Negligible

Alfred desperately rummaged through his belongings, not caring if some of them got damaged. He had recently misplaced something very important and vital to his schooling and education. Well, not necessarily his grades, but rather his school record.

His academy has a strict rule of wearing proper and complete uniform. Wearing their assigned clothes improperly leads to having a minor offense. Unlucky for Alfred, their identification card, or ID for short, was a very important part of that.

Forgetting it a few times would be dismissed by the security guard at the gate. However, once you forget it thrice, you're given a major offense as opposed to having only one minor offense. That won't sound very pretty on the anecdotal record.

Having a major offense means a lesser chance of getting accepted into the school once again. That may sound quite appealing to the students, but that record of yours will also be transported to other academies you would try to enter in.

Think about this, he's not accepted in any colleges. That leads to no graduation, and furthermore, no degree. Most of the desirable jobs require having a degree in college or even a vocational course. It all leaves him broke for the rest of his life. Not much of happy ending, eh?

"Crap! It's not here," exclaimed the blond boy as he zips his backpack closed.

He rummaged through his pants' pockets, in desperate attempts to find it. Bearing no fruits, he goes to check his polo's chest pocket. Once he felt nothing, a feeling of dread spread throughout his mind, discouraging him. There was nothing else he could do but write his name in the guard's log book, and possibly get an offense.

Alfred inhales deeply before going towards the inner gate. "Here goes nothing," he thinks as he takes heavy steps towards the entrance.

There was still the potential of him getting away with no troubles, yet he needed the assistance of the other students. He would have to blend in with the crowd and act like nothing is wrong, seems easier said than done. With a hint of remorse, he tried it anyway.

A large group of students were headed towards the direction of the gate, a perfect opportunity for him. He his himself in the bunch and looked away from the higher authority in the area. Little did he know that he was already noticed.

"Jones! Where's your ID?" asked the officer in a deep voice.

Almost all of the students ignored the little scene and rushed inside the campus, leaving very little cover for the poor boy. He approached the grown up and confessed his wrong doing.

"I don't have it."

"Make sure you do next time. Write your name and section in the log book."

【ヘタリア】

Arthur Kirkland was a regular at the school library. He was always borrowing books, whether it be for his studies or just for the sake of enjoying a good fantasy novel. On rare occasions, he'd be caught reading some romance. Although, he'd never admit to anyone that he loved to read such sappy things like that. But then, it doesn't really matter since the only people he could call 'friends' were also his worst enemies.

Despite being a senior himself, there wasn't that much work for him to do. There would be the occasional test or project, yet nothing much would really take up his time. The only way to get him quite busy and active with his schooling was through joining the extracurricular activities that were offered. Being a boy of discipline and good behaviour, he refuses to join any sports or even the student council. After being part of that group, he was tortured with the overwhelming amount of work. He would wish not to have a repeat of that. In conclusion, he'd spend every extra hour in his favourite place, the library.

After an exhausting day of classes and noisy classmates, he proceeds to drown himself into the tall bookshelf maze. His steps are light and, not at all very noisy or attention-grabbing. Green eyes rolled around in their sockets as they scanned the words written on the spines of the paperbacks and hard bounds. Some were titles of books he had already finished reading or simply the ones he chose to ignore. In hopes to find something that would stand out, he walks further and further while his eyes trailed on the words tilted at a 90-degree angle.
Bright, albeit mild, colours catch his attention. An averagely thick book with a glossy feel on the front cover was soon situated in his hands. He examined the object carefully and noted down important and little details in his mind.

The title consisted of three neatly written words in Bebas bold font at the middle area, only a few millimeters above the author's initials, which were placed at the bottom of the page. Two people, a blond girl with shining green eyes and blond boy with glistening ocean blue irises, looked like they were making faces at each other.

When Arthur got curious, he turned the book over to read preview. He took in every word and did his best to analyse what they meant. His facial expression changed with each line of story he took in.

At the beginning, Arthur's face was neutral, a straight line harbouring his lips. Around the middle, a shocked expression went on, mouth opening slightly. Nearing the end, he was back to being curious. This seemed to be convincing enough to read.

In his own words, the story would probably be something like this: "A girl suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, named Alice, enters a school for the elite. She was young and inspired writer. The school discovered her when she published a book that was rather popular.

Her disorder was kept a secret from everyone, even the school staff since that could possibly hinder her from entering. On occasion, she would have difficulty with her lessons since two personalities don't share memories, but she learned to study in advance and take pills to keep the second personality intact.

