A/N

Hello everyone! I'm back once again with a new chapter.

I now have a finalized timeline for this story, and I expect it to be around 15 chapters long (depending on how much fluff I can fit in there xD) I'm also considering making a chapter fron Yusuke or Hifumi's POV, so if you'd like one or the other, please let me know. Also, I wanted to say that I'll be going back to school in about two days, so depending on how much work I'll have to do, I'll have to change my updating schedule to 1-3 times per week (Again, I have no idea how busy I'll be so we'll see)

I also wanted to thank everyone who had rewieved, followed, favourited or read this. I never imagined that people would actually read what I wrote and knowing that people enjoy reading my story is an incredible feeling!

But that's enough of rambling for today, as usual, if you have feedback or think a character is becoming to OOC, please let me know.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3

Upon entering the classroom, Futaba noticed three things.

First, it was really noisy and she was not, in fact, running late. Students were sitting on their benches, talking and laughing and there was a big crowd by the blackboard where people were writing their names and drawing random stuff.

Secondly, whoever was in charge of the lesson had not yet arrived, even though class was going to start any minute. Futaba also didn't know where she was supposed to sit or if she had been assigned to a seat without knowing. She moved from the doorway and stood with her back against the wall, clutching her bag in one hand whilst awkwardly glancing around the room.

Thirdly, nobody seemed to notice her arrival or, if they had they didn't comment on it. There was no awkward pause where everyone dropped what they were doing and gawked at her, no silence as she walked across the room with everyone's gazes on her. It almost felt as if she was one of them.

Before she finished the thought, the door slammed open next to her. A woman with jet black hair and impossibly tall heels stalked in and hurriedly placed her stuff on the lectern. She opened her bag and pulled out a couple of papers whilst simultaneously managing to remove her jacket. When she was done, she quickly glanced at the big clock on the wall. Then she cleared her throat. Everyone in the room hurried to their seats and one student pulled his hand across the blackboard a few times in a

half-hearted attempt to remove the scribbles. He quickly gave up and hurried to his seat.

The teacher cleared her throat again and began talking to the class. Futaba felt increasingly uncomfortable and wondered if it would be rude to interrupt. What would she even say,

Excuse me? I'm new and I don't know where to sit. Could you please introduce me to the class so that we can all get on with our lives and I can complete my mission? Oh yeah, that's just how I talk because I'm lame and use video game terms in my head, don't worry! You're not the first person to find that incredibly strange and slightly revolting. I'm used to it!

She cringed inwardly. Yeah, better to stand next to the wall and be awkward than to publicly humiliate herself in front of her new class.

As the teacher kept prattling about how nice it was to be back after winter break and how important it was to have fun and not study all the time, more and more students noticed the strange girl standing by the door to their classroom. Futaba felt the gazes of almost everyone in the room on her. She could practically hear them whispering to each other about how weird she was, or what she could be doing there and looked at the ground. She could feel her cheeks start to heat up and a lump formed in her throat.

Suddenly the teacher looked up from her papers and noticed Futaba standing next to the door. Her expression changed from confusion to realization to embarrassment in the span of seconds. If Futaba wasn't so busy being awkward, she would have found it impressive.

"I knew I had forgotten something." The teacher grumbled, and cleared her throat again. That seemed to be somewhat of a nervous reaction for her, Futaba noticed, smirking inwardly. At least she wasn't the only one who was embarrassed.

"Alright guys, this is your new classmate!" The teacher looked over at Futaba with a big plastered smile on her face. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class, um-" she glanced at her papers, "-Isshiki-chan!, come up here Isshiki-chan."

Futaba walked slowly toward the lectern and gave a shy smile once she stood in front of the class. She looked across all of the students, most of them meeting her gaze whilst some were already staring out the window or passing notes. Futaba even saw one guy who was drawing something in a notebook. She wondered which student Hifumi had called her friend. Maybe she would ask her when they met for lunch later. The thought made her smile, she had never had someone to eat lunch with. It felt good, even though she was pretty sure Hifumi was just pitying her. Nevertheless, the thought gave her the confidence she needed to stand a little straighter and be proud that her voice only wavered twice when she introduced herself to the class.

The teacher, who introduced herself as miss Koizumi, gave Futaba a few books, a schedule and a map of the school to help with orientation. Futaba thought it best not to mention that she would have the layout memorized after one look, and received the papers with a smile. Then she looked out over the classroom with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Let's see now, I know we saved you a seat somewhere.."

Her face lit up as she spotted what Futaba assumed must be an empty bench.

"There! You can sit next to Kitagawa-kun." Miss Koizumi pointed across the room at the guy who Futaba had seen drawing in his notebook earlier. He lifted his head when he heard his name being called and Futaba's heart almost stopped right there. It was the guy from the manga shop! She was suddenly overwhelmed with a myriad of different emotions. Shock, annoyance and anger all fought for control inside her confused brain, but for some reason Futaba also felt a tiny sliver of relief. At least she recognized one person in the giant heap of students that were her new class. She pushed that feeling down though, reminding herself that she was angry at this guy – and with good reason.

Kitagawa had already begun moving his books as to give Futaba a spot to sit. She grabbed a chair from a nearby bench and slammed her bag down next to it a little harder than necessary. She stubbornly refused to look at her new bench-mate, instead focusing intently on miss Koizumi.

"Kitagawa-kun, why don't you show Isshiki-chan around the school later?"

Kitagawa nodded an affirmative but otherwise didn't react. Futaba forced a smile and hoped the tour would be over quickly. At least she still had lunch with Hifumi to look forward to, and after school, she could go home and read the latest volume of Fetherman-R. The thought made her remember that day in the manga-shop and she turned to glare at Kitagawa, only to see that he was busy drawing again.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Futaba leaned slightly closer to her bench-mate and tried to see what he was drawing. Her breath almost caught in her throat, but she quickly looked away before she was found out. She had only seen the picture for a split second, but she knew one thing for sure. This guy was good. The picture had been depicting a white fox basking in the sunlight and even though it had just been a sketch, something in the lines had made it look alive, like it could stretch and walk out of the book at any moment. This just made Futaba even angrier. Not only was the guy a figurine-murderer but he was apparently a prodigy too.

Looking back up, Futaba shook the irritation away and tried to focus on miss Koizumi. It was hard to listen to the teacher though, and Futaba's mind kept wandering . It also didn't help that the subject was one that she herself had read about online during the months she had been absent, and therefore already knew by heart.

The other lessons were much the same. Futaba would walk in, introduce herself to the teacher and then barely pay attention when the class began. She found it oddly peaceful, and she knew that she would have an easier time learning stuff at home anyway so she didn't really mind. She even managed to come to terms with her unwelcome bench-mate after a while. He was usually quiet and gave her plenty of space, so much so that Futaba was starting to suspect that she might actually have scared him with all of her yelling in the shop. She actually felt a tiny bit bad, and debated whether to apologize but she was still to angry at him for almost ruining her action figurines. She figured that if he apologized to her, she would too but she was not gonna make the first move.