The following grades were no different than the others, but after school Shiniko would find a nice quiet place in the library to finish her remaining homework and study a little. After, she would go outside to have some alone time and do the things she enjoys.

One day, while she was reading under the tree, the bullies took this opportunity to bully her once again. They grabbed her book away and played "Keep Away" with it. Shiniko tried her best to get it back, but she was a little short. 

Then, out of nowhere a boy snatched the book back.

"Don't you know it's not nice to take things that aren't yours?" the mysterious boy taunted. 

"Who are you?!"

"Yeah! Who do you think you are?! Do you even go here?!" the bullies tried to scare him off. 

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. Now scram before things get ugly," He threatened with a death glare and sinister smirk.

"U-uh... we're sorry! Please don't hurt us!" the bullies runs away terrified.

"Finally, they left. Here's your book," the mysterious boy said as he returned the book.

"Thanks. You really don't go to our school do you?" Shiniko asked as she flipped back to the page she last off.

"Nope, I go to the other one near by, and the name's Karma, Karma Akabane. What's your name?"

"Nice to meet you, Akabane. Name's Shiniko."

"Nice to meet you too, Shiniko! Just call me Karma, 'kay?"

"Sure."

"So you always come here after school?"

"Yeah."

"Do you always get bullied?"

"...Yeah." Shiniko hesitated before giving her reply. 

"How long?"

"Why should I tell you?" She asked, sounding slightly annoyed at the amount of questions being thrown at her.

"Because I'm your friend so I need to know everything." Karma answered.

"That you don't need to know...yet."

"Ok... So can I always meet you here after school?"

"I don't care."

"Why are you so cold, Shiniko~?"

"Why can't I be cold."

"There's always a reason why people act cold towards others, so what's your reason?"

"I'll tell you, when I feel like I can trust you."

"Good enough for me!"

Shiniko made a new friend after years of isolation, but will it last, is the real question.

Everyday, Karma would go to the same tree to meet up with Shiniko. They would talk to each other, getting to know more about one another, but Shiniko didn't say much. It turns out that Karma was almost as smart as Shiniko, she was surprised when she found out, but as always, kept her straight face.

"I have to go now, see you tomorrow."

"I'll come with!"

"Whatever."

As they were walking, Karma realized that this was also his way home.

"You go this way too?"

"Yea, why?"

"Well, my house is in this direction to."

"Cool. Well see you tomorrow." Shiniko said as they stopped in front of her house 

"So this is your house?"

"Yup."

"It's big, but not as big as mine. My house is the one at the end of the street."

"Nice to know, see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, see ya!"

When Shiniko got inside, an irritated Gakushuu greeted her.

"Who was that with you." He demanded.

"That was just a friend." She answered calmly.

"Ok...Well I hope I can meet him someday."

"Yea...hehehe..."

Shiniko walked away backwards with her hands up while nervously chuckling.

When she got back to her room, she showered and changed into a white T-shirt with skulls on it and comfy black shorts. Then, she sat at her desk with her black headphones on with music blasted to her liking.

No one knew the 'real' Shiniko, except Gakushuu and Gakuhou, but they didn't mind. 

It was about time to have dinner, but Shiniko was too lazy to cook, so she asked Gakushuu to make her dinner.

"Shuu, can you make dinner?"

"Why can't you make it yourself, you're good at cooking."

"Cause I'm too lazy..."

"Fine... couch potato..."

"Heard that."

"...You were supposed to..."he said and sighed at the end.

"Foods done!"

"Bring it up."

Gakushuu just sighed and brought the food up to Shiniko's room on a tray. Shiniko thanked him and brought it to her table, then scarfed down the meal. Since Gakushuu made the meal for her, she brought the tray back down and washed everything.

"May be you're not as lazy as I thought~" Gakushuu teased. 

"Shuddup."

"You owe me one now, since I helped you 'n all."

"Yeah, yeah whatever you want...Night I'm gonna hit the hay."

"Night."

Shiniko went back upstairs to her room, but not to sleep, she was gonna stay up a little to finish a new anime she started. Before long, she had finished about half of the episodes and decided to sleep.

~Time Skip to summer~
~In the Morning~

The sun's rays shone through the curtains and onto Shiniko's face, she felt the rays burning her eyelids and woke up. 

It was a school day so she didn't really have a choice. She got ready and went to the kitchen, there was already food on the table.

"Uncle must have had extra time this morning," Shiniko thought. She was almost finished eating breakfast, until Gakushuu came down.

"Mornin' Shuu."

"Morning."

It was silent the whole morning until they got to school. The others, the top five, were outside waiting for them, and of course there were whispers and a few frowns when Shiniko arrived with Gakushuu.

Classes were the same, breaks and lunches were the same and after school was the same. 

Everything was the same until summer break, but Shiniko did open up a lot more to Karma. He knew almost everything about her, except her past and family.

