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The bell rang all throughout the school, signaling the start of first period Homeroom. Despite it being his first day, Kenji had managed to find his classroom without any problem and was sitting one of the few available seats in the back of the class. It was well into the first semester, so people noticed when a kid just a bit shorter then the average high school boy that they've never seen before walked into class and just sat himself down without a word. Luckily, nobody had bothered to approach him, but that didn't mean Kenji didn't notice the whispers as he passed by.

"Alright class, settle down." The teacher instructed, prompting the rest of the teens to find their own seats and give the man what was supposed to be their full attention. "Now, before we get started, we have a new student joining us today." He addressed the class in a professional tone that told of a man that was used to working with rowdy teens. Kenji couldn't help but sink in his seat at the proclamation, but still the man was able to instantly pick him out of the sea of faces he had no doubt already memorized. "Young man, would please introduce yourself." He said.

And suddenly, everyone's eyes were on him. Kenji felt rather uncomfortable under the curious gazes of his new classmates, but regardless he let out a defeat sigh and stood from his seat.

"Uh, hello everyone, my name is Kenji Sanso." He introduced himself in the most natural and casual voice he could muster. "I, uh, just move here from a couple towns over. And... yeah, I'll be in your class for the rest of the year. Here's hoping we all get along."

"*cough*loser*cough*" One of the other students coughed out the thinly veiled insult. Some of the other kids chuckled at Kenji's expense, but he ignored it, just taking his seat and turning his attention back to the teacher.

It was the third time that Micah had been late to school that week. It wasn't exactly common for her to be on time in the first place. No major punishment had been given, but her parents had been notified multiple times by the school that Micah was late on a regular basis. Her parents didn't do much about it. They never seemed to care what she did or where she was. She could skip out on them and they wouldn't care at all.

On the days that she was late Micah didn't attend Homeroom, but instead went to the counselor's office to wait out until the next bell. Today, Mrs. Weather wasn't going to put up with this behavior and told Micah to go to class before she even made it inside her office. The troubled teen slouched and rolled her eyes before turning completely around and walking out back into the empty halls. She didn't have to go. She could just spend Homeroom in the bathroom, or in that place in the cafeteria where all the stoners hung out during lunch. That was her plan, and she was usually able to avoid teachers if she skipped class.

But when she got to the doors they were closed. Jiggling the door handle out of frustration, Micah let out a huff and decided just to go to class. It wasn't worth getting a citation... again. So she trudged off and eventually made it to the correct wing of the building. By the time she had gotten to class, about a third of it had already gone by. So when she opened the door the teacher was in the middle of his lesson, but didn't even bother to single her out as she crept to the back and slid into the first empty desk she saw. Her plain black backpack slid off of her shoulder and quietly landed on the floor next to her chair.

When the door suddenly opened in the middle of class everyone turned to see who it was. Kenji of course didn't recognize the girl, what with it being his first day and all, but this was apparently a regular enough occurrence that the teacher didn't even bother to address the tardy student and just continued teaching. However, the way the rest of the students began subtly whispering to themselves said that this girl's presence was rather rare, but Kenji didn't think too much about this strange contradiction as he returned his attention to the lesson, only sparing the girl another glance when she sat down in the seat directly next to him. She didn't seem to notice acknowledge him at all, in fact she seemed rather apathetic in general, so he doubted she would be very helpful as a seat neighbor.

'Oh well, guess I'm keeping to myself as usual.'

The rest of the class continued as usual, until finally the bell rang, bringing first period to an end. The teacher called out some kind of homework assignment, that Kenji diligently jotted down, as the students all flooded out of the room.

"Ms. Rowan, Mr. Sanso, may I please have a word with you both." He singled out Kenji and the tardy student just as they were about to walk past. Kenji did as he was told, standing at attention before the man's desk.

The light bags under her eyes was an indicator that she was just a little tired. Micah always looked that way, so no one really paid it any mind. Unbeknownst to them, it was the result of her growing insomnia. Her unhealthy family life made her anxious to the point that she would loose significant hours of sleep. She was surprised her brother could even hold up at home at all.

