Kazuko watched as people start leaving in pairs. She was growing impatient that her receiver still had not found her yet. Well, she forgive the boy for his tardiness due to the large crowd making finding her quite a not so easy task. After a longer wait, a young man finally stood in front of her and Kazuko saw it was her receiver. He seemed to be tired probably from looking for her within the crowd. If only he searched against the wall, he would find her quicker however Kazuko gave him a passing grade for his effort.

"Oh, um... I take it you are Kenzaki-san? I'm Anjou Ryuuto. Let's work hard together at this school."

The boy offered a handshake however Kazuko had no time for that. She stopped leaning against the wall with her arms still crossed. She studied the boy for a moment however her face showed no signs of any expression.

"Well, let's get along, Ryuuto."
Since they were going to be partners, Kazuko decided to just call the boy by his first name. She did not return his handshake offer and started walking off.

"Let's go to our room. We wasted enough time as it is."

”Sure." Keiichi was trying his best to appeal to his new partner, making sure to smile back and bow at her.

Keiichi looked at the steady tide of people heading to their dorm rooms, with their new partners, some smiling and some not. But that did not matter to him; He simply needed to wait for the time being, before he could be taken to his dorm by his partner... unless the partner wanted the exactly opposite, then he'd obey her. For the time being, however, he thought the time must be spent talking with his new partner, trying to get to know her.

"So... if you could describe yourself with some words, what words will you describe yourself as? I'd like to describe myself as "Hard yet soft". "

---

Nodding was Eri's response to her partner talking about unpacking. She was worried about the partner exploiting her once they end up getting closer, even if it was required. Still, the other parts of the white-haired girl wanted to actually befriend the partner. Although Eri kept her poker face on while walking to the dorms, her mind was definitely confused.

There was something of an awkward silence as Kagura walked to their dorm with Tatebayashi-san. She glanced at her parnter occasionally, but the other girl's face never shifted from its stoic expression. She...had made a good first impression, hadn't she? No, there hadn't been anything in particular she'd messed up. If she'd somehow pressed a button she hadn't meant to, then they'd have to work it out. They were already heading to the dorm, so it might be best to air out any misunderstandings in private. Kagura nodded to herself.

"Here we are!" she said, when they finally reach their room. Kagura unlocked it pushed the door open. It looked pretty much the same as the room she'd Mom and Uncle had shown her when they dragged her along for an alumni thing. Two beds, two bathrooms, two desks, one kitchen off to the side. For a dorm room, it was really quite nice. It was just so...bland. Kagura suppressed the urge to begin decorating. Instead, she went over to the pile of her luggage and pulled out a rug, which she laid down in the middle of a room. She began unfolding a small table and pulled out a teapot. "Would you care for some tea, Tatebayashi-san?" she asked.

With all reasonable avenues of conversation--or at least the ones likely to occur between two girls who gave the general impression that they'd only act excited for the apocalypse--currently exhausted, Yuri began to unpack her luggage. The clothing was unremarkable and seemed to consist of the overwhelming majority of it, but the notable thing was the photos. There was a somewhat alarming number, though given the number of siblings she had and the sheer variety of them, it wasn't that surprising.

---

Gloomy, the small girl stuck close behind Keiji, once again sticking a hand in his in order to not get lost in the press of new students. She didn't feel that her theory was wrong, however--it just needed to be written down and properly prevented, then he'd surely get it! It was purely about large ahoge. Anyone, with such impressive hair had to be a receiver. Smaller ahoge would obviously mean a Tuner, since they didn't need to filter off Aether from such a distance. The lack of ahoge was a mystery, though... how did that work? Bone ahoge?

Realising that she was being asked a question, the small girl perked up, "'Momo climbed Mt. Fuji with her parents!' says Momo as Momo indicates the shape of the mountain."

Ryuuto felt like a fool with his hand hanging in the air like that. Had Kenzaki-san not noticed the gesture? No, she seemed to be looking at him quite intently, and her demeanor said pretty clearly that she was not the air-headed type. Maybe, then, he had made a bad first impression. Had he managed to annoy her already in those three short sentences? Or was she just a naturally rude person? Ryuuto decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that she just wanted to get out of this crowded room as much as he did, and so he followed her out without complaint.

