The name’s Izou Tatsuya. I’m twenty years old and I attend Akukei University. Yeah, I know, it’s the best school in the country. No big deal. It was easy to get in. I’m not one to brag, but I’ve been number one in my class since I can remember. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that my father is the biggest donator to the school. I could have gotten in anywhere, though. It’s almost not fair that I’m both rich and really smart, but then again, I look pretty good, too. I haven’t been without a girlfriend since the fifth grade. Speaking of which...

“Tatsuya-san!” a big bosomed blonde walked up to me and latched herself onto my arm. This is my current squeeze. Or I should say my previous squeeze.

“Hey, Mika,” I began, but she interrupted.

“It’s Kimi.”

“Like it matters,” I rolled my eyes. “It’s been great, but I feel like we’ve lost our connection.”

“But, Tatsuya-san, you said you’d love me forever!” Mika, or whatever her name was, had tears in her eyes.

“Well, unfortunately, I’ve found someone else,” I lied. That’s one thing about girls: they believe anything you say. You say you love them and they believe it. You say there’s someone else and they are heartbroken. Of course, there wasn’t anyone else; I had just gotten bored with her.

“Well, promise, if,” she sniffled, “if it doesn’t work out, you’ll come back to me?”

“Sure, babe,” I put an arm around her, but used it to pull her off my arm. “I’ll see you around.”

“Okay!” she clasped her hands in front of her chest. “See you, Tatsuya-san!” Glad that’s over. I brushed my purposely shaggy brown hair back. I liked this current look. It was doing well for me. It didn’t even take much product. Damn, that sounded gay. Whatever. Doesn’t matter, as long as I can get whatever I feel like. And I was certainly doing a lot of that lately. Two of my previous flings walked by and winked.

“Oh!” I heard a nasally voice call me. I turned to see Inoue Asahito came running, no, more like galloping toward me. His hair was going in every direction and his glasses were askew on his pudgy face. Asahito was my number two man. Well, that is to say, he always scores right behind me on every test and he makes a good wing man when I go to the clubs around campus. Not that I need one, mind you.

“Asahito, how goes it?” I brushed some hair out of my eyes. Great look, but it certainly gets in my way a bit. Asahito was a portly fellow, so I had gotten used to waiting for him to catch his breath before he told me some big news.

“Izou-senpai!” he wheezed. He had gotten into that habit even though we’re in the same grade. “Great news! The results for last week’s tests are posted!” I had to give him credit for trying. The boy always went to great lengths to get me to like him. He was alright, but I wouldn’t call him a friend.

“Ah, how did you do?” I already knew the answer, but I asked it anyway.

“I got first on all of my tests, except for the ones that Senpai also took,” he fixed his glasses and smiled. “Senpai is still number one across the board.” Of course, I already knew all this. The teachers e-mail and text the results to their best students, but I didn’t want to tarnish his accomplishment.

“Excellent, Asahito,” I slapped him on the back, causing his glasses to fall askew again. He quickly adjusted them and beamed up at me. It was amazing that even after two years of competition, he wasn’t jealous of me at all. I suppose I had that effect on people.

“Yo, Izou!” I heard a familiar voice from my right. Asahito and I turned to see Kouji, another classmate of ours. One whose grades were not so high, but whose family’s income came close to rivaling mine.

“Kouji,” I greeted. Nikokawa Kouji was the son of the CEO of my father’s rival company. I felt no harsh feelings toward him and neither did he toward me, but we still did have to compete in the next few years, so I was always on my guard.

“Have you seen the new foreign exchange student?” Kouji crossed his arms over his chest. He was slightly shorter than me, although I was almost six feet tall; I still had an inch to go, though. Kouji’s hair looked similar to my ‘messy’ style, but his was much longer, nearly reaching his chin. Unlike Asahito, Kouji was slim, not quite as slender as I am, but close.

“I haven’t heard anything about it,” Asahito said, sounding a little peeved that he didn’t get to deliver the news to me. It didn’t matter. There was no way this student could possibly be a threat to me. I’m sure his grades weren’t nearly as good as mine, nor his looks for that matter.

“Her name is Callista or something like that,” Kouji went on, ignoring Asahito. “She’s got this wicked mass of blonde curly hair and it nearly reaches her ass, man!” Kouji had a thing for long hair. I couldn’t blame him. Girls looked their sexiest when their hair hid just the right parts.

“So, where is she from?” I asked, trying not to sound interesting. I did have a thing for blondes after all. At this, Kouji looked sort of a puzzled. Asahito took his chance. He immediately took out his cell phone and texted everyone in his phonebook. He was going to give me the answer I wanted. I suppose it’s not true what they say. Because, when people fight over you, I win either way.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, she’s really hot!” Kouji tried to keep the conversation going. Asahito looked frustrated. I suppose no one really knew where this Callista girl was from. It didn’t matter. I’m sure I’d see her. It was hard to miss a girl who looked like that.

“I’m starving,” I vocalized. Asahito was already on his phone making a reservation for lunch. He may not have the money that Kouji and I do, but he did have the connections. Asahito looked up at me to double-check. “Chinese is fine,” I said before he could even ask it.

“Yes! I could go for some beef and broccoli,” Kouji threw his arms up over his head and stretched. We still had another two hours before our next class started. It was the one class that I had with both Asahito and Kouji. It usually ended with the two of them fighting over me. Not that I minded or noticed half the time.

“Shall we head to your car, Senpai?” Asahito asked and I just waved him off and nodded. The three of us then began walking toward the parking garage on the east side of campus. As we were walking, a big group made up of mostly the soccer team and their fans walked by. The tallest boy looked familiar with his short dark hair and blue eyes. My eyes trailed after him as we walked by. I was sure I knew him. “Right, Senpai?”

“What?” I asked, snapped back toward them just as the tall soccer player made eye contact with me.

“I asked if you thought that your Saleen got better gas mileage than Nikokawa-san’s Carrera,” he crossed his arms and glared at Kouji. “I said yours was better.”

“His car was more expensive, it doesn’t make it run better!” Kouji argue and returned Asahito’s glare. I rolled my eyes, completely forgetting about the tall, blue-eyed man I thought I knew.

“What the Hell does it matter?” I raised an eyebrow, silencing the two. “Now let’s go get some food.” I quickly took a look back at the soccer crowd, but they were far away now. I could have sworn I knew that guy.

“Hey, I was just thinking, how are we all going to go to eat when your car only seats two people?” Kouji rubbed his chin. We both turned toward Asahito. He hung his head and sighed.

“I’ll go and get my bike,” he said, defeated and walked toward the bicycle racks.

“We’re going to beat him there,” Kouji said when Asahito was out of earshot.

“Then maybe we’ll take the scenic route,” I said once we were seated in the car. I revved the engine. Kouji smiled and buckled his seatbelt.

“I know I’m gonna need to wear this,” he chuckled. I just smirked at him. It was certainly good to be me.