Disclaimer: The original "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona" series as well as any other mentions of copyrighted material is not ours, and is copyrighted and owned by Atlus and/or their rightful owners. All material in this work that is not our own is borrowed for fair use and entertainment purposes.


Persona X
Chapter 3: Initial Incidents


September 27, 2016
Prince Royale Private High School

At last, classes finally ended. Many students were rushing back to their lockers, eager to get home. Hiro gave a long sigh of relief as he closed his locker, shouldering his bag of supplies and schoolwork. Thank goodness he survived his first day.

"Hey, Hiro!"

Hiro turned next to his locker to see Lily. "Want to walk home together?" she asked, leaning against the lockers and adjusting her bag.

Hiro blinked, looking surprised on the offer that Lily asked of him. "Just wondering why are you so kind of yourself to offer to walk home with me?" he asked as he fastened the lock.

"Well, because you're new around this area." Lily placed a hand on her hip. "I could show you some shortcuts and routes around the city!"

Hiro thought carefully about what she said. She was right about one thing, and that was that he was still new around the area. He might get lost one of these days, or worse – get mugged off the street. I think it's a good idea to take Nguyen-chan's offer to walk home together, he concluded as he grinned and nodded. "Thank you for the offer, Nguyen-chan!"

A bunch of students walking by muttered under their breath, "First day here and already he's popular with the girls."

At that moment, Marcus stopped right by Hiro and Lily. "Hey, wait up!" he called, and grinned at the male Asian. "I'll walk with you guys as well."

Lily looked slightly disappointed, but Hiro shrugged. "If you insist, Howard-san," he said, and Marcus beamed, proud that he was being addressed by a stranger with an honorific.

"You better not flirt on the way," was all Lily said with a smirk.

"What are you talking about, Lily? I don't flirt with the girls that all come to flirt with me," he retorted coolly.

Hiro and Lily sweatdropped. Lily smirked. "Yeah, the only girl that will flirt with you is a psycho killer."

Marcus simply scoffed and was about to argue until two students walked by him. One them nudged Marcus in the shoulder. "Yo, Marc, you print out your project yet?" he asked coyly as he walked off.

Marcus' eyes widened. "Oh, crap," he groaned. "I forgot!" He waved at Lily and Hiro. "Sorry guys, go ahead of me!" With that he ran off shouting something that sounded like "I don't want to die!" as he bolted.

"You have a interesting friend," Hiro said as he stared off at Marcus.

"I don't know how I made friends with him," Lily deadpanned back as she too stared off at her interesting friend.

Hiro chuckled. "Well, they do say people can overcome differences to become even the best of friends," he advised.

"Haha, Marcus and I the best of friends?" Lily scoffed. She leaned against the lockers. "What a laugh, I'll never be that close to that knucklehead."

"Is there a person you are close to, though?" Hiro asked, looking back at her.

Lily blinked and looked back at him, taken off-guard by the question, when at that moment Marcus ran by them again. "Hey, guys, miss me much?"

The girl nearly shrieked as she leaned back into the lockers. "How the hell did you get there and back here so fast..." she hissed, but Marcus ignored her as he waved a number of crudely stapled papers together.

"Alright, let's get this down to Mackenzie's room and let's get out of here! I want to go home and sleep."

"Wow, you are a interesting character," Hiro murmured as he stared at Marcus.

"Oh yeah, forgot to introduce myself properly," Marcus suddenly realized. He held his hand in a thumbs-up jab towards himself. "You know my name's Marcus Howard. I like to call myself Sexy Marcus, for all the girls come over for their absolute love for me."

Lily turned red at the last comment, much to Hiro's confusion and complete befuddlement. "You sure they just don't go there out of absolute pity...?" she deadpanned again, dodging the entendre as she glared at him through half-lidded hazel eyes.

"You're mean, you know that you witch?" Marcus hissed back as he returned the look with equally slit brown eyes.

Hiro decided to change the subject at that moment. "So guys, what do you think about our Social teacher?" he asked as they began to walk.

Lily shrugged. "He's alright, he's a bit too obsessed with his subject if you ask me." She chuckled. "Sort of like a...a – "

"Nerd," Marcus finished dryly as he stopped dead in his tracks with a deep frown. "And a bastard. Therefore he is a nerdy bastard."

Hiro's eyes widened. "Uh, guys...?"

"Well, if you only paid attention in class..." Lily muttered as she stopped too.

"I did, last week! Well, sort of, but it doesn't change him being a bastard!" Marcus retorted.

"Guys..." Hiro tried to interject, raising his hand nervously.

"Be nice to him, he's a new teacher," Lily chided.

"Student teacher, rookie teacher, or experienced teacher, they are all bastards," Marcus scoffed back with folded arms. "To me, he is the biggest bastard out of all of them."

"GUYS!" Hiro practically shrieked.

Lily and Marcus sharply whipped their heads towards him. "What?!"

Hiro raised a finger behind them. "He is right there..."

All three of them froze.

Then, Marcus laughed. "Oh! Good one, dude, you nearly got me there, phew."

"I know, it's such a cliché nowadays," a voice drawled from behind Marcus.