Once they made it outside, Ryuuto decided to make a second attempt at conversation, this time skipping cordiality and getting straight to business. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth to speak, and cut himself short once before finally deciding to speak again. "Your strength as a tuner will depend on our relationship, so it would be beneficial to take this time to learn a bit about each other. Let's start with school. What are your best subjects? Mine are Math and Science." Now that he wasn't worrying about being polite or friendly, the awkwardness in his voice was replaced with an air of formal professionalism.

---

"Aww man, Mt. Fuji? I'm jealous!" Keiji took a deep breath of the fresh air once they escaped the crowded basement. It wasn't a long walk to the dorms, but Keiji moved at a leisurely pace to take in the familiar scenery. "Every year my Dad says he wants to take us there, but he can never get off of work. Hell, I barely even saw him, so I spent most of the break with my mom and my little sister. We went shopping, got some stuff to eat, you know, the usual boring stuff people do when they can't think of anything fun." It was a funny paradox the Keiji lived in. He hated going to school because the work was annoying, and he hated being away from school because his family was boring.

"Here we are, home sweet home," Keiji said as they arrived at the dorms. Of course, their luggage was placed in front of their room, on time as always. As always... "Hey, Momo, let me run a crazy theory by you. Do you think they do a boring ceremony every year just to give people time to deliver our stuff? I sleep through it, but everybody says its the same speech every year. If it's the same speech, then they know how long it will take... exactly long enough for them to deliver our luggage. Makes sense, don't you think?" Of course Keiji didn't truly believe that was the reason for the opening ceremony; all schools had them. But, sometimes it was fun to think of the world as one big coverup, and he knew Momo wouldn't laugh at him for it.

Startled by the sudden cheery voice that came up near her, Sakie all but jumped up like an electric current was passing through her frame. Upon landing, instead of the cool and collected grace that a martial artist like her was supposed to have, the girl was simply put, a hotbed of nervousness and fidgeting. Her arm and hands spasmed and made signs that no one knew how to interpret, her face was in a caricature of extreme shock, and her mouth was babbling out sentences that seemed to be an endless deluge of apologies for slights that she didn't even do. After this was over with, the girl took a deep breath to stabilize her rapidly beating heart and then suddenly bowed down at the waist at a perfect 90 degree angle towards Naoki. "I-it's a pleasure to meet you, p-partner! Please t-take care of me! U-um if that isn't too presumptuous..." High strung didn't even begin to describe the shy girl, not int the least considering her words came out in a breathless squeak.

The blue-haired teen was hardly paying attention when he felt an impact on his shoulder. His attention snapped to his side, a brief anger flaring up in his eyes before he realized it was only Adrian. Shun let out a sigh, now visibly much calmer. "I was running a bit late," he explained himself, regarding his tardiness that Adrian brought up. "My father wanted to talk to me, so I left late." That was all the explanation that was needed. Adrian had been his Receiver for a while, definitely the longest partnership that Shun has had so far. His fourth Receiver since he joined the Akiyama-Kruez Academy, and certainly his best one. All the others were annoying, stupid, clumsy, or any combination. While Adrian wasn't any of those he is still far from perfect. But perhaps he's the best the Academy has to offer, at least in Shun's eyes.

He turned away to look at the crowd of freshman before them. "None of them seem impressive. We will probably be the strongest pair this year," Shun spoke casually. Adrian would know by now that his partner looked at the academy through a lens of pride, strength was the most important characteristic to him. "As long as we don't slack off..." Now he returned his gaze to Adrian and finally moved from his position against the wall, standing upright and walking past his partner. "I might as well drop off my stuff at the dorm. Not like we'll see anything interesting around all the fresh blood."

