This is it! This is really it! I'm finally a student at the DWMA!

Nira Ayano practically skipped through the hallways on her way to her first class of the day, finally a proud meister at the elite academy under Lord Death himself. She had been waiting for this for practically her entire life and nothing was going to sour her good mood on this day, this absolutely perfect day. Nira's smile grew even wider as she thought about the adventures of collecting Kishin eggs and finally reaching the eventual moment when she could just get that one last witch soul to create a death scythe. Just thinking about it made her want to squeal with excitement!

Now all I have to do is find a partner…..

While it was true that she made lots of new friends at Death the Kid's party, she was unfortunately unable to synchronize wavelengths with any of them. Slowing her pace to a casual stroll, Nira glanced around at the other freshmen in the hallway to find that most of them paired up. However, she still kept the smile plastered on her face and lifted her chin slightly. She couldn't let something as small as a nonexistant partner keep her from enjoying the classes of the DWMA. Okay….so maybe the problem was a little bigger than that. If she didn't find a partner, she would most likely get left behind in her classes, but those things were still out of her control, so Nira would just have to roll with it and keep searching.

Nira's silver feline eyes flashed with determination as she rounded a corner in the hallway, but suddenly her body was thrown back as she ran into some unknown object. She grimaced as she landed on the floor and rubbed her hip which seemed to have taken most of the damage from the fall. Curiously, she raised her head to see who she had collided with. A girl with long straight black hair and blue eyes with glasses slightly crooked from the collision also sat on the floor with a shocked expression on her face, still trying to figure out what had happened. Nira's eyes widened as she looked around and saw that some students were gathering around and snickering, watching the scene unfold with interest.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Nira apologized to the girl as she picked herself off the ground, but froze before she could offer help. Standing behind the other girl on the floor was a muscular looking boy with spiky brown hair and purple eyes which flashed to Nira as he offered his own hand to help his friend up. "Are you okay, Val-chan?"

"It's alright Kyon-sama. I'm just fine," the girl assured him as she dusted off her grey skirt and straightened her glasses.

Kyon turned to Nira and lashed out as if he hadn't heard her reassurances before Nira could open her mouth to apologize again. "Did you hurt her? Nobody hurts Val-chan!"

This time the girl put a hand on his shoulder and meet his eyes with her own. "I said I'm fine Kyon-sama. There's no need to make a scene."

Kyon straightened up and unclenched his fists as he put a broad smile on his face like nothing had happened. "Why isn't there a need to cause a scene? These punks need to know who they're messing with if they ever try to hurt us!" he said as he gestured to the crowd and laughed arrogantly as he laced his hands behind his head.

Nira stood there and played with her hands awkwardly before she chose to speak up again. Sh felt a bit safer now that this Kyon guy had calmed down. "I really am sorry. I should've paid more attention to where I was going."

The black haired girl smiled warmly before waving her apology off. "It's no big deal; accidents happen all the time," she said before looking pointedly at the boy standing next to her. Nira returned her smile, grateful that she hadn't made any enemies on the first day of school, then glanced worriedly at the hyper looking boy standing next to her.

Why do I get the feeling that this guy is going to be a huge troublemaker?

Nira took the opportunity to introduce herself properly. "My name's Nira Ayano."

The girl gestured to herself and Kyon to introduce themselves as well. "This is Kyon Dellous and I'm his weapon partner Velacia Haze."

"Oh, so you guys are partners already?"

Kyon unlaced his fingers and put his hands on his hips with his chest puffed out in pride. "Yep! Always have been, always will be. Right Val-chan?"

"Right." Velacia glanced around Nira before raising a delicate eyebrow. "So, have you not found a partner yet?"

"Um, no not yet. But I will soon!" she declared, hoping secretly that the words would turn out to be true. After all, its not like she could be 100% confident all the time.

Velacia opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of the warning bell sounding over the school speaker system. "Uh-oh, we'd better get going Kyon-sama. We don't want to be late!"

"Wait," Nira said with an outstretched hand, not wanting her new friends to leave yet. "Uh, which class are you going to?"

"Oh, what was it called again? Moon….something…" Kyon said as he scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Crescent Moon," Velacia affirmed.

"Cool! That's where I'm going!" Nira replied cheerfully. "Do you want to walk together?"

"Okay," Velacia replied with a smile.

"Eh, sure," Kyon shrugged nonchalantly as he turned on his heel to begin walking down the hallway again. Velacia followed suit, then motioned for Nira to follow them since Kyon definitely wasn't going to wait for her to catch up.

Nira grinned, then scurried to catch up with them and walk at their fast pace. "I hope this class will be fun," she commented hopefully.

"I heard that the teacher's a nut case!" Kyon added loudly.

"Kyon-sama!"

"What, I'm just saying what I've heard."

"It's still rude to talk about it that loud in the middle of the hallway. You never know who could be listening."

As Velacia continued to scold Kyon about his bad manners, Nira searched her memory as she struggled to remember the teacher's name. Finally, as they approached the classroom and filed in with the rest of the students, it hit her as she stared at the man sitting in the desk chair at the front of the room.

Dr. Franken Stein.

She had heard rumors about his bizarre teaching methods and other strange habits, but he was still one of the greatest meisters ever to graduate at the DWMA, so he still reserved some respect in her book. She would just have to hold off on judging him before she actually got to know him….even if he did have a giant screw sticking out of his head. After all, he just might end up suprising her.

