Hello! I just want to say that I intend for this to be a shorter fic with only about 9-10 chapters. I hope ya'll enjoy!

Taniyama Mai enjoyed wondering about the strangers she came across in her everyday life.

It was a game she and her mom played when she was a kid. Her mom would point to someone random on the train and they would imagine away, coming up with their own ridiculous assumptions.

What was their line of work? If they were men in suits, she would say an undercover agent. What was their destination? They were following a bad guy obviously. Did they have a family? Of course not, secret agents are always lone wolves. Hobbies? Training, probably.

Mai eventually realized the game was just a way her mom kept her entertained when she was getting restless with nothing to do, but she continued to play it by herself as she grew older.

Overtime the secret agent on the train became an office worker going to work, who probably did have a family and had no time for hobbies. Her answers became much less farfetched, but it was still fun to do. It was a way to appreciate those around her who probably thought they were going unnoticed.

When Mai was fourteen, one of the strangers she was wondering about became a little more than just a stranger.

It was boy.

He was tall and had ink black hair that touched the nape of his neck. His head was ducked forward as he focused his attention on reading as he walked. If any other person was walking so obliviously down the busy streets of Tokyo without glancing up, they would have been bumped and shoved back by the crowds of people, but not him.

She wasn't sure if he realized it, but everyone parted like the red sea as he walked past, each of them glancing up at his face with a look of admiration.

Even as his phone rang and he lifted it to his ear, he didn't look up. "What do you want?" He was speaking in English, his voice low and lilt with an accent she had only heard in foreign movies. "You were taking too long to get up. Why should I be late too?"

Whoever he was speaking with on the phone must have annoyed him enough to hang up because he abruptly ended the call with a sharp tone of voice, refocusing his attention.

Mai wondered about him as she kept a few steps behind, her eyes trained on the back of his head.

He was foreign so she might have assumed an exchange student, but she was getting pretty good at this game by this point in her life, so she knew better. It was entrance exam season for Jidai High School, which was in the direction they were walking, so he was probably taking it today. An entrance exam at Jidai would be too difficult for a foreign exchange student, so he must be Japanese.

He was probably smart. Not anyone could study so intently while walking. He was most likely good looking if everyone's reaction to his face was an indicator. He was not very observant, apparently, as the walking signal was red and he was currently walking out into the street—

Mai gasped, reaching for his arm. "Watch out!"

His weight fell back into her and they both stumbled to the ground on the sidewalk. He sat for a moment, simply staring ahead of him at the cars speeding past like he was in shock.

"Are you okay?" She asked and felt him jump, like he had just realized she was there too. "You should be more aware when crossing the street, you could have really been hurt." Mai scolded him gently as he turned around, letting her see the face that everyone had been gawking at.

Azure blue eyes, a defined nose and lips, and a facial structure reminiscent of someone European. Half Japanese, she decided as she averted her gaze, feeling shy underneath his wide eyes.

It was then she noticed that the notebook he had been focusing on was in shreds on the street, having been run over by cars. She ran over to pick it up and as she handed it to him, his fingers landed over hers just briefly.

He never said a word, even as she dusted off the dirt on his clothes for him hurriedly and wished him good luck on his entrance exam.

Mai never lingered on the strangers she wondered about, but she found herself looking for his tall figure every day that week as she walked to school. When she caught no sight of him she gave up, eventually forgetting about him as much more tragic thoughts took over her mind.

Her mom passed away.

It was a few weeks after the funeral when she saw him again, and an act of kindness solidified his presence in her heart.

She was standing outside the cemetery and he had tilted his umbrella over her, even though she was already soaked from head to toe. Then his hand was over hers, guiding her to grab it. Mai watched him quietly, unsure of how to respond as he took a step back into the downpour, his previously dry uniform becoming dark with wet spots.

The stitching on his uniform had the insignia for Jidai High School. So, he did end up passing his entrance exam. Mai wanted to smile but she was exhausted from days of pretending to be okay, so all she could do was just hold his gaze, hoping he could understand her unspoken words.

He eventually walked past her, and Mai clutched the umbrella with numb fingers, where the warmth from his hand was still penetrating the handle.

She remembered that warmth, even as the months passed. She still wondered about him. She wanted to know more than just her offhand assumptions. She wanted to talk to him and get to know what he was like.

On her first day at Jidai High, her wish was granted.

"That's him! One of the twins my sister was telling me about."

Mai glanced up as she walked with Keiko and Michiru down the halls of their new school. Keiko was pointing into a second year classroom where a group of boys were crowded around a desk. Mai peaked in curiously, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the boy sitting at the desk they were surrounding.

