It feels great being able to sleep in. I just love this. Not being disturbed by Shizuku for her own fabricated and lame reasons. I mean she's the President of the Student Body, but she needed my help with the stupid festival and making sure it went all perfectly.

Really I feel like she had ulterior motives with having me there in the first place. Why else would she have me, who doesn't like people, be around so many people at one time. More importantly, she made sure everyone within the school seen me when I was manning the ticket stand.

Then there was meeting that weird ass girl Sakura. I don't care about appearances, honestly, but there is something very wrong with that girl. She's a devious little shit or something, people aren't just that bubbly and kind otherwise. There's always a curtain to hide that darkness. Remove the curtain and the darkness is too much.

Perhaps something could have went awry had I meant that girl later, like I could smack her over the head with my skateboard trucks or something, because she just creeped me out. I could have just walked away from her and be completely rude, which I wouldn't even care since the stupid girl would leave me alone and take the hint.

I probably shouldn't even be so worried about it, but I can't help but be a little wary. Is Sakura a Kampfer? Is she a Moderator? If she's a Kampfer what color bracelet does she wear? Does she even wear a bracelet? And, if she is a Moderator would that mean all Moderators are humans, or is one Moderator taking control of her?

Questions, way too many damn questions that have no answers to them. I can't get any answers to them. The more I ponder the more blanks I'm just going to draw up and become frustrated. There is nothing to say that Sakura is one or the other—but Kampfer gather in one place.

By all means Sakura could very well be a Kampfer.

It just brings me back to how asinine it is for me to really take school serious. I never did, but with the way things are proceeding that entire school is going to be full of Kampfer, and given that I'm black, and there are white Kampfer, well that means there will be a yellow or orange Kampfer. Both.

I won't even attempt to blow off the possibility or call bullshit on it. Everything about my entire situation just defies logic, and using logic just makes it all the more confusing. So, I'm not going to be so narrow minded as to think there aren't or won't be more Kampfer with different bracelets besides red, blue, black, and white.

That school is going to turn into a war zone. It's going to be hell if everyone in that school—boys and girls included became Kampfer. There will be fights going on inside of the school, going on before school, going on during school, going on after school, and going on while we'd be on our way home.

There won't be a single second of peace, at all.

Which brings me to my next topic.

Stubby Bear had been focused, because he had a multitude of these obscene ass outfits for sale, mind you, on women clothing sites. He had been laughing seeing my reaction, and if it were possible he'd have had tears in his eyes.

I'll admit that some of the things he chose weren't so obscene. The bras looked pretty comfortable at least, and even the panties looked a bit comfortable. Not like I'm going to actually wear either of them, but it's the thought that counts right? Or is it the sentiment?

The corsets were just…Too much. I couldn't see myself in one of those. Being squeezed to death from my front, back, sides, and every curve in between. It'd keep my bosom in place, but I like being comfortable—not squeezed.

It didn't stop Stubby Bear from opening his stupid mouth.

"Are you going to-"

"If you even ask, so help me..." I can't even finish my sentence. I don't want to finish the train of thought. It is still extremely weird on so many levels, even if I am like...This…

That whole thing is just foreign to me. As long as I can help it I will not be getting anything remotely pertaining to that.

I'll look, but that's it, and even that is a bit much for my taste.

"You're going to be fighting one day, and your boobs are going to fly out of your shirt. I don't want to hear the ten hour rant about it."

He seems to get a real laugh out of that at my expense. It'd be nothing short of horrifying if my boobs were ever revealed to anyone's eyes except for mine-if there is one thing that I have to be afraid of at the moment it'd be my boobs flying out of my shirt. But, there are alternatives to bras, and I will use those alternatives.

I have been.

Around here though in my privacy, I can't care less, I'll walk around naked if I please.

"I do not rant…"

"And, what about-"

"I've cut my boxers short. Shut up!"

"What about a corset?"

No!"

I shake the images out of my mind, but some still linger. That's what women used to wear before that one woman, I can't remember her name, invented the bra.

A corset is like skin tight—so skin tight that it's more than skin tight, and only gets tighter-some women prided themselves on it, but they'd suffer because fluid would build up in their lungs I mean, it does keep the boobs in place. It'd keep them in place, even mine easily enough—it is what it's made for after all aside from the waist.

I won't be able to breathe, and it's still along those lines that I'm not stepping over.

"You sure are stubborn."

I'm very proud of my stubbornness.

Yeah, that was just so fricking pleasure able.

Stupid perverted bear!

I shake my head, just focusing on cooking while Stubby Bear eats. I won't even break the silence, when he's quiet he is much better.

"Hey girlie, what's the matter?"

"I'm just thinking..." I speak quietly, my troubling thoughts continuing to run rampant from before. I open up the window just above the sink.

That's better, I was starting to get a bit too hot with this over and burners on and all. The heat also didn't help with cooling my head the slightest, if anything its persistence just made it all that much worse for me.

"Humans think too much…" Stubby Bear says while tilting his head at me, chowing down into a plate of food.

"Yeah, and you don't think enough..."

"I think with my stomach."

I laugh at that statement. Yeah, the little guy isn't very far off with that statement. He does think with his stomach more than anything—if he has one. I mean he has those entrails, but they're not inside of his body, so…

Point being Stubby Bear only thinks with his stomach.

I'm not surprised.

"So, are you going to go for that Ramen chef thing you were talking about before?"

"I don't know, I get the feeling I'm not going to have much time to do anything." I shrug absently, leaving out the fact the reason I will not have much time is because I'll be too busy fighting other Kampfer.

"I think you should do it, then you can make me ramen whenever I want it!" He exclaims happily, getting off of the counter and trudging to the couch before jumping up and taking a seat.

"Don't get my movies dirty."

"I don't want to suffer your wrath. Wake me up when it's done."