Marcus grinned and nodded. "Hell yeah!" he agreed. At that moment, his blood went cold at the realization of whose voice that was. "Oh my God," he uttered weakly as Lily turned around nervously to face a very scary-looking Mr. Mackenzie.

"So, you think I'm the biggest bastard in this school, Mr. Howard?" Mr. Mackenzie stated darkly, glowering at his troublesome student.

Said student was sweating bullets at that moment, his eyes glued to the very angry ones of Mackenzie's. "Umm, n - no sir, I was just making a joke, you know...?"

Mr. Mackenzie did not break his glare as he lowered his head. "Well. I'm not laughing. I want an essay tomorrow, one page, size 12 font, Times New Roman, typed up, about why vulgar jokes like yours are considered inappropriate to this school." With that, he walked past the three students very briskly.

"Nooo..." Marcus groaned, ready to cry in humiliation and crushing defeat.

Lily shook her head. "It's your own fault."

Mr. Mackenzie stopped. "Oh, yes." He glanced backwards, his gaze calmer now. "Mr. Izumi, hopefully you have a good school year. Both of us are new here, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Hiro didn't know what to say in response to that. "Th-thank you, sens – sir," he simply replied. Mr. Mackenzie nodded, before disappearing into his office and closing the door rather forcefully.

Lily paused, looking a bit sympathetic. "I think you really hurt his feelings," she murmured.

Marcus looked away for a moment, before he looked back at Hiro and Lily pathetically. "So that means my report's probably not going to be graded now, huh?" he said meekly.

Hiro sighed. "I think we should run off now."

"Why do you say that? Oh God, do you think he'll call the principal on me - ?!"

"I meant that school is over, right?" Hiro pointed out as he beckoned at the abandoned school hallways.

"Duh, pretty obvious from that," Lily said as she readjusted her bag. With that, she, Hiro, and Marcus walked towards the doors nearest them in an uncomfortable silence.

As they were walking, Kyoko walked from out of the corner, turning to walk down their hall. As she walked past Hiro, Kyoko looked at him vaguely, and Hiro couldn't help but look back. Then, she turned her head back forward as she walked away from them.

Marcus let out another groan. "Aww, man, why are you so popular with the girls? First Kyoko, and now Lily. I bet it's because you're a foreigner."

Hiro felt his face grow hot as they walked towards Red Oak Circle.

* * * * * * * *

September 27, 2016
The Johnson Residence

Hiro finally reached his house. He turned towards his new friends and smiled. "Well, I will see you guys later, I still need to unpack at my aunt and uncle's house," he told them as he pulled out his keys.

Marcus beamed. "Alright, see you around, Super-Hiro!" he said, slapping his shoulder, causing Hiro to jump. He turned and walked away in good spirits.

Lily was prepared to follow Marcus, but then she stopped to look back up at his house. "This is a nice house," she murmured. She smirked. "This neighbourhood sort of looks like my own..." She turned back to look at Hiro. "So, what made your family decide to come here and stay with the rest of your family?"

Hiro's smile suddenly faded as he stared down at the ground uncertainly. He was about to respond to that as he opened a mouth, until he heard a familiar scream as he opened the door.

"Onii-chan is back!"

Hiro and Lily blinked and looked towards the door as Ai and Akira ran towards him with eager grins and bright eyes. "Ai, Akira!" the older brother said, his smile returning as he bent down to greet them. "Daijoubu?"

"Hai, hai!"

Akira was the first to notice Lily standing next to Hiro, looking down at the reunited Izumi family. "Eh?" he exclaimed. He raised an eyebrow at Hiro. "Onii-chan, you have a girlfriend already on your first day of school?"

Ai's eyes flew wide open, and Hiro's composure faltered as he yelped. Lily, not understanding what they were talking about, simply blinked again in confusion. "Akira, she's not my girlfriend," Hiro simply retorted, taking his bag off. "This is Lily, treat her well. That means you too, Ai – eh? Ai?"

But the female twin had approached the older girl. "A...are you onii-chan...guru...furendo...?"she tried to ask, struggling with her English.

Luckily for a now very flustered Hiro, Lily couldn't exactly understand what she was saying. "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked, sweatdropping with an innocent smile. "I couldn't really catch that."

Unluckily for Hiro, Ai's second attempt was more successful. "Big bro girlfriend!" she spluttered. She looked up at the older girl determinedly. "Are you big bro girlfriend?"

Lily's hazel eyes widened in surprise, and Hiro immediately pulled her back and covered her mouth with a flushed face. "Did I not just tell your male counterpart that she's not my girlfriend?!" he scolded through gritted teeth.

"Ehh?!" Ai whined, pushing him away and folding her arms as she looked away from him. "Onii-chaaaan!"

Akira also looked very upset with this comment. "Oi, oi, how many times do we have to tell you?!" he barked, pointing at himself and her. He also folded his arms and looked away from his brother. "We are different people, we're not just counterparts! Humph!"

Lily started to giggle, sort of grasping what was being said. Hiro turned slightly redder. "I apologize for their behaviour..." he said, bowing lightly. "These are my younger brother and sister, Ai and Akira."

