It wasn't easy to judge, but Fuyuki was sure that this Azusa was slowly calming down; perhaps nervousness was one of her reasons for attending Yamaku. Theoretically the school had strict guidelines on not enrolling people with mental disabilities, but due to the ambiguous wording on the exact turn of phrase used, a lot of students with minor psychological issues were admitted. Touch wood, no one dangerous had been admitted yet, but nervousness and phobias were relatively common. 'Apparently so, although for me it is just preference.' Rather than being nervous around large groups, he simply got pissed off with their collective idiocy; he omitted that little tidbit though. To his mild surprise he found Azusa's slightly anxious aura to be a refreshing break from the usual well-adjusted teenage attitude enjoyed by most of Yamaku's students. It felt like he was talking to someone who actually thought before speaking; very rare. 'That is a relief. Actually I could do with a drink; my throat gets dry very easily.' He was about to lead the way to the nearest vending machine when Azusa asked the age old question, one he had answered a thousand times. Over the years he had concocted a number of elaborate and amusing answers, sometimes as a joke, sometimes to make the person feel guilty as all Hell for bringing it up. This time around however, he went with the truth. 'It is a little embarrassing, but I cannot speak. I was born with a birth defect; basically my vocal chords do not work. This PDA is the nearest thing I have to a voice, which can be a problem when I run out of batteries.' One of the advantages of using a PDA was that sarcasm doesn't translate well without tone; on the flipside, it's hard to get a laugh when your punchline sounds as flat as a pancake.

"I...used to be a professional fighter in a junior league on the fast track to making it to the big time."

Oh? That must have been fun for you. I wonder what a fierce exchange of fists feels like...this is no time to get distracted, Ami. Kyle's still talking!

"Growing up I learned how to fight, I became really good, so good that I was determined to make it to the top, to be the best there was, but that dream was snatched from me. 6 months ago I was in a match with a difficult opponent, it was in the middle of a blizzard and the snow was coming down heavily. It was in the middle of the third round, I had my opponent in a lock, I was about to win, then the ceiling came down."

He survived a ceiling coming down on him? Wow. Even though she seldom used the word, Ami could only describe that as hardcore. If a ceiling had come down on her, she'd be wondering why she'd been knocked down and why she couldn't get back up. To be fair, Kyle was probably able to very well feel the ceiling. She didn't mind, though. Not the part about a ceiling falling on a guy, of course; that was something you'd have to be weird to not be concerned over. No, it was that she didn't mind being here for her missing sense of touch. After all, how often do you meet somebody who survived having a ceiling fall on them?

"The paramedics found me unconscious, but when the ceiling came down, I didn't black out at first. The very first thing I noticed after diving away was that I couldn't feel my arm, when I went to look at it, all I saw was..."

All you saw was an arm that had to be removed. That's actually kind of sad.

"I think that's when the pain started setting in...then the cold...As I said...my lost arm got me in here and now...I'm trying to figure things out..."

"Well, it could be worse. I mean, you survived having a ceiling fall on you. If you can survive something like that, I don't think a limb being gone is going to stop you. At least you can still kind of fight with one arm, can't you? If it were your leg, you'd definitely never be able to fight again." To the point and honest as ever. "I think it's admirable that you're still alive after what happened. And not just that you had a ceiling hit you. I still can't get over how tough you have to be to survive something like that. I mean how you're still here, socializing with people and being open enough to talk about it." Ami took another bite of orange. After swallowing, she washed down the bite with a sip of water, and continued.

"A normal person in your position would at least be a dark-and-depressing kind of guy no matter what he was like before. A weak-spirited person in your position might have tried to kill himself. But, at least for Yamaku's standards, you seem to be doing great. I think you can still fight, even with only one arm." With an almost-smile and a nod, Ami finished talking. Nothing she said was anything from the truth, or at least her opinions on what the truth actually was. She considered changing the topic to something she was more familiar with, but changing the conversation from fighting to puppets seemed like a bit too much of a jarring change to her.

Ueda laughed one again as he smiled. "I suppose you could say the same to true when talking to anyone, not just girls. But yes I've felt the scorn of many of the fairer sex, due to my so called ability to "transcend social norms", for you see not just pretty princesses have flaws. But where are my manners? My name is Nobuyuki Ueda, Third year, Friedreich's ataxia." Ueda explained as he pondered about the situation he had gotten sucked into. Whatever he had expected from the conversation he had openly entered, it was not the conversation that was beginning to form. The girl was in all definitions of the the word, a difficult sort of puzzle, to a brain that treated everything and every human as just some sort of puzzle that needed to be picked apart and understood. He was intrigued to say the least, that she had matched his own ramblings, challenged an argument he was more or less having with himself.

"And I suppose that you are correct about humans. We are creatures bogged down by flaws and fears. The fear of getting hurt, the fear of the inevitable unknown, basic human fears that have been instilled inside of us since the first cavemen looked into the darkness of the night and was such then driven to develop fire. Though some fears are things that are special to us and are defined by us and help define us. But we all have flaws, flaws are something that a man from Monte Cristo once said “It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising” In the end though some people lose and some people win. You play the hand your dealt, as best as you can. Because even with all your flaws and fears, the game isn't just gonna stop because you are scared of what is going to happen next."

In many ways as Ueda said this he was directing it more to himself, then he was the girl. He knew very well that he was not a perfect human being, he was a flawed human being that in no way shape or form say anything otherwise. But instead of talking this understanding of himself and making him a better person. All following the same under flowing current and theme.

"But as you might of noticed, I'm a cynic out of circumstance trapped in a world that is seemingly exceedingly optimistic. So take my words with a pinch of salt."

"Well, it could be worse. I mean, you survived having a ceiling fall on you. If you can survive something like that, I don't think a limb being gone is going to stop you."

"Shut up..."

"At least you can still kind of fight with one arm, can't you? If it were your leg, you'd definitely never be able to fight again."

"Shut up."

"I think it's admirable that you're still alive after what happened. And not just that you had a ceiling hit you. I still can't get over how tough you have to be to survive something like that. I mean how you're still here, socializing with people and being open enough to talk about it."

