Chapter 6: New Student

"Hi, my name is Irina Shidou. It's amazing to meet you all." Irina said, smiling brightly in an Akeno like style as she waved to everyone.

Everyone in the class smiled back, happy to have a friendly face join their class. Meanwhile, two students, seated in the left corner of the room, looked at her, almost nose-bleeding. They were nicknamed by other students, particularly the girls, as the "pervert duo": Matsuda, and Motohamma. "Oh man, look at the rack on that one," Matsuda said, smiling. "Yeah, measurements are..." Motohamma said, trailing off as he adjusted his large glasses.

The girls in the room glared at them while the guys struggled to hold back a laugh at their antics. Irina giggled. "Fufu, it seems this class is quite energetic," said Irina, amused.

"You have no idea, especially with one particular student. Anyway, choose a seat." The teacher said as he gestured for her to take a seat.

Irina glanced at him for a second, curious about the student he mentioned, but didn't question it as she looked around for an open seat. Her eyes landed on two empty seats on the right side of the room next to the window. Irina sat in one of the seats, with the other empty seat right next to the window, on her left, and two girls seated next to her on her right.

"Hey, don't worry about those two. They're like that," said the girl right next to Irina. She had medium-length brown hair, tied into two pigtails with red ribbons, much like Irina's hair but much shorter, and hazel-colored eyes.

"Yeah, we'll deal with them if they try to harass you, Irina," said the other girl seated next to the brown-haired girl, one seat over from Irina. She had short, shoulder-length pink hair, a white hair band on her head, and pinkish-brown eyes.

"Fufu, that's good to hear, but go easy on them, please." Irina said, giggling. "Oh, yeah, I'm Murayama, and this is Katase. I hope we can be good friends." The brown-haired girl said, smiling, gesturing to herself and her friend next to her.

"Nice to meet you, I hope so too," Irina said smiling back. The girls exchanged smiles, but Murayama and Katase realized something, and their faces turned worried.

Irina noticed their changed expressions and got worried herself. "Oh, yeah. I'm glad you picked this seat. Otherwise, you'd be sitting in his seat," Katase said, pointing at the empty seat on Irina's left.

"Who sits here?" Irina asked, turning to the seat. "He's your resident delinquent, and not only that, he's the leader of the infamous Crimson Dragons. I'm sorry you have to sit next to him." Murayama said, shivering with concern.

"Is that right? Well, don't worry. Some delinquent doesn't scare me," Irina said, smiling fearlessly. Murayama and Katase looked at her, surprised but smirking. "Well, aren't you the fearless one? You know we're the captains of the kendo club. You wanna join us?" Murayama asked, gesturing to herself and Katase.

"Sure, sounds like fun. I happen to be quite skilled with sword fighting," Irina said, enthusiastic. The two girls smiled brightly at Irina's acceptance, but before they could respond, the classroom door slid open, and in came Jiro. Everyone in the classroom tensed up in nervousness, apart from the pervert duo, who glared at him, envious of his good looks and popularity with some of the girls.

"Y-you're late," the teacher said, also nervous but trying to hide it. "Yeah, sorry about that. I ran into a few...roadblocks." Jiro said, recalling to himself the group of jocks he clobbered before coming to class.

Jiro goes to his seat in the corner of the classroom, next to the window, and right next to Irina. Jiro glanced over at her, remembering no one had sat next to him before now. "Hm, are you new here?" Jiro asked, his face looking calm while he spoke in his mind. 'She's kinda cute.'

Irina looked at him fearlessly. "Yes, I am. I just joined this class before you came in." Irina said, turning back forward as she thought to herself, 'So this is the crimson dragon's leader Murayama and Katase were talking about. But I have to admit, he's kind of handsome.'

As the teacher started his lesson, Jiro and Irina stole a few glances at each other from time to time.

'Something about her...'

'Something about him...'

'...feels familiar.' They said in unison, in their minds.

