It was rare for there to be silence in Ms. Hamada's household. Extremely rare, so that any precious seconds of silence was treasured-

"KEITH AKIRA SHIROGANE-HAMADA-CHENG! I WILL CUT YOU IF YOU USE THOSE FABRIC SCISSORS ON PAPER!"

As I said, treasured.

With two young adults, three teens, and an overwhelmed aunt, the customers attending the Lucky Cat Cafe always found themselves paying more attention to the ambiance than to their meals. Cassandra Hamada had found herself taking custody of the five kids eleven years ago, and in turn they had made her life (and everyone else's) a lot more interesting.

"IT'S JUST PAPER MARI!"

"YOU'LL DULL THE BLADE! NOW GIVE ME IT!"

Marinette started to climb up her mulleted older brother's body, hands desperately grasping for the scissors.

"Keith, give her the scissors," Shiro, barely functioning as the tired college student he was, sighed.

Mari snatched the coveted item away from the fashion disgrace, muttering under her breath.

"What was that?" Keith challenged.

"If you wanted to cut something, you could have just used a knife from your hoard."

"It's not a hoard, I just like knives, okay?"

The pigtailed offender looked at him skeptically.

"Keep it down out there, some of us are still trying to sleep," a voice complained from a nearby room.

"Well the rest of us aren't geniuses and still have to go to school, Hiro!" Keith retorted.

"Yeah, but you could do it quietly."

"Can it, nerd."

"I'm not a nerd, Tadashi is!"

"I'm a what now?" the tired young man murmered to Shiro.

"A nerd."

"Fair."

As Keith and Marinette approached the high school, they both felt a mixture of emotions. One Marinette felt was an overwhelming sense of dread. This was her first day of high school, and with her current record, she was doomed to spend it alone. Sure she had a few friends, but she couldn't help but think about how awfully nice it would be to have some more. Or an army more, she thought. That would probably be enough to hide from Chloe in. She shuddered at the thought of the bratty rich girl.

"Hey." She looked up at Keith.

"You'll be okay," he continued.

"Easy for you to say, you never minded be alone," she snorted in response.

He shrugged. "Still, this year might be different."

"Whatever, Emo Man."

"Same to you, Fashion Police."

The pair then split off to their respective classes, each having different hopes and fears for what their futures might hold.