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Little Veggie Kindergarten

Chapter 1: "Everyone's First Day!"

Lovino, wake up wake up wake up!" Four-year-old Feliciana Vargas pounded on her twin (big!) brother's bedroom door. "Today's our first day of kindergarten! We get to meet lots of other kids and we get to play with new toys and we get to meet our new teachers and!"

Then the door was open, and four-year-old Lovino Vargas, whom Mrs. Vargas always said was six minutes older than Feliciana, was stomping out and telling his baby sister that he did remember that today was their first day of kindergarten and that he did remember that they were gonna meet lots of other kids and got to play with new toys and meet new teachers and, most importantly…

"We have to go and be with THOSE kids every day for two years! And then we have to go and keep being with THOSE kids and different teachers every year until we're as old as Mommy! I KNOW, Feli, and I don't need to hear it AGAIN!" And then Lovino stomped off to the children's bathroom to go and then wash his hands carefully and then brush his teeth in front of the mirror that he could see thanks to their new stepstool in front of their undersea bath curtain with his own blue bubble gum flavored toothpaste on his Tomatokun toothbrush.

Then Feli cried, she always CRIED ever since last spring when someone got mad or started yelling or crying, and went downstairs to tell Mommy that Lovino was sad about going to kindergarten again and that maybe they didn't really need to go and they could just live with Mommy until they were as old as her and help her with her gardening.

Then Lovino heard Mommy coming up the stairs. She was going to yell at Lovino even though she never yelled at him or Feli, but he knew better. Someday he would get mad one time too many and then she would yell and he would finally know for sure that he was right all this time!

But she didn't yell this time again. Lovino watched the focus of her eyes as she instead gently opened the bathroom door and made sure that he was brushing correctly and long enough and in the right places. Lovino spit, wiped his mouth off with some toilet paper, then walked past Mrs. Vargas back into his room to try to open the closet door himself to retrieve his kindergarten uniform. He would have kept stomping, but he never felt like it anymore after he saw Mommy watching him like that.

The small walk-in closet was hard to open without the handle that was centimeters above Lovino's head and really easy to slide off the track by just pushing it from the side. Mrs. Vargas placed a hand on her son's head after almost a minute and asked him to go and wait on his bed, then slid open the door revealing the pressed white button-down shirt, plaid navy suspender shorts, matching dark blue jacket with Little Veggie's emblem on the breast for colder days, and red school hat. Lovino didn't want to look at his uniform yet so he slowly took off his Tomatokun pajamas for the dirty clothes hamper and took a fresh pair of underpants and socks and a white undershirt out of his dresser. Mommy didn't say anything since before she came upstairs while Lovino was still in the bathroom. Was she really mad even though she was smiling?

He felt bad about doing what he knew how to do best, but he still crossed his arms next to his dresser and stared at the soft beige carpet. This was dumb. He felt like crying, standing there in his tank top and undies because he yelled at Feli a few minutes ago because he was nervous about going to kindergarten in a new place. He told himself that he didn't want to cry because that was what Feli did, so he looked up at his mommy and didn't feel so dumb anymore when he saw she was still smiling.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, whispering because he hated how he kept bothering her with the same thing he was scared about. "I don't want to go to school. I don't think that Feli and I need other kids, so I don't want to go and meet other kids."

Then Mrs. Vargas was kneeling next to Lovino and rubbing his back again, like she did when the twins first found out about going to kindergarten in Japan. "Let it out, honey," she soothed.

Then Lovino really started crying, and he said then what he had said before but in a more specific way. "Feli likes other kids, but I don't. And even if Feli wants to go and meet the other kids, she doesn't need to meet our teachers! She doesn't know what she needs, but I do." Now Mommy was hugging him on the plushy floor. "I know that me and Feli only need YOU!" And then Mrs. Vargas' little Lovi was crying again, the same way he always cried when he was finally overwhelmed from bottling up all his feelings and hiding behind his grumpy little attitude. He was literally sobbing – she only really understood what "sobbing" actually was after she first heard her babies-who-were-no-longer-actual-babies sob and hold onto her clothes after what happened to Daddy back in Europe.

