It became quickly apparent after Johnny came, that he was insufferable. And… that Ichigo couldn't stand him.

Why, would you ask?

Well… he was too proud of his 'American Pride' to the point he tried to poke fun at the Japanese flag, claiming that it looked like the behind of a girl's white jeans when she starts her period. At random times he would strike weird poses and play in his inner mind theater that stars and stripes consisted of his background.

Ichigo would've let all of that go, but no. She started to get annoyed when she became a factor of all of his annoying objectives. Johnny became infatuated with Ichigo. And Henri was NOT pleased with this at all. If anything he was probably fuming in the background.

For once, Miya and Rumi had to agree and side with Henri-sensei that this kid was annoying. Having absolutely no manners or etiquettes, Johnny always clung to Ichigo like a puppy or cling wrap. In other words, he was difficult to tear away.

"Surely he learned something called, personal space?" Rumi asked.

"Hah! Probably not. He has this mentality that because he is American, and in his warped head Americans are superior than other people, then he is entitled to do whatever he wants. Even if it makes other people uncomfortable," Miya shook her head.

Rumi sighed and watched Johnny force Ichigo to translate Japanese to English for him when the lunch lady wouldn't speak 'American'. Placing her sandwich down, she sighed and rested her chin on her palm. Turning towards Miya, she said, "There must be something that we can do for her. He can't hog her all the time and force her to alienate us altogether because he wants to use her as a human teddy bear."

Miya chewed and swallowed her bite of noodles and nodded, "That's true. But what should we do? Tattle on him like a bunch of kids? And to who do we complain?"

"Well if we don't, she is going to continue being his human sized stuffed animal and lose her sleep. This is the best thing we can do for her. And it's not complaining or tattling, really. We're reporting because we are concerned for her wellbeing. And you obviously know who would take action the moment we insert her name into the sentence," Rumi looked at Miya with a meaningful look.

Rumi's eyes shone in mischief as she laughed, "Yep, prince in shining armor it is!"

The two girls left lunch a little early, telling the guard who stood by the doors that they feel nauseous and need to go to the nurse's office. The moment the cafeteria doors closed behind them, they began to sprint for Henri's office.

Knocking on the door, the two girls were huffing and puffing. They just hope the guard didn't trail after them from the cafeteria.

To their relief, they heard his curt response to come in. In an instant they opened the door and closed it after them. Henri rose an eyebrow at the two girls who were trying to catch their breath but motioned them to the chairs in front of him.

Taking a seat, he asked, "What do you need?"

"My cousin is insufferable!" Miya exclaimed, "He is clinging onto Ichigo 24/7, not allowing her to hang out with us, and bothering her sleep to 'spend more time with him'. He is so co-dependent on Ichigo despite being fluent in Japanese. But clinging to her all the time is taking its toll on her. She isn't getting enough sleep and we can see bags underneath her eyes. She also has horrible appetite because he constantly badgers her to pay attention to him."

"Isn't there something you can do? File a restraining order against him to not be near her?" Rumi asked.

Henri's eyes darkened as he nodded, "I will see what I can do."

The two girls felt like they did all they could do for Ichigo and left his office. The moment they left, Rumi turned and looked at Miya.

"Do you think he will do something?" Rumi asked.

"Well, when it involves her, he will," Miya sighed.

Suddenly the bell rang and the girls had to get back to class. Towards the end of the day, Ichigo was almost ready to hallucinate. She almost thought she was wearing pajamas for two seconds and then wondered why she wasn't in bed. But then it hit her… that her 'bed' was her desk, and her 'pajamas' was her school uniform.

"You look like you have been dragged from hell," Kashino said bluntly.

"You're lucky you are dating Miya. I would've dragged you back to hell if you weren't," Ichigo snapped groggily.

"Well, it isn't her fault," Hanabusa sighed, "That American student is so annoying."

"Hah, more annoying than you? Impossible," Kashino rolled his eyes.

"Guys, not right now," Andou said, clearly stressed out.

"No, you know, Hanabusa-kun is right. He is extremely annoying. And he is the reason I can't have any sleep. Because guess who sings the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at 2 in the morning?" Ichigo groaned.

