"I'm not very good at talking with girls. They make me nervous."

-Crona


"Will the following people please report to Lord Death… Maka Albarn, Soul Evans, Tsubaki Nakatsukas, Black*Star, Mai Albarn, and Terrance Lovell."

We all gathered outside Lord Death's office. It was still pretty early in the day, but that didn't stop Black*Star from being energetic. "Hey! I want to fight you Mai! Has my bigness scared you away from facing me all this time? I don't find that surprising, since I am the guy who will surpass God!"

"But Black*Star, she only just got Terrance as a weapon. It would have been unfair to face her before," Tsubaki tried to reason with him. Before Black*Star could retort, the doors to the office open and we all walked inside.

Kid's POV

I can't believe that she already got a weapon. I suppose that is fine since she will be more protected. But why did it have to be that pretty boy? Not that I care. I'm merely concerned about his reliability. Besides, he's not even symmetrical enough to match her well with that funny cowlick. Then again... with my hair I'm not symmetrical either.

"I should die! I don't deserve to live!"

"Well, crap," Liz sighs as she and Patty go to comfort him. He hadn't had a break down in three weeks.

Lord Death waited patiently for his son to snap out of it. It only took ten minutes. "Hiya! I'm going to tell you guys about what we learned about that concert fire." Everyone stood at attention, especially Terrance. "It seems that it's not just Ava Lynn concerts that are starting to be targeted. It seems that we have a serial arsonist that is attacking popular good events all around the world. We can't do anything right now until we learn some more about it. He doesn't follow a set pattern and doesn't just target concerts."

"So then there's something else you called us here for as well, right father?" I say trying to dust off my jacket. I should have been more mindful of dust from the floor.

"Correct!" Lord Death said happily. His face turned serious as he prepared his next sentence. "I'm sure you are all aware of the rise in missing children reports. Well, we've determined what has been going on."

He pulls a screen down from seemingly nowhere, and shows the students a picture of a normal looking man. He had a bald spot on his head and wore glasses, but he had no distinguishable features. Lord Death then pulled down a picture of a demonic looking clown.

"These two pictures are the same creature," Lord Death explains, much to everyone's surprise. "He is a travelling puppeteer named Largo, and has been luring children away and devouring their flesh and souls. It's quite serious, smart kishins are quite bothersome."

"Awwww, that's sad!" Patty cried out.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you guys can handle this. His next show is next week Thursday, and it's only two towns away from here," Lord Death finished his briefing and sent them on their way to continue class.

On our way down the hall, Black*Star tries to continue the conversation from before. He really wants to challenge Mai.

"It's not going to be a good match unless Mai and her partner have more time to become familiar with each other, wait until they are," I growl at the annoying boy.

Black*Star was pretty shocked by how authoritative the young reaper sounded and reluctantly agreed. "Yeah, I'll wait until you are at your best, then my best will beat you!" He grinned.

"Thanks for that," Mai said before she walked away for special staff training. I smirked and nodded as I walked to the firing range. That's strange, I feel quite a bit lighter on my feet.

Mai's POV

-Rest of school week

Now that I am in the partnered class, school is much more fun. The schedule works out to where I have homeroom with everyone and then I do meditation and endurance training with Tsubaki, study hall with Maka, survival training with Black*Star, DWMA and Kishin history with Soul, and then I eat lunch with Liz, Patty, and Crona. It's a bit disappointing, but Kid has specialized classes to accommodate his future role as a shinigami.

I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to get along with Crona as well as I get along with everyone else, but things seemed to take a turn for the better. It just took some time for him to warm up to me, but he said that since I was so like Maka that it was a bit easier. It was kind of sweet how he formally requested to be friends. It seems that when he is confused about social interactions he turns to books.

I feel awful, but I still have no clue if Crona actually is a he or a she. It seems that no one else really knows either, and that we all just kind of leave it alone.

