Bunnicula's First Day

When Mandisa and Mireya entered the school that Monday, they were not alone. With them was a boy with white hair and blue eyes. He was tiny and looked to be a few years younger than them. He didn't look so different from their older brother, Eden, who had already graduated and was out doing his work in the world with their grandfather.

"Good morning!" Mireya greeted her friends at the school with her usual grace and smile. "I'm so sorry we had to cancel on all of you this weekend. Some things...happened. And now we have a new brother," she said and gestured to the silent boy who just looked anywhere but at the people around him.

"This is Jiro," she continued. "And these are our friends," she said, introducing the ones that were by the lockers for the moment.

"Hi, Jiro!" Vale greeted as he looked at the boy. He was excited for a new student and even more so to see one that had white hair like him. That wasn't very common. "So what are you?" he asked.

Jiro looked up at the very tall Vale. "What?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"He's a vampire bunny," Mandisa answered.

"Really?!"

"Is that actually a thing?" Sirius asked, making a face. "I mean...a what? Do you suck the juices out of carrots or something?"

"He prefers apples," Mireya said with a giggle. "And really, Mandisa is just teasing. He's human, like us."

"Your grandparents are hella old to be adopting teenagers..." Sirius said. "What happened?"

Jiro didn't answer. He had zoned out again. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was right then.

Nel smiled at Jiro. "it's always a bit weird being the new student, right? I had to go through the same. But we are all really friendly and helpful."

Haru just waved. Though she got the feeling Jiro wasn't interested in them or making friends.

Hikari waved too. But also got the same vibe. That didn't stop her though. "Welcome to unity prep."

"Thank you," Jiro said. He hugged his new books a little tighter and looked at the floor.

"He's not very social," Mireya said apologetically to her friends.

"Well I wouldn't be either if I'd just been through what he had," Mandisa pointed out. "Did you guys see the news from Friday? About the actress and her husband?"

"With the dinosaur attack! Yeah, that was crazy! Everyone is talking about it," Vale said.

Mandisa pointed to Jiro and gave Vale a look.

"Ohhh...I am so sorry for your loss," he said. He felt pretty bad then. Of course everyone had heard the news. The actress and her wealthy scientist husband were all anyone were talking about. Yes, there had been a mention about a lost son and an surviving son but Vale hadn't made the connection."

Jiro didn't say anything until Mireya gently prompted him. "Thank you," he said.

"Man, that sucks." Nel said then, because she wasn't very good at knowing what to say in that moment. "this won't make you feel better, but I'm pretty sure everyone here has a bad start."

"Yup," Haru said, none of them had lived a normal life until school. Which is sad. She dormed because she was an orphan. And foster families didn't work for her. "So you are surrounded by people who, maybe not fully, understand what you're going through."

"Yeah, I lost my mum before I even got to make any memories with her. People say that it's easier, but it's not. Your parents are going to live for as long as you, because you have memories of them. You keep them with you and you'll be okay. They'll look after you." Hikari said, feeling really sorry for him. "if you don't want to talk it's okay, you don't have to say thank you because it's polite. Just sit with us and we will include you always. But you let us know when you're ready to participate."

"My dad's dead too and I'm adopted. So I don't know about my mum. But what Hikari said, is totally true. In your time and if you do want to talk to people who understands, both of us will listen." Glitch said, because he'd been where Jiro had been. Maybe he hadn't witnessed it, but he remembered feeling lost.

"It's pretty much a requirement that you either don't have parents or you've been through some shit to end up here in our group," Sirius said, agreeing with what everyone else had said. "So we've all been where you are right now, in one way or another, and we get it if you need some time to want to talk and open up. It's fine."

Jiro looked up from the floor at the words they were saying. He didn't feel quite so awkward then to know that they understood to some degree why he might not be as social right now. But he was also pretty shy and he was not used to having this much attention on him. "Okay," he said quietly.

"See? I told you that they'd all be nice and understanding," Mireya said cheerfully. She knew that Jiro was a shy boy. He was not used to having friends and certainly not this many people in his space. "Let's get you off to your first class and you can meet everyone else at lunch."

"What's his first class?" Haru asked falling in with her bestie. Because she was of course going to help. Jiro could be silent it wouldn't bother her one bit.

Nel wouldn't care either as she had mastered the staring creeper dealio. Darkness. "If it's not in your direction, one of us can do it? I'm sure our schedule matches him, or at least one of us."

Mireya took Jiro's schedule out of one of the books he was holding. "His first class is art," she read. "And his second class is precognitive arts," she continued. Well, none of them were going to have that one. She didn't know that Jiro had visions. But somehow had to have known to put him in that class.

