Katsuto’s POV
It’s currently the start of September, which meant that it’s also the start of the second semester of my 1st year at this school… To be honest, even if I have already adjusted to my surroundings in this school, I didn’t think that a campus this size would even exist within Tokyo where buildings usually sprawl upwards, and not sideways…
Because this school, the Tokyo Institute of Specialized Education, is a government-funded school where the brightest of the bright students would be studying here. The entire curriculum of this school, along with many of its satellite campuses across Japan, is to read all of Japan’s brightest for the society that they will have to strive for, especially those who would go for a university degree.
This means that many subjects are treated as compulsory courses which are called “directives” that students would lean into, to prepare themselves to work even after they’re done with high school with full marks and eligibility to work in Japan’s many industries.
But if I need to be honest again, the size of this campus is too big for me that I haven’t even fully explored everything on this campus! Though I’ve found a spot in a certain spot where I can watch students who move around from all directions or stay underneath the golden-leaved trees which are located in the middle of the recreational park.
A roofed gazebo was just several meters away, where the views of the golden-leaved trees were ever present along with the leaves falling on the ground. Because it’s currently lunchtime here, I brought out the bento box that my mother made for me as well as a juice box that I bought on my way here.
“What did Mom make this time…?” I talked to myself as I opened up the bento box, expecting a rice meal since it was for lunch, but revealing that there were two diagonally-sliced ham and mayonnaise sandwiches that my Mom usually makes in Summer and Autumn.
“Ham and Mayo Sandwich, huh…?” I smirked as I accepted the food that I have first before getting the first bite into my mouth.
I’m happily munching the first sandwich slice as there wasn’t really anyone willing to be inside this roofed gazebo in the first place, not that I mind it, but it’s fine with me.
Or at least… That’s what I thought…
“Hey there!” I immediately looked in front of me in surprise.
“Woah! H-Hey?” I said in an awkward tone.
‘Her face…! It’s close…! Too close…!’ I thought as a beautiful girl that I’m not familiar with who had long midnight blue hair tied to a ponytail, blue glasses, and what appears to she wearing the school’s uniform for the girls which consisted of a long-sleeved midnight blue outer blouse with a white lining, a white inner blouse with a black necktie with gold lining around the edge and donning a skirt with multiple white lines at the bottom of it, appeared in front of me, and came to me specifically and not just entering the gazebo.
She seems to be greeting me with quite a bright expression on her face although, with her appearance like a foreigner and attitude that’s akin to a bubbly person, she had the aura of a teenage celebrity from top to bottom which makes me a tad bit nervous.
“Hey there!” She greeted excitingly.
“H-Hey?” I repeated awkwardly.
“Are you alone?” She asked in a curious tone while in the open.
“Me… Alone…?” I repeated once again as I can't really comprehend as to why she's asking that when she can see that I'm not with anyone here.
“Yes! Are you alone?” She repeated her question.
‘As you can see here, I’m alone’ Is what I would’ve said in a bit of an annoyed tone, if not for my nervousness kicking in as she tries to move her face closer to mine.
So I just internally sighed and answer her question as I point my finger toward my bento box.
“Yes, Just watching the surroundings alone while… you know…?” I answered.
“While eating, huh…? May I take a look at what you’re eating?” She asked with a curious look on her face?! What’s with this girl and being acting innocent?!
I immediately picked up my lunch box and showed to her the other half of my diagonally-sliced handmade sandwich that was inside the lunch box. Looking at the reaction on her face, it seems that she wants to try it out and eat it.
“So… Do you want to eat it?” I offered as the girl is surprised due to me doing this.
“E-Eh?! You’re gonna let me have that last slice?” She asks in disbelief.
“Just by looking at your face, it seems that you want to eat it. I’m pretty much full anyways, so you can have it.” I said in a neutral tone.
After immediately saying that to her, she clapped her hand once before uttering ‘Itadakimasu!’1Japanese loose translation for "let's eat." or "I humbly receive the food."before taking a bite from the last slice of the Ham and Mayonnaise sandwich that my Mom made for me.
The satisfied look on her face after the first bite made my heart skipped a beat a little bit before seeing a warm and satisfied expression on her face as if she mellowed down a little bit from eating.
After that, she continued eating all of that slice before telling me with quite a dignified tone in her voice.
“Thank you for the treat~! The sandwich is quite delicious!” She said cheerfully.
“I’m glad you liked it.” I smiled as I replied back.
Though before I would’ve the idea of asking for her name for introductions, her expression seemed like she realized something, and dropped my bento box to the seat next to me. She involuntarily cussed in a language that I don't know as she frantically asked me.
“Oh Gopfertammi2Swiss for "Goddamnit!" , I forgot! I need to go to the Dean’s office now! Do you know where the General Administration Building is?!” She frantically asked.
“J-Just go north until you’ve reached the front of the Theater Building… G-Go left and you’ll reach the General Administration Building after walking for some time…” I responded frantically as well, as she showed a bright expression on her face before bowing in front of me.
