It was the first day of Soroban Academy, with all of the freshmen being herded into the auditorium. The principal, known as Hikari no Hohenheim, and the vice principal, Dante, gave the welcoming speech before the schedules were handed out, and students sent on their way. The students wandered about to their homerooms, led by the Flame Colonel, the Flame Alchemist, or, by his common name, Roy Mustang, two priestesses named Momiji and Botan, a bespectacled, picture-bearing man known Maes Hughes, or a tall, haughty demon woman called Kagura.

Ed scowled. Not only did he have Mr. Mustang as a homeroom teacher, but the mindless bastard had put the class in alphabetical order, making him sit next to one of the other names on his Most Hated list, Envy. Obviously Envy wasn’t too thrilled about it either; he was sending death glares Ed’s way at least once every five seconds. Luckily, Ed wasn’t forced to endure them; he was sitting in between Envy and a girl, who had introduced herself as Higurashi Kagome. The two were deep in conversation, making quick friends. The buzz in the room was interrupted by a flare crackling above the class, causing many to jump. Mr. Mustang gave his own brand of welcoming speech, and then dismissed the students to find their first period class.

Ed ran to Ms. Momiji and Ms. Botan’s class, where his younger brother was exiting. “Al!” he yelled, leaping over a silver-haired, dog eared boy to land next to Alphonse.

“Oh, Nii-san, hey,” Al said, “What class do you have next?”

Ed looked at his schedule in response to Al’s question, blanching as he read “Math, Miss Curtis, room 128.”

“Oh, wow, me too!” Al exclaimed; he seemed a great deal less worried than Ed at having their alchemy teacher for math.

“Well, we should go, I don’t even want to start thinking about what would happen to us if we were late,” Ed said shakily.

The brothers burst into Miss Curtis’ room two nanoseconds past the bell, earning both of them a hard whack on the head.

“You’re late!” Miss Curtis yelled.

“We’re sorry,” both boys said hastily, trying to avoid further infliction of pain. They sat down, and were almost immediately more formally greeted by two large textbooks slammed on their desks, followed by two slips of paper.

“Sign out these book slips, everyone! These are our textbooks for the year.” This was followed by a lecture about the upcoming year, which was interrupted, often at first but sparsely by the middle, by the reprimanding of a student, usually physically.

After lugging their new books to their lockers, the boys went to Miss Sciezka’s English class. The first thing she did was assign everyone a book to read for a book report, due in a month’s time. She let them have most of the class to read, and Ed was halfway through the book when the bell rang.

Third period brought Miss Hawkeye’s gym class. After receiving their uniforms and putting them on, the teacher teamed them up for two games of dodge ball. Each team had four members. One team included Ed, Kagome, a tall, brown haired girl named Sango, and a silver-haired, dog eared boy named InuYasha. On the other side was a solemn girl that resembled Kagome, named Kikyo, as well as Envy, a long-nailed, wavy haired girl named Lust, and, to Ed’s absolute horror, Alphonse.

“Wait a second! How the hell can I go against my little brother?!” Ed exclaimed, not bothering to hide his emotions.

“Sometimes you must go against your allies. Get used to it,” Miss Hawkeye said, making it apparent she treated gym class as a type of military training.

Envy smirked. “Let me make it easier for you, pipsqueak. I’ll give you the circumstances so you can play.” His arm snaked out, grabbing Al around the throat and pulling the younger boy against his own body. “You’re brother here is my hostage. Unless you fight us, I’ll kill him.” For either effect or as an active threat, he transformed his fingers into little knives, holding them to Al’s neck. Al, not sure if Envy was joking or not, and not keen to find out, was shaking slightly.

“You’re not helping, Envy. You’re just pissing me off!” Ed snarled.

The whistle to begin sounded; Envy let go of Alphonse to let him play. They started with a jump ball, which was, cruelly, Ed against Envy.

Envy smirked, whispering “Too bad height is an advantage, shorty,” then easily got the ball. The ever-present conflict between Ed and Envy continued in full force, as Envy slammed the ball straight towards Ed’s stomach. Ed barely managed to dodge, and Sango caught the rebounding ball, sending it spinning in Kikyo’s direction. Amazingly, the ball, after it hit Kikyo in the gut, somehow managed to bounce just so that it hit almost every point from her ankles up, making a grand finale smack into her face. She fell to the ground, defeated. Miss Hawkeye was unconcerned by this; she had made clear that this was an unconventional dodge ball game: the team left with someone standing at the end wins.