"Nira! Over here!" Velacia called from the rows of seats. She and Kyon were already sitting down and had an empty desk waiting for her at the top row.

Nira smiled, then jogged up the stairs and scooted by the other students to reach them. "Thanks!" she said as she took off her backpack, placed it by her feet, then laced her fingers on top of her desk. She noticed that the desk on her other side was empty, so while they waited for everybody else to arrive, Nira searched the crowd of students trying to find others who came in alone and looked partnerless.

I have to find somebody soon if I want to make a death scythe someday. I just have to!

As the final bell rang, the last trickle of students came in and took their seats while Dr. Stein rolled over in his chair to close the door. The classroom volume went from idle chatter level to complete silence as he reached into a pocket of his labcoat, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it before placing it in between his lips and inhaling. His shoulders relaxed slightly and his eyes glanced about the room as he examined each of us sitting at our desks.

"Hello class. My name is Dr. Franken Stein, but you can call me Professor Stein for now," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke and crossed his arms over the top of the desk chair and rested his chin on them. "I see that most of you have already paired up. That's good. Finding your meister or weapon partner is one of the most important steps to becoming successful here. In some cases, your partner will be your best friend and your lifeline. You need to learn to rely on them and trust them at all costs. There is no room for error when it comes to your life. Understand?"

As the class nodded seriously, Nira gulped as she personally took in the entirety of his words. He was right though; your partner is everything here and she hadn't even found one yet. What was she going to do?

Professor Stein nodded as he asessed our reactions. "Good. Now before we begin-"

Suddenly, Stein was cut off as the classroom door opened and everybody's heads turned to see who it was. A boy with messy fiery red hair slunk in through the door with his hands shoved into his pockets and a bored expression on his face and showing in his copper eyes. He leaned against the door frame as he smirked at everybody's reaction to his tardiness and gestured to his shirt at them which was green with a yellow Mario mushroom and yellow printed words that read 'Get a Life'.

"It seems we have a tardy. And on the first day of school, too. This is sure to be promising," Stein commented as he took another drag of his cigarette and started turning the screw in his head, causing some of the students to cringe. "I'll let it slide today. Hurry up and find a seat."

"Sure," he said as he shrugged and scanned the classroom for and empty desk. His copper eyes rested on the empty seat beside Nira as he smiled, causing her to blush even though she knew the smile wasn't really for her.

Or was it?

He took his time making his way up the stairs and slipping behind the others students before he finally took a seat beside Nira and slouched casually.

"Alright, I guess we'll start with roll call," Stein announced as he rolled back over to his desk to pick up a clipboard.

"Elma Annette?"

"Here."

"Nira Ayano?"

"Here!" Nira answered as she raised her hand slightly in the air.

"Alexis Brady?"

"Here."

During the rest of the roll call, Nira struggled not to stare at this boy sitting next to her. He actually had to the nerve to show up late on the very first day of school; he didn't even care! He seemed like the kind of guy that she knew she should avoid, yet she was mysteriously drawn to him. Taking a quick chance, she snuck a peak at him, but was caught as he met her curious gaze.

"See something you like?" he asked with a smirk.

Nira blushed as she tried to come up with a reasonable reply. "Uh, no. I just…I was just wondering why you were so late to class."

"I slept in."

"Don't you have an alarm clock?"

"Nope."

Nira bit her lip slightly and hesitated before asking her next question. "Uh, doesn't your partner wake you up?"

"Don't have one."

Nira sighed with relief on the inside, but tried to remain casual as she continued the conversation. "Why not?"

The boy chuckled slightly. "Nobody can stand me!"

"Well…I don't think you're that bad."

"Huh, now there's definitely a first."

Nira played with a strand of her long brown hair. "Do you….want a partner?"

The boy's copper eyes widened slightly. "YOU want to be my partner?" he asked incredulously.

"Are you a weapon?"

"Yeah."

"Then, yes I do," she squeaked.

The boy stayed silent for a few seconds and then said, "But we don't even know each other."

Nira smiled then stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Nira Ayano."

The boy shook his head in disbelief then returned her smile and shook her outstretched hand. "Derek Hallack."

"Okay, now we know each other."

Derek laughed which resulted in a blur of something being thrown through the air towards them. Tilting their heads up, they saw two scalpels embedded in the wood just above their heads.

"Rule number one of my class," Professor Stein said, "is no talking."

"Yes sir!" they both replied while ducking down in their seats. When he was satisfied that they had gotten the message, he nodded and continued the roll call.

"So is that a 'yes'?" Nira whispered to Derek quietly. Derek considered her offer for a few seconds, then nodded with a smile.

Nira felt like cheering on top of her table in celebration, but was brought back to reality as Professor Stein slammed his clipboard on the top of his desk and smiled with an evil looking glint in his eyes. "Okay, now that that's finished, let's begin the year with some fun stuff. Our first assignment of the year will be a dissection lab!"

LOLZ at Stein. I actually wouldn't mind if he was my teacher, though cuz I don't really mind dissection. Well, anyways NOW ALL THE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED AND PAIRED UP! I hope you all are satisfied. Now as the intro comes to a close, the real story begins! Duh duh duh! So read and review and tell me what you think. Words of encouragement or any constructive criticism are always welcome and appreciated. Thanks guys!