Coo-coo coo-coo

Martlet had made Clover an alarm clock a few days ago, the same as her own. And it was set for two and a half hours before school started. It was a little early, but that was perfectly fine with Clover.

Speaking of school, today was the first day! It was... A bit of a killjoy when compared to the last few days of his life. Especially when it had the best birthday ever to contend with. Actually, now that Clover thought about it, he wasn't sure there were many days that could beat that one out at all really.

"...Yaaaaaaay." Clover grumbled to himself as he stretched out. it should take an hour and a half to make it to school. So he had about an hour to get ready. It was a bit of a long walk... But Clover didn't mind the prospect of it too much. Shouldn't really be that bad, a good walk could do him some good in the morning.

He absentmindedly reached for his hat and bandanna and began to put them on as he got out of bed. Then the thought occurred that he should probably take a shower and preen himself, so after having just finished tying his bandanna, he untied it and took his hat off.

"Oops."

Clover initially reached for one of his long sleeves, but considered it for a moment. Cowboys WERE fireproof, but Clover wasn't sure if they were uh... Melting proof. There was a difference between being conditioned to an arid climate, and then just being dropped into a volcano. Though, presentation was pretty important in school from what he remembered. Showing weakness was generally a pretty bad idea, so after a bit more deliberation, he just went for the long sleeve anyways. He was confident in being able to beat the heat. He also grabbed his poncho and threw it on. One pair of jeans and underwear later, and he was good to go. His boots were by the front door, so he'd get those later.

There wasn't anything special to note about the wash, he just made sure he came out squeaky clean and preened. After all was said and done, he had about thirty minutes left. He zipped into his room, once again grabbed his hat and bandanna, and fastened them both. He almost forgot another thing on his way out though, his phone. With a quick flourish, he unlocked it (with a password of 503607)

Kanako-7:35 AM

"Remember, meet you at the umbrella bin?"

Clover texted her back.

"Yup, be there in about an hour and fifteen minutes."

Clover pocketed his phone and once again made his way to the door. His mom was still asleep, so, he'd just make breakfast for himself, no need to wake her up for something simple like that. He'd just make himself toast, or something. And for lunch... Actually, he wasn't exactly sure how lunch worked at this new school. Would it have food that he could buy there? Clover shrugged to himself. Better safe then sorry. He'd just make himself a sandwich and tuck it away in his bag.

All of that took Clover another fifteen or so minutes, and by then he was about ready to get going. He figured he'd at least check in with his mom first with the time he had though.

Knock knock

Clover waited about a minute, and no response. He sighed, and cleared his throat. "Mom! I'm going to school! Don't freak out if I'm not here when you wake up!"

Then he paused and thought about it. "Wait, why don't I just write a note?"

He then immediately after that thought, went about writing a note.

"Remember, first day of school today. So I won't be home till a bit before you're done with work. Have a good day mom!"

Slightly crack open her door, slip it in and stick it under the door knob... And he was good! With ten or so minutes to spare. Well... It never hurt to be early.

...

Clover might've overestimated the amount of time he'd need to make it to school... As promised, he had arrived at the umbrella bucket. Kanako was nowhere to be seen quite yet, but that was to be expected given he was about twenty minutes earlier than he'd expected.

Clover once again checked the time, 8:35 AM. School didn't start until ten... So he really might've left a bit too early now that he thought about it. Well, he was sure Kanako would keep him entertained. They always got along well. Of course, the problem with that, was that she probably wouldn't be here for a little bit.

Kanako-8:00 AM

"On my way, cya soon!"

Clover did some quick math, it'd taken him about forty minutes to walk all the way here, Kanako's house was a little further away, and she left about ten minutes after he had left. So... It'd be maybe fifteen minutes until she got here? Clover could deal. With one big stretch, he moved to lean against the wall, and from there, he pulled out his phone again.

So, there was this social media stuff that he hadn't really bothered to check out yet. It was apparently pretty new, like, made three days ago? Not that many people had it at the moment, so there wasn't much to look at, but it was something.

Echhech-7:32 PM 21/03/30

"Anybody else download this thing?"