"Clearly not me," Kashino shrugged, as the door burst open to reveal the devil himself that they were talking about.

"It seems that we have a student who is new," Sensei smiled, "Introduce yourself to the class."

After introducing himself, Johnny demanded to be placed in 'Ichigo's group'. Sensei sighed and shook here head, saying the group has 4 team members, and it wouldn't be possible. Which isn't a good thing to do, because Johnny was self-absorbed in which the word 'no' never existed in his day to day life unless he was the one to use it.

Well, that didn't go well for the teacher who threatened to send him to the principal if he wanted to carry out this little tantrum. And hopefully, she snapped, he would get expelled.

Johnny stiffened and calmed down. He nodded meekly and sent Ichigo puppy eyes as he was assigned to a group in the back of the classroom. Ichigo mentally sighed in relief; thank goodness she didn't have to work with him as a team. She probably would cry if she had to.

"Wow, has he ever heard the word 'no' before in his life?" Hanabusa asked.

"Like you're the one to talk, you flirt," Kashino snapped.

"Guys, can we not do this again? I am running on almost zero sleep so I do not have the tolerance for this nonsense," Ichigo sighed and struggled to look at her recipe without dropping her head on the counter.

After class, Ichigo got bombarded with Miya and Rumi. The two girls were waiting at the classroom door to make sure Johnny didn't scoop Ichigo away. And surprisingly enough, when he saw Ichigo, he didn't take the opportunity to do so. His blue eyes lit up and he did step forward, before the dimmed and he forced himself to follow the flow of the other students.

"What's up with him today?" Ichigo sighed, watching the moody boy sulk behind the other students.

"Why do you care?" Miya sighed, slinging an arm around Ichigo's shoulders, "He's not harassing you anymore."

"Did you two snitch on him?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, we did. But he is getting annoying," Rumi defended the two, "And when was the last time you had a good night's sleep."

Ichigo couldn't argue that point, and nodded, "Good point."

"Besides, a jealous sensei is never a good sign," Miya whispered quietly in Ichigo's ear.

"Oh dear, was he furious," Rumi sighed, taking out the key to their shared dorm and unlocked the door, "If humans could, he would be blowing steam out his ears."

"Anywho, take a nap. It's Friday, you can get a head start on that crap the school academically calls 'homework', tomorrow," Miya said, "I do not allow you to try to complete them while hallucinating due to lack of sleep."

"Thanks, mom," Ichigo huffed, before flopping like a dead weight onto her bed.

Rumi and Miya watched their friend sleep before Miya's phone buzzed, killing the moment. The said girl grumbled a couple of curses when she realized the person who texted her was not her boyfriend, Kashino, but her annoying cousin, Johnny.

"This little butthead," Miya sneered, peering over the text messages.

"What now?" Rumi asked, getting up to read the message over Miya's shoulder.

"Somehow, Johnny figured out that we ratted him out. Or more specifically, me. He didn't accuse you of doing anything," Miya sighed.

"Wait, don't tell me sensei told him we came during lunch to report him?" Rumi asked.

Miya shook his head, "He said sensei left out our names. But really, who else would feel personally annoyed to report him? It would be us, her friends, who were concerned for her well-being."

"Now he is annoyed that he can't leech off of her and cause her to lose more sleep?" Rumi asked.

Miya nodded and shut off her phone by sending a simple middle finger emoji to her cousin. Lying down on the bed, Miya turned to face Rumi, "We are gonna face hell tomorrow. Henri-sensei may have warned him to stay away from Ichigo, but he didn't warn him to stay away from us."

"Well the best we can do is just stick by Ichigo as much as possible. If he tries to confront us, then we have to tell him the truth," Rumi sighed, "He has to know one way or another how this isn't healthy to do."

"That, and he needs to know that how annoying and insulting his patriotism is getting," Miya added, "He must be delusional to see stars and stripes in the background."

"Well I do not think he will learn anytime soon," Rumi sighed.

"Probably not, but I do not care about him," Miya sighed, heaving herself off the bed, "Oh well, I might as well get back to my dorm. That math homework isn't going to do itself. I am not Aladdin and have a genie who can grant me 3 wishes."

