(Woooo! Chapter two is extremely dysfunctional!

It was originally going to be like, two times longer, but then I was like, "...no. I'll just make it five chapters instead." Lucky you! And you also get to see my horrible chapter titling! You lucky lucky people!

In other news, the reason I made Sidney go to Asia and not Europe is because a) everyone goes to Europe and b) in my other fic, Perfect Death, I said he went to Japan. I have to maintain consistency.

Also, I have to put (a) instead of the at symbol, because otherwise, Sidney's email becomes a jumble of letters, and Greg's disappears completely! Wow!

Edit: JESUS CHRIST FINALLY. Greg's email likes to go NINJA, so I made a relatively fake one. NOW it should stay.

And so, without further ado, the next chapter!

Characters (except Kichijiro) © Nintendo)

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New Beginnings

Chapter Two- Help

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Gkasal has logged in.

Skasal has logged in.

Gkasal: Hey Sidney

Skasal: Hello

Skasal: Still alive, I see.

Gkasal: Yeah.

Gkasal: I think Mom's in shock that you actually left. -laugh-

Skasal: ...

Gkasal: Don't worry about it. She's fine

Sidney sighed.

Skasal: Alright.

Skasal: You still going to U of C?

Gkasal: I leave in a month

Skasal: ...o rly.

Greg shuddered.

Gkasal: Stop that. It's not like you.

Skasal: Fine, go and ruin all my fun.

Skasal: I'm going to get some food. Talk to you later, Greg.

Gkasal: Alright.

Skasal has logged out.

Gkasal has become idle.

...now that he thought about it, dinner sounded really good to Greg right about then. Leaving his computer, he went downstairs to grab some food...

"Oh, hello, Greg..."

His mother was sitting at the dinner table, looking almost forlorn.

"Would you join me for dinner?"

"...yeah, Mom."

Greg sat down as his mother went to the fridge and took out leftover pizza from the night before. She grabbed two plates, then put one in front of Greg as she sat down, placing the pizza box in the middle of the table. Greg took a piece and began eating, trying to avoid his mother's guilt-inducing look of sadness.

Wait for it... he thought.

"...so how long do you think it will be until Sidney comes to his senses and comes back?"

That didn't take long.

Greg slowly chewed on his pizza, mulling the question over in his mind.

"...Sidney's not coming back for good. Not until he graduates, anyways."

"...but... why..." his mother's voice quaked slightly. "He... he said he wasn't going to go out of the state... he said he was staying here..."

"No he didn't," Greg shook his head. "He just said he wasn't going out of state... he said nothing about staying in the country, though."

"But that's--"

"Yes, I know that's leaving the state. But that wasn't going to deter him, Mom."

His mother looked at him, her hazel eyes reflecting sadness.

"...you gave him the idea to go."

"...yeah. I did."

"...why?" was all she asked.

"...Mom, you're always telling us to set our own paths," Greg explained. "But if we always stay close to you, we're never really on our own- you're stubborn, Mom. You force your influence on us. Sidney... Sidney didn't leave to abandon; he did it because he wanted to make himself... without you telling him how to do it."

"...and soon... you'll be doing the same thing," his mother added, tears starting to fall from her eyes.

"Yes."

"...I didn't want to believe it... I guess you really are grown up, aren't you two? ...but I understand. I have to let you go... just promise me one thing, Greg. Promise... that you won't forget me."

"Of course, Mom."

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Sidney had only seen snow once before, and that was on TV.

Now that he had seen how much snow there could be at one time, he was extremely thankful that the dorm building was on the main campus.

Sidney stuck to the sides of the building that cold January morning, where there was the least amount of snow- relatively speaking, of course. Two feet of snow was still a lot of snow.

"Aieee!"

Sidney looked back to see a woman topple over sideways into the tall snowdrifts.

"Ugh..."

Sidney walked back to her, slightly concerned.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

One look at her, and Sidney could tell that she was not Japanese; her long hair was light brown, and her skin was very tanned. Her bright green eyes looked up and noticed Sidney standing over her, holding out a hand.

"Oh... I'd be better if it weren't for all this snow," the woman sighed, taking Sidney's hand as she stood up. "I really should be used to this, I live in New York..."

"...you weren't born there, were you?" Sidney asked. "Here, let me walk you to your class... you don't really have the New Yorker accent."

"Oh, thank you," the woman smiled, taking Sidney's arm as they walked to the main building. "Yes, you're right, I'm not New Yorker by birth... I was actually born in Italy."

"Really?" Sidney seemed slightly awed by that fact. "And when did you move to America?"

"Uhm... just before I turned seven, I think..."

As they walked indoors, they continued discussing about their pasts, until the woman promptly stopped in front of a door.

"This is my class," she stated, smiling softly. "Thank you, Mr..."

"Kasal," Sidney replied. "Sidney Kasal."

"Sidney... I'm Victoria. Victoria DelGiudice," the woman introduced herself. "...I hope we see each other again soon..."

