They started their first period right after taking photos, something not every school does, with their first subject being Math. Arina was not too fond of math from the beginning, it was complicated and required critical thinking, but at least solving problems was still better than memorizing and deciphering naming conventions; although she still loathed math nevertheless.

She was in a daze after witnessing the teaching method there, the teacher kept blabbing on while he was by the blackboard, writing and erasing. The convenience for the students was completely ignored. She was trying her best (in distress) to keep up with the speed the teacher delivered. This was a class meant to screen out those who can't keep up.

However, due to her first time studying in Japan, Arina thought that was the standard Japanese teaching method, as she had no complaint about that.

A minute felt like an hour to her. Arina longed for the class to end, as she often caught herself thinking about class 3-E, unable to take her mind off them. While out there in her class there were some inhuman people, for example, their class president, Asano Gakushuu, who felt like an hour was like a mere minute, he was so absorbed in studying that any matters were gone for good, the only exception was the constant thought of dominating his dad someday.

The eternity math period finally ended followed by a five minutes break time, Arina let out a long sigh of relief, but before she could relax, the curious girls hurried toward Arina's place and asked her various questions, while all the boys did was secretly stare at her in the distance.

"It's rumored that you're from the Orlas Union, is it true?"

"Why, yes."

"Wait...WHAT!?"

"Seriously!?"

"Why did you even come to Japan then!?"

"Girls, I'm afraid it's a complicated story."

"Come on! Tell us!"

"Oh no! Mercy me, I-I-I think I've lost my memory..."

"Huh?..."

The girls intended to interrogate further but dispersed soon after they saw Seo and Teppei come to chat with Arina.

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Oh, you see!" she cried. "I think I've underestimated people's curiosity as I've yet to imagine how'd I respond to their question! And my, the way they teach here...it's too much."

Although she was exhausted, they have never seen her back hunched before.

"See? I told you only elite students can go to this school, especially now that you're in an A-ranked class. Good luck keeping up, you stupid swine!" taunted Seo.

"And I wonder how did your classmates manage to keep up with such a low-class person like you, Seo!" said Arina wide-eyed.

Seo's temper threw out of the window at the word 'low-class' she used to refer to him. Luckily Teppei noticed and came to his side, rubbing his back.

"By the way, Teppei, what's it about Mizuno-san that you like?" asked Arina, as she struggled to hide her intrigue about how Teppei's taste in girls was rather unique, unlike the typical soft, feminine girls that guys are usually attracted to.

Teppei swiftly surveyed the class to see if Ami was anywhere around; fortunately, she had gone somewhere else, in which he let out a sigh of relief.

"I also have a youtube channel, but since I'm struggling to gain more subscribers, I really look up to her and her ability to attract viewers," he replied.

"That's it?" said Seo.

"That's ever so romantic," remarked Arina dreamily.

"That was just a particular aspect!" Teppei snapped back almost immediately. Seo chortled at him. "Her knowledge about society is spectacular, also she may look silly but is extremely thoughtful if you're willing to engage in a deep conversation with her, which I find very attractive."

"Pfft," Seo scoffed.

"Ami is one of the very few students who have been here the longest, ever since kindergarten, but the thing is," Teppei said, lowering his voice by a half octave and whispered, "Asano-kun didn't like Ami at all, well, he apparently still doesn't like her, Ren also. According to them, she's a little too 'inappropriate'."

"Of course, swearing like that makes her a peasant! What kind of high-class person would do that?" sneered Seo.

"I suppose you're referring to yourself," laughed Arina at the fuming guy. "But oh my, Teppei, you have my support. Ami is someone who's going to have a bright future ahead -- she's got a lot of potentials and I'm sure of it! It just doesn't match those two's taste."

"I know right?" smiled Teppei gently, "I believe in her, and always have been admiring her prowess, I just hope Asano-kun and Ren can see it too."

"No, Teppei, I don't think impressing them would be that important. As long as Ami enjoys what she does, that's all that matters!" said Arina with a bright smile etched over her face, clasping her hands gently. "Oh, how that would make me so happy."

"Right," Teppei agreed. "And Juria Nagasawa, believe it or not? She's the Prime Minister's daughter," he continued on with the gossiping, and their gazes went searching for Juria, who was at the back of the classroom chatting with her friends.

