"Is this one it?" Shina and Hatori peered into classroom 4C in pure amusement. Students were sitting on desks and chatting like class was never to start. No teacher in sight.

"This IS room 4C." Hatori responded staring at the sign above that clearly read '4C'.

"But…there's no teacher in there."Shina shrugged, glancing, again, into the teacher-less room. "This can't be it."

Hatori sighed and looked back at Shina, who was feeling quite questionable at this point. "Let's just go in and see what happens. This has to be our classroom. I doubt that the school made a mistake."

Shina looked at her friend, hoping he was right. He was always so confident when he found an answer to something. Never at all nervous about anything. The total opposite of Shina, who'd been shy all her life. She'd get nervous if too many people were staring at her or if they asked her multiple questions. She'd even get nervous when her parents arrived home. "Alright, Hatori." She sighed, following him as he confidently entered the room.

"Hey, it's vice president Hatori!" yelled a male student from the back as Hatori and Shina walked into the noisy classroom. Immediately, as if it were a cue, almost every student in the class surrounded Hatori, speaking of ideas for the new school year and what they did for their summer vacations.

Shina watched Hatori get overwhelmed by students while she sat into a seat close to the window. Though she had very popular friends, she'd never been very popular herself. She'd always had a few friends outside of her normal 'circle' but everywhere she went, it seemed, that she was unable to accumulate many friends, though she desperately wanted more than she'd already had.

"Shina?"

Shina was broken from her thoughts by a warm hand on her shoulder accompanied by a female voice. She quickly turned to see who it was.

It was her lab partner, Yumiko Shimizu, who'd been her science partner for the past two years. Yumiko was a short girl, about Leiko's height, who had short black hair and large brown eyes. She'd been known around Kaiwaia High as being easy since her first year but who was Shina to judge? "Hey, Miko. How was your summer?"

"Oh, Shina! It was incredible! Absolutely incredible! I went to America to visit my cousin, you know he plays baseball there, and we went to all these different states, it was great!" Yumiko was very enthusiastic and very vocal. She never lacked in the talking department. "How about you? You seemed as if you were in deep thought a few moments ago."

"Well, as for my summer, it was okay. I did a few things here and there but I mostly worked the entire time."

"Wow. That's quite a bummer." Yumiko slid into the seat next to Shina. "At least you've got some money to spend."

"Yeah, that's a plus, right?" Shina and Yumiko began to giggle.

"So, what were you thinking about a few minutes ago?"

"Oh, nothing. Just…." Shina glanced over to see how Hatori was doing. He looked completely worn out already. He was still surrounded by, what looked like, every student in the classroom. All of them asking him nonsense questions and telling him useless things.

"What are you…? Oh, I get it." Yumiko slowly smiled as she realized what Shina had began to stare at.

Shina looked at Yumiko, shaking her head to rid the thought of thinking about Hatori. "What? What are you talking about?" She nervously began to scratch the back of her neck.

"You wanna ask Hatori a question, don't you? I mean, you and him are gonna have a lot of time with each other anyways. You're on the student council board together. Plus, you're in the same class together this year so you'll have an ENORMOUS amount of time together. You're so lucky, I'd date Hatori Sohma in a minute! I mean, just look at him! He's gorgeous! Just like President Ayame and Shigure! Beautiful! Just flawless –"

"OKAY!" Shina's head was practically spinning from the fast talking Yumiko was doing. She smiled at Yumiko weakly as she raised her hand in a gesture to attempt to make Yumiko changed the subject.

"So, where's Hitomi and Leiko? I thought you guys would all be in the same class?"

"Yeah, I did as well. Unfortunately, they're ---"

"GOOD MORNING, CLASS!" A very young looking man in a dark blue suit and plaid tie walked into the classroom, raising both of his hands in the air with a wide smile across his face. He was nothing short of handsome. About 6'2, neatly groomed brown hair and perfect white teeth, he couldn't be a day older than 25. Immediately, he caught Shina's eye. "Allow me to introduce myself. But before I do so, why don't we have all of you sit down, shall we?"

Addressing the crowd that had formed before his desk a long time before he had gotten there, the crowd of students, including Hatori, sluggishly took their seats, Hatori taking the one behind Shina.

Shina leaned back as Hatori sat down. "I'm sorry about that." She whispered to him.

"Don't worry about it, Shina." Hatori mumbled back, obviously a bit shaken with what had happened.

The young man sat on the front of his desk comfortably. "My name is Ritsu Hayashi and I will be your teacher for this entire school year. I actually went to school here when I was your age. I just graduated from college so this is my first real job and I'm very excited to get started this year. I know that you're elated now that this is your last high school year so I'll try my hardest to be your coolest teacher yet. But first, I want to go around the room and just get to know each and every one of you. Let's start with --- "

Mr. Hayashi fell silent as soon as he looked to the far right of the room and locked eyes with Shina. His entire face fell from exuberant to blank.

"Start w-with me?" Shina asked, pointing to herself and feeling heat start to rush to her cheeks again.

