Kaito turned around for the fifth time to stare at the door of Mika’s house. She was late this morning, and Mika was never late. He once again entered the mental debate as to if he should knock - what if she’d overslept - or if he should be patient for a few more minutes. It wasn’t as though they would be late to school, but the break in usual routine made him restless.

Just as Kaito had made up his mind to call for her and entered the yard, Mika came tumbling through the door with an armful of bags and books. “I’m sorry I’m late!” she panted as she set down everything in front of him. “It took longer than I thought.”

“What did?”

In answer to Kaito’s question, Mika offered him one of the bags.

Kaito took it slowly, the quizzical expression only growing on his face. “It smells good,” he said after a moment. “But what is it supposed to be for?”

“For lunch!” she announced happily.

Kaito’s eyes gazed over the second lunch bag that she was picking up, now that she’d stuffed the extraneous books into her school bag. “You brought two lunches? Why?”

“Kaito,” she said with a short laugh. “That one is yours. Just as a thanks for everything you’ve helped me with. I keep thinking about what would have happened at the school building if you hadn’t been there, and I know you never bring your own lunch so I thought it would be nice.”

“Thank you Mika. I appreciate it,” he gave her a small smile and then started ripping open the bag.

“Wait! Wait! Lunch. It’s for lunch. Not for now!”

“Mika, if you present me with food, then it’s going to get eaten now,” he laughed, as the ate one of the small bits of chicken.

She lunged for the bag and he dodged her, using a bit more speed than was necessary. “That’s not fair Kaito!” she said, joining in the laughter as she started chasing him down the road. “Give it back! I’ll actually save it for you for lunch!”

“No way,” he said, popping another piece of chicken into his mouth. “It’s really good. I could definitely eat it all right now. What’s wrong? You done already?”

Mika had doubled over as she stopped to catch her breath, but looked up to glare at him, though with the large smile she still had on her face, she doubted it looked threatening in the least. “Let’s.. let’s just walk. Do what you want with it.”

“I already was, but thanks for the permission,” he chuckled as Mika once again darted for him.

Like this, the two made it to Kana’s road early, even with the late start.

“That was good, thanks for making me lunch Mika,” Kaito said, rolling up the small paper bag and stuffing it into his school sack as he sat down at his desk in the classroom.

“Is there anything left?” Mika questioned as she settled into her spot behind him.

“The stuff I need chopsticks for, but the chicken is gone.”

“At least you saved something," she sighed. "Next time I’ll just make breakfast and let you eat at the house before we leave.”

“Not a bad idea,” Kaito agreed with a nod. “Next time.”

As soon as a moment of silence elapsed, Mika became aware that almost everyone in the class was gathered into a small group of their friends, whispering about the school building. Even though the four had tried to cover their traces as best they could, the incident couldn’t escape teenage gossip.

“I heard some kids were playing with illegal firecrackers and set it on fire.”

“Where would anyone get firecrackers this time of year?” another boy shot back. “Obviously lightning hit it and it caught fire.”

“Idiot! There wasn’t a storm last night.”

“I think whatever lives in that old school building set it on fire,” Ayako said, jumping into the conversation.

“What, the ghost that everyone talks about? That’s so dumb Ayako,” the boy joked.

“What’d ya say you loser?!” Ayako jokingly retaliated, putting her hand on his head and forcing it downward. Everyone around them burst out laughing.

The class was called to order then, and Mika’s attention shifted toward the older history teacher. History wasn’t her favorite subject, but she enjoyed Takeda-sensei's humor. He always overdramatized things to keep the class interested as well as fun projects for them to engage in.

“Good morning class, I hope you all slept well and are ready to start the day. Looks like some of you more so than others,” he raised an eyebrow at a couple of students whose heads and eyelids were starting to fall downward. Those sitting near them chuckled and elbowed their friends to perk them back up.

“Ahem, today we will be starting the third big project of the semester that will be worth twelve percent of your overall grade. We’re exploring the warring states period right now, so I’d like you to find and discuss something prevalent that happened during this age that we haven’t covered in detail in class. That means keeping Oda, Toyotomi, Tokugawa and their most major battles out of the project. Other than that, you’re free to choose significant figures and events as you wish. There’s an even number of students now so you’ll work in pairs. You guys have ten minutes to find your partner. Go!”

There was the briefest moment of absolute stillness and then the twenty bodies of the class flew into chaos as people tried to snag their best friends for their group. Mika’s eyes flickered to Kana and Ayako first, but of course the two had already paired together.

Mika wasn’t surprised at all, but she did feel a small pang of disappointment that they’d gotten together without thinking about her first. Her eyes turned to the desk in front of her next, but as she opened her mouth to get his attention, a call of ‘Kaito!’ from across the room cut her off.

Mika had seen the girl who was waving at Kaito before, but it took her a good minute to finally place her name: Mio Watanabe. She sat on the opposite side of the room and interacted with a large group of girls from other classrooms so Mika had never spoken to her.

“Hello,” he greeted with a nod of his head.

