Life has fallen into a sort of routine: Train with Kris, go to school, fight a Kado or two in between, do homework, make dinner for Kris, try to chase him out of my house, repeat.

Oh, it's not mundane on any levels. I don't think fighting monsters could ever get normal- along with the fact that a guy is sleeping over at my house every other night. 

But I’ve definitely gotten stronger as the weeks have gone by. Even Kris admits that I’m getting better.

I still can’t beat him though.

In fact, he's yet to break a sweat when we're fighting.  

But that's okay. 

I haven’t stopped thinking about that Kado dog’s words, either. About my parents.

Sometimes I find myself thinking, What if they didn't actually abandon me? 

However, my logic always catches up with me. The NYPD conducted a full investigation about their disappearance. I’m pretty sure if they were murdered, then the police would’ve found out. But they didn’t report anything suspicious back to me.

All they said was that “Mommy and Daddy decided to take a little trip.”

That "little trip" has lasted 8 years so far.

It’s a frigid November afternoon. Emily, Jon, Key, Amy, and I have changed our lunch spot from the side of the lake to the library, due to the fact that if we stay outside for more than 10 minutes we'll freeze to death. At least in the library they have heaters which keeping the place toasty warm.

“Hey Hana, would you like to go to pizza tomorrow?” Key asks. “I mean, with, like, Emily and Amy and Jon of course." he adds. "Yeah. Not alone. You know. Yeah.”

“Smooth, Casanova,” Jon mutters. “You sure know how to handle the ladies.” Emily and Amy burst into giggles. I bite my lip and stifle my grins as so not to embarrass Key any further.

“I would love that,” I laugh.

“Great. We’re going to go there straight after school, so meet us by the exit to the parking lot.”

“Got it.” I smile.

Just then, we hear a loud chattering noise coming from the entrance of the library.

“Oh great,” Emily scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Look who’s here.” Jon, Key, Amy and I turn around and see Kris Wu strut into the library like he owns the place, followed by football players and cheerleaders and wanna-bes and every other member of the in-crowd.

“Shh!” Mrs. Watson, our ancient librarian, hisses from her desk.

“Good lord,” Jon smacks his forehead. “Our wonderful peace and quiet has been ruined.”

Kris spots me giving him a death glare and raises his eyebrows. “What?” he asks.

“Will you shut up?” I snap irritatedly. “Some of us are trying to enjoy a quiet lunch here.”

“Hey, at least it’s not all dull and gloomy in here. We just brought some life to this place.”

I shoot up in indignation. “Dull and gloomy? It’s peaceful in here! You obviously don’t appreciate libraries as much as you should!”

“Yes I do!” Kris exclaims. “Wow, books! Great! We’ve all read them! Before you criticize me,” he mutters under his breath, “why don’t you work on actually beating me for once?”

My jaw drops. “Oh, really? Well, how bout you stop whining about my lack of apple pie and go buy some yourself?"

"Fine! Maybe I will!"

"Fine!" 

“Um… Hana? Wh-what are you doing?” Emily asks timidly.

And suddenly I become aware of the fact that every single eye in the library is on me and Kris- including Mrs. Watson’s.

“Uhhh...,” I slide back and slowly sit down in my chair. “Um. Nothing.”

Kris’ face is completely red. “Dude, what was that? Why were you fighting with a girl about apple pie?” one of his Neanderthal friends asks curiously.

“Aren't those the scholarship kids?” a long-haired cheerleader asks disdainfully. She says “scholarship kids” like she's saying “tooth decay”.

Suddenly, my Hado mark starts tingling. Kris and I exchange panicked glances. Oh crap, what do we do? If we both run out together at the same time right now it’ll look really suspicious…

Wait. I have an idea.

“Hey, Kris,” I say.

"What?”

I slap him across the face.

“OW!” he yells, clutching his cheek. “What the hell? What was that for?”

“Oh, no! I am so sorry, Kris!” I grab his wrist. “Looks like I will have to take you to the nurse.”

And I drag him out of the library.    

Well, there goes my reputation.

“You ,” Kris snaps as soon as we’re out of the library. “You could’ve been more subtle. You didn’t have to slap me. And why did you get in a fight with me back there?”

“Yeah, well what else was I supposed to do?” I respond defensively. We turn a corner and reach the building exit. “And you were being way too loud! Take your little friends and eat somewhere else.”

Finally, after we successfully trap and kill the Kado monster (it’s a sickeningly flexible spider-like thing; I swear to god these monsters are getting grosser and grosser as they come), Kris and I start walking back. Lunch has already ended by now.

“You know it’s my birthday tomorrow,” Kris tells me suddenly.

I stop and look at him. “Whoa, really? Hm, then I guess I’ll bake a cake for you.”

“Yeah, those recipes hanging on your fridge will finally be used for something more than decoration,” he snorts. I give him a look.

“Come over at 7, kay? And don’t bring any of your annoying friends.” 

A/N: This chapter was a bit of a filler, haha. The next chapter will be filler as well (Hana's pizza day with Key and friends/Kris' birthday). But pretty soon something really big is going to happen...