Author's Note:

Ok, this is it. The start of the story.
I hope you enjoy the very first chapter.

editor: hello stranger
author: phantom knight

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“Leah remember never forget your manners. I want you to make a good impression to everybody there.”

“Yes mom I will, don’t worry.” The girl named Leah stated seeming it’s the only answer she could give her mother.

“Ok, Edo-san will pick you up after school so just stay put and don’t leave, is that clear?” her mother added.

“Yes mom…” She absently replied as she was looking outside the window of their vehicle.

“Leah, we’re here. This is your new school, Kaede Gauken…” her mother spoke up as she saw the front gate of the new school.

Leah still seemed to be absent-minded until the car stopped. She looked out and saw the main door packed with students.


“Good luck on your first day, dear! Make us proud. Too bad your father is at work and can’t see this touching moment.” Her mother happily said.

Leah didn’t speak and sat still for a few seconds, opened the door and said good-bye to her mom.
After closing the door, she first observed her surroundings and ‘tried’ to feel comfortable. When she looked back, their car had already left.

Then she noticed everyone was staring at her. She felt anxious.

“Are you Leah Koizumi?” asked a voice. A good-looking guy who didn’t seem to be Japanese was quickly approaching her.
“Um, yes…” She replied.
“My name is Kim Jae Joong, but you can call me Jae Joong. I’ll be your guide for at least a week.” Jae Joong smiled.

“Um hi, Jae Joong, can I ask one simple question?” Jae Joong’s presence made her feel comfortable enough to ask.

“Sure, anything.” Jae Joong agreed.
“Why are all of them staring at me until now?” She asked timidly.
“Oh, of course. You see… people seldom see limousines in this school so I guess they were just amazed that someone actually owns a car like that.” He explained.

“Oh, I see…” She felt relieved.
“Let’s go, I’ll show you your new locker…” he gestured for Leah to follow.

There were more students in the noisy hallway. Both of them squeezed their way through the sea of students.

“Ok, here we are. Your books are in here too and everything else.” Jae Joong informed while Leah just nodded, staring at him questioningly.

Jae Joong realized what she wanted. “Oh yeah! I forgot! Here is your locker combination, don’t worry I didn’t memorize it or anything like that….”
“Arigato… (Thank you)” She replied with a smile as she opened her locker.

“Yo! Jae Joong, my man!” A guy approached them. Like Jae Joong, he didn’t seem like a local either. The stranger went towards Jae Joong and placed his right arm around the jet-black haired guy’s shoulders.

“Yun Ho? You keep on doing that every time we meet.” Jae Joong sounded annoyed.
“So? Is there a problem with that?” Yun Ho took his arm back and crossed it across his chest.

“Look, it’s not cool. It was never in the first place. You look like you’re trying too hard.” Jae Joong said.
“Huh? I’m shocked!” Yun Ho exclaimed with a hint of hurt in his tone.

When Leah closed her locker the umber haired Yun Ho noticed and took a quick glance at her. “Who’s she? A new student?” he asked as if Leah wasn’t there.

She then leaned on the lockers waiting for Jae Joong to finish his conversation with his friend.

“Yes, she is… Isn’t it obvious?” Jae Joong said.
“No, not really. I’m sorry. I thought she was already here last year and I just never noticed her…” the umber haired guy continued to speak a little too bluntly.

Even before Jae Joong could speak the bell rang…

“Mata ne!(See ya)” Yun Ho exclaimed while tapping his friend’s left shoulder.

“Ja ne (Bye)…”
“It looks like we have the same schedule, so I guess we better get going.” Jae Joong continued.
“Where are we going?” Leah asked him.
“Homeroom…” He replied.


At Homeroom…

Everybody was settled down and were quietly waiting for their teacher…
After a while, the teacher came in and closed the door. He wrote his name on the board, cleared his throat and placed his things on the desk.
“Ohayo gozaimasu (Good morning)…” The teacher stated.
All of them greeted him back. The teacher continued, “My name is Shiroi Kenzo or Mr. Shiroi. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for this school year.”

Everyone was awkwardly quiet, when Mr. Shiroi turned his back to erase his writings almost everybody threw crumpled paper at him. Mr. Shiroi felt disrespected and asked, “What’s with the throwing of crumpled paper?”