"Mommy?" Feliciana was at her big brother's door then, with a bit of a milk moustache from what must have been a sudden sprint from her Lucky Charms after hearing her brother's loud admission. "Is Lovi okay?" Lovino whimpered one last time into their mother's shoulder then turned to look at Feliciana and then their mother again, who opened her right arm for Feli to come and join their hug. "Your big brother is fine, right Lovi? There's nothing for you to cry about now, Feli, understand?" Mrs. Vargas plucked at her younger's auburn bangs and one front lock that always curled but that her daughter liked that way and sometimes made her mommy hairspray it so it stuck out even more. "You two will always have Mommy to run to like this, but school is just as important to have as I am! Friends are very important to make, right Feli?" Cute curly head bobbing. "And learning is even more important to do in school, Lovino!" Wide questioning hazel eyes. "My babies can make as many or as little friends as they want or don't want, but the most important thing to meet in school is books!"

Then there was Lovino's smile. Her son always loved books. Daddy read to the twins every night even before they were born. Lovino loved his daddy; Daddy was synonymous with books. Feli loved books just as much, but she was closer to Mommy than Daddy. Books meant more to Lovino at this stage, but as least just as much to Feli, who rejoiced the prospect of new books to read and bounced up and down with Lovino's hands now in hers with her big brother of course telling her to knock it off after a couple seconds. "But why do we still need teachers if we'll always have you?" The kids were too quick and Feli was too bubbly to ask just yet. "Think of your teachers," Mrs. Vargas breathe-smiled "as Mommy and Daddy when Mommy isn't around!"

The happy little Vargas family hugged again, this time more tightly for good measure, then Feli pulled Lovino downstairs for breakfast – Lovi didn't like Lucky Charms because they were too sweet but loved Cocoa Krispies – and enjoyed the sugary cereal they were allowed to eat with their toast and melon, because it was a special occasion, with Mrs. Vargas making sure Feli actually ate all the vitamin-packed brown pieces and Lovino drank all his chocolatey milk. Then Feli bounded back upstairs and pulled off her pink nightgown and tried to put her own uniform on by herself while Mrs. Vargas helped Lovino with his. Lovino was able to button his dungarees and jacket by himself, and Feliciana kept putting her plaid suspender skirt on backwards by mistake and was laughing about it when Mommy came in to help. She also wanted to wear white tights and the matching pink plaid bow in her hair that she had spotted in the little girls' section of the local children's store last week and just had to have because it was going to go so perfectly with her little pink plaid kindergarten skirt. Mrs. Vargas reminded the twins to pull their little red hats on and to wear them whenever they were walking to or from school and then everyone was out the front door of their little cottage. Mrs. Vargas was wearing a long-sleeved burgundy dress and heels to her twins' entrance ceremony here in their little European hamlet in east Asia and she couldn't have felt more fulfilled that morning. Lovi and Feli were fragile, but she knew they would do fine here, at least during kindergarten.

Meanwhile in that same little hamlet in Japan and preparing for pretty much the same unprecedented event was a former graduate student and recently turned educational professional who was barely out of young adulthood. Admittedly, Antonio was pissed at himself that he had slept right up to when his alarm clock went off and then hit the snooze button twice and slept in for another forty-five minutes, especially on the morning of his first day as a kindergarten teacher, but he knew at this point in his life that he honestly should have expected better of himself. So he swallowed his annoyance and hastily shaved off what little stubble he had for good measure, brushed his teeth and hair with the correct respective implements this time, threw on a light blue button-down and khakis that had both been pressed and hung in his wardrobe the night before because he could at least do that much, and ran out the door with a strawberry granola bar in his mouth and his messenger bag over his shoulder with about fifteen minutes to bike almost halfway across town from his single apartment.

Honestly, he was worried about the rest of his life if he was going to keep to the same morning routine he had had all through college!

Luckily, the ride to Little Veggie Kindergarten wasn't bad as traffic was pretty slow before eight in the morning. Antonio got to the aforementioned building within ten minutes, more than enough time to walk his bike the rest of the way across the bridge that led to the little schoolhouse. It was early April and the cherry blossom trees were blooming, reflecting a large amount of soft pink off the underlying river which was almost like a little moat bordering part of the school. Little kids would love playing there during the summer. Antonio liked looking at the cherry blossoms here. It reminded him that leisure existed not only in his native country and that he thus need not completely trade his carefree persona for an unbearably strong work ethic.