Micah sat there and stared ahead the whole time, absentmindedly following the movement of her teacher to keep her eyes occupied. Whatever he was saying didn't matter to her. She had a lot on her mind right now. None of her classes really mattered at that, which was why her grades weren't the worst, but they were pretty unacceptable. School only served as a place to get away from home.

Near the end of class, Micah was ready to walk out, paying no one any attention even if they glanced at her. But before she could make it out the door, the teacher's stern voice stated her name firmly. And another name which Micah didn't recognize. Wordlessly, she only turned and looked at him, keeping her position by the door. There was another kid who had stayed behind as well and she didn't recognize him unsurprisingly. Over the years she had stopped paying attention to her peers. Micah stood there with her backpack hanging off of one shoulder and her hands were balled into fists in the pockets of her jogger pants. Her posture was even imperfect compared to anyone elses.

"Ms. Rowan, whether or not you wish to sabotage your future by cutting class is your business, but I will not tolerate you disrupting my class by showing up in the middle of the lesson." He scolded, eyeing Micah with a firm gaze. "Next time, not only will you not be allowed in, but you will be given a referral which, with how many you have at this point, will lead to a two week suspension. Are we all clear?" He asked to both of the students.

"Wait, what did I do?" Kenji asked in confusion.

"Nothing, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to give you the warning before you made any mistakes." The teacher replied. "You may be new here Mr. Sanso, but you are not exempt from the rules. We will be as accommodating as we can but you are expected to act properly just like everybody else. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Kenji replied politely, maintaining eye contact the entire time to show that he was earnest in his response, which the teacher was pleasantly surprised by.

"Very good, now hurry along to your next class, both of you." The teacher dismissed them.

Kenji then looked down at the schedule he was provided, only to realize that he had no idea where to go for his next class. With that in mind, once they were both out of the classroom, he caught up to the tardy girl.

"Uh, excuse me, do you know where this class is?" He asked, showing her the schedule and the room he needed to go to.

Why did he think that threatening her with another referral was going to change anything? If she was suspended the worst her parents would do is shout at her for a few minutes before the argument became about them. After that, Micah could ditch and go to Carolina's place just a few blocks away. Micah didn't really react much, but she let out a quiet, brisk sigh through a narrow part of her lips. But did he have to do it in front of another student? It wasn't that she cared, but she almost felt like he wanted her to feel ashamed. But she was mostly annoyed.

After the encounter, Micah quickly made her leave into the bustling hall way. But before she could make it to the stairs, she was stopped by a voice behind her. She turned, giving the kid from before a look of disinterest. She peered down at his schedule. With a rather flat tone, she pointed behind herself with her thumb to the staircase that lead to the second level of the building. "Upstairs straight ahead, room with the annoying cat poster on the door." She only needed to see the name of the teacher to tell him where it was. That specific teacher was known to be pretty extra.

Without anything else to say, Micah turned her back on him and made her way up the stairs herself after a few steps. She passed the room she had mentioned to the new kid and went into the one next to it. It was a chemistry classroom. She sat next to a girl with black hair done in two braids who everyone knew as Leslie. The girl looked at her with a bit of a scowl. "You bothered to come today?" she asked. Micah just glared at her before resting her elbow on the table and looking toward the window. Both girls had a bit of a rivalry, and had unfortunately been seated next to each other at the beginning of the year.

"Ok, thank... you." He attempted to thank before the girl just left him without a word. Kenji tried not to be offended, he didn't want to bother her any more than she didn't want to be bothered, and with that in mind he waited a few seconds before climbing the stairs himself to avoid any awkwardness with the sour grape of a girl. He followed her directions to the letter and found himself at his next class, which indeed had a cat poster on it that a teenager would consider annoying. He swung the door open and stepped inside, scanning the room for an empty seat to occupy.

"Hey, check it out, it's the new kid I was telling you about." A vaguely familiar voice said from across the room. Kenji spared a glance and saw that it was the boy with the "cough" from his previous class, now surrounded with a group of cronies.

