The Transfer [Megumi & Safirone]

Late afternoon, Kizuna's dorms. A loud sigh could be heard from one room in particular inside the girls' section. "Finally, I'm done unpacking! Never noticed how much space my plushies actually took..." said the newest transfer student to herself, taking a look around her room. It wasn't anything special, but had enough room for all of Megumi's stuff. She glanced over to her alarm clock to check the time. "Wow, I did it quite quickly, too!" she thought as clock  was showing 17:32. "I could use some fresh air, so I guess I could go explore this place a bit..." the thought of an adventure in a new place made Megumi feel pumped.

As Megumi reached the ground floor, she was putting on her hoodie. Then immediately facepalmed. "Dammit, I forgot it's winter. How can one be so dull...?" she sighed, but didn't return. She was way too lazy for that. Megumi shrugged the failure off and entered the lounge, hoping to find some people to meet. There indeed were some, but didn't pay her much attention. Slightly dissapointed she walked over to the entrance door and looked outside. Sun was already long gone, leaving pitch black night behind it. The only lights in the dark were street lamps in distance and the dorm itself. Megumi wanted to go outside, but she knew it would be a too much of a temperature shock for her body, since she was used to sit indoors and she only had jeans and hoodie on. "No exploring outside the dorm for me tonight! But... When I think about it... Maybe it's better that way. Who knows who or what lurks behind the nearest dark corner..." with these thoughts Megumi turned away from the door.

Looking around the lounge, she spotted a person entering from a staircase opposite of the one she came from. "Boys' section of the dorm must be there. I heard that there was one more transfer student beside me arriving today... Could it be him? He looks even smaller than me!" Megumi was surprised to see somebody smaller than herself. Maybe she could strike a conversation with him...? She started walking towards him, saying: "Hello there! Perhaps you are the trasfer student?"

She was really hoping that he won't turn her down with a single stare, like people have done numerous times before. "Please, please, please, please... I could use a friend in this place!!"

Time was steadily proggressing towards the evening, yet it seemed that the chatter and other various loud sound effects weren't going anywhere, when the Kizuna Academy dorms were in question. Not that such a trivial thing would normally be of any importance, but right now it created quite a disturbing background noise for one certain person. And he was definitely far from pleased with having to unpack his stuff while being disturbed by guys loudly bantering about and stomping around right in front of his new room.

''People these days.....Kinda doubt they even know the definition of ''silence''.'' Kaihei muttered to himself while he was struggling to properly put some of his items on a higher shelf which was nothing new to him. Disatvantages aside, he still managed to finish pretty quickly and continued on with his futile attempts to block out the disturbingly irritating amounts of decibels going around. Eventually, even against his fairly solitary nature, he decided it'd be a better idea to go create some distance between himself and the boys's part of the dorms, before his urge to slam the door into a good amount of the residents' faces took over.

Grabbing his fur-laced coat just in case, he went off in the direction of the entrance, silently hoping he wouldn't really have to get himself into anything goofy. He just wanted to get through his first day without any big bangs and he wasn't asking for that much, right? ''It better be quieter down there, or else it'll mean that my life just sucks, period.'' he thought with an irritated sigh as he found his way into the shared parts of the dorms. But, guess what, someone had to notice him before he even completely got there.

To be honest, Kaihei didn't even know if he should be annoyed or amused at that point and so he just whipped his head around and stared at the girl in question that spoke up to him for a few moments. He wasn't exactly in the mood for a conversation, but then again, when was he? He wasn't stupid enough to try and make enemies right away, so he decided to be polite and answer, while wondering if this girl was sane to be wearing just a simple hoodie in such weather.

''Yes, I am. So? What's it to you?'' he stated with a slightly unimpressed look at her clothing choice, which wasn't exactly the definition of polite, but to hell with that.

Talk about being shot down in one stare... The boy's polite unfriendliness surely took her by surprise. At least he didn't COMPLETELY reject her... Right? "I think I hit the jackpot with this one... And what's up with his eye?!" Megumi wondered as she checked him out. He was actually holding a coat in his hand, presumably his. Maybe he was going outside and she interrupted him? Hopefully... Hopefully that's not the case, and he had the same idea as her. Yeah, that had to be it. Mustering her courage, the female spoke up: "I was wondering, since I'm a transfer student myself. I've arrived here today, too. So I guess both you and me could use a friend here, since everything's... new..." as she continued to talk, her courage was slowly running out, seeing that she was about to go on a rant.