The kindergarten came into better and better view and Antonio noticed – had he really not had a prior chance to visit the building before starting his new job? – that it was comprised of four conjoined structures in the shapes of four very identifiable giant produce items. Oh, so the name of the school made a lot more sense now! Little Veggie Kindergarten's classrooms must be divided up into four classes, each named after a Veggie! Picking out each class title was a no-brainer from that point: There was a giant purple eggplant (or would they call it an aubergine here?), a leafy Brussels sprout, a stout orange carrot, and a bright red…

"Tomatoes are not vegetables," Antonio said, stopped in his path. "And for the record, neither are eggplants." The deadpan voice startled Antonio almost out of his skin and caused him to turn and finally notice the tall (and tall-haired) man clad in a light gray trench coat and blue-and-white-striped scarf leaning over the side of the bridge. He must have been staring at the cherry blossoms as well.

"I suppose you're the new instructor here, as you look fairly young albeit well-dressed." Firm handshake. "My name is Køhler, but please call me Matthias. I'm from the Netherlands. Did you move here for work as well?" People around here usually told each other what country in Europe they were originally from and not many more specifics. It was a local quirk.

"Uh, yes, I moved here about two years ago. My name is Carriedo, but please call me Antonio! I hail from Spain." This guy was really straightforward and Antonio hadn't made small talk with strangers for a while. He had just made a change of apartment and had spent a lot of time preparing for this job. He had the pedagogy-and-Japanese-culture-packed bookshelf to prove it.

"Classes begin at 9 a.m. and the ceremony begins at 8:30. We have approximately twenty minutes for you to meet the rest of the staff. Please come this way." Then Matthias was directing Antonio to the front of the building – the aubergine, as was clarified seconds later – and signaling him to lock his bicycle into the small rack off to the side. "We generally do not allow adult bicycles on the campus, so please decide upon an alternative method of transportation by next week lest you risk scaring students during their commute." Damn. Well, he could certainly catch the local train as a last resort. Walking may not be too much of a feat, either; he was getting his much-needed lower body exercise either way.

Antonio found out that Matthias taught the second-year Carrot class and had been working at the Kindergarten for four years. The rest of the Little Veggie staff were luckily much more leisurely in their conversation. The principal was an older man named Braginski, who wore a scarf like Matthias and warmly commanded Antonio to refer to him as Ivan and to come to him if he ever needed assistance or advice. Bella Dupont, a young woman with short blonde hair held back by a cute green ribbon, who was interestingly Matthias' paternal cousin from Belgium, taught the first-year Brussels Sprout class and everyone laughed at whether that was a coincidence on principal Braginski's part; she had been teaching for six years and was partially why Matthias has scored employment there. A young woman named Victoria Laroche cheerfully told everyone that she hailed from a beautiful island country called Seychelles, was entering her third year of teaching kindergarten and would be in charge of the second-year Aubergine class.

And Antonio himself, who announced confidently that he hailed from Spain, deduced aloud that he would be teaching the first-year Tomato class. "Don't worry about teaching younger kids early on; we usually like to assign one seasoned instructor and one fresh instructor to teaching first-years as a training method. It's rather intense for newcomers like you, but we've found that it's effective in molding good educators," Bella clarified. "And of course, don't hesitate to come and knock on my door if you're ever unsure about anything!"

Slightly abashed, Antonio spent the next fifteen or so minutes setting up the last of the parents' chairs for the ceremony. Luckily the staff room at LVK had a coffee machine, so Antonio helped himself to a few sips until the children began to arrive.

"Okay, let me remind everybody who is familiar with this school's customs and inform those of us who are newcomers," Principal Braginski announced from the main staff desk. "Little Veggie Kindergarten is in many ways an experimental preschool, and has been constructed and planned specifically for those children who reside in this small town in our outer region of Japan, sometimes affectionately referred to as Euronook by outsiders." Fond smiles from Matthias and Bella as well as Braginski. "LVK has run for approximately seven years, and in those seven years its small family of staff – some currently retired – have made quite a few fond memories. So, let us carry on the tradition of warmth, cooperation, and international respect during this school year." Calm pause, and a slow turn and slight bow. "Señor Carriedo, we hope that you will become a dear family member to us." Handshake with Principal Braginski, then amongst each other.

