Chapter 4 – The first day comes to an end – Sachiko Kurogawa

"This is the first time I'm going to have classmates on my Japanese class."

"If you say it this way, it'll seem so lonesome, Japan-kun!"

"Oh! I… It's just… I apologize."

However, if you think about it, it's really lonesome. Japan is the only country in the world with Japanese as its official language; no one has ever taken these classes with him. Even if someone wanted to take extra classes, it wouldn't be at the same time… Kawaisou na Nihon-kun[1].

"The way you're talking… Does it mean you already had classes here before?"

"Of course I did. We all joined this school three years ago, in a kind of Chuugakkou[2] counterpart. Now that all of us reached Junior High School, there's no need to Middle School anymore. Well, they never considered the possibility of other people studying here, anyway."

"Ooh, so Japan-kun also has his talkative moments?" I laughed. "I thought you had communication issues."

Tanaka-sensei entered the classroom with such a surprised expression, just like Japan-kun did. Tanaka-sensei had black, short hair, brown eyes and he was short. Tanaka-sensei wore glasses. Taking a good look at him, I could probably say that Tanaka-sensei and Japan-kun were relatives, since they were so alike…

Five students in a classroom felt like some kind of record, because that initial surprise soon became euphoria for Tanaka-sensei. According to Japan-kun, that was the funniest class since Chuugakkou. He has a weird concept of "fun", so…

After the sixth period, you were able to fulfil the two remaining periods with any class you wanted, or maybe with club activities. But not today. Today, those periods were made free, so the students could sign up for them. Japan-kun accompanied me till the gym, where the registrations were being held, but soon apologized a gazillion times for needing to leave me behind. Something about "having to sign up for World 8's meetings"… He met with China-kun in the middle of his way there; I wonder who the members of this group are…

"Sachiko! Over here!" waved Elisa-chan, in the middle of the gym.

Elisa-chan was already here for some time, since the English class was in the first floor, differently from the Japanese class on the second one, not to mention that my class was located at the farthest place possible from the gym…

"What did you sign for, Elisa-chan?"

"To the Reading Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays, first period, and piano classes on Wednesdays and Fridays, second period."

"Ooh, can you play the piano, Elisa-chan?"

"No… But since we have so many free time, I thought 'why not give it a try'?" she smiled. "What do you intend signing for?"

"Hum… For the Calligraphy Club, if it's available here, and for English extra classes. I don't think I'm going to last long around the way I am…"

"If this is your problem, I can help you!"

"Thanks, but I think I'm going to give more effort if I undertake official classes…" I said, scratching my head.

Thus, these were the classes I signed for. Shodou Club[3], on the first period on Mondays and on the second period on Tuesdays, and English classes, on the first period on Tuesdays and on the second period on Wednesdays. My schedule doesn't match Elisa-chan's, but there's nothing I can do, right?

"Liechtenstein!" said Elisa-chan, when we met her. "What classes did you sign for?"

"Well… For self-defense classes, for the Handcrafting Club and for the IT Club. Just like every year."

"And I signed for German classes, for the Home Affair Club and Photography Club."

"Hungary-chan!"

The four of us went back to the girls' dormitory, while we told each other random stories about how our day went. When we got there, we opted for staying at first floor's cozy living room. Some girls were already there, including Seychelles.

"Sey-chan! Tadaima[4]!" I ran towards her.

"Liechten-chan! Hungary-san! Elisa-san, Sachiko-san! Let me introduce someone to you. My roommates. This is Belgium-san, and this is Anette Schmidt-san, from… Where was it again, Anette-san?"

"Frankfurt, Germany. Nice to meet you," answered Anette-chan, in a rude tone.

"Germany? Yeah, yeah, you really look like our Germany-kun," said Hungary-chan.

Belgium-chan was a blonde girl with green eyes. She had short hair, with a white hair band (which was actually a ribbon). She was busty, though her loose uniform didn't show it clearly. On the other side, Anette-chan had straight, long hair, of a very light blond, with her fringe falling to her brows. Her eyes were blue, hiding behind a small pair of glasses. Her face and the way she was sitting showed me she was probably a very severe girl. Both of them wore the whole uniform.

"And these," continued Sey-chan, pointing to us, "are Liechtenstein-san, Hungary-san, Elisa Thompson-san and Kurokawa-san."

"Eto[5]... Kurogawa, Sey-chan..." I said, with a forced smile.

"Ouch! Sorry!" she said, and we both laughed.

"It's very nice to meet you as well," said Elisa-chan.

"We're not in the same class this year, Belgium-san… But I think it'd be a problem with they didn't separate the classes, don't you think so, Anette-san?" said Hungary-san, smiling.

