"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Unfortunately, no."

"How the hell did you two even manage to get in here?"

"Beats me."

Uncle Cid alternates between looking at us and looking at the matching schedules he's crumpling within his tight grip before ultimately looking like he's ready to throw himself out the window. "You know what, I'm just going to pretend like this isn't a nightmare that's been set in motion and that Ansem is just pulling some elaborately sick joke." Not knowing what else to do, Sora offers an awkward laugh and I try to make myself look as unassuming as possible by hiding behind my brother's back. "Sit wherever you want; my only rule is that no twins sit next to each other so that I don't mix up any fucking names—though, in this case, I guess that also means no sitting next to the Kleuh brothers either."

In all honesty, that's kind of a small blessing in disguise but I choose not to remark on it in fear of pissing off my new physics teacher even more and scurry off into the open seat next to Olette just before Pence can take it. My friend looks a bit annoyed by my thievery, but I shoot him a cheeky grin that's hopefully enough to make him forget about my offense.

Sora slides in beside Riku just as Uncle Cid flicks his lighter on and brings a fresh cigarette to the flames and allows a string of curses to escape into the air.

n o n e x i s t e n t

Apparently the Class A schedule is set up so that there's a single uniform seating arrangement in all the Class A exclusive classes—hearing that just makes me feel even worse for taking Pence's spot, especially since he ended up in the seat next to Vanitas. The latter had seemed kind of annoyed about this as well, since it was kind of obvious that he had been expecting Naminé to take the seat and she ended up next to his brother instead.

"You're staring," Olette states matter-of-factly, loud enough for only me to hear.

When I turn to her in surprise, she only offers me a roll of the eyes before pointing with her pencil to the front of the classroom where Cid's already covered the board in bold, black scribble. I squint at the writing and once I realize what it is, I feel like I'm going to faint.

"It's the first day of school," I hiss as I glare at the formulas written on the board. "Aren't we supposed to spend the day going over the class syllabus?"

The auburn-haired girl actually pauses in her note-taking (and I want to cringe because she's already at the bottom of the page) to stare at me with incredulity before she reminds herself that this is basically my first day in this kind of situation. She manages to stifle a laugh and shoots me an apologetic grin instead. "Sorry, Rox, it's my fault for not giving you a heads up beforehand."

Yeah, you think?

"Class syllabi were given to us at the end of last year so that we could properly arrange our extracurricular schedules around our academics. I'll give you a copy of mine for our classes tomorrow, but for now, just know that our summer research project is due on Wednesday and we have our first test next Monday—in Physics, at least."

I'm not even sure how to respond so I continue to just stare at her in shock. It's clear that Olette isn't really sure if she should take the time to assuage my panic or if she should go back to taking notes like a responsible student, so I do her a favor and turn my attention to Sora instead to see how my twin is faring.

It looks as though he's gone through a similar conversation with Riku and he's gaping at me with the same mortified expression that I imagine contorts my features.

Oh yeah, Mom's definitely going to have to put up with a lot of teenage whining today.

As soon as the bell rings, Sora and I have this weird twin telepathy moment that tells us we have to pick up all of our things right away and dash towards the music hallway without pausing for any small talk with our new classmates.

Though Sora's second period elective is listed as "Sonatas for the Concert Pianist," we're both familiar enough with our music teachers to know that our second period is probably going to end up in the same classroom as it typically is.

That being said, as soon as we throw open the door to the cited room, Sora's already screaming for Cloud while I'm screaming for Zack and the students that are already in the room are staring at us wide-eyed for referring to our teachers with such casual disdain that I'd probably be embarrassed about if I weren't already feeling so overwhelmed.

"Good morning to you too," Cloud mutters before Sora throws himself onto the older man's lap. Sora's abandoned the uniform jacket our mom always insists for us to wear on at least the first day of school and loosened his tie as he lies on his back, unruly hair collecting the dust of the music room's floor. He's already launched into the story about our awful morning, complete with exaggerated gestures that include flailing legs and angry punching at the air.

"This is the most energy I've seen you have in ages," Zack admits with a light laugh as he stands up out of his chair and gestures for me to take the seat instead—probably to avoid the possible embarrassment that Cloud's currently experiencing courtesy of my brother. "Sora's looking chipper as ever though."

