"Ibuki found you!"

There she was again. Out in the courtyard, playing hide-and-seek with herself. It was almost sad, actually. Leon was still unsure how the game actually worked, but that was not really what he was paying attention too.

Speaking of the Orange-haired boy, he was staring out the window of his dorm. The object of his attention, was, of course, the Ultimate Musician. He had never had any direct interactions with the girl, but boy, was she one interesting character.

He had first heard about her long before he saw her in person. For any punk rock fan, Ibuki Mioda was a household name. She was a big reason that Leon was the way he was, too. Then, she was like a stigma, something to admire but never reach for.

But now? She stood just a few hundred meters from where Leon was standing. If he wanted to, he could go down there. Something inside him told him to stay back, though. You are under her. It said in it's usual snarky tone. She would not want to talk to someone like you. She's Ibuki Mioda, and you are Leon Kuwata. It's not meant to be. Maybe it was right. But for some strange reason, he just felt lured towards her.

Maybe it was the way she just seemed to enjoy life. The way she embraced herself in ways Leon never could. She just seemed to... accept herself. Everything from her hairstyle to her clothes were unique and interesting. They suited her. She was her own character, while Leon just tended to follow the crowd. She was a trend-setter, Leon just followed the trends.

Maybe it was simply that she was someone Leon admired. Surely it's not unnatural to want to meet an idol of yours, right? While the reasoning was valid, he couldn't bring himself to accept that. It just seemed too superficial. Leon would like to think his reasonings were a little deeper than that. Of course, they probably weren't, but Leon was not about to accept that.

Maybe it was because she was always alone.

Apparently, she was always like this. Leon's newfound buddy and pal Kazuichi Souda told him when he asked.

"Ibuki?" Kazuichi said, scratching his hair through his beanie. Leon wondered what that actually accomplished, but that was a question for later. "I guess she's pretty cool. Kinda a loose cannon, if you know what I mean." Leon nodded in response. He'd ended up meeting Kazuichi when his phone broke. He asked around to see if there was somewhere people knew to fix this kind of thing, and they all directed him to Kazuichi. Needless to say, they hit it off immediately. Apart from the obsession he had with Sonia Nevermind, he was a pretty cool guy, in Leon's eyes.

"Quite a number of people offered to be her friend, but she spends most of her time alone. It's kind of sad. I'd talk to her, but she scares me sometimes." Leon let out a sigh. Apparently, half of the females in his class scared him. As Leon learned, there was much more to Kazuichi Souda than his appearance gave off.

He was going to go down there. That's what he concluded. A girl like Ibuki Mioda would not be left alone when Leon could do something about it, or so he'd like to think. Quickly slipping on a pair of shoes, he bolted out the door, hoping to catch Ibuki before she left. Just as he was approaching the doors, the Ultimate Musician herself came waltzing in. She seemed somewhat... Down, for a second, before regaining her normal cheery composure.

Leon opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. Opened, then closed. Opened, then closed. Shit! What am I going to say to her? Leon thought, looking back to where Ibuki stood.

Much to his terror, she was staring at him.

Even more so, she was copying him.

Copying him.

A slight tint of pink rushed through Leon's face like a wave, lighting up his otherwise pale skin. This was not helping poor Leon find something to say to this strange girl. "H-he..." The word started flowing out, but Ibuki had already began to skip forward. Stopping in front of him, she gave him a light pat on the head. "Ibuki thinks you are funny!" She said with a cheerful giggle, leaving behind the flustered and confused Leon to wonder what had just happened.

Did she just reject me before I even said anything? Does she hate me already? Did I blow my chance with her? Oh god, oh god... Thoughts like these ran through Leon Kuwata's head as he stumbled back towards his dorm. As he reached the door, he reached into his pocket to grab his ElectroID, his 'room key' so to speak.

Much to his dismay, that was gone too.

A tiny bit of angry swearing, he arrived at the room of Kazuichi Souda.

Pressing the buzzer, Leon cleared his throat. "Oi, Kazuichi. I left my room key in my room. Mind breaking in for me?"

A disheveled-looking Kazuichi opened the door, a somewhat sour expression on his face. "Dude, I'm not breaking the fuckin' door, okay? Go get a new room key or somethin'."

Slam.

After a bit more swearing, this time directed at the Ultimate Mechanic rather than himself, he decided to make his way to the cafeteria. He was somewhat hungry, and the Cafeteria never ceased to amaze him. Waltzing into the kitchen to grab an apple, he quickly rinsed it off and took a large bite, pondering just how bad of a day he was having.

As he took a quick gander around the cafeteria, he saw mostly what he expected. Plenty of colourful and interesting faces all around. It was just past noon, so people were slowly trickling out from lunch out to do whatever they did on a Friday. They had the day off, so people were scurrying around, talking about their plans for the weekend.

There was a few faces he recognized, though. There was Touko Fukawa sitting in the corner of the lunch room, just starting her lunch. Leon suspected it was because Byakuya Togami always came to meals late so he would not have to interact, if he came at all. While the cafeteria's food was rather impressive, the Ultimate Affluent Prodigy had bags of money to throw at 5-star-restaurants. Eating in the cafeteria was kind of pointless. Nevertheless, Touko Fukawa would take even the slightest chance she got at seeing the poor boy.

At another table was the group of people he usually hung out with. At the head of the table was Mondo Oowada. He was introduced to Mondo through Kazuichi, who was his bike mechanic. Needless to say, Mondo Oowada scared Kazuichi shitless too, so most of his repairs were free of charge. Beside him was Chihiro Fujisaki, an admittedly adorable girl who decided to hang out with a delinquent like Mondo Oowada. It was confusing to poor Leon, but then again, they had only attended this school for about a month or so. He knew next to nothing about the Ultimate Programmer other than her title and tendency to hang around bad boys.

Another side of the cafeteria was an admittedly interesting game. Another girl in his class, Celestia Ludenberg, was playing some kind of card game with a white-haired boy. Nagito Komaeda, his name was. Both of them were people he generally avoided, each for separate reasons. For Celestia, it was mainly because she was surprisingly intimidating. She was also extremely manipulative, as evidenced by her loyal 'servant' Hifumi Yamada standing at her side. For Nagito, he was told to avoid him from Kazuichi. He was apparently a bit nuts. However, he seemed like a perfectly normal guy from the outside. As much as Leon would love to watch a card game between the Ultimate Lucky Student and the Ultimate Gambler, his dislike of the two drove him away.

Leon was somewhat sad that Ibuki was not there, as he'd like to speak to her some more. As he walked back towards the principal's office to get his new ID, he formulated a plan. There was still plenty of hours left in the day, and the Ultimate Baseball Star planned to spend them with an interesting girl.

Ibuki Mioda.

~A/N~

Why hello there! This is my new story, focusing around one of my favorite ships, Leon Kuwata x Ibuiki Mioda. I'm trying to make Leon seem as much of a failure as people pin him as. Feedback is always appreciated. Goodbye~