Mr. Hayashi slowly nodded. "Umm…yes, please. Let's – let's begin with you, miss."

Shina nervously stood from her desk and began to talk before she was interrupted by Mr. Hayashi.

"State your name, your age and something special that I, err, the class would be interested to know about you."

Shina sighed and laced her fingers together. "Well, my name is Shina Ito. I'm 17. And….I'm the first female student council treasurer at Kaiwaia High since 1988." Shina quickly sat back down, a little embarrassed.

"Woooow…." Mr. Hayashi mumbled, keeping his eyes on Shina as she sat down. "That's….amazing."

Shina smiled nervously at the young teacher. "Th-thank you, Mr. Hayashi."

Hatori kept his eye on the teacher, a little suspicious by the way he was acting towards his friend.

"Well, who's next?"

---

"GREETINGS, EVERYONE! YOUR PRESIDENT HAS ARRIVED!" Ayame shouted as he entered class 4D with Hitomi on his arm, followed by Leiko and Shigure.

The class remained silent, staring at the foursome in anticipation. Ayame burst with laughter as he watched the class stare at him in fear.

"What's wrong with you all? You all look like I'm going to kill all of you!"

"No. I'LL be the one to do the killing in this room if you four don't plug your bottoms into a seat."

A short and stout man with a large belly, a full beard, small, thin rimmed glasses and a balding, shiny head stood at the chalk board of the classroom, holding a sheet of paper in one hand and a long piece of chalk in the other.

Ayame looked around to see that he was standing in the middle of the room alone; Hitomi, Shigure and Leiko had taken the desks in front of the classroom quickly. Hitomi silently pointed to the desk next to her, frantically, as Ayame glanced at her.

"Hm. So it's come to this." He said to his friends before turning his full attention to the man at the chalk board. "And who might YOU be, sir?"

The man turned around again to face Ayame, frustration written all over his wrinkled face. "My name is Mr. Kin. I'll, unfortunately, be your teacher for the rest of the year, Mr. Sohma."

"Oh, wow! You know my name!" Ayame placed his fists on his narrow hips in triumph. "Well, of course, you know my name! I'm the most talked about boy, no, PERSON at Kaiwaia High, for the obvious reasons."

"Yes, Mr. Sohma. I've been watching you throughout the years and I know more than you think I know about you. TAKE A SEAT! NOW!"

Ayame was taken aback by the way this man was talking to him. Hitomi was now tapping on the desk next to her loudly to try to get Ayame's attention. Ayame reluctantly took the seat Hitomi was tapping on, peeved that this man had the gall to talk to him the way he was.

"Can you believe him? I certainly can't." Ayame whispered to Hitomi, fuming mad.

"I hate to break it to you, Ayame, but not everybody loves you."

"YOU! THERE!" Mr. Kin pointed his long piece of chalk in Hitomi's direction. Hitomi looked around, hoping that he wasn't pointing at her.

"Me, sir?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, you! Who else would I be pointing at?"

Hitomi sarcastically shrugged. "As if there aren't twenty other kids in here."

"DETENTION. AFTER SCHOOL."

"WHAT?!" Hitomi loudly retorted, standing up from her desk.

"You heard me, young lady. Detention, today."

"FOR WHAT?! WHAT DID I DO??"

"First of all, that bizarre, dreadful hair color is distracting to my class. Second, I can hear you chatting with Mr. Sohma. Nobody chats in my class unless I instruct them to."

Hitomi was appalled. She couldn't believe she had managed to get detention within a few minutes of her stepping into her new classroom.

"Excuse me, but ---" Ayame stood up, his finger pointing in the air.

"You, too."

"WHAT?!?!?! BUT I AM THE STU---"

"Yes, and the student council President has got detention --- with me."

Ayame's jaw nearly hit the floor. He was completely flabbergasted. The nerve of this man. "Sir! I was okay with you giving her detention, but me?! How in the world did I manage to get detention?"

"Hey! It was YOUR FAULT that he gave me detention in the first place!" Hitomi yelled in response.

"Oh, hush, you pink headed clown! Your carelessness has gotten me in trouble!" Ayame retorted, slamming his fists onto his desk.

"CLOWN?! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A CLOWN, YOU SILVER HEADED DWEEB!"

"ENOUGH!!!!" Mr. Kin screamed, his face, now, resembling a tomato. "YOU BOTH SIT DOWN AND I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM EITHER OF YOU!! GOT IT?"

Both Hitomi and Ayame nodded, before exchanging hateful looks with one another.

Shigure scribbled something on a tiny sheet of ripped paper and nonchalantly tossed it onto Leiko's desk when Mr. Kin was facing the board.

Leiko happily looked at Shigure and mouthed, 'for me?'

Shigure smiled back at his beautiful neighbor and nodded.

Leiko sloppily opened the crumbled piece of paper.

"I think this day is exceptional
To reminisce your life in array
To commemorate, when the sun stretches his ray
Seeing your euphoric face is like flowers in may
So I am here with you willing to stay
Simply smiling and nothing to say
Hoping will be together since that day."

