I wake up thanks to having had set up an alarm the previous day, but man, I do not feel any less tired. But I am not surprised, as over in my country, I am pretty sure it's evening by this point.

"Shit, how will I even do when I head to school already today..?"

Though as soon as I head up, I begin feeling less tired almost instantly, and I do some stretching as well to wake up my body more, if that shit even works, I just end up hurting at more places..!

After preparing myself, I can't do much else other than bring my schoolbag with me and head outside, as I do not have any food items at my new home currently, so I need to head out and get some breakfast before I continue on towards school.

Deciding to go for something I know I will be able to consume no problem, as I can try more Japanese food items later, I finally head to my school.

Kamiyama High School is what I will be at for these coming years. I had heard it was a great school, but we'll see about that!

...Ah wait, I have already forgotten which class I would be in. And my phone is practically useless right now due to my lack of a working SIM card, so can't look that up.

Wait, I took a screenshot of it, I am actually so smooth brained sometimes..!

Heading towards the classroom I am going to be at, I find it; Class 2-B. Well, I will totally not be annoying referencing that game.

Stepping inside, everyone is talking with each other, but it's noticeable the guys and gals keeps to themselves, though they occasionally speak with each other.

I walk up to the teacher sitting by her desk, before clearing my throat.

"Ahem... Hello, miss, I am one of the exchange students that will be in this class." I tell her as I bow. "Good morning, by the way..!"

"Well, you are an exchange student, so I guess I can mind the lack of manners for this time." She tells me before standing up. "First, we need you an uniform. Come with me."

And that's what we did, went for picking up my new uniform and soon headed back inside, and it was still calm.

"Okay class, settle down." The teacher says, even if no one was loud of them, and they all look to were I am. "As you all know, this class would be getting an exchange or transfer student because the school wanted to aim big for the first year of its exchange program, so here is your exchange student. You may now introduce yourself."

"...Do I have to?"

A few of my to be classmates snickers and others sighs, while the teacher just scratches her head.

"Sorry, sorry, I will. So like, name and hobbies?"

"Yes."

"Well then... My name is Stephan Karlsson, an exchange student from Sweden. My hobbies include video games and figure collecting."

"A nerd is the last thing we needed here..." One of the male students says rather quietly, but I just ignore it, they can think whatever.

"Alright, you may now sit down. We don't have many more seats, and everyone has decided to group themselves into boys and girls, so I will make you the one who breaks that, Karlsson."

"Well, sure thing."

"So you can sit next to... Mr Kamishiro over there." She says as she points to a seat next to a guy with purple hair and a few blue streaks going through it.

He waves at me, inviting me to sit at my seat, so I walk up to the bench next to him and sit down on the chair.

"Well then, I did not expect the exchange student to be Swedish! Very often that they are American otherwise, so having someone from Europe is pretty refreshing." Kamishiro tells me as he tilts his head while still looking at me.

"So you said you like video games, which means you do have a PC and consoles, yes?"

"Yeah, that's true, thought haven't been able to set them up yet because I have moved here just recently."

The teacher soon clears her voice, interrupting me and Kamishiro.

"Quiet in class now when we will start for the day!"

So from there the day goes on, with the teacher mostly just going over what's happening this semester, before the day is soon over.

I stand up from my bench, but as I do that, Kamishiro does as well before looking at me.

"Oh yeah, what's your full name?" I ask him as he looks a bit surprised.

"Oh, I was going to actually tell you, haha! My name is Rui Kamishiro, it's nice to meet you, Stephan Karlsson!"

"Nice to meet you too, Rui-"

"Oh yeah, do you want me to introduce you to some friends of mine?"

"Huh? That's really sudden man-"

"Come on, it's good for you to get to know other people!"

"Well, true-"

"Then off we go!" Rui says as he pulls in me a little so I begin following him before he let go.

We first walk to the classroom next door, 2-A.

"So first we have Tsukasa Tenma over there." Rui tells me as he points to a orange haired guy talking with some girls, before they look at him with very disapproving looks and turn away from him.

"C-Come on! I promise it's true..!" Tsukasa says as he sighs, before he looks over at me and Rui. "Heeey Rui, who is that guy with you?"

"An exchange student that begun today in my class."

Tsukusa stands up and walks over to us two as he grins at me.

"Well, more guys never hurts!"

"What, would you want more girls around here? Seems to be fairly balanced-"

"Oi, don't twist my words like that!" Tsukasa tells me off as he pouts a little while Rui just laughs.

"Alright, let's continue on!" He soon says as Tsukasa looks puzzled.

"Where are you two going now?"

"Ah, I'm just introducing Stephan to friends of mine, and you were the closest one to start with first."

"Of course I am first, the greatest stars are always first- HEY DON'T GO!"

