(A/N: I just realized that Yuya and Yuto are related so I can't ship them goddamn it my counterpartshipping is ruined. Well then. At least I can still have my darkrebelshipping. Any and all counterpartshipping is all platonic, unfortunately.

Also I am trying for every Sunday for an update but judging that this either comes out on Sunday night or Monday morning depending how speedy I am uhhhh no promisesss so far…

Let's aim for every other Sunday, shall we?

Also to mention, this is planned to be an ongoing, so it's probably going to run very long with way too much characters and stuff. I wanna try to make my interpretations of ALL of the characters, or at least all the ones I liked. Let's see how that turns out.)

Yuya had no clear what was going on all around him. All he knew was that bunches of students from other school houses were throwing things in each other's faces as a response to the house war. Yuya couldn't help but feel this fight had been started by him. Ah, if I didn't call Yugo the wrong name… he tried to think.

It was difficult to keep his mind in track as everything went on. Was that baloney just thrown into someone's face? Oh look, the pretty Exceed girl with short hair just became covered in soup. Hm, the Fusion boy that threw it at her was being punched in the face by a red headed Exceed boy as revenge-

Wait, what?!

When the quarrel in the cafeteria became more than just a food fight, the panic inside of Yuya began. He found himself alone, not knowing where to turn or where to go. No worries…. The teachers would break it up sooner or later… right? They had to, they had to, why weren't they coming already?

Those perfect looking wall was splattered with tomato sauce, pizza crusts and brownie crumbs. The beautiful silver lettered banners were purposefully damaged. A group of Fusion children had thrown strawberry milk cartons and orange juice to splatter the Exceed's banner. The silver became a disgusting brown at the 'E' and the 'x' while the rest of it was grabbed by kids standing on tables who ripped it down.

As pay back, the Exceed children took to ripping the Fusion banner right down and beginning to shred it to pieces. The fabric went all over the tables, as different Fusion and Exceed kids began fighting with each other.

Before anyone could take Synchro's house banner could be taken, some of the fancier looking Synchro kids took it down gently. Those Synchro kids weren't fighting, it was mostly the rowdier looking ones that did that. The fancier ones tried to sneak away with the banner, hoping no one would spot them. Of course, the rest of their house did.

"Hey! Aren't we supposed to be all together?! Why do you rich kids always take what's for all of us in this house?!" Some of the rowdier Synchro kids exclaimed at them as they tried to take the banner back. There were tears forming in the middle of it now as the well-dressed ones tried to yank it back to them. "You're all worse than the Fusion kids! Pick whose side you're on!"

"Why are you trying to take the house banner?! It's OURS- you can't have it!"

The divides in the school seemed to be clear. Standard students tried to stay out of the house war and sneak off. Exceed and Fusion was in the midst of a war. Synchro was involved too, against Fusion but it didn't seem they'd be Exceed's allies, if only the Synchro house wasn't a house divided.

Yuya backed up into a wall, too frightened to even react. How was this school supposed to be better?! He kept to the wall, confusion and bewilderment taking over him. One thing, however, that took Yuya out of his daze was a sight to behold.

There were exceptions in every side, the few children who were trying to not get involved in the house war and either tried to hide or escape. A few of the younger looking Fusion children didn't seem too happy that their house acted the way they did, and hid underneath the tables to wait for it all to be over. Shun seemed to not care who they were, just that they had a pin on them showing they were Fusion house.

"Hey Fusion kids, don't hide!"

Shun didn't seem to care that they were trying to escape the violence and tipped over the table above them. Perhaps he was going to target and attack them, perhaps all he was going to do was throw them out of the cafeteria, Yuya couldn't be sure. But when he had seen it occurring, Yuya knew he wasn't going to be able to just stand around afraid like before.

The next few minutes were a blur. Yuya recalled going forward to try to stop Shun and him definitely not appreciating it. Then, Shun suddenly stopped and stared and Yuya puzzlingly. Yuya didn't get why, the two never met before. Shun must've noticed him earlier, right? It was my fault this fight started, and besides, he must've noticed Yuri pointing me out… he thought.

After that, there was a blackness that appeared out of nowhere and nothing was in sight anymore. Yuya couldn't tell what was going on anymore, and was half sure that he was going unconscious. Maybe someone hit him in the head while he was distracted, though that didn't seem to be so.

Yuya woke up again in one of the hallways. It was dark there. The ground was gray and cold, tiled with white speckles. The walls were supposed to be white, but were wearing down to ugly yellows and grays, strains at random points. Dark blue walls covered the halls, large ones that could fit a whole person, and sometimes when the war's battles started, they did. But for now, books and papers were all inside.

