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"Damn, damn, damn!" Senpuu Hiroto cursed, his voice carried down the hall and through the wall. Hitomi Izumi gave an audible sigh and began to count down on her fingers.

"3…2…1."

Bang!

"I'm so sorry that I'm late, Yuka-sensei!" Hiroto declared from the doorway, out of breath but still able to trumpet like an elephant.

The homeroom teacher, Yuka Mai, turned to fix the latecomer with eyes as sharp and black as obsidian through horn-rimmed glasses

Once again, Izumi began to count down on her fingers.

"3…2…1—,"

Smack!

Hiroto reeled back in pain as Mai's favored throwing ruler rebounded off of Hiroto's nose.

"Don't apologize for it, just don't be late! Now sit down," she barked.

"Yes, ma'am," he said and took his seat beside Izumi, the blue eyes of a European ancestor watering.

Izumi snickered into her hands. Her aunt's fearsome reputation was a thing to behold. Just to brandish one of those polished rulers was enough to send most students running. A very attractive woman with long legs and a grand body, and with a sharp, insightful wit, she commanded admiration and fear from students and faculty in equal measure. It was just a shame that all that admiration and fear couldn't stop some from slacking off.

"Honestly, Senpuu-san," Mai said as she leaned against the podium, "You don't have to barge in here and disrupt class every day. Please, just slip in quietly and take your seat without making a big production over it."

"Sorry."

Now her second-favorite ruler went flying like a shuriken across the room. Hiroto was almost tossed from his chair by the force of the blow.

"Don't apologize, just do it!"

Izumi gave yet another audible sigh. It just another day.

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Hiroto watched Izumi watching him as he laid his head on his desk. She was twirling her shiny, sable hair around her finger, her face contemplative. He knew she thought he was asleep and that she was considering waking him up.

He liked looking at his childhood friend. A lot of guys did, and who could blame them? He thought everything about her was beautiful: From the hair hanging down her back to the arch of bangs that framed her face like a portrait. Her body was supple and athletic, and was just beneath him in height. The only thing about her that he didn't find appealing was her eyes. Most of the time they were big and bright and full of energy, but when she was angry or frustrated they became a pair of terrifying slits, just the way Yuka-sensei's did. Realizing that he could feel those very eyes were boring into him now from two different directions sent a shiver dashing down his spine.

"What a pain," he murmured in a voice too low to be heard. If was frustrating, having to work all night just to put up with this. It had been exciting at first, the new position and the new responsibilities, but long hours on unseasonably cold nights had taken their toll on his enthusiasm. Then having to "make it work," with his school schedule. What kind of an unreasonable…?

"Let him be, Izumi," Yuka-sensei's voice cut into his thoughts. "If Senpuu-sama thinks he doesn't need to pay attention in my class then there's no need to persuade him otherwise."

He risked a glance towards Izumi. The tip of her pencil hovered centimeters away from his shoulder, but fell as Izumi stood up and dove into a frantic bow.

"Yes, Oba-sama, uh, I mean Sensei."

"Neh? Wha's goin' on?" Hiroto asked and sat up, trying to look as befuddled with tiredness as he felt. The rest of the class began to laugh. He smiled a sour smile, waiting for the inevitable earful, but the bell rang just as his homeroom and math teacher opened her mouth.

"Remember to read chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight for tomorrow, and solve all the problems given in those chapters," Yuka-sensei called as she collected her belongings. "And anyone who doesn't show their work receives half-credit for the entire assignment, no different from last semester."

"You know, you really need to stop sleeping in class," Izumi sat on her desk as she scolded him.

"It's not my fault," he mumbled and turned away, "My roommate's always so noisy at nights. Plus that new job I have."

Izumi snorted. "Like you have a job."

His ears turned red. They'd been friends since childhood- had always gone to the same schools, been in the same class- and the resulting familiarity with his habits was irritating; even more so when it caused her to not believe him.

"I do," he insisted.

"Well what is it?" she demanded. She crossed her arms beneath her humble chest and waited.

His ears were becoming uncomfortably hot.

"It's a secret."

"I thought so," she nodded, as smug as could be. Nonetheless, he took pleasure in the hairline twitch of her eye. Oh, how she hated the s word.

