Author's Notes: Hello there. Yes I've been gone for so terribly long but its for good reasons. I was so terribly busy with my uni's final exams that I have to decide that writing fanfics shouldn't get between me and my grades, so I have to put my laptop on the toppest top of my shelf and pull of those dusty books I've promised myself to read at the start of the semester. Another unfortunate reason for my absence is the massive influx of mails and whatnots that my family received, all of them about family events and gatherings and all those kinds of wholesome family stuff. So your boy here was pulled right out the business of exams right into the thick and thin of endless family gatherings, revisions are still going so there's that too! They're all good fun and a blast though, the exams included.

But none of that matters because guess what your boy is back and now bringing his update to his award winning fanfic. Oh my god I'm suffocating out of excitement!

So I won't waste anymore of your seconds and let you enjoy the fanfic. Don't forget to hit that like button, smash that subscribe button, be excellent to each other and party on dudes!

Seriously like and favourite and review it keeps me alive thank.

Akko was thrown back hard. She rolls across the wooden floor before skidding to a halt. She lifts her head up slowly and holds her nose painfully.

Despite the pain she clearly felt, Akko immediately pushes herself up and readies herself for another try.

Meanwhile, I lay on the ground not far from her face down and holding my stomach. "She shot me in the stomach", I groan. "Why did she shoot me in the stomach?"

Akko reaches down and tugs at my uniform. "Come on! Just a little more and we can beat her!"

"Are you mad?" I startle. "We can't beat that… that monster!"

Akko looks ahead. "No way I'm giving up! Not until I wipe that smug smirk off her face!"

I look up and ahead, past the battle zone and through the thick smoke surrounding it. Over there on the other end of the room is where Diana stands. Her prim and perfect looks completely contrasts the chaotic landscape around us. Her expression was calm yet focused, not letting her guard down despite her clearly lesser opponents.

Still on the ground I turn to Akko. "She's not even smirking! What are you on about?"

Ignoring my warning, Akko lets out a war cry and runs ahead with reckless abandon.

Zero bothers were given. Still on the floor, I let myself take a breather and face down, waiting for the inevitable to happen again.

A loud smashing noise echoes through the room followed by a painful scream. Akko was thrown away and landed on the floor near me again, her wand scattered beside her.

Still face down, I grumble. "Take it as a tactical retreat instead. Or play dead, it always works for me".

Akko turns to me and snaps. "If you're not going to even try then just step out of the field!"

Her sudden outburst throws me off guard and I find myself pushing myself off the ground involuntarily. "O-okay, okay. Don't be mad please".

I realize there's no end to this aside from properly fighting our way to victory, or defeat. Problem is our objective isn't someone that could be easily toppled.

But aside from our ridiculously overpowered adversary, I also have another massive setback.

My thoughts were interrupted, or rather, proved correct when I catch Akko about to charge headlong to the enemy again.

I quickly catch her by her elbow to stop her. Urging her to stop banging her head repeatedly on a brick wall expecting it to fall and try to at least formulate a reasonable strategy.

"I'll be honest with you", I start. "There's no hope in the two of us defeating that monster over there, but if you want to at least prove you're half-decent to her then I could probably help, a bit".

Thankfully Akko gives me a piece of her patience and waits for my advice. Evidently she needs to stop her attack anyway seeing how she struggles to catch her breath.

"Well, what do you want us to do?"

Well, Ere we go.

Its clichéd, but I need to close my eyes when I need to grind the old rusty grinders.

There's no way one of us could dish out enough magic to take down Diana, nor taking much attacks from her. Dividing her attention is a sound strategy, but judging from how she's kept us at bay so far with so little sign of exertion I could guess she's more than capable to cast a wide variety of wide spreading or multi-directional attacks that could down us at the same time. I have no real confirmation of this but I'm willing to bet that Diana indeed is capable to do so.

Opening my eyes, I glance at the other end of the field, towards the shifting image of Diana hidden behind a thick cloud of smoke.

A long ranged battle? I can do that but I doubt Akko could contribute much to it. So far despite the girl's overwhelming willpower and energy, her magic is low flame at best. From the few attacks she'd managed to land on Diana, I'd learnt that Akko prefers, or only able to, perform unrefined magical spells; short in range, inefficient and excessive use of magic, yet potent nonetheless.

