Welcome back everyone to another exciting chapter of Clarence! Hope you enjoy!


"Mr. Reese, this country peasant punched my lovely face, so it's only natural that I hit her back!"

"Right after you bullied poor Morgan! I had to step-in, since no one else is going to!"

"This would have never happened if you didn't get in my way!"

"And let you bully others just because? Ugh! You are unbelievable!"

"That's enough!"

A large book slammed on the desk, echoing the room loud enough to silence both Saphira and Robin, as the two disgruntled students looked at the two teachers staring down at them. One of them was Mr. Jim Reese, another teacher at Aberdale Elementary; he was a tall, middle-aged obese man, balding and had a black mustache, wore a green sweater, a white undershirt, brown pants, and dark brown shoes.

Next to him was Ms. Shoop, another teacher and the recess monitor, a short and stout woman with fair skin, dark eyebrows, short blonde hair, a round head and a downturned nose, wore a short-sleeve teal blue dress with a frilled collar and light-green flowers pattern, as well as white socks and black shoes.

The four were currently in the principal's office, with Mr. Reese sitting in the principal's chair, while Ms. Shoop stood over Robin and Saphira, both sitting side by side but looked away from one another in disgust, just as the

"We don't care who started this mess!" Ms. Shoop spoke with authority. "Both of you will be getting detention after school!"

"Hold on, Ms. Shoop. Let's hear the whole story first." Mr. Reese objected.

"Are you kidding? Just dump them into detention and be done with it!" Ms. Shoop insisted, clearly disinterested in hearing what went down at recess.

"No, let's hear them out. We have to be fair and give them the benefit of a doubt before deciding who gets punished," Mr. Reese firmly spoke, as he stood his ground.

"…Fine, we'll do it your way." Ms. Shoop grudgingly obliged.

"That's all I'm asking," Mr. Reese then turned his attention to the four kids. "Okay now, tell me what happened from the very beginning."

Saphira took a deep breath, while Robin adjusted herself in her seat, before the former spoke up.

"I was walking and minding my own business until Morgan got in the way with his stupid cards and I ended up tripping over them!"

"Wait, THAT'S what happened?!" Robin stared for a moment before laughing her head off. "And here I thought that it was over something much more serious! Wow, you're such a klutz."

"Want to say that again, country bumpkin?!" Saphira glared at Robin.

"You are a klutz. There, I said it," Robin proudly declared.

"That's it! You are so going to pay for that!" Saphira shouted and promptly tackled Robin on the ground.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ms. Shoop instantly grabbed Saphira off of Robin. "Stop squirming you, little runt!"

After struggling to free himself for what seemed like an eternity, Saphira let out a defeated sigh and gave up, while Robin got up on her feet and sat back down.

"Anyway, please continue." Mr. Reese said.

Robin nodded and resumed where she left off, explaining what happened between her and Saphira, how he and Morgan were at each other's throats and how she was able to free Morgan from Saphira by punching him in the face and how things went downhill from there, right up to the point when Clarence got punched in the face by Saphira when he attempted to break the fight up. Once she finished explaining everything, both teachers looked at each other for a moment before facing both Robin and Saphira.

"Alright then…" Mr. Reese began. "Both of you will be serving detention during lunchtime."

Saphira let out a huff but reluctantly accepted the punishment, but Robin wasn't pleased by Mr. Reese's decision.

"Are you kidding me?! That's totally unfair! This is so lame as he-"

"Watch your language!" Ms. Shoop cut Robin off. "For that, two days of detention!"

"This is so freaking stupid," Robin couldn't believe what she was hearing, though her muttering didn't went unnoticed.

"In that case, a whole week! Test me again and I'll extend it to the whole month!" Ms. Shoop challenged Robin.

"You wouldn't dare!" Robin cried in disbelief, but as soon as she saw Ms. Shoop scowling down at her, she grudgingly backed off.

"That's what I thought. Now…you two scram on back to class!" Ms. Shoop demanded, as Robin and Saphira got off of their seats, before the school monitor faced Mr. Reese. "I'll escort them back to class and make sure they get there."

"You might want to do that real quickly," Mr. Reese pointed to Robin and Saphira trying to get at each other's throat the moment Ms. Shoop turned her back away from them.

"This school year is going to kill me," she sighed with exasperation.


"Morgan! You want to join us at lunch today?"

"No thanks, Clarence. I have other plans."

"Aw…" Clarence was disappointed to hear Morgan's answer. "Well…do you want to hang out after school?"

"Sorry I will be busy as well."

"Hey, what about Tom-"

"Clarence, leave him alone," Jeff interrupted Clarence, which the optimistic boy sighed and relented. "Sorry about that, Morgan."

"It's fine, Jeff. I know he's trying to cheer me up after what happened at recess," Morgan assured him, before he and everyone else got back in their seats.

The students were now back in class, finishing up history with a ten-minute intermission, before moving on to the next subject. They were all scattered and discussed a variety of topics, with Haru, Morgan, and Belson not paying much attention with the subject, while Robin and Saphia kept their distance, both due to mutual dislike and Ms. Baker's constant observation of them. Eventually, after much time had passed, Ms. Baker got in front of the classroom and got the students' attention.

