~*~*~*~

The room was huge, bigger than they had expected. It was even bigger than the gym in their old school. It had to be if it were meant to fit half a school of growing kids in for lunch. There were a total of five lines all spread out throughout this massive room known only as the cafeteria. A couple of the lines were for buying a regular lunch, while another was kept for a specialty. The other two lines were snack lines, one Usagi’s eyes made their way to as soon as the group of friends had entered. Each one of the girls had their own choice of food.

Usagi opened her mouth with glimmering eyes as she licked her lips. "I think I'm gonna like lunch here."

Noticing exactly what the Saiyan had in her view, Makoto giggled. "And if your mom ever found out about your o-so-nutritious lunch she’d freak."

Usagi grinned as she began making her way to one of the snack lines where the line was already building to be twice as long as the regular lunch line. "She’s not here, is she? I told her I’d buy lunch, I didn’t tell her what though."

Minako smiled wide as she grabbed Usagi by the wrist. "Come on! Let's get us some sweetness!"

Makoto slapped her forehead with a sigh. "They’ve passed onto the dark side."

Rei smiled, her own eyes were on the salad bar. "Come on, let's indulge ourselves into this greatness."

Makoto shrugged her shoulders with a nod. "Ok." Just as she was beginning to step away, she stopped, noticing that Ami was looking around as if to make sure that no one had followed her here. She found this weird, as Ami had never really been the most paranoid person in the world. But, even her behavior before they had come down to the cafeteria had been strange. "You got something on your mind?" She asked with concern.

Ami quickly flinched away and turned up to face Makoto. She put on a false smile and shook her head. "No… well…" Her smile slowly began to fade as the two girls started for the lunch line. "There’s this boy…"

Makoto grinned as she looked over to her friend. "Oh? A boy? Do you have a crush on him, or does he have a crush on you?"

Ami blushed with a quick shaking of her head. "No, no. It’s nothing like that. It’s one of the boy’s from our class, Tatsuo. Apparently he’s a new kid."

Makoto got in line behind the last person, motioning for Ami to do the same. "He’s new? Where’s he from?"

Ami remembered their conversation. She remembered asking him that same question, but being returned with a vague answer. "I'm not sure. He just said he was away. I don’t think he was anywhere around here because he didn’t even know about the explosion." She paused to look at Makoto, who seemed to be listening intently. "He was really kind of creepy, you know? He’s never even been to school before this day, that’s not normal."

"He was probably home-schooled. Lots of kids are these days, you know? Gohan and Goten were home-schooled until high school, this kid must have been home-schooled just until this year. What’s his name?"

Ami nodded. That was a possibility she hadn't thought of before. Maybe that was it. Maybe, just maybe that was why he was acting so strange. He had never really had any interaction with other children before and didn't know how to handle himself. But then, why would he ask about the Earth? Didn’t he know anything about it? Hadn't he been taught anything? "His name is Tatsuo, he’s the blonde who sits by me in the front. He kept trying to talk to me during every break between classes and every time a new teacher would come in."

Makoto found herself giggling. It hadn't even dawned on her that Ami hadn't really ever been put in a situation like this before. Before Bulma had introduced them, no one had really tried to talk to her before. This must have been a strange experience. She figured her friend was just exaggerating. She probably felt as if this kid was only being nice to her hurt her in the end. "Look at this, normally you're the one with the straight head on her shoulders, but now look at you."

Ami blushed as she lowered her head. She began to quietly giggle to herself. "Yeah. I'm probably blowing this entire thing out of proportion."

Another person bumped into Ami from behind. "Blowing what out of proportion?"

Ami continued to giggle until she turned around to see exactly who had just come to her. It was Tatsuo. She quickly jumped back into Makoto with a gasp. "Tatsuo!" She yelled in a fret. Her heart began to speed up as she looked around for reassurance. How long had he been standing there? How much had he heard? Had he heard anything at all? "Ho…how long have you been standing there?"

Tatsuo stood with a huge, goofy smile on his face; goofier than Goku’s normal smile. "Long enough."

Ami’s face turned completely pale. "Long enough?"

Tatsuo nodded big, still with his goofy smile. "Long enough to realize who you are. Did I scare you, Mizuno Ami?"

