Chapter 3

"Are you copying me?" A redheaded girl said.

Naruto stared at her with an incredulous look. How dare she accuse her of something like this. Though who could blame her? Even he was caught off guard by this.

He stared at the girl longer. He couldn't help but admire her medium-length red-orange hair or the star-shaped hair accessories on her hair. It was like something within him was programmed to love that red hair. He stared at those dark blue eyes of hers.

"Uh, hello?" The girl said. "Your food's ready."

Shaking himself out of his trance, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Right, sorry."

"Get moving!" The lunch lady scolded. "You're holding up the line."

"Let's go!" The girl pushed him out to look for a table.

"It's nice to see I'm not the only new student here in the school," The redhead said, making small talk.

"I heard there were a lot of transferees this year," Naruto answered absentmindedly.

"I do hope my grades this year would improve," She mumbled to herself.

Naruto caught that and gave her an odd look, "What was that?" He asked just to make sure.

"N-nothing!" She vehemently shook her head. Looking in the distance, she shouted. "Over there! I see a table."

Naruto followed her slowly. To him, there was no need to rush. Just as soon as she placed her tray on the table, a boy placed his own tray across from her on the same table. It was a boy with black hair styled in a bowl cut. He had yellow eyes and a thuggish demeanor. Despite this, she held her ground.

The girl frowned. "Excuse me sir, but I got here first." She said, stating her claim.

"This is where I always sit during lunch break," The thuggish boy argued. "So, you should move to that table over there. Look there's room for one more person over there." He pointed to where Naruto was sitting down. Naruto had decided it was pointless to watch the argument and dig into his food.

There were a couple of arguments here and there that Naruto ignored, but in the corner of his eyes, the two sat down across from each other.

He tuned out what was said. He had been pretty good at doing that. That was what he normally did in his previous school. Shrugging everything off, he bit into the tempura and chewed silently as he listened to the song playing on his phone. He had to say, he made the right choice in downloading this new playlist.

SLAP!

As he took another bite of his food, he almost choked when he heard a loud slap almost right next to him.

He took the headset out of his ear and assessed the situation. There stood the red-headed girl he met earlier. She had her cheeks puffed and her arms crossed looking away from the boy.

The other guy promptly left after being humiliated in public like that.

"Stupid idiot calling me fat," She mumbled to herself as she stomped back to the table.

"If it's all the same to you," Naruto spoke breaking the girl out of her angry expression. "I don't think you'll get fat. It's only natural for growing kids like us to eat a lot, right?"

"Now I find someone who is reasonable!" The girl nodded in agreement. "Besides, who am I to refuse such good food, right?"

"Tell me about it!" Naruto followed up.

"I'm going to enjoy this school if half the students are as reasonable as you," The girl muttered to herself. "Say, I never caught your name."

"Uzumaki Naruto," The blonde introduced himself. "What's your name, pretty lady?"

The girl blushed at the compliment that Naruto had so nonchalantly given to her.

"N-nakano Itsuki," She said, looking away in embarrassment.

"So, you went to school with Heartfilia-san," Naruto asked.

"Yes, Black Rose Academy." Itsuki nodded.

"I'm surprised you didn't retain the formal way of speaking," The blonde pointed out.

The girl chuckled nervously. "Well, we had other problems to worry about. We aren't exactly the model students."

"We?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You have siblings?"

She nodded. "Sisters, five of them. I'll introduce you tomorrow if you like."

"Meh," Naruto shrugged. "Sure why not."

Naruto continued to stare at the girl who was transferring who was eating as much as he was. Somewhere deep inside of him, he could hear phantom voices of his past that he tried so hard to forget.

It was right after class. Naruto was walking out of the school. He contemplated everything that happened today. Despite the neutral expression he was showing right now, he had fun today. He talked so long with that girl who loved to eat that the hour had gone by so fast. He didn't even notice it, but he loved talking to that girl for some reason, even though conversations were so troublesome before.

"Ahem," Someone called Naruto's attention by clearing her throat. Something about this seemed awfully familiar.

Naruto looked up to see a young woman about his age with scarlet red hair and brown eyes. She had a slender and voluptuous figure for her age that most guys would fawn over and a pair of glasses over her eyes. She was wearing a red skirt similar to the other girls and a red coat over her school uniform and a golden chain-like accessory around her neck.

"You're…" Naruto massaged his chin trying to remember where he had seen this girl before. "Seito Kaichou? You had that speech this morning, right?"

"Yes, yes," The redhead nodded and stepped closer to the blonde. "I'm Erza Scarlet."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Naruto, and I'm new here in case you didn't know" Naruto introduced himself.

"I'm aware," She said, looking around her nervously.

