Seiren Private Academy was an integrated middle school, high school, and
university, and over the years, this top-level institution had produced countless
graduates who went on to work in the world of politics and business. In the
prestigious school's long, rich history, it had even been said that the majority of
students were from noble and elite families.
Students walked in droves down the tree-lined path toward the distinguished
schoolhouse. Friends and classmates chatted cheerfully on their way to the
building, but when a certain female student walked through the school gate,
everything changed. Every student who saw her followed her with their gaze,
their eyes wide in surprise and wonder.
"Whoa. Who's that? She's stunning!"
"How do you not remember her? She repped the new students at the
entrance ceremony the other day and gave a speech. That's Maria's little sister."
"I was way in the back at the ceremony, so I could barely see anything.
Sigh… She looks like an angel…"
"She really does. I'm a girl and older than her, but she still makes me weak
at the knees."
Unlike most Japanese people, she had milky-white skin that was so pale, it
was almost translucent, and her almond-shaped eyes were like glittering
sapphires. Her long, silver hair was pulled back into a half ponytail that twinkled
in the morning sun. The distinct facial features she inherited from her Russian
father were softened by the beauty she got from her Japanese mother. In addition
to her unique features, she was tall for a girl, with long limbs and an hourglass
figure. She had a body that women around the world could only dream of
having.
Her name was Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou. After transferring to Seiren Private
Academy last year as a third-year middle school student, she worked her way up
to claim the top spot in her class. She was excellent at sports and would be the student council accountant starting this year, to boot. With all that talent, it was
hard to not see her as a flawless superwoman.
"Hey, look."
"Huh? Oh, it's Kujou! Must be my lucky morning."
"Dude, go say hello to her."
"No way! I'm not worthy!"
"That's not like you at all. You hit on cute girls all the time, no matter who
they are. You telling me you're too scared to even say hello?"
"Are you insane?! She's way out of my league! She's out of my universe, in
fact! You go talk to her if you want to so badly!"
"And risk getting killed by the other guys because I said something stupid?
Not happening."
Boys and girls alike watched her enviously, naturally slowing their pace and
moving out of her way while she confidently walked by without a care in the
world. That was when one male student approached her, and a clamor arose
from the surrounding students.
"Hey. Nice weather we're having this morning, huh?"
Without even stopping, Alisa glanced at the cheerfully smiling male student,
noticed he was an upperclassman by the color of his tie, and gave a small bow.
"Good morning."
"Yeah, good morning. Nice to meet you, too, since I think this is the first
time we've ever talked. I'm Andou. I'm in the same class as your sister."
"Is that so?"
The teen named Andou had dyed brown hair and wore a slightly worn-out
school uniform with silver chains peeking out from under his collar. He was a
good-looking guy and followed the latest fashion trends, but Alisa seemed
indifferent. Unlike the surrounding girls squealing over his sweet smile, Alisa
didn't even bat an eye.
"Your sister's told me a lot about you…so I've been wanting to meet you.
Maybe we could have lunch together today? Whaddaya say?"
"No, thank you," she replied without a hint of hesitation.
Andou smiled weakly. "Ha-ha… Harsh… Then do you think we could at
least exchange numbers? I want to get to know you better."
"Sorry, but I couldn't be any less interested. Now, if you'll excuse me. Oh,
and one more thing…"
Alisa then swiftly turned her gaze back to Andou and lifted her hand toward
his neck. His smile faded at the sight of her cold stare and delicate fingers, and eyes wide, he began to retreat.
"…That's against school rules," Alisa snapped coldly as she pointed at the
silver chain around his neck, unfazed by his flustered behavior.
"Bye."
She left him with that single word before walking away. The area instantly
exploded with gossip and chatter as the students who had been watching with
bated breath suddenly began to speak up.
"Whoa… She just kicked Andou to the curb. Andou, a high schooler. He's,
like, the most popular guy in his grade, too. She truly is the solitary princess…"
"Her standards must be stupidly high. If he wasn't good enough, then who
is?"
"Maybe she doesn't even like guys? That'd really suck, though. She's so
hot."
"Or maybe it's a good thing? You know, since no one's ever gonna steal her
away."
"Good point. She'd be closer to an actual idol like that, and I could just
continue to admire her without ever having to worry about another guy getting in
the way. Hell, might as well just worship her at this point."
"Dude, now you're just being creepy… I know what you mean, though."
Alisa stepped into the school building, completely unaware of what her
classmates were saying about her. At her shoe locker, she changed into her
slippers, then headed for her classroom. She had already forgotten about the guy
she gave the cold shoulder to a few moments ago. After all, an unremarkable
event like that wasn't even worth remembering to Alisa. Being the center of
attention and getting hit on were daily occurrences for her.
