"Everyone, please welcome Mayu." The teacher said in a dull voice.

I spun my head from the window to the front of the classroom. Pale emerald eyes and light blue hair, there she was. It was Mayu. She grinned at me, waving slightly. The other students turned around to look at me wondering what our relationship was. Luna's face darkened.

"This is Mayu, she recently transferred and moved here from Asahikawa in Hokkaido so please be nice to her." The teacher said then he scanned the classroom. "Ah... you can sit at the front of the class."

He pointed to an empty seat near the front corner and Mayu nodded silently, heading towards her allocated seat. I watched as she placed down her bag and took out her books nonchalantly. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was actually Mayu. There was no doubt about it. But what was she doing here? And how did she even transfer to the school? I looked at Eiji to see his reaction but realised he had no idea who Mayu was. Luna had a tensed look on her face unlike her usual self. I wondered what was going through her head.

In the end, Mayu didn't act any different. She paid attention and followed the teacher the entire time. She didn't even turn her head back once. Time flew by quick and when the lunch bell rung, I watched as Mayu immediately got up from her desk and went for the door.

Akane and Eiji did not feel the tension between me and Luna. "Man, can't believe there is going to be a practice test tomorrow." Eiji groaned as he flipped through his notes. Luna stood up from her desk as Mayu left the classroom.

"What's wrong?" Akane asked in a worried tone. Eiji was surprised too but I got up with Luna.

"We will be right back, ok?" I told the two of them. "Won't be long."

"Huh?" Eiji said confused. Then he shrugged. "Ok..."

"Where are you going?" Akane asked looking at Luna nervously. "Can I come with you?"

"No. Stay here." Luna said without so much as glancing at Akane. She didn't explain any further and headed for the door. I apologised in her stake and followed after Luna as she quickened her pace.

"What is that whore doing here?" Luna mumbled between clenched teeth as soon as we were out of earshot. Luna took the stairs up and I tried my best to follow her. She had her hand on the back of her skirt the entire time we went up the stairs and I swallowed. Was she planning to kill Mayu in the school?

It didn't take long before we arrived at the school rooftop. Luna kicked the door open and we were welcomed by a small breeze of wind and the glare of the sun. I covered my eyes and squinted at the end of roof. There was a lone figure facing the scenery standing by the fence.

"Mayu!" Luna called out angrily. She pulled her knife out from behind her skirt and flicked the blade out of its handle. I saw the blade glint in the sunlight. Mayu turned to face us and smiled.

"Hello Luna." She said, then she looked at me. "Hey Ryo."

"Mayu..." I trailed off, not sure what exactly was going to happen now. Luna couldn't possibly be thinking about killing Mayu now, could she? She had revealed herself to the entire class. It would be strange if she stopped coming after her first day.

I looked to my side and to my surprise Luna was chuckling to herself. "Thanks for coming to the rooftops, Mayu." Luna said. "It makes staging your suicide much easier."

Mayu laughed innocently. "Come on now, Luna. I didn't transfer to your school just to fight you."

"Mayu," I said and she looked at me. "You shouldn't have come here."

She tilted her head slightly and made a love heart with her hands. "I missed you, Ryo."

I saw Luna flinch. "I hope you like heights." She said. Then without any more hesitation she rushed forward for Mayu. Luna had her blade by her waist preparing to unleash it forward and Mayu took on a fighting stance. Mayu's hand reached behind her skirt.

Luna pushed her knife forward, lunging for Mayu's heart and I saw Mayu pull out her dagger still encased in its sheath. She raised the sheath up just in time to deflect Luna's blow before rolling away. Luna didn't give Mayu a second to breathe and followed her movement to unleash another slash, this time for Mayu's neck.

Mayu ducked under Luna's knife and with a fluid motion she pulled her dagger out of its sheath and slashed it forward at the same time. Luna threw her knife downward catching Mayu's attack and I heard a clang as the blades collided. Mayu was pushed backwards by the force of Luna's blade.

