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Description
PROLOGUE

I should have known there was something up when I walked into that room and couldn't see anything. The sun was super bright, or maybe it was the reflection of light off of all of the white, smiling teeth staring at me. Or maybe the class room was just so shitty that the windows were giant and there were no blinds. When I realized that squinting at floor was the best possible way for me to see anything, the first thing I noticed was the extravagant carpeted floor.
"This…" I began, "is where I'll take the placement test?"
Behind me stood the tall, hulking man who welcomed me to Fumizuki Academy and led me through endless, not-matching hallways and stairways. "It was the only class room that was available," he explained as he walked over to the other person in the room.
Once my eyes had adjusted better to my surroundings, I saw that the other was a girl, around my age, sitting at a desk in a fluffy looking chair. Her pencil was sprawling desperately across papers and she filed them quickly off of her desk once she completed them, issuing another back on in place. She was flying through those papers, an astonishing feat that my mind could barely grasp.
"Your times up, Shimada," the man said, touching the corner of the desk the girl was sitting at.
At this statement, the girl sighed and relaxed her shoulders. In very slightly broken Japanese—I think, I don't speak the language very well myself—replied, "I hope I did well this time. I really need good scores."
"I'll grade them while this girl takes her placement test," he said, taking the stack of papers that were next to her desk. "Now get back to class."
Rising to leave the room, the girl nodded at me. She sported a cute red ponytail with a yellow bow and what I assumed to be the school uniform. "Good luck!" she said to me, giving me a pat on the shoulder and running out of the room. I wondered what she was running for or from or even to, but the idea was quickly wiped away by the realization that I had to take a test for hours on end. If I had to leave for any reason, I would automatically get a zero. From what I read on the internet, this school would sort me into one of six classes depending on my score. I'd have to take a test in each subject. It would take forever, but I was ready.
"This is your test," the man said, gesturing to a desk he stood next to. Next to the wooden table were three stacks of papers, each as high as I am tall. It was intimidating. "By the way, I'm Nishimura-sensei, the school counselor. Now sit at this desk and don't start until I tell you to."
I did as he said and also took out the five pencils that I had prepared. When he said go, I wrote on those papers as fast as my arms would let me.

When the test ended, I too felt the relief I saw in the girl who was here before me. He took the papers that I completed from my bureau and explained that he would score them. I had to sit there and wait. I knew it would probably take years to grade all of those papers, but I was grateful that it was just my test that he needed to correct. I couldn't imagine how long it took during the beginning of the school year.
Bored, I started to stare out the window and into the hallway. I instantly noticed a boy peeking up from the bottom of the glass. All I could see was a camera he was holding and his face from his eyes up. I smiled at him and waved, but his face disappeared not too long after. Pondering why he didn't respond to my gesture, another boy—no, a girl?—went running as fast as his/her legs may carry. The person made eye contact with me, and for a moment, I felt like I wanted to jump out of my seat and follow him. There was something enticing about the kid's face; I just knew that I had to know him…her. Of course, then a mob of people followed the person. Does this kind of thing happen a lot at this school? I thought. I sure hope so; it would make this trip more interesting than I'd hoped for!
"Done!" the man yelled, abruptly pulling me out of my thoughts.
"So fast?" I asked as he slammed the magnificent stack on my desk. On the top was a small slip of paper with my designated class on it. For some reason, I was slightly nervous to look at it. I had never been told how smart or dumb I was in comparison to others, so knowing that the type of education I was going to receive would be based on my knowledge, I didn't know what to expect.
When the paper stared back at me with a giant letter A, I was actually surprised. Smart? Me? I didn't think so. I barely even speak the language and I managed such a high score. Well, actually, I knew exactly how I got that score. It was because of my magic power. At least, that's what my family calls it. When there are answers I don't know, like any other person, I guess. My guessing, however, always ends up correct. Sure, I can read Japanese decently and a lot of those question I could answer myself, but I think that I ended up answering so many questions was because I guessed on so many. Call me smart? Maybe. It didn't seem right though.
"Actually," Mr. Nishimura began, "your score was the highest any transfer student has even gotten on a placement test. It also puts you at the second smartest in your year."
"Really?" I said, crumpling the paper in between my hands. The smile must have grown on my face, since the teacher gave me a pat on the shoulder and smiled back.
"Good job, Fuyumi. I'll see you tomorrow."

The bright ass class room I found myself in the next day was even brighter than the last. All I was aware of at the moment was that there was a whole room full of smart people before me and a tall woman next to me. She presented herself at Takahasi-sensei, class 2-A's—my class's—homeroom teacher. She was tall, beautiful, with a dark shade of pink hair and round glasses. Though the eye pieces made her look older, I knew she was very young.