"Will you just..." Kyle's hand started balling into a fist, his jaw started clenching, this was a decision he was severely regretting. Not only did he disclose this private information to her, but now she was giving her thoughts on it like she had some fucking idea like she knew what was going on. What made it worse, was that she had no tone at all while talking.

"A normal person in your position would at least be a dark-and-depressing kind of guy no matter what he was like before. A weak-spirited person in your position might have tried to kill himself. But, at least for Yamaku's standards, you seem to be doing great."

Kyle was feeling his breaking point, there was no stopping the tirade that was about to be unleashed.

"I think you can still fight, even with only one arm."

"JUST SHUT UP!!!" He yelled at her, "Stop talking like you know what the fuck is going on! You have no idea the life I lived before all of this!" He was really letting her have it, but at this point he just didn't care, "Fighting was my life, my training, my tutoring, my matches all revolved around it and then it just gets snatched up by some goddamn snow, and what am I left with?! No arm! No future! No more fights, why? Because they kicked me out! Worst of all, my own damn father can't even look me in the-" he slowly started realizing what he was saying and quickly stopped himself, to let himself go this far...it just pissed him off even more.

Raising his fist, he brought it smashing back down onto the table, "GOD DAMN IT ALL!!!!"

At this point he was visibly shaking and panting heavily at all the rage and energy he just exuded onto this one person. Reality slowly came crashing back down on him and he realized exactly where he was, looking around, he had an audience. The students, faculty and staff were all staring at him, wide eyed, slack jawed as his rage had become a publicly horrifying scenario to possibly the entire school. He wanted to go.

"Tch," shoving his tray aside he stood up and hurriedly, angrily, marched his way out of the cafeteria, through the halls and out onto the school grounds towards the dormitories. He figured, he had just enough of school for today.

The bell chimed, signalling that lunch was over.

---

Several days pass as the school year continues. Though it hasn't even been a week yet, students find themselves quickly picking up the routine of getting up in the morning, and cleaning and feeding themselves, before going on to learn the day's lessons. For some, this task was much easier than for others. Kyle himself, was not one of those.

Having spent nearly every morning training since first arriving at Yamaku, Kyle continuously misjudged his own timing and would nearly miss the first bell. To make matters worse, since his "outburst" on monday he had been avoiding Ami like the plague, having realized just how much of an ass he had been to her, he couldn't bear looking her in the face anymore. Worse yet, he was pretty sure that other students were avoiding him like the plague as well, having witnessed his "outburst" first hand, he was pretty sure they were avoiding him so they wouldn't provoke his ire. He honestly felt both ashamed and embarassed.

"Parker? Parker!" Kyle's head snapped up.

"What?"

"Mr. Parker," a tall lanky man wearing a shirt tie and coat was speaking to him, it was the science teacher, Mutou, "You are here for an education, not to doze off in class, are we clear?"

"Yes teacher, sorry, I won't let it happen again."

"Good, now as Mr. Parker has given us an excellent distraction, we'll be doing some group work today," he immediately began writing out the assigned pages on the board, listing them off as quickly as he wrote them down. Turning around, he addressed the class, "Today you'll be working in groups of three or four, group one will be Parker, Todoroki, Mizukimura and Hanari."

Kyle groaned audibly, "great, just what he needed, forced interaction."

Begrudgingly he looked around for his partners for today, Fuyuki was...that short girl he ran off a flight of stairs...still kind of regretted that one. Hanari he didn't really know, but he had seen her in a couple of his classes and recognized her from roll call. Mizukimura was...holy crap it was that one girl! The siren from that first day, holy crap that day was real. Being paired up with her...maybe today would be a good day after all. As Mutou finished listing off the groups and letting them off, the sound of a dozen desks being dragged around was all that could be heard as groups began setting up. Kyle was one of the many desks as he made his way over to the rest of the group members.

(The day is friday, almost the weekend, aside from saturday morning classes, you're almost in the clear. Group assignments will be listed in the OOC for all to see.)

On wednesday, Mariko received a small package in the mail. It was delivered by hand, to her one-room dorm apartment she'd owned since last year by a student council member, a bulky third-year with arms like pythons and legs like spaghetti, star of the wheelchair basketball team. She thanked him, and opened the package in the doorway just so he could confirm she hadn't begun a drug smuggling operation in the school yet. She'd tried a joke, and he'd grimaced. The package contained a bunch of papers and a small whiteish piece of plastic designed to be fitted into one ear. Good thing, too, because Mariko had lost her last hearing aid somewhere in Yamaku's leafy grounds.

On friday, during science class with that old geezer who dressed like that alien on the late-night channels on tv, students were expected to split into groups. Mariko glanced at the board and sighed. She recognised those names from last year. Not very well, she'd never exactly been close to either of them, and there was the problem. It was so dang hard to carry on a conversation with either of them. The american girl, Coral, refused to act outside of her rei ayanami impersonation without some kind of puppet on hand, and Yamauchi was worse, with his beady little eyes and uncanny valley mannerisms. It didn't help that he was practically the only student outside of one of the third-years who was taller then her. Bluh.

Couldn't be helped. At least they weren't people who would actively try to slow down the science project. or just sit and natter about their personal lives while she was trying to work. Mariko scanned the unfamilliar classroom, looking for either of them in the ensuing chaos of chairs and tables being shuffled more thouroughly then a bad medium's tarot cards.

The sound of heavy wooden floor scraping against metal table legs was an annoying one, and Mariko hunched down somewhat and concentrated on the assignment at hand. Apparantly the assignment was -SCRAPE- ical, so as to -CLONK- the nature of -CREAK- dissolved in a solution of -CRRRR- by boiling it with a -SCRAPE- and determining the precise -BONK-ature of the solution. Mainly theoretical stuff, She glanced up. Her own table was alone. She righted herself and picked the thing up " see, that wasn't so hard and the excess effort doesn't turn into sound! Picking things up, the saviour of noise pollution everywhere." and moved over to her two aquaintances, who as luck would have it, were already together.

