After a brief moment of Karasuma reprimanding Irina for her Hollywood Starlet outfit on a Middle-school trip, Amaya had been allowed to take up one of the seats in the back of their allocated placement in the economy-class of the train.

It was an entire enclosed carriage just to Class-E, presumably because of Koro-sensei's presence on the trip.

Amaya was the first on the train out of her class, and by the time the others began to board, she'd pulled on her headphones, turned them up to drown the world away, and had one of her novels open in her hands. She sat sideways on the seat next to the window, so that her legs were hanging over the arm of the chair, and off the front of the chair next to her own.

Her feet weren't literally on the chair, so it wasn't like she was going to get into trouble for it, unless Karasuma was in a really bad mood because of the way the day has gone, already.

Then she might get into trouble.

Somewhere in Amaya's peripheral vision she saw Irina drop herself down onto the chair diagonally across from her, her head hung and her Hollywood Starlet outfit replaced with a pair of track pants, and a purple and pink zipper jumper that seemed oddly similar to the ones that were part of the student gym uniform.

Even from Amaya's disinterested position in her chair, she could tell that Irina was devastated right now, kneeling pitifully with her head hung as she drew little circles over the chair with a finger.

Well, Amaya couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic to the woman right now - The both of them were in situations that they weren't happy with right now, while everyone else looked as pleased as punch.

'Katsuragi-san.' Karasuma spoke up all of a sudden, causing Amaya to lift her gaze to look up at the ever-serious man curiously.

She noticed him motion towards her legs hanging over the separating arm of the chair, causing her to let out a small breath as she rearranged herself so that her legs were folded with her right beneath her left hanging off the side of the chair.

Well, it was either sit next to a silent Amaya, or a sulking Irina - It was kind of a no-brainer which one Karasuma was going to pick.

Karasuma sat himself down and proceeded to read the papers on a blue clipboard he had tucked beneath an arm until now.

Amaya could hear her classmates chattering amongst themselves as they began to pack their gear away in the bag compartments at the top of the windows, even through her headphones blaring away.

Which meant that everyone was very loud.

The train sounded a notice announcing that they were closing the doors, and departing from the station in the next thirty seconds.

And yet when the train started to move, Amaya didn't fail to notice that there was no sign of their Assassination Target.

All of a sudden, there was a buzzing sensation from the pocket of her pants, and her music suddenly cut off to start playing her ring-tone instead.

With a small sigh, Amaya pulled the device from her pocket in order to look at the screen.

The Caller ID read Koro-Sensei, and Amaya immediately decided not to answer it.

Instead, Amaya cast a quick glance-over the carriage over the top of everyones heads for any sign of that creature, only to find that he wasn't here. She hoped it would stay like that for the whole trip, however she knew better than to put any thought behind her hope.

Even if he missed the train like she was suspecting, he'd just fly to Kyoto and meet them there.

Or at least thats what she thought he'd do.

Amaya then swiped towards Reject Call just to get rid of the annoyance immediately, before she slipped the phone back into her pocket once she'd hit resume on her playlist.

Somewhere in Tokyo, there was Koro-sensei staring at his phone in dismay at Amaya's sudden decision - She knew that for a fact.

Of course, she didn't really feel all that guilty for it.

She might later on, however.

Amaya settled herself in for the long-haul of silence and peace, however she knew it wasn't going to last for very long.

She was proven right within ten minutes of the train leaving the station.

A sudden exclamation from Nagisa and Sugino alerted everyone to the whereabouts of Koro-sensei.

He was stuck to the outside of the train at Sugino's window, a rather strained look across his face.

Amaya didn't bother to look up at the disturbance and instead turned her headphones up a little more.

From the displeased look across Karasuma's face, his patience for today really was beginning to wear thin.

Not that she could blame him, in any case.

Amaya placed her gaze back upon her novel, and proceeded to turn to the next page as she turned her music up.

Just as the train pulled into the next station on the way to Kyoto, Koro-sensei made his way on-board, obnoxiously large bag and all. Thankfully for Amaya, the creature decided to sit himself down several rows away, leaving her with at least some semblance of peace.

At least until Amaya had finished the first chapter of her book.