"Yeesh, does that guy ever sleep?" One of his friends commented on the heavy bags under Kenji's eyes.

"You get lost on your way to the Jr. High, shrimp?" Another friend added, gaining a resounding chuckle from the rest. Kenji payed them no more mind then he had too, but it became very difficult when the only open seat was uncomfortably close to the ring leader. Regardless, once class started, he only had to deal with dirty looks from the guy, and after the class he didn't seem to share any more classes with the jerk or the girl. It wouldn't be until lunch period that things would get ugly.

Micah kept to herself most of Chemistry, even during the lab they had to complete. It brought her some sort of wicked pleasure to see Leslie become slightly irritated with her lack of communication. The rest of the morning was pretty much the same as any other day. One of her teachers would constantly nag her after class that she needed to be more attentive. She should have learned by now that it wasn't going to work.

So after leaving her last morning class, she went down to the cafeteria for lunch. Having skipped breakfast, she was starting to get hunger pains. When she entered the large open room, she felt an arm sling around her shoulder. "You look lively today," a masculine voice dripped with sarcasm as she looked up with a flat expression at the guy who was a little more than a pain in her backside. His friends questioned why they were still together when it was clear that their relationship wasn't genuine.

"Don't I always?" Micah said back, not bothering to shake his arm off of her. They entered one of the lines and he looked to his left.

"It's than new kid," he took his arm off of her and craned his neck to get a better look over the various students. His group of friends were joking with him, but Micah knew that those boys were out to give anyone a hard time intentionally. Her boyfriend took a step away from her.

"Don't encourage them, Barry," she said, a bit peeved that he had gotten into that hive mentality too. "He didn't do anything to you, just leave him alone." He looked back at her

"What? Maybe he'll piss himself." Barry said before approaching his group of friends, bumping into Kenji on purpose.

Micah rolled her eyes for what had to be the millionth time that day. She didn't go after him, but continued to glance over at them from time to time. She wasn't really one to stand up to people like him.

Kenji took his spot in at the back of the lunch line, but just as he was about to wonder what exactly he was in the mood for, he was flicked in the back of the head.

"'Sup, loser." One of the bullies from before taunted, the rest of his posse close behind. Kenji just spared them a glance before deciding not to deal with them and stepped out of line, hoping that they would stay and get their lunch rather than continue torturing him. However, he didn't make it very far when he slammed hard into another intimidating looking teen, just barely being able to keep his balance and stay on his feet.

"Whoa there little guy, you better watch where you're going, someone could get hurt." The new teen said tauntingly, Kenji suddenly finding himself surrounded.

"...Look, guys, I don't want any trouble." Kenji insisted, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"Well, lucky for you, neither do we, isn't that right boys?" The new teen, Barry he heard one of his friends call him, said, the rest of his cronies all voicing their mocking agreement. "Ya see, we're all friends here. So, why don't you be a pal and lend us a couple of bucks to cover our lunches, and then you can run along and do whatever it is freaky, emo, jr. high kids do during lunch." The cheeky threat gained a good chuckle from the rest of his friends, but Kenji was unfazed. Still, he genuinely considered just giving these punks his money and being done with it, but he knew that wouldn't be the end of it. People like them, they didn't want money, they wanted to feel powerful, and if he backed down now, they would never leave him alone.

"...No." He finally replied, much to the surprise of his aggressors.

"...What was that?" Barry said with a threatening glare, but Kenji didn't back down.

"No, I'm not giving you my money. No, I'm not doing your homework for you. And no, I'm not going to be at your beck and call just because you're bigger and handsomer than I am." He listed off all of the demands that every other tough guy prick had ever made to him. Hopefully, this guy wouldn't end up the same way the rest did. He looked dumbfounded like the others had, before his face fell into an angry scowl.

