AN(IQ): here's the second chapter, this story's "preview" will last until the typical persona awakening. Always remember that the cast can be checked on my profile!

"Uggghhh…" Ryuko whined tiredly as she poked at her breakfast halfheartedly. "So… sleepy…"

A slap on the back from Ashely woke her up. "Welcome to college, mon ami! Place I went to in the states was ten times more busy than your average college, I've mastered the art of 5 hours of sleep operation!" She took a huge bite of pancakes. "Beshishe, ya got today cha get into the schwing-a-things!"

"Ugh, I just wanna sleep…" Ryuko complained, before she inched her face forward to nibble at her waffles.

"Morning Ryuko-chan!" A voice called, groggy but somehow still energetic. Namiko, hair sprawled out as if a white mass with tendrils, the thinner spread causing his hair to be noticeably closer to white than grey-blonde. "Um...h-hi, Ashely-san."

The redhead simply nodded as she downed another bite, focusing on her meal and not choking.

"Hey, Namiko-san," Ryuko muffled through a mouthful of waffle. "You didn't get much sleep either?"

"Actually, I got a full 3 hours!" the boy said with genuine cheer. The two girls then realized he was drinking directly from an entire pitcher of coffee.

"Dude, you need to get some help." Ashely said bluntly.

"Huh? What about?" Namiko asked in obliviousness. Suddenly the boy's eyes glazed over for a moment. "…"

Ryuko turned to Ashely, before turning back to Namiko. "Hey, Namiko? …Namiko? Are you there?" When it became obvious the boy was unresponsive, Ryuko grabbed a piping hot pancake from Ashely's plate and tossed it at his face.

"HEY!" Ashely cried, despite having 4 more pancakes on her plate.

The boy's free, gloved hand shot up and perfectly caught the pastry and the boy's eyes regained their sheen and he looked at the two. "You two…" he murmured aloud, before putting the pastry back without so much as acknowledging it and searching his pockets. "I know I have- AHA!"

Immediately both Ryuko and Ashely had to drop their utensils to catch a small pouch chucked at each of them with an unrecognizable kanji marking on them. "Both of you, keep these on you at all times! It'll ward off malevolent spirits."

Ashely rolled her eyes but pocketed the charm and leaned over to Ryuko. "Just do what he says, it's easier than refusing," she whispered. "And he'll know if you ditch it later…"

Ryuko shrugged at that, before stuffing it into her bag. She gave Namiko a look. "Dude, you gotta lay off the coffee."

Again, Namiko seemed oblivious to the issue. "Why? Did they discover something bad about it?"

Ashely turned to Ryuko again. "That also ain't gonna work. I've been here the past month and he will NOT relent on the coffee thing or the mumbo jumbo."

Namiko looked hurt at that. "It's not "mumbo jumbo," it's spirit channeling!"

"Whatever it is, you seriously need to stop chugging that stuff," Ryuko replied. "Ugh… can't stand coffee."

"Coffee, Energy Drink, high-sugar Soda, s'all the same to me." Ashely remarked. "Won't do you any good when you're beaten and bloodied in a back alley, ya need REAL energy for that."

Both sweatdropped, before Namiko responded. "I… don't need that kind of energy to keep up with my channeling. Besides, meditation is very rejuvenating in itself! How do you think my body can operate with so little pure sleep?"

Without anyone realizing, the redhead had already finished off her meal and waved before walking off without saying anything. Namiko took her seat and sighed. "Sorry… it's probably because I'm here she acted so abrasively."

"You?" Ryuko asked as she continued to munch down her waffles. "What do you mean you? You do something to piss her off?"

Namiko nodded. "I… I was too direct about the spirit haunting her, I suppose." He looked towards the direction the redhead had gone. "She's accompanied by it wherever she goes, and she must be aware; the day I met her I tried to comfort her on it, but only made it worse for her." The boy no longer had his usual smile and was looking down solemnly; he'd clearly made this mistake many times; too many for his liking.