That leaves short ranged battle as the only way to make the best of both of our potentials. But there's more chance of peril in that compared to all my other ideas. Not to mention we have no idea and no way to get that close to the girl. We're just too weak individually.

I blink a few times, eyes wide as I realize something.

"I have something", I say, surprising Akko.

"You do?" Akko asks with a hint of interest. "Please tell me this doesn't involve one of us being sacrificed as bait".

"Don't worry there's nothing like that". I say. "It sounds terribly stupid but it might work, probably".

Clearing my throat, I begin to unfold my plan. "Ever heard of leap frog? It's like that except neither one of us will leap over one another. It's more metaphorical really, you switch the leap with…"

I stop on my tracks as I notice Akko losing interest in my ramblings.

I sigh. "Fine, just listen close".

/-/

The scarred battle zone was quiet and none of the combatants stir. The wooden floorboards are charred at some parts and upturned or reduced to splinters on the other. Smoke rises from the embers that were once great fires weaved into battle by the combatants.

The two of us has taken the cover of the smoke and try to close in on Diana. Akko follows me with silenced steps while I lead closely in front of her.

The smoke starts to dissipate eventually and when it finally revealed our position, Diana wastes no time in stopping our attempt at ambush. A red bolt of energy climbs into the air before diving, producing a sharp shrieking noise as it races towards us.

I manage to repel it in time, deflecting the blast to our side and sending small and charred wooden splinters into the air.

The impact of the attack still lingers on my hand, I couldn't stop it from trembling for a few good seconds.

"You okay?" I hear Akko whisper.

"Sort of!".

As we further close the distance Diana responses by increasing the frequency and ferocity of her attacks.

I deflect the first blast, block the second, and narrowly repel the third. As I block the fourth blast I lose my footing and nearly fell. Taking advantage, Diana fires off another to finish me.

I narrowly regain my footing before the attack arrives but instead of defending it, I rush to a retreat and take cover right behind Akko who now rushes ahead and takes my former spot.

She lets out a loud cry as she summons her defensive spell; a simple ward spell in the form of a barrier.

The attack makes impact with Akko's barrier and it surprisingly holds. Holding onto her wand with both hands, Akko struggles momentarily to regain her balance before we continue our march forward, this time with me Akko leading at the front.

"Just a few more seconds", I say through bated breathes.

Akko gulps and steels herself for what's to come.

Another attack flies towards us and Akko holds her wand high, defending the two of us from the attack.

The impact sends sparks of flame raining down around us, Akko's hands trembles at the weight of the attack. She involuntarily lowers her wand and her barrier begins to twitch and waver.

Diana continues to launch volley after volley of spells towards Akko. Exploiting the girl's weak variety of magic, Diana casts a wide range of different elemental attacks. Impact-heavy ice bolts, shock-heavy lightning bolts, and burning fire bolts; elements that require different kinds of defensive spells for each. Something that Akko couldn't possibly hope to keep up with.

But Akko shows no sign of backing down. She corrects her footwork and brings her wand high up.

Akko gives her everything to cast the best barrier spell she knew. A sinfully simple and unrefined barrier spell, but the sheer intensity and potency of it surprises me. What she lacks in complexity she supports with sheer firepower and determination.

The endless volley of magic comes crashing down on us. The ice shakes and slams the barrier, the bolt disrupts its flow of magic, and the fire burns what's left of it down.

Akko incredibly survived the attack for the both of us but at a great cost. Falling to her knees, Akko struggles to speak between her laboured breaths. "Switch… switch"

I rush in front of her, providing Akko cover just in time to block Diana's next attack that would've struck Akko for good if it wasn't for our timely switch.

Continuing our pace forward, I gulp deeply after taking into account the hellish attack our opponent just unleashed.

Despite myself, I still have the time to look back and be worried for Akko. "You alright?"

Akko slowly nods. She slowly gets herself up and follows closely behind me. "Just need time".

My steps begin to waver at the thought of facing what Akko just did. Granted I'm more experienced with magic compared to the girl, I find it difficult to believe that I could muster a barrier spell with such fortitude as Akko's.

The next volley comes without warning. I try to block, repel, and deflect everything that comes our way. For each attack I repel another follows without end and every time I block one of them my entire hand trembles in protest, urging me to give in and run behind Akko for cover.