"Lazy good for nothing…" I grouse, stabbing the chicken breast with a fork while contemplating if I should throw him down the hall or tie him upside down for the rest of the day. How dare he just relegate me to his maid to cook for him whenever he so pleases.

I bet if I dump that steaming ramen between his legs it'll hurt.

That'll show that stupid bear to speak to me so freely!

I wonder if this is how some woman feel about their good for nothing husbands The stupid oafs just sit around waiting for them to cook and feed them—and it's not a bad thing. But, usually the man is a hard worker and a good husband, but someone like Stubby Bear would be good for shit. No income. No motivation. No nothing.

He'd be the type to drive around in his wife's mom's car while saying he's saving up money to buy his own car, but can't go to work consistently.

Moron…

I would really like to go back to sleep, but like Stubby Bear just said I am cooking, so first I'll eat and then go to sleep. Maybe I'll turn on one of my Godzilla movies if Stubby Bear hasn't done so already and relax to that before going to sleep. It's always been easy for me to fall asleep while any of the movies are on—I'm sure a lot of people have a hard time dozing off with a monster roaring, but for me it's not even a nuisance.

I grab my headphones and find the first song I had been listening to—Eazy E

Of course I put it on full blast.

Unlike a lot of foreigners I'm immersing myself in Japanese culture, and just the way of life. They're very proper—no they're very courteous. There's whole honorific thing, too. While I don't quite understand it, honestly, I do understand it from a significance standpoint.

My Japanese is still laughable, but at least people can understand what I am saying.

A lot of my meals so far have been fish based, while they do sell chicken and the like—Japan is an island, so their main food source is seafood. Of course they have their buffets, with the Genral Tso chicken and things of the like, but I'm getting that more…Rustic, authentic food so to speak.

I've had Urchins. Cuttlefish. Squid. Octopus. Sashimi. Sushi, of course. Ramen. Oden. Some other things. I haven't got sick or anything, some people tend to be narrow minded and won't eat it because they think that they'll get sick, or it looks "weird".

One's digestive system has to adjust, of course.

"Hey! There's someone at the door."

"The hell!?" I erupt, swing my fist right for Stubby Bear. My body relaxes just slightly when I connect with him, sending the obnoxious thing flying across the kitchen and into the wall dividing the two rooms and hallway.

"Why'd you do that? Scare the shit out of me…" I glare, narrowing my eyes for extra effect as I march towards him, groaning as I hear my headphones clatter onto the ground.

"Mmmghh..." Stubby Bear speaks gibberish for a second before he can even get a word out. I'm not sure if it hurt him or not, I probably didn't since I didn't pull his entrails, I think that would hurt more than my punch, but I just hope he gets the damn point and doesn't try to do this shit again.

Scaring the shit out of me like this.

"I don't know who it is, but they've been knocking for ten minutes now. You have you music so loud I can hear it where I'm sitting—I bet they can hear it! Answer the door!" Stubby Bear snaps with a bit of annoyance backing his tone.

"They'll go away...I don't want company."

"Well, they're not going away. It's more than one person, if you need me I'll be in your room."

"You good for nothing!" I kick him right on the ass, sending him blurring through the hallway, finally crashing into the wall and rolling off to one side. I take in my handiwork, nodding in approval as I march towards the door.

Whoever this is will be suffering my wrath!

It could be Okemi...Maybe they've put in a fancy hot spring or something. Or maybe, it could be something else?

I'm too aggravated to guess.

I open the door, ready to bust heads.

"About time you answer, the hell were you doing that took you so damn long!?"

"Yeah! What gives?"

"Good morning, Andrew."

"What in the hell!?"

"S-sorry, Andrew-san." Natsuru—in girl form, scratches her head sheepishly while smiling the best she can. It's a little half assed on her part. I can still feel that she is sincere.

Shizuku laughs softly, pressing her fingers into her hair before doing her neat little hair flip.

I look at Akane carefully-red hair, no glasses, red eyes.

This must be her Kampfer form.

Talk about an emotional shift. I don't know her that well, but she seems to be a quiet and meek girl.

"Oh, Andrew-san. I see you've made more new friends! That's very good." Okemi, again, graces me with her presence.

A soft smile adorns her face as she looks at us with that small smile of her's, and I know I look far less impressive than Shizuku. I don't care though, the only thing on my mind is slamming the door on their faces and taking my ass right back to the kitchen to continue cooking.

"We go to the same school!" Mikoto says—more like yells.

"Yeah…" I scratch the back of my head, holding back my outburst for the moment. Girl has a megaphone mouth.

"I am Okemi, the landlord of this apartment complex." She and the trio—Akane, Mikoto, and Natsuru bow to each other.

"We were just here to visit him and maybe spend the night. School is tomorrow after all. We can walk there together, then." Shizuku explains.

"I'll leave you to it then, ladies."

This is the last thing that should happen right now.

In fact, I am not going to allow it to happen. Shizuku being here with me at night, yeah I think I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat every five minutes.

"I actually plan on finishing my dinner, and then going to sleep." I offer nothing else, because that's all there is to it. The four of them are going to be taking their leave. Shizuku will not be strutting her piercing eyes ass into my apartment, flipping her hair, hell no.

"Hold on!" Mikoto immediately lunges for me.

"I'm not about to be sent off after coming all of this way, I'm hungry from the walk." Akane stares me down, eyes hard and frown locked in place.

I turn around and the next thing I know I can hear the sound of a gun cocking. Like I said before, this is a bad idea, and I hate to see my cynical thoughts manifesting like this.

"Akane, stop!" Natsuru shoves her arms down, keeping the gun in a way she won't be able to fire. Easily at least.

"Can we come in, Andrew-san. So they calm down?"

"Shut the door and lock it."