"Are they twins?" Lily asked, prompting Ai and Akira to glare at her disapprovingly.

"Yeah," Hiro murmured. He cleared his throat and gestured his hand indoors. "Well...since you're already here...would you like to come in for something to eat or drink?"

Lily began to blush. "Umm, sure but this will be the first time in a boy's house by myself...what will Marcus think...?"

Ai and Akira had shed their looks of disapproval now, and were giggling at their older brother's antics. Both twins walked back inside the house, and Hiro could catch them talking about Lily in their tongue. "It looks like you're all having fun, I wish I could understand what you're saying," the dark-haired girl sighed whimsically.

"No, I would rather you did not," Hiro muttered with shifty eyes. He held open the door more for her. "Anyway, come in."

Lily nodded and stepped inside the house. As soon as she did, Eric poked his head from the den, looking towards the door. "Oh Hiro, you're back," he exclaimed, walking towards them. "How was school?"

Hiro grinned up at his uncle. "It was good, made a couple of new friends." He nodded towards Lily. "Like this one beside me."

Lily extended her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr...?"

"Oh, Johnson," Eric responded, shaking her hand. He lowered his gaze coolly. "Eric Johnson."

Hiro felt the urge to go hide somewhere in a corner. "Oh! You must be Hiro's uncle then," Lily said. "Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you as well, Ms...?"

"Lily Nguyen."

Eric raised his eyebrow at Hiro. "Seems like my nephew already got himself a girlfriend on the first day of school," he teased.

Ai and Akira began to snicker and giggle. Lily started to turn red slightly. "Oh, damn it," Hiro groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Now, watch your tongue, Hiro, your aunt has been teaching me it more lately," Eric scolded mockingly, wagging a finger in his nephew's face.

Lily turned towards Hiro. "You think I could learn some Japanese from her as well, Hiro?" she inquired. "I've always wanted to."

"Oh of course," Eric guffawed, his hands on his hips. He gave her a sly smile. "It will be good for your two's futu – "

"Would you like something to eat, Lily-chan?!" Hiro butted in quickly, gently shoving her towards the kitchen with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, already going to say their first name, Hiro?" his uncle hollered from the living room.

Hiro flushed again. "Sorry, Nguyen-cha – wait." He glared back towards Eric. "When did she start teaching you culture too..."

Eric crossed his fingers. "My secret."

Lily flushed as well as Hiro forced himself to turn his glaring eyes away from his uncle.

In a few minutes, two slices of bread popped out from the toaster. Hiro placed them on a plate and placed it in front of Lily as well as putting jars of peanut butter, jam, and chocolate spread on the table as well. "Uh, sorry it's not more...cultural...to your tastes," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sure you can make better food than this."

Lily shrugged as she reached for the jar of peanut butter. "It's okay, you weren't prepared for your little invite for me anyway," she replied, opening the jar and reaching for the butter knife.

"Still not a excuse for poor food is what my mom taught me," the black-haired boy murmured as he sat down, reaching for the other slice and the jar of chocolate spread.

"Oh, yeah," Lily murmured, wiping the knife with some tissue paper and spreading the chocolate on the other half of her toast. "I was going to ask about your mom and dad." She took a bite and swallowed quickly. "What do they do?

Hiro still looked uncomfortable about this same question as he stared down sadly at his half-spread toast. He was about to answer again, until Ai suddenly ran in crying. "Onii-chaaan!" she bawled, quickly hugging his leg.

"Eh?" Hiro looked down, his focus now on her. "Ai, what's wrong?"

Ai, still crying, sniffed, "Akira told me that Lily will take you away from us and live far away from us."

Hiro sweatdropped. "Where did you hear that from...?" he drawled.

Ai sniffed again. "Uncle Eric."

Hiro felt like grabbing the jar of peanut butter and chucking it at his uncle's head. Lily chuckled, amused and at the same time feeling awkward by this, until she glimpsed the kitchen clock. "Oh, God! Hiro, I've got to go, I have to be back home." She stuffed the last bit of toast in her mouth and swallowed quickly, bowing to Hiro, hesitantly. "Uh, thank you for the food, though, I'll pay you back with my own cooking tomorrow!"

"Oh. Okay, want me to walk you home?"

Lily gave a coy smile. "It's okay," she responded. "To surprise you, I didn't tell you that I live right next to you."

"What?!"

Hiro's mouth was still agape as he looked at the red-rimmed, white house next to theirs. Ai had stopped crying at this point, relieved that her brother would not be taken away to a far place. "Onii-chan's girlfriend lives next to him," she giggled to Akira, who just smirked.

Hiro groaned. "Yare yare..." he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Lily picked up her bag and walked out the door. "See you, Hiro!" she shouted, waving at the family as she pulled out the keys to her house. "See you, Mr. Johnson, and thank you for having me as a guest!"

Eric nudged Hiro playfully. "Hey, Hiro, did you forget to give the girl next door a goodbye kiss?" he taunted mischievously.

Lily gave one more chuckle before she quickly slipped into her house and closed the door. "Thanks, uncle," Eric's nephew simply deadpanned.

