Minato woke up early the next day, which was unusual as he was prone to sleeping in and there was no alarm clock to wake him up either, rather, what happened last night had his mind racing nonstop all night long. The kid that popped out of nowhere and then disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared when he tore up his stupid contract.

This just had to happen on the first day of his new school life. Still, Minato made the effort and got up from his bed, grabbed soap, shampoo, toothpaste and an expensive body wash and then took a long shower to wash the sleep and fatigue from his system. His mind was still racing from last night but after spending half an hour dressing up and styling his hair into something pretty, he grabbed his backpack, hurled it over his shoulder and stepped out of his apartment, double checking to make sure he had locked it before he set off to his new school.

Despite the overall reputation of Iwatodai, he still saw a blizzard of students racing towards school, most of them transfer students just like him, giggling at the prospect of attending the school. To him, the only interesting bit was that the Kirijo heiress also attended the same school and he was looking forward to meeting her, maybe even getting to know her better.

Eventually, after a short walk, Minato arrived at the new school and stood at the gates to take a good look at the campus, which he found fairly impressive, several times larger than his previous school and build to almost perfection as it looked like a school for the absolute best and elite.

Pity the cherry blossom trees ruined all of that...

"Who is the new guy?"

"He looks cool, not gonna lie,"

"He looks like an asshole!"

Minato shook off the gossips and quickly entered the campus building, briefly looking around to understand the interior which was as impressive as the exterior. He saw a large group of students fighting each other to check the classroom assignments and scoffed at their stupidity. Instead, he went straight for the faculty office which was mostly barre, aside from a middle age teacher sipping coffee and stuffing her face with cake.

"Oh!" the female teacher noticed him and called him over. "Are you the new transfer student?"

Minato nodded and she grabbed the nearby file, flipping through the pages. Minato was proud when he saw the awe on her face as she shuffled through the list of schools he had attended and his academic achievements. His parents were scientists and he was called a prodigy in that field more than once.

"Your parents..."

"Can we move on?" Minato said bluntly, not wanting to be pitied by the teacher.

"Ah yes, of course," the teacher said, standing up. "My name is Isako Toriumi and I teach composition. Welcome to our school!"

Minato nodded.

"You're in 2-F, that's my class," she explained further and got another nod out of the boy. "But first, there is a ceremony going on so you will have to attend that, it's in the auditorium."

Minato left the faculty office and headed for the auditorium and it was packed with students, much to his dismay. He found an empty seat and sat down, clipping on his headphones to drown out the chatter around him but he occasionally lowered the volume to listen to bits of the rambling of the fat princple on the podium-

"Now, please welcome the head of the Group!"

Minato popped the his headphones and rose a little from his seat-

"Kouetsu Kirijo!"

By that point, Minato was listening with attention and he caught the leader of the Group stepping out from behind the curtains, fairly tall, more fat than the boring principle, bald where it mattered and with a cigar in his mouth. The man had an impressive presence because as soon as he walked into view, the entire auditorium fell silent and it was befitting, especially for a head of such a global company. His wrinkled and pale face was mostly stoic, with a hint of a welcoming smile for the new students but Minato could tell even that was forced.

There was something odd about the man, aside from his obesity. He seemed well into his eighties and yet he was walking around and puffing out smoke.

Minato attentively listened to what the head of the Group had to say, which was mostly the usual drivel about studying and working hard but towards the very end, his ghost of a smile grew into a very evil grin as his eyes scanned across the room and briefly caught the gaze of the blue haired student.

"Great things will happen this year..."

With that, the welcoming ceremony came to an end and Minato got up from his seat, headphones clipped again as he left the auditorium and made his way towards the classroom. Toriumi went out of her way to introduce him to the class, forcing him to stand in front of his classmates and introduce himself and he did so with a small wave of his hand and a slow nod before he stalked off to his seat-

"Hey!"

