"Ve! Ve! Fratello! I can't find Pookie! He ran away!"

"Damn it, Feli. It's a fucking stuffed cat, remember. He can't run away, fratello idioto!"

"Ve… Then someone stole him! I'll never see my little Pookie again! Veeeeee…"

And Lovino was lucky enough to see his "fratello idioto" burst in tears, thinking he'll never see the little brown fabric cat he loved so much again. He watched him cry a while (at least three seconds) with a vague (and fake) concerned look, before launching yet another attack on the rebellious socks hiding under the bed. Oh, and they seemed to have found an ally.

"Feli, take your fucking cat back and stop whining, damn it!'

"Pookie!"

Feliciano literally jumped on the stuffed animal, relieved. His brother couldn't help but snicker at his childishness.

"He was so sick of your ass face he hid under the bed and hoped you wouldn't found him."

There! One crying idiot! Without paying any more attention to his twin, Lovino kept filling his suitcase, hopefully he'd be done before their father bursts into the room and panics, saying they were late, like every time they were moving. It had become a habit for the twins. Being late for the train, moving to a new town, studying in a new school, making new friends, and then leave again. Their father, Romulus Vargas, history teacher, was better at being fired than at teaching. Not that his students had bad grades. On the contrary. Some of his students had way too good grades, and usually without other merits than being pretty. He also might have a bad habit of drinking wine between classes. It usually ended up in being fired after a few months. So yeah, they moved a lot.

The two boys probably should have gone to live with their mother a long time ago. If she hadn't disappeared when they were children. "One morning, she was gone." Bitterly said their father, sometimes. Knowing his debauched tendencies even at that time, her reasons for leaving were more than obvious.

Lost in his sad thoughts, Lovino finally got his socks to surrender and to leave their safe. As for Feliciano, he was smiling again and was busy putting his last belongings in his suit case. Which means he was throwing them haphazardly on top of each other, hoping they'd fold themselves, before sitting on the bag to close it. His brother's method wasn't so different, except he was generously insulting the pile of clothes each time the zipper got stuck. Every five seconds.

When he was done, Feliciano took out the flyer his father had given him, about their new school. Normally, the twin should have attended 9th grade that year but, because of a miracle as improbable as unexplainable, Romulus had received a job offer from the prestigious Hetako Academy, an internationally famous school. With unprecedented teaching qualities and unique methods, a diploma from the school opened any kind of pathway for students. In addition to the history teacher job, Romulus had obtained a free enrolment for his two sons, for eight years of study. There was only one questionable point in this legendary place's rules…

"Fratello… Why are students not allowed to leave the campus? Eight years without leaving, that's a really long time, ve…"

"Why would I know? I don't care..."

"Yeah, but it's weird…"

"As long as there is pizza, tomatoes and girls, it'll do. Besides, there is wifi and TV there, right?"

"Say, do you think I could get in a club, there?"

"Why? Papà is probably going to get fired before the end of the trimester, so why bother?"

Feliciano made a disappointed pout. He had often hoped to get into an art or cooking club, but the occasional times he tried, he had to give up on them because he had to move again. He put the flyer away and pressed Pookie against his chest. Lovino was barely done with closing his bag, mostly using words like "Fuck! Close yourself, damn it, fucking suitcase!" when the twin's father barged into the room and exclaimed:

"Boys! Quick! We're…

"Late." Finished the older boy as he put on a pair of sneakers.

Feliciano already had his shoes on. He jumped on his bag and left, followed by his brother, under the gaze of their very surprised father who needed a second before joining them in the car.

The trip to Japan went pretty smoothly. The academy and campus were set near the town of Aomori, at the extreme north of the island of Honshû. However, since it was an international school, the main language used there was English, which bothered the twins who always hated that class. Even if they had very good speaking skills.

The plane trip went rather well, even though the brothers fought for the seat next to the window. Well, "fought"… Feliciano just took a punch on the head for sitting there and cried at Romano when he took his place. Nothing out of the ordinary.

