I'm sort of excited about this story - not so excited about getting only 2 reviews - but it might just be that people expect to read a little more before writing anything... or the super long chapters.

Also - I didn't really think about this when I put up the first chapter - it's pretty hard to explain some things in detail, especially something as weird as the Keyblade. So, I'm going to tell you that the names of Roxas' Keyblades in the previous chapter were Oathkeeper and Oblivion so that you can look them up if you need more detail and a visual.

Amu was staring off into space before class as usual. The teacher hadn't turned up yet. Apparently Amu's outside character had managed to scare away another teacher. Not that Amu cared right now. She had bigger things to think about right now, like the Heartless and the strange card she had been given the previous night. How was she supposed to use it? Was she supposed to make a collection of them and see what they would do?

"Hinamori-san," a kind voice broke her thoughts. She looked up to stare at the face of Tadase Hotori. "Is something wrong?"

Amu shook her head. "Uh… no. Not at all." She couldn't help the slight pink tinge on her cheeks from coming out.

"Oh, but you seemed so distant today," Tadase said. "I sort of wonder what this new teacher will be like."

"I guess," Amu replied, not sure what else to say. "Tadase-kun, have you heard from Kuukai recently?"

Tadase blinked. "He spoke to me on the phone last night. Why?"

"Did he mention a new friend?"

"Yeah, a boy by the name of Roxas. Souma-kun seems to like him a lot. And you met up with him yesterday – he talked about that too."

Amu nodded. "But he didn't mention anything about Roxas' character, did he?"

"He said Roxas had a unique character but he didn't elaborate. Is there something bizarre about him?"

"I think so, but I can't figure it out."

"Teacher's coming!" someone yelled. Tadase smiled and took his seat a few desks away.

The classroom door slid open and a tall, thin woman walked in wearing a purple dress that reached her knees and had a high collar. She wore high platform stilettos that were certainly not appropriate for school and had a charm necklace hanging from her neck. Her dark hair was done up in a bun on one side of her head and her face was thin and pointed. She wore black lipstick and green and purple eye shadow like a witch. In one hand she carried a thin crop; in the other she had an ugly crow in a cage.

"This is the Sixth Grade Star Class, isn't it?" she said. The sound of her voice sent chills down every student's spine. "Good, I'm in the right place then. I recently moved here from overseas and I was lucky to get a job like this so quickly." She placed the crow on the desk and turned around to write her name. "I'm Maleficent. I brought in a class pet as well. It's a good thing summer holidays are just around the corner. I'll judge how well this class performs and the student who I think deserves it most can take him home for the summer."

The class stared at the bird uneasily. It suddenly cawed, making everyone jump.

"There's no need to be scared of him. He actually has a very nice temperament once you get to know him. Now, where do we begin?"

Amu started to switch off at about here and stared out the window. It was a nice day outside, not too hot yet. She wanted to enjoy it. She looked down at the leafy green trees and grass, imagining that summer vacation was already here. However, she saw a strange figure on the school grounds. It was another cloaked person like Axel, only this person didn't appear to be as thin. He stood there, seeming to stare up at Amu and clutching a heavy tome close to his chest.

"Hinamori-san? Hinamori-san?"

Amu suddenly turned around and gasped, seeing Maleficent-sensei standing right next to her. No teacher had ever freaked her out like Maleficent did.

"Hinamori-san, I'm trying to call the roll," the teacher explained. "Please keep your mind within this classroom."

Amu gulped and averted her gaze. "Sure…"

There were gasps and whispers whirring through the classroom.

"My goodness, did you see her jump when she saw Maleficent-sensei?"

"She gives me the creeps. I don't blame Hinamori-san."

"This teacher is going to be tough if even Hinamori-san can get scared of her."

Maleficent nodded. "Good." She continued to rattle off names on her roll.

Amu turned back to the window. The person in black was gone.