On the last day of school, Shiniko stayed after school longer than usual because the sun was out longer. 

Gakuhou was at home for once after school though. 

"Asano, where is Shiniko, I need to talk to her."

"She's probably still at school."

"Why?"

"Everyday after school, she sits under the same tree to have some alone time with her friend."

"When will she return?"

"Who knows."

As time passed it became dark, so Shiniko and Karma both headed home. When Shiniko got home, she was surprised to see Gakuhou at home for once.

"Hey Uncle!"

"Welcome back, Shiniko. I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Would you like to study abroad in America for a year?"

"R-really?!"

"Really."

"Of course!"

"Glad to hear. You're going to be leaving next month, so you can adjust to your new surroundings."

"Sure."

Shiniko was as happy as ever once she knew she was going to study abroad in America. It was going to her new start. A reset to her current school life. 

"Shuu guess what!"

"What."

"I'm going to study abroad in America!"

"Nice...Wait what!" The news totally caught Gakushuu off guard.

"You heard me, I'm going to America."

"When?"

"Next month!"

"Wow, that's not far from now, we should make your last month a great one before you leave."

Shiniko was as happy as ever, smiling and dancing around like an idiot. Then, she remembered that she needed to tell Karma too, 'cause they promised to go to the tree everyday to hang out, but decided to tell him tomorrow.

Since Gakuhou was home early, he decided to make dinner that evening as a thank you for all the times they cooked.

After dinner, Shiniko showered and changed back into yesterdays clothes, why? Because it was hot out, they're still clean, and they were comfy.

Since it was summer break, Shiniko was determined to pull an all nighter, but she couldn't do it, and ended up falling asleep at around 3am in the morning.

When she woke up it was already 9:45am, she mentally cursed, because if she said it out loud Gakuhou and Gakushuu might hear or it could wake them up, and she was late to meet up with Karma. 

She quietly made her way to her bathroom with a change of clothes and got ready as fast, and as quiet as possible.

She wore a loose, black tank top with leggings and tied a flannel around her waist. She wore black sneakers. As for her hair, it was was tied into a simple pony tail. She also took her sunglasses. With that, she completed her outfit.

Before sneaking out, she wrote a quick, concise note and left it on her desk. Then, she went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. She didn't bother to eat it at home, so she took it with her and ate it on her way there.

By the time she arrived, Karma was already under the tree, sleeping. Shiniko decided to sneak up on him. She crouched down beside him and screamed as loud as she could. Karma jumped up and looked around hazily, just to see Shiniko laughing her head off.

"Oh it's just you..." Karma said drowsily.

"Yup!"

"Why did you scare me?"

"Cause you looked too peaceful," Shiniko answered with a smug look upon her face.

"Oh well, what should we do?"

"Dunno."

The two of them had nothing to do, so they walked around the school talking to each other. When they got tired, they went on the swings and had a competition to see who can swing higher. Both of them tied. 

After a while, Shiniko got hungry and her stomach growled.

"Hungry much." Karma commented.

"Mhmmm..."

"There's a good café near by, wanna go?"

"Yes please...I'm starving..."

"Let's go!"

After ordering their food, Shiniko told Karma that she was gonna go to America next month.

"Lucky, but that means I'm not gonna be able to see you for a year..." Karma said sadly.

"Yeah, I know, but we can always text each other, right?"

"True... Oh well, might as well make the time you're here an unforgettable one..."

"Yeah! Oh, by the way, do you want to go to the new amusement park that opened up?"

"Sure."

"I'm going to invite my brother too."

"Sure, the more the merrier."

"Oh! And which junior high are you planning to go to?"

"I'm thinking Kunugigaoka..."

"Cool... Wait! Do you mean the Kunugigaoka Junior High!"

"Yeah...Why?"

"My uncle is the principle."

"Isn't that nice..." 

After finishing their meals, they walked around town for a little while. Shiniko saw a great sale for snacks in bulk and being the food lover she is, she had to buy it. She didn't know how her folks at home were going to react, so she asked a favor.

"Karma, can I keep this at your house for the time being?"

"Why?"

" 'Cause I don't want my uncle and brother to see."

"Makes sense, but you have to share with me~"

"Sure, but you can't eat them all or hide any!"

"You can trust me, I swear!"

"I know, I trust you... a little."

"Well a little is better than none."

"Can we take this to your house now, its heavy~"

"Sure."

After a while, they had reached Karma's house, they went inside to cool down for a bit.

"Wow! Your house looks even bigger from the inside!"

"Thanks. Want anything to drink?"

"Ya got any orange soda that's been chilling in your fridge?"

"Sure do! Here!"

He tossed the drink and Shiniko caught it with ease.

"Thanks."

Shiniko stayed at Karma's house until sunset, that's when she realized that it got dark. She said goodbye and left, she couldn't wait until tomorrow.
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