Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ For Every Friend ❯ Another School Day ( Chapter 2 )

You guys didn't think that this is just a one-shot did you?... Well here's the second chapter.
Remember this is an AU fic and such some things maybe quite different from the TV show.

Byleth - very bad temper
Gusoyn- procures favors, reconciles friends and foes
Mammon- greed avarice
Agares- demon of courage, earthquakes, brings back fugitives
Melpomene- Greek muse (Tragedy)
Thalia- Greek muse (Comedy)
Hotei- God of Happiness (Shinto, one of the seven lucky gods)

She had done it again or so Iori thought. He found himself on the verge of ranting about Miyako's meddling with the way the world worked. No one in this world ever helped another without prompting or without reason. Iori did what he did because of honor and the preservation of law. Order over chaos and yet Miyako seemed to choose a chaotic path reasoning that Iori could not begin to fathom. The fact that she told him yesterday that she helped him out because she pitied him was simply not a good enough of a reason and quite frankly was an insult to him. He fumed but managed to calm himself down when he realized that he was losing control over his emotions. He closed his eyes and calmed down to get his course of action into his mind.

Iori had a goal in mind and it was firmly entrenched in his brain. It was written Sun Tzu that what enables the wise commander to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men. Or in this case a single boy that Iori knew of in his classroom that takes roughly the same route that Kanma takes when going home. Further more Iori knew that this boy was bullied by Kanma and was probably eager to share information with him to prop up Kanma's downfall. If not, the boy was more than willing to talk since he seemed so weak-willed when cornered.

Iori could only grimly smile as he came into sight with a short black haired boy hiding in the shadows. Obviously trying to avoid Kanma or any member of his crew from getting to him. Iori swiftly approached without alerting him but by that time the other boy realized that Iori had approached it was too late. Iori noted somewhere in the back of his brain that what he was doing was no better than the bullies who harassed him. But that feeling was soon lost when he remembered every insult and physical assault that Kanma had inflicted on him. A few sacrifices of the innocent were required if he truly wanted justice to be done. Iori's stomach clenched as he thought about his plans and what he was about to do. It made him feel almost nervous and guilty but Iori buried the feeling though it didn't all go away.

The boy looked around his surrounding with abject paranoia and terror. He grimaced and looked at one of his fellow classmates. A freaky quiet boy that didn't talk much and had intense green eyes that seemed to damn you on the spot. Hida Iori acted like a demon worse than Kanma at times, not because he was a bully but rather because he acted far beyond what a kid his age should act. The way he carried himself, the way the eyes regarded things calm, impassionate and thoroughly cold. Eyes that were almost machinelike and a face that bore nothing more than a slight frown of concentration and enduring silence. The calm unemotional face and eyes were something that Hirota avoided vigorously during school. But there it was, blocking his path to escape. He knew the drill all too well; he gave anything that Iori wanted. The boy, Hirota, was too tired to resist against anyone who threatened him. Though he had to admit Iori had not said anything, he merely approached Hirota but Hirota knew that Iori wanted something from him. Getting mugged by Kanma and his pals so many times had taught the fundamentals of body language when people wanted something all too well.

"Eh... Hi Hida-san," Hirota said in a nervous voice and smiled weakly. Oh, he knew that Iori wouldn't harm him physically but he also knew that Iori never made idle banter. This meeting with him was not a simple innocent social call or small talk common amongst others.

"Good morning Mirobu-san," Iori answered politely. The words simply left his mouth without any regard of being truly sincere or pleasant. He wasn't here to be pleasant; he was here because he wanted justice.

"You know how Kanma goes home right?" Iori asked in crisp voice without waiting for Hirota to react. Hirota winced and wished he wasn't trapped in a corner.

"Yeah," Hirota answered quickly and without thinking. He wanted this done as quickly as possible without anyone knowing about this conversation.

"Then you know then where he goes I assume?"

"Are you kidding me? He forces me to come with him," Hirota answered bitterly. Iori didn't say a thing and paused in his line of questioning for a moment before continuing.

"I'm sorry to hear about that but what if I tell you that I can make that change?" Iori offered. Hirota's eyes light up and paid more attention to Iori. Iori had Hirota's complete attention and had just dangled an offer in front of the other boy.

"What do you need to know?" Hirota asked.

"Can you tell me when he's alone?" Iori asked coolly while Hirota seemed look at Iori baffled.

"Why are you so interested?" Hirota asked.

'I suppose I should bribe him,' Iori thought to himself as he fumbled in his pocket to take out half a dozen one hundred-yen coins and a smattering of five hundred-yen coins. He had been saving quite a bit of money for over the last two years of his life; it often surprised him how much loose change accumulated over such a time. He pressed a hundred-yen into the other boy's hands.

"No question why I want to know. Just answer my questions and I'll give a fifty-yen for every answer."

Hirota's eyes widened at the amount of money that Iori possessed and mutely nodded. He was in desperate need of replenishing his own supply of money since Kanma made it a habit of borrowing from him without ever intending to pay back. Iori grimly smiled at the expression on Kanma's face and noted that he had just bought the other boy's silence. As long as this 'relationship' between him and Hirota was profitable it would continue until they had nothing more to gain or was discovered.

Iori felt rather pleased that reading Sun Tzu was not a waste of time after all. He read specifically about spies in the book that he had in his possession at home. The book was quite old and almost ready to fall apart but Iori had managed to memorize the most important part of the chapter that he read.

Hence it is the commander's most precious faculty that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded and in no other fields should greater secrecy be preserved. (1) Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity; (2) They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straight forwardness; (3) Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports; (4) Be subtle! Be subtle! And use your spies for every kind of warfare.

"He's not usually alone; he hangs until it's really late though. Around seven and all," Hirota answered and then became quiet. Iori frowned as he realized that Hirota had not provided him with enough information and was waiting for Iori's next question. He had clearly underestimated the other boy's sense of greed and level of intelligence; Hirota had every intention of milking as much money out of this situation as possible. Which was fine in Iori's mind because that just meant that Hirota was not was stupid as some individuals he knew of. Iori thought carefully about his next question.

"Who does he hang out with?" Iori asked.

"He hangs out with five other guys usually. Gunro, Wakabe, Motoki, Jubei and Yanagata but they usually don't hang around him after six."

Hirota stuck out his hand for money for Iori's question expectantly. Iori handed over another hundred yen to Hirota and thought about his next question.

"Where does Kanma hang around most often alone?" Iori asked.

"Around subway platform 20 but most of the time he's at Abaraki Park," Hirota answered clearly enjoying the situation and remained silent after answering. He had two hundred-yen and wanted more out of Iori.

"Are there any adults or something like that at the park during that time?"

"Well... Yes and no. Depends on the days."

"Depends on the days?"

