Damn.

She really hated school. The classes were boring, her classmates pissed her off and she didn't learn much of anything, at least not anything useful. Whichever way she looked at it, spending any more of her precious time in this depressing room was a complete and utter waste.

People around her were making small talk, mostly about what they had been up to during the vacation last week. She picked up bits and pieces of their conversations without really trying to, and so she learned that Hanabusa Sumireko had been in France, which explained her fancy new clothes and makeup. Kaminaga Kouko had been at home studying all week. No wonder she had nearly perfect grades in every subject.

The door to the classroom opened and their teacher entered. Mizorogi Ataru was a good-looking young man with black hair and dark eyes. As a teacher, he was rather new. In fact, they were his very first class. He was assigned as their homeroom teacher when they first started at Myojo Academy a bit over a year ago, so in some matters he was still inexperienced. However, his friendly demeanor and care for his students more than made up for it. When they first met him, he'd even told them to think of him as an older brother.

Isuke stretched her hands above her head and yawned.

The class slowly settled in their seats and quieted down as Mizorogi-sensei placed his books on his desk. He rested his hands on the surface of the table and leaned on it as he looked at his students.

"Welcome back, everyone! Did you have a good week?" he smiled brightly. Some of the students nodded and greeted him.

"Well, that's lovely," he answered, seemingly eager to move on.

Isuke leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, doing her best to make herself comfortable on the wooden chair. She made a face, wishing the school would allow her to bring her own furniture, like they let Sumireko do because of her frail body.

Isuke thought it was unfair. The girl was obviously just spoiled rotten by her rich parents.

"Now, before we get started, I'm pleased to tell you that we have a new student joining the Black Class as of today."

She never really got the point with that name. Black Class… It just sounded lame. Why couldn't they use letters, like in normal schools? Sure, Myojo Academy was far from a normal school, but it was a bit over the top.

"I know you're all very nice girls, so please make her feel welcome here," he rambled on.

What was the deal with people nowadays? It seemed they could never get to the point.

"I'm guessing you're excited to meet her, so without further ado, here she is," he stated and made a gesture towards the door. A few seconds later, the door was opened and the new student entered.

Isuke didn't even bother to open her eyes and look at her. She wasn't particularly interested in her new classmate. Whoever she was, she was most certainly just as much of a bother as the rest of her classmates.

"Yo." Isuke sat up so abruptly she nearly fell off her chair. She didn't even take notice of how everyone else glanced over at her, surprised by her sudden move. She knew that voice. She knew it all too well.

Just as she'd expected, as she sat up, her orange eyes met a pair of yellow ones. Before her stood Sagae Haruki. She was wearing a red skirt, a white shirt with a bow around her neck and a beige jacket. Her hair was styled the way it usually was, several hairclips keeping the red locks in place, and she had a pocky in her mouth.

She didn't realize she was staring until Mizorogi-sensei cleared his throat awkwardly. She noticed everyone's weird glances and leaned back embarrassedly. Haruki just smiled at her, and after the class had settled yet again, she continued with her introduction.

"I'm Sagae Haruki, and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you."

As Haruki introduced herself, Isuke could feel Otoya's sickeningly sweet smile and Sumireko's superior look in her back. With that, as well as Kouko's and Tokaku's cold stares, she could imagine that Haruki didn't feel very welcome. Most of the people in this class weren't all that friendly-looking, in her opinion, that is.

The young teacher stepped forwards.

"I guess we should start working now. You'll all get to know Sagae better after class." He pointed to a seat near the back of the class.

"Sagae, why don't you take a seat over there."

Haruki casually strolled through the classroom and sat down in her appointed seat, seemingly unaffected by the probing eyes of the Black Class students.

Isuke had to concentrate to make sure her head didn't turn towards the back of the class. What was Haruki even doing here all of a sudden?

If Haruki was as poor as she appeared to be, there was no way her family could afford sending her to such a prestigious school. The only other way she could've made it here would be by getting a scholarship, but there was no way she was that smart. Not that she seemed stupid or anything, she just didn't give of the impression that she was some sort of genius.

For the rest of that period, Isuke zoned her teacher and fellow students out completely as she, to no avail, tried to come to a conclusion.