Before she knew it, Amu was at the end of the school day, finally relaxing in the Royal Garden after an hour of solid Guardian work – even if she was only sharpening pencils again. And again it seemed only three of the five were doing any real work. The charas were off playing whatever little game they usually played (for some reason Kiseki kept thinking there was some serious mission in this game). Su broke away from the game to witness the end of the meeting. Ran turned away from Kiseki yelling at Kusu-kusu for not taking the game seriously and noticed Su watching Tadase close the meeting.

"Su, is something wrong?" she asked, hovering up to meet the clover chara.

"Not really, desu," Su replied. "I was just wondering if Amu plans to tell everyone what happened last night."

"It certainly is important," Ran agreed.

However, the meeting closed and Amu had mentioned meeting with Kuukai but didn't say a word about the Heartless or the strange man named Axel.

"Ah! Amu-chi!" Yaya whined. "Yaya misses Kuukai too! Yaya wants to hang out with Kuukai!"

"Yaya, calm down," Amu said. "I'm sure Kuukai will call you sometime. He's got a new friend in middle school and-"

"What! Kuukai went and got a new friend without telling me!" Yaya exclaimed. "That's so mean."

"It's only natural," Kairi said, pushing his glasses up. "Souma-kun has moved on to middle school and it's difficult to stay in touch with old friends. As much as you want to, you can't hang out with him as much any more."

"At least not until I get to middle school! Just you wait!" Yaya insisted.

The Guardians parted ways and Amu ran off home. Ran floated over her shoulder with an uncharacteristic worried look on her face. "Amu, why didn't you say anything?"

"About what?" Amu said.

"About the Heartless or about Axel!" Ran replied. "Don't you think that was important?"

"But what am I supposed to tell them? I don't know what's going on myself."

"You could at least mention it," Miki added. "Someone might know something."

"But you saw what Roxas did. If I told everyone how would they react? Rima would just go out and kill them all."

"Have more faith in your friends, desu," Su chided.

"Su's right," Ran said. "It's not fair of you to give up on them like that."

Amu looked at her feet. "I suppose… okay, if it makes you all happy, I'll call Tadase and tell him as soon as we get home."

The charas gasped.

"Amu! You're actually going to call him," Miki said. Amu froze on the spot when she realised what she'd just proposed.

"One step further in your relationship!" Ran teased. "Amu's getting brave – now she can call and ask Tadase out on a date. Hooray!"

"Ran!" Amu yelled. The pink chara took off and Amu gave chase furiously. How could that little wretch suggest such a thing? "I'm only going to tell him about the Heartless problem over the phone! We're not going anywhere!"

"Ran's got the right idea!" Miki agreed.

"H-hey! You guys don't get it!"

"Amu's too shy, desu."

"As always," Miki scoffed. She knocked on the door of a house. "We're already home, you know."

Amu stared at the door before her. It did look like her home's door. "Oh alright, I'll get it over with… but I'm not going to ask him out."

"Still being obstinate," Ran crooned.

Amu pouted and tried to ignore her as she grabbed for the handle. The door was locked. Amu blinked, totally confused by that. Her parents hadn't said anything about leaving the house tonight. The charas looked on confused.

"Why's the door locked?" Su asked.

"I don't know, but don't worry," Amu assured them. She produced a key from a pocket in her bag. "I've got a spare house key!"

"Hooray!" Su and Ran cheered. Miki couldn't really see what was so fantastic about carrying around a spare house key and started to draw something in her sketchbook.

Amu slipped the key into the lock and turned it but the door refused to unlock. She tried with all her might but it wouldn't budge.

"I don't get it, why isn't the door opening?"

"Amu, look at that," Miki said, pointing to a little drawing above the door.

Amu looked up and saw a little sphere with a town, a train line and a clock tower. She instantly recognised it and pulled the card out of her bag. It glowed brilliantly and flew from her hands, sticking to the door. A dark keyhole appeared in the middle of the glowing card and the clicking sound of a door unlocking could be heard. Amu hesitantly grabbed the handle of the door again and turned it. It opened smoothly without so much as a creak. Behind the door was a bright light. Amu only needed to take one step into it.

