Lisa Imai never considered her life as dull, boring, or something along the lines. She had been living a great life. Lisa's family and friends always brought colors to her somewhat simple yet good life.

...but her time in class 2-A of Haneoka Girls' Academy was definitely something else.

"Yukina, let's-"

"Lisa," Yukina cut Lisa's sentence halfway. She crossed her arms and averted her face from the view before her. "If you're planning to break through that, then count me out."

Lisa and her best friend, Yukina Minato, witnessed a situation that unfolded at the courtyard of Haneoka girls' high school. Hundreds of people from every grade were bustling around in front of a large announcement board that displayed a list of classrooms and its students. Every gray blazered girl there was busily looking for her own name. Chatter after chatter, even shouts were happening here and there, too.

"We should've gone earlier, ahaha," said Lisa. "It's always this crowded…"

"But I've been telling you that I don't care about class placements," Yukina replied. "...well, the crowd will thin out sooner or later."

Truth was, they had went earlier than usual. Today was their first day as second year students, so it was a special occasion for Lisa. Their blue ties and skirts were the new uniform that signified their current status.

Lisa's enthusiasm didn't spread to Yukina, however. She literally had to drag Yukina from her house, as her friend was so absorbed by cat videos. The two's walk to school wasn't gone smooth, too. They had to stop for a few times because of Yukina spotting some cute stray cats.

Yukina put out her phone from her school bag, then opened a video streaming app. "I'll continue watching this morning's cat videos while waiting."

"Yeah, you'd better do that. It's gonna take some time, after all."

Lisa smiled as she recalled her best friend's soft spot for felines.

"Heya, Lisa!"

Lisa turned her head and saw three of her friends from dance club approaching.

"Hey, guys!" Lisa greeted them as she waved her right hand.

"...and Minato-san, too. Morning!"

Yukina shifted her focus from the phone to reply 'morning', then immediately returning to the cat videos. Lisa realized that her friend didn't seem too pleased with Yukina's cold response, judging from her friend's expression. She should try diverted her attention from Yukina, to prevent any possible clash...

"Have you check the board yet?"

Thankfully, it worked. After the talk about classroom placement and dance club ended, the three left for their own classes.

Lisa sighed. Her friends must be astonished about the fact that she and Yukina were close friends. Their personalities were nothing alike; just like flame and water. Even their interests didn't match. While Lisa loved fashion, cooking, knitting, and dancing; Yukina had a strong passion for one and only subject: music (make it two if cats were included). Some of her friends said that Lisa and Yukina's friendship was an odd one, but she never thought of it in that way. On the contrary, their longtime friendship had been working very well because they were complementing each other.

"Kaoru-sama…!"

A second year student got out from the big crowd. Her face looked so miserable because she was trying hard to hold her tears. The girl walked to a smaller group of students that was gathering outside of the announcement board's crowd.

Curious about what was going on, Lisa quietly observed the group.

A princely character named Kaoru Seta was seen at the center of the circle. The most popular girl in the school was constantly surrounded by fans wherever she went. That aside… Lisa could not help but notice that there was something off with the Haneoka's prince, as the tall girl didn't wear her blazer. Who would've thought there was someone who dare to walk outdoors, only wearing a shirt, on Tokyo's cold April morning? It was 13 degrees Celcius and the winds were breezy, on top of that.

Kaoru got out from her fans' circle and approached the poor girl. "Yumi-chan? What's wrong?" she asked. Worry was apparent on her face.

"Kaoru-sama, I…" Yumi sobbed. Before long, tears were pouring from her eyes. "I'm in 2-H!"

"I... I see… To think that we would be separated so far away like the north and south pole," said Kaoru in a lower voice. "But fret not, little kitten." She fixated her gaze to Yumi and used her fingers to wipe away the tears from the little kitten's eyes.

An imaginary rose petals being flown by winds filled Lisa's vision. What was that? How could there be roses here? Her school didn't plant any! Lisa rubbed her eyes. She must be imagining things.

"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation," Kaoru solemnly said. She winked and added, "...well, that was, according to the great Shakespeare."

"Aaaahh, Kaoru-sama!"

Did Lisa just see that girl fainted? The rumors about Kaoru's special ability to make girls went limp was true, after all? It was... amazing, in some way. Lisa was witnessing Kaoru panicking around, when she felt her phone vibrated.

Lisa took out the phone from her blazer's pocket to see a LINE notification. There was a chat from Yukina that said, 'I'm in front of the board' and before she could type a reply, another chat bubble popped out: 'You're in 2-A'.

Lisa typed 'K, coming~' as she walked toward the announcement board. The crowd had dispersed. Most of the students must've gone to their respective classes. The brunette saw Yukina standing in front of the board without any obstacle.

Another vibration.

Lisa took a peek on her LINE notification. Her eyes widened as she read a 'I'm in 2-B' chat bubble. It was her who was so enthusiastic to leave early in order to check the announcement board. For the entire school holiday, she secretly wished that they could be in the same classroom.

Lisa didn't need to reply the chat anymore. She was only a few steps from her childhood friend, anyway. Yukina seemed to recognize the sound of Lisa's footsteps, as she turned her head. Her friend pointed at a section that titled 2-B. She looked indifferent as usual, but Lisa knew that she must be quite upset about the classroom's placement.

With Yukina being like that, Lisa couldn't wear a sad face. Instead, she poked Yukina's cheek and jokingly said, "Don't be lonely without me~"

"I'm not…" Yukina's pale cheek reddened. "And it hurts, you know."

Lisa grinned. Kinda forgot that she wore artificial nails from her nail art treatment.

"Eeh, this pattern again?!"

"Are you going to be okay, Ran-chan?"

"Noooo~ Moca-chan should've offered more breads to Babanbo-sama…"

"...seriously, what God do you pray to?"

"St-stop it, you guys! I'm not a kid…"

A group of five first years gathered near Lisa and Yukina's spot. Two of them were Lisa's friends from different clubs: Tomoe Udagawa from dance club and Himari Uehara from tennis club. Lisa wanted to congratulate them for entering high school, but the current situation didn't look so good. The girl with highlighted hair, unfortunately, was separated from the rest of her friends.

Lisa gave her best friend's a careful look once more. Yukina seemed still unaffected by their class placement. While it wasn't their first time being in separate classes, she couldn't help but worry. Yukina wasn't very good at socializing, after all.

"Yukina…"

"I'm fine, Lisa," Yukina replied. She made an eye contact to Lisa as she added, "Honest."

Lisa chuckled. She must've sounded like a mommy worrying over her little daughter.

The brunette then searched for her name on 2-A's section. "Imai… Imai…" said her as she was browsing the paper's surface with her index finger.

"There's it!"

Lisa's finger accidentally collided with someone's when she reached the surname that read 'Hikawa'.

"Oh, sorry!"

A girl with sparkly eyes came into Lisa's view. Although they never talked before, Lisa knew her. She was Hina Hikawa, the brightest student in Haneoka Girls' Academy. Last year, it was her who gave a speech representing the first years. Though, to tell the truth, Lisa didn't understand some of the genius' vocabulary. What were 'boppin' and 'zappin' meant, for instance?

"No prob! Welp, it's me who bumped into your finger," Hina said as she smiled widely. "Hey, hey, are you in 2-A, too?"

Lisa nodded. "You see… my name is below yours, Hikawa-san." She glanced at her own name on the board.

And it was the beginning of—Lisa would had to borrow this word from Hina—the boppin' days of 2-A.