I sigh, nodding my head reluctantly. Yes, it'd do no good to have that…That bitch shooting up the whole damn place and getting me kicked out. I know Stubby Bear said something about the Kampfer transformations being more than physical—I guess Akane is a special case.

Her personality shifts…

Jeez.

"You know, this is my last day before I have to go to school."

"Oh well. What are you cooking? I've brought some curry!" Mikoto asks, blinking her eyes as she walks into the living room, just a few feet away from the kitchen.

"Woah, you're watching Gojira!"

"My brother likes this movie." Akane comments.

"Thank you for inviting me for dinner." Shizuku smiles, Stepping right passed me I'll add and depositing her little bag on the arm of the couch.

"What the hell are you saying? I didn't invite you. You just showed up, again." Glaring at Shizuku, I make no move to conceal my annoyance with her folly. She is just sitting on my couch along with Mikoto, ass all on my blankets with her one leg crossed over the other.

Mikoto takes it step forward and lays down.

She's enthralled with the movie.

Akane isn't more modest and just plops down herself.

I've heard of the saying walking in, kicking off shoes, and then putting smelly ass feet and socks up on the table and it's not even your own house-but this is kind of a stretch.

They are literally just making themselves all comfy, where I was going to eat later.

I am tempted to drench them!

"Well, maybe it is fate. It's the sentiment that matters the most." Shizuku simpers.

"I don't have time to entertain your folly."

I ignore her in favor of setting my sights on Natsuru. This dolt is just standing there looking completely out of her element, most likely because I'm visibly aggravated and don't really want her or the others here and she can pick up on that.

She's also nervous because the way the trio just helped themselves, and Natsuru being so modest would have waited until I told her to sit down before even moving for a seat. Either he, she at the moment, has very good home training and was raised up in a strict household, or just very modest and has good manners.

"I'm really sorry, Andrew-san-"

"You don't need to add the honorifics. Just sit down anywhere I guess, I have to finish cooking."

Natsuru sits down between Shizuku and Mikoto, resting her hands in her lap.

"What do you guys want to drink…No, I'll just bring out juice." I amend my first mistake.

This is my domain so they're going to drink what I bring out. Shizuku has already claimed her little spot for that stupid bag of hers on the arm of my couch, I am not going to tolerate that, or any of the others trying to stake a claim on my couch or anything else in my apartment!

"No tea?" Shizuku looks at me with that little look.

"I like juice more."

"Tea is more appropriate."

"I like juice more."

Shizuku smiles at me, eyes shining bright. "Do you have tea?"

"No."

"I guess I will indulge in this then. Next time have some tea, I don't mind it's hot or cold."

"What am I your maid?"

"Ahh, now there's an idea. You'd look cute in a little maid costume."

"Be quiet."

Before I entertain her more I retreat to the kitchen and get back to work. Tonight is going to be some Tempura, some vegetables, rice, and some chicken. I'm not going to go all out like I had before, I bought that tuna at the market and everything-thing costed me seventy thousand yen in the end, and I definitely got my money's worth.

I've always enjoyed cooking, but I don't like doing the dishes afterwards. Three nights ago I made a huge meal, when I bought Sea Urchins from the market with some other things, and had to spend an hour almost cleaning the dishes afterwards—I could have took advantage of the dishwasher, but some of that sauce would have remained on my plates and silverware.

"Mikoto, where's your curry?" I pose the question after I'm done getting everything ready on their individual plates.

She slams it right on the table. The whole thing shakes, plates almost clatter to the floor.

"Right here!"

"Can you not slam things so hard…? Idiot." I give her a deadly glare.

"You're an idiot!"

"Use your inside voice, idiot."

"Stupid."

I don't retort, slowly getting distracted by a…Powerful aroma.

It's not fart by any chance, and if it is I definitely am not the one that cut wind. I've always been discreet with that, and now that I am the way I am—well I'm even more discreet than usual. Other than that fact, fart doesn't smell like this at all, it doesn't make my eyes water or nose burn, and it stinks…This doesn't stink, but I know it's dreadfully spicy.

Curry if I am not mistaken has Chile peppers, Chile powder, and Chile dust mixed in with it. Some curries have potatoes, others don't, some are more fish based, and some are more chicken based. Others have ground beef, noodles, rice, it's quite a fancy dish—spicy as hell though.

There are a variety of Chile peppers and those last two I mentioned, in this curry.

I'm not even going to try to eat it—I like spicy and hot food, but I don't mess with Chile peppers. Things are too damn hot.

I make myself comfortable after filling up my plate—this is my domain after all, and I will eat how I want. I don't even bother to tell the trio I'm done cooking, it isn't until Mikoto comes with her own share, as well a steaming bowl of curry that the trio finally get the hint.

Akane mutters something I don't care to pick up.

"It's okay if we eat?" Natsuru asks a bit meekly.

"It'd be rude if I eat in front of you, and I don't like sharing." I shrug, using a fork to work away at my meal. I may be immersing myself in the culture and way of life, but I've never been able to use chopsticks, and still can't even after spending a few hours trying to get the hang of it. Four nights ago noodles were all in my lap.

I've sworn off chopsticks since.

"You didn't take any of the curry."

I look at Shizuku, halfhearted annoyance starting to take a firm grip of me. I know she isn't going to start pestering me to take the curry just to be polite. It's better for me to refrain from eating it rather than being polite, eating some, and spitting it back out because it's way too damn hot.

"It's too spicy, even smelling it makes me cough."

"Ah."

I point my eyes onto my fancy TV, Stubby Bear put on one of my Godzilla movies before he left, well me punting him through the apartment to be accurate. It's one of the more comical based ones, which give the monsters themselves personalities so to speak, instead of having them being mindless masses of destruction.

