School was back in session. The usual cries of "It's been a while!" where exchanged. Takiyo simply made his way to his classroom and sat at his desk, only noticing afterwards that Yuko had already arrived. She gave him a wide grin, and then said, "Hello. It's been a while since is saw you here."

"Good morning." Takiyo said plainly, rummaging through his bag.

"Come on! It's the first day of school!" Yuko said, poking his shoulder.

Takiyo took out a new light novel and started reading.

"What??" Yuko looked disappointed. "Do you only read?"

"Silence, please." Takiyo said, not taking his eyes off his book.

"So cold..." Yuko sniffed, and turned back to face the front.

"Good morning!" Ren called out to Takiyo, entering the classroom. He was talking to his other friends, and had now come back to class. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Takiyo replied, lifting his eyes for a millisecond.

Yuko gasped. "He looked at you but not at me?"

"Yes, he called me 'Ren' too." Ren sniffed happily.

"When did that happen?" Takiyo asked.

"Fufu~" Ren laughed triumphantly. "You may forget, Takiyo-chan, but I'll remember for eternity."

Takiyo made a disgusted face. "Don't add '-chan' to the end."

"Oh~" Arisu popped in out of nowhere. "What, are you guys a couple of something?"

Takiyo twisted her ear. "Do not suggest such a thing."

"Okay, okay! I give!" Arisu yelled, and Takiyo let go. Arisu rubbed her ear and whined. "Takin likes to attack ears."

Saiki-sensei came into the classroom, and everyone got back to their seats.

"Welcome back, everyone!" She looked around as everyone called back to her. She pursed her lips then said, "Hmm...since it's the start of a new term, how about we change the seats around?"

The class gave mixed reactions.

"I don't care, we're doing it." Saiki-sensei said indifferently.

Yuko and Ren turned to Takiyo and put on sad faces.

"We'll be separated?" Yuko asked sadly.

"I'll miss you, Takiyo-chan." Ren sniffed.

"Bye," Takiyo said plainly, putting his things in his bag.

"So mean!!" they exclaimed.

"Whoever I'm next to, I'm gonna become good friends with them!" Yuko said determinedly.

"Good job!" Ren said, giving her the thumbs-up.

"I just don't wanna end up in the front." Takiyo said.

Twenty minutes later, everyone's seats were appointed. Takiyo was unhappy. His head was resting on his table. He was not only in the front, but also in the middle.

"This is the worst..." he groaned.

"Don't worry, Takin!" Arisu said, sitting on the seat to the left of him. "I'm here!"

Takiyo glanced at her, then turned back to his desk. "This is the worst..." he groaned.

"Hey!!"

Takiyo looked behind him, and sitting right behind Arisu was Michi. Ren somehow got the exact same spot he had before. How was that even possible?! Ren shrugged as Takiyo glared at him. He looked further, and noticed that Yuko was sitting in one of the boys' columns in the back row. His column.

(Note: In their classroom, the pattern goes as one boys column and then one girls column alternately.)

A boy came by and tapped her on the shoulder. He was of average height with a healthy build, and had ash blonde hair that fell over his right eye, and his eyes were hazel. Yuko looked up, and she looked petrified.

"Um, excuse me, but you're sitting in my seat." he said in a deadpan voice.

Yuko came to full realisation, then practically teleported to her seat, which was to the left of his.

"I am extremely sorry!" she told the boy. The boy shrugged, and sat on his seat. Yuko looked to her left, and she felt she was in immediate hell. Yoichi was on her left. She stared hard at her lap.

Takiyo couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Poor Yu-chan," Arisu said, looking back at her.

"Who's that guy?" Takiyo asked, pointing at the boy with the emo fringe.

Arisu gave him a disappointed look. "It's been a whole term, Takin."

Takiyo shrugged.

"That's Teruya Syo-kun," Arisu sighed. "I don't know much about him, because he hangs neither in my group nor in Rekkun's. But I'm unsure as to why Yu-chan is so afraid of him." She looked Takiyo up and down. "He reminds me of you, somehow." Then she brightened up. "Maybe that will mean that they will become friends! Bye-bye, Takin, you have been replaced."

"Stop running your mouth." Takiyo said in a bored voice. Yuko caught their eye and gave them a weak smile. Arisu gave her the thumbs-up, and Takiyo just looked right back.

When they turned back to the front, Yuko looked down and internally panicked. Why? Why am I here? These guys look like potential killers! Oh my god, Teruya-san is looking at me. Is he judging me? Give him a nice smile! Go on.

Yuko looked at him and gave him what she thought was a smile, but was actually far from it. Syo looked surprised, and slightly offended.

Nooooo! Damn you, Yuko! And Ishida-san is in the other side. He's glaring at me. I'm gonna dieeeeee!

***

It was lunch break, and Yuko pretty much ran to the front, where Takiyo and Arisu were sitting. Ren had come by too.

"Wow, Yuko. You look like you've just escaped the Grim Reaper." Ren said, looking her up and down.

Yuko collapsed on Arisu's chair. Arisu was sitting on her table.

"Because of I have!" Yuko told them.

"I understand Ishida-kun, but why Teruya-kun?" Arisu asked.

Yuko looked down at her trembling hands. "I...I think he hates me."

"What? Why would he?" Arisu asked.

"Because...I... knocked over his table in first term!" Yuko confessed.

(Note: Please refer to 'Unrequited Love Sucks' ;))

Takiyo, Ren and Arisu stared.

"...why would someone hate you for that?" Takiyo asked, opening his bento. "That's stupid."

"I don't know! But the way he looks at me..." Yuko shuddered.