Toriumi was just about to close the attendance register when someone showed up at the doorway and the class immediately erupted into chatter and coo-

"Hey, it's Yukari!"

"She's late as usual,"

"She gets better by the year..."

Minato briefly took a look at the brunette and while he had to admit she was attractive he did was not particularly interested in her like the rest of his idiot classmates, given that the infamous Mitsuru also attended the school.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Yukari apologized to the teacher, her pink sweater wrapped around her waist as she had to run as fast as she could just to make it in time.

"It's fine," Toriumi said, not bothered by her late appearance as she knew how hard the girl worked. "Your seat is right over there, behind the new student."

She pointed right at Minato and the boy sighed, becoming the focus of the hormonal boys in the room which included almost everyone and the hatred intensified with each step Yukari took towards him. She briefly stopped at his desk with a greeting and Minato gave a quick nod, planting his head on the desk as soon as he took her seat behind him.

With that, the first day of school was underway and not much happened, aside from a syllabus overview and introductions of the many weird teachers he would be forced to endure in the coming year but thankfully, time passed quickly and the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. The other students started chatting but Minato quickly gathered his belongings and stood up from his desk and just then-

"Sup, dude?"

"What do you want?" Minato blurted, without more venom he had intended.

"Hey come on!" the student on the other end cried, holding up his hands. He was a head taller than Minato, with a pitiful goatee, blue shirt under the school jacket and a baseball to cover his possibly bald head. "At least let me introduce myself, man!"

"Okay fine," Minato sighed, sitting on his desk. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Nothing much. I'm Junpei Iori and I have transferred here when I was in 8th grade," The guy, Junpei, explained with a smile so wide, like he was greeting an old friend. "I know how tough it is being the new kid so I came to say hi! See how much of a nice guy I am!?"

"Yes," Minato said. "Slightly annoying as well."

"Aww, come on man!"

"Hey, Junpei!"

The said male whipped around and almost yelled, making Minato cringe.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan!"

Apparently, Yuka-tan was Yukari and the popular brunette made her way towards the two males, carrying a large wooden sword on her shoulder. She responded to a hi-five request from Junpei and faced Minato with a welcoming smile.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you," Yukari greeted, holding out her hand for a shake. "I hope you like the school and that we get along, being seat mates and all, hehe."

Despite having bigger fish to fry, Minato shook her and nodded. "Thank you. It is alright so far and I hope so too."

"I hope Junpei isn't bothering you too much," Yukari chuckled. "He's sort of annoying but he means well so please be nice to him."

"Point taken," Minato scoffed, looking at the teenager who was the topic of the conversation but was left out at the same time.

"I just act as the welcoming committee of the school... since we don't have one," Junpei barged in, annoying the blunet who faced him with a frown. "So I was just helping old Minato feel at home."

"Yeah, we hear you, Junpei," Yukari giggled. "Help Minato out if he needs it but don't bug him too much."

"Well, if you want to help me, I have a question," Minato said, facing the capped teen who immediately perked up, ready to assist his new classmate with anything. "Do you know which class Kirijo Mitsuru attends?"

Just when he said that, a grimace crossed the face of the female nearby and her pretty face distorted into a frown which did not go unnoticed by Minato. Next to him, Junpei just stared at him with his mouth wide open, like he was staring at a blissful fool.

"Dude, why on earth do you wanna know that?" Junpei asked.

"So you don't know,"

"I do know but..."

"Thanks for nothing," Minato sneered and grabbed his backpack, pushing Junpei out of the way as he stalked out of the classroom, leaving the two friends alone and both were now a little wary of the new transfer student. Yukari was visibly annoyed at the mere mention of her name and lamented the fact that her seatmate was just another dumb Mitsuru fanboy, pretty much like every other male across the school. Junpei was more impressed than annoyed but given that he had lived in Iwatodai for years, he knew well to stay the hell away from the group and anything close to it.

"Just what our school needed, another ignorant Mitsuru fan," Yukari scowled, clutching the hilt of her kendo stick tightly.