He didn't double take this time, like he had the first time he had seen it a month ago at her birthday. That faint shimmer about her silhouette only appeared when she was mad, or whenever she heard to endure that word she hated above all others. He looked her up and down. she didn't seem any different, but there was something decidedly off, something that hadn't been there before.

"What?" she demanded. Her voice was defensive.

A loud wooden snap brought them both around to face her demon-eyed aunt.

"Damn it, Hiroto," the math teacher said with an animal growl, tossing etiquette aside in her fury as she often did. "Do we really have to go through this every day?"

"I'm really sorry, Yuka-sensei," he answered, though he kept his eyes averted. "But I have a real excuse this time. My boss is an ass and—,"

"A little respect for your elders, if you please."

"—my boss is being unreasonable. He seems to think I can work and go to school with only two hours of sleep." He didn't need to look at Izumi to know that she was giving him her 'Yeah right, I bet you were up watching late night anime again.' look.

"Your job, eh?" Yuka-sensei asked with a cocked eyebrow, "So you work all night, every night then?"

"Um, yeah. Yes, ma'am," he was quick to correct himself.

He blanched under that frosty glare and swallowed hard, expecting another ruler to come down on top of his head. Mai-sensei was as well acquainted with his habits as Izumi and even more prone to violence. Thus he was caught off guard when she said, "Well, just do the best you can."

Both teens gaped as Yuka-sensi pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her steep nose. "If it's important work, then do what you need to. Just remember that there are more important things out there."

"Right, right, like getting a good education," Hiroto spoke amidst a fit of nervous laughter. "Don't worry, Yuka-sensei, I've got my priorities sorted out."

"More important than that, too," the teacher added. He goggled at her as she made her way towards the door. "And Izumi-chan, keep him out of trouble."

"I-I'll try," she answered. It was clear she was just as bewildered as he was. When the door slid closed, she rounded upon him with equal parts anger and bewilderment. "I can't believe she bought that."

"Me too."

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When the bell rang for lunch, Hiroto was the first out of his seat.

"What's the rush?" Izumi asked as he she retrieved her bento from her school bag.

"Just feel like eating in the lunchroom today," he answered. "Maybe stretch my legs. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

"You look well rested," she said as they passed through the door, grinning as she scolded him.

"Ah, well between homeroom and foreign languages, a guy can get a pretty good nap in," said Hiroto. His hands were folded at leisure behind his head.

"Slacker-baka," she sighed, the first word in English. "How'd you even get into this school anyway?"

He grinned and said, "I can do stuff when I feel like it. If Alpha Crusader can make it to second year when—,"

"No," she cut him off, "Just, no."

"What?"

"You're not a character in a manga, Hiroto-kun; you're a real life human being, and not a particularly bright one at that."

He recoiled as if stung by a giant hornet.

"Not bright? Oh! You're too cruel, Izumi-chan!" he cried out with exaggerated emotion.

She rolled her eyes and continued down the hall, her pace picking up a bit.

"You know," he said, smiling back at her as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his dark school slacks, "Watching someone while they sleep is kind of creepy."

"I-I wasn't watching you," she knew that she sounded too defensive. It was worse because she had been watching him, but only a little bit. Guys with long hair and angular European features weren't by-and-large considered attractive at Mifune High School, but Izumi had always found the genetic hodge-podge endearing. Or it would be, were it not for the dark circles that gave evidence of many nights with little sleep.

Even so, she felt her cheeks continue to heat up and Hiroto laughed when he saw it.

"Your face doesn't lie, Izumi-chan," he taunted, his mouth pulled back in a cock-eyed grin. "I guess I've got myself a stalker, now."

"Oh, please," she scoffed in a high, haughty tone. Then, because that had been a poor comeback, she pointed to the package in his hand and said, "And when are you going to learn how to cook?"

His face was hurt as he stared at the plastic bag of store-bought onigiri.

"But I like the store-bought kind."

"Then you don't have a very discerning palate," she sniffed. "Good food should be handmade. Everyone knows this."

Hiroto heaved a sigh.

"Not when it's me or Akira. You don't want either of us working the stove."

"Oh, that reminds me," she perked up, "How is Akira-kun feeling? Has he gotten over that cold yet?"

