The New Transfer Student

Things were looking pretty positive for Arata nowadays. Sitting in class before it began, he was much happier than he ever was.

"Who are you talking to?" Yogi noticed chuckling coming from his friend, while on his phone.

"Oh, I'm just chatting with someone online." He replied. "It's not anyone you know, technically I don't know them in person either." This was someone that he started chatting up with to talk anime and manga for a little while now. It must've been shortly after he met Erina that this started.

"Wow, that's sounds pretty cool." Yogi was enamored by that, he thought it was interesting to make friends online. "Do you know where they live?"

"Funny you should say that." Arata laughed. "They just moved here to Japan recently. They're from America."

"Really? Then how have you been able to talk with each other?"

"Oh, well according to them. They're half Japanese, half American." Of course, since he had never even seen them before. They could've been lying to him, something that he always kept in mind. Arata always stayed honest with them though, since he didn't think it was a big deal if they weren't going to meet.

"Okay students." The teacher got everyone's attention. "Before we begin class, I'd like to say that we're getting a new transfer student." This news sent everyone to murmurs, curious as to who it was going to be.

"Oh bother." Arata said to himself. He knew from his experience in both anime and real life what this was going to bring. If this was a girl, then all the boy would be too excited for this. If this was a boy, then all the girls were going to go nuts. He was hoping that the classroom he was in was going to be an exception.

"This is going to be exciting." Yogi commented. He wasn't surprised that he was looking forward to this. This just meant another opportunity to make friends.

"Okay, please come in now." The teacher beckoned the student to enter. It was a girl that walked into the classroom.

There were two things that stuck out to him. The first would be her long snow white hair that reached down her back. The other would be her rather small stature. More accurately, the otaku inside him would say she fit the loli size.

Judging by the reactions of the boys in this class, they seemed pretty subdued. Was it because of what he was hoping for, or was it because they were disappointed? He thought she was cute, but he also felt that he might get in trouble for feeling that way.

"H-hello…" She introduced herself, clearly nervous with all these eyes on her. "I-I'm Yuki Sugioka." So that was her name, he thought. She slowly put up her hands to show off two peace signs. "I-I hope w-we have a w-wonderful time together…"

"She's trying too hard." He whispered to himself. Arata was the last person to try and be cool, but at least he knew what wasn't.

"Okay, thank you. Now how about you go take the seat behind Aono." The teacher informed her, so that class could begin. So they were going to have to sit near the new girl? Probably a good chance for Yogi to try and make new a friend, Arata thought. Except, what happened next shocked him instead.

"I'm so glad we're in the same class." The girl said this to Yogi as she walked by them. He couldn't believe his ears, this girl knew who that boy was?

"Right, I'm glad too." Yogi replied. He knew her too?! Arata was in awe of this sight. Usually, if there was a love interest with a transfer student. It was closer to a bad thing for the protagonist. That love would get in the way of his goals. But this girl… She already had an advantage?

He could hardly focus in class. This was going to be a pretty bad thing for the others to hear. He felt that he needed to tell them about this, instead of getting a surprise at lunch.

"Hey, are you coming?" Before Arata knew it, lunchtime had come around.

"Oh right, I'll meet you there." There was something he had to do first. Once he saw Yogi leaving with that girl, he quickly sent out a message to the others.

"What do you need?" Misei looked at him irritated as everyone gathered at the location he told them to meet. "We're wasting valuable lunchtime, everyone needs to make sure their energy is kept up." Everyone knew what she was really upset about, but Arata knew this was something that everyone needed to know about.

"Look, you're all going to want to hear about this." He started to explain. "You see, the class me and Yogi are in, just got a new transfer student. A girl, specifically."

"I never realized that Arata was the type of person to fall so easily." Akaki joked. He was teasing because of Arata did with Akiba.

"No, it's not that." Arata looked back at him unimpressed. "I think that girl is into him."

"If it's some random girl that into him, I doubt that'll be a problem." Misei was already used to everyone else here. So what was one more person, just another that'll get their heart broken.

"You don't understand. Yogi, it looks like he knows here too." That was something that got them to drop their jaws. "In fact, they're both waiting for all of us at lunch. He actually invited her to join us." This was moving so fast for him. Yogi couldn't possibly have been so enamored with someone that he just met. Not with all these ladies that had their sights on him. So what was the reason, he wondered.

"I'm sure this is all some misunderstanding." Despite Misei's cool attitude, it was clear that she was saying this more to convince herself, rather than the others.