"Okay, class! We're going to head to the library. I'll go around and hand you a number and you will all line up based on what number you get."

The students nodded and waited, as Ms. Baker went around with a basket in hand, each student receiving a number from it. Once everyone in the classroom received their numbers, Ms. Baker went to the entrance and began calling numbers.

"Okay, anyone that has the number one line up in a group."

So one by one, the students line up into groups based on what number they were randomly given. Afterward, Ms. Baker escorted her class to the library. As they walked to their destination, the students began talking amongst themselves in their groups.

Saphira considers himself lucky that he chooses number one, mainly to get away from Robin, but also from those who didn't fit his standards; his group consisted of Haru, Malessica, Nathan, Darlie, and Ashley. He was still a bit sour at Haru, but his feelings towards the rest of the members were another story. Though he hardly interacted with them, he felt they wouldn't be the kind of people he would interact with that much, but nevertheless, he still wanted to leave a first impression with the group. Eventually, Saphira took a deep breath and turned his attention to Haru.

"Miss Haru, I want to speak with you," Saphira said.

"Yes, Saphira? What is it?" Haru asked.

"I'm sorry for what happened back there," Saphira apologized. "Let me start by making it up to ya."

"After seeing how you act during recess? There's no need for that," Haru responded.

"Please Miss Haru, I insist," Saphira was practically begging by this point.

"If you say so then," Haru relented. "However, drop the formalities. Just refer to me by my name."

"Alright then…Haru," Saphira complied. "Still, let me atone for my actions."

"…Fine, I'll give you a chance, but I don't have anything in mind. If something comes up, I'll get back to you," Haru simply stated.

"Okay then," Saphira accepted, feeling a bit relieved.

Ms. Baker and her class arrived at the library; it was big enough to fit in two classrooms, with the walls being sky and ocean-themed decorated with aquatic drawings and the blue carpets looked recently cleaned, with hundreds of books filling up the bookshelves from top to bottom and several tables and chairs spread throughout the library and finally, on the right, was the computer lab itself. Ms. Baker then went to the front of the checkout desk, before turning around and ready to give further instructions to her students.

"Okay class, today we're going to learn about technology and how we use them. I'll assign each of you a table and you can start your assignments as soon as possible."

She then assigned the group to a table, where each had a few computers and after everyone went to their assigned tables, the students began their work.

Chelsea, who was in group three, nonchalantly browsing the web, not bothering to follow Ms. Baker's instruction. Ever since reading that manga that she 'borrowed' from Haru, she had been in the mood to check out anything entertaining; Fortunately for her, though, Chelsea found a few websites that hadn't been blocked yet.

"Chelsea…" a soft voice called out to her.

Chelsea stopped what she was doing and turned to face her friend: a ten-year-old girl with long brown hair, a part of it sticking out to one side of her face, with a lavender bow on top of her head and wore a blue dress with a white collar, a pair of white socks and black Mary Jane shoes.

"Sup, Kimby?" Chelsea instantly greeted her friend.

"Are you surfing the web as usual?" Kimby asked, glancing at the computer.

"You know it." Chelsea winked at her classmate and chuckling a bit. "Anyway, how are you?"

"The boy with the cards winked at me earlier and began doing the same to every other girl," Kimby explained, as she stroked her hair. Chelsea glanced over at her friend and caught Morgan asking Courtlin about his tarot cards, much to her contempt.

"Want me to take care of him?" she asked.

"As much as I would kinda like to see that, please don't," Kimby insisted, fearing what her friend would do to Morgan.

"Suit yourself," Chelsea respected her friend's wishes. "But seriously, if he bothers you, call me and I'll deal with him."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kimby nodded, as she watched Haru from afar.

"I see you're looking at Haru," Chelsea remarked, prompting Kimby to quickly looked back at her computer while nervously stroking her hair.

"Come on Kimby, I saw you looking at her. No need to be embarrassed."

"…I can't help it. I love her hairstyle. She looks so cool!" Kimby eventually admitted.

"Why don't you invite her to lunch?" Chelsea suggested.

"Courtlin beat me to it," Kimby confessed. "She wrote a letter to Haru and a few of us passed around to reach her and Malessica told me that Haru is still thinking about it."

"Haru seemed like a cool person to be around, though she can be a bit stiff and distant to my liking," Chelsea noted. "Still, she's not annoying like Jeff and she had this manga that I wanted to check out, but Haru wouldn't let me, saying that I might lose it or something like that."

"With your attitude, she's not wrong to think that way." Kimby couldn't help but giggled, to Chelsea's annoyance.

"Oh, Come on, Kimby! Do I look like the type of person to do that?!"

"Yes…OW! You…! OW! Stop pinching me!" Kimby demanded, as Chelsea's pinched her a few more times, before finally relenting.

"Thank you. I do hope Haru and I can still be friends so I can ask her what she does to get that ponytail." Kimby rubbed her sore cheek, before flinching from the sore spot. "Jeez! You pinched hard!"

"Always remember that Kimby," Chelsea smugly said.

Kimby only rolled her eyes, before she and Chelsea continued with their conversation.


"Ugh, I'm so bored!"

