"Okay, get outta my class unless ya got a reason to stay! Tryna blow shit up doesn't count," Mr. Wells glared at the boy in question he was directing the comment to, which was surprisingly not Charles or Henry. The boy, wearing a very obnoxious outfit striped purple and orange, huffed childishly but didn't say anything. You giggled a little and grabbed your bag, standing up to leave the class. You suddenly felt an arm gently wrap around your waist as you were standing up, helping you complete the simple task.

You were about to swat away the unknown helper when you heard a chuckle you'd familiarized yourself with during the class, "Want me to walk you to your next class, cutie~?

"Charles! Get your hands off of me!" You hissed, struggling around until you broke free from his grip just a couple seconds later. He simply giggled, and when you turned around he winked at you, "Learn how to keep your hands to yourself, you weirdo. I ain't into you."

"Leave her alone," Henry sighed as he walked by, though he made no move to stop Charles nor did he stop walking to see how things would play out. Even Henry left you to suffer!

"Aw... but you're so cute~" Charles chuckled, pretty much ignoring Henry's command. He brushed some hair that was in your face behind your ear, but you quickly swatted him away again with a huff as you started to leave the classroom, Charles following close behind.

"Don't touch me unless you ask first. Y'know, there's this thing called consent?" You gave Charles a deadpan glare, your voice deathly serious. You didn't want to have to seem rude, but personal space was personal space. If he couldn't respect your boundaries, there was going to be a problem.

"Hmm... okay then, can I touch you now?" Charles grinned. If you didn't know better, you'd have called him an innocent angel with that smile but you knew he was far from innocent or an angel.

"No," You grumbled a little, taking out your phone so you could check what class you had next. You didn't have another class until 11:30, nice! You smiled to yourself as you got into the lobby of the science department, happy to know that you would get a bit of a break.

"How about now?" Charles giggled, choosing a childish tactic to try getting what he wanted. You let out a loud groan.

"No," You let out another grumble, realizing that he was probably going to ask again and again. It was gonna turn into a matter of who would give up first.

"Now?"

"No."

"What about now?"

"No."

"Well, what about now?"

"No."

"...Now?"

"No."

"How a-"

"I said no."

"But what abou-"

"Ugh, fine!! But if you do anything weird I'm blowing the rape whistle."

Charles just laughed, and you felt one of his hands wrap around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him, "Aww, come on cutie. Aren't I a tasty treat~? Well... I know you are~"

"Ew! Hell no," You cringed, lightly shoving Charles to the side as a warning. Unfortunately, since his arm was around your shoulders, it dragged you along with him. You were sure there wasn't enough force to fall to the ground, but as your bad luck would have it, the two of you ended up tumbling to the ground. Charles was pinned under the weight of your body as well as your backpack, which you were awkwardly tangled up in his limbs as well as his stupid lab coat. A single pair of handcuffs had fallen out of his pocket, which he quickly grabbed and tried to put on your wrist. Before he could cuff you, you quickly moved your arm away and struggled around before managing to stand up. You made sure to get a good distance away so he couldn't grab your ankle or anything like that.

"Charles, what the hell?!" You hissed, still taking steps back. Charles sat up and put the handcuffs back in his pocket, smiling.

"Don't you wanna have some fun, cutie~?" Charles winked at you, and you couldn't believe the audacity of this man!! In the middle of a public place he was seriously trying to make a sexual advance on you?!

"Hell to the power of no!" You saw that Charles was standing up, and you took the opportunity to bolt out the door, hoping the perverted male wouldn't follow you. At first his act was at least contained, but that was just creepy and seriously messed up! You ran outside and to somewhere random on the campus, you didn't care as long as it was far away and hidden. Your goal was to avoid Charles as much as possible after that extremely questionable event. Panting from running, you took a seat at a concrete picnic table surrounded by some trees. It was secluded enough to be hidden, but public enough that if anything happened there should be someone nearby to help you.

