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…...

The police officer's brother took a deep breath before looking at his class list for the year as he stood in his new classroom. The kids were due in half an hour, and he wanted to know if the kid his sister had told him about was there.

"I remember his name very clearly, almost like it's seared in my brain," she had told him after meeting the kid. "It's—"

Urushihara.

The name was stated clearly on the list the brother held in his hands.

Urushihara Hanzo.

"Well," the teacher said, taking a deep breath. "My work is all cut out for me."

He took a seat in his desk and waited.

…...

Urushihara threw a big…fit that morning. There was no other word for it. Maybe the fallen angel was no preschooler, Ashiya thought, but he already knew how to act like one.

"I refuse to go to preschool!" Urushihara insisted, refusing to go out the door. "Maou, why are you letting Ashiya take me?"

"I might've stopped him, but someone got the police involved," Maou replied nonchalantly as he waved at them. "There's nothing I can do now."

So in 30 minutes, Urushihara found himself being forced into school. "You can leave now," he said to Ashiya when they reached the edge of the school. At Ashiya's dubious expression, Urushihara hurriedly added," I'm not gonna run away, I promise!"

"You better not," Ashiya growled. "I'll be working on finding a way to get you back to normal."

"Thanks." Urushihara muttered.

With that, Ashiya departed.

When Urushihara entered his classroom, ten other kids were already seated on a rug, with the teacher sitting at a desk at the front of the room.

"Welcome," the teacher said when he saw Urushihara walk in. "I'm Mr. Kato. What's your name?"

You are a happy toddler, Urushihara told himself. "I'm Urushihara!" he exclaimed in a voice that may have been more than a little sarcastic, but was mostly hidden in his little kid vocal cords.

He sat down on the rug, trying to ignore the searching expression Mr. Kato was sending him. "Great, my teacher is a weirdo," he muttered, making sure to keep away from the real preschoolers whose antics were already getting on his nerves.

When all the kids had arrived and the bell rang, Mr. Kato gave a more formal introduction and had all the children introduce themselves and say their favorite activity.

"I'm Rei!" a little girl in pigtails sitting near the front exclaimed when it was her turn. "I love playing with my dollies!"

"My name is Ichiro!" an equally enthusiastic young boy in a red shirt proclaimed. "My favorite thing is playing with cars with my baby brother!"

"Hi, my name is Yoko!" A girl wearing a little pink skirt said. "I like playing with cars, too! I don't have a little brother, though."

After a few more kids, it was finally Urushihara's turn. Everyone turned to look at him.

"I'm Hanzo," he said in an apathetic voice. Really, he tried to seem like a little kid. Putting on a very false wide smile, he continued. "I love to…go on my computer."

….

The kids accepted Urushihara's words easily, but Mr. Kato didn't listen as the rest of the kids spoke, instead choosing to surreptitiously watch Urushihara. It was pretty unhealthy that a little kid's favorite activity would be going on a computer.

It was also pretty obvious that the kid was unhappy. That could just be first jitters, though.

Mr. Kato also found it worrying the way Urushihara didn't listen to any other kid speak. He seemed lost in a haze of his own.

The next few hours were spent doing different crafts and get-to-know-me exercises. While most of the preschoolers loved them, Urushihara hated them.

"Hanzo! Come play with me!" Rei offered to him during their short recess break.

Trying to be polite, Urushihara called back, "No thanks!" It almost physically hurt to act so happy and carefree.

Rei would not take no for an answer. She stood up from the sandbox in their small playground and skipped over to the bench where Urushihara sat. "Come on, I know a lot of sandbox games," she offered, not noticing Urushihara's glare. "We could play pretend!"

"I'm good," Urushihara insisted, his little voice managing to convey his building anger.

Still, Rei didn't notice. "Come on! You can be the daddy and I'll be the mommy!"

Urushihara couldn't believe the nerve and obliviousness of the little girl. He crossed his arms and intensified his glare. "Are you dumb? Get lost!"

Finally Rei noticed his anger. It would be hard not to; the emotion built up in Urushihara from his de-aging was radiating off him in waves. Eyes widening, Rei began to cry, and she ran immediately to Mr. Kato.

"Hanzo's being mean!" she sobbed to the teacher.

Mr. Kato knelt. "What happened?" he asked.

After an exceedingly detailed report told between sobs, Mr. Kato understood the situation. He'd been afraid that Urushihara would most likely have issues when it came to socializing.

He noticed that the boy in question was still sitting on the bench alone, and walked over to get the other side of the story (not that he expected there to be any new facts). Mr. Kato would probably need to discipline Urushihara, and maybe tell his parents. Mr. Kato knew it would be hard to break the news to Urushihara.

Urushihara looked up when his teacher joined him on the bench. "What is it?" he asked, hoping that Rei hadn't tattled. She probably had, though. Preschoolers were like that.

"What happened with you and Rei?" the teacher gently asked, and Urushihara groaned.

He didn't want special attention lest his secret be discovered, and this definitely qualified as "special attention."

"She wanted me to play with her." Urushihara tried to sound as petulant as he could when his teacher furrowed his brow. "I didn't want to play."

When Mr. Kato replied, "Did you try asking her nicely?" Urushihara could barely stop himself from snapping Do you think I'm stupid?

Instead, Urushihara only nodded his head. "She wouldn't listen."

"Just tell me next time," Mr. Kato suggested. "I would help you gently tell her that you want to be alone."

Urushihara forced his face to light up, as if in hope and excitement. "Really? Okay!"

It kind of worried and irritated him that Mr. Kato didn't leave, but rather turned back to watching the other children play. Maybe he's still going to punish me. Urushihara thought. Ashiya would kill me if I told him I got in trouble on the first day. If I want him to help me get back to my old body, I have to stay on his good side.

Urushihara smirked as a thought struck him. I'll guilt Mr. Kato into taking away my punishment!

"Mr. Kato?" he asked, trying to look and sound like a scared, bashful little kid.

The teacher quickly turned, concerned. It seemed like he'd bought the act.

"I'm sorry." Urushihara dropped his eyes to the bench and wiped a pretend tear away with his tiny fingers. He then looked up at Mr. Kato pleadingly. "Please don't tell my parents," he whispered.

When Mr. Kato comfortingly smiled, Urushihara felt immensely proud of his acting skills.

"I won't," the teacher promised. "As long as you ask Rei nicely next time."

Urushihara nodded and turned back to his own thoughts. Unfortunately, Mr. Kato didn't leave like he'd hoped.

They sat together in silence until recess time was over.

Mr. Kato felt deeply shaken after his small talk with Urushihara.

His sister had already given him the suspicion that the kid had bad guardians, but now there was proof: Urushihara didn't want his parents knowing he'd gotten in trouble.

Sure, most kids wouldn't, but there was real fear in Urushihara's eyes. Fear that couldn't be faked by such a young child. Young children couldn't act to save their lives.

With his new knowledge, Mr. Kato knew that it was up to him to save his student.

Even if it took the whole year.

So that was the first day of school!

That was one of my favorite chapters to write so far :)

If you enjoyed reading, please review! I love hearing what you think!