“I’m home…” Alisa announced after opening the front door of the apartment.
She had spent nearly half an hour outside trying to regain her composure after being kissed by Isagi, but anyone could tell that, despite her sulking expression, she was extremely happy.
Her older sister, Maria, peeked her head out from the living room and greeted her with a cheerful smile, as gentle as a flower.
Unlike Alisa’s usually impassive expression, Maria was almost always smiling.
“Welcome home, Alya.” Smiling from ear to ear, Maria approached with her arms open and kissed her sister on the right cheek, then the left, then the right again before pulling her into a tight hug.
The scene would have made yuri fans all around the world sigh in satisfaction.
“Hey, Masha.” Alisa lightly tapped her sister’s arm, trying to make her let go of the overly affectionate embrace.
Maria did release her, but immediately transformed her smile into a disappointed pout.
“Come on, we’re in Japan now.
Call me big sister, like they do here.” “That’s not happening.” At her sister’s cold response, Maria puffed her cheeks out even more in protest.
In Russia, it was common to call older siblings by name, unlike Japan, where people normally used “big brother” or “big sister.” That was why Alisa, who had been born in Russia, continued calling her sister by her nickname despite Maria’s frequent requests to be addressed like a proper older sister.
“Sniffle…
You can be so cold sometimes, Alya…” Realizing that pouting alone would not work, Maria adopted an even more pitiful expression.
Alisa, however, looked away and let out a tired sigh.
It was nothing new, but she always ended up feeling a little guilty whenever her sister made that face.
Still, that did not mean she was going to start calling her big sister.
Alisa was far too serious for that, especially compared to Maria’s laid-back personality.
It also did not help that she was taller, nor that there was only a one-year age difference between them.
In practice, Alisa often felt as though she had been the one taking care of Maria over the years, almost as if she were the older sister in the relationship.
Because of that, she rarely managed to see Maria that way.
Besides, calling Maria “big sister” would make it seem as though she depended on her, and there were other ways Alisa might perhaps be willing to address her…
but Maria never accepted them.
Deciding to ignore her sister, Alisa took off her shoes and changed into the house slippers.
However, Maria immediately tilted her head curiously, blinking a few times.
“Alya, you’re in a good mood?” “No…?” Alisa shot her sister a suspicious look, trying to hide what she was really feeling, but that kind of tactic never worked on Maria.
“Uh-huh…
Does it have something to do with him again?
With Isagi?” Annoyed both by her sister’s nosiness and the curious sparkle in her eyes, Alisa walked past her and headed toward the bathroom.
“Nothing happened…” “You know you can’t lie to me.
I can read you like an open book.
So…?
What happened?” Maria followed her sister down the hallway like a duckling following its mother, giving her no room to escape.
As soon as they entered Alisa’s room, Maria dramatically threw herself onto a large floor cushion, crossing her legs and resting her chin on her hands with an expectant smile.
Still in her school uniform, Alisa sat down on the edge of the bed with an irritated sigh.
She hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually gave in to her older sister’s pressure.
“…It wasn’t a big deal…” she muttered, looking away to the side.
Her cheeks were already beginning to take on a traitorous pink hue.
“It was…
a kiss.” The silence lasted only half a second.
“EEEEH?!” Maria practically jumped off the cushion, her eyes sparkling with a mix of shock and pure amusement, although there was a complicated emotion deep in her eyes that she hid very well as she asked, “A kiss?!
Did you say a kiss?!
Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou, you finally kissed someone?!” “Keep your voice down!” Alisa hissed, shooting a sharp glance at the half-open door.
“It wasn’t a big deal.
It was just…
an impulse on his part.
It happened out of nowhere.” Maria crawled closer to the bed, kneeling as though she were about to hear the greatest gossip in human history.
“Tell me.
Everything.
Right now.
Who?
When?
Where?
What was it like?
Did he pin you down?
Was there tongue?
Did you melt?
Did you use Russian before or after?” Alisa covered her face with both hands, mortified.
Even so, her tsundere personality would not allow a complete surrender.
“It was with Isagi…
After dinner with the student council.
We were walking home and…
he cornered me against a wall.” “Against a wall?!” Maria repeated, almost shouting with excitement.
“That’s such a romantic comedy cliché!
I love it!
And then?
He kissed you out of nowhere?” Alisa bit her lower lip, vividly remembering the sensation, his body pressed against hers, the warmth of his mouth, the way his tongue invaded hers without hesitation.
