School for Looneys Chapter 2: Nicandro

-Chapter 2: Nicandro-

Throughout the day, Madison examined the many empty seats of the classroom. There were around six empty seats in the classroom. She didn't expect every student to be present, but considering it was the first week of school she figured they would attend those days.

The entire first week of school wasn't usually work oriented and more focused on getting familiar with courses and the school.

"I'm surprised Nicandro of all people would miss Snowball Brawl."

Madison turned to see Cyanea consuming the lunch within her bento. Not many of the students in her class left to the cafeteria and instead brought homemade bentos or ones bought from the store.

"Who's Nicandro?" Madison asked as she opened her homemade bento box. Oddly, it seemed like everyone in the classroom looked at her as if she opened Pandora's Box, their eyes expanding in great interest.

"So, um, Madeline," King moved his seat over to her's, licking his lips and eyes gazing at her bento box as if looking for treasure, "What do you bring for lunch?"

"King, are you trying to take a bite out of my lunch?"

"What?! No!" he said with a false baffled tone, "A king, such as myself, never begs for food!"

"I can let you have a taste if you want."

"Sure thing." King's eyes sparkled brightly like diamonds.

"I would also like to acquire a sampling from your bento, Madison." Alfred said as he stepped in.

"And me as well." Dina said as she peeked over Madison's shoulder.

"Okay, it's not like I don't need to eat today or anything." Madison sarcastically remarked.

"Oh, Madeline is sharing her lunch?" Mr. Iven noticed as he walked in, "Don't mind if I grab a taste as well."

"Didn't you leave to eat your lunch?"

"I'm not seeing the point on bringing that up." the teacher tilted his head, confused.

"N-Never mind, sir."

After each person had a chance to devour a sample of her lunch, including people who walked in seeing everyone was taking a piece and asked themselves for a bite, Madison only had about fifty percent of it left.

Madison only stared at the empty half of her bento box with a sad expression on her face.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have shared so much." Cyanea said.

"I didn't wish to come off as rude though," Madison replied, sourly eating whatever was left of her lunch, "So who was that guy you were talking about again?"

"Oh, Nicandro," Cyanea remembered, "Yeah, he said he would've loved to play with us on our team. Maybe we could've won if he was here today."

"He sounds like a pretty cool guy. Do you think I'll see him and the others tomorrow?"

"I think so, hopefully."

"Say, do you know why people are brought to this school?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is there is a general reason why only certain people are admitted into here? The guy who told me I was to transfer here said it was because I'm Looney, though I have no idea what that means."

Cyanea thought to herself for a moment before speaking again, "I believe it is because we all contain a certain Problem."

"Problem?"

"Yes, there is something individually that makes us deem Looney to the government. A Problem may have it's special characteristics to whatever they deem is 'unfit for society'.

"For instance, King thinks and proclaims he is an actual reigning king. It's not just him joking or thinking high of himself. In his mind, he truly believes that fact."

Madison near thought of the reasoning as such. When she heard of the word "Looney" she generally thought of an insane person or a cartoon character. It seemed the government's definition was anyone with a mental problem, though she couldn't tell by looking at anyone that they had one.

"Say Cyanea," Madison said, "What do you think my Problem is?"

"Hmm," Cyanea rubbed her chin in thought. She then picked the patch of rice within Madison's bento with her chopsticks and consumed it. "Maybe your too nice?"

"C-Cyanea!" Madison looked at her with teary eyes. The blue haired only giggled at her reaction.

The bell rung, signaling the end of the day. Everyone walked out, the sun beginning to set into the horizon.

Madison stopped at the front gates, looking back and forth at the two roads entering and leaving the school. Her memory was short, so she couldn't remember what directions her parents told her after going down the entrance road.

"Is something wrong, Madison?" Cyanea asked, noticing her confused face.

"Oh no, I'm quite fine." Madison lied, answering with a fake smile.

"Are you sure? You looked like you didn't know which way to go?"

Madison laughed nervously. "No, I was just thinking about something! My memory may not be top-notched, but who couldn't remember their way home, huh?! Certainly not me!"

"Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Have a good day." Cyanea waved as she walked down the exit road.

"Yes, see you tomorrow!" Madison waved back as she walked down the entrance road. After Cyanea vanished from view, a gloom expression appeared on her face. "I really hope I didn't forget my way home."

Lost. Madison wished she was thinking about the American T.V. show at the moment instead of actually being lost. Her memory was truly short, having only remembered the first few directions and now was she lost within a town plaza not her own.

Crap, if only I wrote down the directions on my phone! Now, I can't find my way to the train station! Madison screamed inwardly as she paced around aimlessly about the town. She didn't want to call her parents as they probably wouldn't let this one incident go without nagging her constantly about remembering where to go.

