Chapter Two

One week had passed. It was Monday again, and I was on time to class as usual. I opened the door to the classroom and saw Soul with his feet propped up on the desk, with Maka and Crona next to him. I cringed a little at the sight of Crona's hair. I made myself take a deep breath before coming to greet them.

"Good morning," I said.

"Hey," said Soul. Maka smiled.

"Why don't you sit by Crona?" she said. I looked at Crona, who seemed a little alarmed at her words. Well, he'll have to get used to me sometime, I thought.

"Good morning, Crona," I said, setting my books at the empty seat beside him.

"Good morning," he said quietly. He didn't pursue the conversation, so I let him be. I waved at Liz and Patty as they went to their seats. Tsubaki soon joined them.

Class started as usual. Stein droned on about something even he looked bored talking about, and halfway through class Black Star broke open the door and made his grand entrance.

"Showoff," I muttered as pieces of the door flew through the air. Black Star chortled and stood on top of a desk.

"HA HA!" he said, "DO NOT FEAR, BLACK STAR IS HERE!"

He jumped in the air and did a flip before landing hard on the floor. "YAHOO!" he shouted.

"Sit down," said Dr. Stein.

Black Star made a face and ran to the nearest empty seat, which of course happened to be on the other side of me.

"You're going to have to pay for fixing the door," I said.

"Ah, whatever!" he said. He noticed Crona sitting next me, who looked scared of Black Star.

"Hey, Crona!" said Black Star, practically yelling. Crona feebly waved back.

"You're too loud," I said, noticing the sweat forming on Crona's face. Black Star laughed.

"Of course I am! I'm a big man! That means I have a big voice!" He leaned across me and said loudly in Crona's face, "Am I right, Crona?"

I pushed him back, rather roughly. "Leave him alone," I said. I don't know why, but I felt defensive of Crona.

Black Star frowned and huffed. "What's your problem?" he said.

"Shh!" Maka held a finger over her lips. I gave Black Star a glare before returning back to my studies. I heard Crona softly sigh in relief. Somehow, it made me feel a little better for losing my cool.

We were all hanging out in the classroom at lunch. Liz was painting her nails, Maka and Soul were arguing, and Patty was scribbling on the desk in crayon. Tsubaki and Black Star were gone for some special training. I was trying to do my homework, but my letters kept coming out all crooked and uneven. I groaned and dropped my head on my desk. I was going to have to wait until I got home to type it up.

The door creaked open. Dr. Stein poked his head in. "Have you guys seen Crona?" he said.

We shook our heads. "Is Crona okay?" asked Maka.

"I'm sure he is," said Dr. Stein, then left the room in a rush.

"I hope he's not in trouble," said Maka worriedly.

"Don't worry about it," said Liz, blowing on her nails.

"Yeah," said Soul, "We need to finish this partner assignment thing."

"Geez!" said Maka, "If only you had done your part, we would've finished by now."

"Well if I didn't have to make dinner last night -"

"Maybe because I was busy with our assignment -"

"I said I was going to do it -!"

I stood up. "I'm going to go look for him," I said.

"Thank you, Kid," said Maka, exasperated.

"Hey, you want us to come with you?" asked Liz. I shook my head.

"I'll be fine," I said, before swinging open the door and quickly walking down the hall.

Where could he be? I thought. I scanned the hallways, peeked in empty classroom, and searched in quiet corners. I knew he wasn't going to be anywhere loud; I tried to think of the quietest place possible.

As I turned into an empty hall, I heard a noise. Slowly, I stepped down the hallway, straining my ears. I stopped in front of the janitors closet. I could sense someone inside. I pressed my ear against the door and heard sniffling.

Crona.

I swung open the door. Crona yelped, and looked up at me from where he was sitting curled up on the floor. I hurriedly stepped in the closet and shut the door, flicking on the light and kneeling down.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked. Crona didn't respond, just continued to clutch his arm and whimper. I wasn't sure what to do. I reached out and gingerly placed my hand on his shoulder. He winced a little.

"Are you okay?" I said. Slowly, Crona removed his grip from his arm. I could see a large gash, the flesh inside hardened black. I gently held his arm in my hands.

"How did this happen?"

Crona shook his head.

"Come on," I said, "I want to help you."

"I-If I tell you, you'll just h-hate me like everybody else," he said, his voice muffled. I watched as tears dropped and landed on his knees.

"I won't hate you."

Crona sniffled, and wiped his nose with his other hand. Haltingly, he started to speak.

"Dr. Stein was h-helping me get better at hand-to-hand combat," he said. "H-He said I had to learn how to depend less on Ragnarok and learn to defend myself."

He buried his face in his knees. "I-I-I was practicing with another s-student . . . and th-then he cut me . . . a-and my b-blood . . . I didn't mean to . . ."

Crona's words became choked. He started shaking, and I gripped him by the shoulders.

"Crona," I said, "Crona, calm down."

"I didn't mean to . . ."

"What?" I said, "What did you do?"

He couldn't speak through his chattering teeth. I held onto him until his shaking subsided, but by now his face was wet with tears and his nose was running. I waited patiently as he wiped his eyes and nose (though I was a little disgusted; I didn't like other people's germs.) He still look scared, his eyes flitting back and forth. He opened his mouth, and I leaned forward to catch his murmured words.

"I think I killed him."