A young man was already sitting to the side of A-1. He'd gotten there early, found his desk, and had already added his own touches. The small whiteboard adjacent was littered with photos, newspaper clippings and diagrams arranged on the side. The boy himself was currently engrossed in whatever he was reading via Google Chrome, his dark hair shoulder length hair occasionally brushed aside.

I really need to stop waking up this early

He took refuge in another swig of imported Farmer's Union Iced Coffee, which he had already stocked the fridge up on. Stretching, he put back on his headphones and returned his attention to the screen.

Hitomi sat at her desk, but paid no attention to the rest of the class. She was busy, typing away at some code for a project she had taken upon herself to do in her spare time. It was a fairly simple thing to her, but it cataloged all of the people in the class, and their relationships to each other. Basically a dynamic flow chart. She did notice when Kaitlyn walked into the room, however, and quickly alt-tabbed to her email program. She typed something up, and hit send. She waited a few moments, then got up and headed toward the front of the class. She did not like being class president, and didn't want the job, but the teacher had assigned it to her, and she had little choice in the matter.

"Ahem, We have two new classmates today. One of them is from another school, the other is related to an existing classmate. If they could come up to the front of the class and introduce themselves. This is Nathan, who is related to Kaitlyn, and this is...I don't know what his name is. If they could write their names on the board and introduce themselves, we will begin."

As Hitomi went to sit down, she passed by Nathan. She reached down toward his face, and quietly whispered in his ear, "I never told anyone your secret, this is your choosing. So you can play along, or let everyone know, it's up to you." Hitomi then moved to her seat and sat down. She focused her attention on Kaitlyn, interested in what would happen next.

Nathan stood at the front of the room, silently for a moment, staring at Hitomi coldly.

Then Nathan spoke up. "As Hitomi just said, I am Nathan. If you are wondering, that we look alike, yes, I am Kaitlyn's twin brother. However, while my sister may be more towards the intellectual, only dipping her hand in the pool of martial arts, I practice martial arts with great skill. I am a practitioner of Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu,  Jujitsu, Sambo, Muay Thai, Lethwei, Silat, Escrima, and Krav Maga, among other things."

After he had finished rattling off the list of martial arts that he practiced, he took a short second to cast a glare at Hitomi. Then Nathan stated one last thing to the class. "While my sister and I may be physically alike, do not be surprised that we are never found in the same room together, ever. We may be twins, but we are not entirely fond of each other." The words tasted like bile as they left Nathan's mouth, an unsurprising thing considering that it was a total lie.

Finally, Nathan walked back to his cubicle-desk. He sat down, and began typing away, waiting for something worth noticing to happen.

Hitomi placed the coffee on the desk in front of her, "Well, the school has some kind of sense of humor, and we all have to take on these challenges of sorts. We just finished all dressing up as maids, and selling tea to the school. I guess you're lucky, you get to go on our reward trip, and didn't even have to do anything."

She picked up the can, and read the back of it, "So, what is your story?"

"A loner huh, you should get along with several of the people here then." Hitomi put the can down again, "Lets see, we are supposed to go on some trip to somewhere, but nobody is sure where that is yet. Maybe they will dump us all on an island, and we have to kill each other until only one of us is left. Hard to say though. I don't think we are that lucky." Hitomi typed up a quick email, and hit send, leaning back in her chair. She looked over at Nathan, and spoke up to Steve. "See him over there, the one who introduced himself at the same time as you. He has a sister, who probably does not like me much right now, and I know he does not. But it's ok, I'm sure they might be more receptive to you. You should go say hello. Don't worry, they don't bite."

While she didn't really care, Hitomi was wondering where the teacher was.

Nathan looked up from his computer, staring at Steven. "Yeah. Don't ask, I don't do talking about private stuff." He turned his attention back to his computer, specifically a program on the computer, and continued talking. "I'm not very good at conversations." Nathan paused. "I'm only good at computers, and beating the snot out of anyone who ticks off me or my sister." Then Nathan shut off the monitor, stood up, and stared at Steven. "My sister is impossible to get angry, unless you actually try. As for me, just take care to keep off my toes."

