It was a beautiful April day. The grounds for the Academy were decorated in a rather appealing manner, the road leading to the doors lined with cherry trees in full bloom. Naturally, as it was the first day of the first semester, it was at least a very nice introduction to the school that new students would attend for the next three years. It was here that they would learn not only conventional lessons, but also matters that were unique to Akiyama-Kreuz Academy. For there were no other schools in the world that specialized in the education of Tuners and Receivers, pairing individuals together to perform feats impossible for other humans. Needless to say, such a school had a very interesting curriculum.

It was not only a school, of course, but a facility for the research of Tuners and Receivers, the perfect strategy for both allowing the pairs to develop and to research their development. Naturally, this meant that it was not only students and faculty in attendance, but also researchers from the scientifically-devoted portion of the school.

Today's entrance ceremony was near its close.

---

"-Like any other school. You will learn, make lifelong friends, and be prepared for life ahead of you. Welcome to Akiyama-Kreuz Academy!"

The speech was at its end. As was the ceremony itself, for that matter. For the most part, there was applause across the audience, before students steadily began departing their seats. One girl in particular, though, remained in her seat, arms firmly folded across her slight chest. Her red-purple eyes fixed firmly ahead at the Principal, a composed, older man with dark hair in a rather immaculate suit. She wore an expression of mild irritation. As she rose to her feet, her silky, straight hair waved. Her hands transferred from folded across her chest to her hips, and she... proceeded to be completely invisible in the crowd, as nearly every single other student was taller then she was. Irritation mounting, she glanced back at her now-vacated seat.

Normally doing such a thing would be demeaning, but Maki Rika's growing irritation was too much. She took one step onto the seat and hopped up onto the chair.

To her dismay, even this elevation did not lead her to an answer. The short girl's impatience was mounting exponentially with every second. Were they going to announce it before everyone left, or what?! What were they waiting for?!

"... What's with this?" she complained, folding her arms across her chest once more. "This isn't a normal school, what's the point in waiting so long!?"

Anyone near her would almost be able to see the irritation mounting, in what some would call an aura of pure annoyance. Rika was, to put it simply, not in the best mood. There was only one reason she was here. she wasn't here to make lifelong friends, or whatever else that the principal had said. That wasn't her purpose at Akiyama-Kreuz Academy. There was one thing she strove for, and everything else was secondary. Or below, in fact. What did she care about making life-long friends? It'd just get in the way of what her real focus was!

She was here to become the best Tuner she could be. Why else would anyone be at Akiyama-Kreuz?

---

"Haah, I wonder what the new students will be like..."

The short-pigtailed girl's hands were placed firmly in her pockets, as she leaned against the wall near the exit to the gym. Strictly speaking, she could have left by now. She wasn't a new student. Though, really, she had to wonder where the woman in charge of the whole 'new student' stuff was. Then again, she tended to be late, didn't she? Besides, Kudou Chie wanted to see where things went from here, for a little while longer. The new students were milling about and talked with one another, some heading to the exits already.

"Ah, wait a little while longer! All new students, please remain within the gym until our head researcher for Partnership development arrives!" called the principal. He looked somewhat flustered. What, did he not remember she was late every year by now? Chie shrugged her shoulders slightly. Well, whatever the case was, it gave her some time to look over the new students. Maybe chat with a few, that could be nice... it was always interesting to see what the new people around the school would be like. On top of that, she could make some new friends, and be a good upperclassmen to them.

That sounded pretty nice, right?

---

"Haah... haah..."

It was bad enough that she had to be in front of... in front of all of them... But that she was late... there was that terrible feeling of her doing a bad job, on top of the fact that she had to show up in front of all of them! It was like some terrible combination, contradictory worried clashing to make an even more enormous worry. The rather unathletic woman, her dark messy brown hair trailing behind her, was really no longer able to run. Really, running was on her list of things that tended to make her pass out. Or fall down. Or both. Passing out tended to involve falling down, after all. And all of it was bad. But... she was already late!

Clad in her labcoat, white shirt, and long dark skirt, Tomoe Miki shoved open the side door to the gym. gasping for breath, she managed to make her way up to the podium, or rather next to it, and turned to face the crowd of new students...

Rather promptly, the dark-haired woman froze where she stood, her cheeks now flushed from both exertion and embarrassment. They were all looking at her. All of them. At the same time. Well, that wasn't entirely true, but Miki didn't really think about that right now. All she could think about was... well... this never, ever got any easier. Ever.

Why was this her job? The despair at having such a duty was palpable. She never thought she'd have to address the students like this at first...

This was just cruel.

"... U-um. N-new, um... n-n-new students! P-please, um... I'm, um, the researcher for... pairings, er, um... P-p-please go to the, um, room 4B downstairs and um ah-hah yeah!"

This wasn't the most impressive start.

Not one bit.

"I came all the way here for this mess? God damn."
The first words out of the boy's mouth were, obviously enough, not pleasant in the least. Though he seemed to blend in with the crowd as a whole, his distinct, clear-spoken English was clearly different from all the Japanese that was flying left and right around him. He had managed to pick up some facets of the language over the last week or so since he came here, but learning a language was hard enough. Reading, he could manage, mainly because learning Chinese meant that he'd be able to get a general idea of what the heck some kanji meant without actually knowing how to say them properly. But speaking it...
Well, fretting about it wouldn't fix anything. With a quick glance downwards, James checked the time on his little wristwatch.
...
Damn.

The opening speech was, as expected, the usual boring spiel; hello, welcome, great time, blah blah blah. Definitely a miracle that it ended when it did. With that finally out of the way, he groaned and stood up, stretching his limbs out as the students around him dispersed. Was that all there was for today?

"...Apparently not." he sighed as someone who called herself one of the researchers of the facility directed them to some other room somewhere else on the campus. 4B, she said?

Shrugging, he silently left the area, following after the crowd that seemed to be heading downstairs.

---

The stuffy atmosphere of the area was suffocating for Mari, who, as someone who didn't particularly like crowds, found the sea of people to be incredibly oppressive. Could she recant on her entry yet? She'd be fine with going to a normal high school, a normal college, and whatever else; these agonizing minutes being stuck here listening to the principal droning on and on and on while stuck in this increasingly humid...

