Well don't expect such a quick update next time. I'm still halfway through the next chapter. Still, enjoy!

Disclaimer.

Love All, Trust A Few, Do Wrong To None

Shion hasn't spoken with Nezumi since the day he arrived - Tuesday. It's now Friday. It can't be helped, I suppose, Shion thinks idly as he gazes out of the window. We have hardly any classes together. I'm an Ecology major and he's a Drama major.

"Shion."

Said boy blinks, and looks up. His Calculus teacher seems to be glaring at him - How long has he been trying to get my attention for?

"Yes, sir?"

"Class ended five minutes ago. I suggest you hurry, before you're late for your next lesson."

"... Eh?"

Shion sprints down the hallway; luckily his next class - World History - is fairly close by.

He skids to a stop outside the door just as the last remnants of his classmates are filing in, clears his throat and enters the classroom in a cool, calm and collected manner.

Well, he attempts to.

When questioned later, Shion will stubbornly refuse to admit tripping over a haphazardly placed schoolbag.

He glances around uninterestedly as the lesson plan is recited in a dreary voice. Pairwork, cultural studies, team project etc etc. Shion doesn't know why he chose the subject - science is more his forte. Unfortunately, he was required to pick between Geography, World History and Philosophy.

"Now who doesn't have a partner?"

Shion raises his hand; Safu elected to take Geography, leaving him without a friend in the class.

A redheaded girl is ordered to sit beside him. She does so - but with an irritated grimace.

Shion coughs, and wonders if he's done something to offend her.

She turns to him and says confidently, "We're going to study the Great War."

An ivory eyebrow is raised - the sentence wasn't posed as a question. "Uh, okay."

It's a little depressing for Shion's taste, but it seems she's very (morbidly) interested in it, so he lets her be.

Anyway - if he's lucky, her enthusiasm will leave him with little work to do, giving him more time to work on his Independent Studies project for his Ecology class.

The class is already beginning to mutter, despite the fact that the teacher is still droning on.

"Ah, yes, the transfer student... We'd best pair you up with a successful student, hm? So they can explain the curriculum to you..."

"Isn't that your job?" the redhead mutters with annoyance.

Shion suppresses a grin. Perhaps it isn't him - she seems to just be an angry sort of person.

Wait... Shion's breath hitches. Transfer student?

A tall girl stands, and Shion's gaze follows her as she makes her way across the room. She gracefully lowers herself into a seat beside - beside Nezumi.

"What?" Shion's partner demands brusquely. "We need to get going. There's no time to have your head up in the clouds."

"Sorry," he responds lightly. She huffs and begins to immerse herself in work. Shion knows he should probably do the same if he wants to keep his perfect GPA, but he can't help but watch as her dull green eyes morph into glimmering emeralds at her research topic. He's faintly amused by it.

She continually prods him in an effort to make him produce work - but for some reason, Shion finds his concentration span is unusually short and he repeatedly spaces out, letting stormy grey and charcoal black fill his mind's eye.

"For God's sake," the girl suddenly exclaims. She stands up, throwing her seat backwards in the process, and slams her palms onto the heavy wooden desk. "Sir, I need a new partner!"

The middle-aged man seems unaffected by her outburst. "Why, Miki?"

"He just keeps spacing out! He won't do any work!"

"Actually sir," a deeper female voice adds as its owner stands, "I would like to request a change of partner as well."

"You too, Ayano?" he asks with a sigh.

"He flat-out refuses to help me, despite the fact that it is our project, and just - he's just reading."

He waves them off. "Okay, okay... It sounds like these two lazy kids are perfect for each other. How about you just swap partners? Shion is more than capable of being the transfer student's guide."

"Hn," Miki grunts and strides across the classroom towards the taller girl. She hovers over Nezumi's seat until he hauls himself up with a sigh. Miki immediately takes his seat and the other girl sits back down without another glance at the dark-haired man.

Nezumi glances at Shion with resignation. Shion looks apologetic.

"Hey there, clumsy kid." Nezumi drops into the recently vacated seat.

Shion huffs at the nickname. "I'm not a kid."

"But you are clumsy. Don't think I didn't see how you gracelessly stumbled your way in here five minutes late."

Shion scowls. "Like I said, not my fault."

