I wanna to tear apart your room to see if what you say is true. Darling, don't you lie, lie to me. I wanna break into your heart, to see why you want us apart. I'm scared to death to find out what you think of me.

Fate is an elegant, cold hearted whore. She loves salting my wounds. Yes, she enjoys nothing more. I bleed confidence from deep within my guts now. I'm the king of this pity party with my jewel encrusted crown.
According to you, we don't click. That's a blatant lie and you know it. Angel, what're you hiding from me?

Kurando cringed as Yuri blared his iPod like he did every morning, walking to school. That hell of a place, as Yuri himself often said. There was no point in Kurando listening to his own music, since his cousin's was so loud that he could just listen to his. However, their taste in music was quite different; it always had been.
Yuri paused and stared at Kurando a moment. His lips were moving but, wait, was he saying something? He pulled out one of the earbuds out to listen to what he had to say.
"What was that?" Yuri asked.
Kurando sighed and shrugged.
"Mother says you're going to be deaf from that thing. I think I have to agree," he said.

Yuri stared at him for a moment before shrugging and putting the ear piece back in, jamming away. Kurando chuckled but kept walking in silence alongside him.
The usual buses were pulling to the front of the school, the mobs of students getting off, mostly consisting of Freshmen and Sophomores. Yuri had said many times that it was crazy that they walked to school when they could drive however, Kurando always claimed "it was healthier" and managed to drag him out the door on foot. Why he always obeyed, he'd never know.
Upon walking through the doors, Yuri shut off his music and stuffed it back in his backpack, only to be lost among the sloppy and crumpled masses of paper and torn apart books. Well, he knew where everything was at least. Or, so he usually said.
"Where is everyone?" Kurando asked, looking around.
"Everyone as in 'other people' or do you mean like Lucia and Alice and…I'm guessing the second one," Yuri answered himself when he was the glare Kurando was shooting at him.

"Well,I know Lucia had said they'd be downstairs, and apparently Karin had something she had to take care of."
Kurando nodded as the two of them headed down the small staircase that was close by. The giant mob in the commons only suggested one thing: the class rings. Multiple Juniors and Seniors stood around the table, kneeling down on the seats and looking at them in their show cases. Karin was in plain view, practically drooling over one of the "princess cuts." Alice and Lucia were standing behind her, only talking.
"Yuri!" Alice cried, waving at the two of them walking down the stairs.
Karin managed to jerk her attention away from the rings and look at them. Alice set down the couple books she was holding and scampered over to Yuri, throwing her arms around him in a hug. Kurando held back a laughing smile as Yuri's face went bright red. It wasn't that he didn't like the affection, but it was more like he still wasn't used to showing it in public, even though Alice showered him with it.
Lucia waved as they walked over. Yuri glanced over at Karin.

"How long has she been there?" he asked.
"Since we got here…" Lucia sighed.
"Are you getting one?" Alice asked, turning to Yuri. "We could get matching ones."
"Uh, well, I don't know," he said. "Rings aren't exactly my thing."
Alice slightly disappointed, nodding a bit. He automatically felt bad. He'd said the wrong thing. He felt like he was always doing that.

Karin, surprisingly, hadn't pulled herself from the display yet. She was still mulling over which one she'd want. This was their Senior year after all and she felt like she had to have one.
"Hey, Karin, they have catalogs you know," Yuri called. "You can take it with you."

He was getting bored of standing there, waiting for her to make up her mind.

"That's nothing compared to seeing the real thing!" she said.
"She's obsessed," Kurando sighed.
"The sooner she can pick one, the better," Lucia said.
"So, did you guys study for that science test?" Kurando asked.
"Science test?" Alice seemed immediately frazzled. "We have a science test?"
"Wait a second. We have a test today and you didn't tell me? You're supposed to tell me these things," Yuri shouted.
Kurando looked startled, staring at him.
"Well, if you'd pay attention more often," he said.
"Oh, that's right, Professor Bacon had said something about that," Lucia sighed but in a strangely cheerful voice added, "Oh, well. Guess that'll just be another poor grade."
Alice had fallen to her knees beside her backpack. Papers were flying in every direction and books were being tossed hastily to the ground.
"I have to study. I can't fail that test! I have to do good on it or my father will kill me," she said.
"Easy, you'll do fine. You always do," Yuri said.
Alice froze and stopped shuffling through her things. She looked embarrassed, smiling at him for his compliment. Karin finally walked over to them again, looking to be lost in her own thoughts.
"See, I can't decide if I like the 'Petite' or the 'Seaswirl.' Then again, the 'Fantasia' was just gorgeous and…why are you on the floor?" She stared down at Alice.
"I'm looking for my science notes. We have a test today," she said, scrambling around again. Karin only nodded.

A sudden group of chatting Freshmen girls stormed through, accidentally stumbling into Yuri as they walked past which only made them giggle more.
"Oh, oops. Sorry!" one of them laughed as they walked away, but she really didn't seem 'sorry' at all.
"Argh, you damn Freshmen!" he said.
"Hey!" Anastasia's familiar, demanding voice made him spin around.
"Oh, Anastasia," he said. "Hi."
She ignored him and raised a shoe, ready to kick him in the shin. He looked surprised and backed away.
"No, no, not you! I mean the other freshmen! Besides you and Halley!" he said.
Anastasia eyed him. She didn't believe him for one moment. The others giggled at the sight of Yuri backing down to such a young girl. Seeing that she had made even Kurando laugh, her eyes went wide and her face blushed as she lowered her foot and put her head down, muttering things that were impossible to hear or understand.
They all stopped at the bell that beeped throughout the halls.

