The closing of notebooks, zipping of backpacks and shifting of anxious, ready to leave, students drowned out the last of Professor Robin's lecture of an ancient civilization and the technology they called dials. A slight gesture towards the door set off a stampede of students. But, as they pushed and shoved each other to get into the hallway quicker, Emma quietly slipped her notebook into her backpack and approached the desk that Robin had settled behind.

"How's your research going Professor?" Emma asked. Though she wasn't a history major, she had taken several of Robin's classes. She was always so passionate about the class material no matter which course she was teaching, which was something that Emma loved about Shinsekai University. All of the professors were passionate about their fields of study and that made attending class that much more fun and interesting.

Robin gave her a sly smile that said it all but, before she could verbally respond, the door slammed open and in exploded a blue hair man with the explanation,

"I brought your favorite!" as he waved about two brown paper bags that were more than likely filled with lunch.

The soft smile that Robin aimed at the man was Emma's cue to leave. So, after a farewell nod, she quietly slipped out of the lecture hall and headed towards the student union where she would meet Tashigi and Cameron, like she did every Tuesday and Thursday. Today however, she was the first of her friends to arrive. Emma grabbed some of Hachi's takoyakki and sat down at a table where she would be easily spotted by Cameron and Tashigi.

As always the union was busy. Several groups of people had shoved two or more tables together so that they could all sit together. One such group only consisted of three guys, one with short black hair, the other with green hair and the other with fluffy black hair. The tables that they were sitting at were overfilled with food and it seemed that most of it belonged to the black haired boy with the scar under his eye because the other two weren't digging into the feast that was laid out before them.

Not far from there was a large group of guys who were surrounding a strawberry blonde who looked as relaxed as a cat lounging in a ray of sunlight despite all of the daggers that were being glared at her. Emma didn't know what had happened or what was going on but from where she was, she couldn't make out their words or what they were fighting over.

On the opposite side of the cafeteria, the quieter side, was a table with a blonde, a black haired boy with a splash of freckles and a blue haired girl who lightly touching the freckled boy's arm and laughing while he spoke but, he hardly seemed to notice what was going on even though it was as clear as day. Or maybe he didn't care. But, it looked like they were having a good time and Emma found herself wishing that she knew them so that she could join them. They looked like they were the outgoing types so they probably had a lot of fun and she wished that she were as outgoing as they were.

A table close to them sat a pale redhead who was pouring over a book. A notebook sat open besides that and a tray sat in the middle of the table. Every so often he would reach up and grab a fry and then slowly eat it without so much as taking his eyes off of the book. There were a few other small groups of people but mostly people who were sitting alone, either on their laptops typing away, or hunched over their phones. But, Emma's gaze kept landing on the redhead.

There was a shriek that caused Emma to jump, followed by the clattering of a tray on the table. Tashigi was righting herself with an exhale of relief. It looked as though she had tripped and had just barely managed to save her food from landing on the floor and knowing Tashigi, that's exactly what had happened.

Pushing her glasses up her nose she asked, "Why don't you talk to him?"

"Y-you know I can't do that!" Emma exclaimed a bit too loudly. She was all too aware of the eyes that were now staring at her because of her outburst.

"So you're just going to admire him from a far until the semester ends?"

Emma fiddled nervously with the cuff of her sweater. It's not like she didn't want to talk to him, because she did, but there was no way that he even knew that she existed and she figured that it would be better if things stayed that way.

"You're in the same class aren't you?"

"Yeah." In fact she sat near him. One row over. Two seats back. She sat in the very back corner of the class, closest to the door. He was always ready to bolt from the class, and she was always trying to make sure that she got the least amount of attention.

"Your time is limited, it's not likely that you'll see him after this semester."

"But I can't just talk to him." Talking to him sounded even more terrifying than her public speaking course. But at least in that class they told you what to talk about.

"Why not? He's human too you know."

"Yeah but…"

"Nothing is going to happen if you don't do anything." Tashigi said, always the voice of reason. "But, that's all I'm going to say on that. How is your project coming along?"

"It's coming slowly. How is Mihawk's swords mastery class?" Emma fired back, hoping that this would get the attention off of her and on something, anything else.

As Tashigi answered Emma's thoughts returned to the redhead. He wasn't just a human, he was a very intimidating one. In fact, other than the creep buggy, he was one of the scariest looking guys on campus. He always looked like he was in a bad mood and he was usually grumbling stuff under his breath. Not only that but, he absolutely abhorred English. He thought that it was the most useless class that they were making him take. Tashigi was seemingly unaware that Emma was lost in her thoughts as she answered the question about the class. She mentioned a rival named Zoro and how much she was enjoying the class a lot more than the target she was taking.

Emma's silence wasn't unusual because she much preferred listening to talking and both Cameron and Tashigi knew as much so, they weren't perturbed by her lack of engagement in the conversations that they had.

Feeling a pair of eyes on him, Kid looked up only to lock eyes with a familiar pair of mint green, which flicked away the moment their gazes locked. He watched as a deep crimson exploded across her cheeks, lighting up both ears as she looked anywhere but him.

Furrowing his brow kid asked, "Is there something on my face?" As Killer sat down across from him, blocking his view of the embarrassed girl. But Killer shook his head so he flicked his tongue across his teeth and then barred them, asking, "My teeth?" But, he only got the same response.

Then what had she been staring at? He wondered as Killer asked how his studying was going and if he had any plans for the weekend.

With a test coming up in his engineering class Kid couldn't afford to go out this weekend. But at the same time desperately needed to get out and let out some stress. So, when Killer proposed to go out, he agreed.

Authors Note:

Hey guys just letting you know that I have not written anything, let alone fanfiction for a long while. I tried to kick the habit of writing fanfic so that I could focus on original works however, after about a year and a half I caved. So, I hope that you guys enjoy this story.

Also, if you have a better title idea I'd love to hear it and might even change it to the best one.

And lastly: Disclaimer! The only characters I lay claim to are the OC's. The rest belong to Oda and the one piece fandom.