Note* This story is told from Amu's and a new character's (Derrick's) POV. Generally, each chapter will stay true to one character, and it will be obvious who is currently the focus. Also, this story is rather lengthy, but enough thought has been put into it to keep it entertaining. I look forward to your feedback.

"AMU-CHAN!" Ran shouted in her ear that morning. "AMU-CHAN! WAKE UP!"

"Unh..." Her eyes crept open. "Ran..." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What are you-?" She gazed at the clock next to her bed. It took a second for her to realize just how late it was. Without saying a word, she jumped out of bed, threw on her uniform, grabbed a piece of toast and an egg of the table shouting "Thanks!" as she ran out the door. She didn't even notice Miki and Su, who were actually keeping pace with her.

She bolted toward the school. Not again! I can't be late again! She thought.

She didn't notice when she flew past Rima, who was also late. "Amu?" She asked, slightly surprised.

The voice startled Amu slightly, and she almost tripped. "Rima?" She said, turning around. "You late too?"

She nodded. KusuKusu peered out from behind her shoulder. "Rima! Come on! We're gonna be late!" She nodded and started running, Amu along behind her.

By a stroke of luck, they made it to class on time. Nikaidou-Sensai walked into the room, tripped, stood up again, and told everyone to be seated. "We have a new transfer student coming today... eventually."

"Another one?" Amu was showing her stubborn side again. At this point, she wasn't starting to mind so much. She guessed she was just used to it. But Rima wasn't amused.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"We've had several students transferring to and from this school. It's starting to get irritating."

"You don't mean that." Ran tugged her sleeve.

Amu sighed. "Okay, fine." She looked up from what she was doing. "What's this guy like, anyway?"

"Didn't Tadase tell you?" Rima replied.

"No..." And why not? She found herself thinking. She didn't really have time to think about it though. Ran, Miki, and Su all, for some reason, started cowering behind her. Dia was the only one who seemed to be fine still. "What's wrong?" She whispered behind her.

She didn't get a response. Amu couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn the temperature dropped 5 degrees when he walked into the room. He had very dark, very short hair and big, aqua-colored eyes. He was fairly tall and was dressed in a dark purple jacket and grey pants with a blue stripe down both sides. On his face he had a vacant expression, completely void of any emotion. She didn't need to consult her shugo charas to feel a small sense of fear toward this guy.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see KusuKusu hiding behind Rima's shoulder. Who... who is this kid? She thought to herself. Dia seemed to be completely calm.

Before anyone could say anything, Tsukasa-kun, the school superintendent, walked in after him. He whispered something in Mr. Nikaido's ear and turned to leave. Before he did, he winked at Amu.

"Okay class, this is Derrick Serosa." Nikaido said. Derrick didn't say anything. He just nodded his head. "You can take your seat next to Hinamori-San." He pointed to the chair next to Amu. Derrick just nodded and went to sit down. His book bag slid off his shoulders and he slumped in the desk, pulled out a book, and just sat there reading.

Dia tapped her shoulder. "Say hi."

"Eh?"

"Go on! He looks like he could use a friend!" Dia's voice was hushed, meaning she wasn't as brave as she appeared to be.

Amu wasn't exactly excited about it, but for some reason, she decided to go along with it. If she could pull of a "Cool & Spicy" character, then she could pull this off too. She turned to face him and put on a smile. "Um... hi." She waited for a response, but didn't get one. He simply looked up from what he was doing and stared into her eyes. "I'm Hinamori Amu." He didn't respond. It was awkward for a moment, and then he simply went back to reading. Amu was relieved that it was over, but was also a little insulted. Why didn't she at least get a reply?

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. It wasn't until after school that Amu's shugo charas decided to come out of hiding. "Well, that was an interesting day." Amu said.

"Yeah..." Ran replied. "That was weird."

"What happened back there, anyway?" Amu asked her 4 shugo charas. "You all seemed like you were really scared of that boy."

"He felt strange." Miki said.

"Care to elaborate?" Amu asked, sarcastically. All her shugo charas exchanged an uneasy glance. "Either way, you all are fine now-" she was interrupted mid-sentence by someone shouting nearby. She didn't understand all of what was said. She turned to see that same boy, standing next to a bench with a phone. She didn't understand most of what he was saying, but he sounded flustered.

He hung up and sighed. For some reason, Amu wanted to go help him. Then she remembered how he simply ignored her earlier. She walked up to him and said "Hey!" It startled him, and he again simply stared into her eyes. It made Amu nervous for some reason. "What was that about earlier?" No response. "You gonna answer me or not?" Still no response.

Dia flew out from behind Amu and the boy changed expression. "Sh... Shugo... Chara?" He said. Ran, Miki, and Su all flew out from behind her to join Dia. That was when they heard another voice, monotone, sounding almost more machine then human.

"Very well. From one who can't to one who can, character change."

On his face appeared a pair of gold-rimmed, square glasses with a small white ? in the upper left of the left lens. He bowed and said "I apologize. I can only speak fluently with a character change." He looked her dead in the eyes again.

"Wha..." For some reason, this startled her. "What do you mean?"

"This isn't my first language. I'm actually having a little trouble with it. That's why I didn't respond when you spoke to me earlier. Sorry about that, miss...?"

"Uh-Amu. Hinamori Amu. And... you're Derrick Serosa, right?"

"Yes, but I suppose here it'd be Serosa Derrick." Several questions all surfaced at once in Amu's head, but before she could ask them Derrick said "You have questions. Not surprising. Come with me." He started walking away, Amu followed.

"First, where are you from exactly?"

"The United States of America." He sounded rather proud. "I suppose that explains my slight accent, eh?"

"Okay. Next, what do you mean you can only speak fluently with a character change? Why didn't you change before?"

A small shugo chara floated out from behind his head. He had the same, neat, short, dark hair as Derrick with big purple eyes and glasses, the same as Derrick had now. He was wearing a business suit with a white tie. He bowed. "I'm Theory." He said.

"Theory basically knows everything there is to know about everything. But he's completely void of emotion. He only goes on logic and facts. That's why right now I have such a monotone voice." Derrick said. "It's a stark contrast to my normal character, and it would definitely be noticed by a lot of people."

"And Theory allows you to...?" Amu asked.

"He speaks seven languages, this being one of them. While character changing, I basically know everything he does."

Amu took a second to take all this in. Her shugo charas were unusually quiet throughout all this. She guessed Derrick still scared them. She stopped suddenly. Crap! She thought. "Um... It was nice meeting you, but I'm late for something." She took off running.

Derrick stopped the character change and walked on, not noticing Theory had left his side.

Note* Introductions are always boring. Derrick's character(s) develope(s) as the story is told.