Chapter 1

 Len bolted across the schoolyard, his hair flapping in the wind. As he huffed, he looked up at the sky, a beautiful blue and cloudless canvas. Even though he was late for school and his teacher would have his head, he couldn't help but smile. He loved the look of the vast blue sky in the springtime.

"Hey, Len!" A moppy, blue haired fellow walked past Len with his hand splayed out. Len gave him a high five as he ran past, "Late again?"

Len chuckled as he hurried towards the school entrance. "Yeah," he called, "See you at lunch, Kaito!"

Kaito didn't have class in the morning so he usually hung out by the school, greeting those who passed by. He was a close friend of Len's, and the two had met when they were both very young.

Len hurried past lockers and up to his classroom. He could hear the teacher lecturing inside. Swallowing slowly, he opened the door and stepped in.

"If it isn't Len," his teacher stopped writing on the board. The class looked at him silently, "Late again?"

That's exactly what Kaito said, Len thought. "Miss, I'm so sorry! My cat ran off with my pants again and I..."

"Enough, Len!" His teacher interrupted, "Now please, go sit down."

Some students chuckled as Len hurried over to his seat, which was next to a girl with longteal hair tied into pigtails. She was always munching raw leeks and somehow looked cute while doing it, too.

"Did you tell your cat to give you your pants back?" She smirked at Len.

He sighed as he pulled his notebook out of his bag. "I just put on another pair," he said, "Can I borrow the notes I missed, Miku?"

Miku nodded. She slid some sheets over to Len's side of the table. He began copying them down onto his own loose sheets.

At the front of the classroom, the teacher stopped writing and turned to face the class. She clapped her hands together. "Alright, everyone!" She said, "Who can tell me the formula for bicarbonate?"

"Hmm?" Len muttered, "That's the one with..."

His voice trailed off as a hand shot up from a few seats in front of him. "HCO3," the girl said, "With a charge of negative one."

The teacher smiled and nodded. "Excellent, Rin!" She said, and then wrote the formula on the board.

Len stared at the back of Rin's head. She had somewhat short blond hair with a large white bow tied in.

"Rin's really good at this stuff," Miku said to herself. Len frowned. He looked at the board and continued scribbling down the notes.

He had felt a spark in his heart when he had heard Rin's voice and seen the back of her head, and that spark would soon change the course of many his friends' and classmates' lives, but not without affecting him as well.

Meanwhile, Rin smiled to herself and subconsciously pushed a strand of flaxen hair behind her ear. Had she been loud enough? Was her voice clear?

Had her succinct and simple answer finally caught his attention?