Ami’s heart slowly calmed down as she let out a big sigh. This kid was just too much for her. She looked up to face Tatsuo in the eyes. "No, Tatsuo, you didn’t scare me. You only startled me."

Still smiling wide, Tatsuo looked up to Makoto, who was looking curiously back down at him. "Who is this? Is this a friend?"

Ami looked up to Makoto and then back to Tatsuo. "Yes. This is Makoto."

Makoto smiled as she reached around Ami and held her hand for the boy to take. "Nice to meet you, Tatsuo."

Tatsuo looked down at the hand, confused, as if he didn't know what to do, and then back up to its owner. "What do you want me to do?"

Makoto’s smile soon faded as she pulled her hand back. "Weird guy." She whispered into Ami’s ear.

Ami nodded. "Tell me about it."

Tatsuo turned back to Ami as the line finally moved up two steps. "You never told me about the Earth." He looked out the window at a statue that stood in the quad which looked to be the home to many birds. "I want to know about its ecosystem, the seasons, any atta… I mean any disasters."

Ami and Makoto exchanged looks with one another. Neither of them knew what to say. They slowly turned back to face him, but with an intention of keeping their knowledge to themselves.

Makoto; "Did you just say what I think you said, cause I could have sworn you were about to say…"

Tatsuo; "I said everything I meant to say and nothing else." His smile soon disappeared, and was replaced with a solemn expression, much like Ami wore on her face.

~*~*~

It was now Usagi and Minako’s turn to purchase their lunch, after waiting seven minutes for the line to die down. They both eagerly eyed the menu like two little, devil-eyed gremlins. The lady behind the counter had never seen such a sight. "Hurry up and make an order."

Usagi slapped down a five-dollar bill on the counter, which her mother had given her earlier that morning. It would have been enough for two lunches and a snack, but spending it all on junk food would get her more for her money in the long run. She began naming off items that she wanted, and the lady behind the counter complied.

After Usagi, it was Minako’s turn. She herself slapped down her own five-dollar bill. "I want the same."

The lady behind the counter looked down at the girl in amazement. Out of all the years she had been serving this school she had never met any child who ordered as much junk food as these two did. "Does your mother know you're eating like this?" She asked as she glared at the two kids.

Minako frowned. "Ma’am, if my mother cared what I buy for lunch she would make me take one from home."

Usagi nodded. "If you don’t want kids to eat like this, then don’t offer this kind of stuff at lunch."

The lady grunted as she reluctantly served Minako the food in which she had ordered. The kids were right, in a way, and she couldn’t exactly fight back with them without getting in trouble. "If you were my kids I would never let you eat like this. You're not being fair to your body."

Ignoring the lecture, Minako licked her lips and picked up the tray from the counter. "Yum!"

Usagi nodded with much excitement. "Now this is what I call lunch!" She looked over her own tray one more time to make sure she had everything that she wanted. When she looked up, the first things she looked for were her friends. She spotted them in at a table in a small corner in the very back of the room by two huge windows. "Looks like everyone got their lunch already." She said as she tried her best to point.

"Huh?" Minako looked up, her eyes trailing directly to where Usagi was pointing to. "Oh. I see." She smiled as she couldn’t wait to tell the girls about the snack line. But, she noticed someone new at the table. It was a boy, the same boy who had been staring at Usagi before their first class. What was he doing sitting there? Had he come to make fun of Usagi to her face? "Uh-oh."

Usagi looked up from her delicious looking food. "What?"

Minako frowned. "Looks like we’ve got company."

Usagi looked back at their table and took special notice to the boy who was sitting there with her friends. "Cool. Looks like someone made a new friend."

Minako rolled her eyes. "No. I don’t think so. That’s the guy who was staring at you earlier today. He’s probably come to make fun of you or something."

Usagi frowned as she sped up her pace. "Great."

~*~*~

Tatsuo watched as Makoto, Ami, and Rei devoured their food in fascination. Although he had gone through the lunch line, he had bought nothing, which the girls had found strange. Now he watched them as if they were doing something out of the ordinary. And they watched him the same.

He bent over with his hand on his stomach. "Why is my middle feeling so strange?" He had already stopped staring at Ami like a drone had already become more emotional than before, though he stayed with one emotion for a few minutes and then all of a sudden changed. He also seemed to lack common knowledge.

