I'm jolted awake by a loud knocking on the door and I roll over, which makes me fall off the bed, which makes Yukari nervously creak the door open. I had dreamt of nothing, and it almost felt like I hadn't slept at all, so I didn't have one of those cliché "was it all a dream?" moment. Although, it would be pretty radical if it was actually just a dream and I got to wake up, but, I don't even know what's going on right now, so I just grin weakly at Yukari.

"Uh, I guess you're awake now… Um, Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school," She pauses, assessing the situation. "Do you need a minute to get ready?"

I nodded, pushing myself off the ground, my joints aching. Aw, fuck, I slept in my jeans and everything. Yukari closes the door and I look around the room, wondering where my uniform for GEKKOUKAN HIGH SCHOOL would be.

Due to my sleepiness the night before, I hadn't looked around the room, but I was doing so now, and dang, there are a lot of boxes. None of them have my handwriting on them, and I don't recognize any of them, and what is IN them? I start reading the scribbled descriptions on the side, looking for something like "clothes" or "school stuff" or "wear this dumb junk on your first day" or something else that I would be able to recognize. I find a box with the first descriptor, and rip it open, starting to realize just how long I was taking. Inside was the school uniform, just as I remembered it, and as I held it up to myself, I realized it actually fit.

I started changing, feeling completely unsure with the skirt length (why skirts whyyyy), and also kind of unsure on how to button up the front of the blazer. It wasn't really a blazer? It was weird and had latches on it, but from the side, and I was confused. Yukari did a little knock on the door, like a warning, and I quickly grabbed my bag from the desk—wow I am so unprepared for this first day I hope I'm not expected to do too much—and open the door, sheepish.

"Are you rea—oh!"

I bared my teeth again, unsure of how to smile. "How do you do the front of this?"

Yukari was obviously stifling giggles, and I flushed in embarrassment, but she showed me anyway. Hey, what do you want from me? I haven't had to wear a uniform in almost six years. Especially not a weird one like this. I fidgeted for a while, wondering if I would have the time—or money—to buy more things to complete the outfit, like actual socks (I'm without socks right now, and my shoes aren't even those cool leather loafers, they're canvas shoes) and maybe bicycle shorts to wear under the skirt.

After she finished with my jacket, she grinned, obviously in a better mood from last night, and pointed to the stairs with her thumb. "Let's go?"

I shuffled after her as we headed down the stairs and out the front door, making sure to sign out on that little roll-call sheet at the front desk. She explained to me that we were basically free to do whatever we wanted as long as we signed in and out whenever we passed the front desk. Although, after a moment's thought, she laughed a little and said that I might not have to worry about that if I'm going to be moving out soon.

The station is close by, closer than I expected, and we stand in silence, surrounded by both students and businesspeople, all of them joining us on our exciting morning adventure. I still feel strangely tired, my joints heavy and head throbbing, but manage to not just collapse on the floor and sleep. When the train comes, bling-blonging its arrival, almost everyone in the station files on, and I have to scramble to not get too far away from Yukari. Getting lost in a video game on my first day of school would suck so hard.

We're pressed side-by-side, holding onto some poles, and Yukari decides to break the awkward (word of the year right here, ladies and gentlemen) silence between us. "We have to take the monorail to get to school, since there's pretty much no way to get there via walking. Bet your last school wasn't like this, huh?"

Actually, my school was across town and took half an hour by car on a freeway to get to, but I just laugh and nod my head.

Just as Yukari starts to speak again, train curves a little and we're surrounded by water. I twist a little to look out the windows behind me, awed by all the sparkling, outreaching blue. Yukari giggles and says, "This is my favourite part, too. It feels like we're gliding over the sea, doesn't it?"

I just dumbly nod my head. "I've been on more subways than monorails, so this is really cool for me," I admit, now looking at the huge landmass ahead of us. That must be the school… But it can't be just the school, can it? Like, woah, it's HUGE. There's got to be more buildings there than just the high school because that is not a high school, that is a small city.

"Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line," Yukari informs me, moving a little to get out of the way from a few sweaty businessmen. It's too early in the morning for there to be this many people, yeesh. I never really grabbed subways during busy hours, so this is still really all new to me. "From there, we walk."

This is boring, so I'll skip over it. We got to the station, and we walked. There was some small talk made, like how the weather was nice, and some stuff on hoping we got good teachers and good classmates, but there wasn't anything spectacular or interesting. I'd forgotten most of what we said by the time we reached the school, and I had to pause when we did.

Jesus fucking Christ, why is everything so goddamn huge.

A student walks past us and shares a morning greeting with Yukari as I'm standing there, slack-jawed. No wonder this stupid school turns into Tartarus, it's got to be the largest building in this stupid city. It's not really tall—more like three stories, our dorm is taller, but it's massive. The building spreads out so far and has such a large opening field that I can't even see the end of everything.

Yukari is having a field day with my stupidity. "Here we are! Gekkoukan High! I'm sure you'll love it!"