"This is the new transfer student, everyone," she introduced. By then, my eyes had slightly adjusted so I could stop squinting as much. "She's here all the way from America."
"Yes, hello everyone," I said. "My name is Fuyumi Chika. I hope we'll be able to work together!" I flipped the blonde hair out of my eyes and flashed one of my winning smiles. My family had always told me that I could win over any heart I wanted with only the grin on my lips. I used that idea to my advantage whenever I could.
There was one thing I didn't expect to see when I looked up out of my smile. Well, yes, all of the boys were gawking at me dreamily—except one in glasses—but the person I had seen running away from the pack of people the day before was right there, staring at me bored. There was something different about the person that time and it wasn't just that he was wearing a girl's uniform as opposed to the boy's one from yesterday. It was the way he looked at me; the eyes seeming icy and unfeeling rather than welcoming and curious. I sighed on the inside, secretly hoping that there could be a way that it wasn't the kid I had been pulled to.
When the awkward moments of my arrival were over, I took my place in the empty seat next to the class representative—a girl with dark violet hair that flowed past her waist. She looked over at me, and I couldn't tell if she was trying to be friendly or cold. I was getting the impression that she had the same face for everything. "How well do you speak Japanese?" she asked me.
"It's not too bad, I don't think," I replied, shifting awkwardly in my chair to try to show her that I was feeling uncomfortable. Actually, I wasn't but if the notion that I was an uncomfortable and lonely American would get me friends, then I would go for it.
"Okay, I'll try not to talk too fast."
I couldn't tell if that was rude or serious.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Kirishima Shouko, would you like to be friends?"
Didn't expect that to happen so fast.
"I'd like it if you ate lunch with my friends and I. We eat on the roof of the old building."
Old? If she's the class rep, why was she hanging out in the old wing where all of the stupid kids were?
"Today's a free day, so you can do whatever you want."
"O-oh, okay?" I said, "but I don't know my options."
"There are limitless options." Kirishima pointed over to where three people were gathered. One of them was the girl who looked like the person from the day before. "I'm going to hang out with my friends."
"Um, okay, am I allowed to just roam the hallways?" I asked, not sure if her statement was an offer for me to join her.
"Yes. I'll come find you when it's time for lunch."
Then she left, just like that. I decided that getting acquainted with my surroundings would be more important since there was already a set time for me to make new friends. Inside, I was looking forward to lunch time. Kirishima-san was going to be a good friend, I just knew it. Her seemingly monotone and dull personality was entertaining, plus she was a mega-genius. Apparently I was too, though.
As soon as I left the room, I wanted to turn around and go back inside. Too bad for me. I got swept up into a giant crowd. They were running. Those people were lucky I liked exercising. I guess this sort of thing did happen a lot. Cool. While we ran, I asked a boy next to me what we were doing.
"Ah! Who're you?" he yelled.
"I could ask you the same thing!" I shouted back. "I just got swept up into this mess!"
"Oh, so you don't know why we're running?"
"Isn't that what I asked?"
He pointed in front of him as if I could see ahead. All that was there was a sea of heads. "Up there," he said, "is a person who's been avoiding us all for days! He said he'd give us all special addition albums. We all paid, but he doesn't have any!"
"A-albums?" I could tell that this guy was getting tired, so I told him thanks for the info and ran faster to try to get to the head of the pack. Soon, I realized that each person I passed was a dude and they were all gasping in shock at my presence.
When I got to the front, I noticed that the person we were all running towards was the guy I saw yesterday with the camera. "Hey!" I called to him, breaking through the front line and positioning myself next to him. "I know you!" I said.
He looked over at me, slightly stunned, but still mute.
"I saw you through the window yesterday while Nishimura-sensei was grading my entrance exam."
The boy nodded in remembrance, then looked over at me confused.
"I just walked out of the classroom and just got carried away by all of these people! How long have you all been running for?"
He held up three fingers.
"Three minutes?"
He shook his head.
"Three hours?"
He nodded.
"Damn, that's pretty impressive," I said in English.
His expression became even more confused and pointed past us and ahead to a crack in the wall.
"Go in there?" I asked.
He nodded.
As we approached the crack, I started to realize that I might not be able to fit through it. I looked down at my chest, thinking about whether or not I could fit my breasts. I let the boy dodge in ahead of me, knowing that the people wouldn't try to follow me in there if they only saw me go in.