You sat there for a few minutes to catch your breath before checking the time on your phone. It was only 10:18. Seriously? Whatever, what mattered was that you were far from that pervert. Finally allowing yourself to sigh in relief, you remembered that you'd been assigned some homework and decided it wouldn't hurt to at least get started on it. Grabbing your bag, you opened it and took out everything you needed to get started on your homework. After just a few minutes you felt like somebody was watching you, so you looked around and saw that Henry had approached the table but was getting ready to leave. His forever blank expression made it impossible to know what he was thinking or feeling.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" You asked, genuinely curious. What could the chemist possibly want by being here? Was he trying to find you? Was he just trying to find a hideout?

"Ignore my temporary presence," Henry slightly mumbled, not even pausing his footsteps. Did he just have a habit of talking while he was leaving?

"Wait! Hold on, why are you here?" You asked again, hoping for a response. Henry's footsteps slowed for a couple more paces before he finally decided to stop, turning around with so little character that it was character itself... if that made sense.

"I was looking for a place to read. But you've occupied this space, so I will find another," Henry answered. You thought you could see something resembling emotion in his eyes for a second, but it was gone before you could read it. What did he feel just now? Why did he always hide his emotions?

"Eh? You can sit here too, I don't care," You offered, gesturing to the bench-like seat across from you. In theory, probably around four people could sit at the small table. Henry briefly looked at you, taking an extra second before deciding to sit down across from you at the table. Was that his version of hesitation?

You watched as Henry took out a chemistry textbook from his backpack, opening to the page it was bookmarked on and reading it like a chapter book. Considering the way he'd been attentively taking notes during class, you weren't surprised by him reading a textbook like it was a chapter book. But... how was he already almost done with it?

"U-uh... why are you reading a textbook like a chapter book? And how the hell are you already almost done reading it on the first day of school?" You questioned with genuine concern and confusion. Was he one of those people that freaked out from a single A- in their grades?

Henry blinked... or did he flinch? Either way, you'd managed to elicit some kind of response from him, even if it wasn't verbal. His eyes continued to scan the page as if nothing had happened, his gaze turning from temporarily clouded to cold and calculated. It was a little unsettling to see the change happen so rapidly in him. As soon as you thought he'd show emotion like a normal human being he'd hide it right away before you could even identify what you saw. Sighing, you figured you'd have to ask again but a little differently.

"Henry... how long have you been reading that textbook?" You attempted to sound as innocent as possible, though you figured it probably didn't matter how innocent you sounded. Henry was definitely not stupid or gullible and he wasn't going to fall for your little act of innocence. You were partially just curious, but you were also genuinely concerned for him. Maybe it was a bit of an overreaction, but you couldn't help it.

"About an accumulative hour. About five hours including time I haven't been reading," Henry reported like a robot, not even checking the time to confirm what he'd said. You looked at your phone to see that it was now around 10:30.

"Wait... you've been up since 5 this morning?!" You gasped. This guy was not normal if he was voluntarily waking up at 5 AM! If he had an early class it was less weird, though.

"No. I said I've had this book for about five hours. I never went to sleep," Henry explained blandly. His eyes that were scanning the words on the page suddenly stopped, and he slowly peeled his attention away from his textbook, "This information has no benefit to you. Why do you want it."

"Because I'm curious. Y'know, like a normal human being...?" You trailed off once you realized that actually could've insulted Henry since he didn't seem to have any interest in other people. Did that offend him? Well, he didn't show any expression so you couldn't tell.

"There is nothing unique about me that should make you curious. I have a personality. I have a past. I'm in the present. I will have a future, whether it lasts just a few more seconds or several more years," Henry spoke in an almost negative way about himself, his focus returning to his textbook. Was he just trying to be factual? Was he talking down on himself? There were so many questions about him...

"...make sure it happens, so have a good day, Shuichi," John's distant voice growing louder interrupted your thoughts, and you looked in the direction of his voice to see him walking with Shuichi.

"Thank you, John," Shuichi gave John a small smile before suddenly spotting you, a look of surprise on his face that quickly turned into a smile, "(Y/N)? Hey."