---

The freshman girl peered up at the holographic listings once they were projected. The lady in charge didn't have much presence, so Alexis didn't even notice her talking before the pairings were made visible, but she certainly paid attention to who she would be paired with. "Rozmonda isn't a Japanese name," she mused to herself, looking up at the picture of the older girl. "And she doesn't look Japanese. She also doesn't look like a freshman... Awesome." Alexis then began scouting the crowd around her, except there was a slight problem where she was just too short to see over everyone's heads even on the tips of her toes. Thankfully it didn't take too long to spot Rozmonda, considering she was definitely tall enough to be seen over most of the kids in the room.

It took a brief moment to navigate through the crowd without bumping into people, but once Alexis arrived in front of her partner she made a loud and overly dramatic sigh to announce her presence and to get the taller girl to look down and see her. "You're taller than you are in the picture," she noted, forcing herself to look up in order to look Rozmonda in the eye. "My name is Lexie. I just got here from America a few days ago. Oh, and I'm kinda new to the Aether thing, so you might have to be a bit patient with me. And... that's it, I think. Unless I'm forgetting something..." With a dismissive shrug she held out her left hand, letting her hand slide out from under the jacket sleeve, to shake hands with her Tuner, her first partner.

Kazuko continued walking with Ryuuto to their dorm room. She still had her arms crossed as she walked so as to show her partner that she was not the type who likes to play around. Though, she wondered if she had come off as extremely rude but shrugged off the thought as there was plenty of time to amend that. She just wanted to get it over with quickly and get to her room so she could rest and prepare for the days to come.

"Your strength as a tuner will depend on our relationship, so it would be beneficial to take this time to learn a bit about each other. Let's start with school. What are your best subjects? Mine are Math and Science."

Kazuko frowned for a second before it disappeared returning to being expressionless. She hated it when people point out the obvious to her. Of course she knew her powers relied on her bond with receiver. She did not need any reminder at all. She had planned to have a long talk with Ryuuto after settling in at her room. The boy seem to have lost the awkwardness from before and Kazuko decided to just humour him a bit.

"...I do not really have a best subject. I just do my best in everything."

Hoping that satisfied him, Kazuko quickened her walking pace expecting the boy to keep up.

Rozmonda blinked as an attention-grabbing sigh, well, got her attention. Looking down she noticed the short girl that was to be her partner, having slipped in through the crowd to find her without the red-head spotting her. It seemed her idea of herself being far easier to find than the other way around had been spot-on after all. When the young girl started talking and made the effort to crane her head back to look her in the eye, it made a good impression on the skeptical redhead.

"Lexie? Cute nickname." Rozmonda commented, taking the younger and smaller girl's offered hand in hers for a light and friendly handshake. "Only a few days? Well, you're rather lucky to get a partner that's been here awhile, I'd say."

Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms lightly under her chest once more. Tilting her head to the side slightly, drumming her fingers across her upper arms in thought, she took a moment to give her new partner a once-over. Although assessing the short girl's sense of style and mannerisms, she was also mulling over the bit of concern about Aether. In truth, Rozmonda had never managed better than the most basic of connections with someone, so she was hardly well-versed in her own abilities either.

"You're even cuter than you are in the picture." She concluded with a small laugh, giving a nod of approval, and not showing any of the inner musings that were on her mind. Motioning for them to make their way to the exit, she continued their conversation as she led her young partner to their dorm. "How is America?"

---

Sora offered a polite, shallow bow to return the stiff greeting of her located and identified partner. It was only natural for someone in such a situation to be stiff and nervous, so she refrained from making any preliminary assessments of his personality. Well, beyond the fact that he appeared to be a well composed person that, for whatever reason, handled their introduction in a stiff manner. She was rather curious about it, now that it had come to mind, but she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

Motioning for them to leave and find their way to their dorms, she began to walk at a measured pace. With a slight incline of her head in his direction, she made an attempt at conversation by posing a question.

"Olivier de Plancy?" She repeated his name. "Are you from Europe, or simply of European descent? I would guess as to the specific region, but I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with European name structure."

