A/N: So this is one of the stories I had up before and I thought, "eh, I can do better." Though not completely personally satisfied with this chapter and all, it seems to be a step up from what I usually would post so that's a plus. As of now, I have some pairings in mind and this is under the T setting for now though may be changed to M later on depending on what's added. I'll do my best to not slack off with updates and to keep you, the readers, entertained. If you don't like something or think something could be bettered, PM me or review and I'll accommodate you (within reason). Without further ado, enjoy the story.

April 6, 2009

Time never waits.

It delivers all equally to the same end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,

However limited it may be...

You will be given one year;

Go forth without falter,

With your heart as your guide...

A young man walked through the town flanked by another young man and a woman on his right and left, respectively. Port Island Station: a man-made island that they'd be staying on from that time forward. They all stepped onto the train and stood together for the ride through town. The young man checked his watch. It read 11:57.

"Great. . ." the young man thought, "Just as I thought, there would be no way to get to the dorms on time before this accursed hour began."

Just as he thought, they arrived at Iwatodai Station, and exactly as they stepped off the train the hour hidden between one day and the next began. A greenish light fog enveloped the area and the young man's phone went off, as well as all the lights around them. The people that were present only moments ago, seemed to be turned into coffins and puddles of what seemed to be blood appeared on the ground, adding more eeriness to the scene. He looked up and, as he expected, there was the moon, enveloped in an eerie yellow glow. It wasn't quite full yet, though.

The young man was unfazed, but his two companions were another story. They gravitated towards each other as they walked, seeking protection from each other, a sign that something in their past seemed to be continuously haunting them. The young man decided to change his composure, if only slightly, for the benefit of his partners. He made sure to walk slower, allowing his two companions to get closer, walking more like a pack than just a group of friends. In time, they reached the dorm building and walked in. Looking around they saw nothing of interest, including coffins that weren't littering the main lobby. There wasn't even a single coffin on the floor.

"I knew it was late but there was bound to be one or two people still down here in the lobby. . ." the young man said as he entered the dorm. Looking back in front of him he found that a very familiar looking, prison clothed kid that made themselves present from seemingly nowhere.

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you- oh! It's you guys again. I guess I should've expected this," the kid said as his eyes laid on the visitors.

"Well, if you're here, that means that nothing good can be going on around here. I figured this shit hour would be like it was at our last home but you being here has confirmed an important theory."

"And what's that?" the young boy asks in curiosity.

"That it's not going to be a normal stay here. Hell, it'll be anything but."

"I suppose you know this from our last meeting but I'll repeat it again to be clear. No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

"For your information kid, only those two do that," the young man said whilst pointing to his accomplices, both of which still had their headphones on, knowing that no music was currently playing.

"Ah yes, an unfortunate outcome seeing as you're still standing here. However, I guarantee that it won't happen again. Welcome to a new story," the kid said, taking a few steps back, "And so it begins."

The kid disappeared not a moment later and they were left standing there again, alone.

"Who's there?"

The young man and his friends all turned their heads towards the stairs. Standing there was a young girl, around their age. She looked terrified, as if she had just seen a ghost, or in this case, something worse. Her hand trembled as she reached for the gun holstered on her hip, causing the young man to take a defensive position in front of his companions. Though he held a face of boredom, he effectively put himself between the girl and his friends. Inches away from her own gun now, the young man decided to make a split-second decision.

He lashed out, causing the girl to put her arms up in defense instead of going for her gun.

"Aah!"

Before he could get her though he had to jump left, avoiding a right hook by a mere few inches. Standing between him now was a silver haired guy, student from his uniform, and he looked to be itching for a fight. He also noticed the slight grin on his face.

"Nothing is ever simple, is it?" The young man grumbled under his breath.

"Is that really all you've got? And here I thought this would be a bit more fun," the silver haired teen responded.

The young man simply stood back up, seemingly relaxing himself. The boxing student took this as a sign that he knew he was outclassed and had given up. As the silverette lunged forward, fully intending to end the fight, the glare in the young man's eyes showed that he had another idea in mind.

