II

The next day was his first at DeLeon and he'd gotten up early so he could take his time getting there.

"I can't believe such a thing would happen here." Kyou heard some gossiping women on their way somewhere. He briefly glanced at them as he continued walking, they were apparently on their way from a store, going off the bags in their arms. He couldn't really imagine why they'd decided to go so early in the day but didn't put much thought into it, making sure he remembered the way to school. He put on some headphones and tuned them out while speeding up a bit; he'd never really cared for chatty people all that much.

He'd have to report to the faculty office again before the teacher would bring him in to be introduced. He briefly looked back on the people he'd met last year. It had been a small town and most of them knew each other, though he'd still made friends easily enough. The fact that there wasn't much to do didn't really bother him, it had even been refreshing in a way and he was looking forward to using the fishing skills he'd cultivated.

Even as he'd fallen into reminiscing, he found his worries about getting to school had gone unfounded, the directions coming to him as he zoned out.

He made his way towards Mr. Honma and waited to be taken to class.

They made their way out of the office and up the stairs, taking a left after exiting the stairs. "Alright, I'm sure you know how this goes so just wait here for a second." Mr. Honma opened the door and stepped in, "Seats, everyone, I know this is rather early for a transfer but I'm sure you've already heard about it so I'll just let them introduce themselves." He didn't bother looking at Kyou and assumed that was enough of a cue. It was and Kyou smoothly stepped in, making his way next to the teacher.

"Ametsuchi Kyou, I hope we can all get along." He bowed and waited for Mr. Honma to tell him where to sit, ignoring the muttering that started as he introduced himself. It had been the same way all of junior high.

"Go ahead and sit next to Kurosawa over there," Kyou walked over to Daichi and sat down, giving him a thumbs up when Daichi smiled.

"Now, with that out of the way, let's get down to business, today we will be discussing Conic sections, specifically circle equations and ellipses." As the muttering quieted down, people were bringing out their textbooks and flipping to a page, leaving Kyou to glance over at Daichi's book as his friend groaned. It was good to know some things never changed.

[0]

As soon as lunch came, people made their way to Kyou, peppering him with questions and the like. He weathered them until the people drifted away, curiosity over the new guy satiated for now. He turned to Daichi and they made their way to the school store to get some lunch.

"I'd forgotten how much of a frenzy you stirred up whenever people saw you." Kyou saw a guy being swarmed by girls, weathering it with the patience of a saint.

"Who's that?" He pointed to get Daichi's attention.

"Hm? Oh, that's Akio, he's the son of the principal, and I'm pretty sure he's in the running to be student council president."

"Poor guy," Kyou had seen others swarmed by fans, upon talking to them they never seemed happy about it, which was understandable with just how loud they were. Not to mention the lack of personal space.

"What? Are we looking at the same guy? What's poor about him?"

"Does it look like he's enjoying it?" Daichi looked over to his face and shook his head when he saw the strained patience on it.

"Bah! What do either of you know? I'd take that attention in a heartbeat." Kyou just shrugged and they continued on their way to get food.

[0]

School had been mostly uneventful, most of the teachers had avoided calling on him, knowing that he was behind, except for his science teacher, one Ooe Takahashi, who seemed to take pleasure in lording his knowledge over the students. He'd wiped the smile off his face when he answered correctly but assumed this came at the cost of earning his ire.

He sighed. Maybe he'd have to switch out for some reason or another. Right.

Kyou was just planning on stopping off at the dorm to drop off his stuff and looking around a bit more, maybe fish a bit. He'd asked Daichi if he wanted to come along, but he'd been busy checking up on his brother. Since he was starting school, heading to the shrine sounded like a good idea.

It was a nice, quaint, place. One mostly devoid of people. Kyou washed his hands and mouth before throwing in a few hundred yen and ringing the bell. Let this be a good year, or at least an alright one. He rose out of prayer, heading out of the shrine. Despite the fact he'd hardly spent any time there, it was one of the farthest places he'd listed, the actual farthest being the station he hadn't used coming into the area. He wanted to go fishing at least once before he got busy with school.

A few hours later, Kyou found himself at Oyama river, which seemed to stretch through most of the town and a few others. He'd been expecting something much like with the shrine. Namely, no one, but when he arrived there was already someone else there, resting on the river bank. A man with bright blond hair. Unusual, but none of his concern. Kyou moved to the small platform in front of the water, bringing his rod out from behind him and adding the bait. The man had flinched upon hearing movement but eased up a bit when nothing happened. Kyou finished setting everything up and cast his line, sitting down with his legs crossed, anticipating a long wait. The man relaxed more as time went on, both sitting in silence.

When he saw movement around his line, Kyou tensed up, getting ready to plant his feet for support in order to reel in his catch. There was a tug and Kyou began the fight, his surroundings fading as he waged war on the fish at the end of his line. A few minutes passed and Kyou worried about how much longer he could last, trying to conserve his strength so as not to lose. The fish must have sensed the need to draw this out, he reasoned, congratulating it on its prowess before a small smirk came onto his face. But it won't be enough! At the moment of weakness, it came flying out of the water, no match for Kyou's prowess. The fish was large, not enough to match the legendary Guardian, but still a sizeable catch. You were a worthy opponent. He mentally acknowledged the flopping animal as he put it up to take back to the dorm. He would see if they had a kitchen he could use, otherwise, he supposed he could just give it to the school or Daichi.

Kyou's attention turned elsewhere as he heard clapping and a short whistle. He turned his head to the man he'd seen on arriving. Since neither of them had said anything the whole time, he'd honestly forgotten this guy was even here, but he accepted the applause with a bit of embarrassment.

"That was amazing! I have never seen such passion over fishing! I can't say I have ever seen such powerful or moving fishing before either, so I guess that might explain it." The man appeared to be doing more than just paying lip service, his face bright as he continued clapping for a bit. "Oh! I am sorry, I did not mean to interrupt your moment, please continue fishing." Kyou noticed his Japanese was a bit off and assumed he must be a foreigner, even if he couldn't imagine a reason for a tourist to be here. He waved the man's apologies off and turned back to continue, looking at the sky as he did. There were still a few hours left and he would make the most of them before heading back.

[0]

The next day of school was filled with a bit more excitement. For one thing, he had learned that he would indeed be a prime target of Mr. Ooe's wrath when he'd been picked to answer a question in class again, but more than that, he'd learned that today was the last day of elections for the student council president. He hadn't been expected to vote as this was only his second day there, but he was nonetheless informed about it. There were only four people in the running, two of which weren't really taken all that seriously. One of the serious contenders, and possibly the one in the lead from what he was hearing, was Akio, the guy he'd seen yesterday. Kyou had wished him the best of luck with both the election and his seemingly rabid fanbase.

That had been some time ago, and now he was going to bed. For some reason he was basically dead on his feet, trusting his body to go through the motions to lead him home and his bed. It was worse than it had been the rest of the week and the only reason he knew he made it into bed was the feeling of his body hitting something soft. He didn't even get under the covers before falling asleep.

Right before losing consciousness, as he was on his way down, he remembered the Velvet Room and its two occupants, but beyond that, he saw something flutter before his vision and felt something in his soul stirring.