The boy ran easily through the small gap, and I sucked in my gut as best I could. Of course, when I got near the hole, I tripped and ended up rolling through. Still shaking the dizzy out of my head, I felt a hand grab mine and pull me to my feet. I noticed that the boy and I were in a small, dark area that was like a closed off alleyway when my eyes opened and I could see straight again. Outside, I could hear confused voices asking where he went and who I was. They sighed and gave up, eventually, slowly leaving one by one.
Once most of them had dispersed, I decided it was okay to talk quietly. "So," I whispered. "Can you speak?"
He nodded in reply, backing away from the opening a bit and pulling me towards him. Since it was dark, I couldn't tell if he was blushing or not, but I still had the impression he was because we were standing very, very close. Like, my boobs on his chest close.
"You got a name?"
"Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya Kouta."
"I'm, Fuyumi Chika. I transferred in today from America."
No reply, so I continued talking, trying to get more words out of him. If I had the chance to make a friend, this would be it.
"So it looks like you're really popular in this school."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What class are you in?"
"F."
"You don't talk very much, do you?"
He shook his head.
I sighed, knowing that it would be hard to break his barrier. I could tell that he was the type of guy that would only talk to his close friends. There was one more question I wanted to ask him though, before I ditched.
"What were in the albums that all of those people are tracking you down for?"
This inquiry really set him off. Well, he wasn't angry—he was just really nervous all of a sudden. Tsuchiya started waving his hands rapidly and shaking his head.
"Is it…embarrassing?"
"N-no!"
"Then maybe…dirty?"
"Ack!"
Oh then I knew what kind of person this kid was. Wait a minute. If I saw him the day before with a camera…peeping at me…ew! I mean, it's never something I mind about, but still. I was taking a test! At least then I knew what cards to play with this guy.
I stepped in a little closer to him and put one gentle hand on his chest. "Oh c'mon," I said in a smooth voice in English. "You don't have to worry about things like that with me." I finished in Japanese. "I'm like that too."
"Yo-you are?" he stuttered. I could tell he was burning a bright red.
"Well, I hope I get to see you again. Just call me if you need anything. I promise I can help with anything."
I softly brushed his cheek with my hand and slipped out through the small opening, hoping that I wouldn't get stuck. That would just be embarrassing.
Having successfully exited the area, I continued walking down the hallway I was in until I realized I was utterly lost.
"Oh great," I said aloud in English. "Why is this place so giant?"
"Excuse me," I heard a voice behind me say. It was soft, cute even, and kind of nervous. I turned around to see who it was. Turns out it was an adorable girl—pink hair flowing in waves and delicate features. She was fiddling with her hands timidly and looked in every direction except at me. "Are you lost too?"
"Uhm, yeah, where are you trying to go?" I asked. "Maybe we could team up and be lost together. We might find things easier with two brains."
"O-okay," she replied, walking over to stand next to me. She was short and even cuter close up. "I'm looking for the 2-A classroom. Normally I know where it is, but there was a mob of people and I got swept up in it."
"Hey, me too! Let's just try walking that way." I pointed ahead of us, hoping that we'd actually get more lost and have to meet someone else that I could befriend.
"What's your name?" the girl asked. "I'm Himeji Mizuki."
"Fuyumi Chika, I just got here from overseas."
"Oh! You're the transfer student who got the amazing score! That's really impressive."
"Well, thanks, Himeji-san."
We then proceeded to walk through endless extravagant hallways. Since I had lost hope that we would meet anyone else, I desperately wanted to find the class she was heading to. Our conversations were getting boring. She asked me if I was used to the summoning system yet. I told her no. She asked if I had made a lot of friends. I said not really. She asked if I liked the school. I told her I wasn't sure. I expected the next thing to be how the weather was, but I suspired in relief when I saw Kirishima-san waking towards us.
"Shouko-san!" Himeji called, waving a hand in the air.
"I see you've met Mizuki-chan," she said in her usual cool tone.
"Yeah, we got lost together," I explained. "You found me, does that mean it's lunch time?"
"Yes, let's get your lunches." She gestured to her side, pointing to the 2-A classroom.
"H-how?" I asked, not actually wanting an answer. I slumped over in defeat, letting my arms dangle.

Kirishima-san led us to the roof of the old building that held the poorer classrooms. When the three of us arrived, I saw her friends all sitting in a circle. I recognized three of the people. One was the girl with the ponytail who was finishing a test as I arrived to take my own. Another was Tsuchiya. The third was the boy in the hallway. When I looked at him for the second time, I felt the same tug and I knew it was the same person from that time. I didn't waste a second thinking about the girl in my class. I didn't actually care because I had found who I wanted for real this time.
"These are my friends," Kirishima stated. "Friends, this is the new transfer student."
