Melamin (私の愛)

Opening: Me Against the World-Nightcore

Chapter Five: Mela Goes to School

The next morning, Kensui got up, got dressed, ate his breakfast, brushed his teeth and went out the door. On the way down the street, he felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he saw that it was Mela, fully dressed, following him. "Uh…Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Wherever you're going," she cheerfully replied. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to school. Not that I want to, I just don't want Harumi and Satomu nagging me later."

"I'm going too," she said. Then she put a finger to her cheek. "What's school?"

His jaw dropped in disbelief. "Don't tell me elves don't have school?!"

"Maybe if you explained what school is, I can tell you."

"School is where young people go to learn skills they'll need for the rest of their lives."

"Oh. Education. Our parents raise us teaching us everything we need to know. Then we have libraries with lots and lots of books that tell us what we don't know."

"Study at your own pace. I like it. They want us to learn as much as we can at an early age here."

"Well, when your lifespan is about a thousand years, I guess you can learn at your own pace," she said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"A th-th-thousand years?!" he exclaimed. "I hate to break it to you, but we only have a lifespan of between 70-120 years."

"Ah!" she exclaimed brightening. "So that's why our older elves refer to humans as little more than children." She then gets a sad look on her face. "You die so young."

Kensui hits the ground.

Kensui and Mela stood before the gates of his high school.

"This is a beautiful place," she said, her eyes shining.

"Does anything put a damper on you?" he asked, glaring at her. She shook her head no.

"Kusinagi," came a familiar voice. Satomu walked up. "You're a brave man. Walking with another man's wife to school. You dog," he said the last part while elbowing Kensui playfully.

"This isn't what you think," he said, waving his hands back and forth.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?!" came another all too familiar voice.

"Oh dear," he commented.

Harumi stormed up. "Why are you walking with another man's wife to school?" she asked, looking extremely pissed. "Plus, why would someone's wife be coming to school in the first place?!"

Mela bowed. "This is all my fault," she commented as all eyes turned to her. "Kensui explained yesterday what was said. I'm truly sorry. My Japanese is not so good. I meant to tell him I was his cousin, not his neighbor's wife. My family has to go on a trip for most of the school year, so I am living with him until they come back. In the meantime, I am a transfer student at this school. Please don't get mad at him. It was sudden for him as well. I take all responsibility."

"Interesting explanation," Ushio said, standing there now. "Something seems rather perplexing to me but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Oh well," Satomu said. "We're going to be late if we don't hurry."

I give up, Kensui thought to himself later in class, as Mela just stared blankly at the pencil in her hand. She examined it from all angles.

Leaning over to Kensui, she said, "I got it! It's a magic wand."

He faceplamed. "This isn't Harry Potter," he grumbled.

"Harry….Potter….?" she asked, confused.

He sighed. "Never mind. Let me explain what the pencil is in this way. You put the pencil to the paper, slightly apply pressure and move it, and it magically writes on the paper."

She turned around to her desk and tried. "Ooh!" she exclaimed rather loudly. "It does work."

"Ms. Kusinagi, is it?" the teacher called, looking back at them. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"This pencil magically writes on the paper," she said cheerfully.

Kensui's face slammed into the desk. Just kill me now.

He came out of the classroom to see Mela standing in the hall, talking to the teacher.

"I hope standing in the hall taught you a lesson about acting out in class," the teacher scolded her. Then the teacher walked back into his classroom.

"I still don't understand what I did wrong," she commented with a confused look on her face.

Later at lunch, Harumi, Ushio, Satomu, Kensui, and Mela all sat together.

Mela stared at the chopsticks. "There's no purpose in these," she said, confused. "There's no point on the end to spear the food with to pick it up."

"She's not exactly the brightest tool in the shed, is she?" Ushio asked.

"Where did she come from?" Harumi asked. "A small tribe in the Amazon?"

"You could always use silverware," Satomu offered.

"Silver…ware…?" she asked, eyes lighting up.

Oh no, Kensui thought. I know that look.

"Is it really made of silver?" she asked. All their heads hit the table. She just sat there, blinking in confusion. She put down the chopsticks and started eating with her hands.

Mela stood with Kensui and Satomu after the track, doing stretches after school. The coach walked up to them.

"I'm sorry, young lady," the coach said. "Tryouts were yesterday."

"Oh let me run, please!" begged Mela. "I promise you won't be disappointed."

"I'm really not supposed to," the coach said. But then she saw the determination and passion in Mela's eyes. "Ok. But I can't let you do the 8 laps. It would take too long. The school record for the 100 meter dash is 11 seconds. If you can do it in less than 15, you're on the team."

Mela nodded, finishing her stretches.

"On your mark." Mela got down on her fingers and toes.

"Get set." She then arched her back up.

"Go!" Mela launched from her position like a missile. She went down the track and across the finish line. The coach stopped her watch. Then her eyes bugged.

"HOLY HELL!" the coach exclaimed. Then she covered her mouth. "Oops. You kids didn't hear that."

"What was her time?" one of the track students asked.

The coach showed the watch. "10.15 seconds. She blew the school record away. Heck, she's just mere points away from beating the world record."

Kensui walked over to Mela . "What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Running," she said looking up at him. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You cheated," he said. "You used your elven powers. That's not fair to the other students."

She looked innocently into his face. "But I didn't use my elven powers." He could only stare blankly at her. "If I had, I would've done it in less than half that time," she said winking at him as she walked off.

He could only stare after her. "She's a monster," he choked out.

That night, Kensui got ready for bed and laid down. He felt Mela lay down beside him. He noticed he didn't go frigid this time. Maybe I'm slowly getting used to her being around.

She put her arm around him and pulled him closer to her until their bodies touched. "Much better," she said, falling asleep mere moments later, her arm still around him.

I could get used to this.

Closing: Listen to your Heart-Nightcore

Notes: Sorry this chapter was so short. It's just supposed to be how she reacted to school and all. No action. Hope you enjoyed anyways. Let me know.