is a Japanese light novel series written by SunSunSun and illustrated by Momoco. It was originally published online as two short stories on the novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō on May 6 and 27, 2020, respectively, before being acquired by Kadokawa Shoten, who have published the series since February 2021 under their Sneaker Bunko imprint.
The story follows a beautiful and talented young Russo-Japanese woman named Alisa Kujou who is a transfer student at her new high school in Japan. The story also follows a brilliant, yet lazy male student named Masachika Kuze.
A manga adaptation by Saho Tenamachi began serialization online in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app and website in October 2022.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Doga Kobo aired from July to September 2024. A second season is set to premiere in 2027.
By August 2024, the light novel series had over five million copies in circulation.
Premise Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou, nicknamed Alya, is a female high school student with silver hair who looks so beautiful that she turns heads wherever she goes, but her aloof demeanor makes people around her feel uneasy. Masachika Kuze, who sits next to Alya, is an unmotivated student who just stays up late at night and is a sleepyhead at school. Alya often complains about Masachika but seems to be secretly in love with him, and occasionally makes flirtatious remarks in Russian. However, she does not realize that Masachika also harbours a secret crush for her and understands Russian, and her flirty comments towards him constantly leave him perplexed and flustered.
As their friendship blossoms, Alya eventually chooses to run for Student Council with Masachika eventually choosing to be her running mate. Their quest to be elected soon begins to unravel their mutual pasts, including their respective complicated family histories and the real reason as to why Masachika can understand Russian.
Characters
Seirei Private Academy
Student Council /
Alya is a beautiful and talented first-year student who is known for her looks and cold attitude. She was born to a Russian father and a Japanese mother. She occasionally makes remarks in Russian, which confuses her teacher and classmates. Though many students envy her because of her cold demeanor, Alya does not have many friends and is not very experienced at social interaction. That slowly changes the more she spends time with her classmate Masachika. She disapproves of Masachika's lack of motivation, but at the same time, she is in love with him, and constantly flirts with him in Russian. Alya is Masha's younger sister. She spent her childhood in Vladivostok, Russia, where she had difficulties making friends. Alya is the Student Council Treasurer, and is running to be the next Student Council President, with Masachika as her running mate. Her cold attitude could be rooted to her experiences in Vladivostok when during one time, her groupmates were too lazy to work on a project. Her groupmates, however, then quarrelled with Alya since she was working too hard. The project work later came as a failure, so she decided to work hard on her own and avoid working with others, leading to her cold attitude. Alya likes to eat sweet food, and is afraid of eating spicy food.
Masachika Kuze holds a position in high school envied by many boys: the seat next to Alya. He is a slacking sleepyhead who tends to stay up late most nights and lacks motivation in class. Whenever Alya makes remarks in Russian, Masachika pretends not to understand her, but he secretly does. He learned Russian only so to speak to a female childhood friend who only understood Russian, although she later moves away. It is later revealed that Masachika was originally the heir of the Suou family. He later renounced the position after his parents divorced and he left with his father. His younger sister Yuki subsequently inherited the position. He was allowed to leave the Suou household on the condition that he could never disclose his connection with the household or that anyone from the household was his relative, including his own biological sister Yuki Suou, and his mother Yumi Suou as well. He has a crush on Alya and is always willing to help in any way he can, but deems himself unworthy for her. As of the recent volume of the light novel, Masachika and Alya still refuse to openly confess their feelings to each other. Back in the days when his surname was still Suou, he was considered the prodigy of the Suou house. Therefore, he received elite education from his maternal grandfather Gensei. He was also a skilled piano player. Yet, as Yuki got asthma and his mother Yumi ignored him, Masachika felt more stressed and eventually collapsed. After his parents' divorce, he followed his father Kyoutarou Kuze and left the Suou family. Following this, Masachika is revealed to act lazy, only to cause others not to depend on him, obviously due to his past experience. He loves his little sister Yuki, treating her as the most important person in existence. After being heavily persuaded by others, Masachika decides to join the Student Council General Affairs Officer, and eventually decides to run for Vice-President in the election as Alya's running mate.