Hirota stuck his hand out for more money patiently and smiled. Iori sighed and handed over another hundred yen to Hirota with a sigh. Hirota smiled and opened his mouth to answer.

"You see today nothing is planned at the park. There's no sports practice, groups out there for some reason or anything. But every other day from, say, Wednesday to Monday, there's something going on."

"Are you sure that nothing and no one is there to witness or watch Kanma?"

"Hey... That's two questions rolled into one..."

Money changed hands again but Iori grumbled under his breath a bit annoyed. He had clearly underestimated Hirota's sense of greed and intelligence all right. He hated when this sort of thing happened because it was beyond his control.

"Yes there's nothing planned today but I can't guarantee there's no one else in the fields on this day," Hirota said as he pocketed his money quickly and looked around the hallway to see if anyone was eavesdropping. A mildly worried look came over Hirota's face but set back into a more relaxed look as he noted that no one was in the school yet. Perhaps because no kid would be inside at this time unless they were required to or trying to hide, much like him.

"What time does Kanma 'exactly' leave the park from? I need you to be specific," Iori asked with all seriousness he could muster, which incidentally was a lot. Hirota stopped to think for a moment and then sighed.

"I don't know... All I know is that the subway ride home for him takes about twenty minutes... We're neighbours and all... So he returns roughly around 7:30 to watch Rurouni Kenshin... I wager before seven p.m. he starts heading back to the subway to come back home."

Iori eyes narrowed as he processed all the information he learned from Hirota. With deliberate slowness Iori put away his money, all except for a single five hundred-yen coin which he showed to Hirota between his index finger and thumb. Hirota stared at the coin and reached out for it but Iori pulled the money back and stared right back at Hirota with ferocious intensity. Hirota took a step back inadvertently and pressed his body against the classroom door.

"Remember... I didn't talk to you and you didn't talk to me... This money just cements that fact, remember okay?" Iori said in a deadly voice. If Hirota squealed to Kanma before the plan was implemented then all of his planning would be for naught. Secrecy had to maintained or else. Hirota meekly reached out and took the coin out of Iori's hand then quickly pocketed the money. Iori turned to leave Hirota but Hirota spoke up in quiet voice.

"I... I don't know why you asked me all those questions but..." Hirota began shakily and began looking around in abject paranoia before continuing but Iori cut him short.

"What questions? We didn't talk at all," Iori answered calmly but Hirota ignored Iori's response.

"He's out to get you... Kanma I mean... Just watch out okay? He's afraid of you... and jealous, I think..."

Now that got Iori's attention. Iori raised an eyebrow but he didn't turn around. He looked out the window with his back squarely facing Hirota. Iori always knew that Kanma was a coward but the fact that Hirota just said that Kanma was jealous was completely new to him.

"Oh... I see..." Iori said calmly before walking away from Hirota pondering upon what he said.

Hirota gripped the door of his classroom tightly before opening the door quickly and entering the silent classroom. Sunlight filtered in from the windows and into the hallways of the school as Iori quickly walked away from where he talked to Hirota. The free piece of information that Hirota had provided was most amusing to Iori. After all what was there that Iori possessed that would drive Kanma to jealousy? Absolutely nothing was the answer and yet Hirota claimed that Kanma was jealous. Absurd, perhaps Hirota was not as observant or as smart as Iori pegged him as or perhaps it was simply that he did not believe the information provided. In any case that little piece of information was completely unrelated and impractical to his plans for justice and thus he ignored it but carefully filed it away to the back of his mind.

Iori stopped halfway down the stairwell of the second floor for a moment before turning around and walking back up to the second floor again when he noted that walking back to the schoolyard was an act of futility seeing how close it was to the start of class. He returned to the second floor and stood in the silent school hallway, waiting for the bell to ring and begin class. Iori out of boredom looked out the window to see what was happening in the schoolyard.

The schoolyard was filled up and from Iori's vantage point he could see an impromptu soccer game being held below. A well-tanned boy with a pair of goggles on his head had the ball and was obviously showing off to a girl in pink with a camera who was talking to another girl. The girl in pink didn't seem to be paying all too much attention to the boy who was trying so hard to impress her, not that Iori blamed her. Iori recognized Daisuke almost immediately and he had to concur that Miyako's description of Daisuke was accurate down to a tee. Energetic, infectiously happy and was quite possibly an optimist like Miyako, a good pair of friends. Of course Iori came to the conclusion that optimists like Daisuke, if he were just as random and chaotically cheerful as Miyako, would drive him insane or at least annoy him to the ends of time. The girl in pink however got his attention though, it wasn't that she wasn't pretty or anything. She was actually quite attractive for a girl but it wasn't that aspect he was interested in. It was her face, her eyes and the way she acted. A strange patience and tolerance that he had never seen in an individual, it was as if she had suffered and managed to survive something. She lightly brushed away her bangs and turned face Daisuke with a measuring look before smiling at him. That smile however may have been a bad mistake since it distracted Daisuke from the soccer game and caused another opposing team member to steal the soccer ball away from him and cause Daisuke trip over the opposing player's leg and crash to the ground. Bits of grass and dirt stuck to Daisuke's face and Hikari could only lightly put a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened in surprise but luckily Daisuke got right back up and chased down the offending player. It was obvious from even where Iori was standing that Daisuke was ranting about something and Hikari seemed to sigh in frustration, resting her hand on her forehead. Then she did something very unexpected, stopped what she was doing and turned her head and looked up towards where Iori was watching from. That startled him because he could have sworn the girl was looking straight at him with those ruby red eyes but before he could ascertain whether she was looking at him or not, she looked away. Iori felt his heart pounding in his chest a bit and calmed it down by beginning to scan the playground for Miyako who seemed mysteriously absent. The girl in pink with the camera unnerved him to a certain degree and wanted to have a welcomed diversion from her intense eyes. Iori noted that it was ironic that an intense stare of purpose unnerved him since he always did it to his other 'fellow' classmates. He also noted that he now knew exactly how they probably felt when he 'looked' at them.

'Where is Miyako any way? I don't see her anywhere... Oh wait... I see her...' Iori thought to himself as he forgot about the strange ruby-eyed girl, right now he was slightly preoccupied on watching a certain purple haired girl flit from individual to individual in the schoolyard. Miyako seemed incessantly happy, as she went... no, scratch that... skipped to each individual, which Iori noted, were all attractive guys or beautiful girls without a care. That made Iori feel rather annoyed and embarrassed for some strange reason, if Iori didn't know any better Miyako looked like she was flirting with those of the opposite sex and the same sex before moving on because of some strange flight of fancy. There was no sense of logic in the way Miyako seemed to greet each individual. For example for a rather tall boy with glasses, Miyako literally threw her arms over the startled boy and proceeded to ruffle his hair. While for another, a girl with long brown hair, she simply waved to the girl and gave her a tight hug before giving another girl a playful punch in the shoulders.

