"Did you see the look on her face?" Genda crowed, nearly hopping with euphoric excitement, continuing without waiting for a reply. "You got her good man! She never saw that check mate coming!" The brunet seemed beside himself with joy and delight- his eyes sparkling with joy. I smiled weakly at him, he wouldn't understand.

I slipped back into my thoughts when suddenly-

"What's with him?" He pointed towards me with a sudden withdrawal from the euphoria inducing steroids- rolling his eyes at the other person at the table. "You'd think he would be happy he won but no! He HAS to pull on a face my mother makes when she's waxing her legs!" Sakuma merely shook his head and shrugged. I sent a silent thank you to whoever was above for having blessed me with Sakuma.

He was such a sweat heart about these things- that's what the girls said about it anyway.

I am not, repeat NOT gay in any way possible contrary to public belief!

I'm just repeating what others have said before me. Anyway, leaving that topic- where was I? Oh yes, I was thanking the Lord for Sakuma because he didn't take Genda's side. Yeah, whatever, can we please move on? So like I was saying, Genda- wait- he watches his mom wax her legs? Seriously, this guy is nuts. I shuddered as a mental image of the smiling slender woman's hairy legs pervaded my mind.

Genda's right, I am distracted. What's wrong with me? Why the hell am I thinking about things like Genda's mom and stuff?

"I bet he's not even listening to me! YUUTO?" Genda's voice rose several octaves and I whipped my head around to face him, grateful that he had pulled me out of my frightening reverie. I was so grateful, I was ready to hug the guy- again, I'm not gay; just emotional at the moment. Although I seriously cannot say the same for my blue eyed friend who was busy shooting optical daggers at me, scowling all the while; emotional, yes, but hugging?

I don't think so.

Not that I want him to hug me or anything- just saying. What is wrong with me today? Why am I so moody? Genda's right, as surprising as the notion is, its true. I'm acting like such a stranger today- almost as bad a ditz as Endou.

Okay, that's exaggeration gone too far! No one can be as dumb as that idiot.

"I'm fine, its just that- I'm not sure whether I won fairly or not." I muttered when Genda poked me for shutting up yet again. This has got to be the third time he's poked me! If he pokes me one more time, I swear to God I'll break his damned finger clean off! I'm not kidding- I'll snap it into two pieces. I swear, I'm serious... I was in the middle of mentally ranting about what I'd do to his bloody finger but then he poked me again.

I hate myself- why didn't I break his finger off? I've got to work on my will power.

Anyway, Genda went on to poke me, yet again whilst I stifled the urge to scream or bite his finger. "Are you nuts? You beat her fair and square dude! What's wrong with you?" Genda demanded, looking as irked as a girl does when her crush fails to notice her new hair style. Why am I behaving like a gay today? I could seriously bang my head against a rock, what with all of my insanity today.

He's right, what is wrong with me?

Have I caught some weird 'lose-control-of-your-senses' disease? I worriedly wondered when I had last been in contact with Endou or Fidio. Worse, is it permanent? I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. What I was doing was just stupid- I don't care, but with a sinking feeling, I realized that if I didn't care, then what was that terrified part of me which wanted to go and arrange an appointment with a psychiatrist as soon as possible?

Well, whatever, Genda was wrong. Although I didn't cheat in anyway, I can't say I won. There was something about how she played and led me into all sorts of traps that meant she was plotting something and the last checkmate had surprised me beyond anything. Maybe because she had literally walked into it deliberately. Whatever the reason, I know she could have gotten rid of my knight easily which is why I wonder what the true outcome of this match would have been had she not waved the white flag.

"Earth to Kidou! Planet Earth wants their human back from Mars! Seriously man, what the hell is wrong with you?" Genda cried out, angry that he was being ignored once again. His finger wavered in the air nearby, ready to poke me once again for not paying attention. Okay, reality check; that was the past and I can't change it- however, Genda's finger can be stopped right now if I listen to him rant. Easy question really.

"Yeah, I'm listening," I answered, smiling as if agreeing with him. "I totally wrecked her, I just wanted you to say it!" Genda's indignation was still simmering but it was slowly evaporating until he broke out into a huge smile. I almost laughed out loud at him. I knew just what to say to make him smile!

Okay, I definitely sounded too gay this time! God, what is it with the gay stuff today?

I almost shook my fist in Sakuma's face when he shot me a concerned look, his good eye peering at me. "I knew it!" Genda exclaimed triumphantly, grinning so widely I swear his mouth would fall off any minute now. We continued walking towards the gate… now I just have one problem left;

"Will one of you guys please carry this fucking trophy for me? It's kind of heavy!" And Sakuma laughed while Genda shook his head fervently, concluding my earlier point- I have lousy friends.

Now if I can only figure out why Zonex had surrendered so easily. I glanced at Sakuma and saw that he was awfully quiet for him- more so than usual these days. Maybe he was wondering why Zonex had made that stupid bland mistake as well. That was my buddy, he could always guess things for what they were! He is so observant-

"I wonder what we'll have for lunch!" Sakuma groaned, clutching his middle dramatically. Okay, maybe he and I aren't on the same page- forget page, we aren't even reading the same book! And snorting with laughter, we swapped our experiences with great food.


"I wonder whom we should invite to the party," Natsumi wondered aloud, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the table top. Aki smiled at her, agreeing that the list was hard to make. Kidou had such stuffy friends- with the exception of Genda of course. He was the life of all parties! There was no way he wasn't going to be on that list.

She chewed the end of her pencil nervously when she came to the third name on the list.

'Sakuma Jirou'

'Afuo Terumi'

'Iruko Ann'

'Genda Koujirou'

She couldn't decide what to do about her. On one hand, Kidou obviously hung out with her and found her cool whilst on the other hand, she was obviously not someone Natsumi wanted at a party.

"Hey guys," she called out, "do you think we should invite Ann?" As expected, everyone swiveled in their seats to stare at her as if she had just suggested getting her hair styled in a mohawk like Fudou.

"Are you insane? Why would we want to invite that retard to the party?" Reina sneered at Natsumi, flipping her hair away from her face. Natsumi felt stung by their responses, thanking the Lord that Yukira didn't know about the addition to her party so she couldn't have heard her suggest Ann's name. She would have seriously flipped if she had.

"Reina's right Natsumi, we can't invite her. You know how hostile she is." Haruna interrupted, looking guilty. And no wonder, she must have been betraying Kidou when she said that. After all- Ann was Kidou's new friend these days.

'I wonder if that's all there is to it. Maybe he's got a thing for her or something. He always did like bad people- Fudou's the best example. He hangs out with him too.' Natsumi couldn't help but wonder about the millions of possibilities.

She was about to voice her opinion when a sudden laugh rang throughout the room. "You think I WANT to come to that lame party? It's just as well that you don't want to invite me because I so don't want to waste my time throwing it away into the trash. You guys don't deserve that much effort." Ann glared at them all, her jade green eyes derisive and a mocking smile on her face.

She turned around and left the room, sauntering out and slamming the door behind her.

Somewhere to her left, Haruna whimpered. Oh, she was definitely in trouble now. Natsumi was sure Ann would tell Kidou- and then all hell would break loose.


What have we done?