Someone stood up and answered, “It’s just a welcoming present Mr. Shiroi… From all of us!” All of them laughed and felt at ease with each other then they started talking so loud.

“Class 2-B! You have a new classmate from the states there she is, come in front, dear…” he informed, trying to keep the class down.
When Leah stood up everybody became silent and turned their attention to her. She became very nervous because of it.
“Ms. Koizumi? Come here in front introduce yourself.” Mr. Shiroi continued.

“Leah, go ahead don’t worry about everyone else.” Jae Joong, who was sitting beside her said. He gave her an encouraging smile.
She agreed and proceeded in front.

Leah looked down for a moment to relax and then started to introduce herself,
“Hajimemae (Nice to meet you), Watashi no nama’e wa Koizumi Leah. (My name is Leah Koizumi)” She ended.

“Tell us more about you Leah.” Mr. Shiroi insisted.
So she nodded and continued, “I’m starting my 2nd year in high school here at Japan. I came here because my mother wanted to make me experience studying at my father’s homeland at least until I finish high school. We would also like to stay here for a little while to visit my Japanese grandparents.”

“Arigato. You may now take your seat.” Their teacher stated.
As soon as Leah sat down on her seat someone came up to her.
“Hi, I’m Miyaka Takazano, nice to meet you.”

“Hello, nice to meet you too.” She replied shaking hands with her while she sat down.
“So do you have someone to sit with later at lunch time?” Miyaka asked.
“Ya, I think Jae Joong will be sitting with me…” She assumed. “But if you’re planning to sit with me, why don’t you join me and Jae Joong…” Leah continued.
“Sure, ok!” Miyaka agreed eagerly.

Then first period started…

Break time…

“Ok, everybody, you may now go…” the teacher said.
Everybody stood up and went with their group of friends as they went out.
Leah, Miyaka and Jae Joong were the last ones out.
“Leah, let me show you the canteen.” Jae Joong said as he led the way.
“You are so lucky, girl!” Miyaka suddenly whispered Leah.
“Nani? (What?) Naze?(Why?)” Leah asked with bewilderment.

“No one ever got this close to Jae Joong. You’re the first girl to do it.” Miyaka said excitedly.
“Why? Isn’t he friendly?” Leah asked.
“I don’t know. He just doesn’t talk much; he has this mysterious thing going on. The only friend I know he has is Yun Ho…” jolly Miyaka replied.
“Yun Ho? You mean the tall, loud guy?” Leah tried to describe him.
“Ya, you can say he is like that…” Miyaka nodded.

“Here’s the school’s canteen.” The jet-black haired guy said showing Leah their canteen.

“Woah… This is way bigger than ours…” Leah uttered in amazement.
“Where do you want to sit?” Her new friend Miyaka asked.

“I don’t know there are so many tables to choose from... Oooh, wait how about we sit near the big glass window?” she suggested.
“Let’s go, before anybody steals that spot.” The jet-black haired started to make his way to the table.

A soon as they sat down Yun Ho walked towards them and sat down. “Jae Joong, have you seen Micky? I’m trying to find him…” Yun Ho said.
“Iie.(No)” Jae Joong responded.

“Hi Your name’s Leah, right? The girl with the fancy limousine everybody’s been talking about since morning.” Yun Ho attempted to start a conversation.
“Ya, I am Leah… You’re name is Yun Ho, right?” Leah replied.
“Jung Yun Ho, it’s better if you call me Yun Ho.” He answered.

“Yoo Chun! I’m breaking up with you!” A girl exclaimed, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Hey, look there’s the person you’re looking for.” The jet-black haired guy said to Yun Ho.

“Kaname, keep it down…” Yoo Chun said to the girl who seems to be his girlfriend.

“Don’t tell me what to do! It’s just right for everybody to know that we are breaking up!” Kaname shouted and left the canteen. Everybody went back to their businesses.

“Woah… That might have hurt…” the umber haired guy stated, gesturing to heart as if to sympathize with the pain of his other friend.

“See, I don’t know why you became friends with him. That’s his 5th girlfriend that broke up with him.” Jae Joong said.

“Look, I became friends with him because I wanted too. And stop pretending he’s not your friend as well. Are you trying to forget we’re buddies?” Yun Ho smiled.