Iori intently watched Miyako's actions as she went all over the schoolyard. If he noticed or particularly cared at that moment, he would have noted that he was perhaps observing Miyako and her actions a bit too intently for his comfort or anyone else's for that matter. Iori was unaware that he was snarling as Miyako went into the thick of a clique of people and talked to each individual with apparent ease before breaking off to another individual or group. Didn't that girl have any sort of constancy? Why doesn't she simply stick to a group or an individual or two instead of wandering around the schoolyard like some sort of animal on the prowl. Then again why should he care at all what Miyako did? She mocked him! She 'pitied' him and supposedly 'envied' him. He didn't want pity or envy from her. He wanted... he wanted... Hell, now he didn't know what the to think now or what to want but he did not want her pity. It was like acid being dripped on his steely stoicism of which he possessed.

He almost didn't hear the bell ring when it did since he so preoccupied with watching Miyako. He lingered by the window before forcing himself from the window and to class. For some strange reason he felt like he was burning from the inside but he mentally berated himself.

'I only met her yesterday!'

*******

Miyako hummed happily to herself as she filtered through the front entrance of the school and opened her little locker to get out a pair of shoes. The entrance was crowded with others opening their lockers and changing their shoes before going inside to their respective classes. Daisuke was off trying wipe off the persistent grass stain on his face with a handkerchief which Hikari had lent him while Hikari had all ready left the entrance hall. Miyako finished changing her shoes and got up to leave before she remembered one very critical thing that she had neglected to do this morning. She had forgotten to glomp her sempai Izumi-chan! Yes, Izumi Koushiro, the infamously female-awkward, short computer nerd of sixth grade wonder (not to mention a complete cutie in a clueless sort of way). Horrified at the fact she neglected her self-made duty to at least glomp her beloved redheaded sempai once a day she looked around to see where he might have gone but unfortunately could not seem to locate him anywhere. Miyako came to the conclusion that Izumi-chan had all ready made his way to class without waiting for his obligatory glomp.

Now that was depressing but Miyako felt immensely better when she noted that today was Tuesday, which meant that she and her beloved sempai would be together after school to work on the computers. Apparently someone had found a way to send less than appropriate pictures to certain individuals in the school. No matter how well they hid their tracks on the computer's network, Miyako was more than confident that both she and Izumi-chan would find the culprit's electronic trail, find who he was and stop him. Miyako let an evil smile cross her face since the culprit had decided to send some rather bad pictures to her school e-mail account. I mean come on, half the guys and girls in the pictures weren't even hot!

"Miyako..." Daisuke said in an irritated voice at the oblivious girl. He poked at her arm but she didn't seem to notice him. It became obvious to Daisuke that Miyako had gone into her bishie day dream world and nothing short of an explosion (or perhaps an angry teacher) would wake her.

Miyako continued with her thoughts, oblivious to the outside world and Daisuke insistent poking on her arm. Now, if Miyako wanted to send naughty pics, she would send a few really good yaoi bishonen pics she found on the Internet and maybe send a few Gundam Wing pics of her favourite God of Death Duo Maxwell. Miyako closed her eyes and imagined seeing Deathscythe Hell and a brown haired Gundam pilot with braided hair sweep her into his arm.

"MIYAKO!! WAKE UP YOU STUPID COMPUTER NERD!!" Daisuke shouted in her ear and jammed his finger into her ribs as hard as possible to punctuate his point. Miyako's eyes flew open and instead of seeing the face of her favourite anime character, she saw Daisuke's well tanned and exaggerated face of frustration. It wasn't exactly something she was expected and she pulled back away from Daisuke from his efforts but she accidentally tripped over her feet and landed on the floor on her butt.

Miyako's little daydream was completely wrecked by Daisuke's effort but then the second bell rang. She was only person left in the entrance hall with Daisuke since everyone had all ready left the area. This meant that Miyako was going to be late for class and she had also made Daisuke tardy as well.

"Why didn't tell me that class was going to start!?" Miyako shouted at Daisuke before jumping onto her feet. Without waiting for a response or saying thank you to Daisuke, she ran down the hallway at top speed... Daisuke bent down and picked up Miyako's backpack, which she left behind and looked at where the purple haired girl once was sitting. By the time he looked up, Miyako was gone. Leaving behind a very confused Daisuke who looked around to try and find Miyako.

"AHHH!!!!" Miyako shouted as she realized she had forgotten her backpack. The trampling of a pair of feet echoed in the hallway's corridor. The sound came closer and closer to the entrance way where Daisuke stood with Miyako's backpack in his right hand while his left held his own backpack.

BADA BADA BADA BADA

The sound of running was like a freight train and Daisuke braced himself. Miyako crashed into him, knocking down to the ground as Miyako grabbed the backpack in Daisuke's left hand and ran down the hallway again.

"THANKS DAI-CHAN!!!" Miyako said as she tore down the hall to her class. Daisuke stayed on the ground for a few seconds, dazed by Miyako's sudden burst of energy that knocked him to the ground.

"... Damn... Now I'm late for class," Daisuke muttered to himself as he picked his body off the ground. Daisuke ran down the hall, not realizing that he had Miyako's backpack. He rushed to his classroom, which was class 4-1, and threw open the door.

"Rise!" Zanato said in a monotone voice. He was the class representative and raised an eyebrow as Daisuke entered the room late. A few students giggled as they raised form their seat as they had all heard Miyako's shout of 'thanks Dai-chan'. In fact, unsurprisingly, almost everyone in the school heard Miyako's shout. Daisuke was as red as a tomato when people snickered and he tried to look casual as possible as the teacher casually marked down his name as late.

"Bow!"

Daisuke edged towards his seat next to Hikari as subtlety as possible but the teacher had all ready noted his presence. Not that Daisuke noticed he could hope for otherwise couldn't he? In any case, next time he saw Miyako he would have to ask her to stop calling him 'Dai-chan'. Now if Hikari-chan called him that, he would not mind at all. In fact he'd encourage Hikari to call him that as much as possible. As Daisuke edged towards his seat, the class bowed to the teacher.

"Sit!

The entire class sat down leaving Daisuke and teacher, the only people standing. Daisuke felt naturally exposed by every set of eyes watch him freeze up in mid step. He was so close to his seat next to Hikari but the teacher's voice stopped him from making the critical and fluid motion of sitting down in his seat by the teacher's voice.

"Motomiya-kun, go and stand out in the hallway. This is the third time you've been late. The buckets of water are right beside the door outside," Muzaki Isoko said unimpressed without looking up from her roll call. Daisuke froze from the teacher's tone of voice and made a lame attempt to salvage his pride by raising his arms behind his head in such a way that it looked casual and made a goofy face.

