Meep! It's been so long! I'll try to update on a regular schedule!
-----
The first half of the day passed without fail. Finally, it was lunch. Kriee happily opened her locker and shoved her bag inside. She reached up to the small shelf at the top of her locker and pulled out her lunch. As she shut her locker, she turned to go to the courtyard, but was interrupted by running into someone.
"Kinomoto!" she said angrily. Kriee looked up and saw, none other than, Densi. "Oh, hi," Kriee said meekly.
"What do you think you were doing this morning?"
"What do you mean?"
"You manipulated my dear Asura-chan into being your personal chauffeur!" she cried.
"I what? No, no, that's true! Kaneda-kun offered me a ride!" Kriee said in her defense. Densi must have noticed Kriee getting into Peko's car that Asura was driving as the bus was driving by.
"You'd better watch your back, Kinomoto!" Densi said threateningly. "I've got my eye on you." With that, Densi walked away without hesitating to spare Kriee a devilish glare. She gulped before gripping her lunch back and going on her way.
"Kriee!" a kinder voice shouted. "Kriee wait for me!" Kriee turned around and saw Peko running down the hallways waving her arm wildly in the air with her other busy trying not to drop her lunch pail. Her words were distorted by a snack candy sticking out of her mouth. Kriee stopped and waited patiently for her to catch up.
"Rumor has it that you and my brother really hit it off," she said winking.
"Kaneda? He just offered me a ride when I missed my bus."
"Sure, sure," she sighed, shoving the rest of the candy bar into her mouth and finishing it off. They walked in silence until they reached the courtyard. Kriee sat on the bench even though there were plenty of spots left in other tables. Peko took pity and left her usual table of friends and sat next to her.
"Kaneda-kun's not here yet," Kriee pointed out.
"Oh!" Peko said expectantly. She peeked at her watch and looked to a particular door on the opposite side of the courtyard. "His last class before lunch is pre-philosophy. He should be coming out the door right about.
"Get back here!" a young man shouted. There was a group of about twenty pre- philosophy students running madly chasing after one student.
"Face us, Kaneda!" another shouted. At the head of the giant chase scene was Asura, running panicked through the picnic tables.
"Not again!" Kriee heard a girl shout as the shuffling of students made her lunch fall on her lap.
"What happened?" Kriee yelled over the ruckus.
"It's probably just some stupid true comment he made during class. He really has to learn to keep quite over sensitive matters." Kriee watched, becoming slightly amused as Asura tried every trick in the book to calm down and lose the mob.
"So what was the fight over this time," Kriee asked.
"Who knows," Peko shrugged while shoving a sandwich triangle into her mouth. Finally, he outran the group and dashed up to Kriee and Peko.
"Art room in five," he panted, and then rushed off. Peko picked up her lunch box and stood up.
"We'd better get going," she sighed. "He's a fast runner." Kriee didn't bother asking any more questions, seeing as though this was a regular happening in her new school. She followed after Peko, who was now keeping up a steady jog up the steps. At the end of the staircase, there was the art wing. Peko walked into one of the rooms and looked at her watch again. As soon as she looked away, the door opened and Asura hopped in.
"What was it this time?" Peko sighed. "Promotion of abortion? How suicide might help the population problem?"
"Hey," he panted, pointing at Peko, "it's no fault of mine if they don't share the same views I do." She rolled her eyes and ate another sandwich triangle. Asura mumbled something under his breath as he opened his lunch box and pulled out a sandwich similar to Peko's.
"So, are you studying philosophy?" Kriee asked.
"Yes. It's a rather interesting topic, if the teacher would only listen to me." He took a bite. "When I get into college I plan to be a philosophy major. I think I might be a psychologist or something." There was another short pause as the group ate their food.
"What are you doing in my class?" Kriee and the others looked up and saw their boldly dressed whimsical art teacher look at them suspiciously.
"Running," Peko mumbled. The teacher, who was known as Ms. Iavata, gave Asura a sad face.
"You should quit running from you problems! Face them, and you will succeed!" she said optimistically. Asura cracked a smile and nodded.