Robin huffed in annoyance, looking at Clarence, then Sumo, and eventually Haru, all of whom were in different groups. She hadn't been in a good mood ever since being separated from her friends, as she had to serve detention for the entire week. Robin wasn't proud that she got involved in a fight, especially on the first day at school, but she wasn't going to let Saphira get away bullying Morgan like that. She had to something about it, even if she had to get a bit violent to make her point.

'This is not how I imagine the first day of school to turn out,' Robin thought, just as someone clapped loudly right next to her.

"Gah!" Robin snapped out of her trance and firmly stood up. "Sorry teach! I'm not sleeping!"

Her outburst got almost the whole class staring at her, with a few giggling from her reaction, as Robin blushed put her head down, blushing and feeling embarrassed, just as she felt a few taps on her left shoulder, as she raised her head and turn left to see a a young boy besides her, with ginger hair and cheeks that were big and droopy, hanging from the side of his face and buckteeth and wore an outfit that consisted everything of purple: a purple shirt, purple pants and even purple boots.

"Oh hey, there fella? Do you need anything?" Robin asked, keeping her head low.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" The boy asked with concern.

"I'm fine but thanks anyway," Robin answered, her face still blushing from her outburst.

"Well, okay then," The boy accepted her answers. "My name is Camden by the way."

"Robin," she simply greeted.


Much time had passed and soon, Ms. Baker took her students to the science lab, showing her students around the lab. The walls were gray and worn out, with a few cracks present, numerous desks presented with each having three seats, a chalkboard in the middle of the room and an old TV standing on a gray portable stand.

"This year, we will be doing a few projects I have planned for you all at the lab," Ms. Baker explained, clapping her hands together excitedly, while the students murmured in response. "Furthermore, there will be group assignments that I will mostly be having you paired up of my choosing."

Just then, Ms. Baker then heard her cell phone ringing, as she took it out from her pocket and looked at the caller ID.

"Class I'll be right back," she then left the classroom to talk with the caller, leaving the students all to themselves to do whatever.

Clarence, Sumo and Jeff took the time to have conversation with one another, when Haru came up to their table and passed by with a frown on her face.

"Hey Haru!" Clarence greeted her, but Haru ignored him and continued before reaching the wall and sitting on the floor. The trio then heard Belson's laughter from the other side of the room, before Morgan joined up with Haru shortly afterward.

"It seems that Haru and Morgan are in a bad mood," Jeff note.

"This looks like a job for us!" Clarence declared, ready to get up from his set.

"Clarence, wait," Jeff grabbed his friend by his left arm, stopping him. "Let me talk to them."

"What? why?" asked a confused Clarence.

"It's better than I cheer them up," Jeff replied. "Trust me on this one."

"…Alright then, Jeff!" Clarence happily accepted Jeff's reasoning.

"Thank you," Jeff appreciated Clarence for understanding him, before he got up and walked over to Haru and Morgan. "Hey, you guys. Why are you both sitting out here?"

Morgan looked at Jeff and let out a huff, while Haru took a deep breath before looking right at Jeff.

"Hey Jeff and I'm not in a pleasant mood at the moment," Haru responded.

"Let me guess, Belson did something that made you two angry, didn't he?" Jeff looked at the table where Belson, Nathan, and Dustin were currently at, goofing off like there was no tomorrow.

"It's not just Belson's antics that made me mad, but his stupid cronies made things worse," Haru answered. "Even worst, he's encouraging them to act out like that. It really shows what kind of a bast-"

"Language, Haru," Jeff cut Haru off right away. "If Ms. Baker hears you, you'll be in trouble."

"Right," she simply rolled her eyes. "I just don't want to deal with them right now, so I just got my things and wait everything out until then."

"You can sit with us." A female voice spoke up.

Both Jeff and Haru turned and saw a girl walking toward them. She was quite skinny, possessing large black eyes, big ears, freckles, and an upturned nose, as well as curly brown hair, tied in a similar style like Haru's and wore a pink t-shirt underneath a pair of denim overalls, blue leggings and red boots.

"Hey Ashley!" Jeff greeted her, despite being a bit surprise by her sudden appearance.

"Hey Jeff," she greeted back, before facing Haru. "If you want to, you can sit with us, Haru."

"Are you sure? Isn't your table full already?" Haru pointed out.

"It is, but we don't mind it," Ashley then extended her hand out to her classmate. Haru hesitated for a bit, but ultimately grabbed her hand and got up.

"Alright, I'll take up on your offer."

"Wonderful!" Ashley helps her classmate up and turns to Morgan. "That goes for you as well."

"As long as I don't have to hear that snob of a person talking behind my back," Morgan accepted Ashley's offer.

"It's Belson, isn't it?" Jeff guessed.

"Actually, it's Saphira," Morgan corrected him, as he got up on his feet. "Lead the way."

Ashely simply nodded, before leading Morgan and Haru to her desk where her friends were sitting at, as Jeff watched them go before he too went back to his seat.


"Hey guys, hope you don't mind having two more people joining us," Ashley spoke out to her two friends.

"Oh, not at all." Another female voice casually said.

"Nice of you to bring them here," a third female voice spoke up.