Nobuyuki Ueda, Third year, Friedreich's ataxia he had told her, An odd upper classman with a tendency to get caught in the whirlwind of an intellectual's mind. He was a cynic, someone quiet the opposite of her and yet also quiet like her. Odd. That was the single word she would use. Just as mysterious as she might appear to him, he was to her. Puzzling, indeed. He saw her as just another puzzle, and she saw him as a mystery that would unravel if given enough effort and time.

"Ueda-sempai," she bowed gracefully to him, lunchbox and white cane in her hands, "As any optimist might say, I hope you have a relaxing and pleasant rest of your day. And if we might meet again, I hope we will have more time to pick apart one another." She straightened up her back in that regal kind of way, even for her delicate small form. Giving him that softest and most gentle of smirks, as if she knew more than she would tell, she nodded to him, dismissing herself. Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. Her timing was unusually good, like always. And with that, Tomo went back inside.

_______________________________________________________________

Several days had passed since the odd conversation she had with the upperclassman on that first day. Though it hadn't even been a week yet, Tomo moved throughout her new average school life with ever ease and poise of someone from an old family might. Nothing seemed to challenge her, except perhaps gym and sports. Intellectually she was out standing. Her marks were always in the top portion of the class, but she never bragged or paraded about. Most of her classmates just knew she was smart, and that was it. But what else was expected from someone of the Mizukimura clan? And the little doll of a well-bred girl lived up to expectations. It was how she had been raised. Though she did seem to have a bit more trouble finding constant and close friends, which disappointed her.

She even knew a few names of students from her class, able to pinpoint them in crowds just by their habits, smells and sounds. Like Kyle Parker, a tall rowdy boy who always seemed to be a bit late to class and had a hard time paying attention. His voice was one of the more distinctive voices. It wasn't his bare hint of accent, but rather the way he spoke. It was... charismatic in an interesting kind of way. Like sunshine. Perhaps it was why she always perked out of her daydreams to pay attention to the lectures he earned.

And there was also Todoroki Fuyuki. His voice was replaced with the electronic sounds that proceeded the tapping of fingers on a machine. But he had a particular scent. A kind of sweet and feminine scent, mingling with something distinctly male. Most spoke of him as if he was a girl. She wondered if he looked feminine as that scent of his. Perhaps he wished to be as such. Tomo didn't know, but she knew the difference between a boy's scent and a girl's scent, as odd as it was. She sort of wondered if she should just call him Fuyuki-chan... Perhaps Fuyuki-san would be acceptable. It gave no illusion to male or female.

As for other, she wasn't as interested or attentive. Tomo had also heard that Parker-kun had yelled at a girl in a more frightening manner the first day during lunch, which had earned him a bit of a negative reputation. She wasn't quiet sure if it was all true or if he had earned such fear among the masses, but with a voice like his... It was hard to believe in rumors completely anyway. There were more than enough about her, and most of them were ridiculous. Like having a helicopter pad in her back yard, or better yet a an indoor swimming pool that was two levels deep. Gossip was a natural way for people to entertain themselves, but sometimes, like in Parker-kun case, if could be rather harmful and even hurtful. It was why she didn't put much stock into what some people whispered about.

"Parker? Parker!"

The sensei was yelling at Parker-kun to get his attention. Tomo also blink out of her own daze. Her zoning out was a bit more delicate and unnoticeable than most seeing people's zoning out. With unreadable eyes like hers, most people could hardly tell if she was even listening when she truly was concentrating very hard on the lesson. So it was a bit easier for her to get away with it, than say Parker-kun or Fuyuki-san. Listening to the teacher after he was finished scolding Parker-kun, she realized that they would have to do group work. Biting the inside of her cheek, she couldn't help but feel a bit excited. It would give her more of an opportunity to make friends!

The sound of the teacher writing on the board in front of him, Tomo tilted her head slightly, listening intently as he listed of assignments. Group assignments! She appeared to be a lot more enthusiastic than those who were moaning and groaning about it around her. Her group... Her group... Ah! He finally said it out loud. Group One: Parker-kun, Fuyuki-san and Hanari-san! Tomo smiled happily, sitting straight in her chair exuding a kind of bubbling cheerfulness even in her subtle graceful way.

As Mutou-sensei finished listing off the groups and letting them move about, the sound of a dozen desks being dragged around was all that could be heard as groups began setting up. Unfortunately Tomo was at a bit of a disadvantage. She couldn't see her partners. But she knew a few of them by sound and habit. Tilting her head and closing her eyes she listened carefully. Chairs and desks were screeching about in a piercing kind of way, which was a bit annoying and mad it hard to concentrate. But then a chair and desk slightly bumped into her own. Her lavender eyes opened, that slight frown of irritation gone and replaced with a relieved and gentle smile. Well, that took away the discomfort of her trying to find people on her own.

"Hello," she turned her head to the direction of the person or maybe even people who had moved closer to her, "I am Tomohina Mizukimura. Pleased to be grouped with you."

~Ami~

"JUST SHUT UP!!!"

If nothing else, Ami was at least surprised enough to drop the orange she'd been eating up to this point. It just rolled its way down the table, slowing to a stop just barely within her arm's reach. If her expression were to change here, it would probably go to something that spoke clearly how she thought she may have said too much. But Kyle kept going.

"Stop talking like you know what the fuck is going on! You have no idea the life I lived before all of this! Fighting was my life, my training, my tutoring, my matches all revolved around it and then it just gets snatched up by some goddamn snow, and what am I left with?! No arm! No future! No more fights, why? Because they kicked me out! Worst of all, my own damn father can't even look me in the-"[/i]

"I...well..."

"GOD DAMN IT ALL!!!!"

And then he left. Maybe that was a good idea, and it was probably also a good idea to not follow him. Judging by his outburst just now, Kyle probably needed some time to cool his head. That was fine. Even if she didn't look it, Ami wasn't feeling up to following somebody who'd just yelled at her like that. If anything, she would have loved somebody to tell her missing an arm wasn't going to slow her down had she ever lost one. Some people just made no sense at all. For now, Ami wanted to at least finish the orange she'd been given. There was still time to eat her lunch, so she planned to eat it up.

