Chapter 11: Chapter 10: Pariah

"Hey there," Ranjika chirped. "We thought we'd join you for lunch!"

My eyes widened in surprise, and I felt my heart start to race. I kept looking back and forth between the group, not recognizing anyone except for Ranjika, who I'd just met. They all looked so different from each other, too.

Then, she began introducing everyone around us. She motioned to the girls on either side as she sat down in front of me.

She motioned to the girls on either side of her. "These are Morada and Zuri," she said, pointing to a white girl with silvery-brown hair, yellow eyes, and goth makeup on the left and a light-skinned black girl with black hair and brown eyes on her right. Both of them were smiling at me in curiosity.

Then, she motioned to a tall guy with ashy dark skin, a flat top haircut, a strong build, and a neat uniform who settled in on my left. He gave me a slight nod of acknowledgment before speaking in a light, baritone voice. "Name's Spencer. Sup."

Another petite ball of energy suddenly crashed into my side. I flailed at the impact, nearly falling over before reorienting myself. I looked up, only to be greeted by a small girl with tan skin, big green eyes, and long golden, pigtailed locks.

"Hiiiii! And this one is Dior!" she shouted at me in excitement. It sounded like she had a vaguely Filipino accent.

"And this, of course, is our new friend..." Ranjika paused for dramatic effect as she gestured at me, giving me an expectant look.

I felt my cheeks flush as I realized that they wanted me to give them a name. I gulped before introducing myself again, my voice shaking slightly as I said: "My name's...uh...Ikazuchi. You can call me Ikki?"

The group burst out into laughter at my awkwardness, but I could tell it was full of good-natured mirth.

"Sorry for the tacky entrance, brother. It just sounded like you could use some company," Spencer said with a grin.

The other four nodded in agreement, and I suddenly felt a surge of panic for their sake.

"But, uh. You know what that means, right?" I said hesitantly, worried about what kind of trouble the snobs might cause them for associating with me.

The group looked at each other for a second before breaking into laughter.

"Trust us, we get it," Morada said with a giggle. "We're all scholarship students here — and we've really got nothing to lose. The blue bloods can whine and threaten us all they want, but it won't make a lick of difference."

Zuri nodded as well. "These rich cats live by a set of entirely different rules than we do. Between the business interests, their connections to old families, and their parents' money — they have as many chains as they do levers of power. But not us. We're all here because we were forced to earn our slot here one way or another.

"Anyway!" Dior chimed in. "Ranjika is in her third year here, and Dior is a first year like you. The rest of us are second years."

She blushed for a second, looking away before mumbling, "Dior also promises she will not let you come to harm."

Wait, what? That was a weird thing to say.

Just like that, she jumped onto the bench and jabbed her finger straight at me, mirroring Midori's gesture. She appeared to be about four feet ten inches tall. I gaped at her in surprise, speechless.

"Dior promises! A-kki will be fine!"

"Hear, hear! So, don't worry about us, bro. You did something ballsy as hell, and you kept it real. We'd be grateful if you hung out with us. We'll have someone to show around the school too," Spencer said, extending a large hand out to me.

As I watched their enthusiasm with a mix of amusement and apprehension, I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. Making a decision,

I shook his hand, feeling the strength and power of his grip. "Okay, Spencer," I said with a tight smile. "I guess it's a deal, then. I'd be more than happy to have you and your friends around - if that's what you guys want."

Spencer grinned back, uttering a "Heck yeah!" before giving me a powerful and playful slap. The sheer force of it surprised me and knocked me forward a bit. My head spun a bit, and my lungs were firmly emptied of air.

"Spence! What are you doing?!" Zuri squealed. "You're going to knock him out!

"Oops. My bad, Ikki man. Shit, this growth spurt I went through has been a real pain in the ass."

Zuri looked at me with surprise and concern behind those brown eyes. I blushed, still overwhelmed by the sudden attention.

"Don't worry everyone. I'm fine," I said reassuringly, joking just a bit.