"Holy!! How can she cope with that?" Arina piped up unintentionally, as Teppei posed a 'shh' gesture and waited to ask:

"But what do you mean by that?"

"I mean! it must be hard to have people treat her like an equal human being, it's an essential element to forming real friendships after all," she said, adjusting to a more tender tone near the end of her sentence.

Teppei and Seo froze for a moment, they'd never considered this matter before. All they've ever thought about was how awesome it's to be treated as a superior individual.

"Well, at least she has those two," Teppei said, and they watched the sight of Juria showcasing her new manicured nails to Morikawa and Tanaka.

"Where's Asano-kun by the way?" Seo turned to ask suddenly.

"He's being summoned to the chairman's office already," informed Teppei.

"Again?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder if he has any real friends too."

Arina instantly caught the two guys' attention.

"From what I observed, it seems to me that he can't distinguish between friends and subordinates. (the guys gasped at how she figured that out) I know he's contented with that, but I'm very worried that he can't be comfortable around anyone and the rumor about his relationship with his father..." there was a faint note of sadness in her voice tone, as she intertwined her hands, "oh, Asano-kun..."

"You don't have to worry about him, Arina, it's Asano-kun after all," Teppei reassured her, receiving a nod from Seo.

"But still, it breaks my heart when I couldn't do anything about it," she sighed, shaking her head.

The bell rang and the students saw their class president coming back from the office, they swiftly returned to their seats. Due to their period being occupied by the ceremony, they only had two more left before lunch.

Their next period was English. Japan was allied with the US; therefore having English included in the curriculum was common, meanwhile, teaching and learning any languages from the Orlas Union, especially Normadian was forbidden in the country due to an event back in the 90s, as to why Arina's classmates were worried and took a peek at how Arina was doing. She has been learning English back at her hometown also, though she was still lacking experience compared to the other kids. Her English accent was quite funny to listen to also, constantly using too much R sounds.

English then followed by Japanese, and the bell rang again signaling it was time for lunch to nearly everyone's relief, when it was time for Arina to step outside of her class, a throng of students and teachers gathered outside, waiting as though they were about to encounter a celebrity or something.

"Hello there, lovely people! Nice to meet you all!" she waved at them. "Come to think of it, if it wasn't for destiny, we would never be able to greet each other -- how very sad it'd have been, oh..."

Asano sighed and summoned his minions, together they escorted her to the cafeteria.

"Out of the way, peasants!" snarled Seo offensively to some random people along the way to which Arina was enraged by his behavior toward others.

"Don't need to be so rude, Seo!" she said indignantly and turned to the people he just offended as she told them not to bother with his words.

Arriving at the cafeteria, Asano offered Arina to join him and the minions for lunch, but she refused and joined Ami and the girls in their class instead. 'But I want to sit with Mizuno-san!' was what she whined.

"Soo, do you have a boyfriend yet?" a girl with two buns hairstyles asked while Ami and the two members from the 'K squad' carefully listened in curiosity.

"Yes!" replied Arina almost immediately, as the girls gasped and giggled. "But he exists only in my imagination," and she was followed by a disappointed 'heeh...' from the girls.

"But why!? You're so cute!" another girl with a tremendous amount of freckles whined.

"Because imagination is often better than reality," sighed Arina.

Ami sat there listening, swallowing food with a bored look on her face. The topics they discussed were tedious for her; as a result, she rarely hang out with the girls. Unfortunately, today was an exception as she wanted to learn more about her new classmate, but for now, she just assumed her to be another girl she can't get along with.

"Hey, what do you think about Asano-kun? Isn't he cute?" Kihira Kimi, the girl in two buns, asked whilst Arina could see her face redden upon mentioning his name.

"I don't think 'cute' is the right word but I do think he's quite handsome--"

"Asano-kun isn't just handsome!! He got plenty of things to talk about!" interrupted Kimi. She cleared her throat and prompted her two friends from the 'K squad' to assist her when in need.

"Numerous times he has ranked first in the nationwide mock exam," Kihira Kimi began.

"He received plenty of honorable certificates and trophies!" added Kuroda Kaguya, the girl with freckles, hastily as she almost choked on her food and Arina had to rub her back.

"He has an uncountable number of fan letters!" said Kato Kokomi, recalling her own attempt at sending Asano one, "I wonder if he had read mine yet..."