I roll my eyes before allowing my bag to fall to the floor as I slouch into the chair that Zack's offered me. "Energetic, yes, but chipper? Not so much." My hands bring themselves to cover my face as though blocking everything else out of my vision will be enough to make all of the stress go away.

It doesn't really work.

"Did you know that Sora and I were transferred into Class A this morning?"

I don't see how Zack reacts, but his lack of a verbal response is enough to make me suddenly feel uncomfortable. I peek through my fingers to see him staring at me blankly and as soon as he realizes that I'm staring, he bursts into laughter. "Tell me that it's some kind of mistake! I can't imagine you guys being able to keep up with that kind of curriculum."

It's fairly obvious that his initial reaction is hiding something suspicious but I know better than to question him about it knowing that it'll only make things weird between us. So instead, I slide my focus onto my brother, who's still complaining like crazy about the atrocity that is the Kleuh brothers, and take in Cloud's suddenly pale features and his blank stare.

I want to tell myself that that's just how Cloud always looks whenever Sora's telling him a story. I really do.

The bell rings to signify the start of class and Zack has this huge grin on his features as he playfully tells me that I need to get out of his "cool guy" chair and Cloud doesn't hesitate to pick Sora up off his lap and drop him onto the ground.

"Hey, Sora?"

My brother hums in response to his name, too focused on texting Kairi back to actually look at me. Usually this would annoy me, but this time around, there's this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that refuses to go away.

"Things are really weird today."

To my surprise, he actually stops mid-text to turn his attention to me. His blue eyes seem void of their familiar sensation of warmth for a second and I feel something inside my chest stop at the coldness of his neutral expression. Without finishing his message, he locks his phone and slides his hands into his pockets before turning his head to stare straight ahead at the hall ahead of us. Suddenly his features flash and fizz out, replacing the familiarity I've come to rely on with an expression of derisive malice in glaring golden eyes.

Now. Time. Ready. NowTimeReady. Nowtimereadynowtimereadynow'sthetimeareyouready—

"Why, brother, whatever do you mean?"

My body instantly becomes cold and I feel myself beginning to lose balance. There's this feeling of intense fear that's washed over me, that threatens something terrible if I don't stop everything right now.

So I do.

A firm grip seizes my arm and my vision re-focuses onto the individual in front of me. Sora's eyes are wide and his brows are furrowed together in concern and worry. His cell phone is still within his other hand, open to a text conversation.

Blue, blue, blue.

"Yo, Rox, are you okay?"

The taste of bile consumes my senses and I find that I'm suddenly shaking. My vision's going black. And then a familiar voice and a smiling face and—"You're here"—and blue eyes, always blue eyes…

"Roxas!"

"Y-Yeah, sorry," I mumble, still feeling dazed and reeling in confusion.

Sora doesn't look particularly convinced by this and glances at his phone to check the time. "There are two minutes before we need to be in Art History. Do you want me to take you to the nurse?"

I shake my head slowly, grabbing onto my brother's arm for a makeshift sense of safety. "I'm good. Sudden headache, that's all."

"Sure it is," he says with a roll of the eyes, thankfully dropping the subject. "Let's get to class then. Just tell me about it later, alright?"

I offer him a low hum in agreement as he leads me to Tifa's classroom, acting as though me clinging to his arm for dear life is the most natural thing in the world because he knows that if he continues to act concerned I'll probably just get pissed off.

And I smile, because sometimes Sora can be really dumb, but when I need him, he's always there for me before I even realize that I need the help.

When we get there, the door is locked and we're both looking at it in confusion before Sora suddenly offers me an awkward laugh. "Uh, I think that the bell already rang when you were having your moment back there and I apparently didn't remember how to read the numbers on my phone. That would probably explain why the halls are so empty right now. Whoops."

I can only turn to stare at him with an expression of agonized blankness.

The two of us don't hesitate to start banging on the door and whining for our mother's friend to let us into her dumb art class, and it's not long before she does so with an annoyed glint in her eye and a forced smile on her features.

"You're late," she states. "You're late and you're already calling my class dumb."

I'll admit that I'm basically scared of all of my mom's friends minus Cloud and Zack, so I feel my body turn stiff as Sora's eyes widen.

"On a scale of one to ten, how fucked are we?"

A beat of silence.

Tifa hits Sora on the top of his head so hard that I feel like I've lost all functioning in my brain through our vicarious twin connection.

