He paused before the new university before him, green fields of mowed grass stretching out before a tall, blue and white building, with several different shades of blue for each extension.
'I needa cut my hair soon,'
He thought as a few green strands came into view as he stalled for time. However, he knew it was inevitable, and sighed.
Tugging at the pale-blue bandanna he had pulled over his head, he gave it a second thought before pulling it off, deciding it was bad enough that he was wearing a blue polo shirt.
'I don't exactly want to blend completely into the school exterior.'
He thought to himself, watching students walk out and rush in through the front and side doors of the main building. Scuffling his sneakers a bit, he reluctantly stepped onto the soil of the campus, cringing when he noticed that the soil was springy.
'Damn it... it's... NICE.'
This wasn't good, because he needed as many reasons as to why the Grand Line university was worse than his previous college. He hadn't wanted to move. He was had a very withdrawn personality, all because of this strange feeling in him. He felt as though he had lost his confidence somehow, though he had no idea when because his mother had told him he had always been quiet.
The problem was, he didn't like being quiet. But he felt strangely... how could he describe it? ...Defenceless? It was a strange way to express his quiet nature, but that was the only way he could describe it.
Anyways, he had just made two quite close friends, but nooooo, his parents just *had* to decide to move places. Because the previous college had had no accommodation, he had been forced to leave the college and apply for a university in what his parents called 'the city'.
It had been hard to make friends, and now he was going to have to endure another semester with students who didn't know him. He was hoping that if he complained enough, his father might decide to send him to his aunt's house back near the college.
Dry clumps of dirt were sprinkled over his sneakers as three students ran towards the open gates, and he thought quickly,
'Good. Point #1; the students here are brash and rude.'
"Sorry!"
Called one of the guys as they ran.
'Now I have to scratch that. Damn it!'
However, as he walked across to the stairs, he was interrupted by a sudden rush of... anticipation...?
'Huh?'
He looked around with a frown, wondering if he had sub-conciously seen a nice tree branch he could sleep on, when he heard something that sounded like a continuous... war-cry?!!
'Huh??'
Glancing up towards the top of the stairs, he saw a blur of brown as the brown bag hit someone smack-bang in the nose. He winced inwardly.
'Ouch. That had to hurt...'
He noticed the guy who had been hit - who he presumed was one of the uni students -, as he rolled down the stairs, was also wearing something like a bandanna, although it was more like a large 'kerchief.
'Oh. At least I won't stand out as much, then.'
The girl who had whapped him with her bag was fuming as she stepped down the stairs, and when she reached the bottom, she grabbed the guy's nose - which he noticed was pretty long - and pulled hard.
He wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but he rolled his eyes, sighing. Then he blinked.
'Do I find them that exasperating?'
He wondered.
'I usually don't give a damn to people I don't know...'
The girl and they guy conversed for a minute or so before Zoro realised he had stopped walking, standing stock-still in the grass and staring at the two students.
'Geez, what the hell's up with me?? Better start walking...'
He began to trudge up the stairs, stuffing his bandanna into his pocket when the feeling of anticipation quite suddenly drained out of him, startling him because he hadn't known he'd still had that feeling.
Turning around, he noticed that the orange-haired girl and the long-nosed guy were gone from sight. Then he wondered why he'd turned around in first place.
'What the hell *is* up with me??'
He thought, shaking himself mentally as he walked on, in through the main entrance. Then he added to himself,
'#1; this place makes me feel... weird.'
"Zoro Roronoah?"
He looked at the direction of the voice in surprise. Who knew him already...? Of course, he thought with a sweat-drop... the dean.
"Yeah?"
He said, and the dean smiled warmly.
"Hello, Zoro. I'm Mr. Harrison. Welcome to the Grand Line uni."
Zoro nodded and looked at him awkwardly. Mr. Harrison gestured towards a bulletin board, and Zoro walked over to take a look at the sketch-map of the school that the dean was pointing to.
