Author's note: Hi again, hope your enjoying it… yes it's crack.

Standard disclaimers apply.

To whom it may concern,

This letter is to inform you that you have been accepted to Shinigami Academy.
School starts on 13/4. Be sure to arrive prior to 8am.
Equipment list is attached.

We hope to see you soon,
Vice – principal

B. Hideyasu

Equipment list:

School uniform (enclosed in parcel)
Brushes (3 sizes, 22, 43, 67)
Exercise books (2x 64pg A4 0.8mm lined hole punched)

"Hey guys! I got in!" Shioru shouted with joy, jumping up from her chair and knocking it to the floor. She looked at the others, realising they had also received letters. "Did you all get in?"

"I did," said Hoshika.

"And so did I. Sooo.. Let's look at our uniforms!!!" Saiko started ripping up the packaging. "Oh god, they're red! They're freaking ugly red!"

"OMO! They look pretty cool…" Hiyori took the one with her name on it (yes, they all had names on them so) and tried it on.

"Hey, they fit perfectly! I wonder how they knew our sizes?" Mochi took out her uniform and tried it on as well.

"They must be stalkers!" said Tifa.

"It also says we need brushes and hole punched exercise books..." continued Shioru.

"And we don't have any of that," answered Hoshika.

"HURRAH! SHOPPING TIME!" yelled Saiko. Shioru looked shocked.

"You like shopping?!"

"Well it's better than doing random faily crap here," replied Saiko, motioning at the rooms of their plain old house in District 32 of Rukongai.

"Fine then, let's go 'shopping'," said Hoshika, with a slight undertone of sarcasm.

"Can we wear these?" asked Hiyori, pointing at her uniform.

"Yeah, and we can go around saying we got into the Shinigami academy!" said Mochi, the beginnings of a smug look appearing on her face.

"Attention seekers lol," Shioru interjected.

"Fine, do whatever you want. Let's go now," said Hoshika and they all went out the door.

They entered Shiniworks, the one stop stationary shop. They rushed in and collected all the brushes and exercise books that six over-enthusiastic Shinigami-in-training could possibly need.

"Are you girls going to the Shinigami Academy?" asked the cashier, eyeing Hiyori and Mochi and their red academy uniforms.

"Yes we are!" replied Hiyori

"We're finally going to get to leave Rukongai!" said Mochi.

"Ah, I see. Ok…18 brushes plus 12 64pg A4 0.8mm lined hole punched…" He screwed his face up as he calculated the total price.

Tifa handed the money over with a clumsy flourish, vivaciously aware that they were well and truly on their way to becoming shinigami.

"By the way, you can contact your book with any paper you want for free if you buy over 10 exercise books," added the cashier.

"Oh really now?" Saiko said as she attempted to look intelligent, "Lets go!"

They searched through all the rolls at least three times before they found what they wanted.

"Oh my god, they've got a Cloud Strife print!" Tifa grabbed the roll and ran to the cashier before Saiko could snatch it off her.

"I think I'll just go for the clear contact." Shioru handed the roll to the cashier who had finished with Tifa's. "No bubbles or I'll kill you."

"Whoa, look at these colourful stars..." Hiyori picked the shiny starry one.

Saiko chose plain brown parcelling paper to draw on, Mochi choose black and a whiteout pen to draw on it and Hoshika really just couldn't be bothered and got a readymade one so that all she had to do was slip the cover on the book, because whatever she contacts, there will always be bubbles.

Finally they were done, their stationary nicely packed in a blue 'Shiniworks' plastic bag. Leaving the shop, Shioru spotted a cake store and ran straight over and through the door. Hoshika and Mochi decided to buy some stuff in a bookstore and the rest went to eat lunch at 'We Love Ramen!'

Returning to Shioru, she was pressing her face against the glass counter.

"Can I have that stick cake," she asked, but it was muffled because her face was glued to the glass.

"Excuse me, what was that?" asked the cashier politely. Shioru pulled her face away.

"That stick cake." It had a brown top and a yellow body.

"Ah yes, that's a Kasutera(1), or you can call it Nagasaki honey cake." She picked one out and placed it in a paper bag. "Although personally, I think Kasutera is easier to say."

Shioru payed the price and left to the 'We Love Ramen!' shop, where everyone, except for Hoshika and Mochi, were eating. Saiko was eating an extremely spicy shin ramen, wearing an oversize Asian cone hat.

"Nice sombrero you have there," commented Shioru.

"It's not a sombrero, it's an Asian cone hat(2)!" snapped Saiko. "Loser whore woman."

"And as you can see, it's oversized just like your ego," said Hiyori, eating udon. Shioru sat down and took an attentive bite of the cake.

"Ahhh, this stuff is good!" shouted Shioru and then continued to stuff her mouth with the cake.

"Really? Can I have some?" asked Tifa.

"No, go buy one yourself." Shioru continued to stuff herself with the kasutera. "I'm so going to buy this stuff when we get into Seireitei."

Mochi and Hoshika finally came back, Mochi with a book and Hoshika with music sheets.

"What book?" asked Tifa, taking it from Mochi. "NA NI?(3)" The book had no blurb and no title, just a red cover and words inside, and was badly bound. AND it looked second hand.

"None of your business, eat your food." Mochi grabbed the back and flipped to the first page.

Back at home, they packed their bags and changed into the red Shinigami uniforms. They placed some essentials, the new stationary and in Shioru's case, she brought along her teddy bear, Fifi.

"What's with the bear?" asked Hoshika, placing the music sheets carefully inside a red backpack so that it wouldn't crinkle.

"I like it." Shioru put an extra Kasutera in her backpack. Hiyori smuggled a lighter in a secret pocket inside her Country Road bag.

"Can we go blow our money when we get inside Seireitei? I need to buy new books and Shioru needs to get more Kasutera," asked Mochi.

"And I need to get cup ramen," added Saiko.

"Ha, you guys all have to buy food while I already have a stash, from that hotel fridge," Tifa showed her stash inside her bag.

"LOL, sure, but Kasuteras are better."

With their bags packed, they left their home in Rukongai and stepped into…

…Seireitei

A/N: Please R&R, this chapter was written by machao, next chapter will be by GeNoWaFeR

(1) Kasutera is a Japanese cake with a brown top and yellow body as explained before, if you still don't understand, search it on google.

(2)The asian cone hat is the one that Shunsui has.. That female Vietnamese rice farmers wear.

(3) Na ni means 'what' in jap.