He had the same azure eyes and dark hair, but he was laughing loudly, hitting one of his friends in a joking manner. It looked exactly like him, but it wasn't.

"Twins?" Mai repeated, staring at him.

Michiru blushed. "So, there's two of them? I call dibs on that one."

"Michiru!" Keiko shrieked, looking scandalized.

Her shrill voice caught the attention of the group and the twin looked up, his eyes falling on them. The three girls stiffened, realizing they had been caught, and one of his friends leaned down to whisper to him.

"Looks like even the first years know about your good looks, Gene-kun." He teased, bumping his elbow into him.

An embarrassed laugh sputtered from Gene's mouth and he shoved back against his friend. "Don't be rude!" He hushed him and turned back to the girls, hesitating before he waved at them in an awkward manner.

Mai waved back stupidly, drawing an amused smile from him.

"What are you doing?!" Keiko snatched Mai by the arm, looking mortified as she pulled her away. "I can't believe he saw us staring!"

"But he still noticed us!" Michiru giggled.

A tall figure quietly passed by them as they hurried down the hall, their head ducked forward as they held a notebook. Mai stopped abruptly, turning.

There he was.

Her heart sped up as he came to a slow stop and glanced back, finding her eyes.

Did he recognize her? He must have if he stopped.

Mai hesitated, her hand flexing at her side. Should she wave? Would it be weird to introduce herself? She swallowed, her lips parting to say something when Michiru called her name, drawing her attention back to her friend. "Are you coming?"

Mai turned back to the boy, torn on what to do, but he hadn't given any indication he was going to speak first so she decided to retreat. "C-coming!" As she ran back to her friends, she reassured herself that she would have another chance to speak to him.

The whole school year passed like that, with her eyes somehow always finding his, even through a crowd of people, but never once speaking. It was on the last day of school when she managed to pick up the courage to stop him in the hall.

"I like you."

"I hate stupid girls." A blank tone of voice, yet azure eyes were full of turmoil.

Mai lowered her head, wringing her hands together as she listened to the bells ring, signaling the end of the day. "Oh."

There was a moment of silence before she watched his shoes depart, leaving her standing in the courtyard.

That was how Mai's first year in high school ended abruptly.

Her first love too, but she was going to pretend that never happened—in fact, what love? Oliver Davis who? She didn't know who that was. Nooooo idea.

"Mai?" The voice of one of her friends penetrated her depressing line of thoughts, and Keiko's smiling face greeted her as she looked up from the ground as they walked. "Our first year of high school is officially done!"

"Yay!" Mai exclaimed painfully, trying to muster up a smile.

Michiru was on her other side and she latched onto Mai's arm excitedly. "Should we have a celebration? Maybe a sleepover?"

"Yeah, yeah! We can watch that movie that—"

As they droned on, Mai couldn't help but think that the two had no idea she had just had her heart completely broken, when she thought confessing to one of the most popular boys in their school was a great idea. She should have known better. Oliver Davis was notorious for rejecting girls heartlessly, but some small part of Mai thought that she might be different.

She wasn't, apparently.

As she thought about her confession, the misery at her failure started to diminish as her rage grew, completely overtaking her.

You don't like stupid girls, huh? She thought furiously, feeling her insides start to burn.

As far as she was concerned, they both got into the same high school. Yeah, he might be number one but she was no slacker herself. She got into a school that an orphan like her would never be able to afford on scholarship!

Of course, Oliver Davis wouldn't know that, considering he never gave her the time of day.

Urg.

Mai stopped, her hand coming up to run over her face in a dejected manner, depressed all over again. She wasted her last year of middle school wondering about him and then her first year of high school trying to catch a glimpse of him in the hallways.

For two years this boy had taken up her thoughts tirelessly, but no more.

Michiru and Keiko stopped when they noticed she was no longer walking with them. "Mai?"

"I'm not wasting one more second!" She declared, looking up with a clenched fist, causing her two friends to stare at her bewildered.

Keiko moved forward cautiously, patting her shoulder. "You okay...?"

Mai was going to upgrade all break long. New hair, new style, new personality. Everything. She was going to become unrecognizable so she wouldn't have to endure the embarrassment of seeing him around school.

Mai jumped forward, snatching the hands of her two friends and dragging them forward with a determined look. "We're going to make next year our bitch!"

Michiru and Keiko shared a look before they too jumped up excitedly. "YEAH!"

She would become the greatest version of herself and make Oliver Davis regret that he would ever reject her.

Two Months Later

114, 115, 116...

Mai yawned, stretching out her limbs further and closing her eyes. When she re-opened them, she realized that she lost count of how many cherry blossom petals were fluttering past the window in the nurse's office.