And just like that, it was over. Had she been worrying too much? It was certainly a possibility, though she herself would never admit to it. Saying not a word as the student began to mill about, the girl prepared to leave the area...

And was promptly redirected to another room downstairs, this one likely to be even more crowded. Oh, what joy this place was. Well, it was too late to leave right now. She would definitely savor every moment of free time she could get in the future; if every day was like this, then her luck was definitely taking a nosedive from here on out.

With instinct honed by long practice, Sean woke up just in time to hear the directions for new students. He stood and stretched, looking upon the world with the kind of blissful serenity only someone who slept through a long, boring, pointless speech can muster.
Straighten your clothes Sean. he could practically hear his mother nagging as he did just that. This is your partner you'll be meeting, someone you'll be working with for the rest of your life. Make a good impression!
Sean sighed. This was such a hassle; also, there wasn't much he could do. He was a Receiver, so it was his duty to support a Tuner.
"Lets see who they picked out for me, huh?" he said, ambling along with the flow of new students towards 4B.

---

While she would never admit it, Kagura had more than just a few butterflies in her stomach. She'd been looking forward to coming to the Academy and meeting her partner for months, ever since she had enrolled, in fact. But suddenly, the reality crashed down on her that she might not get a partner. Even with Receivers being created artificially, Tuners still out numbered them. There might not be enough to go around, she might not end up being able to work with her partner and they might get split up (Mother and Uncle told her that had happened sometimes in their day), or any number of disasters.
She wanted to make some of those "lifelong friends." Would she be able to?
Kagura told a deep breath and smoothed out nonexistent wrinkles in her skirt. She stood up and began walking towards room 4B. She would manage. She would have to. She would make sure that her partnership was a success, if given the chance.

"Come on, I'm supposed to think less about the old bonds from where I lived, and more about the new relationship I'm supposed to form instead... Besides, the new bond is probably stronger than all the old ones combined and supposed to last longer, since I'm supposed to defeat the threats to the world with my partner from what I heard before..."

Keiichi thought in an attempt to discourage himself from behind distracted by his own thoughts about where he was until the day before yesterday, with a send-off party before leaving the small neighborhood to the Akiyama-Kreuz Academy, the only place where his true potentials can shine.

Just as he thought he shouldn't excessively think about the past, the opening ceremony was nearing its end, the final stints of the somewhat emotionless speech beginning, and the minor frustrations disappearing from him. He was somewhat happy to know it's ending soon. He definitely wanted to leave as soon as he could. However, he was disappointed to hear he needed to stay and wait for a researcher mostly because they are late.

After hearing the clearly female researcher stammering while saying that she is a researcher for pairings, and the new students needed to head to the Room 4B located downstairs. Keiichi was happy to hear he was finally able to leave the main halls, hurrying to the room without running.

---

"Time to play." Eri thought to herself, attempting to activate a cold aura maintained by being silent and repulsive of others.

She was confident at making and maintaining a poker face unless a surge of emotions strikes her, with his father teaching her to become a good actor, despite the fact she might not want to become a professional actor. She readied for the long stream of words that's necessary to any opening ceremonies, ignoring any students trying to flirt with her. Although some parts of her wanted some romance, other parts of her focused on keeping contacts with other people to minimum to avoid being bullied again.

However, she thought the "Tuner-Reciever" relationship might pair her up with someone that actually understands her just like her mother, instead of ones that only wants to make fun of her. The information she had heard of suggested that it could happen, although she wasn't really sure he would be paired up with a kind person. She made sure she'd keep the aura up where there's no one she can trust, which currently covers most if not all of the Akiyama-Kreuz Academy. Keeping the oath in her mind, she followed the tide of people heading downstairs, making sure she maintained the aura.

There was a huge difference between the architectural design and landscaping of schools in America and Japan. Lucis realized this fact the second he stepped foot onto the campus of Akiyama-Kreuz Academy. Pink and red hued leaves fluttered in the air as they fell from the cherry blossom trees that they once belonged to. Such trees did not exist back at home. It was rare to even see pink leaves in fall, and even then fall wasn't as beautiful as how it probably was here. Back home, fall was just a bunch of brown leaves, and even browner puddles of water surrounded by fallen, dead tress.

Lucis rubbed his eyes and shook his head, dwelling on the negative never did anyone any good. As he struggled to figure out what to change the subject to, he made his way over to the opening ceremony. Another thing they don't have back at home. Lucis thought to himself quickly before focusing on the speaker at the podium. It was just as generic as the orientation speech back at home, work hard, make friends.

Soon everyone began to mill around and socialize, but Lucis kept to himself and stayed in his seat. He was usually much more sociable, but with everything that had happened to him over the last week, he slowly began to retreat into a shell.

"Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way."

His father used to always tell him that, it was a philosophy that was inculcated into his very being, but it seemed that his father has forced him to go against that. He resented his father for that, but he had to understand that he was created to be a battery for society.

Lucis sighed and raked his hand thru his hair in frustration, he hated feeling this way. Luckily, the stammering of one of the faculty members distracted him distracted from his sulking. 4B for partnering, seems like I'm going to find out who I'll be powering.

---

Jaylen's outlook on his own situation was very different. The smells and sights that Japan invaded him with was welcomed. He enjoyed the people, thier language, and thier attitudes toward new people. Jaylen was always learning here, just today he realized that when giving a handshake, the Japanese was to initiate, and a weak handshake was preferred. Everything about this country was fascinating to him, probably because he had been born here.

Jaylen strolled toward the entrance of the auditorium, just so he could enjoy the beautiful scenery that the school lovingly provided. The cherry blossom trees were a sight to behold, although he had seen its beauty many times before, he still could not help but enjoy them.

Jaylen took one more longing look at the tress before leaving for the Ceremony. Despite being called a ceremony, it wasn't as grand as he thought it would be. The students were given a simple and modest speech from what seemed to be the principal, and with that, they were off. Jaylen, like everyone else, clapped and filled out, socializing with other students just like his father thought him to.

