Gakkou S3

[oldwrench]

*Keon was one of the last to be assigned a partner. He was a bit surprised, and didn't know if he should be happy or not that he was paired with Eva's Friend Jennifer. At least she wasn't a complete stranger.*

Keon: Hello, umm, Jennifer-san. *Keon had only heard her called Jennifer.*

*Jennifer broke her glare at Hiroki and turned to look at Keon. She looked him up and down with a scowl on her face, then her look softened and she sighed.*

Jennifer: Sorry, I was thinking of something else. Your the new student, Keon-san, isn't it.

Keon smiled, she'd actually remembered his name: Ya, I'm from out of town. *Keon could see she wasn't a bad person, just concerned for her friend. She also was worried if Keon knew anything about chemistry.* You don't need to worry, I'm pretty good at chemistry, but I haven't had this nice of equipment to work with before. I won't hold you back.

Jennifer: Oh, that's good, because I plan to be the top of the class. It's my best subject.

*Keon smiled, all his studying in the library was going to pay off. Chemistry was his favorite subject too.*

Keon: Well then, I'll try my best to be there too. *Keon sat down next to her. She was watching Hiroki again.* Don't worry about your friend. Hiroki acts brash, but he's really a good guy.

Jennifer looked at Keon: Oh, you knew him before?

Keon: No, umm, I didn't meet him till today, but, I, ah, kind of have a sense about things like that. You'll see, he's alright.

*Jennifer frowned and looked back toward Hiroki.*

*The teacher looked down at his papers. It looked like Jennifer might get along with the new boy. This was good, he hadn't had anyone of her caliber to pair her with. With Keon's scores on the entrance exams, he wondered just how far those two would be able to advance in his class.*

[Hiki]

Evangeline: I'm not that bad.. I practised a lot during the vacation! I'm pretty sure I won't blow up the lab again...

*Evangeline turned to the teacher to listen what they would do today.*

[Zeratul2k]

* Hiroki raised an eyebrow, turning to watch the teacher again with an "oh boy..." expression on his face. When he heard they were actually going to be doing an experiment, he looked down. He knew his theory, but he never had a chance to put what he read into practice, so he wasn't much use in a lab anyway. When the teacher said they were going to be working with sodium, though, he grimaced. *

Hiroki: I hope I can't make it through the day... the school staff seems intent on killing us...

[oldwrench]

*Keon didn't mind this at all. They were being thrown into it right away. He looked at the clean and expensive lab gear. He'd have loved to have had this when he was learning chem on his own. He had to use what he could scrounge or save up enough for. And he'd always liked using sodium, the highly reactive metal. But he could feel the doubt in his partner.*

Jennifer: I hope you aren't clumsy with lab work. Maybe you should let me handle the sodium. It can be tricky to work with.

Keon: I've handled sodium a number of times, if you use proper caution it isn't a problem. I particularly enjoyed doing lab experiments.

*Jennifer looked Keon over again. He looked strange wearing that black knit hat, and he was small, and not very impressive looking. But he seemed confident and eager. Maybe he would be a good partner. She looked back at Eva.*

Jennifer: I hope your friend Hiroki is good at lab work. Chem isn't Eva's best subject, and lab is her weak point.

*Keon almost told her Hiroki wasn't his friend....... but instead he looked over at Hiroki, trying to gauge the boy's attitude.*

Keon: He doesn't feel very confident. I hope they don't make any mistakes with the sodium. That could get nasty.

[Raine]

(Ill be ending the day now))
<<Bell rings>>

*Kaede was leaning agaist a tree,waiting for Her little sister.she smile when she saw rina running up to her*

Rina:Sorry,im late!!!i had important matters to attend...

Kaede:I really wish you would talk more your age....

Rina:I am talking my age...

Kaede:No your talking like your Miri-chan...you should take your time to grow up.

Rina:At least i talk....I heard from brother when you were my age you didnt talk at all...

*Kaede and Rina were walking out of the gates of the school to head home*

Kaede:.....

Rina:Sorry i did-

Kaede:Its okay...shall we go.

Rina*nodded*:I hear my brother is coming home today after a mission in the outerlands...

Kaede:His very skillful,same age as me and already he is in his last year in school....I wonder why only the older kids get to go in the outerlands...

[oldwrench]

*Keon was favorably impressed with Jennifer's skills at chemistry. She was precise and careful in her measurements. Their experiment worked out exactly as it was supposed to. Mot even a margin of error.*

Keon: That was fairly basic, but it worked out quite well.

Jennifer: He always starts us off with an easy lab, just to see who is going to be the ones causing problems.

*Jennifer had to grudgingly admit the new guy was pretty good at chemistry. His lab techniques were excellent, maybe even as good as hers. He might be kind of fun to work with, not like her last lab partner, who was a disaster...... Jennifer looked up at Eva and Hiroki, wondering how they'd done. At least this was the last class of the day and she'd be able to get Eva way from that boy.*

Toru came up to them: Hi Keon, Jennifer, how did yours come out............ Man, right on? How did you do that? We had problems with ours. Everything looked right, but it just doesn't come out.

Keon glanced at the papers in Toru's hands: There, in that section, check your math and I think you'll find the problem.

Toru: There? But I checked it all over a couple....... wait..... ah, that must be..... well darn, could you help me with this?

Keon: Sure..... I'll see you tomorrow, Jennifer, in class.... bye. *This was another new one for Keon. Someone actually asking for his help. This had turned out to be a very good day.*

[Hiki]

*Evangeline stretched.*

Evangeline: Phew, glad that's over! Get your stuff and we'll be off to the library~!

*Jennifer soon joined them and, when Hiroki was done packing, they went to the library.*

Evangeline: Here it is~ The library! I hope you find what you're looking for. See you tomorrow!

