTER 1

Kid's POV

"Goddammit, Black*Star! You don't have to fight every new student!"

The blue-haired monkey-boy currently stood atop a red spike at the front of my father's academy – if he breaks that thing, I swear to God – smiling into the sun. Even the glint on his teeth was egotistical. The bastard.

"I AM THE GREAT BLACK*STAR! NOBODY CAN STEAL MY SPOTL- GAH!"

His eloquence came to a halt when a hardcover book flew into his head and sent him tumbling to the ground. I thought I heard Tsubaki murmur a "nice shot" to Maka before rushing over to her fallen partner as usual.

We had barely changed since the defeat of the Kishin five years earlier – at least not our personalities. Five years had had a significant effect on all of our appearances: Maka had filled out, Black*Star had gotten a growth spurt, Tsubaki had gotten even curvier, Soul had developed the muscular appearance typical of a Death Scythe, Patty had gotten taller, Liz had surpassed her sister in bust size, and I had finally grown taller than all of them. But even though Soul and I towered over him, Black*Star was still convinced that he was the "biggest man in the room."

"Nothing can stop the great Black*Star..." he wheezed as his head oozed blood onto the stone courtyard.

"Tell that to the ground and see how hard it laughs," Soul said smirking down at his friend.

"I'm pretty damn sure the ground can't laugh," Black*Star groaned and sat up.

"That's the only reason it's not laughing," giggled Liz in my ear.

From the corners of my eyes a small black blob was ascending the stairs. A small chuckle rose from the figure as it witnessed the whole exchange.

"It looks like the flagstones aren't the only ones who find the exchange amusing," I commented. Everyone looked to where the new student was cresting the stairs. Black*Star immediately leapt to his feet proudly.

"So you're the new student at the DWMA, huh?" he bellowed. "Well I'm Black*Star and I'm going to surpass God one day!"

The new student was cloaked in a pair of black sweatpants and a black hooded sweatshirt, its hood pulled securely over his face. On his feet he wore black Converse high tops. I found the fact that he wore those clothes in the middle of the Nevada Desert odd; he didn't even have his sleeves rolled up, except for one of them-

I immediately barreled through my friends to fix the asymmetrical sleeve. The moment I turned down the cuff he jerked his hand back.

"What the hell, man?" he asked and backed up. "Don't touch me!"

"Kid has raging OCD," Liz explained behind me. "If he sees something asymmetrical he cries."

"I do not cry!"

"Don't lie, Kid," said Maka. As if in defiance he flipped his cuff back to its original, and asymmetrical, state. The back of my head hurt just looking at it, even more so when I couldn't see it but knew it was there.

A chorus of gasps rang out behind me.

"You probably should not have done that," Soul said. I hardly registered anything. My eye began to twitch and the back of my head began to burn and I could not for the life of me take my eyes off of that god-forsaken turned up cuff! Why wouldn't he just let me fix it!?

"Oh no," Liz grumbled. "He's losing it."

My head snapped up to face the new student.

"Fix your sleeve," I commanded lowly, "or I will forcibly fix it."

"Either get some medication or deal with it, Reaper Boy," he scoffed. He must have been able to see souls. That was the only way he would have known I was a Shinigami.

"So you can see souls, then," I commented, trying to surreptitiously fix the sleeve.

"I applaud your observation skills. And stop trying to fix the cuff." He put his arm behind his back, making him even more asymmetrical.

"Goddammit!" I yelled. "Please fix it, or let me fix it! Do you have any idea what it's like?"

"I do, I've just learned to deal with it. Now let me through."

He wove in between the crowd of my friends and headed for the door.

"Not yet," I growled and grabbed the sleeve to yank it into place. He whirled around and yanked his arm away from my grasp.

"I told you not to touch me!"

"And I told you to your sleeve!"

"Go fuck yourself, Reaper!"

All fell silent.

"Do you realize," I said shakily, "who you are dealing with here?"

"I have an idea," he said lowly.

This guy was really starting to piss me off.

I swung at his face, but he brought an arm up to block my fist. He jumped back as I made a jab at his stomach with my other hand and whipped my leg up in a round kick. After ducking he leapt back even farther, hands still in his pockets.

"Just let me fix your symmetry!" I screamed at him.

"Not now, Reaper!" yelled the new boy back at me.

"Liz. Patty," I said, indicating I wanted them to transform.

"No way in hell, Kid. This is between you and the new guy," Liz told me.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered and charged at the boy. I managed to hook my leg around the bag of his legs, but he back-flipped from my grasp and landed in a crouch. He turned his head to look at the front of the school.

Here's my chance!

I swung a controlled kick directly at his head.

He stopped my foot. Without even looking, he grabbed my foot and flung it away from his face, then raced to the front entrance. We all watched in awe and horror as he ricocheted off the walls beside the doors until he landed on one of the red spikes. I followed in the same manner, landing in a crouch just behind him. It was then that I realized that not once had he ever tried to hit me. It was almost like he was toying with me just to see what I would do next. I growled.

"Why won't you let me fix you?!" I shouted at his turned back. Then he stiffened as the world's most dreaded noise echoed throughout the courtyard.

"YAHOO!"