A forest of black covered the bright day sky with only gaps between the leaves letting in a glimmer of white light. As the lone child crawled through the spaces, rustling through the bushes, they had arrived onto a rocky edge. A sea of green appeared before their eyes as the trees below seemed vast and endless; only at the end were misty grey mountains. The sounds of birds were faint along with the whistles of the surrounding nature.

"Wow," the child thought, as they stood in awe with their short black hair slightly ruffled from the bushes and dirt on their face.

Suddenly, a glint of light shined in the child's peripherals as their large crimson eyes instinctively followed the source. By the base of a large tree, a young girl around the same age sat gracefully on the dirt ground holding what seemed to be a batch of pink petunia flowers. Her eyes were covered by her straight bangs and long, flowing hair tied in twintails each with two shiny round hair accessories. The ends of the girl's hair covered her pale green dress ornamented with white frills and ribbons—an outfit rather unusual and elegant for the rugged location they were in.

The moment the girl had acknowledged the child's existence, the petunias fell to the ground and an inaudible sound emitted from the girl's mouth. She shouted with an alarming expression on her mysterious face, but the child could not hear her. Empty noise filled the sky immediately and in a state of confusion and panic, the child stepped back as their own shadow had been engulfed by darkness. Quickly peering over her shoulder, the child saw nothing because they were falling. The ground below had crumbled away without any noise and the shadow that once disappeared, became everything.

**

"AKANE!" rang a voice, as the bundle of blankets on the single bed grumbled and shifted slightly. "Get up already! I'm leaving now so don't go back to sleep…"

A young woman with neat shoulder-length black hair sighed as she stood impatiently beside the bed dressed in office attire and equipped with a messenger bag strapped across her body. It was early morning and the lights were turned on, blinding the bedroom and its sleeping owner.

"...'Morning, Big Sis," mumbled the voice of the younger sibling, eyes squinting from the light.

"Now, don't forget to eat breakfast and comb your hair," reminded the elder, beginning to leave the bedroom. "I'll see you tonight."

Akane, who's crimson eyes had now adjusted to the brightness, pulled off the thick blankets and replied casually, "'Kay. See ya."

The lock of the front door clicked as the girl sitting on her bed pondered upon the dream she had. However, she could not remember it anymore so she yawned and decided to get changed. 

By the full-display mirror near the front door, Akane quickly patted the cowlicks above her head futilely as the strands of black hair sprang up again. Wearing a simple black t-shirt and dark blue jeans with her favourite red fabric belt Akane began to put on a light sweater. After all, autumn had come and the weather was getting colder. She then grabbed her school backpack and took out a square-shaped, black mp3 player from her pocket. There was no way Akane could survive heading to school and being alone with her thoughts. Or so she believed. Akane slipped her feet into the black and red sneakers shortly in front of her, as she placed the white earbuds in her ears and headed out.

She began walking on the concrete sidewalk through the suburban area and watched the fallen leaves swirl around the ground as it was the only movement happening in the quiet streets. With the trees around the neighborhood changing red and its leaves blowing in the cool breeze, Akane was reminded that a month had passed. 

"And I've already messed up," Akane muttered, feeling defeated. "I don't want to go to school…"

A bell rang behind Akane as the sounds of mechanical gears and wheels screeched through her music. Turning around, a boy on a bike stopped beside her on the edge of the road with a smile on his face. The boy had spiky hair and grey eyes, and was wearing a red zipped up sweater hoodie with blue jeans. 

"Good morning, Akane," the boy greeted politely.

"Oh, Kei?" replied Akane in mild confusion. "What're you doing here so early?"

"Well, the others said they wanted to talk about this new game on our way to school," the boy answered as he tilted his bicycle downwards to get off of it. "But I guess I got here too fast, so how about we walk together for a bit?"

Although it was a question, the boy Akane referred to as Kei had already begun to move his bike onto the sidewalk and Akane knew it would be rude to outright deny his request. So she simply uttered "sure" while taking off her earbuds. 

After a while of casual chatter, Kei brought the conversation back to the current moment.

"By the way, did you finish your math homework for today?" he asked kindly. "The last few problems were quite difficult."

"Ah...I still have some left to do, but I can finish during lunch right before-" Akane thought for a moment, realising something before amending her statement. 

"Actually, I guess I'll have to do 'em in between classes," she laughed it off slightly while noting that it was not a lot of time but it was good enough.

Kei noticed the pause and a feeling of regret and guilt washed over his face as the boy looked away.

"You know, back then...if only I-"

"Hey."

Akane cut him off.

"I told you to stop worrying about it. What happened then was my own doing, so just leave it at that."

A firm yet empty expression lay on Akane's face as she looked towards the boy. Neither sympathetic nor angry, the girl had spoken as if she was only stating the objective facts. But then noticing the troubled look still on the boy's face, the girl sighed and tried to close the topic.