"More students came to our school this year than we have ever had," said Liechten-chan.

"You're right", said Belgium-chan. "What do you think of dining together, all of us? It's getting kind of late."

"Oh, what a great idea, Belgium-chan!" agreed Hungary-chan, and all of us took our way back to W Gakuen's dining hall.

"What do we have on today's menu?" asked Belgium-chan.

"I don't know, I didn't ask anything special for today…" said Hungary-chan.

"You didn't prepare your dinner beforehand and left me unaware of that once more, did you?" said Elisa-chan, still resentful for what happened at the lunchtime.

"Of course not!" I said. "What shall we eat, then?"

"PASTA!"

All the "country girls" laughed, but Elisa-chan, Anette-chan and I stared at each other blankly. Behind us, there was a brown-eyed boy with matching brown hair, and a curly lock tucking from the left side. He was wearing the whole uniform. To be honest, his raised hand added to his baka[6] face didn't give me a good first impression of this guy's intelligence.

"Would you like to join us, Ita-chan?" asked Hungary-chan.

"Ve[7], of course! It's always great to dine with such belle[8] company!" said the boy.

"Italy!"

The steady voice that reprehended him came from a tall, blue-eyed man, who had his blonde hair (similar to Anette-chan's) plastered down. He was also wearing the whole uniform. Could this be Germany-kun? No one could deny his similarities with Anette-chan. Even the glasses!

"Italy! You can walk around suggesting dishes and sitting by others' tables when you're supposed to be by another table!"

"But! Germany, they were the ones who invited me, ok? It's not my-"

"I don't want to hear excuses! Got that, Italy?"

Suddenly, Anette-chan stood up and positioned herself as a soldier on an army.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Germany." She saluted him. "Anette Schmidt, es freut mich[9]!"

"R-rest!" commanded Germany-kun, blushing with the situation. Anette-chan lowered her hand and sat once again. "You were on the front row during Germany class, weren't you? Nice to meet you too."

"Ve, you've got a fan, Germany!" said Italy blissfully.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here with us, Germany-kun?" insisted Hungary-chan.

"I'm sorry, Hungary. Italy and I were supposed to be sharing a table with Japan and Romano now."

"I wouldn't mind getting both groups together," said Sey-chan.

"Yeah! We could assemble two tables and then there'll be enough room for all!" I said.

"Che buono[10]!" said Italy-kun, sprinting after the others before Germany-kun could say anything.

Romano-kun was Italy-kun older brother. If it wasn't for his green eyes and the curly lock tucking from the right side, I'd say they were twins. Hungary-chan denied, and said that everyone's ages didn't matter at all. After all, all the countries were assigned to classes at the same time. Their personalities seemed to be very different too.

Anette-chan spent the rest of meal flooding the mind of her "Germany-shishou[11]" with questions. I spent my time talking with Japan-kun about my homeland, Okinawa. And Elisa-chan spent her time ranting about how unlucky she was with the country she had, seeing how much fun Anette-chan and I were having.

[1] Kawaisou na Nihon-kun (可哀想な日本君): as an expression, it means "poor Japan", in Japanese. Literally, kawaisou means "pitiful".

[2] Chuugakkou (中学校): "Middle School", in Japanese. The Japanese scholar system consists of six years in Shougakkou (小学校, "Elementary School", literally "Little School"), three years in Chuugakkou and another three years in Koukou (高校, "Junior High School", literally just "High School").

[3] Shodou (書道): "calligraphy", in Japanese. Literally written as "writing path", it's a course to improve handwriting and making it prettier when using nankeen to write Japanese characters.

[4] Tadaima (ただいま): Japanese expression said when arriving at home (or the place one considers like home).

[5] Eto (えと): Japanese expression that shows hesitation when talking. It can also be used before "excuse me…" and similar.

[6] Baka (馬鹿): "idiot", in Japanese.

[7] Ve: just like aru is commonly used to represent the character China, ve is used for the character Italy Veneziano. It's an exclamation that he uses for everything. And I mean it.

[8] Belle: "beautiful" (referring to girls), In Italian.

[9] Es freut mich: literally, "I have the pleasure", in German. As an expression, it'd mean "nice to meet you". In fact, the German expression which is closest to that "es freut mich, sie kennen zu lernen" ("I have the pleasure of meeting you"), which is too much polite and rarely used. Since the character Anette likes this kind of politeness, but not to the core, she uses only the beginning of the sentence.

[10] Che buono: "that's good", in Italian.

[11] Shishou (支障): "master", in Japanese. Much like sensei, it can be used as noun or honorific.