I bite that thought away and try to do the same thing Akko did, pushing myself to the limit.

Diana's last missile makes impact with my wand. My deflection was untimed and imperfect, punishing me with a strong tremble that runs all the way to my arm.

It feels as if my arm would just pop off its socket if I take another.

But I know Akko's far from recovering, leaving me with no choice but to hold fast.

The next attack comes without rest. Holding my wand straight, I attempt to deflect it only to be met with its overwhelming firepower. The attack punctures through my spell and lands on my hand, disarming me as I lose grip of my wand.

My wand lands on the floor far from us. There's no chance to retrieve it. Even if I could run to it without getting hit by Diana's next attacks, I would be stripping Akko of any cover. With the absence of my wand I'm unable to tank any more damage, which leaves me with no choice but to switch places again.

But glancing behind, I find Akko not fully ready to take my place. Her breathing had calmed down but her hold on her wand is visibly weakened, it nearly falls from her clutch as she struggles to push on with shaky legs. In her grand display of defence she had unfortunately used up all her magic.

The next attack comes before I realize it, coming straight towards me at incredible speed.

Without warning, Akko rushes in front of me and takes the missile for herself.

The missile strikes her right in the shoulder and sends her tumbling down the floor. She bites back a pained yelp and forces herself to look up. "Grab your wand!"

I quickly rush to my wand, only to feel a blunt pain in my side that throws me across the floor.

I roll on the floor and stop a few distances away from Akko, groaning in pain as I stop.

The ring of a bell cuts through the room and our eyes are quickly drawn to the side of the room where Michelle stands with a handful of students by her side. Her hand is rested on a small bronze bell hanging on the wall.

"And it's a knockout", Michelle announces through a purple megaphone.

Akko struggles to push herself off the floor in a slow and difficult manner. Still, she has the energy and will to refuse to give up. "N-no way! We can still go on, the time isn't even up yet!"

Despite herself, Akko winces and holds her shoulder as she lands back on the floor.

Michelle lowers her megaphone and speaks normally "You best visit the infirmary. You might not feel it now but you'll regret it tomorrow if you don't check your injury up".

Still on the ground and face down, I groan in pain. "I thought you said the wands are practice use. It's bloody not".

Michelle blinks. "I did. But I didn't say it won't hurt, did I?"

Before I could lecture my own teacher on the safety hazards of magic combat an overall transparency in the educational system, Diana has returned from her other side of the battle zone and is immediately surrounded and showered with praises by the nearby students.

Diana's looks are a complete contrast to ours. Despite what the three of us just went through, Diana seems prim and proper as always. It's as if she wasn't even fighting in the first place.

I'm assuming very strongly that the reason we managed to survive as far as we did is because she held back the entire time. A fact equally heartbreaking as it is obvious.

I can't say that Akko knows it and I don't bother to share my thoughts with her fearing that I might break her heart if I did.

Michelle looks to Diana and smiles. "That was an impressive display of magic, Diana. And my expectations were high".

Despite what she went through mere seconds ago and what exhaustion it must've caused on her, Diana doesn't take it as an excuse to not act politely. Bowing gracefully the girl smiles and says. "It's my pleasure to help".

Out of the crowd of praising students, it's to be expected that Hannah and Barbara are the ones that gives the most intense, or perhaps the most redundant and annoying praises.

'Amazing job, Diana! You were amazing, Diana! You showed those pesky lesser witches, Diana! Have my babies, Diana!' are some of the many praises the two showers Diana with.

Or at least that's what they sound like in my head. In truth I can't really hear what they're saying from over here and I'm just filling their conversations in my own head.

While the students are occupied with the star of the show, Michelle walks up to Akko and I. With a smile she says. "I have to say, that's not a bad trick you did back there".

"What, the play dead thing?" I ask.

Michelle breaks into laughter and shakes her head. "No, no. I meant that switcheroo you did with Miss Kagari".

"O-oh, that one" I mumble. "Right, totally ingenious".

Akko stands to her feet, her hand still rested on her injured shoulder. "That hurt" she says with a wince.

Michelle takes out a little notebook and starts. "Well you shouldn't worry too much about that, your pain is productive after all. I must say I didn't expect the two of you to survive that long, not against someone like Diana".

She begins to write down on her little notebook. "Seeing you two's teamwork, I got to give you two mighty B's".

