A/N: So I'm not dead surprisingly enough. Though I think like 2 people have even glanced at this story, so I doubt anyone was sad this story stopped updating. Come to think of it I doubt anyone reads these A/Ns, so in conclusion LALALALALALALALA!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Shuffle! believe it or not.
"Speech"
"Thought"
Chapter 3: Paranoia
The sound of a rapid, nervous heartbeat filled Nero's ears as he tried to fruitlessly calm his overexcited nerves. Something was going to happen, Nero was certain of this. Just what that something was he had no idea, and it was causing him to overanalyze his surroundings. After studying every crack of every tile he nearly unleashed his power after hearing what sounded like a metal hitting a hard surface followed by a yelp of pain. Nero turned towards the classroom ready to pounce on the potential enemy, and stopped to stare at what could only be described as pure idiocy. It seemed that Sia's father had said something to upset her judging by the large lump on his head and the metal chair in Sia's hand.
"Well someone got hurt. Just relax, there's no reason to get this worked up over something that might not even happen", Nero thought as he willed his heartbeat back to normal.
"Can I introduce the new students now?" the woman Nero assumed would be his homeroom teacher asked. With that Nero quietly entered the room avoiding nearly everybody's attention. With the new students gathered in front of the class the three began to introduce themselves.
Sia began the introductions with, "I'm Lisianthus. I came from the world of the Gods. It's a long name so you can call me Sia."
Nerine proceeded to introduce herself as well. Followed by their father's interrupting Nero's introduction to explain they were the kings of their respective worlds. This little revelation visibly shocked nearly everyone in the room. All Nero could think about was how small his existence must have appeared in that moment. That and how he was suddenly on edge once again.
"And I'm someone that not a single person in this room is listening to", Nero said with a somewhat depressed tone, and as he expected no one had paid his introduction any mind. It bothered him, but it was quickly pushed to the back of his mind. His heart rate was on the rise again, and he couldn't help but feel that someone was staring at him. However, the entire classroom's focus was still on the princesses which meant something potentially disastrous. The three were directed to their seats, and Nero tried to convince himself that he was just overly concerned with what his new classmates thought of him. He wasn't buying it.
By the time lunch had rolled around Nero was a giant bundle of frazzled nerves. Someone was watching him, and they clearly had painted a target on his head. He barely restrained himself from jumping at an approaching student believing it was his stalker. It turned out to be Sia walking towards his desk.
"Um Nero, would you like to join us for lunch?" Sia asked a bit unnerved at the way Nero had acted.
"Why?" Nero asked bluntly. He was socially awkward to begin with. It didn't help that his paranoia was starting to override the few manners he had.
"Well we're all new students, so it would be best if we could make friends quickly, but if you don't want to…"
"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I guess it wouldn't hurt to get to know some people," Nero said getting up from his desk, and following Sia to a large group of people. It included Nerine and four teenagers he would likely have to remember the names of.
The first of the group to introduce herself was a girl with heterochromatic eyes and gray hair named Mayumi Thyme. She immediately began to demand answers as to why he had mysteriously appeared in class with no one spotting him until long after Ms. Benibara, their homeroom teacher, had started the lecture. Nero merely stated his existence wasn't important enough to be noticed and left it at that. It wasn't an acceptable answer by Mayumi's standards, but Nero had already decided he didn't care about her questions. The next to introduce herself was a girl with orange hair with a red ribbon tied in it. She introduced herself as Kaede Fuyou, and she seemed to be a genuinely nice girl. At the very least she was already more pleasant company than Mayumi who continued to annoy Nero with her apparently never ending questions. The third of the group went by the name Itsuki Midoriba, and was to busy leering at the girls in the group to say anymore than that. Finally, a boy with brown hair and a bored expression introduced himself as Rin Tsuchimi. Out of all of his classmates Rin was probably the only one Nero could see himself getting along with. As far as Nero could tell he was the only normal person in this group.
After introducing himself the group led him to the rooftop where each member began to eat lunch, everyone except Nero. While he was hungry it was the least of his worries at that moment. What was important was locating the source of his paranoia. He began to look to the buildings and roof tops in an attempt to locate the enemy he knew was watching him and his new acquaintances. A sudden flash caught his eye, and Nero knew exactly what was about to happen. Readying his powers he quickly rose to his feet and lashed out with his right hand which had a long blade of his dark energy extending his range intercepting a strike aimed at Sia. Everyone but Nero gawked in disbelief at the terrible turn of events.
"Get out of here; I'll hold this bastard off!" Nero ordered his new acquaintances. It took awhile for the group to process what Nero had yelled, but complied once they had regained their senses. Nero then threw his opponent away from himself. The two combatants stared each other down observing each other for the slightest change in each others' stance. Nero took this time to take in his opponent's appearance. It was covered in featureless, smooth, blue metal and where there should have been hands were to jagged, wicked looking scythes. On its back were four black cords branching from the spinal column to each of its limbs.
"Well it's definitely a robot from that facility, but why was it after Sia? Wait, dumb question, princesses probably have pretty high ransoms," Nero thought to himself.
"Well since your just hunk of scrap metal I don't need to hold back," Nero said before a dark energy began enveloping his being and spread outward in all directions cutting off any chance his metallic opponent had of escaping. A dark tendril forced its way through the robots chest cavity tearing the four cords in the process.
"At least send something that can put up a decent fight next time you bastards," Nero said quietly to the robot knowing that he was being recorded by said metallic monstrosity.
"It seems he wasn't satisfied with his opponent. Well I'll be sure to make the next one meet your expectations Nero," a mysterious man laughed standing in front of a large monitor displaying the power Nero had unleashed on his robotic adversary.
