Naoka stared deeply into the sidewalk as she walked home, eyes boring right into every crack in the cement.

Why you ask? – Well, with the day she had had, she was vainly hoping that if she stared deep and long enough, she'd create a giant hole, fall into it, and land into the mole people's village, where she would spend the rest of her miserable life as their slave.

Or indentured servant, depending on how advanced their morals on human labor are.

Shoot, she'd even let them sacrifice her to their mole people god, or even become said god – just so long as it meant this day would just end.

"Are you alright Miss Kouga?"

Naoka ended her staring contest with the ground and gave a startled jump at the person next to her before wildly waving her hands around.

"N-no Queen's chair Fujisaki! Things are fine Queen's chair Fujisaki! Everything's fine Queen's chair Fujisaki! The world is fine Queen's chair Fujisaki! Life is fine Queen's chair Fujisaki! The universe itself is-"

The brunette girl stared for a while before placing a hand on her shoulder while holding back a laugh "Well that's good to hear – but you don't have to be so nervous you know?"

I don't? "I-I don't?"

"Yes, I may be a guardian, but I'm still just a regular student like you, so there's no need to be formal."

Yeah, except I'm not the school idol with endless scholarly democratic powers and the entire faculty and student body on a little red string "U-uh huh."

Silence engulfed the walk again until Naoka finally squeaked "Y-you should go home Que-Miss Fujisaki."

"Hmm?"

"I-I mean, m-my house isn't that far, a-and I already caused you all enough trouble – th-there's no need for you to put in so much effort! And a-aside from that, your parents are probably worried…"

Suddenly Nadeshiko stopped, and for a moment Naoka thought she had offended her until she gave her a very bright gentle smile "Miss Kouga , I insisted on taking responsibility in making sure you arrived home safely – and I plan to do just that, so there's no reason to worry yourself over me. Besides, it was our fault you're heading home so late, it's the least I can do..."

Naoka stared up at the judge's stand, quivering in fear as Nozomi glared down on her while the guardians, her parents, her classmates, Seiyo teachers, kids from her old school, and her next-door neighbor's dog all stared in begrudging fury and Mine walked up to the defense post, looking rather viciously satisfied.

"Naoka Kouga," Mine boomed "You are charged with bullying, criminal assault, attempted murder, friendlessness, and being a menace against society and JUSTICE! Not to mention a bunch of other heinous deeds I'm sure you've committed in the past and plan to in the future! How do you plead?"

"No-Not guil-" she tried to whimper, but Mine would have none of that.

"Jurors, I ask you to turn to the left."

A spotlight shined on a group of people covered in bruises and bandages, and a few Naoka unfortunately recognized. They all glared hatefully at her and she quickly turned away.

"YOU SEE!" She bellowed "Even in the face of her victims – the defendant has no remorse for her evil or the damage she's done!"

"Th-that's not-"

"THEREFORE – I suggest the highest level of punishment be merited down upon her."

Naoka tried to speak up again, but found herself drowned out in the oddly titled cries for her demise.

"Death by tea!"

"Sugar injection!"

"Macaroon stoning!"

"Chocolate chip rifle squad!"

"Stuff animal burial!"

"Tickle Torture!"

"Strawberry cake Guillotine!"

"Community service – of Death!"

Nozumu banged his oversized gavel, "Order, order!" he yelled before turning to the Jury. "Has the Jury reached a verdict?"

Yaya stepped forward and pulled out a piece of paper, "Yes your honor. We the Jury find the defendant, Naoka Kouga, guilty of all charges and demand she be punished to the fullest extent of the law!"

"Guilty! Guilty!" the other jurors' chanted while Nozumu nodded and leered down viciously at the poor girl

"Then by the powers vested in me by the guardians and the Seiyo school board – I sentence you to life imprisonment with no visitation!"

Then suddenly, an giant black egg appeared, and it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until it opened up and-

"No!" she cried, and shot up.

"A-are you okay?"

Naoka blinked a few times before looking around and realizing she wasn't in a black court room being menaced by her classmates and neighbor's dog, but a rather nice looking room with beautiful flowers everywhere and a table with what she could honestly say was the most cutest tea set she'd ever seen.

She also realized she wasn't alone. Surrounding her were people who, although she's never directly met or talked to them, were pretty well known to her.

