I walked Ayame back to the school, we snuck passed the Crowleys, and stood in front of the classroom, but by the time we got there it was time for lunch. I wasn't quite sure how lunch worked here. Since no one died, I assumed no one needed to food. What would lunch be?
Ayame took me by the hand and led to this giant cafeteria. It could've passed for a stadium, if you ignored the hundred rows of tables. I looked up and saw a glass ceiling, so we could watch the passing clouds. The sky was pale blue, like always. I guess there wasn't such thing as bad weather here.
One table stuck out, because no one wore the school uniform. Everyone was different, loud, boisterous, and strange in some way. Just from the sound that came from the table, I knew it was ours. I could hear Anna fighting with someone, yelling at them that they were an idiot. I could hear Niall jokingly try to quiet everyone down. I could faintly hear Zayn's deep, bruiting voice, calling everything pointless. They were very obvious.
Ayame came into Zayn's view. He picked up his head, which was rested in his hand. He starred at her with a slight sense of joy gleaming in his eye, but then he noticed me. His expression dropped into an unnoticeable, mysterious face. His eyes dulled, like he was sitting through a boring opera. I felt a sudden chill down my spine. I no longer felt welcomed. Though I tried to back away, Ayame continued to pull me over to the group.
"Harry! Where you been?" Niall called. The rest of the group perked their heads up, acknowledging both Ayame and myself.
"I was just having a talk with Ayame," I softly smiled, attempting to hide the fear in me.
"Come have a seat, mate," Niall invited me to sit next to him. He must have saved the seat because no one sat there. Ayame went around the table and sat next to Zayn, "You gonna eat?"
"I don't know how food works here. I don't have any money," I admitted. Zayn told me I'd receive some sort of card after the Guild mission, but we were too late for lunch, and I was in the hospital. I guess everyone forgot about it.
"Come with me," Niall ordered, picking up his tray of food, and leading me through the cafeteria, "We buy all our things with these cards. It works like free money. There's no real limit to what you can and can't buy, we just don't try to overdo it. I mean, you can eat all you want and you won't gain any weight, you can also starve yourself and you won't die. We try to keep it in moderation, so we seem like normal students," the group was anything but normal though, I'm pretty sure the NPC's noticed this.

We stood in front of a machine that looked like an ATM. "All you do is type in your information, it takes a picture, and you get your card," he said.
The machine had your average keyboard and a black, half sphere that you roll with your finger as a mouse. I answered the usual questions "Name" "Room Number" and "I.D. Number". The machine scanned my face and a fresh, new, blue card popped out of the slot. I gripped it between my fingers and held it as Niall explained what to do next.
"Now, you have to order what food you want. You just slide your card into the food slot, press whatever you want, and you're get a ticket with your order on it. You give it to the chef and they give you the food," as he said this, I followed his instructions. There were many options for me to choose from. They had a dish from every culture that I could think of. I could choose whatever I wanted.
"That's a lot of food," I muttered.
"Yeah, they feed us well here. They have anything you could ever want. I guess it ties in with the 'life fulfillment" thing. If you've ever wanted to try authentic Italian food, Japanese, French, Chinese, or whatever, you can have it. Ayame always gets some sort of Japanese stuff, for obvious reasons. I like whatever looks good. What do you like?" he explained, looking at the screen with me, clicking random things.
Each dish came with a picture of what it looked like. Even stuff I knew I didn't like looked good. "I wanna try something new," I said. Everything was sort of new to me, since I'm not exactly what I've tried or not. I went to the Japanese menu and looked at its options. After shifting through the menu a few times, I just picked something at random. My finger pressed a random dish. A box popped up asking "Are you sure?", I clicked yes. A small, white ticket popped out. It read "Chazuke, portion; one".
"Cha-zoo-Kay," I slowly read to myself.
"Sounds like something Ayame would buy," Niall commented.
I looked up from the small paper slip in my hand and starred into the black screen of the machine. The menu had shut off, leaving me with a reflective glare. A boy starred back at me, baffled, and confused. His light green eyes sparkled with amazement as he looked at me. His hair was casually tossed to the side, like a massive comb over of brown, curly hair. He had a boyish charm to him. He was still handsome, but he had a childish look to him.
"Is that me?" I asked Niall, still confused and amazed.
"Yeah, boy. Look at your handsome mug," Niall replied, gripping my cheek with his fingers. I smiled at myself. It was nice to have an identity.