"Anyway!" Ren said, moving the conversation away from seating arrangements.

"Muranaka, where's your bento?" Takiyo asked, as Yuko and Arisu opened theirs.

"Oh, one minute." Ren went back to his desk, rummaged through his bag, then came back with a distraught expression. "I forgot it." he confessed.

"Oh, poor Rekkun." Arisu said pitifully. "Don't worry, we'll share with you. Here, have a wiener."

"Thank you, Arisu." Ren said happily. Takiyo looked at his bento to see, what we had, and then gave Ren a look.

"What?" Ren asked, munching on the wiener.

"I have rice." Takiyo said, holding up his bento.

"Oh, thanks." Ren said, reaching over with his bare hand. Takiyo stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Takiyo asked.

"I'm taking some rice." Ren replied slowly.

"With your bare hands?" Takiyo asked skepticially, and Yuko seemed to figure out where he was going with this. Arisu watched, munching on her food.

Takiyo gave him his pair of chopsticks. "Go on." He held his bento out.

Ren looked at him disbelievingly. "No..."

"Yes..." Takiyo replied, and they could see the shadow of a smile on his face. "I need to see this for myself."

Ren tried to put on a dignified face, held the chopsticks, and proceeded to pick out some rice. He lifted it up, and the rice immediately came falling down.

Takiyo smiled a little, and he really felt like laughing. Ren ignored his belittling stare, and tried again, and again, and again. He could feel his reputation plummeting every time he tried. Yuko was trying not to laugh.

"Muranaka..." Takiyo said, and Ren glared at him. "Are you sure you're Japanese?"

"I am a pure Japanese!" Ren insisted. "I may have some Vietnamese ancestors, though..." he added as an afterthought.

He continued trying, determined to get in one bite. Arisu finally took pity on him.

"You're so silly." she commented, and reached over with her chopsticks, picked up a chunk of rice, and shoved it into his mouth. "There. Done."

Takiyo and Yuko stared at the two of them.

"What?" Arisu asked.

"Indirect kiss..." Takiyo muttered.

Ren and Arisu processed what he said, and blush spread across their faces. Yuko burst out laughing.

"YOU IMMATURE A**HOLES!!"

Takiyo was somewhat smiling, and Yuko was laughing really hard.

"Jeez..." she laughed, looking at her friends' red faces. "You got them good, Takiyo-kun."

Yuko threw her head back, and bumped into someone, and then there was a clatter.

Yuko seized laughing, and the four of them looked at who Yuko had bumped into. Yuko looked like she saw a ghost. It was Syo, and he was staring at the floor. Yuko had knocked his open bento out of his hands. All of them looked down at the mess on the floor.

"I...I...I'M SO SORRY!!" Yuko yelled, crouching down and cleaning up the mess.

"It's okay..." Syo mumbled, but the way he was staring at his lunch made it seem as though his dog had died.

"I'M REALLY, REALLY SORRY!" Yuko said with a terrified tone.

"It's okay, I can buy some lunch."

"Please!" Yuko reached into her pocket and pulled out 400 yen. "You can take this money!"

"I don't need it..." Syo was saying, but Yuko shoved it into his hands, along with his cleaned up bento. She bowed and repeated, "I'm extremely sorry!"

"Um, okay." Syo stepped around her and left the classroom, flanked by a couple of his friends. They asked him something, and he replied, "Nothing. It's just...I had my favourite lunch today..." They left the classroom.

Takiyo, Ren and Arisu looked at Yuko with gritted teeth. Yuko had an extremely guilty look on her face. She slammed her head on the table.

"WHYYYYY?!!"

"C-calm down, Yuko." Ren said carefully, patting her shoulder.

Yuko looked up at them with bulging eyes. "Did you see how he looked at me? I destroyed his favourite lunch! If he didn't hate me before, he does now!"

"It's okay, Yuko." Ren said solemnly.

"But seriously, that look though..." Arisu said, scratching her chin. "It's so hard to read."

If Arisu couldn't understand him, nobody could. Yuko lost hope.

"I-it's okay, Yu-chan!" Arisu said quickly. "First you should ascertain whether he does for sure hate you or not. I'm pretty sure Teruya-kun wouldn't hate you so simply."

Yuko didn't react.

"Yuko!" Ren shook her shoulder. Yuko looked at him with soulless eyes. "By the way, you had 400 yen, yet you couldn't give that to me so I could buy some lunch?"

Yuko thought for a bit. "Oh yeah," she mused. "I had 400 yen."

"YOU–"

***

Saiki-sensei passed some worksheets out to everyone. "You'll be doing this in pairs; that is, with the person next to you."

Yuko froze. She wasn't comfortable with being paired with either of the people sitting beside her. Saiki-sensei started directing them to join tables.

"Those is Hamasaki-kun and Kaneshiro-san's columns, join tables." Saiki-sensei instructed.

She was in Arisu's column. Takiyo's column was to her right. Therefore, her pair was Syo. Yuko gave him a tight smile, and he wordlessly joined their tables and sat back down, staring straight ahead. Yuko shivered.

"Okay, you can start now. Get to work!" Saiki-sensei called.

Yuko stared with extreme intensity at her worksheet, as if hoping it would do itself. Everybody else had brought their heads together and were working. Suddenly, Syo grabbed the worksheet and slammed one of the papers down on her desk.

"You do this one, and I'll do this one." Syo said plainly. Then he set to work on his half of the sheet.

Yuko stared at the paper, then at Syo, who wasn't even looking at her. He was trying to minimise their contact as much as possible. Did he really hate her? Why?