Note!: First I want to thank Ryuu and Guest for their reviews on the last chapter and everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story up to now!

I kept changing my mind on something that happened in this chapter which is why it has taken me so long to get it posted along with my terrible habit of procrastination. Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

Shin didn't like this Izaya guy. He already knew he didn't like what he heard about him but the fact that he was trying to provoke Shin made him dislike him even more, along with the fact that he seemed to be attempting to use Melody as bait against him. He kept his ever present poker face despite Kenshi's provoking behavior, "So what does Mel have to do with this? Why drag her into it?"

"I'm not dragging her into anything. I'm simply enjoying her company." He grinned in a way that made Shin doubt he really meant it.

Shin's eyebrow rose slightly, "Really? So does that mean you don't have a problem with leaving her alone?" he asked, his expression never changing as he spoke.

"Why should I?" Izaya asked, growing irritated. It didn't seem as if any of his jabs toward Shin were working.

Shin took a step back away from the other teenager and shrugged, "No reason." He glanced over at Melody again. Her blue eyes were wide in confusion and worry.

He shoved his hands back in his pockets before stepping around Izaya and placing himself beside her on the bench.

Mel looked at Shin then over at Izaya, thoroughly confused on the whole situation but she was glad they hadn't began fighting like it seemed.

Izaya watched the two of them for a second before turning to head back inside, not saying another word to them. Once he was gone though, Shin said, "Maybe you should stay away from that guy."

"Why's that?" she asked. Melody really had no intention of running into him tonight nor did she think she'd be upset if she didn't run into him again but she still felt she deserved to know why she should avoid him.

"He knows you're a girl attending a boy's school. If he wants to, he could turn you into the school board and then they'll be nothing anyone can do to keep you there. It may even count as an expulsion because you're intentionally covering up your gender to keep people from finding out." Shin explained.

Mel frowned because he had a point but then again, what would all that matter if she chose to go to Toho instead? She wanted to tell him about the offer she got to transfer to the other high school but… Shin didn't seem the type to really care about that sort of thing, though at the same time…he did.

She sighed and slipped her feet from her heels before wiggling her toes, which she was sure were thankful to be free from their pointy prison.

Shin watched her slightly before stretching his arms in front of him, "Don't you think you should head back inside soon?"

She shrugged, "Maybe, I already spoke with Mr. Chido though, I doubt he'd care to speak with me again, besides, it's not like there aren't three more siblings besides me that he hasn't met yet," she said as she stretched her arms over her head when her stomach suddenly growled. She blinked and her cheeks dusted pink before she placed her hands on her stomach.

Shin turned his head away from the girl, allowing his hair to cover up his amused smirk, "Hungry? I think there's a ramen place just a little ways down the street if you want to go?"

It didn't take Melody longer than a second to accept his offer, "Yeah, let me just text Nate and let him know where I'm going."

"Your dad won't mind?" Shin asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

She shook her head, "No, I always leave early or sit outside until they're finished anyway. Back home I used to walk to the beach when I got bored of the party or whatever." Though the main reason she got away with that back home was because before Melody's mother passed away, she used to take Melody and Nathan to the beach when the twins would get restless at social functions as small children. Occasionally Karou would go too so the senior Inouye never really questioned when any of his three youngest children disappeared.

Shin shrugged, "Alright, get your shoes back on then." He stood and looked down at her, waiting for to make a move.

She sighed, "Fine, but only because it would hurt to walk around here without them." Quickly pulling her shoes back on, she stood and faced him, "Which way?"

"This way," he said, pointing a thumb in the direction they were supposed to head.

In response, Melody turned to head that way, linking her arms behind her back at the wrists. She glanced around, taking in her surroundings since she wasn't sure what all was nearby, "Why are you down here anyway?"

"I was just passing through on my way home," he said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

Mel looked at him a little suspiciously. She may not know much about the city but she could easily see that this area was one of the more wealthy business blocks. It was possible that Shin could live nearby but, "You don't really seem the type to live in this area, no offence. You're just not all business and show and…" she searched for the word before sighing not remembering the word in Japanese so she settled with English one, "Pretentiousness."