"Just about," he said. "He's still sniffling a bit. Supposedly, he's not up to going out and doing that job for his family yet, and yet somehow he's able to muster the strength to declare a monopoly on the video games." The way Hiroto acted when speaking of his roommate had always struck Izumi as odd. He always stressed the male pronouns and wore a look as if he was thinking of something funny when he did it.

"You two should come over for dinner tonight," she said as she looked Hiroto up and down. "You're looking a bit lean, and we still have a lot leftover from last night."

"Nah," he said and waved her off. "We'll be fine."

Irritated by the dismissal, Izumi puffed her cheeks out at him.

"When am I going to meet this mysterious roommate of yours? You gripe about him all the time, but I've never met him. And you blow me off whenever I try to arrange something."

"He just doesn't like meeting new people. You'll get to meet him someday."

"Ah! You always say that," she grumbled. "And I don't suppose your mom—,"

"Nope," now it was Hiroto who was frustrated. "I have no idea when she'll be back. She's in Geneva for some research or something, the last I heard. She never tells me anything."

Izumi gave a sad shake of her head and tried her best not to look pitying. She knew better than to have brought that subject up.

"What's with that look?" he said. "Come on, let's talk about something else. What was that idea you were telling me the other day, for our class' booth for the culture festival?"

"There are just so many mysterious around you," she refused to bite. She didn't care how many times they went through this; she would get to the bottom of it all eventually. "Your dad dies under mysterious circumstances, your mom's buried in her work, you live by yourself with some stranger I've never met, and now this mystery job that you won't breath a word about. Why don't you trust me about this stuff?"

"What makes you think I don't trust you?" he said, pulling to a stop.

"Because you never tell me anything important," she said, as she planted herself before him with hands on her hips.

"I tell you when a new anime comes out that you'll like," he countered. His volume rose a notch.

"That's not important, that's just you being an otaku!" she double-countered by raising her voice several notches. She ignored the stares she received, but did continue at a lower volume. "My family and I trust one another completely. We don't keep any secrets at all." He recoiled at the finger jabbed just beneath his nose. "Secrets, Hiroto-kun, are the result of a lack of trust in another person to understand or to forgive, and are only useful for cowards and criminals. And trust, of course, is the keystone for any relationship."

"Relation…ship?" Hiroto's face colored somewhat at the word, as did Izumi's once she realized what had escaped her lips.

"Yeah, well, you know…," she stammered, fumbling with her words. Why did it always become so hard to talk with him whenever that word came up?

"Senpuuuuuu-kuuuuun!"

Izumi jumped back as an indigo comet ploughed into Hiroto and sent him sliding across the floor.

"Good morning, Kiko-chan," she said, smiling as though her childhood friend had not just been assaulted.

"Mornin', Izumi-chan!" the other girl, Suzumiya Kiko, declared in her loud kansai-ben. One of Izumi's closest friends, her grey, almond eyes were alight with confidence and enthusiasm no matter what she did. Students and teachers alike, boys ogled at her long, curvy legs and uniform-filling body. As always, her face was set in a mischievous expression, like she was in the midst of a clever prank. Her hair, an indigo ponytail, ended in a tight curl at her waist. Yet for all her physical allures…

"Senpuu-kun! How's my favorite otaku? How was break? Mine was fine." It all poured out at a breathless pace, all the while sitting on top of Hiroto's chest. All he could manage was a pained groan. "Hey, Izumi-chan, have you seen Segawa Kaito from class D?"

"Um, I don't recognize the name…" Izumi bit at a fingernail as she thought. "Oh, wait! Isn't he the guy from the drama club? The one with all the hair gel?"

"That's the one," Kiko chirped. "Me an' Yukari-chan are tryin' to find him, but we think he's avoidin' us."

"And where's she at?"

"Good morning." Izumi jumped in spite of the softness of her other friend's voice.

"Oh, sorry, Yukari-chan, I didn't see you there," she said. "You're looking well."

"Thanks," the other girl said and beamed. "You are too."

Izumi had never been able to figure out how Kiko and Takahashi Yukari had become friends, save for the old cliché about magnetic opposites. Whereas Kiko was beautiful but rambunctious, Yukari was soft-spoken, demure, and, to be honest, rather plain looking. Short, light brunette hair framed a plainly cute face, while her large brown eyes were magnified by thick round glasses. The loose cut of the girl's sailor fuku and the secretary notepad clutched to her chest helped to hide the fact that she was almost wholly devoid of curves.