"Yeah, well I just wanted to warn you all. Let's just get over there before they think something's up." They headed towards their everyday lunch location. The student council room.

"Sorry, we're late…" Arata opened the door first. He was slammed at what he saw. "Y-yogi…" That girl had her chopsticks up, feeding him a piece of her lunch. He turned around to see how shocked everyone else was at this sight.

They couldn't afford to give themselves up. Now was the time to play things cool, so they quickly gained their composure. Yogi was none the wiser.

"Hey guys." He greeted them as if nothing was wrong. Yogi formally introduced Yuki to everyone else, but Arata. Since he had already met her in class.

With that out of the way, it was time to start lunch. One could cut the tension with a knife in this room. The other girls were jealous of what this new girl was doing, feeding him. Especially Erina, since she had her prepared lunch for him wasted.

Yet, they didn't want to speak up. Because they were all unsure of who this person really was, or why Yogi was so comfortable with this stranger. Arata knew that out of everyone, that he had the best shot of working with this. Since he was in their class.

"So, how are you liking class?" He asked Yuki. "I know your first day isn't over, but I hope that no one's given you any trouble." Arata was going to have to figure out who this person was, what edge did she have?

"It's been going well…" She had a quiet tone to the way she spoke. As if she was a little afraid of him, rather than simply being shy. "Thanks for asking… Um…" He realized that he never gave his name to her yet.

"Oh, my name's Arata Kashimura." He told her. When she heard his name, her eyes shifted. Instead of those meek puppy eyes, she now looked at him in scorn.

"Arata?" She paused. "I hate that name." She told him plainly. He recoiled from hearing that, it wasn't something that one would every expect someone to say. "I'll, uh, just call you Kashimura, if you don't mind."

"Um, okay?" He barely knew her, so it wasn't a big deal to be called by his last name. Just that it was odd she'd announce that to him. This girl gave him no other opportunities to talk with her. Instead, she spent all lunch monopolizing Yogi away from everyone else. Much to their chagrin.

By the end of school, this girl was still stuck by Yogi's side. Clinging onto his arm. She asked him if he could take her to check out the sights around town, to which he agreed.

"Hey, could we join along?" Yogi knew this girl could be trouble, so keeping an eye on her was part of his plan. Yuki whispered something to Yogi, which seemed to influence his answer.

"Sorry, but if it's okay. She just wants us to go by ourselves." He responded. That kind of ticked Arata off, this girl really had the influence over him that he'd pick her over his friends? Something about this just seemed wrong to him.

"Yeah, that's fine." he lied. "Don't worry about us, go on ahead." He let those two go off, but that was only from an official standpoint. Quickly, he got everyone else to meet him by the front entrance.

"You've got to be kidding me, and you just let them leave?!" Yuriko threatened him after he explained the story.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger." He defended himself. "It's not like I had much of a choice."

"But then, what should we do?" Akiba asked. They wondered, but Arata already had a plan in mind.

"Actually, I've got an idea..." He explained that they may have to do a little bit of spying.

"Oh I get it, like when I stalk him." Erina commented. He was surprised that she would word it like that. But in essence, that was what they were about to do.

"Yeah, sure. I guess you could put it like that." He nervously laughed.

"I can't believe I'm going to stoop down to the level of a stalker." Misei lamented.

"He won't get mad at us, right?" Akiba asked anxiously.

"Oh, he's caught me plenty of times." Erina assured her. "He hasn't gotten mad at me once."

"What she said." Arata agreed. "But we probably shouldn't allow ourselves to get caught. Otherwise, we won't be able to find out who this girl really is." In front of all of them, Yuki seemed very reserved. Not wanting to talk with any of them, even being a bit mean to Arata himself.

"We should probably get going, or else we'll lose them." Yuriko wanted to get everyone to stop just chatting idly.

"You're right." Said Arata. "Okay, well Erina you should take the lead. After all, you've got the most experience out of all of us."

"Hehe, don't worry. If he's taking her to see some sights, then I'm pretty sure I know exactly where he's going to be." For once in his life, he was glad that there was an obsessive girl in the group.

"All right then, let's go." He allowed all of them to leave before him. However, he noticed that Misao was just standing there.

"Misao? Is something wrong?" He asked her.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something." She said to him, then she left, with him following behind.

She was thinking about him. Wondering what was going on with Arata. This seemed out of character to her. There was something odd about the way he was acting.