There were dull lights on the roofs, giving off weak rays. It must have begun to rain at a point because the panels of windows in the hallways above the lockers were wet and didn't give any light off. For the most part, the hallways were cast in long shadows where the light couldn't reach. Yuya shivered, he found himself sitting on the floor with no recollection of what happened with Shun or in the cafeteria.

From far away, Yuya could still hear loud screams and fighting going on, but it was clear that the fight was ending. He was definitely a ways off from the cafeteria at this point, yet the loudest screams were from teachers and security finally coming to break up the fight. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened and it seemed the teachers were sick and tired of it. Maybe that's why they took so long to come.

"You were about to face Shun when he was angry. You are either the bravest person I have met, or the stupidest." A voice called out.

Yuya was startled and made an 'eep' sound while jumping. He threw himself up and mistakenly hit his head on the locker behind him. "O-ouch…" Yuya mumbled.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Someone came up to him. The person was as tall as he was, and was the third person Yuya had seen that day with his face. At last, the third and final 'cousin' Yuya would have to meet. His hair was spiked up with black in the back and a light purple in the front.

He looked sort of punk like, with a dark green shirt, black tie, black jeans, and black wristbands with silver spikes on them. This one looked dark and harsh, but with friendly warmth behind gray eyes. "My name is Yuto," he said. "So, I'm guessing this isn't what you were expecting on your first day?"

"N-not at all…" Yuya replied, looking at Yuto. He definitely wouldn't say Yuto's name wrong. Yuto looked different to Yugo, but he didn't want to take that risk again. "Why… why are the houses at war?" Yuya glanced at Yuto's pin, finding out he was an Exceed. He had a cousin in each house, except for Standard.

Yuto made a fist. "'Cas the Fusion wanted it," he said. "How much do you know about the houses? Probably not a lot?" he sat down next to Yuya.

"Umm, I know that there is four. Standard, Fusion, Synchro, and Exceed." Yuya responded. "Pretty weird house names, if you ask me… is there a reason why they're like that?"

"It relates to what each house represents. I'm Exceed, and our house motto is we 'exceed' expectations, hence the name. Our house got nicknamed 'X-Y-Z' though; there are a lot of math leagues in here. If you're sorted into the Exceed House, it basically means you're above level on high-ranked courses like math, English, science, you get it, right? We might look like punks but we're more, which is what the Fusion kids don't see."

Yuya let the information sink in, taking mental notes. "What are Fusion kids? They were dressed nice, but looked sort of stuck up. Are they rich or something?"

"Yeah, they're rich alright. They've also been ranked high in the same courses that us Exceed are. Their house motto is that they 'fuse' with the class material. They think they're better than us with higher scores and that are not just better at high ranked classes but the arts too. They're stuck up and wanna destroy the other houses. Fusion kids start fights and since they're rich their families pay off the school and we get blamed."

"Huh?! That's not exactly fair!" Yuya frowned. "Well, I can see why you don't seem to like them. But that guy, uh- purple coat… Shun was it? I don't think it was very right for him to go after the ones hiding."

Yuto looks away. "Shun's my friend. He gets out of control and carried away at times though, I and his sister Ruri usually keep him in check. But, his anger is understandable. Fusion kids cause us a lot of trouble and Synchro kids are too stupid and self-divided to even help out. They made us their rivals too, even though if we worked together we could get rid of the trouble making ones. Ugh…"

"It doesn't really make much sense for everyone to be fighting like that." Yuya sternly said. "Even if the Fusion kids act like jerks, it's still not right… not all of them are like that, right? And being so aggressive… when everyone fights with fire then doesn't everyone get burnt too?" he optimistically added.

Yuto liked the idea of everything being resolved without this aggression, however, he did not believe it could happen. He was too realistic and had attended this school far too long for it. Thing were so much simpler before he came to Z-Ray High. The same could be said for anyone, really. "Uh-huh, how do you suppose we do that? It's a nice idea, but it ain't happening. Especially since the jerk known as Yuri wouldn't let it, like the other Fusion kids." he mentioned.

"Well, if we could all be happy together, wouldn't everyone like it better that way…? I'm sure everyone has common ground…" Yuya sighed. "Even if they did, you're right, it's not that easy… but you don't seem to believe in this war either, right?"

