Chapter 15

The final bell of the day rang, giving the signal for kids to go home. In a matter of minutes, the classroom was empty, save for the teacher and two students. Rin was shoving a notebook into her bag when IA walked over to her, causing Rin to involuntarily scowl.

"What is it now, IA?" Rin asked. It was the end of the day, couldn't IA just give her a break already?

"I just wanted to ask if you walk home from school," IA replied.

Rin looked up at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Sometimes I do. Why do you wanna know?"

"Are you walking home today?" IA inquired, ignoring Rin's question.

"I was planning on it, yeah. But seriously, what's it to you?" Rin responded.

"I want to walk with you," IA said plainly.

"Absolutely not," Rin refused flatly while slinging her now packed bag over her shoulder and beginning to walk off.

"Why not?" IA asked, following after her blonde-haired companion.

"Because I don't want you coming over to my house again!" Rin answered. She could feel her irritation growing by the second.

IA made sure to match her pace with Rin's quick one so she wouldn't lose her. "But we have to get our project done. It's due in two weeks, and we've hardly done anything yet."

"I don't really care," Rin stated.

The two made their way through the halls, heading towards the front entrance of the school. The whole way IA continued pestering Rin about coming over and getting their assignment done, which did nothing but put Rin in an even more foul mood.

"But Rin, this project is very important to our grades. If we don't do it, then-"

Suddenly, IA stopped talking mid-sentence. This was pretty unusual for IA, the girl who never seemed fazed by anything, so Rin couldn't help being curious. When she turned around to look at her, though, Rin saw that IA's eyes were wide and she seemed to be staring at something not too far away.

"Uh, IA? What's up?" Rin asked, confused.

IA said nothing, and, now that Rin thought about it, she actually looked a little scared. Rin turned back around to see if she could figure out what IA was looking at, and she noticed three girls standing by the lockers a little ways away. Upon closer inspection, Rin realized it was Lapis and two other girls from their class. Even though Rin didn't usually take note of anyone's names, these two girls were rather hard not to take note of. They were Teto Kasane and Neru Akita, two of the most notorious girls in Rin's grade. They had a certain pastime of mockery and fighting, so even with as volatile as Rin was, she thought it best to stay out of their way. What she didn't understand, though, was why Lapis was with them.

"Hey there, Lapis. Heard you got a cool new phone the other day," Teto started.

"O-Oh, yeah, I did," Lapis responded quietly.

"You know, we'd love to see it. We wanna see if it's better than ours," Neru commented.

"I'm sure it's not! I-I mean, it's nothing special, really..." Lapis said quickly.

"C'mon, just let us see it already," Neru persisted, holding out her hand in a gesture that said "hand it over right now".

Lapis looked distraught, and her gaze was darting around the area as if searching for an escape route. Rin glanced back at IA and noticed she was holding onto her bag strap pretty tightly.

"Stop it..." IA said so quietly it was almost inaudible.

Rin wasn't really sure what to do, so she merely returned to watching the three girls.

"We don't have all day, you know," Teto stated with clear irritation in her face and voice.

"U-Um, I really do have to get home soon, so I'd appreciate it if-"

"Hey, you're not going anywhere!" Neru snapped, causing Lapis to let out a scared squeak and shy away from the taller girl.

"We're not asking for much, just let us see your stupid phone. Is your brain really so dumb it can't even process a simple request?" Teto sneered.

"Please, j-just let me go home..." Lapis whimpered, clutching her bag close to her chest.

"I said you aren't going anywhere!" Neru practically shouted with evident frustration.

She raised her hand to hit Lapis, when all of a sudden a blur of pink came between them. A loud smack sound reverberated off of the walls, and it took a moment for Rin to realize that Neru had just slapped IA across the face. Despite a red mark quickly forming on her right cheek, IA stood firmly between Neru and Lapis, a stern look on her face.

"What the hell are you doing? Move out of the way," Neru growled.

"No," IA replied firmly.

"Uh, hello? Who the hell do you think you are?" Teto asked with a faint trace of amusement in her voice.

"Someone who's trying to be a good person, unlike the two of you," IA answered coolly.

I've never seen IA look at someone so... coldly before, Rin thought to herself in surprise. It's honestly a little scary... It's like watching an overprotective mother stand up for her child. Still, IA, you're being really dumb right now. You can't intimidate those girls! Without Rin even realizing it, she felt a small pang of worry while watching IA try to stand up to them.

