Aoyama Gakuin High School is the fanciest coed high school in Tokyo, which is a relevant description because, as a place of very traditionalist values, Japan's fanciest high schools are gender-segregated. And it's not, really, that different from North American high schools, at least as far as Adonis can see. Except that everyone's Japanese, and a few people are throwing him some not-totally-friendly looks already.

Yeah, that's to be expected. Not that he isn't mentally cataloguing all the weird looks for later analysis, because he is totally doing that. Perhaps he should not be, but he is. Okay. Chill. Impossible to chill? Fair. Turn the dial two notches chillward, maintain a chipper and casual outward air, aaaaaand we have successfully arrived at Classroom!

If he is five minutes early there will only be two other students there.

Sounds about right.

He sits at the front; no sense making 'comprehend the teacher' any harder of a task than it has to be.

Students start to trickle in, one or two at a time, until there's a sudden gaggle with a third of the classroom all at once, and in the center of that gaggle is a boy with a cocky gaze and an easy smile whose look of surprise is replaced by one of interest once he's looked at Adonis for a full second. He says something to the people around him and then walks over to Adonis and says, "Good morning. Is it alright if I take the seat behind you?"

"Yes, that would be all right," he says. His voice is on the quiet side but he enunciates with the kind of precision you'd expect from someone who was hired to generate audio samples for a dictionary and is really giving it their all.

He drops his bag next to that seat but doesn't take it quite yet, choosing to lean against Adonis's desk, resting some of his weight on one hand. "I'm Iwasaki Yutaka. What's your name?"

"Adonis Roth," he says, a little self-consciously. His voice moves more fluidly around his own name, though he does also put in some effort to make it clear and easy to hear, which brings him back toward the dictionary direction. "I feel that I should apologize for those consonants, although they are not exactly my fault."

" —is Adonis your personal name or am I about to have to make a fool of myself trying to learn how to pronounce that consonant so that I can call you by the name?"

"Adonis is my personal name, yes. There is no need to make a fool of yourself."

"I promise you I will learn how to say it but I might need to practise it in front of a mirror a few times so as not to embarrass myself. But Adonis, were your parents prescient or merely very lucky when they chose to name you this?"

... he blushes, and is flustered enough that it takes him a second to respond. (He would be faster in English. Unaccountably, his vocabulary drills did not cover flirting. Isn't Japan supposed to be more homophobic? Apparently not if your name is Iwasaki Yutaka.)

"This is not the first time I have been asked that question but you ask it very charmingly."

He opens his mouth—

—but someone in the back calls, "Stop flirting and sit down, Iwasaki, the sensei will be here any minute."

"Careful, Kobayashi, people are going to start thinking you're jealous."

He scowls. "You got the wrong twin to be cute about."

He grins and looks at Adonis again. "Don't worry about him, he's just upset that you're prettier than him."

"In his dreams."

He glances consideringly back at Kobayashi and says, "It is true, we are all very pretty. Who can say who is prettiest? I would not dare to compete."

"Are you finally coming out for real, Iwasaki?" someone else asks.

"Can a man not platonically appreciate another man's aesthetic qualities, Kawata? Art is art," he says, turning to look at Adonis again and wink.

Tentative conclusion: homophobia is real, Iwasaki is just living on the edge.

"Art is art," he agrees, although the point is somewhat undercut by the fact that he's blushing again.

Yutaka looks like he wants to say something but, perhaps through some kind of telepathy ingrained into the minds of all Japanese high schoolers, looks over his shoulder then looks at Adonis again, lifting a finger to his lips, before going to his seat—but not sitting down.

Everyone else also goes to their seats but doesn't sit down, and everyone who was already seated stands up.

Adonis follows suit, of course.

And then the teacher walks into the classroom. "Good morning, sensei!" say all of the students in unison, bowing, to a replied "Good morning," from the teacher himself with a smaller bow. The students don't take their seats until the teacher does.

Adonis was sufficiently prepared for this eventuality that he manages to join in pretty unremarkably.

"Ah, and we have a new transfer student from the West, ah..." He furrows his brows reading Adonis's name. "Rosu Adonisu?" he tries.

"I must apologize once again for my name. It contains an objectively unreasonable consonant."

The teacher does not express an opinion about this and instead goes to, "Why don't you come out here in front and introduce yourself?"