"Aragami Maiko...." The teacher called out names.

"Here." A student answered.

"Ayato Shiburo..."

"Here." Another student answered.

"You mean you were expecting me to be late? Isn't that a form of discrimination?" Daisuke wheedled to the teacher, interrupting roll call. He kept his infamous 'I'm not late' pose which convinced no one, least of all the teacher.

"First question, yes... Second question, no... Now go stand in the hall," Muzaki answered without looking up.

Daisuke with obvious disdain walked to the door where the buckets of water were promised to be. He shouldered Miyako's backpack and opened the door to let himself out. The buckets of water were indeed right besides the door in the hallway. Sighing Daisuke closed the door and picked up the buckets but then the familiar sound of pounding feet was heard.

BADA BADA BADA BADA

Looking up to see what it was, Daisuke was hoping that it was not Miyako again because she all ready embarrassed him enough this morning. Unfortunately for Daisuke it was indeed Miyako again but she had in her hands two buckets full of water and an annoyed look on her face. She came to a stop in front of Daisuke and gave him a glare.

"What?" Daisuke asked annoyed.

"Backpack..." Miyako said tersely.

"And?" Daisuke asked impatient.

"You have mine..."

"How do you know?"

Miyako cleared her throat in a self-important sort of way. Like when parents were about to go into a lecture.

"Dearest Hikari-chan, I have always admired you and..." Miyako began in a low whisper but Daisuke made a quick move to place his hand over Miyako's mouth. Unfortunately that meant he had to drop the water bucket in his left hand. The bucket clattered on the ground and splashed water over Daisuke and Miyako's legs and feet.

"Shit!" Daisuke swore.

"I heard that Motomiya-kun!" Muzaki said. Her voice could be heard quite clearly and closely as well. Miyako and Daisuke turned their head around to see the teacher standing at the door with a faintly aggravated look on her face. The two guilty individuals then lowered their eyes to see that the water from Daisuke's water bucket had accidentally drenched the teacher's legs and feet as well.

"Umm.... Oops?" Daisuke and Miyako said at the same time. They gave Muzaki their best 'I'm sorry' face and smiled nervously. Muzaki sighed in apparent defeat and looked at the two.

"Trade backpacks, clean up the floor and get to your classes!" Muzaki ordered in a tone that both could not argue with.

***(Grade 2 class)***

"AHHH!!!!"

BADA BADA BADA BADA

"THANKS DAI-CHAN!!!"

BADA BADA BADA BADA

The voice of Miyako and her stomping footsteps easily reverberated throughout the school. Many students in Iori's class looked up confused from their books and left their paper and pencils idle. Iori however found Miyako's voice to be grating on his nerves and accidentally ripped the piece of paper he had in half with his pencil which also broke it's tip. No one seemed to notice Iori's reaction at all, which was fine with Iori.

Some people started talking to each other and debated just who had shouted out loud in the hallway. Various voices and questions filled the air; not that Iori cared at the moment. He tried to casually hide his inadvertent reaction from Miyako's shouting and trampling by crumpling up the piece of paper on his desk and taking out another freshly sharpened pencil in his pencil case.

"Silence class," Mr. Muramaki, the teacher of the class, said in a loud voice to attract the attention of his students. He looked equally confused as to who had shouted in the hallway but right now he had a lesson to teach. He knew the students were less than excited about their assignments but it didn't really matter. They were all going to learn more about each other and how to be better individuals.

"Whoever shouted in the hallway sounded like a desperate whore on crack," Kanma said loud enough for everyone to hear. Students began snickering while others looked genuinely horrified by the words coming out of Kanma's mouth. Iori noted that most of the guys were snickering while girls looked horrified. Iori did not understand why anyone was even reacting to Kanma's comments. It was inane to the extreme and had no bearing on their class assignment. Kanma could only smirk at everyone's reaction and leaned back into his chair so that it rested on only two chair legs. Iori frowned; he just didn't see what was so funny.

"That's quite enough Daiyama," Mr. Muramaki said in a terse voice that sounded murderous in a subtle way. Kanma blew a raspberry to his teacher and many of his cohorts in the back of class began snickering. Mr. Muramaki twitched and turned his attention to the class, ignoring Kanma.

"All right everybody, time to get into groups. I have all ready had the liberty of assigning groups, this way none of you can be sitting together with your friends and slack off of work," Mr. Muramaki said as he walked around class and gave certain individuals the pre-arranged sitting plan on paper. Iori received one of the papers and looked at it with a critical eye before paling a bit and then rallying himself. Kanma's name was grouped along with Iori, along with three other individuals that Iori did not particularly like.

One was a girl named Ayato Megumi, who had an older brother or something of the sort in the school. In all cases, she was a nice average girl with a complete utter obsession with some rock band of sorts. What were they called again? Something wolves? Teen wolves? It obviously was either some sort of obscure band that hadn't made it big yet or it was some sort of obscure girl reference for a cute guy. In either case, she was unbearable at times, as she always seemed to be sighing about a 'really cute blonde guy'. Iori debated for a second whether the main singer deliberately dyed his hair blonde like many teenagers out in Tokyo since it was in the current vogue or was a natural blonde. Iori decided it was the former. Who's ever heard of a natural blonde haired Japanese?

The next individual on the list was Hoji Ryota. A boy who was ... well... 'odd'. He insisted on calling Iori, 'Agares'. To be truthful, Ryota was not just a bit fascinated with the occult... He was completely obsessed about it. He had different names for every individual in class, including the teacher that was based on supernatural beings. For example, Hirota was called 'Mammon' and Kanma was called 'Byleth' while Ryota himself insisted that everyone call the teacher 'Gusoyn'. For all his strangeness, Ryota refused to name himself after any sort of supernatural creature and was quite adamant that everyone call him by his real name.

Iori wondered whether or not the teacher had decided to assign all the weird classmates into his group or at least all the obsessive ones of his class. He quickly looked down the list to the last name and saw that it was Matsudaira Yayoi. Iori let out a breath of relief when he saw her name. To his best of knowledge Yayoi was a very, very normal girl with no off the wall obsessions, quirks and such. Not that that put his mind at ease the slightest bit. He met Yayoi a few times and she didn't seem like the type to attract attention but he really didn't know what to expect of her.

"Now remember class, the entire point of this exercise is to make you get to know each other better. Socializing with other people in the future will be very important when you grow up," Mr. Muramaki said. The lists had been all passed out and students got up from their seats to look for their assigned groups. Iori took the opportunity to place the list in the middle of his desk and pull some empty tables together for his group.