'Katsuragi-san!' An annoyingly familiar voice screeched at the top of his apparent lungs, loud enough for Amaya to have heard through her headphones. 'Explain to Sensei why you went to the point of hanging up on me when I was calling for help!'

Amaya remained silent as she saw through her peripheral vision that Koro-sensei was approaching at a rather human speed from his previous place at the front of the carriage.

'Katsuragi-san!' Koro-sensei repeated her name in a stronger tone of voice, however Amaya merely turned the page of her book.

There was silence for a few seconds, before Koro-sensei seemed to sigh slightly, and his arm-tentacles drooped slightly.

At least at first, he had.

Then barely a second later, all of a sudden there was a popping sound from right above her head, and Amaya was showered in yellow gloop.

It took Amaya a couple of seconds to actually realize what had just happened, and in the short time it took for her to pick up on the yellow gloop splattered all over her, the chair, and her book, everyone had fallen dead silent and whirled around to gape at what had just happened.

Koro-sensei had obviously just tried to pull her headphones from her head, without his glove on, for some reason Amaya failed to comprehend.

All she really knew was that the creature had fallen into a state of shock, leaving Amaya to lift herself from her seat wordlessly, and lift her bag along with her.

She walked right past the shell-shocked teacher, and made her way out of the carriage without so much as a glance away or a sound escaping her.

The yellow gloop all over her stunk of sulphur and ammonium, and it began to make her feel a little light-headed, though it might only be a strong, pungent smell because she was covered in it.

Locking herself in the washroom of the carriage, Amaya looked at her reflection with an air of irritation overcoming her at the sight of all the yellow gloop over her - Her uniform was barely flecked, however the gloop was all over her headphones, her hair, sliding down the left side of her face as well as over her hands and her book.

Amaya disregarded her book for the moment, turning on the water in the faucet just enough to begin to wash all of the yellow gunk out of her hair and off her belongings.

It was difficult, tedious and annoying all in one - It took a long time to get the sticky gloop out of her hair.

But it may be worth all the trouble, in the end.

It was just a matter of wait and see.

Returning with as much of the yellow gloop as she could remove gone from her person, Amaya made her return back to the rest of the carriage. Upon her return, it went uncomfortably silent again, however she could thankfully pretend that she didn't even notice, thanks to her headphones playing quietly.

She walked back down the aisle towards her depicted seat with Karasuma and Irina, ignoring the rather sheepish looking octopus that had tried to get her attention.

He looked particularly shocked when she didn't even glance at him and dropped herself back to her seat without a care in the world, returning to her now marred page of 102.

She could feel many pairs of eyes upon her curiously, though she didn't look up to see who they were.

It honestly didn't matter who they were, anyway.

It wasn't like she was allowed to spend any time with them on this trip, no thanks to Koro-sensei.

Almost as if her very thought had summoned him, Koro-sensei made his way over to take up the seat next to the rather serious looking Irina, his gaze upon Amaya's form without a single shift in gaze.

She wished he would just go away, but it didn't look like she was going to get her wish.

'Katsuragi-san?' Koro-sensei called her name in a rather sheepish tone.

Amaya ignored him and continued reading.

Koro-sensei seemed to stare at her for a few seconds, before he lifted an arm-tentacle to stretch over and tap her on the shoulder.

And immediately, the tip of his finger popped on contact with her shoulder.

Amaya made a point of keeping her gaze fixed upon her book, and ignored the horrified edge that had taken hold of Koro-sensei's disguised face.

The silence that had overcome the carriage once again was a little more tense than before, and as Amaya saw Koro-sensei go to try and catch her attention yet again, she snapped her book shut and got to her feet.

She ignored the shell-shocked look that flashed across Koro-sensei's face as she walked to the front of the carriage and took up one of the empty seats there.

Unfortunately, she could hear Koro-sensei begin to dramatically sniffle, as if her actions had thoroughly hurt his feelings.

'I think it's safe to assume that she wants to be left well alone.' Karasuma told the creature in the middle of crying into a particularly huge handkerchief he'd pulled out of his pocket.

'Sensei doesn't understand why his student is acting so cold!' Koro-sensei wailed dramatically, much to the bemusement of everyone else in the carriage.