The first she'd already met – Yaya Yuiki, Ace chair and the girl she "attempted to poison" for those out there who want to be technical. She was beloved by the entire school, and anyone who took a look at the precious face either instantly fell in love with her cuteness or wanted to make her their little sister. She was always nice to everyone (and she meant EVERYONE) and never let that bouncily, sunny smile leave her face. True, there were those who complained about her being too cutesy and energetic, and needing to "grow-up" a bit, but that almost never hampered her student approval ratings at the least. And that smile of hers – Naoka almost felt diabetic just looking at it, or just looking at her period, and the entire school felt happily the same. The girl was just that darn adorable! Sweetness incarnate in every single sugary way.

And the bundle of adorableness had a relieved look on her face as she bounced up and down "Yay, she's awake! Thank goodness!"

Suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder, and she nearly jumped ten feet in the air as she turned to face whoever was behind her.

"Sorry," a tall brunette said, handing her a glass of water "Here, you must be thirsty."

Naoka quickly took the glass and looked away blushing, taking tiny sips while she continuously looked back at her as the girl joined the other two.

Nadeshiko Fujisaki, the Queen's chair. She was the most popular girl in school, and for a reason – she was more beautiful than every girl in school put together 5 times over, not to mention kind, gracefully, friendly, and gentle (and Rich), things Naoka would trade her entire household twice over to be. All the boys wanted to date her while the girls admired her from afar with amorous envy, wishing they could be that beautiful that easily - Some even secretly wishing she was boy so they'd feel less envious (or awkward for noticing). However, there were those who felt she was too nice and kind and beautiful and accused her of being full of herself, but Naoka never actually understood why. Whenever she saw her in the hall, Naoka would take one look at her silky black hair and shining bright skin and feel guilty doing so, like she was looking at a angel descending from holyground when she herself was just some petty village girl who was just passing by. Even now she couldn't look at her without comparing herself and feeling plain in comparison.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked

Naoka just gave a tiny nod and continued drinking. She looked outside for a moment and realized the sun was already getting ready to sink.

"S-sorry," She murmured as she finished the water "I-I've been inconveniencing you haven't I?"

A tanned redhead chuckled as he appeared from out the corner, approaching rather casually much to her surprise. "Don't worry about it, we've just glad your okay."

Jack's chair Kukai Souma, athletic superstar and, after King's chair, one of the most sought after male students in the school in both sports and social circles. He was known for being a jokester, as well as being friendly with almost all the guys in school (Naoka has overheard some whispers about him being "too friendly" with the other guys, but most brush it off as typical girl gossipy stuff). He was the type people say "Bursts with energy" and said energeticness was rumored to be rather infectious. He was always coming to help perk up students and cheerfully always took tasks given by the teacher. But his most highest achievement has been soccer, through which he's won the school probably 10 championships already and has been crowned team MVP and star ace, and could be for a lot of other sports too if he wanted to. Naoka wanted to wanted to watch one of the practices once, but the second she tried getting close to the field, Mine surprised up out of no where (most likely following her) and accused her of attempting to "sabotage" the practice, which made Naoka trip and fall into the spots equipment, which nearly got her in trouble (again).

"You had us worried though," he added "for a second I though you were gonna punch someone again."

Naoka felt herself pale again at the words, and Nadeshiko quickly elbowed him "What he means is that it's a relief you're feeling better."

Naoka hesitantly nodded as she suddenly remembered she had injured someone before passing out (again), and tried to scout out who it was she accidentally socked in the face to ask if they were okay when she realized something.

"W-what exactly-" She began before the door swung open and voices leaked in.

"Are you sure you don't want to go home Miss Hinamori?" a light airy voice asked, causing Naoka and then others to turn.

"I-it's fine I just-" Another started to say, until the owners came into view and froze at the sight of Naoka, who froze right back

There he was – Tadase Hotori, the famously praised King's chair in all his glory. Naoka never really got to see him because every time he did show up, all the girls would rush in and the hall became an untraversable sea of squeals and autograph-books and Naoka didn't want to get in the way of that. But she heard girls gossiping about him, about how he was such a brave, kind figure, who was always lending a hand to a student in need. True, there was talk of a loud, oddly dramatic side, and there were some girls that had some rather…choice words to say about his attitude, but it was always about how polite he was, and how he acted a complete gentleman to all the girls, like a prince even (a title every girl demanded be used for him in discussions). Seeing him now, the squeals seemed justified. True, he was shorter than Naoka, a tad girly looking, but he was handsome to say the least – shining blonde hair, soft purple eyes, a warm, friendly face; Had Naoka not known any better, she'd think he really was a prince straight out of a fairytale.