Ignoring Tsukasa's pleas to stay, we head downstairs to the first years.

"I have two friends that are first years, though I sorta doubt it will be easy to introduce you to one of them. She is rather introverted."

"Kinda like me in a way."

"Well, I will let you judge that once we actually meet her."

We soon arrive at classroom 1-B, and look inside, and Rui smiles before pointing.

"Over there." He says as I see a green haired girl sit by herself, looking at her phone, most likely scrolling through one of those short video apps because you can faintly hear different sounds and voices coming from it.

We walk up to her and almost like she wakes to life, she soon looks up at us.

"Oh, hello Rui. Who's that with you?"

"This is Stephan Karlsson, an exchange student that began today in my class!" Rui proudly says as he almost like shows me off.

"Come on now, it's not that huge that I am an exchange student..."

"Well, you are a Swedish exchange student, so that already is special!"

"Oh, from Sweden?" The green haired girl asks me as I nod. "That's nice, but also very far away."

"Nene, mind introducing yourself to him?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, my name is Nene Kusanagi." Nene tells me as she faintly smiles at me before going back to her phone. "I will head home soon, but I will see you at home, Rui."

"Of course, see ya!" Rui responds to her while I feel a little confused, so when we walk out of the classroom and head to the classroom next door, 1-A, I am about to ask him regarding Nene.

But as I am about to, we almost collide with a girl that seems to be in a hurry.

"Sorry Kamishiro!" She quickly apologizes before being off.

"Ah, that was An."

"Friend of yours?"

"Haha, no, we don't know each other too much to say we are friends, but she ends up not liking too much when I'm up to things~"

We soon head inside this classroom as well and are immediately met with eyes looking at us.

"I think they are just curious who you are."

"Of course they are, Captain Obvious." I reply to Rui as we both snicker, starting to get along more.

We soon walk up to a girl, and I don't know why, but I felt my heart skip a beat, because as she looks at us, I can just see how... cute and beautiful she is.

Pink hair, side ponytail and big lashes, she is just so... beautiful...

"Stephan? Are you there?"

I suddenly spring back to reality.

"Huh?! Oh uh, sorry about that."

The pink haired girl giggles cutely before she looks me in the eyes.

"You seemed like you were daydreaming, but hey, daydreaming is nothing bad!"

"True, but yeah anyway, my name is Stephan Karlsson."

"And I'm Mizuki Akiyama, nice to meet you, Stephan, hope you have a good time at Kamiyama!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure I will-"

"Wow, you sound very confident now about this school, Stephan!" Rui says to me before he looks at his phone. "Ah, sorry, I need to head home now, I need to do some things, but I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Wait a minute- Aaand he's gone."

"That's Rui for you, hehe~" Mizuki says as she stands up, but I can see now that she is a bit taller than me, though I am pretty into that-

Wait hold on, what am I thinking?! I have barely gotten to know Mizuki, yet I have these sort of thoughts?

Then again she is extremely cute-

"Dude, are you seeing how that exchange student is talking to Mizuki? He must be into that sort of people."

I suddenly hear a guy tell some other guys that, with everyone responding with an "eew", so I turn to look at them.

"And what if I am into cute girls like Mizuki?"

"Dude, you are new, so you don't know. But the 'girl' there is-"

"Let's just go." Mizuki says as she takes my hand- WAIT MY HAND?!

I feel myself blushing a lot from the sudden gesture and as she pulls me out of the classroom, she looks at me.

"Just... ignore those guys. They can say whatever."

"What, you just gonna let people talk shit about? I couldn't stand hearing them saying such things about you."

"...Well, in a way I kinda deserve-"

"You do not!" I retaliate, getting actually upset over hearing Mizuki saying things like that. "Look, I know we have just met, but if bullies don't get back in some way, they will keep up their bullshit, and you do not deserve anything of that bullying."

Mizuki looks around and soon smiles at me, which makes me begin blushing again, because that's a very cute smile...

"Come with me!" She says as she pulls in me again towards the library.

"Sorry to say, but I don't read books so often."

"We don't need to do that, but rather I need to tell you something, and a quiet place like here will be perfect."

We sit down, but remain quiet, as I have no idea what to say or what Mizuki wants to tell me.

"Well, you see I'm..." Mizuki begins, before she hesitates. "I'm... I am a very reckless girl, and you know how people often don't like reckless girls, right~?"

I do not think that's what she was going to tell me, but I don't want to pressure her into talking by any means.

"Well that's on them, reckless girls are great to me at least."

Mizuki has a faint blush on her cheeks from me saying that, before she giggles and stands up again.

"Alright then, oh and welcome again to Kamiyama High School!"

"Thanks, Mizuki."

