...Actually, here's a thought. What if I make James' travelling partner join DWMA as an EAT student and someone else's partner, thus anchoring James to the Death City and forcing even more character interaction!

It works because the same thing basically happened in NOT, a Weapon having two meisters. Plus, it looks like James has a [i]very[/i] good skillset for supporting allies.

Whaddya think Lax, Books?