Lust waited for the ball to slow down, then picked it up, hurling it at Kagome. It was two inches from her face when InuYasha dove in and pushed her out of its path, while somehow dodging it himself. He smiled triumphantly at this, picked up the ball, and aimed it at the timidly hiding Alphonse. Winding up for the throw, he got ready to throw, and let it loose. However, at the last moment, he was tackled by Ed, who grabbed the ball and chucked it at Envy.

Grinning in his usual maniacal way, Envy caught the ball, and returned it straight to Ed’s stomach. Ed was slammed against the gym wall, and was barely able to move. Kagome rushed over to help her teammate; InuYasha looked positively furious about this. He decided to vent his anger through revenge: again he targeted Al, and threw the ball at him full force. Al was ready to catch it, but after realizing that the ball could seriously kill him, ducked out of the way. Again, Envy caught the ball, totally unfazed by its speed. He threw it to Al, who was now glaring at InuYasha, who had made an attempt on his life with a dodge ball. InuYasha was grinning triumphantly; he felt that even though the ball hadn’t connected with its target, the intimidation was prize enough. Making macho muscle flexes for Kagome, who was watching the whole affair with shock and mild disgust for InuYasha’s form of revenge, he didn’t notice Al’s own comeback.

InuYasha was hit smack in the face, flying into the wall next to Ed, who had just managed to maintain consciousness. The ball remained connected for a moment before peeling away, revealing that InuYasha now had a mark matching Kikyo’s. He crawled pitifully over to Kagome, who helped him stop his bloody nose.

“Damn that kid…I’ll get my revenge yet!” InuYasha snarled, squirting blood.

“Why do you want revenge?” Kagome asked.

“Thanks to that Al kid, his brother, Ed, stopped my winning the game!” he yelled, squirting more blood around.

“They’re brothers with a close bond, and they look out for each other. And besides, it’s just a game, InuYasha.” Kagome said, looking at the Elric brothers.

“It’s freaky; they’re letting their stupid bond get in the way of my winning!” InuYasha grumbled, obviously not caring about anything except for the game. He always wanted to be the star of the show, secretly hoping that Kagome would be the beautiful cheerleader that threw her arms around him, saying something like “You’re so good at sports…my hero!” However, an instant after he showed his blatant disrespect for anyone who got in the way of his fantasy, said fantasy’s possibility was shattered.

“InuYasha,” Kagome began, her eyes shut tight, trying to control her anger.

“Yes?” InuYasha asked, not noticing her anger, and thinking his dream may be coming true.

“You make me sick! How could you put down such a quality as loyalty in favor of winning a pointless game? You don’t have a single fiber of manners, do you? Do you know what I think? I think you should sit out for the rest of the game. Yes, sit and think about your insensitivity. Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, and sit until you realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you.” She stormed off to rejoin the game, leaving a ten foot InuYasha-shaped hole and the woozy hanyou at the bottom to sulk.

With Kikyo and InuYasha now out of the game, it was down to three against three. Lust had the ball, and she threw it with surprising strength at Ed, who was knocked straight into the wall. He managed to prevent a full-body impact by stopping himself with his foot; using the resulting momentum, he hurled the ball straight back at Lust. There was a sickening cracking sound, and a bit of something flew off next to the ball. “My nail!” she exclaimed, sinking to the floor in despair. She crawled over to the sidelines to examine the damage. Annoyed that his team was now at a disadvantage, having one less person than the other team, Envy slammed the ball into Kagome, knocking her over towards InuYasha’s hole. InuYasha, who was just climbing out, was pushed back in as Kagome fell on top of him. She was sprawled out just over the hole, while yet another thud sounded from the bottom from InuYasha’s falling.

It was now Sango and Ed against Envy and Al, and things were starting to heat up. Sango started with the ball, and she began to aim it at Al. However, Ed nearly tackled her just before she let it rip, and begged her to leave Al out of their line of fire for now. While she found this odd, she supposed that Ed was acting in the protective elder-sibling kind of way, which she could relate with, since she often did the same for Kohaku. So, that being the case, she threw the ball top speed at Envy, who easily caught it. A few seconds later, the ball was thrown straight back at Sango, who was taken out on impact. Cursing under his breath, Ed picked up the ball, but froze. Envy was obviously going to try and cause as much suffering among Ed as was possible through a dodgeball game, and his current method of doing so was to make Al a human shield. His method worked effectively; the next few minutes consisted of a complete standstill between the two sides, one that was broken only by the ringing of the school bell, marking the end of third period.

Out of the gymnasium, through the halls and to their lockers, Al practically clung to his elder brother, being that Envy had to go the same way they did, and he was still shaken from the events of the previous period. Fourth period was lunch, and also a marking of the day’s being halfway completed. After this they had Social Studies, Art, Music, and Science.