Rei looked over at Ami as she took a bit of her salad. She had only just met the boy, and already, she thought him to be a little on the weird side, though not as weird as Ami had. She just figured it was because it was the first day of school, his first day ever going to school around here. "Don’t you mean your stomach?"

Tatsuo nodded. "…Yes… That’s precisely what I meant." He looked down to it as it growled at him. "It’s making strange noises."

Ami sighed as she rested her forehead in the palm of her hands. "That means you're hungry. You need to fill it with food."

Tatsuo cocked his head to the side. "Oh! Nutrition…right?"

Ami nodded. "If that’s what you call it, yes."

Tatsuo nodded. "That is what I call it. My STOMACH needs nutrition from food. I will go and get some." Just as he looked up to get himself out of his chair, he noticed Usagi and Minako making their way to the table and a sly grin crossed his face. Finally, he would get to talk with the tailed girl. "Ami, your other friends have come."

Ami looked up to Minako and Usagi, her only two friends who have yet to meet this annoying boy. To think, they would have to put up with him for three years. She didn’t think she would be able to make it if he was this annoying after only about four hours. "Hey, guys."

Minako and Usagi were unresponsive. They were more concerned with this Tatsuo guy. What did he want? Why was he at their table acting all buddy-buddy with their friends? Usagi set her tray down on the table. "So…"

Rei stared at Usagi and Minako, who were frowning. "What's up? You two don’t look too happy?"

Tatsuo looked at Usagi and Minako and frowned. "Why aren't you going to introduce me to your friends, Mizuno Ami?"

Ami sighed. "It’s Ami, just Ami. And, these are my friends, Usagi with the Odangos and Minako with the red bow. Guys, this is Tatsuo, he’s not from around here and hasn’t really gone to school before this."

Tatsuo continued to frown. "It’s nice to meet you."

Usagi noticed the boy scowling at her and frowned back. "What's wrong with you? Did your face get stuck like that?"

Tatsuo wiped the frown off his face and became curious. "Is it possible for humans’ faces to become stuck in one position, Ami?"

Ami shrugged. "I don’t know, maybe." She knew the answer, but who cares if she told it right. She was already sick of this kid. She wanted to hang out with her friends, alone. Not with this guy following them around.

Makoto noticed that Minako and Usagi were both still frowning at Tatsuo. She wondered if they had already met him before. "What's wrong?"

Minako shook her head. "Nothing." She grasped Tatsuo’s arm to grab his attention. "You were staring at Usagi earlier."

Tatsuo nodded, not knowing of what he was being accused of, if anything. "Yes. I was."

Usagi slammed her hand down on the table, just to intimidate the guy a little. "So, what do you think?"

Tatsuo blinked out of curiosity. "Of what?"

Usagi snorted. "Duh! The little brown thing that hangs out behind my legs."

Tatsuo smirked. "Oh! That. The tail!" He paused, anticipating Usagi’s next reaction. But she said nothing, she only continued to stare at him. "I was wondering about that. At first I thought it was strange, but then I realized that there are a lot of strange people in this world, so really, no one is truly weird."

Usagi was officially in shock. He had been the first person, besides her friends who had been mature enough to come to such a decision. He in fact wasn’t here to make fun of her. She turned to Minako and her frown immediately turned into a wide smile. "So, Tatsuo, buddy, pal…"

Tatsuo smiled to himself. He would finally be able to retrieve some information. "So, Usagi, tell me, what IS up with the tail?"

Usagi lifted up her first piece of junk food, a glazed donut. Now that she was in the clear, she could happily eat. "Well, that’s a simple question. My dad’s a Saiyan."

Tatsuo’s eyes opened wider than normal. "A Saiyan?" He asked in confusion.

Usagi nodded. "Yes. A Saiyan. He came from this planet far away named Vejita. He’s an alien." She paused to giggle. "I guess I'm part alien! There are more of us on this planet too. But only two are true Saiyans. The rest of us are only half and one is only a quarter."

Tatsuo’s eyes returned to their normal size as he rested his head on the table. Ami, who sat next to him, wasn’t exactly sure this was information Usagi should be sharing with him. Not only did a bad feeling, but this guy was strange, a little too strange for her liking. But Usagi, obviously, didn’t see it.

