Rays of sun poured into the bedroom through an open window, bringing light into the shadowy den that housed the sleeping main character. The room was a mess. Books of all kinds were scattered everywhere, clothes were in piles everywhere, and video game systems and their discs and cartridges were littered everywhere.

"Honey, you're gonna be late!" The words didn't reach his ears as his head lay on his desk. On it was a notebook that he had been drawing on since last night, a smartphone that was playing music through earphones still on him, and a laptop where he had been writing a story on.

Several knocks came on his door and managed to stir him. He grunted, sitting up from the desk, accidentally pushing his phone off it. It fell on the carpeted floor, making a thud as it brought the earphones with it.

The cheery chorus of young women singing and upbeat music left his ears, only helping to wake him up, confused as to where the song had gone.

He heard his mother call out again, this time more aggressively. "Nu! Don't make me pull you out of there!" The young man rubbed his eyes as he stood up, picking up his phone and placing it back on the desk as he walked out the room. "I'm up." He answered as he walked into the bathroom to shower.

"Third year, huh? That's exciting." Nu's mother said, sitting across the table from him. "Not really. It doesn't make that much of a difference." He answered, sighing as he ate. "Why? You're not having problems at school, are you?" She asked, a hint of concern showing. He chuckled. "Of course not. I'm fine, mom."

He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed again. Problems? No, he wouldn't call it that. He just didn't find the fun in school, like all the other people did. Eucon Nu kept to himself most of the time, only interacting when he really needed to, like in class. Home was much more his thing.

His black hair was getting long, reaching the bridge of his nose now. Pale, ghostly skin coupled with his thin frame made him look a bit unhealthy, but alive. Nu wore the Academy's uniform, a white shirt and black tie, with a black blazer and some trousers. With a satisfied nod, he picked his backpack up and headed on out. "I'm off, mom!" He called out before walking to the bus stop.

Seisui Academy. Named after a famous woman in his country's history, it had been his school for two years now, and after this one, he'd finally be a high schooler. Not that a lot would change, he mostly did the same thing every day when it came to school. Go to class, take some notes, go home, repeat. He didn't hang out with any of his classmates, or joined any of the clubs. He had his most fun when he was writing his book, drawing doodles or quick comic strips, and playing games anyway, all of which he did at home. Nu only had a few friends, and he wasn't schoolmates with any of them either.

"Good morning, class." The class advisor said. The class replied, and were told to sit. She was a bit on the younger side, around mid twenties, with long and wavy brown hair. She spoke with a gentle but firm voice and surveyed the class with watchful, gray eyes. "My name is Avoli Angelina, but you may call me Miss Avoli. Clear?" The class answered a yes in sync, and then Miss Avoli proceeded with the first lesson of the school year, a math discussion that Nu just blankly took notes on.

"What's our MAPEH subject for this quarter?" A classmate asked him. Nu looked at her, and, with more effort than usual, managed to remember her name: Yoo Alexandra, but everyone called her Alex. He'd seen her around the school before, she was pretty well known. She was a bit shorter than him, with shoulder length light brown hair and green eyes. "Phys. Ed." He answered, slinging his backpack over the shoulder and standing straighter. "The teacher said the first class was a quick physical check-up at Gym 1." Alex walked over to her seat and took her bag as well, before following Nu out.

Nu was a bit uncomfortable walking with Alex. Not only did she talk with him more than anyone else did (excluding his best, and practically only, friend), she kept staring at him with such a serious look as they walked to the gym.

It proved to be too much for him, and he spoke up. "Err.. Alexandra?" Nu said slowly. "Call me Alex." She replied cheerfully. "Okay, Alex? Is there anything wrong with my face?"

"Oh, nothing like that!" She answered, giggling. "I just thought about how this might be the first time we've spoken." It was. Nu hadn't been avoiding her, but their interests differed and so they never got together enough for a conversation to form. "Maybe..?" He chuckled nervously, looking away. "Right? I'm kinda curious what you're like, since you always stay by yourself. But you always have a book or a game..."

They talked until they reached the gym, Alex's efforts at leading the conversation finally paying off as they hit a topic the introvert understood. "You're a fan of the Space Hunter series too?" She asked him, prompting him to talk about the game's protagonist, a famous bounty hunter fighting against terrorists in space.

The pair arrived at the gym after a short while. The walls were painted a bright white and lined with a darker red. Sounds of yells and rubber on the maple wood rebounded from the walls, the students everywhere playing around instead of doing the check-up. The court was divided among the students, with one half of it was used in a basketball game, using only one hoop, and the other was used for a volleyball game. The others who weren't participating were just chilling on the bleachers.

Stolen story; please report.

Alex waved a friend of hers over from the people playing volleyball. "Trini, what's happening? I thought there'd be a check-up." She asked. Judging from the smile on her face, she looked happy to just play around instead. "Oh, the teacher called and said he couldn't come today, so he said we could play around, as long as Sam was keeping check and that we stayed in the gym."

After hearing that, Nu kinda wanted to just go and sit by the bleachers, read a book he brought or something, but it felt wrong to just leave Alex right away so he stood with her until she finished talking with her friend. "Thanks, Trini!" She said, waving her goodbye as Trini went back to the volleyball match. If memory served, her actual name was Trinidad.