Ranjika laughed at my nonchalance while the rest of them breathed a sigh of relief. Dior handed me a bottle of water, seemingly out of nowhere, and I quickly downed it in one go, feeling my head spin a bit.

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"Dior will stay by your side and make sure you're okay, A-kki!" She said with a wide grin, her voice light and bubbly.

I flushed and laughed again, scratching a bit of sweat from my neck. The group had circled around my seat, giving me their full attention, and I was still a bit overwhelmed.

Despite being extremely awkward initially, the lunch with the rest of the group was surprisingly fun. Little by little, I began to take my burdens off my shoulders as I got to know the others. I wound up learning about the group around me quite a bit in a short amount of time.

I learned that Zuri had earned her place at the school with sheer academic merit, standing out from one of the poorer local districts. On the other hand, Dior had also skipped a grade to be here. They were two of the more 'normal' cases in the group.

Ranjika was on the archery team, and she had a friendly competition going on with Midori to see who would bring back the most awards from their sports. She'd won multiple nationwide varsity competitions, as Midori had done in Kendo.

Spencer was a core member of the school's robotics team, a club that piqued my interest before I'd even come here. I'd just been a bit overwhelmed — to the point where I didn't even walk into the club room during my first month.

Finally, Morada was an art club member and dabbled in some writing. She was very passionate about her work and wanted to show me some of it later.

There were a lot of big student projects going on that I hadn't even known about. This school really had some ambitious students.

The group was a hodgepodge of cultural, academic, and social backgrounds, but it worked. It felt right somehow, and I could feel myself relaxing into their crowd as they listened to my stories, eagerly asking me questions.

"Soooo, you're from Earth? Is it as psychotic and batshit out there as people say?" Morada asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's terrible. We still have a ton of crucial land to reclaim on our side of the portal, although that's been getting better. Overall, it's still pretty fucked up and poor."

My mind instantly formed images of the dirt-caked buildings and cracked sidewalks that made up my old neighborhood. I remembered the horrible gang violence that had always been raging around us, the awful men that lurked in the shadows of countless communities.

"It's a miracle that I made it out of my neighborhood at all to be here." I said with a forced chuckle, shrugging my shoulders.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ranjika said, giving me a concerned look. "That must have been pretty tough, growing up like that."

I could only nod, trying to keep my emotions under control. The thought of how far I'd come and how easily I could lose everything hit me right then. My dad and sister were still out there, barely trudging through day by day. I'd have to figure something out for them before it was too late.

A lump formed in my throat, and I decided to steer the conversation back to something else.

Turning to Dior, I asked the question that had been nagging at the back of my mind for some time now.

"Speaking of which, what did you mean when you said you wouldn't let anything happen to me earlier?"

Dior blushed and stammered as she answered. "I-its-its nothing! Dior was just saying, you know?"

The others were watching me curiously. I could see their appraising looks as they exchanged glances among themselves. Zuri just palmed her face in exasperation.

Spencer leaned over and fake-whispered to me. "Our Dior here, has a damn huge crush on you. She just wants to hold your hand and shit, you know? She's been trying to get it out of her system for a while."

Dior's face turned a violent shade of crimson, and she hid behind me. "It's not like that! I won't let him come to harm, okay? I'll protect him, no matter what! Dior would never forgive herself! Dior will not accept failing again!"

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Morada began to giggle. The rest of the group smirked a bit, and I felt a bit relieved. It looked like she'd just made a joke.

Dior peeked out from over my arm and gave Morada a dirty look, which only sent her into further fits of laughter.

"Can someone explain exactly what happened here?" I asked.

"Well, Ikki man," Spencer said. "You should know that we're a bit of a peculiar bunch. This school might seem like a usual high school with rich kids, but there's some odd stuff going on behind the scenes. Don't sweat it too much."

Ranjika bellowed with laughter, "Don't worry, Ikki. Dior here is just being a bit overprotective, that's all. She wishes she could've done something before and didn't, and let's just say you took initiative."

The rest of the group laughed, and I also began to laugh, although I wasn't exactly sure why. For the first time since I'd crossed the portal into Terra, I felt like I was finally fitting in.

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