I looked at Chizuru for a while. She looked at me for a moment. Her eyes went down somewhere. Ichigo immediately turned me around, facing our backs to Chizuru, "Don't let her look at you," he cleared his throat.

I looked at the orange hair, "Why?" I tried to figure out where she was looking at. I looked down and immediately receive the answer, "Oh." I looked at Ichigo, "I mean, it isn't that big," I muttered. Ichigo tensed up, his face instantly turning red. I blinked at him, "Sorry," I cleared my throat.

"It's alright," he scratched the back of his head, "So, I heard Renji's staying with you?"

"Yup, he is," I had nearly forgotten about that. I have to cook extras for him then. I paused for a moment, Did I give him the house key? Crap, I didn't—

"And he told you everything, right...?" he asked, but sounding a bit cautious.

"Yup," I took a mop and started cleaning the floor, "Everything."

"Aren't you overwhelmed by it?" he asked, grabbing a mop and joining in.

"Definitely overwhelmed," I stopped for a moment, still trying to make last night believable for my head, "Definitely overwhelmed," I repeated.

"How are you handling it?"

"Well, first, I couldn't sleep at night. And it doesn't seem like I'm returning to my country anytime soon," I looked at Ichigo, "The communications are down in my country, apparently. If it isn't, either way, I couldn't contact anyone back there."

"Your coms are stuck too, huh?" he said, "We had to send someone back to Soul Society because their Soul Pager wasn't working for some reason."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Soul Society and Soul Pager. I paused for a moment, trying to remember what a Soul Pager was, "Soul Pager is a phone for Shinigamis, right? Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out this whole thing."

"Yeah, it is, and it's alright," he paused for a moment, "So, he told you about Aizen?"

I stopped, tensing up, "Mhmm..." It was one of those memories where my brain tries to block it out due to it being pretty traumatizing, but I could still easily recall it. Even if it was just words from Abarai-Kun's mouth, it still terrified me.

Everyone was finishing their work and placing back the equipment, so we did too. I put away the mop and went back to my seat. My fingers tapped against the desk. I stared outside, seeing some kids on the field playing football.

"Every single time," I muttered under my breath, "My damn lunchbox." I hate my little habit. I mean, putting it in my bag after lunch made it a hassle to get my other books out, but placing it under the desk always made me forget about it.

I opened the back door, crap, I froze seeing the familiar figure in the classroom. He turned to me, with that friendly smile, that now scared me to the core. "Forgotten your lunchbox?" he asked. My face flushed with embarrassment. I nodded, walking to my desk.

My breathing became short and quick. Now, this is definitely a panic attack. I grabbed my lunchbox from under the desk. I place the box into my bag and zipped it up. I slung the bag to my shoulders as I turned my heels to leave.

"Ned," he called out, CRAP, I turned to him, "Could you help me carry these to my office?" he asked. Maybe I should have left my lunchbox today.

"Sure!" I beamed at him, taking a stack of books into my hands.

I noticed my book was at the top, and sweat formed on my temple. I don't want my book to be the first. I quickly grabbed my book and placed it at the bottom of the stack, hoping he didn't notice my sleight of hand.

We walked out of class, side by side. I kept my eyes on the stack of books, avoiding as much eye contact as possible. "Ned, how are you fitting in?" he asked. I noticed he kept saying my name. Was it because it sounded peculiar to the Japanese tongue?

My name is literally picked out from a character in spiderman.

"Okay, I guess..."I shrugged. I wasn't really fitting in. I mean, I was in the midst of my third-wave crisis thanks to the information I dug up last night. Plus, I forgot to talk to people. I was too busy forgetting my lunchbox and pondering about my new crimson-haired roommate. "I'm just... kind of shy, I guess?"

He laughed a warm type of laugh, "I suppose we have that in common," he muttered. It didn't occur to me that he was a shy type of person. Or maybe this was a facade like Renji mentioned.

"I mean we have a lot in common, like our brown hair, brown eyes and the fact both of us wear square-rimmed glasses," What am I doing? I wasn't supposed to even be near this man. And now I was saying dumb, obvious stuff that even without glasses I can see.

"But you forgot one more," he said, I looked at him with a panicked kind of sense. WHAT DOES HE KNOW THAT I DON'T KNOW— "Your English is excellent," he gave me a smile. I let out a breath of relief and quickly covered it up with an awkward laugh.

Accepting compliments was one of those things I didn't know how to respond to.

"My English is just... regular," I scoffed, looking away from him. I would be lying to say I wasn't red.

"You're being too modest, Ned," he placed a hand on my shoulder, and I flinched at the contact. Sorry to say, but patting or touching among opposite genders was something my culture restricted very strongly. Plus, such a dangerous man touching me in such a warm gesture scared me a little. He noticed my reaction and swept his hand away.

Instantly, I felt bad, "S-Sorry, I'm not used to it..." I looked away from him. Why did I feel bad for him? Why was I taking sympathy for him? I could feel my cheeks heating up. I hated it. "It's alright," his voice was soft, but it was still deep. He opened the door of the teacher's office. He gestured for me to go in first.

He leads me to his table, and I placed the books down. "Thank you for assisting me, Ned," he muttered, standing over his table, side-eyeing me. That made my heart speed up. He looked like a predator, but at the same time, he looked like he couldn't hurt a fly.

I swallowed my pride. I definitely have a crush on him. No denying that.