Nezumi hums in consideration, resting his chin in a pale palm. "That's why you wear those sunglasses, right?"

"They're not sunglasses... They're corrective lenses, tinted darker because my eyes are over-sensitive to light due to the lack of pigment in my irises, which means light can enter through them when really it's only supposed to enter through the pupil and ironically their main function in a healthy eye is to contract to decrease the amount of light that..." Shion pauses at the plain expression on his partner's face. "Sorry. Bad habit of talking too much," he laughs slightly.

"No, please continue."

Shion narrows his eyes. "Is that sarcastic?"

Nezumi turns to face him, brushing a few stray dark hairs out of his face with a slender hand. "I'm not usually a fan of technical science, but I'm genuinely interested." The twist of his lips resembles more of a smile than his previous smirks did, but Shion still isn't totally convinced.

Nezumi doesn't sound like he's mocking Shion... But then again, he is talking about a Drama major. Who knows what Nezumi is really thinking?

A deep chuckle rumbles in the taller man's throat. "Stop looking at me like you think I just murdered your cat."

Shion is a little taken aback. "I wasn't looking at you like that," he mutters uncertainly. Was I?

"Just how corrective are the lenses?" Nezumi asks suddenly, as if determined to keep the subject on topic. "They must be pretty strong."

Shion purses his lips. The expression on Nezumi's face is unreadable, and there are no hints in his tone of voice either. A good actor. "Want to try them?" Shion offers.

There is an affirmative noise, but before Shion can reach up to grasp the thin steel arm, the glasses are off; he assumes Nezumi has taken them, but he can't see well enough to tell because of the glare of the artificial lighting.

"Wow," he hears Nezumi murmur in a distinctly uncomfortable tone. The blurry black smudge of Nezumi's hair is moving around, and so are his black-clad arms. "I'm almost impressed, Shion. I actually can't see through these."

Shion gives an embarrassed sort of chuckle. "Yeah, they're pretty strong. But even with those, my vision is still worse than average."

"Jesus. No wonder you're always tripping over things." Nezumi's face turns towards him, the dark spectacles masking his eyes. "Can you see me?"

"No, my vision is completely black," Shion deadpans. "Of course I can see you. Just not very well. I can distinguish between your skin, hair and clothes - and between general shapes that I assume are your facial features - and I can tell you're still wearing the glasses-"

"I am."

"-but that's about it."

"Hm."

Shion's vision is suddenly restored, and he is greeted by an intense stare from a pair of seemingly luminous grey eyes. "What about now?"

"Uh..." Shion hesitates, suddenly unsure of what to say. "Your face. And you're staring at me weirdly."

Nezumi blinks, then huffs with a smirk, leaning back in his chair. Shion's head turns as he follows the movement. "I wasn't."

"You were."

Nezumi tsks.

There's a brief lull in conversation, during which Nezumi turns the yellowed pages of his book three times. Shion is too busy gazing out of the window to consider asking him what he's reading.

"Hey, Shion," Nezumi says out of the blue, not lifting his gaze from the battered pages.

Shion raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"Shouldn't you be working on our project?"

Lavender eyes narrow. "Shouldn't you?"

Nezumi glances up at that. "I'm the transfer student, you're my guide. You're supposed to lead me through the task, remember?"

"Nezumi! That's so..." Shion fumbles for the right word. After a moment of fruitless searching, he scowls. "You're so stupid."

The taller man's smirk seems to be growing. "Ah, so not only clumsy on your feet, but also with your tongue?"

"Shut up!" Shion swats at the man with annoyance, but the only response he receives is laughter.

"Shion! Hey, Shion!"

Said man turns at the familiar voice. The corridor is bustling with hungry students eager to reach the front of the lunch queue, but Safu's voice somehow reaches Shion's ears easily.

The short woman strides up to him, defiantly pushing her way through the crowd. "Shion," she repeats.

"Safu, I was looking for you," Shion replies with a smile.

Safu isn't smiling. "You ditched me yesterday."

"Sorry about that," Shion says with a sigh. "I was avoiding people because everyone kept bothering me about Nezumi."