Her ears turned red.
“…Yeah.
And it was my first kiss,” she admitted almost in a whisper.
“I froze at first.
Then…
I kissed him back.
I don’t know why.
My brain just stopped working…” Maria let out a muffled squeal and silently clapped her hands as though she were watching a live drama unfold.
“Alisa…
you really like him.
There’s no point denying it.” “I don’t…!” Alisa began protesting automatically, but the words died in her throat.
She looked away, crossing her arms tightly.
“…We’re friends.
That’s all.” “Friends who kiss against walls?” Maria raised an eyebrow, her smile widening.
“What kind of modern friendship is that?
In Russia, we call that ‘the beginning of dating.'” Alisa huffed, but she could not stop a small traitorous smile from appearing as she remembered his expression after the kiss…
“He said he understood every bit of Russian I’ve spoken this whole time…” she confessed, her voice lowering again.
“And that…
he felt the same way too.
Then he said he would take responsibility because it was his first kiss as well.” Maria fell silent for an entire second, processing the information.
Then she exploded: “He knows Russian?!
And stayed quiet this whole time while listening to you basically confess your love?!
That’s both shameless and romantic at the same time!” Alisa buried her face in the pillow, muttering something in Russian against the fabric.
Maria laughed softly and stood up, affectionately ruffling her sister’s silver hair.
“You can pretend to be cold all you want, but your red face gives you away every single time.
Just accept that you’re in love, Alisa.
And from what I’m hearing…
he is too.” Alisa did not answer.
She only squeezed the pillow tighter, her heart pounding as the sensations from the kiss came flooding back once more…
“…Idiot,” she whispered against the fabric, but the tone was far from angry.
“But why?
I thought you didn’t like people who were lazy about studying,” Maria asked with a confused expression.
“Because, huh…” Maria’s assumption was correct.
Isagi really was not someone particularly motivated when it came to academics, and he rarely took it seriously.
He was practically a football fanatic, to the point of ignoring almost everything else.
Even so, despite all his lack of academic interest, he genuinely worked hard toward his dream of becoming a professional player.
Still, considering his other “academic qualities,” Isagi was exactly the kind of person Alisa normally would not be able to stand.
So why had she fallen in love with him?
Searching for an answer, Alisa began revisiting her memories.
…
“И победителем премии за отличие становится…
Команда B!” (And the winner of the excellence award is…
Team B!) The classroom filled with applause.
There was only one person, a little girl, in the crowd biting her lips with her head lowered.
It was Alisa.
She had been in the fourth grade at an elementary school in Vladivostok at the time.
This was the moment she truly realized she was different from everyone else, and it was all because of a research presentation her class had done.
The students in her class had been divided into groups of four or five, given a topic to research over the next two weeks, and asked to present their findings on a three-panel display board for the class.
The topic assigned to Alisa’s group was local occupations.
They interviewed local shops and family businesses and learned about what they did.
It was the kind of innocent and simple project normally done in elementary schools.
However, Alisa always put her full effort into her tasks, no matter what they were.
She had always possessed a strong competitive instinct, even at a young age, and constantly strove to be the best.
Naturally, she aimed for the excellence award, which was essentially first place for the best presentation.
Therefore, she poured an enormous amount of effort into the project in order to win.
Every day after school, she interviewed local businesses until dinnertime and ended up filling an entire notebook after only the first week.
She took every possible measure to ensure she would be prepared for the group meeting to discuss their findings.
But when the day finally arrived, she was stunned by what the other three members of the group said.
“Ой, извините.
Я никого не интервьюировал(а).” (Oh, sorry.
I didn’t interview anyone.) “Это пекарня.
Это магазин одежды.
Эй?
Что они делают?
Пекарня делает хлеб, а магазин одежды продает одежду.
Ну, д-а.” (This is a bakery.
This is a clothing store.
Huh?
What do they do?
A bakery makes bread, and a clothing store sells clothes.
Duh.) “Извините, я пока что провёл(а) интервью только с половиной моих магазинов.
Но у нас всё ещё есть другая неделя, верно?
Всё получится.” (Sorry, I’ve only interviewed half of my assigned stores so far.
But we still have another week, right?
It’ll work out.) From Alisa’s perspective, their research looked completely sloppy.
Even if they combined their findings, they still would not have had even half the information she did.