She was leaning all the way back in the spinny chair with her feet up on the desk, her eyes trained on the pink flowers that decorated the tree looming over the school's courtyard. They were in full bloom and students were rushing to the courtyard at lunch every day to find the best place to eat beneath it. None of them knew that the best view of the cherry blossoms was right where she was sitting.

Heh, suckers.

Mai let out a sigh of contentment, lifting her chocolate milk to her mouth and struggling to find the straw with her tongue.

Matsuzaki Ayako, the school nurse, paused her writing to watch the younger girl with a flat look. "Are you really going to spend every lunch break in here with me?" She asked, leaning forward and poking at Mai's feet with her pencil. "Feet off. My office isn't a lounge."

Mai rolled her eyes, pushing off the desk and using the momentum to start spinning around in the office chair. "You don't enjoy my company?"

"I have enough of it at home."

Ayako was the school nurse and Mai's legal guardian.

When silence followed, Ayako glanced back. "So, whatever happened to operation upgrade, hm?"

The younger girl watched the ceiling light above her spin round and round.

Obviously, her plan to become a new version of herself didn't stick. She spent the break wasting away in her room reading all 30 volumes of Kimi ni Todoke, bitterly crying when she realized she would never have such a wholesome love life.

Mai pulled her legs in and the chair picked up speed. "I did upgrade. I've learned all about the reality of teenage romance."

She learned that boys like Kazehaya did not exist. Only ones who called you stupid.

"How come you haven't joined a club yet?"

Mai planted her feet onto the floor and the room stopped spinning. "I don't like any of the clubs. They're all sports or things people have lots of experience doing already. I'm not into art or moving at fast rates without reason."

"Well, you have to find something to do with your free time or I will choose for you."

Mai shuddered at the thought. Ayako would probably sign her up for something stupid, like flower arranging classes or some obscure etiquette lessons that she bragged about taking when she was young. "No thanks."

"If I may—" The two of them jumped as a new voice interjected. A curtain to one of the beds swung open with a dramatic swish, revealing a dark haired boy with glasses. "I have a club you might be interested in."

Mai stared at familiar boy in surprise. "Oh, class pres. I didn't realize you were here too."

"You're classmate?" Ayako asked Mai with a raised eyebrow, and she nodded.

"Yasuhara Osamu, class president of 2-B." Yasu introduced himself, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'm part of the homework club. It's pretty relaxed. We usually just sit in the clubroom and do our own thing. Might have a laugh or two."

"Well, would you look at that?" Ayako grinned at the younger girl. "You can join the homework club!"

"I don't really—"

Ayako cut her off with a tightlipped smile. "You're joining the homework club."

"Okay." Mai relented meekly, shrinking into herself as she looked from Ayako's scary expression to Yasu's cheerful grin.

The homework club? Mai had never heard of it.

Mai learned very quickly why she had never heard of the homework club.

When the bell rang at the end of the day, Yasuhara made a beeline for her desk. "You ready?"

"You want me to come today?" She thought she would at least have one more day of freedom. "Don't I have to sign up or something before I can just come?"

"The permission slips are in the club room and the advisor hangs out there too. So he can approve it today." Yasu grinned at her when he saw her expression drop in disappointment. "I think you'd fit in really well, Mai-chan. It's not going to be that bad, I promise."

"Okay..." Mai sighed as she slung her bag over her shoulder, motioning for him to take the lead. As she left, she waved goodbye to Michiru and Keiko, who seemed surprised she was leaving with the class president instead of going home with them.

Mai dragged her feet as she followed the boy and she only looked up when she realized that they were leaving through the back doors that lead out to the track field.

Seeing her hesitance, Yasu hooked his arm with hers and pulled her forward. "The clubroom isn't in the main building, since there's no available rooms." He lifted his free arm, pointing past the track field at a wooden building in the distance. "It's in there."

Mai gaped at him. "The clubroom is in the old school building?"

"Yep. Isn't that cool?"

The old school building was Jidai High School over twenty years ago, when it didn't have the reputation and funding it has now. The old and rickety appearance stuck out on the modern clean cut grounds of Jidai, and there were always rumors about it being torn down to make room for more facilities, but the three story building remained standing every year.

When they arrived, the door creaked loudly as it opened. Mai peered around curiously as she walked down the hallway, her eyes taking in the eerie sight of the abandoned classrooms, still full of dusty desks and bookcases.

"Creepy, huh?" Yasu asked her as he stopped in front of a closed door, pulling it open with a flourish of his arm. "Welcome to the Homework Club."

