Prologue: The Lotus in The Dojo

"Alright everyone, class is dismissed for today! The assistants have your practice sheets for the upcoming test, so be sure to talk with them before you leave today."

Just like that, the class of students dispersed, quickly congregating around the assistants that were separated around the room. 

Most of the assistants, anyway. 

The exception, as usual, was Sota. He leaned against the wall, watching as the students gathered around the other assistants and avoided him. It wasn't anything new to him. His size was intimidating, and it's not as if he had a charming personality to counterbalance it. Combine that with his reputation of being on the lazier side, and it was logical why the students would want to go to the other assistants instead...

First, there was Riku. He was the most well-dressed and well-groomed man to ever grace the dojo. He attracted a lot of attention simply because of his personality and charisma. He liked to call himself the "gay best friend" that a ton of the girl students loved interacting with. As a byproduct of this, he always attracted a decent portion of the group whenever it came to being a "favorite" assistant. 

Then there was Natsu. Not only was he the 'senior' assistant in terms of skill, but he was also #1 when it came to just about everything. He was the most skilled, the most attractive, incredibly smart, and incredibly charismatic. This led him to attract the attention of the mass majority of the students. Many guys wanted to emulate him, and every girl wanted to be with him. Out of the three of them, he had been #1 by a landslide for quite some time in terms of popularity. 

He had been dethroned more recently, however, as a new #1 came onto the scene. 

Ren - the newest of the assistants - had taken the #1 spot by storm. She was the most popular girl in class by a landslide, and her recent promotion to assistant only solidified that further. Sota watched from a distance as the students gathered around her all competed for her attention. 

"How can a girl be so pretty and kickass? I can't believe she's real!"

"You think she'd ever consider dating a guy like me?"

"Keep dreaming, bro! She's probably already got a thing going with Senpai Natsu."

Ren took it all in stride, as usual. She was kind to everyone, and giggled off anything that was a bit more over-the-top. Her group was easily the size of the other two put together. It was something that Sota found amusing to have happened in such a short amount of time. 

"Looks like you're on chore duty...again," Sensei noted as he approached Sota. 

"Oh, darn. You mean I get to head to the quiet space in the back where I'm not swarmed by others? How brutal..."

He ignored Sota's remark, instead turning his attention back to the floor. For a few moments, he remained beside Sota and watched the chaos unfold. 

"It seems Ren has been working hard in her new spot as assistant," Sensei noted. "Impressive, given the amount of people who turn to her for help."

"Yeah. I'm sure it's been a pretty hectic transition for her."

"Well if it gets too rowdy, be sure to save the princess if need be."

"Like she needs my help. They should all know by now that incurring her wrath is a horrible idea."

Sensei chuckled, then began heading towards his desk. Sota took a deep breath and decided it was time to get to it. 

Without the distraction of students, he was able to clean up everything within about twenty minutes. Once it was done, he quietly wrapped up his stuff and snuck out the door ahead of the crowds that were soon to disperse. 

He made his way to his car, tossed his stuff in the back seat, and relaxed into his seat as he let the car warm up. He took this time of quiet to sit and reflect. It was amazing how fast things could change. At one time, this would've marked the moment where his inner thoughts started to sneak back in. Being 'unwanted'; being alone, being unsure of what it was going to take to heal...

In the end, all that he had needed was to be wanted by one person...

"I figured I'd find you out here!"

Sota turned his attention to the passenger side, narrowly avoiding a workout bag flying by his head as it landed in the backseat. By the time he had avoided impact, Ren had already plopped down in the seat next to him and closed the door. 

"I'm surprised you manage to work through your fan-club so fast..."

"Shut up."

Sota chuckled before turning his attention to the parking lot. As he got ready to head out, he saw that a couple of other male students had wandered out and were pointing in their direction. Sota could see the disbelief on their faces - he could almost hear their words. 

Wait a minute. Is Senpai Ren in the car with...Senpai Sota!? No way, dude...that can't be right...

Sota thought about poking fun at Ren about it, but then he felt his arm get snagged. He looked over and Ren had already buckled in and wrapped herself around his arm. 

"Let's get going," she noted with a relaxed smile on her face. 

Sota smiled. He put the car into gear and slowly made his way out of the parking lot, leaving behind a handful of awestruck students spectating the unusual duo leaving class together. 

This is the story of how such an unusual pair came to be - and what they had to overcome to get there.