Ryuko patted the white-haired student on the back. "Hey, c'mon. She'll come around. I mean, she looked like she wanted to murder me last night, and now we're already pals!" She wrapped an arm around his neck. "Besides, there's always a chance you could talk things out. Just let your old pal Ryuko help ya, right?"

"R-really?"

"Of course! What're friends for, right?" Ryuko stuffed her last waffle into her mouth. "C'mon, man. Let's go walk around," she said, mouth half full with waffle.

"...and that's the observatory." Namiko finished as the two ended up almost back where they had started their walk around campus. Already he was back to his normal self, eager to show his new underclassman around.

"Ahh…" Ryuko sighed, now properly awake after the tour. "Thanks Namiko-sa- er, I mean, Namiko-senpai!" She laughed as she poked her fingers together awkwardly. "Right, you're a year above me, aren't you? You're my senpai."

Namiko immediately waved her off. "Nah, don't worry about that. I figured out pretty quickly this place doesn't really do the whole "Senpai" thing, weird as it may seem. There's just such a variety of classes that being a first year, second year, whatever often doesn't actually reflect you having more or less experience in your preferred subject than someone else. A lot of people figured this out and agreed to stop using the term; it's actually kinda made the community a lot more close-knit."

"Really?" Ryuko asked. "Well, that makes things easier on me. Don't have to keep track of years and all that."#

She realized now it was Namiko twiddling his fingers, looking suddenly sheepish. "Um… I didn't properly say this before, but… thank you, Ryuko-chan. For hearing me out and all when I approached you."

"Huh? Sure, why wouldn't I?" Ryuko asked. "Sure, you kinda freaked me out with that whole 'soul mates' thing at first, but you seem like a really cool guy." She shrugged. "At the very least, you don't seem like a cultist who wants to make me a human sacrifice."

Namiko's head dropped as he sighed. "Is that what people really think I look like…?"

Ryuko sweatdropped at that. "Well, to be fair, not many people just immediately open a conversation with 'hey, I got some spirit guides', you know?"

"But it's true! I thought it'd be way scarier if I just started talking about their problems without telling them how I know!"

"You… do that?" Ryuko asked.

Namiko looked at her in confusion. "Should...should I not try and help them?"

"No, I'm not saying that, just…" Ryuko put a hand to her face. "I think I see the problem." She looked at Namiko. "We're gonna be working on you for a while."

Go to the Library

Go to the Fitness Center

Go to the Quad

…

"Maybe I can find Ashely here…" Ryuko murmured to herself as she entered the Fitness Center. "She's into all that athlete stuff, right?"

Ashely was indeed there, although not exercising. The redhead was going over each piece of equipment and inspecting it thoroughly. At the same time a supervisor was setting up an office to the left of the center's entrance.

Approach Ashely

Approach the Supervisor

Go Somewhere Else

"Ashely might still be a bit pissed from what happened at breakfast. I can always talk to her when we head back to the dorm anyways." Ryuko then walked over to the resident supervisor. He was a tall man, obviously a former fighter himself. He was stout, but his muscle was obvious. On his face was a neatly trimmed gray beard. "Uh, hello?" Ryuko asked.

The man turned around, and he beamed at Ryuko with a wide smile. "Ah, hello! A new student, are you?" He laid a large hand on her head, ruffling it wildly. "Always good to have more fitness enthusiasts here!"

Ryuko's eyes were spinning when the man removed his hand, the roughness of the gesture dazing her slightly. "How strong is this guy?!" Shaking her head, she soon found her balance once more. "I guess you could say that… so I'm guessing you're the supervisor here?"

"Yup!" The man jabbed a thumb in his chest. "The name's Tamotsu Abe! I'm the supervisor, athletics teacher, and coach for the wrestling team here!" He brushed a thumb across his nose. "I don't mean to brag, but I'm also a former MMA Champion!"