A simple question, which had a few responses. Mostly just yes and no answers. The no's were obviously jokes. How else would they have responded? Clover smiled a bit and scrolled down.

⋄Akaye⋄-9:19 AM 21/03/29

"Gotta go to work, sorry guys!"

Apparently, that'd been the end of a conversation, because everybody that this monster had been talking to didn't respond. Before that though, it was a totally rich conversation about the direction of monster society with the introduction of this new fascinating media. Clover found himself nodding and moved to scroll again, though this time a voice interrupted him.

"My, my, is that you Clover?"

Clover peered up from his phone, and looking back at him was a somewhat slim grey cat monster.

"...Do I know you?" Clover tilted his head at them.

"You wound me Clover, you really do." They feigned disappointment as they popped open an umbrella. "It's me, Matt. We met about a month back, remember?"

Clover blinked a few times, before raising a finger in recognition. "Oh, right, back when... MK was leading a group of kids through Snowdin... Right?"

"Bingo." He snapped. Though, it was a bit quiet given that he had fur. "Anyway, what are you doing out here all alone?"

"Oh, uh, I'm waitin on a friend right now. They should be here in... A few minutes or so."

"I see. Well, you're going to school, right?"

"Mhm... Begrudgingly." Clover shrugged and pocketed his phone once again.

"Oh please, it isn't that bad. Anyways, given you're going to school, have you recovered from your amnesia yet?"

"...Meh, sort of. It's all coming back to me gradually, but there's still a whole lot of my life that i'm missin. It's slow goin, but I'll be alright... Eventually."

"Hm, I see. Who is it that you're waiting for anyway? I probably know them, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I walked with you both."

"Her name's Kanako."

"K-Kanako...?" He looked a little taken aback. "I uh... Didn't expect you to be friends with somebody like that, didn't she uh... Have a bit of an accident a while back as well?"

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Yeah, she started getting better about a month back though, she has amnesia like I do too."

"I... Uh... I see, that is about the time the monsters in the lab were discharged... Well, maybe I should get going a bit earlier then, wouldn't want to-"

"Clover!"

Clover could've sworn Matt turned just a little paler.

"Wow, what are you doing here so early? I thought we'd get here at the same time. Oh, and who's that?" Kanako cheerily bounced up towards the pair with her own bag in tow. Like Clover, she too had a bag tied into the box system, so she wasn't carrying much.

"Oh, this is Matt. He's an acquaintance."

"H-Hello, Kanako..."

"Uh... Hi?" She tilted her head at them. "Do I know you?"

"N-no, we weren't really... Friends..."

"Uh... If you say so!" Kanako shrugged and strode up to Clover. "Well?"

Clover nodded and picked a yellow umbrella out from the bucket. "We've got about an hour before school starts, so we should probably get going." He mused and popped open the umbrella.

Clover paused for a moment, before turning his direction to the still lightly frazzled cat. "Me and Kanako don't really know the exact path, so we were going to go off directions, but now that you're here think you could show us the way?" He innocently asked.

"...Uh..."

"I'd appreciate it!" Kanako added on cheerily.

Matt cleared his throat and took a step forward. "I guess it couldn't... Hurt. Come on then, let's... Get going."

...

For his part, Matt had been exceedingly quiet in the presence of Kanako. Which was just fine with her, because she had a lot to talk about as usual. And most of her attention was on Clover. Clover did his best to give worthwhile answers, and to ask questions of his own. But once they actually stepped into Hotland...? Things got a bit more difficult for him.

He hadn't quite overestimated himself, but it was difficult to trudge through the extreme heat as heavily dressed as he was. Even being as used to heat as he was, it was still difficult. So his attention naturally degraded as he tried to keep himself in stride.

"Man, it's been so long since I got to go to school! Can't wait to talk to all of my friends again, I get to introduce you to everybody Clover, it'll be great! Are you excited too!?"

"...Sure." He mumbled back in response.

That was how most conversation went past the twenty minute travelling mark, Clover would occasionally catch a glance of pity from Matt, but he didn't really get why. He was fine, just a bit hot. If anything, he should just take off his poncho for now and stuff it into his bag... At this rate it might've actually made for a better sight for him to not be wearing it if he looked sort of miserable in it along with the heat.