On the other side was a paved road lined by shops and houses. The day was fading into dusk and the stars were just about to twinkle in. Amu stepped away from the door and peered around the corner of the street. It travelled down in a steep incline where a group of young boys were helping an older man push a heavy load up the hill into a garage. The shops weren't about to close but people were beginning to walk away from the little street on their way home.

The creak of a door closing and a lock clicking grabbed Amu's attention. She whipped around just in time to catch the door back home disappearing. She squealed.

"How am I going to get home? Where am I?" she exclaimed, running back up the street to see if she could find another door or at least someone who could tell her where she was. At the crest of the hill the street ended in a wide, empty square with a breathtaking view of the town in the twilight and a looming train station. Towering out of the station was a large clock tower with four prominent bells.

"It says 'Central Station'," Miki noticed.

"But this doesn't look like the main station back home, desu," Su added.

Ran floated over Amu's shoulder. "Hey, Amu, should we go inside? Maybe we can get directions."

"I don't know…" Amu muttered.

"Let's just give it a try! Come on!" Ran said, flying over to the door. "Come and open the door, Amu."

Amu reluctantly joined Ran and opened the door heading into the station. They headed in, passing the ticket booth and noticing that they were on the top floor of a multi-level building standing before platforms 0, 1 and 2. Amu stared in awe at the giant building and wondered how many storeys of train station lay before her.

"Wow, I've never seen such an extensive train line, even in the Tokyo subway," Miki remarked as she and the other charas examined the map of the station. "Do you think people here have cars?"

"They wouldn't need cars with so many trains, desu," Su said.

Amu glanced at the clock. It read that the time was only four o'clock even though it appeared to be almost six if one went by the colours of the sky.

"Attention passengers," the PA announced. "The train from Greensville Station will be arriving at Platform 2. Please stand behind the yellow line. Passengers exiting or entering the train must do so from carriages 1, 2, or 3."

The sliding door that closed off Platform 2 opened and a short train with only five carriages slowly drove into the station. Thanks to the way the platforms were designed, only carriages 1 through 3 were able to connect with the platform. The doors opened and immediately young people in uniforms began to rush out: girls in blue dresses and white shirts with red bow ties and boys wearing white shirts and blue trousers or shorts and blue ties. Most of them passed Amu without a second glance.

"Amu, here's your chance," Ran said. "Ask for directions."

"Oh… yeah," Amu said, shyness and nervousness taking over. "Um, hey, I need help," she said, grabbing some random boy by his shirt. He turned around and gave her a glare that matched her outside character. On the inside, Amu was almost ready to pee herself.

The boy she'd grabbed onto was a blond wearing the trouser form of the uniform who was missing his tie for some reason. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and his hair was spiked up. His green eyes refused to yield to Amu's outside character. "What do you want?"

"Um…"

"Hayner!" exclaimed a girl. A brunette ran up to them wearing the uniform correct to the letter, but with her socks messily falling down her legs. A short, black-haired boy (who was also a bit overweight) followed her. "Knock it off! I won't let you stoop so low as to bully elementary school students!"

The blond's eye twitched. "I don't bully…"

The brunette jogged up to Amu, leaning down briefly to pull up her socks. "I'm sorry. Hayner can be a bit rough around the edges but when you know him he's really a nice guy."

"By the way," the overweight boy added. "I've never seen your uniform before. Is there a new elementary school around that we don't know about?"

"Uh… not that I know," Amu replied, looking away.

"Well that's strange," the brunette muttered. Suddenly a light bulb flickered on in her head. "Aha! Elementary schools get let off for summer vacation earlier than high school! So you're just wearing that because you feel like it, right?"

Amu just stared.

"In any case, we're sorry for our friend's behaviour," said the shorter boy. "We'll let you get home, now."

"Hang on," the blond said. "You wanted something, didn't you?" His friends glanced at him. "You said you needed help."

"Er…" Amu stammered.

"Come on, Amu," Miki said. "Just tell them that you're lost and need help getting home."

"You're lost!" exclaimed the brunette. "Oh, that's awful."

Amu gaped. "Did I say that out loud?"

"No, that little flying thing said so," said the overweight boy. "By the way, what are those things floating around your head?"