"I can believe that…" Ryuko thought as she looked at the man's muscle.

"Now then, let's see…" Tamotsu leaned down, looking over Ryuko. "...yup, we're gonna need a lot of work for you."

"WAIT, WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Ryuko protested.

Ryuko left to find Ashely gone. "She must've just been stopping by for a couple minutes, she mentioned how she trains at a gym. Maybe she just wanted to compare equipment?" The day was still young, the sun only now reaching its apex. "Wow, I got up REALLY early…" Ryuko muttered aloud. "Maybe I'll try passing time somewhere else…"

Go to the Library

Go to the Quad

Go to the Faculty offices

…

At the quad there were a surprising number of other students, almost all of them clearly freshman year; the giveaway was the way they were dressed, the first years being much more well-kept than their upperclassman. One upperclassman in particular though didn't seem to care for appearance at all, being dressed in jet black with matted hair and on his back staring into the foliage providing him shade. It mainly stood out because every student gave him a wide berth. As if to parallel him, elsewhere in the courtyard was a clique of fashionistas and athletes; the crowd around them was almost as loud as those at the center of it.

Talk to the Kid in Jet Black

Wade Through the Crowd

Go Somewhere Else

Ryuko shrugged. "Eh, why not?" She thought to herself before wading through the crowd with no small amount of force, before someone rudely retaliated by shoving her forward through the front of the crowd and nearly barrelling into one of the girls.

"Hey!" Ryuko looked up to find herself staring into the eyes of a tall girl, roughly her year. It was obvious why the crowd had formed, given her sheer beauty. Her raven locks ran all the way down her back like a river, and her piercing gaze could make any one person melt under her stare. Her body was like that of a professional model, and she had the attitude of one to match. "Ahem." She grabbed Ryuko by the face, glaring at her. "Aren't you going to apologize?"

"Uh… yeah, okay. Sorry." Ryuko managed. "This might've been a poor choice."

"Okay?!" A voice protested from the crowd. "Don't you know who you're talking to?!"

"That's Hiraku Amaya! She's a professional model!"

"She's the maker and breaker of hearts on campus!"

"SHE'S A GODDESS IN HUMAN FORM!"

Her face getting a bit tired, Ryuko made the mistake of forcing the lady's hand off of her.

At that, the woman glared at Ryuko. "Just stay out of my sight." At that, she raised her foot, before punting Ryuko back into the crowd. Ryuko found herself tossed and turned, before being spat back out of the circle.

The girl stood up and dusted herself off, scowling. "Why, again, did I think that would go any better than it did…?" she asked herself before deciding she'd already spent enough time in the quad for one day.

Go to the Library

Go to the Faculty offices

Go back to the dorm for the day.

Ryuko walked into the library and, to no surprise, it was barren. "Classes haven't even started yet, makes sense no one is here…"

That being said, two people caught her eye. In a massive bean bag chair, practically absorbed into it, was a figure in an oversized hoodie, despite the person not being small in stature. They had equally baggy longpants and glasses tinted pitch black, presumably one way. It was impossible to determine their gender or estimate their age as they sat with face buried in a massive textbook.

Much more normal looking was a young man with frizzled hair and incredibly well kept clothing and facial features, working away at mathematics. He had several open textbooks for an equal number of subjects and seemed to be systematically working his way through each.

Go to the beanbags

Go to the tables

At the sight of the comfortable looking beanbag chairs, Ryuko couldn't help herself. Taking a running start, the girl leaped onto another large beanbag chair, sighing contentedly to herself at the soft cushiony seat.

The person jumped, although any noise he made was muffled by the beanbags as he turned to see who had football tackled the space next to him.

"Hey there!" Ryuko called out. "How's it going?"

