I had been found once again, but this time I wasn't standing in the middle of a room gawking like an idiot. This time, I was hiding as suspiciously as possible.

I could feel the cold shadow loom over me. I turned to meet her gaze. The irritation she felt came off in waves, eyes narrowed on me in disgust. I could feel the beads of sweat rolling down the back of my neck. Her icy glare seemed to freeze time itself, the four of us suspended in a single moment, not willing to speak in fear it would shatter the very ground.

"You're the jackass from earlier!" she gasped, pointing at me. Before anyone else decided to react, a warning went off in my head. I had to get out of there, now. With some sort of sloppy army crawl, I took off as fast as I could, only to my surprise be making more noise and flailing than actually getting anywhere. I attempted to get up, but recognition flashed in her eyes as she stepped on the center of my back, immobilizing me. "Stop. Following. Me." She growled through gritted teeth. I held back tears caused by how hopeless the situation seemed.

That's when I realized the book was still next to me. I had three options. Option one, lay here and be slaughtered. Option two, throw the book off into the distance and hope she would follow, not to mention the chance she'd become twice as pissed. Option three, chuck it at her and run. I went with my best chance. I grabbed the book with my left hand and tossed it backwards as hard as I could. It pitifully fell next to me. The girl just glared. How do I get myself out of this mess? I attempted to crawl again, but to no avail.

The bell rung. That seemed to shift her attention back to her book as she gingerly picked it up, dusted it off, and walked out of the room as if nothing had happened.

I never caught her name. The one thing I do know, though, is that she makes me smile just thinking about her. The only thing that's really happened since that day was when I saw her at a local cafe. Dawson worked there part time as a waiter and called in sick, so I offered to take his place for the day to repay him for letting me stay at his place. She ignored me until I realized I was the only waiter not on break. "Yo, Kenji!" Dawson snapped me out of my daydreaming yet again. We were in class, a resonance exercise. I knew what was coming next. "Kenji, transform to me already, I'm not missing out on sparring."

I sighed. He never learns. "I can't, you know I can't. Besides, can't you work with someone else? Sparring isn't on my to-do list for today." My weak attempt at sarcasm.

"You can if you believe in yourself!" He emphasized his statement by waving his hands around, motioning for a circle for some strange analogy that was lost on me. "You're my partner!"

This again.

"Look, sir, I'm not going to do this." I crossed my arms and turned away.

"Sir?"

"It's as formal as I can get at the moment."

"Yeah, but it seems so...distant."

I think that's the point.

Everyone's attention was turned to the front of the room, where our instructor was beginning to speak. I wandered to the side of the room and sat down, ready to watch everyone else. Dawson gave me a pitiful glance before teaming up with another guy. I pulled out my homework from my last class: an essay on phasmology due at the end of the week. I didn't have much left to do on it, phasmology is one of my easier subjects, but I decided to check over it anyways.

After a few minutes of boredom and reading my paper repeatedly, I decided to pay attention to my surroundings, just in time for a red-headed girl to go sailing and hit the wall next to me. An elder blonde, the assistant for todays class, stood triumphant in the direction where said girl was shot from, then tilted her cap down and walked to the other end of the room. The red-head adjusted her scarf and followed after.

It was then that it hit me.

The girl I've been paying so much attention to wasn't here today. She always attended these classes. She was in the earlier classes we shared, so whatever reason must have just happened prior to this class. I tried to reason with myself that maybe she went home, or was just laying down in the infirmary, but I couldn't shake my growing sense of dread.

I rushed over to the blonde E.A.T. student before she could start fighting the red-head again. "Excuse me, is it okay if I go to the infirmary? I know Sid is out at the moment, that's why I'm asking you." She seemed to acknowledge the urgency in my voice, but I could tell she was having trouble mulling it over.

Eventually, she came to a decision. "Sure, but hurry back. I'll let him know you're gone." That was all I needed.

I was out of the room before anyone could notice I left my spot on the floor. My concern was expanding with every step. I knew something was wrong, I just couldn't place it. By the time I was going down the hall that the infirmary was in I had broke into a full sprint.

I stopped abruptly at the door, almost skidding past. As I threw it open, it hit me like a wave. Fear, panic, anxiety, terror, confusion. The only person in the room was the current nurse, a woman almost completely wrapped in gauze. "Oh, can I help you with something?" She looked up from her clipboard. I was gone again, not even thinking about where I was going. "Wait!"I could hear her, but her voice was a faded echo from where I was.

I searched every room she would visit in order. I checked every classroom, the multiple floors in the library, the catacombs, even the plot of land on DWMA grounds. I headed up to the main balcony, just to make sure she wasn't there.

Except, she was. There were two guys there, too. I didn't step out, just listened from inside, leaning against the wall next to the door. The taller of the two was standing guard not far from them, probably to keep people from snooping. He didn't seem like too much of a threat, paranoid if anything. If a faculty member showed up, he'd probably dive right off the balcony and hit the ground below. The other was leaning with a hand on the railing, towering over her. At first glance, you would think it could be a regular conversation, maybe a guy casually hitting on a girl out of his league, but on closer inspection he held her wrist tight in his right hand.

I could hear their conversation clearly from where I stood, shaking slightly.

The guy first spoke, and I realized I walked in mid conversation. "It's a deal then, isn't it? You do every assignment for the next year, and I won't ruin your rep'."

She was obviously pissed yet again, and wanted nothing to do with this. "Fuck off already." Venom dripped off each syllable, and if I didn't know any better I'd say she was the one starting trouble. I tilted my head in a slight shrug of understanding and proceeded to eavesdrop.

"You want to get into the advanced class, don't you?" She was taken aback at this, and glowered back at him. In response, he just sneered. That was all I could take.

I admit I'm not one for violence. I'm also not one for getting into other's people's problems unless I deem it necessary. I don't know what possessed me to do what I did, but I leapt through the door.