"The Englishman should be the life of the party." His father always told him.

No doubt Jaylen would have kept that party going if one of the schools teacher announced for thier departure to room 4B. Jaylen took note of this and gave a curt nod to those he had been speaking with before leaving. Its seemed like he had put up a good front for the students so far.

Rozmonda sat in her chair, a dull and bored expression on her face. Her elbows were propped up on her lap, head resting in her hands, and she drummed her fingers lightly against her cheek. Instead of looking towards the Principal, her dark eyes wandered across the sea of students. Most of them were politely paying attention, though she noted a few who seemed as bored as she was.

The corners of her lips twitched into a small smile as she noticed that someone was literally sleeping through the opening ceremony. How lucky they were to be capable of napping on such uncomfortable chairs. The foreign student gave a sigh, her smile slipping into a frown, as she lamented once again the miniature stature of the culture she had been forced into. The Academy did make efforts to accommodate their wide array of students, she admitted, but they could hardly change Japan itself.

When the speech finally came to it's lukewarm ending, Rozmonda didn't bother applauding or standing. Instead she sat up straighter in her seat, rolling her shoulders lightly to try and work the kinks out. Waiting for the as-always-late researcher, she took a moment to smooth out her skirt, straighten her blazer, and ensure the dress shirt underneath was the 'proper' amount of unbuttoned. Running a hand lightly through her red hair to give it more of a fluffy look, she idly wondered who her supposed partner would be.

As Rozmonda expected the principle called for the students to stay put, though they didn't need to wait for particularly long. When the head researcher stumbled in, somehow looking more disheveled and lost than she remembered, the foreign girl couldn't help but click her tongue in disapproval. Were the woman simply ugly, that would be unfortunate but simply how it was. However, the problem as she saw it was simply that the head researcher either was utterly lacking in the skills of self-maintenance or put zero effort into it.

Even her clumsy, stammering personality could be spun the right way. Especially in Japan, there were plenty of people who liked the shy bookworm type. She could easily see a decently attractive woman in there if she bothered to play to her strengths, and that was without bothering to exercise and diet. If she did, well, she certainly had potential.

As the students were directed to Room 4B, she rose to her feet along with the rest. She noted that, while she wasn't the tallest, she easily towered over the majority of students as usual. Walking with a confident stride, she followed along with the rest of the students. Though the opening ceremony bored her and she was hardly any more enthusiastic about being here, curious thoughts as to who her supposed partner would be wormed their way into her mind again.

---

Sora sat with a politely attentive demeanor that was hard to distinguish from genuine interest. She had one leg crossed over the other, hands lightly clasping her bare knee. The overhead lights cast a glare across her glasses, to the young students mild irritation. She slightly tilted her head this way and that in an effort to avoid it, but met no success.

The orientation speech was, honestly, nothing particularly informative. At least not for her, as she had spent the past few months leading up to today doing extensive study and research on the Academy. Even had she not, her nearly lifelong obsession with eventually attending here would have informed her of most of what was said. It didn't help that most of the actual information being given was peppered in around flowery sentimentality.

She supposed it was to be expected, however. She allowed her gaze to briefly flick down towards the students seated in front of her, assessing them. She was hardly the standard example of a student. Most would have come here with barely any knowledge at all, likely only knowing what family and friends might tell them.

Sora pursed her lips in a puzzled manner as the speech seemed to end, many of the students rising from their seats to leave. Had the opening ceremony been changed from what she had heard? She was certain that the partnering of new students was meant to be handled by a researcher that took over after the opening speech. Bringing her hands to her lap and uncrossing her legs, she was about to rise from her seat along with the rest when the Principle quickly confirmed her thoughts.

Settling back into her seat, she allowed herself to idly wonder what kind of person this researcher was. Surely they held a in depth knowledge of Receivers and Tuners, but how much did they know of Aether? Perhaps she would get the opportunity to pick their brain on the subject sometime. The academic young student didn't have long to wait for her musings to be given an answer.

The frazzled, disheveled woman that stumbled in was not quite what she had expected. A small frown on her face, she mentally chastised herself. The expectations had been of her own conjuring, after all, and what she was being presented with only spoke of a scatter-brained and nonathletic personality. She could hardly judge on the former, only avoiding such situations thanks to her methodical series of alarms.

The latter, however, left her with mixed feelings. She firmly believed that in order to best care for your mind, you needed to care for your body. The researcher clearly didn't. Yet, she had no information as to why that might be the case.

Was the woman simply too busy with study, delving into topics and matters that a student such as herself could only guess at? Did her job leave her with so little free time that a routine such as her own was impractical? She found the thoughts somewhat troubling, as she intended to become a researcher herself someday. Frowning, she concluded that she would have to look into such matters at a later date and construct a revised schedule that accounted for stricter time constraints.

With a start she realized she had tuned the world out around her, the crowd of students already flowing past her. Mentally chastising herself again, this time for spacing out while the researcher had been talking, Sora quickly rose from her seat and allowed the crowd to guide her to wherever it was she needed to be going. As she walked, she couldn't help but have her thoughts drift off into assessments on what kind of person she would be paired with.

Chie wasn't alone at her spot, watching, for long before her partner made her way out of the crowd. It took the older girl a bit longer to actually get there, though, possibly because of attracting undue attention from the new students. It might've been down to not being in proper uniform despite the gravity of an opening ceremony, but it was more likely down to her arms. Metallic, gleaming white, and with golden protrusions, they looked like something straight out of the realms of science fiction.

They were also, most likely, the first direct encounter they'd had with what their abilities could lead to (though hopefully not in the same way, one partnership like hers was more than enough).

"Miki was late again."

---

Momo had fidgeted for most of the ceremony, wondering why the Principal was giving the exact same speech. Was there a limit to the number of speeches that you could write in your life? Was that why political leaders had speech writers, because they'd hit their limit? If that was a case, then speeches would have to run off of some limited ability to draw and use Aether... which meant that she could be a great speechwriter!