But her main focus was the tall pinkette next to him holding a tissue to her bandaged nose. Miss Amu Hinamori – A transfer student like her who was holder of the recently added Joker's chair and the school's idol. She had heard the stories of "Cool and Spicy Amu"; how she could freeze people with a look, how she was a rebel like her (Well, not exactly like her, but the point stands), how she was always so cool that no one dared approach her out of sheer feelings of being too below her, how she was so fashionable she outclassed models, how she never let anything faze her or get to her, how she always wowed everyone in her classes, how she had suddenly been outdoing everyone in PE, Home Ec, the arts, etc.

To summarize – to everyone at Seiyo academy, Amu Hinamori was awesomeness incarnate squared in general.

Heck, saying she's the school's idol is an understatement – she was the freaking school empress! Even before she joined the guardians, she had students practically lining up to bow at her feet, or so Naoka's heard.

And Naoka, a nobody transfer student mistaken for delinquent, had punched her square in the nose.

Just when she though "My life can't sink lower than this." Low and behold, another level of accidental depravity is discovered underneath the dirt of misfortune!

Well, only one thing to do now…

Naoka placed down the water and, before anyone could blink or stop her, leapt out in front of Amu and took a bowing position on the floor, face glued to the intriguing linoleum (Seriously, the place was that cool looking; her dad would have an artistic spasm just standing in the room.)

"I'm so sorry for what I did. I didn't mean to hit you in the face like that, it's just that you startled me and I acted out of reflex. I really hope I didn't hurt you too badly and you can forgive me and accept my apology. I also like to apologize for making you all care for me while I was unconscious, as it getting late and I must have inconvenienced you all as your parents must be worried, though I appreciate your help and am thankful for your actions."

That…probably would have been better to say.

"PLEASE DON'T HAVE ME EXPELLED!"

All the guardians blinked, "Um…"

What I meant is that I'm sorry about what happened earlier "I shouldn't have hit you!"

It was a complete accident "It's all my fault!"

I hope you weren't badly injured "Please don't hate me!"

I hope you can forgive me and, perhaps, we can put this all behind us and start again as friends "I'll pay you!"

A few more ramblings and some coherent apologizes went tumbling out her mouth for a good while before she started shaking and her eyes started to burn.

Great, now I'm going to cry in front of them…

Suddenly, a hand was placed on her shoulder, and Naoka looked up to see the king's chair smiling down kindly at her

"Please don't cry," He said, handing her a handkerchief "It's okay, no one's mad at you."

You're not? "Y-you're not?" she whimpered as she wiped her eyes

"Of course not!" Hinamori said as she walked over and crouched down too "It was a complete accident! Besides, my nose doesn't hurt anymore, and it stopped bleeding already."

Naoka winced at the word "Bleeding", but nodded slightly

"And aside from that," Tadase added, "Why did you think you were going to get expelled?"

Oh, just the fact that you guys practically run the school and accidentally hitting one of you would be equivalent to criminal assault in the eyes of our peers "Y-you're the guardians a-and I hit the Joker chair and, well…"

"And I like I said," Amu assured "It was an accident – you don't need to worry about it or anything!"

"Besides," Nadeshiko added, "We have no control over your attendance here - only faculty can decide to expel a student."

Naoka let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and began twiddling her fingers together "O-oh…"

Nice going Naoka – make yourself looking threatening AND stupid

The explanation was rather concise – After the principle had confirmed to them of Naoka's agreement to meet, they went to the garden and waited for her, hoping to get her side on the "Classroom wide poisoning" that she "instigated" and clear things up, as Yaya's teacher was actually gunning to have her severely punished for her practically putting her entire classroom out of commission (As expected, though you'd think she'd be happy about the free day-off). But some time had passed and she hadn't shown, they got worried and went to look for her. That's when they found her unconscious outside (The cause of which Naoka was still troubled by as she kept pulling up a blank on why) and tried to wake her, leading to the punching. For some odd reason, they all seemed to be sharing a look – but the poor transfer student couldn't figure out for what or why because she was focusing solely on what was being told to her.