They arrived half-way through the day, little after lunch (that had been served to them in the plane and barely made the three gourmets cry from lack of taste). Romulus payed a taxi to take them to the academy's door. The teacher and his two sons fell asleep before the car even left the airport, knocked off by the jet lag. The driver had to wake them up when they arrived at the doors. They had to walk for a few minutes before reaching the first building.

Suitcases in hand, the twins and their father entered the hall. The place was rather large and nice, with stairs, an elevator and a few benches. Signs were giving the direction of the different corridors. A door on the left was labelled "administration office". The three newcomers were wondering what to do when a woman walked through this very door.

She looked young, maybe a little above twenty-five years old. It was difficult to guess her origins. Her eyes were dark and almond shaped and her features seemed Asian. Her brown skin seemed South American, or African, which was invalidated by her slightly brownish blond hair that seemed too natural to be dyed. She was wearing a simple and elegant white dress that contrasted with her coffee-with-milk colored skin. When she saw the Italian trio lost in the hall, she immediately walked right up to them with a smile as dashing as her dress.

"Hello," she said to the little family's father with a high and melodious voice. "You are Mr. Vargas, aren't you? The new history teacher?"

"That's me," he confirmed with a flirtatious smile. "Romulus Vargas, enchanted to meet you."

He was far from above the young woman's charm, which she seemed well aware of. She reached out a friendly hand he shook with the side glance that had made so many fall for him.

"I am Luna Chrones, co-principle of the school." She answered with a nice yet neutral tone. "I am the one who has sent you our job offer."

A malicious smile draw itself on her face as she turned to the twins who were looking at her as if she was an angel. They obviously never saw a woman this beautiful, especially in a school.

"And you must be the two Vargas sons, aren't you?" She said with a soft look. "Lovino and Feliciano, right? I'm glad to meet you! I'll be one of your teachers, this year."

Was it because of how tired they were or because of the admiration they felt for this woman? Whatever the reason, the two brothers barely managed to produce a few words to answer. A cheerful "Ve!" for the first one smiling like an idiot, and an intimidated "Chigi!" for the second one blushing like a tomato. With a teacher like her, they might have a hard time focusing in class…

Luna didn't care and payed attention to their father again.

"Well, I see you've got your luggage with you. I would offer a visit of the school and it surroundings but the trip must have been exhausting. So I suggest I show you your rooms so you can rest for your first day, tomorrow. Sounds good?"

All three agreed and followed their guide, pushing the suitcases. She started by taking them to the third floor through the elevator and a long corridor before stopping in front of the last door on the right.

"This is your room, Mr. Vargas. You have a bed, a desk, a closet and a personal bathroom. You'll find, on the desk, your timetable, a copy of the school's rules, a map of the building and another one about the campus, as well as the contract you still have to sign. As I said, you are starting tomorrow. Which is why I'll ask you to hand me the signed contract at the administration office before the end of the day. It's not very long, it shouldn't take too much time to read. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, I do" the teacher said as he sat on his new bed. "Would you come have a drink with me, tonight, when I'll be done with the paperwork?"

"No. Sorry."

After this short answer, she guided the twins down to the second floor, towards a door marked with the number 24. Unlike the teacher's dorms, the corridor was far from empty. Several teens, girls and boys, came and went into the different rooms, squeaking, laughing or grumbling. Lovino noticed, among others, an anxious androgynous Chinese guy fumbling in front of a door, a panda-shaped lighter in his hand, and Asian twins, Korean if he guessed the language of the words on their t-shirts correctly, who were fighting until an obviously American boy yelled at them to stop before going back where he came from laughing and talking with… the… void… Okay… Without noticing the brothers had started their fight again where it was stopped. The oldest of the two Italian brothers tried to make sense out of that scene he'd just witnessed. What. Was. This. Place?

Neither Luna nor Feliciano seemed to understand Lovino's struggle. The young woman with ambiguous origins opened the door they had stopped at, an inviting smile plastered on her face.

"This is your room, boys."

"Wait… OUR room?"

Luna seemed slightly confused at the eldest sudden anger.

"Yes, the student's rooms are double. They are the same during the entire stay so we always make sure members of the same family are placed together. Is there a problem, Lovino?"

According to his contrite face, yes, there was one.

