Nami stood outside the bathroom stall, eating her bentou, drinking a juice box and waiting for Kaya to say something.

"You need to interact with people more, ya know," she said critically, pointing her chop sticks at the mirror like it was Kaya's instead of her own reflection that was looking back. "Shit like this is just going to keep happening if you don't grow some balls and stand up for yourself."

There was no response.

This was the third time this month that Kaya's notes had been stolen from a class, and even though Nami was trying to play the stern suck-it-up-buttercup-and-move-on friend, inside she was fuming.

More than anyone, she knew how hard Kaya worked to get good grades. She never slept in a class. She always paid attention and asked questions if she didn't understand. She was the person everyone should look to for help with something.

Instead, while she was busy helping a substitute teacher figure out where her next class was, some dip shit had taken her sociology notes.

And with only four weeks till exams…

The stall opened and Nami nearly spit juice out of her mouth when she saw that…it wasn't Kaya.

"Um…Nami-san, I didn't want to make you feel bad, so, sorry. Though, you sounded cool," the girl said awkwardly, washing her hands and leaving Nami to feel foolish alone.

I'm…a dumbass…

"Here. You can have these back," Tsukomi said coldly, shoving the notebook's back in Kaya's arms. The blonde blinked and pushed her glasses up.

"O-oh. Um…were…were you able to understand the material better after looking at them?"

"Tch. Keep up the goody-goody act, baby cakes. Nami seems to appreciate it," the girl spat, her brown pigtails swaying when she moved forward to sneer at Kaya.

"I…I don't understand."

"You monopolize my best friend's time like you have some kind of privilege. It was cute at first, but it's getting a little ridiculous don't you think? What with the lunches, the cakes, the constant smiles…"

Kaya stared at the floor, flushed with embarrassment and trying to figure out how she should respond to this.

"Nami-san…asked me, so-"

"Of course she asked you. She feels sorry for you because you're too shy to make any real friends. If it were anyone else she wouldn't hang around you nearly as much."

"I'm…I'm sorry," the blonde stuttered, pressing her books tighter to her chest. "I really didn't mean to make you jealous, I wanted-"

Tsukomi's hand struck out, Kaya's books crashing to the floor when the hand made contact with her face.

"Nobody would be jealous of someone like you, someone who spends all her time stuck in her books and using fake incentive to attract people's interest," the brunette said angrily, turning on her heels and stalking down the hall.

"Stay away from Nami."

"Usopp-san, I really don't want to talk about it," Kaya said softly, going around her room and picking up some of the clothes she'd neglected to take care of earlier before going to school. Usopp followed her around, still in his school uniform and still not letting the subject of where she got the bruise on her face drop.

"Kaya, just because you refuse to conjure up a backbone doesn't mean people aren't going to get pissed when they see this," he moved his hand to cup her face in his palm. She sighed and turned away. He frowned when she went back to cleaning.

"I'm saying this for your own good," he said more gently, plopping down on the floor and giving her a serious look. "I care about you, believe it or not. Even if your parents refuse to talk about how you're treated at school, I can't help but notice it hasn't done much for your self esteem."

"What am I supposed to do," she asked bitterly, throwing the clothes in the hamper, "It's nearing the end of my senior year, and I have exams to study for. I'll be in university next year, so putting up with this for a little longer isn't going to kill me."

Usopp shook his head at her.

"It's offensive to those in the room that love you to hear you say such things."

"Love me? Hardly," she said, laughing lightly. "Luffy-san will get jealous."

"Psh. He hardly even notices me sometimes. I went over to his house the other day and I had to wait for him to finish eating…before we went out to dinner," he said unenthusiastically. Kaya laughed. She loved hearing about Usopp's strange relationship with his boyfriend. His stories always made her laugh.

"We need to find you a man or something," Usopp mumbled, resting his pouting lips in his palm and pointing at her with his other hand. "You're pretty enough. And guys love the innocent girl gig."

"It's not a 'gig', and I doubt my parents would appreciate it if my fiancee went out and tried to find me someone else to be with," she said laughing.

Usopp was the son of a very important man, his business and Kaya's father's often doing joint projects. Since they were children, they had been told they would one day get married, and their engagement had been made official a few years earlier. Unfortunately, Usopp had failed to relay the details of his homosexuality to either side of the presumptive families, and it was getting even harder for them to pretend they were cool with the idea of giving their parents grandchildren someday.

"All I'm saying," Usopp said, waving a hand at her, "is that you need to do something about this. Because if I see one more bruise, or hear another story about how you let someone 'borrow' your notes and that's why you can't study, I'll come over to that school and bust someone's nut."

"There's no nuts at my school, Usopp-san," Kaya joked. "Just peaches."

"I see my genital analogies have left smears on your innocent little mind," he said quirking an eyebrow. "Perhaps we can work on the confidence smears sometime, eh?"

"Perhaps when this year is over," she replied, setting out tea for both of them. "If I can just focus on things, there should be no problem."

Usopp watched her pour the tea and hummed thoughtfully.

"What you need is just some super hot shirtless guy to come riding into your school and scoop you up. And then you can tell me about all the hot sex you guys have."

Kaya laughed loudly. She really loved her best friend's sense of humor.

The slap resounded through the kitchen, everyone too frozen to do anything but stare in shock at what had just happened.

"Do not associate yourself with me," Nami said coldly, Tsukomi's face returning to where it had been before she'd been slapped. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

"You didn't even notice these were gone," Nami continued, throwing Tsukomi's apparent notebook to the floor and pressing it down further with her foot. "Considering all the trouble you went to stealing them, you'd think you'd notice when they go missing."

"So what if I copied them from her," Tsukomi cried defensively, holding her face and hinting that she was on the verge of tears. "She LET me."

Nami didn't even look to see if Kaya confirmed that. She simply picked up the notebook and dug a lighter out of her skirt pocket.

"Nami-san!" Hinoka-sensei yelled from across the room, finally coming out from behind the demonstration kitchen, "Lighter's are forbidden on school grounds, and having one is grounds for suspension!"

Nami ignored her and set the notebook on fire, throwing the flaming mess in a sink and watching it burn. She turned back to Tsukomi with hard eyes.

"You're a fool. Nobody in this school is as dedicated as Kaya to her work, and if you had asked her permission to use her notes this would've ended differently."

Tears spilled down Tsukomi's face as Nami went over and defiantly wrote the pink slip for the principle's office for herself. She glanced over at Kaya and let her eyes linger over the cute blush she had going…

"Nobody here has any right to talk to Kaya. None of us."

Kaya watched as Nami held her head high and opened the door to leave.

"Kaya is the only one that shines."