"Just sleep here. We gotta make sure that Johnny doesn't come back to bug her some more. I mean, who knows we might need to get some sort of restraining order against him if he doesn't stop," Rumi concluded.

Miya thought about it and eventually gave in. After all, they needed to ensure that for once in her life, Ichigo got some quality sleep. And they weren't allowing Johnny to let her go absolutely insane due to the lack of it. That night, the two girls quietly finished their homework for the weekend as they kept an eye on their friend and the door.

Fortunately, Johnny didn't show up that night, or during the weekend. It was assumed that Henri's threat got to that boy's head and he feared being expelled and not seeing Ichigo again. Therefore, he didn't dare bother the young girl. But it was painfully obvious during class and lunch and anytime out in public how longingly he looked at her and wished he could bother her again.

But the cold looks from Miya and Rumi kept him at bay.

One day after classes were done for the day, Ichigo was walking back to her dorm when she heard a voice call her name behind. A smile creeped on her face because she could recognize that voice from anywhere.

"Sensei?" Ichigo asked innocently, walking over to where he is.

"Has he been giving you much trouble?" Henri asked.

"Not lately. Suddenly he has been leaving me alone," Ichigo said, "And I have been able to sleep better because of that."

"That's good to hear," Henri responded, tucking loose hair behind her ear, "He got a good reprimanding about disturbing your sleep. That is unacceptable of him to do."

"I heard other students have been complaining about him, too," Ichigo added.

Henri nodded and sighed, "That is true, too. His patriotism of America is becoming a bit too nauseating for the students here. And somewhat insulting, if I may add."

"Have you addressed those?" Ichigo asked.

"I did; however, he didn't seem like he would implement my warnings anytime soon. Because then he found his next amusement – you," Henri said, "That was the icing on the cake, and I had to take some serious actions."

Ichigo nodded, and rubbed her head as she felt the beginning of a migraine form. A discussion of Johnny was not good for her physical health.

"Come here," Henri said softly, opening his arms.

Ichigo looked around and said, "What if someone sees?"

"We can go to my office," Henri said, holding out his arm for Ichigo to take.

She slipped her hand in his and walked next to him as the two walked towards his office. The walk was pleasant albeit quiet. Silence was not suffocating rather just a comfortable rare moment of peace. Almost like the eye of a hurricane.

When he closed the door behind him, he enveloped Ichigo into a tight hug. Ichigo sighed, feeling how comfortable she felt in his arms, almost like a perfect fit.

"Sometimes I wish we didn't have to hide this," Ichigo whispered, voice muffled from the hug.

"This?" Henri asked.

"Being together, being affectionate," Ichigo mumbled.

"I know it can be hard. I wish I can let everyone know how I feel. But for now, we need to keep quiet about this. No one can know or else we could be in trouble," Henri replied.

"That's true," Ichigo sighed, turning her head to the side so she could breathe and speak clearly.

After a couple more minutes of absolute silence, Henri released the hug and whispered, "You should get back to your dorm. You must have homework and you need to get enough rest tonight, now that he won't be bothering you."

"Yeah, that's true again," Ichigo laughed and walked towards the door.

Henri placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. When she turned back to look at him, he said, "Let me know if he keeps annoying you."

"With the stern warning he got? He would be stupid to not heed it," Ichigo said.

"That might be true, but a little birdy told me he is a special case of ignorant," Henri grimaced.

"Well if that is the case I will report anything or any interaction he has with me to you," Ichigo laughed.

He nodded and said, "Ok then. I love you."

"I love you too," Ichigo smiled, "Good evening."

The girl stepped out of his office and a resounding click of the door filled the room once the door shut. Ichigo walked to her dorm, cautiously on the lookout for Miya's crazy cousin or Henri's #1 fangirl admirer. By the time she unlocked the room, neither had jumped out of nowhere and harassed her, so she deemed herself safe for now.

When she got in her room, Ichigo dropped off her bags and plopped on the bed. She turned her head to the side and assumed Miya was back because she saw legs underneath the chair.

"Miya-" Ichigo exclaimed but cut off in shock when the chair swiveled around to reveal who it was.

When she saw long blonde locks, she knew it most certainly was not her roommate.

"Hello Amano-san, it has been a while since I had a chat with you," Mari smirked.