Episode 2: Prince but annoying

The morning sun cut through the lavender curtains in Kira’s room, a stark contrast to the rain that had welcomed her days before. She’d mapped out the fastest route to Sieka High 17 minutes by bus, 12 if she jogged and chose the former to avoid unnecessary attention.

In her crisp uniform, Kira stepped off the bus and headed toward the campus, notebook tucked under her arm as she reviewed her schedule. She barely noticed the whispers rippling through the crowd until a figure brushed past her, knocking her notebook to the wet pavement.

Tall, with perfectly styled dark hair and sharp features that made every girl nearby stare, Kai Shirogane paused for just a second. His amber eyes glanced down at her without warmth, his expression cool and indifferent.

“Sorry didn’t see you there,” he said, his voice smooth but detached. He didn’t bother to help pick up her papers before turning and walking away, surrounded by a small group of students who laughed and followed his lead.

Kira knelt to gather her pages, straightening each one with precise movements. She didn’t let the encounter affect her expression focused only on getting to her first class on time.

Inside Class 1-A, Kira chose an empty seat in the front row, pulling out her textbooks and arranging them in perfect order. The room buzzed with chatter, most of it about Kai, who’d just walked in and settled into the back corner by the window.

“Good morning, class,” Professor Sato announced. “We have a new transfer student Kira Tanaka. She scored top marks on our entrance exam, so please welcome her.”

Kira gave a quick, stiff nod to the class before turning back to her desk. That’s when she heard it Kai’s low voice, just loud enough for those nearby to hear:

“Top marks, huh? Wonder if she actually earned them, or just memorized the whole textbook.”

Kira’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t look back.

As the lecture on advanced calculus began, Professor Sato wrote a complex problem on the board. “Who can solve this?”

Before anyone else could raise their hand, Kira was already on her feet, walking to the board and writing out the solution with clean, precise strokes. When she finished, she turned to return to her seat only to find Kai standing beside her, erasing part of her work.

“Your method’s too complicated,” he said, scribbling a different solution that was shorter but equally correct. “Smart people know how to work efficiently, not just accurately.”

“My method is more reliable for solving variations of this problem,” Kira shot back, her voice cold and sharp. “Yours relies on too many assumptions.”

“Assumptions that any real genius would recognize as valid,” he countered, a slight smirk playing on his lips. “But I guess not everyone sees the bigger picture.”

The class watched in stunned silence as the two went back and forth, each pointing out flaws in the other’s approach though both solutions were technically right. Professor Sato eventually cut them off, amused by their debate.

“Enough, both of you. You’ve proven your points. Now take your seats.”

For the rest of class, Kai kept glancing at Kira, a playful glint in his eyes whenever she caught him looking. Every time she answered a question correctly, he’d make a quiet comment like “Impressive… for someone who plays it safe” or “Not bad though I could do it faster.”

Kira ignored him completely, focusing solely on taking notes and absorbing the material. But when class ended and she stood to leave, Kai was waiting by the door.

“Hey, textbook genius, or should I call you 'my genius hedgehog'?” he teased, leaning against the frame with one arm.

Kira looked at him with ice-cold eyes. “Stop giving me a trash nickname. I don’t have time for your childish game. ”

“Then consider this a compliment.” he smirk at her. "I can't believe a genius like you would transfer here...this is getting interesting."

Without waiting for a response, he walked away, leaving Kira standing there with her hands clenched at her sides. She’d come to Sieka High to focus on her studies, not to fight with the school’s most popular and most annoying guy in the world.