The deafening sound of the morning alarm was quickly silenced by a sudden push of a button. In the next ten minutes, the water faucet ; then off... and a teenage girl stepped out of the bathroom while brushing her hair. 

She placed the comb on a nearby table before changing into her school uniform for the very first time. The blue-colored jacket and skirt seemed almost alive compared to the warm subtle sun rays edging into her bedroom. Oh, how she wished to be just as alive as her uniform because she only felt the complete opposite. After buttoning her uniform jacket, she stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror and released a heavy sigh. 

Before being able to put together a single thought about her new school, her cellphone rang and she sighed once more after seeing the name on the screen."Sei." She greeted into the phone, her voice void of any cheerfulness.

"Amu-chan!" Sei greeted back, his voice loudly ringing from the small speaker. "How's my little cousin doing? Are you excited for your first day at Horikoshi High?" 

"Rather than being excited, I'm extremely nervous," Amu answered, shuffling into the kitchen. "What if everyone hates me?" 

"I highly doubt that," Sei replied. "But if anyone does give you a hard time, I'll fly back to give them a beating." 

Amu recollected the memories from earlier this week when she moved to Japan. Upon arriving at the address she received, she found out that her older cousin's apartment was nearly empty.

Earlier this year, her dad arranged plans for her to relocate to Japan from the United States. "It's important for you not to lose your identity and heritage." Her dad said, without pausing to hear her opinion. "Taking Japanese classes on the weekend will never provide you the full experience." 

Amu's father often traveled for his job so he barely had the opportunity to watch over her anyway. On the other hand, Amu and Sei had always been close- almost as if they were real siblings. Therefore, her dad thought this was a good opportunity for him to watch over her while she experienced life in Japan. 

As soon as she moved into her cousin's apartment earlier this week, Sei told her that he was leaving that same day to Fukuoka for three months. It was a last-minute business trip that he decided to accept the day before and couldn't tell her because she was already on the plane. Amu didn't mind because she knew how it was his dream to relocate to Fukuoka. Besides, living alone was something she was already used to, even back in New York.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your first day."

"That's alright." Amu smiled to assure him even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to see it.

"Sorry Amu-chan, my train is here so I have to go but text me if you need anything." Her cousin replied, the sound of the train announcement blaring in the background. I'll call you this evening to hear about your day. Stay safe!" 

"You too, Sei." The girl replied before dropping the call and phone alongside her skirt. Her eyes fell onto the loaf of bread she bought yesterday and she shrugged her shoulders at it. 'I can get by without breakfast...' She thought to herself as she reached for her school bag instead. 

Within the next few minutes, Amu was already out the door. The Tokyo February breeze wasn't as brutal compared to New York but still slightly chilly enough to make her shiver. Luckily, her apartment wasn't too far from Horikoshi and she was able to walk there in only ten minutes. 

Amu's first glimpse of Horikoshi was far from what she expected. As she turned the corner, she immediately noticed a huge crowd around the East entrance.

It wasn't until she got closer to the crowd when she realized that it was made up of mostly girls around her age. They were trying to get a good glimpse of some guys in the Horikoshi uniform walking to school. The group was insanely massive that even Amu could barely get to the entrance.

"Excuse me." She pardoned herself, trying to squirm past the crowd to reach the school. However, before she was able to even make it to the entrance, she was shoved by another girl who seemed to be holding an uchiwa fan of someone's face. "Hey! We got here first! Stop trying to cut in!" 

"I'm only trying to get into the school," Amu replied in confusion. "I go to school here." She repeated.

"Oh yeah? Where's your badge?" 

"Badge?" 

The girl scoffed. "You go to Horikoshi but not this Horikoshi. Get back to the west wing where you belong." She said, giving Amu a rough push on her shoulder. 

Amu stumbled back, falling to the ground almost immediately from the sudden force. However, no one batted a single eyelash at her. Instead, she watched as the girls continued their ritual by admiring the next set of group of people who were now entering the school by their own bodyguards.

"What a school" She mumbled to herself in disbelief. After picking herself up, Amu opened her bag and pulled out her transfer documents.

"Horikoshi Gakuen- West Division" it read. 

The discomposed girl held her school transfer documents in her hands tightly; Her fingers wrapped closely around the papers, crinkling them at the very ends. "1A..." She said to herself after spending another 20 minutes trying to find another entrance.

At this point, she was already late for her first day of class. It took her another 10 minutes to find her classroom but before she entered the room, she took a second look at the papers before matching the room number to the writings on the door. After all, the last thing she wanted to do was enter the wrong class. 

"Ah, I was wondering where our new transfer student was. It's only your first day and you're already late? Please don't make this a habit." The teacher rudely greeted her the moment Amu opened the door.

"I'm sorry." The girl apologized, her face heating up from immediate embarrassment. To make things worse, she was already hearing murmurs from around the room.

"Class, this is Kitagawa. We don't have time for introductions so you can just take a seat in the back."   

Amu quickly shuffled to her desk, avoiding the peculiar gazes of the students in the class. However, before she was able to take her seat, the teacher had already turned around and begun writing notes on the board. "I want everyone to memorize all of this for our exam tomorrow." 

In a panic, the girl fumbled through her bag hoping to find a single writing instrument. But just as she thought that her day couldn't get any worse, she realized her entire pencil case was missing and assumed that it most likely fell out of her bag when she was shoved earlier this morning. 

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had an ext