When Yomi and Inchou entered Class 1B, all the ruckus died down instantly. Everyone wasstaring at Yomi. Then, excited whispers began to arise.

"Wow! She's pretty"

"Is she a new student?"

"She looks like Natsume Hyuuga."

"Why is she wearing gloves? It's in the middle of summer."

"Woah! She's already a Three-Star!"

"She looks arrogant to me."

Natsume Hyuuga, who was sitting in the back row, couldn't take his eyes off her. Even his face turned pale with shock and disbelief. His best friend, Ruka Nogi, nudged him when he saw Natsume being too quiet.

"What's wrong, Natsume? Is everything okay?"

Natsume shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know, Ruka. Something's not right about that girl."

Before Ruka could ask anymore questions, Narumi-sensei walked in and stood in front of the class.

"Class," he began. "We have a new student today. She will be joining us from now on." He pointed at Yomi. "Please introduce yourself."

Yomi stepped forward and flashed a sweet smile.

"Hello everyone. I'm Yomi Igarashi and I'm new here. I'm from Osaka and I'm 11 years old. I like reading, listening to music and shopping. I like English but I dislike Math. Well, I'm looking forward to stay here and I'll be very glad to make new friends. I hope that I'll be very happy here." She bowed and thanked. The Class 1B students exchanged glances and some of them stole glances at Natsume. Even Natsume himself looked very shocked indeed. Then, Sumire Shouda raised her hand.

"What is your Alice?"

Yomi smiled and took a deep breath. Inchou noticed that she was slightly uncomfortable about Sumire's question but she just answered it anyway.

"Well, I hope that you're not scared about knowing my Alice" she replied softly. 

Inchou was worried about Yomi but he couldn't help himself from being curious about her Alice. She took another deep breath and smiled.

"My Alice is the Weather Controlling Alice."

Sumire wasn't satisfied with her answers.

"Only one? You looked like you have three of them."

Yomi nodded and bit her lip as she shifted uncomfortably.

"That's absurd." She said firmly and dropped her voice. "I only have one Alice and that's that." Narumi-sensei clapped his hands.

"Well, I guess that is all about Yomi. I hope that all of you will get along together." He his heel and left the classroom. But before he could leave, Sumire stopped him.

"Sensei, does she have a partner?"

Narumi-sensei looked at her, then at Yomi and Inchou. He smiled as an idea was forming inside his mind.

"Yes, she already has one." He added with a wink. "Inchou-san, you will be her partner."

The whole class went beserk. "WHAT???!!!!" They shouted.

Natsume narrowed his eyes at Yomi.

Inchou was lost at words.

As for Yomi, she glared at Narumi-sensei and her glare could've sizzled steak. But before she could protest, he'd already flee away from the hectic classroom. She glared at Inchou, who was looking down at his shoes. 

"Of all the students in this class, he picked this goodie-goodie guy for my partner. Darn it that Narumi-sensei! Well, whatever! Like I even cared about it. Puh-lezz" she muttered to herself. Then she looked at Inchou and softened her glare. "So, you're my partner eh? In that case, you'll have to do whatever I say," she whispered to him. She looked around and tugged on his sleeve.

"So, where's your place?"

Inchou pointed towards one direction. "There," he breathed. Yomi grabbed her books and sat at his desk. Inchou followed her and was ready to clear his things away. But before he could do anything, Yomi stopped him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I was packing my things away because you are sitting here. Besides, you may want me to sit at a different desk because you said I was annoying," he muttered softly as he was trying to shift his books aside. "I don't want to annoy you again."

Yomi was touched when he sounded so sincere without any sarcasm in his words. She finally soften up to him.

"Wait, I didn't say that you'll have to leave. You can sit next to me if that's okay with you."

Inchou was surprised with her sudden change of attitude. He was puzzled indeed but he did put all of his things back onto his desk. Then he sat down next to Yomi. Yomi smiled sweetly at him. He felt that he was on Cloud 9 but it ended all too soon when Yomi tapped him on his shoulder.

"But if you dare to leave me, I'll make sure that you'll terribly regret it... very terribly regret it."

Inchou still smiled at her despite that his heart was thumping madly. "This is going to be a bumpy wild ride and I doubt it will be easy. Yomi... Yomi... Yomi..." he thought as Yomi took out her books.

(")(*o*)(")

When the bell rang for recess, the other students of Class 1B crowded around Yomi's desk and they kept on asking all sorts of questions. 

"When is your birthday?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"What's your favourite colour?"

"What's your favourite animal?"

"Do you like flowers?"

"Do you like the Academy?"

"Why do you wear gloves?"

Yomi was very patient and she calmly answered all questions with a smile.

"My birthday is in April. Boyfriend? Still searching for one. Colours? Black and purple. Animal? Cats. Flowers? I prefer roses and cherry blossoms. Academy? Well, it's a YES for now. About the gloves, they are used to control and restrain my Alice because I still couldn't control my Alice very well . For my Alice, I use my hands whenever I want use it. So I keep my gloves on at all times."

As Yomi was answering the other questions, Natsume came to her desk with his girlfriend Mikan Sakura and his best friend Ruka. The crowd at Yomi's desk made way for them as they were closing in. At first no one spoke. Mikan, who was uncomfortable with the tension, was the first to speak to Yomi.

"Hi Yomi-chan, I'm Mikan Sakura. You can call me Mikan. Welcome to Class 1B. Nice to meet you," she greeted with a smile. She held out her hand towards her.

Yomi was surprised with Mikan's warmth towards her and smiled warmly as she took her hand. "Hi Mikan-chan. It's a pleasure to meet you too. I hope that we can be friends." She looked at Natsume and Ruka and smiled.

"Natsume Hyuuga-kun and Ruka Nogi-kun, finally we meet." 

Everyone was surprised with her response. Sumire narrowed her eyes at Yomi.

"How do you know their names? You didn't even talk to them yet. Do you know each other?"

Yomi smirked at Natsume and Ruka. "Yes, I knew about both of them. Both of them are famous in this school. But I'm sure that Natsume has something to say about it."

Natsume clenched his fists in annoyance.

"What are you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth. Both Yomi and Ruka were silent. Then Yomi smiled again, ignoring his question.

Natsume threw a ball of crumpled paper at her face but she managed to catch it neatly with her hand. He pointed a finger at her.

"She's... I don't know her" He said flatly and Yomi giggled at his response.

The whole class was silent as they were dumbfounded with Natsume's response. Sumire looked as if she wanted to pester Natsume for more answers but seeing Natsume's darkened facial expression made her stop in her tracks.

"Yes... And I don't really know you too. Hahaha"

Again, everyone was dumbfounded with Yomi's sudden laughter. Natsume looked ad if he wanted to burn Yomi to a crisp. With his face hot with embarassment, Natsume grabbed Ruka and Mikan and quickly dragged both of them outside as the crowd dispersed.

Inchou stared at Yomi and she just smiled at him while her fingers prying at the crumpled paper. It was a note written by Natsume. It read;

MEET ME AT THE GAZEBO BEHIND THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL'S DORMITORY AFTER SCHOOL.

COME ALONE.

Yomi just smiled when she read the note. Inchou noticed that she was quiet after Natsume had left.

"Is everything okay, Yomi?"

Yomi, who was reading the note, quickly stuffed it into her pocket.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Mind your own business."

(")(0_0)(")