Chapter 02: The First Day of School “Hmmmm....so this is the school she might be attending.” Ran thought to himself as he pulled out the map of the school and his schedule list. Ran was attending a K-12 school called “Kwan Yin Primary to Secondary school”. It was a large school, with students ages ranging from six years old to eighteen or nineteen years old. As Ran observed his surroundings, he saw a couple missing student fliers. It had the pictures of two twin siblings of the opposite sex named Tsui Hong and Tsui Mei-Ha. The poster also had a description of their disappearance. Ran picks up one of the fliers and skims over it. “Ah, Hong and Mei-Ha. It sounds like they were transported to another world via UFO. And it also look like their father went missing with them too. I hope they are safe...wherever they are...” Ran looks at the inside of the school and notices how messy it is. There was graffiti on lockers, aluminum cans discarded on the ground with droplets of liquid dripping out of the opening and muddy footprints all over the floor. “Wow, humans can be such sloppy little piggies sometimes.” Unfortunately for Ran, his mediocre sense of directions caused him to be ten minutes late. “Wow...this school...it's so large! I wonder where my classroom is?” He then finally finds the classroom he was looking for and quietly opens the door, noticing the teacher writing something on the chalk board. The teacher turned her eyes over to this blue haired youth and smiled politely at him. “Hello.” The teacher said, smiling. “You must be the new student.” “Yes I am.” Ran said nervously. “Do you mind introducing yourself to the class?” “Ummm...yeah...I guess so.” It was obvious that Ran was getting rather nervous, but he had to tell everyone his name and a little bit about himself. “Ummmm....Hello....My name is Ran Kayrahan, but please, just call me Ran. Ehhh... I'm new here. I come from a rural region outside the big city limits, so I have to probably get used to being here and putting up with the crowds and noise.” There was a bit of cheerful, non-malicious laughter coming from Noelle in the back of the class. The teacher clapped his hands and introduced herself. “Very interesting. Well, I am Mrs. Yip, and I will be teaching World Literature and Folklore. Now, have your seat in back with Miss Noelle Wong.” “Ummm...okay.” Ran stuttered nervously as he made his way back to where Noelle was sitting. “Aw man! Noelle has a hot guy sitting next to her. NO FAIR!” A prissy female student whined. The girl was obviously a well to do girl wearing a pink cashmere vest over her white han-fu shirt, a black leather skirt, pink pantyhose and black and red high heel boots lined with fur. Her long black hair was crimped and had a pink bow in back. She wore bright pink lipstick, body glitter and strong smelling perfume. “Enough Yoshiko!” Noelle snapped at the girl. It was obvious Noelle and Yoshiko did not get along with each other. “Leave him alone.” “Humph! Fine! Have it your way you little....” “Stop it.” Ran snapped at Yoshiko. He sat down next to Noelle and started to talk to her. “Well, hello. You must me be Noelle...I'm glad to meet you...I was....” Then, as Noelle turned around to face Ran, the young man's eyes widened in surprise as he stifles a surprised gasp by putting his hands over his mouth. “What...no way!” “What's the matter Ran?” Noelle asked innocently. “It looks like you've seen a ghost.” “You...you look like someone I know.” Ran gasped. “I mean, you're face seems familiar with me.” “Ummm....what the...what are you talking about?” Noelle asked. “You're a new student here, and this is my first time knowing you.” “Oh, I'm sorry.” Ran said as he started to calm down. “It just was just a coincidence after all.” “It's okay.” Noelle responds with a smile on her face. “Sometimes, looks can be deceiving.” Mrs. Yip over heard the conversation in back and noticed that Ran needed to know more about the school. “Well, Noelle...since Ran is new here, I want you to show him around the school, and help him get more acquainted with his surroundings. I don't want him being late for class again.” Yoshiko started to feel green with envy. “WAAAAAH! But Mrs. Yip, I want to show him around. He's just so handsome, with his glasses and all...” “NO!” Ran snapped back. “I want Noelle to show me around.” “But...but...” “NO BUTS YOSHIKO!” Mrs. Yip yelled as she slammed her fists on her desk. “Ran has made up his mind, and wants Noelle to show him around. Deal with it!” “WAAAAAAAAAH! You're so mean Mrs. Yip!” Yoshiko cried out as she folded her arms and puts her head on the desk, sobbing and groaning softly. “Come on, let's go.” Noelle said sternly. “I had enough of Little Miss Drama Queen.” “I agree.” Ran sighed as Mrs. Yip gave both students a pass to leave the classroom. --- As Noelle was showing Ran around the school, she met up with a familiar face. They were greeted by a girl who appeared to be fourteen years old. The girl had short reddish-brown bob cut, hazel eyes, a round face and some baby fat on her body. She wore a plaid skirt, a short sleeved white blouse with a red tie and an indigo vest, as well as creamy yellow socks and black Mary Jane styled shoes. This girl was Maki Nozawa, and one of Yukio's cousins on his dad's side of the family. “Hi Noelle! How are you?” “I'm fine Maki.” Noelle replied. Ran looked over at Maki and