"Thanks Agares," Ryota said as he read off his name from the list and sat down at the table. His brown eyes languidly looked up at the ceiling and were very picture of laziness as he sprawled over his chair carelessly. He was so intent on the ceiling that he failed to notice Megumi bounding towards him.

"Ryota-kun!" Megumi said in a far too cheerful voice. Iori silently wondered who had given her sugar again but stopped thinking about it since there were far too many people who could have. The cheerful voice was rather grating on Iori's ears and he suppressed the urge to grimace. Ryota on the other hand ignored Megumi without even reacting at all and simply stared at Megumi before returning his gaze to the ceiling. Megumi pouted for a moment and then grabbed a chair right next to the boy. She twittered every now and then and hummed a happy little ditty.

BADA BADA BADA BADA

The sound of running feet was heard again. The class in the midst of getting in their groups stopped for a brief moment to listen but there was only silence after pounding of feet and Megumi's humming. Iori grabbed a few chairs and slid them to his group. Kanma took the opportunity to come up to the group and read the list. Seeing his name on it, Kanma gave Iori a glare, which Iori patently ignored and took a seat at the table. Realizing that Iori was not paying attention to Kanma in the slightest bit, he sat down but continued to give Iori murderous looks every now and then. The group waited patiently for the last member of their group to join them. Everyone in class was in-group of fives for the activity and Iori noted that almost no one was talking. The sound of running feet from the hallway was no longer heard and there was no strange shouting either, much to Iori's relief. He wasn't sure if he could stand hearing Miyako's voice at the moment.

Yayoi finally came to the group and read her name off the list and joined at the table. She was a shy looking girl in a simple dress and her long brown hair had two hair clips. She had been milling around the class looking lost until she came to the group finally.

"Um... Hi..." Yayoi said in a soft voice. Iori noted that it sounded as if she was worried that by simply speaking, she was going to offend someone. It was the tone of voice someone would use if they were afraid of something. It was almost exactly how Hirota spoke.

"What are we supposed to be doing right now?" Ryota said as he brought his chair down to the ground. The chair landed with a thud and he let his bored eyes carry over the assembled group.

"I think we're supposed to 'talk' or something," Megumi said in that same obscenely cheerful voice. Kanma looked ready to become sick and was probably debating whether or not to track down the person who had given Megumi sugar before class started and kill him or her.

"Just how much sugar did you eat, Thalia?" Ryota asked. He raised an eyebrow and waited for an answer. The people in the group waited for Megumi to say something. They didn't have to wait all to long for an answer.

"I didn't have any sugar this morning! Not much! A bit!... Okay! Lots, lots, lots! Jolt cola! And uber-pockey before class!" Megumi answered in a mile a minute way. She said her words so quickly that it took Iori a few seconds to make sense of what she just said.

"Um... Okay..." Ryota said with his eyes wide open with fear. He quickly moved his chair away from Megumi. Yayoi just looked shocked along with Kanma.

"Jolt cola and uber-pockey..." Yayoi said in a fairly dazed voice. Her face was blank with the realization of just how much sugar that Megumi had consumed before class.

"Damn... That's more sugar than I've ever eaten in a single sitting..." Kanma said in an awed voice. He also moved his chair away from Megumi.

"Okay... You're no longer Thalia... You're now called Hotei;"Ryota said when he finished moving as far away as possible from Megumi.

"... Isn't Hotei a guy?" Yayoi asked a bit baffled.

"Guy. Girl. What does it really matter when you're talking about a sugar high person?" Ryota answered.

"Point..." Kanma muttered under his breath.

Iori cleared his throat to get everyone's attention though he eyed Megumi with worry. Megumi noted the concerned look on Iori's face and made a soppy face.

"Wai! Iori-chan looks so cute when worried!" Megumi said in a hyper voice.

"More like terrified..." Yayoi said in a sagely voice. Her purple eyes looked up at Iori before looking away. Iori didn't notice since he was far too busy paying attention to other things.

Iori grimaced when Megumi called him with 'chan' affixed to his name in her hyper voice. Gods above, if there were any, he hated hyper people. Give him paranoid, depressing people any time of the day.

Iori turned to look around the class and saw Hirota at a table. Hirota was practically trying to hide under the table or something like that and looked around the classroom with abject paranoia. Catching Iori's gaze, Hirota proceeded to hide his head under his arms.

'Okay... Perhaps not paranoid but depressing I can handle,' Iori thought to himself privately as he turned away from Hirota.

"It says on the paper that we should start the conversation by telling each other our names," Iori said in a monotone voice.

"Why?" Kanma asked.

"Because it says so right here..." Iori answered. He picked up the piece of paper to read what was written.

"Why?" Kanma asked.

"... You're doing that to annoy me aren't you?" Iori asked.

"Yes," Kanma answered.

"Why?"

".... I'm not answering that..."

"Why?"

Everyone at the table began chuckling while Kanma looked angry. Iori could only smirk a bit before making his face perfectly blank and put down the piece of paper.

"Okay, I'll start. I'm Hida Iori."

"You are not. You're 'Agares'," Ryota interjected. Iori ignored him and waited for the next person to introduce himself or herself.

"Matsudaira Yayoi," Yayoi said in a modest tone of voice. She gave Ryota a pained smile but that didn't stop him.

"You're 'Melpomene'," Ryota insisted in an annoyed tone of voice. He looked fairly grumpy and Yayoi seemed to retract to that of a scared rabbit. Ryota winced and looked sheepish.

"... Sorry..." Ryota said quickly to Yayoi. She brightened a bit but still looked weary.

"Aya~to Me~gu~mi!" Megumi said in a sing song voice and made everyone want to hurl. Other people in different groups gave sympathetic looks to the group. Megumi was well known for her exploits while under a sugar high. Such exploits included dancing on tabletops, bursting out into songs, though admittedly she was a good singer and dancer, and fawning over an unfortunate victim, of which annoyed the hell out of even the patient and understanding individual (i.e. Iori and Mr. Muramaki, the teacher).

"You're 'Hotei'! 'Hotei', damn it!" Ryota said angry at the fact no one went by the names he assigned them by. He also seemed very disconcerted by the look Megumi was giving him. He silently hoped that he was not the chosen 'victim' of the dreaded sugar high. Though admittedly there were going to be casualties anyways because of this.

"Daiyama Kanma," Kanma said tersely.

"No! You're 'Byleth'!" Ryota insisted and gave Kanma an enraged glare. Of which Kanma returned with full measure and a gleam in the eye that promised much pain if he did not desist. Ryota stopped but he looked rather annoyed at everyone and was muttering himself about how weird the people in the group were.

"Um... Hoji-san... It's your turn," Yayoi said in a quiet voice.

"Hoji Ryota," Ryota said quickly.

"Well, we should call you a weird name since you insist that everyone go by the names you give us," Kanma said annoyed.