There was a simple grunt in acknowledgment, deep enough to confirm it was a male, with said male visibly trying not to look towards Ryuko.#

Ryuko, being Ryuko, wasn't so easily swayed. "Hey, c'mon! Hasn't anyone ever told you to tell your name when someone asks you?" She then looked at his face. As she squinted, she could see the faint image of bandages. "Or are those wraps also covering your mouth?"

"I can speak through them just fine." The boy finally replied, turning to Ryuko and lowering the book allowing her to see that he did in fact have white bandages around everything below his eyes, layered perfectly such that it was as if he had the jaw of a mummy. His glasses were perfectly circular and tinted so dark that on Ryuko's side it was impossible to see his eyes. The part of his face that wasn't covered by bandages was incredibly pale, and judging from his clothes it was likely due to lack of sunlight.

Ryuko blinked, surprised by the boy's appearance. "Okay… didn't expect that. What, you looking for auditions as a horror movie villain?" she joked.

After an awkward silence the boy let out a dry chuckle. "Suppose that was better than trying to tiptoe around things like most people. Guess if you're willing to acknowledge it, I'll address it too." He reached behind his ear, his hands had skin tight, extremely thin, grey gloves on, and pulled out a bluetooth device for an audiobook. He showed Ryuko the contents of his book and she immediately saw there were only diagrams, no words. "You can piece it together, I'm sure."

Ryuko's smile dropped. "Oh… sorry about the dumb joke." She rubbed the back of her head bashfully. "Kinda in poor taste then, right?"

"Actually, it was pretty refreshing!" The boy replied, much to Ryuko's surprise. "Normally people only make jokes about it purely out of malice, not as a poorly attempted icebreaker, and those that don't address it patronizingly act like nothing is abnormal about my ridiculous gettup." The boy extended his hand. "So no, it wasn't what I consider poor taste; it was a breath of fresh air. Koga Kage, first year."

Ryuko smiles at that, before taking the hand. "Ryuko Ashina, first year. Maybe I'll see you around more."

Koga shrugged. "Maybe, but if we don't have any classes together it probably won't happen often."

Why is that?

Oh, okay then…

Scared you'll fall for me?

…

Ryuko flashed Koga a wry look. "What? You afraid of my womanly charms? Think you might fall for someone like me?"

"No." Koga replied bluntly, continuing as Ryuko hung her head. "My resident housing is basically the dorm for people who don't fit with everyone else. Students from overseas, last minute arrivals and transfers, there's only a couple of people who aren't one of those things and from what I heard it was just a housing shortage."

"Wait…" Ryuko blinked in realization. She slammed her hands on a nearby table. "YOU'RE IN MY DORM?!"

Koga jumped and fumbled his book, quickly making sure his glasses were righted. "I-I'm sorry?"

"You said that overseas students and last minute arrivals are stationed in your dorm." Ryuko jabbed a thumb in her chest. "I'm a last minute arrival, and my roommate is an American!"

Koga simply stared. "…huh, I uh… guess we will see each other, then."

Ryuko flashed Koga a thumbs up and a cocky smile. "You can't escape me that easily, bandage boy!"

After exchanging more jokes with Koga, Ryuko eventually left the library after one of the librarians had reprimanded her for her loudness. As she waved goodbye to Koga, she found herself wondering where to go.

Go to the Faculty Offices

Go to the Cafeteria

Go back to the Dorms

The sudden grumbling of her stomach alerted Ryuko. "Damn… I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, have I?" Her path set, Ryuko walked off to the dining area, wondering what exactly she could eat.

Two people stood out in the cafeteria, largely because they each had a buffet's worth of food in front of them. One was a clear sukeban with neon blue dye throughout most of her long, flowing hair.

The other one was a girl with lavender hair that went down to her back. From the blazer she wore to the ring with an emblem on her finger, it was clear that she was from a well-off family. She was currently feasting on an incredibly large array of foods, how she managed to keep her svelte figure despite it being a mystery to Ryuko.

