(7 Hours Before The Fall)

"Hey come on kid, we know you got some money on you"

The student had a distressed look on his face as the three "thug" students continued to crowd up closer to him, he could tell that they were all at least a year older than him, although they had the same high-school uniform on as him, the younger student managed to eventually come up with the courage to answer them.

"I don't have any money on me I promise"

The three students looked at each other with a confused look and then stared down at him with an annoyed expression, the tallest among them stepped forward and grabbed the younger student by the shoulder.

"Look kid, i'm gonna give you till the count of three to give us your money, else it ain't gonna end well for you."

The other two students looked at each other and grinned, the younger student how ever had a look of fear on his face, he slowly tried to step back from the them. The tallest student started counting.

"One....two...."

A loud sound of a rumble surrounded the area in which the young student was currently being mugged. The students all looked to their left and saw a figure running towards the same direction they were all standing at, it seemed to be getting closer by the second.

"What the hell is that !?"

The figure running towards them was eventually revealed to be another student in uniform with brown hair and eyes, around the same age as the three "thug" students. The student running had a desperate look on his face as he started approaching them and then began waving his arms around in the air as if he was signalling something to them.

"OUTTA' MY WAY I'M GONNA BE LATE"

The tallest among the two smiled after hearing that and then angled him self facing the student who was running towards him and put his hand forward as if he was telling him to stop.

"Woah there buddy, you gotta pay up is well, heh..."

The student ignored him and continued to run towards him, the tallest student then became infuriated and put both his hands out and slightly squatted as if he was getting ready to forcefully block the student from going passed him like a wall. The student running towards him saw this and became annoyed.

"I SAID GET THE HELL OUTTA' MY WAY!!!"

He ran up to to him and just before the student could reach him he took off his bag and slammed it across his face landing a critical blow to the nose. The taller student fell face flat on the ground with widened eyes and a shocked look on his face. He then stepped over him and continued to run, the two other students became even more frightened than the young student they were mugging and simply took a couple of steps back to make way for the boy who had just taken down the person who was clearly the strongest between them two. As he ran past the two students he put his hand up and waved it around as if he was telling someone to follow him.

"HURRY UP TAKIMI!"

In front of the taller student, who was currently on his knees trying to process what just happened was a mildly-short girl around one year younger than him with light brown long hair and eyes running after the the boy.

"WAIT UP SORO, JEEZ!"

The taller student finally eventually came to his senses and spotted the girl who was just about to run passed him, he reached and grabbed her by the ankle.

"Hehe, where do you think your going ?"

"GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU WEIRDO!!!"

She was already angry before, but he had just added more fuel to the fire, she forcefully pulled the ankle that had been grabbed by the student towards her making his upper body lean forward as he was still on the ground and then kneed him in the nose with all her strength, blood burst out of his nose as his face hit the ground once again. The poor student cried in pain as he rolled around to have the back of his head on the ground rather than his face.

"AUGHHH!!!"

"Hmph! Serves you right!"

The girl then stepped over him and ran passed the other two students, they did not even budge a bit, they had their eyes clearly fixated on the student currently on the ground as they had realized what that young girl clearly had not realized while she was stepping over him. Their faces where in complete shock and fear after what they had just seen.

"Sh-she...stepped over his crotch and didn't even realize it....."

The student on the ground felt so much pain that he had not even reacted when his crotch was stepped on, he simply passed out on the spot. The younger student who was being mugged took this opportunity and ran off.

The boy from earlier, Soro, and the girl, Takimi, made it to the entrance of a school gate while both heavily breathing and were stopped right after opening it by a muscular man guarding the school gate.

"Hmm..? Soro and Takimi ? You two are late again ? it's the second time this week!"

Both Soro and Takimi both nervously laughed and scratched the back of their heads.

"Ha-ha...."

The man sighed.

"Come on in then."

They both ran passed the gate and went inside the school and started going separate directions towards their classes. Takimi raised her hand and waved at Soro who was behind her.

"See ya' at home big brother"

Soro also raised his hand and waved back at her.

"See ya' sis"

Soro then turned to his right and opened the door to his classroom. An attractive looking female teacher with blonde hair glared at him.

"You're late Soro, again..."

"Hah...well you see...."

She glared at him even harder than before.

"Just sit down!"

Soro walked over to his seat around the back of the room and sat down. Two students, a male and a female, sitting beside him leaned over to both sides of his ear and whispered.

"What's up Soro ? Did you get stuck trying to help a turtle cross the road this time ?"

Soro looked over to the male on his right.

"Jeez just shut up Yugo"

The female on his left sighed.

"You do remember our class trip to the Kyanpu forest is today right Soro ?"

Soro looked over to his left.

"Obviously, what makes you think I forgot ?"

"Uhh, I don't know maybe the fact that you were late and we're almost about to head out now"

"Pshhh! whatever, it's not like you always remember things yourself Akame"

She simply looked away as she knew he had a point.

Soro faced forwards to listen to what the teacher was saying.

"Alright, so now that all the instructions are out of the way can everyone gather up by the door and make a single file line please."

All the students got up and formed a line by the door including Soro. He was confused since he didn't actually hear any instructions due to the fact that he was late, and both his friends distracted him as soon as he sat down.

The teacher opened the door and stood beside it as students started rushing passed from the excitement of going on a school trip.

"Take it easy and don't run in the corridors!"

The students and teacher eventually made their way out of the school gates and onto the school bus which was parked outside, they all sat down and tucked their seat belts. The bus had 3 seats in every column, both on the right and left side. Soro was sat by the window and next to him was Akame and Yugo.

Once everyone had sat down the bus finally started to move, Soro looked out the window as he was feeling bored and noticed a cloud in the sky that had started to disappear very rapidly, he could tell something was off but didn't bother to say anything, instead he just watched as it faded away within seconds.