"No! You will call me Hoji Ryota and nothing else," Ryota insisted with extreme vehemence.

"Why do you insist calling us weird names but we can't call you weird names?" Megumi asked while sliding over towards Ryota. Everyone in the group pitied Ryota at that moment. It seemed the Megumi had finally chosen her next victim and that victim was Ryota.

Alarmed by the close proximity of Megumi, Ryota attempted back as far away from Megumi as possible but couldn't since Iori sat right next Ryota and wouldn't budge. It looked hopeless for Ryota, until Megumi did something very unexpected. She turned attention on Yayoi and the normally passive girl was very picture of panic as Megumi moved closer to Yayoi. Yayoi looked at Iori expecting him to do something but he looked far too baffled to really realize what Yayoi wanted him to do exactly.

"Oh Yayoi-chan! You're giving Iori-chan the 'look'," Megumi said in a far too suggestive voice.

"What?! She's giving what to Hida, the 'I need a better hair cut' and 'I'm too much of a stuck up bastard to know you', Iori?" Kanma asked in a deliberately loud voice to attract more attention to the group. Iori began to grind his teeth and slipped into his small, and very familiar, fantasy world of him strangling Kanma. Yes, Iori knew that he needed a better haircut but he's family wasn't exactly very rich. His mother cut his hair to save money and he did not see anything wrong with it, it just happened to be a bad haircut made by his mother. Yayoi blushed a deep crimson and tried to sink into the ground but it didn't work.

"I... I... I..." Yayoi said in a struggling voice.

"Don't worry Yayoi-chan! Your secret safe with me," Megumi said in a bright voice.

"I don't think it's much of a secret any more..." Ryota commented as he noted everyone in the class had overheard Kanma's reaction.

"No way... Iori?..."

"Iori has a girlfriend?... Man... That's way too weird..."

"Ew... Doesn't she know boys have cooties!"

Those were just a few things said in class. Mr. Muramaki however did not want his class to stray off topic and began banging on his desk with a meter stick.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Everyone settle down! You're all supposed to be getting to know each other... And Daiyama, apologize!" Mr. Muramaki said in a very cross voice.

Kanma smiled every so innocently and looked at the teacher like a picture perfect student. No one believed it for a second.

"Why, whatever do you mean, sir? What did I do wrong?" Kanma said a perfectly innocent tone of voice. Iori noted that Kanma probably had a lot of practice if he could pull off such a convincing tone. Too bad that no one in the class, and certainly no teacher, would believe it in any case.

"You know what I mean!" Mr. Muramaki said in an aggravated tone.

"But I haven't done anything wrong," Kanma insisted.

"Stop..." Yayoi said in a quiet voice.

Everyone in the room stopped chatting and listened. The usually silent Yayoi was actually speaking out, that was something very unusual for her.

".... There's no need to apologize for any of this... Can we just get on with our work?" Yayoi continued. She seemed ready to die of embarrassment.

"See? Even she says there's nothing for me to be sorry about. No cigar, teach," Kanma said arrogantly. He gave Yayoi a wolfish smile and gave Iori a look. The teacher was not amused and went over to the table.

"Get up! You're going to sit right next to Hida for the rest of this activity. You will learn to be respectful to me Daiyama," Mr. Muramaki said in a cold voice.

'Why me?' Iori thought to himself as Kanma plopped down right next to him. It was at that moment that Iori really disliked the teacher's judgement. This was probably the worst thing the teacher had done to him since Iori was asked to take care of the class hamster. Iori accidentally caused the class hamster, Kikuchi, to escape when he was cleaning its cage. They found the hamster a few days latter... Well, what was left of him when the neighbourhood cats were done with it. Not that Iori liked the stupid rodent or felt sorry for it. The thing had taken a liking to biting him when he tried to pick Kikuchi up.

"Me? Disrespect you? Why would I ever do that?" Kanma said sarcastically.

"I want no lip from you Daiyama."

"Fine. I do so hope to get know Hida-san better."

With that Kanma smirked and Iori felt banging his head on the desk in frustration. Kanma was the last person he wanted to get know better.

******

Lunchtime, never did such a time seem like a godsend to Iori until now. Class had been hell with all its assorted demons to plague him. It was a trying day with Ryota acting weird, Megumi was particularly 'happy' and mushy around Iori, Yayoi paralysed with embarrassment and Kanma being an overall jerk. In other words, taking into context what Iori's regular school life was, it was a normal day. Not that that made it any easier for Iori to bear and he waited at his desk for today's kitchen crew to bring up lunch.

Iori used this moment of calm to collect his nerves and what was left of his patience. Megumi and Kanma had nearly succeeded in shattering it to little pieces and Iori had very little time to start cobble it up again. The only thing that made this day a bit more bearable was the fact that Kanma was going to punished for all his crimes. It was the thing that kept Iori going and help maintain his facade. The promised justice that he had fantasized for all so long and worked so hard to nurture. Everything that Kanma did to this morning only made Iori feel ever so eager for the end of school. Where all his suffering would finally be substantiated and satiated, like cool water to a person who went through the desert. Yet his stomach clenched in an odd way as he thought about it, again.

Kanma on the other hand was on the other side of the class with a bunch of his lackeys. They talked in hushed voices and occasionally looked towards Iori every now and then. It was enough to make Iori slightly paranoid though he knew that they couldn't possible know about his plans. Or did they? Hirota didn't seem like the type to squeal since he had absolutely no loyalty or concern for Kanma's well being. Iori found himself thinking about what would happen if Kanma found about his meeting with Hirota this morning. There were various potentially painful possibilities and possible situations; it made Iori all the more determined not to screw up.

The plan was actually fairly inelegant, now that Iori thought about it more, but it was simple. Simplicity meant less chance of a serious screw up. Ambush Kanma in a deserted area and beat the crap out of him with a bokken. There, that was his brilliant plan and yes he knew it was rather stupid but stupid works. Besides, Kanma didn't deserve special effort or planning since all he could understand was brute force. Stomach began to clench again and Iori grimaced.

Why did he feel so uneasy all of a sudden? Every time he thought about what he was going to do to Kanma today, his stomach clenched. At first Iori dismissed it as a case of misguided nervousness but the more he thought about it, the more it came to light that what he was going to do was not justice. It was revenge born out of emotions of hate and frustration at what had been done to him by Kanma. That didn't change the fact his stomach was beginning to hurt a bit.

'And if you wrong me, shall I not avenge? If I am like you in the rest, I will resemble you in that. The villainy you teach me I will execute,' Iori quoted to himself. Doubt began seed itself and rail against Iori's resolve to commit to what he had planned. His stomach pain was probably due to the fact that he was hungry or at least so he hoped.

