~~~

"We'll have to go here first to gather information. You always need to find out as much as you can when dealing with things like this. In some cases, information gathering can be the difference between failure and success, and even between life and death," Takashi explains.

He looks up to meet his new partner's eyes, but they don't meet.

"Oi... Are you listening to me?" he asks.

No reply.

"OI! YUKIKO!"

"Wah!" she exclaims, falling out of her chair.

"Don't sleep while I'm explaining an important mission to you."

"But! You're explanations are long-winded and boring! Aren't you supposed to be the 'cool, quiet type'?" she argues.

"The 'cool, quiet type'? What the heck is this 'cool, quiet type'? Please stay quiet and take the mission seriously."

"I am taking it seriously, you cold-hearted knuckle-head."

"At least I wasn't the idiot falling asleep during an important mission planning."

"What did you say?!"

~~~

Let's see... Yuki would probably like this for dinner... She had that yesterday, so she won't want it today... Oh and this! If she eats that, she'll want this to go along with it...

Ren carefully picks foods that he knows Yukiko would like & puts them on a tray separately from his. She often forgets to pick up a meal when she comes in the Dining Hall, so he usually does it for her. Her daily food choices follow a complex pattern, so it seems pretty random unless one looks carefully. She wouldn't eat certain things that didn't follow the pattern, even though she's probably not even aware of it herself. Picking her food for her has become Ren's near-daily routine since they met three years ago.

It was shortly after he had came to the Mortal World and moved into Yin-Yang Academy; Ren was only eleven at the time. He was out on an errand in town when he saw a thin, dirt-covered girl resting in an alley.

***3 Years Ago***

"Um..." a younger Ren says, "It's no good if ya sleep in a place like that, y'know."

The girl opens her eyes slowly, and looks at him with a sharp glare immediately.

"W-what?" he asks.

"There was not a more suitable location for me to sleep," replies the girl, with a surprisingly soft voice.

What a pretty voice...

Then the sadness of what she had just said hit him, "What? What do ya-"

"I arrived far from my desired destination, and I became too exhausted to continue walking any further than this. If you will please excuse me, I must take my leave now," she says as she rises.

Uwah! That's some formal speech! This isn't the way a street girl would talk... No... this isn't even a way any normal person would talk... She's got a pretty accent too. Never heard it before.

"Wait!" he shouts, grabbing the girl's wrist, "If ya tell me where yer goin', I can take ya."

She looks surprised, but nods once.

"My desired destination is a place known by the name of Yin-Yang Academy. Do you know of its location, young passerby?"

"Yin-Yang Academy?! I just moved in there! Does that mean yer from Mahou Kingdom too?"

"....Yes..."

Why'd she pause? Well, whatev'.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Yer 'bout the same age as me, and yer callin' me young?"

"I am twelve years of age, young passerby."

Crap, she's a year older...

"Anyways, don't go callin' me 'young passerby'. The name's Mizu Ren! Nice to meet ya!"

"Likewise, Mizu Ren. My name is Yo-..." she cuts off all of a sudden.

"Huh? 'Yo'?"

"No... Um... Miya.. moto... Yuki.. ko..."

"I see! Yuki-chan, right?"

"Eh? No... Yukiko..."

"That's what I'm sayin'! 'Yukiko' makes ya 'Yuki-chan'!"

"Huh?"

The young Ren laughs at the young Yukiko's funny, confused face.

***Present***

Smiling at the distant memory, he heads over to their usual table.

"Yo Leo, Momo," he greets his friends who were already seated.

He looks around, but doesn't see Yukiko at their table.

"Eh? Where's Yuki-chan?"

Leo and Momoko give a knowing glance at each other, then both turn to look at the opposite side of the room. Ren follows their line of sight to a table that is usually empty in another corner of the Dining Hall. This time though, it isn't empty.

"That's... Yuki and... Tsukicchi..?" he asks, sort of to himself.

The new guy, Tsukino Takashi, and Yukiko are sitting at the table away from everyone else having an angry discussion that appears to be getting more heated by the minute.

Ren sits down next to Leo without taking his eyes off of the two of them.

"Whaz goin' on? Why're they alone together today? I was sure they hated each other, y'know."

"Yeah... I thought so too. Though they don't look like they're getting along. This was probably Tsukino-kun's idea, if I were to guess," says Leo.

"Yuki-chan is about to do something," Momoko says so ominously that Ren's eyes automatically move away from Takashi and Yukiko to read her expression.

"Huh? By 'do somethin', ya mean...?"

The room suddenly goes silent.

He looks back towards the other table to see quite the sight. Yukiko had dumped some of Takashi's own food on Takashi himself... and it was obviously on purpose. The whole room stares in silence. Some are too shocked to move, whilst others are suppressing their laughter with difficulty, Ren being one of those people. With that, Yukiko walks across the room towards her friends' table. Her clenched fists and quick but stiff stride clearly tell how enraged she is right now. She sits with them without a single word or even looking up in acknowledgement of their presences.

Eventually, after a minute, the people in the room slowly melt and the chattering begins again. Ren pushes the tray he had gotten Yukiko over in front of her. This catches her attention, and she glances up at him with an expression like she didn't even know he was there. Giving him a small smile in thanks, she begins to eat.

They continue their own pointless chatter as well. None of them bring up the topic about her discussion with Takashi, since it seems to be taboo at the moment.

When lunch is almost over, Leo and Momoko put their trays away and go on to class. Yukiko stares at the table with a blank expression, obviously lost in thought about something. Ren doesn't want to disturb her, so he stays seated and waits in silence until there's only a few minutes left.

It's almost time for class... Guess I'll have to snap her out of it, after all.

"Hey, Yu-" he shuts up as soon as he sees Takashi come by.

He doesn't pay Ren any attention, but instead, he passes right behind Yukiko before making a loop around the room back to the door.

What the heck...

Yukiko snaps out of it shortly after he passes by.

"Come on. We should hurry, or else we'll be late," she says.

She stands up and picks up her tray. That's when Ren catches a glimpse of it: the small wad of paper being gripped tightly in Yuki's hand.

What..?