The school day had progressed fairly smoothly, with a few bumps for Tsukino Scott.

The lesson after mathematics had been a lot bumpier for Kaharu Kahari, as he was delved deeper into a foreign world.

He was embarking on a journey with a ship to a completely new world, a journey filled with exploration and adventure.

But the ship was in reality controlled by pirates, and Kaharu was a prisoner forced to tag along the journey. He, with boredom, sat at his desk during the lessons.

He was barely listening to the lessons, although it would've been beneficial for him to do so. During the English lesson, he encountered a slight problem.

As Tsukino wrapped up speaking without a single flaw, the teacher pointed at the blackboard as he constructed a question.

Already there was Kaharu feeling an uneasy feeling, drawing his attention to the blackboard for the first time that lesson.

Although he made a mistake only people who never attended class made, he for a brief moment made eye contact with the teacher. A brief moment of shock expelled from Kaharu as he suddenly realized his mistake, with an image of a bolt of thunder landing outside the school drawing dramatic shadows to his facial features appearing in his head.

The teacher lit up as he thought that the delinquent Kaharu Kahari finally wanted to contribute something to the classroom, which was far from the truth. He pointed his white crayon at Kaharu, and said

"Kaharu! Could you answer the question I've written here?"

Having no clue what to say, Kaharu stared at the question for a couple of seconds, trying to piece together an answer.

But the new world he'd entered was frightening, as he looked down at his notebook. It was an old habit, but the completely empty notebook didn't help him.

He heard a faint "Psst" as he looked to his left, where Naomi had written down something in her notebook.

The answer was there! Plus a cocky smile beside it, staring at him with a belittling pair of eyes. The revenge Naomi had wanted came, she thought

-Don't take it personally, Kaharu. This is just payback for what you did during the math class. -

Kaharu looked at the answer with a clueless face, he hadn't realized what the answer truly was.

A completely wrong answer, that was meant to shame him in front of the class. But even though Kaharu didn't understand the writing or what it meant in her notebook, he was pretty good at understanding facial expressions.

He instantly got annoyed as he thought about relying on someone to get the answer, basically submitting himself to them. He turned to the teacher again as he prepared to speak.

Naomi smiled as she anticipated the next segmented.

Tsukino did so as well, although she wasn't displaying a smile on her face. She had missed her chance to show the answer to Kaharu, as she covered up the spot she'd written in her own notebook.

Kaharu said

"I don't know."

With that answer, the teacher just sighed with disappointment as he carried on the lesson, eventually giving the question to Kaori, who had use of the note Tsukino wrote down.

Naomi was left with a shock though as she stared blankly at Kaharu, which he found distracting. Her plan of revenge had failed as Kaharu threw himself in front of a gun as a sacrifice for himself.

- Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat…?

Did he see through me, or he is just an idiot with too much pride? -

Like a sun shining in the back of the classroom, Kaharu was satisfied with his input during the lesson. And so, the lesson was to continue.

…

"Hurry up and buy me my lunch so that I can go up to the roof in time."

The line left me as our last lesson before lunch ended, with my stomach dictating the urgency of its message. Naomi bent her head as she looked at me, she said

"What are you saying? If I'm buying your lunch, we're eating it together."

I returned her gaze as I got slightly irritated.

Was she trying to play with me? Hadn't she heard of my reputation? It wasn't like I had a track record of getting annoyed at interferences like that. I was trying to get into her headspace as to why she was messing with me, but I had a hard time coming up with something.

As I inspected her face staring at me, and then looked around her, I realized something.

There was no one around her, no one that approached her with "Let's eat!" or anything welcoming like that, no one that opened up a conversation with the smartest girl in class.

I wasn't the problem either, I was a hundred percent sure that a friend would've prioritized their friend over fear for the guy with blond hair and chains in his jeans.

A true friend, at least. That's what I wanted to believe.

Maybe she just wanted companionship.

As I thought about it that way, that cocky smile from before turned into something else.

A distorted image of isolation, as it swirled around in confusion, as sadness took the context hostage.

Although I was annoyed at the fact that someone dictated how I ate, the courage she had displayed through even daring to ask me, both now and before with the desks, earned her some respect in my book.

I sat down quietly, with a begrudged frown displayed. I then even quieter said

"Fine, just go and buy it."

With a sincere smile on her face, Naomi lit up at the acceptance as she started running towards the cafeteria. I felt it was strange for her to be so happy over it, since she was the one that had demanded it in the first place.

I didn't like the thought that I'd submitted to demand, so I justified it to myself

- Free lunch is free lunch, I guess..."

…

The Student Council was in a bit of a confusing as they sat down to have their lunch, as they usually did. One seat was empty, which Amaimono promptly noticed and asked the remaining members

"Where's Melliacci?"

They replied

"He said that he was going to eat somewhere else. He also said 'I hope Amaimono doesn't freak out."

As she slammed her lunch on the table, a lunch box that made a loud noise, the student council president exclaimed

"That guy! That he would skip one of our precious lunches...!"

The other two members looked at each other with difficult faces as they commented

"Doesn't she have any self-awareness at all?"

The answer was left in the air as the president continued to freak out over his absence. Although there had only been a few so far, Melliacci Tratto hadn't missed a single lunchtime opportunity with the student council.

He was instead roaming the first year hallway, and passing his own classroom at 1-1 to go to the next classroom over.

He heard passing comments around him, some confused at his presence during lunch, some praising him in terms of accomplishments and looks, and some negative remarks.

Melliacci himself didn't react to it, but his mind wandered to that conversation he had yesterday. Something had intrigued him that day, an absurd connection had been made.

He wasn't sure what it could've been, but he prioritized that over his usual lunches with the student council.

As the doors slid, opening up the world to the class of 1-2, a view that shocked Melliacci Tratto opened up.

Kaharu was slowly with a grudge speaking to another person, a girl with black hair that reached down to her shoulder, a modest chest that led to fewer wrinkles below her chest.

Melliacci stood quietly, as the menacing Kaharu turned around to see what had bothered him again. Every time the door was opened, it disturbed him as he sat so close to it.

"May I join you for lun---"

"Shut up, leave me alone."

Before even having the time to finish the sentence, he was already rejected. He smiled to himself as he said

"Don't be so cold, Kaharu. Like you said to me."

He then just grabbed a seat and sat down at the side of Kaharu's table, which proved to be slightly acceptable for Kaharu. Although a seed of annoyance had been planted inside of him, Kaharu didn't feel like lashing out and starting a fight. So he let it be, if one already disturbed him, what difference would two make.

A bizarre sight was then made up. The usually rough and isolated Kaharu Kahari was eating with two other people,

Tsukino stared in shock as she looked at him.

What was happening with Kaharu?