Chapter 2: Chance Encounters

The next morning started as calmly as Minato had been expecting it to. Sitting up in bed, he stretched, glad that the walls had gone back to normal. "That time only seems to last for an hour, but it's still so unnerving …" Yawning, he stood up and walked over to his closet, going to pull out his school uniform. "Second year of high school, here I come." After pulling on the white polo shirt and school jacket, Minato paused, and then slung his headphones and MP3 player on around his neck.

A knock came at his bedroom door. "Minato-san, are you awake yet?" One of the servants opened the door. "The cook managed to prepare you breakfast for the day, but you should come down and eat it soon. It is a trip from here to Yasogami High School, and it would be bad for you to be late on your first day of school."

"I'll be down in a minute then." Minato nodded, smiling to himself. The servant nodded his head and closed the door behind him, and Minato walked over to his desk. "Let's see … ah, good, I do have everything in my bag that I need." Nodding to himself, Minato picked up the bag and wandered downstairs. "… I do wonder when Ojii-san is getting back from his latest field assignment …" Shaking his head, Minato wandered downstairs.

The bus ride wasn't as long as he thought it would be, and Minato found himself walking through part of the shopping district on his way to school. It really was a small town, but Minato didn't mind it. Smiling to himself, he turned on his music, covering his ears with his headphones as he passed by the nearby liquor store.

Only for a smaller, slimmer body to accidentally run into him the moment he was a few feet away from it. "Oomph! I'm sorry, sir!" Puzzled by the girl's voice – the collision had made one of his earphones fall off – Minato turned around and found himself looking at a girl a year or so younger than him with wavy brown hair. Blinking equally brown eyes, she backed up a few feet and looked Minato over. "I'm sorry for that, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, and I tripped over the doorstop …" Tapering off, the girl caught sight of Minato's collar, spotting the gold 'II' that marked him as a second year student. "!"

"… Uh … it's okay?" Minato offered weakly, slightly confused by the girl's sudden shock. Taking another look, Minato saw that she wore the girl's uniform for Yasogami High School. 'Ah, a first year.' It clicked in his head, and he shook his head. "It's fine, I promise. No need for you to panic over accidentally running into me." Smiling shyly at the girl, Minato watched as she visibly relaxed.

"Still, it was rude of me …" Turning her head, the girl spotted who were apparently some of her friends. "Ah! Excuse me, senpai. I'll see you around school." Nodding her head, the girl darted off towards her friends, leaving Minato standing there and blinking for a few moments. Shrugging, he put his headphone back in and continued walking in silence, watching the other students jostle around him on their way to school.

Upon reaching Yasogami High School, Minato examined it for a moment; it was a good-sized high school, and at the same time wasn't overwhelmingly large. 'I hope I can find my class alright …' Walking in through the main gate, Minato saw the shed nearby for bicycles, making him chuckle. 'They really support getting the students active here … I wonder what sort of sports teams they have.' It was a passing thought as he took off his headphones and wandered into the faculty office, going to ask which class he was in.

When he entered, he found himself face to face with a man in a blue suit and tacky yellow tie, who glared at the boy like he'd done something wrong. His upper teeth hung down over his lip, and Minato had to fight the urge to stare at them. 'A … are those TEETH?' he wondered, but forced himself to pay attention to the man as he gave a disdainful sniff.

"Hmph. So you're the new kid, eh?" He scowled, looking Minato over. "Well, I don't recognize your mug. Don't think that means you're gonna get away with anything here, got that?" Turning to go see what class Minato was in, the short man continued to rant, making Minato wish that he WASN'T in his class. "Hmph! Kids these days, always trying to see what they can and can't get away with in the classroom! What happened to the days when students respected the teachers? I had to confiscate three of those damn new-fangled COMP things last term!" Seemingly finding Minato's file, the man turned back around and was about to snap at him again when a new voice cut him off.

"Oh, there you are, Arisato-san." Another teacher, a woman wearing an Egyptian headdress and carrying a ceremonial crook walked up. "I was wondering if you'd just try and go straight up to the classroom, but … ah, Mooroka, thank you for tending to Arisato-san while I was busy clearing things up with the Principal." Taking the file from the scowling man – who Minato swore had a vein pulsing from the female teacher's intervention – she nodded. "You may go about your business now; Arisato's in my class, not yours."

"Hrmph, good luck there. You'll need it with who all you're getting." Turning away, Mooroka stalked off to a different part of the office, and Minato couldn't help but sigh in relief. The female teacher seemed amused at that.