The silverette ran up and closed the gap between them quickly, smiling as he knew he already had this one in the bag. He threw two punches, surprised when the young man caught them as if they were nothing and began to crush his hands. Groaning in pain and with nothing to help him escape, he couldn't defend himself as his opponent simply raised his arms before drilling his foot into his gut, rocketing him across the floor and slightly denting the wall.

"Are we done here?" he asked, once again with a bored expression on his face.

"Eat this!" a kid around their age yelled as he ran up on the man, sword in hand. As he reached the newcomer he swung his sword with as much power as he could muster before it jerked to a stop. Looking at what he had connected with, he noticed that his sword was being easily held in hand by the new guy. The new guy gazed upon his surprised form before lazily yanking the sword out of his hands and stabbing it into the ground. He saw his hand bleeding from the two locations where the sword broke into his skin before clenching his fist.

"Whoa, that's unreal. . ." he said in awe, though he actively made his way towards the silver haired kid and the brunette. They watched him as he cracked his knuckles and slowly walked in their direction. The brunette stood in shock, hand hovering just over the holster of her gun, inwardly arguing about the current circumstances.

"This isn't good. . . if this continues I'll have to. . ."

"Wait!"

Everyone in the room turned to the redhead that just entered the room. As she made her way downstairs, the lights turned back on, signaling the end of the dark hour. As she got closer with every step, her group of crazed sociopaths, at least, that's what the trio thought, followed behind her, albeit cautiously.

As the young man relaxed and stood, the redhead princess approached him, followed by the silver haired teen, the clumsy swordsman and the young girl with the gun.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late," the redhead began, "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

The brunette looked like she wanted to say something but stopped. Instead, she opted for something else to say.

"Who are they exactly?"

"They're transfer students. It was a last minute decision to assign them here, seeing as there were no empty spots in any of the other dorms. For the time being, they'll be hold up here, most likely a temporary fix," the redhead student answered, every word rolling off her tongue with a strict elegance.

"But is it okay for him to be here? He kind of. . ." the brunette girl asked.

"Don't worry about it. I only fight when I've been attacked, no matter how stupid the assailant," the teen quipped, relaxing in his feeling of laziness again.

"What'd you say?" the silver haired teen said. It was obvious that the silverette was still upset that his pride had seemed to be so easily shattered by this newcomer.

"I was giving him everything and he tossed me aside as if it was nothing. . ."

"Akihiko," the redhead, Mitsuru, said, "You have to remember that they have a reason to be on edge right now. You DID show hostile intention when they entered the dorm."

The young man, known as Akihiko now, stood down, though his blood was still boiling.

"Now that that's settled, I suppose we should all introduce ourselves. Once again, I'm Mitsuru Kirijo."

She stuck her hand out for a handshake with the young man. He took it and, in a state of grandeur, turned her hand over and kissed the back of her hand, responding with, "What an honor heiress of the Kirijo group. Minoru Arisato at your service."

This caused Mitsuru and the brunette to blush, and Akihiko to smack his teeth along with Junpei, but Minoru could care less about those guys' reaction. Mitsuru took another look at Minoru, realizing he was tall and had black hair that reached to the back of his neck, and half of his hair covered his right side of his face. The only visible eye was his light blue one. She also noted he was wearing all black, a trench coat that was all black played its part in his look as well.

"Akihiko Sanada," he said, bringing everyone back to the real reason they were playing introductions.

"Minato Arisato," the younger looking boy said next to Minoru. Mitsuru and her brunette friend noted that he and Minoru looked similar, though he held blue hair instead of black, his hair didn't obscure half his face, and his eyes were silver.

"Yukari Takeba. I'm a second year."

"Kotone Arisato," the girls noticed she looked very different from her companions. She had orange-looking hair and red eyes. She didn't look related to the other two, but the question still stood and could be answered later. Considering they just met they knew it not to be their best place to ask. But they figured it would be known to them eventually.

"What makes this dorm so special? You know, other than the fact that it looks more luxurious than I expected," Minoru asked.