Tired of pacing, she sat down on the edge of the town's fountain and randomly thought of ways to find her own way home.

She checked the clock on her phone, not happy to see it was close to the time for her train to depart. She had about thirty minutes to find her way there and she wasn't any closer to finding her way there.

"Ugh, I'm really hate my short-term memory!" Madison shouted, unaware she did so. She looked around to see if anybody was giving her strange looks, but the civilians were simply minding their own business.

It was then Madison heard a loud, tired yawn from behind her. She turned around to see a boy on the opposite end of the fountain sitting up from his laying position. The boy turned around to meet Madison's eyes.

Madison felt her heart skip a beat upon seeing the boy's appearance. She was captured by his olive, green eyes as if in trance and his spiky white hair enclosed around his handsome, young face like a picture frame. His figure was lean and he wore a black shirt and blue jeans with various accessories like wristbands, bracelets, and rings around his arms.

The boy took off his headphones and said with an ease, soft tone, "Did you say something?"

After a second to catch her breath, Madison responded, "M-Me?"

"Um, yes," the boy answered with a chuckle, "I believe you said something about directions?"

"Oh, my apologies!" Madison stood up and bowed, "I was just talking to myself, that's all! I didn't mean to wake you up or anything!"

She felt herself about to go on a ramble and stopped herself, looking down on the ground with a blushing red face. She felt embarrassed she woke him up from sleep.

As red shoes appeared within her view, she looked up to see the boy standing in front of her. He was about an inch taller than her.

"Are you lost?" he asked with a shining smile, "I can help you if you want."

Madison couldn't find the words to answer him and instead gave an approving nod. She told him her predicament and he informed her the directions to the train station. It was actually a five-minute walk from where she was currently and if she hadn't walked in the town plaza, she would've found it on her own.

Madison felt an urge to smack herself on the forehead for forgetting something so simple, "I am sorry to have wasted your time, um..."

"Nicandro." the boy answered and rose his right hand to shake.

She was surprised this was the boy Cyanea was talking about earlier in class as well as happy that she would be able to be in the same classroom with him.

As she raised her hand to shake his, she noticed his eyes widened in surprised as he saw something horrifying behind her. She looked back only to see passing pedestrians and nothing more.

"Um, is something wrong, Ni..."

Suddenly, he grabbed hold of her hand tightly and dragged her away towards an alleyway.

"Come on! We can't stay here!"

"W-What?!"

The two ran inside the alleyway until Nicandro stopped and pulled her into a tight corner leading into alleyway. Once there Madison prepared to speak, but Nicandro rested his right hand over her mouth.

"Shh," he said, making soft shushing sound from his mouth with his left index finger over his lips. "We'll be here for only a minute."

Madison's eyes widened in deep shock. She didn't know what he was planning on doing to her, but she hoped he wasn't thinking what she was thinking currently.

Nicandro removed his hand from Madison's mouth and then placed it behind her head, slowly directing her head to lay upon his relatively firm chest.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Their bodies were pressed together tightly due to enclosed small space provided by the alleyway, the only sound being emitted were their heavy breathing that exhaled from their lips.

Madison's face could quite literally bake toast based on how steaming it was from embarrassment. Her heart was beating faster than a drum and from her ear close to Nicandro's heart, she could hear his was beating just as rapidly.

After what seemed like eternity, Nicandro moved her back slightly and then sighed in relief. "Whew, that was a close one." he chuckled nervously as they stepped out of the corner.

Madison looked at him with a confused expression, "What was that all about?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you or anything," Nicandro raised his hands in defense, "It's just that there was a demon lurking about behind you. If we didn't move, it probably would've hurt you."

"Demons?"

"Yes, demons. Monsters that hide within the reality planes and possess others to commit horrible acts by the slightest influence. For some reason, only I can see them and others are oblivious to their presence."

Madison felt an invisible anvil dropping on her head upon listening to him. Up till now he's been perfectly normal and kind, but she then remembered what school they went to. If every student, including her oddly, was to attend there, they must contain a Problem. It seemed Nicandro's was hallucinating about demons.

Yet, despite knowing this fact, she still couldn't help but not feel pleased that he would risk his well-being to help a total stranger.

"So, how about we go to the train station now, um..."

"Madison," she answered with a smile, "Madison D. Clark."

He smiled back. "Nice to meet you, Madison. I hope this experience doesn't make you think ill of me."

"It's quite alright. I've experienced far more odder things today."

"So, I take it you go the Looney school as I do. Had your chance at the Snowball Brawl, huh?"

"Oh, let me tell you about that."

The two continued their chat as they walked together to the train station. They discussed multiple topics on the school and little bits about their personal lives. The conversation ceased they arrived and Madison had to board the train, saying goodbye to her new friend.