Trying to make point, she added before he could react to her previous monologue: "I've always been told that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Megumi sighed. "I'm trying too hard, aren't I...?" she said, looking at the ground, ashamed and embarassed, scratching her head. "Goddammit! I'm so bad at this stuff! I feel like just fading into the shadows and cry in the corner without anyone noticing..."

Now, that wasn't exactly what Kaihei was aiming for when he made his response. Following the usual logic, most people tended to back away when he spoke to them that way, not start ranting about stuff all of a sudden. ''That was....certainly unexpected....'' he mused idly as he half listened to the girl's rambling with a slightly raised eyebrow. Well, it looked like she was far from 'mainstream' in more than her choice of attire, apparently. It wasn't that it mattered to him in any way, but it certainly meant that he was not getting out of this one as easily as he thought.

''Oh, she stopped already...Well, there we go...'' Kaihei almost totally missed that she was finished talking while he was thinking about his weirdo luck and promptly ended up staring off into space for a little while before it hit him that he was supposed to say something now. He scowled and crossed his arms, slightly annoyed at himself for spacing out and answered her flat out.

''Maybe you ARE trying too hard. Not everyone appreciates being verbally assaulted out of the blue. You might want to tune it down a bit if you sincerely want to make friends even with strangers as you say.''

Okay, maybe that was a bit straightforward to say, but he wasn't in the mood to beat around the bush, and if it made her quiet down a bit it would be a plus afterall.

Talk about getting shot down in one stare AND getting told. As much she didn't want to admit it, she knew too well, that he was completely right. "I guess he is one of those quiet ones? Megumi wondered. However, the more she thought about it, the more she thought that the boy didn't REALLY mean to sound so unfriendly, but only said it because that was the truth was right to assume.

Perhaps starting over was a good thing to do in a situation like this...? "R-Right, I apologise for that." Megumi started, lifting her head to face the male standing in front of her. Eye contact is important, right? "How about we start anew?" she asked, stretching her hand out for a handshake. "The name's Megumi Mizushima, and I just transfered here today..." well, bullocks. Beside her name, she wasn't sure what else to say. "Smooth moves there, Megi! Good job! Really!" she was hoping that she didn't make it just even MORE worse than it already was.

Apparently, nothing is impossible. Right now, that seemed as a plausible enough excuse for what was happening. At least that's what it looked like to Kaihei, who totally felt out of the loop at the moment. ''Is she SERIOUS?...I just about dissed her out and she responds by apologizing and going for it again....'' he was starting to get totally bewildered now. Okay, maybe the apology was in place, but the rest. Really, now?

The girl didn't really leave him much time to ponder over his sanity, because now he had to decide whether to accept the offered handshake or not. He REALLY would have prefered not to, as this wasn't in his usual 'things to do', but in all honesty, he didn't have any excuse that wouldn't be suspicious ready at the moment. And so, he had no choice but to give in and shake hands with her, this once. BUT, that still didn't mean he had to be happy about it too.

''Very well, if you insist.'' he said curtly as they shook hands, while mentally debating whether to give his name in return or no. In the end he reached the conclusion that it didn't really matter anymore, so be it. ''The name's Kaihei Kurokawa.'' he stated simply as he leaned against the wall he was standing close to, crossing his arms again after enduring the handshake. ''I hope you do realize, that the way you're acting is pretty ridiculous...'' adding that as an afterthought, he just resumed giving her an indifferent stare.

Well, he accepted the handshake. But Megumi was pretty sure it was really just out of politness than being interested in making friends with her. "Kaihei Kurokawa... I'll make sure to not forget the name." she thought, as Kaihei leaned against a wall. But then... BAM! "You're acting ridiculous... Yep, real life is so much harder than online chat..." Megumi had to admit, that the stuff she was just doing now wasn't like her. At ALL.

Truth be told, though, she was way better at this "communication with people" stuff online, than in reality. "Who am I kidding, right? Hah, I remember that time I met Jared. Good old times..." she thought, looking into distance, somewhere beyond Kaihei. But then, finally decided to speak up: "Yeah, I know... I just really wanted to know somebody here. Things might get pretty lonely in a new place, so I guess any of us could use somebody to hang out from time to time." Megumi said, smiling at Kaihei. But then noticed a stain on her beloved glasses. She frowned and took them into her hand and tried to clean them with her hoodie's sleeve.

And there it goes. Eh, at least they got to the point of this whole lame conversation. So, she wanted someone to hang out with because she was new, huh? In a way it DID make sense, it was just that Kaihei himself rarely bothered with getting someone to fool around with. That simply wasn't in his nature. Although, he still wondered why did she choose him out of all people. It was apparent that she knew he was just as new as she was, which in common sense would mean he wasn't even going to be any helpful to her if she needed to be shown around or anything. Then again, scratch that. Nowadays, people rarely made sense anyway.

