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Chapter Two

After gym, I had lunch. The halls were crowded with people talking and going through their lockers. I went to the cafeteria and saw Nero and Rin having lunch with Akaito and Gumo.

"Hey, how's it going?" Akaito asked me as I sat next to him.

"Fine, I guess." I shrugged.

Gumo screwed his cap back onto his water bottle, "Is Meito bothering you, again?"

"Meito? What, do you have classes with him?" Akaito questioned.

"Only one, so far. And he hasn't spoken to me, anymore since art. I told him to fuck off, pretty much." I mumbled, not wanting to talk about him.

Akaito wrapped an arm around my neck, "If he keeps talking to you, tell us. I'll kick his ass."

"How thoughtful." I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for rubbing in the fact that I'm forever alone, guys." Gumo scoffed at us.

Akaito kissed my cheek back, "No problem."

"Aw, you guys are so cute! Please, tell me you've started using the intimate 'L' word?" Rin asked from across the table.

I felt my cheeks get warm, "N-No, we haven't."

I don't even know if Akaito heard me almost say it, last year when I told him about me being dead. I've never asked him. And I was not about to remind him about what happened at the aquarium.

Rin smiled, "Neither have we, actually."

"Well, we have. And I must say, the two of us are very happy together." Gumo added, holding up his sandwich.

Rin blinked several times, "I don't think that's the same thing-!"

"Very. Happy." He insisted.

When lunch ended, we left for our next classes.

"So, what was wrong with Nero, this morning? He was acting all weird." Akaito asked me.

"Oh, I wanted to talk to you about that. Nero was worried about finding a birthday present for Rin, so he asked if you and I could help him find one, after school." I explained.

"Oh, ok."

I was about to ask something, but he said, "You have animal science?"

I looked up, realizing that we were at the room, already, "Yeah."

We went in and saw that there were no assigned seats for this class. Akaito dragged me to the back of the room and pushed me into a seat.

"So, Nero was just nervous about getting a present for Rin?" He asked me.

I shrugged, "Yeah. I mean, who wouldn't be?"

"When is your birthday?"

"December, twenty fourth." I answered.

He blinked, "Really? Why didn't you say something, last year?"

"Because I was still upset about Xikuo. I just didn't feel like celebrating or anything." I gave a shrug.

"Oh, right."

The class went on and on, until the bell finally rang.

"So, we're meeting at the front of the school, later." I told Akaito as we left the room.

"Ok, I'll be there. See you then." He hugged me and went to his last class.

I got to my science class and sat in a random seat. The desks were split up by two and someone was already sitting next to me. I didn't recognize them, though.