"Oh, hey Shuichi! How the hell'd you find me here?" You laughed a bit, scooting over to give him room as he chose to sit down next to you. You were a little suspicious of the conversation he'd been having with John, but that was just because John was a little shady. Shuichi was probably talking about something totally innocent, right? John and Shuichi had no connection, after all.

"I was just walking and talking with John... heh, I didn't expect to bump into you. How are your classes so far?" Shuichi chuckled very slightly. He briefly looked at Henry, but didn't comment on the chemist's presence.

"I've only been in one so far, which was AP Chem. That's actually where I met Henry, but he's pretty much a robot," You lazily pointed your thumb in the direction of the boy in question. He'd clearly heard what you said but didn't care, instead choosing to keep reading his textbook. He calmly flipped a page as Shuichi took another look at him, but this time for longer.

"Should you really talk about him like that when he can hear you...?" Shuichi sheepishly asked, clearly not liking the idea of partially talking shit about someone- especially not when they were right there. You only shrugged.

"If he's bothered by it he should speak up," You looked directly over to Henry, "Hey! Henry! Are you bothered by me calling you a total robot?"

"Whatever you call me has only superficial impact on me," Henry blandly stated, his voice somehow managing to sound more devoid of emotion than his normal voice. It was so hollow and empty that it was actually kind of scary. Not even a robot could sound that emotionless- it was so emotionless only a human could've spoken like that.

"Woah- uhh... well, you just sounded dead inside," You awkwardly laughed a little, unsure of how else to respond, "Well... you always sound dead inside but you just sounded like... extra dead."

"It might've bothered him, then..." Shuichi pointed out, his expression dull. You felt guilt immediately take a stab at you at the thought of you calling Henry a robot actually hurting his feelings. For some reason, the idea of it hurting his feelings and him not saying anything about it hurt more than him outright saying that being called names hurt his feelings. Well... even if it did hurt his feelings, wasn't it kind of stupid not to call him names? It wasn't like you were in preschool and being called a poopy head was the worst insult you could ever be given. Still, you felt like you should at least be nice to Henry.

"Henry, if you don't want me to call you names you just have to say it," You prompted, but he didn't respond. You sighed, figuring that getting him to respond again was probably pointless. You let an awkward silence fester for a few seconds before finally turning back to Shuichi with a completely random question, "Uhh... hey, what class do you have next?"

Shuichi immediately seemed to understand your social cue to not let an awkward silence build up, and he took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket to check his schedule, "I have a class called 'law study' next."
You took out your phone and checked your schedule, "Wait, me too! Is yours at 11:30 too?"

"Yeah... in room 4404," Shuichi could've been reading right off of your schedule. You didn't have to read the room number for him to realize that the two of you had the same class together.

"That's so weird... But I get the feeling I'm not gonna do well in that class," You cringed a little, making Shuichi let out a slight chuckle.

"Don't say that, (Y/N). At least give the class one day before deciding if it's gonna be difficult or not," Shuichi softly commanded. His entire demeanor softened up the very second you suggested the class might be difficult for you, which was a little strange but you ignored it.

"Hmph... fine. Wait... what if the teacher was Judge Judy-" You started laughing at your own idea of Judge Judy being a teacher for one of your classes. It would be comical at first, but in the end it would actually probably be scary. Judge Judy was scary just on TV sometimes- you didn't wanna know how scary she'd be in person.

"Hehe... I doubt it," Shuichi joined in your laughter with a few small giggles of his own. They honestly sounded pleasant to your ears, and you felt yourself wanting to make him laugh again partially because you wanted him to be happy and partially just to hear him laugh again. How strange that you wanted something so random...

"Yeah, but it would be funny... and scary," Your laughter died down into a mostly faked nervous state, causing Shuichi to let out a couple more giggles. You quickly joined him in laughter, glad that you were able to make him laugh at least a little more.

"Oh... it starts in half an hour," Shuichi showed you his wristwatch that read 11:01 AM. Looked like the two of you should start heading to the criminal justice department... wherever that was. You'd have to look up the directions in your phone.