smiled. “Hi, I'm Ran Kayrahan. I'm new to this school and just taking a tour with Noelle.” “Nice to meet you Ran.” Maki cheered as she bowed down to Ran. “As you can tell, my family and I are friends with Noelle and her father. They are really neat people.” Ran noticed a strange aura on Maki. Unlike the strangely familiar and mysterious aura surrounding Noelle, Maki's aura was more like a strange mixture of being child like and animal like. Ran knew he had nothing to fear from this girl and took an instant liking to her, as if she was like a little sister. As Noelle and Maki gave Ran a tour of the school, a girl with wild pigtails scattered on her head and drool dripping down her lips came running towards the trio, giggling and laughing maniacally. “Hi Maki....! You picked up a real looker here.” Ran rolled his eyes at the wild hair girl and groaned. “Now who is this?” “I'm Wei Wei Chow! I'm the prettiest girl in my whole class.” “Ummm...yeah..of course you are...” Ran humored the fan girl, trying hard to hide his disgust. “Wei Wei, go back to class.” Maki growled in frustration. Wei Wei pouted and groaned. “But it's science class and we're dissecting animals. It always smells like dooty in there.” “Well that's too bad.” Maki snarled. “Go away! Leave us alone!” “Why don't you hang around students your own age?” Ran added, trying hard to not blow up in rage. “Humph!” Wei Wei grunted as she stomped out of the hallways in disgust. After touring the school for some hours, the bell finally rung. It was now lunch time for the older students and both Ran and Noelle were hungry. Maki, on the other hand, already had lunch, so feels satisfied. --- It was now lunch time. Noelle pulls out a red and black Japanese bento styled lunchbox with floral pink and white motifs in the inside of the box. She opened the box and started to dig into her meal consisting of sushi, steamed dim sum buns and a savory meat and vegetable filled egg custard that her dad made for her while working at Rudra's. As she was digging into her food, Ran came over to Noelle's table and greeted her. “Do you mind if I sit here?” “Of course. I don't mind at all.” Noelle said as Ran sat across from her. “Thank you very much.” Ran sighed in relief. “All the other students wouldn't let me sit with them, and there was no way in hell that I am sitting with Yoshiko and her snooty friends.” “Ah, I'm sorry to hear that.” Noelle said as Ran started to pull out a really odd looking lunchbox. It looked more like a black cauldron than a typical bento lunch box. Ran pulls out a meal consisting of huge, pale looking lobster-like grubs, blood red mini-pancakes and a very odd looking soup. She wanted to think it was a bird's nest soup, but it even looked stranger than that, with it's cloudy texture and its odd smell that was indescribable to Noelle. “What unique looking food you have there. I've never seen anything like it.” “These white looking little fellows are bark lobsters, these pancakes are sweet red pancakes and this soup is Isshi soup.” Ran explains to Noelle as he shows her the lunch. Noelle raised an eye brow in confusion. “What is an Isshi? And what are these bark lobsters?” “An Isshi is a species of lake monster that lives in southern Japan.” Ran explains to Noelle. “And the bark lobsters are a strange sort of being that was said to be brought from another world by ancient astronauts, so they can harvest them for food on Earth.” “Hmmm...interesting.” Noelle said as she eyed his food. “You're quite a smart person. I admire your intelligence.” Ran starts to grin at Noelle's compliment. “Thank you. Thank you very much.” As the two were digging into their meals and even sharing them, Yoshiko started to waltz over to the table and snickers at them. “Well well well. What do we have here?” “Go away Yoshiko.” Ran grumbled. “We're eating here.” Noelle added. “I wasn't talking to you midget, I was talking to this hunk.” Yoshiko sneered as she tried to go near Ran. As Yoshiko tries to kiss Ran, the boy shoves her away. “Go away. I'm not interested in you and you know it. Besides, Noelle and I are just friends. Get that through your thick skull.” Yoshiko pouts and turns her back on him. “Oh man! You're no fun anymore....” Yoshiko stomps off to her table with her friends, and starts to grumble and groan to herself. “It's no fair. He always leaves me out of everything.” “Ummm....Ran....I have to go to the restroom. Mind watching over my spot.” “Sure, I don't mind at all.” Ran replied as Noelle starts to dash off to the nearest restroom. As Noelle left for a bit, some thoughts crossed Ran's mind. He knew that Noelle was someone special in a previous life. She even looked like this woman who was special to him, only younger and shorter. But deep down inside, Ran also knew that she didn't remember her past life, nor Ran's true identity. Yes, he was going to a school full of humans, but he himself was different, and so was Noelle. If only she remembered him. However, at the same time, Ran kept his true identity as a secret from Noelle, hoping she wouldn't run away in terror. As you see, Ran was not a normal guy. He lived amongst other strange and unusual fellows in an Alagablettur, or what we would call in English: A hidden area. Yes, he is only going to a K-12 school not just to study humans, but to be re-unite with the one that was dear to him in a previous life.