1 ENTRANCE

My name is Alaric Eisenhower, and this is my story.

Being a sixteen-year-old high school student, I have never never regretted every decision I've made. Hashtag double negative. But I mean it. Most of my decisions lead me to my doom, but some gave me fruits that are worthy of being thought about.

I study at Dradecim National High School. Because I'm on a prestigious government-owned campus, you can expect that my grades are above average. I'm about five-eleven in height and sixty kilos in weight. Yup, I'm tall, white and handsome fella you can probably see through the hallway at eight in the morning, rushing like an Olympic sprinter to my classroom. I'm late again.

"You're too early for the second period!" Mister Kent yelled at me as soon as I opened the classroom door. My only response was to force a smile and scratch the back of my head in embarrassment. I tried apologizing but it didn't help either. Instead, he yelled at me again. "Stop yanking and get your butt over your seat!"

I wearingly sat on my chair and slammed my face on my desk. My home is about fifty kilometers away, and there's traffic on that crappy bridge near this city. The bus driver is also a noob! How can you expect me not to be late?

Anyway, Mister Kent (or Macho Steel, as dubbed by my fellow classmates) is an understanding guy. He must be yelling at me every morning, but he has good feedbacks around this school. Beneath that macho man body of him is a golden soft heart, they said. Aside from those boring lectures, he gives easy tests and recitations. I hope I can see that during my stay here.

"You have a new classmate." Our teacher said.

There was this petite yet tall girl who has been in front of the class the whole time. Her face is so adorable that you can mistake her head for a twelve-year-old but her somewhat mature body tells it otherwise. She has this long black platinum hair that reaches her thighs. I suspect this girl is a Japanese-British hybrid, which makes her popular among the guys in this class.

Everybody's attention was on her, so it made her face red. She mumbled something like "Please don't stare at me too much, I'm a shy person..."

I lied about everybody's attention to her. An idiot, who is seated in front of me, had his attention on me. He is my friend Heushac, and he is one of those people who have no interest in cute girls whatsoever. Heushac Efilion is just the same as mine. He's also handsome but I really think he should work over his hygiene. You would spot him sometimes picking his nose. There was one time when he smells like cow dung. That is why most girls avoid him.

"Too bad to be you." Heushac chuckled. "You always hear Macho Steel yelling."

Suddenly, a blackboard eraser broke the wind barrier and collided with Heushac's forehead. When I shifted my eyes, I saw Macho Steel...err Mister Kent glare at our direction. "Silence, Mister Efilion!" And then he shifted moods to an aggressive to an approachable one to our new classmate. "Will you please~"

"I-I'm Tiara Hikari...N-Nice to meet you all!" She bowed down. "P-Please take care of me from now on!"

Because of her nervous attitude, a lot of boys had their eyes shaped in hearts. These guys...They can't help but feel in love just by seeing a pretty lady. Well, seeing one with this personality is quite rare nowadays.

"You can sit there." Macho Steel said. He was pointing the vacant seat just by the window, just beside me, on my left. You know where most anime protagonist sits? That's where. The new girl Tiara obeyed and sat comfortably.

The boys in the class reacted again once they realized that I'm the nearest person. They shrieked something like "That arrogant Alaric is her seatmate!?" , "Unforgivable!" , "What the heck is Macho Steel thinking!?" When Macho Steel heard that, he tossed barrages of chalk to those who complained.

"N-N-Nice to meet you~" Tiara smiled at me. It's obvious that she's trying hard to muster all the courage she got.

I ignored her completely and turned my head away.

There is a reason why the boys in my class didn't want the new pretty girl to sit beside me. I have a garbage attitude, as they say. Well, that's true. I hate people who are trying hard to be liked by everyone. I wanted everyone away from my personal space. Especially if it's from the opposite sex. I'm only friendly towards boys, and there's no homo about that.

You'll understand later why I don't want to interact with any girl.

<>

The boring school day ended with Tiara not able to talk to anyone. Do I feel guilty about it? Yes, of course. She's just unlucky to be seated near me, that's all.

When I finished packing up things, a lot of my classmates gathered around me to watch this particular event. There was a bowl-cut girl which came from my class.

"Alaric Eisenhower... Please accept my feelings!" One of my classmates bowed down as she reached out a pink valentine's card.

"I'm sorry. I don't hit on older girls..." I said coldly...

"B-B-But I'm just three months older than you..." my classmate had her eyes watery.

"Exactly," I said.

"U...Uwaaaaaah! Alaric rejected me!!!" She ran off outside the room and burst into tears.

I can hear a lot of my classmates murmuring and whispering to each other. Words like "Alaric is so mean!" , "That idiot is so arrogant!" and the like as they get back to their respective places. They didn't know the whole story, come on. That girl (I forgot her name) is my stalker. One of my stalkers actually. They pester me nonstop, and they annoy me. I'm a good guy, and I don't want to have their false hope grow. That is why I would like to reject them immediately, and frankly.

That is why my image became stained in my whole high school life. They call me "Alaric the Arrogant" (Sometimes the Arrogant Bastard) just because it seems like I hate girls. Well, I do. I have three records of friendzones back in the past years. I'm not doing this for revenge, but I think I have to choose the woman I fall for more carefully. I don't want the ugly ones. Come at me feminists!

Suddenly, Tiara stood up in front of me and pressed her head forward in order to make an eye-to-eye contact. Her glare with her golden brown eyes makes me feel terror and chills on my spine.

"Y-You're so arrogant! C-Can you reject her in a proper manner?!" Tiara is trying hard to draw bravery on her heart again, but I know that she's furious about me.

"Well, it's none of your business- Pwah!"

A right jab went straight to my nose! Because of this, my chair tumbled and I got my head smashed to the floor! I felt the warm blood running on my nasal cavity! Ouch! Tiara seems like he has taken all basic boxing lessons! All my classmates have their attention to both of us, who is having this trivial quarrel.

"Y-You!" She pointed at me. "L-Lessen your arrogance a bit, will you!?"

And then she looked around. Realizing this commotion, her face blushed and reverted into a shy persona once again. "I-I'm sorry about that!" She bowed and then left the classroom in a rushed manner.

<>

This is the first time we had a conversation (quarrel) with each other.

And that small squabble will lead to a complicated love story with a lot of revelations and secrets waiting to be unfolded.

I'll spoil you one of her secrets. She's not your regular campus sweetheart.

She is a Gate Guardian.