I wasn't tired last night, but at quarter-past-seven I got knock on my door.

By now, I was fairly tired; my body thought it was eleven at night, but I was coherent.

"Chotto, sorehadearu Yukari!" I shook my head back onto Tokyo track. "Are you awake?"

I've already been dressed for school for a good few hours. I couldn't sleep, so I gave up trying around four and practiced my Japanese. I reckoned I was alright as long as I didn't speak more than I had to.

"Hello?" Yukari repeated. "Please answer the door, or I'll get in trouble!"

Oh, right.

I rushed to open the door. Yukari was standing there in her pink sweater and short skirt, sans gun. "Good morning!" she asked, stepping into my room (Score, if I was actually Japanese). "Did you sleep okay?"

I decided that I'd be honest for once. "Didn't. Jet lag."

"Ouch." she winced sympathetically. "Well, Mitsuru-Senpai asked me to take you to school; we'll get some coffee along the way."

Now, I don't actually drink coffee (Never really saw the point, I looked tired no matter what I did, and it never made me feel any more alert), but when she looked me up and down, I got the impression she was checking me out, so I figured why the hell not?

"Sure, okay." I replied with a smile, grabbing my satchel before heading out.

So now, here I am, walking to school with a girl who I suspected was probably interested in me.

It was a nice feeling. One I missed.

And you are never going to believe this, but in Japan, they have Coffee machines.

Not the ones that give you a cup and fill it with coffee. Oh, no. There are actual vending machines that serve hot coffee in cans.

Yeah. I know.

Of course, I've got two years to try this stuff out, so not wanting to come across as a noob, I opted for the orange juice, knowing it'd do me better in the long run of the day. We talked too, mostly about how our schools were different. After a few minutes, she started leading the conversation, which let me do what I did best.

Listen.

Our conversation continued while on the train. We seemed to be getting along, but there was a hint of...

Well, either Mitsuru asked her to help me out, or she's making an effort, but either way I appreciate it.

"So, that's it." Yukari finished, pointing to the window. "See? There it is!"

I looked out of the train window.

There was just ocean.

But then the train bent around the corner, and I had to admit, the school looked pretty damn awesome.

It was on an artificial island for crying out loud!

A Bloody artificial island!

We carried on talking the rest of the way, this time Yukari was filling me in about all the teachers and clubs they have. Along the path I saw a girl pass us on a bike. "Good morning!" she cried out to Yukari.

"Good morning." She replied. Damn, I so have got to get myself a new bike.

As we approached the gates, Yukari stepped infront of me and turned around. "Well, this is it." She told me. "We're here. Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it!" she said with a smile.

Too bloody cute, she is.

We walked into the building together, stopping at some lockers right by the entrance.

Ah, that's right, you wear slippers in Japanese schools and put your shoes in the locker.

"You're okay from here, right?" Yukari asked as she slipped her brown shoes into her locker.

"Yeah, I think so." I replied. I thought she wore boots, but turns out they were just very long socks.

"You should go see your homeroom teacher first." Yukari advised. "The Faculty Office is right there to the left... And that concludes the tour!" She announced, closing her locker. "Do you have any questions before I go?"

Actually, most of my questions were answered on the way here without having to ask. But I was starting to think I had a chance with this girl so I decided to play it smooth. "What class are you in?" I asked.

"Me?" Yukari asked, and I realised that it was a stupid question. "I dunno… I haven't seen the classroom assignments yet."

That was why. Yukari suddenly looked worried. "Hey… About last night... Don't tell anyone what you saw, okay? ...See ya later."

With that she left. I noticed a bulletin board with some people in front of it, but my name probably wasn't on it.

So, I decided to follow Yukari's advice and check out the faculty office.

Saw some interesting people on the way there.

There was a guy in trackies talking to a girl, having a semi-argument.

There was a nervous guy with glasses talking to another guy, clearly dominant, almost aggressive, but they seemed to be getting along.

There was a fat guy already talking to the lady behind the tuck shop.

There was some blonde guy with a fan talking to a… um… Teacher I suppose? Someone in a Samurai helmet anyways. They were having a clearly enthusiastic conversation. I had a really weird mental image of the two of them with black bowl cuts and matching green jumpsuits, and I shook my head clear.

I know I'm in Japan. I am NOT going to catch the Otaku.

"Um… S-Senpai..?"

I turned round; glad I could recognise those words even though I wasn't expecting them. There was a younger lass with long hair and glasses. She was probably pretty good looking, but she was hunched over her books, an absolute cliché. She seemed absolutely terrified.

"Um… Um… N-Nevermind!" she squeaked as she turned and ran. Strange girl.

I walked into the teachers lounge with a sigh.

A few seconds after coming in, a teacher in a suit noticed me. "Oh, are you the new student?" she asked me. I nodded, and she checked her chart.

