"Class, we have a special student coming in today," Ryoma heard the teacher announced through the door. The old "special student" speech. Why wasn't he surprised? It didn't sound any better in Japanese than it did in English. Hearing the words "special student" made him sound like I freak. Like he was some kind of superior species that could kill them all if they weren't careful. Of course, when he was interviewing/interrogating possible witnesses, that aura could be favorable and might keep him from being stabbed, but in a school-setting it's just plain annoying. Anyone that doesn't shy away from him at once tries to badger him into becoming his friend to gain access to a private beach, water park, hotel, or whatever else they think he owns. Where's that Inui guy that's supposed to be here? And Ryuzaki-sensei, Oyaji's old coach is supposed to teach here too. I guess I'll just have to meet up with them after school. Although the school could have at least tried to notify him of the grade and homeroom teacher he'd be with. But really, why bother? If you can perform an autopsy on a six year old without throwing up, why shouldn't you be able to go one day as the new, rich, famous, kid in school with out any knowledge about what's going to happen or even the teacher's name, anyway?

Ryoma silently, laughed bitterly. They were reaching the "dramatic entrance" part. He gathered himself up, and adjusted his posture as he positioned his hand over the door handle. A sudden look of surprise, disbelief, admiration, and in some cases anger swept through the students' faces. That was his queue. Ryoma opened the door and let himself in. He didn't try to put on an air of superiority; everybody else was taking care of that for him.

"Hello," Ryoma spoke in an even voice in front of the class, "I'm Echizen, Ryoma. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." He bowed and waited for the teacher to tell him where to sit.

"Um take a seat behind Horio-kun for now, Echizen-kun, er, -san"

--"-kun,"—Ryoma interjected to spare the poor man of his suffering. The man was sweating really badly and might embarrass himself in front of his students. Ryoma took his seat and didn't say a word for the entire period.

The school day couldn't have gone quicker. Ryoma slept the day away during class only to be wakened by the bell to go ask the teacher's about what his next class was. No one really seemed to mind that much since Ryoma had been studying the same things when he was eight years old. The teachers did look a little irritated, but didn't comment. Finally the teachers announced the homework that was due (Ryoma finished it all in the last ten minutes of the day giving better answers that were to complicated for some of the teachers to understand), and the last bell rang to signal the end of the day. Ryoma tried to make his way to the tennis courts or at least a vending machine to buy Ponta.

He found a guy to point him towards the tennis courts, but he mislead him towards the Wrestling team. Luckily, a tall ninth grader, with brown hair, and an athletic build lead him the right way. Judging by his appearance and attitude, Ryoma guessed that he must be a member. A regular, maybe.

"Is there anything you need from the tennis team?" the regular asked.

"I'm looking for Ryozaki-sensei and Inui-san." Ryoma answered.

"What do you want with them?" the regular paused for a split second, and beyond his mask, Ryoma thought he looked generally interested. Let's see how nosy this guy can be.

"Oh, just catching up on things. Important things." The regular didn't make any comment after that.

"Oi! Buchou's took a long time to come, nya!" a hyper, red-headed, boy yelled waving his hand. He took a look at Ryoma and exclaimed, "Buchou brought a friend!"

The red-headed boy ran up to him and introduced himself with the same childish, cheerful tone. "Kikumaru Eiji, ninth grade! Nice to meet you, ochibi, nya!"

A startled Ryoma weakly responded, "E-echizen Ryoma, Yoroshiku. I'm looking for Ryozaki-sensei." Ryoma managed to make it come out as an answer and not a question. There was an immediate up rise with the students followed by mutterings and rumors being started.

"Oh, Ryoma-kun!" Ryozaki-sensei exclaimed when she got out of her office. "I didn't think you'd be coming! Do you need anything or are you planning to join? With your father's talents we could really use you."

"Ryozaki-sensei." Ryoma snapped, "Let's go into a more private place. Then you can explain."

Ryozaki-sensei followed Ryoma into her office and shut the door behind her. They could still hear the captain barking orders at the rest of the team.

"Okay," Ryoma relaxed, "Explain."

"What do you mean?" Sumire asked.

Come on! Ryoma sighed to himself, Do I have to explain everything around here? "Why am I in 7th grade? Why am I not in a better school like Hyotei? Why am I even in junior high in the first place? And last, but not least, shouldn't I be teaching or attending a class in Tokyo U or something?" Ryoma asked quickly without taking a breath. Sensei just looked dumbfounded.

"Didn't they tell you anything?" she asked hesitantly.

"No! That's what I mean, it's so annoying!" he crushed the empty Ponta can in his fist.

"Well… I don't really know much myself," Sumire started, "All I know is what the commissioners tell Inui-kun, and they don't tell him much. From what he's heard, you're getting too good."

Ryoma was almost shocked speechless for a moment, "What? 'too good' what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're getting used to everything, Ryoma." Sumire responded, "Autopsies, corpses, devastated families, that's all supposed to take some kind of toll on you, and at one point, your supervisors thought they didn't."

"Just because they see a little progress doesn't mean they traumatized me!" Ryoma shouted, "It's ridicules! What do they expect me to do? Break down crying and faint after every corpse?!"

"No, but a few tears wouldn't hurt," Ryozaki negotiated, "Anyway, just take this time to calm down and have a little break. Maybe you can make friends, go to the beach, anything that doesn't get you out of Japan."

"That still doesn't explain why I'm in middle school and in the seventh grade."

"I don't know about that. Ask Inui."

"Where is he?"

"I'll introduce you. Just don't get your call your lawyers, yet."

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Wow, it's been a long time... the teachers have just started giving out real homework (math's a killer) so updates are going to be more rare. Sorry! Reveiw and tell me how you like it, 'kay? And thank you to forgottenhyoshi who's stuck through. Thank you!