*Evangeline waved goodbye and walked off with Jennifer.*

Evangeline: That was fun, wasn't it?

*Jennifer raised her eyebrow and stayed quiet. Evangeline giggled and kept walking. Eventually they both arrived at Evangeline's home and entered.*

Evangeline's mum: Oh hi, dear. Good to see you're here, Jen. I have good news.

Evangeline: Really? What is it?

Eva's mum: My sister asked if you could come live with her again.

Evangeline: Really?

Eva's mum: Yes. You know there's a ritual for children who turn 16, and since you'll be turning 16 soon she wants you to live with her. The ritual calls for quite a lot of preparation, that's why she wants you there as soon as possible.

Jennifer: What about me?

*Due to things that happened in the past, Jennifer didn't want to leave Evangeline's side and Jennifer knew Evangeline's aunt well, so she was hoping she could live there too again.*

Eva's mum: You can join Vange. We only want what's best for the both of you and separating you two just wouldn't do then, would it?

*Evangeline's mum winked at them before leaving the room. Evangeline smiled brightly. She loved living with her aunt and she had seen the ritual before and always thought it looked amazing.*

Evangeline: How cool is that?

Jennifer: What about your friends?

Evangeline: I guess I could go say goodbye. Lets meet up at the gates and leave before school starts, okay?

*Jennifer nodded and decided to go home to tell her family.*

[Zeratul2k]

* Hiroki was glad chem was over, he had been too tense while handling the sodium to really enjoy it, but the experiment had come out well enough in the end. He followed Evangeline and Jennifer to the library, hoping he could chat a bit more with them, but they left quickly, so he was left to his own devices at the library. He stretched a bit before walking in, heading towards the aisles, going through the books. He picked an historical novel and a physics book before heading to the librarian desk to check them out, but stopped on the way when an old book caught his eye. He pulled it out of the shelf and flipped it open carefully. It was a book on monsters, with pictures, descriptions and useful info about them, mostly the kind of stuff he had learned from his parents. He closed the book and took it to the librarian's desk, checking out the three books before heading back home.*

[oldwrench]

*Toru looked at the numbers he'd transposed and frowned.*

Toru: Darn, I did that again. For some reason, I get things backward like that, I don't know why.

Keon: Dyslexia. *Toru stared at him.* They use to call that dyslexia. I read about it. If it only happens once in a while it's nothing to worry about.

Toru: Well, it gets me bad grades sometimes....... like today. I guess I'll just have to be more careful. I was kind of rushing it today, I wanted to get done faster than Claire.

Keon laughed: Chemistry isn't a race, I think she'd be more impressed by how accurate you are than how fast you are. *Toru turned a bit red faced.* Do you take the train home? I take it west.

Toru: I do sometimes, I live north of here, but my mom is picking me up today. She's over there right now. See you tomorrow.

Keon smiled: Ya, tomorrow. *He waved and headed for the train west, toward an unoccupied section of the city, near the wall. Keon looked back and saw Toru greet his mother. She was as small as Toru, but what surprised him was, she looked human. Keon turned toward the subway entrance, Toru's dad must be a necko, he concluded.*

*As they got into the car, Aki asked her son how the first day of the new semester had gone.*

Toru: Everything went pretty well. *He laughed.* I even got Kaede and one of the new guys out of trouble. There are two new students, Hiroki and Keon. I'm not the shortest guy in class anymore. Keon's shorter than I am. In combat class, Angus put Eva, Kaede, and the two new guys together against a shape shifter. Hiroki showed an amazing telekinetic ability with two knives, and Kaede surprised me by controlling Ice....... Well, sort of controlling it, you told me to be careful of her because she doesn't control her power. Keon must have quicker reactions than anyone I've met, He kept trying to draw the monsters attention and dodging it's attacks. It was almost like he knew what the monster was going to do.

Aki: Oh?.... That's interesting. So, how did you get Kaede out of trouble?

[Zeratul2k]

* Hiroki put everything on his backpack and slung it on his back, adjusting the waist strap. He took a look at his clock when he was sure the backpack wouldn't bounce uncomfortably, starting a timer. When he was happy with his set up, he started jogging back home. He wanted to run, but the extra weight on his back and the traffic at that time of the day meant he had to be extra careful. Both for his safety and to not draw unwanted attention. Minutes later he stopped at his apartment's door, stopping the timer as well. He was sweating a bit, but his breathing was under control. *

Hiroki: 13 minutes... I can do better than this...

* He said, dropping his head and taking a deep breath. He shrugged after a while, opening the door and walking inside. Everything was as he had left it when he left during the morning, as he expected. It was a funny thing, living alone after spending all his life with his family. "Sometimes we have to do what we have to do" he reminded himself before setting his backpack down and heading to the "guest room", which he had transformed into a strange mix of a study and a dojo. He immediately started training his martial arts, noting how he had to change his schedule now that he was in school. Usually he practiced martial arts and telekinesis until he was too tired to continue, then spend the rest of the day reading and studying. If he wanted to make some friends, though, he would have to leave some time for socializing. *

----

* Meanwhile, in a wealthy sector of the city, the usual silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud alarm. It was the first time such an alarm sounded in that part of town, so the people in the streets simply stopped on their tracks, looking at the sky or at each other, wondering where it was coming from. Less than a minute after the alarm started sounding, though, a small two-level building in an interception exploded, collapsing the building immediately and sending rubble flying everywhere. Chaos broke out as everyone rushed for cover, trying to help the wounded into safety. All but one hooded, tall figure walking away from the explosion, writing in a cellphone before throwing it away. "Generator 5 is down. 6 to go." *