"He does not see like a totally bad guy but..." Junpei trailed off.

"I'd stay away if I were you," Yukari suggested and then sighed. "Anyway, I gotta take care of some stuff at the kendo club so... see you tomorrow, Junpei."

"Sure, Yuka-tan!" Junpei found his cheer again as the brunette left the classroom with a wave in his direction. Junpei was left alone and his face lost the smile again as he had to go back home.

"Home... What a buncha bullshit..."

Minato saw a number of quirky students. A guy running around in a track suit. A tanned chick running after him. A bald guy. An idiot carrying a fan. Another bald guy. A loser following after two teachers. He saw Yukari as well, getting dragged towards the club by her team members and finally, another bald dude.

Minato swiped the fringe out of his eye as he walked back home, ordering himself some food as soon as he got to his apartment. He was an awful cook and never found the need to actually cook for himself as his family had hired chefs. He found it a little off however, not being surrounded by servants but that hiring a few was not going to be an issue, after building up his connections in the area, particularly with the Kirijo Group as the daughter of the said company was roaming the same halls as him everyday.

With nothing much to do, Minato looked through the syllabus of the school and found the material dull as he had already studied a good amount of it. He spent the rest of the time browsing the internet and gaming, having brought his consoles along with him. Just as the cursed hour drew closer, Minato was about ready to head to sleep but he waited and stayed up for a bit longer, wondering if the creepy kid would show up again with his dumb contract.

Thankfully he did not and Minato was about to turn in for the night until he caught something just as he was about to close the window.

A tower.

The same tower he saw the last night, a monstrous structure that reached up to the skies. Last night, he was a little too tired and pissed off to care but he stood by the window this time, trying to take in and process the sight. He was used to the blood and the lack of machinery in the hour but towers popping out of-

"Wait a minute..."

The tower was in the same place as his school!

Minato threw on a jacket and made his way out of his apartment, wanting to see how sort of marvel of science had turned the school into satan's structure. He ran towards the area and stopped when he saw the tower up close and it truly did reach up to the skies, so much so he was getting a headache and a minor case of acrophobia just looking at the top of the damn thing. The gates of the school remained however and they were open and after much consideration, Minato walked inside.

As awful as the tower was on the outside, the inside was marvelous, marbled tiles, long pillars, two golden clocks that he wanted to take home with him and a strange green device.

"What is this place...?"

Minato wondered, half tempted to walk up the stairs and into what seemed like a portal but he relented as he was without any sort of backup. Instead, he took a look around of what seemed like the lobby of the place, knocking on the floor, pillar and walls and sure enough, the structure was made up of ordinary material. The green device on the other hand was unknown and upon closer inspection, it seemed activated as the thing started glowing as soon as he walked close-

"Oh no..."

If his theory was correct, then the glow signaled that the device was activated...

And he did not lay a finger, which meant...

Someone was coming from the other side!

Minato ran for his life, as fast as he could and while he got away with the false belief he was not seen, the figure that emerged from the teleport device grinned at the sight of the boy running with his tail tucked between his legs. He was weak and pathetic but he had a decent set of legs and the stranger was looking forward to rip those same legs out of his socket.

As Minato ran back to his apartment, he once again saw the butterfly, this time the bug was gold in color and did not appear in his dreams. Instead, the butterfly fluttered past him,leaving a golden stardust trial in its wake and then disappeared when he blinked the next second.

This was the first time he saw a butterfly in the hour and he had the idea that much like the tower, the bug was not normal.

He quickly made his way inside his apartment and locked the door shut, unaware of the figure that lurked outside for quite a bit and then left, promising a brutal return.

I am going through a very rough patch in my life so I apologize if the quality is more shitty than usual. Of course, there is not much to do because corona, social distancing and self-isolation so here is another chapter. I might go insane if I don't do something and writing fic does demand a good amount of work and effort, so... here it is.

Again, toss around theories and reviews if you want to.

Later.