"Hey, I saw you yesterday!" ponytail called, waving.
"I saw you too," the beautiful boy said.
"Yeah I remember," I replied. "My name's Fuyumi Chika, it's nice to meet all of you." I smiled, hoping it would win all of them over, but also that it would catch Tsuchiya-san's eye. I heard the shutter of a camera and knew that it did. I winked over at him. He blushed and looked away. It was cute.
"Transfer student?" a strapping boy with red spiky hair asked. "Where you from?"
"America."
"Cool," another boy—cute beyond belief—with dirty blonde hair and striking brown eyes piped in. "You know Shimada over here is from Germany. She transferred in last year. You guys could speak your native language together!"
Well he's stupid. I wasn't going to say anything about it though.
"That's pretty awesome," I responded, looking over at ponytail who revealed herself to be the German.
"Why don't you sit down?" Kirishima offered, showing an empty space in the circle for me to sit.
"Thanks, Kirishima-san."
As I sat, I noticed each person had a different reaction to my appearance. Tsuchiya and cutie boy had to look away. Red hair tried to act unimpressed, but he was certainly ogling my goodies. Himeji tapped her waist and sighed. Shimada patted her chest and sighed. Striking boy—who is definitely not a girl when I saw him up close—smiled and looked me up and down. It wasn't in a sexual way, though, which was happily to my liking. I could have sworn that Kirishima's eye twitched.
"Oh, we must seem pretty rude," cute boy said. "My name's Yoshii Akihisa."
"Sakamoto Yuuji," red hair introduced, pointing a thumb to his chest.
"Shimada Minami," ponytail said.
"I'm Kinoshita Hideyoshi."
Kinoshita…that's a name I'll never forget. I said it in my head over and over again so that I wouldn't lose it.
"And the rest of you I've already met," I said, folding my hands in my lap.
"How do you know Muttsulini?" Yoshii inquired.
"Mussu-what?"
"He means Kouta," Yuuji clarified.
"Oh—we ran into each other in the hallway not too long ago."
"All right you guys," Shimada-san interrupted, "can we please eat? I'm starving!"
Each of us opened our lunch boxes or bentos. My dad always told me that there was a lot to tell about a person based on what he had in his lunch. Shimada had a cutely done up box, complete with rice and hotdog-octopuses and other assorted vegetables. She seemed sweet and sporty and also was watching her figure. Himeji's bento looked similar, but had less rice and a few fried items. She was also watching her waist, but I could tell the food was prepared by someone other than her. Kirishima had two; probably meaning that she was going to share her food with someone she liked. Otherwise, it was normal looking, telling me absolutely nothing about her personality. Sakamoto had little to eat, and was probably the person Kirishima wanted to share with. Tsuchiya's box was full of a ton of different foods, telling me that he loved all different types of girls—most of that was deducted from our earlier conversation. Kinoshita's bento was very neatly organized with perfect proportions. I had the impression that someone else made it for him, whether it was a sibling or an admirer. He's so pretty, it must be that everyone loves him. Finally was Yoshii, whom I soon realized had no food. He must have had no money. Poor guy. Stupid and hungry. A life worth living. I would have offered some of my food, since I had a whole tone of it, but I could tell by the way Himeji and Shimada looked at him that it would be a bad idea.
"Itadakimasu!" we all called, clapping our hands together and signifying that it was time to eat.
"So I'm curious," I began, wanting to start a conversation. "Are there any in's and out's that I should know about this school?"
"Well," Sakamoto began. I soon knew that he was the go-to-guy for information, since everyone else looked at him when I asked. "You probably already know about Summoner Test Wars, right?"
"Yep."
"So basically, you should know that class-A are the top students, like yourself and Shouko here. Class-F, of course, would be the lowest—us being the idiots of the school. The teachers here are intense, Ironman being the toughest."
"Who's that?"
"You probably already met him. Nishimura-sensei?"
"Oh yeah, he's the school counselor."
"Everyone here calls him Ironman," Yoshii added, "because he can tough out all weather conditions and even wears short sleeves in the snow!"
"Never let your Avatar's points drop to zero, because you'll have to take a remedial class with the guy," Shimada-san said.
"Good to know," I thanked.
"Also," Kinoshita said. "The principal here is always messing with the system and using all of us as test dummies, so watch out."
"If you're going to be friends with us here, then a lot of weird stuff is going to happen to you," Shimada warned.
"All the more reason to be acquainted." I smiled at all of them, glad that it was the case. I couldn't wait to spend more days at Fumizuki Academy with these people, since an adventure is what I wanted when I came to Japan. An adventure is sure as hell what I got.