"I'm sorry," She murmured, rubbing her arm guiltily "I've caused so much trouble – you shouldn't have done this for me."

"And like we said, everything's cool!" Kukai insisted, jabbing his thumb at himself "'sides, we're the guardians – it's our job to keep an eye out for fellow students!"

Tadase nodded "That is correct. You didn't do anything wrong, we're just glad your safe."

Naoka looked down embarrassed – the student council at her school were never this proactive, she wasn't use to having people than her parents show concern like this…

"S-still, making you all stay after school like this if unfair to you." She murmured "And besides, everyone already thinks I'm guilty anway so…"

Then Amu hit her on the head

…No, you not misreading anything. Joker Chair Amu Hinamori hit Student Naoka Kouga on the head. Well, it was more of a slapped on the skull, but it's the same result…

"J-Joker Hinam-" She started, rubbing the now sore spot on her head while Amu suddenly pointed at her

"Stop saying that!"

"H-Huh?"

"That! Saying "Everyone already thinks I'm guilty" when you want to really say "Shut up, I'm innocent! Now let me tell you what happened"! If you want them to listen to you, speak up!"

Naoka just gaped while Amu continued "Letting everyone jump to conclusions is the same as saying "I'm already guilty"! You can't let everyone decide who you are or what you did without putting up a fight! If you want to prove you're a good person, you need to act like you know it! Now I want to hear you say "I'm not guilty!""

Naoka looked down at her hands for a while, then gave a weak "…i-i'm not guilty."

Amu's glared "Louder!"

"I-I'm not guilty…!"

"Louder!"

"I'm Not Guilty!"

"LOUDER"

"I'M NOT GUILTY!"

"YOUR NOT WHAT?"

"NOT GUILTY! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

"AND WHY IS THAT!"

Naoka shut her eyes and bellowed as loudly as she could "BECAUSE I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT THOSE GUYS, I TRIPPED! AND I JUST WANTED TO STUDY WITH MY CLASSMATES, I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE THEM INTO FAILING! AND I WAS ONLY TRYING TO RETURN MIYABI'S ERASER, BUT SHE KEPT RUNING AWAY!"

"That's right! You can't expect misunderstanding to go away, you have to-!"

"AND HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW MIXING POWDERED MILK AND SALT TOGETHER FOR COOKIES WOULD GIVE PEOPLE FOOD POSIONING! THEY SHOULD HAVE PUT THAT ON THE RECIPE!"

Everyone went quiet for a moment

"…Wait, that's what you used?!"

Naoka blushed "W-well we didn't have any milk and sugar in the house, and it was too late to go to the store. B-besides, I though using the salt would just make it taste a little weird, a-and powered milk's still milk – it's just a powdery version is all…"

Everyone went quiet again. Then suddenly, Naoka started giggling. It was odd, spontaneous, and out of nowhere.

"M-Miss Kouga, are you okay?" Nadeshiko asked

"I-I'm fine, it's just," She stuttered, trying to speak between laughing fits "It feels really good to say that stuff out loud. I never felt better…"

And Naoka just continue to laugh and laugh until she had forgotten why she had began laughing in the first place…

After that, Naoka was informed that she was to show up in front of the principle tomorrow and make her stand, and Nadeshiko offered to take her home.

Which brings us to here…

"W-well, there it is!" Naoka muttered, pointing to the slate grey roofed house a few blocks ahead. She turned to Nadeshiko and nervously bowed, "T-thank you for walking me home! Y-you should probably get home before-"

"Nonsense," the guardian said, suddenly linking their arms together "I'll walk you to the door."

She tried to protest, but before Naoka could do anything, Nadeshiko had practically started dragging her to the house. She had attempted to escape, but the graceful brunette had quite the grip.

W-why is she so strong?!

Once they had arrived at the front door, Naoka knocked a few times and waited a bit before the lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing her dad, bedraggled and hastily dressed as usual and not looking very pleased at the moment

"Naoka, where have you been?!" He asked, the worry in his gravely voice making him sound rather terrifying "Do you know what time it is - You should have been home before now!"

