The Third Chapter, Taking place by the time when the mekakushi trio were with Ayano, it's their first day of classes!

Sorry that it took me so long to update.

Three little kids stood in front of a large building, in this refreshing day of spring, it was going to be their first day of classes.

"Alright, here's where we separate. We'll meet again right here after classes to go back home okay?" The three of them nodded at the smiling girl wrapped with a red scarf, who then walked away into the crowd of students.

"Hmm~" One of the kids looked around with a grin, he couldn't really resist but to play aroud with the situation. "So.. who wants to sneak out with me?"

"You aren't going anywhere." The green haired girl tightly held his wrist and began to pull him into the school complex.

"W-Wait for me!" The young boy in the white hoodie attempted to catch up with them, but his bag however, was much more heavier than usual making it difficult for him to walk faster.

"Huh?" Kano stared at him a little confused. "Why does your bag look so heavy? I thought we were only bringing one notebook on the first day."

"Now that you mention it.." Kido started to wonder as well.

Seto laughed nervously, he knew the other two already had learned his secret.

"Well.." Seto opened his bag, letting a small black cat to jump out and into his arms.

"You shouldn't bring animals to school, Tateyama gramps will get mad~" Kano couldn't help but to tease him.

"B-But he wanted to come along too!"

Kido stared at the other two for a moment before approaching Seto.

"Here." She grabbed the cat and their figures dissappeared in an instant.

"Aren't they going to think you didn't attend classes like that?" Kano stared at the spot where Kido had been standing, but he got no reply.

"I think they already left." Seto sighed, he really wanted to go to class with his little friend.

Both of them then followed into the school, they didn't want to be late after all.

The experience wasn't nice at all once inside. Everyone kept staring at them in a weird manner, some kids were even scared because of their red eyes.

It's not like they expected something different anyway, maybe it was better that way, at least they wouldn't have to worry about having to interact with anyone else.

Kido couldn't be seen at all through the entire day of classes, even though you could occasionally hear some purrs coming from one of the corners in the classroom.

"Class dismissed." A tall teacher walked away, followed by all of the students.

Only Kano and Seto were left in the classroom. Both would rather wait until everyone else had left, that way they could meet up with Kido as well.

Seto couldn't wait to meet with the cat again, but things didn't go as expected.

Both could hear a faint whimper coming from the corner of the classroom, Kido soon became visible once they had approached. Tears were rolling down from her cheeks, but depsite that she kept clenching her fists trying not to let herself cry.

"What happened, did any of those kids do anything to you?" Kano cracked his fists, reassuring her he'd go take care of anyone that made her cry.

Kido slowly shook her head without giving a reply at all.

"Hmm, I think she accidentally lost Mr. Kano when we left for break earlier." Seto crossed his arms.

Kido slowly nodded at this, trying harder to not cry.

"Whoa, you are almost like a mind reader!" Kano stared at him a little surprised even if it was a little regular for things like this to happen with Seto.

"It's not really nice though.." Seto scratched his head, just learning some of things the students thought about them today had already made him exhausted.

"Wait! You named your cat after me?" Kano asked a little curious, he didn't realize it until now.

"Well, your eyes almost look like the ones of a cat, so he is Mr. Kano!"

Kido managed to giggle a little, even at moments like this, just watching these two interact, it would easily cheer her up.

"Don't worry, we are definitely going to find him!" Seto smiled at her.

"You phrase thief, I was gonna say that." Kano pouted, making Seto laugh nervously.

"Okay, we can do this right?" Kido wiped away her tears and stood up.

The two boys nodded in a reassuring manner.

"It will be the first mission without leader here, let's make her proud~" Kano grinned and everyone agreed.

Some minutes passed by, but there was no success. The school was a lot more big for them than they had expected. They had looked through all of the classooms and the playground area of the school, but the cat was nowhere to be found.

The tree kids found themselves standing in the same classroom as where they were at the start at the end.

