Thanks to Cutetyhil, ILoveMySweetIndia, Minij Akane and Darkened-Storm for reviewing the previous chapter.

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Chapter One: Welcome to Bey State High

"This school will be your new home, Kai."

Kai sat down across from the kitchen table, gripping his knife and fork as firmly as he could. So firmly his knuckles were turning white, but he didn't loosen his grip. "You're sending me to school again."

His grandfather nodded. The man was dressed in his black business attire, and his shoulders were pinned back to make him appear confident and bigger. He even wore his suit when he wasn't working. Status was important to the man. "I removed you from that school for your own good."

"The school was fine. It was one of the finest in Japan."

"The students were unkind to you."

"No, they weren't. They tried talking to me. I just didn't want to talk back." His thoughts drifted to his old school back in Tokyo. He shared a dorm with a boy called Wyatt. Never had he met a boy so obsessed with him. It didn't matter how many times he told Wyatt to piss off, the boy kept coming back, determined to impress him. "There's a difference, Voltaire," Kai said, using his grandfather's name.

The older man glared, furrowing his thick, bushy brows. "I know what happened. Wyatt committed suicide by hanging himself above your bed. His parents blamed you for his death. We couldn't stay, Kai. You know that. I had no choice but to take you out and have you home-schooled."

Kai put his knife and fork down and looked away towards the window. "It wasn't my fault," he murmured. "I was mad. He kept trying to be my friend, and you know I don't like being pushed." Kai prided himself on keeping a cool head, but even ice could break. And one day Wyatt had pushed him to a breaking point. The boy had killed himself the next morning. Kai had found the boy hanging above his bed with a suicide note on his pillow. Turning back to Voltaire he added, "I didn't think he would actually kill himself."

Voltaire nodded his features relaxing. "I know. I don't blame you. But you couldn't stay."

"I'm sorry. You were doing your best."

Heaving a deep sigh, Voltaire said, "You've been home-schooled for the past year."

"And I've been doing fine."

"You need to socialize with other people, Kai. Make friends."

Kai held back a laugh. "I don't need friends."

"You need connections in the real world outside school. That's why I'm sending you back."

"I don't get a say in this do I?" Shoulders sagging, he added, "What school?"

"Bey State High."

"You're sending me to a public school?"

Voltaire nodded. "It'll be good for you."

"I thought you wanted me to get a good education."

"And you will. Stanley Dickinson is the principal. I was partners with him for a few years in a business venture when you were just a child. The school has a good reputation. Don't let the word 'state' fool you." Voltaire started eating his bacon and egg sandwich.

On the other hand, Kai just looked down at his breakfast, his appetite gone. A state school in his final year of schooling. His most important year when everything mattered. What was Voltaire thinking? State school just translated to more drama, and he had experienced enough of that to last a lifetime. "You think I'll make friends."

"I expect you to. Please, Kai. For once just try. Do you want another suicide?"

Kai shook his head. "No."

"Then you'll make friends. Stanley has already named me your buddy."

"Buddy?"

"Yes. Your companion will show you around and make you comfortable."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Kai said, "So the school decides my friends for me."

"…It's a head start."

"So, who are they?"

"His name is Tyson Granger. He's not a straight-A student, but I hear he's a hard-working individual with a big heart. Just try not to cause any problems in the first week – at least try to get along. If you don't like him, you can find other friends. You'll also be doing five main subjects plus three other core subjects."

The same words had been used to describe Wyatt. Was he going to have to deal with another Wyatt? "You chose them for me."

"Advanced maths, accounting, information processing technology, legal studies, and economics," Voltaire explained seemingly pleased. "You'll also have to do physical education classes, leadership and English. There's also a business class everyone has to take once every fortnight."

"…You know me well enough."

"These were the same subjects you were studying during home-schooling. Except for the sport and leadership classes, but you were doing everything else already. It's only natural you should continue especially if you want to take over our family business later in life. You need the necessary skills." Voltaire then stood up.

Kai sunk in his chair. "…I hope you're right about all of this."

"I'm rarely wrong. Finish your breakfast and I'll meet you downstairs." Voltaire finished his food, then stood up, carrying his empty plate to the kitchen sink. He didn't return to the table but headed to the bathroom instead.