Yuto sighed a bit as well. "Not really, no. But it's not like we can make sunshine, rainbows and make everyone smile and 'no war', not that easy. I stick to my house and I don't abandon my friends. When you get sorted into a house, I suggest you do the same thing- hey, what was your name? I didn't catch it."

"I'm Yuya." Yuya smiled a bit. "It's nice to meet you by the way, Yuto. You're the first kid I met at the school besides my old pals who didn't yell or fight!" he exclaimed. Yuto chuckled a bit.

"I'm glad I made a good first impression. You're just lucky I got to you and saved you in time. You wouldn't like Shun when he's angry. I think he was a bit puzzled by the fact you uh- look like me. He can tell me apart from the rest of our 'cousins' but can't tell them apart from each other."

"W-will people not be able to tell us apart? That wouldn't be good." Yuya didn't like the idea of that happening.

"Probably, just get something to be able to tell you a part. Like a signature. I wear this black cape around as my factor. Yugo has that bike of his, and Yuri doesn't really do anything other than wear fancy rich ass clothes. Maybe you could get a necklace or something."

Yuya smiled a bit. "I think I have something in mind… it'll help." he said. Yuya frowned again though, thinking of everything with the war. "Can I ask a question about this?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Back in the lunchroom, the Fusion and X-Y-Z kids were fighting with each other, and Synchro was trying to be its own side, but it seemed to be fighting each other. Why is that?"

"'Cas Synchro is honestly just as divided as the houses are. It must as well be two separate ones." Yuto explained. "Synchro 'syncs' into traditional subjects and specializes in different things. Turning English classes into Journalism, let's say. A lot of them go into math and become engineers too. Most of the rich kids are all in Fusion, but a good portion of them,"

Yuto took a breath. "The rest of them though, they're actually the exact opposite. There are a couple of the ordinary middle class kids in Synchro house, but so many of them are from poorer areas here on mechanic scholarships. So there is some class divides, middle class usually sticks with the poorer ones though because of how pompous and self obsessed rich kids here tend to be."

"E-everyone is so extreme here... can't they all just get along? They're all even in one house, yet even that isn't easy…" Yuya looked up at the roof. "Hey, do you think it's possible for someone to unite the houses?"

Yuto thought about it. "Not really. Fusion kids are too dense and twisted."

Yuya paused. "But it's a nice thing to aspire to, don't you think?" he said. He had made his decision.

"I guess so, if you like thinking of false optimism." Yuto responded. There was silence. Even the riot in the lunchroom far away had calmed down; most likely the school security had assured that by now. Footsteps and wind from outside were heard and the faint light from a cloudy, rainy evening came. The mist from the cold was sticking to the glass with droplets on top of it. Every once in awhile, you heard the droplets leak in the creeks of the poorly constructed window and onto the top of the long lockers.

Yuya tapped his foot with an almost excited tone, which puzzled Yuto extremely. "I think it could happen. We just gotta believe." Yuya mentioned. "I think if we keep smiling and try to spread smiling to everyone maybe it'll make them happy, even if it were just a day! We should try as things go on! You're a really nice person, Yuto. I know you are because of everything you've done for me so far, so I bet you want something like that too?"

Yuto looked away. "It's not exactly that simple. But… I would love it if it were that way." he said. "But I guess since your family and your actually decent unlike Yuri and Yugo, I'll help you out whenever I can." he smiled a bit. "Don't forget though, I put my own house over everything else. You might be family, but Shun, despite how angry he can be, and Ruri are like my family too."

"Understandable…" Yuya said. He looked around again before his stomach let out an intense growl. Yuto looked at him strangely. "I still didn't get food like I wanted though, and I guess I have to go to the office or something for registration and all that."

"Oh, well umm…" Yuto looked in his bag and found some food. He tossed it to Yuya. "It's not much, just an apple and a piece of bread, but it should hold you over until the next food bell. There usually aren't two fights in one day, so you don't have to worry about that." he said. "I can take you to the office if you want. You probably don't know the school well yet, right?"

Yuya smiled immensely at his cousin's kindness and bit into the apple and bread right away. The bread was a bit stale, but he didn't really mind it much. "Thanks a ton!" he exclaimed with his mouth full with the fruit and the wheat. "I would take your offer, but I should find my friends here. They're my guides and are probably worried about me now, so I'll be on my way!"

"I'll be around if you need it. Yuya, right?" Yuto said, standing up and sticking his hands in his pockets.

Yuya stood up from the lockers and smiled. "Yeah! See ya around, Yuto!" he exclaimed.

"See ya around," And they turned in opposite directions.