Chapter 1. The exchange student
4/11
The alarm blared repeatedly until a rough hand slapped the button. The sleeper, Yosuke Hanamura tiredly rubbed his eyes and got up to get ready for the day. Thankfully he did not have to turn on the lights as the sunlight shining through the blinds dimly lighting the room. Everything was still the same; his adult magazines were scattered on the floor, small pieces of chips on the floor, and his posters specific idols plastered on his walls. He puts on his black uniform but left his top unbuttoned to reveal his white and red t-shirt. He wraps his signature orange headphones around his collar and headed out. Outside was the usual, the sky was blue with white clouds almost snuffing out the view of the sun.
'Looks like it's going to be cloudy.' He thought. 'Hope It doesn't rain.'
As he walked his way to school, he saw the other students who were walking with one another, gossiping.
"Did you hear? Rumor has it that a new girl coming to our school." One of the guys said.
"No kidding, where is she from?"
"I heard that she's an exchange student. Some say that she's an American."
"American? Is she hot?"
Yosuke continued to hear their conversation. To his relief, everyone stopped talking about the murders. 'Glad to know everything is back normal, even if it has been a couple of months.'
A year ago, Inaba had a serial killer who murdered people in unorthodox means. He would shove the person into the tv, sending them into another world where creatures called shadows, deformed monsters of suppressed human emotions would do the rest of the work. The victim would then end up hanging upside down somewhere in Inaba. Three people died during that time, Mayumi Yamano, a tv announcer was the first victim to go. The second was someone close to him, Saki Konishi, a classmate he befriended and had a crush on. The final one, however, was Kinshiro Morooka (Or as most students call him King Moron) who was not killed by the actual killer but by a copycat killer. During those dark times, Yosuke also met Yu Narukami, a city boy who transferred to Inaba. When they learned that the urban legend: the Midnight channel was a way to tell who was the next victim, he led the investigation team, saved those people that would later become friends and solved the murder mystery as well as figure out who was really pulling the strings. To think, not only have the opportunity to help in the investigation but to also obtain a power to fight off monsters called shadows. Yu wasn't just a great leader, he was also a good friend. He helped them all with their problems and brought everyone from the team together. Sadly, Yu had to leave Inaba to return back to the city. Depressing as his departure may be, he left a good mark in Inaba, defeating the true killer and prevented the world from becoming consumed by shadows. Much to Yosuke's dismay, while he was glad that they ended the terror, it was one of the reasons that kept him feeling active. Now it was back to being living his mundane life in the countryside.
Casting that thought behind, he took an interest in what those boys were saying.
'New girl huh? And a foreigner no less?'
He finally made his way to Yasogami High and entered.
"Hey, Yosuke!" One of the students called out to him. It was none other than Chie Satonaka, a friend of his who helped in the investigation. She's a tomboy who loves meat and Kung fu movies, at least from what he knows. She was also the person he often likes to tease because of quick she reacts to it. Even though they got into arguments here and there, they still accepted each other. With her was her childhood friend in red Yukiko Amagi, the heir to her family Inn. At first, she seemed like a quite pretty girl, but as they got to know her, she had a weird sense of humor and would go into a laughing fit on anything that wouldn't usually be funny. Probably the reason why she and Yu became a thing.
"Chie, Yukiko, what's up?"
The three began conversing as they made their way up the stairs to the third floor.
"Heard anything back from Yu?"
"I called him up recently, he told me that his old school, and how he caught up with some old friends," Yukiko explained.
"I mean, this is Yu, this the guy who would get girls to fall for him with a snap of a finger."
"Geez, you make it sound like your jealous of him." Chie scoffed.
Yosuke shrugged and then changed the subject.
"Speaking of which, I heard a rumor that we're going to have an exchange student from America."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that on my here also!" Yukiko exclaimed. "Some of the girls said that she from New York specifically."
"So another big city person coming to the countryside. It's almost starting feel like last year all over again."
"You don't think this might be a coincidence do you?"
"Probably, but that exchange student though, wonder if she's cute."
"Well don't make her first day awkward." Chie scolded.
The trio separated and went to their designated classroom. Yosuke sat at his desk alone while everyone else inside was still talking to one another. Last year he, Yukiko, Chie, and Yu use to be in the same room. That was the place where they would sit together and listen to lectures. Yu was always the smartest, answering the questions without any hesitation. He was also reliable as they would sneakily ask for help on a question when it was there turn to answer. But now, Yu is now gone and with the other two in different locations. Now, they had to now rely on themselves and hope they get the right answer.
