Author's Note: Hello! This is one of my first fics and I can't promise my writing will be perfect, but constructive criticism is welcome! I hope you guys enjoy this story, I love this ship so much! I personally feel like Lilith was such a lovable character that got hardly any screentime after her introduction, so hopefully this fic scratches that itch for others as well.

P.S. : I decided to post the first 3 chapters at once, because it takes a while to ramp up the romance :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Absolute Duo or any of the characters associated with the franchise.

It had been quite a long day for Tooru. First, he had missed the bus to the new school he had been hoping to attend called Koryou Academy. If that wasn't enough though, he had missed the stop to the school because he couldn't get through the crowded bus to get off at his stop. So, he just ran as fast as he could so that he could still make it to the orientation. This resulted in many questionable looks from the people passing by.

'I'm sure this will be wonderful for my new reputation at this school.'

Koryou Academy wasn't what you would describe as a "normal" school. It hosted those who were known as Exceeds, or people who were once known as 'Adapts' that would go through the process of sublimation by taking Lucifer (a biological enhancement nanomachine) into your body. By doing this, one could manifest their soul into a weapon called a Blaze.

Tooru was also an Exceed, and his Blaze was a shield, very different from others who would have a blade or weapon. He wants to attend Koryou so that he can learn how to use his Blaze properly, for both the greater good and to get revenge on those who had taken something very dear to him.

Recently his family was attacked, and his mother and sister lost their lives. They were all he had left, and now he was going to punish those who've wronged him.

It was better not to think about that now. As he continued to run, he could see the school's campus in sight.

"Finally!" Tooru exclaimed, nearly out of breath. He could run rather fast compared to others, as he had very exceptional physical ability. That didn't mean he couldn't get tired.

Tooru checked his watch.

8:50'Nice, I still have some time before it starts.'

As he walked into the building he was told the orientation would be held at, Tooru noticed the rather old architecture of the building.

'I wonder when this place was built. I can't imagine that Adapts have been in existence for very long...'

In fact, he had never heard of such people until he himself was able to manifest a shield, where the school later reached out to him asking him to join. It was rather odd of them toknowabout his shield, but he didn't think about it too much.

"Well, here goes nothing I guess," Tooru sighed as he walked through the rather royal entrance. In front of him was a very big auditorium. Other 'students' were taking their seats everywhere, and there was lots of laughter and talking as they settled.

He managed to find a seat somewhere in the back middle, when a beautiful silver girl walked into the grande room, silencing the auditorium. Those around him were baffled by her beauty, and while he found it exceptional, he was more surprised at how quiet everyone else had become.

"Hello there. You seem lost in thought" The person next to him poked his shoulder. When he looked to see who it was, a fair-skinned girl with long brown hair tied up into a ponytail with a light green ribbon and green eyes was staring up at him.

"Oh, my apologies. I'm Tooru Kokonoe" Tooru said as he held out his hand.

She smiled and shook it. "My name is Imari Nagakura. It's nice to meet you, Tooru."

"Likewise. Everyone seems really excited here."

"Well it's only natural right? After all, we just became Exceeds."

"True, I'm just grateful to be here and meet all these new people."

As he looked around, Tooru began to notice something. "It doesn't seem like there's many other boys here..."

"I guess you're right. I wonder why that is?" Imari pondered

Tooru just shook his head. Just then, someone stepped onto the stage and began to speak.

"Hello, new Blazers. Welcome to the Orientation of Koryou Academy. I am the Chairman of Kouryou Academy, Sakuya Tsukumo." Everyone was now focused on her, waiting to see what she said next. She looked very young, not even 10 years old with black hair and a gothic dress.

"Unfortunately, only half of you will be attending the school this year. We have prepared a swift entrance exam, where you will need to defeat your seatmate with your Blaze to become a student." At this, most of the students were clearly alarmed, partially because they had just sat beside someone only to immediately be pitted against them, and partially because the friends sat together.

Tooru looked over at Imari, expecting her to be somewhat upset at the current situation. He was right. She looked at him with a tear in her eye.

"I'm sorry it has to be like this", she said in a shaky voice.

"Indeed, it would've been nice if we could both attend" Tooru responded in a disappointed tone.

"You need only to defeat your seatmate to be qualified to attend the school. If thirty minutes have passed and neither of you have been defeated, you will both be disqualified. Begin." With that, she turned her head and walked away from the instant chaos that ensued.

Imari drew her Blaze "Well Tooru, let's at least give it our all!"

Tooru nodded his head "Yes, I'm curious to see what you are capable of."

Imari began to swing at him with her Blaze. Her swordsmanship needed work, but it was fine for an entry-level student. However, Tooru was able to dodge all of her strikes with ease. He was starting to realize that he won't need his Blaze to defeat her.

"Why aren't you fighting back, Tooru?" Imari puffed at him. She was very tired from her constant swinging, so it would be easy for Tooru to knock her off her feet now.

"I'll fight back then," he retorted.

Tooru quickly force-palmed her stomach, and brought his hand up to knock her sword out of her hands. He didn't really want to hurt her, but he couldn't see another way to win unless he disarmed her.

"Give up yet?" Tooru asked.

She looked at her blade across the floor and then up at Tooru. "Alright, I give up" she sighed.

She went to retrieve her Blaze before again coming back to talk to him. "I'm glad I got to meet you Tooru, even if it was only brief..."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet each other again" Tooru smiled. "You put up a good fight. There's no doubt you'll grow strong very fast."

