(7 yrs. later)
Ryou Misaki, age 17, stepped off the city bus in front of his school. He usually preferred walking to the private school he attended, but, every once in a while, he would treat himself to a bus ride.
He was trying to focus himself on today, what with there being a test in his English class today, but thoughts over recent events over the last several months had his mind withdrawn to The World R:2. He was amazed at the many events that had brought him, Haseo, to meet so many people, and to discover that he was chosen as the Epitaph User of Skeith, becoming a PKK to find Tri-Edge for revenge for placing Shino in a coma...but that was all over now. Shino was all right now, the Azure Knights no longer a threat to them...and he had some good friends online now, right? Even if he did still seem aloof to the others at times, he did find that maybe having good companions with him...wasn't so bad after all. Still, lately, he had been more in thought than he had been at times in The World. His mind still questioning himself with questions he didn't even understand...
"HEYA, MISAKI!!!" Ryou felt a smack across the back and turned to see 18-year old Orino Yamamoto grinning insanely over him. Ryou groaned. Orino and Ryou were merely acquaintances, ever since the day Orino 'accidentally' bumped Ryou back down on the floor, littering his books beside. Both had different opinions on this: Orino thought it was funny, while Ryou, of course, wanted to beat the living daylights out of Orino for that. Ever since then, whenever they somehow were able to cross paths, Ryou, in a sense, was able to provide himself as Orino's personal punching bag. Despite this, it was impossible to look at Orino as a bully, simply because he never meant any harm to him and would always make sure the young sophomore was all right afterwards. Ryou's personal opinion of him was that he was a jackass; an annoying doofus who was the best of his team in tennis class, and therefore, respected by others. Because of this, and the fact that Orino sometimes provided himself as a tutor to Ryou, he found him at least tolerable, but didn't necessarily know him well enough to call him a 'friend.'
"Uh...hey, Orino," Ryou managed to spit out.
"Guess what?!" Orino's eyes shone with excitement.
"Uh...what?"
"Don't give me that dull look of yours, Misaki! You know perfectly well what's going on!"
"No, I don't," Ryou answered, bluntly.
"You don't?!"
"No."
Orino sighed. "Ryou-kuuuuun!!" he cried out in exasperation.
"Just get to the point, Orino. What's up?"
"There's an exchange student here, Ryou-kun! And she's in your grade!" Ryou turned and started walking away. Orino quickly followed him in anguish. "L-L-Look, man, look!" Orino began pleading. "You just gotta tell me her name, that's it!"
"Why?"
"Oh, come ON! It's not everyday an exchange student comes here! Besides, everyone's talking about her! Really, Ryou-k--"
"Where is she from?"
"Oh...uh, America, I think, if I heard it right."
"America, huh?" Ryou continued walking. Orino soon stopped followed.
"W-Well, if you see her, tell her that Yamamoto Orino-sama sends his greetings!" he called out to him. Receiving no answer, Orino shrugged and went to his next class.
"He really does have a thing for girls," Ryou muttered as he entered his English class. He sighed and sat at his desk, fingers drumming on the top. English was okay...he found many of the words easy to pronounce, and watching American-made movies made it easier for him to learn it. What he hated were the tests. Not only were there a lot of them in his class, but he found it even more annoying that half of the material were over things they had not even covered yet. "So much for preparing," Ryou muttered. All he could do was his best, but the results, if low, would never satisfy him. He wanted to do excellent...he knew he had to. Failure was not a part of Ryou's nature.
As the students began filing inside the room after him, he noticed a girl he had never seen before standing next to the door, the teacher next to her. I believe...that's the new student? Ryou wondered. The English teacher, Mr. Kazumi escorted the girl in front of the classroom. Mr. Kazumi then settled the chattering students down and then gestured to the new girl. "This is Miss Angel Walker. She is here as an exchange student from the United States of America, and will be with us the rest of the year." Angel had the bluest eyes Ryou had ever seen, and short light blonde hair. The first image that crossed Ryou's mind upon examining Angel was a delicate china doll.