"All students wearing purple school hats, please gather around the flag with the aubergine on it; and lastly, those wearing red school hats, please gather around the flag with the tomato on it! Mr. Antonio Carriedo will be teaching the Tomato class this year!"

Antonio tried to keep a casual and friendly stance with his fiddling hands jammed into his pants pockets as child after child gathered around him excitedly. Bella was doing a decent job at directing everybody (mostly parents) to each child's respective instructor. Most kids aged four to five didn't know what an aubergine was without a picture, and each flag's colored trim was more noticeable even to him than the small vegetable (or fruit) in the center. Occasionally he called out into the crowd that he was the final destination for children with red hats. How unique; most Japanese kindergartens issued the standard yellow hat for all students; Little Veggie issued hats of four different colors – purple, orange, green, or red – depending on the student's class. How fun and exciting it must be for the kids!

Speaking of the kids, Antonio really couldn't contain himself even though he knew he would be faced with this very situation eventually. Four to five kids were constantly moving around each other in front of him, and despite noticing by now that the class sizes at LVK were relatively small, the little group from his amplified perspective looked like a class of two dozen four-year-olds. The fact that he would be in charge of these kids for an entire school year made managing such a responsibility seem far less possible. Let's see, how many were there now? One, two, three…hey, don't move away! Oh no, I should be ordering everyone to sit still so I can count heads. Oh, but what if I sound more stern than I intended? I don't want to look like a bad guy so early on! Ah, a little girl with a pink bow just ran up to the mat and was now staring up at him curiously. Okay, so that's four, five with a big teddy bear, wait were those allowed? Probably yes for first years, how many more are there here…

"One more!" Suddenly, a tall and slender woman with dark brown curls, chic crimson glasses and matching attire came running up to him with a little boy with equally dark hair under a red kindergarten hat in her arms. "Sorry, I have one little ball of energy and bashful biscuit." She was genuinely laughing to herself at her situation. The girl with the pink bow looked an awful lot like this woman and the boy, but her hair was much lighter in comparison. So he had a pair of fraternal twins in his first year class?

"Oh, ah, it's quite alright!" Thank goodness he caught himself; the girl may have been about to ask her mommy what was wrong with the man. "My name is Mr. Carriedo, and from the color of your child's hat it looks like he's in my class! And is this little girl also yours?" Antonio put a hand on the pink-bowed girl's head, causing a bubbly giggle. The boy looked at this exchange and moved in his mother's arms nervously.

The woman maintained her smile. "Yes, that's my little Feliciana! And this," sudden set down of the shy boy who looked a little alarmed before getting his footing then seeming to feign confidence "is my Lovino, who is older by six minutes!" Wink at her son. "We're the Vargas family, and we've been residents of Euronook for about eighteen months now. Originally from Italy. It's so nice to finally meet my children's kindergarten teacher!" Surprisingly firm handshake, and very cheerful demeanor. Strong perfume scent; it nearly caught Antonio off guard. Be professional!

"It's very nice to meet you as well, Signora Vargas." Smile at his formality. "I'm very happy to know that I'll be teaching a pair of twins this year, and can assure you that Lovino and Feliciana will be extremely safe under my guidance!" Smile; use your charm. "We're about to start the entrance ceremony, so please feel welcome to go and take a seat with the rest of the parents." Reluctant release of her hand, and a genuine smile himself at the promise that she'll see him again very soon. One last peck on each child's chubby cheek, then off into the sea of other parents. Very soon. For the twins, of course! Haha.