Shin glanced down at Mel then let out a short laugh, "You're one to talk. You don't really seem the type to dress up like a boy on a regular basis just to attend a boy's school for delinquents. That's not exactly the place most girls want to be, you know. Especially not girls with your musical skill or ones surrounded by male relatives."

She laughed then grinned up at Shin in a playful way, "What can I say, I like to exceed people's expectations of me. I'll admit, I wasn't a big fan of the idea when I was first asked to pretend to pretend to be a boy but then I wanted to see how long I could pull it off."

"So far you're doing pretty well, though most people don't believe you're just some ordinary guy," Shin said and placed a hand on the middle of Mel's back then gestured toward the roman shop. The place was so small she would have missed it otherwise and she'd even almost walked right past it if Shin hadn't have pointed it out to her.

Mel shrugged and walked over to one of the seats by a bar like area, "They're not wrong, are they?" she said, a smile playing on her lips as she looked over at him.

"I guess not," Shin agreed as he took his seat beside her.

After eating Shin walked Melody home, he didn't stick around though because he'd gotten a text from Noda asking him to meet up with the guys by the river near the school. He'd just left the guys before he ran into Melody so it was strange to say the least.

Shin hadn't bothered to clue Melody in on what was going on either so once he got her home and was sure she was safe inside her house to wait for her family, he headed straight toward his friends. They couldn't have gotten into too much trouble, could they?

It didn't take him long to get there but he was surprised to see that all four boys were obviously agitated. Minami passed back and forth on the grass while Kuma and Noda scowled. Uchi sat with his legs crossed and an unopened soda can pressed to his eye which Shin could plainly see was swollen and bruising, even in the dark.

"What happened to you?" he asked his injured friend.

"Some Ara high jerk picked a fight," Noda chimed in, "He decided he wanted to girl Uchi was hitting on and before we knew it they were swinging at each other."

"Are you alright, Uchi?" he asked.

Uchi nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"So why did you guys call me over here?" Shin asked but he couldn't help but wonder why their experiences with Ara high students were so similar. Izaya definitely had an interest in Melody but Shin doubted his had anything to do with attraction to her.

Minami sighed, "That jerk's friends showed up and he wanted to show off but there were too many people around. They want to finish the fight at some abandoned building."

"Don't go. If the headteacher finds out he'll have us all expelled," Noda complained.

Noda was right about that of course. The headteacher has been trying everything in his power to find a way to expel 3-D students. It's a wonder he hadn't managed to discover Melody's little secret and had her booted out of the school already. Though Melody's musical talent, grades and gender would likely improve 3-D's reputation of being delinquents even if just slightly.

Minami grumbled, "What are we supposed to do if they show up on campus and pick a fight or something then? I think we should go anyway. The place is abandoned, who's going to show up?" he looked over at Uchi, "What do you think?"

"I think we should go. At least I'll be able to get pay back," he growled.

Shin sighed, to himself. It looked as if they were going then because he sure as hell wasn't going to leave them to deal with those guys by himself, especially after what happened earlier.

School the next day went on as usual, except that Melody noticed that all the guys were eerily side tracked. They didn't even have the motivation to tease Yankumi like they normally do and they all made an effort to pretend to be doing their school work. The only one who seemed to be acting normal was Shin but he was always quiet so she couldn't really tell what he was thinking as well.

She did notice that he wasn't picking on her as often as he normally did. They had even left her to walk home with Nathan without suggesting they go anywhere. Even Shin left her alone to go with them and it was all really weird and left Melody feeling a bit unsettled by it all.

Nate glanced over at his sister, "You seem distracted by something. What's wrong?"

"The guys were acting weird today, that's all," Mel shrugged and sighed.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Don't they act weird all the time?"

She gave him an annoyed look, "You're one to talk. No, they're acting strange in comparison to how they normally act. Better?"

Nathan shrugged, "Maybe something happened?"

"Like what, though?"

Nathan sighed, "I don't know, Melody. I heard some guys in my class talking about a group of guys from Ara high picking fights. Maybe they had a fight or something?"