"That's what your fortune cookie said yesterday."
"You take art, too?" Kriee asked.
"Painting IV," he explained. "It's okay." There was another break of silence as Ms. Iavata studied some of her students artwork. Suddenly, the bell rang, and Kriee jumped at the loud shrill the sound made.
"Already?" Peko sighed. Asura shoved the rest of his food into his mouth at once and swallowed it at once.
"I have to go," he said. "Later Kinomoto. Same place after school?"
"Oh, sure," she said quietly. He nodded absentmindedly and tried to slither through the halls unnoticed.
"I need to get to class, too," Peko sighed. Kriee had art after lunch, so she had no need to move. She folded up her lunch box and put it back in her bag. Without bothering for further instruction from her art teacher, she grabbed the picture she started yesterday on her own while the other students still struggled over how to make the shades smoother.
Before Kriee knew it, it was time for gym. She stood in front of the girl's locker room debated whether she should go in or find somewhere to hide for the rest of the period.
"Kinomoto!" she heard someone call from behind her. She turned slowly just as Asura approached her. He handed her a plastic bag with what looked like fabric inside. "Here's the uniform I promised you. You'd better hurry up and change, you only got a few minutes."
"Right. You need to changed, too," she added as she walked into the locker room. "Thank you!" Asura nodded to himself and walked into the gym. Kriee rushed to her gym locker and carefully spun the combination. As she opened the door, she took off her clothes and shoved them into the small storeroom. The clothes that Asura gave her were slightly larger than what she was used to. It was a white cotton t-shirt with black pants that sagged to her knees.
"Nice uniform," one of the girls told her as she walked out. Kriee noticed she was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with black biker shorts. As a matter of fact, all the girls were dressed like this. Without a second thought, Kriee left the locker room into the gym. It was just like yesterday. All of the children were sitting on the floor and all looked the same with their white shirts and black pants, except for one.
"Kaneda-kun?" Kriee asked loudly. Asura glanced at her, then moved his head and smiled.
"Look at the freak!" another girl shouted. The class all turned their heads and laughed, except for a few in the back who didn't seem to care. Kriee blushed violently and rushed to her spot.
"She's a cross dresser now!" a guy sitting next to her told his girl friends.
"You'd better stay away from her," and student chided. "You can't trust a girl like that."
"Kaneda! Kinomoto!" the coach yelled from in front of the class. Kriee didn't even notice him enter from his office today. "Why aren't you dressed properly for gym class today?"
"Kriee has not yet acquired a gym uniform," Asura informed. "I just let her borrow mine so she could participate in class easier today."
"You do realize that even though you helped her, she still deserves an extra lap while running today for wearing the wrong uniform." He didn't bother to give Kriee a horrible satisfied glance before hearing Asura's reply.
"Yes, sir," he said sharply. "I understand." With that, the class stood up and walked to the track. Kriee rushed up to Asura.
"You didn't have to do that. I would have been fine running in my uniform today."
"Listen, I've already told you not to worry about these things," he said kindly. "I'll be fine today." With that, he rushed ahead of her with the other kids who had already started running. Kriee started out with a medium- paced jog so she wouldn't strain herself in the very beginning. After two laps, she felt like she was doing okay for her first full track run. It was obvious that she would finish last, but at least she would finish. As she rounded the corner, she heard a group of kids running from behind her. As they passed, one of them stayed near her. He was a boy, a little taller than she was, but not as tall as Asura. His hair was black with bleached white bangs, but when he turned to face her, his eyes were the prettiest blue she'd ever seen.
"You're Kinomoto, right?" he asked, slowing down so she could catch up. "That's right," Kriee said cautiously.
"You're good friends with Kaneda, right?"
"Well, I've only known him for a day," she said sheepishly.
"Lucky bastard," he laughed to himself. "So, what grade are you in?"
"I'm just a freshman."
"Really? I'm a sophomore myself. In my opinion, freshman year was the best year of my life."