---

A few days had passed since the thing at lunch happened. Ami took no time to bounce back from any bad feelings she may have gotten from what had happened, but she'd had a hard time finding Kyle again. She was too nervous to waltz into the boys' dorms and check there, and anywhere else she simply failed to catch sight of him. There were a few reasons she was set on finding him, though. For one, there were still so many things she wanted to know. Ami was also considering at least lending him one of her hand puppets, just as a thing to help him let off some steam. But above all else, she wanted to apologize for whatever she may have said to wrong him at lunch. People didn't just snap at others like that after having a relatively nice chat beforehand, right? Ami figured she must have said something, even if she couldn't pinpoint it.

Today held no success either. Not yet, at least, but it was way too early to give up. It was only the beginning of class now, and there would be so much more time to look around later. A normal person in Ami's situation would probably wait right outside the door of Kyle's classroom, but she always saw that as a stalker thing, and a stalker she was not. But class hours weren't the hours to strategize how to find the person she was looking for. It was a time for class, obviously. She looked with moderate disinterest at the board, until she saw it was time for a group assignment. That was interesting enough, right? She was going to be working with a Masushita and a Yamauchi. That'd be great and all, except...

Despite her friendly nature, Ami didn't know many people in her class. At the very least, she wasn't able to pin any faces with those names on the board. Why couldn't there be little photographs next to the names? There was no helping it; Ami would have to ask for help finding her group. So she did the only natural thing for someone to do. Get up and look for any face in class she at least recognized. And what do you know; she found one. That other boy from the stairs-falling thing the other day. Not the one who fell, but the other one. He was kinda good-looking, she commented. Hadn't he also introduced himself at some point? Ami mentally cursed herself for not remembering if he did or not, and for forgetting his name if he did. So after finding somebody she at least kind of recognized, Ami did the only thing a sane human being would do. Walk right up to him, and ask the question she needed an answer for.

"Do you know which people here are Masushita and Yamauchi?"

---

~Fiona~

Getting ready in the morning was no major hassle. Having just the one arm made things like getting dressed a little trickier, but it was something Fiona O'Connor had adjusted to over the last few years. By now, she could clothe herself just as well as somebody who had both arms, even if she took a bit longer. That just meant she had only a couple minutes less to spare in the morning compared to other students. Nothing she couldn't handle. Making it to class on time was still no big problem for her. And today was Friday. Closing in on the Sunday off was just another source of motivation to her.

Being in the classroom was a slightly more boring issue. It was what Fiona called "classroom syndrome" sometimes. It was something she defined as being ready to face the day when you first wake up and looking kind of forward to the school day, then wondering if it'll actually be so great the moment you enter the classroom. Judging by what was written on the board - and assuming she wasn't mistaking some characters for others like she did sometimes - it seemed that today they would either be working in pairs or fusing skeletons together. Fiona wasted no time regarding the latter as absurd, given the room's distinct lack of skeletons. It also seemed her partner would be one Nobuyuki Ueda. Well, that was fine. In her three years here, Fiona had seen him a few times, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. Working with him wouldn't be a problem, she figured.

When the teacher gave the green light to start pairing up, Fiona started moving her desk toward Nobuyuki's. She'd seen him enough to remember that he had a cane, so moving his desk around could have been tough for him. As for Fiona, she didn't lift it so much as nudge it along the floor with her hips, carrying her chair in her hand along the way. In due time, her desk met with her partner's, and Fiona set her chair down and set herself in it. Then she nodded to the Nobuyuki boy sitting across from her.

Azusa

She didnt feel so stressed anymore the girl seemed to have a calming aura to Azusa. It became quickly easier to talk to girl but she still felt a bit nervous that she might screw the whole conversation up since most of the people on her old school didnt even try to get close to her. She took her time to give the girl a reply to her answer "You shouldn't be embarrassed by it you didn't do it yourself. But I can't denie having a problem inside your body that you didn't want sucks" She rapidly became sadder when she tought about her disorder and that it would probably never be able to get fixed. She tightend the grip around the handle of her bag some more that she holded in one of her hands for a pretty long time now. But she didn't even realise till now that this girl must have had it far more worse. She wanted to have some alone time right now and she decided to get it right now "I-Im sorry" She stood up and left the girl standing there as she entered one of the bathrooms close by. She already showed some tears before entering the bathroom but she didn't care that anyone had seen it. She opened the door of one of the stalls and sat down on top of the toilet with her knees pulled up. With the door locked and complete silence she started to burst out in tears. She went home after she calmed down a bit and didn't attend the next day either.

Azusa has been completely silent to anyone around her for the past few days. She didn't see Todoriki for a while now but she still felt like apologising to her so Azusa had made lunch for her just in case she would meet her again. She didn't really think about it so she had made lunch for her everyday wasting a lot of food in the progress. But she didn't really mind since she liked to cook now and then. She sat down in the classroom once again with no one to talk to. The only thing that she could think about where the girl might hang out everyday. The lesson began with nothing intresting just like every day the only thing that got her attention was a group assignment. Azusa didnt mind about the assignment the only thing that did was... "group"

Despite himself, Fuyuki found that he enjoyed Azusa's company. Perhaps it was because she was quiet or at least less demanding than most, but he felt he might actually be able to relax around her. Providing she never figured out his true gender, of course; he suspected Azusa to be the type that got more nervous around boys than girls. 'It is not all that bad; this PDA has a built-in MP3 player. One of life's little perks.' He turned to give her a reassuring smile, but she didn't appear to have heard. Instead the girl looked as though she was falling inward, perhaps having some kind of panic attack. Surely he hadn't done anything to upset her..? Although, now that he thought about it, Fuyuki was somewhat lacking in social graces at times; perhaps he had said something he shouldn't? In a flash Azusa apologised for nothing and disappeared, the beginnings of a breakdown clearly visible in her eyes. He would have tried to comfort her, but naturally she retreated to the one place he could never follow; the girls bathroom. Even if half the students thought he was a girl, the staff knew better. He could only hope to find her around again some time and apologise for upsetting her... A certain cynical part of his mind marveled at the fact that he even felt the need to do so.