"Unlike the other buildings, this one's co-ed. It's not your typical dorm, though. I'll explain it to you later when I get a chance," she answered Minoru. The look on his face, however, held a lot of suspicion.

"What do you mean 'when I get the chance'? Isn't now the perfect time?"

This struck her off guard, she wasn't expecting her word to be questioned, it was a rarity anyone ever did.

"It's just that it's really late and I was just-"

Minoru cut her off and intervened with his own thoughts on her reluctance.

"I see that you're obviously waiting for something of great significance to happen. I'll wait until you find out whatever you need to know. You just have to hold up your end of the deal afterwards."

With that he walked straight past the wall of people that already lived in the dorms and made his way up the stairs, disappearing before he even reached the second floor.

"It's getting late, so you should all get some rest," Mitsuru said in the silence, attempting to take back control of the situation, "Your room, Minato Arisato, is on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there. Takeba, please show them to their rooms. I'll see if I can find our standalone."

Mitsuru was the first to leave, looking for the missing new dorm member, followed by Akihiko shortly after. Mitsuru didn't know this, but she left a frightened Yukari that was still a bit jumpy with the more than silent siblings. In theory she should have been able to relax easily. In practice however. . .

She silently led them up to the room at the end of the hall on the second floor.

"This is it. . ." she said, her voice seeming to go and sound pretty natural again, "Pretty easy to remember, huh? . . .Since it's right at the end of the hall. Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it," she said, trying to brighten the mood. Alas, it was to no avail. They didn't so much as snicker let alone laugh at her joke. Though she willed it all to end she remembered she had to be courteous. She took a big sigh, "So, any questions?"

They collectively shook their heads no. Minato and Kotone thanked her for her kindness and showing them their room before they walked in and closed the door behind them.

Yukari just shrugged her shoulders, too tired to argue with the fact that Kotone hadn't allowed her to bring her another floor up to the girl's floor and let her into her own room.

"Oh well, we can get back to this tomorrow," Yukari mumbled to herself slowly walking up to the third floor.

On the third floor though, unbeknownst to Yukari, stood Mitsuru and Minoru. Mitsuru was heavily glaring at him, arms crossed as if she was ready to scold him, while all she got in return was the one lazy eye that everyone could see.

"What are you doing on the girls' floor?" Mitsuru calmly asked, though her voice was laced with ice, "Let alone making yourself at home in one of the rooms?"

Minoru closed his eye as he tilted his head up and held his hand under his chin, a pose that sought for thought. After a moment of slowly causing Mitsuru to become more aggravated, unknown to him, he answer in a completely honest tone.

"Well, I needed a room as close to the roof as possible. This is the room closest to the stairs so this will have to do."

Mitsuru thought about it for a moment, thinking about how tired she currently was, and the odds of finding the energy this late to kick him out of the room. Her attention was brought to the stairs when a flicker of movement caught her eyes.

"Yukari, heading off to bed already?" Mitsuru asked, turning her attention away from a very observant Minoru.

"Yeah, we have to wake up early in order to get to school on time tomorrow."

"I know the situation. Where's Kotone?"

"Oh, right, they both went into the room and immediately fell asleep," Yukari replied somewhat sheepishly.

"Very well," Mitsuru then turned to Minoru again, "That room will be fine, for now. Just don't go getting yourself into trouble."

Minoru lazily eyed her back, "Me get myself into trouble? Nah, it's more trouble than it's worth. . ."

With that said he slowly closed his door, leaving Mitsuru alone in the hallway when Yukari returned to her own room.

"Who exactly have we invited to stay here?" Mitsuru thought to herself as she walked across the hall and entered her own room.

April 7, 2009

Early Morning

Minoru and Kotone were talking with each other, already dressed for school. Minoru was just finishing rolling up his makeshift bed on the floor as Kotone made her own bed. Just as they finished, a very audible knock was heard from the door.

"It's Yukari, are you awake?"

"Should we ignore her? Maybe she'll go away?" Minoru offered as Kotone made her way to the door.