"Speak for yourself," Kriee said back. "I've been nothing but humiliated the entire time I've been here. I'd much rather continue being home- schooled by Tomoyo-san." Kriee heard another set of feet approach from behind her. Asura suddenly approached between her and the boy.
"Are you okay?" he panted. "Is he causing any trouble?"
"No, not at all," Kriee answered cheerfully. Asura turned towards the boy, his amber eyes clashing with his blue ones, and then ran off.
"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "I don't think I caught your name."
"I'm known around here as Yoshida Roku."
"NO TALKING!" coach hollered. "Don't think I didn't catch that, Kinomoto!" Kriee cringed as she sped up. She still had to do one more lap than everyone else. Finally, she completed her fourth lap and began her fifth. Asura was already halfway done with his extra round. Kriee was exhausted, she felt like she would faint all over again. Her paced jog turned into a slow walk. Her heart was pacing so hard she felt like it would leap out of her throat if it had the chance. She stopped for a moment and kneeled on the turf. She gasped loudly and tried to catch her breath.
"Are you okay?" Asura said from behind her. He had already finished his lap and even made the extra attempt to catch up to her. "Don't think you have to finish if you don't want to. I can handle things here if you want to go to the hospital wing."
"No!" Kriee said abruptly. "I am going to finish this." She stood up and tried to start jogging again. She did her best to ignore the stabbing pain in her side with every step she took. Asura seemed to be walking casually next to her while Kriee could hardly move. She only had half a track left before she was finished. The rest of the class was sitting in the sun looking up at the clouds. Some were picking blades of grass off the ground and peeling them apart. The coach didn't seem to care, however. He was keeping his mind busy by watching Kriee teetering on failure for a second time. She watched him happily, seeing his face slowly turn to a frown the further she traveled. Now she had only a quarter left to go. The closer she got to the starting line painted on the track, the faster she seemed to walk.
"You're doing great," Asura said. "Keep on going." Finally, Kriee broke out into an all-out sprint.
"Go Kriee!" Peko shouted from behind the fence. Kriee wondered how long she had been watching. She kept on running until the finish line was ten meters away; five; two; she did it. She finally finished. Then everything turned black again.
-----
The first half of the day passed without fail. Finally, it was lunch. Kriee happily opened her locker and shoved her bag inside. She reached up to the small shelf at the top of her locker and pulled out her lunch. As she shut her locker, she turned to go to the courtyard, but was interrupted by running into someone.
"Kinomoto!" she said angrily. Kriee looked up and saw, none other than, Densi. "Oh, hi," Kriee said meekly.
"What do you think you were doing this morning?"
"What do you mean?"
"You manipulated my dear Asura-chan into being your personal chauffeur!" she cried.
"I what? No, no, that's true! Kaneda-kun offered me a ride!" Kriee said in her defense. Densi must have noticed Kriee getting into Peko's car that Asura was driving as the bus was driving by.
"You'd better watch your back, Kinomoto!" Densi said threateningly. "I've got my eye on you." With that, Densi walked away without hesitating to spare Kriee a devilish glare. She gulped before gripping her lunch back and going on her way.
"Kriee!" a kinder voice shouted. "Kriee wait for me!" Kriee turned around and saw Peko running down the hallways waving her arm wildly in the air with her other busy trying not to drop her lunch pail. Her words were distorted by a snack candy sticking out of her mouth. Kriee stopped and waited patiently for her to catch up.
"Rumor has it that you and my brother really hit it off," she said winking.
"Kaneda? He just offered me a ride when I missed my bus."
"Sure, sure," she sighed, shoving the rest of the candy bar into her mouth and finishing it off. They walked in silence until they reached the courtyard. Kriee sat on the bench even though there were plenty of spots left in other tables. Peko took pity and left her usual table of friends and sat next to her.
"Kaneda-kun's not here yet," Kriee pointed out.
"Oh!" Peko said expectantly. She peeked at her watch and looked to a particular door on the opposite side of the courtyard. "His last class before lunch is pre-philosophy. He should be coming out the door right about.
"Get back here!" a young man shouted. There was a group of about twenty pre- philosophy students running madly chasing after one student.