"Already?" Alice said.
"We need to start leaving the house earlier," Kurando said.
"You can if you want. I'm sleeping in as much as I can," Yuri said.
"Well, see you in science Yuri!" Karin smiled, ignoring the others as she turned and walked away.
"What's with her?" Anastasia said.
"I have no idea," Lucia sighed.
"Oh, no, I'm gonna be late!" Anastasia cried, bolting across the commons. "Yuri, this is all your fault."
"But your class is right there!" Yuri called. "And how is it my fault?"
"You distracted me, and if I'm late again, my teacher is going to kill me!" she shouted across the room.
"That was odd," Kurando said. "Well, I'll see you guys later then."
He nodded and walked off down the crowded hall. Lucia had long since left for her dance class and that left Yuri and Alice alone, heading for the halls together, going to the same class.

The halls were bustling with students, all of them going in opposite directions and criss-crossing around people. Voices buzzed as they all tried to talk over each other. In the end, almost no one could actually be heard.

Yuri held Alice's hand, leading her through the crowd. He wasn't afraid to push his way past people and he wanted to make sure she didn't get lost in the crowd. He'd be damned if he was separated from her by a group of snot-nosed Freshman. Though Alice was capable of navigating on her own, she wasn't as bold as Yuri was. She would much rather slow down and avoid angering people than shove her way through.

Their history class was at the far end of the hall, on the left. It was a small, stuffy room but there was something calming about it. As calming as a classroom could be, anyway. The lights were a pale white, giving off an almost yellow tint. Historical scrolls lined the walls, along with maps and recreated documents.

Yuri took his seat in the middle row, near the back. Alice's seat was in the next row over, a few seats behind him. She set her books out on the table and rested her bag beside her.

"Do you have five dollars I could use?"

Joachim leaned over Yuri's desk. He held out a hand for the money he assumed he would get.

"What? No. Why would I give it to you even if I did?"

"You've got to have some money on you!"

"No, I don't. Now go away."

Joachim sighed and looked over his shoulder. Yuri traced his gaze. Someone stood at the back of the room. Yuri didn't know his name but he did know that very few people messed with him. Of course, Joachim seemed to be one of the few who did.

"What did you do this time?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything. He's holding my mask for ransom."

"Your mask?"

"Yeah. The 'Grand Papillion' I've been working on! He snatched it from me, before I could do anything about it."

"Oh, yeah. That." Yuri turned back around in his seat, disinterested.

"You've got to help me. I'll give him money and he'll give it back except I don't have any money."

"Well, I don't either. Go mooch off of someone else."

"Here, Joachim. I've got some on me."

Alice smiled as she stood up to hand him a five dollar bill.

"Thank you so much," he said. "You're so kind, Alice." He took it from her and rushed to the back of the room again.

"He's a suck-up," Yuri muttered.

"Hopefully that will help," Alice said.

Yuri turned around to face her. "Why did you do that?"

"He was asking for it. Why shouldn't I?"

"Because he's a wuss. He should handle his own problems."

"Yuri," Alice said. Her tone was disapproving and while that sort of thing didn't usually bother him, it always made him feel a twinge of guilt whenever it was Alice that scolding him.

"Good morning, students."

Their history professor walked into the room, opening the blinds on the window by his desk.

"Good morning, Professor Zhuzhen..."

Only a few students returned his greeting and they sounded far from excited. Zhuzhen looked across the room, looking at each face sitting in their desk.

"You could sound a little bit more enthused about it," he said.

No one seemed to care. He turned and started to write on the board in bright red marker.

"Alright. The Demon's Gate Invocation. I told you we were going to have an oral quiz on this today, didn't I?"

"No!"

One of the girls in the back shook her head, insisting there was no such thing. Zhuzhen chuckled.

"Of course I did. It's even written down on my teacher's planner."

Her expression turned into disappointment.

"Now…I'll ask the questions and if anyone knows, blurt it out. It's not worth points but if no one seems to know, then I will make an actual quiz. Worth points. So, let's get started."

He opened his teacher's edition text book and set it on his desk. Skimming through it for a second, he highlighted something and looked up again.

"This should be an easy one. Who attempted the Invocation in 1898?"

Alice's hand shot up.

"Yes?"

"The sorcerer Dehui," she said.

"Ok, off to a good start! But when was the second time he tried it?"

Alice raised her hand again.

"Alice?"

"It was in 1913."

"Very good. Now, what is the other title for the Invocation and what does it do?"

"It's also called the Valorization. It's used to summon the Goddess Seraphic Radiance." One of the students in the front answered.

"And what is the Goddess's purpose?"

"To…destroy mankind?"

"In a way, yes. Anyone else?"

There was a hushed silence. Zhuzhen nodded.

"Alright, it's understandable. We didn't cover that much. It was the first step in releasing the float and summoning the powerful Meta God. Now, let's jump back a little bit. Who ruined Dehui's plan the first time?"

No one volunteered an answer.

"Yuri? How about you?"

"Huh?"

"You should know this one, am I right?"

He hadn't been paying attention. His mind was drifting to other places, other ideas, other people…especially to one particular maiden in blue.

"Can you repeat the question?" Yuri sighed.

"Who stopped Dehui's first Invocation?"

"Oh. Uh…Jinpachiro 'Ben' Hyuga."

"Ok, good, good. I was afraid even you wouldn't know. I thought you were all in for a quiz for sure!"

No one said a word, having realized how close they were to a quiz over a topic that most of them didn't actually know.

"You did well enough. Now, open your text books to page 143. We're going to cover the Émigré Manuscript. How many of you have heard of this before?"

Alice raised her hand.

"Hm. I had a feeling. Well, you'll all know it soon enough."

Yuri looked over his shoulder. Alice was staring down at her book. Noticing he was looking at her, she smiled, tilting her head to the side, in that gentle and welcoming way. He half-smiled back, almost in a smirk.