[Tuesday, August 10, 2021. 05:29]

  After packing his school supplies, Gio headed to tidy up his room. But a figure in the corridor paused his activities. It was Arua, just completed his nocturnal side job. He looked like a wreck—hollow eyes, messy hair, slouching like he was carrying the sins of the entire human race.

  Gio greeted him. "How was the work?"

  Arua didn't even grunt. He just kept walking. Gio rushed out of his room. "Aru, wait!" Arua stopped. "How am I going to school?"

  "Bus," he answered briefly.

  "Bus? Doesn't that add more cost?"

  Arua turned reluctantly to face Gio. "New rule: at school, we aren’t cousins... We’re strangers." Firm tone. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a command: No talking, no waving, no interaction.

  "Eh? Why?" Gio asked, clueless.

  "You want a peaceful life, right? Trust me." Arua turned and walked away. Gio stood there in silent, trying to guess the reason behind this new regulation.

  Click. Arua unlocked the door. Gio called out. "Don't go to sleep. It's morning already."

  "Shut up." Arua entered his room and slammed the door. Gio knew exactly what this guy would do next. Only two possibilities: he sleep in his room and skip school, or go to school and sleep in class. Same outcome, different location.

  [06:30]

  A Trans-Purwokerto Bus stopped in front of Purwokerto High School. Gio stepped off, landed his feet on school grounds exactly thirty minutes before the gates closed. He scanned the zone with sparkled eyes.

  It was organized chaos. Hundreds of students in white-gray uniforms flooded the area. Laughter, shouting, and chitchat melted into a symphony of teenage life.

  Gio looked enthusiastic. He stood straight, puffing out his chest and adjusting his new bag.

  Riiiiing! Bell rang. The human tide receded, sucked into classrooms. Gio, however, still had one side quest at Administration Office about registration confirmation.

  Twenty minutes later, the administrative affairs cleared. Current objective: Locate his classrom, Class 10-G.

  He navigated the map, passing various school landmarks: an outdoor basketball court, a vast football field, mossy fish pond in the garden, and a library.

  And finally, he arrived in front of a door with "10-G" sign above it. "This is it..." Gio gulped.

  Slowly, he approached the handle. Click. The door swung open.

  Pen scratching and paper rustling ceased almost simultaneously. Thirty-four pairs of eyes moved from the whiteboard to the doorway. The teacher, a middle-aged man with thick glasses who was writing chemical formulas on the board, stopped.

  Gio froze. Heart hammering against his ribs, as if he just infiltrated an enemy base without stealth mode. "T-They all looking at me..." Panic spiked.

  "Oh, new student?" The teacher’s deep voice broke the silence. "Come in. Introduce yourself."

  "Calm down, Gio... They are not demon hunters..." his mind chanted a self-suggestion. Gio inhaled, then marched stiffly to the front of the class. There was determination in his eyes, but no coordination in his feet.

  Thud. He tripped over his own shoelaces, stumbling forward onto teacher's podium, almost falling. The class went silent.

  "S-Sorry! I don't—..." Gio straightened up, his face burning. He cleared his throat, adjusting his confidence. "Uhm, hello. Good morning, friends—Sorry, I mean, homies. Hehe." He let out a dry, awkward laugh.

  No one laughed back. Dead air. All students stared at him in confusion. Gio thought the silence was just a polite attention.

  Undeterred, Gio performed a stiff, formal bow—like a butler greeting his master. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gio." He paused, accessing the script he had learned last night. "Previously, I studied in Sulawesi... if ya nasty. I am a new student here... I am still noob."

  Suddenly, whispers erupted. Students leaned toward one another, murmuring something. Gio felt a cold sweat drop roll down his temple. Wait. Why are they whispering? Am I doing something wrong?

  Panic set in. He rushed to the finale. "I need your guidance so that we can have a... nice and epic relationship here." He bowed again, deeper this time. "Apologize for my mistake. Uhh... Thank you."

  The reaction was a disaster spectrum. Some stared blankly. Some cringed so hard, unable to bear the weight of secondhand embarrassment. Some dude in the back row bit their lips, trying not to laugh.

  Arua’s idea for "Sulawesi" backstory was solid. He picked a place so far away that no one would ask, "Hey, do you know X from Class 9?" Too bad Gio’s delivery messed it up.

  "Please, just... sit down, Gio." The teacher rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. "Take the empty seat in the back row."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Gio speed-walked to the back, eyes on the floor, dodging the waves of snickers. Combining modern (outdated) slang and self-introduction tutorials from books was a fatal failure. He slumped into the empty chair, wishing he could Astral Project into a black hole right now.

  The guy near the window next to him turned. A teenage boy with authentic Javanese features, a neat buzz cut, and a very average appearance. He was grinning, seemingly unbothered by the disaster.

  "Yo. That was... something," He whispered.

  "Thank you... I am Gio."

  "I’m Zaid." He offered a fist bump. "If you need help, just ask. Anything... but academics, okay?"

  Gio stared at the fist, confused. Then he reached out and awkwardly shook it. "...Okay. Thank you."

  Zaid was speechless.

  It was a debut straight out of a nightmare. Gio hoped the cringe would stop there.

  Spoiler: it didn’t.

  As days went by, he realized that the gap between him and "Normal Human" was still wide open. Academic problems were just the tip of the iceberg; the real challenges were social ethics and common sense. In just one week, he racked up enough fatal errors to become famous—for all the wrong reasons.

  Wednesday: The Gender Variable.

  During the first break, Gio felt the call of nature. He rushed to the east wing restrooms. There was a juction with two doors.

  For standard human, the male (pants) and female (skirt) symbols were absolute law. However, for a former asexual demon species whose even excretion was an abstract concept, segregating dump sites based on chromosomes was an unthinkable notion.