Go ask for some food from the rich girl

Go pilfer food with the Sukeban

Leave

Remembering how well things went with the model girl in the quad, Ryuko decided to take her chances with the punk girl. Pulling up a chair, she took a seat across from the girl. Now that she was in closer proximity, Ryuko suddenly began to regret her decisions. "What was I thinking? This chick could probably rip off my feet and stick 'em on my head! At least Ashely doesn't always look like she wants to kill me! ...always."

The girl just looked at Ryuko oddly. "…Yeah? What is it?" She barked, getting straight to her point.

Ryuko gulped nervously. "C'mon, Ryuko… you can get your way out of this situation…"

Hit on her

Apologize and leave

Tell her you're new here

Remain silent/Try to come up with something better

Ryuko opened her mouth to drop another line, before her voice trailed off. "I want to live, damnit!" Shaking her head, she extended a hand. "H-hi! I'm Ryuko! I'm new here!"

The girl didn't seem to care in the slightest, not taking her focus off her meal, there were at least a dozen club sandwiches all of which were loaded with different toppings. It was much less fancy than what the rich girl was dining on but still surprisingly high grade even at a glance. "So? Whazzat gotta do with me?"

Ryuko sweatdropped, the same smile on her face as before. "Wow… what a bitch…" "I… uh… was wondering if I could eat with you?"

Immediately a wrapped sandwich was tossed at her. "Sure, got enough to feed me for at least the next 5 days anyways." For the first time she actually glanced in Ryuko's direction before adding, "Take another if you don't like tomato."

"Wait, really?" Ryuko asked as she unwrapped the packaging, before immediately digging in.

The girl chuckled at Ryuko's eating habits. "Geez, don't choke, kiddo."

Ryuko swallowed down the rest of the sandwich with ease, before grabbing another. "Kiddo? How old are you then?"

"This'll be my junior year, so I guess 21?" The girl responded between bites, apparently not even sure. "I don't really keep track of that shit, waste of brainpower worryin 'bout how long ya been on this rock."

"Huh." Ryuko tossed another wrapper behind her, landing it in a wastebin. "Makes sense I guess. Only got so long to live, right?" She reached out, grabbing a third sandwich. "You know, you're a lot nicer than I thought."

"I get that a lot." The girl replied before biting into her third sub, ravenous as ever. "That said, why'd ya come over here? Just that hungry?"

"...yeah, honestly, that's why," Ryuko admitted. "My options were either you or that rich girl over there." She jerked a thumb to the girl with the lavender hair. "Given that I already struck out with another girl like her today, I figured my chances were better with you."

The girl let out another dry chuckle. "You've no idea, kiddo. That girl?" She jerked her head towards the rich girl. "She's a zaibatsu heiress; knowing that type she's probably got Yakuza in her pocket at all times."

Ryuko sweatdropped at that. "Hey, hey, you sure we should be talking about shit like that?"

At that the girl let out a proper laugh. "If a brat like that is at a run of the mill university, she's probably in hot water with her superiors." She flashed a toothy grin, like a shark smelling blood. "I can't wait to hear about her crashing and burning when she realizes she ain't hot shit around here."

Ryuko didn't say anything, though she did give the lavender haired girl a look. "She… she looks kinda sad, don't you think?"

The girl followed her gaze. "...Yeah, probably about being kicked out or whatever happened to her. She'll have to live a normal life, cry me a fuckin river." She sighed. "Look kiddo, don't go thinkin I'm a nice person. I'm not exactly "sympathetic" ya know. Got enough shit to worry about without letting other people drag me down. You'll probably figure that out too by the time you're a few years into this place."

Ryuko just sighed, before tossing away the rest of her sandwich. "Yeah, I guess."

The girl patted her on the back before tossing the rest of the still wrapped sandwiches into an unused garbage bag, which she slung across her shoulder. "Welcome to college and good luck, if you're half as bad off as me, you'll need it kiddo."

