Matsumoto Jun.

There wasn’t much to be said. Calm, cool, collected—he was the embodiment of mystery. Many knew almost nothing about it. Well, except the basics, anyway. As he was the class’ most popular person, many girls had the information regarding his height, weight, blood type, what type of toothpaste he used on his perfectly straight teeth, etc. Things like that was just the basic knowledge of one of his fan girls.

Not that she was a fan girl!

On the contrary, Inoue Mao, should be considered the only normal girl in class 2-B. She didn’t drool over him. She didn’t follow him home. And she definitely did not try to snap pictures of his body. That had been a case of mistaken identity, which had almost gotten her expelled. Seriously, the nerve of some people… Luckily, though, the incident did not spread throughout the entire school.

The teenager released a heavy sigh, eyes still on her classmate. It was their second year, and he had yet to speak a word to anyone else. Mao did not believe that he was shy. That couldn’t be it. It wasn’t an aura of nervousness. Otherwise, the girls wouldn’t like him so much and the boys wouldn’t be so jealous either. However, it did bother her. For someone so popular, he didn’t seem to have any friends.

Finally, Mao turned her eyes away. The homeroom teacher, Kuriyama-sensei, was still in the middle of giving announcements. Unlike most schools, the class meetings were in the mornings, not afternoons. To her, it seemed like a lecture. Before she knew it, her focus was on Jun again. However, his gaze was outside the window, appearing to be unaware of—or didn’t care for—his surroundings. Mao bit her body lip. Even though she stared at him like this, she was not like the other girls. Actually, she wasn’t quite sure she liked him at all. Denying he wasn’t cool would be silly. Though, she didn’t know him personally, so feeling anything for such a loner hadn’t once crossed her mind. Still, she could not help the route of her eyes. They always seemed to land on him. He was attractive, after all.

Sighing again, Mao looked away, only to discover the boy who sat in front of her had been watching her. Flushing, she looked down at her desk. The look had said ‘Quit swooning, you fangirl!’ She pressed her lips into a thin line. She was not swooning! She was merely… frustrated, that’s all. Hesitantly, her eyes looked back up. Her classmate rolled his eyes, and then turned back around in his seat.

“… And with that said, I will now show your new classmate.”

Mao watched in surprise as Kuriyama turned his head towards the door. She had just noticed the shift in the room. It was tense in anticipation. How could she have missed it? A new student meant one of two things. Either the entire class would be curious about the transfer student, causing him or her to become the talk of the school, or they would be ignored because most would not want the status quo to be disturbed.

The door opened, almost painfully slow. The atmosphere tensed even more. The new student walked in. Mao’s lips parted in shock. A collection of soft gasps filled the room. This was a mistake, right? Not only was it a transfer student, but she was also a foreigner! It had to be true, though. She wore the fall uniform. A white long-sleeve shirt, tan sweater vest, and the pleated grey skirt is what she wore, equipped with black knee-high stockings. Mao found herself grimacing. The chances of the foreigner becoming the talk of the school—in the good way—seemed to dwindle in an instant. Silence echoed throughout the entire room. Kuriyama cleared his throat, and then told her to introduce herself. The foreigner faced the classroom. She spoke of many things.

However, she spoke in English.

Kuriyama cleared his throat, drawing the foreigner’s attention. He told her to speak in Japanese. So she knew the language fluently? The girl chuckled. It was an uneasy chuckle. Her brown eyes returned to the class. She bowed politely. “Hello, my name is Renee Scott. Please take care of me.” The class did not move. The class did not speak. The foreigner lifted her head. “Is there a problem?” No one answered. However, the problem clear as day. She wasn’t just a transfer student, but she was a hot-blooded foreigner, too. Well, at least, that was the stereotype of foreign people.

Kuriyama instructed Renee to sit at an empty desk. Mao flinched. There was only one empty desk in the classroom. It was located in the far back. In the back row, there were four seats. The back door seat, which was occupied by a person Mao hardly ever spoke with. Then, it was her own seat, an empty desk, and then the window seat, which Matsumoto Jun occupied. Realizing that her view of her classmate would be obscured by the foreigner, Mao couldn’t help the sour look that crossed her face.

As she moved, eye daggers were being thrown at the foreigner. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. No girl had attempted to sit beside Jun in fear of retaliation from the female population of the class. The foreign girl did not seem to care for the stares. That or she was completely oblivious. The girls were practically snapping at her feet, so she couldn’t be oblivious, right? No one was that dense.

Now that the girl was sitting, Mao could clearly see her American features. Not that it wasn’t blatantly obvious in the first place. Her long black hair was weaved in single braids and pulled in a low ponytail. Two braids framed the girl’s face. The ends were not braided, though; they were curled, gently swaying because the open window had allowed a breeze to come in. Her skin was light… and dark at the same time. As expected of a foreigner. The girl had very light brown eyes, appearing a bit pale actually. Her expression seemed to be permanent—not exactly a scowl, but it was unapproachable regardless. Jun wore a similar expression.

“Great, I’m surrounded by loners.” Frowning, Mao turned her attention back to the front of the class. Their homeroom teacher was about to leave and be replaced by the Japanese Literature teacher, Tohru-sensei. As soon as Kuriyama disappeared, the class erupted into hushed talking. They made it so obvious they were speaking of the foreign teen. The glances were enough. Mao happened to catch a part of a conversation. She… Renee was staring at her. Mao knitted her eyebrows in confusion. Slowly, she turned her head. Indeed, the foreigner was giving her a look most tense—almost suspicious.  “Wh-What?” Mao knew English thanks to her father. However, she had yet to speak to a foreigner. So of course she was nervous.

“Ne,” Renee whispered. It did no good. By now, everyone else stared. “Your name… Is it Inoue?” Mao’s eyes expanded in shock. “Inoue Mao?” The foreigner awaited her answer. Mao swallowed hard and stiffly nodded her head. To her astonishment, Renee broke into a grin. “Mao-chan…!”

“Eh…?!” Mao almost became flabbergasted. “Ev-Even if you are a foreigner, you should know we’re not on the first name basis yet! Don’t speak with me so informally!” Renee looked a bit confused.

“You… don’t remember?” She scratched her head. Then the foreigner focused on her bag. After rustling around for a moment, Renee pulled sheets of crumbled paper and a photo. She then slid the items onto Mao’s desk. “It’s me—Rini-chan!” Still confused, Mao examined the photo. Her jaw dropped upon realizing what she was staring at. In the picture, there was a younger version of herself and the foreigner! Their arms were around each other’s shoulders. Both wore huge grins. In addition to that, they both showed off their prizes—the biggest cicadas they could find. Inoue Mao blanched as the memory flooded her mind.

“Rini… chan…” She fixed her gaze on the girl again. She—Mao, not the foreigner—blinked several times. This was the girl from six years ago—her pen pal. They had met only once, and after a year, they had no longer made contact with each other. At a young age, Mao would not pronounce the foreigner’s name properly, so Renee was dubbed Rini. She blinked once more. “…” Honestly, she had no idea how to respond to this sudden reunion.

“Surprised…?” she asked. Mao could only numbly nod her head. She looked different—they both had changed since six years ago. The grin on her face told Mao that would not forget the friendship between them and was headstrong on rekindling that bond. Before she could say anything else, Tohru-sensei arrived. With the appearance of Renee Scott, her high school experience was sure to drastically change.

“For better or worse…?”