As she said that though, she was thinking over what little she did know about it. She outright doubted it was German, Spanish, or Russian, though that was based solely on names from those countries that she had read in books. For that matter she was fairly certain it wasn't Irish, since they used 'Mac' and 'O' prefixes attached to surnames. So she could narrow it down to perhaps Italy, Britain, France, and quite a few more as likely candidates.

Of course, it was also possible that he simply had a name native to a different country than the one he was from.

...
Was he... Serious?
Of all the topics to start with, he went with... Self-analysis?
And... Of all the things to say... 'hard yet soft'? Was he legitimately stupid? Or was that just how he was? She'd heard jokes about people like that, but this... It was mind-blowing. Mari knew he was trying to be amicable, but... That was just sad. Really. Nothing else? None of the regular 'what's your hobby?' or 'done anything interesting lately?'; heck, not even the really awkward 'how's the weather today?' was present. That miffed her; as for why, she herself wasn't quite sure.

"I... I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Mari sighed, sighing and massaging her forehead with her right hand. "'Hard yet soft'? In what world does that convey any sort of meaning? Honestly..."

Maybe being confrontational like this wasn't for the best, but... She felt like it had to be done or she'd be tearing her hair out. They were going to have to live together for a long while, which meant dealing with issues as they came up and not putting them off for a later date.

Even though Kazuko answered his question, everything about her seemed to be telling him to shut up. Her crossed arms, the tone of her voice, her expressionless face, all of it conveyed an utter disinterest in everything he had to say. With that response, Ryuuto just sighed and followed his partner quietly to the dorms. He didn't know why she was so resistant to making even the most basic conversation with him, but Ryuuto had given it an honest try. When it came time to explain why they couldn't get their synchronization rate over 2%, perhaps then she'd have something to say. Until then, if she didn't want to be bothered, she'd get no resistance from him.

When they arrived, Ryuuto opened their door without a word and brought his luggage in. He had planned to ask his partner, whoever they ended up being, if they wanted help with their luggage, but given Kazuko's cold responses to civility thus far, he imagined she'd just chastise him about touching her things. So, she could deal with her own luggage. The room seemed to be perfectly symmetrical, so Ryuuto arbitrarily claimed the left side as his by silently rolling his luggage over there and unpacking. He unpacked a few sets of clothes, but the majority of his time was spent unloading supplies into his desk. Pens, pencils, highlighters, post-it notes, a digital audio recorder, notebooks, countless reams of paper (graphing, lined, and blank), and books. Lots and lots of books. Most of them were non-fiction consisting of academic journals and books written by famous scientists and philosophers, but set aside in a separate pile was a small stack of mystery novels that would serve as his recreation for the year.

Ryuuto seemed to be in his own little world as he arranged his desk just the way he liked it, blissfully unaware of what his partner was doing. There may as well have been a thick iron curtain cutting him off from the rest of the world. He didn't even have time to register the awkwardness of sharing a room with a girl... but perhaps his mind would register that later.

"Um... sorry if I sounded confusing, I tried to mean something like "Sometimes hard, sometimes soft", not "Both hard and soft at the same time". "

Keiichi knew he was clearly off to a good start with his partner, since throwing words that didn't really make any sense at someone is obliviously a good way to start a conversation, regardless of the target's gender. He clearly realized he was being awkward while talking to a girl. He truly and quickly regretted the "hard-yet-soft" stuff, as various thoughts about how to attempt to re-start the conversation, this time to a good start unlike what happened moments before.

"Calm down Kakeru... It's not like there's no recovering from this... Let's think of a new topic... How about some hobbies? Or favorite food? Maybe favorite kinds of music would work? Heck, talking about each other's appearan-wait, that's clearly not a viable topic right now..."

A minute or so of the awkward silence continued before the boy finally opened his mouth.

"Uh... sorry for that. So... what's.. your hobby?" The boy's confidence was clearly torn apart with it's pieces thrown far away from him, with his lack of confidence clearly appearing all over him.

---

"Yes..." Eri replied to her partner asking if the white-haired girl wanted a tea or not while unpacking her luggage, her eyes closely paying attention to her partner.