'Anyone with half a brain can figure that one out on their own!' Maehara shouted from his seat over in the back half of the carriage.

Despite Amaya's terrible mood, she couldn't help but smile at that remark.

'Sensei only asked her about a musical instrument!' Koro-sensei wailed at the top of his lungs. 'How was I supposed to know that was going to upset her!?'

'You're missing the point, entirely!' Someone else shouted, however Amaya began to filter the noise out, and turned her music up.

She hoped Koro-sensei got the point and would leave her alone.

If he didn't, she was going to throw her bag at him.

Then maybe he'd get the point that she didn't want anything to do with him right now?

Amaya glanced at the display at the top of the door, sighing for just a moment as she found the time written in the top corner of the LCD panel.

9.03am - She'd only been on the train for 45 minutes.

The day had only just begun, and she was more than just over it.

She was already tempted to get off at the next station and catch a train back home, instead of dealing with all this trouble.

Amaya let out a breath as she propped herself with her right leg tucked beneath her left, and resumed reading.

Or at least she had tried to.

A form wearing the standard male student uniform suddenly dropped themselves into the chair opposite Amaya, tugging at her curiosity.

Though she kept her gaze on her book.

'Here, Katsuragi-san.' A familiar voice spoke up.

She blinked momentarily, before redirecting her gaze from her book, to the form that had decided to join her for some reason.

She found herself looking at Isogai, who was holding out a can of iced coffee to her with a sympathetic smile across his face.

'O-oh - Thank you ...' Amaya spoke as she reached out to grab the can from the Ikeman.

Much like he always did, Isogai smiled a little more in that kind, understanding manner of his.

'Looks like you've had a pretty rough week.'

'That obvious, huh?' Amaya mumbled as she opened the can carefully, after she'd discarded her book onto the seat next to her.

'Yeah.' He responded, nodding his head towards her arm for just a second. 'You're bleeding for a start.'

'Huh?' Amaya blinked owlishly at Isogai for a second, before she looked down at her arm.

Flecks of blood had seeped through the bandages wrapped around her arm, and Amaya could see that it was beginning to soak into the sleeve of her shirt, too. She stared at the injury for a few seconds in silence, her brow furrowing as she tried to filter through her thoughts for a reason why.

At least until she recalled the small instance where she'd bumped into Asano, and her arm had begun to feel a little damp back then.

Amaya surmised that when she'd bumped into him, she'd managed to aggravate some of the stitches enough to cut into her arm.

'Great...' Amaya sighed as she slouched back into her seat lightly. 'It'll be fine, I might have just pulled a couple stitches or something.'

Isogai watched her for a few seconds, before he nodded his head slightly in understanding.

'I guess you'd know better than most.' Isogai commented in a rather offhanded manner, however Amaya could still pick up on the small hints of concern that remained in his expressive gaze.

'Kinda.'

'Whatcha talking about?' Maehara suddenly spoke up as he suddenly appeared, causing both Amaya and Isogai to look up at him as he dropped himself into the chair next to Amaya.

'Nothing much, to be honest with you.' Amaya responded with a wry smile.

'I thought you were still playing Game of Life, Maehara?' Isogai asked the playboy with a sheepish smile.

'I made the Road to Riches and won, of course.' Maehara remarked in answer, before he turned his head to cast a bright grin to Amaya. 'That reminds me - You're still up for coming round to play games when we get back to Tokyo, right? Katsuragi-chan?'

It looked like the two of them were electing to keep her company.

She couldn't help but smile sweetly as she nodded her head.

'Of course.' Amaya responded.

'Great!' Maehara grinned brightly as he turned in his seat so that he was facing both Amaya and Isogai. 'Then we're gonna have to get some recommendations for starters from the rest of the guys, right Yuuma?'

'I think Nakamura-san might have a few good suggestions, too.' Isogai responded with a smile. 'We could ask her when we get to the inn for the night.'

Yuuma?

Amaya was a little confused; Maehara called Isogai by his first name, and yet Isogai didn't do the same with Maehara.

It was peculiar, but Amaya guessed it could be that since Isogai had a very formal speech-pattern, Isogai might just refer to Maehara by his family name because it was more proper.

Maehara certainly was not formal with the way he referred to people, so that might be it.