''Just what have I gotten myself into this time...'' he pondered briefly, watching Megumi frown at her glasses. Funny, he barely even noticed that she wore glasses before. Well, no matter. '' I don't exactly fancy hanging out, but in case I would get the sudden urge, I'll keep you in mind, if that'll make you happy.'' he said truthfully, mainly to make sure she wouldn't start dragging him around everywhere to 'hang out'. He still valued his sanity, afterall.

''You know, sleeves aren't exactly very appropriate as a means to clean glasses.'' he added with a slight roll of his eyes as he watched her, actually amusing attempts. Megumi definitely didn't fit any of the stereotypes he knew. But, as long as she didn't irritate him too much, he might tolerate her.

Score! Kaihei agreed that he would hang out with her every once in a while. Megumi then giggled at his comment about cleaning with sleeves. She managed to clean that nasty little stain and put back on her glasses. "I agree, but most of the time I don't have that piece of cloth made for cleaning glasses with me, so I have to improvise." she said, smiling. Her heart felt like a heavy burden was lifted from it. "We're not really friends yet, but knowing that I have somebody as a last resort... Not bad feeling at all... Not bad!"

Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket, startling Megumi. "Good lord!" she said as she was taking it out to see the reason for all this. Streaming session incoming! was lighted up on the screen. "Oh! I completely forgot that I actually had a session tonight, even though I was moving..." she looked at Kaihei saying: "I hope you don't mind me asking, but could we exchange our phone numbers, in case we need each other? Don't worry, I promise not to call you everyday like an overly attached girlfriend!" she asked, hoping that he wouldn't get offended.

Well, that was one big mood change for sure. Kaihei didn't really get just why did it make her suddenly so happy that he said OK, and it was even a pretty half-assed agreement. It looked like Megumi was the type that got kicks out of making friends, which they weren't really, but that wasn't the point anyway. ''And there I go thinking in theories again...'' he pushed back the urge to sigh and instead focused his interest on Megumi fumbling with her phone, and then......

''Wait...WHAT?....phone numbers...just like THAT, huh?....this is just 'great'...Ugh, what am I even thinking...'' for a while Kaihei stared at her as if she grew a second head out of the air. Too bad that it didn't look like she was kidding. Then again....he didn't care about phones'n'stuff much and he could still not pick up if he decided to. Yeah, that sounded just about good, considering that his brain was starting to suffer from all this ridiculousness thrown at him in quick succession.

''Fine, it's not like it'll kill me anyway. But, just so you know, that doesn't make us best buddies or anything.'' he said, making his point clear. Thank god he for some reason knew his number by heart as he didn't have his phone with him right now as per usual. It would suck if he had to go back up just to check it, no kidding.

Yes, yes, she knew too good that they were far from even being proper friends, but knowing somebody in place of unknown was sure only for good and definetely better than knowing absolutely nobody. As Kaihei told her his number, she noticed that he most likely didn't have his phone on him. "Well, what now? I don't have any paper on me..." Megumi wondered.

Ah, a solution appeared! "As I can see, you don't have your phone with you, so I'll just message you later with my signature, so you'll know its me!" she said, as she was saving Kaihei's number. Putting her phone back into its pocket, she turned away, still looking at him. Megumi then started to make her way to her room, waving back at Kaihei: "I've got to go for now, so I'll see you later!"

She was almost at her room, on the 3rd floor. As soon as she entered it, she took off her hoodie and changed into her home-casual stuff. Then turning on her very quickly set up computer, she immersed into the online world, thinking about the exciting day she just went through.

-Exit-

Ugh, maybe it would have been better if he had his phone right now. He knew well enough that he'd probably forget to check a message, as he normally didn't get any. Besides he could have remembered Megumi's number if she told him. His brain still worked good enough for THAT. Oh, well, talk about karma. ''Tch, why am I even surprised anymore?'' out of all things that happened to him today, barely anything had been normal in his standards, and he should have known better already.

''Yeah, yeah, right, see you...'' he sighed, looking at Megumi's retreating figure. Now, with all that out of the way, he decided to head back to his room, as a quick glance outside told him that it was way too dark outside to go for a walk at the moment. He threw his coat over his shoulders and swiftly strode back into the boys' hallway, thankfully noting that the noise which had originally 'persuaded' him to go out has died down enough not to piss him off.

''Might as well get some sleep before it starts again....''

~Exit~