“Grimmm, Wake Up! Wake up!”

As the alarm filled the room, Araka woke up and yawned while looking at the surroundings. Is this 8am already? she thought, while trying to make her mind ready for another day.

“Araka, it’s time to wake up. You don’t want to be late for your first day of high school,” Araka immediately recognized the voice - it was from Jun.

“Ahh okay-ay, I will be downstairs in seconds,” Araka kicked the blanket away and grabbed her outfit from the closet. 

“Don’t forget to wear your uniform.”

While looking at the mirror, Araka was thinking about her upcoming high school life: I couldn’t wait to see my friends again after such an eventful summer. 

After she made herself set up for a new day, Araka rushed downstairs and entered the glass paneled breakfast room. There were three people waiting there: on the right side of the table, it was Moraka (北依 萌川）, Araka and Jun’s mother, while on the left was Jan Lon（鄭 龍）, Araka and Jun’s father; and Jun was sitting right in front of Araka. 

“Good morning, Mom and Dad. Sorry for being a bit late.”

“Good morning, Araka-cha, take your seat,” Moraka said, while pulling out the chair for Araka.

Araka sat down and took her first bites of the breakfast, while also placing her phone right beside her. 

“For today, Mom and me will come to the school for the opening ceremony of the new semester. As such, you can take your time for your breakfast as I will drive you two to the school,” Lon said. 

“Thank you, Mom and Dad,” both Araka and Jun said. 

It was sunny outside, and the air was getting slightly crisp for the end of summer.

The luxury sedan stopped right in front of the main gate of the school. As usual, the gate of the school was filled with students like Araka and Jun. While Araka used to use another gate located at the west of the campus, from today, she will use the same one as Jun as both of them are in now in the high school. 

The walkway to the main building was filled with conversations and faces that Araka may or may not recognize. While on the way to the main building, Araka spotted someone familiar within the crowd - a blonde-haired student wearing black-framed glasses. 

“Good morning, Sukeo,” Araka immediately recognized the guy - he was Sukeo, who Araka got to know during the recent SAIR entrance exam. 

However, Sukeo didn’t turn. Instead, he increased his pace and made his way to the building along with others. 

“Jun, why didn't Sukeo respond to me?” Araka asked while feeling a bit disappointed. 

“Araka, I think you should know that as the president of the student council, he is kind of a busy person. Maybe something else is occupying his mind at this time. You know, we in the upper years are typically much busier than you during the fall semester.”

After entering the building, Araka was separated from Jun as she was heading to her new home classroom. Though she knew that some of her closest friends would continue to share the same classroom, she was still wondering if she could make new friends in this class.

“Yo, isn’t that Araka-sa?” while on her way to the classroom, Araka found someone familiar approaching from her back. Araka heard the greeting and turned her body back.

Turned out, it was Araka’s best friend since kindergarten time - Omikare Anikara （衛前 安仁）, or Lieu Nin （劉 寧）by legal name. Her dark skin, orange eyes, well-trained body, as well as her ponytail made her stand out from the rest of the crowd. 

“Hi, Nin-cha.”

“Araka-sa, how's your summer going?” As soon as Anikara recognized Araka, she made herself closer to Araka to start a conversation. 

“It was pretty fun! I’ve done so many things this summer, such as hiking with my family in the south, practicing my running, and of course I -” just as Araka was about to talk about the biggest thing that happened during the summer, she realized that it didn’t make sense to talk about that to Anikara.

“And?”

“And of course I went to Niangkee and made several friends. Look, I even visited a workshop in Niangkee specialized in making festive clothing!” Araka showed Anikara the pictures she took at the workshop. That’s a close call, Araka thought and felt relieved. 

“That’s amazing. It really makes me want to buy one at this place.”

As Araka and Anikara made their way to the classroom, they found their new classmates gathered around a table. 

“Ah,”  Anikara bumped into Araka by accident as Araka stopped at the entrance, “Araka-sa, why did you stop?”

“Nin-cha, you should stop looking at your phone while walking,” Araka said while signalling Anikara to look at the crowd in the classroom.