Although she did not really want to interact with others in order to avoid complications, she had to do so since the Kagura, the black-haired girl, was her partner, meaning the Eri had to interact with her partner in order to empower Kagura, which could cause some good for the white-haired girl, too. At the same time, however, the white-haired girl feared of the black-haired girl betraying her, regardless of the method used.

The corners of KAgura's mouth dipped into a frown briefly at Tatebayashi-san's still monosyllabic response. She quickly smothered it. It was probably just the way she was; Kagura doubted that her partner's stiffness stemmed from malice. No need to get irritated.
"Any particular preference?" Kagura probed, pulling out an assortment of teas. It was a small thing, but it was a step towards coaxing Tatebayashi-san to be more open with her.

Momo didn't pay much attention to the scenery as they passed through, not really having much of an interest in watching the cherry blossoms fall. Maybe with a more appropriate outfit and an actual flower viewing, sure, but the school's looking the exact same way that it had every other year. Instead, she was eager to get to the unpacking--and had started dragging her suitcase... and a suspiciously lumpy looking bag larger than her torso into the dorm.

The small girl didn't answer immediately, dropping the bag inside and starting to pull out teddy bear after teddy bear, most of them in random outfits that appeared to have been made by hand. It was a wonder that she ever managed to find space to sleep when she insisted on bringing that many along.

"'Momo thinks that it's just a job requirement for teachers,' says Momo as Momo remembers her previous schools," the girl said, looking thoughtful for a second... thought that apparently was a decision on where to place a bear in a straitjacket.

"Hi, how's it going? I'll be your partner for X years", "The name's Sora Jo, don't get in my way", "Yo wassup bitch I'm you're partner", "Something unintelligible in Japanese"... any of those options were something that Olivier would be more inclined to accept than this... this... unsolicited analysis of his cultural background based on the contents of his name. 'Whatever happened to 'My name is blank and my favorite animal is...'?' the young man thought, internally bemoaning the sophistication and level of intelligence displayed by his partner at the perceived cost of proper social graces. He managed to get over it rather shortly afterwards, however. Complaining about having a partner that was too smart was a foolish thing to do anyway. Unless you were undercover in the mafia or something. "Err... Yeah, both of those," he answered unsteadily, definitely still taken aback by the first exchange of words, "I'm French... From France."

'Yes, how... eloquently put of me,' Olivier thought sardonically as they continued down the path towards the coed dormitories. That was a bit of a worrying prospect, but he was sure that the intelligent people who were running this program have anticipated and planned according for the dozens of pairs of hormonal teenagers with high compatibility - bowchikabowow etc etc - forced to live together. "How about yourself?" he asked, "Japanese national, Japanese descent, or both?"

---

Looking up at his partner perched on high, Nobuhiko began his assessment of his partner. Or at least his partner at that very moment; judging people by how they are at the start wasn't really a good habit to get into and all. He seemed rather awkward up there. A little bit embarrassed too, but that's probably because his efforts were rendered moot point. Anyway, he looked asian but didn't seem like he was from Asia. Or if he was, he didn't carry himself like one, speak the language (or maybe he did and just wasn't speaking it? Or maybe a different one from the one he knew?), and or have an eastern given name. His eyes followed the young Tuner as he quickly made his way down the stack of equipment with a deft leap.

"Whatever works for you is fine. I don't mind. We're gonna be partners forever or something, right? So you might as well use whatever suits you," Nobuhiko answered as he was suddenly dragged from the crowd and over to the closest exit. He could understand enough of the words in that sentence well enough, but he did feel bad for responding in Japanese. But... if he didn't know Japanese, what was he going to do about living in Japan? "I can say that name," he responded, in choppy English this time just to be a nice guy.

"Ah..."