Tatsuo; "What is the significance of the tail?" He asked with much curiosity.

Usagi smashed her donut into her mouth and savored the taste as if she hadn't eaten anything sweet in ages. Her friends, all but Minako, were officially disgusted, but she didn't care. As long as she was enjoying herself. "Well…" She began with a mouth full, "At the sight of the moon, a Saiyan who still has their tail will turn into a giant ape… all but me and my other friend Hotaru, that is."

Rei shot a deadly glare at her friend. She wasn’t sure about any of the other information she had already told, but she knew for sure that her not being able to turn into an ape at the sight of the moon definitely wasn’t something that she should be sharing with others, especially people they didn't know very well. Granted, this guy wasn’t anyone to worry about, but what if someone else overheard who really was with the side of evil? "Usagi!"

Usagi ignored Rei and continued on with her story. "And when Saiyans turn into monkeys, all we do is destroy things and go on rampages. We usually kill everyone that we can. We don’t know why I can't turn into a monkey, but we do know one thing, we’re really glad about it. My dad would have to destroy the moon if I did."

Tatsuo leaned in further. "Oh? Why doesn’t your dad do it anyway? Doesn’t he have a tail?"

Usagi shook her head as she stuffed more food into her mouth. "Nope. He had it cut off when he was little. Only me and Hotaru have tails. But that’s ok, cause all other Saiyans turn into monkeys when the moon comes out. My dad would probably do the most damage since he's the strongest person in the world, maybe the universe!" She loved bragging about her family’s strength.

Tatsuo sighed as he leaned back in his chair as though something Usagi had said angered him. "That’s too bad your dad doesn’t have his tail anymore." He muttered under his breath.

Usagi was confused. "What? That’s not bad. It’s good. Now he can't hurt anyone."

Tatsuo nodded. "Yeah, but now he can't turn … I mean, now he’s not whole anymore."

Makoto and Ami darted a glare at Usagi to see if she had caught what Tatsuo was just about to say, but she looked to have been too busy eating to realize, Minako as well. Both of them were just too alike it was scary. Had it not been for the tail, anyone could have mistaken them for twins. They quickly glanced at Rei, who seemed to have caught it as well.

Usagi at the last bit of her food and licked the tips of her fingers. "That was good, but I'm still hungry."

Minako giggled. "What’s new? You’re always hungry."

Usagi smiled. "I can't help it if eating is my hobby."

Tatsuo put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "So your dad fights, does he?"

Usagi nodded as she took a sip of her soda. "Yep! He even taught all of us how to fight. We’ve been training under him since kindergarten."

Tatsuo brought his head back down to stare at the girl. "I bet that’s been rough, to have your dad be your Sensei, as well as the strongest guy around."

Usagi shook her head. "No. It’s been more fun than anything. My dad isn't mean or anything, so he’s not rough on us unless he knows we can handle it."

Tatsuo smirked. "I don’t think your dad is all that strong."

Minako slammed her fist on the table as she glared into Tatsuo’s eyes. "You haven't even met the man!"

Tatsuo leaned against the table, now with a frown. "Mr. Satan is probably stronger. He’s the strongest man on this planet, you know."

Rei spit out her soda as she went into a laughing frenzy. "Oh! Oh my! That’s just too good! I could have sworn you just said Mr. Satan is stronger!"

Makoto hit her fist against the table as she lowered her head down, she too laughed at the top of her lungs. "And I could have sworn you just said that Mr. Satan was the STRONGEST man on this planet!"

Tatsuo lowered his head in confusion. "Was it something I said?"

Ami herself couldn't help but giggle. "You don’t watch much T.V., Do you?"’

Tatsuo shook his head. "My parents don’t believe in T.V. They think it’s the devil."

Usagi smirked. Then he hadn't seen what she had done at the tournament. How she had called out his lie. "That’s ok, Tatsuo. Why don’t we show you who the true hero of this planet is. Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow after school so you can meet my dad?"

Ami’s eyes shot wide open at that. What could she be thinking? Was she crazy? She didn’t even know the guy and here she was inviting him over? She didn't know how strange he was. Of course, how could she? He hadn't really acted all that strange when she was around. He was acting almost normal all of a sudden. But still, Usagi would have to be warned about his behavior.