Amu froze. Her charas blinked at the strangers.

"They're so cute," said the brunette. She held out her hands. "Please, would one of you sit in my hands?"

"Okay," Su quickly agreed, much to the shock of Ran and Miki. She floated down and seated herself comfortably in the cupped hands offered. "Your hands are nice and soft, desu."

The brunette gazed at the green chara with her eyes overflowing with admiration. "She's so cute! Like a little fairy. I wish I had one."

"It doesn't belong to you," the blond pointed out, "There's no way…"

All of a sudden a large, masculine hand grabbed Su roughly and yanked her out of the brunette's hands. She turned around to find another blond boy with a beanie covering his hair wearing the same uniform, only with black replacing all the blue. He was also lacking a tie and had a scar across the bridge of his nose between his blue eyes. A silver-haired girl with one of her crimson eyes hidden behind her hair stood to his left in perfect uniform, even her socks were kept up neatly. To her left, a dark-skinned boy with no tie and the sleeves torn off his shirt stood grinning.

"What's this?" asked the blond, turning Su around and upside down. "Where'd you losers find a fairy?"

"Seifer! Stop it," the brunette yelled, trying to grab for Su. The blond easily held her out of her reach. "That's not mine!"

"So? It's still pretty cute," Seifer said, bringing Su closer to his face. "What did they used to say about fairies again?"

"Good luck," The silver-haired girl droned.

"I thought it was something about wishes, y'know?" said the dark-skinned boy.

"Oh yeah! Catching fairies brings good luck… or one special wish. I wonder which it is," Seifer smirked. "Only one way to find out. Thanks for the gift."

"No!" Amu finally piped up. "You can't take Su away!"

Seifer smirked at her. "Su? So this fairy has a name, huh?"

"Yeah," Amu growled back.

"I won't let you kidnap a poor little girl's fairy," the blond said, dropping his backpack and unzipping it. He pulled out a blue bat with a yellow handle. "At least I won't stand by idly. Let's struggle for it!"

"Hayner!" the brunette chided. "You can't do something so reckless with someone's precious object on the line! Especially if you're struggling against Seifer."

"You'll lose," the shorter boy added.

Seifer scoffed. "You want to struggle against me? Fine, just don't cry if I hit you too hard." The dark-skinned boy pulled a bat identical to Hayner's out of his backpack and handed it to Seifer. "Thanks, Rai. This won't take long."

He let go of Su, allowing her to float off dizzily. Suddenly Hayner charged for Seifer. They swung their bats simultaneously and were immediately locked in a stalemate. Seifer, with his superior strength, pushed Hayner away with the bat and struck him twice; hitting both sides. Hayner backed off for only a second before coming to attack once again, feinting a jab at Seifer's face and parrying the next blow to his stomach. Seifer pulled back for more room to attack and Hayner saw the opportunity to jab at Seifer. Seifer easily sidestepped out of the way and whacked Hayner in the back.

Amu stared with her mouth agape in shock. The brunette and the black-haired friends stood beside her cheering Hayner on, despite their dissent for his choice to start such a thing in the first place. A crowd of students began to gather cheering for their favourite and chanting 'struggle' over and over.

"Isn't this a little bit violent?" Amu asked, wondering why the security guards, who were standing by in case something started, weren't breaking up the fight.

"I suppose, but at least Seifer seems to be playing by the rules this time," the brunette commented. "Go Hayner!"

"Yeah, you can do it this time!" the shorter boy yelled. He looked at Amu, seeing her confused expression. "This is the first time you've seen a struggle fight, isn't it?"

Amu nodded. "But why are they fighting in the first place?"

"It's a sport," the boy explained. "Two competitors struggle for victory, but they're only allowed to attack each other using those bats. In tournaments, they give both players one hundred orbs and the aim is to obtain the opponent's orbs and hold more orbs than your opponent before time runs out. You can win automatically if you knock out the opponent or steal all of his orbs."