“Huh? Why are they all gathering at one table?” Anikara was confused. 

“Really? You just transferred here this semester? You must be very good at the enrollment exam!”

“Haha, thank you,” the girl at the center of the crowd said, while smiling.

As Araka and Anikara got closer to the crowd, they were greeted by another familiar face - an orange haired girl with a slightly round face. 

“Hi Aqua,” Araka greeted her first, “do you know what’s going with the crowd?”

Turned out it was Aquaté Sina, or Cho Chuanwen (趙 川玟), another classmate of Araka during her middle school. While initially distracted by her phone screen, Aqua turned her head up as Araka approached her, greeted with her typical low volume: “Ah, Hi, Araka. They were talking about the new girl who just transferred here. She seemed quite popular even though it was just her first day in Vensan.”

As the crowd walked away, Araka and Anikara could finally have a conversation with the girl. Upon seeing the girl, Araka was kind of impressed by the girl’s appearance - her eyes were, bigger and brighter than others, stood out in her violet coloured lense; her skin was well maintained without typical puberty marks and had the perfect shade of pink; her long, violet hair lied down just like a cascade, paired perfectly with the pink flower hairpin; her shoulders looked well worked, and her posture looked almost perfect.

“Hello-“ Araka greeted her, while uncertain about what type of response she would see.

“Hello, nice to meet you!” the girl waved her right hand and opened her mouth for a happy smile, showing her tiny fang on the right. Araka was impressed by the girl again - her soft voice had the perfect blend between cuteness and mannered beauty, “May I ask what’s your name?”

“I’m Peni Araka, you can just call me by Araka, and this is Omikare Anikara.”

“I see. My name is Otanaku Leana (烏海 蓮), and you can just call me Leana,” the girl introduced herself while writing down her name on a paper, “It’s my first semester in this school, so bear with me. I’m looking forward to studying with you.”

Araka was again impressed by Leana’s writing - compared to Araka’s writing with heavier strokes, Leana’s writing looked more delicate in comparison. Meanwhile, Araka noticed something: Leana’s first name didn't have the traditional spelling, and looked quite similar to foreign languages like Gudian. 

“So Leana, which school did you go to before you came here?” Anikara asked. 

“Me? I was from Zenju, NUZ Middle School,” she said. 

“So you must have taken the enrollment exam here, right?” Araka asked.

Leana nodded. 

So she indeed had tried really hard to get into here, Araka thought, she seemed to be even more well behaved than many of my fellow classmates. 

“By the way, Araka, may I have your name written down here? Because I think it’s an interesting name.”

Why would she ask that, Araka thought while feeling a bit uneasy. Fine, rules are rules. 

“Huh, Araka, I think it’s different from your name. Is that the name you prefer?” Leana said while looking at what Araka wrote - the name was written as “Sara”.

“Yeah, but that -“

“That’s okay. It’s still a beautiful name. I think I will call you Sara-cha from now on,” Leana didn’t seem to be bothered by that at all. 

It didn’t take too long for the classroom to return to order, as the first homeroom class had begun. 

“Good morning folks. Welcome to the new semester, my name is Okegamo Inare (大江 葉靜), and I will be your homeroom teacher for the entirety of your high school. You can always find me in the office on the third floor of the office building…” 

While Araka was still on her way getting familiar with her new classmates, she had already felt the excitement in making new friends in the classroom.

After the class concluded, Araka made her way to her newly designated locker to put her belongings away. It didn’t take her long to meet with Sukeo again, who also happened to be in the same place. 

“Hello, Sukeo,” Araka greeted him while putting her backpack into the locker. She was still wondering about what happened earlier in the morning.

“Ah hi, Araka,” Sukeo turned his head toward Araka, “Sorry for disrupting you, but have you seen a stash of documents in the area?”

Araka looked around and found a stash of documents lying on the table at the end of the locker bay. She immediately handed the document to Sukeo. 