"There are eight floors to Grand Line uni, including two five-story and one three-story extensions,"
Mr. Harrison explained as he pointed to different areas. Zoro pretended to look interested.
"You'll be having Physics in the first extension, on the third floor. You'll have Maths in the main building - the one we're standing in now - also on the third floor. Your third subject - Music - is also in the main building, on the seventh floor.'
"Uh huh."
Zoro said, only half-listening. He had chosen his own subjects, but he didn't have to like them. He wasn't bad at them, but he was no genius. He had never been good at anything at school except for P.E., but because he had never joined a sports activity, his teachers had advised him not to choose P.E. as a future-career.
"...-metry in Maths, Astrology in Physics and Composing in Music. You see, we split each subject into separate topics for each semester..."
Zoro's eyes were glazed, far from listening to the drone of Mr. Harrison and instead thinking, nodding automatically at every pause the dean made.
He had chosen his next best subjects; Physics, Maths and Music - but he still had no idea what he wanted to become. He had lied about being an architect to anyone who had asked him, including application forms, but in truth, he didn't want to become an architect... he had no idea what he wanted to be, but it wasn't an architect, that was for sure.
"...-mitories are in the second extension. Your room is--"
Snapping back to attention at mention of his room, Zoro quickly interrupted,
"Sorry?"
"Dormitories are in the second extension,"
Mr. Harrison said, his tone slightly irritated as he seemed to realise that Zoro hadn't been listening until now,
"And you're sharing with another student. Sandy White."
Zoro felt a familiar nag at the side of his brain.
"Sandy White? Isn't that the name of some model?"
Zoro asked slowly. Mr. Harrison nodded, as though he were proud of it himself.
"Not just 'some model'. The most sensational nineteen-year-old model since three years ago."
"Oh."
Zoro said, wondering what else he was supposed to say. There was a short pause before Mr. Harrison went on,
"So that's it. Here,"
The dean handed Zoro a clear plastic folder holding several loose-leaf papers,
"this holds the Grand Line university map, some information about the kiosk and extensions, a little information on your subjects and your timetable."
Zoro silently tucked the folder into his bag, and stood expectantly. Mr. Harrison heaved a sigh.
"Come on then, I'll take you to your dorm now."
She waited impatiently before a row of gym lockers, flipping her long orange hair behind her shoulder and puffing her fringe up, tugging at her spaghetti straps. As she re-adjusted her hair clips, she decided that she couldn't stand waiting anymore, so she slung on her shoulder-bag and walked huffily along the corridoor.
Walking quite blindly, she brushed past someone, and looked up to apologise for her rush when she saw a glimpse of blonde hair.
Recognising the model, she frowned. Looking at the guy made her insides twist strangely, which she always supposed was because the guy had strong, arrogant vibes.
She muttered 'sorry' incoherently before continuing to walk, then spotted who she'd been waiting for the whole entire time. Breaking into a run, she dashed up to the front stairs of the Grand Line university, her shoulder-strap tightly wound around her fist.
The young man waiting patiently for his friend glanced up in surprise at the running said friend, and smiled, opening his mouth to say hello when he realised three things. Her eyes were flashing, she was screaming a war-cry-like holler and she was swinging her bag around like a mace.
"Nami?! What's wrong--"
"YAAAARGH!!"
With that, Nami slammed her bag, containing a bag of makeup, a purse, a pencil case, a geometry set and a thick set of textbooks for Geometry, Astrology and Geography, onto his head with a loud WHAM.
He stumbled around and ended up rolling down the front stairs. Nami followed with a non-committical expression, stepping down the steps slowly as though she couldn't see what the other students passing were staring at - the teenager at the bottom of the stairs in a baggy khaki sweatshirt and equally baggy jeans, twitching in pain as he rolled over his bag.
She knelt down and grabbed his long nose, pulling it painfully as he yelped with a nasal sort of sound.
