//Philippines' POV

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I felt a stinging feeling in my eyelids. I try to open them, but the bright sunlight shining through my bedroom window kept me from doing so. I grunt and turn to the other side, having more success in opening my eyes like that.

With a groan, I force myself to sit up. I yawned and looked at my alarm clock.

My eyes widen as I realized that I actually woke up before my alarm clock went off.

Eugh, as much as I want to just plop down in bed and go back to sleep, it's the first day of school today and I can't miss it. So I suck it up and force myself off the bed and to the kitchen.

"Selamat pagi, Phil." Malaysia greeted me as he was finishing up cooking breakfast.

"Selamat pagi, Phil!" Indonesia greeted me with a smile as he prepared Malaysia his infamous favorite beverage, milo.

I chuckled and went to make myself some Swiss Miss hot chocolate. "Thanks, stingrays."

They both looked at me with a confused expression, and I couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Come on guys, I explained this joke to you before."

It took those two idiots a while to remember, before Malaysia perks up. "Oh, because 'selamat' in your language is 'salamat', which means 'thank you'." He realized as he put a plate of scrambled eggs and steamed white rice in front of me, along with a bottle of ketchup.

Indonesia caught on quickly. "Oh, and 'pagi' in your language means 'stingray'!"

"Ding ding ding!" I mocked.

Indonesia rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Psh, we knew that."

I rolled my eyes and stabbed my hotdog with my fork to pick it up. "Sure you did." I took a bite of my hotdog.

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//later... before class...

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"This is it, lah. Classroom 12."

In front of us stood a fairly large, intricately carved wooden door. Engraved on the center, a little high, was C/12. Below it, S.E.A was engraved in a fancy font.

Indonesia rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with and go inside already."

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"Ew, what are you doing here, lah?

The three of us stopped in our tracks to see a familiar petite figure. A young girl with short hair. White on the bottom, red on the top. On the right side of her head, a white crescent moon and five white stars in a circle is clips her hair back.

"Well, that's one way to greet your big brother." Indonesia said, snickering.

Malaysia ignored him and looked at the girl, unfazed. "That's my line, Singapura."

"I don't know what you guys are so surprised about. This is the SouthEast Asia classroom after all, ana~"

My sights turn to the owner of that voice, and end at a young man two red blue outer horizontal stripes, and a single white stripe between them all.

"Huh, that's funny, lah. I don't remember asking for your input, Thailand."

But Thailand seemed unfazed. He smirked and raised his arms up in defeat mockingly. "I'm just saying, ana~"

Suddenly, a man walked in. "Alright, settle down and have a seat, kids."

His voice wasn't so loud that it boomed throughout the whole classroom, but it was said in such a calm, yet firm tone that demanded respect. So we did as we were told and quickly scrambled for a seat.

He walked behind the large teachers' desk at the front of the room and dropped his folder of papers on it with a loud thud. He then proceeded to dust himself off, stood up straight, and put his hands behind his back.

"Formally, I am Mr. S.E.A, or Mr. SouthEast Asia." He then turned around to draw something on the board. He wrote his name. Below it, he drew his flag. A blue rectangle with a red circle in the center. Inside that red circle, he drew a latte stone made out of 12 yellow stripes. "But you may simply address me as 'Mr. SEA'." He said with a faint smile. "But enough about me. Lets talk about you." He points in front of him. "Lets start with you, young man."

The student sitting directly in front of Mr. SEAs' desk stands up slowly with his eyes glued to the floor.

"Don't be shy. Turn around and face your classmates before introducing yourself." Mr. SEA cooed.

I saw the students' head slowly nod, and he slowly turned around and faced the class. He slowly looked up.

It was a boy. His hair was yellow with a thin black and white stripe slanted aross his hair. In the center of it all, there was some sort of symbol that I don't recognize.

"A-Assalamualaikum. I am the c-country of Brunei Darussalam, b-but you can simply call me Brunei."

Mr. SEA nodded, and Brunei took this as his cue to sit down.

"Lets go down the line."

The next to stand up was Thailand. He faced the class and smiled brightly. "Sawasdee! I'm the one and only 'Land of Smiles', Thailand; the only child and son of the royal Siam!" He said a little too happily. "I look forward to working and befriending you all!"

He sat back down, cuing the next student to introduce himself.

It was another boy. His hair was red with one, big yellow star in the center. "Xin cháo, I'm the nation of Vietnam." He shrugged and turned to Mr. SEA. "That's all." He sat back down.

In the next row, Singapore stood up next. She dusted off her skirt and introduced herself to the class. "Apa kabar. My name is Singapura, but you can call me Singapore, lah." She sat back down.

