Aya looked over at Karin, the person next to her and nodded shyly. "We met already right?" she said stating the obvious.

"Yes, we did. You're so nice Aya, I'm glad we met." Karin smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes. The teacher was busy setting up for class, and didn't notice as a boy at least a grade older than them walked over to Karin and Aya, and looked at Aya. "You shouldn't talk to Karin, she's weird." He smirked at Karin. "Weirdo, keep that wolf at home, it tried to attack my father's sheep." Karin looked sad. "Shadow didn't hurt anyone..l-leave her alone." She said sadly, and sniffled.

Aya glared at the boy annoyed, "I'd rather play with a weird girl than a mean boy" she scowled as she added, "maybe he should protect his sheep better"

"What'd you say? Weirdo..you're as weird as Karin." He raised his hand to hit Aya, but before he could, the teacher who had just looked up spotted him. She rushed over. "Elliot, what do you think you're doing!?" She called out angrily. Miss Claire had no tolerance for violence, and pointed towards the door. "To the principal's office Elliot, you should know better by now. Only a coward would hit a girl anyway." He glared at the three of them. "..weirdos.." He mumbled as he turned and walked away, and slammed the door behind him. Karin quickly rubbed her arm over her eyes, as she felt them watering. The teacher sighed worriedly. "Aya, Karin, are you two girls alright? You weren't hurt, were you?" She asked worriedly.

Aya shook her head lightly and silently gave Karin a hug.

As she did Aya heard a light clicking behind the wall as she curiously listened to the sound.

Karin didn't notice the sound over her sniffling, as she hugged Aya back, grateful for the kind embrace.
Outside, a pair of golden eyes peeked out from some bushes, looking into the classroom.

Aya let go as she turned her attention back to the teacher, waiting for class to start again. She had the strange feeling of being watched, but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The gentle rhythmic tapping continued for a moment longer before it went silent.

After about a half hour, the teacher looked up at a clock, and saw that it was near noon. "Alright dear children, you can all relax now, get some lunch and play outside a bit. It's a lovely day afterall." She smiled, then walked over to the door and opened it. Karin stood and looked down at Aya. "Want to sit with me at lunch, Aya?"

Aya nodded as she stood up and looked at the girl that approached them. "Hey Karin, have you told her the stories yet?" she asked curiously. The other children didn't interact with Karin too much, but one girl was always curious of the stories of the village. Her father worked for the mayor, so she was stuck living on the island for a while.

Karin slowly shook her head. "N-no..daddy says not to." She said in a low, nervous voice, and took a step forward to walk past the girl.

The girl frowned and walked off for lunch. Aya's stomach grumbled as she quietly followed Larele. "What stories? I like stories" she said as she smiled lightly.

Karin leaned close to Aya's ear and whispered into it. "I'll..tell you later, after lunch." She sounded a little hesitant, but said nothing more, and leaned away. The door to the cafeteria was open, and there was a veiw of the playground from a few windows. Karin got in line behind another student, and glanced back to make sure Aya was with her.

Aya followed, stepping over the cracks on the tiled floor as she tried to keep up. Arriving behind Karin she stopped and looked around at the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was quite loud, and Karin cringed as many voices echoed, and she looked around nervously wanting to just get away from it all. After quickly selecting some food and a carton of chocolate milk, she hurried over to the doors leading outside into the playground area and glanced back at Aya.

Aya got a small bit of food and followed, not wanting to be there either. "Where are we going?" she asked quietly.

"Some place quiet." Karin replied, and opened the door. She sighed in relief once they were outside. "Miss Claire doesn't mind if we eat out here, but no one else really does." Karin walked over to a bench in the grass, and set down her tray of food and sat down. "Aya, over here." She called to the other girl, in invitation.

Aya followed, the bread she had grabbed dangling from her mouth as she sat down.