The awkward pause whilst the researcher gave the short girl the opportunity she'd been looking for since the speech had started: slip in amongst the younger students and follow them to their pairings. The Receiver was certain that she'd be able to identify at least one person who shared her talent simply by looking, but it wouldn't work if they weren't a stranger and already knew.

If anyone actually cared to check she was going the right place, it would be rather awkward: almost all of the students in the year below were taller than she was. The easiest way to find her would be to look for the hair.

The beginning of the semester. Cel had visualized this day at least a dozen times in the last week. Despite this not being her first year at the academy, she still anticipated the event and the days to come. Each new year was a promise of undreamt possibilities for Cel, a chance for her to begin anew and better herself.

She had sat down in one of the front rows with her fingers interlocked and her hands resting in her lap. Cel was listening to the Principal's each and every word. She knew her attentiveness wasn't something she could boast about but Cel wasn't really good at tuning out people. Atleast the principal was trying to be genial, she thought. Compared to some of the more tedious lectures she had to attend over the years, the principal's speech was much more bearable. She continued listening to him, going as far as noticing his intonation and the changes in his speech rate. When the speech ended, Celeste joined in on the applause. The speech really didn't deserve any applause - it was mediocre, the sentences weren't timed well and the principal's choice of words seemed forever old and unchanging. She clapped, regardless, as expected of the students.

Cel looked around, waiting for Miki to appear. When the teacher did appear, Cel didn't know whether to feel pity or disdain. As a teacher, the least Miki could do was to be there on time. Still, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit empathetic for her-Miki was obviously embarrassed. With the teacher's announcement, Cel noticed the increase in the bustling chatter around her. The new students were clearly excited about getting paired up. Cel got up to leave as well and proceeded in no particular hurry.

---

Adrian had slept in once again. Not like this bothered him anyway. He got ready at his own pace and was outside the school entrance as the principal addressed everyone else in the gym. He walked towards the building leisurely, noticing how beautifully the cherry trees were blossoming. Adrian's thoughts went adrift to his afterschool plans. Perhaps he could go for a Hanami on the weekend. A pleasant breeze interrupted his train of thoughts and he looked up to see the lighter tree branches waving at him, their petals scattered to the wind.

Adrian didn't really feel like attending the principal's speech in the first place. It was the same thing every year: pompous claims about the academy's prestige and what not, some pointless prattle about rules and discipline and a big forced welcome to round it up. As Adrian walked towards the gym, its doors opened and out poured a stream of students. The first of them were newbies about to be paired, their telltale anxiousness taking over their speech. Adrian walked over to a group of them and greeted them with a smile.

Standing among the line-up of faculty members, hands behind his back, Ryan’s eyes flicked over the student audience. One hand was playing the end a loose string on his sleeve, but his dark grey eyes seemed far from absent in. Observing a student stepping onto a vacant chair for what was likely a better look, a tiny female student…and then moving over to the researcher who had entered just at the end of the speech.

Crossing his arms over his chest after a moment, he couldn’t help but reflect on everything, this being his second year as a Tuner educator. Ryan Anders remembered his few years as a researcher, but with the lower ratio of tuners in comparison to Receivers, most people he had run into encouraged him into working as a teacher. Tuners should be Tuners where they were needed, after all.

Rolling back a sleeve to check his the time on his watch, the man let out a sigh before making his way out to get to his designated classroom, politely smiling and nodded at a few students here and there. Stepping into the hall, and making his way along the stream of first years, his eyes immediately went to a certain few older students mixing in with the new. Well, Ryan didn’t [i]really[/r] have anything that urgently needed to be attended to, so…

Gesturing for the stragglers to keep on moving, the teacher leisure trailed along as they all made their way to 4B to be paired.

First impressions were one of the most important things in this world. This was Ryuuto's first year at Akiyama-Kreuz Academy, and he wanted to show his teachers just what they could expect from him: a diligent, hard-working student and a committed receiver. His uniform was immaculate and hung on his body with perfect symmetry. He sat upright and attentive through the entirety of the principal's speech, genuinely listening to everything he had to say, as generic as it was. However, if they were tested on the opening ceremony, just to see who was listening, Ryuuto was certain that he'd score in the top percentile.

When the principal left, there was an awkward pause where students began to get up and shuffle around. Ryuuto was one of the few who remained seated; nobody had dismissed them yet. And, sure enough, a faculty member arrived with further instructions. "Room 4B..." Ryuuto mumbled to himself as he consulted his map before wandering through the halls following the people ahead of him as if the fact that somebody was ahead meant that they knew where they were going. No, he would not be late to his pairing for some ridiculous reason like that. So, with a course plotted, he packed up his papers and fell in with the crowd of students, trying not to get bumped around too much as they shambled towards room 4B.

---

Another year, another boring speech. Not that Keiji would have known whether it was boring or not, for he was out cold. During his years at the academy he had mastered a technique of resting his chin in his hand so that it looked like he was thinking while bracing his body with his elbow on the arm of his chair. Similarly, his other arm held an open pamphlet balanced between his fingers to hide his shut eyes. He awoke to the sound of applause and the pamphlet fluttered to the ground as he regained he bearings. It was a shame; he was having such a nice nap. "Hey Momo, I didn't miss anything important, did I?" He asked, only to realize that the seat next to him was empty.

Keiji was used to this kind of thing, but he was pretty surprised that something had caught her interest already. Fortunately, she hadn't gotten far when he spotted those two "antennae" in the crowd, following the first-years down into the basement. Now, in a normal relationship, one would wonder at this point why his receiver was following others to be paired up? Was she unhappy with her tuner? Had she requested a new partner and left him in the dust? Well, this was Momo so it was far more likely that she sensed extra-terrestrial frequencies coming from the basement or something. So, before she could get into trouble without him, Keiji bounded after her among the first years.

Unlike his partner, Keiji was slightly bigger than average for his age, so he stuck out like a sore thumb among the newcomers. Hell, some of the little guys he bumped into -- accidentally of course -- trying to get to Momo were probably intimidated by him. When he finally caught up to her, he tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Did I fall back in time two years while I was asleep? Why are you with the first-years?"