"Ve! Fratello! We're going to stay together in the same room for eight years! Isn't this great?

"… Great, Feli… It's great… Yay…"

A huge vein was threatening to pop on his forehead. Luna didn't let it the time to do so and pushed the twins inside.

"It isn't as large as the teacher's rooms but you still both have a bed, a closet and a desk. The bathrooms are at the end of the corridor. We don't have cleaning service so you are to keep your space clean yourself. Just like your father, you both have two maps, a timetable and a copy of the rules. There are two uniforms in each closet, plus a change. You are to wear them during classes. However, they aren't necessary during week-ends, so make sure to wash them at those times. Classes will start tomorrow, at eight in the morning, in the theater outside the dorms, with a presentation of our school. I will bring you your meal, tonight, but the rest of the time, you will have to go eat at the cafeteria downstairs, right after the staircase. Questions?"

"Can we go and visit? Just to take a look," said Feliciano, dying to find a pizzeria on the campus.

Luna scratched the back of her head with unneeded discomfort.

"The preparations for tomorrow are keeping everyone on their toes, there are so many things to do and I'd rather if you organized your things before tonight. And rest, please? You'll see everything on Saturday, during the first year's the integration trip.

A skeptical "yeah…" and a disappointed "okay…" answered her demands. She waved goodbye and closed the door. Lovino immediately dropped himself on the left bed, without any consideration for the papers he had just crushed. His brother smiled as he sat on the other bed.

"Did you see how pretty she was? I wonder what class she teaches?"

"Probably latin."

"Ve? Why?"

"Pretty teachers always teach latin."

Feliciano opened his suitcase and took his stuffed cat he had put away before arriving at the airport. He hugged it, singing an Italian lullaby.

"I like this place." He declared after finishing the first verse.

"Don't get too comfortable," reminded his brother, face buried in his new pillow.

"But I'm sure Papà won't get fired this time!"

"Believe it if you want…"

The youngest twin started getting his belongings out of his suitcase to throw them messily in his closet. His uniform was neatly folded, placed in evidence in the first drawer. Green pants, white shirt, brown tie, beige vest and dark blue jacket with the school's badge.

Seeing his brother's efforts, Lovino decided he wouldn't wait to do so as well. He got up and tried, cursing generously, to pick up the heavy bag in order to put it on his bed. Feliciano wanted to help him but, apparently, it insulted the Italian boy's virility to help him carry a simple suitcase. The eldest shoved away his brother who hit the closet in the process.

Then everything went in slow-motion. The twins looked up at the piece of furniture that wobbled once, twice, before slowly starting to fall toward the two boys. Feliciano briefly screamed and desperately protected his face. Lovino felt overwhelmed by terror, closed his eyes, braced for the impact… that didn't come. No pain, no hit. Barely an airflow on his left shoulder. However, what did come was his brother's slightly muffled panicked scream.

He opened his eyes and observed several things, one after the other. One : he was alive. Two : his suitcase had been torn away from his hands and was now on the ground. Three : his brother was calling for help, squished under the closet. Panicked, Lovino pushed the item away from Feliciano with all his might. The young Italian boy was whining, same as usual, but he didn't look hurt. Not even a bruise on his tan skin. A lucky break after such a hit.

The same lucky break that happened a little bit too much these days. In fact, for a while now, Lovino had noticed his brother, though still as clumsy as ever, barely got hurt anymore. Usually, the small Italian was covered in bumps and bruises and scratched from bumping into everything and piling up accidents. This actually hadn't changed. And yet, as surprising as it seems, it already had been a few months since he had last needed an ointment or a bandage. This obviously wasn't normal, they both knew it. This is why, as they did each time something like this happened, they looked at each other in the eyes and declared with an equal voice :

"Not a word about that to Papà."


Yao apprehensively pushed his room's door. Ivan, busy with making his bed, greeted him with one of those huge smiles he knew so well.

"Ah! Hi, Yao!"

"Hi…" answered the Chinese boy with a miserable expression.

He walked the three steps it took to get to his bed and dropped himself on the bare mattress, weariness and annoyance plastered on his face. The Russian boy, on the other side of the room, snickered at him.