Professional. Antonio looked down at what seemed now to be his entire class, which comprised a total of six students. Noting the children already settled, he moved onto the newcomers. Feliciana was trying to make conversation with a girl with long, wavy brown hair. She seemed like the naturally social type. The girls were exchanging complimentaries about each other's pink plaid bow and flower barrette. Lovino, on the other hand, was facing away from the rest of the class. It looked like he was trying to find his mother's face in the audience. It was a bit painful to watch. Next thing Antonio knew, he was placing a hand on Lovino's shoulder, and there was an immediate turn around and sharp stare then a head drop down to the mat. "Hey little buddy, the ceremony's not going to start for another couple of minutes. Why don't you try to make some friends?"

Friends. A quick glance at his sister and the wavy-haired girl, who was admittedly speaking a little loudly, and then onto the rest of the class, who were all male. There was the boy with the giant white teddy bear, whom Antonio now noticed sported glasses, dirty blonde hair and seemed almost as reserved as Lovino; then, there was another blond boy, who was talking at an appropriate volume with a small boy – whom Antonio noticed looked very Japanese. There admittedly weren't that many actual Japanese people, or non-Asians in general, in Euronook. It may be a little confusing for him here; Antonio had to be sure to be as inclusive as possible.

The boy with the teddy bear was the only other child who wasn't talking to anyone; so, Antonio naturally tried to break the ice for both of them and abruptly guided Lovino over to sit on the mat next to the blond. "Why don't you two introduce yourselves? What's your name, kiddo?" He ruffled the blond boy's hair, and luckily surprisingly thankfully got a peer out from the white bear. "Matthew." Whispering. At least this one had said something. Lovino was still silent. Antonio was going to encourage noise, then. Knelt down to their level, placed each hand on a small shoulder. "Matthew, this is Lovino, one of your classmates! Lovino, isn't Matthew's polar bear nice!" Tightening around the bear. "I bet Lovino has some toys at home that he likes just as much as you like your teddy bear, Matthew! I know, why don't you two talk about your favorite toys and games!" Wow, that was horrible. If he were the four-year-old in this situation, he probably would have slapped himself for being so patronizing. No, no, kids don't actually think like that; if that were the case, more people would be miserable. Wait, many people are miserable. What is misery? You're overthinking it. Wristwatch. It's almost 8:30 sharp. Let Lovino and Matthew try to utter a couple more words. Looking around; the rest of the Tomato class was occupied. What are the other students' classmates like? He supposed he could get a quick peek for now.

Victoria's class was on the other side of the yard; Bella's class was directly across, and Antonio could see a fair amount of Matthias' second-year class. It looked like Bella had the same amount of students as Antonio and Matthias had one less; was it common for second-year classes to be smaller here? Oh goodness, are the students tested to a very high standard? No, likely not; the school is still fairly young. Bella had three little girls and Matthias looked to have two. Antonio could just make out that one of Matthias' students also sported glasses; could he be an older brother to Matthew? The hair color seemed similar enough. He could very well have been mistaken, but Antonio thought he saw a little girl in Victoria's second-year class with white hair; hopefully there was no pressing health concerns as the child's skin also seemed very light from what he could tell. He would have to ask Victoria about the student later. How interesting!

Then the school chime; it was time for the entrance ceremony to commence. Antonio introduced himself as Little Veggie Kindergarten's newest staff member, and stated that he looked forward to teaching the first-year Tomato class. His speech seemed to have been flawless, as there was what appeared to have been a genuine round of applause from the parents. He caught and mildly chastised himself for searching out Mrs. Vargas within the crowd.

"So! I'm Mr. Carriedo, and you will all be my little Tomatoes this year! Welcome to my class!" Yellow pastel paint with light wood floorboards and a few trees, clouds, and a couple families of birds drawn on the walls. Tomato plants with ripe painted imitations abound beneath the trees. One, two claps from himself as six students sit around three low and bright-blue-colored tables. Lovino and Feliciana at the far right, by the window; Matthew and Kiku in the center; and Ludwig and Elizaveta at the far left. Pink and blue chairs to denote genders, and small plastic nametags on the tables with similar colors and cutesy designs. Did such gender stereotypes really need to be enforced nowadays? Down with the pink skirts; his mind was wandering.

"We will not be having any official lessons today as you have just begun kindergarten, but we will be doing an activity to get to know each other better!" An activity. He was already using jargon. A raised hand. The wavy-haired girl. "Ah, yes?"

"Can I sit closer to Feliciana, please?"