* * * * * * * *

September 28, 2016
The Johnson Residence

Hiro blinked as he opened his eyes. He looked at the clock – 7:30 AM. Hiro sat up and shifted his eyes. I might as well get up a little early just to see if his uncle will try that prank again, he thought slyly.

Suddenly, Hiro began to hear footprints coming near his door. Thought so, Hiro confirmed as he jumped up from his bed, grabbing a pillow with him, and hid behind the door to wait for his uncle to arrive.

The door opens very slowly, creating pressure for Hiro as he gripped the pillow and raised it.

The lights flickered on, and the door was opened. Hiro acted immediately and whipped the pillow across the uncle's head with a triumphant head...

But instead of a man's voice, it was a woman's.

Hiro froze. The last time I checked, my uncle was a man...the boy thought nervously as his eyes shifted down to the dark-haired woman, who was now sprawled on the floor looking very dazed.

"Ohh...what hit me...?" his aunt groaned.

At that moment, Eric walked in. "Hey, Hiro, you don't want to be late for sch – " he began with a smirk, when he noticed his wife on the ground. "Oh, my God, LUNA!" He whipped his head up to glare sinisterly at Hiro. "HIRO! What have you done..."

Hiro, who was standing over her with the pillow gripped offensively in his hand, had so much evidence against him he decided to just admit it. "I accidentally hit aunt Luna because I thought it was you, uncle," he responded hesitantly.

Eric's glare subsided. "Oh," he simply murmured. He grinned. "Well...I guess I'm lucky that it wasn't me then!"

At this point, Luna had gotten up and was glaring at Eric from behind him. Eric cocked an eyebrow. "Do you feel something strange?"

Hiro froze. "Uncle, I think you're in trouble," he uttered as he took a step back.

"What? What do you mean by..."

Before he could even finish his sentence, his left ear was pulled on very abruptly. Hiro sweatdropped as Luna pulled Eric towards her with an angry gaze. "Eric Stuart Johnson, how dare you brush off your cute and lovely wife, who was on the ground asking to be pulled back up!"

"Bu - but you didn't ask!" Eric stuttered as he got pulled out of the room. Hiro gave a relieved sigh and threw the pillow back on his head, thanking God it was over.

That is, until his aunt called his name. "Hiro, can you come over here for a sec, I forgot I wanted to talk to you," Luna's voice rang from outside sweetly.

Hiro shrugged and stepped out of his room where his aunt was, and where his uncle was still being pulled on the ear, assuming he was in the clear.

His assumption would be the biggest mistake of his life. "Aunt, what did you – " Hiro began.

In that instant Luna then began to pull Hiro's right ear as well. "And as for YOU!" she snapped. "Recklessly ambushing your sweet and caring aunt who was only checking to tell her dear nephew good morning!"

Hiro began to grumble with pain with Eric as they were dragged downstairs into the kitchen. "Now as for punishment, I won't make you lunch!" Luna told Hiro, who pouted. He only had $25.00 on him, would it be enough? Then Luna shot her husband a very, very dark glare. "As for you..."

Eric seemed to recognize what this glare meant as his eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no," he started. "Dear, no, please, I'm sorry, really...does this HAVE to interfere with tonight's plans...?"

Luna's glare darkened. Eric pouted. "Nooo...and this would have been the first time ever since the kids came..." he whined.

Then Ai and Akira began to walk down the stairs, rubbing their eyes. "What is with the noise so early in the morning?" Akira mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

Luna looked up to them with a cheerful smile. "Oh, don't worry, everything's alright here!" she told the twins innocently. "You two should get ready for school now."

Akira blinked. "But we don't have to wake up usually until thirty more minu – "

"I said get ready for school," Luna's growled lowly through gritted teeth.

Ai and Akira began to feel frightened and fearful of their aunt that they began to believe they saw a demon in her eyes. Hiro, seeing an opportunity to escape, looked up at his aunt warily. "Uh, I must get ready for school too, aunt Luna!" he pointed out as the twins ran upstairs. "Can you let go of my ear now so I may prepare?"

Luna gave a surrendering glance. "Oh fine, you may go," his aunt said. "But remember, your punishment will be that you have no lunch made by love from your aunt, and you must use your own money to buy your lunch."

"Okay."

Luna then let go of Hiro's ear, where he finally gave a sigh of relief, glad his aunt let go of his ear. Honestly, it felt so painful – like being punched in the arm. Luna looked towards Eric. "And your excuse?" she drawled as Hiro ran upstairs to change and get ready. "You have a day off of work, so no using that."

Eric was still in sour spirits. "There is no more purpose for an excuse..." he grumbled.

"With that attitude of yours, I'll have to put even greater punishment on you to the point of right and tonight, you will sleep on the couch."

Eric face started to grow even more horrified when he heard those words. Luna continued to glare at him, before her face fell. "Oh, fine, I forgive you. You know I can't sleep without you by my side," she murmured, letting go of his ear.

Eric's face suddenly made mood swing expression changes from depression, to confusion, to happiness. Luna begins to have teary eyes. "Because if I don't sleep on your side, I will not have my handsome husband to protect from evil," she said softly.