Both Haru and Morgan grabbed the nearest empty seats and sat down right besides Ashley's friends. The one sitting on the left was a girl who is rather large for her age, with short brown hair tied in a ponytail, wore a pink shirt with a symbol of Miss Cat tight green pants and purple shoes. The girl sitting on the right had fair skin and a button nose, wearing a long blue hoodie that covers her body, her hood being always up, with a huge zipper in the front and dark blue boots.

"Haru, Morgan, I want you to meet Amy and Darlie," Ashley introduced her friends. "Don't worry, they're both nice, though Darlie's not much of a talker. Hope you two don't mind that."

Right away, Morgan playfully winked at the girls, as Amy blushed and bashfully waved it off, while Darlie put her hood down over her face in response.

"Ew! Please don't do that!" Ashley disapproved of Morgan's antics.

Morgan rolled his eyes and went back into his cards, while Haru only shook her head, similarly disapproving his antics as well. After much silence, Amy was the first to speak up.

"You smell like sugar and ice cream."

"Oh, thank you, I guess," Haru was a bit weirded out by Amy's response, before noticing her shirt. "Is that a Miss Cat shirt?"

"Why yes, it is! I have a lot of clothes and toys of Miss Cat." Amy answered enthusiastically. "What about you? Do you have any Miss cat stuff?"

"I do, actually! I have several Miss Cat stuff myself, though they're mostly just clothes and toys," Haru answered back in a similar happy one.

Before long, Ashley, Haru, and Amy talked amongst themselves for a good while, with Morgan mostly keeping to himself and Darlie listening to the conversation in silence, until she started writing on a piece of paper. When she was finished, Darlie folded the sheet of paper, tapped on Haru's shoulder and passed it to her classmate. Haru took the note without much fuss and opened it, which read:

Hi, Haru,

Sorry for using notes to talk. It just feels better this way.

What are your favorite foods and drinks you like to eat?

P.S. I want to talk like this. Hope you don't mind.

Haru finished the note, quickly grabbed her pen and wrote down several words before folding it and passing it back to Darlie. She grabbed the note, unfolded it, which read:

Hello Darlie,

And that's fine. Whatever makes you comfortable.

My favorite foods are seafood, ramen, and barbecue. There are more but those are my top three.

P.S.S. And no, I don't mind talking like this. Though we might get into trouble passing notes like this.

Darlie finished reading the note, both surprised and relieved from Haru's response. Feeling comfortable Darlie decided to write another note down and pass it to Haru in the same manner. Haru quickly opens the note to read it:

Oh my gosh! Seafood is my favorite! Love lobsters and shrimp! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Barbecue is delicious as well. But I don't know what ramen is.

Oh great, now you're making me hungry! Should have picked a different question to ask.

PS.S.S. Don't worry, I'll find a way to pass notes without getting caught.

Upon finishing reading the note, Haru wrote down on it and handed the note back to Darlie, as she opened it to read it:

Lobster, it's been a while since the last time I had some.

And funny how you mention food at a time like this since lunch starts after this class.

And barbeque… don't get me started on that. And you never heard of ramen before? Take my word for it; it's delicious.

P.S.S.S.S. I'll leave you to it, Ninja Darlie.

Darlie blushed more from the nickname Haru gave but understood that her classmate meant no harm. She couldn't help but chuckle at her classmate's light-hearted gesture.


After what seemed like an eternity, the bell finally rang, signifying lunch, as many students gathered at the cafeteria, with the majority lining up, while a handful had already started eating, with Haru being among the latter, having packed up her lunch back home, as she took out a container wrapped in a peach theme cloth, set it right in front of her and then grabbed a bottle of ice green tea. She then unwrapped the cloth, revealing a cherry blossom-themed box, giving Haru a sense of nostalgia, not noticing a group of girls heading towards her direction.

"Haru!" a female voice spoke happily but Haru didn't respond.

"Hello, earth to Haru." Again, no response, prompting another girl to clap her hands in front of her. "HEY HARU!"

Haru shot up off her seat and plummeted to the floor, as many kids witnessed this embarrassing moment and burst into laughter right away.

"Courtlin, you overdid it," one of the kids scolded.

"It's not my fault the new kid didn't hear me right away," Courtlin defended her actions.

Haru could only groaned, as she slowly got back on her seat, rubbing the back of her head.

"Are you okay Haru?"

Haru turned around and saw Kimby, Courtlin, and Malessica. Kimby was sitting across from her, along with Courtlin and Malessica, all having their lunches with them. Courtlin was a young girl, with a dark complexion, dark brown hair tied to pigtails, wore an orange tank top, purple shorts and magenta shoes and Malessica was another young girl with pale skin complexion, light brown hair and large round glasses, wearing a purple turtle-neck sweater, light aquamarine pants with pink flowers on them and black Mary Jane shoes.

"Did you have to do that?" Haru asked, disapproving of Courtlin's actions.

"Hey, you're the one that spaced out," Courtlin retorted. "Malessica was calling you several times and you didn't answer.

"I was in deep thought and it was something important," Haru replied, before rolling her eyes.

"Important enough to ignore Malessica?" Courtlin asked, as Haru simply sighed.

