"Morning, Einstein."

Odd shook Jeremy into a state of semi-consciousness. Jeremy sat up slowly. An imprint of his laptop's keyboard showed faintly on his forehead. He then changed his mind and lied his head back down on his computer. "5 more minutes," he complained.

"Hurry," Ulrich whispered into the brainiac's ear, "Aelita says that if you don't meet her in the courtyard in five minutes, she'll forget her date with you and go to the party with Odd!"

"No!"

Jeremy leaped up and tripped over the bench of the lunch table. The rest of the students at lunch laughed for a minute while Jeremy struggled to get back up, and then turned back to eating and gossiping. Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from running off to meet his crush where she wouldn't be.

"I was kidding, Jeremy, geez. No need to beat the long jump world record." He aided his embarrassed friend back to his seat. "Did you finally find the courage to ask Aelita out?"

Jeremy blushed even darker at the mention of her name. "Yes," he said almost inaudibly.

Yumi laughed. "Well, did you know that there is something called a bed? It was invented so that a person could have something soft and comfortable to sleep on. And a pillow was made for the same reason. I don't think you have ever seen one and a metal bench and laptop don't seem to fulfill that requirement,"

"I know that," said Jeremy in mid yawn, "But this video isn't going to make itself. I'm not even half done yet." His head was already on its way down.

"You would work faster and more efficiently on it if you sleep more often," said Ulrich, "not to mention more likely to survive afterwards. I'll help you to your bed before you nod off into your soup."

The two left the lunchroom, Ulrich taking the laptop's place as the pillow. They passed Jim on the way to the dorms. Ulrich had to fill in and tell their gym teacher that Jeremy didn't get enough sleep the night before. As a reward Jim picked Jeremy up and helped take him to the dorms. Ulrich took the room key out of his friend's pocket and unlocked the door for them. Jim placed Jeremy's limp form on his bed; he had fallen to sleep in Jim's arms. Jim then left the room.

Ulrich was about to do the same when he saw something unusual. There was a foldout bed with someone on it. The person he was looking at had not made a sound or moved at all. Ulrich almost didn't notice him, which was hard to believe, because the kid seemed out of place. He looked almost like a vampire. He was wearing black elevator shoes and blue jeans. His shirt was short-sleeved and black, with a red symbol on the front. He had long, blood red hair the same shade as his shirt. His face was set in an almost permanent scowl of disappointment, and his right eye was the deep gray of a storm cloud. His most peculiar feature was his left eye, which was covered by a black eye patch. Overall, he looked like someone who was used to being alone.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Alan Kimyōna, and I live here."

Ulrich laughed openly. "No seriously, why are you here?"

"I skipped three grades. That's why I'm roomed with you."

"Oh. Well, if you're going to live here, you should know that I'm not your roommate. Einstein is," He gestured to Jeremy, who was deep in his slumber. "I'm Ulrich Stern." He held out a hand.

"It's nice to meet you," Alan said, accepting the handshake.

"Do you want to head to lunch?"

"Sure."

During the 5 minutes it took to walk from the dormitory to the cafeteria, Ulrich discovered several things about the newcomer. He learned that the insignia on Alan's shirt was the Japanese symbol for friendship, that he had studied both karate from his grandfather in Japan and tae-kwon-do from his uncle in South Korea, and that his eyes tend to change color with his emotions. All of this shattered the first impression that his looks gave him. He also learned very quickly to refrain from inquiring about his eye patch. They had just breached the subject of the schools scheduling when they arrived at the cafeteria.

They nearly walked into the last person of the lunch line: Cissi. She nearly told them off until she noticed she was merely 5 inches away from Ulrich's face. The complaint died in her throat.

"Hello, Ulrich!" she said enthusiastically.

"Hello, Cissi," replied Ulrich, who a little let down that she had to be right in front of them in the line. He promptly turned his back on her and continued the conversation with his new friend. He only turned back around when Alan pointed out the line that was moving forward. Eventually, they were interrupted to choose between soup and spaghetti. Then, they were free to walk over to their usual table. They got there to find Yumi and Odd already there, the latter having at least three forkfuls of noodles hanging out of his mouth and more hidden inside.

"Who dla hith-higer?" Odd mumbled through his stuffed mouth.

"Odd!" Yumi scolded.

"Alan, meet my friends: Yumi Ishiyama and Odd Della Robia." Each person rose and shook the newcomers hand when their respective names were said, Odd being mindful enough to swallow beforehand. "Guys, this is Alan Kimyōna. He just moved here from…"

"Japan?" Yumi guessed.

"Actually, Korea," Alan corrected, "but I was born in Japan. How did you guess?"

"Your last name in romanji tra-"

"…translates to 'weird'. Yes, I know that. Any more obvious questions or comments anyone would like to say to me?"

"Like the fact that you and Ulrich are welcome to sit down?" Odd asked innocently.

They all laughed as Alan and Ulrich sat down. Ulrich thought while Alan started eating/drinking his soup with a smile on his face, I guess he has already been granted one of his wishes.