He stands up and walks to the front of the class.

"Hello everyone!" he says, successfully projecting his normally quiet voice all the way to the back of the classroom. "My name is Adonis Roth but Rosu Adonisu is fine. I moved here last week from New York City. I look forward to meeting you all." He bows appropriately. No one is going to notice if he moves slightly too precisely because no one ever notices when he does that.

No one, he says.

"You might have some trouble catching up, but Kobayashi-san takes good notes, he can share them with you."

...he can? Oh, fine, he can. "Yes, sensei."

"Thank you very much, Kobayashi-san!"

He moves to resume his seat.

History class ensues. It probably does not match the history classes Adonis has had so far.

It absolutely does not, but do you know what's a preparation method with a really favourable derangedness to benefit ratio? Studying up on your new curriculum! He follows along pretty well, and takes notes in Japanese with handwriting that hits a careful tradeoff between speed and legibility.

At the end of the class Kobayashi shows up by his desk. "Yo. I'm Kobayashi Toshiki."

"'Yo'? Is that how you introduce yourself to someone new, 'yo'?"

"It is my utmost delight to make your acquaintance, Rosu-san."

"It is my utmost delight to make your acquaintance as well, Kobayashi-san!"

"So you need notes? I don't know what kindsa notes you need to match America, is it 'all of 'em'?"

Okay, how far toward Normal are we turning the dial on this one? He flicks a glance at Iwasaki. Fuck it, we ball.

"I have some thoughts on that," he says modestly, and there follows a briskly efficient comprehensive rundown of which classes he's studied up on and by how much and where his biggest gaps are. He's basically fine in math because math is math, but he would be most grateful for notes in literature and history, with particular attention to...

"Right. I'll. Look over 'em and see what I can do."

"Oh, now I suddenly wish I were as good a student as Kobayashi so it would be me who would get the opportunity to gaze upon your fair visage some more..."

"Thank you very much," he says to Kobayashi, trying not to let Iwasaki make him blush again.

There's a group of students in the hallway out of which comes one girl to stick her head into their homeroom and say, "Iwasaki!"

Kobayashi grabs Iwasaki by the ear and starts pulling him towards the exit. "Your posse's getting impatient, Iwasaki."

"Owowowow that's so unnecessary—" he says, but he follows.

Oh boy, the situationship alarms are blaring. He ignores them in favour of putting away his history notes and getting out the binder reserved for math.

A couple of minutes later, Kobayashi shows back up and pulls up a chair from the desk next to his and drags it in front of his desk with its back to him, then sits on it facing him, hugging the back of the chair. "Huh. Iwasaki wasn't lying, you are hot."

Situationship alarms getting increasingly aggressive and discordant, especially since he's pretty sure this is the twin he heard mentioned earlier.

"He does seem to spend a lot of time platonically appreciating my aesthetic qualities."

"He's got good taste. I'd know." He extends his hand. "Kobayashi Akira, the more youthful and attractive twin, at your service."

He shakes it. "Adonis Roth, but Rosu Adonisu is fine. Nearly every language on Earth gets by without a 'th' sound; it is we Germanics who are wrong."

"Adonis Roth," he says, pronouncing the 'th' just fine. "That's a pretty name."

"Thank you! I cannot take credit for it."

He's being flirted with. Why is he being flirted with? Again? What is Kobayashi Akira's position in this social and emotional minefield? Help.

"No, sometimes the blessings of the gods just happen to us, but we must do the best we can with them anyway."

"I do try to do the best I can with what I am given."

"D'you have a pen?"

"I do have a pen!" He gets one out, with a certain degree of well-concealed trepidation.

When he accepts Adonis's pen he keeps hold of Adonis's hand, uncaps the pen with his teeth, then writes his number on a corner of Adonis's hand. "We don't share homeroom, but maybe you'll give me the time of day anyway," he says, before returning the pen and pushing himself to his feet.

Getting out a pen was a strategic error!!!! Why are the boys at this high school like this!!!

"It was good to meet you, Kobayashi-san," he says, his precise diction never wavering even in the throes of gay panic.

"Likewise, Roth-san," he says, pushing the chair back towards its desk and running back off to his own homeroom while the rest his Adonis's starts trickling back in.

Well! That just happened!

Math class, please save him from whatever the fuck that was.

