Sorry, sorry. My Irene is a blonde, blue-eyed Irene, much to the annoyance of some of the Snob School readers. But yeah, she needed to be a bit different and I read this description of her and liked it, so the blonde, blue-eyed Irene was born. I know she's closer to a brunette or a red-head, with green or brown eyes (it's been so long since I've played NG that I've forgotten! Yeowch!) but in this story… she isn't. Sorry for any confusion there. :)

That aside… they've finally made it to college! Yay! Now here's where the real story begins… I think…


All that stilted the picturesque view of the mountain sunset was the trees that adorned the area. So many trees littering the landscape, nothing to spoil his view of the utter beautifulness of isolation. His solitude, but not for much longer.

He sighed softly. This is my last night here. Tomorrow, it's back down to suburbia. To college. And there is no way that I would want to go, but… it is something that I must do. For Father, and to prove to myself that I indeed can. I must.

Emerald eyes drifted to a picture on the mantle. The one remnant of his past life that he had brought along with him. The past life that he would be returning to, very shortly.

Kasumi. Hayate… and Ayane. I will be seeing you all again soon. I hope you didn't miss me.

He ran a hand through his chestnut brown locks, which now trailed far down his back.

Well, there is nothing I can do to avoid it. So. Suburbia and, in Ayane's words, snob college, here I come.

Ayane tossed her lavender hair back disdainfully upon seeing the large grey building and several other equally grey buildings around it. "What a hole," she muttered under her breath, hoping that her words would not invoke any reaction from her half-brother, Hayate.

Unfortunately, they did.

"No doubt you said something of the sort this time the year before last?" he asked, feigning innocuousness. She shot him a glare, gesturing with a black-gloved hand at the main building.

"Look at this shit-heap, onion-head. This is far worse then snob school. Far worse. It's a freaking tip. With dorms. I don't want to have to sleep in that thing. I'll get a disease,"

Hayate muffled a snort. She turned around, hitting him solidly in the arm as she did so.

"You knew what I was thinking?" Hayate asked, rubbing his arm where she had hit him. She nodded, folding her arms across her chest.

"Something disgusting and dirty, no doubt,"

Hayate smiled. "Of course. The only thing I was thinking is that the only disease you are likely to catch whilst in college is a sexually transmitted one-"

That earned him another hit, this time in the stomach.

"Okay, okay…" Hayate held up his hands in amity after regaining his breath. "No need to get so anal… I mean, you'll get enough of that here, no doubt?"

"You are asking to die, aren't you?" she snapped angrily, secretly quite offended by the remark. "Anyway, don't you have anyone else to bother? Where's Kasumi? Did she find some other, above-mere-mortal way to get here, rather then in your shit-bucket?"

"Hey, Ayane. This 'shit-bucket' is your only mode of transportation for a while. I would watch it if I were you," Hayate yawned and stretched. "After a year of break, it's sure going to be hard to get back into study mode, that's for sure,"

She glanced across at her half-brother. The lucky bitch had been overseas for most of the year, sporting a nice golden tan to prove it. As for her, she had been stuck with shitty weather, no tan and no transport for over half a year. Sometimes her life sucked.

"And to make things even worse, now I have no idea how to get around. Just when I was getting used to everything in a snob school, I get booted up into Snob College. Maybe I should have just dropped out. Would have made things a damn lot easier then learning where everything is again,"

"That never bothered you before," Hayate pointed to a sign saying 'office'. "Maybe they can tell us where we're supposed to be going. Damn. I really want to dump this suitcase and unpack my stuff as soon as possible. This thing's heavy,"

"Asshole," she muttered under her breath.