When she arrived at her classroom, she opened the door and was met with
the gazes of her classmates. This was a daily occurrence as well, so Alisa simply
headed over to her seat by the window in the very last row, unconcerned by the
attention. After placing her bag by her desk, she casually glanced at the seat to
her right, which was assigned to a male student merely due to the alphabetical
seating order. For more than a year already, this first-year high school student,
Masachika Kuze, had held this coveted position next to one of the two "beautiful
princesses" in their grade. Most male students would kill to be able to sit next to
her.
"…"
He was lying on his desk, sound asleep before class had even started. Alisa,
whose expression had remained unchanged, glared at such an unbecoming sight for a student at so prestigious a school.
"Good morning, Kuze."
"…"
Masachika, who was using his arms as a pillow over his desk, didn't
respond to her greeting. He was completely out cold. Alisa, after essentially
being ignored, glared harder.
"M-Masachika, bro. Wake up," discreetly whispered the classmate who sat
diagonally to their right, eyes twitching nervously as he watched the events
unfold. But before Masachika even had time to open his eyes…
Whack!
"Gfffeee?!"
…all of a sudden, Masachika's desk slid sideways with a bang, causing him
to throw his head up with a squeal. Alisa had just kicked the side of his desk.
The spectating students could not help but sigh in unison. It was already
common knowledge in their grade that Alisa, despite being a high-achieving,
well-behaved model student, was indifferent toward others and kept to herself.
Yet she was exceptionally strict toward Masachika, who was the epitome of a
slacker.
Since it was practically an everyday occurrence, everyone was used to
seeing Alisa harshly criticize Masachika while he basically brushed off whatever
she said.
"Good morning, Kuze. Did you stay up all night watching anime again?"
Alisa greeted her seemingly confused classmate once more while wearing
an innocent expression. After blinking a few times and looking up, Masachika
shrugged as if he could guess what had happened.
"Oh… Hey, Alya. And yeah, that's the gist of it."
"Alya" was Alisa's Russian nickname, a pet name of endearment, and while
plenty of people called her that when she wasn't around, Masachika was the only
guy in school who would call her Alya to her face. Whether Masachika was
being thoughtless or Alisa was simply being tolerant was still a mystery, though.
Either way, despite Alisa's extremely cold gaze and the fact that she had just
kicked his desk to wake him up, Masachika didn't seem intimidated. His
classmates' gazes expressed both annoyance and admiration, but Masachika
wasn't trying to do anything special…because he had no idea what he was
doing.
"Gfffeee"? Who screams like that? Pfft! I've never heard a weirder scream
in my life. There was no disgust in Alisa's eyes as she looked down at him. If anything,
it looked as if there was a smile hidden in them. It was obvious she secretly
enjoyed making him squeal and jump out of his seat.
"You never learn, do you? You need to cut back on the anime if it's going to
make you fall asleep in class," she nagged and took a seat next to him, as if
Masachika couldn't tell how much she was enjoying this.
"Actually, the anime ended at one in the morning. It was the discussion
afterward that took so long."
"'Discussion'? Oh, you mean when people go online to share how they felt
about the episode?"
"Hmm? No. I called my friend, and we ended up talking on the phone for
the next two hours about the episode."
"You're an idiot."
Masachika stared into the distance and smiled while basking in Alisa's
reproachful gaze.
"I'm an idiot, huh? Yeah… Discussing something you love, regardless of
the time or place—if that makes me an idiot, then so be it…"
"I'm sorry. You're not an idiot. You're a hopeless, brain-dead moron."
"You seem to be in a good mood today, too, Alya."
He jokingly shrugged off Alisa's brutal comments. She shook her head as if
to say, "There's no way to deal with him," when all of a sudden, the bell rang,
alerting the students that class was going to start in three minutes. As the other
students returned to their seats, Alisa faced forward, taking her notebook,
textbooks, and other school supplies out of her bag. In the room of well-behaved
students, which one would simply expect at such a prestigious school, only
Masachika stretched out his arms wide. He let out a big yawn as tears welled in
his eyes. Alisa, who had her eyes on him the entire time, suddenly turned her
gaze toward the window, cracked a smile, and whispered in Russian:
Cutie
"Милашка…"
"Yaaawn. You say something?" asked Masachika, having caught her
whisper with his keen hearing.
"I said what you were doing was unseemly. That's all," she replied, feigning
ignorance.
"My apologies, then," he replied, acting as though she must have been
referring to his yawning, so he covered his mouth when he next yawned. Alisa scornfully raised an eyebrow at him, then quickly faced the window once more
and smiled. Keeping her expression hidden to Masachika, she gleefully cheered
in her head:
You're such a dummy! You really have no idea! Hee-hee!
She covered her smile by pretending to rest her elbow on the desk, but
Masachika stared at her back with some pity.
Too bad I understood what you really said.
Alisa had no idea.
She had no idea that Masachika understood Russian.
And she didn't know that he could understand every sweet word she
whispered about him.
Never would the other students realize the humorous, slightly embarrassing
conversations they were actually having behind what seemed like bickering.