His eyes blurred slightly as he read the time. 

3: 12 am.

Kai rubbed his eyes for the nth time since evening. After turning in all his online business courses' assignments that had been due since the time he was shot, he had busied himself with searching a new space for himself. Of course, the elder Granger had been extremely helpful, providing him with a shelter when he was in a desparate need of it, and fairly, Tyson hadn't really been much of an annoyance since. But Kai didn't plan to overstay their hospitality.   

He had been sending subtle signs to his grandfather that he planned to stay in Japan, and not just for three months. He was quite sure that they would notice the large sum of money disappearing from his account, especially when they knew that he made it a point to sparingly use it. 

And the tiny outhouse he had rented for the last two months weren't going to be enough. Hence, that was how he found himself awake until three on the very first day of highschool. He begrudgingly shut his laptop down, for he had finally found himself a few flats that might suit his needs. He needed at least a few hours of sleep to function tomorrow.

******

Ray had left the floral studio way more early than was really needed. He had really wanted to avoid Aunt Rosa's questioning gaze. Having arrived nearly an hour early, he had had a lot of time to explore the school. He went from corridor to corridor, floor to floor, learning the location of the indoor sports section, outdoor sports section, the library, the laboratory, and everything else the school had to offer.

The teal coloured house uniform along with the navy blue school blazer looked quite out of place on him. His limbs also felt quite restricted as he wasn't used to wearing such fitting formal clothes. His hair was still tied in a long white ribbon, which still attracted many pairs of curious eyes.

As he stood outside the classroom, waiting for his teacher to call out for him, Ray felt plenty nervous. Well, one might find it questioning as he found himself very much at ease with thousands of people watching him bey-battle at a stadium. 

But there's the thing, Ray was highly confident about his bey-blading skills, to at least put up a good show if not winning them all the time. But this was a completely different issue. He was smart, but his schooling had been pretty much basic and easier than what was offered here. He had to really, really hard to graduate with flying colours.

Ray was grateful for the smartphone in his hands for keeping his nerves in check and make him look busy as he randomly swiped left and right. He wondered where Kai was. It was five minutes past nine. Kai was never late and he was quite sure that Kai wouldn't even bother attending the orientation program, since it wasn't compulsory for sophomores. He had been counting on sharing the stage space with Kai when the teacher introduced them to the class, hoping it would be less awkward then.

The door opened as Miss Stacey called him in. A loud round of applause started as soon as he entered. She flashed him the tiniest of smile as she stared introducing him. He just felt more worried about not having done anything to earn that applause. His eyes swept through the room, not knowing what to do with his hands with so many expectant eyes looking up at him. He waved his hand with a bit of awkwardness as he caught a pair of amused eyes trained on him. "And I would like..."

Kai was already seated at the far corner of the room, near a large window. Luckily, he had been placed in the grey house itself, his uniform not terribly deviating from the colours he usually wore. With his hair just bordering between tame and casual, he looked like the epitome of grace of a highschool student.

Ray felt quite nerd-ish with both the straps of his bag on his shoulder blades and an assortment of books in his hands apart from his heavy book bag since he didn't want to miss bringing any of the books on his very first day. As he claimed that bench just before Kai after what felt to be a embarrassingly long introduction, Ray couldn't help but through a loathsome glance at this teammate, for it wouldn't have hurt him if he had informed him earlier that there was a choise to skip the introduction.

All he received was a much more amused smirk. Ray sighed softly, there goes his first impression, he thought as he observed the dried leaves floating through the air.

******

Ray felt relieved as the first bell finally rung, indicating their first break. He had had Mathematics, English and Civics for their morning classes. English and social had been fine, but he had found it extremely hard to keep up with mathematics. He was going to need a lot of practice and his head hurt just by thinking about it.

He turned back to talk to Kai as the class dispersed around him, forming groups to chat, but just his luck, Kai had vanished. As usual, he thought sighing.

The first person to approach him was a girl, who introduced herself to be Isa Vincent. At first glance, she seemed to a casual observer to be a rather normal sixteen-year-old. Nothing in particular about her physical appearance was striking. Her facial features were smooth, rounded, and unassuming.

But having grown in the tiger hills all his life, Ray's observational skills were sharp. In subtle ways, however, she looked a bit unusual than the other girls in his class. She was lean, but not in the way most girls were these days. The way she held herself, casually plucked a chair from a desk in front of him, she had an air of confidence about herself. Her hair was way shorter than most girls, a wavy jumble coming just below her ears. They were also of a lighter shade, getting a coppery red shade whenever it hit the sunlight. And though it was barely noticeable, she had an accent that was not of this region.

"Nice to meet you", he said, bringing his hands forward for a handshake. It was firm, yet warm. They casually started talking about their classes and other general topics. She gave Ray an update on what information he had missed upon by skipping the orientation.

The students at Tokyo West were divided into four houses based on their personal information form that had been submitted along with their admission forms.

The Grey house was named after the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena. The Teal house was named after the God of Strength, Kratos. The golden house was named after the God of Sun, Music and healing, Apollo. Lastly, the Maroon house was named after the Goddess of War, Bellona. Isa and he were of the same house, much to both of their delights.

She also informed him about signing up for any three clubs from twenty or so clubs available. It was mandatory to choose at least one athletic-oriented club.

There were totally nine athletic-oriented clubs namely, beyblading, baseball, athletics, basketball, soccer, table-tennis, tennis, swimming and boxing. The non-athletic oriented clubs were drama, photography, music-instrumental, book-reviewing, music-vocal, arts, animation, journalism, foreign language and amnesty international. They were assigned to attend each club alternately two days a week. These club activities were scheduled for one and a half hour after lunch everyday.