"Well guess what, shrimp, now we've got trouble." Barry spat as he grabbed Kenji by the collar. However, before he could even think about throwing a punch, Kenji pealed Barry's hand off his shirt and hit a pressure point on Barry's arm which not only made him groan in pain but also bend his elbow. With a quick step, still holding onto his arm, Kenji and Barry were back to back, and with a quick sweep of the leg, Barry fell loud and hard on the ground.

It all happened so fast that it took a moment for the rest of the gang to realize their comrade was in trouble and spring into action. One boy threw a punch at Kenji's face, but he easily blocked it and landed a serious of punches on his torso and face, ending him falling to the ground. Another boy swung at him as well, but Kenji blocked the attack with an upward rolling block, leaving the boy wide open for a powerful palm strike that sent the attacker flying back and crashing onto a nearby table.

"Oh crap! He's one of those Kung Fu guys!" The last remaining hooligan that had yet to attack exclaimed in dread.

"It's not Kung Fu." Kenji corrected, falling into a defensive stance as he watched the other boys get to their feet.

"Well, whatever it is, it's not gonna save you!" Barry said as he put up his own guard and charged forward, prompting the others to follow, hoping to over power their prey.

He's so vanilla, Micah thought as she heard a pitiful demand for money. It made her think of the things she used to push other kids around for in middle school. Money wasn't one of those things, but it could have been. She noticed that a small audience started to form around the group, possibly hoping that the shorter kid would get pummeled into a pulp. But what she saw was surprising. That kid had knocked Barry flat on his back and the surrounding students in unison let out a string of 'Oohs.' Micah couldn't help but smirk at the sight. Only she wished that she was the one who had done it.

Barry's meat headed friends started to get in on it too, but they couldn't do much. One of them was basically thrown into a table. At this point, Micah was watching from the growing group around them but she wasn't in it for entertainment. She watched Barry get up again and she knew he'd try to throw mindless punches now that his anger had been fed. The commotion was bound to draw the attention of some teachers, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Micah didn't want her idiot boyfriend causing any more trouble than he had. So she shoved her way past a few people and sauntered right into that circle, her face was hard and her jaw was tensed. It looked like she didn't care that people were watching, but her heart was pounding rapidly. She never liked the feeling of so many eyes on her. It seemed to confuse them for a moment

She walked right in between Barry and the kid he was trying to torment. Without even stopping her pace, she took an iron hold of Barry's sleeve and practically began to drag him away. The crowd on the other side of the circle parted automatically as if Micah would have steamed right over them if they didn't. Barry's friends just watched after her, dumbfounded at her bold action. Barry didn't seem like he was able to make her let go of him, and she dragged him right out of the cafeteria and around a corner before stopping.

"You're so stupid," she said immediately. "Lunch money? Seriously?"

"Is that why you intervened?" Barry hissed. "I could have pounded him."

"Hah! Says the guy who let his girlfriend drag him out of it. I just wish you'd stop being so brainless. Leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you. You don't need to cause trouble where it isn't needed."

"You're one to talk. You're the one who's had run ins with the cops, not me." Barry scowled as Micah's face flared up. She didn't say anything to him, but instead walked around him and back into the cafeteria. It looked like people were starting to mind their own business now.

Kenji was fully prepared to defend himself, but before another punch could even be thrown, the tardy girl from homeroom came barging through and dragged Barry out of the cafeteria, the hooligan unable to break free from her grip. Kenji looked back at the rest of his tormentors, his stance has sharp as ever, and it seemed that without their fourth member, they had lost all of their nerve and immediately backed off. Once he was certain of their surrender, Kenji relaxed his stance, breathing a sigh of relief, the last thing he needed was to get into a full on fist fight on his first day of school. Then again, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed; regardless of the consequences, if the fight had continued then at least it would have given him, and more importantly his martial art, some much needed exposure. He couldn't help but wonder that if he was a Karate or Kung Fu practitioner than he would've been able to show it off as much as he wanted in the fight, but alas, it seems Chung Do Mu Sool Won was doomed to remain in obscurity.