The girl smiled and bowed politely. "Hello, my name is Angel Walker, and I'll be here for the rest of the semester," she said in pure, fluent Japanese. Most of the students looked at Angel in awe. "I'm looking forward to spending school here in Japan, and I hope we'll take the time to get to know each other well." When Ryou's eyes looked up from his desk to look at the girl again, her gaze was locked into his. It was almost as if she were speaking directly to him and only to him...shaking his head, he quickly looked away again and feel himself turning red with embarrassment. When he looked back at Angel again, she was quietly finishing her introduction and was soon escorted to her new seat, exactly two rows beside Ryou's left.
-----
The English test passed by quickly, and so did the other periods up until lunchtime. When Ryou had been younger, his mother used to pack lunch for him. Now, however, he managed to pack a bento box for himself, not that he had any choice now... While the other students rushed to be first in the lunch line, Ryou went to his favorite table and began eating quietly. The minutes had passed by, and most if not all the students were settled at different tables, chattering eagerly amongst one another. Ryou, however, still sat alone and eating. He didn't mind much; in fact, he was used to it. Suddenly, he heard a small cough, and when he looked up, saw the quiet new girl standing above him.
"Excuse me, but may I sit here?" She asked shyly, but didn't smile. "All the other tables are taken and there's still room here." Ryou looked around. Angel was right; there was nowhere else to sit in the cafeteria.
Ryou sighed. "You can sit here, if you want," Ryou replied, knowing that she had no choice, however. Now Angel was smiling. She quietly set her things besides her as she sat in front of Ryou, carefully splitting her chopsticks.
"Thank you very much, Ryou Misaki-san," she thanked him politely. She must had seen a small look of surprise on his face and explained that, "I asked the teachers in my classmates' names while I'm here. It would be embarrassing to speak with them and not know who they are." A small silence passed and as Ryou began finishing his lunch, she surprised him again. "Ryou, do you play The World?" Ryou's eyes widened slightly, the only sign of surprise he could show. "To be even more specific, so you play the second version of The World?" Ryou slowly nodded. Angel allowed herself a small smile. "You do? What is your character's name?"
Ryou felt doubt filling his heart. He allows this new, quiet girl to sit with him at lunch, and already she's asking questions of his personal life. Despite his doubts, his voice came through. "Haseo," Ryou sputtered. "I play as Haseo. He's an Adept Rouge." Ryou instantly felt his body flood with embarrassment again, but the girl only smiled.
"I see...Haseo." She finished her meal quickly and then gathered both her trash and Ryou's and dumped them in the nearest trash can, then sat back down. "You see, I've bought The World quite a while ago, but I haven't installed it yet, being so busy and all, and the move. I've only read the manual and basic information about the game itself. I wanted to see if I could find someone to play with and have some in-game advice."
"But...how did you know that I even play The World?" Ryou asked, incredulous.
Angel's face paled. "Oh, well, I...um...that is, I...erm..." She turned back to Ryou's gaze. "Ryou, can I come over to your house after school today?"
"Huh, what?"
"I have to tell you something...but I can't tell you here. It has to be somewhere private, and I think it should be at your house."
"But...what do you have to tell me?"
"You'll know...a little bit at a time, you'll know. Would you rather escort me to your home, or do you want to set a certain time?"
"...If I just take you home, it'll be quicker than just waiting for you," Ryou replied, hardly believing he was inviting a strange, new girl over so soon.
"All right. I'll meet you at the school entrance once the last bell rings." As soon as she had finished speaking, the next bell rang, signaling students to prepare to go to their next class. "Until then, good-bye, Ryou-san. It was nice to meet you." She quickly gathered her things, bowed once more to Ryou to thank him, and hurried off to her next class. As he was walking down the halls, Ryou couldn't help thinking...what did she know that she wanted to tell him?
A/N: Just what DOES Miss Angel want to tell Ryou? Does she know something he doesn't? And just who is she, really? Don't worry, if you're getting the wrong idea that Ryou and my own character are going to get involved romantically, you're wrong. She will take a special interest in someone else. Cookies to anyone who cares and guesses who. Anyway, this is the beginning of the long, yucky explaination chapters I have to work out, because, like I said before, I'm afraid that I will not be 100 accurate on the characters, though I'm hoping I'll be close enough...and I'm just hoping that I'll be able to make this work out okay. I've got up to chapter 3 written down (by paper and pencil), but I'm just waiting to get it over with so I can move on to more interesting chapters... sigh
And the story takes after GU...I'm hoping at least THAT'S good enough.