Oh, dear; a potential predicament. "I may change the seating arrangements in a bit, but please stay put for now, dear." Small pout and a giggle from Feliciana across the room.

"Now, what we are going to do now is introduce ourselves. I would like everyone to stand up and tell us your name, where you are from, and something you like to do outside of school. Elizabeta, you're the farthest to the left, so could you please start?"

The wavy-haired girl, Elizabeta from her name tag, jumped up and ran to the front of the classroom. "My name is Elizabeta, I'm from hungry, no, Hungary! And outside of school I like to have mud fights with my neighbor Maria! She's got white hair! Oh, and I like to jump all over my other neighbor Roderich but I don't get to play with him as much because he likes his mommy's piano." Interesting info; could this Maria be the white-haired girl he thought he saw earlier? This was tiny Euronook; it was likely. "Thank you, Elizabeta, that was very good! Next up, Ludwig, please!"

The blonde boy who was engaged in a conversation with the Japanese child before the ceremony stood up and walked politely up to the blackboard as Elizabeta bounded back to her seat. "My name is Ludwig, my family is from Germany, and outside of school," hesitance "I like to read and play with my dogs, and make sure my big sister Maria doesn't get into trouble." Oh, the joy of small towns! This seemed way too picturesque; it almost sounded like something out of a cute children's story. "Thank you, Ludwig! That was wonderful! Maybe you can bring your dogs to class for Pet Day!" Ludwig grinned, then sat back down. This school did have some sort of day for pets, right? What a let down on his part if not. He had to be less absent-minded.

"Kiku, you're up next. Could you go to the front of the board, please?" Antonio had a perfect view from his desk in the front corner opposite the door; he could take note of everyone's facial expressions. Lovino was mildly fixated on the window and Feliciana was very interested in the blue and pink birds on the walls. Elizabeta was trying to get Feliciana's attention and Ludwig was patiently staring at Kiku.

"My name is Kiku, I am from this country Japan, and during playtime I like to fold origami with my mother. She and Grandma teach it for a living." Kiku calmly sat back down. "Thank you very much, Kiku! Maybe you can teach us how to do some origami later this year!" The boy smiled and a few "ohhhhh"s were gotten. Yes; score one for successful inclusion!

Next up was the shy Matthew. "Matthew, you're up! Please come to the front of the classroom." Matthew slowly, slowly stood up and nervously walked up to the blackboard. He stuttered a little. "M–My n–name is Matthew, and I'm from the Ignited, no, United States of America. When I'm having fun I like to play with my teddy bear and my big brother, Alfred, and our cat, Hero." Opportunity. "That's all very interesting, Matthew! Does your brother go to school here?" Nod. "He's in Carrot class. He's five years old." Lucky Matthias. "Thank you very much. You can sit back down now." Matthew nodded, started to walk, hesitated, then held his teddy bear out for everyone to see. "T–This is my favorite toy, Kumajirou. Mommy and Daddy and Alfred got it for me when we moved here to Japan. I love him very much." Antonio grinned, clapped, and then everyone else clapped. Matthew went back to his seat with a smile.

"Feliciana, you're up next!" Feliciana squealed, bounced up, ran up to the front of the classroom, and bounced in place. Lovino wasn't really looking. "My name is Feliciana Vargas, I have a twin brother Lovino who's also my big brother, we're from Italy, and when I'm not in school I like to dress up and eat Lucky Charms and watch cartoons and go on walks with Lovino and Mommy and cook with Mommy and have pillow fights with Lovino after bedtime and water Mommy's flowers with Lovino and guess what else? I also like talking to my new friend, Elizabeta, who's in this same class and likes my bow and I like her pink flower and we want to have sleepovers together and most of all, I want to make lots of friends with kids and books and I want my big brother Lovino to make friends too, but not just with books!"

Then Elizabeta jumped up and ran to hug Feliciana. "I love Feliciana!" The two of them bounced together before Antonio guided Elizabeta to sit back down. Those two were definitely not going to sit next to each other during lessons. Back at his own desk, Antonio commended Feliciana. "That was very good, Feliciana! But, please try to be a bit more serious in the future, honey!"