"Still, you shouldn't have clapped in front of my face," Haru criticized Courtlin, before facing Malessica. "I'm sorry for ignoring you. I swear it wasn't on purpose."

"No worries Haru. I apologize on the behalf of my friend," Malessia assured Haru, prompting Courtlin to crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Apology accepted." Haru accepted her classmate's apology and then faced Kimby. "Greetings, Kimby."

"H-H—Hhello," Kimby nervously greeted back, as she rubbed her hair instinctively, before looking at the contents of Haru's box. For such a rather small box, there were quite a lot of foods: there were six rounded balls decorated with tempura scraps, pickled ginger, green onions, a brown sweet-smelling sauce, mayonnaise, green laver and shavings of dried bonito, a soup with a few blocks of tofu and seaweed, four pieces of shrimp coated in batter, resting on brown rice and finally, four rectangular pieces of dough sprinkled with white powder and red sauce resting next to them.

"Itadakimasu!" Haru happily shouted, clapping her hands together, before getting her fork and spoon out and chowing down.

"Whoa, that's a lot of food," Courtlin remarked.

"I'll say," Kimby added. "What is all of this?"

"Shrimp tempura and brown rice, miso soup, takoyaki, and zeppole Italian donuts sprinkled over powdered sugar with raspberry sauce," Haru answered, in an almost professional tone.

"Donuts?" Malessica arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Those rectangular dough things are donuts?"

"Fried donuts to be accurate, but donuts nonetheless," Haru corrected her.

"Let me try one of these donuts," Courtlin said, becoming rather interested.

"Sure," Haru grabbed a donut and handed it to Courtlin.

"May I have some?" Kimby asked.

"I would like to try it on as well." Malessica chimed in. "Hope you don't mind."

"Geez, all three of you want to try the donuts," Haru remarked, much to the trio's annoyance; after some consideration, Haru relented and gave them the donuts, along with some strawberry sauces. "Hope you three get to enjoy them."

"Haru, love the smell you used. What flavor is that?" Kimby asked, as she sniffed the aroma coming out of the donuts.

"Brown sugar and vanilla," Haru replied. "Love the bow by the way."

"Oh, Um…thank you." Kimby sheepishly replied.

"Hey, Tomato Head!"

Hearing that derogatory nickname caused Haru to stop eating and look across the cafeteria, where Belson and his friends were sitting near the windows. Sitting with Belson was a boy who was quite tall for his age, similar to some of his classmates, with a cylinder shaped head and a few strands of hair, freckles near his ears and razor-sharpened buck teeth and his outfit was all blue: a blue shirt, dark blue pants and blue shoes, along with another boy, with a similar complexion like Clarence's, short reddish-blonde hair, a large nose and overbite ad wore a yellow long sleeve shirt, red pants and white shoes.

Upon seeing them, Haru merely glared back, something that Belson noticed right away

"What are you staring at, Tomato Head?" He asked with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Likely any of us, but I think she might have a crush one between either of us," one of the boys remarked.

Belson spat out his water, before looking at his friend in shock by his suggestion.

"I highly doubt that Dustin," Belson quickly dismissed the idea. "Plus, I don't think that girl would have a numbskull like Nathan as a boyfriend either."

"Belson's right. I'm too stupid to even get a girl to notice me," Nathan agreed, hanging his head down in shame.

"Don't say that Nathan. I'm dating Rita and both Clarence and Belson used to have girlfriends, so I'm very confident that you'll find that special someone someday," said Dustin, reassuring his friend.

The moment he heard Dustin's words, Belson froze up, recalling that one girl that got away, a part of him still yearning for her, despite what happened. His reaction didn't went unnoticed, as Clarence looked on worriedly and decided to approach him.

"Belson, what's wrong?" asked Clarence, snapping Belson back to reality, before noticing the optimistic boy besides him

"Get out of my way," Belson rudely replied, pushing Clarence to the floor, before walking away from him. Unfazed by this, Clarence got up and followed Belson, prompting the bully to walk even faster to get away from him, as Haru, Kimby, Malessica, and Courtlin looked on.

"Why is Clarence so insistent on being nice towards Belson?" asked Haru, arching her eyebrow in confusion.

"I've been wondering about that for a long time, but I just don't question it at the end of the day," Courtlin answered. "Still, I do get a bit worried about Clarence."

"Clarence is a nice person," Malessica said. "Sure, he can be naive at times, but I do admit he doesn't deserve to be treated that way."

"I agree," Kimby added, nodding her head.

"Anyway, how are the donuts?" Haru asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Delicious!" Malessica replied, having took her first bite. "The powdered sugar and raspberry sauce make it better."

"I haven't eaten mine, but I'm saving it after I finish lunch," Courtlin stated, as she took a bite of her chicken tenders.

"Hmm, I'll take a bite," Kimby simply said, before she took a bite of the donut; the dough was the perfect blend of fried yet very soft on the inside and the powdered sugar and raspberry sauce brought out the flavor in full force. Kimby was in full bliss, overwhelmed by the overall sweetness, before facing Haru once more, her eyes sparkling in delight.

"That…was…the…best…donut…I…have…ever…tasted!" was all that Kimby ever stated.