Kai continued to eat in silence, his mind reflecting over Voltaire's words. So, Tyson was going to be his forced 'friend'. "I just hope you're nothing like Wyatt," he murmured.

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Dark eyes peered at him. "Hi, my name is Tyson Granger, and I'm going to be your buddy." The boy stuck his hand out towards Kai, using his other hand to adjust his navy-blue baseball cap.

Kai glanced down and held back a sigh. Every high school seemed to think new students needed a 'buddy' to show them around the place because the teachers couldn't be bothered to do the orientation stuff themselves. He took the boy's hand and shook it firmly. "Teachers can't be stuffed doing it themselves, right?"

Tyson grinned. "Too much of an effort from them. They've already got enough to deal with. But hey. Don't worry too much. I'll help you feel right at home. You're going to love it here." He held his arms up in the air.

"Love school? You're kidding me… right?"

Best to try and get along. Having a 'buddy' didn't mean they had to be best of friends or anything, but he wasn't looking for any trouble in the first couple of days. Besides, Tyson could give him information about the ins and outs of the school system and the student hierarchy. He seemed friendly enough. Maybe a little too friendly like an over enthusiastic puppy dog, but it was better than his previous place where no attempts at friendship were made.

Tyson chuckled. "You got a good sense of humour. You'll need it you want to survive. I mean, you've got all the schoolwork to worry about, but you're forced to pick a co-curricular activity too. Mr Dickinson calls it character building. Whatever the hell that means."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "What sort of activities?"

"There are twelve activities to choose from. If you like sport, you have rugby, tennis, baseball, basketball, and fencing as your options. I'm doing fencing myself because I'm good at it. Then you have the more academic side of things like mathletes, history club, and writing. As for the last five? Well, we have dance, drama, community service, music performance and spiritual."

None of those options appealed to him at all. "Right."

"My brother, Hiro, he organizes all this co-curricular stuff. He'll probably ask for a meeting later with you so you can discuss options with him. My brother is going to try and convince you to join the mathletes, but I wouldn't do it. You'd have to hang out with Emily and Brooklyn – the two most boring personalities in school. Don't say you haven't been warned. It's social suicide." Tyson shuddered.

"…But I'm good at maths."

Tyson's mouth dropped open. "I just told you, Kai. It's social suicide. Don't do it."

Kai raised his hands defensively. "All right, all right. I got it. No mathletes."

Relief washed over Tyson's face. "And don't join the writing club."

"Why not?"

"What? You want to do more work?" He shuddered again. "None of that stuff will make your grades better, believe me. Teachers here aren't that soft. Anyway. We should get going. We've got the first lesson off so I can show you around the school. You'll need to know where your classes are, where to sit at lunch time to avoid conflict, and all the other cool stuff."

Kai nodded. "Avoid conflict? People fight over tables?"

"Uh, yeah. Social status matters. You've been to a highschool before. Right?"

"I attended an all-boys private school in Tokyo for a few sometime then grandfather decided to have me home-schooled instead."

"And now he's changed his mind?"

Kai nodded again. "You could say that. He thinks I need a social life."

"Well, you picked the right school. I've been here for the past four years. I know everything about this place. Don't worry, Kai – I'll make you feel right at home here." Tyson flashed him a smile then headed towards the exit of the administration building.

They stepped out into the quadrangle, and Kai felt like he was taking a stroll at the local park instead of being at school. There were a few picnic tables around the place, and several oak trees providing shelter. The perimeter of the place was made up of neatly trimmed hedges. Students entered the area through the archways which were decorated with purple flowers. "Nice garden," Kai commented. The place was currently empty, but he suspected there'd be groups of students all around the place either on tables or sitting on the grass.

"Unfortunately, we don't get to sit here. This is the place for the wealthy. The rest of us peasants dine in the cafeteria hall."

"Place for the wealthy?" Kai had only been at this school for less than an hour and already he was beginning to develop an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. The school had unseen rules, but everyone seemed to understand there was a hierarchy in place.

"Yeah. The Majestics."