"I'm sorry about that, Arisato-san. Mooroka takes great pleasure in unnerving and infuriating the student body." She apologized, flipping through his file. "Fortunately, his class was filled up before we had even received your name as an incoming student, so there wasn't a chance of you being placed in there. My name, by the way, is Sofue Takara, but you may call me Sofue-sensei. I'll be your homeroom and world history teacher for this year." Relaxing fully, Minato gave Sofue a respectful bow.

"Thank you, Sofue-sensei." He nodded, standing back up. "I think that I'll be fine." Sofue chuckled at that, putting his file back into place in the filing cabinet.

"I've already flipped through your papers, so it's probably a good idea I managed to get out here when I did. If Mooroka had seen what happened to your parents, I don't think he'd ever drop the subject." Shaking her head with a scowl, she nodded her head. "Let's go to class then, before the bell rings." Minato nodded and followed her, wondering vaguely how she managed to keep cool with the headdress on all the time.

'It looks heavy, not to mention the fact that it might be gold …' Pondering this was what kept Minato occupied until they reached the 2-C classroom, which he assumed was to be his homeroom class. Nodding when Sofue told him to wait while she got his classmates under order, Minato couldn't help but peep into the room before the door closed. '… That looks like a good sized class.' Swallowing a lump in his throat, Minato listened until he heard the teacher call him into the room.

"Alright, class, this is Arisato Minato; he'll be joining us after being homeschooled, so please welcome him." Sofue looked around the classroom as she spoke. "We don't want to scare him away on the first day, now do we?" A couple chuckles and a snort of amusement answered her, so she was clearly a teacher the students respected or even liked. "Go ahead and introduce yourself, Arisato." She turned to Minato, who gave her a nervous look before facing the class.

"H … Hello, everyone." He greeted, nodding and trying to give the class a smile, albeit shakily. He could hear a lot of whispers going around the room, and it was impossible for him to track them all. However, nobody seemed particularly opposed to his presence. 'Well, that's a good sign at least.' He thought, relieved.

"Alright then, Arisato, go ahead and take a seat there behind Tekomara." Sofue pointed to an empty seat in the middle of the classroom with the crook. Minato nodded and went to sit down, fiddling with one of his headphones. Once she was certain that he was seated, the teacher went on with her lessons, and Minato found himself slipping into the routine.

'I guess this can't be too bad …'

The class passed in a daze, and when the final bell rang, Minato had to blink once or twice to register the sound. '… Class is over already?' he realized with a jolt, shaking his head and going to pack up his school books. 'That went by a lot faster than I thought it would …' Looking up from putting one book away, Minato found himself being stared at by a pair of inquisitive red eyes. "Gah!" Leaping out of his seat, Minato stared as the owner of the red eyes let out a nervous laugh.

"Sorry about that; I was wondering if you were still awake." It was an auburn haired girl who was talking to him, her smile and eyes positively radiating warmth. While she wore the regulation seifuku, her undershirt was a pale orange instead of white, a plaid orange ribbon tied off left center around her neck, and white socks that came up past her knee to leave a few inches between her skirt and socks bare. "So, you're the new student then? We'd heard a week ago that we'd possibly be getting a couple new ones this term." She smiled at Minato as she continued talking, brushing some of her hair behind an ear.

"Yeah, that would be me." Minato chuckled, unable but to help giving the girl a responding smile. "I'm Arisato Minato, in case you didn't catch Sofue-sensei's introduction." He gave a weak chuckle, offering the girl his hand.

"Heh, I'm Kujikawa Hamuko." The girl responded as she shook his hand. As Minato lodged her name into his memory, Hamuko gave him another laugh. "I live with my grandmother in the shopping district, so if you ever need to know anything about 'downtown' Inaba, you can ask me." At this, she noticed his headphones and MP3 player. "Oh? You listen to music?" She asked the question with a shocking amount of interest, making Minato nod.

"Y – yes, actually …" He began, and was about to continue when he saw someone come up to stand behind Hamuko, and the color drained from his face.

The newcomer was another male student, but taller than Minato, with a stronger build. He wore a black turtleneck under his uniform jacket, and his dusty brown hair hung down to his shoulders. He loomed behind Hamuko, his hands tucked into his pockets as he watched her and Minato with a pair of sharp, almost colorless eyes.