Luna took a step forward immediately and slashed at Mayu's head. Mayu swerved her head out of the way but I saw strings of her hair flying into the air as she narrowly avoided the attack. Mayu swung for Luna's arm hoping to land one cut on her but Luna spun around. Mayu's dagger missed and as Luna was spinning back to face Mayu, Luna launched her knife out using her motion to add power to her strike.

Mayu pulled her dagger up, knowing that she couldn't dodge the attack seeing the speed of Luna's momentum. Luna's blade struck Mayu's blade at an awkward angle and it slid against the edges. The impact caused Mayu to lose grip on her dagger, and Luna's blade slid down slicing the top of Mayu's hand. She winced and tried to move away from Luna.

Sensing Mayu's weakness, Luna continued her assault with a quick stab at Mayu's thigh followed by a diagonal cut going upwards. Mayu kicked her leg away from the attempt at her thigh then swerved to dodge the cut but her movements were barely avoiding the attacks. Mayu jumped backwards and landed at a safe distance away from Luna.

"Luna, I'm not here to fight you." She declared slightly puffing. I could see blood trickling down her hand. "I know I can't defeat you."

"Stay away from Ryo." Luna said darkly. "Or I will kill you."

Mayu thought about it for a second then smiled. "I don't think you understand the situation, Luna..." She said.

"And what's that?" Luna replied.

Mayu walked towards me and Luna's pale violet eyes started glowing. I could see Luna tightening her grip on her knife. "Don't get any closer to Ryo." Luna warned.

Mayu stopped and twisted her head at Luna then back at me, she smiled. "Do you remember the Navigator, Luna?"

Luna's grip on her knife loosened and her eyes returned to its normal pale violet. I didn't understand what Mayu was saying.

"What do you mean?" I asked then looked at Luna, she seemed to get what Mayu was saying but I couldn't see the point.

Mayu looked back at Luna with a victorious grin stretching across her face. "What do you think would happen if I reported his address back to headquarters using the Navigator?"

"Y-you..." Luna looked angry. She stifled then flicked her knife back into its handle, returning the knife behind her skirt. "What do you want, Mayu?"

"That's more like it, Luna!" Mayu laughed as she sheathed her dagger. "Now we're talking!"

Luna stiffened and Mayu smiled. "I know where you live as well, Luna." Mayu turned to me and winked. "Ryo showed me the direction last night."

I opened my mouth in shock. Mayu must had followed me last night because she knew I would lead her to Luna. It was so obvious! I couldn't believe I had not thought about it.

"Don't worry. I haven't told anyone yet." Mayu said stretching her arms up in the air, I could see her stomach being revealed as her jumper pulled with her arms but she didn't seem to care. She lowered her arms back down when she caught me staring at her. I saw her reaching into her pocket and she pulled out an entirely black device that resembled a mobile phone. She waved it at Luna. "Here it is! You remember?"

Mayu pressed a button on the side of the device and holographic images began projecting on top of it. "I was quite upset when they gave us the Navigator because I thought it was quite ugly." Mayu said as she pressed a few buttons on the holograms. "But it's actually quite useful! For example..."

She pressed another button and a screen popped up. She enlarged it and spun the hologram to face Luna. "You can enter locations of your choosing that will be immediately uploaded as priority zones alerting all other Navigators. And also of course headquarters." Mayu explained pointing at a zoomed in map that was on the screen. "I heard Ichiro accidentally selected a house in Akita, you know, he's always been bad with technology, and the next day the house was reduced to merely ashes along with the house owners."

She looked at Luna for a reaction but Luna was completely silent. Mayu frowned then smiled again. "See if I accidentally press this location here..."

I could see Mayu's finger moving towards what looked to be the location of my apartment.

"Stop." Luna said and Mayu turned her attention away from the navigator, her finger was a mere inch away from touching the map. Luna clenched her fists."What do you want?"

Mayu smirked realising Luna was absolutely defeated now. She moved her finger away and turned the navigator off with a flick of her wrist then placed the device back in her pocket. "I'm going to stay in this school." Mayu stated.

"Ok." Luna replied.

"And I'm going to talk to Ryo without you trying to kill me." Mayu added.