"We were just on our way to lunch," Izumi said as she and Kiko hauled a grumbling Hiroto to his feet. "I don't suppose you'd care to join us?"

Yukari shook her head. Izumi caught the gleam in her eye and a trill of excitement raced down her spine.

"We'd love to," Yukari's voice was an explosion wrapped in cotton; soft and polite and just able to hold whatever excitement was causing the tiny girl to bounce on the balls of her feet. "Except that—,"

"Except we're on the trail of the hottest scoop of the season," Kiko burst out, her eyes shining like a trickster god at play. "Word is that Segawa-kun hooked up with an older woman over the summer. A married woman." Her smile was almost predatory.

"Kiko-chan, I was going to tell her," Yukari whined, though the eagerness of her face was no less diminished. To Izumi, she explained, "It was all anyone in our class was talking about, what with our representative being Segawa-san's ex-girlfriend and all. Apparently, he was seen with this woman at the botanical gardens a few times. And hugging!" She said it as if it the very word was a scandal. "And Inoue-chan said that Segawa-san's said before that he likes older women."

"You two are still running that gossip club of yours?" Hiroto's voice was annoyed and disgusted. All three girls rounded on him with a gorgon's glare.

"For the last time, Hiroto-kun," Izumi's voice gained a shrill quality as her voice rose. Passing students skirted the edges of the walls as they passed at a heightened pace. "It's not a gossip club; it's the Investigative News Club, a respected sub-branch of the News Club."

"We hunt for the strangest and most secret pieces of news in the whole school and expose them to the public's deserving eye." It was Yukari's voice which delivered this passion-laden slogan, and her tiny fist shook with a soldier's determination.

"That you can say that with a straight face makes me sick to my stomach." Hiroto's words struck her like a blow.

"Hiroto-kun! How could you say something like that? And don't turn your back on me."

"How are spreading rumors better than keeping secrets? I'm going to lunch."

"You may not like rumors, Senpuu-kun," Kiko's voice trilled, "But you might be interested in knowing that Ushio's been looking for you. And he's pissed."

Hiroto slowed to a crawl. His shoulders seemed tense as he looked back over them. Izumi's head swiveled back and forth between her friends, puzzlement scribbled over her face as she waited for someone to explain. Instead, he gave a sour smile, nodded his thanks and continued on.

"What—?" Izumi began to ask, but Kiko made shooing motions as she put an arm around a blubbering Yukari.

"He should be the one to tell you," the indigo haired girl said with a warm smile. "And we need to get going. Come on, don't cry, Yukari-chan. He didn't mean it that way."

As her friends moved off, Izumi found she could do little else but shrug and go off after Hiroto. With a single turn of a corner she found him in the lunch room, his head balanced on wrists as he shoveled oni-giri into his mouth.

"You didn't need to be such an ass," she said as she sat opposite him. A tiny lurch of fear flared up in her stomach as the worn bench creaked beneath even her slight weight. She muttered to herself about the lunch room's desperate need for new equipment.

Hiroto glanced up from his food as she opened her bento and tucked into the fried rice with a rushed "Itadaki-masu."

"I guess I should apologize," he said before shoving another rice ball into his mouth.

"Mm-hmm. Now tell me, why is this Ushio after you?"

Hiroto continued to chew for several moments before swallowing hard. Then he stuck another rice ball in, and then another. Izumi's veneer was patient as she waited, even as the disappearance of the third rice ball caused her chopsticks to creak beneath her fingers. He reached for the last one, only to watch in sorrow as it was snatched away by slender fingers and vanished into a pretty mouth.

"Now then," she mumbled through a mouthful of oni-giri, oblivious of the halo of rice and seaweed framing her lips, "What's this about someone being after you?"

Hiroto's face was, for a moment, painted only with longing but at last he sighed in defeat.

"A couple of days ago," he said slowly, seeming to pick his words with care, "I…well…you've heard about Ushio Hanino, that huge second year on the wrestling team? The one whose family owns a karate dojo?"

