ATTENTION: I have written and rewritten this story more times than I can count and have honestly never been happy with it. I couldn't put my vision for this story into the right words back in 2013 and even this past year in 2018 I was still having trouble with this story, so I've decided to revamp it, starting from the very beginning. I know some of you have been patiently waiting for the next installment for ages and I thank you for sticking with me for so long. This story won't be how you remembered it, and honestly it's for the best. I really want to make this a story I'm proud of, so once again thank you so much for commenting all these years and for encouraging me to continue writing this story, I really appreciate it!


Soul lazily watched as a sandy blonde, pig-tailed girl made her way up the steps, and sat next to him. She didn't say a word and simply took out a book, proceeding to read it and promptly choosing to ignore him. Sure he hadn't expected any special treatment or anything, but a glance in his direction or even a "Hello" would've been nice, though he supposed he shouldn't take it too personally. In all his years at Death Academy, he'd never heard the green eyed girl utter more than a few words at a time, doing the bare minimum to be counted as participating in class. If he was being completely honest, he had no idea what to expect from this loner who seemed perfectly content living life on her own, not relying on anybody... or possibly just a regular girl that he was reading too much into, making absolutely ridiculous conclusions about a person whom he'd never spoken to. Focusing his attention elsewhere, Soul found his eyes drawn to a rather rambunctious blue haired boy practically jumping up the steps to reach his seat, not really paying too much attention to anything other than the reserved brunette trailing after him. Suddenly the spirited boy Soul called his best friend stopped at the same table the white haired boy was currently sitting at.

"Hey Soul!" Black*Star exclaimed, "Looks like we're gonna be table mates!"

"Cool," Soul replied, allowing a smirk to grace his features whilst Black*Star opted for his signature thousand watt smile.

"Hello Soul," The brunette beside Black*Star greeted, shooting the red eyed boy a small smile, "I look forward to sitting with you guys this year."

"Me too Tsubaki," Soul greeted in return, unintentionally letting his eyes glance over to the only other member at the table who had elected to stay silent during the whole exchange, her own eyes still buried in her book.

Although Tsubaki might've noticed his change of attention, she didn't say anything and simply sat next to the other girl. Black*Star also took his seat next to Tsubaki and started chatting excitedly to her about any and everything while the brunette simply smiled at him and nodded every so often, showing that she was following along with the conversation. Soul once again found himself with nothing to do, so he allowed his mind to wander as his classmates chattered and found their spots.

Idly the white haired teen wondered about the girl sat next to him, about what she was like. She obviously wouldn't distract him in class, but maybe she was smart? She was reading a book, he supposed he might be able to get away with cheating off of her in tests, but he didn't know if she'd snitch. Glancing at the sandy blonde from the corner of his eyes, Soul tried to get a read on her, unused to not being able to figure people out. People watching was the teen's specialty and he found it rare when he encountered people like the one next to him. Yeah she was quiet, but there was something else hiding underneath her mask, something burning just below the surface. There was definitely more to her that met the eye. Suddenly Soul found himself being ripped from his thoughts as he heard someone sit next to him, looking over to his left his red eyes met a pair of golden ones.

"Yo Kidd," Soul greeted, "You're in this class too?"

"Sure am," Kidd replied, "You remember Liz and Patty?"

"How could I forget?" Soul scoffed before turning his attention to the two blonde's beside Kidd, "What're you doing here Liz? You're in a grade above us."

"Psh what does that matter? Can't I walk my little sis to class?" She defended, feigning offence.

"Fair enough," Soul shrugged before asking, "So who do you have teaching you?"

"Marie, I heard you guys are unlucky enough to have Stein this year." Liz told him with a wicked smirk at his misfortune.

"Ugh don't remind me." He replied as he let his head fall on the desk with a quiet thump.

Liz's laughs were suddenly cut off as the familiar sound of a chair rolling down the hallway caught everyone's attention. Taking that as her cue to leave, Liz quickly bid them all good bye as she rushed out the door just before the infamous Professor Stein rolled in, his chair catching on the bump in the doorway, causing him to fall over. There he was, on the ground, book in hand, wondering how that couldn't have possibly worked. Soul sighed quietly at how lame his new teacher was, lifting his head off the desk, and straightening up.

"One second," The teacher told them as he went outside to try again, and once more falling to the ground.

Seemingly giving up for now, the grey haired man got up, making his way to the desk at the front of the room. He set his chair next to it and leaned on it's wooden surface, his face blank as his eyes scanned the room. When his steely eyes met Soul's, the teen felt a shiver run up his spine. Soon enough his eyes were off the teen as he continued looking around the room before picking up the clipboard on the desk, and checking off what Soul could only assume was the attendance. As Professor Stein introduced himself to the class, he also handed out syllabuses to each desk before making his way back to the front of the room. As Stein went over the syllabus with the class, Soul found his thoughts once more drifting to the silent girl seated next to him. He didn't know what is was about her that kept his attention, and to be honest, he found it a little annoying. Sighing quietly to himself, Soul couldn't help but think that this would be a long year.