Suddenly the brunette gasped. Amu turned back to the fight only to find that it had concluded with Seifer as the clear winner. Hayner was huffing and panting, struggling to get back to his feet. Seifer grinned down at him with the struggle bat slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, that's right. Kneel, loser," he taunted.

"I'm… not done yet," Hayner said, still trying to get to his feet.

"As if!" Seifer chucked the bat back to Rai. "Thanks for entertaining me, worm. Come on, guys, let's beat it."

"Yeah," Rai quickly agreed as Seifer strolled past on his way out of the station. The girl said nothing but followed anyway. "Man, Seifer, you were so cool back there, y'know! You really put that kid back in his place, y'know."

"Yeah, Rai, I know," Seifer sighed.

"Hayner, you're lucky Seifer played a clean game today," the short boy told the blond.

"Mm," the brunette nodded. "You didn't get so beaten this time."

Amu and the two friends had taken Hayner down the quiet little street where Amu had first turned up and down to a place they called 'Tram Common'. The place was a huge tram station with trams coming and going, people bustling around and shops and businesses operating everywhere. Above every shop a home was built for the owners, making the area partly residential. Miki and Su were the first to notice how well engineered the trams were – they hardly made a sound and seemed to run on their own internal battery. They'd taken Hayner straight to an accessory shop run by a young lady who let them in quickly upon seeing Hayner. She took them to the back and got out a first aid kit that seemed too large to be of use solely in the shop.

"Thank-you Stella," said the brunette.

The young woman nodded, opening the first aid kit. She was short and had blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a simple blue shirt and a long, yellow skirt with dark blue slip-on shoes. She pressed a cold, wet cloth against Hayner's cheek to bring down the swelling of his face a little. "Tch, Hayner," she said. "Fighting with Seifer again. Your grandmother isn't going to be happy when she sees you come home in this state again."

"Shut up," Hayner grumbled, but said no more in his defence.

"Feel guilty, huh?" said the overweight boy, making Hayner growl at him.

"Hey," Stella snapped, "you know, you two could help me out since I have to take care of Hayner. Look after the shop for me; I don't want to miss any customers."

"Alright," the brunette said. "Come on Pence, to the counter!"

She grabbed the shorter boy and dragged him back to the front of the shop. Amu blinked, feeling every bit left out since they'd gotten there.

"Hey, what about Amu?" Ran blurted out.

"Oh yeah," said the brunette. "Why don't you come out and help us? The more the merrier!"

Amu nodded, joining them at the main body of the shop. There were accessories galore everywhere. There were shelves on every wall containing displays of every accessory Amu could think of. There was even a grid on the ceiling where more accessories were hung for display.

"I'll work the cash register and you girls can serve the customers," said Pence, taking his place by the machine.

The brunette turned to Amu and caught her gawking at all of the accessories. The charas were having a great time playing with the accessories hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey, Amu," Ran said, coming back with a silver chain. "Try this on! It'll look great!"

"Actually, you should put that back," the brunette said to Ran. "Stella gets iffy when people play around in her shop. I'm sorry we haven't introduced ourselves properly. I'm Olette. This is Pence and our friend in the back is obviously Hayner. Those older guys back at Central Station were Seifer, Fuu and Rai."

"I'm Ran!" Ran immediately burst out, bringing out her pom-poms and shaking them around. "This is Miki, that's Su and our owner here is Hinamori Amu."

"Nice to meet you, Hinamori," Pence said.

Amu smiled. "The same goes for me. Hey, Olette-san – it's okay for me to call you that, right?"

"You don't have to add the 'san'… whatever that means. Just call me plain, old, Olette."

"Um, okay," Amu said nervously. "Olette, about those bullies… do they harass you regularly."

Olette laughed. "Those guys aren't really bullies. They're the leading members of the Disciplinary Committee. Seifer founded it some time ago and has been acting as a town vigilante ever since. Actually, the only person Seifer really tries to bully is Hayner."

"I like Hayner, desu," Su remarked. "He's such a brave person. But I don't like Seifer. He was acting so mean, desu."

"I'm sure if you ask him later to apologise you'll get some kind of compensation," Pence said. "Seifer has a noble and honourable side as well."