"How do you guys manage to be late to class on the first day?" Olette asks with a raised brow. "I can understand the freshmen, but you guys too? Really?"

Sora looks at me and I don't have to pretend to worry about him mentioning my weird spell back there. We both shrug at the shorter friend between us as she only rolls her eyes.

"I worry for you two sometimes, you know?"

We mumble some offhand term in response before Sora chooses to change the subject. "You know, we're headed off to another year of calculus and I didn't even pass the first year. Like, I'm pretty sure Principal Ansem changed our schedules like this because he wants to kill us."

Olette laughs a little at this. "BC is a lot easier than AB, I promise. And if you ever need help, I'm always available for tutoring for only five-hundred munny an hour!"

My brother's nose scrunches up in disgust. "Geez, Olette, you can't just help me for free out of the kindness in your heart?"

"Kindness doesn't pay the bills, sweetie," she retorts easily with a playful wink.

Sora groans. "I can't even get a friends and family discount?"

"Nah, it's every man for himself out there in the real world, Sora. Can't let anyone off easily."

Unsurprisingly, a high-pitched whine starts to escape my brother's throat and I join Olette's ringing laughter as the three of us enter the classroom. The bell's yet to ring, but Mr. Leonhart's nowhere in sight and the students of Class A seem to be content with sitting on the desktops and socializing with one another.

Hearing Sora's cries from the doorway, Riku turns away from his conversation with Ventus to shoot us a curious look. "It sounds like Sora's gotten his feelings hurt again."

Olette chuckles at this and gives my brother a resounding slap on the back. "Yeah, well, you know how sensitive the guy is."

Vanitas laughs at this—short, staccato barks of laughter—and is only shut up when Naminé shoots him an annoyed raise of the eyebrow at his sudden outburst.

"You have absolutely zero chill, Vanitas."

"Yeah, well, I've always had zero chill so nothing's really changed."

She rolls her eyes as he grins at her cheekily and I don't have to look at Sora or Olette to know that they're both curious as to what the relationship between the Kleuh brothers and Naminé really is. Riku, ever perceptive, quickly takes note of this and, as the official smooth talker of our group, brings up the subject cooly.

"Oh, you guys know each other? That's pretty cool."

"Childhood friends," Ventus explains quickly. It's clear that the response was meant to be casual and nonchalant, but it doesn't seem that way at all due to his quick response.

Realizing this, Vanitas' mood sours almost instantaneously as he shoots a glare towards his brother. It's ultimately Naminé that gives us a bit more information. "We grew up in the same city and our parents had known each other. I had heard that they had moved here, so when I was invited to live with my aunt and uncle, I was excited to see some old friends again."

The next question, of course, would be to ask where the trio even came from. Because Sora and I always become incapable of coherent conversation whenever a Kleuh is in the same room as us, it was up to Olette or Riku to find the appropriate words.

"That's awesome!" Olette smiles, and I can't help but wonder if she actually thinks that it's that great or if she's just simply become that good at faking her grins. "Where are you guys from originally?"

This time, it's Ventus' turn to glare at his brother. Both Vanitas and Naminé are easily able to retain a sense of nonchalance as the former mumbles an offhand, "It was a small, insignificant world—you guys probably wouldn't have heard of it." He slides his narrowed, golden eyes to meet my brother's before cocking his head mockingly. "Besides, I'd prefer if I could retain some sense of my dignity and I'd argue that includes personal facts about my identity."

Naminé offers him a sharp jab in the ribcage to wipe the smile off his face as Ventus hastily apologizes. "Van gets a bit moody before he has some food. Don't pay him too much mind."

If they were trying to pretend like they weren't hiding some kind of huge secret, then they were doing a pretty awful job of it—and it didn't take a genius to realize that. However, it was also obvious that pushing the matter too hard would only result in making the childhood trio even more uncomfortable, so Riku shot the rest of us a look that told us to drop it as he forced a humble chuckle. "Yeah, that doesn't really surprise me. Where do you take it Mr. Leonhart is?"

"I saw him in the hallway," Ventus responds, avoiding the gaze of his twin as he chooses to focus on Riku and Olette instead.