"Happy to see you liked it," Haru nodded, taking eating some takoyaki "That's some good takoyaki."

"You sure smell like vanilla bean ice cream," Kimby remarked. "Are you using perfume? Also, I love the ponytail. You wash your hair every day?"

"I get that a lot," Haru scratched her head. "That scent is from the shampoo I used and it's mainly brown sugar and vanilla. But yeah, I wash my hair every day. Hygiene is important to me, after all."

"That's good to hear," Malessica sighed with relief, before she suddenly recalled something. "I just realized that we have P.E. after lunch. I hope we don't have to play something like soccer or baseball."

"I wouldn't mind playing soccer. I want to beat my record." Courtlin eagerly said.

"Someone is pretty confident," Haru remarked.

"Courtlin is pretty confident in many things and whenever she sets a goal in mind, nothing will stop her," Kimby explained.

"I can tell," Haru said, before the four resumed with their lunches.


"Ah! That was some good barbecue!"

"Oh my goodness, you country bumpkin! Would you stop belching like a dang monkey?!"

"Oh hush, you little walrus. I'm not hurting anyone."

"Your horrible manners are disruptive to the whole room."

"We're the only kids in the room, so I don't see the harm in it."

"I'm reading something very important and your appalling manners are not helping."

"Cry me a river, you snob."

Saphira groaned with irritation, before he resumed reading his book, while Robin did whatever she felt like doing. Both students were in Mr. Reese's class, severing their detention during lunchtime, as well as being the only students presented, with Mr. Reese sleeping peacefully at his desk. With Mr. Reese doing nothing but snoozing around, Robin wanted to take advantage of the situation without the risk of retribution from the teacher himself; once she finished her lunch, Robin got off her seat and strolled around the room, until she came across a large gray color cabinet locked. Out of curiosity, Robin opened it and saw a bunch of board games, toys, and playing cards.

"Well, I'll be darn…" Robin smiled to herself. "I think just hit the jackpot."

Immediately, Robin grabbed the nearest stall and dig in the closet going through everything; After some time, Robin grabbed a box of cards called "Dos!". Pleased by this, she turned around and made her towards Saphira.

"Oh, Sapphire! I found a deck of cards called Dos! I challenge you to a game!" said Robin.

"No," Saphira immediately turned Robin. "First, don't call me Sapphire and second, we will get in trouble playing those cards."

"Teach is asleep and I doubt he would even notice," Robin countered.

"I still don't want to play with you," Saphira bluntly told her.

"Are you worried that I might beat you?" Saphira mockingly asked, as Saphire put down his cards and faced the stubborn girl

"Ready the cards and get ready to lose," Saphira demanded.

"We'll see about that, pardner," Robin unpacked the deck of cards and moved to the nearest table in front of her classmate, before taking her seat. "Best two out of three?"

"Bring it."


An hour later, the bell rang once more and the students made their way back to class, as Clarence and his fellow students were greeted by Ms. Baker and Ms. Shoop.

"Welcome back class," Ms. Baker spoke up. "Ms. Shoop is here to take you all out to the field and then to the gym."

"Alright, little runts, line up in a single file." Ms. Shoop ordered, before taking notice of Robin and Saphira. "I'll be watching you both."

"Of course," Saphira simply sighed, while Robin rolled her eyes.

Ms. Shoop ignored this, as she escorted the class to the gym. When they got there, Ms. Shoop turned her attention to the students, ready to give her lecture.

"This school year is going to be much different. Of course, you'll be doing the usual routine that we've done many times before. However, starting from Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we'll be jogging around Aberdale Elementary and starting next month, you will join up in a club when Club Day comes, but until then, you're free to do whatever you want, but no funny business."

After Ms. Shoop finished her lecture, the students were free to do whatever activities they had in mind, if only to past the time until the next bell rang. Mavis saw Haru by sitting on the bench by herself, writing in her notebook and decided to sit next to her, greeting Haru with a wave and a smile, as the red head looked up and noticed her presence.

"Oh, we meet again Mavis," Haru greeted her.

Mavis spoke to her class with her usual grunts, as Haru observed her, doing his best to understand what Mavis was trying to say.

"Oh, I'm just writing a few things I need to do after school."

Mavis spoke in grunts some more and Haru listened, until her classmate was done talking.

"I'm sorry, Mavis, but I can't stay after school today. I have to do a few errands that unfortunately can't wait." Haru gently declined. Mavis, though disappointed, accepted Haru's answer.


Over the distance is a boy who is secretly watching Mavis continue to talk to Haru; he was quite small for his age, having fair skin and blonde hair, wore a pair of glasses, a green t-shirt, teal shorts and mint-colored shoes.

Brady let out a sigh as he continued to observe Mavis having a good with Haru until another student called out to him.

"Looking at Mavis huh?" Brady turned around and saw Kimby walking toward him.

"I dunno what you're talking about," Brady did his best to lie, but Kimby merely arched an eyebrow, clearly not buying his claims.

"You can't fool me. It's written all over your face, Brady," Kimby put her hand on Brady's right shoulder.

"AGH! Fine, you got me!" Brady screamed in frustration.