Safu holds Shion's arm in a loose grip as she guides him through the masses of students towards the cafeteria. "I heard about that. But why were they bothering you? It isn't as if you know him." She glances up at her best friend. "Right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Shion agrees after a moment. "I mean, we bumped into each other and talked a bit before class, but I don't know him any more than you do."

The pair march down the busy corridor into the cafeteria and collect their lunch in amiable silence.

Safu is the first to break it. "... Are you sure?" The words are spoken quietly, as if the woman is somehow afraid of the answer.

Violet eyes glance at her reserved tone - so unusual for Safu - in surprise and concern. Unfortunately her expression is hidden from him due to his position behind her in the queue. Does it bother her that much? Shion thinks. I suppose she's just not used to me interacting with other human beings. She's my only friend, after all. "Yeah, I'm sure." Shion chuckles slightly. "He's quite intimidating, to be honest. I feel safer with you."

"Well, obviously," Safu confirms, her usual conviction returned. "I'm your best friend, and he's a criminal."

Shion laughs as he collects his lunch and finds an empty table. "He does give that impression."

The short girl slides into the adjacent seat beside him, and the mere expression on her face is enough to quell the laughter. "No, I mean it, Shion. That guy's an ex-con."

Shion's jaw goes slack. "But..."

"That's why I'm worried about your interactions with him." She points her fork at him in emphasis.

"Still-" Shion stops. He isn't sure how to take this information. Nezumi has been perfectly nice to him - well, perhaps a little teasing, but nothing more than any other cynical teenager. "What for?"

"Hm?"

Shion places his cutlery down. He suddenly isn't so hungry anymore. "What was he in prison for?"

"Does it matter?" Safu asks, a slight sneer marring her attractive face. "He was in prison. And prison's a tough place. You've got to have a heart of steel to survive there - hell, he could have killed someone, Shion. That man is dangerous."

"If he'd committed a murder," Shion says slowly, after a short silence, "he wouldn't have been released so soon."

Safu doesn't reply.

Nezumi tears the bread in half absentmindedly. One half is lifted to his mouth, and he chews it mechanically. It tastes bland. Everything is bland; the bread, the apple, the view of the city over the railings, the icy breeze that bites at his cheeks...

He realises he isn't particularly hungry and parts his lips to breathe out a wisp of a sigh - but quickly stops himself.

Grey eyes slowly shut.

Shion chews on his pen idly. His class is currently supposed to be listening to a lecture on the nature of various literary devices, but Shion finds that he simply can't concentrate. His mind is bubbling with questions.

Why did he lie?

Nezumi told him that he'd just got kicked out of school: a fearsome, but ordinary, occurence, whereas in reality he spent his high school years in prison.

A thought occurs to Shion. How does he keep up with classes? Shion's lips pull down in a frown. He must've missed at least a year of curriculum. Does he do catch-up work?

Or maybe he's just really intelligent. This is an elite academy, after all.

The rest of the lesson shoots past and before he knows it, one of his rare classes with Nezumi has arrived. They don't sit beside each other, but they're close enough to converse if they want.

"Hey Shion," the taller man asks, turning in his seat.

Shion glances up from his textbook after a moment of hesitation. He isn't sure what he feels towards Nezumi at the moment - why did he lie? If he lied about his background, he could have lied about anything. Even his name. "Uh," he murmurs, "yeah?"

A dark eyebrow rises at his uncomfortable expression, but no comment is made. "Have you done any more work on the World History project?"

"Shion and the transfer student! Stop talking or I'll send you out!"

Shion spares the irritable teacher a glance before shaking his head at Nezumi and refocusing his attention on the classwork. He isn't sure what to say at the moment, now burdened with the secret of Nezumi's criminal past. I need to get my mind sorted out.

"... Oh. Okay." Nezumi turns back around with a subtle hint of something strange in his expression. As soon as he's facing forward again, Shion mouths pissing hell of piss what the hell are you doing for god's sake you stupid dumb crapass and Safu is prompted to ask if he's okay.

"I'm fine, I just... can't get a hang of this poem, that's all."

Safu smiles at him. "You can come round my house at the weekend and I can help you, if you like. We need to memorise the analysis for the exam next week."

"Okay," Shion agrees, grinning back at her. He could do with some relaxation time.

"Shion! Safu!" The teacher is glaring at them furiously. "Out!"