The next few days passed languidly, with nothing much happening bar a steady flow of clients and the normal classroom antics. Rumours of Parker's outburst floated around the school, doubtless exaggerated with every telling. From his own experience of the foreigner, Fuyuki judged that he at least hadn't punched Cole as one gossiping 1st year had professed. Parker was better than that, if his panicked but genuine concern the other day was anything to go by. As fate would have it, he soon found himself presented with the perfect opportunity to find out firsthand, in the form of a group assignment with Parker and two others. Mizukimura was that uppity blind girl who acted like the sun shined out of her arse, but he didn't know much about the other one. As he cast his gaze around, Fuyuki spied Parker dragging his desk toward Mizukimura, who had the sense to remain seated. Loathe though he was to admit it, Fuyuki wasn't capable of moving his own table; the damn thing weighed almost as much as he did. Instead he dragged his chair over, which was labourious enough. As he approached, he couldn't stop a strangled sigh upon seeing Mizukimura's angelic smile; the girl was positively glowing at the idea of group work and perhaps at the chance to make friends. For his part, at least two of the three people he would be working with were not what Fuyuki would call friend material; too much... strong personality. But work was work and he would put forward the effort if nothing else. 'Likewise, Mizukimura-san. I am afraid I cannot move my table, so would you mind if I work on yours? I am Todoroki, by the way.' If she hadn't worked that out by now then she was deaf too, but the social forms must be obeyed. As Fuyuki slumped into his seat, he gave Parker a little wave and happy smile; with all those rumours flying, his spirits must have been pretty low. It might help for him to think that at least one person thought good of him, even if he didn't really mean it.

As the past few days went by, Yuusuke gradually got used to his schedule and his classmates, smiling ball of happiness through and through. He received many pinches of the cheek from his sister, Shiori-nee. She said it was because, even though he was getting older, he still looked and sounded like he did when he was younger, having a soft face and higher pitched voice, also soft. She said she thought it was adorable. When this conversation took place, they were in public, which made Yuusuke embarrassed. The reddening of his cheeks just let to more teasing from his sister. It was a cycle of blushing.

Skip to the present day, and Yuusuke is sitting in class, taking notes for class, listening as the teacher spoke about a group assignment. As everyone's groups were called, Yuusuke looked around him, watching and waiting for his to be called. When it was, he smiled and looked around at all the ones that were called for his group. He spotted a solitary girl sitting, conveniently, adjacent to him. If his memory was being nice to him, she was Hitomi Azusa. Azusa-san. He put on a kind smile and waved in her direction. "Hello, Hitomi-san. My name is Hanari Yuusuke," he said in his ever-present child-like voice. "Can I press my desk to yours?"

---

Throughout Shiori's time so far this year, she had mainly been focusing on Yuusuke, already knowing her way about the place thanks to being a particularly intelligent second-year. Throughout the past few days, she'd been helping Yuusuke with anything he might need help with. This was mainly the way around the school and assignments given as homework, which they would do at his dorm room. It was a hard time for Shiori, though, having to resist attacking him with hugs ad kisses, the kisses being on the cheek and forehead, of course. They were still siblings, after all. But Yuusuke was just so flipping adorable!

Presently, Shiori was working diligently, as she always did. When the main lesson was done, there was talk of a group assignment with others. Shiori didn't mind them, actually enjoyed them, but only if she was paired with the right people. And, she may or may not be in luck, as she was paired with three other students. Parker-san, Todoroki-san, and Mizukimura-san. She didn't really use the -chan or -kun honorifics, as she just reserved the intimate ones for Yuu-kun. She would see the others start to group up, and would join them, pulling up a desk for herself, bringing her own notebook and supplies.

It seemed Kyle's asshole reputation preceded him as some of the other students were either avoiding eye contact with him or actively moving out of his way. Like this was something he 'really' needed right now. Damn it all if he didn't deserve this kind of treatment, especially after the way he acted on Monday at lunch. He could honestly only imagine how Ami must of felt, probably twice as scared as the rest of the student body since she received the full brunt of his outburst. Sighing somewhat in defeat he barely noticed bumping his own desk into another's. He was quickly about to apologize before being interrupted by the owner of said desk.

"Hello," she turned her head to the direction of the person or maybe even people who had moved closer to her, "I am Tomohina Mizukimura. Pleased to be grouped with you."

Not that any apology would really matter at this point, not only did he arrive at his intended destination, but it didn't seem to bother the girl any. Truth be told he felt more flustered having bumped his desk into hers, it was a bit embarrassing.

'Likewise, Mizukimura-san. I am afraid I cannot move my table, so would you mind if I work on yours? I am Todoroki, by the way.' After giving her introduction she looked up at Kyle, smiling and waving at him. He couldn't help but smirk a little, scratching his own head and nodding it in response. Despite all the glares and avoidance there were still at least a few people who still treated him normally. Perhaps word hadn't spread around as quickly as he thought? Then again, that was likely not the case, maybe they just didn't care as much as other students did. Something did click though.

"Oh, I can go grab your desk," without even being given objection he made his way over to where Todoroki's desk was, the only one not moved out the way, and picked it up supporting it on his hip before carrying it over to the group and setting it down before her. By this time Hanari had made her way over and was getting her desk and supplies all set up.

"I'm Kyle, by the way," he said somewhat nervously before taking his seat, "nice to be working with you all."

Tomo didn't quiet care what others thought of her. She chose to be happy, even when everyone said she should be sad. The only time she'd feel sadness was when she allowed herself to, when she was alone and felt safe. People were so quick to say horrible things, but Tomohina refused to be so negative. She was blessed with comfort in life and she continue to be thankful, rather than horrible. Though some might say she had more than enough reason to be. Tilting her head slightly, she listened intently at what everyone said as they gathered into their group.

A sigh reached her ears and she perked a brow at that sound. But that was her only reaction, her gentle smile still burning brightly. The robotic sounding voice that emanated from the same direction as the sigh addressed itself as Fuyuki Todoroki. Well, just as Todoroki, but the teacher had addressed him by his first name. Yes, him, though she refused to give into a label on someone she was not sure wanted to be addressed as such. He asked if he could share he desk but before she could agree, Kyle Parker moved to go get it for him. Of course Parker-san hadn't spoken directly to her, so she felt a bit sheepish in her optimism. Was it rude, then, to assume she could befriend all of them?