"Minato Arisoto, Eleventh grade, correct?" I nod again, and she looks back at her notes. "Let's see… wow, all the way from England huh?" she asked. "And… in ninety-nine..."

I prepared my self for the usual. "That was, what, ten years ago? Your family…" she gasped, and I already knew what the board said.

Now for the apologies and condolences. "I'm sorry, I've just been so busy, and I didn't have time to read this before hand…" That's not all you're sorry for, but what the hey, I don't bear grudges. I realised that they weren't worth the effort four years after my parents died, back when I was eleven. "I'm Ms. Toriumi." she introduced herself. "I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

I nodded and offered my hand. She shook it, seeing I preferred the English greeting over the Japanese bow. "Have you seen the classroom assignments yet?" she asked.

I shook my head, putting my hands in my pocket. "You're in 2-F, that's my class." She explained. "But first you need to get to the auditorium, the opening ceremony will be starting soon. You go on ahead." She told me, sitting back down at the desk. "I need to catch up on all this paperwork…"

I don't envy you.

As I left I saw the blonde lad from before, still talking with the Samurai.

"Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

The sound was coming from two other lads, one my height with brown hair, and a taller one with a cap. Walking past them, I decided that I was suddenly in the mood for some taunting. "YOOOOOOOUUUUUTTTHH!"

The guys laughed and held up their hands. Surprised, I double fived them. Normally, that taunt of mine would be calling them a Narutard back home, but apparently Naruto was cool in Japan. Who knew?

I sighed to myself. I really need to learn how to speak Japanese well enough to use sarcasm in the privacy of my own head.

Mind you, perhaps my time would be better spent practicing sarcasm outside my head so people can actually hear it?

...Nah.

I ended up talking to the two on the way to the auditorium. Brown hair was called Kenji something, and hat was Junpei Iori. Both seemed like the kind of guy who the teachers said would be good students if they'd just apply themselves. In other words, lazy, but generally good mates, so we got along.

I concentrated through the announcements, but there was nothing really worth noting, other than I wouldn't be able to join any sports clubs for a couple of weeks. Fine with me, I doubt that they have any fishing, brawling or hiking clubs anyways.

I switched off through the head's speech; something told me it would be dull as a Monday afternoon.

Well, Monday afternoons are probably fairly sunny over here, but I still reckon that the head's speech won't be any different from any of the others I've heard.

'Do your best', 'Uphold the school', 'Reach for your dreams', and, my personal favourite, 'Don't say you can't, say you'll try.'

I smirked inwardly. Do or Do Not, there is No Try. Whether you succeed or fail is out of the question, either you put enough effort in, or you didn't. I believed in hard work over natural talent, but I also believed in having enough badassery to say what you want and follow through with your words.

That smirk turned into a smile. Good old Yoda.

It was a sarcastic smile, but I'd never been good at facial expressions. For all the skill I had with reading emotions, no-one could read mine. I could be an awesome interrogator, or even a conman.

Ever seen that show, Lie to Me? I doubt even that guy could read me. Counsellors said that trauma from the car accident my family died in retarded my emotional growth, but I knew that was a load of bollocks. I'm as 'Emotionally Intelligent' as the next three guys put together.

Actually, make that the next three girls. Other lads don't seem to grasp the concept.

The second reason it was bull was more obvious.

My parents didn't die in a car crash.

We'll, maybe they did, but that wasn't why they died.

Now that was traumatising.

Then there was all that stuff afterwards...

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the guy behind me tapping my shoulder. I turned my head so he was in my peripheral vision, and so he knew he had my attention.

"You came to school with Yukari-San this morning, right?" he asked. "I saw you two walking together."

I nodded. "Hey, I have a question." he whispered. "Do you know if she has a boyfriend?"

I realised what this guy was getting at. He was a cowardly chap who couldn't gather the scrotum needed to ask a girl out.

Then I remembered I was in Japan, that's supposed to be normal.

Deciding to do the guy a favour, I shrugged.

"I see. I thought you might know, but... I guess not. ...So, how well do you know her?"

I was about to tell the guy that I only got into the country yesterday, but a teacher told us to be quiet. I shut up, but I could still hear people talking. I didn't waste my breath trying to shut them up.

Holy crap that sounds totally emo and 'I hate everyone'. I got enough of that back home because of my hair. Naturally blue, I grew it over one side to hide my scar from the accident, then grew it over my face because I thought it looked cool.

Actually, I reckon I really did it so it was harder to see my face. People stopped being concerned, going from thinking I have depression to just thinking I was a whiny emo brat.

I was fine with that, so long as I didn't actually become a whiny emo brat.

After the assembly, we went to our classrooms. I picked a seat right in the middle, it's the one place teachers ignore.

The studious kids sat at the front, the trouble makers at the back, the daydreamers by the windows and the kids who didn't want to be there were on the right hand side of the classroom, near the exit.