Iori looked down on his desk and stared at it, not noticing what was going on around him. He was busy thinking and was lost upon the world; it did not matter and did not intrude on his concentration. Iori never noticed that his fellow classmates were getting up when lunch had arrived and were starting to line up for their servings. No one bothered Iori, who hadn't notice that it was time to eat, except for Yayoi who noticed that Iori was the only person sitting down in the class. Hesitating for a moment and then advancing, she came up to Iori. He was deadly still and his face was locked into a look of faraway reverie, at first she wondered if Iori had died while sitting up but she noticed that he was breathing.

"Hida-san.... Lunch is here..." Yayoi's soft voice said at first. Iori didn't hear her and was still staring at the surface of his desk. He never noticed Yayoi standing beside his desk trying to get his attention... Or Ryota calmly stealing some of Iori's food... Or Megumi bringing out a small box of uber-pockey for her consumption... Or Kanma who motioned a few of his friends away to act as a look out for the teacher.

"Hida-san?"

"Huh?" Iori managed as he slowly realized that someone was talking to him. Yayoi smiled softly at Iori and made him sputter a bit. No one, ever except perhaps for Miyako, bothered to talk to him without prompting. It surprised him and left him a bit embarrassed. Was there a trend out there for people to smile at him and make him feel like an idiot?

"Um... Lunch is here," Yayoi pointed out to the large pots of curry and rice that was being set up at the front of the class. The smell of food made Iori's stomach rumble and he managed to smooth out his face a bit.

"Thank you Matsudaira-san, I didn't notice," Iori said politely and got out of his desk. Yayoi smiled at Iori, which caused him to look rather foolish. He just didn't know what else to do or say, he wasn't used to people who smiled at him. It reminded him of Miyako with her incessant happy smile but the one Yayoi gave him was more poignant. Iori wondered what made the difference between Yayoi's smile and Miyako's smile for a moment. There was something shadowed on Yayoi's face but Iori didn't understand or truly see what it was. What was that Murphy's law he heard before, regarding smiles? Oh yeah, now he remembered.

Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking.

"So... Um... I was wondering whether you wanted to eat lunch together or something..." Yayoi continued.

'Where did that come from? I mean... ' Iori thought as he began to scratch the back of his neck while trying to decide what to say next. There was something definitely troubling Yayoi or at least making her a bit sad. Despite what people said about him, no he was not a heartless person. It was simply that he was the worst person to turn to when it came to emotional problems. He also noted that Yayoi just offered to eat lunch with him. Something that no one had ever asked him to do or even think about considering. For a moment Iori felt very, very happy. A feeling that didn't come very often.

"What Hida? You have one girlfriend all ready and now you're after another? When did you become such a lady-killer and two-timer?" Kanma called out in a sneering voice. He swaggered over to where Yayoi was and draped one of his arms around her shoulders almost affectionately but his face told a different story. The eyes on Kanma's face dripped with malevolence and he tightened his grip on Yayoi's shoulder to the point she was cringing in pain.

'He's deliberately hurting her...' Iori thought. The small feeling of happiness was crushed underfoot and a feeling of cold hate was replaced by it.

That was the last straw for Iori. Kanma was an idiot, a braggart and bully that needed to be stopped. All that Iori learned about Kanma during this morning's activity just enforced that image in Iori's mind.

"Let her go, she's done absolutely nothing to you..." Iori said in a deadly quiet voice.

This brought the class to attention and Iori went completely blank in the face. It wasn't because he was embarrassed at the possibility of what his other fellow students were thinking but rather because Iori was now furious. How dare Kanma involve a bystander into their enmity? Did Kanma have any sort of conscience or scruples when it came to trying to harm him? Iori forgot all doubt and arguments against showing Kanma any sort of mercy after school. His plan would proceed without delay, come hell or high water. Kanma looked rather surprised by Iori's soft murderous tone of voice but buoyed his confidence with the fact that the teacher was no where in sight and Iori had no one to help back him up.

"Well aren't you chivalrous?" Kanma said in a light voice as he let go of Yayoi. He took a step up to Iori and looked down on the shorter boy. Iori damned his height at that brief moment because Kanma was much taller than he was. Iori only reached up to the neck of his enemy and despite what some people said about fights.

Size does matter.

"I don't want to fight you," Iori said.

'Because I want to fight in a place of my choice and where I get the first strike,' Iori added silently.

"Of course you don't want to fight me! You're such a good little teacher's pet and a 'perfect' student! Why ever would you think of breaking a precious rule of this school?" Kanma said sarcastically. Yayoi backed away from Kanma as soon as he let go and made sure she was out of their way. Yayoi eyes were pained but luckily Megumi quietly offered her an uber-pockey to try and comfort her. The dreaded sugar high seemed to have left Megumi's face but everyone was more focused on the confrontation between Iori and Kanma.

"Strange... I thought I was a demon that capture the souls of sinners who try to escape from hell," Iori said in a self-depreciating voice. There was underlining of bitterness in it that dripped from every word. Ryota once explained fully what Agares meant and did.

'He was sort like a demonic police officer of the third infernal plane, kind of like your dad. I mean in the sense they captured bad guys and rendered punishment,' Ryota's explained in an overly happy voice. All too eager to explain the meaning and background of each name he gave to every student in class.

'How very appropriate... A demon who recaptures the souls of sinners and the damned for punishment,' Iori thought to himself as he stared down Kanma. The thought did not please him nor did it upset him. If he had to be a demon to punish the guilty, then so be it.

"Teacher's coming!" Gunro called out as he closed the door to the classroom quickly. He waddled under his impressive girth to the lunch line to pretend that nothing was happening in class. Kanma looked up and then quickly departed from Iori but he stopped right in front of Megumi and Yayoi. Kanma pushed Megumi away and made sure she was well away before bending down to whisper something in Yayoi's ear that Iori couldn't hear.

"You'd better not tell anyone about this... And that means all of you!" Kanma said as he straightened his back and walked away from Yayoi who looked ready to cry.

Iori increased his grip on the edges of his desk until it hurt before sitting down in his chair. He sat there looking surly and gritted his teeth in anger. He looked up to see how Yayoi was doing and noted she looked quietly upset now and Megumi was talking to Yayoi softly.

'I guess that means I can't eat lunch with her...' Iori thought to himself despondently.

Yayoi didn't look Iori's way or talk to him again. The teacher arrived oblivious to what had happened in his class, he had stepped out for only five minutes, and supervised everyone as they ate lunch. It seemed that everything was normal but it wasn't. People were putting more effort into avoiding Iori, not that that was a big surprise, and Yayoi stayed close to Megumi, who tried to cheer Yayoi up. Occasionally Megumi saw it fit to give Kanma and Iori a glare but Iori didn't see why Megumi would be angry at him.