"Well, my Yao-Yao? Tired before classes even begin?"

"It's your fault, Ivan. And stop calling me "Yao-Yao", aru!"

"Uh? My fault? Why?" the young purple-eyed man pretended to look offended.

"It's the third year I ask to change rooms, aru… And I'm still here…"

Without losing his amused smile, Ivan came and sat close to the head of the brunet who shivered from fear. Or maybe from the cold.

"Oh? Is my little Yao-Yao trying to leave me behind?"

"Wh… No! Well… Yes, but…"

"But you do know this room will be ours for all our school years. It isn't really nice of you to try and make the staff's job more complicated, da?"

Yao suddenly decided he was violating his vital space, rolled to the side and sat at the other end of the bed, as far as he could from the psychopathic Russian boy.

"I am just sick of sharing a room with a sadist like you so leave me alone this year, okay, aru?" he snapped.

His roomie obviously disliked his tone but the Chinese boy didn't care. The Russian boy's faucet was confiscated three days ago and he was unlikely to have found another one this fast. So he was relatively safe.

Ivan drew close, kolkoling threateningly.

"But you know I am only teasing, my little Yao-Yao!"

Scared, Yao took from his pocket the little panda-shaped lighter that never left him and pointed it at the other as if it was a weapon. From a normal person, this would have seemed stupid, but, since Yao was everything but "normal", Ivan stopped.

"Careful or I'll turn it on, aru!" threatened the Chinese boy.

"Yao, we both know that if you do this you'll set the room on fire so stop!"

"What do you think, I trained during the summer."

Ivan let out a small laugh and his fingers brushed past the object. The lighter was instantly covered by a thick layer of ice. Yao let go of it, vexed. The Russian boy condescendingly pet his head before grabbing his chin to get closer to him more easily.

"You never learn your lessons, do you, Yao-Yao?" he said in a sweet, soft and delightfully dangerous voice, their faces about four inches apart.

The shortest one opened wide eyes, his heart thumping in his chest. He slapped the hand away, got up, passed the door and ran through the corridor without any explanations whatsoever, followed by Ivan's surprised and slightly frustrated gaze. He ran to the nearest toilets and locked himself up in the first stall he saw. He was safe.


Peter didn't know what to expect from this new school. A lot of strange things had happened to him lately but this took the cake! Fortunately, Luna seemed really nice. She had guided him to his new room while advising him on how he should behave, what he should do before the first day, what was going to happen, etc…

She had left him in front of his door to go help calming down a Chinese boy that had just burst into the corridor like his butt was on fire. So he had gone inside, excited to see his new room. A room already occupied, actually.

"Oh, hi!" said the cheerful young boy as he was folding his clothes.

He seemed to be about fifteen. Not really tall, pale hair falling on large hazel eyes and a happy look plastered on his face. Peter immediately liked him.

"Hi!" he said, imitating his gleeful smile. "I'm Peter. How about you?"

"I'm Tino. You're a first year?"

"Yeah."

"Me too! That's incredible, they really have students of all ages, here!"

He jumped when he saw Peter's uneasy look and tried to take back his words.

"I didn't mean that you're small, uh! It's just that, well, you look a lot younger than I am and it's unusual to have a class with different ages. But don't worry! I know you must be smart enough to be here! Well, I mean…"

"When are the classes starting, already?" asked Peter to help his roomie out of his monologue.

"Eight in the morning!" Tino exclaimed, thankful.

The young Finnish boy had a gift for saying the wrong thing and struggling until he got help. For some reason, this was actually why his friends were always moved by his good will. Peter was probably going to become one soon. Tino quickly found a new conversation starter to get to know his tiny roomie.


"Take care of your belonging, alright? And if someone is bothering you, make sure to come and see me so I can help you. If you need anything, come get me and…"

"Big brother, our rooms are next to each other, you know? I'm just going to unpack."

Vash was interrupted in the flood of advice he was giving his sister since Luna had left them before their respective rooms. Lily was carefully listening and had always had a deep respect for her adoptive brother, but he was starting to get a little overprotective.