'Dear GOD, who is that?' Minato wondered, feeling himself growing smaller as the newcomer looked him over. Upon closer inspection – which was little more than a quick peek – Minato saw that his eyes weren't colorless, but rather a very washed out shade of grey-brown. Seemingly unfazed by the blue-haired boy's reaction, the brunet let out a snort.

"Hamuko, you know you're not supposed to traumatize the transfer students." He commented, voice every bit as rough as his appearance. Hamuko seemed completely unbothered, however, because she rolled her eyes and turned to look at the newcomer.

Propping her hands on her hips, Hamuko tilted her head slightly to look at the boy in the eye. "I'm not traumatizing him, Shinjiro." She retorted. "That's your job anyway, and you do that so well that you scare half the teachers." Arching a slim eyebrow at the other boy – who Minato figured was named Shinjiro – Hamuko tilted her head to one side. "What are you doing here anyway? You've normally either left for the shop or are haunting the Practice Building by now."

"I'm reminding you that your grandmother needs your help in the tofu shop today." Shinjiro shook his head, although Minato noticed his voice seemed slightly warmer when talking with the auburn haired girl. "You're bad at forgetting that sort of detail if something distracts you, and we both know it. Oh, and the captain of the volleyball team wanted to see you before you left. I think she's been trying to get your attention for a couple weeks now." Hamuko huffed and stuck out her tongue at Shinjiro for that, but picked up her school bag all the same and turned to Minato again.

"Sorry about having to dash off like this, Minato-kun, but …" Giving a weak shrug and a giggle, Hamuko walked towards the door. "Shinjiro, don't scare Minato-kun too much!" She called over her shoulder, slipping out of the room before Shinjiro could retort.

Rolling his eyes again, Shinjiro turned his focus onto the slightly less nervous Minato. "Sorry if she was yakking your ear off there; Hamuko could talk anyone to death if she set her mind on it." He stated, and Minato decided to try his luck with talking to the taller boy.

"She … certainly seems to have a lot of energy." He offered, and was rewarded with an amused snort.

"That's an understatement; that girl could be bottled and sold as an energy drink, I swear …" Shaking his head, Shinjiro nodded at Minato. "The name's Aragaki Shinjiro; we're probably going to be talking like this a lot throughout the year, especially if Hamuko has any say in it."

"You and Hamuko-san are good friends?" Minato questioned, having noticed immediately that the two used no honorifics when speaking with one another. Shinjiro gave Minato a sharp look at that, and it took all his will not to flinch away and hide under his desk. Minato didn't know if Shinjiro knew it or not, but if it was possible to injure someone with a look, the taller boy would be a master at it.

"… I guess you could say that." Shinjiro said after a long moment, clearly skating around something. "That, and I work for her grandmother part time, so I've been around her longer." At this, the older boy seemed to reach for something out of habit, only to stop himself and scowl before looking at the clock. "Speaking of that, I should probably go and help her get the back part of the kitchen cleaned out before Hamuko gets there; it'll never get done otherwise." Going to leave, Shinjiro gave Minato a nod. "… See you tomorrow, then."

"Y – Yeah, see you tomorrow, Aragaki-san." Minato nodded his head, standing up and grabbing his books. "I probably should get home anyway …"

"Leave me alone, you damn enigma!"

"Oh come on, Konishi. Won't you give us a chance to solve the greatest riddle of all?"

The sounds of loud arguing caught Minato's attention as he walked through the Shopping District. Standing in front of the stairs to the shrine were two Yasogami students in the middle of an argument. One of them was the girl Minato had run into earlier; the other was a student he didn't recognize. He was tanned, standing not much taller than the girl. He also had a large afro that made his head look twice as big. The gold 'I' on his collar glinted in the sunlight as he glared the girl down through his sunglasses with a confident grin.

"I don't care how many times you ask, I'm not going to go on a date with you." the girl scowled.

"Shot through the heart, you're to blame; you give love a bad name~" the boy sang out as he clutched his heart.

"Oh, shut up you damn melodramatic fool!" the girl smacked him in the back of the head. "And why the hell would you quote a Western rock band? That's just stupid!"

"Your wounds wound me more than any blade, dearest Konishi-hime…" the boy bowed. "But I know when to retreat; I shall pull back for now, but I shall try again. Until next time…" The boy spun on his heels and marched away from the girl, his face not looking anything like the face of a rejected boy.

"Stupid boy," the girl huffed as she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. "Who does he think he is?"

"Honestly, I think he's a bit wacky, but I think he means well," said Minato as he walked up to her, hands in his pockets.

