hiya, back with another chapter.

we'll be reaching the peak of the story very very soon so watch out for this space!

"Everyone please, get your history text books out on the page you did your homework on."
Ayumi rummaged around in her bag and pulled out the neat book, flicking it open onto the page next to the family tree example. As the teacher walked along the various aisles collecting the books to mark, a rising panic suddenly erupted inside her. She had spent all of her spare time that she would usually spend studying, researching her bloodline and staying at Yoshiki's, so she hadn't got round to actually doing it. She has never ever forgotten to do homework in her entire life, through elementary, middle and high school.
"Shinozaki, your book please?" asked the history teacher, promptly holding out his hand. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and this was noticed by the two girls at the back who always tormented her.
"I..."
"Ooh, what's wrong Shinozaki? Did you forget to do it?" laughed the taller one, producing a ripple of tuts and mocking laughs across the classroom from the other students.
"I did! I just didn't write it down!"
"Yeah right!" the other one sneered. "You were probably too busy snogging Kishinuma, he's probably put a bad influence on you!" Shame..."
"Hey!"
"Shhh!" boomed the teacher, silencing every voice that had echoed in the room. "Shinozaki, I'd appreciate it if you brought it to my desk tomorrow morning before break, or it will be a detention."
"Ooh, smarty Shinozaki just got served!"
"Haha, has she gone bad in the head? I think your time of being top of the class is over, maybe you'll give us a chance!"
Someone threw a sharp pencil at her, making her flinch slightly even though it didn't hurt her much. The boys started jeering at her reaction, making her wish that she could sink away into the floor,
"Doesn't look like she's gonna be the perfect class rep anymore!"
"Yurikau I'd appreciate it if you were quiet now and let me get on with my lesson."
"So sorry sir..."
"Good. Everyone please continue to work through the sheet that we left off last week, and the next one if you manage to finish. Shinozaki, please can you step out of the room for a minute?"
A few sounds that might of been mocks went around the room, but were quickly silenced by a girl who was deputy rep for the year, who honestly felt bad for everyone humiliating Ayumi so crudely like that.
"But, sir..." she protested, scraping her chair back with a wincing noise. The teacher, pointed at the door, so she gathered her stuff with a sigh and left the class room. Was he going to give her a detention already? She knew she rarely missed her homework deadline but why after once, when so many others had missed it loads of times and gotten away with out a punishment. However the teacher looked at her with kind eyes, making her feel more a ease.
"Shinozaki, why don't you take the the rest of this lesson off and complete it in the study area?"
"But sir..."
"Don't worry, I can tell your tense and the girls back in class weren't being particularly nice before were they. Has this happened before?"
"Only once, but it was only Yurikau and her friend..."
"If it persists and they get a bit rougher, you can always come to me you know. It's not right, and it could develop into something more."
"Thanks sir, but I really don't want to miss work!"
"Haha, don't be concerned, I'll be sure to give you an overload tomorrow for you to work on. The section they are covering today is too easy and you wouldn't enjoy it."
For a few moments, Ayumi wondered whether she should tell him about her family findings, but decided not to after all.
"I better go then, sir. Thanks again."
"No problem!" He called as she left, turning back into the classroom. He could see the two girls gossiping in the back and shook his head disapprovingly. He himself had been discriminated against in school, and even though Ayumi wasn't being treated that badly, they were still being mean to her. He really needed to keep a good eye on them, before they did anything out of hand.
Meanwhile Ayumi was in the cafè, sipping a mocha latte, deep in thought. She had already mapped up her basic family tree, with her parents, grandparents and great grandparents as well as various aunts and distant cousins. Although she knew where Sachiko would lie in the tree, she didn't add her on and stopped before it got to distant in order to avoid her and Yoshie. She glanced around the small school café, wondering what lessons Yoshiki, Naomi and Satoshi would be currently in. Although she had walked to school with Yoshiki, she hadn't seen him all day, and presumed he was still in class since it hadn't even been lunch yet. As she packed her stuff, she noticed that a dark shadows had been cast across where she was sitting. It was the girl from earlier with the sure name Yurikau, with the sneering face and dull expressionless eyes.
"Looks like 'sir' has got a favourite!"
Ayumi glared at her, slinging her school bag over her shoulder, cursing under her breath. What did she want with her now?"
"Leave me alone! I have to get to math..."
"Shut up! Your the reason I just got kicked out of class, and it put a stain on my reputation!"
"How was it my fault?" questioned Ayumi, trying to back away, but the girl had her cornered in the booth where Ayumi had been sitting.
"All I did was poke a bit of fun out of you behind your back and mess around in class. He really has it in for me and Mikua."
"Hardly. You got yourself into trouble!" Ayumi retorted, trying to writhe free from the tight grasp the girl now had on her wrist.
"I won't let you off so easily," she warned, twisting Ayumi's wrist menacingly. "I'm so sick of losers like you having the favour, I want the spot light all for myself!"
Ayumi gasped in sudden pain as she dug her nails into her wrist, ripping off the top layer of skin with ease.
"Please, I need to go..."
"Nauyia! Get off her!" came the voice of one of the registrars. She was short and stocky, a bit like Nauyia herself, and it suddenly dawned on her that they must have some relation to each other. She was right.
"Who's that Yurikau?" Ayumi asked, as Nauyia loosened her grip on her and glared in the direction of the woman.
"No one..."
"Goodness sake, have you been kicked out of a lesson? And you have a detention after school today too! I'm sorry dear if she's been bothering you, my daughter can be very misguided!"
Nauyia rolled her eyes, letting go completely of of Ayumi, but still facing her.
"Tell anyone," she said, quietly right by her face. "And your dead."
She stormed off, her mother giving Ayumi a sympathetic look as she returned behind the counter to serve another customer. She was aware her wrist was bleeding slightly, but she ignored it and rushed out of the café in the direction of the maths department, hoping she wasn't going to be late for yet another lesson.

