Another day, another chapter. It's more interaction then fluff, I guess. But still needed to establish the comfort zone these two have reached. Anyway. Again big thanks to -

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Thanks for the reviews, the follows and the favorites. I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter as well. By the looks of the chapters which always are about an event which happened in a day - obvious by the titles, I'm actually afraid that this becomes longer than I anticipated. I'm a sucker for the slow stuff...maybe I'll update sometimes twice a day to meet the deadline. Karen, stop your birthday. Postpone it. Now.

DAY FIVE

"Man..."

Her sigh was heavy as she stepped into the classroom. Her breath was ragged from running all the way from the station towards the school. This time she really did miss the first train which ended with her being stuffed into a narrow train compartment with many other strangers who were on the way to work, university or school themselves.

The day hadn't even started yet and she felt already ready to go back to bed.

At least the soft bed wouldn't blame her or make her learn stuff. It would just be lying there, comfy and warm. Offering her a nice and good rest which always seemed to be way too short much to her dismay...ah, she was already tired again.

Slowly, she forced herself to walk through the rows of tables towards the back of the classroom. On her way she strode past the table of no one else than Nanami. Although to her surprise it was empty and looked untouched. Still out of breath the girl turned towards her classmate who sat next to her friend, her hands playing with the straps of her bag.

"Uh...excuse me. Do you know where Nanami is?"

Her classmate looked up from her book, her face lighting up by the reorganization of the name.

"Mh, Nanami-san is sick. She didn't feel well today."

Oh.

"Oh." Mia echoed her thought, surprised to hear such news. Why didn't the black haired girl tell her? Or sent a message? The thoughts collapsed over one another in her head before she found the strength to move her sore legs. "Thanks anyway."

The girl whose name she still didn't know - it was either Haruno or Haruka - nodded swiftly, quickly returning to her book which must have been pretty interesting judging by the eagerness of her classmate. Nevertheless, Mia continued her way towards her table, pushing her way past all the other teenagers which had already arrived.

As she finally reached her little sanctuary she took a deep breath in relief through her nose, her whole body fell into her seat. Finally she could rest. The sound of having to sit for the next few hours on this very chair didn't bother her in the slightest. It would only be a little lonely in the break without her friend.

Lazily Mia dug through her schoolbag to find her mobile phone. She rarely used it because her father and mother were the only real contacts in it, her middle school friends who she didn't see anymore sent her emails but that was it. Nanami and she called each other sometimes but if they did, it was mainly at home with the telephone there.

"Oh, she did write a message..." The orange-head mumbled, her fingers pressing a few bottoms to open the unread text on her screen.

'I got a fever and my mum doesn't want me to go. Sorry. How about we hang out tomorrow? Survive the day. Nanami.'

"Gee, thanks..." Mia whispered with a light smile on her lips. Quickly she typed a reply, or at least as fast as she was able to. The bell had rung a second ago; her classmates were already hurrying back to their seats to not get preached by their biology teacher, who was a rather unpleasant man at that. And as the message was sent away, she stuffed the mobile phone back into her bag to exchange it with the heavy books and pencils she needed.

Only then her gaze flickered towards her left, though to her amazement the table of her neighbor was empty. It wasn't a surprise, she concluded while placing her things onto the table. If she remembered correctly the blue haired basketball player had often skipped lessons in the past as well. His marks must be terrible.

"Alright, class." The deep voice of the teacher hollered, the man stepping into the room with a handful of documents in his hands. "Let's start, shall we?"

At the sight of the work which was already on its way Mia couldn't help but sigh once more. That lucky guy disappeared at the right moment. Leaving her and the others behind for a lesson filled with knowledge and hard work. Disinterested the orange haired girl leaned onto her table, her gaze glued to the blackboard in front of her which was now used by their teacher to explain the task.

She had to admit it was strangely quiet without the blue haired teenager at her side.

Even before the incident where they hadn't talked to each other at all. It made a difference if he was there. Shifting in his seat, slightly snoring while sleeping or grumbling to himself about nothing in particular - the whole air changed when his big ego wasn't present. It was lighter.

Or maybe it was just her imagination.

Mia stretched her arms above her head as break finally arrived. It was definitely strange to not eat with the other girl together. Even more because up until now, the girl had never really bothered to get to know her other classmates - of course she knew some names - cleaning duty had offered a chance to find a few acquaintances. But the only person she really hung out with was Nanami. Bad idea obviously, to eat lunch by herself wasn't that much fun.