I've always had mixed feelings about Vanitas and I think that it's because of the fact that he's basically the satanic version of my brother. But seeing him interact with Naminé casts him in a different light: he turns his attention away from his brother in order to stare at her and his eyes look more like the shining sun instead of a dull amber; a faint smile tugs at the corners of his lips, threatening to consume his expression in its entirety but not brave enough to go that far; his posture loses some of its rigidity and he actually looks like a normal highschooler instead of an uptight, troublesome salutatorian.

A part of me wants to be able to look over at Naminé and be like, "Oh, she's totally into him" or "Oh, they're just very close friends" or even just a "She acts slightly different around him," but nothing comes to mind. I guess I just don't know her well enough. I look at her and all I can come up with is "She's such a liar."

And a piece of me tells me that I'm wrong, that it's just the wonky headache from earlier. Something warm washes over me and suddenly I want to take a nap.

"Roxas?"

The classroom door slams as Mr. Leonhart finally makes his entrance. It faintly registers to me that he looks tired—but maybe that's just me projecting?—and I take my seat.

When I look up, Ventus is staring at me with wide eyes.

"Sora! I feel like I haven't seen you in an eternity!"

"Tidus, you just saw me this morning. And since when did you get so attached?"

The blond huffs in response, crossing his arms in annoyance, "I've always been attached to you. Maybe you just never notice me because you're too busy eyefucking Kairi—or Riku, now that I think about it…"

I throw my head back to laugh at the stupid comment as Sora angrily punches Tidus in the shoulder. Hayner slings an arm around my shoulder as though it's the most natural thing in the world and shoots me a cheesy smirk. "How was class today, Mr. Genius?"

I manage a small smile and jab him lightly with my elbow. "Is that even a real question? How do you think it went?"

"Touche," he chuckles. Hayner crosses both his arms behind his head and leans back a little as he walks forward, managing to look like the most casual stoner I've ever met in my life. In front of us, Sora and Tidus are going back and forth with jubilant shouts directed at one another, Olette and Selphie are making some halfhearted small talk—they'd never been the closest of friends—and Riku, Naminé, Ventus, and Vanitas had stayed back after fourth period since they were apparently super slow when it came to packing up their stuff. I'm content with Hayner's silence though. He's always been a good friend of mine and the reassuring nature of his mere presence is what I really need right now.

I hadn't really been paying attention to what Hayner was doing, but apparently he was paying a lot of attention to me. It isn't until I feel the weight of his gaze on me that I finally turn to stare at him fully. His hazel eyes aren't examining me directly, but instead they maintain a fixed position on my features as Hayner faces straight ahead: silent, thorough observation.

As soon as he realizes that he's caught my attention, his eyes slide back to face forward as he casually says, "I figured that you were going to have an absolutely awful time in Class A, but I didn't think it would be that bad."

Hayner knows me better than I'm willing to admit.

"Just feeling a bit sick, that's all. I have no idea where it came from."

He hums softly in response and that reaction alone is affirmation that he won't ask anymore questions. Instead, he decides to switch topic: "You know, we've been at this stupid school for four years and still haven't gone to a Homecoming dance. A part of me feels like we're doing high school wrong."

"I feel like it's more of us doing a romance thing wrong, man."

Hayner laughs at this, finally turning his head to grin at me directly. "Well, Roxas Hikari, if you don't hook up with anyone before then, consider this as me asking you to be my date."

I can't help but snort at the incredibly unromantic gesture and he flashes a wide, cocky grin at me. "I feel like I should be the one saying that to you. Real talk: will Olette be taking your last name or are you going to be taking her's? I'm betting my money on the latter."

I don't even have to look at Hayner to know that his face has flushed a bright shade of red as he pushes me away from him. "W-Whoa! What are you talking about? Olette definitely doesn't see me that way."

"I'm willing to bet three hundred money otherwise," Xion appears with a wink, eyes sliding over to the auburn-haired girl only steps in front of us. Our blond friend's eyes widen in a mixture of disbelief and horror before Pence tumbles in behind us and we're sent falling to the ground.

Kairi and Sora hover over our fallen forms with wide, innocent eyes, until Pence offers up a lame explanation after a beat of silence: "I guess you could say Hayner's really fallen head over heels for Olette—he's even decided to go so far as to take us down with him."

We all burst into laughter that only increases in intensity when Olette realizes what's happened and bolts over to make sure that everyone's alright; Hayner looks like he's about to die of mortification.

