Setsuko is a girl's name? GAK! Really? I could have sworn I read somewhere that it could be used for either sex, but now I can't find where that was! I'm in quite a pickle because I don't want to change his name. In my head his name is Setsuko. It would be hard for me to adjust if I changed his name. Let's just say his parents wanted a girl. But would that be too weird? Like calling a guy Megan or something? I'd rather keep his name the way it is but if it really bothers everybody, let me know.

SETSUKO

Daichi was released from the infirmary just in time for history. Hoo-rah. This meant having to sit through a long drawn out lecture on some ancient war and trying to take notes. Not exactly fun. By the time the class was over Daichi could feel his hand cramping up on top of everything else. He just wanted this day to end so he could go home and go to bed.

"Hey Daichi!" Someone called.

Daichi looked around and saw Lotion running down the hall towards him. He could feel his heart beat speeding up. Had she heard about the glue incident? Was she going to give him advice on his project? Did she just want to say hi?

Then suddenly Lotion was next to him. "GAH!" Daichi shouted in surprise as he fell over and his books went flying.

"Are you okay?" Lotion asked.

"Yeah! Super!" Daichi stood up stiffly. "Just an uh…untied shoelace." He laughed nervously. "Wha…what did you want to say?"

"Oh I was just walking down the hall and thought I'd say hi."

Daichi smiled in utter bliss. She wanted to say hi! To me!

"Well, I gotta go." Lotion began walking on her way. "See you after school!"

Daichi waved. "Yeah, see you…" He blinked. "After school?"

"We're walking home together, right? We're meeting out front at the gate." Lotion continued.

"Oh…ah, okay!"

"Great! Bye!" Lotion continued on her way, not wanting to be late.

A large grin slowly broke out on Daichi's face. "We're walking home together. We're walking home together!" He threw his arms in the air and fell to his knees. "WE'RE WALKING HOME TOGETHER! HA HA!"

Everyone in the hallway stared. But Daichi didn't care. He stood up and skipped along, completely forgetting his books. A few moments later he saw Jatsuma walking down the hall with a cute girl.

"Jatsuma!" Daichi ran forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "We're walking home together!"

Jatsuma raised and eyebrow. "Don't we always walk home together?" The girl edged away from Daichi, clearly thinking he was crazy.

"Not you! Lotion!" Daichi released him. "She asked me to walk home with her!"

"She did? Really?"

Daichi narrowed his eyes. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Geez, I was just asking. No need to be so touchy." Jatsuma said.

"I'm not touchy, I'm just excited!" Daichi said happily. "Maybe we'll go out to eat together! Lotion will laugh at my jokes and start to think I'm cute, and…are you even listening?"

Jatsuma looked back at him "Hm? Yeah, jokes. Got it."

Daichi sighed and put a finger on his temple.

Just then the bell rang. "Oh no! I can't afford to miss anymore classes! See you at home Jatsuma!" Daichi took off.

Jatsuma waited until he was gone before turning to the girl. "Sorry about him. He's a little…" He stuck out his tongue and waved his finger in a circle next to his head. The girl giggled.

Math was Daichi's last class of the day. He was halfway there before he remembered he had left his books lying in the hall, so he ran back to get them and made it to class only a second before the bell rang.

"Everyone please take out your number two pencils and do the work on your desk." The teacher instructed.

Daichi worked through it quickly and then stared at the clock. He had never been so eager for school to get out. There wasn't anything that could break the mood of utter bliss he was in!

The bell rang. Daichi jumped out of his desk and fell over. "EEAH!" The other students filed past him out into the hall.

"Let me give you a hand." Someone held out their hand and Daichi took it, it was Setsuko. He helped pull Daichi to his feet.

"Thanks." Daichi began to throw his stuff into his school bag in a hurry.

"I meant to ask you earlier but you weren't around," Setsuko said. "I thought that we could meet up after school and talk about our project."

"Sorry, I can't." Daichi stood up with his bag in tow. "Lotion and I are walking home together! So I'll see you around. We can work on it later!" Daichi said as he walked out the door in a rush.

"But…" Setsuko started, but Daichi was already gone. He shrugged, grabbed his own bag and walked after him.

IN THE SCHOOLYARD

"You're walking home with him?" Luffa asked, flabbergasted. "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" She followed her sister across the schoolyard to the front gate.

Lotion rolled her eyes. "You are blowing this way out of proportion."

"Am I?" Luffa asked with narrowed eyes. "If you two start hang around together people are going to talk."

"I still don't see what the crisis is. Beside, it's not like we're going to be alone or anything."

"Well I still-"

"Lotion!" Daichi came tripping and stumbling through the crowd of students. "I'm here!" He fell down at their feet.

"Good luck." Luffa sighed as she walked off.

"What was that about?" Daichi asked as he watched her go.

"She's just worried about Setsuko." Lotion said. "It's really nothing at all."

"Oh, well…uh…" He started to blush as he stood up. "I'm ready to get going."

"Great."

"So, uh…I guess we should be…heading out."

"Shouldn't we wait a little while?"

"Yeah! Sure! We don't have to leave yet! We can leave whenever you want!" Daichi said franticly.

"O…kay." Lotion raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm great! Never been better!" Daichi said in a high voice.

"Hi guys!" Setsuko came walking through the crowd towards them. "You two sure got down here fast."

"Ready to go Setsuko?" Lotion asked.

"Huh?" Daichi looked around at Setsuko.

"Yeah. Daichi, you ran off before I got a chance to ask you if you wanted to walk home with Lotion and me. But I guess Lotion already told you."

"Oh…uh…yeah." It slowly dawned on Daichi that Lotion hadn't asked him to walk home with her at all. She had just thought that Setsuko had already asked him. Setsuko was going to walk with them.

The only thing he could do was try to retain a little dignity. "Let's go." He said in a cracked voice as he started to walk ahead.

After awhile Daichi fell back and walked with the other two. But they kept chatting about that stupid science fair. Daichi couldn't help but feel like a third wheel…and that irritated him.

"I still can't believe you didn't win." Setsuko said. "Your study on animal behavior was really brilliant! Those judges must have been blind!"

"I still got second place." Lotion said, flattered.

"But the presentation that won first place was so stupid. Teeth enamel? I mean really?"

Lotion laughed. Daichi snorted. How long could they go on about that?

"Here's my stop." Lotion said as they neared the Cat Café. "Thank you for walking me home guys."

"You're welcome!" Daichi said quickly before Setsuko could say anything.

"Think nothing of it." Setsuko said.

"Bye! See you at school tomorrow!" Lotion started to walk into the café.

"Lotion! Where you been? We have a packed house!" Shampoo yelled from inside.

"It's 'Where have you been?' Mom! 'Where have you been!'" Lotion ran into the restaurant.

Daichi and Setsuko both sighed heavily. Daichi blinked twice and looked at Setsuko.

"She really is very cute. Isn't she?" Setsuko said.

Daichi suddenly felt like he had been hit by a blot of lightening. His eye twitched badly. "What are you asking me for?" He grunted.

"I wasn't asking. I was just," Setsuko turned to Daichi with a threatening look in his eye. "commenting."

"Ah…" Daichi was lost for words. He backed away two steps; Setsuko's glare was accompanied by a strong fighting aura.

Suddenly Setsuko was pleasant again. "I guess you don't want to work on our project right now after all." He started walking down the street. "We'll work on it later. Bye Daichi."

Daichi watched him go. He felt like there was a brick in his stomach. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Yay! Second chapter! The ones after this are a bit more action packed.