"Is there something bothering you?" Naruto asked.

"I need a favor from you," She said without hesitation. "You see, there's this stalker who follows me around town and —"

"B-but, why me? This is the first time we've met. The first time we talked to each other even!" Naruto tried to protest, sensing something troublesome was about to be asked of him.

"Please I beg of you," Erza lowered her head in desperation. "I won't ask much from you."

Naruto sighed. There was no way he could refuse her now at this rate. "What do you need?" He asked.

"I need you to walk home with me," She pleaded. "You don't need to do anything, just walk beside me."

Well, there was a first time for everything. Naruto's gut was wrong on this one. It wasn't that troublesome at all. At least, he hoped it wasn't. What could possibly go wrong if he walked with the Seito Kaichou. They're just walking together. Nothing remotely troublesome could come out of this, right?

He sighed once again. "Is that all?'

"Yes. Please, if you could be so kind," She said.

"Fine," Naruto nodded and gestured for her to walk.

"So, you're new in school, huh" Erza gave Naruto a once over as she spoke trying to break the ice.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Had to transfer here cause my godfather works near here."

That was partly true. He didn't feel the need to tell her the real reason why he had to transfer.

"I see," Erza hummed while trying to think of something else to say to keep their walk home from getting too awkward.

Not long after they began walking together, they turned a corner only for Erza to freeze in her step.

Catching on to what is happening, Naruto heard the sound of mumbling approaching as they neared the edge of a building.

Turning the corner, a man dressed in a blue school uniform under a long dark blue coat. His face was covered by a green mask and a bandana the same color as his coat. Despite his hidden features, something about the man's voice seemed to frighten the president.

The student paid them no heed. He simply walked past them while mumbling things to himself that Naruto didn't bother to understand.

Once he was out of sight, she let out a sigh, but Naruto was able to tell it was a breath she had been holding. Was he scared of the guy? Whatever the reason, Naruto didn't ask. He figured the girl wouldn't tell him.

"You okay?" He instead asked.

"I-I'm fine," Erza tried to sound calm. "I'll be fine."

"Come on," Naruto said. "Whatever this is you're afraid of, don't worry, kay?"

"He just startled me that's all," Erza still tried to defend herself.

"I'm sure you were," the blonde took her word for it. "Now, where was it that we needed to go to?"

"Right," The president remembered where was it she needed to go before she goes back to the dorms. "Grocery shopping. I need to pick up some groceries."

Naruto sighed. He had inadvertently gotten himself into something troublesome. He had to do some chores now. He shrugged to himself. There was no way he could turn her down now. He was Naruto Uzumaki damn it, and there was no way he would go back on his word.

"Sorry, you had to come with me," Erza apologized, seeing the reaction of the boy she out of nowhere asked to come with her.

"No, it's okay," Naruto shook his head. "I would probably get some stuff for the house as well.

The seitou kaichou smiled. "All right let's go!"

Naruto sighed as if he had just gone through the most excruciating form of torture. His only solace right now was that he was on his way home, finally.

It was not that Naruto hated every minute he spent with the redhead that for some reason asked him to accompany her. He was just looking forward to going home after school. I mean what student did not feel that way?

And so, there he was walking home to the apartment that he shared with the Pervy Writer. He was just minding his own business when he finally paid attention to his surroundings. He noticed that he was being followed.

How'd he know?

Well, this was the third corner he turned and still, this guy or whatever it was, was still on his heels.

He wasn't scared of whoever this was. He just wanted his privacy.

So, he scurried off, trying to avoid his pursuer. He was glad he explored the community on his first night here. He knew his way around the narrow streets.

Once he was sure that he was alone, he let out a breath of relief.

Man, that was stressful. He took in a breath of fresh air. He preferred being alone, but there was something inside of him that was tingling when he was being chased or when he accompanied the seitou kaichou, and even when he was having lunch with that girl from Black Rose Academy. Could it be that he liked the company of others?

"Nah, don't be ridiculous," Naruto laughed aloud as he entered the doors of the apartment building.

He walked through the halls as he normally would, pushing those thoughts out of his mind. He entered the elevator and pushed the button for the 30th floor.

When he first set foot in this building, he couldn't believe it. His godfather's books really were selling. At that moment, he lost hope in humanity. There was really a lot of them who bought these kinds of books. And seeing his own teacher at the school shamelessly carrying that taboo in public…humanity really was doomed.

Anyway, no matter how many times he walked through this lobby, he could never get over how high-tech and expensive everything looked.

DING

The elevator dinged as he reached his destination floor. Though, when he left the elevator, the doors on the elevator next to him opened.

Suddenly, the vibes of when he was being chased returned. He didn't get a good look on whoever was on his tail, but the feeling was similar.

