Just as I was thinking about it...
"Uhm…"
--this familiar voice, coming behind my back… could it be?!
"Huh? Who are you?" Then, Luca's voice could be heard.
"Uh, I…"
The familiar voice turned even more timid after Luca answered—could she be intimidated by Luca?!
I quickly turned over again and there, I saw… Yes, the one person I wanted to meet the most!! With the same grey hair and eyes combination, and the same hair style… Yup, definitely… It's…
"IRIS!! You're here! You are in the special class too, right?!"
I grabbed her hands and we swung our hands together, up and down…
Her timid expression broke out into a wide smile as she nodded.
"Yup, we're officially classmates!!"
"Ah, I'm so happy!!"
We hugged each other in our happiness and laughed. This friendship is totally unlike the friendship between males or male and female! This is the female friendship I've been looking for!!
"...…"
The world felt like it belonged to only the two of us, and I feigned ignorance to the two dumbfounded boys standing right beside us.
"Ahem! I believe introduction is in order?" Luca, you just have to interrupt us? Give us some ladies' time…
…but I guess what he said is true.
"Oh, right! You two may have known her from my story, but it's your first time meeting her. This is Iris. Iris, these two are my friends, this red boy is Luca and this green boy is Kiri."
"Red… boy?"
"Green… boy?"
Well, you two can't really reprimand me for this one, it's the easiest trait to differentiate you two.
"Luca and Kiri? P-pleased to meet you, I'm Iris," Iris said and bowed.
"Ah, likewise. Pleased to meet you. I'm Luca."
"Ah, uh, raise your head, Iris. I'm Kiri, nice to meet you."
Luca is so used to people bowing down to him, while Kiri isn't so used to it, so their contrasting reactions are so funny to look at.
"I hope we can all be good friends!" I said happily. With this, we have 2 boys and 2 girls. It's well-balanced!
Shortly after my joyous reunion with Iris, the opening ceremony commenced.
The huge auditorium became crowded with students from different levels, all gathering here at once.
The appetizer in this opening ceremony would be… The opening speech from the school principal!
So I thought, but the one standing at the podium was a senior wearing the Advanced Level uniform—he wore a unique robe in addition to his uniform, though.
He gave a brief introduction—and from there, I learned that he was the current president of Advanced Level's student council. Apparently, he acted as this ceremony's host.
"Then, we will be introducing the school's principals."
Harmonia Academy had three principals at the same time! One for Basic Level, one for Intermediate Level, and one for both Advanced and Master Level.
Speaking of Principal, I imagined that the school's principal would be a white and long-bearded grandpa, but turned out that I was wrong.
The Basic Level's principal was a middle-aged lady that seemed kind! She's indeed suitable to be the principal of Basic Level.
My selective hearing managed to deliver the conclusion of the speeches they gave at the podium—generally, they welcomed us, the newly enrolled students, and proceeded to give some kind of general overview of this academy and advices. Yup, that kind of boring stuff, I'm sure nobody is interested in it… I feel sorry for the people who put in the efforts to arrange their speeches and deliver them… Sorry!
Our mood livened up whenever we had to sing songs, such as school anthems—the newly enrolled students could only listen to them, though, ahaha!
Luckily, the principals only gave their brief introductions and speeches. For the closing speech, the Advanced Level's president of student council was the one to take up such a big role!
"—Last but not the least, I would like to remind everyone to hold equality once you're in this academy. No matter how high your status might be in the noble society, when you're in the academy—you are striped off that status and have to communicate with the others as equal. No matter if you're the king of this country or some other country. I'm sure that this equal community inside this academy will teach you valuable lessons that you won't learn elsewhere, not even in the noble society. And then—"
…Last—followed by and then…?! It's not the last, then!
So much for paying my attention because I heard the word, "Last"!
But still, the words I heard weren't that bad. I like this idea. Equality within the academy. I'm sure Luca will also like it. Though I wonder if the implementation would be so easy… For new students who have their social statuses and differences ingrained.
After the boring opening ceremony concluded, we were led to our respective classroom—but…
"Uhm—Lyra, can you accompany me to the toilet?" Iris timidly asked, she was rubbing her knees together and one of her hand held her skirt, while the other one grasped my uniform.
"Oh…"
Nicole had also asked me to accompany her to the toilet!
More or less, the event happened like this…
-
--Flashback time—
This happened one day, when we were small…
"Hey, Reinst, let's go to the toilet together!"
It all started when Nicole suddenly asked that—out of nowhere.
"I don't want to go to the toilet, you can go first, I will be at the usual place."
"But, but! The other girls are going to the toilet together!"
"They coincidentally want to pee at the same time, then?"
"No, I saw some only accompanying their friends. Nee?"
"I can't understand why they do that…"
"Me neither…"
"…then why did you ask me to accompany you?"
"Because I'd like to know how it feels!"
"…"
--Flashback ended—
-
Yup, I still remembered it quite well because it was such a weird thing!
In Nicole's case, she's not a timid girl like Iris, and she didn't have any problem going to the toilet alone before that conversation happened… I still don't get why girls go to toilet together if they aren't scared of anything… but in Iris' case…
"Okay. Luca, Kiri, go on ahead, I will accompany Iris to the toilet first."
I agreed right away to Iris' request… that I felt bad for the past Nicole… Sorry, rather than due to the difference in maturity that I have… it seems that my EQ is better in this life as Lyra compared to my EQ back then! >_<