Tatsuo smiled deviously. "Why not today?"

Usagi sighed as she looked down at her empty tray. She had promised herself that she would visit Hotaru after school that day. Hotaru would have to be feeling horrible today, now that she had been forced out of the house to go to school by herself. She wanted to cheer her up, she and her friends. She hoped that Hotaru wouldn’t be acting like this for too long. It was nuts, although she didn’t blame her. If she had found out that her mother was in the same predicament that Akii had been in, or even her father for that matter, she would have gone into a withdrawal from the world as well. "We’ve promised a friend that we would visit her today."

Tatsuo continued to smile, though no longer deviously. "Oh. Ok. I can wait until tomorrow. Then we will see who is stronger. Mr. Satan, or your dad." He looked down to his stomach, which was rumbling even louder at him. "I must fill my stomach." Without a further word he stood up and walked to the lunch line, leaving the girls alone. As he stood up, however, a small, bright blue square pad fell out of his pocket.

A smile grew on Usagi’s face as she watched him. "Such a nice guy."

Rei snorted. "Yeah right. That guy is such a weirdo. He didn't even know what to call his stomach."

Makoto; "Yeah, he called it his ‘middle’."

Ami turned around to glare at him as he walked further and further out of her view. "He’s really creepy."

Usagi rolled her eyes. "Nah. He’s nice, he’s just different from us. Like he said, there are lot’s of different people on this planet."

Ami shivered as she thought of their conversation from earlier that morning. At least he hadn't acted like a computer this time. "I want to be there when he comes over tomorrow."

Rei nodded. "Me too."

Makoto; "And me."

Minako looked up from her soda. "Well, if we’re going to make a party out of it, count me in too."

Usagi sighed as she stood up. "There’s nothing wrong with him, and I'll prove it to you. You have to have faith in people a little."

Minako nodded. "I saw nothing wrong with him, Usagi’s right. We’re just acting like everyone we hate."

Makoto sighed. "You didn’t see him before you guys got here. He was acting real weird. I think we should watch him, he may be a real weirdo."

Minako; "What, do you mean like a stalker?"

Makoto shrugged. "I don’t know. But I don’t want to find out the hard way, do you?"

Usagi frowned as she grabbed her bag. "You guys are going to see. He’s not a strange little punk like Mamoru was."

Rei grinned. "What do you mean ‘was’? He still IS."

Usagi giggled. "Maybe. But he still saved me. That has to count for something. I mean, you know…"

Minako gently shoved Usagi. "Oh? Are you liking him?"

Usagi blushed with a frown. "Of course not, but I think he’s really changing for good." She picked up her tray and, with her friends, she walked to a nearby garbage can and dumped her tray. "I think we really did some good our summer at camp."

Rei found herself nodding. She couldn’t disagree with that. It was true, he had started to change. All of his little cronies had, although they didn’t see much of the Americans anymore. They kind of branched off into their own little group of friends, though they still hang out with Haruka and Michiru and Mamoru every now and then. "I think they’re also beginning to grow up, too, finally."

The girls made their way for the cafeteria door, which led outside to the quad where many of the upperclassmen were gathering, which meant that lunch was almost over. Usagi covered her eyes as she looked up into the blue sky. "I wonder how Hotaru is fairing on her first day of school?"

Rei crossed her arms as she looked down at her feet. "I don’t know. It’s gotta be rough, you know. She’s been in her trance for nearly a year, and now to be forced to go to school like this…"

Usagi nodded. "At least when she did this when she was younger she was too young to go to school. I don’t know why anyone would be mean enough to send her to school like this. At least last year they hired a tutor for her."

Makoto; "I'll bet it’s that Kaori person. She’s always pushing us around whenever we go to Hotaru’s house. It’s like she doesn’t care about her well being or something."

Usagi; "Exactly. I told my parents about her and they said there was nothing they could do about it because it wasn’t their business. But, my mom did threaten to kick Kaori’s butt if she tried anything with me."

Makoto grinned. "That would teach her, wouldn’t it?"

Usagi nodded. "Yeah. Hotaru’s got it rough, with Kaori making it worse. At least we’ll be able to comfort Hotaru after school."