~Tokyo, Japan; 5:05 PM GMT+9
Chidoriyama Boys Highschool.
"Oi, Luck!" A voice called out from behind him as he made his way to the shoe lockers.
"Mm?" Luck hummed, turning to see his classmate hurriedly pacing a few steps behind. "Kamei... did you need something?"
"Yeah," His classmate replied, catching his breath between words. "You forgot your Math notes. You left it with me and I forgot to give it back to you during Lunch. Thanks."
"Ah, no problem~" Luck sang, letting his lips curl into a smile that looked a little mischievous, "You could've kept them as long as you liked though."
"Huh? Really?" Kamei exclaimed with surprise and a little confusion. "You know we have a Math quiz right after homeroom tomorrow right?"
"Hm? Yeah, I know," Luck calmly replied, with a face that spelt confusion.
"Hahh!" Kamei sighed, tipping his head a bit forward. "Well of course, you won't be worried, despite how you look, you're really good at studying, especially Math and English. Ah! That's right! Speaking of English, You're a foreigner right? The guys in class three have been asking me to ask you. You have reddish hair and your eyes are golden brown, and your accent doesn't sound like the ones you usually hear in foreign movies, where did you say you were from again?"
"Eh? Why do they want to know?" Luck chimed in question.
"Heh, they want to invite a good looking guy to one of their group dates to attract some pretty girls," Kamei explained, blushing a little, not doing a great job of hiding the fact that he wanted to partake as well. "They think if they mention a foreigner from an exotic place they'll attract more girls or something."
"Heehh~" Luck sang, resuming his smile. "Hmm... I'm not sure I have the time to attend, but if it will help them, then they can say I'm from Australia."
"A-Australia?" Kamei repeated, a bit taken aback.
"Mhmm," Luck affirmed with a slight nod. "Have you perhaps heard of it?"
"Hmm... I think I have?" Kamei responded, placing his hand on his chin and began to pondered.
"Probably from history class," Luck remarked in English with a small smile, absent of any mischief.
"Hee-sto-rii?" Kamei muttered, trying to pronounce the word he had just heard for the first time.
"You know, I hear it was once one of the largest countries in the world," Luck added, his smile almost seeming faded.
"Huh?" Kamei stood, a little confused, gazing at an expression he never thought Luck would have, instantly gaining back Luck's attention as his eyes flicked to him.
"Well, now its just a moderately sized island though," Luck mused, regaining his playful mischievous smile. "So if they ask, I'm from an exotic place."
"I see." Kamei replied. "Oh! Are you going home now?"
"Yup!" Luck answered eagerly.
"Ha! Escaping? Didn't Nakatani-sensei say to meet him in the teacher's lounge after school? He'll be pissed as hell tomorrow if you escape again." Kamei chortled, looking in the vague direction of the teacher's lounge.
"Yeah, but it's his fault though," Luck sighed, pulling a pouting expression. "Why does he get mad over every little thing? You'd think he'd have chilled out by now."
"Isn't that because you keep calling him 'Nakatani' and speaking to him informally all the time?" Kamei answered.
"Is that enough of a reason to get so mad like that every time? Even though I correct him when he's wrong in class, or give him apples during homeroom," Luck pouted, letting his eyes wander out the window. "Oh!"
He noticed the group of six waiting outside the gate, with Jin waving up at him once he'd spotted them.
"No, I think those things make it worse," Kamei stated, thinking back on how many times Nakatani got mad at Luck.
"Well it's not like I can help it," Luck muttered under his breath. "It's not like I've ever gone to school before this."
"Huh? What was that?" Kamei asked, not making out what Luck had just said.
"Nothing~" Luck sang, turning back on his heels. "Well anyway, bye bye! See you later Kamei!"
"Ah! You still forgot your notes with me!" Kamei called after him.
"Keep them for me till tomorrow!" Luck yelled back, quickly racing to the shoe lockers and switching out his school flats for his regular ones and rushing out to the gate.
"Good work at school!" Jin and Lucien greeted waving him over before he reached them.
"Hey guys! Did you wait long?" He asked, with his smile brighter than before.
"No, we just got here," Katri answered.
"That's good," He said, then turned to Akira. "Good work today!"
"Oh, thanks," Akira responded, not used to this sort of greeting from Luck. "You too, good work."
"Here~" Luck chimed, after searching his bag and pulling out a snack bar that Jin had asked him to procure for him.
"Ah! Thanks! I was starving," Jin stated, tearing it open as soon as he received it.
"Anyone else want some? I have a whole lot more," He asked, looking to the other members of his team as he handed one to Satoma before he had a chance to respond.
"Oh thanks," Katri replied, taking one, as well as Lesley.
"Any for you Akira?" Luck asked.
"Hm? Uh, sure." He said, before taking one too.
He wasn't at all excited about going back into a lab of his own volition, and could tell Luck was just trying to cheer him up any way he could. This allowed him to relax his tense nerves a bit.
"Looks like your especially excited, aren't you Luck?" Jin sighed, aware he and everyone else present could not relate.
"Course I am," Luck answered, biting into his snack bar. "I just hope the physician this time is as good as Doctor Maya."
"Anyone would be better than doctor Maya," Katri, Lesley, and Jin said in unison.
"But it'll be a pain," Lesley complained, tossing his empty wrapper perfectly into a nearby trashcan.
"True," Katri sighed in agreement. "Branch groups of the organization tend to hate us more than others."
"Aren't you guys exaggerating too much? Look you're scaring poor Satoma," Lucien started, putting his hand around Satoma's shoulders. "I'm sure they wouldn't be so bad."
"You're one to talk," Lesley stated.
"Yeah, don't they hate you especially?" Jin continued.
"A little optimism boys," Lucien exclaimed, hiding a sigh. "Besides, if they try anything like the guys from the Trezna branch, we can just do what we did to them."
Smirks begin to plant themselves on the faces of the blood hound members recalling the events that occurred last year in their assignment country, Trezna.
"I wonder if we should try something new this time?" Katri chortled.
"How about just bombing the whole place? With Satoma here, I think it's possible?" Jin added.
"Oh, or you could destroy it with an earthquake like we did with the Berlin branch?" Luck suggested with a wide grin.
"That one was good too. Those guys were really annoying," Jin agreed.
"You guys are seriously weird," Satoma spouted, a cold sweat running down his spine.
"No, lets just shoot them up like in Egypt, that was the most effective," Lesley retorted.
"Too much work Les, I think gassing works too?" Luck stated, tapping his fingers on his lips as he ponders.
"Or we could just burn them up," Akira said in a trance, his fists curling up tightly.
"..."
"Yeah, that sounds good too," Lucien spoke, breaking the fallen silence, with a warm smile. "Burning it is."
"Burning huh?"
"Haven't tried that before,"
"Kinda unoriginal if you ask me,"
"Good thing no one asked."
"Hey Akira," Luck called, leaning on Akira, breaking him out of his trance. "No need to be so down, we're going with your idea! We'll burn them all up to a crisp so bad they'll be unidentifiable!"
"More like they'll be gone altogether if it's Akira's flames though," Jin chuckled.
"Right?" Katri agreed.
"So cheer up, kay?" Luck smiled, gazing at Akira intently.
"Yeah, I understand." He responded, regaining his composure.
'Just like they said,' He thought to himself. 'We can just burn them. This time, I'll burn them!'