Eric too had sparkling eyes. "Luna, my love..."

Ai and Akira were just coming downstairs and overheard their uncle and aunt's conversation. They exchanged befuddled glances as Eric embraced her closely. "So..." he began in a husky voice. "Does this mean that tonight's plans..."

Luna chuckled. "Of course it is, panda bear," she responded seductively, just as Hiro finished getting ready and nearly tripped down the stairs from overhearing.

Ai and Akira were at the table, about to eat cereal, before they began to wonder about what their uncle and aunt said. "What are this plans?" Ai asked.

"Yeah, is it fun?" Akira added with a grin. "Can we join in?!"

Hiro almost tripped again after hearing one weird conversation after another. Just need to get the bread and run the hell out to school to get away from the crazy morning, Hiro thought urgently as he grabbed the toasted bread from the toaster, bowed to his extended family, and ran out the door.

* * * * * * * *

September 28, 2016
Prince Royale Private High School

"And so when we look at it this way, these two ideologies are probably the most basic foundations of political parties in the present day," Mr. Mackenzie explained as he wrote the two words down on the board. He tapped the word on the left. "Liberalism, or democracy, is the more left-winged party, and primarily focuses on freedom of the people and what they want." He then tapped the word on the right. "In contrast to conservatism, or a republican view, on the right-winged side, which does in a way restrict the freedom of the people for the sake of morality, but they do care about what the people want."

One student raised her hand. "Yes, Julienne?" Mr. Mackenzie asked as he looked up from the board.

"I don't get this. Aren't all these political people more or less driving for the same things for a country? Why is it they hate and protest against each other so much?"

Hiro's ears perked up as he tried to write down the notes; he wanted to know the last part too. "Well, we'll get more into the second topic later," Mr. Mackenzie answered as he turned back to the board. "But there's a little political joke." The brown-haired man pointed at the liberalism side. "Liberalism, to restate, is a left-winged party, and conservatism is a right-winged party. Now, the term 'dexter' is used for 'right' as in a right hand, and the term 'sinister' is used for 'left' as in a left hand." He smirked widely. "If we use that logic, well, that means liberalism is pretty sinister then."

Dead silence. Mr. Mackenzie's face fell before he pointed back at conservatism. "Okay, easier one to understand," the teacher continued. "One's right, the other isn't."

This brought out a few weak "oh!"'s, snickers, and groans from the class. "Now, these are very republican-supporting tidbits, so, heh, they're not endorsed by me or this lesson," he added with a small chuckle, just as the next class bell rang. "Oh, well. Have a good day, everyone! Remember, there is no school tomorrow, but there will be a quiz Friday when you get back so study this unit!"

As the students groaned again, packed up and fled the classroom, Hiro felt his knowledge increase as he picked up his own books. "Did you get any of that?" Marcus whispered to him as he stood next to Hiro.

Hiro reconsidered what he had just learned. "Um, I learned that conservatism was right and that liberalism was left?" he replied, raising his hands to each. "I mean, since Canada follows this conservatism..."

"But I thought it was evil, not left," Marcus muttered as Hiro re-thought carefully about the lesson. "I hate politics, it's so hard to understand the guys in the government and who exactly is different. Damn it, Mackenzie, why can't you explain this stuff in a nutshell?"

Lucky for him, Mackenzie had overheard. He pushed his glasses up as he walked by the two. "Well, as a teacher, I teach," he said. "As a student, you study."

"What is the point in that if I don't know what's being talked about?!" Marcus balked as Mr. Mackenzie closed his laptop and packed up his own stuff.

Mackenzie rolled his eyes and shook his head. "At least Hiro is trying."

"And Marcus is crying," Lily added with her own smirk as she stood by the two. Hiro smiled back humbly, and Marcus just scowled.

"Hey, that rhymes, Ms. Nguyen." The teacher quickly cleared his throat. "But you also shouldn't put your classmates down."

Lily chuckled. "Sorry, sir, but you left a good joke wide open."

Mackenzie chuckled as he slung the bag over his shoulder and left the classroom.

"...pet."

Lily smacked her baseball-capped friend with her textbook as she walked out of the room with them. "Shut up."

Second day of school and already I made two friends that seem like they want to kill each other, Hiro thought in amazement.

"Math class should be different," Lily returned as she rolled her eyes and walked into the math classroom. "I think you'd like to be the pet of Ms. Gunner."

Hiro nodded. "Yeah, I think I can tell," he agreed.

* * * * * * * *

As math class passed by, Hiro and Lily looked around the class to see a majority of the boys (including Marcus) trying to impress Ms. Gunner. "Now, as Grade 11 may have taught you, the object here is to use either the processes of elimination, or substitution," the pretty teacher explained as she wrote two equations on her whiteboard. "If we are supposed to eliminate, though, what has to happen to the two values we plan to isolate in our final product?"

Almost every guy raised their hand, even though some of them clearly did not know the answer to the question at all. "Jeez, this is pathetic..." a female student could be heard muttering from Hiro's seat.