Nobuhiko considered himself a decently smart guy. He got pretty average grades and didn't make any particularly bad life choices or anything like that. He knew there was nothing to worry about in the sense of imminent danger, but still, as the entrance ceremony proceeded Nobuhiko couldn't help but have this feeling of apprehension growing in the pit of his stomach. He worriedly played with the hem of his sweatshirt, his ears only barely taking in the sound of the Principal's speech as he made an attempt to get to the bottom of his growing anxiety. He continued his fidgeting until the topic of the speech became that of life at the academy.

It finally clicked. His problem was all about that, then. Well, he couldn't say he was too surprised. There was nothing as bad as uncertainty after all. His grip on his sweater tightened, holding fast for a few scant moments, before relaxing and finally letting go. He had to remind himself that there wasn't a reason to worry, that he'd get a lifepartner well-suited for himself. That was the system, wasn't it? At the very least, he shouldn't end up abhorring his as-of-now unknown partner. He smiled to himself. That's right. As long as he could smile, he'd be fine.

And then Nobuhiko jumped in his seat. Ah... All that spent time zoning out meant the speech had ended right under his nose. Truly a wonderful omen of things to come. T'was good he didn't believe in that sort of thing then. Quickly, the young hero-aspirant added his own fervent clapping to the dying fanfare of applause. Looking around to make sure he hadn't made a big fool of himself too quickly. Nobuhiko sheepishly grinned, slowing the pace of his claps. Considering that the overall state of the student body following that speech was definitely more on the 'apathetic' side of the scale rather than the 'inspired' side, his eager applause probably did that just fine for him, huh?

Bah! It was fine; nobody knew who he was anyway. And if they did, he'd just have to trump that with something more audacious later, wouldn't he? He grinned, standing from his seat in preparation for... something or other. He wasn't too sure at this point. The speech kind of ended without any sort of closure.

Well, he couldn't see. He could hear though! And what he heard was... Hmm... If he was going to put it charitably, it would be 'like something out of one of my Japanese animes!'. If he was a mean person, he might think... Well he wasn't a mean person, so to Nobuhiko, the vocal pattern was like something out of an anime. Not much like a teacher-type character though. Maybe something like a hikikomori or a bookworm. The Principal said she was the head partnership researcher, so he figured that last one fit nicely.

Anyway, to Room 4B it was! Time to seal his fate see what kind of fun fellow these researchers had in store for him!

...Err...But first, to figure out where Room 4B was. Hopefully these people knew where they were going, because Nobuhiko was already too deep in their shuffling mass of bodies.

---

'That was...certainly... something,' Olivier thought, leaning back in his seat and politely-but-unenthusiastically applauding the Principal's entrance ceremony speech. Though he had only watched the speech with feigned interest and false attentiveness, he had heard and absorbed every single rehearsed, poorly delivered line in that old man's dialogue. It was almost like a soundtrack to the repetitive-but-entertaining mobile game he had been playing throughout that farcical excuse for a ceremony. Speaking of which, Olivier looked down at his lap, quickly traced a path along the bottom half of his phone's screen, and triggered a five row combo to defeat the boss of the dungeon. With a pleased "Hn", he put his phone on standby with a press of the top button, and placed it securely in his pocket. Now that that speech was complete and the Principal said they partnering would soon begin, there was no need for a distraction.

...

Any time now. He was sure of it.

...

'Perhaps I spoke too soon. They're certainly taking their sweet time...'

...

Did they... Did they think this was some kind of joke?

...

'Screw it.' Olivier took his phone out and began matching orbs.

...

'Lovely.' With a sigh, the Frenchman returned his phone to his pocket. He was out of in-game energy.

"... U-um. N-new, um... n-n-new students! P-please, um... I'm, um, the researcher for... pairings, er, um... P-p-please go to the, um, room 4B downstairs and um ah-hah yeah!"

Ring-a-ding-ding! We have a winner!

...A not particularly athletic, well-groomed, or punctual winner, but a winner nonetheless. None of that stuff was what they were paying a researcher for anyway, so he'd give her the benefit of the doubt. Fortunately, she got straight to business with her directions and didn't hold them up with talk about bonds and friendship and life and such. For that, Olivier was thankful.

With the desire to just get on with it, the tall Tuner followed the crowd downstairs to Room 4B, dwelling on the what kind of person his glorified battery was going to be. He had a decent idea of what he wanted, after all. As long as they didn't insult him, didn't act like an idiot, weren't dead weight, didn't look down on him, weren't annoying, didn't abhor exercise, didn't lie to him, didn't care if he disregarded the rules, didn't enjoy EDM, liked seafood, hated the color hot-pink... Hmm... On second thought, perhaps his requirements were a bit too specific for a semi-randomized pairing. 'Yes,' Olivier thought, 'I will accept my partner's faults because it is the right thing to do.' The sage nod was not done physically, but if anyone could read his mind, they would know. '...And because I'm stuck with them for the rest of my life.' It was not good to have illusions about the true nature of things, after all. It was callous, but he was just 'keeping it real', as the Americans say.

Kazuko Kenzaki

Instead of listening to the boring speech, Kazuko glanced at the many other new students around her. There were quite a variety of people. There were those who were listening intently to whatever the old man in front had to say, there were others dozing off, some were hard to read and several seem irritated by something. Though Kazuko herself was slightly annoyed needing to listen to the speech, she knew it could not be helped since it was the entrance ceremony. She could not miss it anyways since she wanted to start class quickly.

Hopefully there is no orientation or anything...

Kazuko had not attended school for the past five years after her parents' death instead home-schooled by her guardian who currently resides overseas leaving her to take care of herself. She hoped the teachers were competent since they were posted to this specific academy for educating Tuners and Receivers. Kazuko wondered what her ability would be and wished it would be something destructive. She looked at her hands which she clenched in a fist.

Before she realized it, everybody had gotten up and heard something people murmuring going to room 4-B downstairs. Kazuko quickly got up from her seat and went with the other new students. Her power is determined by how strong the bond she has with her receiver. Hopefully, she gets someone she can work with since she hates it if her partner is a freaking slacker and a burden to her.