Shiori Hanari was quiet, more quiet than Todoroki-san, which was a bit surprising. The other girl only announced herself through her scent, that light flora smell of shampoo and hint of perfume. She had pulled up her desk, but had not introduced herself, so Tomo remained quiet. She didn't like pushing others to do things they didn't want to, unless it was vital towards something useful. But it did leave her feeling more than a little disheartened. But she kept her back straight, sitting like a lady, a weaker but still just as kind smile on her face. Her long lashes brushed over her cheeks as her unseeing eyes turned downwards. Her fingers nervously gripped one another, as if the small pain of it would bring her out of such gloomy thoughts.

Reaching for her brail version of their school book, she slid her slender fingers of the page it was opened to. Her other hand reached up to find her notebook, ordering her things well so she'd remember where they were and wouldn't have to fumble about looking for them. Her style of writing was better than having to use a clunky brail typer. She just made deep enough marks for her fingers to recognize and rewrote them once she got to her dorm. Though she was noticeably blind, she didn't like to draw to much attention to it. She rather her first impression be one about her and who she was, than her disability. There was nothing more irritating than being 'that rich blind girl' on her roster.

She heard the heavy steps of Parker-kun get closer once more, the scuffling sounds of him setting the desk down, and finally taking his own seat. She smiled warmly when he introduced himself to everyone and bobbed her head in a slow sort of motion, like a seated polite bow. It was quiet for a moment. Tomo nibbled on her lip. So...now what? She let out a small laugh, too breathy to catch much attention, but it was more in amusement to how odd this seemed to be to all of them. Oh well. She was sure they'd all get through it just fine. Of course they all had their own sets of friends, she was mostly sure, but there was no reason to be passing judgements on people they didn't know. Even if rumors floated around about some of them.

"Perhaps, if everyone is ready, we should start?" her soft suggestion held a hint of sweet amusement in it, her voice still as melodic and warm as ever.

It took him a few days of ruminating, but he finally realised what sort of feeling he felt when he saw and heard the living doll, with her smile that wanted them--him to trust her...

Fear.

After all these years, why would something like this, feeling like this finally come out. Maybe...there were just too many people, too many from what he was used to his whole life, all in once place...that face that wanted him to trust her, like a dangerous trap. He felt sick...he wanted to trust, but he was scared of what may happen after. Why?

"Do you know which people here are Masushita and Yamauchi?"

Blinking once or twice at such a question, Junpei reminded himself that he did not in fact know anyone from the class either, save for the first few people who introduced themselves yesterday. Still, looking at the board, with the assigned groups and assignments...it was a welcome distractor from his worries. Now, she had asked him about the other girl, then about himself, so..."I am Yamauchi, and you were asking for Masushita...so you must be Amity Cole." Not a few seconds later, the other girl seemed to just pop out of the wood work. Briefly, he wondered if he should offer to shake hands with them, as he was going to be working on an assignment with them...but decided against it. It would be one less hand to shield his face from life itself, if something bad were to happen. Instead, Junpei politely inclined his head before flipping pages of the textbook, showing a page to them. "..."

Azusa

After the teacher spoke another few words she already retreated by looking back out of the window. The whole class started to move towards each other making small groups to do the assignment. She felt somewhat bothered by not knowing what she needed to do and gave a glance around as she spotted someone waving at her. She quickly looked down into her books trying not to have noticed him but he already began to speak. She couldn't just ignore him and waved shyly back at him as she began to speak "If you want to" The volume in her voice quickly dropped when she spoke but she assumed he heard it. It was a good thing that he already said his name otherwise it would just get awkward to ask someone that had been the same class for a few days. Hanari Yuusuke seemed to be nice around other people and probably also to her but she still couldn't get used to the feeling that people would actually talk to her out of free will. As he approached her with his desk in his hands she could feel more nervous then before but she still tried to get a conversation going "Could I ask what we are doing I haven't payed much attention" She looked down into her notebook that was still completely empty. Her face became somewhat red when he probably noticed and kept looking down while biting her own lip.

"Some days it was no trouble at all. Others, it was the equivalent of getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer." Those were the words Ueda used to describe his current status to the school nurse. During the first week of classes, the students were more or less required to go to the nurses office just to see how their respective cases and if there was anything knew the staff had to be aware of. It was not the most exciting thing in the world but it was required, and so in all his dry sarcastic glory Ueda and the Nurse went over how he was feeling. And the general idea that they came to was that he felt like shit that was just forced through a trash compactor. But as the Nurse put it, and as Ueda was already familiar with that was just how life was. With no real curer for his so called "problem" all that they could do was lengthen his life out for as long as they could and hope he at least get's a "full" life before he finally kicks the bucket and progress past the point of bodily failure.

"Sometimes your just dealt a bad hand." Was how Ueda finally described his feelings to the Nurse after he was asked how all this not getting better thing was making him feel. Sometimes your just dealt a bad hand., his own thoughts floated through his head as he sat at his desk, ready to begin the day. The fatigue was what was hitting him the most it was one of the more simplier side effects of the slow degeneration of the nervous system but it had the ability to sink him like a rock. Unavoidable it leached his system of energy and no matter how much rest he got, he was always felt as if he was on his seconded all-nighter in a row. It was one of the main reasons he was late to his morning lessons almost all of the time and the main reasons his teachers for the most part let it slide.

His head was down as he looked at the notebook in front of him. On what should of been notes or anything slightly academically related was instead a drawing. Mr. Nomiya had talked to him the second day he got back to Yamaku. The ageing art teacher and a for the most part laid back man who was very passionate about art. He had been asked if he had been sharping his craft over the vacation and when Ueda said that he had he was only half lying. It had just begun to be harder for him to draw like he did two years ago when he was a first year let alone when he was still in chūgakkō. The strength and coordination in his arms and hands was not what it used to be and as he sketched away on his paper, his hand shaking as it went causing the lines themselves to wobble and become erratic. This was the primary reason for the second half of his summer that he had never even looked inside his sketchpad or picked up a pencil, frustrated more with himself than anything else that one of the only things he was as "good" at as everyone else had suddenly almost seemed unachievable. But after he had talked to Mr. Nomiya, he had felt a bit guilty about it. Giving up not just on Himself, but on his ideals of never letting his falling apart stop him.

