A/N - Capcom owns Megaman Zero. Not me. Now, I hope you all enjoy, also a majority of the OCs belongs to me, except for Ringo, who's my friend's OC.

The trio enters the classroom as Iris places the pot on the table. Zero looks around the place and says, "Soo... you take care of the plants by yourself?"

"Yes. I do." Iris answered bluntly.

"Wow, that's very impressive." Zero told her with a nervous smile.

"Thank you." Iris said as she takes out her watering can and filled it with water in the sink.

"So, how do you know Passy?" Zero asked her.

"Dude!" Passy blurted out.

"Don't." Zero threatens her with a death glare.

Passy shivers a bit and doesn't say anything. Iris takes a deep breath, pauses for a moment and answers, "I met her through Ethan, a... ex-childhood friend of mine."

"Ex friend?" Zero asked her.

Iris pauses for a moment, and sighs; hesitating to tell him. However, she looks at him and says "We used to be friends back when we were kids, but when he starts acting irresponsibly by going to parties and sleeping around, he changed. There were glimpses of the old Ethan I knew where he, along with Al and Shawn, defended me from bullies. But then he starts doing it less and less, and one day... he has some nerve to confess to me."

"He confessed?" Zero asked her.

"Yes. He said he loved me, however I lost my love for him for awhile when he become like those jocks, so I rejected him." Iris told him.

Passy stays quiet and frowns a bit, finding the memory of Ethan a bit painful even if she is correct. Iris takes a deep breath and continues explaining, "He was super upset and start begging why, then I basically snapped at him and called him out on his horrible behaviour. Since then, we haven't talked at all and kept our distance with each other. Same with Al and Shawn. My only friend is Ringo now."

"Damn... I'm sorry to hear that..." Zero said with sympathy as he can't help but feel his 'heart' ache, though he doesn't understand why.

"When he died of a car crash, everyone point their fingers at me and said it's my fault that he died." Iris explained, "Heh. Honestly, it's stupid, but everyone wanted a scapegoat and they didn't want to blame on the victim, so they picked me because somehow, someone found out about me rejecting him."

"Yikes, I'm really sorry to hear that." Zero apologised to her.

"You don't need to apologise to me." Iris told him, "After all, you defended me back there. Normally, Ringo would defend me, but she wasn't there."

"I see. Well, if it makes you feel a bit better," Zero said, "I don't think it's your fault at all."

"... Thank you..." Iris smiled softly, "Sorry for judging you earlier like everyone. You just strongly resemble Ethan."

"Do I really look like him?" Zero asked her.

"Mmm... only the bangs, facial features and skin tone." Iris told him as she glances away, "Not just that, but some bits of your personality reminds me a bit of the old Ethan."

"I see." Zero said.

Passy looks at Zero's face and her eyes widen in shock as she notes, "Zack! Your eye!"

"Huh?" Zero asked as he touches his left cheek, where he notices tears coming out from his left eye, "What? Why?"

"H-Huh?" Iris looked at Zero and confused by why he is crying in one eye. "One of your eyes is crying."

"What?" Zero mumbled as he placed his hand on his left cheek and notices the wetness. "Why? Why is my left eye crying?"

"That... is so weird." Passy commented in a genuinely shock tone, ("Is it Ethan's subconsciousness? No! That would be crazy... right?")

Zero wipes off the tears and shakes his head. He rubs the back of his head with a sheepish smile and says, "Sorry for that. I have no idea what happened."

"I see. It's confusing," Iris admitted, "But we don't have that answer right now."

Iris starts watering the plants and Zero simply watches her work. He bites his lips awkwardly and randomly asks, "So... ahem... how's life? Well, not school life. Home life, I mean."

"Oh! Well, my home life is good." Iris answered with a warm smile, then asks, "Why ask?"

"Well, just curious." Zero answered honestly.

"Well, I wouldn't mind answering." Iris admitted, "I live with my parents and older brother. Well, he's not my actual brother - he's a reploid, but my father is a scientist and he found my brother in a bad condition, so he repairs him and the rest was history."

