Well. This was weird…

Extremely weird.

Niko wandered down the corridors of Ishimaku High in a state of absolute confusion…

Everything suddenly made sense…

The students chatting in the hallways, the posters and billboards pinned to the walls; even the robotic-sounding voiceover made sense to him.

‘What the fuck is going on…?’ Niko thought to himself, a couple beads of sweat ran down his forehead as the teenager took the stairs. “I can understand everything…but I shouldn’t be able to…”

Thanks to his sudden understanding of the Japanese language, finding his classroom was no longer a problem for Niko as he casually headed down another flight of stairs, still in absolute awe.

‘Maybe…I’m some sort of genius?...’He thought to himself, as he spotted his classroom number on a plate above the door. This was the place.

‘Maybe I should still act like I don’t understand them. Just to be safe, plus there’s no way that that the teacher wouldn’t find me suspicious, considering that I just learnt an entire language during a 45-miniute lunch break…Yeah, I’ll just keep quiet for now’

“Now, why would you go and do that?"

Niko span on his heels, instantly recognising the voice.

“Y-You! What’s going on here?” he asked actually kind of relived to see the familiar small figure in front of him, hoping that she could shed some light on this current situation.

“Name’s Hanako, not ‘You’. I literally told you that a couple of minutes ago…Come on, at least try to stay on the same boat, man” the small strange girl said, wondering if her weird acquaintance suffered from short-term memory or something. Never before had somebody acted so flustered in front of her, well at least in the past few years anyways.

“Did you do something to me, Hanako?” Niko asked, warily; taking a few steps backwards.

“Perhaps, why’re you asking?” she replied, folding her arms, defiantly.

“Hm, well I don't know...Maybe it’s because I can speak Japanese now! I was a foreigner who didn’t know how to speak a single coherent sentence a couple of minutes ago, now look at me!”

“Isn’t this a good thing? Quit complaining already”

“W-Well, yeah…but still; what the hell did you do to me?”

Hanako lowered her head as if she were in deep thought. She appeared to be quite literally racking her brain for an answer. The small child paced up and down a few meters muttering to herself, her ridiculously long hair trailing on the floor behind her; before stopping dead in her tracks.

“Uh…A miracle, I guess?” she half-asked, half-answered.

“You…guess?” Niko replied, not really knowing what kind of reply he was expecting from such a strange child.

“Yeah, I guess”

There was a short silence between the two as they stared at each other.

“I have to be losing my mind…” Niko mumbled, rubbing his temples. “There is no way that any of this is real…”

“You doubt me that much?” Hanako asked, assuming her usually defiant pose.

“Sure I do. This has to be a prank or something…Man, the Japanese are really through with their jokes…”

“Listen here, you dumb kid! This isn’t a prank or anything! This is reality!”

“As if! Plus, if anything; you’re the kid here! Just look at you, you should be in pre-school learning colours or something!”

“I told you to stop calling me a kid!”

“Hanako’s a little kid! Hanako’s a little kid! Hanako’s a little kid!”

“Who’s really the kid in this situation?”

“You are! Just get out of here already and go back to your parents or something! You’re a pain in the ass!”

“Alright, fine! Have it your way, you insufferable turd!”

Wearing a furious expression, Hanako and stamped her foot on the ground angrily as she insulted Niko, somehow causing the classroom’s door to fly wide open completely.

And in that brief moment, the thirty or so students of Class 2-B and their homeroom teacher were introduced to their brand new arrival from overseas for the very first time. A bright ambitious young man, who had decided to bravely continue his academic adventure in a school far away from home. A shining example to all students everywhere.

It was just a little bit strange how this 'shining example' was having such a heated argument in the midlle of the hallway...with himself...