Lunchtime had come and gone, and Jiro had left the cafeteria to go to his next class. While he was walking through the halls, passing the other students who were avoiding him as usual, a girl who was focused on reading a piece of paper while walking bumped into him, stumbling back slightly while he stood there unaffected. He looked down at her and realized it was the new girl who had joined his class earlier that day.

Irina looked up at him and realized who he was. "Oh, sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going," Irina said, looking up at Jiro.

"Yeah, you really should." Jiro said, walking past Irina. Irina pouted at his slightly blunt response and called out to him.

"Hey, don't just say that and walk away. You should show more respect to your senpais, punk boy," Irina said, turning around to him and pointing at him in a dramatic manner.

"Huh, 'Senpai', we're in the same grade, in the same home room class even." Jiro said, stopping and turning to look at her with a "wtf" face. Irina pouts again at his response.

"Whatever, you're still a troublemaker. You need to respect your elders, and don't try to be too cool and stuff." Irina said, lecturing him, as if it was her responsibility to educate him. Jiro turns around further, and looks at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Anyway, is there something you need before I keep walking?" Jiro asked, looking at her with a questioning look. Irina glared at him as she lectured him.

"I need you to stop playing the rebellious teenager and be a good boy like the rest of the class. Can you do that, punk?" Irina said, making him make a "wtf" face again, and simply reply with "what?"

"You heard me. I heard you're a gang leader, or whatever, but that doesn't bother me. Behave yourself, young man!" Irina said, walking right up to him and poking his forehead with her pointed index finger.

"So you know who I am, and still choose to harp on me like this? That takes guts. In fact, I kinda respect it," Jiro said, deadpan.

Irina looked up at him with no fear in her eyes. "I don't need your respect. And does it look like I'm afraid? You're the one who should be afraid. I promise that if I hear about you doing something bad, I'm gonna come, and hit you!" Irina said, making a pose, pointing her fist in the air with a determined look on her face.

As this happens, the other students in the hall, watching the interaction, look at Irina as if she must be insane to threaten someone like Jiro. Jiro looks at her with an eyebrow raised, processing her words. After a few seconds, he laughs.

"Aha, ha, ha, ha, you've got spunk. I like that. And you're kinda funny too." Jiro said, laughing heartily.

Irina glares up at him as a tick mark forms on her left cheek, not appreciating his response to her threat. "So, why are you dressing like that anyways? Just to look 'cool'?" Irina makes a quotation mark with the two fingers to emphasize the word "cool".

Jiro's laughter dies down, and he looks back down at her. "Heh, it's just my style," Jiro said simply, wiping a tear from his left eye.

"Well, it's a bad style. I prefer guys who dress properly," Irina said as she looked at his outfit in mock disgust. Jiro smirked in amusement.

"You don't like it?" Jiro asked, smiling as he stepped closer and looked into her eyes, making her blush. Irina looked away, slightly embarrassed, with a slight blush on her face.

"No way, it's too tacky and vulgar," Irina said, trying to look disinterested, but subtly stealing glances at his handsome face. Jiro chuckled at her response.

"Hey, we all have our ways of expressing ourselves," Jiro said, smirking and putting a hand up in a matter-of-fact way. Irina was not deterred by his reasoning.

"Yeah... But there are better ways to express yourself than... That!" Irina said, pointing at him from head to toe. She then put her hand on his shoulder to show him a well-dressed student wearing the school's boys' uniform, passing by as an example.

"Look at him...see how elegant and proper he is," Irina said with an approving smile. Jiro looked at the student, then back down at her, his eyes moving, but his head still turned.

"You're calling me inelegant?" Jiro asked, looking down at her with an amused smile, secretly enjoying this back-and-forth, but also feeling a strange sense of familiarity in it. Irina looked up at him, pouting, but also secretly enjoying it.

"Yes, I am! You have absolutely no manners!" She said, puffing out her cheeks in mock irritation.

"Honestly, I wonder how your parents would react if they saw you like this? Don't you think they would be disappointed?" Irina asked, putting her finger up in the air in a lecturing fashion.

Hearing that, Jiro looked at her with a solemn look, and then looked away. Irina saw his expression change as she mentioned his parents. "Um...? Did I touch a sore spot?" She asked in slight concern, to which Jiro responded, "kinda".

