Daisuke Niwa yawned as he entered the rail car and sat down on a bench seat.
"Why does Mom have to make me steal on school nights?" he muttered. "I'm so tired." He lay down on the bench after noticing the car was empty, putting his arms beneath his head for support. Daisuke attempted to blow some of his spiky red bangs from his face but with no luck. Closing his eyes, he though of his plans for today.
Last week Daisuke had asked Risa Harada, his crush and the trigger of his alter-ego, if they could walk to school together and she said yes. He smiled at this thought. Ever since he'd turned fourteen, his life had been turned upside down thanks to his family's curse. Maybe his luck was starting to turn around.
As Daisuke lay there smiling, consumed in his thoughts, another passenger entered the rail car. The person sat across from Daisuke's head on the other side of the car. He opened his eyes and glanced across from him, finding a girl. As he looked at the girl he noticed something other than her thigh length petal pink hair that curled up at the ends, and her wide rosy red eyes. Daisuke was sure that he had never seen this girl before, yet she was wearing the Azumano middle school girl's uniform of maroon and white; his school.
'Maybe she's a new student.' he thought, 'It is a bit into the school year after all.'
He sat up and the movement caught her attention. Or maybe she was staring at him before?
"Hi there." Daisuke said.
"Um, hi" the girl replied. Her soft voice only accentuated her innocent appearance.
"So, you're new at Azumano?" he asked.
"Yes, do you go there?" she responded.
"Yeah, do you know where you're going? I could…" Daisuke was cut off by the conductor announcing their arrival at the next stop.
"Ah!" Daisuke jumped up and grabbed his bag. "I'm sorry, I'm meeting someone here. Maybe I'll see you later."
With those parting words, Daisuke ran to the next car in search of Risa Harada. The girl simply stared after him in his retreat.
'Did that really just happen?' she thought.
She almost couldn't comprehend the level of rudeness she was just shown. If she did run into that boy again, she'd demand an apology. As the rail car pulled to its final stop, she departed and scanned the crowd for the rude red-head. Failing, the girl began walking in the general direction of the young adults.
When the rail car came to a stop, Risa was chattering away about last night. She had been watching the news and their coverage of Dark's latest escapade.
"Did you watch Dark last night, Daisuke?"
"Oh, no I didn't. I was busy studying…"
As always, Daisuke did his best to listen to Risa's gushing over his other self. It hurt him to do so, but he didn't think it was possible to change her mind; at least not now.
"So how are things at home? What has Riku been up to?" Daisuke asked.
"Riku's been really busy with track practice. I've just been alone at home for a while." Risa said.
Their conversation soon drifted into silence as they walked. Before they knew it they had arrived at the school. When they made it to the classroom, Risa suddenly stopped. She turned around and grabbed Daisuke's arm.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Um, sure?"
"Will you come shopping with me tomorrow?" she asked.
"Um…" Daisuke pondered this for a moment. "…okay. Do you mind my asking why?"
"Well, I need a guy's opinion on a couple of outfits I saw. Will you please?" She gazed at him with her shining brown eyes. He shook his head trying to calm his nerves.
"S-sure, I guess I can go with you." Daisuke started taking deep breaths.
"Thank you so much Daisuke!" Risa said. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. His eyes grew wide and his breathing began to quicken.
'Got to get out of this!' he thought.
"You're welcome. Excuse me for a second!" he said breaking out of her embrace. Risa looked up as he dashed down the hallway and turned a corner. She blinked not sure what just happened. Shaking her head she opened the classroom door and was greeted with a loud, "Harada!"
'Does he really have to do that?!' she thought annoyed. "I can hear you fine Saehara. You're standing right in front of me."
"So where's Daisuke? I thought I heard him just now…" he said, ignoring her comment.
"I think he ran off to the restroom. And what do you mean by 'just heard him'?! Were you listening to us?" Risa said.
"Sorry, gotta go! Have some business to take care of! Later!" Takeshi said, edging around the younger Harada. He sprinted down the hallway in the direction of the restrooms.
Daisuke turned off the water faucet after splashing the cold water on his face. His heart rate had returned to normal after that unexpected hug from Risa. "Why? Why me?" he said. He stood up from the sink. Then he realized he wasn't alone.
"Hey Daisuke! What's up?" the brunette boy said. Daisuke flipped around and grabbed his chest. "Saehara?! W-what are you doing?"
"Well, I was listening to your conversation with Risa and she said you were in here."
"Wait, why were you listening to us?" Daisuke asked.
"Because Daisuke, if I'm going to be a famous reporter, I have to know everything! I'm everywhere at once!" he explained rather excitedly.
"Oh yeah, if you're everywhere at once, then you must know about the new girl here." Daisuke said remembering his encounter on the train. There was silence as the realization hit.
"WHAT?! I didn't know that! But I'm sure going to find out!" He turned to Daisuke. "Tell me everything you know!"
"Alright, let's get back to class before we're late, though." The two young men left the restroom, Daisuke recounting his meeting on the train, and Takeshi squeezing every detail he could from him.
