December 7, 2013, 7:30 a.m.
"Kiana, this is the back-to-school gift I bought for you as the store manager." Su Qing'an handed the girl a delicate, cute pencil case.
Kiana gently shook the pencil case, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. It was filled entirely with pens and stationery. Had the store manager really started treating her like a child? The pencil case looked so childish.
Though it was pretty cute, she secretly added in her mind.
"Anyway, I know that if you prepared for yourself, Kiana, you wouldn't even buy pens. You clearly have no intention of studying properly, right?" The boy watched Kiana's gaze begin to wander and quietly exposed the truth.
"J-just kidding. How could I be that kind of person?" Kiana stiffly turned her gaze away while carefully stuffing the pencil case into her bag.
"Fine. Then I hope I won't hear from Satou that you spaced out and slept in class or failed to hand in your homework, Kiana." Su Qing'an smiled kindly.
"I-I won't!"
Ah, Satou Yunona, I'm sentencing you to death. Having been branded a spy, Kiana gnashed her teeth at Satou Yunona.
She had already begun to understand how petty Su Qing'an could be. She had only called him an idiot yesterday, but all the dishes he made that evening had been so spicy—and yet so delicious that she couldn't refuse them. He was truly vicious.
So if Satou Yunona told Su Qing'an that she had slept in class, wouldn't she suffer "torture" again?
The viciously labeled Su Qing'an was completely unaware of this. He was saying goodbye to Kiana: "All right, go to school. You can't be late on your very first day, can you?"
"Got it. Su Qing'an, you're so naggy." Stamping her little leather shoes, Kiana replied irritably.
"Then I'm off to school. I'll be back this afternoon. Goodbye, Su Qing'an."
Watching the girl's retreating figure pick up speed, Su Qing'an couldn't help feeling a little amused. She must be somewhat looking forward to it, after all. Kiana hadn't attended school much, so she should properly experience this rare school life.
He hoped she could adapt to school life quickly. Then the boy began to worry again.
Whatever. He would put that aside for now. There were still some very important things to do today.
After locking up the store, Su Qing'an left a short while after Kiana had gone out.
Ah, so boring. So annoying. So frustrating.
Why? Why? Why?
Every minute and every second Asakura Miyuki spent here made her restless. Even the air she breathed seemed to be filled with a foul stench that was impossible to endure.
Endless malice pricked at her nerves like needles. Her soul was howling, her soul was wailing, yet the girl remained expressionless, occasionally even putting on a polite smile.
Some part of her must have broken. But what exactly had broken, and when had it happened? Asakura Miyuki could no longer remember.
Even though the girl was already like a doll that had been broken halfway, humanity's primal instincts still warned her.
Don't think. Reject thought. Stop thinking.
And so, everything remained peaceful as before.
She was still the good student in the teacher's eyes, the pushover in her classmates' eyes, and the good child in her parents' eyes.
"Our class is about to welcome a new classmate." The teacher spoke from the lectern, drawing Asakura Miyuki's attention.
A transfer student? Would it be her? Would it be her? Would it be her?
She was so expectant. So expectant. So expectant.
Asakura Miyuki's expectations were not disappointed. Before long, a rare beauty with white hair and blue eyes walked in.
It's her! It's her! It's her! The girl clenched the hoodie in her desk compartment. As if receiving a revelation, Asakura Miyuki sensed the significance of this coincidence, as though it were fate's guidance.
"My name is Kiana Kaslana. Please treat me well." The girl introduced herself coldly.
"She is Kiana, the transfer student who joined our class today. I hope everyone will take good care of her."
The female teacher said this with complete sincerity, her tone kind and gentle.
A few days earlier, a handsome young man whose name could not be disclosed had politely and earnestly greeted her while bringing "a token of concern," asking her to look after the foreign transfer student.
Kiana Kaslana.
Kiana, Kiana, Kiana. The girl repeated the name silently in her heart, again and again.
So your name is Kiana. Her eyes grew increasingly moist, and an unnatural flush spread across her fair face. In the end, disregarding the fact that she was in the classroom, she could not stop herself from plunging her head into the hoodie and breathing deeply.
This sickly, dazed posture was noticed by Kiana from the lectern. However, she could not understand the girl's behavior. She only recognized her as the person she had saved yesterday, and there was also...
A faint sense of incongruity that her intuition was telling her about.
About half an hour later.
Asakura Miyuki, who had been dying to approach Kiana, suffered a crushing defeat.
Because of her rare hair color and beautiful appearance, even her cold, ascetic expression was immensely popular at this girls' school.
Not long after she stood up, Kiana was already surrounded by people.
Asakura Miyuki, completely out of step with the atmosphere of the class, could only frown unhappily and sit back down, secretly observing Kiana.
"Kiana, Kiana, we can go to the store manager's shop together today!" Satou Yunona looked delighted, rushing to the front line around Kiana's desk.
Ugh, Satou Yunona is so annoying. You're a spy, aren't you? If I sleep in class later, you'll definitely report me to Su Qing'an. I'm sentencing you to death right now.
Satou Yunona, who had unknowingly been sentenced to death twice by Kiana, remained immersed in the happiness of having her friend in the same class.
"Is Kiana a foreigner?"
"Wow, your hair color is so pretty! Is it natural?"
"Your eyes are so beautiful!"
"Kiana, do you speak Japanese well? I'll show you around the school!"
"Oh, you already knew Satou, Kiana? I'm so jealous. Where did Satou meet you?"
Questions from everyone around her came flooding in. Kiana answered selectively and methodically. Although her expression was habitually cold, her words were polite and elegant, completely different from the casual way she usually sprawled on her Homu cushion and played games with Su Qing'an.
Of course, being elegant and polite also meant keeping her distance.
So, although Kiana acted somewhat perfunctory and casual toward Satou Yunona, she actually regarded the girl as a friend. Satou Yunona understood this tacitly, and thus Kiana's perfunctory coldness became tsundere cuteness in her eyes.
Well, when false is taken for true, true becomes false; when true is taken for false, false becomes true.
Whether Kiana was genuinely tsundere or genuinely disliked her was a matter of opinion, depending on the eye of the beholder.
If you can't find it by searching the book's title, try searching for the author instead. Maybe it was simply renamed!
Before you continue