At lunch, Isuke finally got the time to talk to Haruki. She'd wanted to confront her right away, but Nio had insisted they headed to the cafeteria to get some food first, and Haruki had agreed. After being voted down, she'd grumpily followed them to the cafeteria.

Nio gave Haruki a quick tour on the way. She explained where everything was and how to get to places, which people to talk to and which not to talk to, what to order for lunch and so on. At one point, she mentioned Isuke's ex girlfriend Otoya and talked a bit about how things were between them.

Isuke felt like it was impossible to get a word in, as Nio was chatting nonstop the entire time.

In the cafeteria, she helped herself to a sandwich and some salad. Nio chose her ordinary melon pan, and Haruki seemed to want to try each and every dish on the menu.

"Are you gonna eat all that?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing Haruki's plate. There was no way a girl that size could eat all that food.

She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"I guess I got a little carried away, huh?" she agreed, "It's just that it's free, so I really wanted to enjoy it."

Yet another perk of going to Myojo Academy. Every day, they had a great variety of different dishes that all students could enjoy for free. She assumed Haruki wasn't used to such luxury.

"The food here is amazing, though," Nio butted in, happily munching on her melon pan. Isuke decided now was her chance to ask some of the questions that bothered her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked seriously.

"That sounded pretty harsh," Haruki chuckled, "Don't you want your girlfriend around, Isuke-sama?"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Haruki was so stupid, but it was rather cute, in a way.

She was adorably stupid, Isuke settled on.

"Myojo is a school for gifted rich people," she stated.

"Gifted, huh?" Nio chirped playfully, "Then I seriously wonder how you got in."

She made a pout as Nio and Haruki laughed at her. Sure, she didn't have the best grades… No, scratch that. She was failing in several subjects, and in the others she was just barely getting by.

"That's besides the point," she snapped, shutting them up. Their smiles disappeared from their faces.

"It had nothing to do with our agreement, if you're wondering about that," she explained, "I was planning on transferring way before I met you. You see, my previous school was far away from home, so it was more practical to enroll here."

"Still, how did you afford it?" she wondered out loud.

"I'm not really supposed to talk about it," she said with an apologetic smile, wanting to end the conversation at that.

"Unfair," Isuke whined childishly.

"Do we keep secrets from each other now?"

They grinned at each other. Both she and Haruki enjoyed making jokes about their relationship like that.

"They say you can get pretty much whatever you want if you know the right people," said Nio secretively, winking at them. Isuke watched her inquiringly.

She knew that the other girl was in touch with the school somehow, but to think that she'd gotten Haruki enrolled here…

Well, she wouldn't know. Hashiri Nio was one strange individual, there was no doubt about that.

"Guess I'll leave it be for now, then," she shrugged as though it wasn't much of a big deal to her. She was still curious, though.

"Great!" Nio agreed, "Why don't we finish eating, then? There's still a lot of places I wanna show Haruki before class starts."

Nio ended up pretty much swallowing the rest of her food in one bite, but it didn't do her much good as she had to wait for the other two to finish eating before starting her grand tour of the school.

"Hey, Isuke-sama?" Haruki asked out of the blue.

"Mhm?" she muttered.

"Have you ever tried the teriyaki here?" Isuke shook her head in reply.

"It's good. You should try some," Haruki informed, picking up a piece of grilled salmon with her chopsticks before bringing it close to Isuke's face.

Isuke felt her cheeks become warm and realized she was blushing furiously. She quickly turned away from the food and Haruki, crossing her arms over her chest.

"W-what the hell are you doing? I'm not about to let you feed me," she complained, barely managing to keep her voice volume down. Both Haruki and Nio laughed at her.

"Relax, relax," the redhead snickered, "Aren't we dating? There's no harm in sharing our food."

"Idiot," she muttered, blushing even more.

"Isuke would make a good tsundere, don't you think so, Haruki?" Nio giggled.

Isuke strolled around the halls aimlessly. Fed up with school and people alike, she'd decided to skip the last period. She didn't feel like going to math class at the moment, however she didn't want to head home quite yet. Thus, she ended up walking around the school doing nothing.

She wasn't angry with Haruki or Nio for what happened during lunch, but she still felt flustered just thinking about it.