Description
PROLOGUE

I should have known there was something up when I walked into that room and couldn't see anything. The sun was super bright, or maybe it was the reflection of light off of all of the white, smiling teeth staring at me. Or maybe the class room was just so shitty that the windows were giant and there were no blinds. When I realized that squinting at floor was the best possible way for me to see anything, the first thing I noticed was the extravagant carpeted floor.
"This…" I began, "is where I'll take the placement test?"
Behind me stood the tall, hulking man who welcomed me to Fumizuki Academy and led me through endless, not-matching hallways and stairways. "It was the only class room that was available," he explained as he walked over to the other person in the room.
Once my eyes had adjusted better to my surroundings, I saw that the other was a girl, around my age, sitting at a desk in a fluffy looking chair. Her pencil was sprawling desperately across papers and she filed them quickly off of her desk once she completed them, issuing another back on in place. She was flying through those papers, an astonishing feat that my mind could barely grasp.
"Your times up, Shimada," the man said, touching the corner of the desk the girl was sitting at.
At this statement, the girl sighed and relaxed her shoulders. In very slightly broken Japanese—I think, I don't speak the language very well myself—replied, "I hope I did well this time. I really need good scores."
"I'll grade them while this girl takes her placement test," he said, taking the stack of papers that were next to her desk. "Now get back to class."
Rising to leave the room, the girl nodded at me. She sported a cute red ponytail with a yellow bow and what I assumed to be the school uniform. "Good luck!" she said to me, giving me a pat on the shoulder and running out of the room. I wondered what she was running for or from or even to, but the idea was quickly wiped away by the realization that I had to take a test for hours on end. If I had to leave for any reason, I would automatically get a zero. From what I read on the internet, this school would sort me into one of six classes depending on my score. I'd have to take a test in each subject. It would take forever, but I was ready.
"This is your test," the man said, gesturing to a desk he stood next to. Next to the wooden table were three stacks of papers, each as high as I am tall. It was intimidating. "By the way, I'm Nishimura-sensei, the school counselor. Now sit at this desk and don't start until I tell you to."
I did as he said and also took out the five pencils that I had prepared. When he said go, I wrote on those papers as fast as my arms would let me.

When the test ended, I too felt the relief I saw in the girl who was here before me. He took the papers that I completed from my bureau and explained that he would score them. I had to sit there and wait. I knew it would probably take years to grade all of those papers, but I was grateful that it was just my test that he needed to correct. I couldn't imagine how long it took during the beginning of the school year.
Bored, I started to stare out the window and into the hallway. I instantly noticed a boy peeking up from the bottom of the glass. All I could see was a camera he was holding and his face from his eyes up. I smiled at him and waved, but his face disappeared not too long after. Pondering why he didn't respond to my gesture, another boy—no, a girl?—went running as fast as his/her legs may carry. The person made eye contact with me, and for a moment, I felt like I wanted to jump out of my seat and follow him. There was something enticing about the kid's face; I just knew that I had to know him…her. Of course, then a mob of people followed the person. Does this kind of thing happen a lot at this school? I thought. I sure hope so; it would make this trip more interesting than I'd hoped for!
"Done!" the man yelled, abruptly pulling me out of my thoughts.
"So fast?" I asked as he slammed the magnificent stack on my desk. On the top was a small slip of paper with my designated class on it. For some reason, I was slightly nervous to look at it. I had never been told how smart or dumb I was in comparison to others, so knowing that the type of education I was going to receive would be based on my knowledge, I didn't know what to expect.
When the paper stared back at me with a giant letter A, I was actually surprised. Smart? Me? I didn't think so. I barely even speak the language and I managed such a high score. Well, actually, I knew exactly how I got that score. It was because of my magic power. At least, that's what my family calls it. When there are answers I don't know, like any other person, I guess. My guessing, however, always ends up correct. Sure, I can read Japanese decently and a lot of those question I could answer myself, but I think that I ended up answering so many questions was because I guessed on so many. Call me smart? Maybe. It didn't seem right though.
"Actually," Mr. Nishimura began, "your score was the highest any transfer student has even gotten on a placement test. It also puts you at the second smartest in your year."
"Really?" I said, crumpling the paper in between my hands. The smile must have grown on my face, since the teacher gave me a pat on the shoulder and smiled back.
"Good job, Fuyumi. I'll see you tomorrow."

The bright ass class room I found myself in the next day was even brighter than the last. All I was aware of at the moment was that there was a whole room full of smart people before me and a tall woman next to me. She presented herself at Takahasi-sensei, class 2-A's—my class's—homeroom teacher. She was tall, beautiful, with a dark shade of pink hair and round glasses. Though the eye pieces made her look older, I knew she was very young.
