Linhai University, First Teaching Building.
The lecture hall was packed with first-year graduate students from the Law School.
The old professor wrote on the board at the front, the chalk scraping dully against its surface.
The classroom's back door swung open.
The student adviser walked in, followed by a young man.
The young man slouched, both hands tucked into the pockets of his faded jeans.
An oversized white T-shirt hung loosely on his frame.
He wore no socks, his bare feet slipped into a pair of battered canvas shoes.
He had heavy dark circles under his eyes and a vacant gaze.
"Sorry to interrupt."
The adviser cleared his throat.
"This is L, an exchange student from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
He'll be attending classes with you for the next year."
A wave of hushed whispers rose through the classroom.
The whispers that had been suppressed rippled up again, like water disturbed by a thrown stone, and a low buzz of conversation spread between the seats.
"Did you hear that?
Did he just call Kannazuki 'Yagami'?"
A girl in the front row half-covered her mouth as she whispered to her desk mate, her eyes occasionally darting toward the back.
"This guy is so weird... look at how he's sitting!
Who squats on a lecture hall chair?"
A boy in the fourth row lowered his voice, his tone full of disbelief.
"Didn't they say he was an exchange student from Cambridge?
With those dark circles and those clothes, he looks like some unemployed bum who's spent a whole week in an internet café..."
"Shh, keep it down.
Look at Kannazuki. He's completely unfazed.
No wonder he's top of our year. That composure is terrifying."
"But why did that weirdo sit right next to Kannazuki?
Do they know each