A bit disappointed she pulled her sandwich out of her schoolbag. She was determined to at least enjoy her meal even with the absence of the black haired girl who always provided enough subjects to talk about while eating. However, before Mia could've started eating a wave of déjà vu overcame her senses.

Thanks to the sight of a bread which fell onto her table.

Startled the girl snapped her gaze towards the shadow which had appeared at her side. Against the sunlight it was hard to make out at first whose face it was. But the height and tanned skin gave him quickly away. Of course, it was no one else but the basketball player who had skipped the previous classes.

"Yo."

With that single word, he pulled his chair towards her table, taking a seat on it while Mia could do nothing but stare at him flabbergasted. What was he doing here? And even if that question was answered. Why was he sitting at her table? Her dark eyes blinked at the bread he had brought with him. It was the same spicy bread she had left on his table yesterday. Didn't he understand that it was only a peace offering? She didn't want something in return! It would mean they'd still have to talk to another.

"Oi, Ryō give me something of your lunch." Aomine leaned onto the back of his chair to stare at their shy classmate.

The poor guy flinched at his loud voice but other than that he didn't complain at all. Obediently he grabbed his bento box and dragged his chair with him as he forced his way quietly towards her desk as well. Mia only watched Sakurai as he claimed the place in front of her, setting the box down with care. The tall teenager next to them though, was already reaching for an eggroll with his fingers.

Well.

That was...unexpected.

"I-I'm sorry Nidori-san. I hope you don't mind me sitting here..." Sakurai said nervously, his forehead already set in wrinkles.

The orange-head shook her head slowly, still clutching to her sandwich. "No, it's fine...I guess."

"So how was class? Biology is such a drag." The tallest of them grumbled while chewing on his stolen meal.

Mia could only ask herself the same damn question again. What was he doing here? Still confused she merely watched how Sakurai replied. Telling the basketball player how the lessons went and what exactly he had missed. The part concerning homework didn't interest him in the slightest and to the girl his question looked more like an excuse to steal more of the food of the brown haired boy. Who didn't do anything to stop it, by the way.

They surely must be good friends...or Aomine bullied him into doing that.

The latter definitely seemed to make much more sense.

Finally, Mia was able to bite into her own sandwich. Watching the boys interact with another like a bystander would do because she honestly didn't know what exactly was going on. Aomine's long legs were in her way, she had to withdraw her own ones to not bump into his. Her table was suddenly way too small. The bento box, her notebooks and - again - Aomine's arm took in most of the space which made her wonder - again - what they were doing here in the first place.

"Hah~? A damn test? He can't be serious." His loud voice awoke her from her train of thoughts and while chewing on her meal she blinked at the tall guy at her side.

"But it...it is. He said in two weeks we'll write one." Sakurai lifted his chopsticks into the air. It was a rather weak attempt to shield himself from the nasty frown which had found its way onto the face of the blue haired guy.

"Tch, can you believe that? The last one we had was last Tuesday." This time his blue eyes landed on her.

Mia could feel her face heat up again. She wasn't ready for his sudden attention and the change of air he always brought with him. Her mind still wasn't able to catch up with all the events which had occurred and now he demanded from her an answer to a question she had barely heard in between the turmoil in her head.

"Oi, Nidori." Aomine said, leaning towards her as if it would help. "You're good in biology, right? Let me copy your stuff in the test then."

Well, that definitely fought its way through the rollercoaster of thoughts.

"No way." Mia spoke up. "You're skipping class. I'm not going to help you just because you're lazy."

For a second he only stared at her. His eyes blinking once then twice before he suddenly started grinning at her in that stupid way she didn't like. It was as if he was wordlessly saying that he knew she would let him do it anyway. The arrogance seeped out of every pore that guy had. The confidence would've blinded her if her own thick head wouldn't be just as stubborn as his one.

"No." She repeated. Face red. "Not going to happen."

He kept staring at her a bit longer before he clicked his tongue and applied the same idea to the shy boy next to them. "Tch. Ryō - let me copy yours then."

"W-what?"

Sakurai started to sweat. Uncomfortable with the idea of cheating but Aomine kept on pestering him. His hands always fetching something else from the box filled with food. He really seemed to never bring something himself. And while Mia watched them argue, or better said sweating and demanding she carefully picked up the spicy bread she had received.

Maybe it wasn't so bad.

It was weird.

Definitely, definitely, really weird.

But not as bad as she thought it would be.

With a smile the girl tore the plastic bag open and bit into the bread.