A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I'll try not to disappoint. So without further ado, here's chapter two! (Haha, that rhymed!) /dorkiness.

xXx

Two

xXx

Mr. Tokoya was a plain man with a penchant for gray suits, gray ties, and black shoes, and his voice seemed to directly convey his appearance. It was dull, heavy, and had the peculiar trait of lingering in the air like city smog. Tai liked to say that listening to his lectures was pure torture, but, since he slept through most classes, he really wouldn't know.

The class was surprisingly quiet when Mr. Tokoya entered, and as he walked to his desk at the front of the room, he eyed the line of science projects turned in at a back table through his thick glasses.

"I'm glad you all have set a good impression for our new student," he said tonelessly, setting a briefcase down on his desk before gesturing to the aforementioned pupil. "Class, this is Miss Hana Kurosawa."

His class nodded in unison at the girl standing solo before them all, to which the girl replied with her own short, embarrassed bow, the white headband she as wearing slipping a bit. She looked nervously down at her exposed, sore knees.

Mr. Tokoya peered at his class for a few moments, as if counting each head in silent attendance.

"Hmm… Kurosawa. Kurosawa," he mused to himself as he examined his classroom. "From Mr. Kamiya onward," he announced, "move into the seat ahead of you."

After a bit of scurrying and scooting of chairs, a new seat was available that would place the new student in her alphabetically correct order in the class.

"Take your seat, Miss Kurosawa," he ordered.

With a bob of the head, Hana made way to her spot, sitting behind the same big-haired oaf that tripped her and next to his blond accomplice. She wondered if she would even be able to see the board since there seemed to be a giant hairball in the way. After some closer observations, she noticed that he who sat in front of her was tapping his fingers rapidly on his desk top.

"As you all know," said Mr. Tokoya, beginning class, "your projects were due today. I am happy to see the many turned in at the back of the room. Unless no one volunteers to go first, I will select the first presenter."

Tai prayed that someone would raise a hand. Usually, once someone willingly volunteered, others kept the tradition up and before he knew it, the class period would be up, not everyone would have presented, and he'd have another day to convince Mr. Tokoya not to fail him.

"No volunteers?" said Mr. Tokoya.

Tai felt heart plummet into his stomach.

"Very well. We'll continue on to the lottery."

Each student had a number assigned to him or herself, which corresponded to a numbered popsicle stick in a can. Mr. Tokoya reached to pick a number. Tai's fist clenched.

"Sixteen," he read aloud. He looked at his class and counted seats, and his eyes set on Hana.

"Ah. Miss Kurosawa."

Hana looked up, green eyes wide, only to witness one of Mr. Tokoya's rare and unnerving smiles. "Ah, you don't have a project as you've just arrived." He put the number back in the can. "Mr. Kamiya, then, will you please come up and present your project?"

At his name, Tai started as if just shocked with a taser.

"My project?" he said stupidly.

The corners of Mr. Tokoya's hard mouth dipped significantly southward.

"…Yes," he said, "your project. Mr. Kamiya, you do have your project with you? Otherwise, you'd have a failing grade in this class." Tai smiled nervously, not realizing that his face was almost as red as a tomato.

"O-Of course I have a project, Mr. Tokoya! It's just…" His voice dwindled. "…at home."

A wave of giggles swept through the room and Tai shrank into his seat. "Mr. Kamiya, you've never been one to avoid going up first. Don't use the excuse now."

"I… I'm not…lying." He felt like he had a toad in his throat and had to speak through tight lips. "I don't have my project."

Mr. Tokoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his sharp nose, staring down the student who had the nerve to come to class severely unprepared.

"Thank you for telling us, Mr. Kamiya," said Mr. Tokoya mockingly. "Perhaps I'll see you in my class next year, or maybe summer school?" Another storm of chuckles waved into the room and Tai could do nothing but put his head down in shame, allowing Hana to finally get a clear view of the chalkboard.

The next person summoned walked miserably up, project in hand, and for the next hour, various science projects—the culminations of what were supposed to be weeks of thorough research and hard work—were presented to the class. Matt could not help looking to his left at the new girl, whom he was certain was the student he would have to chaperone for the rest of the day.

"Mr. Ishida," came Mr. Tokoya's tiring voice. Matt turned promptly. Perhaps he had stared too long. "Pay attention. This may be the last presenter of our class today, but that is by no means an excuse for being inattentive. You present first thing tomorrow morning." With a soft snort, Matt faced forward in his seat to watch the student who did a project on the sense of smell and had made a giant model of the human nose. His ear twitched when he heard a small snicker, and he glanced at Hana, who sat looking over Tai's lowered head smiling.