So his hand shaking subtly as it may scratched across his paper in a series of clumped together lines which slowly formed into shapes themselves. It was rough and oblong but in the end it was a drawing of what he saw in the outside world. It was spring of course, April to be exact for even though Yamaku was a special school, it was still a school located in japan and so followed the own national school scheduled more less the same. And so he was drawing a cherry blossom located outside its petals slowly floating down through the breeze. Traditionally a transitory symbol the falling of the petals representing ones transiting from one part of ones life to another, it also had another meeting oddly more poetic for Ueda. To the Samurai the falling cherry blossom petals represented the ideal life: short, yet filled with vibrant beauty ending in a dramatic fall. A short yet brilliant life, it was in many ways the only ending Ueda could really aim for. To go out blazing a warpath that all could see behind him.

It was then that he felt a slight nudge. It was Hideo and he was making a small gesture with his hand motion him cover his paper up. Ueda stuttered for a moment before putting both his arms down covering the paper. Moments later their homeroom teacher passed them who also happened to be their first teacher of the day Mathematics. He was a large man that some had drawn conclusion that he was a samurai they found in a block of ice, who the school had somehow taught modern day mathematics. He had an okay personality and did not refrain from making jokes but was very strict once it came to teaching itself and did not take it kindly when he found his students dozing off or drawing in his class. As he passed by, Ueda turned his head and nodded to Hideo in thanks, who give him a casual thumbs up. But before Hideo could do much else the teacher began to speak.

"As you all know this being your third and final year the Yamku most of our time will begin preparing for the Daigaku Nyūshi Sentā Shiken or National Center Test for University Admissions to determine your secondary education future here in Japan and abroad. But since we are still in the first week of classes, we are going to be starting off a bit slow. And to help refresh one another of each other's faces. We will do some group work today. I have put you all in pairs, as listed on the board and you will have to do textbook pages ...." The teacher's voice droned off in Ueda head as he watched him write the assignments and groupings on the board. Ueda looked hard at the board willing the words to come into focus, another side effect of his condition his eyesight and hearing was also starting to go but at a slowed rate. He looked at the names noticing very quickly the teacher had very carefully not placed any really close friends together, forcing people to socialize. A smart choice Ueda thought but at the same time such a bore. He chuckled a bit as he saw Hideo name being paired off with Maaya Kanno, a deaf girl in their class, a little bit out there but very good at track and also Hideo had been crushing on her for the past three years. It was to say going to be an interesting experience for him. Then Ueda eyes found his own name he was paired with Ms. O'Connor.

Ueda had seen Fiona O'Connor there and again in their three years attending the academy together. Never really had that many conversations with her, none actually not accounting for hellos and goodbyes. But beside that she seemed like a nice enough girl. If looking a bit out of place, being one of the foreigners to attend Yamku though Ueda was not one to judge where someone came from it all came back to two people and intercourse in the end. It was how they all got there, so why did it matter if you where from Japan, America, or even Ireland. He looked around for the girl with the red hair, dragging herself and her desk/chair over. Another puzzle for Ueda to try and solve in his head, hearing conflicting stories of a cold harsh exteior and yet a warm interior and stories of well applied uses of a baseball bat. Another odd little tidbit. How did one baseball with one hand? He flipped open his stop drawing his little picture of the cherry blossom and looked to the opposite page of his notebook on the right hand side. His textbook out, he turned and looked towards Fiona's direction as he heard her desk finally clunk against his.

It was at this time that Ueda give a small smile as he spoke. "A forward note before we get started, I'm sorry that you got paired with me and secondly if at anytime you need me to either shut up, stop rambling, pay attention, switch to English, you know the basics. I give you full permission to hit me, just not too hard you might break me. But beside that it would seem it was time for us to begin our wonderful journey that is the hell that is advance level calculus."

Ueda heard the teacher clear his throat from by his desk where he was doing his own paperwork, and Ueda looked up at him and smiled. "I mean yay! Math is fun!" The teacher shook his head and give a small smile as Ueda looked back down and flipped open his textbook to the required pages, as he did so he whispered under his breath so that Fiona could be able to hear it but not the teacher. "If you shoot me now, you will probably have enough time to get yourself too before the teacher has time to react.... I'm just stating the options here."

Mariko dropped her table at right angles to everyone else's It slid a little against the floor, but not enough to cause noise or anything. Yamauchi seemed to be introducing herself to Coral, which struck Mariko as slightly odd. She knew both their names. They'd attended Yamaku last year, hadn't they? Had they both suffered a damaging case of retrograde amnesia, causing them both to completely forget the events of last year? Unlikely. Because she, Mariko, had been there too. Unless she'd lost her earpiece that same day, which became why she couldn't find it now. Was that even possible? Surely not.

She mumbled out a quick greeting, little more then "Hi, guys. How was the break?", A question she was quite literally expecting no answer to. Nothing too formal. Formality would set a precedent, and make idle chitchat even more awkward then it already was. People here had more issues then the newspapers, Yamaku attracted wierd people like flies to vinegar, which was sorta obvious in retrospect. But that didn't mean you had to tiptoe around everyone's feelings, either, so casual language was usually okay. Mariko had a pen in hand, and the paper over the relevant page in the science book (large print, not that she would dare admit it.) Yamauchi seemed to be showing her something. On closer, squintier, inspection, it turned out to be the exact same page she had in front of her.

"Well, yes, that is what we're looking at today, Yamauchi. Gold friggin' star. It's quite literally listed on the printout which page it is."

