Nada High 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.