When the bell rang, students rushed out of Mr. Tokoya's classroom, nearly stumbling over each other as they made for the exit. Matt, however, lingered, hoping to have a word with Miss Kurosawa before she finished gathering her books. Meanwhile, Tai had already sprinted out of the room into the hallway when he realized that Matt was not with him. With a grunt, he turned back and caught Matt and the new student conversing.

"What's the hold up, Matt?" he said. "We have to get to Lit."

"One sec, Tai. I have to show Hana where her math class is."

"Who?"

"Hana." He pointed to the girl standing beside him. Hana, smiling thinly, gave Tai a limp wave.

"Oh." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Have we… met?"

"No, not personally," said Hana. "Though you did help my knees meet the cold floor."

With his lack of sleep, it took Tai an awkward few seconds to finally understand what she meant. He smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that."

"Okay," said Matt, stepping in. "We've got to get to class. Hana, follow me."

After showing Hana to her math room, Matt and Tai headed for their own class, Literature, and made it just in time for the late bell to ring.

Unlike Mr. Tokoya's class, Literature with Miss Eda was much more lax, and students were free to choose where they wanted to sit. Matt took his usual spot next to Sora, subtly touching the back of her hand in passing. Tai took a seat behind the pair.

"Talk about cutting it close," greeted Sora. She pulled out a textbook of Shakespeare's plays. "What made you guys almost late? I was beginning to wonder."

"Matt's showing a new girl around the school, so we had to show her where her next class was," Tai answered.

"For your schedule change, right?" asked Sora, turning to Matt.

"Hey, it beats having a bad schedule for next semester. Besides, don't you want me in your chemistry class?" He winked and Sora blushed with a laugh.

"What's her name?" she questioned when she had regained composure. "Maybe I'll have a class with her."

"Hana…" Matt paused. "I don't remember her last name."

"And you think I have the memory problem," remarked Tai.

"Hey! At least I didn't forget my science project."

"Shut up."

Sora took command of the conversation before the bickering continued.

"Calm down, guys," she said. "Tomorrow's Friday. Try to be happy."

"Oh, but it's already bad for me," Tai complained. "I just hope it doesn't get any worse."

xXx

By the time lunch had arrived, Hana Kurosawa had a headache and she fussed over the purpling splotches on her knees. Her classes were tolerable, the students were accepting, and the teachers were helpful, but moving was new to her and despite the kindnesses she received, she still felt quite out of place. School in Japan was rather different from where she used to live, and she had to constantly remind herself to bow. At least she had a student guide to help with her transition. As promised, Matt had always caught up with her after each class to show her where her next one was. The class before lunch, he had said that he would introduce her to his friends, just so that she wouldn't have to do something awkward on her first day, like eat in the bathroom. He led her to the cafeteria where he guided her through the throng of students, pointing out the various cliques in existence, before eventually bringing her to their destination.

Sora and Izzy were already at the table, their heads turning when Matt and the new student arrived.

"Hey, Matt," Izzy greeted. He spoke to him but was looking at the unknown face of his charge.

"Hey, guys. This is Hana. She's new. Hana, this is Sora Takenouchi, and this is Koushiro Izumi. We all call him Izzy, though. They're good friends of mine." After pointing out who was who, Matt took a seat next to Sora, who handed him a tray of food. He accepted it with his usual grateful smile and knew Sora had received the message when he felt her foot bump into his under the lunch table.

"Here, Hana, you can sit next to me." Sora gestured to a spot next to her. "How are you finding your first day?"

Hana took the seat gratefully and from her backpack pulled out a small bento box and a pair of chopsticks.

"It's been fine," she said. "It'll take some getting used to, but nothing too bad has happened. I'm thankful that I've had Matt to help me ease into school life here."

"Well, he's a dependable guy, especially if it means getting out of a math class," Sora teased. "How's the rest of your day looking?"

Hana pulled her schedule out of her notebook and passed it over to Sora, who shortly thereafter commented that she shared the same gym period with the newest addition to their lunch table.

"Oh, what a relief!" exclaimed Hana. "I was dreading going to gym."

"Well," said Sora, "now you don't have to dread it alone. Though, I have to tell you, it's one of my favorite subjects."

The girls continued to chat away, Matt occasionally catching blips of their conversations about school cliques, extracurriculars, and why their school's uniform was green. He was currently half-eavesdropping on Hana telling Sora where she was from when Izzy captured his attention.

"Where's Tai?" he asked.

Matt arched an eyebrow.

"You mean he's not in the cafeteria? Maybe he's in the lunch line."

"If he were in the lunch line now, he'd never get food."

