Short little thing, well a few. First off; I do not own SAO and all that jargon. Second: This is a heads up, I am writing a novel and using this as practice my OC is the main character with a few tweaks so this is for pure practice. It's been a hot minute since I read the SAO novels or watched much, so I will be off with a bit of lore and what not. AU for sure as a lot will change. Anywho, i hope someone enjoys this.

Loneliness, a thought, a feeling we are all familiar with, yet for some more so than others. Hayato is one of those few that feel it stronger than others. One of the few middle school students to live on his own, just moved to Tokyo from a small farming village not far from Kyoto. Though his family was heavily against it, he felt that he would feel better in an environment surrounded by people rather than one with few people and everyone friends with one another already.

Locking his new apartment, he walked down the mildly humid and warm streets of Tokyo towards his new middle school. He knew transferring in halfway through his last year was a bit weird and unusual but honestly he didn't think of it much until today. Suddenly he started to feel really awkward, and kind of nervous though being one to not really show his emotions you could see the small frown adorning his face. Pulling his phone out he looked at himself through the camera to make sure he looked fine. Hayato is fairly tall for his age at nearly 5 foot 8, though he suspected he isn't going to get much taller. His slender built body, and long black hair made him stand out a bit, looking both nerdy and cool at the same time. His hair stretched down past his neck and his bangs covered his eyes, his face sharp and refined for his age retaining his childlike features yet looking mature. The piercings he was hiding did not help either, he had pierced his right eyebrow and had 4 ear piercings he and one of his old friends had down back in his second year of middle school.

Pushing his bangs aside so he could see his eyes, he sighs as he puts his phone down. "Bloodshot again, I should really sleep." He said aloud to himself, staring at the blue sky. Putting one foot before another, slowly walking towards the nearest bus stop, he hangs his head low hoping to hide his features. Looking up to check the clock that was on the wall of the small bus stop stand, he noticed the bus was running a bit late, making him sigh in annoyance. Pulling his phone out he started reading whatever came up, glancing at the clock every few seconds. Before he looked back to his phone he noticed this girl running to the bus stop with a bag of some food she was holding with her teeth.

Going back to what he was doing and completely ignoring the weird girl next to him, he was getting distracted by her heavy breathing. "I didn't miss the bus did I?" She asks, to no one in particular.

"The bus missed us." He responds in a dry tone, annoyed by the fact he was going to be late on his first day because of this.

"Huh?" The girl looks up towards him, "Who're you?" This got him to look at her for a moment, noticing her medium blonde hair with two wild strands sticking upwards almost like little antennas, she was also wearing his school uniform, which was a blue blazer with a red bow tie and blue miniskirt, though he had a blue tie and black slacks.

"Shiori Hayato." He says going back to his phone, hoping she would lose interest.

"Transfer student? So late in the year, you're a bit weird aren't ya?" She leans towards him a bit glancing up hoping to see more of his hidden face. Hayato grunted in response, not really understanding the girl in front of him. "Names Hosaka Tomo nice to meet ya Hayato." She said with a massive grin. Hearing his first name used made him look at her, though she couldn't read his face she could tell he was shocked by the use of his name.

"Call everyone you just meet by their first name?"

"Only if they interest me."

"Hn." Was his response he grunted out not sure how to take this new information.

"I'm president of the journalism club, and a transfer student halfway through the school year is a major scoop ya know." She gave him a hearty pat on the back. As she retracted her arm, the bus pulled up. Hayato walked on and took a seat in the back, staring out the window looking very blank and sleepy. Tomo went and sat next to him, which didn't go unnoticed by the guy, he looked over at her slightly annoyed.

"There are plenty of seats open you know?" He said more as a statement than a question, but hoped it get her to move.

"Hayato, I'm tryin' to learn about the new student." He sighed knowing he couldn't escape this even if he tried. "Know anyone here? Or ya some loner?"

"If I knew people I wouldn't be here." He would've left sooner and took the earlier bus, or maybe would've talked to them rather than this strange girl that just seemed to bug him.

"You ain't from around here are ya?"

"no," he sighed, "I am not." With that he just ignored her questions and tried to sleep some on the bus, though he knew that would be impossible especially with the girl here. Not long after, the bus pulled to their stop and they slowly walked to school together, though not by choice for Hayato, he just could not shake her. Walking inside she changes her shoes and walks to her class telling hayato she would see him at lunch which made him shiver at what could happen.

Slowly walking to the faculty room he noticed how modern the school was, and it was connected to the high school that they would be going to next, which was rare but this school was focused on prepping students for a career and college and was fairly hard to get into. Hayato wasn't the best with school, he was smart, just slept through school and passed his tests but not much else. Opening the door his homeroom teacher smiled at him. She was a fairly tall woman in her late thirties, she wore a skirt that went passed her knees, a nice white blouse and a small jacket over that.

"Shiori over here real quick!" She yelled at him. "Have trouble getting here? you were very close to being late?"

"Bus ran late, sorry."

"It's fine, it happens, but lets not be late okay?" He sighed, it wasn't his fault at all, yet he got a warning for being so close to being late.

"Okay I won't." He was really tired and just wanted to get to class at this point, and was rather annoyed by everyone he has met so far. As his teacher stood up and started the walk to her class he followed, not looking forward to giving an introduction. After a few minutes they were outside.

"Wait here for me to call you in, it won't be a minute." She slid the door open, making all the students in the class immediately get to their seats and wait for the teacher to call the beginning of class. Hayato was getting a bit impatient, though maybe that was due to his discomfort, the thirty seconds of his teacher walking in and the seats and desks screeching being dragged across the wood made it feel like hours. Finally he heard his name called. Sliding the door open, he walked up to the front of the class, turned towards the students.

"Shiori introduce yourself." The teacher said giving him a cheerful smile.

"Names Shiori Hayato, I'm from a small village. Nice to meet you all." Bowing as he finished his sentence, should he have said more? He felt that he shouldn't so he left it there.