"Okay!" Damn, cute. Feliciana clumsily skipped back to her seat and tried to get her brother's attention. Speaking of which, Silent Lovino was last to go. After a performance like that from his sister and from Matthew before her, Antonio felt kind of bad for the kid. "Lovino, you're up next! Could you please come to the front of the room?"

And then Lovino tensed. He was looking out the window before and wasn't really moving, but this time he didn't move at all and kept his gaze fixed on the blue sky. Ow. Okay, Antonio didn't want to single the kid out by asking him to come up ad introduce himself a second time, but he also didn't want to waste class time by waiting for a self-introduction that may never come on its own. What to do? Realistically, he had to concede to the second option if he wanted to avoid embarrassing the kid. He checked his watch. It was almost lunch time – it wasn't like he could let Lovino wait to be saved by the bell, but he could certainly give him some time to mentally prepare. Right?

About thirty seconds passed. Feliciana poked her brother. Ludwig and a couple of the others turned to look at Lovino, confused about what they were supposed to do. Feliciana touched Lovino again, this time touching his hand, and rubbed it, making Lovino move a little. His head turned and he looked at his sister, then at Antonio – he was sure to nod for Lovino to come up and speak – and then noticed the other students staring at him. Staring. Feliciana noticed too, then decidedly grabbed her brother's hand even tighter and guided him up to the blackboard. Lovino was looking down now, face turning red – fitting for the Tomato class – Antonio chuckled in his mind then inwardly smacked himself, and Feliciana moved her little hands to Lovino's chin and gently lifted it up to look at the rest of the class.

Lovino stared at the back wall, then at the students at the center tables, then at the English and Japanese hiragana alphabets lining the walls just below the ceiling, then at the bookshelf in the back of the room for at least a good ten seconds, then at the overflowing toy chest off to the side of the bookshelf then at the window again, then at Mr. Carriedo, then at Feliciana who was smiling and bouncing a go-ahead, then finally to the front of the class, staring at nothing in particular except for the inevitable Back Wall. He had been clutching his shirt for much of his visual tour; his mouth was twitching upward now, and Antonio thought he might be trying to speak. Was he really that nervous? Could he not open his mouth because he was so scared?

Let's see, what did he learn to do in a situation like this in school? Verbal prodding? That made it sound bad. Let's call it verbal encouragement. Well, it has been this long already. Two minutes until lunch now. Just say your name and sit back down, kid; it isn't that hard! Boy, he could be insensitive in his reverie. Right, address the task at hand. "Can you tell us your name, little guy?" Foolproof; there was more Twitching after that. "L-La." Yes. Almost. Clutching shirt. "Lo-vi-no." Yes; achievement unlocked! "Very good! Did everyone hear that?" Kiku and Ludwig smiled. "Now, what do you like to do for fun, Lovino?"

Feliciana looked over at Antonio and looked like she wanted to take over for her brother. Sorry, kid, no bail around here. Antonio looked back at Lovino, and Feliciana followed his eyes. She tried to help anyway. He couldn't blame her for not getting it; they were all only four. "Lovino and I like to –"

"NO." Startle. Lovino was clutching his shirt tighter now. Shiny stuff. Were tears forming? Crap; maybe this job isn't cut out for men. Damn; now he was being sexist. "I–I can do it!" Loud; very, very loud, compared to the rest of the morning. Kiku and Elizabeta tilted their heads confusedly; wow, people actually tilted their heads? Must be a kid thing. Embarrassment. Lovino had noticed the head tilts. The rest of the class was confused now. Feliciana wasn't bouncing anymore.

The classroom doors had knobs low enough for the students to reach to ensure optimal safety. Lovino suddenly turned away from his sister and Antonio and ran straight out of the classroom.

…

Well.

Thank goodness the first day of school ended right after lunch?

More importantly, what would Mrs. Vargas and Principal Braginski think of him?