Dorms. Clue. Long. Peculiar, confused look on his face... Probably asking about where the dorms were? Or maybe what dorm was supposed to be theirs? Fortunately for James, Nobuhiko knew his stuff. A grin perked up on his face. "Yes." This was what he was waiting for. It was time to do something useful. He would read signs. And read signs he did. Grabbing James by the wrist and guiding him along the relevant pathways, Nobuhiko quickly worked his way through the campus and over to the three large buildings that were to serve as their housing for the next few years.

"So... Whatever works; that's what you said, right? In that case, Akiya it is!" James stated, hoping that he had at least understood some section of that last sentence. "And... Yeah, okay, you can speak some English. That's a relief for me."

A slight laugh escaped his lips before he heard the 'yes' coming from Akiya's mouth. So... Was that a yes to the whole name thing, or about the dorms?

His partner's subsequent actions, of course, spoke more than enough for him to understand. Dorms it was, then.

"Okay, that's much more helpful that I anticipated." James said, weaving his way through the crowd in order to keep up with Akiya's pace. Man, the kid could certainly move, couldn't he? Though... Now that they were on the move again, James reminded himself that neither of them were proficient in the other's primary language... Well, moreso him than his partner, but at the very least he could read the signs to some extent!
...
Granted, only if they were in kanji, but it was still better than nothing.

"Hm... Well, I'd normally say that we should start with some kind of... Well, introductions, but it might be a bit hard to do without... You know, making both of us look like complete fools." James chuckled as their pace slowed down in front of the dorms. "Maybe we should get settled before we start on any of those... Formalities, I guess?"

---

Mari caught her tongue before another snarky remark popped out of it; her partner already looked like a lost puppy, and saying anything else might irreparably damage his self-esteem before anything else. Now that would be a disaster. Now was probably the time for some damage control, else the situation devolve any further.

"...Better." Mari sighed, unable to hold herself back any further. When she came to this school, she had certainly not expected any development like the one that was unfolding in front of her. But... Well, if this was the hand that fate dealt her, then she'd be damned if she folded right here and right now.

"So... In regards to your new question... I tend to stay at home and play games. Puzzles. Strategy. Board games. Video games of all sorts. Peculiar, yes, but it's more entertaining that mindlessly staring at shop displays for hours on end trying to figure out what new set of shoes goes with what outfit. Quite silly, honestly."

Oops. She had gone off on a rant of her own. Well, at least this time she'd get to see how he reacted to her. If he continued to act as meek as he did, then, well...
This wasn't going to be very entertaining.

"H-hey!" Michi shouted automatically as she was suddenly pulled by the wrist. Taking a closer look at the person who was pulling her, she noted that it appeared to be the girl she was partnered with. Completely dumbfounded by how small and youthful her partner looked, Michi once again began to wonder if there was some sort of mistake. Was she really old enough to be attending this school?

Soon, they broke out of the crowd and went into the hallway. She was still feeling a little perplexed when her partner rounded on her. Word after word, Michi could feel herself getting a little annoyed. All this talk about business partnerships and not being friends, what exactly did she expect from this then? And why exactly was this kid bossing her senior around?

What a troublesome little girl.

"I don't even know what you'd qualify as stupid," Michi finally answered crossing her arms over her chest, "More importantly... aren't you a little young...?"

---

Naoki's mouth formed an 'o' shape as he watched his partner with wide eye'd wonder. This girl had such an interesting reaction! He waited patiently for his partner to stop spasming in every sense of the word. Nothing about his looks seemed to judge the girl. In fact, he still seemed genuinely interested in getting to know her. She definitely apologized a lot. He wondered if that was some sort of game she was playing, who can apologize the most.

Before he could ask her about it, she bowed her torso suddenly, "We'll take care of eachother, right? Isn't that what being partners is for?" He tilted his head while placing a finger to his chin. His question was genuine. He was sure it was supposed to be that sort of relationship, but he could be wrong.

"..."

Rika narrowed her eyes. Did this girl just call her...

There was a height difference. Sure. But that wasn't stopping the black-haired girl. Raising one hand until she could reach her new partner's head, she brought it down in a sharp blow, chopping at the taller girl's forehead almost immediately. Once the deed had been done, she lowered her hand and folded her arms, glaring up at the girl with intensity comparable to the sun. If the sun was small and humanoid, at least. So not comparable to the sun at all, actually.