"I waited for you in front of the gym lockers for half an hour,"
She growled, her hazel-eyes flaring in a fire that her friend sweat-drop,
"A full bloody thirty minutes!! Explain yourself. NOW."
"We met in front of the gym lockers last time!! You said to meet in front of the stairs today, I'm sure of it!!"
He cried, getting up and attempting to pry off Nami's clamp-like grip on his nose.
"Oh yeah."
Nami remembered, letting go of his nose so that her companion could breath,
"Sorry. Did you wait long?"
"Noooo,"
He said sarcastically while nursing his bruised nose,
"I only waited half an hour. Only a measly amount of thirty minutes."
"Oh come on, Usopp,"
Nami said with a puppy-innocent smile at her friend,
"I said I was sorry."
"Yeah, and you sure sounded sincere when you did,"
He muttered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose,
"But we forgive you."
"We?"
"Me and my glasses. You didn't break them, so they forgive you readily."
Nami rolled her eyes, but smiled.
"So any particular reason for wanting to see me today?"
Usopp shrugged as he retied the scarf around his head, which had dismantled itself during the fall.
"Just."
He lied, and Nami knew it immediately.
"You're lying!"
"Am not!"
"And again! You're so obvious when you lie, you know?"
He groaned.
"You win. I have a reason for dragging you out of your campus."
Nami raised an eyebrow.
"How about you? Your classes finished already?"
Usopp had dropped high school and gone to engineering classes since. He was now a semi-professional engineer still in training, but occasionally dropped by the Grand Line university to fix things when they needed fixing.
"Er..., yes."
"You're lying again."
"Fine, it's just that they're re-visiting old mechanic-maths that I already know so I feel fine skiving it off today."
He shook his head, then began to pull Nami towards the main opening of the whole university.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush?"
Nami asked as he basically dragged Nami across the grass.
"I'm hungry! Let's go eat ice-cream."
Usopp said, and Nami sighed. He definitely had something to tell her, so he probably planned to tell her over ice-cream, she supposed.
"Sure,"
She consented.
'I needa cut my hair soon,'
He thought as a few green strands came into view as he stalled for time. However, he knew it was inevitable, and sighed.
Tugging at the pale-blue bandanna he had pulled over his head, he gave it a second thought before pulling it off, deciding it was bad enough that he was wearing a blue polo shirt.
'I don't exactly want to blend completely into the school exterior.'
He thought to himself, watching students walk out and rush in through the front and side doors of the main building. Scuffling his sneakers a bit, he reluctantly stepped onto the soil of the campus, cringing when he noticed that the soil was springy.
'Damn it... it's... NICE.'
This wasn't good, because he needed as many reasons as to why the Grand Line university was worse than his previous college. He hadn't wanted to move. He was had a very withdrawn personality, all because of this strange feeling in him. He felt as though he had lost his confidence somehow, though he had no idea when because his mother had told him he had always been quiet.
The problem was, he didn't like being quiet. But he felt strangely... how could he describe it? ...Defenceless? It was a strange way to express his quiet nature, but that was the only way he could describe it.
Anyways, he had just made two quite close friends, but nooooo, his parents just *had* to decide to move places. Because the previous college had had no accommodation, he had been forced to leave the college and apply for a university in what his parents called 'the city'.
It had been hard to make friends, and now he was going to have to endure another semester with students who didn't know him. He was hoping that if he complained enough, his father might decide to send him to his aunt's house back near the college.
Dry clumps of dirt were sprinkled over his sneakers as three students ran towards the open gates, and he thought quickly,
'Good. Point #1; the students here are brash and rude.'
"Sorry!"
Called one of the guys as they ran.
'Now I have to scratch that. Damn it!'
However, as he walked across to the stairs, he was interrupted by a sudden rush of... anticipation...?
'Huh?'
He looked around with a frown, wondering if he had sub-conciously seen a nice tree branch he could sleep on, when he heard something that sounded like a continuous... war-cry?!!