"Later," Ryuko said half heartedly.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and Ryuko found herself outside the cafeteria, leaving her alone. "Man… it's getting late…"

Go back to your dorm

Hit the town, no doubt destroying any chance of a decent night's sleep for your first day

Go to the observatory

"Eh, it's just orientation bs tomorrow, let's live a little!" Ryuko cried, double fist pumping in the air before cracking her knuckles and grinning. "Osaka Night Life, here I come!"

One quick ride later.

The town was abuzz as if it were still the day, the neon lights reaching as far as the eye could see and couriers and vendors gathered en masse alongside more...risque types.

Red Light

Club

Hagakure Diner

Music Archive

This was a mistake…

"Oh, right, Ashely said something about a music place right near the bridge to the island…" Ryuko thought aloud before making her way towards the address Ashley'd mentioned, sampling as many food vendors as she could on the way. Eventually she found herself at an almost mom and pop style music store, fully retro with everything from Vinyl to cassette, an incredibly tired looking young man leaning against a wall behind the counter, nodding off.

Ryuko raised a hand, before knocking on the counter. "Hello? You awake, dude?"

"Huh…?" The person muttered as they rubbed their eyes. "Oh, hey. You hear about Vinyl-cycling?"

"Really?" Ryuko replied flatly. "That's what you start with? No 'welcome' or anything?"

The young man yawned. "I mean it's not like people care much about anything else…" He sighed and looked around. "Not once has anyone ever asked about anything but Vinyl. I'm not complaining, I'm glad it made a comeback, but my family and I opened this place as a celebration of music in its entirety. Why d'ya think we even got cassettes?" He placed his chin on his elbow and gestured about. "You seriously gonna tell me you ain't here about vinyl? You're from that college, right?" At Ryuko's nod he continued. "Only one person from there ever cared one bit about something besides wanting to get cash for vinyl scraps…"

"Wait, back up… did you say cash?" Ryuko asked. "And whaddya mean 'scraps'?"

The guy just raised an eyebrow. "So you don't even know about vinyl-cycling and ya stepped in here? I'll be damned…" He began fishing around under the counter before pulling out a flier. "Vinyl R.E. uses state of the art blah blah blah… Yeah this is it, basically vinyl records, no matter what's on them, have value. "Scraps" are the term for shards of vinyl or scratched and worthless records. Music collectors have started using this tech to make unique vinyl records of their own design and composition, usually niche music or just songs that don't otherwise have vinyl release. People who DON'T care about it but still have vinyl picked up pretty quick they could make a quick buck by selling off their stuff for others to put to good use." He tossed the flier explaining all these things to Ryuko before sitting back down with another yawn. "Soooooo yeah."

"Hmmm… thanks for the tip, man," Ryuko said after a few minutes, stuffing the flier into her pocket. "Hey, mind if I browse for a bit?"

"Not at all, pleasant surprise to see someone do that."

Ryuko grinned, before browsing for a few minutes. "Let's see… do we have anything good?" Suddenly, she saw one that caught her eye. Pulling it out, she walked back over to the counter. "How much for this one?" She set a record down, the cover image being a boy in a green t-shirt clutching a bass guitar and strumming his heart out.

The young man raised his eyes. "That's interesting… ya know what? Take it. Been a long time since I saw anyone's first pick something from the states."

"What can I say?" Ryuko replied. "It just seemed interesting."

"Hey, you know a Ms. Cael?" The man suddenly asked. "Goes to that university too?"

"Yeah, she's my roommate," Ryuko said as she fished out some cash from her wallet. "Will this cover it?"

The man held up a hand. "Like I said, just take it. Especially if you're a friend of Ms. Cael. Tell her that our tech is back to normal and fully operational, k?"

"Really?" Ryuko replied. "What, you interested in dating her or something?"

THe man blinked. "Wha? No! She's the only customer we've gotten this last month with any taste or appreciation, that's all."