With that, Nathan stared Steven out of the cubicle, sat back down, turned on the monitor, and began an instant message conversation.

I'm coming over in a few days, the screen read.

Just keep your hands and life to yourself replied Nathan.

Are you still pissed about what happened? Returned the computer.

I'm not coming back to the states, there's nothing left for me there... Typed in Nathan.

A short pause, then the computer replied, She didn't die.

Nathan's heart skipped a beat. Hastily, he typed in, Whaddaya mean?

The computer replied once more, I mean, the doctors said she wouldn't make it, now they're saying she'll pull through, and wake up in a few days.

Nathan stared at the computer screen, with but one thought in his mind. She's alive.

Jason trudged into the classroom, sore from head to toe.  "Oww. I knew I'd feel that in the morning." He made his way to his desk and got himself settled in. He watched as two new students were introduced to the class. "Lucky," he thought, "they managed to miss out on the cafe." He groan slightly as his aching body complained of the night before. The thought crossed his mind, "Please let this be a light day."

Hitomi was beginning to wonder where the teacher was. This was odd, even for her.

"I'm not sure, she should have been here by now. This is strange."

(Yes, I'm stalling, I have been very busy with family emergency's and with my own stuff. But I'll continue things asap.)

Hitomi looked up with the rest of the class as the classroom door slid open, and in walked another new student, along with the teacher. She looked more frazzled than usual, and the new student looked like he had been rushed here. Which was pretty accurate, the teacher had found out about her new student, but not told where to find him. She had been running around the school for the last twenty minutes. "Hitomi! Please help out our new student, introduce him to the class, have him find a seat. I'm going to the teachers lounge." With that, the teacher walked out, and the door shut behind them.

Hitomi looked over at the new kid, who was just standing there. "So, you have a name?"

Nathan popped out of his booth to the tune of the new student's japanese, and his question. "Yeah, this is a japanese school, most of us are just transfers from the states." Nathan eyed the boy from behind the wall of his cubicle. His japanese is surprisingly fluent, and aki is the start of his name. From that, his name must be japanese, as well. Hundred yen says... Nathan thought to himself as he observed the boy. Well, might as well keep him speaking english.

With that, Nathan stepped out of the cubicle. his long black ponytail sliding back and forth along the back of his belt. His glasses reflected for a moment as his eyes scanned the boy further. "Well, are you going to finish your introduction, or are you going to stand there making an awkward silence until the crickets start up?"

Nathan thought to himself, Your name is japanese, and you speak japanese. Let's see how japanese you are, exactly. Then he blinked and said, "Ohayo gozaimasu, Akira-san. Hajimemashite. Doko kara desu ka?" A twitch crossed his face, and for a moment, nay, a flicker of a moment, he smiled, before resuming his blank look.

Surprised by the lunch bell, Steve was still wondering about their "teacher". She'd shown up once, however briefly, without so much as a quick hello.

Getting up, he looked over to the newer student. There was something about him he couldn't place. That long hair, whilst strange, wasn't exactly uncommon. Heck, even in their class there was Nathan... Ah, yes...

Steve walked over to where Nathan and the-one-who-calls-himself-Richard were.
"Hey, Nathan? I was just meaning to ask you something, sorry if I'm interrupting you and..." Wait... those scars... it couldn't be... "YOU!"

Brandishing an ornate key from his pocket, Steve was close to losing his temper. "I've had it up to here with you! Not only do you pass me off in the street and sully Taire's good name, but then you have the audacity to show up here! Gah! Give me one good reason why..." Calm down, deep breaths... "No... sorry, I seem to have lost it for a minute there. It'd have to be a co-incidence, your arrival here, wouldn't it? Yes... Anyway, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm Steve." He passed the key into his left hand, still keeping a firm grip on the handle, and offered his right to the now bewildered student.