The homeroom teacher came in and everyone went to their seats. After going calling out everyone's name, he began his announcement.
"As you all know, yes the rumors are true. We will be having an exchange student in our classroom."
Yosuke perked his head up when he heard those words. 'Wait, an exchange student, in here?'
The doors to the right slid open, revealing a pale skinned girl with red eyes. Her long grey-blue hair was tied to a ponytail and reached all the way below her back. Yosuke just stared, like some of the guys, taken aback by her beauty. 'So this is her? Man, she's a looker.'
"Would you like to introduce yourself."
"Names Visconti, Labrys. I-it's my first time here n Japan, an I hope we get along." She spoke in with an accent and then bowed.
'Jeez, even her accent is cute!'
"Alright, Visconti, you will be sitting next to Hamamura over there."
Labrys went quite and went to sit in front of the orange dyed teen. Everyone who's attention was on Labrys was no on the board as the teacher began to give out a lecture to the class. Yosuke, however, was more focused on the blunette. He stared at her long hair that reached over the chair. He then caught a glimpse of her face from the side. She looked so calm, stoic but gentle.
"Hanamura! Hanamura!" The teacher called out and Yosuke jumped.
"Sorry!" He then stood up.
"I hope you were paying attention, now what is the atomic number for nickel?"
"Uh..Uh...". Yosuke then heard very light tapping below him. His eyes looked down to see Labrys gently tapping her pen on her notebook. He noticed her ballpoint was gently tapping a large number.
"Um...twenty-eight?"
"So either you were paying after all or it was blind luck. But yes, twenty-eight is correct."
The teacher then began to ramble on about why it's the correct answer as Yosuke sat down and released a sigh of relief. He then noticed Labrys handing out a smaller notebook to him from behind her left, shaking it to let him know to take it. Yosuke took it and opened it.
'Your welcome'. It read. Yosuke looked back at her hand; fingers still twitching and gesturing to give it back to her.
Yosuke then wrote down "Thanks, I owe you one." He then handed back the tiny book to her hand and continued to listen to the lecture.
Next class was history; the lectures continued like normal with the teacher calling to one of the students who was called up to answer some questions. Finally, lunch came and Yosuke got up to stretch; then moved to Labrys who was currently packing up.
"Hey, Visconti-san." The exchange student turned her head to face her classmate. "Thanks for the help back there, I owe ya."
She smiled. "It's alright, thought ya might wanna pay attention to the lectures next time."
"Right," The third year smiled sheepishly. "Names Hanamura, Yosuke."
"Pleasure to meet ya, Hanamura."
"Yosuke is fine."
"Alright then, then call me Labrys."
"So Labrys, first time in Japan right?" He asked. "What do you think of it so far?"
Labrys paused, taking a moment to think about the day she arrived and today. "To be honest, so far it's been okay. I got a chance to take a look at the big cities while I was getting picked up by my host family. The sights are great, especially the countryside like Inaba."
Her stoic face came back as she picked up her bag and prepared to leave the classroom. "I gotta admit though, whatever my friends said about here really don't really know what their talking about."
Yosuke followed after, wanting to continue their conversation. "What kind of stuff do they say?"
"Ever heard of the term weeaboo?"
'Weeaboo..what's a weeaboo?' He thought and shook his head. Labrys just rolled her eyes, half-heartedly expecting this.
"Can't say I blame you, but basically a bunch of people who think that Japan is the best country in the world. They say the food is better, even though all they eat is sushi and instant ramen. Or they say that their entertainment is better when all they did was play the games and watch anime. And don't get me started on how they "learned" the language from their favorite show. Honestly, everything they say makes me think they have their head so far up their ass."
"Wow, you must have your fair share of weirdos." Yosuke chuckled.
"They are, but they ain't bad people."
An awkward silent arose as they walked down the hallways. Some of the third years were staring at them, mostly at Labrys with interest.
"Labrys do you have anywhere else to be?" He asked.
"Not in particular. Was planning on walking around the school to get a feel where everything is."
"Ah right." Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "Hey, if you aren't doing anything, want to have lunch at the rooftop? I'll even introduce you to my group of weirdos."
The blunette thought for a moment. "Eh alrighty, I ain't got nothin better to do anyway. Lead the way."
Down the midsection of the hallways, Yosuke took the lead and ascended up the stairways.
'Maybe this won't be such a mundane year after all.' He thought.
A/N: This is a little experiment I wanted to do for myself. I wanted to write out what it would be like if Labrys was a human. Let me know if there is anything I should work on and I will see you all in the next chapter.