[A/N Yes, I am aliiiive. Hell, I figured I'd have time to work on this during the summer, but nope, I just get even more work and most of my free time is spent with all the games I've yet to finish. Fun stuff. I'm going to try and write more often before the Fall releases start coming out (starting with Borderlands 2). Those will definitely keep me occupied. This is another short chapter, which was meant to be the second half of the last chapter. I split them in half, not knowing that I'd procrastinate this long.]

Ganheim:
Pleasantly surprised that you're still around! I haven't really checked out .hack much (other than .hack/sign which I never got into) but hey, I might look into it one day.

All this fighting, I almost forgot.

I still have a social life to worry about.

Well, it's probably for the better, anyway.

Chapter 21: Man Business

"Would ya look at that?" slurred King Moron, "We got another transfer student! Already!" He swiveled his head to glance at the green-headed girl, standing nervously stiff. "Well, ya gonna introduce yourself or what?"

"Oh!" she gasped, before taking a few steps forward. "I'm Fuuka Yamagishi. Um, I moved here from Okina City. Nice to meet y-"

"Ah, another city kid, eh?" King Moron cut her off, "Maybe you and the other new guy know each other or something, but don't bring any of that sappy romance crap into my classroom, got it?"

Leaving the discomfort of being near Morooka, Fuuka took the chair behind Mitsuru's empty desk and looked at me. "Well, you did warn me..."

I scoffed. "If you stand completely still, it can't detect you."

Fuuka quietly giggled. "I'll keep that in mind."

When the lunch bell went off, Fuuka found comfort in our group of friends. Souji, Junpei, and Yukari all introduced themselves to the shy girl.

"I'm happy to meet you all!" Fuuka exclaimed. She looked overwhelmed by the friendliness.

I nodded idly, "Wish you could've had a warmer welcome."

"Thanks. I wonder what that girl has against me?" she pondered, a finger to her chin.

"Don't take it personally, Ebihara-san isn't exactly sane."

Fuuka nodded. "I'll take your word for it."

"She has some major insecurity issues. I don't know. Something to do with when she was younger. Either way, it's all gone now. She gets her kicks by being a condescending bitch to anyone she doesn't like."

Souji chuckled, "Kinda glad I didn't run into this girl on my first day."

"Oh damn," sighed Yukari, "I'm probably gonna have to run into Ebihara-san at soccer tryouts, huh?"

"Soccer tryouts?" Souji asked, "What other sports are they offering here?"

"Just basketball and tennis," yawned Junpei, "Damn, I wish we had a baseball team."

Once classes ended, I ended up checking out the soccer tryouts with Souji. On the field, a few familiar faces knocked balls around waiting for the coach to arrive. A skinny, blue-haired guy with approached me with an aloof smirk on his face. "You? Sports? Turning over a new leaf or something, man?"

I scoffed. "No such miracle, Kou. Just thought I'd drop by and pretend that I love balls as much as you do."

"Sweet, sweet," he laughed, turning his attention to Souji. "You're the new guy, right? I'm Kou Ichijo."

Souji returned his introduction before I pointed out two other students on the grass. A well-built brown-haired guy with a band-aid across his nose had attempted to steal the ball from another, and failed. "That's Daisuke Nagase, one of the tougher guys here. I heard he used to be a lot better at soccer, but hey, he still does his part."

Kou pointed at the taller, bright-haired boy who kept possession. "And that's Akihiko Sanada, our very special ace clutch player of victory and all that other crap."

Souji raised an eyebrow. "Someone sounds jealous."

Kou shrugged. "I'm not jealous of him, I just think he's a bit of a showoff, y'know?"

"I get what you mean," replied Souji, "but maybe he's just working harder than everyone else, and it pays off."

"So then he's a tryhard! Ahahah!" laughed Kou, "Well soccer's not my sport anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me. I've got the basketball team to worry about, Sanada-san can go ahead and wreck shit over here."

Souji ran off into the field before Kou said, "Hey man, I gotta talk to you about something after practice."

"Huh? What's up?"

"Man business," he replied.

I leaned against the wall of the school's gate, waiting for Kou to arrive to discuss whatever he wanted to discuss. I sent Souji a message, "Let's all watch TV today. I insist." I unwrapped a chocolate bar and started chowing down on it when blue appeared in the corner of my eye.

"Is that a protein bar? Dude, you don't even work out!"

I realized how true that was. "I just like how it tastes."

"You sure? 'Cause I swear, you better not get all insecure on me! I have a whole damn team of guys who think they're too weak to live."

"Trust me, it's not like that. I spend half my time in the TV anyway." On the inside, I laughed. "Anyway, what'd you want to tell me?"

Kou tapped his foot against the concrete. "Errr – you know Takeba-san, right?"

"Pretty well, yeah."

"Do you know if she's dating anyone?"

"Ahah!" I exclaimed, "Man, this is so elementary! You couldn't just find out yourself?"

He responded by punching me in the arm, "Hey hey, it's not like that at all! I just figured it'd be better to ask you."

"Well if you must know, no, she's not with anyone right now." I looked up at my red-faced friend. "But why her? Never thought Yukari would be your type."

He kicked a small rock across the pavement. "I don't know either, man. Must just be my hormones acting behind my back or something."

"Ah, been there, done that. Anyway, I don't think you're cleared for landing just yet."

His eyes widened, "Wait, what? Why?"

"I doubt she's in the mood for dating right now, since Mitsuru's missing and all. She's probably worried the most out of all of us."