"I hope all of them know she's a little above their age..." another female voice muttered back.

"I hope they know it's illegal..."

Lily sweatdropped at the situation and noticed that Hiro was one of the only males who didn't raise his hand up – instead, he was writing something on his paper very quickly. Ms. Gunner smirked as she raised an eyebrow at her class. "Bonus marks to whoever gets this right."

Some hands went down, hesitantly. "Let's see..." the brunette murmured as she looked to the back. "Um...Hiro? You look like you have the answer."

Everyone looked right towards Hiro, who was still writing. He was so focused, he was a bit taken aback when he realized that everyone was looking at him. "Oh!" he exclaimed. He scratched the back of his head. "You have to make sure that the two values in the two equations are the same co...coughuhhh...co – "

"Co-efficient?" Ms. Gunner finished.

"Yes, before you calculate the two equations together."

"Excellent! That is correct," Ms. Gunner replied as she began to finish the equation. "To do this, we may have to multiply the variables so that they are the same co-efficient – in this case, we have 3x and 2x, so we'll have to multiply both by each other in order to get 6x..."

A handful of classmates sighed in relief and victory as they realized they were right, some were shocked that that was how it was done, and a few were jealous. "You're really on the ball today, Hiro," Lily replied as Hiro checked his answers. "Are you a math person?"

The Japanese boy nodded. "Numbers were easier to me than words," he replied. He narrowed his eyes as he glared at the notes. "Especially how 'there' can mean two other things when they are spelled differently..."

Lily sweatdropped. Hiro might need help for English class next year...

* * * * * * * *

Classes ended, and Hiro looked up to see Lily and Marcus arrive on schedule. "Hey, Super-Hiro!" Marcus grinned as he walked up to Hiro and held out his hand for a high-five. "What's hanging?"

Hiro blinked as he looked up at the hand, before he high-fived it. "You seem very happy, Howard-san."

Marcus shrugged. "Well, when you've got a free period at the end of this particular day, you can't complain," he bragged. "Anyway, we can't walk home with you today, man, sorry about that."

Hiro looked confused. "You...you were going to walk with me again?" he wondered, pleasantly surprised that they wanted to walk him home.

Lily nodded. "I've got a family thing at this restaurant," the long-haired girl sighed, not looking very pleased about this event.

"And I'm just going home right away to relax," Marcus explained, giving a sigh. "With tomorrow off for teachers' professional development, I'm just gonna sit back and take in the lovely Thursday."

Lily smirked. "Remember to actually study for the test we have in Social, as well as your Math," she reminded him lightly as she walked off. "See you, Hiro!"

Hiro waved back at her. "See you, Nguyen-chan!" he called. "Enjoy your family dinner!"

Marcus smirked as Hiro turned back to him. "So..." he murmured coyly, readjusting his blazer cuffs. "You and Lily, huh?"

Hiro blinked, not understanding what Howard-san was implying. "What about me and Nguyen-chan?" he wondered.

"Nothing, nothing," Marcus just said as he walked off as well. "See you, Super-Hiro."

Hiro looked at his friend's back as he walked away. "Um, see you, Howard-san," he replied, blinking in confusion, before he walked out the door to go back home.

* * * * * * * *

September 29, 2016
The Johnson Residence

Hiro woke up at around 8:45, the time school usually started. He sat up and yawned as he stretched, glad he could sleep in today to make up for staying up late to do homework.

It was when he was downstairs preparing a big breakfast that Eric approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Hiro, I'm heading off to my internet café today to check up on it," he said.

Hiro blinked. "You have a internet café?" he repeated.

"Yeah, I do, and it's great. You wanna come check it out since you have nothing else to do?"

It was true; Hiro really didn't have anything to do at the moment, so he nodded as he slid some eggs from a frying pan onto a plate. "Okay, what's it called?"

Eric grinned as he placed some bread in the toaster. "It's got the best name ever," his uncle boasted.

* * * * * * *

September 29, 2016
"Wired Up" Internet Café

"'Wired Up'?" Hiro echoed, reading the neon on the front window as his uncle opened the door.

"Well, computers do have a lot of cords," Eric explained as he walked in. "Plus, it's a pun on the phrase 'fired up' and 'I'm so wired' since they both mean the same thing more or less. A cool, hip internet café should have a cool, hip name!"

I had no idea that 'fired up' and 'I'm so wired' were still in-date in North America, Hiro thought with a roll of his eyes as he walked in. He looked around at the black flat-screen monitors glowing brightly at each desk, as well as the laser mice set on mousepads with some very interesting designs.

Eric grinned as he placed his hands on his hips. "I am definitely loving the upgrades we got this year," he boasted. "Glad we had those donations, even though I was fine with the larger monitors and older towers."

"What, these clunky, outdated boxes of metal?" a familiar voice retorted from an office. Error tones of a computer could be heard from inside the room, as well as what sounded like a fist slamming down on a desk. "Ugh, they function about as nicely as the Russians did in the Cold War."

Hiro blinked. "Hey, well, at least we have supplies," Eric shot back as he stood at the office doorframe and looked inside. "Didn't know you were here so early, Drew. You need anything?"