Karin giggled at seeing the bread sticking out from Aya's mouth, then looked down at her food, as she picked up a spoon. Just as she could so much as get a sip, there was a whine from behind her, and Karin turned and saw Shadow. "Shadow, you're not supposed to be at school." She sighed worriedly, glancing past Aya at the window, and saw many of the other children quite preoccupied. A food fight had broken out, and the cafeteria was in an uproar, and the sounds of the other children could be heard, laughing and Karin saw as boy got a face ful of mashed potatoes. She set her spoon down, then stood up, and gently hugged Shadow. "Shadow, you can't stay here, please go." Shadow's tail wagged and she whined again, the food the last thing on her mind. Karin let go of Shadow, and spoke to Aya, as she walked away a little and called to Shadow. "Shadow, come." Shadow's ears perked up and she walked over to Karin and stood looking up at her, tail still wagging. "Aya, I know another place." Karin said, before walking back over to the table, and picking up her tray.

Suddenly there was a low growl, and with her back to Karin and Aya, Shadow growled again in warning as she looked out towards the woods. A slightly hard gust of wind blew, rustling the leaves of the trees in the woods, and Shadow's ears flattened against her head. "Shadow..what is it?" Karin asked, a slight hint of fear in her voice, as she had knew that a dog growling was never a good thing. Growling a third time and slightly louder, Shadow took a step forward, her fur bristling.

Aya looked at the woods and shivered at the cold wind, "What is in those woods...?" she asked quietly as she nibbled her food nervously.

At the edge of the woods, a deer came into view as it hurried, looking behind itself every few moments, paying the children no heed.

"A-Aya..I..think we..better go inside." Karin said nervously, taking a nervous step back then hurrying over to Aya with her tray, and glancing back at the deer. Shadow continued to growl in warning, not seeming to even notice the deer, her focus beyond it.

Aya nodded and didn't take her eyes off the forest. She noticed the deer, seeing it was afraid of something as other animals fled the forest.

Karin hurried to the door, and glanced back to make sure Aya was with her. She saw Shadow was still infront of the woods growling, and saw the other animals fleeing. ..w-what's..going on? She thought nervously to herself, before quickly grabbing the handle and opening the door.

Hearing the door handle Aya turned to head into the building. The chilling breeze blew into the building as the food fight came to a halt as many of the kids shivered lightly.

Karin shivered too, standing next to Aya. The cafeteria was strangely silent, except for complaints of being cold and some chattering teeth, as the sudden, cold gust had completely chilled the room in a rather unnatural way. The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of clacking heels, as the teacher Miss Claire, quickly crossed the cafeteria. She came to a stop in front of Aya and Karin, a worried expression on her face, when she saw the fear in Karin's eyes. "Girls, are you alright? What happened?" She asked worriedly, and glanced out the window past them to see if she could see anything. She saw Shadow growling in the direction of the woods, and animals fleeing from out of it, and immediately knew something was wrong. She turned away and faced the rest of the children in the cafeteria, shivering a little herself. "A-alright children, it appears there's a bit of a draft from outside, we'll be heading back to the classroom. Those of you not finished eating, may bring your trays with you, hurry now, we wouldn't want you all getting sick from this cold." She said worriedly, and turned back to Aya and Karin. "Come in, come in, quickly now." She said worriedly, and without giving either girl a moment to react, she grabbed their hands and pulled them into the cafeteria. The door slammed shut behind them, causing Karin to flinch for a moment, feeling more nervous now than before.

"When we get back to the classroom, I'd like for the both of you to tell me exactly what happened, it pains me to see a frightened look on a child's face." Karin looked down with a worried expression, and fell silent. As children are naturally curious, several of them hurried over to the windows, and looked out them to see what they could. "Look! Isn't it that wolf, the one that is down by the beach a lot?" One asked. "She's growling." Another said. "What do you think she's growling at?" A third asked. The children began to talk amongst themselves, as they were looking out the window. Outside, Shadow was still growling, her ears laid back, and her fur bristled. She ignored the animals that fled from the woods, even animals a wolf would normally pursue as prey. The scent of frightened deer, rabbits, and squirrels, among many others, did not catch her interest in the slightest. Like-wise, the sight of the growling wolf seemed to pale in comparison to whatever had sent the woodland animals fleeing from their home in the first place.

Being pulled Aya dropped her near empty tray as it clattered to the ground and she followed the teacher silently. Once in the classroom she finally spoke as she thought about what had happened, "we... didn't see anything" she said shaking her head, "just a bad feeling"

Slowly many of the other children returned to the class, only a few deciding to stay by the window wishing something cool would happen.