I walked over to the cook, handed her my order, and then she quickly scraped it together. She presented it to me in a small, Oriental styled bowl with a think, plastic spoon.
"Enjoy," she said before Niall and I walked away.

Lunch went smoothly. I laughed and talked with everyone, like we had been friends for a while. I got to know everyone a little bit better. Louis was very friendly, at first I thought he was this sane, calm guy, but he was very hyperactive, like Niall in a way. He constantly told jokes and playfully picked on every one that made the entire table laugh. He sort acted like an older brother to everyone. He tried to make me feel comfortable with the group and he did.
Annaliese wasn't as bossy as she made out to be at first. She was very kind, gentle, and easy to talk to. She enjoyed making people feel better. She saw that Zayn was rather upset about something, so she tried cheering him up by sharing her food and giving him a lot of hugs. She even tickled him once. She reminded me of a younger sister.
Liam was quiet, but fun to be around. He and Louis played off each other well. Whenever Louis would do something funny, Liam would jump right in. They were almost like twins.
Niall was as crazy as ever and Ayame remained her usual, silent self, except for her soft chuckles and giggles.
I got along well with everyone. I think they got to know my personality better and accepted me more. I felt like part of the group; like we were one big family, enjoying lunch together. I was growing to love these people, their insane personalities, and strange ways. That was until after lunch.
I was walking alone, heading back to my room to lie down. I didn't feel like going back to class, so I thought I'd take a nap. As I passed by lockers and skipping students, I noticed someone was standing by my bedroom door. I almost turned around, but I recognized the stoic appearance and cool uniform. It was Zayn, resting his body up against the wall, his eyes were closed, and his hands were shoved into his pockets. Was he waiting for me?
I slowed down my pace, trying to exaggerate the space between us. I felt like I was in trouble. He was going to yell at me about something, I almost knew it.
I couldn't prevent our meeting any longer. He stopped me before I could reach for my doorknob.
"Hello, Zayn," I said, trying not to stutter.
"What's up with you and Ayame?" he asked bluntly. I turn to him a little shocked. He peered back with cool, dark eyes.
"Nothing at all," I answered honestly.
"Why were you with her?" he became every protective and stern with me. My throat began to close as panic entered my body.
"I just...wanted to know her better," I felt like saying that crossed a line. Zayn looked at me, very cross, and sternly. "I just want to know everyone here, within the group. I mean, Ayame is very interesting because she's so quiet. I wanted to see if I could establish a friendship. I want to have one with you too," I tried to correct myself. His face lightened up a bit, "I don't want anything between Ayame and myself, besides friendship,"
Zayn gave himself a moment to settle down. Panic soon drained away from her and I felt more relaxed.
"You're not too bad, Rookie," he said coolly before walking off. He stopped for a brief second and then turned around. He gave me a smile and then continued on.
I guess Zayn was very protective of Ayame. He seemed to like her more than anyone else. I'd hate to rupture whatever they had between each other with our friendship, but I doubt that would ever happen. Ayame seemed to like Zayn to. I felt as though she opened up to him more than the others. I bet everyone knew her story, but no one knew her like Zayn. I understood why he wanted to protect her. As strong as she was as a fighter, she was very delicate, emotionally. The slightest raise in voice or gesture could send her self-esteem into a downward spiral. Maybe Zayn was the only person who could pick up the pieces.
Behind his tough, hard exterior, Zayn appeared kind and sweet. Maybe he really did have a secret teddy bear collection somewhere. I bet inside he was really a soft boy with a heart of gold. I think he just wanted to help people, but not get hurt in the process. That's why he clung so tightly to Ayame. She was gentle and fragile. She couldn't hurt a paper bee even if she tried. She knew what it was like to be hurt by someone who’s supposed to love you. She'd never want anyone to feel that way. Zayn would be the last person she'd hurt.
They fit well together, the more I thought about. I smiled to myself, thinking of the pair. They were both bashful and shy, it would've been cute to see them together, as a couple. I shook the thought out of my head, trying not to think of my friends in that way. The last thing I wanted to do was pair people up. I wasn't a match maker.
I tucked myself into bed, ready for a nap after stuffing my face at lunch. I pulled my blanket over my body, nuzzling my face into my soft pillow. I closed my eyes, about to fall asleep, but then there was a knock at the door.