With the spectacle over, the crowd that had gathered dispersed, some seemingly disappointed that they didn't get to see the new kid get beaten to a pulp by the resident meatheads. With a disappointed sigh, Kenji returned to the lunch line, said meatheads quickly retreating to a table on the far end of the cafeteria. It was then that Kenji noticed the tardy girl reentering the room, looking rather irritated. A few moments later Barry came back in as well, shooting Kenji a menacing glare that screamed "this isn't over". Kenji sighed, perhaps stopping the fight did more harm then good.

Micah's first afternoon class was PE. It was probably the only class that she participated in willingly. She got to blow off steam if she was stressed, running laps or throwing dodge balls at people without getting yelled at. It all depended on the activities the teacher would make them do. Her locker was in the back of the locker room near the showers. She changed out into a t-shirt and purple gym shorts. Her boyfriend had provoked her, but it wasn't that big of a deal, at least it wouldn't be to anyone else. Micah tended to take things personally a lot of the time. Especially if it was from Barry. It didn't seem like it, but Micah still thought she loved him somewhere in the back of her mind.

She hadn't really found acceptance in a relationship until she was with him- at least that's what she thought. She knew it was unhealthy. But she didn't want to leave. She felt valid.

She walked out into the gym once she was ready, the rest of the class was pouring in from the locker rooms. And on her way out, she spotted the kid who Barry tried to fight on the other side of the gym. She figured he probably would have knocked her boyfriend out hadn't she stepped in, given that he clearly knew how to defend himself. Micah tightened her ponytail and stood around until the teacher came in to take roll, and then they would go out to the field to complete the first part of their fitness testing.

"Alright, there you go." Said the gym teacher as he handed Kenji back a piece of paper, his signature now scribbled on the bottom.

"Thank you very much, sir." Kenji thanked with a polite and grateful bow.

"You're welcome, I can't wait to see what this Chung Fu of yours can do." The teacher replied with a smile.

"It's actually Chung Do, sir, Chung Do Mu Sool Won, but still, thank you very much." Kenji corrected, but punctuated it with another thankful bow.

Kenji then retreated to the back wall, looking at the form he had just gotten signed. His first order of business once he got to his new school, even before learning where his classes were and what he would need in terms of supplies, was to learn how to start a club. Surprisingly, the requirements were rather lax, all he needed was to fill out the request form, get it signed by a teacher willing to be their faculty advisor, and then turn it in at the main office. After that, the club is given one month to find an appropriate number of members before they are shut down. That was going to be the hard part. Regardless, Kenji fully intended to give it his all, not only so that he would have a place to train, but to help keep Chung Do from dying.

After the teacher took roll call, the class was led outside, apparently Kenji had transferred in just in time to take part in the annual fitness testing. Kenji didn't mind, as boring as it would be, he was confident in his physical prowess, so it shouldn't be too hard to pass. However, as the class was led out, he caught sight of the tardy girl, the one that had interrupted the fight in the cafeteria. Despite her sour expression, Kenji jogged up to her.

"Hey, uh, thanks for breaking up that fight in the cafeteria, you saved me a lot of trouble." He thanked her.

The class was instructed to take a lap around the track to warm up. So by the time they made it to the field most people just started running immediately. Micah started slower and then paced herself as she chose a jogging speed to stay with. About a third of the way in, she noticed someone coming up beside her, so she opted to move out of the way. She was stopped by a voice though. It was Sanso, she was just expecting him to ignore her.

Micah glanced at him and then back ahead, shrugging as she did so. "Eh, I just wish I could have been the one to knock him on his ass like that," she muttered, "Who doesn't though? All he wants to do is torment people." There was a slight hardness to her voice as if it hadn't always been so harsh.

"If you really think that, then why did you step in?" Kenji inquired, unable to see the reasoning in her intervention. Kenji wasn't a judgmental person, but he could tell that this girl wasn't the type to help out a total stranger just out of the kindness of their heart. However, he did recall that Barry seemed to recognize her as she dragged him out of the cafeteria, not to mention that he sat with her for the rest of the lunch period.

"Is he like... your brother or something?" Kenji guessed awkwardly.