At the mention of those grades Akko's eyes lighten up. "R-really, a B? This is the first time I've ever gotten a B!"

It's as if all the pain she just felt had disappeared. She's practically jumping up and down at the excitement of the grades.

"Well this is awfully generous" I say, more to myself than to anyone.

But Michelle puts pencil to her lips and thinks deeply. "However, I didn't like how one of you shows severe lack of motivation in the middle of the fight".

The words cut through the air like butter through a hot knife.

Wait, no.

The words cut through the butter like hot air through a knife.

Michelle begins to erase the grade away from her notebook. "Motivation is key to winning… well, everything. And without it your fight is as good as over".

Michelle nods solemnly for a few seconds. "Yes, yes. Motivation shouldn't come when one is threatened, it must come from your own. I'm going to grade you a D plus, Jericho".

Akko sighs in relieve as she realizes she's not the one getting the D.

"However", Michelle starts again and with just that one word, the butter cuts through the hot word… what.

"A team is as strong as its weakest member. Even if you're as talented as Diana, if you let weakness grow on your team you won't find yourself going far. That's why I think this grade will give you two a reminder of that lesson. Of course giving you two D pluses because of only one person's mistake is harsh, so I'll give C plusses, the both of you".

Butter through air… what. I give up.

"That's… not okay", I voice my opinion.

Despite myself, I'm still able to welcome the disappointing yet expected scores. However I can't say the same thing for Akko.

Akko's jaw hangs low. Shocked to the point of no words, Akko's only response to the dreadful grades are unintelligible half-sentences.

As if she had divined what'll happen next, Michelle close her little notebook and leaves us. Waving a hand back, she says. "I'll go help the other students, feel free to hit the infirmary and take someone with you if you're think you need to".

Even after Michelle's departure, Akko continues her disbelieve-induced trance. It's starting to worry me to be honest, but I can't just start a conversation and ask her if she's alright since… well, I'm the cause of her trance.

But in the end my worry for her got the better of me and I'm compelled to care for my friend. I mean come on, this is Akko we're talking about. She won't be mad at her friends for petty things like school grades right?

Right?

Reaching for her, I shake her by her good shoulder and nervously ask. "A-Atsuko Kagari?"

Akko immediately snaps out of her silence in such a speed that it startles me. She quickly turns to me and slaps my hand away from her shoulder. Pointing accusingly at me she starts to yell. "You did that! You made my grade turn into a C!"

I hold my hands up in defence. "C plus! Not C!"

Some of the students that had gathered around Diana have started to pick up on our little fight. Akko has not noticed this however, her anger got the better of her and she starts yelling even louder.

"Keep it down, you're making a scene here!"

My plea went over Akko's head, she continues on with the same tone and loudness. "We would've gotten B plusses if you weren't trying to play dead through the whole fight!"

She continues on with more rants and harsh words and before I could get the chance to defend from her accusations Akko stomps and turns her back towards me. She crosses her arms and pouts. "You good for nothing… grade reducing… pervert!"

At the sound of that word, the girls that were pitching in on our little drama gasps in unison.

If my face wasn't red from the growing attention we receive from the students, it definitely is now. "I-I'm not a pervert! What happened that night was a complete accident!"

Akko doesn't care to listen, she keeps her back towards me and yells again. "Lies! Pervert!"

"Akko I'm not a pervert!"

Akko turns and sticks her tongue at me. She then continues to yell more insults at me and starts to lose track of her own language, now mixing in some Japanese in her sea of insults. "Hentai! Hentai, hentai, hentai, hentai!"

Many students had already gathered around us, all curious and watching the scene Akko is making. Some of the students start to whisper to each other and throw disdainful looks at the two of us. Akko must be incredibly upset to not notice, or to not care for the growing attention we're receiving.

I could see Diana and her friends in the mix as well. Hannah and Barbara wear the most disdainful scowls while Diana is more confused at the situation more than anything.

Rushing towards Akko, I quickly close her mouth with my hands and in a desperate attempt to silence her.

The outrage went on for a few more seconds until Michelle finally decides that it's worth her attention. Once she separates the two of us she demands an explanation, we both give our own versions of the story both at the same time and only ending up in confusing Michelle.