Izumi felt as if her eyes were about to fall out of her head. She nodded for him to continue.

"Well, a couple days ago I ran into a friend of his on the street, another big guy named Sawahata. He was beating up on this kid from another school, or so I thought, and, well, I hit him."

"You hit him?" The exclamation was loud enough to attract more than a few stares.

"More like knocked him out," he said with an almost whisper, nervously scratching at his ear.

"Knocked him out?" she repeated, now attracting even more stares. She was almost surprised that her eyes had not really fallen out.

"It was a lucky hit," he insisted, waving his hands rapidly. "I don't know what came over me. Anyway, it turns out that—."

His voice faltered as her hands slammed into the table.

"That," she said, "Is the coolest thing you've ever done."

Hiroto stared at her as if she were insane. "Excuse me?"

"You, the lazy, anime-otaku slacker I've known since primary school, actually risked your life to save some random kid off the street from a thug. And won!" she was gushing now, and did not notice that she was receiving looks as she danced about in her seat. "It sounds like something out of a manga!" In spite of her words she began to give him condescending pats on the head. "To think I've had a superhero by my side all of these years."

"Now who's the otaku?" he said, growling as he attempted to remove her hand.

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Still you."

She had just returned to her bento when a sudden thought crossed her mind, and a dreamy look passed over her face in accompaniment.

"You know," she said, "I had a dream like that last night. About you."

Hiroto looked up in surprise.

"Really?"

"Well, yeah, uh," she stammered. She was now looking down at her food and blushing, "Every night for the last month. Since my birthday, actually."

"Is that so?" A pleased smile began to form as he spoke, while her blushing increased in proportion. "What kind of dream about me?"

"Well, like we were just saying. A superhero dream, I guess."

"Superhero, huh?" Hiroto was thrilled at the thought, yet still the slightest bit off put. "Nothing steamy, then?"

"No, you perv!" she said, snarling as she rose to her feet and jabbed her chop sticks as though to pluck out his eyes.

"K-kidding, I was kidding." he ceded, rising his hands in an offering of peace.

"Perverted slacker-baka," she grumbled and slid back into her spot, too low for most to hear.

He gave her a moment to cool down before clearing his throat and starting again. "So, in the dream, what kind of a superhero was I? Did I fly, shoot lasers?"

"No, it was more like you were a magician," she said. Her voice was sour as she stabbed at her cucumber slices. "You jump around on top of buildings and fought monsters. You shot fire, too."

Hiroto smiled as he listened.

"Sounds like that new series that came out."

"Shush! Anyway, the monsters are always different. Last night you were fighting some kind of spiky oni that shot lightning."

Hiroto's eyes widened by a hair's breadth, but she didn't seem to notice as a whimsical look drifted into her eyes.

"Those dreams are really pretty cool," she said, her voice dreamy again. "So vivid, too."

He saw it again, the weird shimmering of air about her body. His chest felt tight and a buzzing sensation began to prick at his brain. He knew the feeling, but…

"Izumi-chan, what do I wear in these dreams?" he struggled to sound playful again as he spoke. "Tights? Armor?"

"Hm-mm," she shook her head, though her eyes did not break contact with his. "It was a dark trench coat with a hood, or something. Not quite black. Oh, and some sort of gloves or gauntlets." Her eyes widened in emulation of his own.

"Is that right?"

"Yeah…is something wrong?" she asked. Her voice dropped half an octave as she fixed him with a penetrating glower.

"N-no. Nothing. It's just…"

"Just…?" She was giving him "Don't you dare hide this from me," eyes.

The tight feeling lifted as he burst into vigorous, mocking laughter. "It's just that I didn't know that you watched the same kind of late night anime that I do. I guess the hot-shot class representative is a giant otaku too."

This time she did take a stab at him, striking him smartly on the forehead.

"Slacker-baka," she said with an exasperated growl. "You, Hirito-kun, are useless. Totally useless. Also, you should make yourself scarce."

He followed her chop sticks to the far end of the room and froze as a pair of big second years he recognized as friends of Ushio lumbered in through the lunch room's secondary entrance. Their pug-like faces were scrunched up and swiveled on thick necks, as though searching for something.

"Crap! See you in class, Izumi-chan," he called over his shoulder as he began to run in the opposite direction.