"No matter how many times you would have knocked him down, he wouldn't have given up. If you broke his arms he'd still try to fight you, you would've been there all day." Micah didn't really answer his last question. Anyone who knew about her relationship with Barry would just ask her right away why she was still with him. He was an actual jerk, even to her. So she just took the chance to avoid the question altogether, which probably wasn't any better.

"I see..." Kenji replied. He noticed how she dodged the question, but decided not to pry. He knew it wouldn't get him anywhere, and it wasn't any of his business anyway. "Well, whether you interfered for my sake of for his, I still appreciate it. However... next time, and I think we both know there will be a next time, you should probably just let him take what's coming to him. It'll be better for everybody in the long run." Kenji hoped it didn't sound like he was threatening her, but it was the truth. Kenji had dealt with his type before, and regardless of whether this Barry guy would actually continue fighting after sustaining a few injuries, all Kenji had to do was prove that Barry couldn't control him and he would eventually back off. And of course, that wouldn't happen if her "chaperone" kept intervening.

Micah let out a huff. "Sure, whatever." She didn't seem to like what he said but she didn't decide to drag it out. After this, she slowed to a walk as they got closer to the end point, allowing him to keep jogging. As much as she hated to admit these types of things, she thought that kid was pretty smart. It didn't make her think he was any better than her though.

She knew what it was like to be a bully. She knew how it could hurt people, and she knew how it could backfire. Perhaps that's why she stepped in before. She thought she was sparing both boys the trouble, but the Sanso kid just didn't seem to care that he was getting picked on. Some people were like that, anyway. The warm up ended and the students gathered in the middle of the field to start the testing.

"...Oh, by the way," Kenji called back while he was still in earshot. "If you really want to learn how to "knock him on his ass", I'm starting a Martial Arts club at this school. Keep an eye out for that if you're interested." With that bit of shameless self-promotion out of the way, Kenji increased his pace and finished the warm up, before flying threw the testing as he figured he would. Once the afternoon classes were done and school was out of the day, Kenji took his club request form the main office.

"...Alright, everything seems to be in order Mr. Sanso." The lady at the front desk said after looking over the form. "The gymnasium is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays after classes, and in the mornings on Saturday, is that agreeable?"

"That's perfect, thank you very much." Kenji offered his gratitude with a polite bow. "Oh, there is one last thing I wanted to ask." He added. "Is it possible to open the club to the public?"

"You mean accept members that aren't students at the school?" The lady asked, Kenji nodding his clarification. "Hmm... I don't believe so, I'm sorry."

"Oh, ok, never mind then." Kenji lamented, but offering one last grateful bow before taking his leave. "Guess I'll have to talk to the fitness clubs and community centers as well." Kenji mused to himself. It was no exaggeration to say that Chung Do Mu Sool Won was dying, so he needed to reach as many people as possible. Honestly, he probably would have created more clubs even if the school had allowed theirs to be open to the public, such was the depths of his desperation.

Regardless, Kenji was off to a good start, he had an advisor, and a space to train. Now, all that was left was to get the word out.

"I don't care, I'm not going to watch," Micah hissed as she closed her locker at the end of the day. Barry leaned against the wall next to her with a rather calm expression on his face.

"He'll be a bloody stump once I'm done with him, Micah," he said casually. "No one gets away with provoking me."

"You're the one who provoked him. You're going to get your ass beat again and I'm not going to be there to baby you." Her cheeks were slightly red as she talked to him, her backpack was once again slung over one shoulder and her hands found her pockets. "I have to go make sure my brother didn't get home before I did." Micah went to turn around, but Barry caught her shoulder and made her face him. He was particularly rough, but she didn't seem to care.

Barry leaned in and kissed her on the mouth, pulling away after only a second. Whenever he did that, she knew it was because he could fluster her. She was easier to control that way, but it also tended to shut her up. Micah's face burst with color and she looked down, shaking her head. "Just watch, he'll be the one with his ass beat. See you later."

Micah let out a small groan as she watched him walk off into the thin crowd of students.