"We should probably start heading there just in case it'll take a while. I have no idea how close we are to the criminal justice department," You admitted as you took out your phone to find the directions you'd written in it. Scrolling through a few random notes, you eventually found it. You read the first piece that contained the directions to the criminal justice department, "Oh... we're actually kinda far."

"Well... we might as well start walking now," Shuichi suggested a little awkwardly, and you nodded in agreement.

"Bye Henry, we're going to our next class now," You gave a polite smile at Henry and waved goodbye to him as you and Shuichi left. You could see his lips move to utter the word 'bye' but you couldn't actually hear him say it. Well, that didn't matter. Looking at the directions on your phone again, you started to guide Shuichi to the criminal justice department.

It was a relatively long walk, and by the time the two of you had finally found the building there were only seven minutes left until class started! Sighing, you tried to ignore the anxiety forming at the idea of being late and instead focused on getting to your class in time.

The lobby area of the criminal justice department was much like the science department except it was much more elaborately decorated and had a lot more activity. It didn't surprise you since criminal justice was a very popular major, so why not in Hope's Peak too? Chuckling a bit, you looked around. The general setup of the lobby with having an office to the side, a study area, and a hallway at the end of the lobby was very similar to the science department. However, this time the decorations on the walls were focused on things such as court and jail. It felt a little intimidating for some reason.

"Geez... I feel like the Toontown Lawbot HQ music should start playing..." You mumbled to yourself.

"Is that from a video game...?" Shuichi asked, making you laugh a little.

"Yeah, sorry. Anyways, it's room 4404, so that means it's on the fourth floor, right?" You looked over to Shuichi who confirmed your assumption. The two of you found the elevator just inside the hallway, and you both got inside. Shuichi pressed the button to the fourth floor and the two of you watched the doors close. The elevator than began to move up at a steady pace, and although it felt like forever it was really maybe 30 seconds until the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. You were now on the fourth floor.

"Okay... let's look for our class now," Shuichi commanded lightly, stepping out of the elevator with you following. You took peeks at some of the classrooms with the doors still open and the sight made you extremely uncomfortable. The classrooms were themed as courtrooms, jails, police departments... the list went on. The entire atmosphere of this floor was really scary.

"I... hope those jail cells in those classrooms don't lock," You cringed at the thought, pointing to an open classroom displaying a jail theme. Shuichi followed your gaze, cringing as well.

"Yeah... I feel like someone could misuse that," Shuichi agreed, and the conversation died there as the two of you focused more on finding your class.

"Ah- there!! Hurry, class starts in literally one minute!" You gasped, speed walking into the classroom with Shuichi following. You opened the door to be greeted with a classroom themed as a courtroom. The two of you had entered in the back area where people would watch the trials take place, but instead of normal seats it had been replaced with chairs and desks. Well, guess it couldn't be completely authentic. The class wasn't too loud, but people were freely talking amongst themselves. Most of the seats had already been filled, but there were still plenty left to go.

"Um... do you wanna sit together?" You asked in a slight whisper, not wanting your voice to accidentally carry. You wondered if people had heard your shouting in the hallways and you felt embarrassment flood your emotions for a second.

"I don't have anywhere else to sit..." Shuichi nervously laughed in response, causing you to let out an awkward chuckle. You scanned the available chairs before pointing to two near the back.

"How about over there?"

"Okay."

You and Shuichi sat down in your chosen seats, waiting for class to begin. The teacher wasn't dressed as a typical judge but was seated in the judge's chair. To also ruin the authenticity, the teacher had turned that place into their personal desk, with their computer and other papers on top of it. Well, it was a classroom, not a real courtroom. The differences helped remind you of that and made you feel a little less intimidated by the otherwise mostly realistic courtroom.

"Order in the court!!" the teacher shouted, quickly silencing the class, "As you can tell, this class is based on the courtroom. Just to let you know now, your final will be playing out a court case with a judge, jury, lawyers, defendant, all that stuff. I'll go into more details at the end of the quarter when it's actually relevant to you procrastinating teenagers! Now, I'm Mr. Brown and welcome to law study."

~~~
Word count: 3557