Chapter 1

"Momo, if you don't wake up soon, you'll really be late you know" my mother said as she opened the curtain beside my bed allowing the faint rays of sunlight to enter the room and reflect to my face.

"Just give me 5 more minutes" I said sleepily then I get my blanket and cover it to my face.

"You know you can't do that" as my mother said that, she tugged the blanket away from me "if you don't get up now, I will decrease your allowance" she added

I immediately jerked back into a sitting position and soon got up to follow my mother's lead towards the dining table, after all I am in a dire need for money and can't afford any decrease in allowance. There I saw the food already prepared and waiting to be eaten. I sat and said my prayers and begin to eat when I notice that my mother was in her work clothes. (hmmm? did she just come home, but I thought she was at home last night)

My mother who seems to instinctively know what I was thinking then spoke "there was a lot of patient so they had call up for more people to help on site" she said while she was unpacking the things she have in a plastic bag. "then on my way home I just bought few grocery because it seems like we're out of stock on some items"

"oh" was the only answer I can say because she already answered every question I have in mind.

Since my mother is a registered nurse her schedule is a little bit complicated, usually she work for a 12 hours shift that begins at 7am and end at 7pm, but whenever the hospital are packed with patients they sometimes call my mother anytime just like today to report for duty. My father, on the other hand, manages the bakery we own at the marketplace, sometimes I do lend him a hand but he gives me money in return of my labor. (well, it's not so bad but sometimes I just feel guilty taking the money)

Anyway, my mother told me that before, my father used to have a dangerous work, well I can somehow imagine it because my father look so intimidating, with his tall height and muscular body and he even have some scars in his body. My mother on the other hand, have contrasting features like average height, shoulder length hair and looks young enough that sometimes people think she is my sister. But she is also very strong which makes me look up to her and wants to be like her.

"oh, look at the time you really should get going" my mother said which made me snapped back to reality. I finished my food and washed the plates, straight away I fix myself and went out to go to school after I said goodbye to mom.

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I arrived at school just on time and as I walked inside our school gate I saw my friend Sara Nakamura, so I rushed to her and greet her

"Good morning, Sara" She flinched quite not expecting the sudden greeting she received and turn around to face me "o-oh, Momo, Good morning" she replied while there was still a hint of shock in her face " it's a little bit rare for you to be not late on a Monday" she said as she let out a small laugh.

I can't deny it though, I usually play otome games at night time during weekends that I sometimes become so absorbed and tend to forgot that I have a morning class the next day. But it's not like I can tell her that.

So I just laugh it off and said "well, sometimes there are days that I want to go to school promptly" which is not true at all. We continue to talk and laugh as we walk in the lobby of our school.

Suddenly, Sara whispered something "ah, did you know that we have a new transfer student in our class?"

"eh, at this time of the month? Really?" I replied. Well, it is not so unusual to have transfer student in our school but it is just that there is only exactly 1 week before the exams begin and transferring at this time would definitely be hard, particularly because they have a lot of catching up to do like on the lesson also another thing is to find friends when the students have already created their own group of friends because they have known each other already.

"uh huh, according to what I've heard the transfer student's family just move in near here and since his former school were too far from here they decided to transfer him to this school." She explained while wearing her white shoes and putting her outdoor shoe in the shoe rack.

"hmm, but I wonder why they choose Junsei Academy though" I asked

Sara nodded "I was curious about that too, but I wasn't able to find out the reason" she said then we continue walking going toward the hallway of our classroom.

Well actually, Junsei Academy isn't that bad as a choice for school, it is even considered as one of the most prestigious school in our area. The only thing is that, the school administrators here were to focused on creating their reputation of being excellent in terms of academics and extracurricular activities that they somehow takes away the freedom of choice that students should have. They had imposed a lot of restrictions on the students especially in regards to anything they believe that will be a hurdle for the students to achieve excellence like dating, etc. (which is also the reason why I hide my obsession for otome games)

Also, they tolerate the existence of a division among the students wherein the students are ranked according to the reputation that they have and call it class. Overall, there are 4 class and these are: Elites, Gifted, Mediocre and the Outcasts. Wherein Elites are those students who excel both in extracurricular activities and academics, Gifted are those who are known to be brilliant in academics and are so-so in extracurricular activities or vice versa while Mediocre as its title suggest are people who are average in both. Lastly, are the Outcasts who are infamous probably because of either they usually violates the regulations of the school or they are bad at both academics and extracurricular activities. Due to this outcasts are usually either bullied or isolated since they are considered as the lowest class and the other students doesn't want to get involved to them.

As for me and Sara's ranking, Sara is in the Gifted class because she excel in academics while I make sure to maintain my class which is Mediocre.

When Sara opens the door to our classroom, we heard an announcement coming from the PA room went on:

" Student Heiken and Hibino from class 2-3, kindly go to the faculty room and look for Ms. Aizawa"

"Ah, it's probably about the forms to be distributed to us" I said

"probably" Sara replied and continued "give me your bag, I'll put it in your seat so you can go over the faculty room already"

"Awww, thank you Sara-chan~" I replied while handling her over my bag "then, I'll take my leave" I said as I waved my hand to her and walked towards the faculty room.