Hello, my name is Maiko Nakashima, but you could call me Mai. They all do. My parents, my teachers, the whole student body. I ought to as well change my name to Mai. It happened to my last name, why not my first name? It's a very long story, but I'll still tell you. (If you're not interested, move to the next paragraph.)

My father met my mother while visiting Japan. He was just looking around the city when he ran into my mom at a café. He has always been interested in Japanese stuff: the culture, the food, he was also quite an otaku. My mother was also an otaku when she was younger. So, my mother and father dated for about 4 years, and they got married in 1993. Since my father stayed in Japan, my mother got the name 'Miyuki Roberts'. In my opinion, it doesn't sound right. Her maiden name is 'Nakashima'. My father's name is Vincent Roberts. I was born a year later. Four years later, they had my younger sister Ariana, then a year later, they had Izumi. So, yay for me, I'm the older sister. My parents stayed happily married for 11 years, and in 2004, they divorced. Ariana went with my father back to America, and me and Izumi stayed with my mother. My mother got back her last name, and we got her last name. So, I was born Maiko Roberts (it doesn't sound right with me either), but now, I'm Maiko "Mai" Nakashima.

My mom had me attend an elite school by the end of the hill called Kouyouen Academy. My grades were so good I passed the entrance exam with flying colors. Eventually, I was tired of attending the same school over and over, and all my friends I knew since diapers had transferred and moved. So I was basically left with no friends because everyone else was a straight out hothead, imbecile, bully, or pervert. I was so annoyed I asked my mom to transfer to the school up the hill, North High. I was always curious about that school. I took the entrance exam and once again, passed with flying colors. My mom wanted me to finish one more month at Kouyouen before I transferred to North High. No one was really going to miss me except the teachers, so they're the only ones I said goodbye to. So today is my first day at North High. My uniform came in right on time, luckily, so I won't have to come in standing out a lot.

"WAKE UP, NEE-CHAN!" my sister screamed at me, basically beating me with pillows until I decided to get up. Man, she has a lot of energy to be waking up at the crack of dawn. She was already in uniform when I opened my eyes. I groaned, stretched, and took a shower.

And what the heck, my mom was up too. Bet Izumi spent at least twenty minutes trying to get her out of bed. By the time I was ready, she was waiting by the door with a big smile on her face. I grabbed some toast and my bag, and ran out the door holding my sister's hand. My sister's elementary school is also at the bottom of the hill, so I had a couple minutes of peace before school. "Bye Nee-chan!" my sister screamed out before I started up the hill. "Love you!"

I smiled, and yelled out "I love you, too!" I wasn't embarrassed at all to love my sister, even though she can be a pest. I had to get some papers in the office before I went to class so I better get there on time.

After a peaceful walk up the hill, I finally reached the school. It looks a little smaller than Kouyouen, but it still looked beautiful. I walked in the school and looked at the clock. 8:20. Darn, late on the first day. Mom would slap me right now if she was by my side. I just walked into the office for my papers. They had my schedule and my class so I wouldn't get lost. "Hmm, class 1-5," I thought. "Right down the hall, I think." I walked down the hall, looking at the class cards by the door until I reached the one that said 1-5. I grasped the doorknob, took a deep breath, and walked in. I felt like everything was in slow motion as I walked in. All eyes were on me as I walked to the teacher's desk.

"Excuse me," I said. "I'm the new transfer student the principal might have told you about." He smiled and stood up from his desk. "Class, this is Maiko Nakashima, a new student who just transferred from Kouyouen. Please make her feel welcomed." I smiled and waved. "You can call me Mai. Everyone does." I said. Everyone just stared. The one that caught my attention was girl sitting by the window. She had short brown hair with a orange headband with a huge smile on her face like my sister's this morning. "My name is Mr. Okabe, Mai. You can take a seat right next to Kyon at that empty desk."

I walked over to the empty desk slowly. As more people stared, I got more nervous. I blushed as I sat in my seat. Kyon and that girl I mentioned earlier stared at me. The girl still had a slight grin on her face, while Kyon stared at me as if I was a new species or something.

Class went by very fast, so as soon as the bell ring, I got out my schedule. Before I got a chance to look, the girl grabbed my neck and pulled me over next to her. Kyon stood there, stupefied. "Who the heck are you?" I yelled.

"I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, club leader of the SOS Brigade! And I want you to join it! And I don't pick just anyone to join!"

"What's so special about me?"

"Super smart, super hot, and you're huge!"

"Is that compliment or an insult about me being huge?"

"Complimenting, of course! You're perfect for the part of the huge schoolgirl!"

"EXCUSE ME?"

She grabbed my hand and ran out of the classroom. "Follow us, Kyon!" she shouted behind. I tried to break free, but darn is she strong! She stopped at room upstairs with a card that said 'SOS Brigade'. Hopefully that Kyon guy will know something about this,

"Sorry I'm late everyone!" she said, kicking the door open. "I found a new member!" She pointed at me with a huge grin. "I don't even know your name," I said, annoyed.

"I told you! I said my name is Haruhi Suzumiya! This club is about searching for aliens, time travelers, and espers and making friends with them!"

Haruhi sounds like a total nut, but whatever. This sounds pretty interesting. "Fine, I'll join your SOS Brigade."

"YAY!" she shouted. I know I'll regret this later, though. "This is Maiko Nakashima! Or known as Mai Nakashima! The cute one's Mikuru, the one with the glasses is Yuki, the guy from class is Kyon, and the smiling guy over there is Koizumi!"

"Wow," I thought, glancing over. "That guy over there is pretty cute, but he's always smiling."

"You're our sixth member! I'm the brigade leader, by the way. How tall do you think she is?" Haruhi asked, randomily changing the subject to my height, which makes me 'huge'.

"At least 5'6". She's huge. I'm not trying to be rude, but you're tall," Kyon said.

"H-How about 5'7"?" Mikuru guessed.

"How tall are you, Mai?" she asked, eagerly.

"Close, 5'8". Not that tall," I said with a smile.

"HOW IS 5'8" NOT TALL FOR A GIRL? YOU'RE ALMOST TALLER THAN ME!" Kyon bursted out.

"Yeah right. I bet that guy in the corner is taller."

"Koizumi, since you're the tallest, come here!"

He stood up with a smile and walked over. He looked up and down, which made me a bit uncomfortable "She is pretty tall. We should do back-to-back to be accurate."

I stood up tall as we did it. While not paying attention, his hand brushed against mine. I felt my face turn hot and red. "He is cute and very nice," I thought.

"Yes, she is almost taller than us. You've been tall for your whole life, haven't you?"

"Um.." I blushed. "Kinda, uh, yeah, I guess." He smiled at me, and I just stood there.

I think I might like this club (It's obvious I like Koizumi), even though it's run by a nut.