3:45 A.M.

"Be sure you take all the medicine that the doctor gave you, even if the symptoms go away," Rena's mom told her. Rena was kneeling in front of the table; on its wooden surface was an array of pill bottles scattered and stacked in front of the child. Rena remembered this night as a flashback.

"Don't talk to anyone else while I'm gone, do you understand?"

Rena merely nodded, staring emotionlessly at the bottles and boxes in front of her. She heard her mother's stiletto heels click across the tile foyer and out the door. The door slammed shut, followed by the muffled shuffle of the lock as it scraped into place. The mahogany-haired girl tensed, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints as she lashed out and swept the medicine to the floor violently.

7:00 A.M.

Rena opened her eyes as her alarm clock started to buzz across the room. She gracefully slid out from under the covers to turn the alarm off. Her cat, Lawliet, meowed by her legs. Rena smiled at her only housemate.

"Good morning," she greeted him softly. She busied herself with getting ready for school, thinking about the flashback she'd had the night before. It was a memory of before her parents left her—her mother was just about to break, and was telling Rena to take her medicine, as you already saw.

Rena thought about all of her cute classmates at Fujiyoka Academy; they'd been nice enough, and her mother wasn't really here to stop her. Since she wasn't sick anymore, she could approach other people and they wouldn't run away. With this thought in mind, she decided to give it a try. She took her bag in hand and opened the door.

"I'm off," she told Lawliet. She locked the door behind her.

Shyness, Training, and Defense Skills!

7:45 A.M.

What confidence Rena had gathered that morning had dissipated to her usual state of reticence and tendency to avoid attention. Nonetheless, she entered the classroom with determination. Minami was tearing at Yoshi's arms, for some contrived reason, whilst Kouta was taking pictures. Himeji was studying, and Yuuji wasn't in the room yet. Hideyoshi looked up at Rena as she entered.

"Hey," he said, walking towards her. He put one hand on top of her head, patting it gently. She looked at him curiously; literally, what was he doing? "Sorry about what Aki said yesterday; what he meant was 'Could you become my friend?'"

Rena's eyes widened with realization. What should she do? Accept, decline? Run away, change her name, and never hear from that idiot again? No, she thought as her eyes shrank again. I'm well now; I can do this.

"I'd like that," she said, nodding once. She smiled, tilting her head to the side. "Nipaa~!"

"Good," Hideyoshi said, smiling back at her. He guided her over to the others nonchalantly.

"You're Rena, right? Sorry about the mix up yesterday," Yoshi said. "I honestly thought you were French, hehe… oops."

"So you're new around here, huh?" Minami asked. "Where are you from?"

"The outskirts of Kyoto," she replied. "I lived here once before a few years ago."

"That's cool," Yoshi said. He studied her face intently; he could have sworn he'd seen her before.

"Why'd you move back?" Hideyoshi asked. "Just got homesick or something?"

Rena, being an introvert with very poor social skills, knew how to respond, but she didn't understand the purpose of conversational filters. She answered truthfully, no matter how personal the information was.

"I was medically treated in Kyoto; that's the only reason I left. I thought I might be able to start over here."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hideyoshi apologized. "I didn't think it would be such a personal question."

"Don't be," she said, turning to him. "You're a very sweet boy; it's not your fault."

"Did you just… call me a boy?"

Rena frowned and blushed. Did she do something stupid? 'Now can I run away, change my name, and never see these people again?' she thought. No, that's not the plot of the episode. Stop being such a coward about everything.

"Finally!" Hideyoshi exclaimed, rising to his knees over his cardboard desk. "Somebody besides Akira realizes that I'm a guy. That's amazing!"

"Don't lie about that, Hideyoshi; you'll just confuse her," Yoshi said.

"I'm not lying," Hideyoshi retorted.

"I see you got the new girl to speak," Yuuji noted, walking into the classroom. "What did that take?"

"Not much," Hideyoshi admitted.

"I think she actually wanted to talk to us today," Yoshi said.

"So, Rena, now that you're talking," Yuuji continued. "Tell me what your scores are; I'll need to know them to plan for the next Summoner Test War."

"Oh, I uh…" Don't act like an idiot, Rena, just tell them. "They're pretty low; I wouldn't consider myself more than a trash card."

"What? Trash card; are you crazy?" Yuuji said. "Every little bit counts; it can add up to a large number, trust me. Do you think our scores are any higher than yours?"

"It's okay to be stupid here," Yoshi assured her.

"Don't encourage her like that, Yoshi," Minami sighed. She entangled her legs around Yoshi, pulling his head back. "Are you saying I'm stupid?!"

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Yoshi whimpered.

Rena backed up a little, eyes wide as she watched Minami twist Yoshi's body in all the wrong directions. She wasn't afraid, but she was intrigued. She was a creature who would learn from example.

"Don't let Minami scare you," Hideyoshi said. "She usually only beats up on Aki."

"So, about your test scores," Yuuji said.

"I don't really know how well I would perform in a Summoner Test War; I took the placement test at my previous school."

Everyone turned to her, slightly surprised by the news.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Yuuji said. "We can just train with you here."

Baka and Test

"What are you idiots up to this time?" the teacher asked the Class F students as they filled the hallway.