Michelle's confusion was short-lived however as she takes a glance at Akko. Her eyes widen and she walks up to the girl. "You got blood on your mouth!"

Akko seems to lose her temper for the moment. She traces her mouth with her finger and looks at it and sure enough, there's blood on it. Oddly enough, she seems more puzzled than terrified by the blood. "But I don't feel a thing" she says.

Akko glances at me and then at my hand. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she backs a few paces away from me. "Ah you're bleeding!"

I look to my right hand and sure enough find it bleeding pretty badly. This discovery is quickly followed by gasps and worried whispers from the crowd of students, some of them even turn their heads in horror and disgust.

Michelle takes a look at my hand and decides it's best for me to retire early and head into the infirmary. She even went on to assign someone to see me safely arrive at the infirmary, to which she appoints Diana.

The girl gladly accepts. Perhaps she felt she's one to blame for my wound. I refuse however, politely declining both Michelle and Diana's offer.

Michelle had taken hold of my hand the entire time. I pull it off and smile to her reassuringly. "It doesn't hurt. Not worth a trip to the infirmary. I can just patch this up myself you know?"

Diana furrows her brows. "That looks very painful. Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the infirmary?"

I smile to her and shake my head. "Really".

/-/

Well I'll need to add 'refusing to go to the infirmary' into my ever-growing list of wrong decisions in life.

The pain of the wound must've been dulled by my rush of adrenaline during the fight, and now that they're gone, in comes the pain train.

My hand feels as if it's lost its entire skin and is burning at every slight of movement or pull of the skin. With the overwhelming pain in my right hand, I'm left with my left hand to search the room for a first aid kit that I believe is stashed somewhere in my room.

A bubbling noise emerges from my desk, without turning I answer. "Yes I know darling but I need to find something to stop me from dying".

Francis bubbles in again to which I hastily reply. "I'd rather die than go to the infirmary!"

It's terribly hard to open the cabinets and shelves with a left hand which causes me to take mighty amount of time and many acts of reckless searching to finally find the first aid kit. In the difficult process of dressing my wound with only my left hand I've spectacularly forgotten to clean the wound first before bandaging it. Such act of clumsiness might sound hilarious to anyone but me since taking off the bandage after applying it feels like skinning your own hand. Needless to say, this is definitely not one of my favourite memories of my time in this school.

It took a great deal of time and endurance to finally finish dressing my wound. Questionably sterile, the bandage itself looks terrible and disproportionate and honestly it doesn't seem safe.

As if to prove the bandage's questionable quality, a bit of blood escapes its weak seal, spreading red on the clean white cloth.

Moving on!

In my carelessness during my search for the mythical first aid kit, I'd clumsily knocked a few, well, a dozen stacks of my books onto the floor. Alongside the books I've also pulled many of the shelves in my cupboard right out of its frame, scattering them on the floor with their contents spilled near them.

During the bitter process of reorganizing my entire room, I come across one particular item that has fallen victim to my crazed search.

Apparently I've accidentally thrown the wooden box containing the mythical white stone onto the floor, its content spilled right next to it, silly me.

Cursing my own clumsiness, I take the stone and intend on putting it back.

However, just as my fingers make contact with the stone, I'm met with a terrible burning sensation on my fingers. In shock, I drop the stone and saw it fell hard on the wooden floor.

I look to my freshly bandaged right hand only to find the bandages to have burn marks all across it, turned dry and brittle as if all moisture from the blood it has absorbed has been heated out of it.

The sudden alteration of the bandage is the very least of my worries however, as before me a much more unsettling thing is unfolding.

The white stone is no longer white. Its once white and clean surface had turned burning red as smoke and steam begins to escape from its surface in a painful and sharp unnatural whistling noise. It begins to rattle violently on the floor, forcing me to take several panicked steps back until my back meets the corner of the room.

My eyes quickly dart towards Francis whose bowl sits on the desk not far from the rattling stone. Despite myself, I quickly run towards him and carry his bowl back to the safety of the corner of the room.

Together, we observe the horror unfolding before us. Without one of us knowing what to do, we're left with nothing but to wait and see what's to happen in suspenseful silence.

And then, as mysteriously and quickly as it came, the stone goes quiet. No rattling, no sound and no smoke, just silence.

There's an unusual air around us. The silence itself feels unnatural. I cannot feel relieved, somehow knowing that whatever is happening can't be over yet.