Ishiro Honda didn't want the monsters to be so…What's the word…Kayfabe? He wanted them to remain as they were from the beginning, and wanted to keep the tone of Godzilla more serious and angst. With this movie—Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, it introduced the monster perspective and added a comical element that would eventually lead to them stopping all production on the series from about 1975 to 1985.

Many say the comic element killed the series in the end, and they may be correct. But, this movie despite its comedy is tremendous in my opinion, and King Kong vs Godzilla is completely comical to an extreme extent—the whole movie itself lacks a serious feel to it. Though, in fairness in the seventies StarWars among other movies were coming out, and Godzilla couldn't compete with that.

But, the movies are revolutionary, and for the times they were brilliantly done, and done in such a way that had never been seen before. There wasn't any stop motion like with King Kong from 1933.

"Can we change the movie?"

"No." I glare at the red head, feeling a burst of aggravation flow through me.

I don't like her demanding tone, nor the way she thinks I am going to just change it because she asked me to. She wants to change it herself, but she isn't going to overstep those boundaries, at least not at this moment. I won't be surprised if she tried now.

Did she find it fit to just cut into my thoughts and zoning out time like Shizuku? If so there's going to be a huge change underway at this very moment, and that will be she keeps her big mouth shut so I can enjoy my silence.

"You know we're your guests. Wouldn't it be rude if you just hog the TV all to yourself?"

I'm almost quick to retort that it's my TV and it's my rules, but I'll sound like a three year old, and most of all it's not a sound argument against Shizuku's statement. They're my guests, so I should let them watch what they want, because that'd be the polite and reasonable thing to do. It'd be a show of hospitality on my part to just allow them to do as they please with my TV.

I really want to watch this movie, and now Akane is interfering…

"Well, we did show up unannounced." Natsuru comes to my aid, fending off the trio of restless eaters the best she can. Which, isn't much by the way—her words have the opposite effect they should, and only spur Akane to grate on my nerves.

Mikoto looks pretty content, I'd guess she's a fan of this series as well, but Shizuku and Akane are anything but fans of this series. Akane may have watched it with her brother, Shizuku probably just watched it here and there or a few clips, but neither of them are diehard fans like myself.

I don't know if Mikoto is a diehard fan, but the fact she's content to watch it means she has a great taste.

"True, but she was prepared for our unexpected arrival." Shizuku is slow to respond to Natsuru's statement. My line of defense at this moment, which is looking to be more like a balloon surrounded by a landscape of thorns and cactuses. It's just more of a tease than anything.

"Fine…"

I change the setting from video to HDMI—1080p, check me out!

I toss the remote to Akane, who catches it, but doesn't miss the chance to glower at me. This girl is going to be a thorn in my side, and is a real bitch, it is unfortunate she is in my apartment.

I did toss that a bit harder than I normally would…It's rough adjusting to this change.

"What are you looking at?"

I snort.

"Okay, princess. Enjoy yourself, or I'm going to change the channel back."

"Heh." Akane smirks at me.

Yes, it can be your little victory.

I ignore her completely. I'm not going to look at her, I'm not even going to glance in her direction. Mikoto is more rambunctious than anything—she doesn't have a bitchy attitude like Akane does at the moment. While I pretend she doesn't exist, I'm not even going to acknowledge Akane's existence at this moment.

Thankfully she stays quiet, other than muttering a few things that I don't care to pick up. As long as she stays quiet I'm all dandy, Akane like this is much more pleasant silent than anything else. I know the transformation is supposed to alter the personality accordingly so the person is better able to fight, but this is one extreme.

Natsuru must be on an extreme end of it as well. I mean in girl form he has a body, a body that'd make most girls jealous. It showed that as a boy he wasn't much, he wasn't athletic or anything of the sort, no real muscle mass, and never played any sports. I just say this because of my observations.

Shizuku's hair—a part of it just turns white. So, there's really no shift. No need for the transformation to supplement or intensify anything. Other than becoming a certain type nothing changed for her, in that regard, other than a part of her hair.

And, me, well…

I don't even want to entertain whatever the hell this shit is that's going on.

"Andrew, will you try Mikoto's curry?"

"You haven't ate one bite."

"It's too spicy." Natsuru sighs.

Mikoto for some unknown reason that I can't begin to fathom, glares at me with pure fury and Natsuru, but I feel like this glare is all directed at me.

"That stuff is too hot for me, and it'd be rude for me to spit it out." I say shamelessly, sipping on my juice.

"Would you rather me not eat it at all or try it and spit it out because it's too hot for me to swallow?"

I've spit food out before, in private. It's definitely not something I've tried to make a habit of doing in front of others. I also know that doing such a thing here is a sign of true disrespect and no house training at all—I think that'd be down the board, but people are more formal and strict here. I really don't want to insult Mikoto, nor make a fool out of myself as I drink the ten bottles of water in my fridge.

Mikoto is silent, contemplating.

She really is a foolish girl. Led by her emotions more than anything, I know women are more emotional than me, but there really has to be a limit. Mikoto is more emotional than most woman, and rather than use her intellect she just lets her emotions guide her.

She could be quite funny, in the future.

Little Mikoto.

"When you put it like that." Mikoto leans back, eyes shining with understanding.

"Would it not be rude of you to not take one bite?"

It's getting to a point where Shizuku is purposely starting to push my buttons and grind my gears. I have come to this conclusion from one simple thing that she has done. The line she has crossed. Coming here and waking me up was the clear indication she took amusement in me becoming aggravated with her.

Of course she has to use logic though.

It would be rude if I didn't.

"You could take one bite." Mikoto finally concludes.

"Go, ahhh." Shizuku simpers.

She will not be feeding me.

