I'll make this quick before homework starts to toil me. Thanks again, MasterofRiddles! On with the story!
Chapter 8: Transition

"What are you doing?" A voice murmured all of a sudden; and Horohoro looked to his right. Yoh was staring at him and Ren, eyebrows immediately twitching. Somehow, during the fireworks show, Yoh was noticing Horohoro and was currently standing over them dangerously, Lyserg failing to stop him. Horohoro immediately let go of Ren and stood up as well, locking eyes with the black haired teen. Ren turned his heads at the two. This is not very pleasant, he can feel, not more when the girls behind shrieked again. Horohoro and Yoh glared at the horde of girls, both carrying eyes filled in unspoken fury. Ren shivered a little. Lyserg bit his lip in nervousness. The girls screamed.

"Horohoro-senpai is so cool!!"

"You all are very annoying." Horohoro snapped in a stony tone.

"Horohoro-senpai's angry at us!!!" the girls murmured in exclamation and burst out crying. The sound of girls weeping immediately dragged attention to the audience and Yoh made a grab for Horohoro's collar.

"I have unfinished business with you." With that, Yoh dragged Horohoro away, leaving Ren bewildered, confused and angered at the same time. Staring back, he hissed at the fan girls, whose cries had just maximized ten-fold with the attention trained upon them.

"Just shut up!"


The official performance began. Every student had seemingly forgotten whatever uproar there was to focus on a lone figure coming to stage. It was Nemu, and she gave a bow before clapping her hands together.

Behind her four students, dressed in ninja outfits jumped out of nowhere. They made a circle, and Nemu took her leave from the stage. The students looked in awe, as they seemed to be lighting a rocket.

Sparks flew to the sky.

Lyserg slowly slipped away as Ren gaped again at another wonder.


"What do you think of today's show, Kyouyama-san?" Ryu asked as he walked along the office hallway with Anna after the celebration has ended and every student had returned to class. Anna turned to gaze at the headmaster while folding her winter coat to carry on her arm.

"The show was all right. Morika-san really did an excellent job. I believe it's better than the past years, don't you think, Ryu-san?" Hearing Anna calling him Ryu-san again actually calmed him a lot. It meant Anna was back to normal. Perhaps she was currently at the phase people call 'that time of the month' and was having some mood swings. She is a woman after all. He heaved a sigh of relief. "Why are you being so quiet, Ryu-san?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing!" Ryu laughed in a silly manner, hand promptly behind his neck. "Ha-ha!"

"You are weird sometimes. No wonder my uncle says you are an idiot." Anna mused, entering the office now. Ryu glared at her; face flushed indignantly.

"I'm not weird! I am just easily distracted!"

"What ever." Anna replied as she sat down on her seat. "I believe I must start my work now, Ryu-san baka."

"Kyouyama-san!!"


Ren returned to class, feeling somewhat disconcerted. The two places in front of him are empty, so is his left seat. Where had they gone?

You are nothing.

Damn! Why is that dreaded voice haunting him again? Ren was sure he had tucked it inside his brain safely, why bother him again?!

Don't you know? No one cares about you.

To distract himself, he began to do a piece of homework, his fingers clenched tight unconsciously around the pencil he was holding, producing thick, coarse, uneven words of unreadable alphabets. Ren was fighting this derision again, resisting again…

"Jie…" Ren cried as he kneeled beside the slumped body of Tao Jun in front of the ancestry tablets and sculptures of gods of their family shrine. "Jie, what's wrong? Please talk to me, Jie…"

"Ren." A blood-curdling voice began, emitting from the entrance of the shrine. Ren hugged his cloth bear tighter, still crouched near his motionless sister. He was afraid of this tone void of emotion that was always seemed to bring out the worst in him… "Your sister was selfish, don't you think? She would rather think of herself than you. I told you millions of times, my dear. You are nothing. Just a wisp of smoke, a flash of wind… once you are gone, you will be nothing."

"I… I am not!" Ren snapped, although he was trembling. The person was nearing, and Ren did not like how darkness had seemingly swarmed around him in that very instant. He shook his sister hard, hoping she would wake up. He was afraid; he needed help; he was scared… She used to protect him; she was his savior from every Big Bad Wolf there was in the world!