“I see! Thank you so much, schön-kun!3German translation derived from "pretty man" to "handsome". Any of those two works.” She thanked me while giving me a weird-sounding nickname.
“W-Wait!...” She immediately ran away from the roofed gazebo at such a fast speed that I couldn’t even believe that she could run that fast.
Although I wanted to know her name and introduced ourselves, it seems that she probably has something to deal with the Dean and was lost inside this large campus when she arrived here…
‘At least, introduce your name first…’ I thought, but I couldn’t say it now since she immediately ran away…
In the end, I took a sip from the juice box that I bought earlier and contemplated for an entire half an hour about what just happened with that encounter, not knowing what a fateful encounter that entails for me for the rest of my high school life.
...
And so… I came back to where my classroom is after a 10-minute walk from the recreational park. When I came back to the classroom, it was just a few minutes before the next subject.
As I came back to my seat which is located in the back row, just a single seat away from reaching the window which remained unoccupied for the entire 1st semester, I was immediately approached by three men wearing the same uniform as mine.
“Yo, Katsuto-kun! You’re unusually late, huh…?” The blond-haired man known as Hayate asks.
“I didn’t notice the time Hayate, you know…?” I excused.
“Katsuto-kun, I heard a big rumor that’s circulating along the first-year building right now! I just heard of this during today’s lunchtime!” The brown-haired Tsukumo asked excitingly.
“Just today? What rumor’s that?” I asked in curiosity.
I’m not a fan of gossiping about rumors nor so does my best friends Hayate, Tsukumo, and Arato.
But if they were also talking to me about this, then it has to be quite a famous one.
“A new chick just got transferred here from abroad! It’s not a foreign exchange student either, so if she got transferred here from abroad, she has to be someone of high status, or is extraordinarily smart!” The green-haired Arato exclaimed.
“Oh…?” I made an uninterested reaction out of it since whoever the transferee would be, at least I won't be able to have my bag occupy the last seat beside me now.
“Are you a dumbass, Arato?! The rumor also included their speculation that this girl passed the exams too with a score higher than us during our exams! She’s got both beauty and brains too!”
“Seriously?!”
Tsukumo exclaimed to Arato as the two of them started a discussion about the credibility of their sources of those rumors which I didn’t bother listening to while Hayate kept quiet about this.
And it so happens that it’s pretty much them focusing their attention on a new transfer student, considering that we’re the only class with a single seat still not occupied.
Before that discussion takes another turn, the room which immediately turned a lively classroom into a silent one as Marin-sensei, our homeroom teacher, entered the room as the three immediately went back to their respective seats.
She’s our homeroom teacher who wasn’t supposed to be entering the room at this time around.
“Hello, Class 1-S. I’ll be exchanging with your Social Studies teacher for this period to bring you an important announcement.” She greeted us formally as everyone’s confusion in their eyes dissipated as their attention now focused only on Marin-sensei as she started to speak once again.
“It is as the rumors say. There’s a transfer student from Switzerland that has come to our school. She has specifically transferred to our class starting this new semester. But before you guys could make any kind of comments on her, she has passed both the Entrance Exams for this school, as well as the 1st Semester’s Finals Examination for this year with flying colors.”
When Marin-sensei said that with a stern tone in her voice, our classmates began to collectively murmur to each other as if they were talking about a celebrity.
Everyone has their questions and concerns concerning the new transfer student fitting in with the Japanese culture, and the school system itself.
But it seems that Marin-sensei expected this outcome so she then spoke up again.
“And don’t worry about her having difficulty readjusting herself here as she is half Japanese-half Swiss girl, she can also speak Japanese fluently, and write all three writing systems fluidly so you all could take your chances of befriending her." She explained, which turned the atmosphere of the class from one of confusion as to how they'll greet their new classmate to a lively one as they realized that the new transferee can understand them just fine.
"Miss Yatsushiro, please come in and introduce yourself to everyone!” Marin-sensei said with a lively tone in her voice as she looked over to where the door is on her left side.
A familiar face went inside the classroom as murmurs started to spring up once again.
And that familiar face is of someone that I could never forget… since 30 minutes ago.
The long midnight blue hair tied in a ponytail and blue-rimmed glasses that she’s wearing…
She then started to write her name in Hiragana on the blackboard using chalk that was on the chalkboard and it took her quite a while to write everything in it since she wrote her name in both Hiragana and English versions before introducing herself in front of us in Japanese
“Hello, everyone! I’m Yatsushiro Ayame Olivia. I’m Half-Japanese, Half-Swiss and I was born here in Japan before moving to Switzerland when I was 5 years old due to my family’s job. I have caught up with everything that I need to learn from the first semester of this school year, so I hope that we can all enjoy the rest of the year together!”
She said to everyone with a smile on her face, emanating the aura of a celebrity in front of everyone in the classroom.
This is when I realized to myself that things won’t be as it seemed to be for the entirety of my time at this special school…