Despite it being the first day of school, Stein still assigned homework, and was very quickly becoming Soul's least favorite teacher. All the rumors about the eccentric teacher had been true, especially the one's about his love for dissecting. Soul had a feeling he wouldn't be learning anything really worthwhile, so it looked like he would have to do some studying on his own if he wanted to pass any of the standardized tests. Then again it was only the first day and Soul didn't know what the man's plan was. Though, by the looks of the syllabus, it would primarily focus on dissecting animals. Suddenly an arm was thrown over his shoulder and pulling him down to eye level with none other than his best friend and partner in crime, Black*Star.

"Hey Soul!" Black*Star greeted, "Want to join us at the skate park?"

"Well I was gonna go to the library..." The red eyed teen drawled playfully, "But I guess going skating for a bit couldn't hurt."

"You're damn right it couldn't! Hurry up! Let's go!"

Soul let Black*Star tug on his arm while the blue haired teen bounced excitedly in front of him, chatting animatedly about what he'd done during the summer. Behind them was Tsubaki and an out of place looking sandy blonde haired girl who's name Soul still didn't know. In his peripheral vision he could see them talking, but couldn't hear what they were saying. She looked slightly uncomfortable with the situation despite being able to hold a conversation with Tsubaki. Both the girls were normally so quiet, Soul didn't know how they could possibly talk about much without the conversation dying. Although they might just be quiet because they never get a chance to speak, looking forward once more at the exuberant teen in front of him, Soul decided that the latter option might be more true. Though neither seemed to have a problem with not talking.

"What did you do during the break?" Black*Star questioned, tilting his head back at Soul.

"Eh," He shrugged, "Y'know, the usual."

"That bad, huh?" The blue haired boy's voice, unusually quiet and full of understanding.

Soul chuckled sardonically, "Always is."

Taking the hint, Black*Star quickly changed the topic of conversation before challenging Soul to a race. Naturally Soul accepted, and both boys were struggling to get a head of the other. Soul even resorted to dragging Black*Star back behind him to get ahead, which Black*Star of course then retaliated by tripping him. Was it one of their proudest moments? No. Did they consider it worth it? Absolutely.

In the end Black*Star won and rubbed it in Soul's face so much the teen got fed up with his best friend and challenged him to a skating competition. Poor Tsubaki and the pig-tailed girl next to her (Maka he later learned) were given the honor of being the judges. After the fifth round Kidd joined them, leaving the Thompson sisters to chat on the bench with Tsubaki and Maka. Then sometime during the eleventh or twelfth round Maka left without any of the competitive boys noticing. Before any of them knew it, the sun had set and both Liz and Patty were dragging Kidd of the ramp, saying they needed to go home. Tsubaki saw her opportunity and took it as she also dragged a yelling Black*Star away who was telling Soul that this wasn't over. You see they had tied, and Soul would hold his best friend to his promise.

Deciding to also go home, Soul grabbed his back pack and headed back to the school, needing to grab his bike. Honestly he should've known how long he would be at the skate park and ridden it there instead. Of course, hindsight was always 20/20. Once there he hopped on his orange Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide and started the engine, feeling the rumble throughout the motorcycle before putting on his helmet, and driving to his apartment.


"Welcome back everyone," Professor Stein greeted, "Now before we get started please pass your homework to the front."

Suddenly the dozing white haired teen shot up in his seat, eyes wide and alert as he remembered about the homework from the day before. Of course as soon as he got home he passed out on the couch, not even making it to his room. Something in his peripheral vision caught his eye and he turned to see Black*Star mocking him as the boy held his completed homework in the air. Soul shot him a glare and slumped in his seat, thinking that Tsubaki had probably reminded Black*Star about it last night. Not one to be beat, Soul brought out his unfinished homework (taking note of the way Maka seemed to flinch at his sudden movement), started filling in the answers he knew as quickly as possible before passing it forward, and very maturely stuck his tongue out at Black*Star.

Stein collected all the homework from the front row and set it on his desk, then turned back around, telling them to open up their notebooks because they were continuing from where they left off yesterday. As the professor started his lecture, Soul reached for his pen and once more Maka flinched at the unexpected movement. Soul raised his eyebrow at her and she shrugged apologetically before refocusing her attention on their teacher. Looking at the strange sandy haired girl for a moment longer, Soul considered her. Maka. She was by all accounts your average, everyday student, but that didn't seem quite right. That mask didn't quite fit on her properly, there was something about this girl that he couldn't figure out, but he would. She was definitely interesting to say the least, and you could consider Soul's curiosity piqued. Absentmindedly, Soul finally grabbed his pen and started doodling in the corners of his notes.