"I can eat it myself!" I glare at her with all I have, not faltering at all when she smiles at me. I am truly annoyed with this turn of events, and the fact my tongue is about to burn off. The spoon is a heaping spoonful of curry—I can see the Chile seeds, parts of dry Chiles, and whatever else Mikoto put in here.

I bite the bullet.

It's okay at first.

A nice little bit of spice.

"Hot!" I go for my cup of juice, but Shizuku snatches it away.

I bolt upright, barely able to stand up. My eyes are tearing, I'm sweating, and my whole mouth is on fire! I can't even restrain myself at this point, if I don't get something cold in my mouth fast I'm going to be in for hours of this!

I lunge at the irritating girl, forcibly try to take my juice away.

It's an epic fail, Shizuku is victorious and just grins at me.

"Give me it! Now!"

I cough. My eyes start tearing up.

"If you want relief…"

"Shizuku, give me my juice now!" I almost snarl, snatching the pitcher of juice off the table and drinking it just like that.

"You have zero manners." Akane comments.

"Like you're one to talk, princess."

"Stop calling me that."

Mikoto looks at me, disappointment evident. "You have no tolerance at all, just like Natsuru."

I find little relief, and the juice is all gone.

This is crazy!

"Kiss me."

"President, just give her the juice. What are you doing?"

"I agree with Natsuru."

I know this girl really likes to push my buttons, but she really can't be this cruel and sick. I've eaten spicy food, and more than anything it is persistent. It lingers. It hits with potency. There's levels of spiciness.

I can eat Jalapenos, they'd be the lowest, I really don't eat Habaneros, but I can handle them. Then above a Habanero is the Chile pepper, I think, and from there on it's a whole different level of spicy.

It's the sort of thing you eat, and your tongue tingles from the sudden burn, and then starts to almost throb because it stuck.

This shit hurts!

My throat is burning!

I run to the kitchen, like a klutz, I damn near stub my toe. My reaction is something akin to out of a comedy silent movie, as I avoid stubbing my toe I nearly crash into the chair on my left side, sending me toppling over.

I grab my tray of ice cubes.

One after another they melt, drenching my scorching tongue, cooling my burning throat—the water running into the sink as I lean over it. I must look like a fool, and this is truly ridiculous. However, as long as I can combat this burning I don't care how I look.

My tongue is so hot that it's actually melting the ice faster by the second; it can just be me and my imagination at this moment. The ice gives me some relief, but the burn still lingers.

"Andrew-san, here." Natsuru taps my shoulder with some urgency, and I oblige the silly girl.

I take the juice from her hand without any delay and sip it, but unlike before I savor it, and let my tongue soak in it. Yes, note to self never, ever eat curry again—I'm really going to need to write this down somewhere, because doing something this foolish again would be stupid on my part.

I might not be able to eat now…

"Shizuku!"

I don't care at this very moment that I am…And, that Shizuku is a girl. Right now that boundary line is blurred by a scorching fire and nonexistent at best. The juice helps, and the ice cubes helped as well, but this burn is just so damn persistent.

I clear the distance between us, shoving Akane aside.

"Hey! What the hell are you-"

I slam my lips against Shizuku's, biting her lips until she parts them and then move my tongue against hers.

Clearly she is shocked, I can feel it in the way she stiffens up, the small subtle gasp that managed to escape her lips, and her normally steady eyes wide.

I'm shocked myself, but it doesn't matter—my tongue and throat are on fire!

I am relentless in my need to quell this burning, every time she pulls away I jerk her back, and to ensure she stays locked in place I wrap an arm around her so she's right against me. I lift her up as well, because she's not going to get loose—her tongue is going to burn just like mine.

"Andrew-"

She manages to break contact, but it doesn't last long. I remain relentless.

I shove her back on the couch.

After minutes-when the burn subsides a good bit, I break our contact, releasing Shizuku from my crushing grasp trying to avoid her gaze, and the trio's. But, I can't take my eyes off of Shizuku. We both remain in place.

I'm silent.

She has this…Smile on her face.

"Never do that again!" I say with some finality, breaking the awkward silence surrounding everything within a ten thousand mile radius.

"You're a fool." Akane snorts, but a smirk crosses her face.

"What is it that I did?" Shizuku's eyes shine.

Truly Shizuku is enjoying herself.

"Making me eat curry, you're not innocent."

She simpers, gently sitting herself up while fixing her hair. "If you do that every time you eat curry…Maybe we can make a game out of it. Natsuru has a weak tolerance for it as well."

"Don't get any ideas!"

Natsuru and I nearly speak in unison, objecting the ludicrous notion of ever making a game out of this. Making a game out of our suffering. I have no doubt that Natsuru will smack lips with one of them just to get relief—if I did it then the fool definitely would.

Things calm down a bit, but there's still awkwardness that just can't be dissipated. It just lingers.

I and Shizuku were just…And, I initiated the whole thing on top of it, though she paved the way for it to happen in the first place. I never usually did such things in front of people, but my hand was forced. It was either relief or burning tongue.

I find some relief, but my tongue still burns. So, I guzzle down juice and ice water.

Twenty minutes later, with a block of ice on my tongue, the burning finally goes away.

"…You kiss just like a boy…." Shizuku whispers in my ear. "How…Exciting."

"Y-you're way too close. Back up."

I feel dread as a grin crosses her face.

"I'm going to wash up first if you don't mind? Will you show me the way to the bathroom?"

Honestly, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. While I will not kiss her again, the implications of this whole thing are glaringly clear. She's already tried to peek in on me naked before, and I wasn't foolish enough then, and I am not now to believe she isn't going to try something.

"Just don't try anything funny."

"What do you mean? You're the one that just took control."

"Because you set it on that path."

"I wonder about that…"

I look at her with barely suppressed annoyance. There's no way I led things onto that path, no that is just foolish and I'd never put things onto a path like that. This girl is very good with words, and perceiving, but she also seems to be a bit…

Anyways, I didn't lead things onto that path.