"I do art." Nel said then, because it was therapy. Apparently. Though she drew some dark nd horrible things. "I'll take him if he's cool with that?"

"Is that all right, Jiro?" Mireya asked. "Nel might be the Princess of the Dark but she's very sweet. Really," she said encouragingly.

Jiro looked at Nel. Then he looked back at Mireya. "That's fine," he said. He wouldn't mind walking with her to class. Especially if they were in the same class anyway.

Nel smiled, "oh good." she was glad that he was willing. He felt oddly compelled to look after him, too. "This way then, I'll help him to his other class too." she said and smiled.

"see you at lunch guys!" Hikari and haru said before bailing towards their own classes.

"Have a nice first day, Jiro!" Mireya said, gave him a squish and followed after her friends. Mandisa did the same.

Which left Jiro alone with Nel. He stayed just close enough to her to avoid other people in the hallways. The school was much larger than his previous one. He could easily get lost. But with Nel walking him to class, he wouldn't. Still, he wasn't sure what to say to her other than a quiet thank you.

"No problem, it's fine really." Nel said with a smile as she headed towards the art block of the high school. "Do you enjoy arts? I really love drawing."

"Yes," Jiro replied shyly. "I draw a lot..." It was one of the few things that held his interest. He wasn't bad in school. Just average. Unless he was really interested he just didn't apply himself.

"Me too," Nel said because it could be therapeutic. Especially with colouring. Not that hers had a lot of colours. "Can I see your stuff? You can look at mine." She said and then stopped outside the right door and opened it. She waited for him to go through and then pulled him gently to where she usually sat. Whoever usually sat next to her be damned, this one needed to be looked after.

"Oh...I guess so..." Jiro replied. He was a bit shy about showing his work. a lot of it was how he recorded his visions but his parents hadn't really encouraged him to be open about that particular gift. Somehow the school was aware though and had put him in a class for it. So he supposed there was no point now trying to hide it. He sat down with her since she wasn't really giving him much choice and pulled out his sketch book.

"You don't have too," Nel said, but then she pulled out her own art books. There were maybe five or six of them. Some completed and others not so much. "You can look at mine," she said and gestured to the many, many books. But then she got the one for this particular lesson and opened it up.

"I just haven't really shared them with anyone but my brother..." Jiro said. But Akihito was gone now. There was no one left that had seen the sort of things that he drew. "It's okay," he decided. He needed to make friends here. Uncle Ray had been very insistent that he did. So he might as well try. He took one of the books she'd put out and opened it.

"I doubt it can be any weirder than mine," Nel said, her stuff was often dark. Literally done with only pencil. Girls falling through the sky looking happy, or girls in cages, or girls curled up in a corner naked and the only colour was red. Which was usually blood. It was in nearly all of her pictures.

Jiro's visions were random and scattered. They were of things he didn't know or understand. They were often dark, for absols saw disasters above all things and warned people of them when they could. The disasters he saw were...well...interesting. But sometimes he drew just things he saw in visions normally. Or he would focus on one thing. "I don't know about that," he said and looked through her sketches. They were very dark. But then, she was the Princess of Darkness. So they would have to be.

Nel chuckled and then pointed to the picture he was currently looking at. "You know people who draw suicide often?" She was very dark, as the princess of that type she was deep down. Some of it was feelings she put onto paper and others were just what happened when she put pencil to paper. She picked up his, he had said it was okay. She flipped through them, "I think...I think you and I will get on really well, you know?"

"Maybe," Jiro said. "I don't know...I'm not very good with making friends." He tended to keep to himself. Most people thought that he was strange. They had befriended him because of his parents. But he knew that and he distanced himself. Now...that wasn't really an issue anymore, he supposed.

"I'm not either, I am not good with physical contact unless I have to be. So we're in the same boat, if you can tolerate sitting with me and looking at my art, we've already done the hard part, I think." Nel said, with a smile. She didn't think he'd give in easily but that was okay.

"I don't mind sitting with you. Or looking at your art..." Jiro couldn't find any reason to object to either of those things. This was an art class. So they were going to be seeing each other's work. And he had to sit next to someone so it might as well be someone that was friends with his new siblings.

"See? You don't mind me. So that's the hard part." Nel said with a smile, plus he was talking a bit more. "The art teacher isn't my biggest fan. Because I never draw nice things. She appreciates my technique. But that's all."

"Oh...she may not like the things that I draw and paint then," Jiro said and looked up at the teacher. He wasn't really sure how it was going to go. He drew the most random of things. Just whatever he Saw. And that varied quite a bit.