After having classes with my friends, I have specialized training for the type of weapon I have. I learned to do a lot of defensive moves like a type of Seikūken. It is a defensive technique controlling the entire radius within my staff length, creating a "shield" around oneself that can only be broken with sufficient force. It will take more training to do it on reflex.

Later on in the week, Terrance moved into the apartment. He hooked up to his laptop to contact his older sister Ava to let her know how things were going.

"How is my most wonderful, most adorable, little brother Terrancey-poo?" She asked, eyes shining. It was obvious that she dotted on him.

"Things are well," He replied, laughing off her enthusiasm. He showed her a bit of the apartment and told her that he found a partner.

"I'm so proud of you!" She squealed, "Oh, that's right! I still haven't properly thanked everyone, especially Mai. I need to think of some way to do that…"

"Take your time, we have all been very busy with class work," he reassured her. "Hmm, well, I'm sure you've already thanked some of them properly," she said with a mischievous grin, "That Liz girl looked exactly like your type, hehehehe."

"Oh look at that, the oven's on and the whole place is burning," he said a little too calmly as he turned off communications. He quickly got up and walked to his room, face a bit pink if I saw correctly. I had been reading in the kitchen with Maka, studying for a morning exam. She looked up at me with a silly look on her face and I worked hard to stifle a laugh.

"Since Soul is out with Kid tonight, I wanted to talk to you about something," Maka said to me when she was sure Terrance was out of hearing range. "I'm all ears," I reply as I close my book.

"You see, sometimes, Soul gets these notes in his locker from girls. I get a little jealous because I don't get many notes and I don't think he sees me as someone desirable." She thoughtfully chews the end of her pencil and waits for my reply.

"Well, not a lot of girls get notes from guys, I think it's considered uncool for a guy to do that. Or maybe sometimes girls seem unobtainable or too good to want to deal with those types of things. We can't be like normal high schools since we basically act as a military force, so it's hard to say," I try my best to explain. She seems relieved by my answer when all of a sudden we hear, "Or maybe you should trade in for bigger boobs."

Blair hopped up onto the table in cat form laughing at her comment. "In all seriousness though, I want to go get pampered, can we pleeeeeeassseeeee do a spa trip this weekend?" She whines. "I can't argue with a spa trip, Maka." "Actually, I think I could use one now," she replies exasperatedly.

That weekend the three of us hit up the spa. After mud masks, wraps, massages, and some special skin and hair treatments, we walk out of the Green Lotus Spa practically glowing. "See Maka? You are pretty when you get out of the books," Blair teases as she heads off to work. She's a cabaret girl at a pretty nice place. I have no idea what she does with her money though.

"Let's go to our favorite café!" Maka practically demands, "I want to get that white blossom tea and pear soufflé that you had last time." Of course I agree to my cousins wish and we find ourselves once again at All Saints café.

On our way back home, we ran into a familiar reaper. Maka greeted him and we walked to meet him on his side of the sidewalk. "How are your studies going?" I ask. "Excellent, thank you," he replied, "I apologize for the rush, but I have an appointment I need to get to." He seemed in such a hurry as he walked off that Maka and I stand there surprised. "Must be a busy life to be him," Maka said to try to make sense of his sudden departure. "Yeah, I guess so."

Little do we know that he ran off quickly to hide the blush in his face.

"Damn it, she just had to look exquisite today. This does nothing for my composure," he growls to himself as he hurries home.

Kid wasn't aware of that someone watching the odd exchange and his reaction.

"Oh dear, it seems my cute little son is already quite grown up, I really should have had some serious talks with him a lot sooner, before he lets this get out of control. Oh~ I can't bear to talk to him about this yet, can't he wait fifty more years at least!"


Notes:

Want to know something awful? I got the puppeteer idea from the news.

Who should pose as Patty's mom and dad for the mission? I was thinking Liz and Terrance.

All ideas for improvements to existing chapters and ideas for future ones are welcome.