A first-year who serves as the Student Council Public Relations who is one of the most popular students in school. She is Masachika's younger sister who serves as the daughter of the Suou house, whose origin was a former noble family and has shouldered the role of a diplomat for generations, becoming the heir after her father Kyoutarou Kuze and older brother Masachika Kuze left the family. She is a genuine, beautiful and straightforward girl, and enjoys teasing Alya over her romantic feelings for Masachika, as Yuki's relation with him is not public knowledge. She and Alya are rivals, and she occasionally torments Alya for her performance to attend the Student Council. She has a follower, Ayano Kimishima, who becomes her running mate when she runs for Student Council President as Alya's challenger. She and Masachika are forced to hide their true relations in public by pretending to be childhood friends. Whenever only Masachika and/or Ayano are around, she displays another face: Otaku and cuteness. She sometimes makes sexual remarks due to her otaku nature. She often comes to Masachika's home to stay overnight. She used to have asthma when she was small, but claims that she has recovered and has never caught a cold since middle school. /
Alya's older sister, a second-year and the Student Council Secretary. She has a sweet and gentle personality, and is always caring of these around her, especially Alya and Masachika. She has similar looks as her little sister. She likes to make black tea for herself and other Student Council members. She also likes cute things, once attempting to buy several dolls to be put inside the Student Council room. She is Masachika's childhood friend and first love. They used to play together when they were young, and he became sad when she moved away. Because Masha's Japanese was not as fluent as her Russian, his knowledge of Russian allowed them to form a bond.
She is a maid of Yuki, who is naturally silent and expressionless. She is a Student Council General Affairs Officer. She was formerly a maid for Masachika, but after Masachika relinquished his position as the heir of the Suou household, she became a follower of his younger sister, Yuki, when Yuki was chosen to become the heiress of the Suou household due to Masachika's decision to give up that role. She is a masochist and respectfully loves Masachika and Yuki. Moreover, she is sweet and cares for others a lot. She keeps a low profile at school. When she speaks on stage during the End of Year Service, most schoolmates do not know who she is, and are surprised by her beauty. She is running for Vice-President as Yuki's running mate.
The Student Council Vice-President and a second-year student at the high school. She is feared by some male students, but is extremely popular among female students. She is currently dating the student council president, Touya Kenzaki. Her hobby is kendo. She is bad at paperwork, but is good at dealing with quarrels, especially by means of threat.
A second-year student and Chisaki's boyfriend, he is the charismatic Student Council President of the high school section. He used to be obese and have bad grades back when he was in the middle school section, but changed himself in order to win Chisaki's heart, whom he had always been in love with.
Other students
A loyal but stoic girl who competed with Yuki for the position of Student Council resident in the middle school and currently is a public morals committee member. She once looked up to Masachika and Yuki for their teamwork and mutual honesty, but was left crushed when she found out Masachika decided to partner with Alya for the upcoming student council elections against Yuki. Nevertheless, she reluctantly decides to become their subordinate along with her closest friend Nonoa Miyamae. She eventually warms up to Alya as they work together, and they both become close friends.
A first-year high school student and Sayaka's best friend. She has blond hair with a loose perm. She cannot feel other people's emotions, only acknowledge them, so she only acts as what others would like to see for her benefit. Moreover, she is able to analyze things around her rationally. She planted several shills during the Student Congress in order to place Alya at a disadvantage, but eventually decided to stop and partner up with Alya and Masachika, alongside Sayaka.
One of Masachika's best male friends who has a crush on Yuki Suou.
One of Masachika's male best friends.
Media Web novel Before the light novel's publication, two short stories were published on Shōsetsuka ni Narō on May 6 and 27, 2020. However, the stories and characters in the web version are completely different from the published novel.
In an interview with Japanese magazine Da Vinci in 2021, SunSunSun told that he initially wanted the series to take place in an isekai setting where the heroine gets transported to another world where no one could understand the Japanese language, except for the protagonist who was planned to be reincarnated as well. The idea was scrapped since he felt that it would be troublesome to explain the new environment, so he went with a real-world setting instead. Regarding Alya's half-Russian heritage, the author stated that he was influenced by the beauty of Russian women.
Light novel The light novel series is written by SunSunSun and illustrated by Momoco. In June 2020, SunSunSun first received an invitation from Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko for whether the imprint could publish the work. On December 22, 2020, it was announced the short stories published on Shōsetsuka ni Narō would be published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint after being adapted as a series. The title of the series follows the title of one of the two short stories. The first volume was published on February 27, 2021. As of November 2025, eleven volumes and two short story volumes have been released.
At Sakura-Con 2022, Yen Press announced that they licensed the series for English publication.
Manga A manga adaptation with art by Saho Tenamachi began serialization in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app and website on October 29, 2022. The first volume was released on March 9, 2023. The series is published in English on Kodansha's "K Manga" app. On December 16, 2024, Yen Press announced that they also licensed the manga for English print publication.
Anime