On the train, she couldn't stop thinking about how odd yet exciting her first day at the School for Looneys was. The craziness didn't stop even after leaving the school.

Her mind swayed back and forth between thinking about the school to thinking about Nicandro. Well to specify, more on the alleyway scene than anything else as she had never been that physically close to a boy before. To prevent her face from melting, she attempted to focus her mind on other things.

After getting off the train station and walking down the road for five minutes, Madison arrived at her average-sized home. As such reached into her pink school bag to pick out her key to the house, a feminine voice called out from behind her.

"Hey, Maddy!"

Madison recognized the voice and turned back to see a short black-haired schoolgirl about her age wearing the same uniform as her. She remembered she was the first person she talked to at Katsurou.

"Hello, Baker." Madison greeted.

"Say, where you've been all day?" she said while crossing her arms and giving a glance of suspicion, "I was worried you got sick and came by to check up on you. You weren't skipping, were you?"

Madison shook her head, "Of course not. I was transferred to a new school today."

"New school? Ain't that kinda sudden to do so after the first day? What's going on?"

"Um, yeah, I was transferred to go to the School for Looneys," Madison chuckled nervously, "I know it sounds odd, doesn't it?"

"That school? You joking, right?! You know that's that school were they lock crazy kids up in sealed off white rooms and force them to wear restrain jackets, right?! It's pretty much an insane asylum for students!"

Madison stood surprised by her remarks, despite having the rumors dozen of times before. She had particularly forgotten about them all after today.

Did she really considered such hyperbolic remarks in her mind to be the slightest true? Sure she wasn't looking forward to go to a school named for Looneys, but the place was far off from the deranged accusations that was spreading about.

Madison felt she should stick up for the school, but before she could speak, Baker had turned to leave.

"I'm gonna catch you later, Maddy," she said, checking her wristwatch for the time, "I don't know what you're doing, but I ain't my business to stick my nose into whatever you're doing. Later."

With that, Baker walked off, leaving Madison to ponder over her words. Madison knew Baker wasn't a bad person, but the accusations she spouted nearly changed her opinion about her.

Sighing, Madison inserted the key into the lock, twisted it clockwise, and then opened the door.

"I'm home!" Madison announced as she walked in. Per usual, she took off her shoes at the shoe shelf at the front and then proceeded to walk into the kitchen where she found her father reading the newspaper at the kitchen table and her mother reorganizing food in the cabinets.

"Ah, welcome home, Maddy." her father welcomed her with an arm hug as Madison walked over to him and hugged him.

"Welcome home, dear," her mother stopped organizing to deliver a hug as well to her daughter. "Did have a good first day?"

"Um, well," Madison scratched her cheek, trying to find the right words to explain day. After a second, she answered, "It was interesting to say the least."

Mrs. Clark pouted, puffing her cheeks like a chipmunk. "Come on now. I want all the juicy details! Tell me everything that happened!"

"Yes I solemnly agree, honey." Mr. Clark folded his newspaper to turned his attention to Madison as if ready to listen to her confess sinful acts she was hiding.

Madison looked back and forth at both of her parents. Somehow or another they were bent on getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth out of her.

She took a deep breath and began to summarize the events that occurred to her. Upon reaching her meeting with Nicandro, she noticed both of her parent's attention increased ten fold and decided to purposely leave out the alleyway scene.

After she was finished, her father sighed in relief. "Thank goodness that boy was there to help you. Honestly, Maddy, next time, try to remember our directions as much as possible."

"Sorry, father."

"This Nicandro boy sounds like a wonderful gentleman!" her mother exclaimed, eyes sparkling and not in the least bothered with anything else that was said, "Is he cute? Did you hold hands? When did you think you'll bring him over?"

"Hold on, mother. We only just a met, I think he looks fine, no we did not, I'll possibly never will, and I don't have any feelings for him."

"Oh, that's what they all say," Mr. Clark remarked as he returned to reading his paper, "It all starts with holding hands, then you get to kissing, then you start touching, and next thing you know..."

Mrs. Clark lightly smacked her husband on the back of the head to stop his ramble. "Oh hush you! Madison is a good girl! The process will be much slower for her!"

Madison could feel another "talk" bringing up and escaped to her room. "I'm going to get changed!" she said as she squirmed away to her room.

As soon as she closed her door, she sighed heavily. "I honestly feel I'm the pure minded one in this family."

That night, Madison's dream was of her playing a game of checkers with an old Chinese monk. Somehow, she won the game and the dream ended with a black Samurai fighting the monk on top of a mountain whilst a wild, furious tornado enclosed them.

She never understood why she had random dreams such as these every night or so. She never had a straight forward dream before ever since she could remember.

Perhaps the odd dreams she was having was linked to her Problem, she wondered. Instead of worrying about it, she continued to sleep.

-End of Chapter 2-