"Ah, well, I would like to know what's wrong with this horrible piece of technology that you still want me to fix," the man inside responded with a weak chuckle.

Eric waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it right now, we've got enough nice and new computers that will appeal way more to the public." He looked towards Hiro. "Hey, wanna meet one of the employees that work in this fine place?"

Hiro nodded, and approached the door. "This is Andrew," Eric introduced as he opened the door a bit more. "Andrew, meet my nephew – "

Hiro froze as he suddenly realized that the brown-haired man sitting at the desk inside, who was momentarily glaring at a Blue Screen of Death that was now looking surprised towards Hiro, was none other than...

"Hiro?" the Social teacher gasped, lowering his glasses to stare at Hiro through wide blue eyes.

"Mr. Mackenzie!" Hiro said back, equally as surprised. "What are you doing here?!"

Eric blinked. "You two know each other?" he asked, looking back from Hiro's face to Mr. Mackenzie – well, Andrew's face.

"Yes, he is my teacher," Hiro simply stated, still staring wide-eyed in disbelief at said teacher.

"And he is my student," Mr. Mackenzie said in the same tone, also gazing amazedly at said student.

Eric punched his hand with his fist. "Oh, yeah, you're a teacher at Prince Royale! That's the school where Hiro goes to, I should have guessed!" He looked towards Hiro with a frown. "Why didn't you tell me that Andrew Mackenzie was your teacher?"

Hiro looked away sheepishly. "I was not aware you knew him as a friend..." he muttered.

Eric looked towards Mr. Mackenzie. "Then why didn't you tell me Hiro was your student, Drew?" he demanded.

"Do you really want me to say more or less the exact same thing Hiro did?" Mr. Mackenzie responded, still a bit dazed. He shook his head and returned back to his original composure as he cleared his throat. "Good to meet you more personally, though, Hiro. I hope, however, that you still realize that I am your teacher, and you are my student. That status levelling much be acknowledged at all times."

Hiro nodded, still feeling a bit awkward about this. "Y- yeah, same here," he replied.

Eric rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, you're such a stick in the mud!" he grinned, then looked away rather seriously as he muttered, "Better give him good grades or else."

"What was that?" Mackenzie rasped hoarsely, staring up at his superior with wide, fearful eyes.

"Uncle!" Hiro snapped, narrowing his eyes. "Don't joke like that!"

Eric chuckled sinisterly as he looked up at the ceiling. "Who said I was joking...?" he murmured, prompting both Hiro and Mackenzie to exchange nervous glances. His wide grin returned as he gave a thumbs-up. "Ah, you know I am! Anyway, who's up for some drinks?"

Silence.

"What?" the man asked, blinking at the two of them. "Hiro, you're eighteen, and Drew, you're allowed to drink off your teaching, it's a free day today."

"Aside from the obvious, don't you think it's a little early to be drinking at this time of day...?" Mr. Mackenzie pointed out, pulling back his black jacket sleeve and pointing at his watch. "It's only 10:47, and we didn't even have lunch yet."

"I'll treat you guys to lunch," Eric huffed as he took out his phone and pulled out a bottle of what looked like some type alcohol. "Pizza or Chinese?"

Hiro and Mackenzie sweatdropped. "Is that...vodka...?" the teacher croaked nervously.

Before they could say anything more, Eric had already pulled out three glasses as well and placed them on the coffee table inside the office. "Well, it's very light vodka," he reassured, pouring the contents of the bottle inside each of the glasses. "Chinese it is!"

Eric then went over to phone a Chinese restaurant for take-out, leaving Hiro and Mackenzie alone to talk. "So why are you here again?" Hiro asked as politely as he could as he stared down at his glass.

"Well, let's just say student loans pulled out a lot from my funds. And I'm good with computers, so I applied here when this place was pretty new, and I've been working here part-time ever since last year for extra cash.

"I understand that, but did you really have to be hard on Mr. Howard for the essay?" Hiro brought up, feeling a little uncertain and uncomfortable about this.

Andrew picked up a glass from the table and took a sip. "Well, in all fairness...I gave the class that Enlightenment report notice a week ago," he explained. He looked away. "As well as the fact that Marcus should exercise his writing skills and personal insight as well. I would like to say it's nothing personal, but..." He paused. "But, well...we teachers are human too." He took another gulp and gasped. "Wow this is strong."

Hiro continued to look down at his own glass. "Yeah, but I don't think I should drink it," he murmured. He gulped. "Never drank a alcohol in my entire life."

"Well, you're legal age anyway. Personally, I would say try it. Just remember that just because you're legal age doesn't mean you can go to the school drunk if you ever do - the district rules forbid that and so that's a notwithstanding clause."

Hiro nodded as he noted this, noting as well that he should look up what a notwithstanding clause exactly was. "But I don't know if I should..." he continued to protest.

Eric came walking by after calling take-out. He returned to the two and did something that no one should ever do. "Hiro, stop being wimpy and drink it already, but let me help," he scoffed.

Hiro was questioning his uncle as to how he was going to help – I mean, it was very simple, just take a sip, right? he assumed.

