James Kozuki continued walking through the almost surreal corridor. Several questions were floating through his head. "How did I get here?" "Where am I?" "Someone pinch me."

He continued walking until it led to a rocky area. He saw many incomprehensible things around unfold, mostly involving what he thought was furniture, but what he was able to comprehend was a young girl with black hair and a red ribbon lying on a small stone structure that was almost like a tomb.

Two other girls were there, one red-haired, the other yellow-haired, placing something on her probably unconscious or dead body. Then a bright figure with long, flowing, pink hair appeared in a strange anomaly. She was speaking, but to him it was very much muffled, as he was a far distance away. She came towards the girl on the tomb, probably to bring the girl with her.

But the black-haired girl said something, and violently grabbed the pink-haired girl.

That was when James woke up.

James rubbed his eyes, still feeling the vividness of the dream. He ate his breakfast, still trying to shake off the dream. He looked at his watch, he noticed the sapphire ring his father gave him to bring was glowing. "Odd. it wasn't doing that earlier." he thought to himself. He went to put on his uniform. In the states, his school didn't have a mandatory uniform, but as a foreign exchange student, he now has to get used to new customs.

"You two look cute!" said Madoka's mother looking at both James and her daughter.

"Geez, Kaname-san, don't take it the wrong way." James replied.

They both walked together to school. James was trying to keep a low profile, as he didn't want to make people think him and Madoka were going out or anything. To be honest he never really had any luck with ladies.

"So how hard is Japanese middle school?" James asked.

"Pretty hard!" Madoka replied, "though that's coming from someone who's not that good at this sort of thing."

They arrived at the classroom just in time. They first introduced Madoka. He heard the teacher say that she just transferred from the states herself.

James was then introduced. "This is James Kozuki." the teacher said. "He is a foreign exchange student from the United States. He is actually half-Japanese himself, from his father's side. Give him a warm welcome and let him get accustomed to Japan."

Students later took turns asking questions about life in the US. "So you're saying your dad's Japanese?" "Yes, both my parents actually taught me the language when I was young, so it's kind of a second language to me."

During the questions. A black-haired girl similar to the one in his dream asked for Madoka. They then left. James was suspiscious.

"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." he said and left to try and follow Madoka and the other girl. He tried to follow them but ran into a young man carrying a violin case. He caught it in the nick of time.

"Oh, God. That was close." James said.

"Yeah, I say." said the boy. "I remember. You're the Kozuki kid from earlier. I'm Kyosuke Kamijo."

"Nice to meet you." James said.

They met up with Madoka later for lunch. She brought a friend along with her.

"This is Sayaka. We met at PE." Madoka said.

"Hi." Sayaka replied.

"I met Kyosuke by saving his violin." James said.

"Good thing too, that was 500,000 yen to buy."

Sayaka whistled. "Natural disaster prevented."

"Me and Sayaka played a game of Volleyball together. We did okay, I guess." said Madoka.

Sayaka replied, "We lost 2-20!"

"At least we got a couple!"

James chuckled.

"Hey!" Madoka said "It was good!"

"You changed your ribbons." James said to Madoka.

"Oh, that girl gave them to me. I hope they're not too flashy." she replied

"Looks pretty good." he said

James tagged along as Madoka and Sayaka were heading to the mall. However, he heard something coming out of an abandoned building. He told Madoka he was heading towards the hardware store and went into the building.

He looked around for about a minute. He didn't come up with anything. "Must be my imagination. I actually caught a glimpse of a good deal on something at the hardware store so I might as well go."

"Not so fast!" someone said, it was the girl from earlier.

"What do you want." he said.

"Give me the ring." she demanded.

"Yo, I didn't expect someone who gives their hair ribbons to be a mugger. That's my dad's." he replied.

"If you care about Madoka the way I do, you will give me it." she said.

He grabbed a nearby 2x4. "I warn you strange lady, don't bring her into this."

Out of the blue, she instantly grabbed the 2x4 and knocked James out cold.

Next thing he knew, he was in a storage room. He heard her say something about not being able to take it off and that she'll find some use for him.

He noticed another girl beside him. She looked almost exactly like the other girl, except with braided hair and glasses.

to be continued.