However, once she fell in love, her brain was a mess of emotions. The boy, whose name was Alex, had simply no clue about her mental stability. They were in a mutual understanding, that was until the second personality broke free.

The original Alice was a friendly, diligent, and caring girl. She chooses to be tsundere and only show affection when she feels like it. On the other hand, the second personality, named Anya, was basically a narcissistic spoiled brat that had a taste for brutal murder. Compared to Alice, she'd be very willing to express her feelings, in the way of blood and gore."

Feeling rather intrigued by the summary, he kept the novel in his grasp and went to leave the aisle he was currently standing in. He turned the corner and headed straight towards the checkout counter, where the students borrow and return books.

Arthur turns his head around the area, scanning and comparing today to the usual amount of people that spend time here on a regular basis. Several seats and tables were empty, most of the overhead lamps were not in use, and only a few books were being read or stacked on the desks.

It was an odd sight to see the library practically empty. Students who love to remain quiet take refuge here and douse themselves in a lovely story. Everyone would respect each other and offer silence whilst they busied themselves with studying or simply wasting time.

By now, he had arrived at the desk only to be greeted by the head librarian, Mr. Hidekaz Himaruya. Both of them were on good terms with each other and refused to push their luck on thin ice. "Ah, Arthur! I see you've got something that caught your eye again."

The young boy bowed, as a sign of respect, and proceed to deliver his message to the elder man. "But of course, sir. There are a lot of wonders waiting to be discovered in a place such as this."

The elder man had a smile on his face while he extended his hand for the book the lad obviously wanted to borrow. More than happily, Arthur handed the item and his identification card, then patiently watching throughout the process.

First of all, Himaruya brought up the scanner to the bar code situated at the top right area to locate the book whoever it was placed in the server. Afterwards, he took Arthur's ID and took his personal school code. Once the two combinations were synchronized, he flipped the book over to stamp on when the due date would be.

The book was returned to the student within a few seconds after. Merely exchanging several words, Arthur left the librarian's side and headed towards the double door exit. His shoes clacked against the neatly polished tiles of the floor as he did so. Locks of blond hair moving ever so slightly with every movement made by its owner.

A gust of wind met him at the other side. The clouds seemed to relay a similar message since grey was an evident colour in the skies. Rain would pour down very soon. Despite coming from a place with ample amounts of precipitation, Arthur wouldn't enjoy walking home completely soaked and dripping wet.

With that in mind, he hurried towards the main exit of the campus. Passing by the quadrangle that was right in front of his favourite place, he took a turn towards the younger grade classrooms. At the end of the hallway was the graciously spacious ground floor lobby. Several children were still present, playing with their dear friends. Distressed freshmen would be caught fussing over many things, like their unfinished projects, pending papers, and missed appointments.

Simply wanting to arrive home before heavy rainfall, Arthur weaved his way, carefully avoiding his fellow schoolmates. He went straight towards the barrier between the inner campus and the outer campus, informing the security guard of his leave. Higher authority dismissed him immediately, seeing that he was a high school student, giving him an easier time.

Out he went, shoes rubbing against the asphalt with friction. He faced the general direction of his home and continued to speed-walk on the pavement. Arthur's house wasn't really that far away, yet he was quite sluggish due to the heavy traffic congestion that took place right at the street everything was located in. Crossing the road would take a bit of his precious, precious time and jaywalking wasn't an acceptable method.

In fact, Arthur felt rather lucky that he reached the confinements of his house's living room before it started drizzling. Before he goes to his room to wash up, the kitchen becomes his second destination. Right there, he found his mother, slicing up vegetables and other spices for their dinner.

"Hello, Arthur. I see you're back," she said in a gentle tone, her accent only making it much more soothing.

"Hello, mum. I just came here to make sure you knew that I was back," he replied quietly.

"Ah, well, I'll just call you when dinner is ready. Do whatever you want, your brothers still aren't here."

To his parents, Arthur would be kind and patient, just like they had been while raising him from a toddler. However, when he is placed alone with his elder siblings, hell would most probably break loose. They claim to never appreciate and accept each other, but, secretly, they all know that they'd get quite lonely without the others' presence. Although, Arthur would still be fine alone since he's a bit of an introvert.

He retreated to his room and did usual after school routine; take a quick shower, get dressed, clean up a bit, and do whatever. For some odd reason, he followed this strictly and usually failed to miss a day of not performing a single task. Discipline is of great importance to him, he's not just going to let that slip.

Once he was finished, he took out the book from earlier and started to read. Starting from this moment, he would either kill you for disturbing him or be politely answered to. The latter would only happen if you are one of his parents.