"This is the new transfer student, everyone," she introduced. By then, my eyes had slightly adjusted so I could stop squinting as much. "She's here all the way from America."
"Yes, hello everyone," I said. "My name is Fuyumi Chika. I hope we'll be able to work together!" I flipped the blonde hair out of my eyes and flashed one of my winning smiles. My family had always told me that I could win over any heart I wanted with only the grin on my lips. I used that idea to my advantage whenever I could.
There was one thing I didn't expect to see when I looked up out of my smile. Well, yes, all of the boys were gawking at me dreamily—except one in glasses—but the person I had seen running away from the pack of people the day before was right there, staring at me bored. There was something different about the person that time and it wasn't just that he was wearing a girl's uniform as opposed to the boy's one from yesterday. It was the way he looked at me; the eyes seeming icy and unfeeling rather than welcoming and curious. I sighed on the inside, secretly hoping that there could be a way that it wasn't the kid I had been pulled to.
When the awkward moments of my arrival were over, I took my place in the empty seat next to the class representative—a girl with dark violet hair that flowed past her waist. She looked over at me, and I couldn't tell if she was trying to be friendly or cold. I was getting the impression that she had the same face for everything. "How well do you speak Japanese?" she asked me.
"It's not too bad, I don't think," I replied, shifting awkwardly in my chair to try to show her that I was feeling uncomfortable. Actually, I wasn't but if the notion that I was an uncomfortable and lonely American would get me friends, then I would go for it.
"Okay, I'll try not to talk too fast."
I couldn't tell if that was rude or serious.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Kirishima Shouko, would you like to be friends?"
Didn't expect that to happen so fast.
"I'd like it if you ate lunch with my friends and I. We eat on the roof of the old building."
Old? If she's the class rep, why was she hanging out in the old wing where all of the stupid kids were?
"Today's a free day, so you can do whatever you want."
"O-oh, okay?" I said, "but I don't know my options."
"There are limitless options." Kirishima pointed over to where three people were gathered. One of them was the girl who looked like the person from the day before. "I'm going to hang out with my friends."
"Um, okay, am I allowed to just roam the hallways?" I asked, not sure if her statement was an offer for me to join her.
"Yes. I'll come find you when it's time for lunch."
Then she left, just like that. I decided that getting acquainted with my surroundings would be more important since there was already a set time for me to make new friends. Inside, I was looking forward to lunch time. Kirishima-san was going to be a good friend, I just knew it. Her seemingly monotone and dull personality was entertaining, plus she was a mega-genius. Apparently I was too, though.
As soon as I left the room, I wanted to turn around and go back inside. Too bad for me. I got swept up into a giant crowd. They were running. Those people were lucky I liked exercising. I guess this sort of thing did happen a lot. Cool. While we ran, I asked a boy next to me what we were doing.
"Ah! Who're you?" he yelled.
"I could ask you the same thing!" I shouted back. "I just got swept up into this mess!"
"Oh, so you don't know why we're running?"
"Isn't that what I asked?"
He pointed in front of him as if I could see ahead. All that was there was a sea of heads. "Up there," he said, "is a person who's been avoiding us all for days! He said he'd give us all special addition albums. We all paid, but he doesn't have any!"
"A-albums?" I could tell that this guy was getting tired, so I told him thanks for the info and ran faster to try to get to the head of the pack. Soon, I realized that each person I passed was a dude and they were all gasping in shock at my presence.
When I got to the front, I noticed that the person we were all running towards was the guy I saw yesterday with the camera. "Hey!" I called to him, breaking through the front line and positioning myself next to him. "I know you!" I said.
He looked over at me, slightly stunned, but still mute.
"I saw you through the window yesterday while Nishimura-sensei was grading my entrance exam."
The boy nodded in remembrance, then looked over at me confused.
"I just walked out of the classroom and just got carried away by all of these people! How long have you all been running for?"
He held up three fingers.
"Three minutes?"
He shook his head.
"Three hours?"
He nodded.
"Damn, that's pretty impressive," I said in English.
His expression became even more confused and pointed past us and ahead to a crack in the wall.
"Go in there?" I asked.
He nodded.
As we approached the crack, I started to realize that I might not be able to fit through it. I looked down at my chest, thinking about whether or not I could fit my breasts. I let the boy dodge in ahead of me, knowing that the people wouldn't try to follow me in there if they only saw me go in.