Finally. That disorganized, klutzy-looking, kind of... well, very unathletic woman managed to shyly announce where they had to go. Rika instantly felt absolutely zero respect for her after than entrance, but at the very least she seemed to know where everyone had to go. Arms folded firmly across her chest, Rika turned and began to try and move through the crowd of people. Immediately this became a struggle, as to her irritation nearly everyone was taller than her. She found, every once in a while as she tried to walk, someone would bump into her or brush against her. Many of them didn't even notice. Her irritation grew as she walked, attempting to give a few centimeters of distance between her and anyone else. There were so many people, however, it made it difficult for the small girl to avoid being bumped into. They were all stupid jerks.... If Rika got paired with any of the people who had bumped into her, she'd call it off immediately. Obviously someone like that wouldn't help her at all.

The hallways were fairly wide, but not really intended for a large crowd, and therefore as they passed into them and headed downstairs the students were forced to crowd together. Naturally, this served to annoy Rika even further.

"Hmph, all these idiots who can't watch where they're going..." she glared at the people around her, even as they continued downstairs.

It wasn't long until they reached room 4B. It wasn't quite the same as the rest of the school. Here the hallways were wider and more clinical, marking it as a portion of the Academy devoted to research rather than education. The doors were steel and opened as they approached. Room 4B was large, expansive, and the far wall was covered in various consoles, and a large window. Beyond there were various forms of equipment, and desks, though no-one was present there at the moment.

Of course, Rika was more concerned about what this had to do with getting her Receiver. She wanted someone who would listen, help her, and understand they didn't need to be stupid or dumb or... whatever!

---

... Really, it was just too much... at least she could take the elevator this time.

Miki trembled as she road it downwards. Okay, she could take a deep breath and... calm. Calm. They'd already seen her and... all been looking at her from every angle silently judging her... But no, no, no, she... she had a job to do! If she could just... ignore the crowd of students and speak normally everything would be fine! Yeah... just fine, completely and totally fine... Miki trembles. No matter what she tries to make herself think, she feels as if no matter how much she assures herself nothing at all will be fine. It never is. She's always late every year... it's not her fault she was busy! ... Well... busy did mean playing games or watching anime and losing track of the time... and today it also meant tripping and knocking a lamp on the ground when she was getting ready... And last year it meant... and the year before...

Anxiety plagued the woman's mind, and she nearly missed the fact that the elevator doors had opened right in front of her. Realizing she could leave, she hesitated for several moments, before folding her arms and shuffling out into the hall. She did this every year. Every year it was just too cruel, but she had to do it... she had to... The side door opened, and slowly she walked in.

They were all there.

"... H-hello, new students, e-er... A-as you, know, um," she began. Now it was even harder to feel like they might not be looking at her... "... A-as you know, Tuners and Receivers need one another, s-so... y-you're here to be paired up! The r-results will be availiable shortly, so, er... p-please mingle among yourselves wh-while you wait! Ah-hahahah..."

Shifting her feet awkwardly, Miki looked to the side.

"... O-or... a-ask me questions I guess..."

It was unfortunate, really, that her job was both research and to address the students. But... at least this was the only time of the year she had to do this with them in such numbers...

---

"It never fails, she's late every year," replied Chie. She watched as the new students began to file. It seemed she was too late... Oh, well, she could get to know them later, couldn't she. "Sometimes I wonder about Tomoe-sensei. She seems like she has a lot of trouble getting here on time... every single year. I wonder what she's doing."

She shrugged. "Oh, well, we should probably go and get our dorm situated before they bring us in to test our Synch Ratios."

It happened every year. New students got paired, old students got some time to settle into their dorms before going to see if their Synch Ratios had changed. Pairs shared a dorm, even if they were of the opposite sex. Thankfully each room had two seperate, smaller rooms attached for changing clothing, in case of such a situation. Generally, surprisingly, things worked out decently well this way. As far as Chie understood, it was determined that maximum social contact between the two partners was the best way to ensure a relationship developed that would increase their Synch Ratios.

James was irked by the seemingly-feeble nature of the researcher handling the organization of everything here. What, there wasn't anyone else available to rein everyone in? Nobody with a more... You know, confident atmosphere around them or something?
...
Well, guess they were short on personnel or some shit like that. Only logical conclusion he could arrive at.

"Ugh, what a pain..." he groaned, sighing and shaking his head as the giant crowd of students seemed to stabilize around him. At least he wasn't being tossed around like a ship lost on tumultuous seas... Or some analogy to that extent. Whatever.

"So... Matched with a partner, huh? Man, this could get ugly..."
Hopefully, whatever person he got paired with wasn't... Well, too annoying. He could be a bitch to deal with at times, yeah, but someone like that might only aggravate the situation. Socializing now was too much of a hassle, anyways; too many people, too many faces to remember... And a possibility of never seeing them again. Yeah, no thanks.

---

Too. Many. People.
That was really all that Mari could think of, and it was what she hated the most about this whole ordeal. It was so much more packed in here than it was where she was before, and all the close contact and being pushed and shoved and crushed by complete strangers didn't exactly help. At all.
Slowly slipping through the crowd as it seemed to come to a halt in the middle of this room (which she could very easily liken to a chicken coop or something like that), Mari made her way to whatever seemed to be the least crowded location in the room from her perspective and... Well, waited for the worst to come to pass.

A partner, though... Hrm. Results? So people wouldn't pick her, nor would she, them. That... Could prove to be interesting. Or miserable. Maybe both. Who could tell?

Huh, seems like I missed the opening ceremony, the blue-haired teen thought to himself, approaching the entrance to the academy and stopping to stare at the path that was lined with cherry trees. Not like I need an orientation or anything. I think I've been here long enough to know. Shun pulled his headphones back, letting them rest around his neck as he walked between the pink trees. Though the weather was decent he was still dressed for fall, judging by his baggy jacket and jeans. If there was a school uniform he was definitely not wearing it, but that was to be expected. The staff had come to learn about Shun over the past two years and his stiff disobedience had become notorious. If his grades and performance wasn't so good there would probably be a case to expel him.