Irina looked at him apologetically, realizing that his parents may have disowned him...or worse. She realized the mistake she made, put her hand in front of her mouth, and bowed her head apologetically, not wanting to make him feel bad. "Oh no, I'm really sorry, I didn't know! I didn't mean to be insensitive." Irina said while bowing.

Jiro looks at her, caught off guard by her changed demeanor, considering her earlier attitude, but he feels that sense of familiarity with her grow stronger. "Uh, it's fine...but...you know...there's something...familiar about you." Jiro said as he looks at her intensely.

Irina raised her head and made a curious expression with her head slightly tilted to the side. "Me? Familiar...? In what way?" Irina asked, confused. To tell the truth, she also felt something familiar about him, especially the color of his eyes, but couldn't quite put her finger on it, and wanted to find out more.

"I don't know...I just feel like I know you from somewhere." Jiro said, studying her face. Irina looked at him strangely, secretly studying his face, also feeling as if she had seen him somewhere before.

"You have a really bad memory then. We just met today; there is no way you can remember me from somewhere else." Irina said, crossing her arms and shaking her head with a smirk on her face.

"Hmph, I'll figure it out eventually. Anyway, if you're still feeling bad about what you asked a second ago, do you want to go to a cafe after school?" Jiro asked, smiling.

Irina, still with her arms crossed, looks at him suspiciously. "A cafe? What are you up to?" Irina asks, her intuition telling her that there is some ulterior motive behind the proposal for a cafe after school.

"I'm just asking to hang out so we can get to know each other better. And maybe along the way, we could become friends." Jiro asked, still smiling.

"Hmm, just the two of us? Sounds intriguing." Irina said, looking at him thoughtfully. She was undecided. On one hand, she thought that spending time with the weird punk boy was not a good idea. On the other hand, she also sensed something familiar about him and secretly wanted to get to know him to find out why...and he was still quite handsome.

Irina thinks for a few seconds before finally giving in to his persuasive smile and making up her mind. "Alright then, I accept your offer, but don't you dare try to get me involved with your sinful gang activity. Got that? I'll meet you after school at the gate." Irina said, pointing at him in dramatic fashion again.

Jiro chuckled at her warning. "Don't worry, I won't, but I'm looking forward to it. See you then." Jiro said, smiling, which made her blush slightly again as he walked away, waving at her.

Irina stands there, caught off guard when she sees him waving at her. She blushes slightly and waves back. "Hm, maybe he's not so bad after all... Maybe this meeting wasn't a bad thing..." Irina thinks to herself, watching him go down the hallway with a smile still on his face.

After Jiro disappeared around the corner, Murayama and Katase, who were watching them from afar, ran up to her, calling her name, wondering what that was all about.

Murayama: "Irina, what were you two talking about? We were worried beyond belief."

Katase: "Was he trying to get you to join his gang? Did he threaten you into doing so? If he was, we'll deal with him."

Irina chuckled and gestured for them to calm down. "He didn't ask me to join his gang, and we weren't talking about anything bad. We were...just getting to know each other since we sit next to each other in home room now." Irina said reassuringly, choosing not to tell them he asked her to go to a cafe with him, knowing they would freak out.

The two girls looked at her, slightly more calm, but still slightly concerned.

Murayama: "Really? Are you sure?"

Katase: "If he tries anything funny with you, just let us know, and we'll help."

Irina chuckled again. "I appreciate it, but I promise it's nothing bad, so there's no need to worry," Irina said reassuringly, making the girls calm down fully.

"Alright then, we'll trust you, but just know we'll be there to defend you when you need us," Murayama said determinedly. Katase nodded in agreement.

"Got that right. So, do you want to come sign up for the kendo club after class?" Katase said, smiling.

Irina smiled brightly, happy to have new supportive friends. "Thanks, I appreciate it, Murayama. And yes, that sounds like a good idea, Katase," Irina said to the two girls as they walked to their next class.

As this happens, a few certain devils arrive at the school, looking to see the student council.

To be continued