Iwasaki took the seat behind Adonis so when he trickles back in that's where he goes. "I see you got the Akira treatment," he observes as he takes his seat.

"I am told that sometimes the blessings of the gods just happen to us. It seems that sometimes Kobayashi Akira-san just happens to us as well."

"He is a bit of a whirlwind."

"Has he happened to you before?"

"Little old me? Why, I can't imagine why you'd think my relationship with Akira is anything but that of childhood friends. But if anyone had happened to anyone else, I would be the one who'd have happened to him, not the other way around."

"I see, I see. Japanese high school truly is very different from American high school. I must study very carefully to catch up on everything a good student should know." He pulls out a pocket notebook and writes something down in it.

"Oh I think I can definitely teach you that a lot better than Toshiki could, if you're ever looking for a private tutor."

"But Kobayashi-san takes such good notes! What could be left for Iwasaki-sensei to teach me?" he asks, truly the picture of innocence in every way. Listen he knows he should stop flirting with these boys but they keep giving him such good opportunities to use words recreationally.

Before Iwasaki can respond to that the students start standing up to greet their maths teacher.

Adonis puts his pocket notebook away as he stands.

The maths teacher doesn't ask him to introduce himself since he already did that but she also suggests that he borrow notes from Kobayashi Toshiki if there's any content he needs.

Sure, why not, he loves being voluntold to do things.

The reward for a job well done. (He doesn't say this aloud, because he can't figure out how to get the phrasing right.)

And then break again. "D'you wanna come out here with us? I can introduce you to everyone."

"That would be very kind of you."

"Oh, no, I'm actually quite selfish, but I'm glad you think so."

Can't accuse him of being a heartbreaker, he can't call the right idiom to mind. How to respond? Maybe he should try being slightly normal? Absolutely not, completely out of the question.

"Selfish? I see, I see." He pulls out his pocket notebook and makes another note.

"You looked like you wanted to say something else, there."

"I have set myself a rule that I must not say anything I cannot phrase fluently in Japanese, for language immersion purposes."

"—doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Letting myself cheat with English would defeat the purpose! This is a fun challenge mode."

"Why not try to say it in Japanese anyway? Even if you don't know how I bet it would sound adorable anyway."

"Because I must be perfect in all things at all times, of course! When I think of something very funny to say and do not know how to say it I go home and ask my mother, so I will know for next time."

He's tempted to ask if Iwasaki-sensei would like to volunteer as vocabulary consultant, but no, down boy, do not flirt unnecessarily with the hot classmate whose closet door is hanging by a thread and whose associates have the situationship alarm ringing off the wall.

"Then why not tell me it in English, and I'll tell you how to say it in Japanese, and you'll repeat after me..."

"Oh, perhaps Iwasaki-sensei has something to teach me after all!" God dammit. And he's not about to stop, either, it's just way too much fun (and legitimately good language practice!) to keep riffing.

Will this be any better in a group setting? Probably not, but Iwasaki might tone it down if his plausible deniability is that important to him? Adonis glances at the door, by way of reminder that in theory Iwasaki was going to introduce him to all his friends.

He seems to take the hint. "Let's get you introduced to everyone so that you'll have an easier time running away from me when you decide I'm trouble," he says, leading the way.

"I would never run away from my friendly and helpful classmate. That would be so rude of me."

"You say that now," says... one of the twins, having overheard this from where he was just outside the door to the classroom. "We'll see how you'll feel about it by the end of the week."

"You are all such nice people! I am sure nothing bad will happen."

"Wait 'til the end of the week," calls the other twin from where he's closer to the main group over yonder.

"Akira and Toshiki you've met," says Yutaka, gesturing at them in order. "You'll learn how to tell them apart eventually but when in doubt Akira's the one who looks gayer."

Akira winks and blows Adonis a kiss.

And Toshiki scowls. "I don't look gay at all."

"Then Akira necessarily looks gayer than you, doesn't he?"

"Ohhh," he says, in tones of dawning realization which he is selling with all the acting talent he can muster. "I thought Akira-san wrote his number on my hand because he wanted to help me with my homework! My mistake."

Akira and Yutaka exchange a look for half a second before Akira looks at Adonis again and says, "Nnnope, wrong twin for that, if you want help with homework you want Toshiki."