"I can't even count how many times has he pointed out teachers' mistakes!" Kimi ignored Kokomi and continued.

"You know he's been scouted for the sports and entertainment industry multiple times right?" Kaguya said.

"Oooh!" gasped Arina in revelation, "then I'm SO looking for to a sports match against him! Nothing is ever more thrilling than--"

"And! He has various kinds of friends across the planet!" Kimi cut through Arina's sentence.

"On space too!!" added Kaguya.

"WHAT!?" yelped Ami, and Kokomi simultaneously, they unintentionally drew all the attention to their table.

"How very splendid! He should invite me to meet his friends in space someday!" said Arina with a rapt face, clasping her hands together and dreaming of the day when she can possibly meet the aliens she pictured in her head.

"I thought you already know that Kokomi!" facepalmed Kimi.

Kokomi's expression was still puzzled as she looked up the roof, "Oh yeah...right..."

"And those are nowhere near to a 1/10 of what I'm about to list!" continued Kaguya enthusiastically, she was about to open her mouth when Ami quickly barged in.

"Let's leave that for another day," she said, slightly felt scared at the power of fangirls.

"So Arina, do you like him?" Kimi turned to ask. "Don't worry, you can be honest with us. Because we all admitted that we like Asano-kun. It's a normal thing."

"Like? No. I LOVE him! (the girls gaped in shock) as much as I love this world," she sighed dreamily, propping her cheek on her palm.

Kimi sweatdropped, "No, not like that. I mean in a 'romantic' way."

"Then I must say I barely know him. I'd say I 'admire' him rather than 'like'," replied Arina honestly.

The K squad members were looking dumbfounded, had they messed up the definition of 'admiration' and liking someone?

"Well, anyway, come to think of it...Arina, what's your relationship with Araki-kun?" Kaguya asked, which snapped Ami out of boredom for a moment.

"Friends, no--good friends! I used to be friends with only Seo, but since Teppei's his best friend, we often hang out together and so now destiny had decided for me to be friends with both," said Arina bubbly. "The two are the sweetest person I could ever ask for, I love them as though they are my own flesh and blood."

"How can you..." Ami was startled, "you notice the way he bites directly into a Kit Kat bar without breaking them first? you can't be friends with a psychopath!"

"Huh?" the girls sweatdropped, failing to get her joke.

Their next conversations were all related to boys. It grew to the point Arina nagged them to switch the topic, and Ami jumped in in agreement. Eventually, they asked for further details about her background story, to which Arina was fine with switching back to talking about boys. Ami wailed in ills.

"I feel like the only good-looking guys in our school are Asano-kun and Sakakibara-kun," said Kaguya, her eyes squinted, trying to recall every guy in her school.

"Have you seen Akabane from class 2-D? He kinda resembles Asano-kun in some way..." Kokomi said lazily, still gazing at the roof.

"Ew! How dare you compare that slacker to our prestigious Asano-kun!!" snapped Kimi at Kokomi.

"Sorry..." responded Kokomi as she slurped on her ramen.

Arina smiled at her sight and gently tucked a strand of Kokomi's hair behind her ear, "There -- there, almost got into the soup."

Without any realization, Kokomi's face heated upon being taken care of by Arina, she possessed such a gentleness akin to a mother...

"Guys, boys are stupid, let's talk about--" Ami began, drawing the girls' attention to her, "the Kardashian," she said, gossiping about celebrities' life was actually one of her hobbies.

"The--what?" the K squad members winced in confusion.

"It's a TV show about the daily life of the Kardashian family, and all the fame came from a sex tape!" said Ami enthusiastically.

The K squad girls were curious at first but quickly grew bored with the topic, Arina was the only one to remain interested in what Ami was telling.

"So there's like this rumor that Kim has six toes, but it's a shame that she got one chopped off—"

It was the first time Arina ever engaged in a conversation like this, but she was very interested in what Ami was telling. She asked tons of questions and Ami would gladly answer them, while the other girls couldn't care less about these unfamiliar foreign celebrities. Eventually, they switched to talking about Ami's youtube channel, Arina was surprised to learn that Ami's humorous videos only appealed to Western audiences.