"Really?" Amu murmured. "Just by looking at him I find that hard to believe."

Pence and Olette both laughed out aloud at that statement.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true," Olette giggled. "Well, summer vacation starts tomorrow. What'll we do on our first day of freedom?"

Pence mulled it over before replying, "I think we should meet at the usual spot tomorrow and discuss it with Hayner. You know how he gets when his friends do stuff without him."

Olette nodded. "That seems fair. Hinamori, would you like to come with us?"

Amu smiled and nodded. "Thanks. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise. I don't know how to get home from here at all." She stared over the bench at the Tram Common beyond and sighed. "This place is so unfamiliar to me. It's nothing like my hometown."

"Your hometown?" Olette repeated. "Oh, I see. You're completely lost! Well, no matter. See if you can call your parents first."

"Amu should have done that in the first place," Miki criticised. Amu glared at her and whipped her mobile phone out. She found her parents' numbers on her contacts list and called her mother's first. She was met with this:

"The person you are trying to call is out of range."

"What!?" she exclaimed. She tried her father's number and then her home number. When those failed she tried calling her friends' numbers but they all turned up the same result. "I can't get through to anyone!"

"I see," Olette said with a knowing smile. "In that case, you can stay with me until we figure out how to reach your family."

Pence frowned. "Olette, are you sure that's okay? I mean, you've got-"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Olette insisted. "She can't stay at your place, you've got boys everywhere. And Hayner's place hasn't got any vacancies either, so my house it is!"

"Well, alright," Pence said, leaning over the cash register. "You girls had better get ready; I think that little girl is a customer."

A young girl – probably third grade – in a blue sailor suit uniform skipped up to the counter and gave a toothy smile. "Hello! I'd like one Blizzagun armlet for my big brother and that amber ring for my mum."

"Alright," Olette said, bringing the items from the shelves to the counter. The Blizzagun armlet was a beautiful silver piece of jewellery studded with blue sapphires. The ring was chrome coated on top with amber. "Are you sure you have the munny to pay for this?"

The girl nodded. "I've been saving up really hard for a while."

"Wow, really? I take it your brother's about to go travelling."

"Yep! He's going on the Gummi Ship! I figure he'll need something to protect himself."

"How thoughtful," Olette replied as she took the blue and yellow currency and handed the items to the girl wrapped up. "You have a good evening now, bye!"

The girl ran off with her presents safely tucked into her bag. Amu stared as Pence put the money away in the cash register. The coins were little colourful marbles and the notes looked like monopoly money.

"Hey, I've never seen that currency before," Ran piped up. She turned to her companion charas. "Do you think we're in a different country?"

Miki and Su shrugged.

"Hey guys," they heard Hayner say. They turned around and saw him walking out from the back room with Stella. He had cream on his bruises and an icepack for his cheek and black eye. "Let's go. I'll feel great! Thanks again Stella."

"That's okay. As long as there's someone to mind the shop while I'm gone, I'll always be there to help," Stella said.

"That lady," Miki muttered. "She's only out for her own self-interests."

"WHAT DID THAT FAIRY SAY?!" Stella suddenly shrieked.

"What?!" Amu and the other charas exclaimed. "She can see them as well!"

"After I selflessly fixed up your friend you turn around and say something as ungrateful as that! Get out, fairy!"

Miki flew from the shop to avoid being slapped.

Olette laughed nervously. "Actually, Stella's right. She has nothing to gain from helping Hayner. If anything, being friends with Hayner is actually bad for her image. We should be thanking her."

"That's right!" Stella said. "Now if you don't mind, I have a business to run and you kids should be getting home soon. So run along."

"Okay," Pence said, leading the way through the side door to get outside. "See you later, Stella."

The party of four walked off with a goodbye from Stella and began to walk across Tram Common. Hayner had taken the lead this time and seemed to know exactly where he was going.

"So," he began, "I heard that Hinamori is going to stay with Olette."

Amu gasped. "How'd you hear that?"

"The wall is paper thin; I could hear everything that was being said. I'm fine with that arrangement."