"I will keep that in mind, thank you!"

"Anyway, let me introduce you to everyone. Everyone, this is Adonis. Adonis, this is everyone, but I don't know their names so they'll need to tell you."

"Bullshit, Iwasaki, there's not a person in this school you don't know the name of."

He giggles. "These are Nakano Aiko, Matsuda Tōta, Fukumoto Megumi, Eto Hitoshi, Takeshita Kōji..." He introduces each of the about fifteen kids around by name, and they wave or bow or greet Adonis as he does.

"It is lovely to meet you all," he says. "I will do my best to remember your names."

(A tiny sporfle from the back of the crowd, where Megumi had to lean around a taller classmate to wave when her name was called.)

"Should we wear nametags?" asks Aiko dryly. (She was of the "wave" persuasion.)

"Not everyone can have such an easy and memorable name like mine."

"I would not ask you to go to the trouble of wearing nametags! I will learn." Actually he does kind of want to see everyone's spellings but he can only think of ways to ask for this that range from weird to very weird, so he will refrain.

The one Yutaka called Eto Hitoshi pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and says, "I've got a list of all students in our year by major personality and other remarkable characteristics if you'd like."

"That would be very kind of you to share!"

"Why do we let this nerd hang out with us?"

"Each and every human being carries within them an irreplaceable spark of the divine."

"Why do we let this nerd hang out with us?" he asks, hiking a thumb in Yutaka's direction.

"Don't know about you but I think he's hot."

"Can we not."

There is such a Situation going on with those three, but, more importantly, Eto Hitoshi may be about to become Adonis's new best friend. "Perhaps we could meet after school sometime this week?" he suggests. "I cannot meet today; I must try out for the swim team."

"Sure, good whenever."

"Swim team, huh?"

"I like to swim." To Eto-san, "Tomorrow?"

He grabs his phone. "Sure, gimme your number."

He recites it, with the same oddly crisp enunciation he has been displaying this whole time.

"So," wonders a girl Yutaka introduced as Nagao Kimiko, "why'd you transfer in the middle of the year?"

"My family's hospitality business is doing very well here," he explains. "My parents had planned to move at the end of the school year, but they wanted to be here to oversee things personally since business was so much better than expected."

There are nods and understanding murmurs all around. "Welcome to Japan, then," she says, smiling. "Rosu, you said your family name was...?"

"Yes." He's got that embarrassed face again like he's personally responsible for the existence of dental fricatives.

"Roth," Akira corrects her.

"Ah, Rasu?"

"Ra-a-su?"

"Roth," says Kōji, quietly.

This would be a linguistically fascinating experience if it wasn't so mortifying.

"You have to kind of bite your tongue and then - thhhhh," says Nakano.

(The faintest sound of phonological experimentation from the back of the crowd.)

Yutaka glances between Aiko and Kōji with a slowly-forming smirk. "I see that I still have much to learn when it comes to using my tongue, senpai," he tells Kōji specifically.

Kōji shrugs and doesn't otherwise respond.

"Oof, ignored."

"Does your family own any hotels in Tokyo, Rahusu-san?"

Not even Yutaka's compulsive flirting habit can save him, apparently. "We only have a few right now," he says modestly.

Their acquisitions have already been pretty ambitious and are expected to get more so if things keep looking up, but it's always better to underplay than overplay, and he's not going to talk upcoming acquisitions in front of a crowd of strangers whose parents are all major players in the financial landscape.

"Sss," says a girl near Nakano.

"No, thhhhh. Mind I don't see how you'd do it right in the middle of a word but I can do it by itself."

"Nagao-san, I'm sure Adonis isn't looking to be grilled about his family's business on the day he transferred."

"Rahusu. Rahhhsu. Rahhhhssssss. This is hard."

Thank you Yutaka but that line of conversation is not the main problem here actually! He is INCONVENIENCING so MANY PEOPLE with his OBJECTIVELY UNREASONABLE CONSONANTS!!!

Calm. Calm. He is calm. Everything is fine. He is doing so good at being normal, in his second language, while surrounded by people chanting earnest mispronunciations of his name. Can it be time for the next class already???

Not quite yet. "Kobayashi, I think Fukuhara's looking for you," says Yutaka, nodding in the direction of one end of the hallway.