"Oh! Senpai!" the girl shot up, blushing profusely. "I… uh… I didn't notice you there."

"I tend to blend in." Minato shrugged, leaning on the wall next to her.

"So… uh…" the girl rubbed the back of her head. "How much did you hear?"

"More or less everything after 'you damn enigma'." Minato chuckled.

"Hehe… Sorry about that. It's just that he constantly asks me out. We're best friends and he can't seem to get that I only want to remain friends with him," the girl sighed. "Sometimes, I can't help but think that he's joking."

"Then perhaps you two should sit down and seriously discuss it, without the flowery language, or the violence." Minato advised her.

"Yeah, maybe…" the girl sighed. "Anyways, who are you? You're clearly my senpai, but I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Ah, yes. My apologies," Minato nodded. "Anyways, my name is Arisato Minato. I just transferred to Yasogami after being homeschooled my whole life."

"Konishi Saki," the girl offered her hand to him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Konishi-san," Minato shook her hand.

"Oh, please. Konishi-san is my father; Saki-san will do, Arisato-senpai." Saki replied.

"And I'd prefer Minato-senpai, Saki-san." Minato nodded.

"Deal." the two let out a couple of giggles.

"So, enjoy your first day here?" Saki asked him.

"I did. I met a couple of people; Kujikawa-san and Aragaki-san," Minato replied.

"Figures Kujikawa-senpai would greet you first; she's like that." Saki shook her head. "And you met Aragaki-senpai and lived? Do you know how scary that man is?"

"You're telling me," Minato sighed. "It was like seeing the head of the Yakuza."

"At least he's a nice guy, according to Kujikawa-senpai; apparently she's the only one who sees his good side." said Saki.

"Oh?" Minato was intrigued. "Does that mean that those two are…"

"No one knows," Saki shrugged. "They live together, work together, have the same classes and stuff. It's near impossible to see one without the other; if nothing else, the two are close friends."

"I see…" Minato nodded.

"Oh!" Saki's attention went to her wristwatch. "Crap! I need to get to the shop; my shift's about to start! I'm sorry Minato-senpai, but I need to get going! I'll see you around, okay?"

"Sure. I'll see you around." Minato waved to her as she ran off.

As the sun was going down, Minato was lying down on his bed, listening to his music and reading a book. As he turned the page, there was a knock at the door. "Minato-sama, your grandfather is on the phone," a servant called out from the other side. "Would you be so kind as to answer?"

"Sure, one second!" Minato called out as he shut off his music and picked up a phone that was on his nightstand. "Hello?"

"Hello! Minato! Good to hear you!" a voice answered him.

"Same here, Shigeru-jii," Minato smiled. "What's up?"

"I wanted to check in and see how your first day was at Yasaogami," Shigeru answered. "Did you make any friends?"

"Well, I didn't make any friends per say, but I did meet some interesting characters." Minato replied.

"Like who?"

"Their names were Kujikawa Hamuko, Aragaki Shinjiro, and Konishi Saki," Minato listed off their names. "They seem like overall nice people, although Aragaki-san is kinda scary."

"Ah, so you ran into the granddaughter of Marukyu Tofu's owner, the daughter of Konishi Liquor's owner, and the vagabond kid who's always around Kujikawa-san." said Shigeru.

"How on earth did you know all that? I didn't even know all that!" Minato gasped.

"Did you forget I'm a detective?" Shigeru laughed. "I suppose it's a good thing Naoto's my apprentice and not you, no?"

"True, true," Minato chuckled. "She's way better suited for that life then I can ever be."

"So, who is your homeroom teacher? I honestly hope it's not Mooroka. I dealt with a rookie who had him for his teacher and he wouldn't stop yapping about him." Shigeru sighed.

"No, no," Minato shook his head. "My main teacher is Sofue-sensei."

"Ah, Neteret Takara, eh?" Shigeru recognized the name. "She's the leading expert on Egyptology in the whole country; you're lucky to have a sensei of her caliber teaching you."

"If she's so well renowned, why's she at a small town high school then?" Minato asked.

"No one knows; not even I," responded the detective. "Why don't you try finding out? If you do, there might be some hope for you yet in joining the family business."

"Hahaha, very funny, Shigeru-jii." Minato replied with sarcasm.

"Hey. I had to try. You know your parents would've loved it," Shigeru sadly sighed.

"Yeah, I know," Minato nodded. "But I'm doing what I can."