"That's really great Naomi!"

Satoshi and Naomi were walking to maths, a lesson that they shared with Ayumi and Yoshiki, so they both looked forward to gathering all together in one class. Plus lunch was straight after, so they could all walk together without worrying about getting seats by each other. Naomi had just been telling her boyfriend about the nursing course her mother had booked her in, and Satoshi was being really supportive towards her, even though he would miss her most days after school for the three weeks it lasted. They were at the class room in seconds, and met Yoshiki, who was leaning casually against the door, clearly waiting for Ayumi.
"Hey man you ok?" greeted Satoshi, brofisting him.
"Good yeah. Seen Ayumi?"
"She's usually first here for lessons..." commented Naomi with a slight frown.
"Oh she was kicked out!" put in a short girl with a slight sneer. "Forgot her history homework. Teacher sent her away."
"I highly doubt that," countered Yoshiki, protective over Ayumi. "She's always got it on time!"
"Not today." said a boy, joining the conversation. "I heard that she got kicked out with Yurikau, you know that girl from 2-8 who's always getting into trouble!"
"No way!" shouted Naomi, who knew the girl from middle school. "Ayumi would never mix with a type like that!"
"You never know!" said the short girl with raised eyebrows, before suddenly looking shocked and walking away.
"That's ridiculous..." muttered Satoshi under his breath. By now the other boy had moved away, and an awkward silence settled amongst them.
"Were you guys...talking about me behind my back?" came Ayumi's quiet voice, with a hurt air to it.
"No."
"Of course not!"
"We were just diminishing stupid rumours spread about you!" insisted Yoshiki, snaking an arm around her waist reassuringly.
"Oh..."
The teacher appeared hastily, apologising for being late, before opening the door and letting the quiet students into the class room. Not wanting to cause more fuss, Ayumi got out her stuff quickly, her pencil case, maths book and calculator. Well, she should of got out her calculator, but it was missing from her bag. Frowning in annoyance, she came to the conclusion that she had stupidly left it at home, and scolded herself not to do it again. She really needed to concentrate more, taking a break like Satoshi was clearly not working for her at all. The hour went by quite quickly, the sums were not difficult, and no one in this class seemed to give her a hard time especially now that she had Yoshiki close to her. The bell went off with a loud clang, making Ayumi relieved for she was hungry and feeling the need for fresh air. But after a few seconds of it ringing, she realised this wasn't the normal lunch bell, it was the fire alarm, whirring loudly above them. Panic arised in the class room, since they were usually told if they were going to have a practice run through at the start of their first lesson. The teacher, though unnerved, told everyone to calm down and form a line alphabetically behind the door, to speed up the process of them leaving the building. They passed by several lines of startled looking students, however there was no smoke or screaming people to be heard anywhere. Anyway, a few minutes later, the whole school had gathered in jumbled lines, each teacher taking the register promptly with calm tones. Once everyone was conformed present, the students, and not to mention teachers started chatting amongst themselves. Ayumi tuned out of the relieved chatters of the students, and listened to the teachers stood a few feet away.
"...did you hear about the three schools torched down?"
"..pupils, three of them..."
"I was so...that he didn't ...our school!"
"...think...come to us next?"
"Who set off the alarm? ...sick...!"
What were they talking about? Ayumi dug in her memory for cases of schools being burnt down near by, and surprisingly, there were in fact three recent cases. The police suspected that they were linked, but they were a while away from Kisaragi so she didn't really worry about it. Several pupils had seen a giant man wielding a fire torch, flailing his arms around crazily. What if he did find Kisaragi? That would be just terrible...
The principal cleared his throat, causing everyone to turn to him with their attention.
"False Alarm!" he called out, sounding relieved like everyone else. "It appears it was a technical fault, but if anyone set it off purposely, if they come forward now their punishment will not be so severe."
Ayumi looked around. No one stepped forward.
"Fine. I think we will have to examine the building just incase, so I'm asking for no one to return to the school grounds untill the cause of the alarm going off has been found."
Several teachers exchanged concerned glances, clearly thinking about the cases of the other schools burning down.
"But sir, I left all my stuff in my classroom!" moaned a girl, making everyone stare at her.
"We will put everything out in the assembly hall tomorrow. For those of you who need your keys we will call your parents and see if they can collect you."
Yoshiki turned around to Ayumi, throwing her a questioning glance. She shrugged in return, just as the principal dismissed everyone.
She was going to do an awful lot of thinking tonight...

Who is this crazy man? Will Kisaragi burn down, or perhaps a... Familiar school? Will Nauyia keep on bothering AyumI until its full blown Bullying?

On another note

How will Naomi's course start in St cross girls school? Will she meet some familiar people? Will her letter reach Seiko?

SORRY YOULL HAVE TO WAIT

A DAY ! (!)

GoodKnight

(see what I did there? No? You'll find out soon...)