Every Thursday some lady would come take Soren away for "speech therapy." Ike didn't like that hour, but he wasn't allowed to go so he just defended Soren's pencil and marker collection, which was now the envy of the whole class.

Then one day Ike looked at the schedule and realized Soren had been gone WAY TOO LONG.

He ran up to Miss Titania. "Why's Soren still gone?!" She raised an eyebrow at him and he fixed himself by raising his hand. When she nodded at him, he asked the question again.

"Well, there is a different classroom where the children need more support with their feelings or they've had bad stuff happen to them," she explained. "So they're seeing if that might be a good room for him."

This was awful!

"No!" Ike yelled, "No no no!" The class went quiet even though it was recess time because Ike never got upset. He stomped his foot and fought back tears.

"Ike, no yelling," she said gently. "And you should be happy for your friend."

"I'm not! I'm really mad!" He tried to run out of the classroom but plastic on the doorknob made it impossible to open for all but the greatest of kindergarteners. So when that failed, he just cried and yelled at the ground. He could hear the other kids come closer to him but he didn't care because he was so mad!

"Ike," said a quiet voice with a gentle touch on his shoulder. Ike looked up with blurry eyes at Soren, who was worried, so Ike gave him a big hug. He was there with a kitty man Ike didn't know but he was probably the teacher that wanted to take Soren. "Why are you sad?"

"Everyone wants to take you away from me," Ike said, still sniffling but much calmer.

"Silly, no one can do that." They smiled at each other as they stood up.

"Good, 'cause we're best friends FOREVER," Ike insisted.

Given that he had calmed himself and not hurt anyone, Ike was told he could go back to recess and so he did. They had a lot of stuff but Ike didn't feel like playing so he just sat by Soren and watched him draw. Miss Titania and Mr. Ranulf (the "emotional support" teacher) chatted.

"Weenie," said Lethe smugly. She and her sister were playing with dolls at her desk. Lyre gasped.

"What?" Ike asked, because surely she wasn't talking about him.

"You're a weenie, Ike," she said, a little louder. The class went quiet.

Ike was confused by that, but it didn't matter because Miss Titania stepped in and made Lethe be nice. But man he and Lethe weren't going to be friends, were they? That was a bummer. But she was clearly a BULLY and Ike HATED bullies more than ANYTHING.

Except STUPID STEFAN.

Ike hated STUPID STEFAN more than ANYONE or ANYTHING.

STUPID STEFAN started up with them in November. He was a therapist and he came to talk to the class about something called beorc, laguz and Branded. Ike knew he was beorc. He knew Lethe and Lyre were laguz. He didn't care about that, he liked Lyre because she was nice and didn't like Lethe because she was angry. He had never once heard of a Branded, and STUPID STEFAN explained it was someone who was a mix.

Like him. And Soren.

And so Soren started to meet with STUPID STEFAN too, only STUPID STEFAN was super cool and nice and he tried to bring Ike into it and he could use a sword like Daddy and so Soren liked STUPID STEFAN and so IKE HATED STUPID STEFAN because Soren liked STUPID STEFAN more than he liked Ike, he just knew it.

So Ike became angry too, sort of. He was still nice to everyone except for Lethe and STUPID STEFAN. But Boyd's daddy was really sick, Mia was starting to be not so happy because her daddy was making her take piano lessons that she didn't want to take, and Callil had said Elincia was boring and so Geoffrey hit her and now there was a rule that there was no hitting, and Lethe was still mean but never so mean as when STUPID STEFAN was nearby.

Then in January it got worse.

Ike was having a bad day. Mist had broken his tablet but said it was Ike's fault so Ike got yelled at until he proved it wasn't his fault, and Aether had tried to come to school with him but was told no so even his dog was sad, and Ike had a cold and he hated it, and then Soren went to therapy with the speech therapist and STUPID STEFAN and Ike was just having the worst day ever.

It got a little better when Soren came back. But then Lethe had to go and call him a weenie again.

"Why are you so MEAN?" Ike demanded of her, because he had had about enough of her being a bully and Miss Titania had stepped outside so she wasn't there to interrupt.

"Because you are really and truly a weenie," she said with a smirk. "Cryin' all the time over someone who isn't even there."

It had been something they talked about. Laguz liked to say that Branded weren't there because they were bad, and that was bad. But this was the first time that someone had said that about Soren. And for it to come from Lethe of all people?

Ike was mindful of the no-hitting rule. But he couldn't let this go.

"You and me, after school," he said firmly, "We're gonna fight." Everyone gasped. Lethe laughed at him, but he meant it. "Before the buses and cars come." Because Daddy would be maaaaaaaad if he found out Ike got in a fight, even if it was a totally justified one.

"Sure, Ike. Sure." She snickered, but he meant it!

So later on when they were all packed up and waiting for the buses and cars, Ike walked up to her because he meant it. "Okay, I've had enough of you being a bully," Ike told her. "You wanna be mean, you gotta fight me and win."

She looked worried now, as did Lyre and Soren, but Ike didn't care because he was having a bad day.

"I'm not a bully," she said.

"You ARE. You said Soren isn't real! You take that back and we don't have to fight."

"Oh. Nope."

So Ike fought her. He was scrappy and strong and his daddy was a fighter too so Ike knew how to fight, but Lethe was a cat laguz and they liked to fight too so it was an even fight. There was punching and kicking and Ike got cut because of her claws, but he got her pinned before any adults had time to come over. "TAKE IT BACK!" he yelled.

"He's real," she snarled, defeated in an honorable duel.

He let her up, but it didn't matter because they had to go to the principal's office and Ike got a letter sent home and he got grounded for a month.

Lethe was a lot nicer after that. Ike was pretty sure it was their trial by combat that made her come around, although maybe it was because Mr. Ranulf was starting to come see her in class too. She said Soren was real, and in fact Lethe and Soren had fun making fun of people (nicely for their friends, but they could get pretty mean for people who were mean too), which was weird but hey. She was never as happy acting as Lyre, but that was just her personality to be a little more less out there. That was okay, not everyone was gonna be super happy. Ike liked her now so it was all okay.

So now Ike was friends with everyone! In fact he also liked Mr. Ranulf, so he was friends with even more people than before!

Except, of course, for STUPID STEFAN. Obviously.