Lunch was, as is common in many ways of life, the social hour of the school. The four pink apron-clad, hairnet wearing, spatula bearing lunch ladies were quite a shock, as their arms were hairy, and they were quite obviously men. Kain Fuery, Heymans Breda, Jean Havoc, and Vato Falman were the masters of the school cuisine. Their famous pomatoes—an oddly delicious cross-breed between a potato and a tomato—were a favorite among students. The first day of school was Freshman’s Free Pomato Day. As all of the new students sampled for the first time the glory of the pomato, older students sometimes sneaked in to grab a free taste. This led to an interesting lunch period for a certain group of freshmen.

Ed and Al were at a table near the exit, in a corner away from the hustle and bustle of the lunch line craze. Kagome soon came over, and, recognizing Ed and Al from some of her previous classes, asked if she could sit down. A few moments later, a girl that the brothers recognized from gym, Sango, also came down, soon followed by yet another gym classmate, InuYasha. The five decided to go and get their lunch, and so joined the long, snaking lunch line.

It took nearly half of the lunch period to reach the line, where the four male lunch ladies served their lunch. At the end of that line, there was a huge cart, upon which was piled beautifully cooked baked pomatoes. They crowded around it, along with a tall, blonde girl, and took one. Ed couldn’t help but notice the girl, and, after a moment, realized that he recognized her.

“Hey, Winry!” Ed grinned.

“Shhh! Quiet! You forget, I’m a senior, I shouldn’t be here,” she hissed, nearly nailing him on the head with her pomato.

“Oh, right, hey anyway,” Ed said.

The table of freshman, joined by another boy, Miroku, were friends by the time the bell rang to end lunch.

“Welcome, class,” Ms. Kaede said, after the seat assignments had been made, “to History. Our first subject will be the Sengoku Jidai Era of Japan, the study of which we will talk of and begin tomorrow.”

She then began to explain her various rules and procedures. Ms. Kaede was known as one of the strictest teachers at Soroban Academy; the only one who did not allow the wearing of hats or the chewing of gum, among other rules. Besides her rule-loving side, she was not a teacher to be hated—she was unexpectedly kind and wise. For this reason, only the lowest delinquents of the school hated her. Today was, undoubtedly, a test, to see who had what extent of an attention span. Since she did not have to stop and yell at anyone throughout the period, even Envy, it seemed that the preliminary test of hers had been passed by all.

For most of the freshman friends, Art was next on their list. Ed, Kagome, Al, Sango, and Miroku filed into the paint-covered classroom, only to look at desks and furniture that were also buried in marks from various mediums; clay, crayon, markers, and pencils played but a small part in the catastrophic symphony of textures and colors about the room.

In the center of the room was the only part that was not a clash of colors. This very white spot, with subtle hints of complimenting colors, was their teacher. With a dramatic long thing of fluff around him, Monsieur Sesshomaru was the epitome of elegance in the room.

“Class,” Monsieur Sesshomaru announced dramatically, “welcome to art. This is no ordinary class. This class is a portal within your soul, from which you pour out yourself into your art! You are the spirit, trying to contact those of the living. Your medium is what you create your art with, be it clay, paint, or sculptures of cheese! Art is more than a class, more than just a hobby or profession! It is a way of life, a way of expression!”

“Yo, bro,” InuYasha called from the back of the class, “hurry it up!”

“That’s Monsieur Bro to you, if you insist,” Sesshomaru said, waving his fluff in such a way that it showed his irritation, “though I believe Father would prefer if you called me Monsieur Sesshomaru!”

InuYasha cowered at the slightly hidden threat in his elder brother’s words. “Fine, Monsieur Sesshomaru. Can we get on with the class? The period’s halfway over.”

“Ah, yes yes, the materials needed for art class…there is a list of required and optional, just in case you want to use your own exquisite materials instead of the more-used exquisite school materials,” Monsieur Sesshomaru said, gesturing to a side of the room that looked like a product showcase from Crayola. He handed out the sheets containing the lists, and the seating began.

There were four large tables arranged in the room so that the room, from an aerial view, looked like a window, the four panes being the tables. These tables and their seats were so arranged that all who sat there could see the teacher. This meant that four people could sit on the two ‘outer sides’ of the square tables, and Sesshomaru could take his rotating armchair seat in the center. The four tables with four students each totaled to sixteen students in the class, which was smaller than most classes. The four tables assigned, Sesshomaru quickly and elegantly drew up a beautiful diagram, with a list underneath that listed the names. Table 1 grouped InuYasha, Sango, Ayame, and Lust, Table 2 Kikyo, Ed, Al, and Envy, Table 3 seated Miroku, Greed, Hojo, and Koga, and Table 4 was, by some stroke of luck, for Kagome and her three best friends, Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi. The class took their seats, looking around to remember who they were sitting next to, so that they would be able to remember their seats the next day. The last five minutes of class were spent doing this. During that time, Kagome and her three table mates, who happened to be best friends since kindergarten, caught up on each others’ lives, as they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

Seventh period was Music class, but as the students entered the room, there was a note written on the chalkboard: The teacher, Ms. Pinako, is absent, so it is a free period. While all were grateful for a free period, there wasn’t exactly that much to do, so it passed by slowly and rather uneventfully. The time for the final period, Science, was drawing ever closer.