Iori was never spoken to again by anyone for the rest of the school day. On the bright side, his stomach didn't hurt any more.

***(Science lab... 2:30 p.m.)***

Daisuke was skipping class. Actually that was a lie, his teacher Muzaki Isoko had given him permission to go to the science lab with a partner to finish up a science project. There was supposed to be a teacher with them but Daisuke neglected, i.e. was too lazy, to get a teacher to supervise them. After all, what could possible happen? The project in itself was a simple chemical reaction that was small and most definitely not explosive like some of things that Miyako did.

Unfortunately his partner, Kirone Sainjyou thought differently. It took a lot of wheedling and begging on Daisuke's part for him to go along with what Daisuke wanted to do. He got a feeling that Sainjyou was not very happy about the arrangement of things and very worried as well. His partner's eyes often widened with shock or fear every time Daisuke guessed what the chemical was and put it into the pot. It was a rather haphazard way of doing the experiment but was the difference between cobalt and ammonium compounds or tetra bromine bisphenol A? It wasn't as if any of the chemicals being used were dangerous or poisonous. Ms. Muzaki demanded that Daisuke use harmless and benign chemicals for his experiment. Or at least the approximation of harmless and benign chemicals, Daisuke wasn't a genius or particularly knowledgeable of what was truly dangerous and what was not but he'd rather not fail in science, thank you very much.

Sainjyou tried not to panic as he scribbled down furiously what Daisuke, his science partner, was throwing into a bubbling morass of chemicals on top of a Bunsen burner. It was near impossible task, he soon found out. It wasn't because Daisuke was annoying or stupid, it was because when Daisuke screwed up... He screwed up in a really bad way.

'What has he all ready put into this thing?' Sainjyou thought to himself as Daisuke threw in another random chemical into the mix.

"I think that was some salt... Now I'll put in some..." Daisuke said as he threw in some sort of white powder into the stew.

"You think that was salt?" Sainjyou asked incredulously. He twitched as Daisuke grabbed another random chemical and threw it into the pot.

"Yeah! I mean it was white and stuff, so it has to be salt... or it could be sugar..." Daisuke said thoughtfully as he held a small glass vial of some sort bluish liquid in his hand. He shrugged and then opened the vial and dumped it's entire content into the pot. The stew of chemicals immediately began to curdle and become solid. Sainjyou frowned and quietly wondered what kind of chemical reaction was happening to make... whatever Daisuke was doing.

'I've never heard of anything solidifying in a chemical project like this...' Sainjyou thought to himself.

"Whoa... That's not supposed to happen... At least the book told me it's not supposed to happen..." Daisuke said trailing off before putting down the empty glass vial.

"Daisuke... Can I ask you a question?" Sainjyou asked nervously. Somehow he got a feeling that he was going to regret asking.

"Yeah, shoot..."

"What are you trying do?"

"Hmm... Oh that... I read it up in a really cool book somewhere but I couldn't find it and bring it in."

"... So what you're trying to tell me is... You make me skip class with you to do this... 'project' and you don't know what you're making and you also don't know what exact chemicals you're supposed to use?"

"No... Well not all of it but I'm sure I know most of the chemicals and how much it's supposed to be added."

'Must... Not... Strangle... Daisuke," Sainjyou thought to himself as he hand began twitching and he looked a bit too closely at Daisuke's tanned neck. Daisuke looked rather baffled as his partner seemed to have developed a nervous twitch but the bell luckily rang. It was now 2:40 p.m. and next up was gym class.

"All right! Let's get this thing off the burner and let it sit to cool!" Daisuke said quickly. He got out some heat absorbent gloves and picked up the pot to place on a heat tray. He was eager to get this over with and go to his favorite class.

"Daisuke... Maybe we should throw that... thing out," Sainjyou said in a nervous voice. Was it his imagination or did the pot's content begin to move a bit?

"Nonsense! We'll just put this in the classroom and let it cool. Tomorrow I'll present and everything will be okay!" Daisuke crowed as he walked towards the door with his project. Sainjyou opened and shut his mouth as he tried to think of a way to convince Daisuke out of a very stupid situation. He just knew, knew, that whatever Daisuke created was pure unabashed evil.... Or, at least, very disastrous.

"Stop right there!" Sainjyou barked out and stomped his way over to Daisuke.

Daisuke froze at the door and waited for Sainjyou to arrive.

"What?" Daisuke asked baffled.

"How are you going to present if you don't even know what you made?" Sainjyou demanded.

"Ah.. Well... I thought I would wing it, you know that I hate science."

"Daisuke, let's just throw whatever you made away and ask for a another day to finish the project up okay? I mean, I'm not even sure what you made is even safe."

"No way! The teacher will give me a zero for the project and you know that I need all the points I can get!"

"Wonderful... I just had to partnered with a jock and stubborn fool."

"You make jock sound like a dirty word... And I'm not stubborn..."

"But..."

Daisuke smiled a winning smile and Sainjyou didn't know what to say next. Instead Daisuke walked out the door and then stopped out in the hallway to give Sainjyou a happy look.

"Look... I appreciate the concern and your help but I assure you. Nothing bad is going to happen. This little thing is as harmless as it gets," Daisuke said.

"But... But," Sainjyou sputtered.

"You better get to gym or the old crone will get concerned. I'm going to put this in the classroom, you tell her I'll be along in a second."

With that Daisuke went to class leaving a speechless Sainjyou in the doorway of the science lab. It took a few seconds but Sainjyou began knocking his head into the doorway a few times when Daisuke was out of sight.

"Stupid... Stupid... Stupid..." Sainjyou said with every hit to the doorway with his head. He just knew that this was a bad idea but he went to gym class.

Daisuke placed his ill-conceived project in his empty classroom, right by the window where the class plants were before running out the classroom for gym. If Daisuke stayed for a few minutes and watched his project a bit closely, he would have seen that the sunlight was making his project grow. It seemed to take a very nice liking to the class plants and began 'eating' them, so to speak. It just kept on growing and began to spill over to the floor. The chlorophyll in the plants colored the gunk green as it grew.

Forty minutes latter when gym class was over and everyone returned to the classroom to pick up their things and leave for home or where ever they intended to go. Daisuke's science project had finally taken a life of it's own. It became the green blob of epic proportions and was now trying to eat some of the books in the shelves beneath the window.

"MOTOMIYA DAISUKE!!!" Muzaki Isoko shouted in rage. Her voice could be heard all over the school causing many students who were getting ready to leave, to pause and look baffled. It also carried out into the gym where Daisuke was busy helping Hikari put away much of the gym equipment with some other people. When they all heard Muzaki's voice, they couldn't help but look at Daisuke. Noting their stares Daisuke immediately went on the defensive.

"Why are you all staring at me like that? I didn't do nothing! I swear!"