'Huh??'
Glancing up towards the top of the stairs, he saw a blur of brown as the brown bag hit someone smack-bang in the nose. He winced inwardly.
'Ouch. That had to hurt...'
He noticed the guy who had been hit - who he presumed was one of the uni students -, as he rolled down the stairs, was also wearing something like a bandanna, although it was more like a large 'kerchief.
'Oh. At least I won't stand out as much, then.'
The girl who had whapped him with her bag was fuming as she stepped down the stairs, and when she reached the bottom, she grabbed the guy's nose - which he noticed was pretty long - and pulled hard.
He wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but he rolled his eyes, sighing. Then he blinked.
'Do I find them that exasperating?'
He wondered.
'I usually don't give a damn to people I don't know...'
The girl and they guy conversed for a minute or so before Zoro realised he had stopped walking, standing stock-still in the grass and staring at the two students.
'Geez, what the hell's up with me?? Better start walking...'
He began to trudge up the stairs, stuffing his bandanna into his pocket when the feeling of anticipation quite suddenly drained out of him, startling him because he hadn't known he'd still had that feeling.
Turning around, he noticed that the orange-haired girl and the long-nosed guy were gone from sight. Then he wondered why he'd turned around in first place.
'What the hell *is* up with me??'
He thought, shaking himself mentally as he walked on, in through the main entrance. Then he added to himself,
'#1; this place makes me feel... weird.'
"Zoro Roronoah?"
He looked at the direction of the voice in surprise. Who knew him already...? Of course, he thought with a sweat-drop... the dean.
"Yeah?"
He said, and the dean smiled warmly.
"Hello, Zoro. I'm Mr. Harrison. Welcome to the Grand Line uni."
Zoro nodded and looked at him awkwardly. Mr. Harrison gestured towards a bulletin board, and Zoro walked over to take a look at the sketch-map of the school that the dean was pointing to.
"There are eight floors to Grand Line uni, including two five-story and one three-story extensions,"
Mr. Harrison explained as he pointed to different areas. Zoro pretended to look interested.
"You'll be having Physics in the first extension, on the third floor. You'll have Maths in the main building - the one we're standing in now - also on the third floor. Your third subject - Music - is also in the main building, on the seventh floor.'
"Uh huh."
Zoro said, only half-listening. He had chosen his own subjects, but he didn't have to like them. He wasn't bad at them, but he was no genius. He had never been good at anything at school except for P.E., but because he had never joined a sports activity, his teachers had advised him not to choose P.E. as a future-career.
"...-metry in Maths, Astrology in Physics and Composing in Music. You see, we split each subject into separate topics for each semester..."
Zoro's eyes were glazed, far from listening to the drone of Mr. Harrison and instead thinking, nodding automatically at every pause the dean made.
He had chosen his next best subjects; Physics, Maths and Music - but he still had no idea what he wanted to become. He had lied about being an architect to anyone who had asked him, including application forms, but in truth, he didn't want to become an architect... he had no idea what he wanted to be, but it wasn't an architect, that was for sure.
"...-mitories are in the second extension. Your room is--"
Snapping back to attention at mention of his room, Zoro quickly interrupted,
"Sorry?"
"Dormitories are in the second extension,"
Mr. Harrison said, his tone slightly irritated as he seemed to realise that Zoro hadn't been listening until now,
"And you're sharing with another student. Sandy White."
Zoro felt a familiar nag at the side of his brain.
"Sandy White? Isn't that the name of some model?"
Zoro asked slowly. Mr. Harrison nodded, as though he were proud of it himself.
"Not just 'some model'. The most sensational nineteen-year-old model since three years ago."
"Oh."
Zoro said, wondering what else he was supposed to say. There was a short pause before Mr. Harrison went on,
"So that's it. Here,"
The dean handed Zoro a clear plastic folder holding several loose-leaf papers,
"this holds the Grand Line university map, some information about the kiosk and extensions, a little information on your subjects and your timetable."