"So, you said it's a girl right? What class is she in?"
"Dunno."
"Well, did you get her name?"
Daisuke paused. "Well not exactly…"
"What?! Do you know anything about her?"
"She has long pink hair and red eyes, does that help?"
"You are a horrible sidekick Daisuke!"
"Since when am I your sidekick? I though you were everywhere, remember?"
"That's why I have you!" he exclaimed. "Useless!"
Daisuke and Takeshi entered the chatty classroom, both slightly annoyed with each other. As they stood in the doorway, someone approached behind them.
"Excuse me, please"
The two boys stepped aside to let the person in the door and they both froze in their tracks. The person coming through the door was a girl of about fourteen, with long pink hair and eyes of red. The girl from the train; the new girl. She looked at the people she was passing. The brunette on her right looked to be in shock. The red head to her left was surprised. Her eyes widened as she recognized the red head as the rude boy from the train. She glared at him.
"Well?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you remember or do I have to remind you?"
"Well…" Daisuke was taken back by her sudden fierceness.
"I thought red-heads were smart. Are you going to apologize or not?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry?" He didn't understand why she was angry at him. Had he done something tis morning he wasn't aware of?
"Excuse me, miss, but what did he do to you?" Takeshi interjected.
"I met him on the train this morning, and he noticed that I was new. He offered to show me around, but before I could accept, he ran off!" she explained.
Takeshi jumped at the chance. "I apologize for him, miss. He's been a little off lately. If you don't mind, I'd be willing to show you around."
'Something's off about Takeshi.' Daisuke thought.
"Thank you, um…"
"Saehara. Takeshi Saehara. You can call me Takeshi though."
"Oh, thanks Takeshi-kun." She smiled and his heart seemed to melt. "I'm Sakura Tomoya."
"Would you mind if I called you Sakura-chan?"
'Is Takeshi blushing?' Daisuke couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Sure."
At that moment the teacher entered to begin class. "Ah, Tomoya-chan, would you mind introducing yourself to the class?" she said.
She stood up in front of the now seated class and said, "Um hi. I'm Sakura Tomoya. I just moved here from Okinawa with my mother. I guess you could say I'm normal. Heh…"
"Alright," the teacher said, "let's have you sit in the back seat. Sorry it's all that's left."
"It's fine, thank you."
As Sakura made her way to the back desk, Takeshi watched her the whole way while Daisuke quietly sulked at his desk. Sakura's seat was next to a silent blue-haired boy. She couldn't tell what, but something seemed strange about him. He gave her a quick glance, but looked back appearing bored. A few of the girls next to her gave her jealous glares. "Why does she get to sit next to Hiwatari-kun?" one whispered. 'Hiwatari-kun?' she thought, 'I guess they like him, but I don't really see why.' Sakura glanced at him again. 'I suppose he is kind of cute.' Still, there was something about him that made her avoid making eye contact.
At lunch, Risa approached Sakura before she left.
"Sakura?" Risa asked.
"Yes?" she answered.
"I just wanted to apologize for Daisuke. He said he was going to meet me this morning, and that must be why he left. I'm sorry."
"Oh, thanks. You two must by happy though. He seems crazy about you."
Risa looked flustered. "Oh no, it's not like that. We're not together or anything, just good friends."
"Really?"
"Yes. No offense to Daisuke but he's nothing compared to Dark!"
"I'm guessing Dark is your boyfriend then?"
"I wish! He gets busy so it doesn't seem like he could have a relationship right now. I will get him to go out with me though, I'm sure of it!" Her eyes went from determination to daydreaming rather quickly. "Dark is so gorgeous! I don't care if he's a Phantom Thief, I'll marry him someday."
"Sakura-chan it's lunchtime!" Takeshi said nearly floating to her desk. "I'll give you the Grand Tour!"
"Alright, let's go." She said smiling.
Takeshi led Sakura through the entire school when classes where let out, accompanying her every time she needed to get somewhere.
"So, Sakura-chan," he said as he walked her to the main gate, "did I tell you I'm a reporter?"
"No that must be fun." She said slightly disinterested. 'He's been following me around all day!' she though exasperated.
"I've been thinking," he continued, "about doing an article on you. Front page of the paper, whaddya think?" He stood there eagerly, like a puppy waiting for a bone.
"I guess I could…"
"Don't worry, we can do it after school, a one-on-one session." He said.
"Alright then."
"Tomorrow in the classroom, ok?"
"Ok, I'll be there." Sakura waved goodbye to him and headed for the train station. 'He's sure clingy. I guess it's not so bad.'
She had minimal interaction with Daisuke and Hiwatari-kun what with Takeshi following her around like that. Risa seemed like a nice enough person and she seemed to be infatuated with this Dark person. Didn't she call him a 'Phantom Thief'? She'd have to do some research later. Right now she just wanted to relax after her first day of school. She boarded the train, making sure there was no sign of Daisuke, and closed her eyes for the ride home.