"Face us, Kaneda!" another shouted. At the head of the giant chase scene was Asura, running panicked through the picnic tables.
"Not again!" Kriee heard a girl shout as the shuffling of students made her lunch fall on her lap.
"What happened?" Kriee yelled over the ruckus.
"It's probably just some stupid true comment he made during class. He really has to learn to keep quite over sensitive matters." Kriee watched, becoming slightly amused as Asura tried every trick in the book to calm down and lose the mob.
"So what was the fight over this time," Kriee asked.
"Who knows," Peko shrugged while shoving a sandwich triangle into her mouth. Finally, he outran the group and dashed up to Kriee and Peko.
"Art room in five," he panted, and then rushed off. Peko picked up her lunch box and stood up.
"We'd better get going," she sighed. "He's a fast runner." Kriee didn't bother asking any more questions, seeing as though this was a regular happening in her new school. She followed after Peko, who was now keeping up a steady jog up the steps. At the end of the staircase, there was the art wing. Peko walked into one of the rooms and looked at her watch again. As soon as she looked away, the door opened and Asura hopped in.
"What was it this time?" Peko sighed. "Promotion of abortion? How suicide might help the population problem?"
"Hey," he panted, pointing at Peko, "it's no fault of mine if they don't share the same views I do." She rolled her eyes and ate another sandwich triangle. Asura mumbled something under his breath as he opened his lunch box and pulled out a sandwich similar to Peko's.
"So, are you studying philosophy?" Kriee asked.
"Yes. It's a rather interesting topic, if the teacher would only listen to me." He took a bite. "When I get into college I plan to be a philosophy major. I think I might be a psychologist or something." There was another short pause as the group ate their food.
"What are you doing in my class?" Kriee and the others looked up and saw their boldly dressed whimsical art teacher look at them suspiciously.
"Running," Peko mumbled. The teacher, who was known as Ms. Iavata, gave Asura a sad face.
"You should quit running from you problems! Face them, and you will succeed!" she said optimistically. Asura cracked a smile and nodded.
"That's what your fortune cookie said yesterday."
"You take art, too?" Kriee asked.
"Painting IV," he explained. "It's okay." There was another break of silence as Ms. Iavata studied some of her students artwork. Suddenly, the bell rang, and Kriee jumped at the loud shrill the sound made.
"Already?" Peko sighed. Asura shoved the rest of his food into his mouth at once and swallowed it at once.
"I have to go," he said. "Later Kinomoto. Same place after school?"
"Oh, sure," she said quietly. He nodded absentmindedly and tried to slither through the halls unnoticed.
"I need to get to class, too," Peko sighed. Kriee had art after lunch, so she had no need to move. She folded up her lunch box and put it back in her bag. Without bothering for further instruction from her art teacher, she grabbed the picture she started yesterday on her own while the other students still struggled over how to make the shades smoother.
Before Kriee knew it, it was time for gym. She stood in front of the girl's locker room debated whether she should go in or find somewhere to hide for the rest of the period.
"Kinomoto!" she heard someone call from behind her. She turned slowly just as Asura approached her. He handed her a plastic bag with what looked like fabric inside. "Here's the uniform I promised you. You'd better hurry up and change, you only got a few minutes."
"Right. You need to changed, too," she added as she walked into the locker room. "Thank you!" Asura nodded to himself and walked into the gym. Kriee rushed to her gym locker and carefully spun the combination. As she opened the door, she took off her clothes and shoved them into the small storeroom. The clothes that Asura gave her were slightly larger than what she was used to. It was a white cotton t-shirt with black pants that sagged to her knees.
"Nice uniform," one of the girls told her as she walked out. Kriee noticed she was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with black biker shorts. As a matter of fact, all the girls were dressed like this. Without a second thought, Kriee left the locker room into the gym. It was just like yesterday. All of the children were sitting on the floor and all looked the same with their white shirts and black pants, except for one.
"Kaneda-kun?" Kriee asked loudly. Asura glanced at her, then moved his head and smiled.