Parker's willingness to help earned him a few points if nothing else, even if Fuyuki would have preferred the matter to have been tactfully ignored. He had never been particularly sensitive about his muteness, but being physically weak was a handicap he was not proud of. The expression of mixed embarrassment and gratitude he gave was not feigned for once. 'Thank you, Parker-kun. Or would you prefer Kyle?' Kyle... Kae-ru... Frog. He wondered if Parker knew what his name meant in Japanese, but left that particular witticism unspoken; somehow Fuyuki doubted that it would be appreciated. 'In that case, please call me Fuyuki or Yuki if you want.' He wondered if perhaps he was laying the girlishness on too heavy, especially with Mizukimura present, but went with it anyway. She seemed the time to accept him anyway so he doubted that the blind girl would call him out on it. The other girl, Hanari, had turned up as well and with a start Fuyuki recognised her as the brocon from the other day. With her little brother absent she appeared markedly less cheerful. Silence fell for a moment once everyone was seated, presumably as everyone took stock of one another. Half of the group were transfer students after all and none knew the others particularly well. Unsurprisingly it was Mizukimura who broke the spell with that sickeningly sweet voice... Fuyuki likened it to listening to honey dropping from a comb and not in a good way. 'Let's. I think it was page sixty-four? Something about...' He paused in his typing as he realised that he did not in fact have a clue what they were doing. Perhaps paying attention every so often would be worthwhile. 'Hanari-san? What was the assignment again..?' IF he had been assigned to any other group, he would have simply let them get on with it, adding little tidbits here and there. However these three were unknown factors; for all he knew they could be as useless at science as Fuyuki himself.

~Amity~

"I am Yamauchi, and you were asking for Masushita...so you must be Amity Cole."

"M-hm, that's me." Amity offered a hand to shake, but Yamauchi didn't seem to want to return the gesture. That was okay, too. Returning her hand to her side, Ami flipped her science book open, and began turning through it until she eventually landed on the page that was listed on today's assignment. Science class was far from her favorite, but everybody had to take it, so she at least knew she wasn't suffering alone. And at least she worked in a group today. With any luck, one of these two was really good at science and could compensate for how Ami wasn't so great at it. Yamauchi was showing the last group member - Masushita - what page to go to.

"Well, yes, that is what we're looking at today, Yamauchi. Gold friggin' star. It's quite literally listed on the printout which page it is."

"I know, right? Good thing it's there." With her lack of tone, there was no way to tell if Ami was being sarcastic or if Masushita's sarcasm had gone right over the puppet fanatic's head. In either event, she was ready to start working. Her pencil in her hand said that much.

---

~Fiona~

"As you all know this being your third and final year the Yamku most of our time will begin preparing for the Daigaku Nyūshi Sentā Shiken or National Center Test for University Admissions to determine your secondary education future here in Japan and abroad. But since we are still in the first week of classes, we are going to be starting off a bit slow. And to help refresh one another of each other's faces. We will do some group work today. I have put you all in pairs, as listed on the board and you will have to do textbook pages ...."

Because everybody loves math class, Fiona mentally scoffed. Still, not all classes could be good ones. The boring ones were just part of the deal, and Yamaku was more willing to work with Fiona and her missing arm than other high schools. And besides, even if she'd gone to another high school, she'd still have to take math classes anyway. In what way was coming here not the better option? As though it were the icing on the cake, it was way easier to meet interesting people here than it was anywhere else. Everyone here had some kind of problem, whether they were missing a sense or a limb, or had some other kind of problem. And it wasn't like there were that many bad people here either. Even the boy sitting across from her seemed a nice guy, even if he was talking quite a bit.

"A forward note before we get started, I'm sorry that you got paired with me and secondly if at anytime you need me to either shut up, stop rambling, pay attention, switch to English, you know the basics. I give you full permission to hit me, just not too hard you might break me. But beside that it would seem it was time for us to begin our wonderful journey that is the hell that is advance level calculus."

Then the teacher cleared his throat, leading to Ueda exclaiming that math is fun. That at least scored a small chuckle from Fiona, followed by a quick shaking of her head as though to get something out, and her attention snapping back to the work at hand. "It's fine," Fiona whispered. "As long as we get the work done, I can think of plenty of worse ways to do this than with a chatty partner."

"If you shoot me now, you will probably have enough time to get yourself too before the teacher has time to react.... I'm just stating the options here."

"What could I even shoot you with?" Fiona whispered back. "In any case, shooting you would leave me short a partner and I could get tried for killing a disabled student. A lifetime in prison isn't worth getting out of here to me."

The past week so far had been relatively normal. She had settled into school life rather well which was a surprise to herself. Even more of a surprise was that she had managed to avoid bumping into anything in several days. Today's class was doing a group activity, her partners would be Azusa-san and Hanari-san. Azusa-san she hadn't really well since she seemed content keeping to herself. Hanari-san always seemed cheerful so she knew that they would get along well. Each of them seemed nice enough to Kaori so she wasn't worried about that, she only hoped that they were better in science than she was since her understanding of science was lacking.

Seeing that Hanari-san had already started bringing his desk over to Azusa-san, Kaori followed suit. At first she tried to lift her desk slightly off the ground but she didn't trust that she could stay upright and the last thing she wanted was to break her 'no accidents' streak so she started to drag it across the floor instead. She brought her desk next to Azusa-san and Hanari-san's desks. She positioned herself next to Hanari-san who was slightly more familiar than the other. When she finally got her desk to sit right she looked up at them. "Hi... um... I have really good notes if you need it." She showed them her tablet with it's abundance of text files that held the notes from all the classes this week. On one side of the screen was a wall of text organized by date and subject. On the other side was a doodle of a chibi-style pig smacking a silly looking wolf with a newspaper and two more chibi-style pigs cheering on the first one.

Mariko turned her head towards Coral, with an expression on her face somewhere between confusion, and annoyance. She decided against saying anything, though. Even if the girl could react to a cutting remark, she probably wouldn't even bother. She remembered one incident last year, when she'd tapped on her shoulder to get her attention in a crowded hallway, and the girl had only reacted after she'd waved her hand in front of her face. Not that that was unusual behaviour in a high school, because there was always some clever dick who tapped on your opposite shoulder in order to make you spin around fruitlessly. That little incident had been their only real interaction last year, Mariko remembered.

"It'd be somewhat strange if the same book held different things for different people, wouldn't it?" She remarked. "It wouldn't be the same book, then. But can we please skip the inane banter and get on with chemistry? "