"Why don't you just walk over there and tell Mavis that you like her?" Kimby suggested.

"Nope, not listening to you!" Brady shocked his head, before he trotted away from Kimby as fast as he can.

"And there he goes," Kimby spoke with disappointment, watching Brady walking away being in denial, before she took a seat at the top bench. Since her friends, Courtlin and Malessica were doing their own things, she decided to start reading her new book "Werewolf Boyfriend 3" she's eager to start, as she took it out from her bunny-themed red-colored backpack and began reading the first chapter.


Elsewhere, a girl named Coco was watching Brady sulking in a corner while reading a book called "Moonlight Wish". She was a stout girl with light brown skin, big black dot eyes with notable eyelashes, large purple lips resembling a duckbill and short maroon hair, wearing large round glasses, an orange bow in her hair, a short-sleeved yellow dress with a pink heart on it, light yellow socks and black Mary Jane shoes, along with a pink backpack.

Coco wasted no time visualizing the scenes in her head and making noises to act out the scenes from her book. Unfortunately for her, though, Belson took the opportunity to be his usual bully self.

"Look! The kissing fiend is upon us! Watch out or she might give you the cooties!"

Several students looked and laughed at the sight of Coco's actions, with a few even began imitating her, Coco immediately buried her now blushing face in her book, while Belson can only laugh at the sheer display of his classmate's embarrassment.

But then, something unexpected happened; without warning, a red ball flew right across the basketball court and hit Belson right in the face, causing the bully to tumble down on the floor. Now it was Belson's turn to get heckled by his peers, as Nathan quickly got his friend back on his feet, who was still knocked out, while Clarence rushed to Belson as fast as he could.

"Belson, are you alright!" Clarence shook his friend hard to wake him up.

"Dang! You throw hard, Robin!" Sumo exclaimed, while holding back his laughter.

"I don't know whether you plan to hit Belson or not, but you knocked him out cold," Jeff spoke with suspicions, before shrugging. "Then again, he did had it coming."

"I told him to think fast, but he didn't listen," Robin jokingly suggested. "Anyway, I'll go help him up."

Robin went up towards Belson, still being shaken by Clarence and Nathan, with little luck. His entire face is red from the dodgeball. Robin came through and pushed Nathan and Clarence away.

"Here I'll handle this," said Robin, grabbing Belson by the collar, before she proceeded to slap him in the face.

"WAKE. THE. HECK. UP!" After a few moments of being slapped non-stop, as well as everyone cringing from the sight, Belson slowly woke up, and upon regaining consciousness all the pain he endured came flying back, causing Belson to scream even louder from more pain than he could have ever endured.

"There, much better," Robin happily let go of Belson.

"Belson!" Clarence rushed to his side, before angrily facing Robin. "That was horrible what you did!"

"Oh come on, Clarence. He took a dodgeball to the face, so I'm sure a few slaps wouldn't hurt him," Robin casually waved off Clarence's concerns.

"Except it did, you moron!" Belson shouted.

"Oh toughen up, you wimp." Robin dismissed Belson's claims, as the bully glared back for her previous action.

"Well, at least you're up now, but I got to say, you sure have been a chick magnet lately," Dustin couldn't help but be smugged at Belson's expense.

"Shut up, Dustin," Belson muttered, his pride still wounded for all to see.


The bell rang loudly throughout the school for the last time, signaling the end for today, as every student rushed outside of Abderdale Elementary, most waiting patiently for their parents to pick them up, while some opted to walk their way back home on foot, as Clarence, Sumo, and Jeff just gathered around the sidewalk, enjoying each other's company.

"At last, School is finals over!" Sumo happily cheered.

"Despite being the first day, I feel the same as ever!" said Clarence.

"Easy for you to say, Clarence," Jeff muttered in disappointment. "I was supposed to be in a different class that matches my intelligence!"

"Oh brother, quit acting like a drama queen," Sumo rolled his eyes at Jeff's remark.

"Besides, I like it when we are together like this. We're stuck like glue!" Clarence declared, grabbing Sumo and Jeff by the side and hugging both of his best friends together.

"I see that you three are celebrating something special."

Clarence let go of his two best friends, before the trio turned around and saw Robin walking toward them.

"Oh hey, Robin." Sumo greeted her.

"Hey Sumo," Robin greeted back. "Want to join me walking home?"

"Sure!" Sumo happily accepted.

"Where do you live?" Clarence asked.

"I live in the countryside," Robin replied.

"Oh wow, that is a bit far." Jeff pointed this out.

"Oh well, that's understandable," Robin sheepishly scratched her head.

"Well, we can walk with you until we reach the halfway point," Jeff suggested. "After all, it's the least we can do."

"Plus we can show you around town!" Clarence added.

"Sounds go to me, Jeff." Robin accepted the offer.

With that Clarence, Jeff, Sumo, and Robin began making tracks around the area, showing Robin a handful of places, while discussing a few locations that were worth mentioning. Several students were ahead of them and much to their shock, they noticed a certain red head among the group.

"Hi, Haru!" Clarence ran up towards his new classmate. Haru turned around and saw Clarence, Sumo, Jeff, and Robin.