"Hello! Please answer the door, or I'll get in trouble!" Yukari pleaded. Kotone looked at Minoru before she opened the door.

"We're not ignoring her. Geez, you're starting to sound like Minoru." Minato looked at her, though it looked like she absent mindedly said those words, "Besides, I feel sorry for her, with what she had to endure last night."

Kotone opened the door to find a panicking Yukari on the other side.

"Good morning Kotone and Minato. Did you sleep okay? Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. It's getting late, so. . . are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Let's just get moving," Minato said, already pushing past Yukari. She looked slightly offended before looking to Kotone, who just shook her head and proceeded to follow Minato. Yukari just opted to follow them out and keep from starting an argument with Minato while she was at it.

As they left, the third floor of the dorm decided to show signs of life. Mitsuru just finished getting dressed, firmly tying the red ribbon she had onto the neck of her blouse. She looked at the time on the wall, debating just how much time she had to make it to the school. Deciding she had a couple of minutes, she went across the hall to Minoru's current room. She knocked lightly, but noticeably enough to get the attention of someone inside.

"Hm, no answer. Is he even awake? It takes a half hour, twenty minutes minimum to get to that school by rapid. There isn't much time left. . ."

Mitsuru swiftly opened the door, slowly making her way over to the bed. She watched the floor with mild interest on her way over.

"Discarded clothes? Well, at least they're just his own. But if he becomes like Junpei and completely lets his room go. . ." Mitsuru thought, as she slightly shifted at the discomfort of remembering the dump of a room Junpei held. When she reached the bed she had to refrain from face-palming, something completely uncharacteristic of her.

"Still asleep? Really?" she mumbled out loud, though not loud enough to really be heard. She was about to wake him up before he shifted in bed and spoke.

"Oh, Kirijo. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You need to get out of bed immediately, otherwise you'll be late for school."

"Oh don't worry. Five more minutes. Then you leave before me. I don't want to be mobbed by your fan club on day one," Minoru responded sleepily, making himself more comfortable while he was at it.

Mitsuru didn't need excuses as to why someone couldn't simply do as she asked. She just wanted it done. She didn't know what this talk of a 'fan club' for her was, but she knew if she left him he'd never get to school. She wouldn't have that, especially since she could do something about it.

"Enough. Up with you. We need to leave immediately, if not, as soon as possible."

Mitsuru stepped towards the bed and in one swift movement, yanked the blanket off the bed. What she saw was more than she bargained for. Minoru was lying in bed in nothing more than his boxers. She noticed that his muscles were even more refined than Akihiko's. She gawked like as child at a piece of candy they wanted badly, something massively uncharacteristic of her.

"Geez, Kirijo. Must everything be so urgent? I was trying to sleep here," he said sleepily as he sat up. He saw the look on her face and stared at her blankly for a few moments before he got off the bed and walked up to her, her eyes following him the whole way. He turned her around by her shoulders and waited a few seconds before Mitsuru spoke again.

"We'll leave as soon as you're dressed," Mitsuru quietly said as she made her way out the door, refusing to turn since a small blush was being sported by her. When she left, Minoru watched the door for a few more seconds before he shrugged off the situation.

"Heh, never figured that people like her could get so shaken up like that."

With that said, he stood up and quickly got dressed.

"Of course, when we reach the school, I'm going to dislike the stares from her fans. Oh well. . . it can't be helped."

A train ride and a walk later finds Kotone and Minato at the entrance to their new high school. They both looked at Yukari, headphones hanging from their necks.

"Well, this is it. We're here. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it."

They walked into the school with her, stopping at the shoe lockers to go from street shoes to school shoes.

"You're okay from here, right? You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right there to the left. And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?"

They looked at each other before looking back at Yukari, Kotone being the one to voice the question on their mind.

"What happened to Minoru and Mitsuru?"

"Well, if I'm correct, she's being a charismatic student council president and waking up your friend. If he fails to wake up, she may execute him out of principle."

"Execute him?"

