"Usui!"

"Hunh!?" Horohoro woke up with a start, lifting his head from the desk. "What?"

His math teacher glared at him. "I'd like you to answer number 8 in the textbook."

Horohoro cursed under his breath. He hadn't been paying attention at all to the day's lesson. He started blankly at the textbook's pages, trying to quickly absorb all the numbers that were scattered across the page. "Uh..." he muttered. "Uh..."

The teacher sighed. She turned to another boy, smiling at him. Her star pupil, the one who always got full scores in everything.

"Would you like to answer in the imbecile's place?" she asked. "Welcome back to class, by the way, Mr. Tao."

"64.5," Ren answered promptly. His mind was fast and sharp, allowing him to calculate the problems quickly.

Horohoro was not the least bit happy. He wondered how and why Ren had all of a sudden started coming back to school. After all, wasn't he homeless? He should have froze to death by now.

"What's the big deal, nerd?" Horohoro demanded, standing up from his seat and glaring at Ren. "Trying to make me look stupid, are you? You think you're real smart just because you can do some random math problem, don't you?"

Ren looked down, suddenly becoming extremely interested with his shoelaces. "I'm sorry," he muttered, noting that Horohoro had not even bothered to address him by his name.

"Enough, Usui," snapped the teacher. "You are in no position to speak to your peers like that. Ren has a 108.5 grade in this class...whereas you, on the other hand, have a 62.3. Remember your place."

Horohoro grinned. "Ah, I see. Now I know why your grades are so good, Tao. Maybe something cheap called witchcraft?"

Hao laughed. "That's right, Ren, dear. Don't deny it now."

"Asakura! Usui!" the teacher screeched. "I will not have you speak of such evil arts in my respectable math class! Shut your mouths or you'll be doing trigonometry problems on the board after school."

Horohoro and Hao did shut up, but the teacher didn't notice them placing threatening notes on Ren's desk when they had the chance.

They had even more fun with it during history lessons.

"Sensei," Horohoro said, raising his hand. "I'd like to know about the Salem witch trials in America."

"That's an interesting request," the history teacher replied, "But I'll tell you about it. When people had first began settling in America, they were extremely superstitous. Anyone who was believed to be a witch was hung in a public execution, and they were never given fair trials. Many innocent people were killed as a result."

Horohoro grinned. "I know someone who should be hung. Don't you, Hao?"

"Yep."

They laughed loudly, causing Ren to shudder and shrink back into his seat. Why did Horohoro believe Hao? Why had Hao gone and told him that he was a witch, when he was entirely innocent of such accusations?

He spent lunch trying to avoid the two, but they found him anyways and relished tormenting him. It was just like the old days.

"How's this, witch?"

Ren couldn't help but let tears drip silently down his cheeks as Horohoro shoved him hard into the lockers and kick him.

"Crap. You upset him, Horohoro," Hao chuckled. "Be careful, he might turn you into a toad."

"Rubbish," Horohoro laughed. "If he even thinks about it..."

Ren's tearful eyes were wide as he felt the Ainu's hands circle around his throat.

"...I'll kill him."

The Chinese boy couldn't take it anymore. All this toture for nothing. He had to try to put a stop to it all before things went out of control. He knew that under Hao's influence, Horohoro could do terrible things.

"I'm not a witch!" he blurted.

Horohoro's hands tightened around his neck, causing him to choke. "You just tell yourself that."

Hao was smiling at Ren with a satisfied expression on his face. "It's one thing to lie to someone who loved you, Ren...but to try and lie again to get your way? You're pathetic."

"Horohoro," Ren said desperately. "Hao killed your sister. He killed Pirika. And yet, you believe him over me? I had no intentions of becoming popular. I could care less about that. Please, Horohoro...please don't acuse me of things that have nothing to do with me."

Horohoro's eyes narrowed. "Ren..."

"You possesed me," Hao said coldly through pursed lips. "You made me kill her."

"I did no such thing," Ren insisted. "Why can't you think sensibly, Horohoro? I loved you too. And you betrayed me, sent me out onto the streets, you beat me, you raped me. Does that not equal to what you claim I did to you?"

"He's right..." Horohoro muttered softly. He began doubting again. He didn't know who to believe, Hao or Ren. He had loved Ren, then hated him. But he realized that deep down inside him, he still had perhaps the slightest bit of feeling left for him.

"Hao. Tell me the truth," he said finally. "Is it you or Ren who's guilty?"

Hao glared hatefully at Ren. "There was no need for you to open your huge mouth and leak more lies like a broken faucet," he growled.

"Lies?" Ren shot back. "You're the one who lies!" He lost his self control. For his whole life, he had wordlessly complied with everything that everyone had said. He never fought back, he never felt the need to be aggressive. But he could no longer hold in the feelings that were pent in him for so long. He shoved Horohoro out of his way and lunged at Hao.

The two were tangled instantly in a scuffle, with hands and feet flying everywhere. Several passerbys stopped to watch with mild interest as Ren and Hao fought furiously.

"Stop it! Ren!" Horohoro yelled, tugging the two apart.

"Horohoro...I'm sorry."

Before Horohoro could utter another word, Ren fled down the hallway, tears streaming from his eyes.