Most of the things in his environment are being ignored by his body senses. The sensory receptors focused on the literature piece being held by the hands in front of the eyes. Although the skin on his back took note on how the sensation of his shirt rubbing against his sheets felt a bit rough, the rest of his body was lost in another world that cannot be entered in by anyone, unless you are a character from the story he's reading.

Let's travel to his inner thoughts, shall we? Nothing precisely interesting would be happening soon.

Of course, knowing this author, you absolutely can't expect that there would be many happy events. She's a great fan of destroying hearts. So, Alice receives a scholarship and tells her parents about the news. Since her family isn't quite rich, despite publishing a best-seller, things would go so much easier if she went there.

After settling the documents needed, she found herself in front of the school gates, shivering like crazy. There was absolutely no way she was prepared for this. All of her life, she was tutored by a friend of her parents, who knew how to deal with people with her disorder and was also a great teacher. In great shock, she closed her eyes and held onto her backpack straps tighter.

To her surprise, there weren't any other students but her in the walkway. As an instinct, she sped down the rest of the distance of cemented floor and entered the lobby. She approached a bulletin board she saw, thinking it was important since it stood out from the rest of the things in the room, and read the announcement.

'All students please proceed to the auditorium for the orientation program.'

Right when Arthur was about to flip another page, he was met with something falling out one of the pages. It didn't make a noise when it landed on the fluffy sheets, so he immediately assumed it was something harmless, like someone accidentally leaving a bookmark. He picked it up and examined it. Just by looking at the picture and words written on it, he was definitely sure of what it was.

It was an identification card, or more commonly known as an ID. A picture of a (very handsome) blond boy with bright blue eyes and glasses was in the front. Underneath, a name was written in yellow; "Alfred F. Jones". Only a single line break below, there was another set of words. Luckily, it was the grade and section of the careless idiot, who left his own entrance to the school inside a book that belongs to the academy.

The boy was a ninth grader in the 3rd section. That meant that his classroom, tenth grade first section, was right most probably right next to Alfred's. He planned to return it back to the poor boy the following day. But, he would be very happy if he finishes the novel before that happened.

Knock, knock.

"Arthur, it's time for dinner," calmly said his mother.

【ヘタリア】

Once the recess bell rang, majority of the students in his class waited until their very beloved mathematics teacher was out of the room. (They wouldn't really have a problem with her if she didn't get angry at 8:30 in the morning.) When the door was shut, the noise broke loose. The popular girls gossiping, the jocks making a mess, and the studious students grouped together and discussed about some of the things they don't understand. The ones who didn't fit under any label, like Arthur, just went with their own business.

The said boy had the object he found in a book last night and wished to return it to its proper owner. Just as he thought, the idiot's room was right next to his own, shockingly much quieter than his. Without any reluctance, he trudges over to the door and takes a glance at the glass window.

There were only 3 people inside. One of them had white hair with something yellow perched atop it, another had spiky blond hair, but it wasn't the same style as the one in the picture. The last one, probably the loudest one out of the trio, had blond hair that had one strand that loved to defy gravity. Arthur glanced at the ID, just to be extra sure about it. Yep, it was him.

The door was opened suddenly, unintentionally forceful. Two pairs of blue eyes and a pair of red met green. Silence took over the room as they all stared. Arthur's breath finally caught up with him because he finally felt himself exhale. He hurriedly cleared his throat and gave the trio a stern look before speaking his purpose.

"Alfred F. Jones," he said.

The one with glasses spoke up. "Yeah?"

The Briton presented the item in his palm to the American and began speaking once again. "I believe you left this in a library book."

With wide eyes, Alfred got up and grabbed his oh-so-beloved card. However, what was shocking was the fact that he also hugged the (astoundingly handsome) stranger. "Dude, thanks a lot! My record got pretty busted without this."

Not knowing the immense power of his own strength, the taller blond tightened his grasp, the other ninth graders just laughing at the peculiar scene presented in front of their very own eyes. It was obvious that they weren't going let their friend live this down without tons and tons of teasing and matchmaking.

"Kesesese, Alfred, why don't you go fuck your boyfriend somewhere else?" said the albino.

With those words, Arthur finally managed to the American off him. His pale cheeks were tinted with a bit of pink as he did so. "Look, I can see that you're absolutely thankful for this little action of mine, but I would like to be going now."

"Hey! Wait, at least tell me your name," begged Alfred.

Mathias nearly fell off his desk laughing.

The senior looked back and whispered, "Arthur Kirkland," before he ran away.