Once the doors opened, a little girl walked out.

It was a fair-skinned petite girl. She had waist-length, dark blue hair with a pair of bangs that reached down to her chest. She wore a simple dress with two wavy stripes running across the dress and ending in small pointed edges at the bottom. Around her arms and legs were wing-like attachments.

The girl stared back at him with a look of longing. There was sadness in those brown eyes that bore through his soul. Suddenly, the girl started to tear up.

Just as Naruto was calming down, he was knocked off his feet. When he regained his bearings, he felt something wrapping around his midsection.

"Uhm, are you okay little girl?" Naruto asked confused at what is happening. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Nii-chan," The girl cried into his chest. "I thought I lost you for good."

Confusion struck Naruto. He hasn't seen this girl ever in his life and yet here she was calling him with affection and longing.

All that crossed his mind was: "Eh?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," The girl profusely apologized to the blonde who just sat there on the couch with a sweatdrop trying to appease the girl.

"Look, like I said, it's fine alright?" Naruto said one more time.

That surprisingly did the trick and the girl stopped.

She let out one more sniffle and Naruto decided to speak, "Hey, we haven't introduced each other yet. I'm Naruto, I live just next door. What's your name?"

"I-I'm Wendy," The girl introduced herself sheepishly. She was still embarrassed that she mistook her new neighbor for her brother. Not that Naruto can blame her though, he had seen the little shrine that was in the living room. And he has gotta say, there was some kind of uncanny resemblance there.

"Nice to meet you, Wendy," Naruto said with a smile. He took a bite of the cake that he was offered and decided to ask the question. He had his suspicions, but he just had to confirm. "So…" He swallowed the chunk of cake. "What happened to your brother?"

"Uhm," The smile left Wendy's face. She had a melancholic look on her face as she remembered what her brother said to her before he left. "H-he left for a job when he was younger. He promised me that he would return one day, but…That was a long time ago…"

"Do you live with someone, Wendy?" Naruto asked.

"I live here with my mother," She answered. "She's at work right now. She won't get back until much later."

"What did she say about your brother? Did she tell you anything?" He prodded further.

Wendy just shook her head. "Mother said that he is on a top-secret mission in a far-away land. Even to this moment, he is helping people. Before he left, he promised me that he would come back."

"I see," Naruto said as he watched the tears fall from her eyes. It was clear that she missed her brother very much and seeing him caused her to release all her pent-up emotions. He could feel that she had been holding back her emotions all this time.

"You must be a student, right Wendy?" Naruto said changing the subject. "Where do you go?"

"I actually go to Fairy Hills Academy," She said. "I have seen you a couple of times at school. You seem to be friendly with the new students."

Naruto shrugged, "Well. it's not that I'm trying to talk to them. They started the conversations. Anyway, I guess I'll be seeing you at school then?"

"Definitely!" Wendy beamed.

THE NEXT DAY

It was definitely a weird day he had, the day before. He felt bad that he assumed whoever was following him was 'stalking him'. It turns out he misjudged her. She was actually pretty cute when you think about it. It sadly reminded him of himself when he was younger and felt tired of the world.

He shook his head to get the bleak thoughts out of his head. Today, he was determined to keep this day quiet and normal, as quiet as his new friends would make it.

Naruto yawned as he walked into the school's front gate. He didn't feel tired per se, but his body was still trying to wake up. Let's be honest, who would have that much energy in the mornings like this.

As he yawned, he almost jumped when he heard a groan coming from what he thought was his headset. There was nothing around him that he noticed or paid attention to except the giant tree that was planted on the school's front lawn. I mean, who wouldn't miss such a big structure. Anyway, he wasn't expecting that, so you can just imagine the surprise he had when he heard that.

Naruto looked around and saw nobody beside him. His eyes looked higher up the tree and they widened entirely when he saw what was on the tree.

One of them, on the left side of the tree, was a slim young man with orange hair jutting backward at the sides of his head. He has a sharp face, a prominent, flat and defined nose pointing downwards, and distinctive teeth, with a protruding, sharp, triangular-shaped upper molar complemented by a chipped portion on the lower row, something which allows him to close his teeth completely despite such a peculiar physical irregularity.

On the right side of the tree was a tall, slim young man with black hair kept in an unusual, distinctive hairstyle, with a tuft of hair on top of his head jutting upwards and then curving frontwards, reminding everyone of a small seedling. His hair extends in a rounded form on his forehead and was cut on both sides of his head in a spiraling motif. He had dark eyes and thin dark eyebrows pointing downwards at their outer edges; his rectangular-shaped face sported sharp features, with prominent cheekbones.