If I don't get lost on my first day, sure.

Inside is just as grandiose, and I'm literally forcing myself to focus on doing natural things, like breathing and not falling over when I walk, while Yukari helps me find my shoe locker. By the way, shoe locker? I'd heard about them and read about them in shoujo mangas, but never before have I had to remove my shoes and replace them specifically for a building. The shoes inside fit perfect, which makes me a little worried and I start wondering if whoever or whatever had dragged me into this place took my measurements first or whatever.

"You're okay from here, right?" Yukari asks when I waddle over to her after taking care of my shoes-thing. I nod. "You should see your homeroom teacher before anything else, though. The Faculty Office is over there," she raises a hand and points down a hall to my left. "And that'll conclude my tour! Do you have any questions before I go?"

I wish this actually was a video game and I could have a selection, but I rub the back of my neck again, awkward again. "Uh, yeah, how do I find out what class I'm in?"

She turns and points behind her, to some large bulletin boards with many different posters and things pinned up. "They'll be posted there, though I haven't checked yet either. I'm sure you could ask your teacher, too."

I turn to go off to the Faculty Office, but Yukari stops me with a tentative hand on my forearm. The contact startles me, and we look at each other before she mutters, "Hey…"

She lets go quickly and looks around. That annoyed feeling hits again and I feel like scowling and telling her that no one knows me enough to kick her out the club for talking to me yet so she could chill with the guard, but I don't. "You won't tell anyone… About last night, will you?"

I shake my head, adding an "of course not" to the movement to help reassure her, and Yukari smiles in relief. She then just walks off, without a goodbye or anything, and I try not to let it hurt or annoy me any. I shuffle off down to the Faculty Office, focusing on the weird feeling of the indoor shoes. They're, like, fitting? But they almost feel like they're not there. The sole is soft and the strap isn't tight, so it just kinda feels like slippers, which is more disconcerting than shoes inside, if you ask me.

Inside the Faculty Office, I awkwardly (someone should start counting how many times I use this word) look around, wondering who my homeroom teacher is until a pretty lady stands up and calls me over with a simple hand wave.

She sits back down as I approach her, standing with my hands held behind my back, eyeing her desk ravenously—this is all so interesting—and pulls out a manila file from underneath a small stack. "You're the new student, right? 11th grade, yes?"

I nod and watch her as she flips through the papers inside the file. Since she's facing me, I can't actually see what's inside, but I sure am interested to see what that weird force that pulled me in here said about me. Will it say my real name, or that fake one I gave Pharos? What does it say about my history—I know the main character's got a pretty intense one with parental death, but one of my parents is still alive and well, so I don't know what the file will say about me. Actually, if it says my parents are alive, I wonder what excuse it'll give for me living in the dorms. Agh, so many questions.

"Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places…" the teacher mumbles, and I decide to give them that. I have moved around a lot. "Let's see, in 1999… That was ten years ago, right? Him, your parents—"

She looks up at me with sad and scared eyes, and I look back at her calmly. I guess they chose the my-parents-are-dead route.

"I'm sorry… I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this beforehand," she tells me, as if I even cared about her apology. I guess it's better she do this now and have me know what to expect and how to act than have her read it before and have me accidentally spill all the scary details like, I don't know, you all are video game characters and how the hell did I get here. "I'm Ms Toriumi. I teach Composition. Welcome to our school, Celia Arisato."

I smile and bow a little, saying a "nice to meet you" in response, trying to be mindful of Japanese culture before I start waving my hands around and spitting in people's faces. Not that I would, but.

So, my fake last name, eh? We meet again. So, whoever/whatever put me here had a hand with Pharos, since he's the only person who could influence anything that I know knows my last name so far. When do I meet with Igor in the Velvet Room, again? He might have more answers for me.

Ms Toriumi chuckles. "There's no need to be so polite, Arisato-san!" Wait, how the hell did that honorific slip in there, aren't they supposed to be speaking English to me, not Weeaboolish. (No offense meant. I am a huge weeaboo. Sob.) "Well, have you seen the classroom assignments yet? You're in 2-F, my class."

She stands up, setting my file back down onto her table. Some other teachers are leaving the room, and as I watch what I guess is going to be my Japanese History teacher—oh god his hat—she tells me, "But first, we have to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon."

I follow her out the room and through the school at her behest, still trying to look forward lest I get awed by the sheer size of the school again. My last school had 600 students, what do you want from me.

During the ceremony, there were some whispers about me being a transfer student and being in Ms Toriumi's class and something about Yukari, but I was spending all of my effort trying not to fall asleep and snore to pay any actually attention. I was leaning on my hand, careful to not touch the students around me, and my eyes were wavering, not being able to focus on the snooze-fest up on stage. Wow, this principal is boring. My principal. Our principal. Uhg, I really am stuck here, aren't I.