"Well then, what are you gonna do?" She asked him. Alex was smiling, still, and was obviously itching to play volleyball. She sure looked athletic enough. "I was planning on just sitting on the bleachers." He said bluntly, pointing at a spot with not many people around. "Whaaat? Seriously?" She asked, playfully dropping her shoulder. "I can't join the game if it's just me. I need someone with me to even out the odds, you know?"

This was going to get annoying, even for Nu. Maybe that was a sign that they were getting close, because the only other person to annoy him was his best friend, but it was getting on his nerves a bit. He was getting close to completing Super Space Hunter, the third game in the series, and he wasn't keen on losing his momentum.

"I don't really want to." He said, but she persisted. Alex was relentless.

"Why don't you wanna play?"

"I want to play my own game."

"How about you and I join for just fifteen minutes?"

"No, I just wan-"

"How about ten minutes?"

"Alex, no-"

"Five minutes?"

"AL-"

This time Nu was cut off not by a persistent brunette, but by a stray volleyball rocketing towards his face. It made a satisfying bang as the impact knocked him down on his ass. His vision spun for a moment as he blinked back the confusion. He heard a couple voices making noise, and the bouncing of the volleyball which had rebounded from his head.

"Are you hurt?" Someone asked him. He was a bit fuzzy, still, but he shook his head. "Okay, do you know where you are?"

"Seisui Academy... The gym..." He mumbled, blinking rapidly, as he rubbed his eyes. His eyes had stabilized, no longer on a swivel, but it was still a blur. He saw two fuzzy shapes around him. One was most definitely Alex, with the way it was wobbling around. The other he didn't recognize, probably a classmate he couldn't remember at the moment.

"Alright, what's your name?" They asked, as his vision slowly returned to normal. He could see that quite a few people had stopped what they were doing to look at the commotion of him getting hit in the face. The volleyball game had stopped and they were looking at his direction too. Then he turned his attention to the two figures hovering over him. Alex was breathing heavily, but from the looks of it, it was because she was laughing instead of worrying.

The other blurball was also a girl, with long blonde hair tied into a high ponytail. She had fair skin, and looking longer at her face, Nu noticed a mole to the left of her chin. Blue eyes looked into his black ones, brows furrowed in concern. She was kneeling beside him, looking for any signs of an injury courtesy of a volleyball. It seemed like time had slowed down as she and Nu locked eyes.

"You okay?" She asked, snapping Nu back to reality as he blinked back the trance. "Y-yeah.. I'm fine." He answered. The blonde offered a hand and helped him to his feet. Until now, he'd been too dazed to remember, but he finally recognized who this was. Nara Samantha, the captain of Seisui's girls' volleyball team. She was pretty popular, aside from being just pretty, and he knew more than a few people who would kill to be this close to her, speaking to her like this. "Name?" Samantha asked, smiling with relief. She must've been the one who hit him, because she looked like a burden had been lifted. A part of him felt weird after he thought that.

"Eucon... Nu..." He answered. Sure, he was bad around people but he was never this bad. Whatever happened, it rendered him speechless towards her. Maybe it was her eyes. Or her hair. Or her mole.

Samantha nodded, smiling at him again. "Alright then. Nice to see you're back to the land of the living." She said, chuckling. "So, which class are you from?" She added, raising a brow. By now, the other people had gone back to playing and the volleyball match had resumed. "I'm your classmate." Nu replied, smiling awkwardly. It was a little sad that her own classmate didn't recognize him, but he knew that was his own fault.

Samantha's eyes lit up in shock and she looked at him with wide eyes. Her cheeks started to turn red a bit as the embarrassment started to sink in. "I am so sorry, I think I might have forgotten!" She said, bowing her head apologetically.

"Sam, it's not your fault, really!" Alex chimed in, giggling. "He doesn't really stand out that much because he stays away from people and always has his head in a book or in a game."

The blonde lifted her head and smiled a bit after listening to Alex. "But still, I feel bad for hitting him and forgetting he was a classmate. I have to make it up to you somehow." She said. "Can I do anything for you?"

Nu was a bit silent, just staring at her quietly while she talked. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to notice. He stared until she asked him, to which he mumbled something so random even he didn't understand what he tried to say.

"What?" Samantha asked, obviously confused, although the spurt of gibberish did get her to laugh a bit. "I didn't catch that."

"I think he asked if you could let us join you guys." Alex spoke up with a grin, earning her a frown from Nu.

"Really? Of course you guys can play with us!" She replied, smiling too. "Guys!" The blonde called to her friends, "We have some more players!" She then walked over to the game.

Nu was still frowning at Alex as she giggled excitedly. "I thought I said I didn't want to play?" He asked her, his annoyance evident in his voice. Alex giggled some more and raised a brow. "Oh? And I thought you wanted to be with Sam longer?"

Silence. Nu didn't reply, and for a second, Alex was actually worried that he was mad. But then an even wider grin returned to her when a shade of crimson appeared on Nu's cheeks. "Shut up..." He muttered as he walked over to the court, the brunette right behind him. "Oh, the joys of love!" She teased, practically skipping. "Shut up!" He said again, more forcefully this time, with his face as red as a tomato.