As Alice was getting ready to go to yet another day in the hell called high school, there was a knock at the front door. She walked to the front door with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, still dressed in a baggy green nightshirt and black shorts, and her hair still in a mess from the tossing and turning the eventually led to sleep the night before, answering the door to Kazuo.

He smiled. "Hey there!"

She sighed and motioned for him to come in as she continued brushing her teeth. "…What're you…doing here?" She asked after she spit into the bathroom sink.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm protecting you."

"A-At school," she pointed out as she rinsed her toothbrush off and walked back into her room. He tried to follow her in, but got shoved out and the door locked behind him.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't walk you." Kazuo shrugged.

Alice sighed as she slipped into her dress and opened the door walk back into her bathroom. "…I'm just…gonna say this now…you're weird."

"Yeah, what else is new?"

She sighed again and brushed out her hair quickly before moving into the kitchen to get a granola bar for breakfast. She offered one to Kazuo, but he refused it. She grabbed her history book and MP3 Player off the couch and they left without much else being said. Alice ate on the granola bar until they got about halfway to the school, when she finished it.

"You seem to have a pretty solid morning routine," Kazuo said, attempting small talk.

"Uh-huh," Alice replied softly.

"Are you going to do the whole silent treatment thing again?"

She looked at him sidelong and then looked back forward.

"Dammit," he mumbled.

The rest of the walk to school was quiet, save for the few more attempts at conversation Kazuo desperately tried to get to work. Once the school was in sight, he stopped trying to get her to talk to him, and decided to just try later. Hell, once they got to the school, they'd have to go separate ways for their classes anyway.

His eyes narrowed when he realized that, it meant that he couldn't protect her all day. And from what he gauged of Alice and those who had been around her in class, even if she was beaten on while he wasn't around, he'd never know of it.

"Dammit!" Kazuo yelled suddenly.

Alice looked at him funny when he yelled out of nowhere. They were in front of the entrance to the school, so everyone who was dreading the day and not willing to go in, was looking at him. It just wasn't normal for someone to suddenly yell.

He looked around and just waved with a smile when he noticed everyone staring. Alice, on the other hand, left him behind and went into the building. Once he realized he had been left behind, Kazuo ran up behind her.

"Hey, can you show me to my class?" He asked once they were sitting down in the cafeteria, where she sat during lunch, waiting for the bell to first hour to ring.

She plucked his schedule from his hand and nodded before handing it back.

"Great!" He smiled. "So, tell me about yourself."

She looked at him like he was insane. She didn't want to talk to him, and she knew he knew it, but it sure as hell wasn't stopping him.

"Come on…!" Kazuo almost begged. "You have an MP-three Player, what songs are on there? What kind of music?"

Alice grabbed a notebook from Kazuo's bag and wrote on a black sheet of paper, "What happened to NOT bothering me?"

He read it and laughed. "You didn't think I was serious, did you?"

She sighed and leaned back in her seat with an annoyed look on her face. Just what she needed, some guy who was going to try and be her boyfriend or something. She'd welcome a friend, but the direction this was going was the exact direction she never wanted anything in high school to go.

Kazuo chuckled. "You know, I've seen that look a lot of times, and I can assure you that I don't want to date you. I seriously just wanna be friends."

She stared at him with a look that quite plainly said, "I don't believe you."

He sighed. "And why not?"

Alice grabbed the notebook again and wrote, "Because you're acting too weird to just want to be friends."

"Weird?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

She nodded.

"I assure you, I, one-hundred percent, just want to be friends."

She stared at him with the same, "I don't believe you," look.

"You want me to prove to you that I just wanna be your friend?"

She nodded.

"Okay then. Here's a bit of information that you can confirm with everyone I know back in Japan: I'm gay."

Alice's eyes went wide with a mix of shock and amazement. "…S-Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yep. In fact," he pointed over at Lucas, "if he wasn't a total douche like the rest of them, he'd be my type."

She giggled. "Really?"

Kazuo smiled. "Hell yeah! I mean, you gotta admit, he's pretty cute."

She looked over at Lucas, and moved her hand in a side-to-side motion that meant maybe. "He's…okay… There're some…better guys around."

"Really?" He leaned forward, over the table with a big grin. "I can't wait to see them!"

She chuckled. "…You know…you seem like such…a manly man… I would've never guessed."

He looked surprised. "Most people guess from the fact that I wear a fake diamond tiara on my head, but you seriously wouldn't have guessed…?"

She shook her head.

"Wow, that's a first."

Both looked over at where the four "douches" were sitting just in time to see them look back at each other. They had been staring in shock and awe at Kazuo and Alice talking. It was surprising for them to see her talking instead of looking at the table.

Kazuo shrugged and looked back at Alice. "So, I told you something about me. Let's hear something about you."

She sighed, knowing she should've seen that coming. She thought for a minute or two before saying, "…My…parents are graduates…of Shibusen in D-Death City."

"Dude! Really?" His mouth dropped open, he was impressed.

She nodded.

"Damn! But why aren't you attending Shibusen then? I mean, as the child of graduates, you're bound to be a Weapon or Meister, right?"

She shrugged. "…Probably…"

"Can I meet your parents?"

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Th-They're out of…town."

"Where?"

Alice shrugged again. "I…don't know. They were going somewhere…for Lord Death, but haven't…returned yet…"

"I see. Any idea when they'll be back?"

She shook her head. "…They've been gone for…nearly a year…"

Kazuo's eyes widened. "Holy crap! You've been living alone all this time?"

She nodded.

"How do you pay for everything?"

"…They send me…money everyone now and again."

"Huh…" He chuckled. "Who'd have thought? Are your parents Meister and Weapon respectively?"

She nodded again.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

She shook her head.

"I'm the only one that knows… That's awesome!"

She chuckled. "…I guess…"

The bell for first hour rang and the mass of students gathered in and around the cafeteria began moving towards their classes. Alice quickly showed Kazuo to his first hour class before heading to hers, two classes down the hall from his.