Tokyo West International School was one of the best high schools Tokyo could offer. The biggest advantage here was that a person could easily get into the school through a sports scholarship. Almost twenty percent of the student population got their admission here through sports scholarships while another twenty percentage of the student population exceled at one extracurricular activity or the other. The rest of the students were bound be highly intelligent as the entrance exams here were supposedly one of the toughest in the entire city.

Isa was a wonderful talker, and Ray listened with rapt attention. He was the best listener Isa could have found. And just like that, they had just clicked together. Within a short time of ten minutes, Ray felt more knowledgeable about the school that most teachers. She didn't bring up any topic related to the last few months, be it their team winning the championship the second time or about the disastrous talk show that followed it.

 It was only after the closure bell rung did they wind up their discuss hastily. They planned on continuing their talk during their lunch break. Ray momentarily turned back to check on Kai as the next teacher entered their class, only to find him already seated in his place, the books needed for the class already open on his table. But Kai himself refused to make an eye contact with him, much to Ray's annoyance.

******

According to Tyson, the highlight of the entire orientation program came up at the very end, when the class lists were read. Hillary was not in his class, and he wasn't sure what to think of it. It really was hard for him to just let go of her like the others suggested. But much to his happiness, both Max and Kenney were in his class. He had almost hooted out in joy and made a scence of himself if not for Max pinching his arm just in time, as though he had read his mind. Kenny caught up with him and the three of them made it to their classes just as the short break bell rung in closure. The process of signing autographs and clicking pictures with him continued until their social teacher came in. 

After that, he really tried paying attention during the class, making notes whenever needed. He had promised his brother that he wouldn't abandon his studies like he had done in the last two years. "Education will be your only asset that will be yours forever", his brother had reminded him again and again, pointedly ignoring his beyblading achievements in the past two years. And though he had not seen his brother since he moved back to Tokyo with his grandpa, he wanted to make him proud of him.

Tyson miraculously managed not to sleep in English literature class. Yet, he found himself to be seriously reconsidering his promises during mathematics class. Making his brother proud or not, if he didn't get this answer right, he was done with the subject. He had already broken two pen nibs after applying too much pressure on it in frustration. Thankfully, the fateful day when he chose to abandon mathematics didn't seem to be today, as the lunch break bell rung before. His teacher assigned the problem for homework. He was the first one to forcefully slam his book shut and was out of the class as soon as the teacher went out.

Tyson was painfully hungry and only half answered the questions he was being asked by his classmates. As soon as Max and Kenny emerged out of the crowd, he practically grabbed them as dragged them to the cafeteria. 

The cafeteria was sparsely populated. Within minutes, Tyson was midway through his second helping, answering with a hmm and hmmm as he listened to Max's and Kenny's take on their first days. And within ten minutes since lunch break started, Tyson was done with his lunch. Max and Kenny could only stare at him in amazement. "At least he didn't embarrass himself in front of a lot of people." Max said, always the one trying to find a silver lining in the most ludicrous things. Kenney could only nod in assent. 

But Tyson liked eating almost as much as bey-blading. It helped him take his mind off his most immediate as well as long-term problems. Then, he could think of finding a solution with a calmer mind. Like, how the hell was he supposed to deal with mathematics this year? Was he really ready to give up on Hillary for her own safety? Which clubs should he be choosing this year? When should he be going to get his dragoon back from Hillary? And when was it the right time to tell his team about his 'dragoon in danger' problem?

His train of thought was cut short by Ray, who came in talking with another girl. Tyson called him over to join them. Ray introduced his new friend to them, "This is Isa Vincent, my newest friend and my personal Tokyo West tour guide." They all laughed at this before introducing themselves. They invited her to join them, but she politely refused as she wanted to sit with her own friends.

Soon after, Ray and Kai joined them with their plates. "Where's your plate? Aren't you hungry? Are you all right?" Kenny informed him about him completing his lunch early.

 Kai just rolled his eyes at him while Ray shook his head in disbelief. "But what will he do for the next fifty minutes?" Tyson smiled goofily, "Was there ever another option? Annoy you guys, of course!" He exclaimed, ruffling Max's and Kenny's hair, as they were the ones sitting next to him. They only swatted his arm away as they sighed, not bothering to waste their breath to convince him otherwise.

All throught the break, Tyson could feel a dozen eyes trained at them, following and discussing every move of theirs. He didn't let it bother him too much. He noticed that Ray pointedly ignored Mariah when she was searching for a place to sit. He thought of enquiring about it when they were alone. He then asked about Kai's health, for which Kai actually answered in words, astonishing Tyson and his friends alike. 

Ray seemed to be the only one who was annoyed by this development. "You don't speak to me the whole day, disappear on me, don't even look at me in the eye and then you speak to Tyson." He indignantly ranted. "Why Ray, we didn't know you were jealous." Max teased. "Just saying." muttered Ray, controlling himself. "You can have our grumpy captain all for yourself, Ray. I'll try to keep my distance from him from now on!" Tyson further assured him before bursting out laughing. Everyone at the table, including Kai, were laughing at Ray's expense by then. Kai disappeared on them as soon as he finished his lunch.

It was already halfway through the lunch hour when he finally saw Hillary as she entered the cafeteria with her new group of friends. They briefly shared an eye contact, where Hillary's smile slightly faltered. But Tyson turned away quickly. Seeing her arose a mixed bag of emotions in him , most of it negative . He abruptly bid his friends goodbye , citing that he needed some fresh air for himself and left the boys in peace, who didn't notice the sudden change in his mood , and were quite accustomed to his abrupt cravings.

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Words : 2517

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