"Oh…" Ryuko said in disappointment. She then leaned across the counter. "So does that mean you're single, pretty boy?"

The man turned red. "Uh… y-yeah?" he stammered.

Ryuko grinned. "Maybe we'll see if we can get to know each other better! I have a feeling I'll be a regular customer here." Flashing a wink at the store owner, she then grabbed her record and left.

The moment she stepped out of the store, Ryuko let out a cheer. "I STILL GOT IT! WOOHOO!" Laughing like an idiot, she began dancing in the street with joy. In full view of the shopkeeper.

"...Ya know, maybe things won't be so boring around here now." The young man thought with an inkling of a grin.

By the time Ryuko got back, Ashely was… still awake, gaming away as she fought a behemoth of a beast, looking as jaw dropping as a real life version of the fight despite being a game as Ashely's character bounced around in the air landing precise strikes on some sort of pine-cone scaled monster.

"Hey! You start the fun without me?" Ryuko called out as she took a seat next to her roommate, setting her new purchase next to Ashely's own records.

"Huh? Oh, this is Monster Hunter!" The redhead replied. "Doesn't have local co-op…" As Ryuko lowered her head the redhead burst out, "Waitaminute!" With a finishing striked the beast collapsed, and without even waiting for the loading screen Ashely went to a cabinet. Inside was an ARCHIVE's worth of games the likes of which Ryuko had only ever seen in full blown stores. In a flash Ashely was back next to Ryuko handing her a copy of the very game. "I forgot I got an extra for exactly this! It'd be AWESOME to go hunting with a roommate!" She jerked a thumb to what was now a results screen. "I got another physical copy when they dropped their expansion, so feel free to take my original copy!"

"Huh? Really?" Ryuko asked as she took the copy from her hands. "You sure about this?"

"Fuck yeah!" Ashely exclaimed as she punched Ruko in the shoulder. "We'll make a sapphire star outta you!" Her eyes were gleaming like sapphires of their own and she looked ready to burst from excitement. "Oh this is gonna be GLORIOUS!" "I gotta record your face throughout, oh MAN I am stoked for when you meet your first Jho!"

"Well… if you say so," Ryuko said, before blinking in realization. "Oh yeah, before we start, I went to that vinyl place you were talking about!" She pulled out the record she bought. "Check it out!"

"Scott Pilgrim?" She replied with a mixture of delight and confusion. "Didn't expect that to be your first choice."

"I just picked one that seemed interesting," Ryuko admitted. "Wanna listen?"

Ashely was already setting up the record. "You say something?" Before Ryuko could reply the song began playing.

This is the beginning of the song…

Ryuko shrugged. "Nevermind. C'mon, let's play!" Picking up a controller, she took a seat next to Ashely.

"Oh no you don't" Ashely replied, taking the controller. "You barely survived this morning, I'm not letting you stay up any later for your first day." At that she yawned loudly. "…shit, think I'm gettin weak."

"Aw, man…" Ryuko complained, but she relented, hopping on her bed. "Fine, but tomorrow after class, I pick the game, got it?" As she tucked herself in, the sounds of the music still rang in her head, even as she slept.

I'm hearing voices

Animal noises

The Creme de la creme

The feminine abyss

Reaching my threshold

Staring at the truth 'til I'm blind…

AN(NB): Heyo! Nerd-Bot here! Prower's being his usual slave-driver self, so he made me write this up for the chapter. Anywho, now we're getting into some of the meatier parts. You've already been introduced to some of the cast members of our story. You may have also noticed the music choices here. Yeah, this story has its own OST. You can find it on Prower's profile if ya wanna jam out to it! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some procrastinating writing to do!

AN(IQ): wow. Thanks. But yes, I manage the OST as it were. Songs will be added as they become relevant, so beware spoilers when checking it if you're not caught up!

New Cast:

IQ: Koga, the sukeban, music store employee

AG: Abe, Hiraku