And true enough, something far more alarming happens.

Miniscule yet observable, blood begins to trickle down the stone's newly red surface.

And it gets much worse after that.

/-/

The telephone rings twice before someone finally picks up. On the other side, an old and smooth voice answers. "Yen's Tower residence, how can I help you?"

"What am I supposed to do when there's lots of blood?" I ask.

"Master Jericho!" Bernard amuses. "It's been quite a while isn't it, how are you doing?"

In one short breath I answer. "Good, I'm doing good. Now please answer my question"

"Calm down master. Is the blood coming from you or someone else?"

"Er… someone else".

"Very good. Now before I begin, I need to know whether the blood is spilling from the wound or spurting. Remember, this is crucial information".

I glance back to the stone, the slow trickling it did mere seconds ago had grown into a bloody stream. It flows through the floor like a macabre river, seeping through the gaps between the floor boards and down to wherever's down there.

I sure hope no one lives under my room.

Trying to discern and describe the horror unfold I answer. "Um… a little bit of both. It's hard to tell really".

"Dear me", Bernard very plainly muses. "Well, grab whatever cloth is near you and start pressing the wound with it. Pump it and press it".

"Already done that but it's not exactly working, what else am I supposed to do?"

"Keep pressing it. If you have one you should use some kind of rope, anything you could use to tie the limb tightly and stop the blood flow. That'll help to stop the blood flowing to the open wound".

Tying the stone to stop blood flowing to it?

I glance again at the stone. It doesn't take long for me to conclude that this advice will not help.

"Yes, definitely done", I answer. "Tied tighter than an armadillo's back"

"Good, good", Bernard says.

There's a lengthy pause between us after that. I'd stayed silent because I expected him to continue with more advices but it soon became clear to me that those were all of his advices.

Case in point, Bernard breaks the silence with a question. "Is it still bleeding?"

Sucking a deep breath through my mouth, I look to the stone again and try to paint the calamity into words.

"It's like a waterfall", I answer.

"Are you failing?"

"I think I am".

"Then I suggest escaping the scene! You don't want to be blamed for failing to save someone from a slow, agonizing and honestly preventable death!"

There's a pause and a cough from Bernard before he continues "Messy business".

I ignore his awful remark. Looking back at the stone and the mess its making, it's clear to me that whatever solution I have to stop the bleeding, I'll also need to know what to do with the blood it has already spilled.

"What am I supposed to do with the blood?"

Bernard's tone picks up for the first time since our conversation started. "Depends! Would you like to discard the dirty blood or keep them?"

Despite fearing whatever answer Bernard has, I find myself asking. "Why would I want to keep them?"

"Sell it of course". Bernard answer, a tinge of excitement in his voice. "But of course, you'd need to preserve them correctly. I suggest a fridge as a starter, not a freezer. But a freezer works fine if you're dealing with the cheapskate sorts".

A freezer, that's not a bad idea actually. Maybe I can stop the blood from leaking by throwing this thing into a freezer and freeze the stone to kingdom come. Not to sell it, just contain.

But I definitely can't walk up to the school's kitchen and throw this thing into the freezer, else the school would have blood pudding for the rest of the school year. And however metal that idea sounds I'll not risk placing the stone in such a public place.

While I was mulling over the possible options, Bernard hadn't stopped with his 'advices'. I was busy thinking to myself so I fail to listen to most of them, only catching a few words here and there. Among them are some things about 'German organ harvests' and 'annual Greek pagan rituals'.

Only after a few more minutes of deep thinking do I finally figure out where I might get help.

Without wasting any more precious seconds, I grab my school vest and head out my room, making sure to lock the door behind me before leaving in haste.

In my absence, only a distant static voice of the telephone fills the now silent room.

"Hello, hello? Are you dead?"

Author's Notes: this chapter was originally longer but i decided to cut it into two, so expect the next one coming quicker than a quick... quick thing. And i wonder just who will Jerry run to for help in such a sticky situation, must be a real trusty friend!

Also I see that the writer of Little Wizard Academia decided to make stats for Ted. What a weird thing to do. I'm not going to show that here thank you but i believe that this chapter's events easily puts Jerry's int stats a high 14, one point better than that lesser wizard Sempronia!

Just like how I have 190 IQ irl its for real guys truste me