Hayner Arden wonders how the fuck he ended up with the slickest, most considerate friends who manage to never make a scene to embarrass him ever.
(Roxas Hikari, Pence Lawlet, and 42 others like this)

Axel ohmygawdimonfire: You can't have the "slickest, most considerate friends" unless one of those friends is a flaming hot redhead named Axel ohmygawdimonfire.
(Sora Hikari, Larxene Flash, and 29 others like this)

Roxas Hikari: I thought you said that you didn't want to be friends with us anymore, Axel. Didn't you say something about how we're "fake as fuck"?
(Riku Takama, Kairi Soto, and 34 others like this)

Axel ohmygawdimonfire: Um… YEAH? As far as I'm concerned, Xion's the only decent one of you since Roxas has been tainted by Sora's pube shavings and Tidus' dyed hair. I'm /just saying/ that Hayner's statement was politically incorrect. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PASS HIGH SCHOOL AT THIS RATE, fucking dipshit
(Xion Soren, Demyx Nocturne, and 72 others like this)

Hayner Arden: Fuck you, Axel
(Axel ohmygawdimonfire likes this)

Roxas Hikari: WHAT IS THIS ABOUT SORA'S PUBES?
(Axel ohmygawdimonfire likes this)

Selphie Tilmitt: TIDUS DYES HIS HAIR?
(Axel ohmygawdimonfire likes this)

Tidus Artz: YO, AXEL, I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR APPRENTICE DOE
Xion Soren: Let's be real, Tidus: the only person to ever be worthy of being called Axel's apprentice is yours truly.
(Axel ohmygawdimonfire likes this)

….

Axel ohmygawdimonfire schools the basicz all day every day
(Xion Soren, Larxene Flash, and 93 others like this)

Larxene Flash: Remember the time you were publicly humiliated by #theorganization during another one of your failed attempts at being cool? Because I do. It's probably one of my favorite memories.
(Zexion Scheme, Xaldin Armstrong, and 127 others like this)

Axel ohmygawdimonfire; we don't talk about that anymore i have expunged that event's existence from my purified memories

Xigbar Snype: Okay, but did you expunge the memory of the time you never hit puberty and remained a whiny, attention-seeking, annoying-as-fuck prepubescent who orchestrates these elaborate schemes so that people will think he's cool even though all he really wants is Saïx's attention and approval again?
(Marluxia Rose, Zexion Scheme, and 199 others like this)

Axel ohmygawdimonfire: GUYS WTFFF? we shouldn't talk about these things in public because we need to maintain our image this is a SOCIAL media site everyone can see this? what if SAĪX sees this? NOT COOL. NOT COOL.

Larxene Flash: Maybe not cool, but it's fucking hilarious
(Xigbar Snype, Demyx Nocturne, and 134 others like this)

Saïx Lupine: Too late.
(Xemnas Etheream, Xigbar Snype, and 146 others like this)

…..

Kairi Soto: The last first day we'll ever have! (surprise)(blush)(applause) I'm so happy to be able to have shared the past thirteen years of my public school education with the same basis of dorks: even if we're not all together next year when we go off to college, I want you all to know that the memories that we've made are some of the best I know I'll ever have and it would literally be /impossible/ for me to forget any of you. I love you guys so much! Let's make this our best year yet! (heart)(heart)(heart)

[image currently not available]

(Sora Hikari, Riku Takama, and 268 others like this)

Selphie Tilmitt: Geez, Kai, you're talking about us as though you're /expecting/ something bad to happen!
(Tidus Artz, Olette Hart, and 19 others like this)

Kairi Soto: Well, you know, I /do/ have to worry when one of my closest friends is too busy cutting out pictures for celebrity collages that she fails all of her mid-terms…
(Hayner Arden, Pence Lawlet, and 42 others like this)

Selphie Tilmitt: IT WAS ONE TIME

Tidus Artz: IT WAS ONE TIME

Sora Hikari: You guys are such dorks. I agree with Kairi though: we'll make sure that this is a senior year none of us could ever forget.
(Kairi Soto, Roxas Hikari, and 29 others like this)

"I heard that Hayner asked you out to Homecoming?"

I feel my nose twitch in disgust as I turn my attention away from the other set of twins and towards my brother. "I think that I'm actually horrified that that's the rumor people choose to spread about me. Couldn't they make up something stupid about how I gave some chick gingivitis?"