"Oh hey, guys. I see that you are walking home," Haru greeted the group. "Does that mean you live near the school?"

"Clarence and I do," Jeff answered. "Sumo lives near the mountains."

"And I live in the countryside," Robin added.

"I see," Haru simply said.

"Where do you live?" Clarence asked.

"I live on the outskirts of town," Haru answered.

"Oh wow, that's quite far," Jeff scratched his head.

"Sure is and that's why I'm taking the train to get home," Haru informed the group. "The train station is not too far away, so it should be right around the corner."

"Nice!" Robin exclaimed. "Since we're on the same route, you don't mind if we all tag with ya?"

"Not at all."


After making the left turn the group was slowly coming across a few dining places, such as Rough Riders Chicken.

"Guys look! Rough Rider's Chicken!" Clarence pointed at the fast-food restaurant. "Remember when we took Jeff's fries and lied that I ate them?"

"And Jeff got so mad that he was out for blood." Sumo burst out into laughter, as Jeff frowned at the two for bringing up that incident.

"I take it that you two did something to anger Jeff." Robin made a guess.

"Yes, they did," Jeff answered before sighing. "But I'm over it now and it's nothing worth mentioning either."

"If you say so." Robin shrugged. She noticed that Haru was giving a distinct look of disgust. "Pardner, are you ok? You've been giving that fast food joint looks."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Haru answered, though avoiding eye contact. "I just had some unpleasant feelings that I rather not talk about."

Robin nodded her head, accepting Haru's answer, as several people began to pass through them, with Morgan was among the larger group, much to Robin's shock.

"Huh, fancy meeting you guys here," Morgan was surprised to see Clarence and company.

"Likewise." Jeff agreed, equally surprised. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh, could've been much worse," Morgan simply shrugged. "I'm just glad that I'm far away from Saphira."

"Did someone call my name?"

Morgan froze in place, before slowly turning around and saw Saphira walking up towards them, wearing his purple backpack.

"Oh…it's just you guys." Saphira merely spoke with contempt. "Good afternoon Haru. How is your day?"

"Aside from dealing with Belson and his cronies, my day went fine," Haru may not approve of Saphira's haughty attitude, but she was in no mood for getting into some pointless arguments. "How about yours?"

"Thanks to trumping over a certain someone, I'm in a much better mood," Saphira replied, glancing at Robin, as her face turned red in anger.

"That was just beginner's luck and I still stand by it," Robin angrily pouted, crossing her arms.

"Keep telling yourself that." Saphira rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I have to be somewhere now, so I bid you all farewell."

Saphira then resumed walking to his destination, before stopping in his tracks and turning around. "And Haru, let me know if you need any help, okay?"

Haru only nodded in response and satisfied by this, Saphira continued to walk once more, disappearing from their sight, just as Robin let out an angry huff.

"I swear the next time we face-off, I'm going to beat him to the ground!"

"Did he do something to you that made you angry?" Jeff innocently asked, prompting Robin kick in the knee, as he collapsed from the pain to everyone's shock.

"That ain't your concern, smarty pants!" Robin shouted, before facing the rest of the group. "I have to go guys. See y'all tomorrow."

She soon took off, leaving behind the rest of the group, as Sumo helped Jeff up to his feet.

"I wonder what that was about," Clarence wondered.

"Beats me, but even I wouldn't do something like that," Sumo quipped.

"That was totally rude of her," Jeff remarked, looking at his knee that Robin kicked not so long ago.

"She's likely too upset about something," Haru answered. "Whatever it is, I think it's best we just let it go.

Haru then caught a glimpse of a clock inside a city bus after it just passed them and stopped at the end of the corner and gasped at what time it was.

"Crud! I got to go guys or I will miss the train! Talk to you guys later!" Haru waved his farewells to the gang, as she hastily trotted on away.

"Well, there goes Haru," Morgan commented. "I'm going to go on and get some food. I'll be seeing you guys later."

With that, Morgan bid the group a farewell and went inside Rough Riders Chicken, leaving only the trio remained.

"So…do you want to go to the beach right now to search for treasure?" Sumo suggested.

"Oh right! Let's go!" Clarence happily answered.

Soon, the two took off, running off as fast their legs could carry them, leaving behind Jeff in the process.

"Wait up, you guys!" Jeff called out to them before he tripped on the ground face first, before getting up and limped his way towards his friends. Though disappointed how his first day back at school turned out, Jeff was looking forward to the rest of the school year, hoping that someday, he can finally be recognized for his merits.

Before that can happen, though, he needed to get through the trials and tribulations of life as a fifth grader. If he can manage to make his way through the fourth grade, surely the fifth grade wouldn't be any different. At least, that was something Jeff was hoping for.


And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoy the chapter. Apologies for taking a bit long writing this: Personal life and sickness got in the way. And now school and work start for me. Despite of that I will aim to post chapters on a bio weekly basis. For the next several chapters onward, they will be shorter unless I have another special in the works which after this one won't be coming for a while. But I do hope you enjoy the story all the same!

I'll see you next chapter! Ciao!

Itadakimasu- "means let us eat" in Japanese. Can be considered Japan's version to "bon appétit" to a certain extent.