"Then wh—"

Izzy's questions were answered when Tai slogged up to the table, looking rather pathetic without a tray full of food. He plopped himself next to Izzy, resting his chin on the tabletop while his arms remained limp by his sides. He exhaled once, noisily, causing everyone at the table to pause and look at him.

"So…" he said, "anyone else having a bad day?"

"What's eating you?" asked Izzy.

"I just came from Mr. Tokoya's classroom to ask him if he'd let me turn in my project tomorrow. He won't accept it. He's going to fail me." Tai paused. "Well, that, and by the time I got here, the lunch line was closed. I'm starving."

"Want a cracker?" Izzy offered, tossing it towards Tai's face. It bounced off his nose before it dropped back to the table.

"Thanks, Izzy," Tai said, gobbling up the small biscuit.

"Maybe you can bribe him?" suggested Matt tentatively. It wasn't the best idea, but it was worth a try.

"With what?" Tai snapped. "My soul?"

"I don't think your soul is valuable enough to Mr. Tokoya," commented Izzy.

Tai snorted indecorously.

"Very funny."

"Well, what can you do, Tai?" said Matt.

"Look forward to summer school," he grumped.

Tai's foul mood accompanied him throughout the rest of the day, pervading his demeanor and thoughts from the end of the lunch hour and through every class thereafter. Physical education proved especially frustrating for the young Mr. Kamiya, who, on an empty stomach, had to endure a mile run, intense rounds of push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups before the period ended. Their gym unit for the week just had to be body-building. He felt like vomiting by the time their stout gym teacher released them to the locker rooms, and he rushed toward the spot where he had dumped his school uniform so that he could wash-up, get dressed, and get to the vending machine in a nearby hallway for some desperately needed sugar. Only, once he got to the place where he had dropped his uniform, Tai looked down with a furrowed brow at the spot where he had placed his clothes. They weren't there.

Matt, who shared the class with him, walked by, remarking on Tai's pinched visage.

"Have you seen my uniform?" Tai asked.

"Beats me," said Matt, heading toward the showers. "This isn't your bedroom, Tai. Maybe you shouldn't leave your uniform lying around and use the lockers like a smart person."

"Ha, ha," Tai scoffed, his arms now crossed over his chest. "Says the guy whose apartment smells like stinky socks."

Matt shrugged.

"Check the lost-and-found."

While Matt and the other boys went off to rub the sweat off their skin, Tai continued searching for his missing clothes. He wondered what kind of idiot sees a school uniform on the ground and puts it somewhere else, or, more likely, how a pile of clothes could just get up and leave. After failing to find anything on his own, he decided to take Matt's advice and looked in the lost-and-found box by the gym teacher's office.

To his disgust, his clothes were right there, sitting at the top of the pile of lost goods.

"I'm going to kill you, Matt," mumbled Tai, "for being right all the time."

xXx

Tai managed to suffer through the rest of the school day without losing or forgetting anything else, and he was thankful for the last bell that freed him from the uniformed pageantry that was high school. He had gone to the locker rooms to change again for soccer practice and was on his way to the pitch when he passed by Mr. Tokoya's science room.

His steps came to a halt and he shifted his book bag to the other shoulder as he contemplated entering and begging the teacher to give him one more chance. He deserved to be given another opportunity, after all. It wasn't like he forgot his project on purpose. Accidents happen, and, for him, they just all happened to occur on the same day. His hands tightened into fists as he steeled his resolve.

He walked into the classroom.

"Mr. Tokoya," Tai began, speaking with purpose as he approached the teacher's desk, a daring finger pointed at the teacher in question. His courage came to a halt and he stopped midstride when he realized his instructor was speaking to someone else.

"Mr. Kamiya," addressed Mr. Tokoya, narrowing his eyes on his student and preventing Tai from becoming too surprised at the presence of a fellow pupil. "If you've come to talk about your absent project, I have a proposal for you."

Tai forgot to blink.

"Wait. You what? Hours ago you were content to let me fail, Mr. Tokoya."

"You don't want to hear what I have to say, then?"

"N-No!" Tai laughed cheaply. "I'll take anything you have to offer."

"Good."

Mr. Tokoya got up from his desk chair, a packet of papers in hand, which he gave to the student to whom he had formerly been speaking.

"I called Miss Kurosawa here because I realized that she, like you, though for other reasons, is also left without a science project, which makes up a considerable part of your overall grade. The trimester isn't over, yet. You have about four weeks to put a project together, and since you are short on time, you and Miss Kurosawa will work on this project together."

Tai balked, looking from Hana to Mr. Tokoya as if he was staring into the faces of his undertakers. His face reddened—not from embarrassment, but from anger.