She frowned at him, "Isn't that a bad thing?"

"Yeah. I guess." Nathan said and shrugged, "Are you worried for their well-being or just worried about Shin?"

She stopped and scowled at her brother, "I'm worried about their well-being, all of them. They're my friends."

"But they don't even know you're a girl, except for Shin who found out by accident." Nathan said as he stopped walking to look at his twin sister, "I mean you are allowed to tell a few people at a time. It's an experiment after all. If 3-D can behave around a girl then there's no reason the rest of the school can't."

She sighed, "That's a stereotype on the class, they're not that bad."

"This is coming from someone they tripped on the first day of class and didn't fully accept you until Shin accepted you first," Nathan argued.

"Why are you being so difficult!" she complained, stomping a foot as she grew more and more irritated with every one of her brother's arguments.

"I'm not. You're being stubborn, Melody. Tell Uchi, Noda, Minami, and Kuma that you're a girl and see how they react and how their behavior changes toward you. Maybe they'll trust your more, or maybe they'll be pissed at you," he shrugged then paused, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Melody asked and stepped over closer to her brother and listened, at first she didn't hear anything but after a few second she realized what he must be hearing. There was a lot of shouting coming from down the street, "Let's go check it out." She said but before Nate could even respond or protest, Melody took off running in that direction.

She didn't have to look back to know that Nathan was chasing after her either trying to stop her or wanting to know what all the yelling was about as well.

In a couple minutes the shouting grew louder and Mel realized it was coming from behind the abandoned building. She thought the building had once been a clinic or something of that sort but she ran around it toward the back until she spotted them.

Five boys in Shiroken uniforms mixed up in a fight with students from Ara high. It wasn't so much that it was Shiroken students that made Mel call out to them, it was the fact that she knew those boys.

"Shin!" she yelled and ran over to them, "Uchi, Kuma stop!" she said but before she could reach out to even try to pull Uchi away from the guy he was fighting or about to fight someone grabbed hold of her collar and pulled her toward them.

Suddenly she was looking into the face of a guy much larger than she is not that that was uncommon and he was lifting her off her feet where she was all but dangling, "You here to help your Shiroken trash friends?" he sneered at her, shaking her.

Melody kicked, trying to find her footing or at least make contacted with something but it didn't work, she glared at him and tried to pull herself from his grasp, "The only trash here is you, jack ass! Let me go!" she yelled at him and slammed a fist into his shoulder but unfortunately, it didn't seem to do anything to make him let her go.

He glared and shook her again, "What was that?!" he yelled at her, still refusing to let her go. His voice seemed deafeningly loud, until she realized that was because all the shouting and shuffling on gravel around them had paused and everyone was silent.

Melody realized to slow the hat hiding her hair was missing and her hair was hanging down in her face and over her shoulders. That realization didn't stop her from glaring up at the guy who still kept hold of her collar, "You heard me."

Somewhere around her, Mel heard someone whisper, "That's that girl from before…" but she wasn't sure who it was and she couldn't look to see either.

"What's a girl doing in a Shiroken Uniform?" questioned the big guy, "You some sort of cross dresser or somethin'?"

"Far from it. Let me go," she said again.

"Let her go, Kida," a familiar voice said from over Kida's shoulder.

Melody only got a glimpse of Izaya's face before Kida shoved her away from him. Had her feet been touching the ground, she might have been able to catch her fall but as such, she couldn't and ended up stumbling back into the gravel only to end up with her back against someone's legs. Someone grabbed her arms and lifted her up on her feet.

Mel quickly spun around on the Shiroken boys, intending to ask them what was going on until she realized that behind them stood Yankumi with her arms crossed and very obviously pissed.

"That is the meaning of this?!" she shouted suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Not only is it incredibly stupid to be picking fights like this in broad daylight but it is also dangerous! What if the police were called? You'd all be arrested and most likely expelled! Who's idea was this?!"

The boys from Ara high were slowly making their exit, Izaya grinned over at Melody in a way that made her glare at him, she would have stalked over to him if Shin and Nathan weren't both holding onto her.