The science classroom was a large room, divided into sections. The section nearest to the door had walls plastered with blackboards and the floor supporting neat rows of desks. Beyond that were the typical black surfaces of laboratory tables, complete with cabinets of materials. There was a third section to the room, but it was hidden behind a white wall and cast iron door. This was possibly the most interesting part of the room, particularly since it had a strange light coming from it.

“Hello, class,” the teacher said, walking to the front of the room. She was a few inches over five feet, with red-streaked brown hair and green eyes. Contrary to the normal dress of teachers, she was wearing what looked suspiciously like a T-shirt, sweater, jeans, and sneakers.

“Hey, Nicki,” Ed waved; he knew the Burning Ice Alchemist, the elder Chikara twin, who studied ninjutsu as well as being well-versed in alchemy.

“Nicki-sensei!” Nicki corrected, twirling a kunai threateningly.

“Sorry…” Ed mumbled, lowering his waving hand. A giggle ran through the class, but was quickly silenced by the addition of three more kunai in Nicki’s hand.

“Right. I’m Nicki—that’s Nicki-sensei when you address me—and I’ll be your chemistry teacher.”

“Um…Nicki-sensei?” Hojo tentatively raised his hand, “It says here we have two chemistry teachers. Can you please explain that?”

Nicki slapped her palm to her face. “I totally forgot about that.”

Ed didn’t need to follow Nicki’s eyes to the glowing room in the back of the classroom; his eyes had automatically traveled there, and he was beginning to get a bad feeling. Two chemistry teachers, the glowing in the back, only one chemistry teacher present; there could only be one conclusion.

“…Sensei, what’s back there?” Kagome asked, her face showing concern and fear.

“What’s she blowing up this time?” Ed groaned. In response, a pair of test tube tongs came flying out of the door, hitting him square on the head. Noted by his classmates but ignored by the teacher, with a small cry of pain he toppled to the floor.

“Hey, the class is here, you know!” Nicki called to the back of the room.

“Yes, I’m well aware of that; I’m a little busy at the moment!” a voice yelled back.

“The experiments can wait!”

“Wait for what, the right moment exploding and destroying half the building?”

“Can you abandon them for five minutes?”

“I’ll look into it.”

The class looked back and forth as their teacher argued with a voice in the mysterious back room. They were brimming with questions on this strange event. Who could possibly be back there? What was with the arguing back and forth? And was the word “explode” actually mentioned? Tense silence enshrouded the class as small flurries of clinking, popping, bubbling and hissing floated from the room. Rubbing his head as he crawled back from the floor, Ed offered weakly, “Maybe I should go see if I can help.”

“Sure, it’s your funeral,” Nicki shrugged. Her air of indifference did not mask the clear implication of warning; having some insight of his own on the subject, Ed wisely decided to not proffer his assistance.

A great deal of the clamor subsided; the door swung open, admitting a girl that looked amazingly similar to Nicki, barring that she was notably smaller, and her eyes were chestnut like her hair, which had streaks of green in it as opposed to red.

“Hello, I’m Stevie Chikara, I’m your co-teacher for chemistry along with my twin sister over there, I heard you’ve met her, we’ll figure out something for differentiation between us later—“ though she was working hard to spit what seemed like a speech out in one breath, the girl was suddenly rudely interrupted by a chilling, ear-piercing shrieking noise that emitted from the room, giving the eerie impression that some sort of animal was being drowned in a burning, bubbling solution.

“—and today’s lesson, if you hear that noise, that’s not good. See you tomorrow!” she rushed, scrambling back into the room and slamming the door behind her.

An awed silence followed. No one, it seemed, not even Nicki Chikara, could completely comprehend the quick and bizarre cameo made by her twin.

“Chimera juice?” Ed asked incredulously. “She’s making chimera juice? In a school?”

The bell rang a response. A chaotic rush of students began to swell from their seats, creating a mass erratically surging towards the door that was undoubtedly mirrored in each and every occupied classroom. Forgetting the issue of chimera juice in the favor of avoiding being run flat by the stampede of his peers, Ed joined in the clamor of preparing oneself for the journey home as quickly as was humanly possible.