"Sir, May we have your permission to engage i8n a practice Summoner Test War?" Yuuji asked.

"I approve," he said, creating the USB field.

"Alright, Rena, time to show us what you've got," Yuuji said, turning to the shy one. "You'll be going up against Akihisa first; he's the dumbest person we've got. And just because he's a probationary student doesn't mean you have to hold back on him; I want to see how strong you are."

Rena nodded and turned to Yoshi, who had already summoned his medieval avatar. Rena formed a heart with her hand.

"Summon," she whispered, cautiously throwing the heart to the floor. Her avatar apparated into existence; it had cat ears, tail, and whiskers. Her weapon was a hooked machete.* her score was a little higher than Akihisa's, but not by much. When the opposing avatar charged at her, her score began to excel in rapid succession.

"Wait, what the heck?" Yoshi wondered out loud.

Rena's cat-avatar swiftly dodged Yoshi's attack by going under him. she leapt up on the other side, tangling her legs around him similarly to how Minami had done earlier that day. With the mock enemy immobile, Rena ran her machete through Yoshi's skull.

"What…?!" Yoshi cried as his avatar was defeated.

"Those who died, meet me in the remedial classroom!" Iron Man said, running through the hallway to kidnap Yoshi.

"What in the world was that?" Minami questioned.

"Way to go, Rena," Yuuji said. "How did you change your scores like that?"

"I… um… I don't know," Rena replied, looking at her avatar, who was playing with a string on the carpet.

None of the other students knew it, but since Rena took the exam in a different school when she wasn't prepared, her scores aren't permanent from one test to the next. When her focus excels, so does her immediate score. However, since no one knows this yet, her avatar is labeled as having a "glitch."

"Akihisa Yoshi approached a girl while training!" a member of the Inquisition Group cried. "He has broken our treaty! He's a traitor; get him!"

After hours of training, the class dispersed and began to leave the campus. Akihisa was happy to find out that Akira had made a reasonably edible meal for him to eat when he got home. They both sat down at the table to eat when Akira decided to make some small talk.

"So, you have a new student at school?" she asked.

"Yes," Akihisa replied. "She's really nice; her name's Rena Kaibara."

"You haven't been too involved with her, have you?" Akira demanded. She digressed when she recognized the name. "Kaibara Rena, huh? Where have I heard that name before…?"

Yoshi watched her with a curiously blank expression. "What's that?"

"You mean Reina Kaibara?" Akira asked.

"Um… no…"

"She's the cat-girl, right?" Akira asked, excited. "Come on; don't tell me you don't remember her. Reina was the girl that lived down the street from us when you were six. She was always on the side; I hear her mother didn't like for her to be with other people much. Then she got sick and they moved to Kyoto. She drew cats on the sidewalk, right?"

Akihisa's eyes widened as he thought about it for a second; he did remember a little girl that resembled Rena. She would stay indoors most of the time, but when her mother allowed her to go outside, she would draw cats on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Akihisa often asked her to play, but she wouldn't reply; she'd just run inside.

"I remember now," he said. "That girl did look a lot like Rena, but… her name is Rena, not Reina…."

"She could have had it changed when she transferred to Kyoto," Akira suggested.

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

"But still, that's amazing that she's come back. Is she still cute?"

"Why would I answer that after you told me not to have any relationships with girls?!"

"Come on, tell me," Akira laughed. "What was that thing she'd always say? Oh, yes—Nipah!" she chimed and laughed. "Does she still do that?"

"Life would be pointless without this manga," Yuuko said as she hugged her newest edition of gay manga to her chest. She looked up when she heard familiar footsteps enter the house.

"Hey, sis, I'm home," Hideyoshi called. "How was your day?"

"Good, yours?"

"I saw a cute girl at school, but that's about it," Hideyoshi replied.

"What was so cute about her?" Yuuko demanded, putting her fist against the wall. She was kind of ticked that Hideyoshi didn't think she was cute.

"She was just nice is all," Hideyoshi said defensively, putting his hands up.

"Is that a fact?" Yuuko scoffed, but ignored her brother. Hideyoshi went into the kitchen, thinking about Rena. She'd been so shy before, she still was, but he was making progress with her. he wanted to know her; it wasn't every day that he met someone who was calm and nice like that. Himeji was nice, but she got a little too paranoid, and Minami wasn't gentle at all. Let alone they already had a guy to like. Plus, everyone thought Hideyoshi was a girl, so no straight girl has ever liked him before.

That's the end of this chapter. Hoorah! I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far. I'm sorry if the chapters feel too long or too short; I'm trying to pace each chapter like an episode of the anime. For those of you who are new to my stories, I upload every day; I'm homeschooled and I have too much time on my hands because I never get out. It's not that I don't have any friends, it's just I never get to see them. Anyway, Hideyoshi and Other fluff, yadda yadda… please tell me if I did anything wrong, tell me if you want me to continue, or if you have a request to a scene. For those of you who came to me as an author for the gore, I will try to make her as insane as I can. I find it ironic that I love the violent stuff, but I write violent fanfictions about non-violent media….

*I haven't done this in a while. Today's special Higurashi reference is… Rena's machete! I just love that cute, shiny, hook-billed cleaver. I've been asking the Santa with the Russian accent for one for years, but I never get it. Go figure.