Yinuo walked to her school with her friends not wanting to be 'embarrassed' by her brothers. Shikco walked Sousan to his elementary school and dropped him off at the front door since his mom and dad were already at work and he didn't have his license to drive yet. As he walked to school after dropping Sousan off, he noticed a new cat waiting for school to start in the hallway. He wanted to say hi but didn't want to sound creepy either. So he just walked past until he heard the cat say "hey, where can someone like me get directions around here?" Shikco stopped, and replied with "oh...what class are you looking for...?" As he didn't make eye contact. "Miss Perkins class. You know, the chemistry one? I forgot where it was." The cat said. "I'm going there too...uhm, i-it's over here." Shicko said, walking to the class with the stranger. As they walked Shicko noticed how much taller and more mature he looked than him. They eventually got to the classes door. "Okay. The bell should be ringing any minute now. And then we can go inside." He said, still trying not to make eye contact with the cat. "Thanks. What's your name?" The cat said. Shikcos tail bristled, not prepared for that answer. He had no idea what to say. It was as if he forgot his own name! He just stood there and stuttered softly, trying to piece together his own name. "Uhhhh want me to go first? Heh." The cat chuckled. Shicko nodded slowly. "Lixian." The cat said. "That's a cool name." Shicko said, smiling a bit. "Thank you. People always say my name is different than everyone else's so that actually means a lot." Lixian said. "Your welcome." Said Shicko. "Every student and staff member report to the gym for a big announcement from the principal." The person on the mic said. "And staff members? That's...weird..." Lixian said, hesitating. They both walked to the gym, seeing many other cats and staff members going as well. As everyone sat on the bleachers, the principal and the vice principal finished pushing at least 90 large boxes onto the stage. "Okay everyone. I know this is going to be difficult for all of you but we must wear these happy masks. It's for you and everyone else's own safety." Shicko started breathing very heavily again. He didn't want to wear a mask. Why did he have to? He felt like the masks were bad and he was going to somehow die in one. "Hey..." Lixian whispered to him. Shicko looked at him. "Whats going on? I just moved here from many countries away." He said, puzzled. "Our leader, Shiroto Xander. He made us these happy masks so that we wouldn't go crazy out of the blue." Shicko said. "I guess this is what my mom meant by 'this school will be a change'" Lixian said. "I will start passing out the happy masks now. Since you will probably get one from Shiroto in the mail, this mask will be a backup or just for school." The principal said, passing out the masks. As the principal placed a mask into Shikcos paws he felt a chill run down his spine. His fur stood up as he gazed at the bright yellow mask. He carefully put the mask on and as he did he thought he heard faint screaming around him. Lixian put his mask on. "How do I look?" He asked Shicko, posing like he was getting his photo taken. Shicko laughed, silencing the faint screams he once heard. Eventually, everyone got their masks on. "To activate it, their should be a switch below the smile." The vice principal said. Everyone found the switch and activated the mask. "Wow. I feel amazing. How did it do that?" Lixian said. Shicko got a text from his Girlfriend. "where are you? Everyone's saying they feel amazing with the activated mask, I feel sick, my head hurts and I feel like I'm gonna hurl." She texted "Maybe you should go home Xiao. Since now they probably won't let you take off the mask here." Shicko texted back "yeah, I was thinking that too. Okay, I'll tell you when I feel better." Xiao texted. Lixian looked at his phone. "Who's that?" He asked "my girlfriend." Shicko replied. "Ooh~~" Lixian teased him. Shicko chuckled. "Now that you all have your masks, you may continue your day." The principal said as the bell rang. Everyone got up and went to their classes. As Shicko went to each of his classes he got more and more worried. When it was time to go home, he said goodbye to Lixian, walked to Sousan's school and picked him up, then walked home with Sousan and when he got there, Mother was waiting for them at the table. Yinuo was already home, watching the television. Mother knew Shicko was getting his happy mask today and asked "how was school? Was your mask put on right?" "Yeah. My girlfriend said she felt nauseous when she was wearing hers though." Shicko said, putting his backpack by the door. "Well hopefully she feels better tomorrow. Your father should be here soon. Yinuo and Sousans schools didn't provide masks and either did our works so we will have to wait for them to arrive at our door." Mother said. A few minutes had passed and Father opened the door, holding 5 boxes with happy masks in them. "I found these outside. They must've just been dropped off." He said, coming inside and placing the boxes on the table. "How did Shiroto know there were five of us?" Shicko said. Everyone but Sousan looked at him for a