Domino High, Japan. 8:20 AM. Tuesday, start of fall semester.
Outside the door to the principle's office, a sophomore girl stood anxiously, tugging at her uniform. Unlike at her previous schools, this one's usual orange blazer clashed tremendously with her ice blue locks. Rather than dealing with such the hassle of trying to keep the white alternative spotless each day, she had dared to wear the blue slacks and jacket that was the boys' uniform. Now, her father was trying to reason with the principle, explaining how in their hometown, all the way in upstate New York, this wouldn't have been a problem.
She was Kai Schnook, or as she would now be called, Schnook Kai. This new transition to Japan after her whole life traveling was going to be the same as all the other times she moved from one culture to the next: an all-around-nightmare. Fortunately, this was to be their last move. Hopefully.
The door opened and Kai jerked to face the door as her father and the principle exited. She gave a hopeful grin to her father, who returned with a tired nod and a tiny smile of his own. The principle looked Kai over, as he had before when her father brought her in to register, and sighed. "Well, we knew this was going to happen eventually. Now, it hasn't officially been discussed with the board, but for now Schnook Kai may wear the boys' uniform, so long that it is in proper form." He gave a warm smile to the girl as she gushed thanks.
8:30 AM. Classroom.
"Hey Yuugi," a lanky blonde whispered, "Did'ja here the latest scoop? Turns out we've got another transfer student! They haven't even been to class yet and I hear they've already been to the office because of some trouble. Do you think it's true?" Jonouchi received a smack on the back of his head as Honda walked past to sit down.
"The sensei will be here in moments!" Honda whispered fiercely from his seat, smoothing out the creases in his uniform.
Yuugi laughed at Honda and shrugged at Jonouchi. "It could be true. You never know what will happen. D'you remember what happened when those other transfer students first came here?"
Anzu scoffed, tipping her nose away from the three boys. "I can't believe you haven't asked me. After all, I've heard that--" She was cut off by Honda's frantic smacks to each of their heads as the sensei walked in. She was followed by a blue-haired boy-no, wait- it was a girl in the boys' uniform. The girl tried to look docile and respectful, but she was nervous.
"Attention class, this is Schnook Kai. She is a transfer student from America, though she has been all around the world. Please help her settle in to life here, not only in Domino High, but in Japan as well." The girl jerkily bowed and gave a small "pleased to be in your class" to the sensei.
"You may sit next to Mutou Yuugi." She waved vaguely towards the back where Yuugi was, though Kai couldn't tell who it was. She stared nervously around, not sure who this Yuugi was. Jonouchi and Honda both pointed to Yuugi, whose raised hand couldn't be seen past a white haired boy. Kai smiled a bit at this and walked down the aisle to the empty seat next to Yuugi.
When class finished up for lunch, Kai felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she saw the brown haired boy from behind her grinning at her. "So you've been all around the world, eh? That must be kind of interesting, no?"
Kai shrugged. She was used to everyone thinking it was the coolest thing, traveling. Well, it wasn't. "I suppose, though I can't say I'm not glad we've finally settled down here in Japan."
She noticed the crazy-haired boy called Yuugi and a lanky blonde shuffling two packs of cards. "Oh! You play Duel Monsters here too?" The blonde nodded, reaching for his deck back.
The kid called Yuugi grinned widely. "I play lots of different games, though Duel Monsters is really popular right now. My grandpa owns a game shop, so I've played games from all over the world."
"Yeah, Yuugi's a real king of games. I haven't seen him lose a game more than one time before he's mastered it," said a brunette girl who looked nearly perfect in her uniform. Kai cringed inside. Why couldn't she look like that, ever? "Look at you all, not even introducing yourselves. I'm Anzu, this," she pointed to the boy who had asked Kai about traveling, "is Honda. You already know Yuugi and that dolt trying to win against Yuugi is Jonouchi. Oh, and Bakura is the white haired kid up there."
Kai glanced around as Anzu introduced each of them and whispered their names under her breath. She hoped that her memory wouldn't fail her and leave her forgetting their names! "I'm Kai, though you probably already know that. My dad worked for I2 (Industrial Illusions, creator of Duel Monsters) for a while, so I have loads of cards. Most of them are in different languages though, so I don't really have a good deck that's all in one language."
She dug through her backpack, pulling out two different stacks of cards. Yuugi and Jonouchi stopped their game to have a look, and Anzu moved closer for a better view. Honda left the group to go talk to Bakura and the Sensei. "Like, I have German, English, French, and Egyptian." She pointed out the different languages, keeping the Egyptian ones in her hand. "These are my most treasured, since I'm at least half Egyptian."
"That's pretty awesome Kai," Jonouchi said, his fingers twitching over a German Summoned Demon card. "D'you have any Japanese cards you want to trade to a novice like me?"
Kai shook her head, "No. I don't even have any Japanese cards yet. I've never even been here before, though my father grew up here."
Yuugi gasped. "No Japanese cards? I'll bet Grandpa can help you get some good ones. You should come over today! Jonouchi and I were going to work on his deck too." He stopped, looking down at his feet. "Unless you've got other things to do."
Kai thought for a moment. She didn't think she needed to get home before her father did, but she wasn't sure. "I think I can," she finally said, giving the nervous kid a grin. "After all, I'm sure my father wouldn't mind me hanging out with a dueling master. Everyone at I2 heard how you beat Kaiba Seto at the Death-T!"
Yuugi blushed fiercely and shuffled his feet. "It wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, not really."
Anzu chuckled and shook her head. "What do you mean, not a big deal? Yuugi, that was a big deal. Be proud of yourself, like you grandpa is of you!"
"But Anzu--!" he started, to be cut off by Jonouchi.
"No buts, Yuugi. Be a man for once. You take credit for what you did!" Jonouchi put a meaningful shove in his voice. He didn't know how this Kai girl would take it, but he wasn't about to let Yuugi bring up his secret, especially not in school.
It was Kai's turn to flush. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong, Yuugi. I just meant that my father wouldn't have a problem with it," she explained.
"Oh, okay," Yuugi said, feeling relieved. "It's a date then!"
"Who's going on a date?" Honda asked, returning from the front of the class with Bakura. The other four looked at each other and laughed, Kai more nervously than the others.