"Don't take forever." I take pleasure in reining things back under my control.

My apartment, my rules.


Nothing happens overnight, thankfully. Nothing happened when I had been taking a shower, either, triple thankfully. After what happened and everyone got washed up I got my array of blankets and pillows, depositing them on the floor and couches. Now, I would have went into my room but the couch is very comfortable, and I didn't want Shizuku in my room.

I don't want her anywhere near my room.

Natsuru ended up sleeping on the floor, not that she really had too much of a problem with it that I could tell. There were about twenty something blankets just on the floor, so she'd be comfortable at the very least.

There is just one problem, and that is the fact I will not be able to not go to school, like I had originally planned. I did plan on checking out the skate parks here, also getting a new pair of skate shoes because these are getting really torn up. If I don't go to one of the skate parks I'll just skate around the city.

And, most of all I have to wake up early.

"Andrew."

"What?"

"It's time to wake up."

"Shut up."

"Crude of you."

I'm hit with a pillow.

"Wake up."

I really don't have the energy for this since it is so early, so I just get myself up and start stretching out. Another day of wearing that ridiculous outfit—great.

Akane is back to her normal self—emerald eyes, brown hair, and she's putting her glasses back on.

She takes critical note of me, and I ponder what is going to come out of her mouth based on her current reaction to just seeing me. If it's an apology she can really keep it, she was jabbing me, and I simply jabbed her back. I wanted to keep my movie on, she wanted to watch something else.

We are both incredibly stubborn.

"When I transform my personality changes." Akane says a bit meekly.

"It's fine, we're both stubborn."

I'm not going to hold it against her. She is more than willing enough to apologize, so I should be more than willing to let it drop.

"So, are you and the President dating?"

I struggle not to glare at Mikoto, still in her sleepwear and rubbing both of her eyes. Well, just like me she isn't a morning person, but I can't care less about that at this moment. She's opening her big mouth without thinking about what she is saying.

"Mikoto, you just can't ask questions like that." Natsuru is quick to reproach the shorter girl, giving her a somewhat annoyed look mixing some disappointment in with it for extra measure.

"The way those two were making out yesterday, I just want to know." Mikito shrugs.

"It's because of the curry!" I bare my teeth at them for a moment.

I blush and hurry away from them—from Shizuku who just smiles at me, more importantly. I'm not going to try and object or defend what I did last night. It happened, and I willingly did it. I am not going to admit this out loud of course, because then that would imply there is something going on between her and I, and that's just not the case.

I have no doubt it was something to see.

Really, I can't believe I went through with it.

Just like I really can't believe I'm putting on this ridiculous school outfit, but I'm doing it. They really, really need to change the dress code and make it more open, because this right here isn't working for me the slightest even if it is normal for the girls to wear it. Of course, I slip on my skate shoes, depositing my school shoes into a bag.

There's no way I can hide my shock. Entering the living room I see all of them dressed in the same uniform as me, save for a few differences here and there. Honestly a lot of guys would give their arm and leg just to see these girls dressed the way they are.

Ah, ready to go." Shizuku looks me up and down.

"Yeah." I glare at her, grabbing my skateboard.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could ride that too."

I look at Mikoto.

"Not a chance."

"Will you teach me?"

"That would involve you using my board. No."

Mikoto glares, but I feel nothing at all.

"Not happening."

"Why not?!"

"It's my skateboard, as simple as that."

There's no way she's going to be stepping foot on my board for any reasons at all. Now, if she wants to buy her own board, then I can't really argue or anything of that sort—it's her skateboard after all. It'll come down to me wanting to teach her or not, when she does buy her own board. I wonder if she'll throw a tantrum if I say no.

"What if I buy my own? Will you teach me then?"

She's persistent…

But, I've never been one to turn someone away that wants to learn. It should be very amusing seeing her fall and how well she can fall—sounds weird, but for anyone that really knows, it's a part of skateboarding.

"Sure."

"Really!?"

"I said yeah."

Mikoto grins a bit before giving me the peace sign—this girl is something else completely.

"Maybe we can go to the place now!"

"That's a great idea." I agree, slowly speeding up.

"Don't even think about it…"

"Shizuku, what are you doing!? I thought we were-"

"Way to scream like a little girl, Natsuru."

I have to make the comment.

"But-"

"She isn't going to attack me, but she will restrain me with her chains and haul me to school, upside down."

And, that is a fact. She's done it once already, and she will do it again.

"You're not so dense?" Shizuku tilts her head at me, though that sharp smile is in place.

"I am fully aware."


I make it to school on time, the ride here is the same as always. Smooth and full of obstacles—obstacles that I use as my platforms for tricks. Ledges. Rails. Stair sets. Even wooden benches, everything I came across was used for my expertise. I even do a few primos and rails, transitioning out smoothly, even taking it a step further and doing it switch—flipping out at the end.

This is amazing!

I coast and coast, defying gravity as I go. Rails and ledges are all obstacles, they're all mine. Switch. Mongo. Goofy. It doesn't matter what stance I take.

My switch treflip is amazing, and the landing is even more spectacular—bolts—perfect! The seven stair long behind me, and with the sharp turn that I've become accustomed I'm just a few blocks away from the school.

I find the four arriving at the front of the school with Sakura in tow—who is talking away at a million miles an hour, with most of her focus being on Natsuru. I am thankful I am not there because I'd be way too tempted to tell her to shut up. I don't mind talking, but being a motor mouth like she is at the very second is one thing I do mind.

It's more than a little weird that this girl is so enthralled with Natsuru that it appears she is actually infatuated with Natsuru—it's not like with Akane and Mikoto who just have feelings for him, nor Shizuku, but I have no idea what goes on in that head of hers. Back to the point, it is strange seeing this up close and in person.