"That's good to hear. Anyways, I'm glad you're doing fine. I'll check in whenever I can with you and your sister. And we both should be back soon, I hope. When I do get back, I'll treat all your new friends to a meal." Shigeru promised.

"I'll hold you to that," Minato vowed.

"Good. Then I'll see you around; I'll call again when I have more free time. Good luck with school." the conversation ended there as Shigeru hung up.

"Just like him; hanging up without ever saying goodbye …" Minato sighed as he lied back down.

The world had turned green again, blood staining the roads in a grim light. The faint fog that had formed from seemingly nowhere was thin, and did little to deter anyone from walking around. Not that many were present to walk around at this time of day; instead of human life, coffins littered the streets and buildings. It was utterly silent out, making any stray sound uncannily loud when caused.

Shinjiro hated this time of day. Sighing heavily, the teen hunkered down quietly in the room he had been given two years ago, waiting with tight nerves for the darkness to pass. He hadn't seen any of them ever since arriving in Inaba, but still … there was a chance for them to be out there, waiting and biding their time … It was the only thing that made him stay up until the light had returned to normal; he highly doubted anyone else in town could use 'that' power …

So, it was to his great shock that he saw someone else outside, walking around. Blinking, he watched in interest at the person – a woman, perhaps? It was hard to tell from this angle – continued to walk through the abandoned shopping district, wavy grey-white hair disturbed by her private breeze.

Unaware of her watcher, the woman continued to walk, stopping when she stood in front of the Tatsuhime Shrine. "… Hmm ... how curious." She murmured to herself, trailing her finger around a loose curl of fog. "The mist is densest here … almost as if it is guarding something …" Blinking red eyes, she gave a faint smile. "Such an unholy time, one that was never meant to be … and yet … I can't help but feel intrigued."

Pondering, a strange sensation prickled at the back of her neck. "Oho? What's this that I'm sensing?" She asked, turning around as she tried to locate the strange sensation. "… Hmm … it feels like … someone awakened an internal power source." Stepping out of the mist, she turned and began to look around some more. "It's potent and rich, and yet heavy and foreboding at the same time …" Tilting her head off to one side, she smirked. "Ah … the tofu shop …" Turning, she began walking towards it, smirking.

Shinjiro was about to look away from the window when the sensation hit him; death. Creeping, rotting, horrifying, smothering … He jerked away from the window as fast as he could, forcing himself to remain calm as he tried to get the oppressive feeling away from him …! Where had it come from in the first place? He could feel himself rejecting the oppressive weight, mentally screaming warnings and threats that whatever was coming towards him was something he did not want to be around.

And then, just as suddenly as it had been there, the sensation was gone, and the world went back to its natural color.

After waiting in silence for a few more moments, to see if the sensation would return, Shinjiro fully relaxed. Whatever it was, it had left with the Dark Hour, and he could get some sleep now. Smothering the yawn that was trying to escape him, he settled the silver gun he'd been holding the entire time back into the hidden pocket of his pea coat before collapsing onto his futon.

Outside, the woman smirked to herself; he'd reacted to her presence in a most … interesting way. Most humans thought she was a tad eccentric, but none of them had so much as sensed her true form … "I'll have to hide myself better the next time I come around here. Who knows? Perhaps I can persuade this young man to come out and … explain this power to me …" Smirking, she brushed her hair from her face, the skin on her hands paper white. "But for now, I should back off; I have to open up the gas station in a couple of hours, after all."

Chuckling to herself, the pale haired woman walked slowly down towards the Moel Gas station, completely unbothered by the light rain that began to fall around her.

The light rain continued unperturbed the next morning, nearly putting Minato to sleep during class when Mooroka's grating voice caught his attention. Thankfully, the teacher wasn't talking to him, but instead was just ranting on in general. 'His voice really grates on my nerves …' Minato sighed, thinking wistfully of being able to drown out the philosophy teacher whenever he could. However, it gave him the very sinking feeling that the teacher would instantly latch onto such behavior, and he didn't want a bad mark on his second day of class.

It seemed that this sort of ranting was par for the course in the class, because nobody else seemed to be taking notes, but were instead just paying attention to the man with the tooth moustache for fear of him snapping at them. After he had left due to the herald of the lunch bell, the entire class let out a relieved sigh before bustling about to get food. Minato was about to quietly pull out his bento when a slim hand gripped his elbow and pulled him up. "Gah!" Squirming, he went to pull away when he realized it was Hamuko. "K … Kujikawa-san?"

