"Welcome to Tomodachi Academy. The school would warmly receive anyone with a kind heart who wishes to gain insight into the world and beyond. A great learning facility provided by the Unified Government, free for everyone to join in. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, Tomodachi Academy would welcome you."
The four-key alarm chimed across the school after the advertisement ended. It also showed the start of the class for every grade level at the Academy.
[ROOM: 2-1 | CLASS: 01]
Advisory Professor: Sakiko Nori
Grade: First Year - Senior High School
Monday - 1:00 p.m.
Subject: Science - Biology
"Humans are made of six components. Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus," the professor read with a clear resonating voice from her handheld computer.
It displayed a human figure with its body divided from the portions of elements mentioned by the teacher on the broad white screen at the front of the classroom. While the students directed their eyes in front of their computer pads placed on top of their table, Miyu gripped her pen and scribbled down the details from the screen on her notebook.
Walking through the aisles between seats, the instructor suddenly halted beside a student with his purple eyes glaring steadily at the screen. The display on the tablet wasn't the same one on the board. Instead, it was a scene of an alien confessing his love to a woman.
Mesmerized by the event of an alien holding the lady's cheek with care and gazing with immense anticipation. It amused the student as the lovers gradually shut their eyes and drew their lips closer. Their passion for each other became clear from the illustrated appetite for a kiss.
"MR. RISE!" Mrs. Nori yelled.
The shout startled the student. It nudged the computer pad and stumbled down to the floor. The surface got scraped, and the corner broke.
Everyone from the class turned their heads and giggled. The student, Kazuhiko Rise, got caught watching telenovelas again. And no matter how many times they caught him, it never bothered him.
Miyu's eyes rolled, watching the commotion. The long sermon from the teacher would halt their lecture time again and she felt it was a waste of breath and time since they knew Kazuhiko would do it again.
Besides, they never punished him. Who would dare harm a royalty? On top of that, he's also an…
In the spur of the moment, the alarm blared across the Academy. It wasn't a sign of the end of class. A red, flashy warning sign flickered on everyone's screen, Alert 3.
Alert 1: Danger from a burning building.
Alert 2: Natural Disaster (typhoon, earthquake, volcano eruption)
Alert 3: Alien Attack!
The professor turned her head to the student that was reprimanded.
"I'll take care of this, Ms. Nori. Please ensure all the student's safety," Kazuhiko announced after bowing his head to the professor.
"Take care, Mr. Rise!" Ms. Nori replied.
The student picked up the tablet from the floor and threw it in the trash bin. When he lifted his arm and clicked the gadget rolled on his wrist, it made him vanish from their sight, popping up like a bubble in the air.
The students from the Academy obediently walked out of their rooms and into the hallways. And took the stairs leading to an elevator, heading down to a subterranean shelter. With a vast food storage capability and water reservoir that could last years to sustain a thousand people, the refuge was perfect for any catastrophe they could encounter.
Walking towards the door, Miyu passed by the garbage bin and couldn't help feeling wasteful about their classmate tossing such an expensive device with ease.
'Tsk! It was only a scratch, and he flung it at the litter box already?!' Miyu whispered to herself and took a step forward.
'Hmm...,' she paused when an idea suddenly came into her mind.
Prancing backward, she turned her face from left to right to scan their room. It was empty as her classmates left and their adviser walked out to assist the other students in the hallway.
'No one will know,' Miyu muttered as her cheek crumpled on one side, showing her dimples.
Quietly, she picked up the broken gadget and set it inside her bag. Then blended herself into the crowd of students stepping down the stairs to get on the first floor. Instead of getting in line at the elevator, she stopped in front of a trash chute and prepared herself to hop inside the tube.
It was a long ride down as she glided from the first floor to reach the underground. Small bits of food stuck on the duct glued to her hair and uniform. As the minutes passed by, the journey made her yawn.
The light from the end of the chute took her attention and quickly prepared her to fall into the pile of garbage.
"Ta—da!" Miyu announced, lifting her hands like a gymnast in triumph. This time, she landed on her feet and not on her butt.
Waddling down the mountain of junk from the large bin, she reached the floor with ease. As she opened the door to leave, the old sanitary manager came in.
Mr. Moriyama gasped, "Darn it, kid! What are you doing here again?"
Miyu giggled and explained, "I took a shortcut, Mr. Moriyama."
The old utility manager lifted his finger to give her a warning. "I told you not to do that again, Miyu! If you get stuck in there—"
"Then you'll have a problem with the trash, not me," Miyu proudly answered, and grinned.
The old manager sighed at the answer of the student. As he fixed his protective hat, he shrugged his head and stepped inside the waste room, leaving the student in the hallway.
The empty glass cylinder opened with a loud ring after waiting for a few minutes. After stepping in, she dusted off her skirt and shirt with her hand to get rid of the garbage stuck in her uniform. With a raised chin, she strutted past the crowd of students to reach her designated classroom.
The boys chattering near the elevator pinched their noses and stepped away. A girl fanned her hand in front of her nose when she walked past her.
As she arrived at the room where her classmates settled on tables and chairs, clustering together with their friends, their eyes shrank and their faces crumpled as their nostrils quickly filled with her smell.
"Hey—Reiko! Yuki!" Miyu called her friends in the front row at the right side of the room.
Reiko covered her nose and mouth, feeling nauseated, and mumbled, "You smell like rotting garbage!"
"Y-You used the...," Yuki started and breathed through her mouth, "...trash chute again?!"
"It's the fastest way down here. How long will it take me from the line at the elevator to this room? Thirty minutes? The trash chute only takes five to ten!"
"I'd rather wait than stink like you!" Reiko commented and laughed roughly like a boy.
"You actually smell nice to us, Miyu," spoke a student standing near them.
Yuki and Reiko glared as their vision captured the boy standing behind her. Curious, she turned with her forehead ruffled and stood, shocked to discover who it was.
'Kazuhiko Rise! The Alien Prince!'