"Don't forget about the culture festival meeting after school," she called after him, sounding quite blasé as the big thugs began to give chase.

"I won't!"

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"He forgot," she fumed, pouting with crossed arms and puffed cheeks. "And where is he now?" Her foot tapped a fervent tattoo against the padded floor of the shoe changing room as she plotted all the ways she was going to kill him.

"Good evening, Izumi-chan," She whirled about as Yukari came in. "Have you seen Hiroto-kun?"

"I wish I did," she said as she ground her teeth together. "It was so embarrassing, the committee president being the only one to of her class there. And he knows I don't like being around those girls, and I even reminded him right after lunch."

Yukari stopped in the midst of changing shoes.

"Oh dear, I hope Ushio-san hasn't found him. I heard from Kiko that half the wrestling team was looking for him after school."

Glistening black eyes blinked in rapid succession as Izumi gaped at her friend.

"Oh… Right."

"How could you forget something like that?" Yukari demanded. "You need to go look for him."

"Found him," Kiko said as she burst in from the outside. She was still in her volleyball uniform and was breathing hard. "And you better get out here. Now." Her voice was more insistent with their hesitation.

A ring of students was gathered at the edge of the courtyard, noisy with raucous jeers mixed with unsupportive shouts for someone to do something. The girls were just three more students to merge with the ring, but the souring feeling within Izumi's belly gave her the power to burrow to the center. Just as she feared, the bare circle at the mass' center was occupied by a distraught looking Hiroto and a one hundred eighty-five centimeter mountain gorilla that could only have been Hanino Ushio. The hulking student cracked his knuckles as he regarded Hiroto in a way that Izumi equated as a bear wondering if something was good to eat.

"If you apologize now, Senpuu," he said with a sneer, "I just might not send you to the hospital."

"I don't really see what I need to apologize for, senpai," Hiroto answered, seeming to be deaf to Izumi as she called out to him. "I just reacted on instinct, you know?"

"What sort of excuse is that?" he demanded as a deep slash of a frown formed. "You attacked my friend Sawahata."

"A mistake."

"You're damn right."

"Look here now! Stop this!" Izumi protested as she tried to drag herself into the ring, fighting against Kiko and Yukari as they held her fast.

"What kind of man attacks another man from behind?" Ushio said with arms crossed beneath his chest. "It's disgraceful."

"I thought he was beating up on a little kid."

Ushio's eyes strained at their sockets as the older student's face contorted in rage.

"He's in the film club, you idiot! They were filming a scene and you attacked him out of nowhere. There were signs and everything set up. How could you miss that?"

Izumi's ceased her struggles at once as she and the entire gang of students fell dumbstruck.

"He…what?"

A cold breeze swept through.

Hiroto coughed into his fist.

"Well, perhaps after the cast comes off I could let him have a swing at me."

"No, this needs to be settled now," Ushio dropped into a deep fighting stance as he spoke, "And since Sawahata-kun's in no position to do it, you're stuck with me. Guess who's the better fighter."

"Crap." The word was uttered in accented English.

With that, the huge boy launched himself at Hiroto, his speed surprising for someone of his size.

Izumi stood frozen, unable to move. Within her mind, a voice shouted for her to run to Hiroto-kun's help, to throw her cell phone at Ushio, for her to do something. It had always been like this, freezing up whenever something dangerous happened. Tears sprung to her eyes as, once again, she could do nothing to protect her friend.

The punch flew at a speed so great that, in Izumi's mind, it should have triggered a sonic boom. She stared with glistening eyes as doom flew towards Hiroto's head, and gaped with fish-like eyes as doom was side stepped.

Ushio froze with obvious surprise. A gasp rose from the crowd. Hiroto looked as if he was amazed to still be alive- but what was that light about him?

"Stop grinning, you lucky twerp," Ushio said, his face boiling with rage. The crack of his knuckles seemed to carry even greater menace than before. "First you mock Sawahata-kun, and now you mock the Hanino School of Martial Arts? Of whom I am the illustrious heir?"

"The heir of what now?"