Naoka looked away rather ashamed – she had caused trouble for the guardians and made her father worried sick about her. If her mother had been home as well though, things would be a lot worse…

Nadeshiko released Naoka and gave a polite apologetic bow "It's my fault – my group and I wanted to speak to your daughter after school, but some unforeseen circumstances on both parties parts caused us to keep her late. I am very sorry and hope you can forgive us."

Her father looked a bit taken back, and Naoka felt the same – she never expected The Nadeshiko Fujisaki to humble herself like that, especially when the blame of the situation wasn't mainly on her.

Naoka quickly turned to her father "N-no, it's my fault! I passed out and-"

"Wait, you passed out!" He cried, and held her shoulders "What happened? Are you sick? Do you need-"

"I-it's fine! I-I was just-" WasIsick?IwasnervousandscaredButIdon'tremember "n-not feeling well I guess. Queen-Err, Miss Fujisaki and the others looked after me. They're really nice people and It's my fault because I wasn't being careful and I got lost and I have bad reflexes and I didn't think about calling home first and I'm so sorry I was being -"

Suddenly, her father began patting her head, urging her to stop. That was usually the only way her parents could get to Naoka to quite down or stop rambling.

"I'm not saying they aren't," He chuckled, face softening "I was just worried because you said you fainted. I'm rather glad there were people nearby to help, but I wished you'd call me before so I wasn't sitting here worrying."

He then turned to Fujisaki and bowed, prompting Naoka to follow suit. "Thank you so much for looking after my daughter."

"It was my pleasure." Nadeshiko gave a small smile and bowed again before turning to Naoka, "Remember to come by the Principle's office tomorrow so we can take care of things. I hope you two have a pleasant evening."

And with that Nadeshiko left and Naoka and her father entered the house.

"Your mom's still at work, but she'll be home soon." He said as Naoka began taking off her shoes and he headed back to the living room, sitting in front of a table drowned in scratched out pieces of paper "By the way, what did she mean about the principal's office?"

Naoka flinched, "A-ah, about that…"

"Does it have anything to do with the call I got from the school this afternoon?"

Naoka flinched again and carefully placed her shoes next to the others in the house, "M-maybe?"

"Naoka."

The young girl tentatively walked in, tight grip on her skirt. "I-It's just a misunderstanding, I promise, I'll take care of it."

She felt her father's gaze boring into her – sometimes that concern stare of his could be more powerful and frightening than a thousand of her mother's glares – and gazed down at her feet, feeling tears well up before she quickly wiped them, then suddenly gave her father an unexpected look of determination and, for the first time in years, held his gaze "I promise, it won't be like last time, I promise."

Her father sighed before standing, walking over and giving the girl a gentle pat on the head "I know sweetie, I promise too…"

[A/N]

Thank you for reading

Sorry this chapter took so long – I had graduation, other fic chapter's I'm simultaneously working on, other websites, and being procrastinative in general and thank you for your patience. I'm considering writing Naoka speech in an accent because I wanted to be fancy and all that jazz – what do you think?

Sorry if the chapter seems short, but I wanted to quickly establish Naoka's first encounter with the Guardians and Amu, but there will be more run ins in the future. I also apologize if Naoka's descriptions of them seemed too lavish and "Sueish", but this was actually partly on purpose. Most of SC fic's I've read over the years don't usually give perspective to how regular students view the Cannon characters (with the exception of background events) because their OCs usually already have (Hatched or Unhatched) guardian character and have attended Seiyo long enough that they can establish a quick bond with them, and I wanted to see if I could explore that a bit. The students seem to put the Guardians (as well as Amu even before she joined them) on rather high pedestals, and with Naoka's inherent tendency to exaggerate, I wanted to have some fun with that view point. I also hope I was not being too OOC with the Cannon characters or that their interaction seemed superficial – I considered with the fact that Naoka had passed out twice, and the fact it was late and them contributing her reactions to shock, stress of having her egg removed, and other factors, the guardians would extend some sympathy and not blame her too much for Amu's injury. I honestly hate how Amu's "Be yourself" speech came out, think I'll come back and fix it later

Once again, thanks for reading

PS: Naoka's not getting her egg anytime soon (Sorry), but will be witness to many odd events.