Luna's face turned upside down and I could see her head shaking slightly as she fought the urge to refuse her request. She swallowed and forced herself to nod.

"Good." Mayu said with a smile then her smile erupted into a laugh. "I never thought I would see this day come where the all mighty Luna would bow her head at me! Can you believe it?"

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Mayu continued laughing as she waved goodbye, leaving the rooftop from the door that we entered. I dropped to my knees as soon as she was gone. It was impossible now. There was no way we could escape from Mayu. Even if we ran away we would simply endanger Eiji and Akane... we could take them with us. But it would be simply selfish to drag them into this mess. There was no guarantee that Mayu wouldn't report Akane and my house on the navigator either. Who's to say that she's not just playing with us and entering the locations in at this very moment? I didn't know what to do. I was at a complete loss.

"Let's go Ryo." I heard Luna's voice say from above me. I looked up. She was standing next to me staring at the door where Mayu had left, I did not even realise she had walked this close to me.

"Go where?" I groaned then the school bell rung signalling the end of lunch.

"To class." Luna answered. "For now we just have to follow Mayu's rules. It's the only way."

I stood up unenthusiastically and looked at Luna. She was still staring intently at the door, thinking. Then I heard her voice softly say; "If only we could get our hands on that navigator..."

When we got back to class, the teacher was already in the room beginning the lesson. We quietly slipped back into our seats and Eiji and Akane gave us worrying looks each. Luna sat with a dark face chewing her lower lip for much of the lesson. I could tell she didn't like Mayu's rules at all.

The teacher copied a question off the textbook onto the board and looked around the classroom for volunteers to answer the question. His eyes stopped at Luna and his face lit up. "Luna! Come up and show the class how to answer this question. It's one of the hardest question that relates to the test tomorrow."

Luna gave the teacher a glowering look and he looked away quickly. "Nevermind..."

"No one here is going to be able to solve this question, it's of a university difficulty so I'm just going to explain how-"

Mayu raised her hand up, smiling. "I can solve this." She said.

"Uh..." The teacher was surprised. "I don't really think so, you've only just transferred here..."

Mayu got up and walked over to the board. The teacher moved out of her way with a doubtful look on his face and Mayu picked up the chalk. She began to write something on the board.

"No, you got to-" The teacher stopped as he realised what Mayu was writing. His face turned from doubtful to pleased. "That's exactly right!"

Mayu had skipped the working out all together and simply wrote down the answer to a long complicated maths equation. She turned around to sit back at her desk. As she was walking she caught me staring at her and Mayu stuck her tongue out for a second before closing it smiling.

"We should all learn a thing or two from Mayu." The teacher praised as he returned to the board, continuing the class. "She must've studied her syllabus really well before transferring."

Akane looked at Mayu suspiciously. The rest of the lesson went on in a blur as I tried to catch up on what I had missed out in class while thinking about a way to grab Mayu's navigator off her. When the final class was over and the bell rung signalling the end of school, we joined the herd of students rushing to leave the school.

"I just can't believe that transfer student solved the equation so easily without even working it out." Akane told Luna as me and Eiji trailed behind them. Akane was ranked number two in academics out of the whole grade with Luna being first so it was natural that she understood the question. On the other hand me and Eiji had no idea.

"Maybe she already knew the answer." Eiji suggested from the back.

"She only just transferred here." Akane replied frowning. "I didn't even see her touch a calculator."

We pushed past a group of students and eventually made it out of the school building. As we were leaving the school grounds, I felt a hand slip itself around my arms. I looked to my side and saw Mayu.

"Hey Ryo." She said.

Luna reached behind her skirt instinctively and looked at Mayu with a bitter look on her face. "Stop bothering Ryo." Luna told her.

We stopped walking and Eiji and Akane looked between the three of us confused. Mayu refused to let go of my arm and pulled me closer towards her.

"What?" Mayu said in a questioning voice. "Ryo doesn't even like you. The only reason he's with you in the first place is because he's scared of you"

I could see Luna tensing up and a hurt look fell over her face. Mayu had hit a soft spot.