"Look at the freak!" another girl shouted. The class all turned their heads and laughed, except for a few in the back who didn't seem to care. Kriee blushed violently and rushed to her spot.
"She's a cross dresser now!" a guy sitting next to her told his girl friends.
"You'd better stay away from her," and student chided. "You can't trust a girl like that."
"Kaneda! Kinomoto!" the coach yelled from in front of the class. Kriee didn't even notice him enter from his office today. "Why aren't you dressed properly for gym class today?"
"Kriee has not yet acquired a gym uniform," Asura informed. "I just let her borrow mine so she could participate in class easier today."
"You do realize that even though you helped her, she still deserves an extra lap while running today for wearing the wrong uniform." He didn't bother to give Kriee a horrible satisfied glance before hearing Asura's reply.
"Yes, sir," he said sharply. "I understand." With that, the class stood up and walked to the track. Kriee rushed up to Asura.
"You didn't have to do that. I would have been fine running in my uniform today."
"Listen, I've already told you not to worry about these things," he said kindly. "I'll be fine today." With that, he rushed ahead of her with the other kids who had already started running. Kriee started out with a medium- paced jog so she wouldn't strain herself in the very beginning. After two laps, she felt like she was doing okay for her first full track run. It was obvious that she would finish last, but at least she would finish. As she rounded the corner, she heard a group of kids running from behind her. As they passed, one of them stayed near her. He was a boy, a little taller than she was, but not as tall as Asura. His hair was black with bleached white bangs, but when he turned to face her, his eyes were the prettiest blue she'd ever seen.
"You're Kinomoto, right?" he asked, slowing down so she could catch up. "That's right," Kriee said cautiously.
"You're good friends with Kaneda, right?"
"Well, I've only known him for a day," she said sheepishly.
"Lucky bastard," he laughed to himself. "So, what grade are you in?"
"I'm just a freshman."
"Really? I'm a sophomore myself. In my opinion, freshman year was the best year of my life."
"Speak for yourself," Kriee said back. "I've been nothing but humiliated the entire time I've been here. I'd much rather continue being home- schooled by Tomoyo-san." Kriee heard another set of feet approach from behind her. Asura suddenly approached between her and the boy.
"Are you okay?" he panted. "Is he causing any trouble?"
"No, not at all," Kriee answered cheerfully. Asura turned towards the boy, his amber eyes clashing with his blue ones, and then ran off.
"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "I don't think I caught your name."
"I'm known around here as Yoshida Roku."
"NO TALKING!" coach hollered. "Don't think I didn't catch that, Kinomoto!" Kriee cringed as she sped up. She still had to do one more lap than everyone else. Finally, she completed her fourth lap and began her fifth. Asura was already halfway done with his extra round. Kriee was exhausted, she felt like she would faint all over again. Her paced jog turned into a slow walk. Her heart was pacing so hard she felt like it would leap out of her throat if it had the chance. She stopped for a moment and kneeled on the turf. She gasped loudly and tried to catch her breath.
"Are you okay?" Asura said from behind her. He had already finished his lap and even made the extra attempt to catch up to her. "Don't think you have to finish if you don't want to. I can handle things here if you want to go to the hospital wing."
"No!" Kriee said abruptly. "I am going to finish this." She stood up and tried to start jogging again. She did her best to ignore the stabbing pain in her side with every step she took. Asura seemed to be walking casually next to her while Kriee could hardly move. She only had half a track left before she was finished. The rest of the class was sitting in the sun looking up at the clouds. Some were picking blades of grass off the ground and peeling them apart. The coach didn't seem to care, however. He was keeping his mind busy by watching Kriee teetering on failure for a second time. She watched him happily, seeing his face slowly turn to a frown the further she traveled. Now she had only a quarter left to go. The closer she got to the starting line painted on the track, the faster she seemed to walk.
"You're doing great," Asura said. "Keep on going." Finally, Kriee broke out into an all-out sprint.
"Go Kriee!" Peko shouted from behind the fence. Kriee wondered how long she had been watching. She kept on running until the finish line was ten meters away; five; two; she did it. She finally finished. Then everything turned black again.