"Yes. They won't be much longer now, no matter how it goes."

"Okay. . . One last question. Which class are you in?"

"Me? I dunno... I haven't looked at the classroom assignments yet.

"Guess we'll see you around then," Minato stoically said, causing Yukari to do a double take, ensuring it wasn't Minoru.

"Please don't take up after Minoru, you're better than that," she said to Minato, earning a questioning look from Minato. Feeling she stepped out of place she quickly apologized before waving goodbye to them.

"We can either take the direct approach and take a look at the crowded bulletin board or skip the crap and head to the Faculty Office," Minato said, giving Kotone options.

She looked towards the board again, surrounded by an enormous amount of students they didn't know, before saying, "Office it is."

They made their way to the Office and walked straight in (Minoru's idea), waiting for nothing. Looking around, they contemplated which teacher they should speak to before they were approached by one.

"Oh, are you the new students?" she asked, receiving a nod from both. "But weren't there three of you?"

"Mitsuru senpai is holding him up. She's probably ex-"

Kotone elbowed Minato in the ribs, earning a strained grunt and keeping him from finishing his statement.

"She's explaining how things work in the school, for he's very hard at learning."

"Oh, I see. . . Okay. . . Minato and Kotone Arisato. . . missing student Minoru Arisato. . . all 11th grade, 2nd years, correct? Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places. . . Let's see. . . In 1999. . . That was what, ten years ago? Your parents—Oh! I'm sorry. . . I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand."

"That's fine," Kotone answered, though Minato looked as if he wished to say something else, something more aggressive in nature.

"Right. . . well, I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school."

"Nice to meet you!" Kotone answered, though Minato remained silent.

"Wow, such enthusiasm! If only some of our other students shared your enthusiasm. By the way, have you seen the classroom assignments?"

They both shook their head no.

"You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."

"As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the proverb, 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.' When applied to student life, this means. . ."

Minato and Kotone sat a seat apart, that empty seat belonging to the yet to have arrived Minoru, both of them finding the speech irrelevant and therefore ignoring it completely.

"Psst. . . Hey. . ."

Minato turned to the student behind him, Kotone keeping an ear open to see what they were talking about.

"You came to school with Yukari this morning, right? I saw you three walking together. Hey, I have a question. Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

"I didn't ask, it was none of my goddamn business. And, considering you don't know the answer to that question, it's none of your goddamn business either. Turn to the front and shut the hell up."

"Well damn, what has you so pissed off, it was just a question. . .So, how well do you know her?

"I hear talking. I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class. . ."

"Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" Ms. Toriumi said.

No matter what the other teacher said, they weren't the only ones talking. In fact, half the auditorium was talking.

"I'll talk however much I goddamn please," Minato mumbled under his breath. Kotone, lost for words, just shook her head and willed the assembly to end sooner rather than later.

After School

"Can we go home already, I'm getting tired of this school and it's just the first day," Minato said. Minoru stood beside him. He eventually made it to school, though he came after half the day was over, unlike Mitsuru who came on time for the assembly. Whenever asked about the 'execution' though, he'd just shrug it off and say 'she executed her brain' or something of that nature. Minato and Kotone summed it up as the reason why Mitsuru seemed to be in a daze for a portion of the day.

In the same row, Kotone, Minato and Minoru got up and got ready to go.

"S'up, guys? How's it goin'?" said Junpei as he waked over to them. They all collectively ignored him.

"Um, guys. . ." Junpei said, sweat-dropping.

"What do you want?" Minoru said, turning to him, obviously disinterested. Kotone inwardly wished nothing escalated as bad as it had since they got here. Minoru may sound disinterested but she knew he was itching for anything after a boring introductory day at school.

Junpei stuttered a bit before responding with, "Oh, come on. Let me reintroduce myself, at least. We got off on the wrong foot yesterday."

Kotone grabbed Minoru's wrist, causing him to meet a rare glare aimed at him. It was how she told him to play nice and not aggressive. He turned back to Junpei.