Sora's brows furrow together in confusion. "How would you give somebody gingivitis?"

"Isn't that the name of an STD?"

Sora just stares at me blankly before deadpanning, "That is the exact reason why nobody's going around spreading rumors about you giving chicks STDs: you don't even know what an STD is."

At this point I don't even feel annoyance. At this point, it's just complete and utter shame.

"There was an attempt."

"Yeah," Sora smirks, "There was clearly an attempt."

We're seated in a haphazard formation in the courtyard's garden, where we've chosen to eat lunch since our freshman year. Principal Ansem apparently has an incredibly green thumb since the flowers are always blooming shades of primrose, damask, violet, magenta, coral, and cattleya. They decorate the otherwise dullness of the gray concrete with some sort of hopeful undertone that suggests that maybe the school isn't as awful as you'd first think; even during the dead of winter, sitting in the garden feels almost warm.

"Five minutes until the bell rings!" Olette calls.

The others are busy engaging in conversation, especially since Ventus and Vanitas have decided to "grace us" with their presence (as the amber-eyed boy had so eloquently put it). I'm still not sure if it was Riku or Naminé who had chosen to extend an invitation, but based on the way Vanitas leans in to catch every word that flutters forth from Naminé's lips while she giggles at his brother's lame attempts at a joke, it's probably not the former.

"You're acting weird, Roxas," Sora states rather bluntly, knowing that we're essentially out of earshot. "You may not have gingivitis or whatever, but you've been so spacey today and some of the others are even starting to notice too. If there's anything wrong, you know that you can tell me, right?"

What scares me is that I'm not sure how to respond. As soon as the words depart from Sora's lips, my first instinct is to agree with him, to say, "I know, Sora, I'll tell you anything and everything and you shouldn't have to ask because you should know that." But for some reason, the words can't find their place in my vocal chords and I'm left staring at him with wide, confused eyes.

His stare pins me with their cobalt blue warmth and inside his eyes I notice something that I've never seen before: raw honesty that permeates the confines of the intangible; the solid resolve of a hero, a protector; a sacrifice that's so old and so ingrained into his existence that he's forgotten of its purpose as the foundation for his being; fear.

"S-Sora, are you okay?"

There's something that flickers in his expression for a moment—something between hesitation and relief—but the look in his eyes dissipates almost immediately after it appears. What replaces it is the wide, lopsided grin I've known my whole life and a halfhearted smack to the head. "Stop trying to change the subject, dummy. As the older brother, I'm supposed to worry about you—not the other way around."

"I think that it could be a two-way street though," I reply carefully. "You know that I can be here for you too if you need me, right?"

For a moment nothing is said between us: Sora just chooses to stick with his merry grin and I just stare at him with this feeling that I don't want to call desperation even though it is. I'm not sure where it's all coming from, but all I know is that this wave of emotion has overtaken my body and I'm not quite sure what to do with it and apparently neither are those who are close to me.

The bell rings.

Sora laughs as though I've told the most hysterical joke and ruffles my hair lightly. "Of course, Roxas. Who else will help me come up with an awesome plan to ask Kairi out to Homecoming?"

That's not the answer that I had wanted and I feel something in me sink a little lower. Instead, I force a smirk and offer my twin a light shove. "I mean, are you going to actually ask her this time?"

He throws back his head with ringing joy at my retort before throwing his arm around me and carting the two of us closer towards the others.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette are laughing about something dumb the blond's just said, Selphie and Tidus are arguing about some petty detail about rumored new students, Riku, Xion, and Kairi have just wrapped up a conversation with our newcomers, and Vanitas and Naminé are playfully bickering about everything and nothing with identical twinkles in their eyes.

For a moment, it seems as though Ventus is nowhere to be seen, but when Sora and I turn, he seemingly appears out of nowhere.

Now. Time. Ready. NowTimeReady. Nowtimereadynowtimereadynow'sthetimeareyouready—

"Roxas?"