"What's going on, Ryo?" Eiji asked. He looked at Mayu then back at me. "Why are you with the transfer student?"

I opened my mouth to say something but I felt Mayu leaning in towards my ear. "Don't you want to know more about Ashens?"

I looked at her doubtfully but she met my gaze. "I can tell you more about Luna." Mayu whispered, I could feel her warm breath on my ears. "There's something Luna's not telling you."

"Ryo? What's going on?" Eiji asked, his face confused.

I looked back at him hesitantly. Something that Luna isn't telling me? What could it be? There might not be another chance where I could get information like this from Mayu. There was also that navigator that I needed to get a hold of...

"Well we're going now!" Mayu declared hastily as she dragged me away from the group. She waved backwards as we walked away "Bye Luna!"

"W-wait Ryo!" Luna called from behind. I tried to turn back but Mayu pushed me forward. I couldn't move my body against her. She was surprisingly strong for her stature.

"Just forget about Luna for now." Mayu said annoyed. "What's so good about her anyway."

"Mayu..." I glanced down at her as she led me across the streets. "Why did you come to our school?"

Mayu sighed. "I know I can't defeat Luna in a fight. I wasn't planning to in the first place. She's always been beyond my league."

"Even back when we were in Asahikawa I would always challenge her." Mayu recalled, then her face went bitter. "And I would always lose..."

"That thing I said about using the navigator to report your location..." Mayu hesitated. "It was a lie. I wasn't going to do it I just wanted to scare Luna."

"Then what are you here for?" I asked.

"I actually came to see you." Mayu answered.

"Y-you're joking."

Mayu pouted. "Why? Am I that ugly compared to Luna?"

I gave her an unbelieving look. "You're an Ashen... you don't have emotions."

"Some Ashens can still have emotions." Mayu sighed with a hurt look. "You should think about what you say, Ryo."

"Right..." I said. I didn't know if I could trust Mayu.

After a while, we stopped at an impoverished looking apartment block. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been an abandoned building. "We're here!" Mayu declared cheerfully. She dragged me by the arm into the entrance.

"Where are we?" I asked looking around with a suspicious face. The apartment was extremely worn down. I felt like a brick might suddenly fall down from the ceiling and knock us both out.

"It's my house." Mayu replied. We pushed open the door and walked up the stairs of the building. "Well, technically my apartment but whatever."

"You own this whole place?"

"No, I just rented a room here." Mayu laughed. "All the Ashens are given some money when they are sent for a mission."

We stopped at an apartment door and I watched as Mayu fumbled clumsily for her keys in her bag before opening the door. I walked in after her and found myself in a really plain living room.

"This is your place?" I asked. I couldn't believe any human being could live like this. There were no television, computers or even decorations. In the living room was simply a bed, a couch and a fridge. Another door led to the bathroom which was incredibly small consisting of a shower and a toilet. The walls were run down by the years of lacking maintenance and the only light in the place was a small lamp on the floor.

"Yeah!" Mayu said as she propped herself down on the bed. There was a large window next to the bed that was broken. "I love the window. It has a really great view."

I walked towards the bed and peeked out through the window. It really did have a good view despite the cracks and I could see the whole of Tokyo from a decent height. Below the apartment was a river leading to the sewers.

"Do you like it?" Mayu asked peeking out the window with me.

"Yeah." I replied.

She looked at me and smiled with her round pale emerald eyes. Her dark eyelashes was complimented by her pale skin. I looked away awkwardly. Mayu pulled the navigator out of her pocket and dropped it on her bed. It bounced on the surface for a bit and stopped. "That thing is so annoying in my pocket."

My eyes gazed at the navigator and Luna's words recalled in my head. If only we could get our hands on that navigator.

"But I have to keep it on me all the time." Mayu sighed and pulled her legs towards her body. "It's the only way to stop Luna from taking it off me."

Mayu looked up at me. "Did you know that I'm faster than Luna?"

I cocked my head. "Is that impressive?"

Mayu frowned. "Luna is unarguably the strongest Ashen."