"I did do my project, Mr. Tokoya," Tai asserted. "I can prove it. I can go home right now and bring it back here."

"This behavior does not become you, Mr. Kamiya," scolded Mr. Tokoya with a shake of his head. "You can choose to accept my proposition or not, though may I remind you that you are not exactly my star pupil and that any extra opportunity I give you should be taken with consideration?"

Flexing his clenched fist, Tai relented, bowing his head in respect.

"Yes, sir," he mumbled. Slowly, he turned to Hana, who had remained silent during the entire altercation. She smiled half-heartedly before turning her attention to their teacher.

"Thank you for the project guidelines, Mr. Tokoya," she said, lowering her head.

Mr. Tokoya waved both her and Tai off, obviously nauseated by their prolonged company.

"I expect a project proposal by the end of next week," he said in farewell, "in which you will detail your topic of research, any experiments that you plan on conducting, and references of sources that you believe may aid you."

"Yes, sir," the two said simultaneously.

They were dismissed, and Tai and Hana walked in awkward silence down the hallway, the latter a few steps ahead, seemingly in a hurry. A part of Tai wanted to say that Mr. Tokoya was being unfair—wrong, really—but he had enough sense to know when a battle was lost. He had, after all, confronted his stubborn teacher three times that day, and while two of those instances yielded nothing, the last at least gave him the opportunity to not only redo his project, but to probably do a better job on it. He had to take the situation for what it was. He was being given a second chance. It was better than a definite failure and its immediate effect: summer school.

He switched his gaze forward from his shoes and realized that his new project partner was apparently trying very hard to get away from him, which he could understand why. He forgot that she had been at the lunch table, that she had been in his science class, and had therefore witnessed him at his worst. He sniffed affectedly, realizing that because he had spent too long looking for his missing school uniform in gym, he hadn't gotten the chance to shower. He even smelled awful. No wonder she was trying to avoid him.

"I..." He spoke into the empty hallway, his voice creating a slight echo.

Hana turned, startled that he had spoken, and, since there was no one else in the hallway, spoken to her.

"I guess we should exchange information?" he finished.

Hana stayed put where she was, hesitating for a moment.

"That makes sense," she said at last, after seeing her future project partner begin to sweat around the temples. She approached him, stopping a foot away from his person and blushing when he instinctively took a step back. In her head, she chided herself for the faux pas. Personal spaces in Japan were different from those she was used to despite the country's crowdedness. She noticed the same thing with Matt when she had walked too closely alongside him while he directed her to her classes.

Tai pulled out his cell phone, attempting to speak to her while he opened up a 'New Contact' profile. In the silence that ensued, he felt the oddest compulsion to justify whatever behavior she had had the misfortune to see.

"I wasn't trying to, you know, be a jerk back there in Mr. Tokoya's room—or for the entire day, really. I've just been having a bad day. I don't normally march into my teachers' rooms pointing a finger at them or act like a melodramatic preteen girl. And I moved away from you because I kind of…" He coughed. "…well, stink."

Hana chuckled.

"These are the perks of being a new student…" Her mind went blank for a moment. "…uh, Tai, is it?"

He nodded.

"As a new student, you don't know anyone, so you can't judge them."

"I guess that's some luck added to my day," said Tai, unconvincingly. He finished pressing buttons on his phone. "What's your number?"

Hana bit into her bottom lip.

"Could we exchange email addresses instead?" she proposed. "I don't have a working cell phone right now, unless you want an international number and a huge phone bill."

Tai looked blankly down at the blinking cursor on his phone for the new contact page he had just made. His teeth clenched slightly. It sure would have helped him along if she had mentioned that before he had made the new entry.

"Sure…" He forced it out through his teeth.

They exchanged email addresses on torn slips of paper from Hana's notebook and ended their conversation with possible meeting days to get their project started.

"My dad and I are still settling in," said Hana. "So I'm not sure if any time during the rest of the week would work. But everything's still up in the air."

"That's fine," Tai replied. "I'm not in any huge rush to get this thing going, especially with my actual project still at home."

"Okay." Hana took a step backwards, preparing her departure. "Well, I've got something to go to, so we'll discuss this via email."

"Yeah, sure."

She stopped and thought for a minute before extending her hand to Tai, who looked down at it with raised eyebrows as if it were a tentacle.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Tai," she said. Bemused, he took her hand and limply shook it.

"Yeah, you too," he replied tentatively.

She let go and smiled.

"I hope the rest of your day isn't so bad."

He laughed.

"Yeah, well, you'll find out tomorrow."

She left, then, scurrying down the hallway while he turned the corner and went down another on his way to the soccer field, his step considerably lighter in stride.