I also stand up but soon spot the library PCs, and I remember the USB I got with my package. I go over to them, Mizuki getting curious why I am going to use the PC.

I sit by it and take out the USB, and luckily enough there are a pair of cheaper headphones you can use, so I put them on before I plug in the USB, in case the contents could be audio files or videos.

And I guessed right, there is a video in there, so I click on it to watch it, just so I get the curiousity out of the way for this darn USB!

"Hello to you who is watching this video! If you are seeing this, it means you have been automatically selected to partake in UAA's world ranking, were assassins the world over compete on being number one!"

No way something like that exists just like that, there has to be some legal loophole for assassins to just run around like that, right?!

"You are at rank 100, so move your way up and your dreams won't be dreams anymore!"

"The UAA are not responsible for any injuries or deaths."

"What bullshit is this..." I quietly say to myself as Mizuki leans over and look at the final sentence.

"What's this?"

"Got no idea, was something on an USB I got with a package."

"Well, whatever it is, that sounds kinda threatning, don't you think?"

"Nah, it sounds silly." I reply as I just unplug the USB and throw it into the trash. "Was just 1 GB storage on that shit anyway."

Mizuki just chuckles while I stand up from the chair and head to get my school bag, but she follows with me.

"Oh, something more on mind, Mizuki?"

"Ah no, don't mind me, I am going to head home anyway~"

"Alright then." I reply as I smile at her...

Are we two just having a smile off at this point?

Finally I get my schoolbag and say my goodbye to Mizuki before-

"Wait, I just figured! Because you needed to use the PC at school, does that mean you don't have access to a PC at home?"

"Oh, yeah that's true. Still need to get electricity to my apartment, and in general have an income."

"So that's were part time jobs come in, I see, I see!" Mizuki replies as she brings up her phone. "What kind of job could you imagine doing?"

"Well, I don't know really, but perhaps something that includes working as cashier, though not in something like a LAWSON."

"Hmm, then I think I know a place actually! Mind hanging out so we can head there?"

"Oh yeah, sure."

"Great! I will get my stuff and we'll be off!"

And soon we are off to the place Mizuki stated is a good one for me to work at.

"Alright, so the place is called CiRCLE, and is a live house." Mizuki tells me as she scrolls on the website for the live house.

"You see, they tend to be understaffed despite being popular, and I have also heard that a sister location will open soon enough, so either of them could be something for you!"

"Well, maybe..."

"No 'maybe's here! Come on, Stephan!" Mizuki says as she pulls in my arm to hurry up a little, and once we arrive, we head inside CiRCLE, though the moment we step inside...

"AAAAAH, ARISA, WHAT IF CiRCLE SHUTS DOWN IN FAVOR OF THE SISTER LOCATION!" A brown haired girl with a really odd hairstyle yells at a dark blonde girl with twintails, apparently called Arisa, while three other girls looks on.

"Woah, that's one thing to hear as soon as you enter a building!" Mizuki says out loud as the odd girl goes silent and she and the others look our direction.

"Excuse me, who are you guys??" Arisa asks me and Mizuki as we are a bit unsure what to reply, before I finally speak.

"I was informed that jobs are available here-"

"E-eh?! Someone who finally accepts a job here again?!" A dark haired woman in her mid 20's suddenly says as she pops up from behind the desk. "Sorry for scaring, but you want a job, yes?"

"Oh yes, absolutely."

"Then you have come to the right place! Man, the boss will be happy..." The woman sighs out as she walks around the desk and goes up to me. "So how much music do you know?"

"...Uh... a fair bit? I like bands like Gorillaz, and also listen to more obscure stuff like neoclassic dark wave-"

"Ah no, I meant more when it comes to music equipment and instruments itself..!"

"Oh, uh... Yeah no..."

"Well that's fine! You will still be a big help and I can teach you the ropes!" The woman says before she bows. "Sorry for not introducing myself first, but I am Marina Tsukishima, one of the main employees here!"

"Oh, oh, if he is going to be the new staff, can we also introduce ourselves to him?!" Odd girl asks Marina as she laughs and nods. "Yey! I am Kasumi Toyama, hello new staff!"

And the other girls present introduce themselves as well; Arisa Ichigaya, Saaya Yamabuki, Tae Hanazono and Rimi Ushigome.

The five of them form the band Poppin'Party.

"Ah yeah, before we can make anything official, I would need to get a résumé from you so I can send it to my boss, sorry for that extra hassle!"

"Wait, a résumé, seriously?! But you seemed so eager to just let me get hired!"

"Yeah, Stephan's right, what is that about?!" Mizuki comes into my defense as well, with Marina telling us two to calm down.

"I'm so sorry, but we really can't just hire whatever either, so that's why we appreciate a résumé, or at least that's the boss' word, otherwise had I been boss here, I would've hired you instantly!"