The last one was a rather young (around Naruto's age, well all of them were), petite teenage girl of a slender build who was at a rather below-average height for her age. Her shoulder-length blue hair, which has eyebrow-length bangs, is normally tied up with a colorful bandana around her head.

What surprised Naruto here was the fact that they weren't sitting on the tree. They were hanging off pegs that were impaled into the tree. To add insult to injury, there were iron tubes jutting from the tree trunk, like it was sending a message.

Naruto walked forward to the slowly gathering crowd and asked one of his schoolmates.

"Yo, what happened here?" He inquired.

It was a woman who answered, "They were ambushed last night when they were going home."

Naruto turned to see it was the unusually busty Guidance Counselor who took a liking to wool coats.

"Who had the ba— I mean, in the right mind would sneak into our school and beat up no one, but three of our students?" Naruto asked again, catching himself from speaking so informally in front of one of the school staff.

"When something happens here, the culprit is always the gang from Phantom Academy," Aries said. "And judging by the way this was done, this is the work of the gang's leader."

"GAAAAAAAH!" A fiery yell exploded from the middle of the schoolyard. Naruto couldn't mistake it. It was his classmate with a short fuse and loud mouth. "I'M GONNA GET BACK AT THEM! EVERYONE! COME WITH ME! WE'RE GOING TO WAR!"

"Agk!" Natsu blurted out as he was stopped by the scary-looking Seito Kaichou with a chop to the head.

"I think not!" Erza grabbed him by the scruff of his neck preventing him from scurrying off to pick a fight.

"Buuuut Erza!" Natsu tried to talk his way out. "We have to avenge our classmates!"

"You will do nothing of the such," Erza maintained her firm stance. "We will leave this to the proper authorities. Besides, we still have classes today."

As if to prove her point, the bell rang, the signal for the students to enter the building for the morning rites.

"Gah! Fine!" Natsu stomped over to the inside, pissed that he didn't get to cause trouble.

"Stupid kaichou and her stupid goody two shoes—" He mumbled as he went on his way.

"What was that?" Erza called out hearing Natsu's grumbling.

"N-nothing, Erza-sama!" Natsu sputtered out hearing the kaichou's angry tone. "I'll be on my way now!"

With a screech, Natsu scurried off to the inside of the building without letting her hear anymore words lest suffer the iron fist of the strict girl.

"That goes the same to all of you!" Erza turned to the students crowding around the tree. "Everyone! Get to the morning rites now!"

Naruto yawned as his classmates sang the school's song. After the excitement in the school's front yard, he figured that nothing else would surprise/amuse him today.

Anyway, as the morning rites ended, an extremely short, elderly man walked up to the stage. He has black eyes and is growing bald with only the outer rims of his head containing white hair, but his face had a thick white mustache on it.

He walked up to the podium and disappeared behind it. Not long after, the students tried to hold in their laughter as they heard light thumping on the stage floor. Everyone knew where it was coming from.

One of the teachers sighed. A muscular man with a cow print shirt and gym attire walked up to the stage to help him. The man looked awfully familiar, like Naruto had seen him before. But he was getting vibes that he was another fan of that wretched book.

This was one occurrence that always happened when he wanted to speak in front of the student body. He walked up to the podium and bent down to lift the old man.

The giggles became louder as the students began to hear protests from the old man that went a little like this.

"Wait, wait! What are you doing?"

"Unhand me you brat!"

"I can do this myself!"

After much protesting that included words that were unbecoming of a teacher, the old man was placed on top of the podium. He shot the teacher a glare, then transferred the glare to the students.

"Now if I hear another laugh from one of you brats…" He let the threat hang in the air.

The laughter effectively died down as he said that. The gymnasium was quiet at that, save for the few coughs from the crowd. Sometimes, the old man can be scary despite his short stature.

The old man cleared his throat. The cold exterior disappeared, as it was replaced by something that of a grandfatherly aura.

"Good morning, dear students," The old man began. "For our new students in this gymnasium, I am Makarov Dreyar, your principal. It is a pleasure to meet you all. I hope that your stay in our Academy will be fruitful."

His expression turned serious.

"As you know, three of our students had been injured from an encounter. You students must already have heard the rumors of who the supposed culprits of this here incident. We will be working with the authorities to find these delinquents and bring them to justice. As for you, I urge you to not engage with them. We will let the proper authorities handle this. For safety, refrain from staying out too late, if you can avoid it. That is all for the announcement."

The seriousness on his face lifted for quite a bit. He was back to the concerned grandfather aura he held earlier.

"Now, run along children. Go back to your classrooms and have another fruitful day of learning."

As Naruto expected, the classes were uneventful. Nothing much happened except for the new lessons that he somehow didn't sleep through.

But little did he know, lunch time would be…quintessential…