His uncle way of helping was definitely simple. Just not very ethical.

Eric grabbed Hiro's glass, tilted Hiro's head back sharply, and poured it in his mouth, making him take it in one gulp. "Down the hatch!" he said.

Hiro gasped and coughed madly as his hands flew up to his throat. "Shit, it burns!" he rasped.

"M - Mr. Johnson, was that really necessary?!" Mackenzie demanded, recoiling in his chair.

Eric, however, began to cry manly tears. "My little nephew's first drink, they grow up so fast," he exclaimed tearfully.

Andrew and Hiro sweatdropped at what is happening in front of them. Eric grabbed his own glass and downed half of it in one gulp, prompting them to sweat even more. "Ahh, that feels great," he sighed. He sat down in a chair and looked up at them. "So, we were talking about the school? My wife works there, substitute part-time I believe."

Mackenzie blinked as he snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah, she's one of the female sports teams' coaches, isn't she?" he acknowledged as he poured himself another glass.

Hiro's ears twitched. "She is a coach?!" he echoed incredulously.

Eric nodded. "Volleyball," he said as he picked up the bottle and poured himself one too, taking a huge gulp immediately again.

Hiro spaced out as he imagined Luna spiking a volleyball with such intensity to an unfortunate student. Eric's eyes sparkled as he leaned back on his chair and sipped his glass casually. "She's definitely keeping her figure with all that training, I'll say that..."

Hiro and Mackenzie froze rigid as the teacher's face turned pink. "I think that's a little too much information, Mr. Johnson," he responded abruptly, bringing the glass up towards his lips.

The older man smirked deviously. It was then that Hiro pulled his headset over his ears and pulled out a cord from his pants pocket, quickly plugging it into the side of the headphones. "Well, she hasn't gotten left behind with the young, she's still as fit and fine as ever," his uncle murmured. "Oh, man, has she still got it all, whoo!"

Mackenzie downed his glass in one gulp, and Hiro turned up the volume louder on his music player. Damn it, uncle, shut up about talking about aunt Luna's body in front of me, he thought.

"Hiro, what are you thinking?"

His nephew quickly shook his head and held out the bottle to his teacher. "Do you need any more of this?"

Andrew puts down his glass on the table a bit too forcefully. "N - no, I think I'm good," he responded. "You shouldn't be offering me alcolol - sorry, alcohol anyway, Hiro, you're my student, and I am your teacher, remember that." He gave a tipsy glare. "Got it?

Hiro began to sheepishly laugh when he realized that his teacher might be drunk. He needed proof that he was actually drunk at this stage though, but what? "Oh, I wanted to ask you something about my homework, sir," the boy began. He pulled out a folded piece of paper (that was his schedule in actuality) and held it up quickly at a certain distance.

Mackenzie immediately backed away. "Oh wow," he muttered. "Either my glasses need to be upgraded again or I'm just dizzy." He grabbed the bottle from Eric's hand before the older man could pour himself another drink. "The hell is in this stuff anyway..."

Eric, who appeared to have a high drinking metabolism or whatnot and was not even tipsy yet said, "It's light vodka. No one should be drunk right away."

"No, no!" The younger man held up the bottle and pointed at it. "Either that says 10% or 70%! This is one of those times where I would like to see a 10% on the results, Mr. Johnson."

Hiro sweatdropped and still attempted to block them out with his headset. "Oh, please, 70% is considered a failing grade in the United States anyway," Eric chuckled.

Mackenzie gulped. "Well, this..." He raised a finger. "This...this is Canada. Not the United States." The finger pointed at Hiro. "You better know that for the test tomorrow."

Hiro sighed. How much longer would he have to endure this...?

* * * * * * * *

September 29 – 30, 2016
The Johnson Residence

Hiro sighed as he plopped back down on his bed. Finally, I finished everything, he thought with relief, sitting back up. He looked towards the notes on his computer. Mr. Mackenzie really gives out a lot of notes. I have no idea how he has time to make all this and then work at the café part-time...

Hiro sweatdropped. I hope I will be able to sit in his classes again without seeing him drunk, he prayed. With that he stood back up and sat back down on his computer, saving and closing the document, and getting ready to close his internet browser.

Suddenly, a popup appeared, and a video began to play. A man stood in front of the camera, dressed in a unique purple-striped, dark suit. His hair was jet black, tied back in a short ponytail, and spiked to one side. However, what made him stand out was a strange mask across his face – it was white with violet, opaque lens, and covered up most of his right side.

The masked man gave a crooked smirk, and the camera panned out to show the whole stage. "Welcome to The Wake of Dawn!" he bellowed. "I'm your host, Blitzkrieg, and we are here to give you some entertainment!"

Hiro blinked. This man didn't seem to be hiding anything suspicious. What the hell is thisf...he thought uneasily, leaning closer to his monitor.

Blitzkrieg grinned. "Today, we have a special guest on our game show." He beckoned back to his left. "Say hello, everyone, to Mary-Ann Larson!"

Hiro's eyes widened as the camera panned to a brown-haired woman hanging from the ceiling, tied up in rope.


To Be Continued...