After some internal struggles, the Swiss boy managed to let the little blond girl go inside her room and opened the door of his own after a last look behind.

"Hello," he said to his new roomie.

A tense "k-konichiwa" replied. Vash scanned the stranger. It was a young boy about his age. Asian features, pale skin, raven hair stiff as a board falling upon dark inexpressive eyes. This quick inspection confirmed his thoughts: a pure Japanese guy.

Without further ado, the blond boy walked to the right bed, since his roomie had already settled on the left side of the room. The first thing he did upon opening his suitcase was take a large black tape roll in order to trace a distinct and precise border between the two halfs of the room. The brunet gave him an intrigued look before going back to folding his yukata.

"What's your name?" Vash said when he was done.

"I'm Honda Kiku," whispered the Asian boy, eyes down.

"I'm Vash. See that border? Please don't cross it."

Kiku agreed without bothering to ask what would happen if he did. He didn't want to socialize in the first place. Vash quickly put his things away in his closet, slipped the empty suitcase under his bed and hurried to his sister's room.

There, Lily had already become friends with Faustina, the young Brazilian girl she was sharing her room with. Both were laughing and sharing family stories when Vash burst in asking if everything was alright. Lily had to comfort her brother before he decided to interrogate the South American girl chuckling on her bed.


Toris didn't know what to expect, this day. For the first time since his arrival, two years ago, he was going to discover the perks of having a roommate. The Lithuanian boy had a bad feeling about it. From what he knew, his roomie would be blond, outgoing and loud, everything he wasn't. But hey, that wasn't a reason for him to be mean since the start. This is why he was waiting for him, sitting on his bed and staring at the door, mentally seeking the correct greeting. He was already the "communist bully's" punching ball. He didn't want to get on someone else's wrong side.

He jumped when the door suddenly opened, revealing a young blond gi… bo… uh… person, slightly smaller than him, with green eyes, dressed in tight red jeans and a white and loose shirt. It was impossible to guess if the newcomer was a boy or a girl. At least, until the moment their voice ringed out in the room with a beautiful:

"Like, hi!"

Toris finally had a confirmation: no, considering the slightly high yet masculine voice, there hadn't been any mistakes in the room attributions. With a relieved sigh, he spoke, praying not to stutter.

"Hello. I'm Toris, third year. I suppose you are my roomie? Glad to meet you. What's your name?"

"Like, I'm Feliks. Totally glad to see you! Where do I sleep?"

Toris pointed at the other bed, indifferent to the super-useful question since there were only two beds and he was currently sitting on his own. Well, everyone could ask dumb questions sometimes, right?

"I totally hope your last roommate didn't leave anything!"

"You're my first roommate, actually."

"Uh? Why is that? You're so lame nobody wants to live with you?"

"Uh, no." Said Toris, flustered. "It's just that the number of boys was odd those last two years, so I was alone."

"Well, you must like being alone…"

The brunet didn't answer, he just opened again the book he was reading before Feliks's arrival. The newcomer started getting his clothes out of his suitcase…s. Toris glanced at them and choked on his saliva when he saw a collection of both feminine and masculine clothing.

"The walls are, like, totally lame, here! Is there a paint store somewhere around? Like, pink would be nice! And a pony-club? And clothing stores? How about…"

The young boy sighed. I felt like those next six years would be very, very, very long…


Mei entered the room, dragging her suitcase behind her, nervous about who she was going to find behind the door. A young brown-haired girl with a huge flower-shaped hairclip welcomed her with open arms.

"Hi, roomie!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw the shy face of the new girl. "I'm Elizaveta, second year! How about you?"

"Mei, first year. Glad to meet you!" smiled the Asian girl.

She looked around the room. The right part was empty, clean, only waiting for her. The other half was clustered by mangas and diverse goodies and every square centimeter of wall was covered with posters featuring boys snuggling while more or less dressed. The Taiwanese girl's eyes widened at the sight as a spark lightened her gaze. Seeing this, Elizaveta smiled innocently as she asked.

"Do you like yaoi?"

Mei just nodded. The Hungarian girl threw a fit of laughter.

"I think we'll get along!"