Hiroto had no more time for quips as a raging leg swept up over his head. At once, this same leg came down in a mighty stomp, with a fist in accompaniment. The crack of flesh-upon-flesh echoed over the silent crowd. Ushio's expression dissolved as he reeled backwards and dropped to his knees. He gasped and hacked as he held his dish-sized hand to his solar plexus. Hiroto stared at his fist in wonderment, his face as astonished as the others.

A poke to her ribs knocked Izumi out of her stupor as Kiko's voice whispered in her ear.

"And as the brave heroine gazed upon her triumphant champion, she felt her breast swell with pride."

"Indeed," said Yukari, joining in from the other side. The dreamy smiles that the girls wore grew in proportion to the redness of Izumi's face. "Her eyes glistened in the setting sun, starry eyed and full of love and awe."

She ignored them. She was already breaking away from the crowd, moving towards Hiroto. His puzzled expression morphed into a crooked grin at her approach.

"Stars were in her eyes as she rushed to embrace her hero," Yukari said as she clasped her hands against her cheek. "He turned to her, smiled his warm, loving smile.

"She opened her arms wide to embrace him," Kiko's voice trembled with anticipation, "Threw herself upon him, and…,"

"Slacker-baka!"

"…slugs him in the face. Wow, that doesn't make for a very nice ending."

"What was…why did you do that, Izumi-chan?" Hiroto shouted while nursing his jaw.

"For keeping more secrets from me, of course," she said with typical candor, puffing her cheeks as she did so. "Don't expect anyone to believe that was a lucky hit. Since when have you studied martial arts?"

"Is this really a good place to discuss this?"

"It's not a bad place to discuss it," was the retort.

"I disagree, Izumi-chan," he said as he thrust out his palm and caught her in the chest. Indignity and anger colored her face as she stumbled back, but just until the boulder fist whistled by where her head had been. With her mouth wide, she watched as the fight raged on. Once, twice, three times Ushio hurled his fists, each blow powerful enough to stun a stampeding bull. An ordinary step backwards negated the first blow, a twist of the head defeated the second. He pivoted in time with the final assault, twisting so that the great fist slid just over his shoulder. Hands of surprising strength latched on at once and pulled. Ushio had time for a single surprised yell as he flew over Hiroto's shoulder and slammed into the ground so that the very air seemed to vibrate with the force of the impact.

The spectators gaped with disbelieving eyes, lost in utter stupefaction. Even Kiko and Izumi seemed at an utter loss for words. She started back to herself as the triumph of the moment was shattered by the shouts of angry adults.

"What's going on here? What do you kids think you're doing?" came the usual demands as a herd of teachers came stampeding across the courtyard. Izumi felt her stomach sink down into her abdomen as she spotted her aunt at the head of the charge. A sharp tug pulled on her arm.

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here."

She raised not a single word of protest as Hiroto tore through the crowd trailing her behind. Fighting was a serious offence, and she had made the move to personally involve herself. It would do no good to be caught at the scene of the crime. And at any rate she was still more than a little dazed at the spectacle of her childhood friend kicking ass.

"Aunt Mai-sama's behind—," she began to say, hoping to encourage him along. The name had scarce passed her lips when Hiroto's rapid pace broke out into a full powered sprint. Her words elongated into a high scream as they barreled out the gate and down the street, her shrieks dissipating into the dumbfounded silence.

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"That's our Hiroto, careless as ever," the auburn woman said with from her rooftop perch, her coy giggle as seductive as her accented voice. "It's so funny how little people change, eh Adolphus?"

"More sad than funny, Anya," the blond man at her shoulder replied, crushing out a cigarette with the same ire as his voice. "How can anyone be so unobservant?"

"Maybe, but the seals around her are still holding. Perhaps that's why he doesn't seem to notice?" The binoculars, large and unwieldy in her slim fingers, rose to follow the progress of the hasty flight of the high schoolers. "But my, if she isn't powerful."

"She should be, if half the stories are true."

"True," the woman kicked her dangling legs over the side like a child as she continued her observation. Full, sensuous lips widened in delight."But I think we both know who your real concern for is, Love. He has gotten stronger."

She could his shivering from behind and knew it was not from the cold.

"Not strong enough, mein schatzi. We'll crush him readily enough."

"And the girl?"

Her smile widened all the more with her lover's insidious chuckle.

"Once we have her, the world will be changed."