She glanced between her brother and Shin before she realized Yankumi had turned her attention to her, "And you! I thought these guys were reckless but you're worse! Taunting someone who has already got you overpowered is not the way to fight! If you're stuck in a situation like that then aim for the nose or balls."

"Hey, Yankumi, how did you find us here anyway?" Minami complained.

Yankumi turned to look at her student, "Some of your classmates were talking about it."

All the boys rubbed the back of their neck before Kuma looked over at Melody, "Hey, Mel, are you really a girl?"

The other three griped at him, saying that it was obvious but Melody nodded, "Yeah." Now that she was calming down she began to worry that they'd all be upset with her for keeping that from them.

Uchi scowled at her, "Why didn't you just tell us that instead of parading around as a dude?"

Melody sighed and explained to them how she was just a test run on girls being admitted to the school along with boys and how she could only a few people know she was a girl at a time.

"So if the jerk of a head teacher finds out then you'll try to have you removed from Shiroken?" Noda asked, "That sucks. I was jjust getting used to you being around as a guy and you as a girl sounds even better. At least now we know why you're so pretty," he shrugged.

Melody blinked at that last comment then looked up at Nathan, "So I am the pretty one."

Nathan laughed and ruffled Melody's hair, "Why is that what you pick up from that?"

Uchi looked over at Shin, "And you've been hanging around Mel lately, did you know she was a girl?"

"Yeah, I knew Melody is a girl. What of it?" Shin asked lazily with his hands in his pockets.

"Ehhh!" all four of them stated at the same time, "You've been holding out on us, Shin! You could have given us a heads up or something!" Minami added.

"She just explained why she couldn't tell you. What makes you think I could tell you any easier?" he asked.

Uchi suddenly gasped and stood in front of Mel, "So you can talk us up to girls and make us look good, right Mel?"

Nathan snickered, "Already trying to use my sister to get dates," he mumbled.

Melody waited until everyone was distracted by the conversation before she glanced down at her hands, one of them was skinned and dirty around the palm and base of her hand.

"Come on, you need to clean that up," Shin said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along with him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"There's a convenience store just down this way," Shin explained.

Mel glanced over her shoulder at the others, "What about-"

"They won't miss us," he said and continued dragging her toward the store.

Once there, Shin made Melody sit on a bench outside the store while he ran inside. Moments later, he came out with a couple bottles of water and some basic first aid.

"Let me see your hand," he ordered.

Melody awkwardly held up her injured hand for him with the scrap turned up, "You know, I really could have just headed home to clean it up and everything…"

"Do you want to explain to your brother that his students were the ones who caused all this?" Shin asked as he poured some of the water over her head to wash the dirt off of it.

She watched as he went about treating the minor wound and shrugged slightly, "I'm clumsy; he wouldn't be surprised as long as Nathan and I both agreed that I tripped."

Shin glanced up at Melody as he placed a bandage on her hand and shrugged, "Oh well," he let go of her hand, "You shouldn't have jumped into everything like that."

"I didn't jump into anything. I was dragged into it."

"How did you know we were there?" he asked.

Melody sighed, "I heard the yelling. What did you get involved there for anyway?"

Shin shook his head and leaned back against the bench, "Don't worry about it."

Melody opened her mouth to press the subject further when suddenly someone was slapping a hat on top of her head. It was her hat. She looked up and saw Nathan standing over here with everyone else standing around, "You left that."

Yankumi looked over at Melody, "It's probably not a good idea for you to go around in your uniform without that on, you could run into anyone from the school and not everyone would be as willing to keep your secret."

Melody nodded and went to hide her hair again as she listened to the conversation going on around her. "You don't think those guys from before will start talking about her, do you?" Kuma asked.

Everyone was silent for a moment, "I wonder if Melo-chan could still pass as a boy even if with her hair showing? I mean there are some guys with long hair like that." Noda commented.

Melody paused at that and looked up at Noda, "Melo-chan? That sounds terrible, don't call me that."

I'll update again as soon as I can but in the meantime, make sure to leave me reviews and tell me what you think or even if you think I should fix something. Tell me anything!