Both Kobayashis look up at their name being called but Toshiki rolls his eyes and looks away from presumably-Fukuhara.

"So he is. He's probably already getting nervous about the history group project, I should go sit on him until he chills out. Bye," he says, with a finger wave.

"I give up."

"I'm just gonna find myself a mirror and make faces at it until I figure it out."

"Raaaaaa...thhhhhhh."

"I really do not mind Rosu or Rasu."

"If we're gonna be wrong we should at least be wrong in the right way so that's Rasu. Who thought it was Rosu?"

"The teacher this morning. I think he just read Adonis's name off the name sheet and guessed it."

"I think Rahusu sounds closest."

"Rahusu is also fine."

"Does it mean something? You could just translate it."

"It meant 'red' in German at one time - they say it differently now." How does he describe his concern... "It would be much harder to guess what my name really is from a translation."

"That makes sense. I have likewise been told," she says innocently, "that I should not go around inviting Anglophones to call me, lovechild."

Is this school under some sort of curse that—no, he shouldn't complain, this is way better than what he was enduring five seconds ago.

"Do Anglophones have trouble pronouncing your name?" he asks, with equal innocence.

"No, not at all, so I have no excuse," she grins.

"I feel like some kind of communication happened here that I didn't catch."

"That happens a lot with you."

Now it's time for them to go back to class.

Oh thank goodness. Please educate him.

Education will occur! Or, at least, there will be space and opportunity for it to occur; some effort from the people who wish to be educated is necessary, as usual. And when it's break time, someone who's sitting next to him says, "You don't need to put up with him, you know."

"Who do I not need to put up with?"

He has a guess, but the innocent front has been serving him well so far.

He points.

Yutaka looks up on noticing someone's pointing at him. "Lies and slander! —what are you lying about, please?"

"I said he doesn't have to put up with you."

"Oh. That's not a lie, that's just casting aspersions on my character."

"Iwasaki-san has been very kind and welcoming!"

"If you say so."

"You really shouldn't say stuff like that, you'll only encourage him," says Toshiki.

"Should I not encourage people to be kind and welcoming?"

"I'm not sure if you mean that but God help you if you do."

"And if God won't, I will," says Yutaka with a wink.

"Wow."

"I do not think I need help from God, but thank you anyway."

"Ouch."

"I think the sound effects are unnecessary."

The teacher shows up a couple of minutes early for their last morning class, so they all have to return to their seats then.

Oh good! Education!

And then: lunch time! Unlike most high schools in Tokyo they do have a cafeteria, but it only seats 144 students and it's on a first-come first-served basis.

And on that note: "If you wanna go to the cafeteria for lunch you should hurry but I and the others usually only go on Wednesdays."

"Where do you have lunch when it is not Wednesday?"

"Here," says Toshiki, wiggling the bentō he brought from home.

"I see."

As it happens, Adonis also brought a bento from home.

Bento for everybody. Whoever makes Nakano's goes hard on the rice shaped like bunnies and the sausages cut to look like octopuses and stuff and she rolls her eyes affectionately.

...he pulls out his pocket notebook and takes down a quick sketch of Nakano-san's bunny rice.

She sporfles when she sees what he's doing. "Take a photo, if you like, the maid actually tweets about my lunch every day, she's some kind of bento influencer."

"In that case I should ask for your maid's Twitter!" But he does also take a photo. "The rice rabbit is very well made."

"It's... give me a second..." She looks it up. "It's 'likegreenonrice'."

He notes that down. "Thank you!"

Now for his own lunch, which is definitely more homey than Instagrammable. Homey in a decidedly Japanese way, though.

Nakano bites the head off a rice bunny.

Perhaps he will not comment on this development.

Kōji shows up at the door. "Space for one more?" he asks hopefully.

"Oh yeah sure," says Yutaka, standing up from the seat he'd conveniently pushed right next to Aiko's. "Tanaka went to hang out with the other soccer kids in the cafeteria," he says to explain the availability of more seats.

The social currents of this school are so opaque to him right now, but at least he is getting a good grade in Normal Lunch. He should not whip out his notebook and take notes on the implications of this interaction because that would not be Normal.

"Oh, she packed me two pickled plums, Kouji-kun, do you want one," says Nakano, affecting insouciance as she chopstickses one over to him.

Some social currents are less opaque than others.