“Thank you so much. It was almost the ceremony and somehow the secretary lost the document,” Sukeo said, “By the way, Araka, I hope you’re not mad at me for not responding to you in the morning - I was thinking about the ceremony and other agenda for the student council.”

“Wait, Sukeo, will you still be the president of the student council, even though you may not stay in the school for a month?” Araka asked. 

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to sort out this morning,” Sukeo said, “I told my fellow colleagues that I would like to make all student council meetings online, so that I can catch up with the progress while being absent from the school. They eventually gave me some arrangement for that, hence that’s why I need these documents because I need to hand them to the deputy president.”

“I see.”

“Oh no, I forgot the document!” While Sukeo and Araka were talking, another tall girl rushed into the locker bay. looked at Sukeo and Araka while felt 

“Sorry President Sukeo, I had a stomachache in the morning and I forgot to bring the documents.”

“That’s okay, at least I found it,” Sukeo said while handing the documents to the girl. “Be careful when handling documents in the future. Also, make sure the vice president and other staff are ready for the ceremony.”

“Thank you,” the girl expressed her gratitude and left.

“Is she the secretary of the student council?” Araka asked.

“Yes. In case if you didn’t know her, her name is Kou Chetan (高 澈潭). For most of the time, she was quite adequate for handling tasks,” Jun said while looking at his watch, “Oh, I think the ceremony will begin soon, so see you at the ceremony.”

The ceremony began not long after Sukeo left. Sitting between Anikara and Leana, Araka couldn’t help looking at Leana - she was again attracted by Leana’s apparel, which she was wearing an indigo blouse and a white skirt instead of the typical Vensan Academy uniform. 

During the ceremony, all the students, included Araka and Leana, received their new school uniforms. Araka opened the blue box with the school’s icon and took a peek of what was inside - a light blue sailor style top with navy coloured skirt, along with a light blue tie. In comparison to the middle school uniform, the new one looked more well made. 

“We, as the team of the student council, as well as the teaching and executive staff, hope you have a fresh, energetic new semester in this inclusive, welcoming community.”

After the ceremony, Leana caught up with Araka to have a conversation with her: “Sara-cha, may I take a look at your timetable for this semester?”

“Sure,” Araka grabbed her phone from her backpack, “here’s mine. 

“It seems to be that you’re taking the Watanaba and Han courses with me,” Leana said, “By the way, Sara-cha, may I exchange my contact with you?” Leana said.

“Sure,” Araka switched her phone screen to Miz, a popular social media platform, “here is mine, though I didn’t post much online.”

“That’s okay,” Leana said while adding Araka to her contact. “Wow Sara-cha, you really like traveling. I like the sceneries you post .”

“Thank you, Leana. By the way, may I also add yours to mine?”

“Sure thing.”

After Araka added Leana to her contact, Araka was again attracted by Leana’s posts - while her posts were not as funny as Tenka’s, Leana’s posts were more polished and had higher views: “Leana, you seemed quite used to posting on social media.” 

“Thank you. It’s just typical for me to share things online.”

While Araka scrolling down the posts, she found something interesting: “Leana, are you by any chance a swimmer?”

“Of course. I swim competitively since I was in elementary school.” That would explain why her shoulders and legs were in nice shape, Araka thought. 

“I think you can join the swim team in our school. It’s a strong team,” Araka said, “You can check it out with Sukeo, the president of the student council, at the pool this afternoon as I heard they are recruiting new members.”

“Thank you,” Leana said while smiling.

As the class come to the end, Araka made her way back to meet with Jun.

“Araka, how’s the class going?”

“It’s good. Most of the classmates were from the middle school, so I don’t have to worry about seeing too many new faces,” Araka said, while still thinking about Leana. 

“Who’s your homeroom teacher?”

“Ms. Okegamo Inare.”

“She’s a nice one,” Jun said, “I really her teaching as a history teacher. By the way, Araka, do you want to head somewhere else before heading home? Mom and Dad said they have something else to do before picking us up.”

“Umm, maybe the game store? I want to check out their new arrivals for the fall season.”