"Tch. . . Fine, but make it fast. I'll need to hit something after this," Minoru said, though the last part was barely spoken above a whisper.

"I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya. I transferred here when I was in eighth grade. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid. . . So I wanted to say, "Hey." . . .See how friendly I am!"

Kotone stepped around Minoru, "Pleased to meet you!" she said with the widest smile she could make.

"Gosh she's hot, she's a total babe!" Junpei thought. Then he looked towards Minoru again. "Damn, either he's her boyfriend or a very protective brother. No way is this fair! This is too ridiculous!"

"H-hi guys! What's up?" Yukari, the new arrival to the group, said.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again," Junpei said, welcoming Yukari.

"At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone? And then these three no less."

Minoru and Kotone were having a silent stare down in the background. One wanted to leave and one wanted to stay with potential friends. Talk about a dispute of will.

"What? But, I was just bein' friendly."

"If you say so," Yukari said, turning to Minoru, Kotone and Minato, voice returning to its previous shaky state, probably due to the presence of Minoru, the guy who almost hurt her yesterday. "A-anyway, looks like we're in the same homeroom. . ."

"It must be fate," Minato said sarcastically, earning rolled eyes from Minoru and a punch in the arm from Kotone.

"Fate? Yeah, right," Yukari said giggling to herself at his remark.

"Guess he isn't too bad. . ." she thought.

"Still, I'm a little surprised."

"Um, hello? Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too? By the way, I heard you came to school along with Minato and Kotone this morning. And that you were hovering very closely around Minato. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!" Junpei jumped in.

Minato rushed forward, sending a jab into Junpei's face but ending right before it connected. The amount of force behind it was tremendous, sending a wave of force smacking into Junpei's face. He stumbled back a few steps before looking back in amazement.

"Wh-what the hell? What was that?"

Minato quietly spoke, "Don't pair me up with anyone under false pretenses. Do it again, and I won't stop my fist next time."

"Well sheesh, which one are you going to be, nice or bitter? . . . Dammit, I've got to get out of here," Yukari thought.

"I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team," Yukari said before hastily retreating, er, leaving.

After she left, Junpei looked like he wanted to say something, that is, until Minoru looked at him. Something about his lazily placed gaze bothered him. Maybe it was just his own mind playing tricks on him?

"Hehe, see you later guys. See you Kotone," Junpei quickly said before turning heel and leaving.

"See what you guys do!" Kotone said to the two brash guys behind her.

"S-sorry Kotone," they both said sheepishly. She still looked unforgiving, and turned to leave. They quickly followed her out of the school. No need to piss her off any more than they already did. If that happened, they'd only be seen as collateral damage in her eyes.

They took the train back to Iwatodai station and were heading back to the dorm when they saw something interesting down an alley.

"Hey, come on, it'll be fun. We can show you a good time," one of the guys leered.

"But I don't want to go," the girl quietly argued back.

The three of them saw a group of guys circling around the girl in question, who, oddly enough, had teal blue hair. They looked at each other.

"Whose turn was it again," Minoru said without much interest, though his eyes displayed a completely different emotion.

"Sadly, it's your turn. Don't do anything to piss her off afterwards. I know how you can be," Kotone said.

"Really? I never knew I was that bad. I knew I was bad but THAT bad? Honestly?"

"We'll see you later at the dorm, maybe. Come on Minato."

Minato and Kotone walked away and Minoru cracked his knuckles.

"This is such a pain. . ."

Minoru slowly walked down into the alley, his Gekkoukan jacket unbuttoned showing shadows of his muscles beneath his shirt.

"Hey guys, I think the lady has had enough. Now why don't we all go home already? It'll keep us from doing things we may regret later."

The guys looked at him, the leader saying, "Who is this prick?"

Minoru made a pained mock face, "Prick? Is that what you call people that you don't know?"

The guy gave him a confused look. "We don't know you. That's why I called you a prick. You get dropped on the head or something?"

Minoru let a small smile cross his lips. "Prepare to know me as the guy who outclasses you in every way. Though, I think you'll need more than four to stand for a proper demonstration."