The boy ran easily through the small gap, and I sucked in my gut as best I could. Of course, when I got near the hole, I tripped and ended up rolling through. Still shaking the dizzy out of my head, I felt a hand grab mine and pull me to my feet. I noticed that the boy and I were in a small, dark area that was like a closed off alleyway when my eyes opened and I could see straight again. Outside, I could hear confused voices asking where he went and who I was. They sighed and gave up, eventually, slowly leaving one by one.
Once most of them had dispersed, I decided it was okay to talk quietly. "So," I whispered. "Can you speak?"
He nodded in reply, backing away from the opening a bit and pulling me towards him. Since it was dark, I couldn't tell if he was blushing or not, but I still had the impression he was because we were standing very, very close. Like, my boobs on his chest close.
"You got a name?"
"Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya Kouta."
"I'm, Fuyumi Chika. I transferred in today from America."
No reply, so I continued talking, trying to get more words out of him. If I had the chance to make a friend, this would be it.
"So it looks like you're really popular in this school."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What class are you in?"
"F."
"You don't talk very much, do you?"
He shook his head.
I sighed, knowing that it would be hard to break his barrier. I could tell that he was the type of guy that would only talk to his close friends. There was one more question I wanted to ask him though, before I ditched.
"What were in the albums that all of those people are tracking you down for?"
This inquiry really set him off. Well, he wasn't angry—he was just really nervous all of a sudden. Tsuchiya started waving his hands rapidly and shaking his head.
"Is it…embarrassing?"
"N-no!"
"Then maybe…dirty?"
"Ack!"
Oh then I knew what kind of person this kid was. Wait a minute. If I saw him the day before with a camera…peeping at me…ew! I mean, it's never something I mind about, but still. I was taking a test! At least then I knew what cards to play with this guy.
I stepped in a little closer to him and put one gentle hand on his chest. "Oh c'mon," I said in a smooth voice in English. "You don't have to worry about things like that with me." I finished in Japanese. "I'm like that too."
"Yo-you are?" he stuttered. I could tell he was burning a bright red.
"Well, I hope I get to see you again. Just call me if you need anything. I promise I can help with anything."
I softly brushed his cheek with my hand and slipped out through the small opening, hoping that I wouldn't get stuck. That would just be embarrassing.
Having successfully exited the area, I continued walking down the hallway I was in until I realized I was utterly lost.
"Oh great," I said aloud in English. "Why is this place so giant?"
"Excuse me," I heard a voice behind me say. It was soft, cute even, and kind of nervous. I turned around to see who it was. Turns out it was an adorable girl—pink hair flowing in waves and delicate features. She was fiddling with her hands timidly and looked in every direction except at me. "Are you lost too?"
"Uhm, yeah, where are you trying to go?" I asked. "Maybe we could team up and be lost together. We might find things easier with two brains."
"O-okay," she replied, walking over to stand next to me. She was short and even cuter close up. "I'm looking for the 2-A classroom. Normally I know where it is, but there was a mob of people and I got swept up in it."
"Hey, me too! Let's just try walking that way." I pointed ahead of us, hoping that we'd actually get more lost and have to meet someone else that I could befriend.
"What's your name?" the girl asked. "I'm Himeji Mizuki."
"Fuyumi Chika, I just got here from overseas."
"Oh! You're the transfer student who got the amazing score! That's really impressive."
"Well, thanks, Himeji-san."
We then proceeded to walk through endless extravagant hallways. Since I had lost hope that we would meet anyone else, I desperately wanted to find the class she was heading to. Our conversations were getting boring. She asked me if I was used to the summoning system yet. I told her no. She asked if I had made a lot of friends. I said not really. She asked if I liked the school. I told her I wasn't sure. I expected the next thing to be how the weather was, but I suspired in relief when I saw Kirishima-san waking towards us.
"Shouko-san!" Himeji called, waving a hand in the air.
"I see you've met Mizuki-chan," she said in her usual cool tone.
"Yeah, we got lost together," I explained. "You found me, does that mean it's lunch time?"
"Yes, let's get your lunches." She gestured to her side, pointing to the 2-A classroom.
"H-how?" I asked, not actually wanting an answer. I slumped over in defeat, letting my arms dangle.

Kirishima-san led us to the roof of the old building that held the poorer classrooms. When the three of us arrived, I saw her friends all sitting in a circle. I recognized three of the people. One was the girl with the ponytail who was finishing a test as I arrived to take my own. Another was Tsuchiya. The third was the boy in the hallway. When I looked at him for the second time, I felt the same tug and I knew it was the same person from that time. I didn't waste a second thinking about the girl in my class. I didn't actually care because I had found who I wanted for real this time.
"These are my friends," Kirishima stated. "Friends, this is the new transfer student."