Since the two chairs next to her were empty, it was our turn. Malaysia stood up and went first.

"Salam. I'm the country of Malaysia. I'm the eldest child and son of Malaya and the royal Golden Kherosene. Singapura is my younger sister." He smirked.

Singapore looked back and glared at him with red cheeks. "Th-They don't need to know that w-we're related, lah!"

Malaysia only snickered at his baby sisters' embarrassment.

Wanting to get on with this, I stood up and introduced myself. "Kamusta po. I'm the country of Philippines, but you can just call me Philip, Phil, or yours." I winked. I heard groans.

"Oh, he's one of those boys..." A girl sitting behind me whispered. But I simply shrugged it off and ignored her.

"I'm the youngest son of Katipunan and Perla; and Gregorio Del Pilar is my big brother. I have a twin sister; her name is Maharlika. But she's an OFW currently living, studying, and working as a housemaid abroad." I continued.

"Ouu, is she cute, though?" Vietnam asked with a smirk and wink.

As I shot him a glare, Indonesia just had to open his big mouth.

"They're twins, Viet." Indonesia leaned back into his chair and put his hands behind his head. "It's just Phil, but with female features. Not much difference, really."

I was about to give Indonesia one of my infamous boxing punches to the face, when I heard Mr. SEA speak. "Hmm, interesting... If you don't mind, I'd love to get to know you a bit more after class."

Indonesia snickered. "Mr. SEA, isn't that illegal?"

"I-It's not like that, Mr. Indonesia!" Mr. SEA defended. "H-His parents have a... history here, is all. I just want to know how they've been doing after all these years-" He suddenly stopped himself. But I was curious. What does he know about my parents and their past together?

Mr. SEA suddenly shook his head. "Ne- Nevermind that. Mr. Indonesia, please just introduce yourself already." He sighed.

For a brief moment, Indonesia looked at him weirdly, but then shrugged it off and stood up. "Salam! I'm the country of Indonesia! If you guys haven't noticed, Mal, Phil, and I make the classic rice gang trio, MalPhilIndo!" He gave an obnoxious laughed before continuing. "I'm the eldest child and only son of the royal Majapahit and his lady Zamrud. I have two younger sisters, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste." He shared. "I think they're in the Oceania class, though."

Mr. SEA put his right hand on his chin. "Oh, what are they doing there when they should be in this class? I should bring this up to the admin-"

Indonesia paled at the thought. He quickly and violently shook his head. "Are you asking for another Malaysia-Singapore relationship in your class, sir?"

Malaysia shot him a glare. "What are you trying to say, bodoh?"

The student behind him and in the last row suddenly slammed her hands on her desk.

"Moving on!" She yelled out and stood up. It was a girl with yellow, green, and red horizontal stripes with a large white star in the center.

"Haallo. I'm the country of Myanmar, only child and daughter of Burma. Nice to meet you all." She sat back down and gently nudged the girl next to her with her elbow.

Another girl stood up. Her hair had thin horizontal stripes on the top and bottom. Between them was a thicker red stripe. In the center of it all was some sort of temple?

"Suostei. I'm the nation of Cambodia. Nice to meet you all." She gave a small smile.

I heard someone bring up Khmer Rouge, and her aura went dark.

"We don't talk about her."

Ah, does she happen to have an alter ego, too? I paled slightly, remembering him...

All of us gulped. The girl next to her gently sat her back down and introduced herself. Her hair has red, thin horizontal stripes on the top and bottom. Between them was a thicker blue stripe with a large white circle in the center.

"Sabaidi! I'm the nation of Laos. And together with Myan and Cam, we form a trio that rivals MaPhilIndo! The "MyanCamLaos"! Nice to meet you all!"

Indonesia gasped loudly and dramatically. "Oh no she didn't-" He looked at me and Mal. "Phil, Mal, we're being challenged. Quick, battle formation!"

Malaysia hid his face in emabarrassment. "B-bodoh, do we really have to? Right here, now?"

"Battle. Formation."

Malaysia and I looked at each other and sighed and stood up.

"B-Boys, what are you-"

The three of us stood in front of the girls and t-posed. I could hear the class behind us trying to hold their laughter.

Indonesia was smirking evilly. "Say that again to our face. We dare you."

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Word count : 1749 words.

Writing that last bit of this chapter gave me an idea: what if I write a whole chapter dedicated to certain nations' alter egos? I mean, yall will see at least Martial sometime in this story, for sure. But what about a whole chapter of just them? Let me know your thoughts in the comments (ÒwÓ)

Coming up ---> 'chapter 6 : Family Secrets'

Anyway, as always,

And ayye, thank you! .3.