"Majestics?" Kai snorted. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Well, it's what we call them. Rich snobby kids who think they can do whatever they want because they have heaps of money. You know, some of these chairs even have their family names on them to remind the entire school who they are." Tyson spat at the ground. "You'll probably see a few of them in your classes. The admin lady told me you were taking all the business-type subjects."

What else had the school shared about him? His entire life story? Kai held back a groan and said, "Yeah. I already know want I want to do after school, so I thought I'd get a head start on my learning."

"Oh, aspirations for university? Heh. You'll get on great with Hilary and Kenny."

"Friends of yours I assume?"

Tyson nodded. "Yeah. Ill introduce you to them at morning tea. They'll be at the cafeteria." He led Kai towards one of the chairs with names on them. There were silver name plates on the edges of the seating.

Kai read the first name. "Jurgen."

"Robert Jurgen. He's the head boy and he's also head of the history club. Really arrogant. He won't even talk to you if he doesn't deem you worthy of being on his status. He just pretends you don't exist."

Kai moved to the next name. "McGregor."

"Ah yeah, Johnny McGregor. You won't find a more obnoxious douchebag than this guy. He's even more annoying than the jocks – I know. I didn't think that was even possible, but Johnny is a jerk. He's the sports captain and all-around athlete, and he likes to make sure everyone knows it."

"Right. Rich kid and jock combined as one. That is a deadly combination."

Tyson held back a chuckle. "Yeah."

"Giancarlo."

"Enrique Giancarlo. Now he's a character. He thinks he's God's gift to women, and that money will buy him eternal happiness and hot girls. If you're wearing a skirt, he'll come after you. He also throws the biggest parties in town and pays people to do his work for him." Tyson scrunched up his face in disgust.

"And lastly, Polanski."

"Oliver Polanski. He's not as bad as his friends, but he can be pretty blunt," Tyson remarked. "He's the total opposite of Johnny. Loves art and pretty things. Still a jerk though. You know, last year he rented out the entire art museum for himself for a full day. How selfish is that? Self-entitled pricks." He kicked the grass.

"People to avoid then. What else should I know about this school?"

"Sport is a huge thing here. Athletes are treated like demigods."

"The same as any high school," Kai said, pulling out his school diary from his bag. "So. What building am I in?" He opened the diary and turned to the timetable page which the school had kindly filled out.

Tyson peered over. "C Block. Oh, the business building. That's the good thing about this school. All subjects within the same area are all in one building. You'll have legal, economics and accounting there. Our business lessons are there too. You know the school office we just left from? C Block is the building behind it. Three floors. Anyway. Mathematics will be over at B Block. That's on the opposite side of the school behind the cafeteria hall. Two floors only."

"And information technology?"

"The computer labs. That's next to the music centre. You can't miss it. It's a big grey building with the words 'Bey High Music Centre' on it with a big musical note symbol. That's to the west of the school office. You have a school map, so as long as you're good with directions, you'll be fine. Sport classes are obviously in the sport hall. English and leadership classes are in D Block. You'll have to walk through the garden path to get there. It's past the library."

Seemed easy enough. "Right."

"I'll take you to your buildings, so you know what they look like then we'll meet the others at morning tea. It'll be good to know some familiar faces at least. You have English and law with Hilary and myself. Economics with Rei. Mathematics and information technology with Kenny and Max. And you have business and sport with me. Unfortunately, you're alone for accounting but it's a small class. You'll be fine."

Tyson didn't waste time. Kai appreciated that. It was a fair bit of information to absorb, but Tyson kept it simple. Maybe he and Tyson would get along just fine.

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And that's the first half of the introductory chapter done and dusted! Chapters will be around the 2000–2500-word mark.

In the next chapter, you'll get to read more about Kai fitting into his new life, and how the suicide of Wyatt affects him still. It's still a fresh thing in his mind. This will explain his current characterization here (I'm kinda learning more towards the friendlier Kai in V-Force). See you in the next chapter!

On a random self-promotion note, I encourage you to read my Beyblade season 4 story, A Hero's Last Cry for a journey full of drama, action, and tension. Also, check out Darkened-Storm's No Sacrifice, No Victory for another season 4 style story.