Leiko looked at Shigure, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her and mouthed, 'Awwww!' Shigure blew her a kiss in response. He, then, ripped another piece of paper from his notebook and began to quickly scribble something onto it. Again, when Mr. Kin wasn't looking, he tossed it to Leiko's desk. She opened it, excited to see what the new one said:

"There once was a girl from Whick
Who said to her Mum "What's a dick?"
She said "My dear Annie,
It goes up your fanny
And jumps up and down till it's sick"."

Leiko immediately clapped her hand upon her mouth to prevent herself from laughing hysterically. Instead, she gave Shigure a shocked look and let a few giggles out, hoping Mr. Kin wouldn't notice.

"You, with the blonde hair. What's your name?" Mr. Kin's back stayed towards the class, his face still towards the chalk board.

Leiko frantically looked around, noticing she was the only blonde sitting in the classroom. "M-m-m-me?"

"Aren't you the only blonde in this entire room?"

"Yes, si-"

"Then, why would you ask a crazy question like that?"

"Th-that's a question?" She looked at Hitomi, confused already. Hitomi shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Stand up in front of the class and read those notes that you received from Mr. Sohma, there."

Leiko stood up from her desk with her hands upon her hips. "Hey, how do you know Shigure?"

"READ THE NOTES!"

Lieko jumped at the sound of his booming voice and shuffled with the little notes Shigure had written her. "Umm…sir? I-I can't read these."

"AND WHY NOT?!" Mr. Kin had turned his entire body towards Leiko, spit flying out of his mouth as he yelled.

Leiko looked around the room, nervously, before approaching Mr. Kin and showing him the notes to his face.

As he read, the notes his eyes squinted, then all of a sudden, his jaw dropped and his eyes shot out of his head. "MR. SOHMA! DETENTION!"

Shigure gasped in shock.

"Oh, please, sir! It's not --"

"Don't think that you're off the hook either! You've got detention as well, missy!"

"Wha-?!"

"Now, SIT!"

Leiko silently took her seat, on the verge of tears. She peered over at Hitomi and Ayame, who were shaking their heads at her in disbelief.

---

DING DING DING DING….DING DING DING DING

Shina and Hatori gathered their things as they got ready to leave their class and join the others for lunch.

"I'm still really sorry for what happened when we first got in here." Shina couldn't help but feel guilty, for she somehow felt that she could've stopped all those kids from bombarding Hatori when he'd arrived in the class room.

"Please, Shina, it's okay. I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"Miss Ito?"

Shina looked up from her bag to see her teacher, Mr. Hayashi, peering at her.

"Yes, Mr. Hayashi?" She asked, taking her attention from Hatori, and her bag, to him.

"May I speak with you?"

"Sure, yeah." She smiled, crossing her arms across her chest.

Mr. Hayashi glanced at Hatori. "Privately?"

Shina looked behind her shoulder at Hatori, who'd looked more than peeved. "I'll catch up with you later, Ha'ri."

Hatori sighed as he walked out of the room without another word.

"What's wrong, Mr. Hayashi?"

"Nothing, Ms. Ito. Nothing at all. I wanted to tell you….that you look very nice today."

Shina smiled and shrugged. "Thanks…but that's all you wanted to tell me?"

Mr. Hayashi sighed as if he wanted to get something off of his chest. Something that was tough to say. He stared at the shiny tile floor beneath them and began to kick at the dark scuffs the students had made with their shoes.

"Mr. Hayashi?" Shina peered over at the young teacher who'd seemed to be in his own world.

He shook his head quickly and turned his attention back to her. "Um. Yes. Do you – uh – have a….boyfriend?"

Shina felt herself blush but calmly played it off. "Um…no. Not at the moment, no."

Mr. Hayashi shook his head and gave her a nice glimpse of his pearly whites. "Good."

Shina, starting to feel more uncomfortable than ever, looked down at her little black wristwatch. "I've gotta go, Mr. Hayashi. I've got friends waiting on me." She laughed, trying to make him think that she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she did.

"Yes, I understand. Goodbye, Ms. Ito."

Shina hoisted her backpack onto her back and exited the room.

"What was that all about?"

Hatori had been standing next to the door, waiting for her to come out. Immediately, Shina jumped at the sound of his deep, yet soothing, voice.

"Ha'ri! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to hear what was going on."

Shina placed her hand on her hips. How dare he listen in to a private conversation. "Hatori, that was supposed to be a PRIVATE conversation."

"Well, who'd have a private conversation with the door wide open?"

Hatori had a point. Sheesh, she hated when he did that. "Whatever." Shina quickly changed the subject. "I wonder how Ayame, Hitomi, Leiko and Shigure's teacher was."

"Hm." Hatori grunted back in response, still trying to make sense of Shina and Mr. Hayashi's strange conversation. Who was he to make judgment ALREADY about the man who was going to teach him for the next eight months. But that was sort of odd, him asking if Shina had a boyfriend. And he couldn't help but feel offended with Shina said that she was single. But why was he making such a big deal about it. It wasn't like they were going to start dating.