"Hey, I saw you yesterday!" ponytail called, waving.
"I saw you too," the beautiful boy said.
"Yeah I remember," I replied. "My name's Fuyumi Chika, it's nice to meet all of you." I smiled, hoping it would win all of them over, but also that it would catch Tsuchiya-san's eye. I heard the shutter of a camera and knew that it did. I winked over at him. He blushed and looked away. It was cute.
"Transfer student?" a strapping boy with red spiky hair asked. "Where you from?"
"America."
"Cool," another boy—cute beyond belief—with dirty blonde hair and striking brown eyes piped in. "You know Shimada over here is from Germany. She transferred in last year. You guys could speak your native language together!"
Well he's stupid. I wasn't going to say anything about it though.
"That's pretty awesome," I responded, looking over at ponytail who revealed herself to be the German.
"Why don't you sit down?" Kirishima offered, showing an empty space in the circle for me to sit.
"Thanks, Kirishima-san."
As I sat, I noticed each person had a different reaction to my appearance. Tsuchiya and cutie boy had to look away. Red hair tried to act unimpressed, but he was certainly ogling my goodies. Himeji tapped her waist and sighed. Shimada patted her chest and sighed. Striking boy—who is definitely not a girl when I saw him up close—smiled and looked me up and down. It wasn't in a sexual way, though, which was happily to my liking. I could have sworn that Kirishima's eye twitched.
"Oh, we must seem pretty rude," cute boy said. "My name's Yoshii Akihisa."
"Sakamoto Yuuji," red hair introduced, pointing a thumb to his chest.
"Shimada Minami," ponytail said.
"I'm Kinoshita Hideyoshi."
Kinoshita…that's a name I'll never forget. I said it in my head over and over again so that I wouldn't lose it.
"And the rest of you I've already met," I said, folding my hands in my lap.
"How do you know Muttsulini?" Yoshii inquired.
"Mussu-what?"
"He means Kouta," Yuuji clarified.
"Oh—we ran into each other in the hallway not too long ago."
"All right you guys," Shimada-san interrupted, "can we please eat? I'm starving!"
Each of us opened our lunch boxes or bentos. My dad always told me that there was a lot to tell about a person based on what he had in his lunch. Shimada had a cutely done up box, complete with rice and hotdog-octopuses and other assorted vegetables. She seemed sweet and sporty and also was watching her figure. Himeji's bento looked similar, but had less rice and a few fried items. She was also watching her waist, but I could tell the food was prepared by someone other than her. Kirishima had two; probably meaning that she was going to share her food with someone she liked. Otherwise, it was normal looking, telling me absolutely nothing about her personality. Sakamoto had little to eat, and was probably the person Kirishima wanted to share with. Tsuchiya's box was full of a ton of different foods, telling me that he loved all different types of girls—most of that was deducted from our earlier conversation. Kinoshita's bento was very neatly organized with perfect proportions. I had the impression that someone else made it for him, whether it was a sibling or an admirer. He's so pretty, it must be that everyone loves him. Finally was Yoshii, whom I soon realized had no food. He must have had no money. Poor guy. Stupid and hungry. A life worth living. I would have offered some of my food, since I had a whole tone of it, but I could tell by the way Himeji and Shimada looked at him that it would be a bad idea.
"Itadakimasu!" we all called, clapping our hands together and signifying that it was time to eat.
"So I'm curious," I began, wanting to start a conversation. "Are there any in's and out's that I should know about this school?"
"Well," Sakamoto began. I soon knew that he was the go-to-guy for information, since everyone else looked at him when I asked. "You probably already know about Summoner Test Wars, right?"
"Yep."
"So basically, you should know that class-A are the top students, like yourself and Shouko here. Class-F, of course, would be the lowest—us being the idiots of the school. The teachers here are intense, Ironman being the toughest."
"Who's that?"
"You probably already met him. Nishimura-sensei?"
"Oh yeah, he's the school counselor."
"Everyone here calls him Ironman," Yoshii added, "because he can tough out all weather conditions and even wears short sleeves in the snow!"
"Never let your Avatar's points drop to zero, because you'll have to take a remedial class with the guy," Shimada-san said.
"Good to know," I thanked.
"Also," Kinoshita said. "The principal here is always messing with the system and using all of us as test dummies, so watch out."
"If you're going to be friends with us here, then a lot of weird stuff is going to happen to you," Shimada warned.
"All the more reason to be acquainted." I smiled at all of them, glad that it was the case. I couldn't wait to spend more days at Fumizuki Academy with these people, since an adventure is what I wanted when I came to Japan. An adventure is sure as hell what I got.