Regardless, the black-haired girl looked away.

"Hmph!" Rika huffed, "That's what I qualify as stupid!"

Looking back up at the girl, she shifted her hands from being folded across her chest to her hips, leaning forward slightly as she kept looking up at Michi.

"You'd have to be a real idiot to assume that I'm too young," she continued, "How would I be in this school if I wasn't at least fifteen?"

Rika straightened and turned on her heel, arms folded across her chest once more as her back came to face Michi. She really hoped that her new partner did not continue to act like such an idiot. She wanted a straight-forward, clear cut relationship that didn't get hung up on trying to be friends or whatever. As long as Michi's desire to help her grew, so would her power, so wasn't that all that would matter? Of course it was.

"Let's get to our dorm," she said, "And hopefully you'll learn not to say something stupid again."

---

Chie smiled as she saw her partner unloading quite the enormous amount of pictures from her bag. Somehow, she always found room to spread her siblings all across the dorm no matter how unlikely it seemed. She's own belongings were mostly kept to her corner. Prized among them was, well... that wonderful, sleek black case that held it. Her guitar. Ahh, she'd be back with the light music club again this year... with a pang of melancholy, she realized it'd be the last time. After all, this was her last year at Akiyama-Kreuz. She'd go off to some university afterwards. The same as whatever Yuri ended up going to, of course.

"Haah... jeez, last year we'll be seeing one of these dorms... it feels kind of surreal."

---

"... Haaah..."

It was done. All the way. Miki nearly collapsed into her swiveling chair at her desk, clutching a can of soda in both hands as she leaned back. Every year, such an exhausting experience... to be truthful, she knew, and had attempted to help, find someone to replace her for the announcing part. But somehow it never worked out. Never. So once again, she had been late, which probably ruined things for at least one person, and she had to try and talk in front of so many students... on the bright side, her projections for ideal pairings had been followed to the letter this year.

Sometimes, there was some deviation, ultimately, as even if she was the head of that department there were so many people working on it and giving second opinions... and she rarely had a chance to check if they'd changed. For totally good reasons that weren't playing video games or watching anime, no not at all...

Miki took a sip of soda.

It was so... exhausting.

The girl's body shook heavily from the boy's acceptance, trembling as though she had been bearing a great burden that had just disappeared and was now trying to adjust to the newfound lightness. Upon her straightening up, Naoki would find that tears were falling down from her eyes in torrents. It was probably the first time someone saw such a blatant display of "tears of happiness", so great was the martial artist's determination to be the best partner that she was moved to such an extent. "I won't let you down and will strive my best to be the best partner I can be! If I ever do so, I'll run around the academy grounds ten times with rocks tied to my back!" And now it was clearly shown that the girl had very strange ideas on how to interact with people due to her eccentric upbringing.

It was strange how Momo could promote the craziest of ideas, yet still be able to analyze every other scenario with 100% rationality. "You're probably right," Keiji said, not bothering to argue for his speech coverup conspiracy, knowing full well that there was no causal relationship between the two things. As they unpacked, he watched in awe at the sheer number of Teddy Bears that Momo had managed to bring along with her. Every year, it was a spectacle to see a normal-sized suitcase open up into an entire ursine civilization. By now, Keiji wasn't surprised that she filled her entire living space with stuffed animals, but he still wondered how she got them all in there.

Keiji's luggage, on the other hand, was sparse at best. He had a few sets of clothes, which he would simply wash and cycle through in a predictable fashion, last years leftover stationary supplies, including the only half-filled notebook that he used for all of last years classes and might fill up this year if he tried, and an mp3 player with several sets of ear buds, because those things would inevitable break. He was unpacked within a few minutes, and flopped down on his bead to watch Momo meticulously place her bears in a fashion that only she could understand. "I'm gonna take a nap," he said, apparently unsatisfied with the nap he took during the speech. "Let me know if you need a hand with anything."