Chapter 26: Self-Introduction

My school life as Alice got off to a literal stumbling start.

“I wanna go home…”

Right now, I’m waiting in the hallway for my homeroom teacher, Saeki-sensei, to call me in—basically, I’m on standby.

On the first day of transferring schools, you're supposed to report to the faculty office, walk to the classroom with your homeroom teacher, and then get called into the room during homeroom. Apparently, that's the routine.

I don’t know if it’s thanks to my dad pulling some strings, but I ended up in the same class as Yuna without any issues.

The classroom is buzzing. Word must’ve gotten around that a transfer student’s coming… Hopefully, though, the incident this morning hasn’t spread.

“All right, Kisaragi Imouto, you’re up. Get in here.”

I heard Saeki-sensei call me from inside the classroom, so I stepped in.

The moment I opened the door, there was a brief silence—and then the classroom erupted like a bomb had gone off.

From what I could make out, I was being called a foreigner, praised for my silver hair, told I had beautiful hair, called tiny, cute, and even “legal loli.” A few questionable comments in there, but for the most part, they seemed positive. It tickled me a little.

Boys and girls alike were hyped up and excited.

“Settle down, all of you! I get how you feel, but you’re scaring Kisaragi Imouto!”

Once Saeki-sensei scolded them, the noise gradually died down, and I finally stepped into the room. I could feel every eye in the class tracking my every move.

I really don’t want to mess this up more than I already have on my first day.

Ugh, I’m so nervous…

I walked straight to the podium, turned my back to the class, and grabbed a piece of chalk. I tried to write up high on the blackboard, but my hand only reached about halfway.

I heard whispers behind me—“She’s standing on tiptoes, so cute,” and so on.

I gave up on writing vertically and instead wrote “Kisaragi Alice” in horizontal text at about the middle of the board.

When I turned around and stood behind the teacher’s desk, I realized it hid me all the way up to my chest, so I stepped to the side. I placed both hands neatly in front of my skirt, stood up straight, and faced the class.

In the back corner, I spotted Yuna giving me a small wave. That alone helped ease some of my nerves.

I gave a deep bow and began my greeting.

“My name is Kisaragi Alice. I’ve just transferred here and will be joining your class. I’ll be studying with you all as your classmate. I’m the stepsister of Yuna, who’s also in this class. I only arrived in Japan three months ago, so there’s still a lot I’m unfamiliar with, but I’ll do my best. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

As soon as I finished and gave another deep bow, the room exploded into cheers.

“Nice to meet you too!” “So cute!” “I wanna hug her!” “Marry me!”

Yeah… this class is really energetic. Not that I dislike this kind of vibe, personally.

“Question! Question!”

One of the boys was waving eagerly at me. I glanced over at Saeki-sensei in the back, but he didn’t seem like he was going to stop it, so I figured it was okay to roll with it.

“Yes, you there.”

“Do you have a boyfriend!?”

The classic first question.

“I don’t. And I don’t plan on getting one, either.”

I shot it down bluntly. The boy looked disappointed, but I didn’t care. Giving anyone false hope would only cause problems.

More hands went up, so I started calling on them one by one.

“Are you from another country?” asked a girl.

“Yes, I was born in a small country in Eastern Europe. I’m a quarter Japanese.”

“Your Japanese is amazing—where did you learn it?” a boy asked.

“I studied at a Japanese school in my home country.”

“Yes! Um, Kisaragi-san—what do you mean by ‘stepsisters’ with Yuna-san?”

It was a girl who asked. I didn’t expect a personal question like that to come up in front of the whole class, but honestly, it worked in my favor.

“Half a year ago, I lost my parents in an accident and had no family left. I was completely alone and didn’t know what to do… At that time, Yuna’s father—who had always been close with my family—decided to take me in as his adopted daughter. That’s how Yuna and I became sisters… I’m really sorry, but it’s still painful for me, so I’d appreciate it if we could avoid talking about the country I was born in.”

I kept my tone light, trying not to make things too heavy, and explained my “background” simply.

In truth, I’ve only been to that country a few times to visit my dad while he was working overseas. If someone dug too deep, my story would fall apart pretty fast. That’s why I decided to steer the conversation away from my birthplace with this kind of emotional backstory.

The effect was immediate. The classroom, which had been buzzing with excitement, went completely silent—like someone had poured cold water over everyone. Total buzzkill.

Especially the girl who’d asked the question—she looked devastated. I felt genuinely bad just seeing her face. After all… everything I just said was a complete lie.

“I—I’m sorry! I didn’t know…”

“Please, don’t worry about it. I’m really happy with my new family now. I finally get to attend a Japanese school like I’ve always dreamed. I’d be really grateful if you could all just treat me like normal.”

I placed a hand over my chest and spoke with a bit of dramatic flair. Then, in a playful gesture, I threw a little fist-pump for good measure.

And just like that, the class burst into laughter again.

People were saying things like, “That was so moving!” or “She’s so brave!” or “Can I call you Big Brother?” or “I wanna be your sister too!” Okay… maybe I overdid it a bit. But I managed to shift the awkward mood, so I’ll call that a win.

Just as the atmosphere settled again, the chime signaling the end of homeroom rang.

“All right, everyone—take good care of Kisaragi Imouto, okay? For now, I’ve assigned her the seat next to Kisaragi Onee.”

Yuna waved me over like, “Here, here!”—not that I needed her to be that obvious.

And with that, my second shot at high school life officially began.