Antonio all-too-cheerfully ordered everyone to get their lunch out and made sure that Feliciana was clear on not leaving the classroom, with Elizabeta more or less annoyingly making sure she would stay put. After knocking on Bella's door – thankfully her students were in the middle of eating and could be left unattended for a moment – he searched for Lovino with her help. They found him crying heavily with his knees drawn into him on an alcove bench. Pretty much unable to talk, Lovino sat on that same bench with Antonio for the remainder of the day. Antonio wasn't sure if trying to give actual advice would be effective, so he just rubbed the child's back in what was hopefully a soothing rhythm as he ate his PB&J and apple slices.

There was always tomorrow to make friends.

So! Hello; thanks for scrolling down this far, regardless of whether you've actually read the above narrative. I haven't written fan-fiction in a long time; this idea has been brewing in my mind for months years, and I did have a draft of it before, but I didn't like how it turned out. I hadn't pounded out the details quite yet, and have really attempted to do so here. I like to write as a hobby, a LOT, but I've never been too confident with fiction. I kept thinking that my narration was too drawn out or beat around the bush too much or remained on the little details for too damn long. For instance, I tried to have this at under five thousand words, but then I just kept going, and next thing I knew I was at around 6100 words. Whoops! Well, I honestly am proud of it. I literally just sat down this evening and typed all this out in one go, then proofread it; so naturally, there may be a few glaring blemishes. Hmm, I'm rambling. Sorry!

Okay, here are the actual footnotes I want to give:

- I wholly plan to make this story into a series. I already have a character map, which I can upload as another footnote upon request.

- Speaking of requests, I would also like to take them once this story is a few chapters in. You guys can tell me what character groupings you would like to see and in which plot settings (within reason!).

- Please keep in mind that I am not a pedagogue myself and may come off as extremely childish to older people when I write out adult-child interactions.

- I have never experienced myself the Japanese educational system; I am only going by what I have read on the internet.

- I am avoiding the nitty-gritty details of language for the time being to keep things simple. One can assume that most everyone in Euronook (Euro – nook! Little nook of Europe!) speaks well enough Japanese.

- Lovino and Feliciano are not canonically twins; that is a fact. However, I am decidedly making fem!Feli the younger twin sister of Lovi for this fanfic. I also have plans for a fem!Gilbert (hinted at here a few times) and a fem!Toris later on.

- The fact that I got back into Hetalia this quickly in an evening so I could write this out sort of staggers me. My sincere apologies if I make any glaring mistakes; I'm am older fan. I've liked Hetalia since 2009 but haven't been a serious fan in a couple years.

- I've admittedly used run-on sentences a lot more here than I normally do. This was mostly because I was trying to get a feel for my writing – and, honestly, that's how I see the characters talking internally. Though this is definitely open to interpretation. I likely won't run on so much in the future.

- This is not a crossover, but it is inspired from another anime that I watched a couple times as a teenager. It was called Hanamaru Youchien and it was vapid and had annoying voice acting, but damn was it addictively freaking cute. Saccharine. That's the word. I also got some inspiration several months ago from a Zerochan fanart piece of Spain and Belgium as teachers in a Japanese kindergarten and the Italy brothers, Hungary, and a few others as students. (Please accept my personal thanks here if you come across this, Artist.)

- Please, PLEASE let me know what you guys think of the concept overall, as well as my writing style. As I mentioned, I haven't written fan-fiction, or fiction for that matter – actually, I haven't WRITTEN – in a long time. History major turned Biology and Physics double major. Fun times. Now writing for fun near the end of my Spring break. I seem to do well with the "write a chapter all in one go" method so I would like to see if I can maintain that. It certainly acts as a release. Back to my main point. Mainly, I would like to know if this community finds this story to be interesting and if I should alter or omit certain things in my next chapter update. For instance, if something I included here offended somebody, then I would be sure not to include that thing again. Additionally, my writing style. I tried to think like a little kid would think as I wrote the first section of this piece, and then I took on a more adult (well, young adult; twentysomethings apparently aren't supposed to be uber secure – I would know, I am one) lexicon. If anyone likes or dislikes this style of writing, or if anyone who has been writing for much longer than I have finds it unbecoming or good or bad or whatever, then I would very much like to know.

- Oh bloody hell, that last footnote was way too long. Lastly, thank you for reading if you did read the entire chapter (and my footnotes; you have much patience), and I would be extremely grateful of any reviews or feedback of any kind, be it critical or not! Thanks!