Calai'di: Yay, three reviews on the last chap and not all from Nachzes! (no offence intended).
Thank you to:
puffin (reviewer)
Dark Mysteries (unsigned reviewer)
Nachzes-Black Rider (for beta-ing. Thank you!!!!!)

Chapter 3: Going to School?

---He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise,

In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise…---

"All right, hikari, what are we doing here?" Merik grumbled as he stared up at the building before them.

"This, Merik, is a school. And as it is Monday, we come here to learn things and rack our brains out with boredom."

"Exactly. Why are we here?"

It was now Monday, the day every sane student is supposed to dread, and Malik had decided that if he had to suffer through school, Merik had to also, especially if he wanted to gain Malik's affection.

Ever since their conversation the previous day, Merik had tried his hardest to get his hikari to like at least a little bit; he'd made lunch, played music and sang, didn't kill Yami when he came over, washed the dishes, cleaned the apartment, made dinner, and even tried to help with unfinished homework, though he had no clue what he was doing. Malik had to admit that it was pretty cute and rather funny, especially when the Pharaoh had showed up and Merik kept twitching as he tried not to kill either Yami or himself. Nonetheless, the hikari still locked his door that night and forced his yami to sleep on the couch.

Malik sighed and frowned sternly at his yami. "We are here to learn, Merik. That's what a school is for. Duh."

"Then why am I here?" Merik whined as Malik pulled him into the building. "I don't go to school."

"You will if you want me," Malik argued as he pulled to still struggling yami to the office. "Now go in there and tell them you just moved here and you'll be going here now. Trust me, it works." He pushed Merik through the door and waved once as he strode down the hall. "See you later."

Merik stared at his hikari's receding back. Was he helping his yami on purpose or just to be nice? Did he sound happy they'd see each other later? Maybe he doesn't hate me as much as he says he does, he thought as he walked up to the desk.

"Hello, can I help you?" asked the all-too-cheerful secretary sitting behind the desk.

I'd like to kill you, actually. It should be a crime to be that happy. "I'm, uh, I just moved here…from, uh, Egypt. And I'll be going here now, I guess."

"Okay!" the secretary chirped before pulling out a bunch of papers. As she handed them to Merik, she went on, "Just fill these out and bring them back when you're done!"

I wish I could kill you, Merik thought as he took the papers and a pen and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby. He stared down at the forms in his hands, trying to discern the Japanese writing.

"Uh…oh! 'Name', Merik Ishtar, duh." At this he glared at the still happy, very ignorant secretary. "'Age', uh, how old is Malik again…" He thought about this for a few moments before shrugging and writing "16" down on the paper. In fact, he was stunned that he could write at all, since he'd never personally learned how to do it. "'Address of Current Residence'. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" ::Hey, Malik?::

: … :

::Malik? Please answer me.::

:What do you want? I'm busy.:

::You were asleep.::

:Hey, if the teachers want us to pay attention in school, they shouldn't have us get up so early.:

::…Right…What does 'Address of Current Residence' mean?::

: …You really don't know?:

::No.::

:Where we live.:

::Oh.:: Merik stared at the paper again and frowned. ::Where is that?::

: … Oh fine.: Malik gave the address for his apartment and shut the link down. But almost a second later, Merik spoke up again.

::Malik, what would I put for 'Previous School'?::

Merik heard his hikari sigh exasperatedly through the mink link. :The Cairo Institute of Arabic Study (1). Happy?:

::No. What allergies do you have?::

There was another sigh. :Do you want me to answer everything on those forms for you?:

::That would help, yes.::

:Fine.:

After what seemed like three hours, Merik finally stood up and walked back to the secretary's desk where said secretary was now seeing if she could stand on an egg without making it break. She'd already broken about fifty and by the looks of it, had just broken another one under the book she'd been using.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" she asked as Merik approached.

Die. "I finished the forms," Merik answered dryly. Malik is so going to pay for this.

"Oh! So you did!" said the woman as she took the papers. "I thought you looked somewhat familiar!" She read over the forms, occasionally typing something into the computer and whispering the whole time. Merik suspected she was either completely insane or mental retarded and wished again that she could die. He was caught off guard when she shoved another paper in his face. "Here, this is your schedule, and your supplies list, and a planner, and–well, I'm sure you'll look through it all. Yearbook pictures are on the fifteenth of this month. Now you should probably get to class. Later, Mr. Ishtar!"

Merik staggered out of the room trying to organize the pile off stuff in his hands at least a little bit. He pulled his schedule out, which appeared to be something that told him what classes he had, and it told him he had lunch right now. In the cafeteria. Wherever that was….

1) Good name for a school, right? And it's completely made up.