Actually, why wasn't he doing that?

"Would you excuse me for a sec?" Clover held a hand out to Kanako and slipped a hand under his poncho.

"Oh. sure." Kanako shot him a thumbs up, and turned her attention to Matt.

"So you said we weren't friends, but we did know each other, right?"

"...You could say that." He nodded. Clover didn't really get why he was so reserved around Kanako, she was a blast to be around!

Kanako continued to question the cat while her focus was away from Clover, so he made good use of his time and pulled his hat off, stuffed it into his bag, and then followed it up with his poncho. Lastly, he put his bandanna in. The cowboy attire could wait until he actually reached the school and got to some place with air conditioning. He'd underestimated the Hotland heat a little bit too much...

"Alright, I'm good!" Clover called back as he rolled up his sleeves. He was still a little sweaty, but he was nowhere near as badly off as he had been a moment ago.

"Cool! Then let's keep going." Kanako smiled and pointed ahead. "I think I can see the school from here!"

"Oh thank... Wait, where did all your stuff go?" Matt raised an eyebrow at Clover. "You didn't throw it into the magma did you?"

"...Wha? No, of course not. It's in my bag." Clover held up the bag as emphasis.

"Wait... Like... All of it, you stuffed everything in there, how?"

"No, it's connected to item boxes." Clover slung his bag over his shoulder and began to walk again.

"Hold on... Isn't custom stuff like that, super expensive...?"

Clover shrugged in response. He wasn't sure about any of that. He just kind of... Found it lying on the ground? Why would he find it on the ground somewhere if it was super expensive...? He couldn't have robbed anybody, it was literally up on a mountain top with nobody else nearby. But then WHY was it there? ...Ah well, questions for later.

"...Uhuh, well, Kanako wasn't wrong... School's just over there."

Clover frowned, maybe he hadn't needed to disrobe.

...

Clover once again checked his phone, 9:51 AM. School started in... Nine minutes! On the bright side, they could enter early! So, air conditioning at last! Within that allotted time, Clover once again got into his attire. The cowboy had returned.

"Oh... I didn't think you were actually going to wear all of that into school." Kanako noted.

"You said it yourself, I get to show people how cool cowboys are."

"...I guess?" She shrugged. "Okay, so, your first two classes are with me, then the third you're on your own... Well, not on your own, but not with me. Then we have gym, and after that it's study hall, which is free choice! So obviously we'll be in the same room, right?" She smiled innocently. That felt like a threat, but Clover had no reason to tell her no.

"O'course." Clover nodded.

Matt had, conveniently, disappeared. Clover wasn't quite sure why they were so uncomfortable. Kanako hadn't even been that much of a hassle, she was just talking with him.

"You have your schedule with you right?"

"O'course." Clover nodded again. "Mom gave it to me the other day, it's in my bag... Somewhere."

"You mind uh, pulling it out?" She deadpanned.

"Sure, why not? Just uh... Gimme a moment." Clover reached into his bag, and begun to rifle around in it. He didn't have... Too much stuff in his item box, he did have some stale food that he should probably throw out though... "Just... A little, ah, got it!"

By now, other kids had started walking into the building, he and Kanako got a few odd glances, but nobody asked them any questions.

"Alrighty, so, It's split up into four classes?"

"Yup! Each of them are an hour long, then study hall is basically just free time... I mean... You're encouraged to do school work, but it's not really required. Unless your grades are really bad. Shouldn't be a problem though, we're smart, right Clover?"

"That's... A whole lot more lax than I was expectin." Clover rubbed at his chin.

"Clover?"

"Eh? Yeah, yeah, we're smart, it'll be fine."

"Alright, wouldn't wanna-Clover look out!" Kanako suddenly dramatically pointed behind Clover and held a paw over her mouth.

Clover didn't even turn, he just stared at Kanako blankly.

"Maybe only I'm smart." He deadpanned. Clover hadn't even heard any footsteps behind him.

"...Hey!"

"Fine, we're smart." Clover smirked and rolled his eyes.

Kanako snrrked, and Clover snickered.

The bell finally began to ring.