"Besides, I was just procrastinating. It's not that relevant."

As they reached the next intersection, multiple bike chimes unexpectedly rang to their left and Akane noticed the light was green in front of them.

"Oi, Kei!" "KEITO, OVER HERE!"

Keito looked over to find his friends waving wildly from afar as he waved back.

"...and that's my cue to leave," informed Akane as she continued to walk forward, not looking back.

Keito wanted to interject but he already knew it was better not to get involved any further. As the girl's figure grew smaller into the distance, Keito's friends had arrived beside him all on bikes. Among the other four boys, a blond boy wearing only a tank top and sweatpants, noticed the figure in the distance.

"Hey, wasn't that the kid who got into some big fight a few days ago?"

"Hm. It is," another lanky boy in a bomber jacket jeered. "Heh, that tomboy girl."

"What?!" a short, obese boy with a bowl cut exclaimed. "What fight?!"

"Didn't she kill someone haha?"

"Bro, she'd be arrested then."

"...Oh, right."

"Ok, now I really wanna know!"

"Well, there's only been rumours so I don't know the exact details. I heard it was kinda serious though, like, people said it was more of a beatdown than a fight…"

"There was blood," one of the boys added.

"Whoa…"

The blond boy wondered aloud. "Didn't someone from our class transfer out yesterday, think it's related?"

"Yo, my classmate moved schools too!" another remarked.

As the three boys discussed the rumour in great earnest, Keito got onto his bicycle and was greeted by another boy in glasses who was the only one wearing a helmet.

"Yo," he said nonchalantly.

"Good morning," Keito greeted him in turn.

The blond boy then contemplated for a minute before looking back at Keito.

"Hmm. Isn't that girl in your class, Keito? You know anything?"

"Uh. N-not really," Keito hastily replied, looking away again. "I just see her around…"

The boy with the glasses perked up as if immediately sensing a bit of tension in the conversation.

"Guys, I thought we were going to discuss Carnage Blood II? Who cares about some fight."

Immediately, the boys got excited again and completely forgot their previous topic. As they feverishly discussed the new video game they all played and the new features they liked and disliked, the five friends rode off to school.

Meanwhile, the subject of that previous topic was currently preoccupied in an endless cycle of thoughts.

"WHAT A PAIN!" Akane thought loudly, as she fumbled incessantly with her earbuds.

Akane had not been mentally prepared to talk with anyone so early in the morning, and now she had to recharge her social battery.

I'm tired. I just wanted to listen to some good tunes. Were they talking about me, I hope they weren't talking about me, aah, they were definitely talkin' 'bout me. Whatever, they're annoying any…Oh- This is a good song.

Continuing down the pathway, the absent-minded tomboy arrived at another intersection. Except, it was the wrong intersection. Because she had gone the completely wrong way in a rush to get away from the others. And she was not very bright.

"Crap."

**

Although Akane was only a 12-year-old girl, she neither appeared like a 12-year-old nor a girl. Her early growth spurt made her a bit taller than the rest of her classmates, thus appearing like a high schooler, while her appearance and attitude were boyish resulting in often being mistaken for a boy. Those comments did not bother Akane though, as it would not have deterred her from changing her lifestyle. She had more important things to think about, after all. For example, the little child in a sailor uniform wearing a bright pink backpack that was currently standing at the front of her classroom. 

"Hi, I'm Umi Aoki! Nice to meet you all," spoke the blue-haired girl energetically with a rather pleasant voice contrasting her childish appearance. 

With short pigtails each adorned with red bead-ball hair ties and big, round cerulean eyes on her petite face, the child was simply adorable and everyone in the room knew it.

“Aoki-san will be joining our class as of today. Please welcome her," explained the teacher excitedly while towering over her.

The class whispered enthusiastically with some students at the front greeting and waving happily.

"Aww, she's so cute!"

"She looks like a first grader."

"I hope we can be friends…"

Akane, who sat at the far back corner of the room opposite of the windows, went from utter shock to utter disappointment as soon as the teacher had pointed to the empty desk beside her as the seat for the new transfer student. Akane was not alone in that disappointment as the other students, especially the girls, began to whisper vehemently against the decision.

“Are you serious?" 

"Next to that bitch?" 

“That poor new girl, can’t she sit next to me instead."

As the transfer student sat down in her new seat, Akane looked away as to not make any eye contact. Shortly after, a voice silenced the whispers.

"Miss, we're having our field activity today right? Should we head down now?" 

The authoritative feminine voice belonged to none other than the top student of their grade. Akane couldn't remember the girl's name, but it was hard to ignore her. The student stood with a raised hand, as if everything she said was of utmost importance and everyone else began to look at her. Everyone, except Akane, who was amused by the sight of a nervous girl currently coaxing the top student next to her to sit down.

"Yes! You're right!" exclaimed the teacher. "We should head to the gymnasium now."