"Ah it's no good, where could it have gone?" Kano wondered

"S..Sorry." Kido stared at the floor ashamed, she felt guilty for this situation.

"I-it's okay, it's still gotta be here somehwere." Seto shook his head, he didn't want her to feel guilty at all. His ability would trigger without him wanting to, and being able to read the feelings of guilt that his friend had, made him sad.

"Meow!" A sound quickly made the kids jump startled.

"Shh." Kano started to look around, trying to figure out where it came from.

"Meow!"

Kano quickly ran towards the window, the cat was right there standing atop a tall Tree.

Kido and Seto joined Kano and stared at cat. Even if they could see him, getting to where the cat was looked like a difficult task. The Tree was really tall and it wasn't too close to the window either.

"Hmm maybe we should try to call him and..." Kano's suggestion was interruped by Seto who ran and jumped out the window and unto the Tree.

"W-What are you doing?!" Kido reacted surprised.

"Whoa Seto, that was an amazing jump!" Kano laughed not taking the situation too seriously, it's not like he wasn't worried, he just believed in Seto.

Seto continued to climb up the Tree, the entire scene looked really dangerous but he had no problem at all.

"Mr. Kano!" Seto smiled as he approached the cat. The feline buddy started to purr and jumped into Seto's arms. He was happy but at the same time, he wasn't paying too much attention. Losing his balance Seto quickly started to fall down the Tree.

Kido screamed and Kano froze in the spot, neither of them knew what to do.

"I got you!" A tall figure that had started to climb atop the Tree as well caught Seto in midair, and helped him stand on one of the branches. The boy seemed to be a little older than Ayano, and had dark black hair. He had a mole under his eye and a rather relaxed look on his face despite the situation.

"T-Thank you.." Seto was shaking in fear, even though he was worrying more about the well being of the cat in his arms over his own.

"Can you make it back from here?" The boy that saved him asked, and Seto nodded.

He had caught Seto right by the lenght of the window where Kido and Kano were so he would have no problem going back.

"Go first Mr. Kano!" Seto let go of the cat that jumped through the window and into Kido's arms. Right after this Seto easily jumped himself but accidentally landed against Kano, making both fall into the floor.

The three kids started to laugh, despite having been so worried before they were glad that their friend was safe. Everything was okay now.

"Haruka! What are you doing up there?!" A scream could be heard from outside the building.

"Ah.. I was trying to help out someone so-" Haruka smiled while looking down below the Tree.

"It's dangerous, please come back here!"

"Don't worry Takane, I'm going!" He waved goodbye to the kids before making his way down the Tree.

Kido, Seto and Kano then walked outside the school, and towards the meeting point with Ayano to go back home. She wasn't there.

"Y-You don't think we took too long and she already went back home without us, do you?" Kano wondered out loud a little nervous despite knowing she wouldn't do something like that.

"She might be looking for us because we took too long, let's go find her." Kido suggested.

The kids then bumped into another figure that was walking out of the school. The first thing that called their attention was the red jacket that this boy was wearing, it almost made them feel like he was one of them.

"Sorry." He said uninterested before walking away.

"Wait Onii-chan!" Kano called out to him, stopping him before he left.

"Huh?"

"Have you seen a pretty girl with a large red scarf?" Seto asked.

"Ayano? I guess I have." Shintaro replied "You must be the kids she was looking for ,huh?"

"I told you she'd be looking for us." Kido glared at Kano for not believing in Ayano for a moment.

"There you are!" They noticed Ayano who was walking towards them from the opposite direction, it was a good timing for her to appear.

"Thank you finding them!" She smiled at Shintaro who turned around.

"Bye." He continued to go back home without paying too much attention anymore.

"Onee-chan, was that your boyfriend~?" Kano stared at Ayano who quickly shook her head.

"N-no! Where did you get that idea from?!"

They continued to tease Ayano while going back home together. A lot had happened, but there was some interesting people at this school. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.