By the time Shun reached the ceremony everybody had already left. He could see the last few stragglers heading towards the next part of the first day: pairing. I remember my first Receiver. She was stupid. Speaking of... I should probably find Adrian... Nah, I'll just go there without him. No point in going out of my way when he'll probably be there anyways. Wouldn't bother me any if he didn't show up, either. Holding onto his backpack strap with one hand the older teen followed the crowd to Room 4B, keeping to himself and standing by the back wall near the door once he was inside. Part of him was curious to see what the newbies could do, but mostly he was only present to avoid a scolding later. It would be inconvenient if they wanted to test him again and he wasn't there, after all. His eyes briefly scanned for Adrian, though even if he found him he wouldn't budge. They may be paired together as a Receiver and Tuner but Shun wasn't about to start being friendly just because of that.

---

"Wow, this place is way cooler than the school I used to go to." The young American girl sat among the other first-year students, notably wearing a sweater with sleeves that are too long. She turned to face the boy next to her, ignoring the speech the principal was giving at the moment. "We never had any opening ceremony like this. But I went to a public school and this is an academy so it makes sense that everything is fancier, right?" The other new student gave her an awkward smile, unsure how to divide his attention between the annoying girl and the man in charge of Akiyama-Kruez Academy. "We didn't even have trees on the campus, let alone fancy white buildings. Everything was grey and concrete. I'm pretty sure people had died there in the seventies or something. Hey, where are we all going?"

In her own distraction she had failed to pay any attention to the speech, and when everyone began moving out to follow some woman she didn't remember seeing arrive... Lexi was left a little confused. "Are we all going to our first class yet? I thought we had to be paired up first... Oh! We are going to get paired up! My bad. I didn't hear anyone say anything." At this point Lexi wasn't even talking to the same boy, but she didn't particularly care. She did, however, make the rest of the trip to Room 4B silently, filing in among the crowd of new students. It seemed that the older students stayed away from the new ones, sticking to the sides of the room almost as if they were corralling the younger teens. But details like that went over Lexi's head. Simply put she was curious to see how pairing worked. In fact she had barely any experience as a Receiver and had never seen any Tuners in action. Today would be the day that would change...

Michi Masayuki had been sitting stock straight, attempting to listen to the instructors intently. As the ceremony droned on, the girl could feel her head occasionally lulling to the side. She had to constantly jerk herself awake and missed most of what was said. Not getting a wink of sleep the night before was definitely taking its toll on her. Though she couldn't help it if she was (and still is) feeling overly anxious about this new school.

The only solace in this whole ordeal was the boy currently snoozing on her shoulder. He didn't quite have the same excuse as his sister for sleeping during the ceramony but its not like Michi minded much. She was just happy knowing he'd be here where she could keep an eye on him. He'd become her tuner and she could guarantee her airheaded brother would stay out of trouble.

It was as she was having these thoughts that she noticed a faint dampness on her shoulder. She looked down.

Yep, he's drooling. Now THAT she minded.

"Hey, wake up," As she nudged her brother, she heard a nervous voice telling new students to go to room 4b, "We have to go."

"'ive more miiinutesh," Naoki slurred into his sister's shoulder.

The older twin sighed in exasperation, "You asked for this."

The boy suddenly let out a high-pitched yelp that was sure to garner some attention as he rubbed his arm, "Michinee, pinching is forbidden."

"Is it?" She gave her brother a wry smile, "It can't be anymore forbidden than sleeping during our opening ceremony."

"Eeeh?" The boy blinked slowly, looking around to see students leaving their seats. "That teacher had such a nice voice, I just found myself getting a little sleepy. Eheh~"

There wasn't a hint of remorse in his voice. Such a troublesome little brother.

"Come on you," Michi wrapped her arm around his neck and dragged him out of his seat and towards the crowd of other students heading to 4b.

---

As they stepped through the doors of 4b, the yawn Michi had been fighting back suddenly slipped out. She hoped no one noticed her as she didn't want to come off as rude.

"Sounds like Michinee should have taken a nap too," Naoki mirrored her previous yawn and looked around blearily, "Let's find a good spot to slee-"

"Shh, I'm fine, now pay attention," As the researcher spoke, her unkempt appearance and obviously shy personality made the white haired girl wonder why she was working at this school. Though, Michi didn't want to disrespect the woman so she kept these thoughts to herself.

It seemed this is where they were gonna get paired up. Ah, so there was no point in her or Naoki being there. They were obviously gonna be a pair, right? That's at least what she had always assumed. After all, who else would be more compatible than her own twin?

The girl had woke up at the crack of dawn as she was wont to do, the very instinct carved into her bones and spirits through a lifetime's worth of training. It was an instant snapping open of the eyes, followed by folding of the futon, and then the using of the toiletries to freshen up. Once this set of automatic movements were complete, the girl dressed up in her exercise outfit consisting of sports jacket, sweatshirt, and gym shorts to once more train the body and mind. Warming up by stretching and jogging, followed by harder aerobics and katas, and then a cooling down via tai chi. Toweling off and then taking a quick shower. Thus ended the daily morning routine.

With that over with, Sakie's expression morphed from cool and collected to nervous and jittery as her cognitive mind came back and reminded her that she was to be at her new school. Consuming her daily breakfast full of the necessary proteins and carbs, she dashed out the door after packing everything. "New school... Especially this one..." Moaning out, the sporty girl pumped her legs and ate up the distance in smooth and steady strides with the proper running posture. She had just barely made it before everyone was directed to the assembly and then to their homerooms. Cold sweat trickled down her back as she thought of what her mother would do to her if she had heard the girl was to be late.

Fidgeting in place and following the rest of the students while trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible, she ended up in class 4B- directly in the middle of the midst of students and surrounded by all sides. Then, she was like a mannequin in the fact that her nervousness had transcended mere fidgeting and entered into the realm of almost zen-like panic that internalized all the worries and left the physical frame steady and unmoving as stone. Standing stock still with a poker face and breathing as little as possible, it would be safe to say that some people could have sworn that Suniyama Sakie had put a mannequin in her seat instead of her given how little the new student was doing to indicate she was alive.