After the ceremony closes and all the classes start heading back to their rooms, Yukari finds me in line and just walks behind me after a little whisper of, "We're in the same homeroom, huh?" I bob my head at her, and she laughs at my existence before fading back into the line and joining I guess her friends. I don't know anyone else, and some people start to look at me funny, so I keep my head down and follow the feet in front of me up the stairs into a classroom down a hall on the second story.

Once we're all seated, Ms Toriumi informs us all that we have a new student, and I hold in a groan as I walk up to the board. I thought I wouldn't have to do this since it didn't happen in the game, and it's the beginning of a new year, but she wants to make me cry, I guess.

There's a terrible moment as I wonder wildly if I should write my name in English when Ms Toriumi decides to just write it up there instead, and I stand and mumble out a really horrible self-introduction. My name, my age, and, uh, I like instant foods. The class has a collective laugh and I sulk back to my desk.

Our ever so wonderful teacher tells us all not to get too comfortable since we'll be changing seats soon (groan), but today will be a short day, so she won't get too deep into the material (cheer). The material is apparently just a list of books we'll be referencing during the school year, and the entire thing is just so monotonous that I feel comfortable. Glad to see school is boring in every dimension.

When the bell rings out the end of the school day, I lean back in my chair, moaning. This guy seems to find it either attractive or a call for help and he saunters over to me, grinning.

"So, wassup, dude?" he grins, taking the seat in front of me. I lean forward to look at his face and almost start laughing when I recognize him as Junpei. His voice isn't as Vic Mignogna-y as it is in the game, a bit deeper and rougher, but it is still Junpei. He laughs at me, making me scowl. "You look like a deer in headlights, man."

"And just who are you?" I ask, leaning on my hand again. Junpei isn't really my favourite character, but that's just 'cos he gets so damn whiny. But, right now, he's not really doing anything, so I'll let him slide.

He leans back, pressing both hands on his chest in fake shock. "Me? Why, I'm Junpei Iori. Nice to meet ya," He leans forward again, crossing his arms on my desk and says, "Your self-introduction was pretty hilarious. Good goin'."

I shrug. "What else do people expect me to say?" I eye him again, finding it a bit odd that he's real and not an anime character, and also he should really shave off that scruff. "Did you need me for something?"

"Nah, I just… Well, I transferred here when I was in 8th grade, so I know how tough it is to be a new kid, 'specially when everyone already knows each other," he shrugs again. "I thought I'd check up on you, make sure you weren't freaking out on your first day."

Before I could come back with a retort, Yukari's hovering beside us, putting her hands on her hips and sighing very loudly. I have to laugh at her obvious sense of distaste in Junpei's life choices. "At it again, Junpei? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn't hit on? Haven't you ever thought you might be bothering someone?"

"Oh, ouch, am I not special?" I whine, making a wounded face, but Junpei talks over me.

"Whaaaaaaat? But, I was just bein' friendly," He also makes a wounded face, and he turns to me. "I was playing nice, right?"

I nod. "He was playing nice."

Yukari sighs again, and pulls a chair up to sit next to us. "If you say so, Celia," It's a little weird hearing her say my name, since they never had the voices say the main character's name in the game, since it would probably be impossible for all the voice actors to pronounce every name in the history of ever. "Well, it's still pretty cool that we got the same homeroom. Now I can help you if you have any more questions!"

Junpei looks extremely hurt that we seemed to have cut him out of our conversation, and he practically lays down on the desk, whining as I start laughing at Yukari scrunching her face up in disgust. "Hey, I'm still here y'know? C'mon, lemme in on the funnnn!"

I lightly karate chop his head and he comes back up, still whimpering like a baby. "Besides, you guys know each other out of school, right? The entire class has been buzzing about a couple of cuties like you two coming to school, walking side by side."

Even though I know he means nothing by it, I still blush when he calls me a cutie. Yukari on the other hand, groans loudly. "Could you cut that out? I hate dealing with rumours like that. Besides, even if I'm used to it, she just got here, you know? You should feel bad, spreading rumours."

As I idly wonder the propagation of rumours on what would seem to be Yukari's sexuality, she stands up, moving her chair back to where it came from. "Well, I've gotta go take care of archery team stuff," She pauses, and points a menacing finger at Junpei. He leans back, staring at it carefully, like it was going to turn into a knife and stab him. "Don't you try anything funny, alright?"

She turns on her heel and walks out in a huff, and Junpei starts speaking, still watching the door until after she's gone, as if she might run back in and drop-kick him. Dang, Yukari seems violent. "What, is she your nanny or something?" He glances at me, then turns his body to face me, going back to grinning and joyfulness again. "Well, just to clear things up, I really didn't come over to hit on you or anything. I just wanted to let you know, if you've ever got a problem, you can feel free to tell your ole pal Junpei about it!"

I laugh derisively, leaning back in my seat and folding my arms. Alright, Junpei, I've got one hell of a problem—HOW THE HELL DID I GET HERE. "Sure, I'll be sure to remember that."