But the fact that they showed absolutely no concern or appreciation left her more bewildered than angry.
What truly irritated her was when the three of them looked at Alisa’s notebook.
“Фу.
Что это все?
Это просто глупый проект.” (Ew.
What’s all this?
It’s just a stupid project.) “Это слишком детализировано.
Да, мы не будем использовать и половину этого.” (This is way too detailed.
Yeah, we’re not even going to use half of this.) “Аля…
Мне нужно все это читать?” (Alya…
Do I really have to read all of this?) They looked at her with astonished expressions and forced smiles, as though they could not believe her.
Wait!
They thought she was the weird one here?
Right after that thought crossed Alisa’s mind, anger began to rise from the pit of her stomach.
She had done nothing wrong!
All she had done was take the assignment seriously!
She should not feel bad about it.
On the contrary, they should have been the ones feeling guilty!
She was instantly filled with anger and disgust, and she was still too young to suppress those feelings.
“Не могли бы вы отнестись к задаче чуть серьёзнее?” (Could you take this assignment a little more seriously?) The sensitive elementary school children reacted defensively to Alisa’s piercing stare and hostile tone.
It did not take long for a heated argument to break out.
They were in the middle of class, so the teacher intervened almost immediately to stop them, but that brief moment was enough to sour their relationship to the point that it became obvious Alisa would no longer be able to work with them.
“Если вам не нравится, как я это делаю, то сделайте это сами!” (If you don’t like the way I’m doing it, then do it yourselves!) It was that response from one of her male teammates that pushed Alisa over the edge.
She decided she would spend the remaining week creating the best presentation possible according to her own standards.
But there was only so much one person could accomplish in a week, and she failed to complete the project with the level of care she had intended.
As a result, another team received the excellence award.
Alisa could not understand why her classmates did not take the project seriously.
She could not understand how they could smile and laugh without caring that they had just lost.
They would not have lost if the others had worked as hard as she did.
In fact, they would not have lost if she had done the entire project by herself from the very beginning!
She was not like them!
She was the only one who took tasks seriously and made an effort, the only one who wanted to win!
The moment Alisa realized that was the moment she stopped expecting anything from other people.
No one is on your level.
No one has the same passion or motivation you do.
That was why she would do things her own way from now on.
She would not lose to unmotivated people.
She would not lose to people who had not worked for it.
She would reach heights never achieved before while everyone else wasted time playing around all day.
She did not need anyone’s help.
She could do everything alone.
If someone was only going to do things halfway, or only because they had to, then they would only slow her down…
Even after years passed and Alisa became somewhat more socially skilled, her fundamental worldview never changed.
Those beliefs only grew stronger.
Whenever she saw how unmotivated or academically lacking her classmates were, her disappointment in them grew until one day she unconsciously began looking down on others.
Once she realized that, she distanced herself from her classmates to avoid unnecessary friction.
It was a lonely world.
The kind of loneliness only felt by someone born with the talent and competitive instinct that made them different from everyone else.
After Alisa finished her second year of middle school, her father was transferred to Japan for work and brought the family with him.
Following her parents’ advice, she ended up transferring to Ichinan Academy, known as one of the best schools in Japan.
She vaguely expected that she might finally be able to work among equals and improve alongside them, but she was instantly disappointed after taking the school’s proficiency and placement exams.
Now she stood at the top of her class.
It was her first time being in Japan in five years, and she was a transfer student from overseas with absolutely no idea what would be on the test.
And yet, even with those disadvantages, she was placed at the top of her class.
This was what they considered a high academic level?
She was completely alone, even here…
Just as her heart was slowly filling with resignation, she met him.
It was on her first day as a transfer student, on the morning of April 1st.
“Your Japanese is really good, Alisa.
Did you used to live in Japan?” “You’re so pretty!
I’ve never seen silver hair before.” “Hey, did you really pass that super difficult transfer exam so easily?” Her new classmates crowded around her and did not hide their curiosity.
Although she was slightly intimidated by the attention, Alisa tried to handle the situation without being overly rude.
Nothing good would come from getting close to people she would ultimately end up looking down on.
That would only make them uncomfortable, and it would make her uncomfortable once she realized what she was doing.
That was why Alisa had no intention of becoming friends with anyone.
“Oh, the first bell rang.” “Already?
That was fast.