Whether it was his bravado or the fact that he was calling them out, they all rushed him at once.

"Big mistake," he thought.

As they ran at him, he jumped over them, somersaulting over to the last person and kicking him in the back of the head, causing him to collapse. The other three saw this and decided to run at him one by one. The first guy ran at Minoru, aiming a punch directly at his face. He caught it, twisting his arm so he'd kneel down, yelling in pain. He stepped off his thigh and back-flip kicked him off the ground and into the air, when Minoru landed he jumped again, kicking him back before he hit the ground and sending him at the feet of his friends. They looked at their two unconscious friends and thought about the best course of action against someone with his level of skill. They quickly picked up their friends and started running, parting with, "You better watch your ass 'cause we'll find you. You can count on it."

Minoru turned to the cowering girl, all her school things fallen at her feet. He started picking them up.

"Um, thank you. . ."

Minoru said nothing. He picked up all her things and handed them to her. As he was leaving the alley he turned around briefly to say, "See you around."

"He was. . . unique. . ."

Evening

Minoru walked in to the dorm, later than he probably should have, and was greeted by an overly nice Mitsuru who was reading a book. She seemed to be waiting for him.

"Welcome back," she said.

"Kirijo, hello, how are you?"

"You're late and you'd better have a damned good reason for it. Explain yourself immediately."

"Oh I was just out helping the rather unfortunate situation a girl was in."

Mitsuru raised her eyebrow, his vague description leaving a little too much to the imagination. "And that was?"

"Bullying. They learned their lesson and she got home safe."

"Well done Arisato."

She looked back into her book, satisfied that he was at least doing something beneficial before getting back late. When she continued to feel his presence however, she looked up again.

"Yes Arisato? Is there something else we need to speak about?"

"Well, I was just wondering. Why'd you freeze up this morning?"

To any with a trained eye, Mitsuru was seen tensing up.

"Great. This again. And I spent all day getting that image out of my mind."

"No reason," was her simple answer.

"Want to talk about it?"

She looked at him for a moment with questioning eyes before her face went back to normal.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"I don't judge."

"There is nothing to judge."

"You're hiding something."

"And you're prodding."

It was a few moments later that Akihiko walked down stairs to speak with Mitsuru before heading out. It was then he noticed how cold the inside of the dorm was. He nervously made his way down to the ground floor before peeking into the room. He saw Mitsuru dusting her hands off with a satisfied look on her face.

"Don't tell me she. . ."

"How long am I going to be in here?"

Both Akihiko and Mitsuru had a look of pure disbelief on their faces, Mitsuru was the most surprised. She had encased Minoru in a giant block of ice to shut him up for the moment. The fact that it didn't work was unheard of. She stared in shock as she saw Minoru easily walking around in her ice block but not leaving it. This, of course, begged a question that had to be answered.

"If you can freely move around in that thing, why don't you just break out?"

"If you must know, it's so you hold some form of personal satisfaction of trapping me."

Mitsuru wasn't sure what to think at this point. "Don't pity me."

Minoru shrugged and simply stood still as the ice melted away as quickly as it had formed.

"Did I anger you?" Minoru said casually as he stood in front of Mitsuru again as if nothing had happened.

"Shut up."

"If it means anything, I apologize for your discomfort."

"Didn't I tell you to shut your mouth?"

"At least my mouth isn't gaped."

"Do we need to talk?"

"I asked for a talk in the first place, you know. . ."

Mitsuru and Minoru passively bicker back and forth. One upset because her execution failed. And the other troubled and concerned over something he didn't have to be troubled over. This continued until Mitsuru couldn't hold her focus on her book any more, not that she could in the first place.

"Very well, let's go talk about this. Follow me."

"Maybe I'll just leave tomorrow. . ." Akihiko said, turning and going back to his room before he was spotted.

A/N (Part 2): And that, my dear readers, is what I came up with in my short period of reflection and modification. Like I said up top, any criticism for my writing style or for the story itself, PM me or put it in the reviews. I'll read them. Until next time.