Mika felt her stomach drop as Mio moved slightly closer to his desk. Even Kaito had a partner. It wasn’t surprising; they were halfway through the year when she transferred in and had already gone through two of the four major group projects. Of course everyone had their set partner already.

Her eyes frantically darted around the room to find the individual without a buddy. Mika’s gaze landed in the center of the room, where only Hattori sat alone at a desk. Urgency turned to panic as her heartbeat sped up. He hadn’t so much as looked at her since their horrific encounter several weeks ago. Kaito assured her that he had forgotten the incident, but Mika had no desire to interact with him again.

Kaito, who had kept a sidelong glance on Mika, noticed the problem a split second before she did and turned to Mio. “Do you mind partnering with Mika for this project?”

“But why?” she protested in a higher-pitched, strained voice. “We’ve always been partners, Takahiro-san.”

“Yes, but that was before she moved here. Hattori’s personality is pretty wretched so I’d rather her not have to deal with it.”

“If that’s really what Takahiro-san wants.” Her bottom lip stuck out in a small pout, but Kaito’s attention had already shifted to Hattori. When he vacated his desk, Mio plopped down into it with more force than was necessary and glared at the girl before her.

“So we’re partners now,” she huffed.

“Y-yeah…” Mika had overheard the last bit of their conversation and relief had flooded over her, but now, looking at Mio’s cold stare, she wondered if this was going to be better or worse.

“So, what battle, event, whatever, do you want to pick?” Mio prodded while pointedly turning her attention out of the window.

Mika flipped through the history book slowly, looking for a battle appropriate for the topic. “Hm, what about the Kaga Rebellion?” she suggested, stopping on a page with a picture of the castle. “The Ikko became discontent with Masachika, who was the shugo, and rebelled while he was away before overwhelming his army when he returned. They held power for a good century or so. It’s a bit of a precursor to Nobunaga’s campaign but -”

“Geez you talk a lot, don’t you? I don’t care, just do it.”

Mika’s face fell as she looked at her classmate. “O-okay.”

Once confirming with the sensei that the topic was fine for the project, she set to work on the research. The book didn’t have the most extensive information - she’d have to go to the library and use the computers for the finer details - but it was more than enough to outline the topics that she wanted to talk about.

“Alright class, that’s our time for the day,” Takeda spoke up to bring the class to order a minute before the bell. “You’ll have two more days to work on it and that will be your last class period. The project will be due on Friday, so that’s plenty of time to meet your partner outside of class if you can’t finish it in the next couple of days. Dismissed!”

Mika breathed a sigh of relief as the stifling presence of Mio disappeared and Kaito once again sat back down. “Is this okay?” she asked him. “It’s not fair for you to have to deal with Hattori, especially if Watanabe-san has always been your partner.”

Kaito gave a noncommittal shrug. “It doesn’t really matter to me, but your heart was racing a mile a minute with just the thought of working with him. Am I wrong?” Kaito gave a light smirk as Mika dipped her head in embarrassment. “It’s normal to be afraid after what he did to you, so don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks. You’ve helped me out again.”

“That’s what friends are for right?”

Mika cast him a smile and bobbed her head in a nod.

The next day of the project with Mio started off the same as the first. While Mika sat at her desk pouring over several textbooks, Mio watched her with what looked to Mika like growing anger, but she couldn’t fathom what had made the girl so upset.

It was after the two moved to the library to use the computers that she finally spoke. “I wonder what he sees in you anyway. You’re so plain. Nothing noteworthy about you at all.”

Mika lifted her head to look at Mio, trying to ignore the sting of her words. “Who?”

Mio snorted. “Seems like you’re about as stupid as you look too. Takahiro-san obviously. Who else matters? You follow him home like you’re dating or something. It’s so pitiful, it’s disgusting.”

Mika blinked in befuddlement. “But we live in the same direction,” Mika said slowly, “and Kaito usually follows after Ayako, Kana and myself. We don’t follow him.”

“How dare you!” Mio spat, loud enough for a couple of the students at neighboring tables to turn and stare at them. “First you lie and then you use that filthy mouth of yours to say his given name. How rude can you get? If he’s being nice to you, it’s because he’s kind enough to feel sympathy for a manipulative wretch like you. I don’t know what you want from him, but screw off!”

She rose, and thrust her hand across the desk scattering Mika’s carefully organized notes across the floor before storming out of the library.

Mika sat for a few minutes, completely paralyzed. What exactly had she done wrong? No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand Mio’s wrath at all. The most that had occurred between Mio, Kaito and herself was a change in partners. But there’s no way just that caused this much hatred. Shaking her head, Mika started collecting her notes and putting them back in order.

She had just finished when the bell to ring class ended. With a surprised yelp, Mika threw everything into her bag and rushed back toward the classroom. Mio was out in the hall with her usual, large group of girls when Mika approached. 

Mika stayed close to the wall, keeping out of their way, but a few of them turned to sneer at her. Feeling self-conscious, Mika dropped her head and didn't glance their way again. When she sat down at her desk, far away from Mio's gaze, she released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. 

<continued>