“I’m sorry that it has come to this. I offer my condolences to you three.”

“It’s quite alright, Mrs Im. It was unfortunate, yes, but we must carry on. My father himself told me to go on. And, moving her away from Japan to here near you is what we think is best for our daughter.”

“How is she, by the way?”

“She’s…coping. Although having most of the clan wiped out by berserkers in front of her eyes isn’t really something a 12-year-old should see.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. She is strong. She’ll get through that. I’ve enrolled her in school today, so she can start tomorrow. It will distract her, at least.”

“Then, she will meet my stubborn youngest daughter soon. And I promise you, we'll always look after your daughter.”

“Thank you. We owe our lives to you. My wife and I will go ahead.”

“Be safe, Minatozaki-kun, and don’t mention it. It’s what fellow mediums would do.”

“Hello. My name is Minatozaki Sana. Please take care of me.” 12-year-old Minatozaki Sana bows in front of her new classmates. She shuffles on her feet, still not used to Korean culture. A shaky breath escapes her lips, realizing now that she’s truly alone in a foreign country, her parents opting to stay in Japan to protect the Minatozaki estate, or what is left of it since the berserkers wiped their clan in one day. She ignores the stares and harsh whispers ringing out from her new classmates.

“Another Japanese? What’s she doing here?”

“I bet she’s faking her attitude.”

“She thinks she’s too pretty, ugh.”

She bows her head lower when her teacher points her where to sit, not wanting to gain more attention. A foot sticks out in her path out of nowhere, and she trips, making the class roared in laughter. She looks up and stands, trying to hold her tears, and walks quickly to her seat in the back row.

I have to be strong for the clan.

Still, she puts her bag on her right side with her head down and takes her notebook out. Before she can put her notebook on her desk, she sees a handkerchief and a band-aid on top of it. She blinks at it and looks to her seatmate, who was simply looking at the window, looking bored. Thinking that her seatmate misplaced her things, she gently puts the hanky and band-aid aside to avoid conflict and puts her notebook on top.

“The hanky’s for you.” Startled, Sana looks up to her left and sees her seatmate looking at her with a smile, her short black hair swept up like some heartthrob. “I didn’t know how to approach you without scaring you, you looked like you have that first-day blues, really, so I placed it there instead for you to see. And the band-aid is for your scraped knee.” Her seatmate takes the band-aid and gently peels it off before putting it on Sana’s knees. Sana simply looks on. “But I guess that was stupid of me. I should’ve just talked.” Her seatmate chuckles to herself.

“Thank you.” The Japanese girl smiles with a small bow.

“Don’t mention it, and If any of those nitpicks bother you, tell me, okay, Sana-ssi?” Sana looks up again to see her seatmate smiling at her warmly.

“Okay, I’ll do that, um…”

“It’s Jeongyeon.”

She didn’t think she’d encounter such fierce bullies during her first day of middle school.

During lunch, she’s suddenly whisked away from the cafeteria to an abandoned area outside their school. Without even having a breather, she’s suddenly being slapped upon by people she couldn’t even recognize.

“You think you can get away with your fake face, huh? Think again!” She knows that she can simply sweep them out and freeze them; she was gifted with the power over ice, being a medium and all. But she remained motionless on the floor and absorbed every hit on her, knowing that retaliating against non-spiritists was never a good thing. She closes her eyes and cries, praying for anybody to help her to get away.

Anybody, please help me.

“Yah!” There was a shout, and suddenly she’s lifted to her feet. A warm body suddenly hugs her protectively and she slowly opens her eyes. She’s greeted with the sight of her assailants bowing on the floor, three girls glaring at them, including her seatmate Jeongyeon. She looks up and sees an unfamiliar smiling face looking at her worriedly.

“I’m Momo, from the other class. Don’t be scared.” She whispers. “Are you okay?” Sana only nods, her eyes shining from unshed tears, relief flooding her whole being.

“Jihyo, call Miss Ahn. Tell her these good-for-nothing gits are bothering the new girl.” The girl beside Jeongyeon, probably Jihyo, Sana thinks, runs back to the school building.

After the teachers sent the bullies to the office, the four girls assist an injured Sana to the school infirmary. They wordlessly watch her as the nurse patches her wounds and bruises up. She looks up at them when they are out of the room.

“Thank you.” She bows so low, and the girls chuckle.

“Hey, you don’t need to thank us like that.” A girl touches her chin and lifts her up to look at them. “Those nitpicks really need to stop, seriously, and we’re sorry you had to go through this.” Sana looks at her bowtie and judging from her color, the girl was older than her.

“Ah, s–s–sunbae, it’s okay.” She stutters, still not used to the Korean language. Her eyes look on the floor, and a hand lands on her shoulders.

“Hey, it’s not okay. You’re not supposed to go through that.” The one who was hugging earlier cuts her off. “And, don’t be shy with us, Sana-chan. You know, I’m Japanese too.” She looks at her, Momo, she remembers her name, and she smiles. “Let’s introduce ourselves formally? Hi, I’m Hirai Momo, from 7-C.”

“Yoo Jeongyeon, from your class 7-A. You know me.” A chuckle.

“I’m Park Jihyo, 7-B, also a freshman representative, so if you need something, call me.” The girl named Jihyo smiles at her warmly.

“And I’m Im Nayeon. 8-A. Yes, I’m older.” Sana perks up with the name and she looks at Nayeon, a smile adorning the older one’s face. “But don’t call me sunbae, okay?”

Im Nayeon.

Seeing their friendly faces, Sana suddenly feels overwhelmed with the friendly atmosphere and she can’t help but smile at them, her cheeks puffing up.

“I’m Minatozaki Sana. From 7-A. Please take care of me.” Maybe, she thinks, moving out from Japan for her safety isn’t such a bad idea.

(“Remember, we owe our lives to the Ims, Sana, and you know our clan code.” Her father smiled at her before he and her mother left for Japan. She smiles back.

“Yes. We protect them with all of our lives.”)

Nayeon gapes at Sana, who was still in her yellow shirt and black pants, her dance training outfit, panting and sweating like she ran a marathon a while ago. The junior looks at her sheepishly.

“I swear I’ll explain everything. After kicking this darkee out.” Sana kicks the evil spirit she was blocking on its torso, and it grunts. Recovering immediately, it roars at her, the scythe raised above its head. She holds her katana in front of her.

“Good thing I followed you here.” A slash. “Dubu told me you just ran away–” a block with the katana “–after minutes of arriving at the field.” Another kick and the spirit grunts. “I swear you run like you’re in a zombie apocalypse.” A final stab and suddenly the katana and the spirit are slowly covered in ice. Nayeon looks on with fear and awe.

So, this was what she was hiding all along.

With a grunt, Sana twists her katana, the ice breaking, earning a pitiful shriek from the evil spirit before it disintegrates. She looks back at Nayeon with her eyes fading from blue back to its original brown color, putting away her katana. Nayeon watches in awe and in fear a