Neru scowled. "You're just asking to get hit again, aren't you?"

Neru began to raise her hand again to start a second attack on IA, but before she could she was interrupted but a sudden shout.

"If you lay a hand on either of them again, I'm going to kick both of your asses!"

Neru and Teto turned around at this and were surprised to see Rin glaring at them menacingly.

"Look, it's that crazy girl from our class," Teto pointed out in a condescending tone.

"Ugh, seriously? She's so insane she probably brought a gun with her or something," Neru stated, looking rather annoyed.

"If that's the case, I don't think we can beat her..." Teto muttered.

The two turned back around to face IA and Lapis once more.

"You two are lucky your psycho friend is here, or else we would've beaten you both up on the spot," Neru snapped. "We're leaving now, but don't think this means you're off the hook. We will get you when crazy over there isn't here to protect you."

With that, Teto and Neru turned and briskly walked off toward the front gates, giving a final call of "Later, losers!" over their shoulders. Lapis, who had been shaking like a leaf the whole time, leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground, her face as white as a sheet. IA kneeled down beside her and began telling her soothing things to calm her down, reminding Rin of Miku for a moment.

Rin sighed as she walked over to her two companions. "Guess we should thank my horrible reputation for that, huh?" After she said this, though, she frowned and muttered, "But does everyone seriously think I'm crazy enough that I would bring a gun to school?"

"Not everyone. The others and I have never thought you're as bad as everyone says you are," Lapis stated, then she smiled faintly. "In fact, now I see you're actually a really good person."

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Rin asked, confused.

"Well, you stood up for us when you could've just stood by and watched," Lapis replied, her voice now sweet and devoid of terror.

Rin let out an indifferent huff and shoved her hands into the pockets on her hoodie. "Let's just say there's a certain someone who wouldn't forgive me if I did something like that."

"I wouldn't forgive you either. I absolutely despise bullying. It's so pointless, all it does is injure others for someone else's sick pleasure," IA said bitterly.

Rin stared at her for a moment (was IA actually... scowling?), before turning her gaze to Lapis for lack of anything to say.

"So, why were they so intent on seeing your phone anyway?" Rin inquired.

"Oh... Well, you see, I got a new phone recently, and it's really nice. It's actually the latest model that only came out a few days ago. Teto and Neru heard about it, and since it's better than their's they got mad. You know how they are, always wanting to be and have the best of everything. So, I knew that if I gave it to them, they'd just break it. But I didn't want that, I promised my parents I'd take really good care of my phone since it's my first one," Lapis explained quietly while taking her phone out of her bag and turning it over in her hands.

"What a dumb reason. People are seriously so stupid sometimes," Rin stated with clear annoyance.

Lapis blinked a few times, then let out a small, soft laugh. "Yeah, I suppose it is pretty dumb, isn't it?"

Rin paused to think for a moment, then she asked, "Hey, Lapis, which way is your house from here?"

"Huh? Oh, um, you turn left when you exit the gates," Lapis replied with a puzzled look. "Why do you ask?"

"Perfect, same direction as mine. Well, let's get going then," Rin said simply before starting toward the gates.

"What?" Lapis was thoroughly confused by this.

IA smiled softly, stood up, and held out a hand toward Lapis. "What Rin's saying is she wants you to walk home with us. She's probably worried about you."

"I am not!" Rin shouted without turning around.

Lapis smiled once again and accepted IA's hand. Once she was pulled to her feet, she and IA hurried to catch up with Rin, who was already almost halfway out the gates.

"Thank you very much for allowing me to walk with you, Rin! I've never walked home with someone before," Lapis thanked her happily.

"Whatever..." Rin muttered in response.

As they walked, Rin glanced over her shoulder at IA and Lapis, who were chatting amiably behind her. A small smile found its way onto Rin's face, and she returned her gaze to looking forward as one thought went through her mind. I wonder if Miku would be proud of me now...

A/N: Hey look, it's another reasonable update! Haha but seriously don't get used to this, because this is the last pre-written chapter I had. So, we're starting to get into a big part of the background for a few characters now. I'm not going to say exactly how since that'd kind of be spoiling things for later on, but just keep this chapter in mind, okay? I'll probably end up going back to it, or relating something else to it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me what you think, it does good for my inspiration haha :)

Have a wonderful day/night/whatever~