"Well, then, that's good," Amu said with finality. Hayner's impression on her still wasn't too good. "Where are we going anyway?"

"To the Sandlot," Hayner replied. Amu blinked.

"Where's that?"

"It's not too far," Olette replied. "And hopefully, Seifer won't be there. We don't need anymore fighting today." She shot a firm look at Hayner's back. Hayner seemed to feel it.

"Yeah, yeah. I just wanna check something out," Hayner said, leading the group down some steps and under an archway. The Sandlot had a big arena in the middle, surrounded by benches. The walls were covered in posters for events (particularly struggle events) to be held in the area. A garage to one side stored equipment for all sorts of games and sports. The area was empty except for a group of younger boys who were hanging around a large poster which had been put up recently. Hayner calmly strode up to them and – with his struggle bat handy – pushed them aside.

"Hey, we were here first!" yelled one of the boys.

"Like I care! It's not like you're gonna enter," Hayner said coldly.

"I sure am!"

"Pfft! That would be useless, 'cause I'd only wipe the floor with you!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see you try, right here, right now!"

The boy charged at Hayner with his fists raised. Hayner beat him on the head a couple of times with his bat and nudged him back with his foot. "Leave the struggling to the older boys. Go ride your skateboard or something."

"Hayner! Stop this," Olette chided. "You're being a bully again!" Meanwhile, the boys grumbled and walked off feeling sour.

"Hmph!"

Amu glared at him. "I don't like his character," she said quietly to her charas. They shook their heads, agreeing with her.

Pence read the poster and grinned. "It looks like Setzer isn't coming back this year."

"Good riddance," Hayner said.

"Seifer's competing as the champion," Olette said. "But I thought he declined that position."

"The organizers will do whatever they want," Hayner answered, "even if someone says no. But no matter what they do, Seifer will still compete."

"Um, is this an advertisement for that struggle thing you were doing before?" Amu asked.

Pence nodded excitedly. "There's a local tournament being held at the end of the summer. Hayner always competes but he loses in quarterfinals every time."

Hayner pouted. "No need to remind me."

"Seifer competes all the time too," Pence added as an afterthought. "Setzer used to compete and he was the reigning champion of the tournament."

"But they both lost last year," Hayner said. Olette and Pence turned their attention to him. He shouldered his bat and turned away. "It doesn't matter now. Last year's champion isn't here anymore, so Seifer's gonna be the guy to beat."

For a moment, Amu saw a sad emotion flicker through Hayner's face and linger in his eyes. For that moment, she felt just a little sorry for him. The suddenly, he turned back to face his friends with a softer, more caring expression.

"So, summer holidays start tomorrow. What do you want to do?"

Olette and Pence snapped to attention, tearing their eyes away from the poster. "We were thinking of that!"

"Really? Did you come up with any ideas?"

"Um… not really…" Olette admitted. "We wanted to talk it over with you. But I personally think that we should start with the summer report. We should get that out of the way before anything else and then we'll be free for the rest of the holidays!"

"Okay, sounds good," Hayner said. "What about you, Pence?"

"I don't wanna get straight into schoolwork right after coming back from school!" the short boy whined. Olette gave him a pointed look. "But okay… just because it'll be over and done with."

"Then it's decided," Olette announced with a clap of her hands. "Tomorrow, let's all meet at the usual spot and we'll talk about what our report is going to be about. In the meantime, it's getting late so we should all head home for tonight."

"Alright then, you go ahead. I've got a job to do," Hayner said, heading towards a street that was signposted as 'Market Street'.

"Good luck with that," Pence called out. "Let's get back to Tram Common. The last tram going to my suburb leaves in half an hour."

Olette nodded and asked Amu to follow her.

If you haven't watched Sleeping Beauty or played Kingdom Hearts, I'll just have you know... or maybe I won't because it'll keep you in suspense. However, as you can see, not too much action in this chapter. Hopefully, there'll be more action in future chapters. Until then, enjoy this and please encourage me with reviews. I almost didn't want to upload this for want of reviews and then I prove to myself that I'm not that selfish.