Aletha and Nero walk side by side as they entered the gates of the school. Aletha ran a little ahead and twirled in front of the school like you would see in a film. "This is going to be SO MUCH FUN Nero, I mean not only do we get to go to the same school, but like we're in the same grade and class and everything. I can't wait!" She said with a smile, not that she never didn't smile. Nero on the other hand, had a different opinion. He cautiously entered the school as if he was entering a mine field. He looked up at Aletha and chuckle. "Yep, so much fun doing work, sitting in boring class, and meeting so many new people." He said doing a quick jog to catch up right beside her. She turned to him when he caught up and said, I know right, it's going to be so fun meeting new people, I mean we will make so many friend I bet we won't be able to count them all!" completely ignoring everything but the last part of what Nero said. Nero chuckled again and replied, "I guess..." Feeling a bit more confident with Aletha by his side and walked with her to the entrance ceremony.

After the ceremony they both headed to room 4B with the crowd. Nero absolutely despised crowds and tried keeping close to Aletha. Eventually after getting sick of all the pushing and shoving he said to Aletha, "Do you mind if we hold hands...i mean you know how I hate crowds," just so he felt safer more comfortable. She obviously took advantage of this and started to tease him as she snatched up his hand. "Aw, look at you still needing you big sister to protect you from the scare strangers," she said in a voice one would talk to a baby with, and giggled. Nero turned bright red, and swear he heard someone snicker behind him and quietly snapped back, "Shut up!"

Once they arrived at the room they listened to, what they assumed was a teacher, had to say. After the announcement Aletha turned to Nero with bright eyes and said "You hear that! Tuners and Receivers are going to get paired up! O, I hope we, like, get paired up together, that would be so much fun! Or if we don't maybe you'll get paired up with, like, the girl of your dreams, wouldn't that be AAMMAAZZINGG!!!" As she said that last part it almost looked like she had stars in her eyes. Nero, who didn't not like the idea of being paired with a stranger, and defiantly wanted to publicly deny Aletha's thoughts said, "would you shut it, your embarrassing me, and no it would not be amazing to be partnered with a girl. You know how socially awkward I am with strangers, I pray that we do become partners so I don't have to talk to any strangers." Aletha was stuck too the idea that his partner was going to be his soul mate, and continued to argue with Nero upon the idea.

Keiichi arrived at the room he was instructed to head to, looking around and noticing it's a large room, filled with various equipment from a classroom and a laboratory. It looked somewhat odd to the boy, but he was able to think of it as a non-unusual scenery in Akiyama-Kreuz Academy, which is dedicated to training Receivers and Tuners, in addition to various scientific studies. He spent some time looking around, before noticing a door open, with the person that introduced herself as the researcher for pairings coming inside the room, looking nervous just like how she was in the opening ceremony.

"Can't we have a better researcher that isn't nervous in front of people, just like teachers and such should be?" Keiichi thought as he listened to the researcher, the minor frustration clearly appearing on his face.

---

Eri briefly looked around the room she was in after following the tide, seeing that it's a very large room capable of housing many students, with various consoles on the walls. She saw that there were various students in the room; Some were excited, Some were nervous, and some were calm, just like the white-haired girl, making a poker face and using her skills to the full extent. After a moment, she noticed the person who introduced herself as the researcher for pairings come into the room, before nervously announcing that pairings are necessary and the pairings will be available shortly.

"So who am I being paired up with...? Hope they are kind." Eri thought as she acted like a completely calm person while she actually wasn't.

She could lie that she is a cold person to others, but not to herself. Her mind wanted somebody that is close to her, just like her mother. Yet, she feared someone would take advantage of her just like what the bullies did before.

The trip to room 4B was an annoying one for Rozmonda. Though the hallways were large, the sheer number of students still rendered it crowded. Simply by virtue of being tall and not thin as a rail, she found it somewhat difficult to avoid bumping into others despite her best efforts. While they could easily see the tall and mature figured girl, some of them were so short and scrawny that she didn't notice them until she had already bumbled into them.

To her relief, they reached their destination quickly. The room was still crowded as they all piled in, but it was at least spacious enough for everyone to comfortably be inside. Crossing her arms under her chest as she waited for the pairings to start, the foreign redhead was glad that at least she could easily see over the crowd. Even if the trade off to that had been accidentally and embarrassingly smashing her chest into the back of a few heads on the way here.

When the hapless head researcher showed up again, Rozmonda busied herself pondering exactly what would help the woman with her appearance. Scatterbrained as the researcher was, nothing complex would particularly be useful to her. Perhaps a shorter, more easily managed haircut? Something one could easily run a hand through, looked cute when slightly messy, and suited to fuller faces?

Drumming her fingers against her arms, she decided to take the researcher up on her offer of answering questions.

"Have you considered a pixie cut?" Her tone was genuinely curious, a speculative look on her face as she waited for an answer.

Of course, it was far from the kind of question the researcher had in mind. Rozmonda was fully aware of that, but between her interest in fashion and disinterest in the topic at hand, she couldn't quite bring herself to care. It didn't occur to her that the question might be embarrassing, particularly for those who were easily flustered.

---

Sora had a much easier time of it. Neither too short to notice nor too tall to notice others, she walked along with the crowd entirely unhindered. This was not simply the luck of having an average height and build, as the young girl was deliberately paying attention to those who carelessly stepped too close or were themselves bumped into by others. A step to the left here, a brief stop there, quickening her pace and even slipping between students when necessary

She had come to consider it something of a self imposed game, or challenge. One she nearly succeeded in, to her amusement, until she found herself in a situation where it was either let herself be mildly bumped into or risk causing a problem in an attempt to avoid it. So it was that she came to stand in room 4B mostly untouched, reflecting on if she had missed some viable opening. Her distracted musings were discard when the frumpy researcher appeared once more, offering to answer their questions while they waited.

Already fairly informed on the process, Sora's only questions would be about her work as a researcher. Unfortunately, the crowd was far too bothersome a setting for a in depth discussion on the topic of Aether, so she quietly held onto her thoughts for a later date.