That girl can't be so stupid that she really believes there is a girl Natsuru, a boy Natsuru, and they're not related at all. I mean this isn't a movie or something, there is no logical way to explain that sort of infatuation without going off into no field. Either she really is stupid, or there's something else going on that is just weird.

Why did my life become so complicated?

"Andrew, you skateboard?"

I look at Sakura. I narrow my eyes. I'm not exactly wary of her by any means, and I'm not afraid of her either. No, anything but either of those two things. But, she does feel off to me, and it could just be me, but that's how it is.

"Yeah."

"I know there's girls that are professionals, but isn't it more of a boy thing?"

"Gender doesn't matter."

I ignore everyone as I start to freestyle.

Primo. Rail. Casper.

"I'll see you later then! Nice seeing you again, Andrew-san!"

Brought out of my little world by Sakura's high pitched voice, I shake my head to clear away the haze that is surrounding me at the moment, and to give my ears a sliver of relief. My hearing has always been sensitive, but now that I am the way I am it's even more acute than before. It's a double edged blade, though.

Because with high pitched or loud noises like Sakura exclaiming, it hurt.

"Do you not like Sakura-san?"

I look at Natsuru carefully. There's no anger in her tone at all, or anything negative for that matter. She'd be really foolish to try and pick a fight with me. I sense urgency in her tone and body language though, something about me not liking Sakura, or the possibility of me not liking her really worries Natsuru. It's almost like I should like Sakura just because.

Well, that's not me, and I've never lived by anyone's tune.

"No. That girl has a big mouth, she's loud, and is just plain weird."

"What do you mean by weird?"

"She's weird. Something is off about her."

Either Natsuru is dense beyond dense, or whatever affection she at the moment, holds for Sakura just blinds her to any and everything. In short, Sakura could burn the whole world and this fool would try to reason and explain it away, take her side in the matter. She could take control of his mind and he wouldn't even think she did it.

It's going to be a hazard to my health to be around this clown, but for now I'll be okay. Sakura hasn't taken control of the fool's weak mind and send her on a killing spree, starting with yours truly. I hate to think there'd be something close to seduction going on, but if Sakura is to go off the rails then she would make Natsuru do such a thing.

"Nobody is like that without having a dark side."

"That's not true."

What I say seems to offend Natsuru—I don't care. It is the simple truth and a simple fact of life. Nobody is like that, period. Maybe when we're six years old, before life hardens us, and the hardships we endure start to harden our hearts over time. But, as we are now, young adults, nobody behaves that way. Nobody is that bubbly without hiding something.

"You're just a fool to think otherwise."

"Sakura is the nicest person ever-"

"Natsuru, drop it!"

"Andrew-"

I cut my eyes at the persistent little dolt.

She flinches back.

"Natsuru, go inside. You're going to be late. Mikoto and Akane, you two as well. Andrew, put on your other shoes."

Shizuku has spoken, and I barely listen to her. I'm too busy trying to suppress my urge to smash my fist right in Natsuru's face. Better yet, hitting her over the head with my trucks. I don't like Sakura, and it should have been left at that, but instead this clown is going to try and convince me otherwise—put the notion out there that I should like her like everyone else does. Just because she likes Sakura I should like her too…

That isn't how life works, and it's not how I work. I've never walked to anyone else's tune, I've done what I wat, when I want, and how I want. Nobody has ever influenced me into doing anything, I walk to my own tune, to the beat of my own drum, and I'm not going to stop now.

But, I do as told and slip off my skate shoes, putting on the other shoes while kicking my board up and catching it.

Akane looks at me for a long while before deciding to follow after Natsuru.

Odd…

"You really don't like Kaede-san."

I give Shizuku a dry expression. I'm not in the mood to hear another Natsuru about to go on why Sakura is the nicest and most adorable person ever. Yeah, not happening, I will turn my ass back around and go home. I have no problem with Shizuku, Natsuru, or anyone liking Sakura, but the second they start try shoveling things down my throat it's over.

"Something…Isn't right with that girl." I say after a few seconds of thought.

"You think that I would notice since she is my childhood friend."

"You're her friend, you wouldn't notice."

"Perhaps, but you notice."

"I'm not her friend, and haven't been her friend since I was a child."

"But, still."

I snort. I get the strange feeling that Shizuku is calling me stupid—something along those lines. Or, I'm smart. One of the two. Well, that doesn't strike me as a surprise.

And, of course Shizuku is her childhood friend, of course she spent hours and hours with Sakura—it'd explain why she is so damn weird herself.

Rather than state the obvious I turn my attention onto the campus hundreds of feet below me. These buildings are so massive and tall, it's just mind boggling, and this place is so huge that there's an actual campus.

I can't help but feel amazement.

This is going to be an experience. I seen a lot of these girls when I was manning that ticket stand, and a lot of them had those weird hearts in their eyes.

"I'm just ready to get this day over with. You're supposed to give me my schedule or something?"

"Yes, but we have to go in."

"Can we go around? Run up the walls or something?"

xxxxxxxxx


If things could have gotten any worse. The possibility is always there, lingering, fostering, and waiting to get millions of fools and geniuses alike, pouncing on them when the time arrives. Regardless of our upbringing, our wealth, our intellect we all face hardship in some way, shape, or form.

When someone thinks something couldn't get worse than it was, that's when things got worse. I don't think it could get any worse for me in my current situation, silly me I've had this thought for a while now, so it's only natural that things take another downward spiral.

Everywhere I walk girls are staring at me, some smile, some wave, and some just have those weird faces. Maybe it is because Shizuku is with me, she's very popular here after all, but the stares are being directed at me and her. None of the onlookers run up to Shizuku and I, they all keep their distance just seeming to admire us.

