A/N: Really slow chapter this time. Mostly character introductions and build-up. It's still readable though, for the most part. =P

. : New Neighbors : .

Everything would be fine, I told myself. With a little pleading, begging and about a third of my salary, I had managed to convince the twins not to spread their fake story about us being lovers at school. So really, all I had to do was convince Chidori that my fake story was true and that Yu Lan was just joking or something. Kami, I was starting to hate myself for having to resort to lying so much.

As I walked past the school gates towards the entrance, I felt the weight of my fellow student's eyes on me. This made me wonder if Chidori had already spread the story. My heart sunk and I assumed the worst. Thankfully, my military training at Amalgam held me firm under their stares and muffled murmurings. I tried to carry myself as normally as possible since I knew that even a hint of weakness might turn them against me. I was careful not to look proud or overconfident, either. Blending in was what I was hoping to accomplish, as Gauron had taught me, with an expressionless face.

Luckily for me, my anxiety was all for nothing. It turned out that the students didn't know anything at all.

The first thing I did was enter the main office and explained my collapse along with my sudden absence to the principal and my teachers. They questioned me, of course, since several people had seen me jump out from the third floor window, but I told them that such things were normal at my old school in Helmajistan and that I wasn't hurt at all. The fact that all my wounds had already healed helped me with the façade. Plus, with no way to contact my legal guardian (Gauron, on paper at least) the principal and teachers had no real choice but to let me go with a warning. They did, however, ban me from jumping out of any windows from now on, something I cheerily agreed to.

In the hallways, a few of the students approached me, asking how I was feeling. Others wanted to know whether or not Kyoko and Chidori really cornered me and threw me off the roof of the school. It was funny how the story had become exaggerated already. I fought off the students by giving them my universal vague answer: 'I'm fine and I don't remember anything from yesterday.' This answer bored my classmates enough to leave me alone and stick to their own version of what had happened.

Kyoko, from what I could tell, had so far stuck to the original story that I simply jumped out from the third floor window. And Chidori… she would just change the subject if anyone brought it up around her. I tried to talk to them before homeroom started with little success. Both girls were confused that I had no injuries when I first approached them but neither would say anything to me. Actually, scratch that, only Chidori didn't say anything. Kyoko, at least, managed to voice her position. "Just leave us alone," she told me.

I was about to give them my version of the ridiculous story but then decided against it. With the way they were now, there would be no getting through to them.

Classes went on normally. Well, a little more boring than normal actually. I pretty much daydreamed through the entire day which ended with a discussion on the upcoming class trip to Okinawa. Mentally, I note to myself that I'll have to ask if Yu Lan and Yu Fan were going on the same trip. And whether or not I was going depended on if Chidori was going too. I tried to ask her directly if she was going or not, but she still completely ignored me.

The rest of the day was as routine as it could get. I trailed Chidori home, typed up the day's reports for headquarters, ate dinner, performed quick maintenance on all of our equipment and spent some quality bonding time with the twins watching TV together. After a while, the twins said they had something to do and left me alone in the apartment.

The sound of a loud truck interrupted me from voicing my disgust towards the strange Japanese game show I was watching. Glancing out the window, I spot a moving van pulling up the apartment entrance.

Curious, I decided to watch. From what I could tell, there were three people moving in. One looked like a foreigner. He had long blonde hair and a bit of a playboy complexion to him. There was also a girl, attractive, probably in her early twenties. She had short black hair and wore a tight tank-top and jeans. Chinese, I guessed. The last person was clearly younger. He looked to be a teenager around my age. His hair was short and rough cut, and for some reason he wore what looked like a green military jumpsuit. Strange.

I was so bored that fifteen minutes passed before I realized that I was staring at them as they carried in various boxes and pieces of furniture. If they saw me, they probably would have thought I was some crazy stalker or something.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. It sort of startled me.

"Calm down, Naruto. Probably just the new people," I told myself. I was right.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the young, twenty-something, probably-Chinese girl that I had spotted before only she was even more gorgeous up close. Her black tank-top somehow looked more revealing than I first thought it was, distracting me a little from the fact that she also wore baggy military-style pants that. I knew I was probably staring at her a little too intensely but if she cared, she didn't show it.

"Hi," she said, waking me from my daze. Her Japanese was perfect. "We're moving next door into room 405 and just wanted to greet you. Please take care of us."

"Ah, welcome," I replied. "Ms…"

"Mao," she finished for me. "Melissa Mao. Please, feel free to call me Melissa."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa," I said. "I'm Naruto." She gave me an appraising look. I was waiting for it. It was the look that asked 'Naruto, like the stuff in ramen?' Why does everyone always have the same reaction to my name?

"And yes," I continued, "it's spelled exactly like the stuff in ramen." She grinned amusedly. "What about you? Mao? That's Chinese, right? Hmm… but Melissa is a common American name…"

She raised a single brow. "You're a pretty sharp kid, Naruto," she said. "I was born in America, actually. My parents were both Chinese-American."

"So what brings you here to Chōfu?"

"My job transferred me here. I work with electronics," she said. Just then, the blonde man appeared from behind her shoulder, offering his stupid-looking grin.

"Yo!" he said. Then he started speaking English. "Where are the Japanese pretty girls?"

"Kurz!" reprimanded Melissa. "Sorry, Naruto. He's a little drunk right now. His name is Kurz incase you didn't catch it."

"Boyfriend?" I asked.

She glared so hard I flinched. "Him? Boyfriend? In his dreams," she asserted. "We're coworkers. That's all."

"No pretty girl?" continued the drunk Kurz, almost whimpering.

"Sorry, no pretty girl here," I assured him in English.

He looked downtrodden after I told him and left, to his room I assumed. Melissa looked surprise that I could speak English at all. I gave her a sly look.

"Actually, I lied." I told Melissa, "I live here with two of my friends. They're twin girls."

She smiled, knowingly. "Then I'll be sure to keep Kurz away from them." I actually half-expected her to question if we had any adults in our household. But instead, she asked: "You're a high school student, right?"

I nodded, not sure what to make of the question.

"Do you attend Jindai High by any chance?"

"Freshman," I said after nodding again.

"Great," she proclaimed. "We actually have a third-roommate with us. He'll be transferring into Jindai High tomorrow. His name is Sousuke Sagara. I'll warn you that he's a little dense at times and a bit of a military otaku, but I hope you two can get along."

"Same here," I said.

"Well, I have to go help unpack," said Melissa. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too," I said back. "If you need anything, feel free to come to us."

"Thanks," she said, bowing slightly before getting back to her own room.

Well, that went well, I thought to myself. I figured that getting to know the neighbors would be a good thing. At the very least it would make us look more like the typical tenants we were portraying and less like the elite Amalgam operatives we actually were.

I started to flip the TV channel to yet another Japanese game show when there was another knocking at the door. Was it the neighbors again? They probably needed help moving something. So I got up, headed to the door and opened it.

There, smiling at me, was none other than Gauron.

Chōfu – A city located in the Tokyo Prefecture. Chōfu is where all the school stuff in Full Metal Panic takes place in case you didn't know.