Junpei sat next to me, on the right (surprise surprise), though Kenji opted for a seat closer to the back. Surprisingly, Yukari sat in front of me, behind the person front and centre.

From our conversation earlier, I gathered that she liked school, but I thought she just had a haggle of friends. She actually seems serious about getting some qualifications. I could tell that Yukari was paying attention as Ms. Toriumi spoke, while Junpei's mind seemed elsewhere.

I was pretty tired around ten-ish, body thinking it was two in the morning, so I decided to catch some sleep. It was in the home room all day, and since I always looked half asleep, I figured I'd be fine as long as I didn't snore. I leaned forward on the desk and looked towards the windows on my left, resting my jaw on my palm.

Now I remembered why I grew my hair down my face. Teachers couldn't tell if I was sleeping or distracted.

"Yo, yatsu ha mezame tekudasai."

Huh, what? Not now. Sleeping. Wake me and die.

"Yatsu, gakkou over, everyone's leaving."

My brain shifted into gear and comprehended what was just said, and I was awake.

Another skill I learnt in school, I could go from groggy to wide awake instantly without any noticeable change. Other lads could pull it off too, but I turned sleeping in class into an art form.

"Dude, you were out like a light all day." the stealer of sleep continued. "Man, what were you doing last night?"

I turned to face the fool who dared disturb my slumber. Junpei. "I got into the country yesterday," I snarled, but the throat wasn't capable of producing the menace I was thinking of. "Body clock still out of wack." Damn Japanese language.

"Oh, right." he nodded. "What's the time difference over there?" Junpei didn't actually seem that interested in me, it felt like he was just being polite so he could talk with someone.

I leaned back in my seat and rotated my shoulders. "Japan's about seven hours ahead, so I should be getting up around now anyways…" My neck made a popping noise, and it hurt a bit. Was that bad?

Junpei flinched. At the time difference, not the neck pop. "Damn, no wonder you look wrecked."

Yukari twisted back in her seat to face him. "At it again, huh?" she complained. "I swear, you'll talk to anyone who'll listen."

Junpei turned to her with a smile. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan!" he shouted pleasantly. "Didn't think we'd be in the same class again this year."

Yukari sighed. "Don't you think you might be bothering someone?" she asked. "And for the record, apparently he always looks like that."

"I told you that?" I asked her.

She raised an eyebrow. "On the way to the station, you were explaining why you weren't a fan of coffee."

"Oh yeah..." I remembered. I usually don't pay much attention to what I'm saying. Again, Listener. It's a habit I need to get out of.

Junpei turned to me with surprise plastered all over his face. "Seriously?" he asked in shock "Dude, you're clearly not drinking enough."

"If you say so." Yukari sighed, turning to me, "Anyways, looks like we're in the same homeroom..."

"Aye," I was still fairly tired and was slipping into English, so I corrected myself. "That's good."

Yukari smiled. "Yeah, tough being the new kid without anyone you know."

Junpei looked mildly offended. "Um, Hello? Are you forgetting that I'm in this class too?" His expression changed to a smirk as he slid between us, leaning on my desk. "By the way…" He began, looking fairly mischievous, if malevolent. Oh, this will not end well. "I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's up with that? Come on, gimme the dirt!"

Wait, that's it? Wow, this school really bought into the whole 'mysterious transfer student' Trope quick, didn't they?

Yukari looked shocked and leant back. "W-What're you talking about? We live in the same dorm!"

It seemed natural logic to me that two people with the same origin and destination would travel together, but Asians have weird logic. "There's nothing going on, okay?" Yukari insisted.

Yep, good old perverse Japan. "Why are people even talking about it?"

Only the Japanese would automatically assume a relationship from that, unless we were holding hands or actually flirting, which we weren't.

Give me some credit. I'm subtle.

Yukari sighed, "Now you have me worried…" She turned back to me, rant apparently over. "Hey… You didn't say anything to anyone about…" She hesitated, remembering Junpei was part of the conversation, "You know what, did you?"

While that sounded slightly suspicious out of context, it sounded more like a secret than something sexual, even for Junpei, so I shook my head. "Nope."

"Okay, Good." Yukari leaned on my desk, coming closer to me and lowering her voice. "Seriously… Don't say anything about last night, alright?"

Okay, I take that back. There is no way that anyone on the planet would interpret that as anything other than me sleeping with her. Junpei actually jumped to his feet in shock. Yukari looked at him, "Wh-What?"

Junpei stammered. "L-last night..?"

Yukari jumped to her feet with rage and indignation. "W-WAIT A MINUTE!" She shouted. "Don't get the wrong idea!"

I considered helping her, I really did, but I reckoned anyone stupid enough to say that in front of a school boy, much less a Japanese one who thinks you're in a relationship with the person you said it to, deserved what they got.