'Oh! That's a good idea!' Maehara agreed enthusiastically, turning his gaze back to Amaya. 'Do you have any preferences in genre or anything, Katsuragi-chan?'

Amaya hesitated for a second, her thoughts bouncing in her head as she tried to come up with an answer.

Because quite honestly, she'd never put too much thought to it.

'Well ... I don't really know when it comes to games ...' Amaya hedged, glancing down at her novel sitting in her lap for just a second. 'But in books and movies, I'm fond of horror and action kinda stuff. I don't mind fantasy either.'

Maehara seemed to stare at her in surprise for a few seconds, while Isogai smiled in amusement.

'What movies are your favorites?' Maehara asked curiously.

'Umm ... I guess, Ring, Kuroneko, Occult ... I didn't mind any of the Ju-on, either.'

'Whoa... Okay, so you really do like Horror.' Maehara responded with a wry smile.

'I guess ...' Amaya hedged, smiling sheepishly as the two boys watched her. 'I just haven't really watched very much of anything to really say one way or the other.'

Maehara and Isogai shared a look before they both smiled, Maehara a bit more mischievously than Isogai's innocent smile.

'Well it's a good thing you've got us here to introduce you to all this stuff.' Maehara announced with a grin as he looked back at Amaya. 'We've got a whole classroom worth of suggestions and recommendations, and tons of time for it - We'll bring you up to date before you know it, Katsuragi-chan!'

'Thank you, I look forward to it.' Amaya responded, the tiniest touch of warmth touching her face as she smiled even more.

Was this what it was like to have friends?

Then friends ... they referred to each other by their first names, right?

Wasn't that normal?

Amaya decided she wanted it to be normal - She held too much dislike for her family name to begin with.

'Umm ... if you'd like, you can call me Amaya ... instead...' Amaya hedged, glancing away furtively as the two boys blinked in surprise at her words. 'I'm not really fond of my family name ... so ...'

'Gotcha! Maya-chan it is then!' Maehara announced with a grin.

Wait - Maya-chan?!

Again, Maehara surprised her with opting for a more familiar way of addressing her than she was expecting. Although this time it brought a smile to her face, regardless.

Despite the shock of the sudden shortening of her name right off the bat, Amaya found herself quite liking it.

After all, it was what her mother used to call her.

'Amaya-san, then.' Isogai agreed with a smile.

'And since I'm calling you Maya-chan now, you can call me Hiroto, of course.' Maehara added, a rather dorky grin touching his face.

It caused her to laugh lightly.

'Sure, I'd be happy to.' Amaya agreed.

So Amaya spent the rest of the train-ride to Kyoto in conversation with her two friends, almost forgetting entirely about Koro-sensei still sulking in the back half of the train carriage.

Undisturbed, happy with just the small window of conversation, Amaya was finally enjoying herself again.

She was beginning to look forward to the end of the Kyoto Trip, just so she could spend more time with these two boys.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Aaand we're back a couple days earlier than I'd said with the next chapter :D I hope y'all enjoyed reading, and I should have the next chapter in a few days.

First things first! I had a lovely reader wonder about what Amaya's new haircut is xD Now it's not exactly it, but the gif of Ninth from Mirai Nikki as the Chapter Image is pretty much it :D Just posted so that y'all have an image reference to go with :D

*Happydance* My copy of Jurassic World came in the Mail today, and I've watched it three times already *Dances even more* In case you haven't figured it out, I ADORE Dinosaurs, and the Jurassic Park Series is my favorite of favorites xD I watched it and was like I NEED TO WRITE SOMETHING TO GET DINOSAURS INTO MORE OF THE WORLD!!! Sooooooo yeah ... depending on what you all think and whether you're interested, I might write another of those One-Shots I've done involving DINOSAURS xD Can you tell I'm excited as hell, already?

Anyways, thank you to everyone for all the votes and comments to date :D You're all so freaking awesome, and I wish you all heaps of good things for the near future xD

Translation Notes for Chapter Thirty Four of Marionette (If I missed anything or got anything wrong, then please lemme know so I can fix / add it)

Chinmoku - Our chapter title translates as Silence, written as 沈黙 in Japanese.