She didn't understand what was happening to her. She'd always been so confident and quick to come up with snide remarks. She didn't do nervous or embarrassed. Normally, she was the one who did the teasing, but with Haruki, things had been turned upside down.

Parts of her hated this role reversal, but in some ways she kind of liked it. Never before had she met someone who could make her heart race inside her chest, or make her face turn the colour of tomatoes, or make her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

She wasn't quite sure how to phrase it. Perhaps she could say that Haruki's actions had a strong effect on her. No, that wasn't exactly right. She couldn't put her feelings for Haruki into words. Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure how she felt, either.

"Hey Isuke, wait up!" yelled a voice from behind her. As she turned around, a frown immediately spread across her face.

"Off to a good start this year, Takechi? Skipping already on the first day," she greeted the black haired girl.

"You're one to talk," she chirped back before her face darkened a little.

"Takechi, huh? I'm kinda hurt, I thought we at least were on first name basis," she pouted. She said it rather casually, pretending that she wasn't all that offended, but Isuke could easily tell that she was pissed.

"I honestly thought I made myself clear when I told you to leave me alone. Did Isuke stutter, maybe?"

She didn't have to put in much effort to make her voice sound hostile. For her, that was something that came naturally, especially around people like Otoya.

"Come on, Isuke, you can't mean that," she smiled, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer. She pried her ex's arm off and moved away.

"I mean, it'd suck if things ended like that. We have so many good memories, after all."

"You must have dreamt them up, because none of my memories are all that great," she bit back.

Otoya was so damn stubborn. She simply didn't want to listen to what Isuke had to say.

"So we had a little disagreement or two," the girl shrugged, "Nothing we can't get over together, right? You don't see me bawling over it, so why don't we bury the hatchet?"

"I'm not really the type to kiss and make up," she commented drily, having no interest in Otoya's proposal. Otoya didn't seem too interested in listening to her negative responses either.

"Don't you wanna go do something together this weekend?" she overheard her, inching closer as she talked. Isuke felt extremely uneasy having the sociopathic girl this close to her. Otoya traced her finger along the side of her face. She then cupped her chin gently and gazed at her with a smile so sickeningly sweet it could give you cavities.

For a while, she debated on whether or not slapping the other girl's hand away was a good idea, but before she could come to a conclusion, footsteps could be heard further down the hallway.

As the person got closer, Otoya let go and backed away a few steps, to Isuke's great relief.

"Isuke-sama, there you are!"

She didn't think she had ever been, or would ever again be, that relieved to hear Haruki's voice.

"Mizorogi-sensei was going to give a message to everyone before we left, so he asked me to go find you. Probably not the wisest decision though, 'cause I got lost at least twice while searching for you," she chuckled as she got over to the two. She then became aware of the tensed atmosphere.

"So, what's up?" she asked slowly in order to avoid awkward silence.

"Just taking a break," answered Otoya, "Hey, you're the new girl, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Sagae Haruki." She extended her hand and Otoya shook it friendlily.

"Takechi Otoya, but you can call me Otoya. What's crackin'?"

She offered Haruki a bright smile. The redhead smiled back before she grabbed a firm hold of Isuke's hand. Isuke jumped at the sudden contact, but didn't pull away.

"We should go back to class," she stated as she began walking towards the classroom.

In the corner of her eye, Isuke could see Otoya gaping in shock. If she didn't take a hint now, she wouldn't know what to do.

A triumphant smile crossed her lips as she closed her hand more tightly around Haruki's.

Hi again. First off, I'm sorry for the delay, but like I said, I've had a lot to do. I'm hoping to finish the next chapter more quickly, and seeing as I only have one exam this week, I think I'll be able to.

Again, thanks to everyone who is reading my story. Reading all your reviews makes me so happy. I'm really glad that you all seem to be enjoying the story.

I got this random idea earlier. I was thinking that a SYOC fanfic for this fandom might be cool. Like, a new Black Class with a new target and new assassins. Don't know if I'll ever write it, 'cause I think character portrayal can be pretty tough, but I think it seems like a fun idea. So, I was just wondering what you guys think; could it work out? Would you be interested in submitting a character and/or reading it? Etc. I don't know, just a random idea from my side.

Anyway, next chapter will be up as soon as possible, so stay tuned!