And with that, she smiled briefly, then entered her classroom.

Sidney couldn't pull himself away.

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On 1/17/2002 at 7:04 pm skasal(a)siu.jp wrote:

Greg, you have to help me.

Greg reread the email again just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Sidney was... asking for help? Normally it had to be force-fed to him.

On 1/17/2002 at 7:09 pm gkasal(a)uofc.il wrote:

Sure, once you tell me what you've done with Sidney Kasal.

Sidney frowned.

On 1/7/2002 at 7:15 pm skasal(a)siu.jp wrote:

Ha ha. Very funny, Greg.

I just met this really great girl the other day. She's kind, she's smart, she's not superficial- and she's in one of my business classes. How do I impress her?

Greg fell out of his chair, he was in so much shock.

On 1/17/2002 at 7:21 pm gkasal(a)uofc.il wrote:

Don't tell me you have a CRUSH, Sidney...

On 1/17/2002 at 7:30 pm skasal(a)siu.jp wrote:

Shut up, Greg.

On 1/17/2002 at 7:40 pm gkasal(a)uofc.il wrote:

Right, sorry.

Well, I don't know what they have over in Japan, but if you're going to take her out, do something interesting... and be yourself, because nobody likes a faker.

On 1/17/2002 at 7:47 pm skasal(a)siu.jp wrote:

Alright... thanks, Greg.

On 1/17/2002 at 7:50 gkasal(a)uofc.il wrote:

Yeah, you're welcome.

Sidney turned off his laptop just as his stomach started growling loudly. He was hungry...

Fixing his glasses, Sidney left for the cafeteria.

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"...Sidney?"

Sidney looked up from his meal to see...

"Oh, Victoria..."

"Is it okay if I sit here...?" Victoria hesitantly placed her food tray on the table, watching Sidney, waiting for a response.

"Yeah, go ahead," Sidney nodded, moving his stuff to make room for Victoria. She sat down across from Sidney, smiling nervously.

"So... how are you?" Sidney asked, hiding his nervousness behind a pleasant tone of voice.

"I'm well," Victoria replied, "but I'm also a little sad... there's no good clubs to join here."

"There's lots of good clubs," Sidney replied, frowning slightly.

"Well, yes, there's many science clubs and sports teams, but nothing really... how to put it... artistic," Victoria sighed. "I like science and math, really, and I'm fairly good at sports. But... I really like art and theater. I just wish that they had something along those lines..."

As Victoria ate her sandwich, Sidney suddenly remembered a conversation he had had with his dorm mate earlier...

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"Ah! Kasaru-san!"

Sidney looked up from his book to see his dorm mate, Kichijiro, standing in the doorway, paper clutched tightly in his hand.

"I get tickets for kabuki in Minami-ku! You come?" he asked in his broken English.

"...kabuki?" Sidney frowned, putting down his book.

"You call theater, yeah? Kabuki better than American theater. Minami-ku is where the kabuki at. You come?"

"...no thanks."

"Ah, you do not know what you miss,"Kichijiro's face fell. "I leave you two tickets anyway, yeah? Maybe you decide to invite girlfriend?"

"Get out of here!"

Kichijiro fled, laughing, dropping two tickets on the floor. Sidney sighed, getting up and picking up the fallen tickets.

"Crazy..." he muttered, pocketing the tickets.

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Sidney quickly checked his back pocket. They were still there...

"Say, Victoria..." Sidney began, catching her attention. "...would you like to go to the theater with me?"

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"Oh my God, that was amazing!"

Sidney chuckled as he and Victoria walked through the snow to the train.

"Yeah, that was nice," he admitted.

"Thank you for inviting me to go with you," Victoria beamed. "Where did you get those tickets, anyways?"

"Oh... a friend gave them to me," Sidney answered. If you could call him that... "You had fun?"

"Ohh, yes," Victoria sighed happily. "It was very nice..."

Sidney smiled.

"...now, how are you going to top that? It's only the first date, and already..."

"W-wha?! Hey!"

Victoria laughed, running as a madly blushing Sidney chased after her.

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(End chapter two.

I AM SO SORRY FOR AMERICANIZING JAPAN. Please, shoot me now. But not fatally, because then TCGeek will hunt me down...

Sidney's at Sapporo International University- they offer business classes and it's a real school. Greg is at University of Chicago, which is singlehandedly the most amazing school ever. I'm going to go there. Believe it!

Greg Kasal's second job is Dating Advice Expert. You know it.

Aww, look, it's Sidney and Victoria and Victoria's flirting with him. How cuuuuuute.

Next chapter... I'm hoping will be short, but you know... not lacking anything.

OH that reminds me, Greg's a momma's boy! XD That makes me giggle inside...

Next chapter will definitely be up by Monday, thanks to LABOR DAY WEEKEND. YES.

Also, if you can tell me where I got the name Kichijiro, I will give you cookies the size of your face. DAMN, these are long author's notes...

Review please! Let me know what you think!)