Relief flooded her when she saw that it was much cleaner than the other classrooms. The desks were stacked neatly in the corner along the back wall, where a couple of lockers remained, and a long wooden table was set in the middle of the room. At the front of the room there was smaller table with a kettle set up and the blackboard seemed to be well used, as it was covered with a mix of study material and funny drawings.

The floor creaked under her feet as she stepped further into the room.

"I can see why there are so many rumors about it being haunted."

"You don't believe in ghosts, Mai-chan?" Yasu questioned as he turned on the kettle.

"If there are ghosts, they're probably not haunting this boring place."

"Don't let her hear you say that." Yasu lowered his voice in an ominous manner.

Mai paused. "Her?"

"You never heard about the girl at the second desk?" He asked, preparing two cups of tea. When Mai shook her head he continued. "A long time ago, there was a second year girl who fell asleep at her desk. When the bell rang at the end of the day, she still didn't wake up, so her classmates and teacher thought that they should just let her sleep and left for the weekend. On Monday morning when everyone returned to class, she was still sitting in her seat. Turns out, she died in her sleep and her body remained there the whole time." Yasu glanced behind him in a cautious manner. "She still lingers in the halls of the old school building, wondering why no one is waking her up."

Mai shuddered and glanced behind her as well, wondering what he was looking at. Her blood ran cold as she caught sight of a pale hand hooked around the door and she screamed, jumping backwards in shock.

Yasu's laughter rang out as the door slid open, revealing something even more horrifying than a ghost.

Oliver Davis was standing in the doorway, looking at her in surprise.

Mai blinked at him, her mouth opening and then closing, at a loss for words.

"Naru, y-you're actually here today!" Yasu greeted him in between his laughs, motioning towards Mai's frozen figure. "Meet our newest member!"

Naru recovered quickly, his face falling into a blank expression as he walked towards the table and dropped his bag onto it. His gaze lingered on her before he turned to Yasu. "You're still up to no good, I see."

Mai's heart was hammering in her chest. Was he part of the homework club? No way, nooooooo way.

Yasu's laughter quieted and he walked to take a seat at the table, placing the tea cups down. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Mai-chan. Come sit." He waved her over and she took the seat next to him stiffly, her eyes burning into the tabletop. "Have you guys ever met before?"

Mai swallowed, glancing up at the boy across from her to see that he was already watching her. The image of those same azure eyes, widened in surprise as she yanked him back from the street, and then holding her gaze with a somber understanding in the rain, flashed through her mind at that moment.

Little did Yasu know they had met twice before.

No, it was three times, wasn't it? When she confessed to him and he called her stupid.

Mai smiled at him wryly, her words coming out twisted with sarcasm. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting the glorious Oliver Davis. Nice to meet you, I'm Taniyama Mai."

Naru's eyebrows rose slightly before he schooled his expression into something colder, his eyes seering into her. "I don't need to introduce myself, then. Seeing as you're aware of who I am."

Mai's eye twitched. Smug bastard.

Yasu blinked at the negative responses, and he glanced back and forth between the two of them. "You sure you haven't met...?"

"I'm sure." Mai snapped, the unnatural smile still remaining on her lips.

Thankfully, at that moment the door slid open and two more people entered.

Eugene Davis, the more friendly and well known one of the infamous Davis twins, stopped as he caught sight of the new face. He stared at her longer than was necessary before he glanced at his brother in an uncomfortable manner.

"Gene?" A soft voice said from behind him and Gene jumped, stepping out of the way and allowing him the enter. It was a blond haired boy, with bright blue eyes. The third year foreign exchange student. Mai had seen him around school a few times but she never had the chance to meet him. "Oh, who is this?" He asked in accented Japanese.

Mai bowed politely. "Taniyama Mai. I'll be joining the homework club starting today."

"I'm John Brown, pleased to make your acquittance." John greeted her kindly. "We haven't had a new member since Yasu joined last year, so it's nice to see a new face around."

Gene smiled, though it seemed forced. "Nice to meet you, Taniyama-san."

"Mai is alright, no one calls me by my family name."

Gene took the seat beside his brother, running his hand through his hair and averting his eyes. "You can just call me Gene too. It's easier to say in Japanese..." His words trailed off as he glanced at Naru. "Noll is usually called Naru, so if you're comfortable with calling him that way you can."

Mai's fingers curled into the skirt of her uniform, trying to not let his awkward demeanor affect her. So, Naru had told his brother about her confession.

"This is going to be fun." John grinned cluelessly.

Gene shrunk into himself. "Y-yep!"

Naru's eyes remained staring a hole in Mai's head as she laughed along with the blond haired boy.

"So much fun."

Not.