  With zero hesitation, Gio took the right path. It was safe at first. No one inside. Gio finished his business calmly. He did the deed. But the second he stepped out of the stall, the atmosphere changed. Three girls in front of the mirror froze mid-gossip, staring at him in pure horror.

  Gio stopped. The air felt heavy. "Why are they looking at me?" he wondered in confusion.

  "Hey! This is the girls' bathroom!" one of the girls shrieked. Gio's face went pale. He had just violated the school's most sacred territorial law. "S-Sorry!" He fled away, leaving a rumor that traveled faster than speed of sound.

  Thursday: The Digital Misconception.

  10 AM. History teacher ghosted. Free period mode engaged. The guy sitting in front turned around, trying to chat up with the quiet new kid.

  "Yo Gio, you got Instagram? Let's follow each other."

  Gio frowned. 404 Error in his language processor. Instagram? Is that a unit of measurement? Follow? Why?

  With pure innocence, Gio replied, "I don't have Instagram. But you can follow me if you want. I’m going home in the usual way."

  Dead silence. The guy's smile vanished, turned into a deadpan stare as if saying: Really, dude? Instant awkward.

  "Uh... What?" Gio panicked. "Did I say something wrong?" Zaid, sat next to him, jumped in to save the day. "Gio... Instagram is social media," he whispered. "The 'follow' meant following your account..."

  Gio froze. Oh.

  Friday: The Soup Incident.

  Second break, Zaid dragged Gio to the canteen. The menu of choice was a local delicacy: Soto Sokaraja.

  The cafeteria lady arrived carrying two steaming bowls of soup. Gio received it with enthusiasm, completely forget that his new skin lacked thermal resistance. Ouch. he jerked his hands back.

  The ceramic bowl slipped. Crash! Hot broth flooded the table, leaving yellow stains on his uniform and shoes. The sharp sound of shattering succesfully took the entire canteen attention.

  "Oh dear... Careful, kid, it's still hot..." The cafeteria lady handed him a rag and a plastic bag. "S-Sorry!" Gio immediately cleaned up the mess in a panic. Zaid helped him pick up the scattered ceramic shards.

  And the hits kept coming. Buffering at the whiteboard, mistaking the gardener for a teacher, forgetting to take off his shoes when entering the library. That whole week was basically a Social Suicide Speedrun (3S).

  Furthermore, the difficulty increased as academic obstacles were added to the mix. Several subjects began holding daily quizzes, and Gio was unprepared. Imagine a Level 14 player trying to solo a Level 56 raid boss. Even answering one question correctly was a miracle.

  And that was the prologue of Gio the Demihuman. Going from demon slave to high school teen was a hell of culture shock. But Gio wasn't a quitter. Years of running for his life had forged his mental.

  Embarrassment was merely a small pebble in his path. He believed in one thing: all these mistakes were the necessary data to upgrade himself into a better version.

  Thanks to those experiences, Gio finally found a suitable daily schedule. He woke up between four and five in the morning. The routine began with tidying his room, reading a book to warm up his brain, showering, breakfast, then going to school on time and returning around 3 PM.

  There were only two commute options: bus or minibus (angkot). The "Strangers at School" rule meant no hitching rides with his older cousin. As compensation, Arua gave Gio his refurbished old phone. Luckily, the same rule didn’t apply in the virtual world.

  After school, he immediately carried out his tasks. Not just school homework, but also household chores: sweeping, mopping, dishes, laundry, and so on.

  At night, the study schedule began from 19:00 to 23:00. This was a marathon session. He had to catch up on school curriculum and research "human knowledge" online. Luckily, Arua was kind enough to lend his laptop with a two-hour usage limit and strict supervision.

  Of course, Gio didn’t forget his spiritual training, although he had to squeezed it between activities, such as before going to sleep or during school breaks. According to the arranged schedule, before unclocking Exorcism, Gio had to master Astral Projection first.

  That was Gio’s routine. Structured, disciplined, productive.

  A complete 180-degree opposite came from his non-biological cousin, Arua. Eighteen years of human life, and the guy still treated "discipline" like a foreign concept. In fact, Gio's arrival seemed to act as a catalyst for his sloth. He offloaded almost all domestic burdens onto his younger cousin's, including boring academic assignments like copying notes or summarizing textbook chapters.

  However, "lazy" here didn't mean he was a couch potato. That label only applied to school stuff. Outside the classroom? He was the busiest man Gio had ever encountered—a chaotic entity moving without a schedule. His life cycle consisted of staying up late, working on his bizarre DIY projects, oversleep, gaming, nap in class, hunt demons, and... "Job."

  About this “job” thing, Gio had reached a point where he believed all of Arua's suspicious activities were part of his job description. Every night, Arua appeared busy in front of his laptop screen, typing codes Gio could not comprehend. Sometimes he slept early only to wake at midnight; other times, he pulled all-nighters. Not to mention his strange "official business" trips at 2 AM.

  But whatever it was, Arua had helped him this far. He gave him a body, introduced him to human civilization, and granted him a second chance. Gio finally felt close to the dream he’d almost given up on.

  That night, in his quiet room, he lay on the mattress staring at the ceiling. "I will create a peaceful world," he thought, fire in his gut. "A world where humans and demons don't kill each other. No matter how, I will make it happen!"

  It was a magnificent vow. The ambition of a Shonen hero ready to save the universe.

  But the spirit slowly faded as reality slapped his face once again.

  Gio sighed, burying his face in his pillow. Reconciling two species felt like a long shot when he couldn't even tell the difference between male and female toilet signs. How’s he supposed to save the world when he can’t even save himself from the shame of social awkwardness?

  There was still a long way to go... Like, really long...