Let’s talk later, Alisa.” “Let’s keep getting to know each other during the next break, okay?” “Okay.” After watching her classmates sadly return to their seats, Alisa looked toward the desk beside her.
“…” Sitting there was a male student sprawled across his desk as though he did not have a single care in the world despite all the noise and excitement around him.
The boy’s free-spirited nature piqued her curiosity, to say the least.
Before she realized it, she was lightly shaking his shoulder.
It was the first time she had tried to start a conversation with one of her classmates.
“Hey, um…
The bell rang, you know?” “Mmm…
Hm?” A student with a blank expression slowly lifted his head.
It was Isagi Yoichi.
He turned his vacant gaze toward Alisa, blinked several times, then tilted his head.
“Ohhh…
You’re the transfer student who spoke at the opening ceremony, right?” “Yes.
Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou.
Nice to meet you.” “Right…
Isagi Yoichi.
Nice to meet you too.” That was all he said before turning back to the front and stretching his back.
A few moments passed before his eyes widened with realization, and he tapped the boy sitting in front of him on the back.
“Hey, Hikaru.
I had no idea you were here.” “Seriously?
Muesume’s here too, dude.” “Ah, wow.
You’re right.
I fell asleep.
I stayed up late last night watching Noel Noa play, so I didn’t even notice.” Alisa was slightly surprised to see him chatting happily with his friend while showing absolutely no interest in her.
Alisa knew she was twice as beautiful as the average person, and she understood that appearance could be used as a weapon when building relationships, so naturally she paid attention to improving her looks.
Although she did not wear makeup because it was against school rules, she still understood that she possessed beauty that rivaled that of an average TV star.
And while she had no interest in attracting the opposite sex, she understood that her appearance, especially her silver hair, drew a great deal of attention.
That was why Isagi, practically the only person who showed no interest in her whatsoever, left such a significant impression.
But she soon realized something while observing him curiously.
It was not that he was uninterested in girls or other people.
He simply had no motivation for academics.
He would forget his textbooks.
Sleep during class.
Panic and rush through his homework during breaks just minutes before class began.
He would try not to stand out during physical education so he could put in the bare minimum effort.
The only motivation he had was related to football.
He was not simply lazy.
Isagi Yoichi did not put effort into anything that was not directly connected to football.
It was as though every aspect of his life was filtered through that single passion.
He could forget a math assignment, nearly fail English, or even doze off during history class, but he never forgot league matches, never missed club practice, and never stopped analyzing professional players, whether by rewatching plays or discussing strategies with his friends.
His life seemed to revolve around a single sphere: the soccer ball.
And strangely enough, it was exactly that one-track focus that awakened something inside Alisa.
That very first day, when she saw him shrug off all the attention she received as a transfer student and happily return to talking about Noel Noa, she realized something.
Unlike all the other classmates, who saw her as something novel, an object of curiosity, or even some kind of distant star, Isagi seemed…
indifferent.
He did not care about her beauty, her test scores, or her status as a foreigner.
Isagi’s world had a center, and she was not part of it.
Part of it was insulting.
But at the same time, refreshing.
After that day, she started paying closer attention to him.
While everyone else failed to maintain the discipline and effort she demanded from herself, Isagi deliberately failed at everything unrelated to football, but unlike the unmotivated people she despised, he did so because he had chosen a clear direction for himself.
His eyes shone differently whenever football was involved.
The way he talked about the players he admired, the way he would rise from his tired seat just to discuss a play he had seen on television, the energy with which he participated in practice after school…
it was as though he became a completely different person.
He was not lazy.
He was obsessed.
And for someone like Alisa, who had always believed motivation was the dividing line between winners and losers, that was something impossible to ignore.
She hated admitting it, but the flame she saw in Isagi’s eyes resembled her own.
Maybe that was why she had fallen in love with him…
Even when they argued over trivial things because he forgot his notebooks, because he did not study for exams, because he treated academics like a burden, deep down she knew there was a common point between them.
Both pursued something with intensity.
Both refused to live halfway…
Isagi had simply chosen a different path.
Without realizing it, Isagi had earned a special place inside her.
A place nobody else had ever managed to reach before.
And that was because of something that happened in the past, and also the reason she allowed him to call her Alya….
_____________________ (A/N: First of all, thank you for reading this story.
Your support there also helps a lot in keeping the story updated consistently.
I hope you continue enjoying Isagi’s completely cursed new life in this crossover world.)