To break the eerie silence, Yu Yan spoke, "I'll help myself to a seat then," and then walked to the back of the classroom and placed her bag on an empty desk in front of Xiao Yu. As she slumped down into her seat, she burst out into laughter.

 "You're all so dead serious!" she exclaimed in between laughs, "Don't worry, as long as you don't bother me, I won't bother spreading any rumours. It’s none of my business anyway,” she announced, “Just make sure you keep your noise levels low.”

Wang Da Dong released the breath he didn't know he was holding, that was one problem put to sleep - but there were still rumours present in the air of Taipei and he could almost feel the trouble it was brewing. 

“So you’re going to help keep this secret?” he asked just in case.

“What did I just say?” Yu Yan snarled, before leaning back in her chair.



Sha Jie scrunched up her face, with annoyance plastered over her face, "I don't like this new girl. She's trouble," she whispered to her friends.

"You don't have to like me; I didn't come here to please you." Yu Yan replied bluntly, now swinging on her chair.

"Wait, how did you hear me?" she asked in disbelief.

"To master echolocation, your hearing must be above the average human - am I right?" Xiao Yu asked the new transfer student.

"That's right, Little Fish (小鱼)”she responded, turning in her seat to face him.

"That's impressive," Ya Se remarked.

"So please keep the talking to a minimum, these ears are delicate." she continued. 

"It's Xiao Yu.(小雨)" Xiao Yu pointed out quietly.
"If I say Little Fish, then you're Little Fish," Yu Yan replied in a bored tone, before dramatically turning back around in her seat.

"Who are you to make orders in this class?" Da Dong pointed out, "You can't just transfer here and make new rules and change people’s names."
"Or what?" Yu Yan turned over to Da Dong, uninterested, "Going to punish me with your nonexistent battle points? Please, be my guest."

Da Dong bit his lip, holding back a retort as he decided that it was better to hold back. Everyone in Zhong Ji Yi Ban had a different personality but eventually they all developed a strong bond with each other, it would just take time for Yu Yan to settle in with them. There was no point in destroying any possibility of gaining a new friend when who knew what the future held. After all, Wang Da Dong and Ya Se Wang weren’t the best of friends when they first met, so five bad minutes of interacting with Jiang Yu Yan couldn’t determine the class’ relationship with her in the future.

“Okay okay calm down, it hasn’t even been 5 minutes and the atmosphere is so tense!” Tian Xin exclaimed, “Let’s start the lesson now, okay?”

Da Dong was going to give her a chance, especially due to the fact that it was the worst time to create enemies when he didn’t have the power to defend himself from any attacks and he didn’t know how long Xiu would take to find his alternate counterpart. But something felt odd and out of place and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

*~*~*

Jiang Yu Yan held her head in her hand as she listened to Tian Xin teach, feeling boredom sweep over her. She couldn't see or take any notes so coming to class would have been rather pointless to many but she listened quietly - she had her own reasons for doing so. Jin Bao San had brought up the issue a while ago in which she responded with "I'm not here to graduate or take any tests." She had spoken straightforwardly and had received questions in return such as: "Why are you here then?" "What's the point?" "Why don't you go to a school for the blind?" Wang Da Dong had interrupted with a loud "JIN BAO SAN!" followed by "You haven't had internal injuries in a while have you? No talking during class!" which had silenced the class until break time arrived.

Yu Yan stood up from her desk and walked out silently to get away from all the noise in the classroom. She clearly had said her ears were sensitive to loud noises yet they did not respect that. It didn't bother her too much however, she preferred to be alone any way - and it wasn't like she had started off well with her new classmates either. It seemed she would be alone at school once again. No one had wanted to hang out with a blind person when she was younger and gradually she became isolated, even becoming a burden on her own so-called family members who then abandoned her. She could only seek refuge behind the icy walls she had built around her heart; she was no longer going to allow anyone into her heart who was going to hurt her. No one could get through those thick bricks of ice - not that anyone even tried to. No one showed her any care or respect so why did she have to?

She walked outside and looked up at the sun, she couldn't see it but she could feel it and its rays were warm against her cold skin. Being alone under the warm rays of the sun was a moment she wanted to last forever, but the warm rays weren't hot enough to melt the barrier around her heart. She didn't think it was even possible because that was who she had become.

"What are you doing here alone?" A soft male voice entered her ears and she deciphered it to be belonging to Ding Xiao Yu. She clicked her tongue in sudden displeasure, "What do you want Little Fish? Why'd you follow me?"
"Xiao Yu," he corrected, before sitting on the grass beside her.
"Why are you sitting next to me?" she questioned, annoyed, "I didn't allow you to sit there, what do you want?"
"It was too noisy in there." he replied.
"So of all places to go, you come and sit next to me?" Yu Yan turned to face her classmate before her glare fell, "Ah forget it, you're quieter than those other monkeys: you probably won't be much of a bother."
Xiao Yu didn't respond, he didn't have anything to say to her anyway.

As the two sat in silence, Xiao Yu looked over to the girl sitting beside him. He noticed that even though her eyes were synthetic, she had a faraway look in them, looking as though she was adrift. She seemed to be deep in her own world of thoughts and she didn't move an inch in those minutes of silence. Xiao Yu then reflected on himself, although he was quiet and rarely talked he wasn't alone because he had his brothers always at his side - but did Jiang Yu Yan have any close friends? He didn’t know why he thought about such a thing. She was arrogant and self centred from what had happened earlier in class but the atmosphere around her now was different. Compared to her previous hostile aura, it was now less tense. The hostility was still there but now that the two were alone, he could also feel solitude.

"Quit staring at me, it's annoying," Yu Yan suddenly broke out.
Caught out by surprise, a light blush of embarrassment dusted Xiao Yu's cheeks. "H-How did you know?" he asked.
"I can hear your movements." she stated apathetically.
"Oh," Xiao Yu nodded, "Right."

"Eh? Xiao Yu!" Wang Da Dong's voice appeared and he ran up to Xiao Yu with Wang Ya Se following. "What are you doing out here?" he paused when he noticed Yu Yan, "Oh, Jiang Yu Yan? How come you two are together?" he asked.