second with a blank expression. "Yinuo, you should go to the mall with your brother while me and your father help Sousan with his homework." Mother said. "Why though?" Yinuo said with a less annoyed tone that she usually had. "Go please. I want Shicko to learn how to drive." Mother said. Shicko was confused. Every time Yinuo would say "why?" Or "I don't want to" Mother would reply with "don't argue with me". And every time anyone brought up Shiroto father would usually follow up with a cruse word or a insult to him. Father hates Shiroto. Yinuo sounded 'nicer' as well. As Father and Mother leafed through the pages in the instructions Yinuo looked for Mother's car keys. "Yinuo, come here." Mother said as Father activated one of the masks. Yinuo walked over to the table. Mother put one of the masks over her face, tightening the strap on the back of the mask so it would fit her better. "Make sure you guys keep them on." She said. Shicko was getting tired of waiting and found the car keys. Yinuo snatched the keys out of his paw and opened the door, walking out of it and into the car. Shicko followed, annoyed. Yinuo started to drive to the mall when Shicko got into the car. He was surprised to not hear Yinuo say "don't embarrass me, brat." Or something she usually said when she took him to a place in the car. When they got there, he realized everyone was wearing the happy mask. He was just minding his business when he heard someone say "BOO!" Behind him. He quickly turned around to see Lixian behind him. "What are you doing here?" He said "uhm, just here with my sister. Don't say to much to her, she's been acting pretty weird." Said Shicko. Yinuo didn't even react to his comment about her. She just went over to a nearby store and looked around while he talked to Lixian. "Yeah, my mom and dad have been less strict and more...robot like." Lixian said. "Yours too? I asked how did Shiroto know that there was 5 people in my family and my mom, dad, and sister just stared at me and changed the subject!" Shicko exclaimed. "Weirdos~. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. I gotta get home." Said Lixian. As they both waved bye to each other Yinuo walked up beside Shikco and said "let's move along." They way she looked down at him. With a blank expression that she never did. Her voice was a little monotone too. After a awkward half and hour of looking around in stores, they went back home. When they got home, Mother, Father and Sousan were wearing their masks. Sousan looked at Shicko "let's go play that game you have upstairs Shicko." He said. Shicko agreed. As they walked up the stairs Sousan gave Shicko a worried, terrified stare. When they went into Shickos room, Sousan very carefully closed the door so Mother wouldn't hear. "Sousan, what are you-" Shicko started to say but Sousan covered his mouth and grabbed and pen and paper. He wrote "she will hear you" on the paper. "whats going on?" Shicko whispered. "Mama seems less nicer than usual. When I got an answer wrong she looked at me with a scary smile until I got it right. It's scaring me." Sousan whispered. "Yinuo's been acting strange as well." Shicko said softly. "I don't want to be alone. I don't feel safe." Sousan whispered. "I'll let you sleep in my room for the night. Hopefully they'll go back to normal when we-" Mother interrupted them by opening the door and saying "dinners ready." With a forceful sweet voice and wicked smile. "O-okay...be down in a second..." Shicko said. Mother slowly closed the door. As they heard her footsteps fade away Shicko said "okay, act natural." Sousan nodded. They both walked down the stairs, scared and worried. They sat at the table where everyone else was waiting with their forced smiles. Shicko looked at Sousan and with a gulp took a bite of his food, trying not to look at anyone else. He could feel Mother, Father, and Yinuo starring at him. The more Shicko ate his food he tasted a irony, raw taste. He was afraid to ask but said "Uhm...mom...?" "Yes Shicko?" Mother said. "Did you...find another recipe...?" Shicko asked, scared. "I did Shicko...I found it on the tv. It suggested I added a certain ingredient to the dish." Said Mother. "It's...good..." Shicko said, trying to not hurl from the raw taste in the food. "But I think it's a bit cold maybe...can I warm it up...?" He asked "of corse you can." Mother said. Shicko grabbed the plate of food and put it in the microwave for a minute. As the timer counted down he could hear Sousan forcefully gulping behind him. He looked over his shoulder at Sousan. "Are you okay Sousan?" Shicko asked, worried. Sousan pulled a bone out of the food in his mouth. A very small bone, but way to thick to be chicken bone. "Did you buy this dad...?" Sousan asked "yes. How unprofessional of them to feed my child a chicken bone. Just place it on the table." Father said. Shickos food was finally done. He took it out of the microwave. And started eating his food. With each bite he took of the food the more disgusting it got. "O-okay, done. Should I just leave it here?" Asked Shicko. "Yes. Just leave it there. You two boys go have fun now." Mother said. And with that, Shicko and Sousan walked back up the stairs, just as worried as last time.