“No…” the jet-black haired guy shortly replied.

“What are they talking about? I wasn’t able to catch on.” Leah whispered to Miyaka.
“I have no idea… Look, Yoo Chun is coming over here!” Her friend whispered back.

When Yoo Chun sat beside Leah, both of the girls suddenly sat still and kept quiet.
Jae Joong noticed them and laughed a little.

“There goes Kaname…” Yoo Chun a.k.a. Micky uttered while fixing his hair.
“Why did she break up with you anyway?” Yun Ho curiously asked.

“I just wasn’t able to call her twice last week on the exact day she wanted, and then she got mad.” The ebony haired guy explained.

“Please Micky, stop dating obsessed girls. So it’s possible for you to actually have a longer relationship with someone.” The jet-black haired guy advised.

“I don’t know I ‘kinda’ like obsessed girls… I got used to it.” The ebony haired guy said with a serious tone.

“No way…” Yun Ho reacted.

“I’m just joking, don’t worry.” Micky laughed.

“I know why don’t you date me instead?” Yun Ho said in a higher octave of his voice, imitating a girl’s tone.
“No. I’m sorry to let you down Yun Ho but, I rather date Jae Joong. He’s quieter than you. You are too ‘out there’ for me.” The ebony haired guy replied, catching up on the joke.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the umber haired guy questioned, offended.

“Could you guys stop? What you should be talking about is who’s going to clean the garden later after school?” Jae Joong interrupted.

“Whoops! Look at the time! We gotta go, see ya!” Yun Ho and Micky both stated and briskly ran away from him.
“They always do that every time I bring it up.” The jet-black haired guy uttered.

“Sorry for that Leah. My friends just really behave like that all the time.” The jet-black haired guy continued to apologize to her.

“No, it’s ok. I don’t mind.” Leah said.

After school…

Leah was fixing her locker when Jae Joong came up to her.
“Leah? I hope you enjoyed your first day of school here.” He said.
“Don’t worry. I had a wonderful time. Thanks for being my guide. I do not know what I’ll do without you. This school is so different from back home.” She explained.
“Well, see you tomorrow.” He bid good-bye to Leah and left joining Yun Ho.

“Leah! He’s just so cute!” Miyaka popped up out of nowhere.
“Ahh!! Miyaka, you startled me. Please don’t do it again.” Leah said.
“But it’s fun…”

“It’s fun scaring people?” Leah said.

“Fine, can’t help that I’m so energetic.” her jolly friend uttered crossing her fingers behind her back.

“Leah, Leah!” Someone called out to her.
Leah tried to find where the voice was coming form and found out her mother was there.
“Mom? What is she doing here?” she whispered to herself.
“Who? What? I didn’t hear you?” Miyaka questioned.
“It’s my mom, I gotta go.” The foreign student said.
“What? Wait! Introduce me to your mother first.” Her jolly friend requested.
“Why? Ok, fine… Come with me.” Leah agreed and they both went outside.

”Leah, how was school?” her mother asked.
“It’s ok… but mom what are you doing here?” Leah questioned.
“I really can’t help it. I was so excited to ask you how your first day was so I came with Edo-san.” She confessed.
“Hi! I’m Miyaka, Leah’s new friend!” Miyaka took the initiative to introduce herself.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I didn’t know Leah would make a friend this quickly...” Leah’s mother said.

“Leah, we got to go… Um, Miyaka is it? Would you like us to give you a ride home?” Leah’s mother insisted.
“Sure, that would be awesome!” Miyaka exclaimed.

The three of them went in the car…

“Sugoi (Wow)!” Miyaka exclaimed actually seeing the inside of a limousine for the first time.

“Leah, I didn’t know she was this energetic.” Her mother whispered.
“Mom, if you’ll be with her for just one day. She is way more ‘bouncy’ than how she is right now.” Leah replied.

Minutes later…

“There! That’s my house over there!!!” Miyaka shouted as she pointed the direction of her house.

Edo-san followed her direction and finally parked in front of Miyaka’s home.

“Thank you for the ride home, Mrs. Koizumi. It was enjoyable. See you tomorrow, Leah.” She stated. She thanked Leah’s mother and said good-bye to her.