"Thanks Tooru!" While she said it in a lighthearted tone, her facial expression betrayed her. She was clearly very disappointed in herself. Before she could trot out of the building, He grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey, you know there are other schools that teach Blazers like us how to use their Blaze. You should try for one of those, I'm sure they'll be much easier to get into than this one." At this, Imari's face lightened significantly. "Really? I'll be sure to try then! I'm really grateful for your help Tooru!"

With that, she gave him a quick hug and walked out of the orientation building, with her head held high. It saddened Tooru to watch his first friend go so fast. Hopefully the same wouldn't be true for his next friends.

Tooru looked around. Many were still caught up in the battle, it seems others were not as easily defeated as Imari.

After the thirty minutes had passed, there were no groups left competing. "Congratulations Blazers" stated the girl in the black dress from before. "You are now officially students of Koryou Academy. May you someday reach Absolute Duo".

Tooru was currently sitting at the back of the class, watching his new teacher, Tsukimi-sensei teach the class. She's rather young and energetic for a teacher, Tooru noted. This class was also large, with about 35 students.

Unfortunately or fortunately, Tooru ended up alone for most of the class. After going through the introductions of the entire class, he found that his childhood friend Tora, as he was previously told, was indeed attending this schoolandin his class, so it was good to know he wouldn't be completely alone.

Tsukimi-sensei then explained to us how to use our ID cards, and that the school followed a "Duo system" where we students will be paired up and live together to create a great connection, and eventually become the "Absolute Duo". She didn't go too much into that, but Tooru had a feeling it would be important. The students beside each other were paired up into these duos, almost randomly.

However, for some reason there was an odd amount of students in Tooru's class. That meant that one student would not have a duo. That student was him.

Tooru didn't really mind. He was more interested to see how he would be taught differently without a duo compared to the others. It wasn't that the other students disliked him or avoided him, merely the inconvenience of sitting alone. Tooru even received a few looks of pity from other students at his misfortune (most of them being girls?).

What was more interesting to Tooru, was that there were only five male students in his class including himself (and his old friend Tora). Tsukimi-sensei addressed this, and said it was because that Blazes were much more common in females than males, with a rather unneeded comment "That's why polygamy is legal for male Blazers" and a sly smile.

All of the duos were the same gender, which was rather convenient since they would have to live together. If Tooru really thought about it, this just meant that he'll have a room to himself. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he won't get the full experience. The silver-haired girl from before kept giving Tooru curious looks, but he pretended to pay it no mind with a bit of curiosity.

After class was over, Tooru decided to ask Tora if he'd like to grab dinner. "Hey Tora, wanna grab dinner? We should catch up, it's been quite a long time."

Tora smiled graciously "Of course dude! You mind if my duo joins us?" Tora suggested.

"Not at all, the more the merrier! Mind introducing me?"

"Of course!" Tora turned to his side where his partner was waiting. "Tooru, this is my duo, Ryuutarou Tatsuno. He doesn't talk much, but he's super friendly."

At his introduction, Tora's duo looked up. "Hello. You can call me Tatsu." He put out his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tooru, a childhood friend of Tora's" Tooru said as he shook Tatsu's hand.

Tatsu gave him a thumbs up.

'Wow, this guy is pretty chill.'

Shortly after the exchange, they headed towards the cafeteria, with Tooru and Tora catching up.

"Yeah, after that I went to Chucin middle school. Kind of a dull place to be honest..." Tooru droned.

"Oh yeah, I remember hearing about their high-end curriculum though. For a middle school, anyway" Tora responded.

As they arrived at the cafeteria, they quickly spread out to get their respective food choices, and decided to sit near a window. The other two were already present when Tooru sat down.

"Ah, you always were a sucker for Sushi," Tora said.

"Totally, it never gets old" Tooru responded with a mouthful. Tatsu seemed to agree with a nod of the head, but he instead got rice and chicken.

"So, I guess you'll have your own room, Tooru."

"Yeah, but I don't think that will last forever to be honest," he replied.

"Oh, why's that?"

"Well, I heard something from Tsukimi-sensei about a transfer student to complete the class, but that's all I know."

"Well that's exciting, I hope they're cool."

"Oh yeah, it'll be nice to have another guy in the class. We could for sure hang out a lot."

"Dude, that sounds awesome, I can't wait!"

Shortly after dinner, Tooru bid farewell to his old and new friend, opting to walk to the dorm alone.

'Too bad I don't have a duo for this...'

Upon entering his room, he noticed all of his belongings that he sent to the school were laid out neatly.'

I guess students who failed will just have it sent back.'

The room was somewhat small, but comfortable even for two people. It consisted of a twin sized bunk-bed with a small table beside it, and another table closer to a small "kitchen" area with cabinets under a counter, a fridge and an oven.

'I will probably need to go out to collect food when I get tired of cafeteria food. Good thing I had some food prepared to be moved with my stuff.'

The bathroom was located to the right of where you walk in, complete with a rather fancy shower, toilet and sink. In a corner of the room, there was also a small couch for 3 people with a TV in front of it.

'Wow, they didn't hesitate to make sure their students would be comfortable.'

Tooru decided to leave unpacking for tomorrow, and after brushing his teeth, he slipped into bed.

'It's been such a long day. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.'he contemplated as he drifted off to sleep.