"Alright... I'll be back." I tell Marina as me and Mizuki soon walk outside the live house. "It seems like an interesting job, but I never thought about the résumé part..."

"And you don't even have access to the internet to properly write any documents, because most writing programs works like crap offline." Mizuki tells me as she shakes her head. "Geez, I should've thought about that as well..."

"Well then, eviction incoming for me in two months then-"

"What, no, don't give up so easily, Stephan! I can help you!"

"Wait, you will help me being able to create a résumé?!"

"Yup, you heard that right! Come with me home and we will get started on it!"

Mizuki begins walking, but I was left... speechless. Why would she even want to help someone like me..?

"Why, Mizuki..? We just got to know each other today, and you are already helping me out this much..?"

"Honestly... I dunno, you just seem like a really cool guy, and you don't act like a creep of you either, not as far as I have seen." She tells me before having a wide smile. "And... you stood up for me against those bullies, so thank you again."

"...Well, thanks Mizuki, I appreciate you doing this for me a ton, truly."

Mizuki giggles before she smiles at me with a big grin.

"Well, no need to thank me either really, it's just fun helping out others overall!"

And then for the rest of the day, we are at hard work writing my résumé and going through revisions of it over and over, just so I can have that perfect, eye catching description employers wants.

Though eventually, I begin growing tired as I stretch myself a little to keep myself awake looking at the revisions we have copied out to easier compare.

But my eyes, they start getting heavy, probably the jet lag taking its toll on me, and soon enough, I drift off to sleep...

-------

Mizuki keeps on typing on Stephan's résumé, until she feels they have finally come to a final version.

"Hey Stephan, look at... this..?" Mizuki begins as she turns around but gets quiet as she sees he has fallen asleep on the floor sitting against her bed.

"Guess the jet lag got you." She says before she smiles at him.

She yawns herself as she realizes they have been working until almost 10 PM, so she saves the final revision, prints it out and lays it on her desk, and soon turns off her PC.

"Well, what to do now then? I really don't want to wake him up, he looks too peaceful with his sleep..!"

Mizuki thinks for a moment, and soon looks at her bed and back at him.

"I mean, it doesn't hurt if someone else also sleeps in my bed, but a guy at that..."

But soon enough she begins pulling up Stephan onto her bed, before she puts on her nightwear as well and lies down next to him.

"Well... Good night, Stephan, heh~"

---------

It's morning, I hear birds chirp...

But I immediately realize I am not in my apartment, but in a room that has a bit of a "girly" motif to it.

"...Oh, I must've fallen asleep while at Mizuki's home. I am glad she let me sleep- Wait, where is..."

I look a bit to my side, and I spot Mizuki... NEXT TO ME?!

Crap, up close like this and all, she looks really cute-

"Hmm..? Oh, morning!" Mizuki says as she also wakes up before noticing I am blushing. "Hey now, I didn't have many options."

"No don't worry, I get it."

"Oh, then we're good!" Mizuki says as she is about to get up, before... "Why exactly were you blushing for..?"

"D-Don't mind that! Let's eat breakfast together instead!"

"Okii, you're the boss~"

The breakfast in question was kinda just simply bringing out diary products, such as milk and yoghurt, alongside chocolate cereals, toasts together with chocolate spread and other more "unhealthly" breakfast items.

Well, I am not really complaining...

"But shouldn't we have some kind of healthy thing, or at least something very tasty, such as fried eggs and bacon? Maybe even scrambled eggs!"

"Well, those are good, but we sort of need to have a faster breakfast." Mizuki replies before she takes a spoonful of milk and cereal into her mouth and eats.

"Well, you're the boss..."

Though in the end, I got pretty full and we headed to Kamiyama for the new day.

But as me and Mizuki arrives together, whispers are heard among the other students, particulary some of the guys.

"The exchange student walked to school with Mizuki, he probably thinks-"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" I tell the one whispering about me and Mizuki coming to school together as he can't help but go quiet.

"H-Hey Stephan, you don't need to defend me from them all the time-"

I stop Mizuki for a moment before we arrive by her classroom.

"Hey, you helped me yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you because my dumbass fell asleep yet you carried on with the résumé. So see this as me helping and supporting you in return."

Mizuki smiles while having a faint blush on her cheeks before she nods.

"Then it's no problem, Stephan, thank you... Anyway, heading to class, see you later!"

"Yeah, see you later, Mizuki." I reply to her as I smile back at her before we separate for the day.

A small but growing bond has been formed between Stephan Karlsson and Mizuki Akiyama since the former got isekai'd.

What more people will he also meet and create bonds with? And what dangers will begin emerging once he finds out that the things on the USB are very much true..?

To Be Continued.