Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ New Rules, New Ruler ❯ Chapter 8

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Part Eight

Schuldig kept the roof down, and made a point of leaning with one arm resting on the car door. Nagi found the looks they got strangely reassuring. Schuldig gave two different policemen the finger, drove through four red lights and outran a cruiser than was trying to catch him for speeding. Nagi grinned and lent back, wind in his hair and the occasional fly in his eyes. He was about to ask Schuldig if he could put the roof up when they rolled to a stop.

Nagi opened his eyes in alarm. They were here already? But, but…

"Huh. Guess it's close enough for you to walk. Want me to come in with you?"

"Uh, no, thanks, Schuldig. I'll be fine." Nagi struggled to open the door. Schuldig lent over and flipped the lock.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, thanks." Nagi clambered onto the pavement. Schuldig gave him one last once over.

"Well, if you're sure you're not gonna get lost or anything…"

"I'm sure." Nagi turned to go.

"You want a lift home?" Schuldig called after him.

Nagi paused. Did he want? He though he had an idea of how to get back by foot. And it would be good to see how long it took, so he wouldn't be late tomorrow. But if he got lost…

"No, thanks. I'll see you tonight, ok?"

"Great." Nagi opened his mouth to say goodbye, but Schuldig had already thundered away in a cloud of unburnt carbon, leaving Nagi choking on the exhaust alone.

Nagi walked up the steps slowly; unsure of whether he was early or late. The smiling woman in reception told him to go to classroom 366, where his tutor group was waiting to be registered.

Nagi set off relatively confidently down a long white washed corridor. After passing the one hundreds, then the five hundreds, he turned to go back and ask directions from the receptionist. He was about half way down the corridor when he realised this wasn't the one he had come down, and wouldn't take him back to reception.

He stared in confusion at a flight of stairs that confronted him. Steeling himself, he ascended the case, to find himself on a corridor lined with lockers, and the occasional two hundred. So was he getting closer or further away from his destination? He wandered along it in a daze, barely noticing the library from which an older boy stepped.

Nagi fell back, gasping apologies as he stared at the boy he had walked into. Buried under a pile of books, the boy stared back.

"Prodigy?" Omi murmured.

"Bombay," Nagi said softly. Oh, this wasn't good. He offered Omi his hand to help him up, but the older boy ignored him and clambered to his feet on his own. Omi bent down again, always keeping his eyes on Nagi, to retrieve his books. Nagi felt the tension building inside of him. Why does he have to be here? an inner voice wailed. School is supposed to be safe! It's supposed to be my normal place. Weiss has no right to invade the only place where I'm not expected to kill people. Unbeknown to him, similar thoughts were running through Omi's head.

Nagi clutched his bag to himself as he watched the blond boy stand up again. His knuckles were turning white.

"What are you doing here?" Omi asked sharply.

"I, I'm looking for room 366 and I can't even find the three hundreds and I was going to go back and ask for directions but the receptions was gone and there were just stairs and I'm late and it's my first day here and I can't believe I messed up already!!" Nagi panted, amazed at his own outburst.

"Room 366? Nasty." Nagi stared blankly at the older boy. "The three hundreds are in a separate block. I'll take you there, if you want." Nagi nodded blankly, not understanding why the youngest Weiss assassin was going to help him. Or was he? Perhaps he's going to take me somewhere completely different! Perhaps he's going to take me somewhere secluded and kill me! Nagi started to tremble, as did the lockers on either side of the corridor. Omi turned to stare at him. "Are you doing this?" Nagi shrugged, trying to calm down a little. "Why?"

"I, I guess I'm nervous. It happens sometimes. It's not easy being psychic! Having to keep such a tight grip on emotions and powers and everything else!" Nagi was aware that if someone didn't sew his mouth shut soon he was going to blurt out anything and everything to Omi.

"You also babble, "Omi noted with an amused gleam in his eye. "Look, since you're late already we can delay a little longer. I think we ought to talk before we go any further." Nagi nodded. "We're surrounded by innocents here. Whatever happens between us as Bombay and Prodigy, let's not bring it here, okay?"

"Definitely! School and work have to be kept separate. Bombay and Prodigy can fight, but Omi and Nagi will be model students, right?"

"Nagi? That's a nice name. How did you know mine?" Omi asked curiously.

"Duh! We have a telepath working with us. We know more about Weiss than Weiss does!" Omi laughed.

"I don't doubt that. People can react so strangely sometimes, I guess. I mean, you can think you now someone inside and out, and then they do something so completely out of character…" Omi trailed off, aware he too was probably saying more than he ought.

"Okay, another pact. Anything we learn about each other or each other's `groups', we keep between us. I mean, Schuldig might pick up a bit from me, I can't help that, but I can keep most stuff from him."

"Okay. Stuff like Mastermind's real name is Schuldig?" Omi added suddenly, teasing. Nagi flushed and refused to look at him. "Okay, I think I've held you up long enough now. Let's get you to 366 so I can return to the library."

"You were leaving it when I arrived," Nagi pointed out.

"True. I was going to put my homework into my locker and get out the English text I'm supposed to read."

"What are you doing?" Nagi's grip on his bag was slowly loosening as he relaxed in Omi's company.

"Oh, Crime and Punishment. Dullest book I've ever read." Omi laughed.

"So why are you reading it in your free period?"

"I'm not, we're just not allowed to use the library for leisure reading." Nagi looked blank. Omi grinned and gestured for him to stop, and opening his locker Omi reached in a produced a volume of Nagi's favourite manga.

"I love that series! Can I borrow it when you're done? I haven't had much chance recently to buy the recent stuff."

"Sure, why not?" Omi wondered why he was saying this to a mortal enemy, but decided that just as Bombay and Omi were somewhat separate entities, at least in other people's eyes, chances were that Prodigy and Nagi were in a similar situation. After all, they both had similar strains put on them, living the most complex double lives of either group.

Eventually Nagi and Omi reached the block containing the three hundreds, and Omi insisted on escorting him to the door of the room 366. Opening it for Nagi, and giving the nervous boy a slight push to propel him into the room, Omi gave the teacher a friendly grin.

"This is your new boy, I think. He was lost in the main building."

"Thank you, Omi. I trust your computer project is going well?"

"I've already finished, thank you."

Nagi stood silently through the short exchange, fighting the urge to blush. Twenty odd pairs of eyes were gazing at him. He felt like an animal at the zoo. His knuckles whitened again as tension made him increase his grip on his bag. Eventually Omi left, giving Nagi a warm, reassuring smile as he did so, and Nagi was left alone and friendless in a room full of hostile strangers.

"So, you must be Naoe Nagi, yes?" Nagi nodded, unable to speak. "Go and sit by Fujimiya Aya, please." Nagi almost collapsed from shock. "Aya-chan, as you were previously our most recent addition, I'd like you to be Nagi's guide for the day. Take him to get his timetable and show him were all the appropriate rooms are, please."

"Yes, sensei," Aya said. Nagi walked in a dazed shock to his seat next to the pretty girl, wondering if this day could get any worse. When he spotted a very similar looking girl glowering at him from the table to their left, he knew it just had.