Once school is over, Amy got a perfect score at a test, while Serena got a low score.
"What's wrong, Amy?" the latter asked her blue-haired friend.
"I may got a perfect score, but JD's completed all the answers!" Amy cried.
In fact, the new student is walking out of the school premises with a score higher than hers. He is walking alongside Molly as he went to his motorcycle, giving her a ride to his house. As his ride starts, they passed the two girls and large smoke appeared to make them cough.
This is not good for them.
As soon as they went to his house, Molly sees it to be a normal-sized house.
"Surprised on where I live?" JD asked her with a smile.
"Why, yes. I never thought your house is good as new," his new friend replied with a smile as well.
"Oh, thanks."
They went inside to see the sight of the living room, and it looks clean. In fact, there is a big screen TV and a sofa. What's more is that there is a kitchen and a bathroom and bedroom on the second floor.
"Wow, JD. This house you're living is so clean," Molly commented.
"Thank you, Molly," JD said. "Um, why don't you have a look around while I prepare sandwiches in the kitchen?"
"Okay."
While JD went to the kitchen to prepare sandwiches, Molly looked at the living room.
"What a nice TV he has," she commented before going to the second floor. The first door leads to the bedroom, while the other door leads to the bathroom. "Is he living all by himself?"
After having her tour, JD arrives with a tray of sandwiches carried on his hands.
"I see you looked at the entire house," he stated.
The two went to the living room, but they're not seated together. In fact, Molly sits on the sofa while JD sits on a chair nearby.
"Aren't you going to have a sandwich?" she asked while taking a bite.
"Thank you for asking," the black-haired guy grabs a sandwich and takes a bite.
"Have you been living by yourself?"
"Yes, I am."
"Why?"
"Why? Because I'm an independent person, that's what."
Molly looked at the living room to see magazine and newspaper clippings of suicide.
"Is this your hobby?" she asked.
"Why, yes it is," replied her new friend. "I like to make magazine and newspaper clippings for my time."
"Is your time empty?"
"Not really. I tend to my house and do errands. Some things I might be capable of doing?"
"Do you go out with friends?" Molly asked.
"Well, uh, not really. Most of the time I'm always by myself. That is before going to Sherwood, Ohio," JD replied calmly. "Do you feel empty in your entire life?"
"Only my share," the auburn-haired girl replied.
"What is between you and Serena?" the new student asked which causes her to be silent on the matter while taking a bite from her sandwich. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
"We were best friends, but she's being distant with me," Naru said, looking sad on the matter.
"What are you running away from?" JD asked another question.
"Why do you ask that?"
"People never run away from anything."
They paused for a while as the boy looked at the sky by the window.
"You know what I think?" JD started. "I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can every get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch."
"Sometimes, we deliberately step into those traps," Naru added.
"I was born in mine, but I got rid of it."
"How?"
"That's another story I'll share with you someday," the new student added more. "You know, if anyone would try to ditch me for some new people... The way she is doing this to you..."
"Sometimes, I wanna get back on those girls for stealing her away from me. Or at least, try to win in a competition against them so I can have her for a while, but I can't. I'm not that jealous," his new friend explained.
"I think we're the same."
Upon hearing those words, Molly got JD's attention as she is curious on this matter.
"How?"
"To start with, I was raised by a father. He was a widow because I lost my mother. My mother, she committed suicide, but not really; she was murdered when she walked into a building that my father blew up. Because of his work of blowing up buildings with bombs, we were moving from country to country like Dallas, Baton Rouge and Vegas. Most of the time, I was alone until I met this girl in Sherwood, Ohio, and her name was Veronica Sawyer. She and I were quite a couple. You know, hugging and kissing, as if we're the only people in the world. Until one day, something horrible happened and she broke up with me. I tried to reconnect with her, but nothing happened. In fact, I had nothing left," the dark-haired boy explained.
"Except me. You have me now," Molly said with comfort on her face.
"Thank you for saying that. I appreciate it."
"Why don't you have a vacation?" the auburn-haired girl makes a suggestion.
"In here, like you?" JD asked.
"Not like me."
"I couldn't do that. Besides, I'm a bad boy, and bad boys are not needed anymore when the right time has come. If you love someone, you don't do that to them, even if you hate them. You understand that I don't hate her. I hate how she's being distant with me. I hate the ignorance."
"Wouldn't it be better if you try to... do something about this?" Molly suggested.
"You mean send her to an institution? A madhouse?" JD asked coldly.
"No, that's not what I meant!" the girl flails her hands in reassurance.
"I think that's what it meant. People always call sending someone to a madhouse as 'do something'. 'Do something about that girl'," the boy coldly contradicted the statement.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound uncaring."
"What do you know about caring? Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places? The laughing, and the tears, and the cruel eyes studying you? Veronica in that place? Oh, but she's harmless! She's as harmless as Serena!"
"I am sorry. I only felt that... she was hurting you. I tried to mean well," Molly apologized.
"People always mean well. They cluck their thick tongues, and shake their heads and suggest, oh, so very delicately!" JD exclaimed before taking a deep breath to calm himself down. "Of course, I've suggested it myself, but I hate to even think about it. She is not that crazy. It's not as if she were a maniac, an antisocial person. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes, haven't you?"
"Yes. Sometimes just one time can be enough. Thank you."
They paused again.
"Hey, um, why don't you hire me?" JD suggest.
"Hire you for what?" Molly asked.
"Well, I think your best friend is being distant with you because I have a feeling she has a secret that she's not telling you. I'd like to investigate that myself."
"You mean like spy on her?"
"You can say that," JD replied with a smile.
"I don't know. That's invasion of her privacy," Molly looks conflicted on what her new friend is planning.
"But didn't you even try to check out on her to see if she's hiding any secrets from you?"
As soon as she heard what JD said, it looks like he is right. She never did try to check out on Serena, nor the girl she's been hanging out with.
"You want me to hire you, right? Well, you're hired, so how much do I pay?" she asked.
"Just an amount of 100 yen as your contribution," was the reply.
"Done," Molly gives the amount to him. "Anyway, I'm going home."
"That's good. I'd like to hang out with you for tomorrow. Are you available?"
"Since Serena will be hanging out with those girls, yes. I would like to hang out with you."
"Good."
As they stand up, JD gives a kiss to Molly's lips.
"This is a sign we're friends now. Got it?" he explained.
Afterwards, Molly left the place and JD looked at the window upon watching her leave. He has earned a friend in her after all.