"Interesting." Zero admitted as he looks around and decides to sit on a table while Passy keeps quiet and just listening in the conversation, "What's your brother like?"

"He's overprotective as hell." Iris admitted bluntly, "Seriously? Unlike my parents who are mostly chill. My brother is the strict one in my family and constantly worries over me. Heck, he's the type of guy who would scare away any guys near me with a AK-47 or his beam sword. Either one is good enough for him."

Zero and Passy bursts out laughing. Iris starts laughing and smiling as well where she felt she haven't laughed this hard for awhile.

"Ah... that's a good laugh." Iris said happily. "I haven't had a laugh for a long time."

"Really? That's pretty sad, honestly." Zero admitted.

"Dude! You don't just randomly say that to a girl!" Passy told him off.

"Huh? But it's true, isn't it?" Zero replied.

"That isn't the point!" Passy lectured him.

"Heh. It's fine, I mean, Zack isn't exactly wrong." Iris admitted. "I guess it's because I only had one true friend. Sure, there were others, but I'm not super close to them like I am with Ringo."

"I see." Zero admitted. "Sorry to hear that."

"N-No. It's fine. No worries." Iris ensured him.

During the conversation, Iris finishes watering the plants and puts away the watering can. She turns to Zero and asks, "You hungry?"

"Ahem... not really, honestly..." Zero answered.

"Really? For me, I'm starving!" Iris said in a unusually cheerful tone.

"Heh." Passy chuckled a bit and whispers, "I guess she warms up to you quickly."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Zero asked her.

"You'll understand when you're older." Passy joked with a smug smirk.

Zero just pauses as he just looks at her with a baffled expression and thinks, ("Bitch! I'm literally over 100 years old!")

"You two okay?" Iris asked them, which catches their attention.

"Oh! Don't mind us, we're fine." Passy ensured her.

"Y-Yeah. We're fine." Zero stuttered a bit.

"Okay. If you two say so." Iris said, "I gotta meet up with Ringo now. I bet she's waiting for me at the cafeteria. Let's go you two."

"Yeah." Zero nodded, ("Hopefully, Ringo isn't gonna try to kill me, then again. Considering I did earn a bit of Iris' trust, hopefully I'll be fine... hopefully. Oh! That reminds me!") "Hey Iris. What's your brother's name by the way?"

"Oh. He goes by the name Colonel." Iris answered him, which his face turns pale.

"C-Colonel?!" Zero blurted out.

"Eh? You know him?" Iris asked in shock.

"Oh! Ahem... well..." Zero started to stutter, ("Fuck! I blew my cover!")

"Well! Remember, he's adopted by Detective Knight, and I'm sure you know about those two conflict a lot." Passy covered up for him.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Iris realised. "That makes a lot of sense."

"Y-Yes!" Zero panicked a bit as he internally screaming and remembering him.

(Flashback)

"Okay... but... where are we going?" Zero asked them, "And who are you people? Wha-What's going to happen to me? Who am I? What's-"

"Quit it, your brat!" Colonel yelled at him out annoyance, "I don't care about your amnesia, and your constant questioning is starting to annoy me!"

(Later)

"I'll do it," Zero offered as he walks up to Colonel, who glares at him with a clenched up jaw, "Geez... what's your problem?"

"What?" Colonel asked him harshly.

"You heard me," Zero told him coldly, "I'm trying to help you and you're giving me the cold shoulder for no reason!"

(Flashback ends)

("Oh boy... the guy who hates me for no reason.") Zero thought as he takes a deep sigh, ("Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to end well?")

"Zack, are you coming?" Iris asked him with a small tilt head of confusion.

"Oh! Sorry! Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Zero replied as she shakes his head and runs to her along with Passy. ("Hopefully, Colonel doesn't find out I'm buddies-buddies with Iris now... I really hope not.")

The trio goes downstairs as they head to the cafeteria for the foods.

A/N - Sorry it took two months to do this! I got pretty busy and it was pretty chaotic honestly. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and if you did, leave a comment and have a good day! Aqua out!