I like to think I'm an easygoing guy, but some things just don't deserve forgiveness.

I mean, really. Come on. She brought it on herself.

Junpei turned to me, holding out his hand for a five, "Dude, You Brits got skills!", he grinned, but Yukari slapped his wrist away

"Listen!" she shouted. "I just met him yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us!"

Wait, what?

Realising the severity of what had happened, I made a mental note to strangle Junpei in his sleep. Dammit, I should have helped her!

"Geez..." Yukari sighed, calming down. "I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you better not start any rumours!"

With that, she stormed off. Once she was gone, Junpei turned back to me, holding his palms in the air in a shrug. "Ah, who cares, no-one takes rumours seriously anyways." He let his hands fall down to his sides. "Sheesh, she's so paranoid… Say…" He said, leaning on my desk with one hand. "Is there anything going on between you two?"

Not anymore now that Junpei had got Yukari to deny any possibility of it, but I decided to let him off easy, shaking my head. I was still annoyed, but hey, I promised myself to wait until he was asleep before killing him.

Promises are important, after all.

"Ah, well." Junpei sighed, disappointed. "But hey! It's your first day here, and people are already talking about you. Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular. Even if you just walked to school with her, you da man!"

Really? For walking to school with an, admittedly, cute girl?

That was all it took to be admired in this school?

If that was Japan's minimum threshold for badassery...

Well, let's just say I made myself another promise, shall we?

Junpei ended up walking home with me until we could see the dorm. "See ya!" he shouted, setting off in the opposite direction.

I could tell his house was nowhere near here, and judging from his pace, he was in no rush to get home.

That ruled out being clingy and brought forward a second, more serious theory.

Sigh.

This bleeding heart of mine is gonna kill me one of these days.

Then again, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I ended up following him. Then asking him to come with me to get some stuff as an excuse to spend more time with him. He seemed delighted, but hid it badly under a groan. "Alright then, if you really need my help."

He didn't fool me, and I think he knew it, but I didn't mind. Like I said, I tend to put other people before myself.

I was pretty tired, and really wanted some actual sleep. That nap I got at school only made me even more tired, but I kept myself going.

We ended up going to Paulownia mall to buy some stuff I didn't think to pack, mostly Tupperware containers and a label maker. Apparently, if I want to keep food in a dorm, I need to label everything.

I didn't have the heart to tell him my room had a mini fridge.

We ended up going to some music, so I could get some 'actual' music. Apparently my music collection was lacking, but I couldn't get Junpei to appreciate the classics.

You know, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Marley, Nirvana, Meatloaf, Chilli's, Blink 182 and Clapton weren't good enough. I already had a few J-Rock bands as well; Nightmare, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Black Mages, but Junpei made me endure listening to J-Pop for almost half an hour. Actually, Lotus Juice weren't that bad, so I got that.

We eventually grabbed a pastry from the Coffee shop and went our separate ways. Having done my good deed for the day, I headed back to the dorm that would be my home for the next couple of years, chewing on my Danish and humming along to the song I just bought. "Buurnnnn Myyyyy Dreeaad…"

Damn, this was a pretty damn awesome song. Mental note, play this when I'm on my deathbed.

When I got back to the dorm, it was already dark. I noticed Mitsuru sitting on the couch, reading. I didn't catch the title, but I saw it was in French. Noticing me, she nodded "Welcome back."

"Evening." I muttered, slipping my shoes off and noticing the rack that some people were using. Why didn't I see that yesterday?

Right. Creepy contract child and, of course, the lovely Yukari- student by day, gunman by night!

Noticing my drooping posture, Mitsuru closed her book on her thumb and smiled knowingly. "You must be tired. Go get some sleep, you've got school tomorrow."

I turned around to look at her, but she was already back inside her book.

I decided to take her advice.

I passed a confident looking guy, probably a year older than me despite his grey hair. Must be bleached, or something.

Meh, I have blue hair, who am I to judge?

He nodded at me, saying hey.

I was too tired to do anything but nod dumbly back. It's annoying to know you looked like an idiot, but would look even more like an idiot if you went back and tried to rectify it.

Meh.

He didn't notice my meaningless dilemma and walked up to the coat hangers, slinging a jacket over his shoulder. He didn't put it on; he just held it by the collar and over his shoulder. "I'm going out for a bit." He declared, presumably to Mitsuru.

"Hm?" Mitsuru asked, barely looking up from her book.

The older lad walked towards the door. "Didn't you see the newspaper?" he asked. "There's a lot going on."

I smiled as I went upstairs. Gray hair was most likely going out for a scrap. I'd follow him next time; I could do with some action.

No, right now I need sleep.

So I walked into my room and got changed. I had just enough energy left to pack away the stuff I bought, putting the CD on the desk so I'd remember to copy it in the morning, and went to bed. I was out when my head it the pillow.