Zoro silently tucked the folder into his bag, and stood expectantly. Mr. Harrison heaved a sigh.
"Come on then, I'll take you to your dorm now."
She waited impatiently before a row of gym lockers, flipping her long orange hair behind her shoulder and puffing her fringe up, tugging at her spaghetti straps. As she re-adjusted her hair clips, she decided that she couldn't stand waiting anymore, so she slung on her shoulder-bag and walked huffily along the corridoor.
Walking quite blindly, she brushed past someone, and looked up to apologise for her rush when she saw a glimpse of blonde hair.
Recognising the model, she frowned. Looking at the guy made her insides twist strangely, which she always supposed was because the guy had strong, arrogant vibes.
She muttered 'sorry' incoherently before continuing to walk, then spotted who she'd been waiting for the whole entire time. Breaking into a run, she dashed up to the front stairs of the Grand Line university, her shoulder-strap tightly wound around her fist.
The young man waiting patiently for his friend glanced up in surprise at the running said friend, and smiled, opening his mouth to say hello when he realised three things. Her eyes were flashing, she was screaming a war-cry-like holler and she was swinging her bag around like a mace.
"Nami?! What's wrong--"
"YAAAARGH!!"
With that, Nami slammed her bag, containing a bag of makeup, a purse, a pencil case, a geometry set and a thick set of textbooks for Geometry, Astrology and Geography, onto his head with a loud WHAM.
He stumbled around and ended up rolling down the front stairs. Nami followed with a non-committical expression, stepping down the steps slowly as though she couldn't see what the other students passing were staring at - the teenager at the bottom of the stairs in a baggy khaki sweatshirt and equally baggy jeans, twitching in pain as he rolled over his bag.
She knelt down and grabbed his long nose, pulling it painfully as he yelped with a nasal sort of sound.
"I waited for you in front of the gym lockers for half an hour,"
She growled, her hazel-eyes flaring in a fire that her friend sweat-drop,
"A full bloody thirty minutes!! Explain yourself. NOW."
"We met in front of the gym lockers last time!! You said to meet in front of the stairs today, I'm sure of it!!"
He cried, getting up and attempting to pry off Nami's clamp-like grip on his nose.
"Oh yeah."
Nami remembered, letting go of his nose so that her companion could breath,
"Sorry. Did you wait long?"
"Noooo,"
He said sarcastically while nursing his bruised nose,
"I only waited half an hour. Only a measly amount of thirty minutes."
"Oh come on, Usopp,"
Nami said with a puppy-innocent smile at her friend,
"I said I was sorry."
"Yeah, and you sure sounded sincere when you did,"
He muttered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose,
"But we forgive you."
"We?"
"Me and my glasses. You didn't break them, so they forgive you readily."
Nami rolled her eyes, but smiled.
"So any particular reason for wanting to see me today?"
Usopp shrugged as he retied the scarf around his head, which had dismantled itself during the fall.
"Just."
He lied, and Nami knew it immediately.
"You're lying!"
"Am not!"
"And again! You're so obvious when you lie, you know?"
He groaned.
"You win. I have a reason for dragging you out of your campus."
Nami raised an eyebrow.
"How about you? Your classes finished already?"
Usopp had dropped high school and gone to engineering classes since. He was now a semi-professional engineer still in training, but occasionally dropped by the Grand Line university to fix things when they needed fixing.
"Er..., yes."
"You're lying again."
"Fine, it's just that they're re-visiting old mechanic-maths that I already know so I feel fine skiving it off today."
He shook his head, then began to pull Nami towards the main opening of the whole university.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush?"
Nami asked as he basically dragged Nami across the grass.
"I'm hungry! Let's go eat ice-cream."
Usopp said, and Nami sighed. He definitely had something to tell her, so he probably planned to tell her over ice-cream, she supposed.
"Sure,"
She consented.