After a few moments, Tyler follows and catches up and – "Hey!"

"Hey. Do you need something?"

"I realized I hadn't introduced myself to you yet!" he says. "I'm Tyler."

"The people here are friendlier than I'm used to. My name's Ethan."

"Oh, did you just move in recently too?"

"Yeah, we're just getting settled in." 

"The birds were a bit… shocking."

"It's weird, I guess. Kind of creepy. Maybe it's something in the water, people are saying all the animals are going berserk."

"Hopefully it doesn't do anything to us, then."

"People always say animals notice things are wrong when we don't. Maybe you trade being a person for working instincts." 

"I mean, I'm not sure 'flying into a window en masse' is a working instinct I'd want here."

"Not saying that. Just saying it'd be nice to sense when something weird is going on."

"Yeah," he agrees. "Definitely something going on, though."

"Maybe it'll pass. No use worrying about something that will take care of itself."

"But if it doesn't pass, or it recurs, could be an issue." Shrug. "Not that I can probably do anything – I don't know much about wildlife."

"Hopefully things don't get too bad. It seems like a nice town." 

"– Yeah," agrees Tyler, after a bit of a delay. "Seems like a nice town."

"I should get to homeroom. See you around." 

"– Yeah," says Tyler, shivering a little. He frowns and looks around.

And his new friend (?) is gone. 

Classes begin. 

Fortunately Tyler gets to it on time and pays sufficient attention during.

Classes remain boring and easy.

With people who take fantasy games way too far, or alternatively are plotting to kill people.

Based on the history of the town… Tyler is going to guess both, sorta.

Today in Chemistry they'll be examining how perfectly harmless substances can react violently when combined!