After the introductions were done, our housemates showed us to our rooms—one on the second floor and one on the first floor—so that we could move in at our leisure.

I entered my room on the second floor and put down my backpack, sighing as I did so. It was the room opposite Genka’s, and I had chosen it in the hopes of getting close to the only female in the house other than me.

“What do you think?” Genka asked behind me, and I turned to her with a grin.

“I think it will take some time for me to get used to using a western-style bed.”

Genka laughed as she walked over to the bed and sat on it, the fluffy blanket and mattress giving in a bit from her slight weight. She looked all the more alive against the simple green blanket covering the bed.

“Come over,” she called to me then, and I hesitated. She was bubbly and confident in this room fit for a human while I lacked her enthusiasm as said human.

“Come on, this is nice.”

I smiled and ran to her side, closing my eyes against the doubts in my heart as I flopped my body on top of hers. Genka squealed as she tried to get out from under me, and we laughed as we lay on our side on the bed that was actually pretty comfortable.

“Okay,” I allowed as I wiggled my toes clad in thin socks and stretched my body to better feel the fluff under me. “This feels pretty nice.”

“See?” Genka said with a grin, laying her head on her hands. “I told you so.”

I sighed, feeling all of my stress leave me, and my eyes started to flutter closed.

“Thank you,” I mumbled and yawned.

“Don’t mention it,” Genka said with a soft voice as she patted my shoulder. “Now, sleep. I will keep the nightmares away.”

“Okay,” was the last word I uttered before I let the darkness take me completely.

***

Genka kept her promise; I slept like a baby—and didn’t find out what went on as I slept until much later.

***

The next morning, I took a shower and then wore a school uniform for the first time.

Walking slowly and carefully down the stairs followed that as a first in my life and having breakfast with Kon came after that.

“Where’s everyone?” I asked as we ate our simple breakfast of grilled fish, miso soup, pickled ume, and rice.

Kon yawned and said, “Excuse me. They’re all still sleeping, I think.”

I frowned. “Why are you tired? You couldn’t sleep last night?”

“No, no, no. I’m fine, sorry for worrying you.”

I hummed around a bite of grilled fish. He did look tired, but if he didn’t want to tell me, I wouldn’t force him. “Okay.”

We talked about other things after that; like the taste of our first meal together, our school uniforms, and as we cleaned the dishes, the high school we would register in today.

“I wonder what a school looks like,” I murmured as I passed the last now-clean dish to Kon.

“It shouldn’t be so different from the school back in our village,” he said with a smile as he wiped it down with the cloth, and then he continued. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

“We’ll be fine,” I repeated with a slight smile on my face. We had been trained on everything we needed to know before being sent here, after all.

The village wouldn’t let their nibi become lost in the human world.

***

The sakura trees lined the path on our way to the school, too, and they were beautiful. How much more beautiful would they have been if they fed on clean air instead of this exhaust-filled air?

I shook my head.

We needed to live here from now on, so I needed to see the good sides of everything instead of just the bad. At least for Kon’s sake.

“These trees are beautiful,” I said to him, starting my ‘human world doesn’t suck’ campaign.

“They are,” Kon said with a gentle smile, and seeing him among the pink trees, my heart skipped a beat.

“It’s pretty hot, isn’t it?” I said with a nervous laugh, fanning myself.

“Is it? I think it’s pretty cool right now—almost cold.”

“Aha, ahaha—r-race you to the school!” I yelled suddenly and started to run, leaving Kon behind. He chuckled then and started to chase after me.

Other students stared at us, but I didn’t care about them.

What was wrong with me?

Geez!

***

The registration went smoothly and shortly after, we were waiting in front of our class—1-A— to be let in by the teacher.

“Come on in!” she finally called out, and we slid the door open, letting ourselves in.

Everybody was looking at us, especially at Kon, who wasn’t hiding his fox ears or his tails.

“Go on,” the teacher encouraged us gently after she wrote our names on the board.

“Greetings,” Kon said with a bow. “I’m called Kuromatsu Kon. As you can see, I am a kitsune. I hope to get along with you all.”

The class had a mixture of yokai and humans, and all of them murmured while he spoke. And then they all looked at me, waiting for my introduction.

I gulped.

“G-greetings!” I said with a wide smile as I bowed. “I’m called Kuromatsu Maze—that’s pronounced Maaze—and I hope to get along with you all!”

I didn’t, not really, but we had to fit in if we wanted to survive.

The murmuring went on.

“Okay, class. I know it’s unusual to see transfer students so soon after the beginning of the term, but I expect all of you to treat Kon-kun and Maze-san as one of you. Now, please sit down, you two.”

We bowed to our teacher and walked through the class to our seats which were, sadly, not side by side.

I sat down in the back by the wall with the windows, and Kon sat down, again in the back, by the doors.

“Why does he have two tails at his age?” I heard someone murmur, and someone else murmured, “Isn’t she a human? Why does she have a yokai’s surname?” in response. I pursed my lips as I looked down.

We had a long way ahead of us.