The arm around me runs slack as everything before me turns black and after that moment I can't remember anything else that occurred that day.

a/n: so it's been forever since i've updated this and i honestly can't apologize enough—just when it seemed i had gotten a momentum going too! haha

to put it bluntly, i've been swamped during my freshman year of high school and it's just super difficult to manage my time appropriately. hopefully i'll get better at that, but for now, consider this a thanksgiving gift to all of you! thank you so much for your support of this story, whether you're familiar to nonexistent or you're new to the serious: i honestly would have so much more difficulty finding the motivation to write if it weren't for all of you. i can't really remember which reviews i responded to (or if i responded to any before i temporarily went mia… otl), so i'll be responding to them briefly here. i promise that this won't become a common occurrence though!

before that, just some thoughts on this chapter: i'm a little worried that i got overexcited in introducing the more dramatic aspects of the story and may have rushed things a bit. even though i only really introduced two big plot points here, i'm not sure if it was done too abruptly for you guys? your thoughts on that would definitely be appreciated! i also started writing part of this in august and finished it up now (november), so i'm not sure if there are any obvious changes in my writing style. gold stars to whoever can figure out where the time lapse occurred in the text lol

now for responses!

Colorslander: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying this! I think that stories set in high school can sometimes get a little cliched, but hopefully I succeed in avoiding that, haha

Guest: Thanks for the feedback! Yes, the Sora/Kairi drama from the original version of Nonexistent will definitely be making a comeback—albeit, in an entirely different form that I think is both more realistic and better tailored to the overall plot of the story. Keep your eyes out for it!

anon: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying yourself! The secrets of the Van/Ven/Nam relationship will be revealed eventually. c:

t0fura: I hope that you don't mind the lack of humor in this chapter too much. ;3; I'm finding it a bit difficult to balance the drama and the humor adequately, but I hopefully I'll prove myself to be a quick learner! I'm so excited to reveal the relationship of Van/Ven/Nam and how it ties into the story as a whole. I'm a bit worried that my excitement will make it seem as though I'm rushing through the story, but hopefully that doesn't end up being the case!

L: Welcome back to Nonexistent! I'm so happy to hear from one of my former readers. c: I honestly hate when one of my favorite fanfics ends up never being completed, so I feel super guilty when I'm one of the authors who decides to just go out there and drop a story. I hope that I don't disappoint you with this reboot! ;3;

Flightless-Tsuki: LOL, I honestly debated whether or not I should give Axel a proper last name in this reboot but figured that it was too iconic from the original Nonexistent to be removed. Reading your comment makes me proud of myself for making the right choice, haha! I'm so glad to hear that there are obvious improvements in my writing compared to the original Nonexistent. I'm a little worried about the pacing for this reboot and striking the right balance of drama and comedy, but I really hope that I'll be able to find my way!

Sookdeo: At this point in my KH fanfic career, I think that writing Sora as not overdramatic would actually be a challenge since I've become so used to it, LOL. I'm really glad that I caught the awkwardness between Roxas and Naminé well! I was honestly worried about how that scene would be perceived, but hearing that you experienced some secondhand awkwardness definitely makes me feel better about what I had written. I'm super excited to get into the Van/Ven/Nam relationship as well as a bit more explanation about the feud between the Kleuhs and the Hikaris—all in due time. c;

Sinful Sereneta: Wow, hi there! It's so great hearing from people who were avid writers back when I was first starting out in the KH fandom. c: I'm also super honored to hear that I was able to impress you in the first chapter of my story alone—you're definitely right when you say that occurrences like that are pretty rare. Yeah, I definitely agree with you when you mention that there are some moments in the story where it feels like the story drags a bit. My issue with the original Nonexistent is that I would get sidetracked with keeping the story funny that the actual plot took a backseat to fluff and extended humorous scenes. The most difficult part when rewriting this is definitely striking a balance between drama and comedy, so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out quickly. ;3; This chapter especially is more on the drama side so I think that there'll definitely be some slower parts of the text. I apologize in advance! ;3;

My5tic-Lali: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying the reboot! :D With the way the original story was going, it was probably going to finish in roughly fifty chapters; with the pace I've set here, I'm hoping that I'll be able to wrap this up in about twenty or twenty-five. I'm hoping that my choice to quicken the pace of the story is a good one!

Again, thank you to all those who favorited, followed, or reviewed my story—it really means a lot! I'm participating in some of the Secret Santa events on tumblr and offering up some of my fanfiction, but I'm definitely hoping that I'll find some time to update Nonexistent in the coming month. Either way, I promise that I'll have more work posted in December! If any of you have a tumblr, feel free to follow me over at nojeons. Honestly debating whether or not I should switch my url to "sorashope," but I'm still super torn lol.

Until next time, guys!