Prologue

PROLOGUE – THE ALOOF PRINCESS AND THE LAZY NEIGHBOR

Seirei Private Educational Institute

In the past, it has produced many graduates active in political and business circles, and this combined school of junior high, high school and university boasts top-level deviation value in academic grades. Its history was ancient; formerly, many children of noble families attended the institute, making it a prestigious school with a long and honorable origin.

On the opposite of such a long established school building, was a tree-lined street where students were walking.

They were walking towards the school building, bustling in chatters with their friends and classmates but as soon as one female student passed through the school gate and revealed herself, the atmosphere immediately changed.

Everyone who saw her uniformly expressed their surprise and admiration, and their eyes were following her figure.

"Wow, what's with this girl. She's so beautiful"

"You don't know? At the last school entrance ceremony she gave a greeting as the freshman representative, didn't she. She's that Mariya-san's little sister"

"I was too far away at that time…. haah, amazing. Up close, she looks just like a fairy"

"That's right, isn't it. I'm the same sex and older but, it's a little bit overwhelming, isn't it"

With transparent white skin that was impossible to be seen on genuine Japanese people, and long slit blue eyes that shine like sapphires.

And then her long silver hair, in half up style, glistening under the morning sun.

She had the finely chiseled looks inherited from her Russian father, and she had a beautiful appearance, giving a tenderness feeling like a Japanese person inherited from her mother.

In addition to her unparalleled appearance, she was tall for a girl and had long, slender arms and legs; she had an outstanding figure that embodied the ideal of every woman in the world, with a figure that showed where it needed to come out and retract in the right place.

All those colors came together, the name of the girl who had the somewhat otherworldly beauty was Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou. Since she transferred to the third-year of middle school of Seirei Private Educational Institute, she has always been ranked first in tests in her school year. In addition, she was good at sports; she was serving as the accountant of the student council since this year. She was a talented woman who was fitting to exactly be called a perfect superwoman.

"Hey, that"

"Eh? Whoah! Isn't it Kujou-san! To be lucky from morning"

"Say, you.. why don't we go and greet her for a bit"

"Impossible impossible! It's discourteous!"

"Hey hey, it isn't like you who doesn't mind calling out any beautiful girl, no matter who she is. Are you scared of just greetings?"

"Idiot! Her level, or rather she's on a different dimension! If you're going to talk like you go and greet her!"

"Don't want to. I won't want to do it poorly and get the attention of the other boys"

From the surroundings, regardless of genders, their gazes turned towards envy. Everyone naturally slowed down their pace; while avoiding her left and right, she walked leisurely without showing any kind of concern.

There, a male student approached her. Seeing this person in question, the surrounding students became noisy.

"Yo, morning. It's a nice morning isn't it"

As he said that, he showed a refreshing smile. Alisa didn't stop her feet as he glanced at him. She confirmed that he was a senior by the color of his necktie and she gave a slight bow.

"Good morning"

"Yeah, morning. Nice to meet you, I guess? I'm a second year, Andou. I'm a classmate of your big sister"

"Is that so"

The male student, who introduced himself as Andou, had a dyed light-brown hair and slightly worn out uniform. Around his neck, silver accessory was peeking out; he was quite a handsome man, like a fashionable youth these days but, Alisa's response was curt.

While the girls in the surroundings screamed in high-pitched voice at that sweet smile, Alisa dealt with it uninterestedly without changing her expression.

"I've often heard about you from your big sister…. From before meeting you, I've always been thinking of seeing you. What do you think? If you like, would you like to have lunch together during lunch break?"

"No, thank you"

She answered immediately without even a hint of hesitation. Towards her cold manner, Andou showed a weak strained laugh.

"Haha… How cold. If that's the case, can we at least exchange contact information? I want to know more about you"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you. If that's all you have to say, excuse me. Ah, also-"

Then Alisa turned towards Andou giving him a glance, and extended out her finger towards the bottom of his neck. At her sidelong glance and her slender finger pointed towards him, Andou unconsciously took back his smile, opened his eyes wide and slightly leaned back.

"That, it's a violation of school regulation"

Not caring about his agitation, Alisa was pointing at the silver accessory at the bottom of Andou's neck and coldly straight out just said, 'well then'. She just left with that and promptly walked away. The students who had been watching with bated breath in the surroundings regained their buzz.

"Incredible, Andou-senpai who is one of the most popular among girls in the second year was flaky rejected. She gave the feeling of being an aloof princess"

"Just how high is her ideal…. Is there any man that can be her good match?"

"In the first place, she might not have any interest in men, right? What a waste, right. Even though she's such a beauty"

"No no, rather isn't it reassuring to know that she doesn't belong to anyone?"

"I guess. In a sense of image, she's more of an idol than any other idol out there. She can be looked at forever. Or rather, I'd worship her"

"Well, it's creepy when you go that far, you know that? Though, I know how you feel"

Unaware that such conversation was taking place behind her, Alisa entered the school building, put her shoes inside her shoebox, and headed towards her classroom.

The male student she had easily brushed aside earlier was no longer in her mind.

The thing happening earlier, as far as she concerned, was so common that she didn't even bother to remember it.

Being the center of attention and approached by someone was just a part of everyday life for Alisa. And then, she handled the thing around her coldly, again.

As she arrived at the classroom and opened the door, her classmates' attention was drawn to her.

This too happened every morning. Alisa didn't mind it and went to her seat in the last row by the window.

