April 8, 2005,
7:52 AM.
Ren stood outside the classroom door, hand on the handle. He could hear the usual pre-homeroom chaos inside. The laughter, the scraping of desk chairs, someone tossing a paper airplane across the room.
He took a deep breath. "Just open the door. " Ren told himself. "Go to your seat. Pretend everything's fine. "
The door creaked as he pushed it open, and then an immediate silence.
Every head turned toward him at once. All thirty-two students, their eyes all on him.
The classroom froze like someone had hit the pause button on the room.
Ren stood in the doorway his backpack hanging over one shoulder, his bruised face on full display.
"Great. " He thought.
One, two and three seconds passed before a voice shattered the quiet.
"REN!"
Shiinchiro launched himself from his seat like a spring, nearly knocking over his desk in the process.
He crossed the classroom in three long strides, grinning like an idiot.