"Ben dan. She wouldn't listen to you now. She can't even help herself! That will teach you two, the effects of being born with tainted blood! Feeling the dirty blood just makes me shudder. What disgust." The shadow now covered Jun completely; Ren shuddered, his grip on the teddy bear tightening to the point where it could actually be strangled to death if it was alive. A hand snaked around Ren's chin, jerking his face up. "I often wonder, why you two are blessed with tainted looks instead of the distinguished air our family had. If you two had at least a decent face, perhaps you wouldn't have suffered so much now, what do you think?"

"L… let us go!"

"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Wicked laughter rang. "Let me repeat again. No one will ever care for you, because you are from tainted blood. Jun was better than you were, you know why? She accepted her role of filth. She will always be better than you will. Better than you, who still harbour naïve hopes, sickeningly pure wishes…" Suddenly, Ren's shirt was ripped off, and he was made to kiss the ground. Something jabbed to his back, making Ren cry out in pain. He was unable to resist, the other was too strong, and he was minute compared to the lunatic now twisting something around his back. His body was getting wetter too with some sticky liquid soaking into his bare skin and pants and it was gushing rapidly, his lips feeling the taste of it as well.

Jie…

The person made a circular shape at his back, but Ren did not know the rest because he had fainted from the loss of blood.


"Ren?" Lyserg's calm voice made Ren return to reality. He blinked a little, and tilted his head a little in daze. Lyserg giggled and playfully touched his cheek. "Come on, what are you doing?"

"Huh…?" Ren asked, mind still out of focus. "When are you back?"

"Ha-ha, I was back quite a while ago. Well, it seemed that you cannot live without us already!" Lyserg teased. Ren scoffed, shaking off his trance while pushing the lecherous hand away and returned to his homework, seemingly disbelieving that he had not written anything on it. He rubbed his eyes a little and shrugged again.

"Don't think so highly of yourself, Lyserg."

"I do not, Ren! I just think that we should be closer friends since you are obviously in need of a few too."

"A… few…?"

"Yeah! Me, Yoh, and Usui!" Lyserg smiled. Ren could only smirk as rapid fire emblazoned his pale cheeks in memory of earlier. "We can be your best friends, of course, once they deal with their own problems."

"They…?" Ren asked again. Lyserg shook his head, seemingly not notice Ren blush, and smiled again.

"Oh yeah, you want to come over to my house today for a sleepover together with Yoh and Usui? Tomorrow's Saturday, you know."

On his days here, Ren had begun to create a pattern among his three friends (Horohoro was reluctantly added because he sits next to Ren).

Firstly, this teen in front of him. Lyserg Diethel was always smiling, forever cheery (Ren was not sure if he had seen any other expression on his friend's face), but Ren cannot even think what is in his friend's mind, because he was unpredictable. Lyserg was an enigma. All he knew was, Lyserg was a transfer student like him. What information was that?!

He had also begun to realise that Asakura Yoh had begun to go hostile around Usui Horokeu. Ren is not stupid. The very moment he saw Horohoro bloodied at the street, Yoh had been acting friendly to him, although now he seem to be letting his real feelings show more. This teen is very fearful. Who knows whom else Yoh was pretending to? He dared not thought.

Lastly, the bandana freak himself, Usui Horokeu. He had been the most erratic of all. He was gruff and rude, insolent and took things for granted. Then his constant absences from classes had not gone unnoticed. Heck, he just did according to what he pleases. He was a teen full of questions (and problems, perhaps) and like Lyserg; he was not an easy book to read from the cover. Most unbelievable was; he actually had a fan club! What was his attraction that made girls swoon in his presence? Ugh.

Can he actually trust them although they had only known each other in a matter of days and their flaws were more than he could count? Can he listen to Bason?

"I can't, you know. I am busy." Ren replied at last, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Lyserg's forehead wrinkled; and before Ren knew it, Lyserg hands held his, eyes brimming with hope.

"Ren… just one night won't hurt… your house has nobody right?"

It was when Ren realised that his so-called friends knew nothing about him as well.


Lyserg smiled at the other, a piece of dirtily scribbled paper kept in his pocket.

It will definitely be perfect for future references.


I swear things will get better by next chapter, I swear... Just be patient with this dismal one first, all right? Sleepover at Lyserg's next! Pls read and review! Arigato!