And then, as she hung her bag on the side of her desk, with a casual gesture he looked at the seat to her right.

And there was a male student who had been sitting next to her for over a year now just because their last names were close.

For more than a year, he, Kuze Masachika, has held the position envied by many boys; the seat next to Alisa, one of the two most beautiful girls of the first year of high school, and now.

"..., ..."

He plopped down at his desk, and was sleeping so early in the morning

Alisa, who hasn't changed her expression until now, narrowed her eyes at the student's figure, unbecoming of a prestigious school with an ancient and honorable origin.

"Morning, Kuze-kun"

"….."

Masachika, who was plopped down on his desk with his arms as a pillow, didn't respond to Alisa's greeting. Apparently, he wasn't just plopped down on his desk, he was completely asleep.

Alisa's eyes narrowed down even more as her greeting was ignored, and her classmates who were watching, stiffened their faces.

A male student diagonally to his right in front was, "he- hey, Kuze? Wake uup~", called out to him reservedly but Masachika woke up faster than he could react to the voice.

Gan!

"uGufusu!?"

All of sudden, together with the sound of a blow, Masachika's desk slid sideways horizontally and Masachika sprung up while raising a strange voice. Alisa, standing next to him, kicked the leg of his desk from the side hard.

Seeing this, the students all around turned their faces away with an expression on their faces saying, "ahhhhh".

She was an honor student with excellent grades and good conduct, and was basically indifferent and uninterested in others, for better or worse. However, it was already a well-known fact among her school year that she was exceptionally hard on her neighbor, who was the representative of the school's unseriousness.

Everyone had become accustomed to the daily sightings of Alisa, who spoke harshfully and with contempt, and Masachika, who just brushed it off.

"Morning, Kuze-kun. Watching late-night anime again?"

Alisa greeted Masachika again as if nothing had happened, who seemed still to be understanding the situation.

At the sound of her voice, Masachika's eyes blinked in surprise as he looked to his side. Having guessed the state of affairs, he returned the greeting while scratching his head.

"Yeah… Morning, Alya. Well, something like that"

The name Alya, as Masachika called her, was Alisa's nickname in Russia.

There were many students who called her that behind her back, but he was the only boy in this school who called her by her nickname face to face.

Whether this was due to Masachika's recklessness or Alisa's tolerance was unknown to those in the surroundings.

Even though he had been kicked out of his sleep and was being looked down at with a highly praised cold stare, Masachika's attitude showed no sign of fear.

His easygoingness drew mixed looks of shock and admiration from the people around her, but Masachika didn't think he was doing anything special. It's because…. He had noticed it.

(What's 'uGufusu!?' ? 'uGufusu!?', I mean. Fufu, some weird sound came out)

There was no disgust in Alisa's eyes as she looked down at him, but rather a complete smile behind her eyes.

Her real thoughts immensely enjoyed it, above all, at himself raising a weird sound as he jumped up.

However, Alisa didn't seem to think that her real thought had been exposed at all. She sat down in her seat and in amazed voice she said,

"You never learn, do you. Cutting down sleep to watch anime, it can't be helped being sleepy at school, isn't it"

"Well, you could say, at the same time, the anime has ended though… I had a long impression meeting afterwards"

"Impression meeting? Aah, the one where you mumble your thoughts on the internet?"

"No? On a phone call with an otaku friend. Roughly two hours or so"

"Are you an idiot?"

Masachika's words were met with a reproachful eyes, and suddenly he had a distant look in her eyes and floated a nihilistic smile.

"Fuu…. Idiot, huh… That's right. To speak of love for a work without regard for time and place. If you call that being an idiot, surely, you might be right…."

"I'm sorry. Looks like you wasn't just an idiot, you was an irredeemable idiot"

"Alya-san is in perfect form too, today"

At Alisa's relentless abusive language, Masachika's shoulders bobbed up and down jokingly as if to warded her off.

Just as Alisa shook her head at Masachika's attitude, the bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom three minutes ahead.

The students returned to their seats one by one, and Alisa turned to the front and began to move the textbooks and notebooks from her bag to her desk.

In the midst of the students waiting for their homeroom teacher in a well-behaved manner appropriate for a prestigious school, Masachika stretched and yawned once grandly, blinking his eyes oozing out tears repeatedly.

Alisa who was watching that scene with a sidelong glance turned towards the window; with a smile she spilled a fufu, and murmured out a single word in Russian "Милашка(cute)"

"afu, what did you say?"

"Nothing much though? I just said, 'shameful'"

She then replied to Masachika, who had overheard her murmur, with an indifferent face. At Alisa's deception, Masachika seemed to be convinced that she was referring to his yawn and replied, "Well, excuse me", and this time, he covered his mouth with his hand and yawned.

Seeing Masachika, Alisa raised one eyebrow as if to look down on him. She turned to the window again and smiled. While hiding her expression from Masachika, she spoke up filled with her real thoughts.

(Idiot, he hasn't noticed anything at all~. fufuu)

Alisa suppressed her grinning mouth by pretending to rest her chin in her hands. Masachika was looking at her back as if he looked at something disappointing.

(Well, everything has been conveyed, though?)

Alisa didn't know.

In fact, Masachika understood Russian language.

The occasional leak of her being sweet, murmuring in Russian, all of it has been conveyed to the person in question.

And, behind the conversation between the two that seemed to have no fragments of sweetness on the surface, no one around them knew that there was actually such a funny and little embarrassing exchange going on.