"You're not going to feel any more comfortable here if you just sulk in the corner." Hamuko cut him off, smiling brightly. "And it's Hamuko-chan, Minato-kun." Before Minato could object one way or another, she had pulled him up by the elbow and up to the roof of the building. While Minato was blinking to get used to the sudden change of location – it had thankfully stopped raining by this point, allowing a faint mist to curl around the building – Hamuko continued to haul him over towards a raised part of the roof near the solar panels, where Shinjiro already sat.

The older boy gave the girl an exasperated look. "... Did you have to haul the poor guy up here, Hamuko? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you brought a rabbit out to lunch with a fox." Minato had to agree with Shinjiro's comment, if only distantly; seeing him and Hamuko in the same area seemed to distill the unusual sense of fright Shinjiro seemed to exude, like the girl was a pacifier of some sort.

"Hmph; I'm not that bad, am I Minato-kun?" Hamuko huffed, giving the blue haired boy a bright smile. "I just didn't think it would be fair for him to eat alone when everyone else in class bustled off somewhere."

She was being sincere, Minato realized with a jolt. Most people paid attention to the new kids simply because they were the new kid, but rarely tried to make genuine friends with them. Hamuko, however, didn't seem like that kind of girl; true, from a distance she had an appearance that just screamed 'stereotypical popular girl', but actually seeing her made Minato doubt that. Giving her a small smile, he nodded. "Th … that's very nice of you, Kujikawa-san."

"Please, it's Hamuko-chan." Hamuko laughed at that, sitting down next to Shinjiro. "Kujikawa-san makes me feel like somebody important or old ... or both." Shinjiro let out a snort at that, handing Hamuko a bento from beside him. "Ooo, tempura!" Grinning madly, Hamuko pulled out a pair of chopsticks and dug into the meal with vigor as Minato settled himself kiddy corner from the two. Seeing this Shinjiro nodded towards the sole girl with a grim nod.

"You better go with it; she'll pester you to death if you keep calling her 'Kujikawa'." He explained, ignoring or not caring about Hamuko kicking him in the leg for saying such. "And in that vein, I don't respond to my last name either." Taking a bite of his own lunch – which Minato thought was store bought at first - Shinjiro added, "Don't just sit there staring. If you have lunch, eat it." Jolted back into reality, Minato dug out his own bento and went to eat it when he saw that Hamuko had already finished, smiling in contentment.

"How did … I – I mean, when did …" blinking, Minato shook his head and went back to eating his own lunch. Shinjiro just shook his head, and the three ate in silence for a while before Minato decided to talk again. "Uh, Araga – I – I mean, Shinjiro-san, where did you manage to get a bento like that?" He asked, nodding to the mostly eaten box in the older boy's hand. Hamuko – who had pulled a stash of cookies out of somewhere – giggled a bit over his statement while Shinjiro gave them both a blank look.

"… I made this myself …" He muttered after a moment, and if Minato had known any better, he would have sounded embarrassed. Fortunately, Shinjiro changed the topic when he saw the cookies piled next to Hamuko. "Hey, what have I told you about eating that many sweets in one sitting before? You know you're gonna bloat up if you keep eating like that!" He scolded, to which Hamuko stuck out her tongue.

"I'm not going to eat them all at once, Dad." She responded, putting emphasis on the word 'Dad'. From there, the two seemed to settle into a playful argument that Minato watched with much amusement, finishing his bento. He had to admit, the two of them were quite entertaining to be around, and were trying to welcome him to Inaba in their own unique way. It was comforting, if a bit bizarre.

"Uh, excuse me?" Minato finally asked, breaking up the brief 'argument' to make Hamuko and Shinjiro look at him, Shinjiro holding Hamuko's cookies hostage. "I was wondering if the two of you would mind showing me around town some more after class is up; I'm still trying to remember where everything is and trying to figure out what's changed."

Hamuko's face brightened. "Sure, Minato-kun! That's no trouble at all!" The tone of her voice was frighteningly cheerful, and a glance at Shinjiro showed Minato that he was probably going to regret asking this question within a day or two.

Not much to say this chapter. Just tell us what you think, okay? Enjoy!

Also, a bio on Minato's grandfather.

Shirogane Shigeru: Minato and Naoto's maternal grandfather, and Raidou Kuzunoha the XVI. Having raised Minato and Naoto ever since the accident ten years previously, he is relatively protective of the two, but does not smother either sibling. Often away on Raidou business, he does what he can, and often calls Minato when he can; Naoto is his protégé and the successor of the title, since Minato politely declined inheriting it.