Lunchtime was over and Asano with his minions came over to escort Arina, which received envious glares from the girls nearby, he intended to keep on doing this until everyone in the school had already grown accustomed to her presence, so she can finally walk in peace without any interference.

"Have you considered joining any club yet, Arina?" asked Asano while they were on their way to class.

"What should I do then? There are ever so many options! As I told you about the infinite possibilities -- I considered sports clubs at first but then I thought maybe I should experience something new but then the idea of joining martial art clubs came across my mind, well, you see, even though it is not so lady-like, it's still worth a try. But again I was tempted, Asano-kun! I was tempted by the cooking club because it IS really lady-like, oh, wouldn't you think so too, Asano-kun?"

"How about joining the mathematic club?" suggested Asano.

Arina forced a cough.

"The Broadcasting Club is nice too!" added Teppei.

"Now--that's a better idea!" responded Arina.

Afterward, they returned to class and started their next period, the subject was Social Studies, Arina's greatest strongpoint due to personal experiences and her dad being the leader of the Regenist Party of the Orlas Union, he often forced his daughter to read various political and history books ever since she was a child. She enjoyed reading them though.

Throughout the class, she engaged in answering almost all the questions from the teacher, to the point he had to say, "anyone else?"

Asano was surprised to know that she was actually pretty good at social studies, he smirked and repeatedly raised his hand also, but to his chagrin, the teacher kept ignoring him.

It was only the first day at school and Arina had already run out of breath, perhaps enrolling in this school was not a good idea after all. The school ended with her lowkey cheering in joy. Before she left the class, Asano approached her.

"How's it going, Arina? Have you grown accustomed to the class?"

Turning to him, she let out a cry of distress, "I'm now undergoing a cultural shock right here! Why'd they blab like that--erase the board right after that, before I could even comprehend what they were saying! Why is the teaching method here so weird? Now Asano-kun, don't tell me I'm stupid compared to an average Japanese! I know--I know that already, alright? Although I'm still contemplating the definition of being stupid! All I've done good was social studies! And I wouldn't take it for granted. But still!" she sobbed, "I'm very much in shock right now and not expecting it to go away by tomorrow."

Asano generally looked down on anyone who was least intelligent than him, which, in this case, mostly incorporated the entire school. However, her admitting that she was stupid, further downgraded her image in his eyes.

Faking his smile, he consoled her, "No worries, once you get used to the teaching method, it wouldn't be that hard. And don't compare yourself with us as we are the most elite unit in this school."

"Oh...is it?" she continued sobbing. "Thank you for comforting me...I feel so much better now! I'd like to think of positive thoughts because it makes my heart at ease, and I like it when my heart is at ease, wouldn't anyone?"

Hearing so, Asano's fake smile was unintentionally converted into a genuine one. "I and Seo will have student council work today, are you fine walking home alone?"

"It's perfectly fine!" reassured Arina. "Oh, Asano-kun, which is the path to-- wait, never mind."

Asano raised an eyebrow, "What it is?"

"Nothing!"

The foreign girl then slung her bag on and ran out of class before Seo and Teppei even come to say goodbye.

Asano was left feeling curious about her earlier question, but he quickly shrugged it off after a short moment.

Arina was snapped out of her constant thought of class 3-E by the army of students.

"Merciful goodness! I'm in a hurry!" she yelled amid the noisy crowd, recalling the students of class E must have left their class by now.

Since she was now a student in this school, the students got a reason to talk to her. They seized the chance and besetting her, she failed to even move an inch.

"Why are you so paleeeee!?"

"Where are you from!!?"

"Is your hair naturally this color!??"

"Why do you smell like...(sniff)...alcohol!?"

"Answer me!!"

Little did they know, making use of her small figure, Arina already slipped out of the crowd in terror without anyone noticing.

"Hey, where is she!??"

They dispersed and went searching for her, some even thought she might be hiding in a bush.

Arina thought she was lucky to successfully sneaked her way out, it was her specialty, after all. She quickly made her way out of the main campus and followed her plan, she went looking for the class E building.

'It must be somewhere near here' she thought, and then spotted a group of people who weren't wearing the proper school uniform, those were the same people she saw earlier this morning hanging their heads low while enduring all the insults from the whole school.

Clutching her messenger bag, Arina gaped in delight as she swiftly advanced toward those students.

"Greetings lovely people! May you take this curious girl to your class?"