Weird, this is so weird. I've heard of fanboys and fangirls, but this is really a stretch.

At last we enter the main building. Relief is immediate as the only person staring at me is Shizuku—normally I'd be a little worried but since I was basically just ogled by all of those girls I'm not as concerned.

Never once has this happened to me, not one time that I can remember. People will look at me whenever I walked into a room, but it wasn't to such a point where everyone would just stop what they're doing to look at me. I mean this is a little on the obnoxious side, some of those girls were whispering things that I'd rather not entertain.

But, I have my sanctuary now.

"Jeez, we couldn't go around or something?"

"There's only one way here, and besides I had fun."

"My misfortune is your amusement…"

"I didn't think you were a masochist."

"Let's go!"

I let her lead me to her office—we take an elevator. No matter how many times I see it and actually on these things here it never ceases to amaze me. This is pretty damn awesome.

I take a seat on the chair in front of her large desk. I glance up at the dimly lit bulbs above me, turn my focus onto Shizuku who is shadowed by the light, and struggle to keep my sigh down. I thought just that one time she had been doing it to be dramatic, but this is how she really keeps her office, even when she is in private.

Shizuku is seriously weird.

"I'm going to go over a few things about the schedule."

"First thing is first, if you don't show up I will come to your apartment, as you have seen. Though, I may have to spend more nights there—you are very hospitable if a bit crude."

"You're creeping me out."

The last thing I want. The last thing I need. The last thing that needs to happen, period, is Shizuku spending the night at my house and showing up every day. That means the dynamic trio is going to come over too, Akane may be in her Kampfer form being a total bitch, and Mikoto will bring that damn curry.

Most of all my quiet and sleep in time will be reduced by a gazillion.

"That's not my intention. But, moving on from this…"

"I'm beginning to think otherwise."

"The school day begins at 8:30 AM and ends at 3:20PM. There are eight hours in the schedule, or I should say classes, I know your first school only had seven hours in addition to having three separate lunch periods, but here there is only one lunch period which begins at twelve thirty. Since you're a third year student like myself you're going to need to take at least three electives. Your choices were art, metal shop, and mechanics; not counting gym since it is mandatory."

"Yeah."

She hands me my schedule, and I look it over. I scrutinize every single corner of it before focusing on the writing—homeroom is of course at the beginning of the day. Though, at my first school we had homeroom after first hour, but the year before we had it at the very beginning of the day.

After homeroom I have Chemistry, which shouldn't be too hard since I had been getting a B in that class before I transferred out of that school and went to the second one. Though, knowing the lunacy and craziness of this place I get the feeling there's going to be some twenty tentacle monster whipped up in one of these science classes.

Since I have chemistry, someone is going to mix too much or too little of something and a whole chunk of the school is going to be blown apart.

I sigh.

Next is Geometry, History, and then Art. The first two are basic, and I'm not surprised I am stuck with them, though it's really just the same thing as last year by all means, they give it a different name and woolah—have to spend another year in school. Math has never been my strongpoint, but geometry should be simple enough, and history is simple enough. I can just pay half attention and I'll get a B.

After art is Japanese Literature which will be interesting, beyond interesting for that matter, and I hope I'm not being too light on it. I most likely am, after all Japan is known for its literature, especially poetry. Admittedly I've never invested much time into Japanese literature—they don't teach that sort of thing in the states and I've never been one for poetry.

Well, I can start now, at least.

After Japanese Literature it's lunch, thankfully. I imagine that homeroom just isn't chill out time like at my first school, and there will more than likely be work. By all means it will be counted as a regular class, being graded, and all of that good stuff. However, despite my schedule being so thick there is more than a sliver of leisure.

After lunch I have mechanics—which should be very fun. That had been one of my few saving graces at my first school, both years in my mechanics classes I passed them with flying colors through the entire school year. After that it's onto gym which is self-explanatory, and then after that I finish my day with metal shop which is just perfect.

If I finished with gym it'd be a small problem since I'd be all sweaty afterwards. With the way some of these girls are looking at me, I will not be taking my clothes off to take a shower in the room just inches away from the rows of lockers. Metal shop I'd be all nice and clean, washed up from my previous gym class and ready to go home.

So, I get put through wringer for the first half of the day, but the end of it is pure leisure.

"Do you have any questions? Objections?"

It's like she wants me to object. Maybe she finds some amusement in it all, but really I can't object because one way or another I have to endure this. If I don't come to school regularly; Shizuku will just show up unannounced like she has been. And, most recently she spent the night, along with the dynamic trio.

The last thing I want is for her to come into my room, if I am in there for any reasons. It's bad enough she's in my apartment in the living room, there's no need for her to go venturing around where my room is and the other rooms that I'm not using at the moment—though one will be my weight room.

"No, I'm just ready to get this over with."

"You have the same homeroom as I do, so follow me."

"I get the feeling that isn't a coincidence."

I just hope nobody I know other than Shizuku will be in my homeroom. It'd be a disaster if Natsuru, and the dynamic duo were in it. It'd be a bigger disaster if Hitomi was in it as well, with her stupid cocky smile and attitude, which can really grate on me. Even worse would be if she has friends, and they were in the very same homeroom as well.

This is really turning into a three ring circus, if you ask me. If I do have the same homeroom that Hitomi and her friends do, I really hope I don't, then there is someone or something taking twisted amusement in all of my confusion, despair, and every other emotion that humans have whipped up a name for.

I can only wonder how her friends are personality wise, and I admit some scenarios aren't all that well. Hitomi is a special little cookie, so her friends would be similar in some regards—birds of a feather flock together. It'd be sort of a stretch to say she doesn't have any friends, Hitomi may be a cocky little shit, but she still has friends.

It's only natural. She isn't a loner like me after all.

First day of school, yeah everything is normal!

How funny...