Chapter 49 First Day of School!

Today finally marks my first day in school! …for my second playthrough in life, though!

I woke up so early in the morning to prepare for everything—from wearing my brand-new uniform and using Alt-nii’s birthday present as my hair ties, wearing my brand-new shoes and bag… Everything is brand new…?

It’s decided that I will be going to school along with Alt-nii and Clavis-nii, so we will be departing using a carriage~ Since it’s not that far and it doesn’t take so long, we will only be using a normal carriage instead of the mana carriage. I wonder if someday, I can use my own magical power to make a mana carriage run? …Will my parents ever let me, though?

“It’s your first day at school, Lyra! Are you excited?” Alt-nii asked.

“Yeah!” I answered full of excitement.

“Hee… what’s so good from school? You’re going to regret getting so excited over the fact that you will be going to school every day in your life for who knows how many years…,” Clavis-nii sighed.

“School is kinda exciting,” Alt-nii argued.

“I’d rather play and sleep…”

“Then, why don’t we play and sleep at school?”

“During the lesson?”

“Well, as long as you can catch up with the lesson!”

…Alt-nii?! You are definitely not a model student that I can look up to…

“Oh yeah, I should change my eye color for my convenience!” I just realized that I haven’t changed my red eye color to become blue again, just like the other day when I did my entrance exams.

“Eeeh, what’s the deal, Lyra? It’s useless anyway. You can just drop that and be yourself,” Alt-nii asked.

“Well, I don’t really like being the odd one…? And I don’t really want to spend my time explaining how my eye colors are different…”

“Just say that you’re a Hartmann, and everything is done~”

“Uh… but… I think there’s a certain someone that knows me with this appearance—I mean, with both my eyes blue, so… A-anyway! What is in schedule for this first day?” I deliberately tried to change the course of this conversation.

“Well, maybe just an opening ceremony like always, followed by homeroom… and briefing, I guess. At least it’s a relaxing day,” Clavis-nii shrugged.

“Hee…”

“Oh yeah, Lyra, since we’ll be sorted according to the class and grade, then we won’t be able to accompany you there. Will you be okay?”

Alt-nii is finally acting like a model big brother!

“No worries, I have promised Kiri and Luca so we will be together!”

And then, I noticed something.

“Sorted according to the class and grade? That means…”

I will be able to find Iris! Yes, she’s definitely accepted into Harmonia Academy!

“Yes, Lyra?”

“Oh, no, Alt-nii, I’m just thinking that I will be able to find a friend I made during the entrance exams!”

“You mean, that Iris girl?” Alt-nii asked, and I nodded.

“I’m sure her name is kinda familiar, but I keep forgetting it…,” Clavis-nii tried to recall, but to no avail.

Just like that, we suddenly arrived at the Harmonia Academy! I went to the sign board to get a better look at the school’s map—before I remember that I’m bringing the school’s map that came along with the admission papers. So, this morning… we’re all gathering in the auditorium.

Upon entering, the auditorium is sooo huge! And there are quite a number of students already present in the auditorium, almost all are chatting happily that the auditorium becomes so noisy.

Before Clavis-nii and Alt-nii left me, they helped me find Kiri and Luca, which means the gathering spot for the fresh batch of special class students. Clavis-nii tried to act naturally in front of Luca, but I can sense his tenseness in front of him, and I bet Luca also noticed it, yet we didn’t mention anything.

“Huh? Lyra’s eyes…?” Kiri asked when he noticed both of my eyes were blue.

“Ah, this little Lyra wants to be lowkey, so she said! Although it’s kinda useless. Besides, you’re just going to postpone the trouble of explaining and so on to your future self…,” Alt-nii added.

…Well, true that! This solves nothing… as I also get the hunch that it would be revealed sooner or later.

“Okay, then after finding Iris—no, after I have to mention that I am one of the Hartmann, then I will call off this disguise and stop postponing the trouble of explaining and so on!” I made a vow in front of Luca, Kiri, Clavis-nii, and Alt-nii after giving it further thoughts.

After chatting for a while, Alt-nii and Clavis-nii went to gather with their classmates, in their rightful spot. I wonder who established these spots… Was it an upperclassman? Or a teacher?

It’s not that important though, because it’s convenient this way.

I glanced to the left and to the right—then I went off to the front and to the back…

“Lyra, what are you doing? Lost something?” Luca asked me after witnessing my strange behavior.

“I’m looking for Iris.”

“Oh, the friend you talked about?” Kiri also added.

“Yup.”

“Perhaps she’s not in special class, after all?” Luca asked.

“Hmmm… it can be…,” I replied dejectedly.

“You haven’t seen her anywhere else among the new students?” Kiri followed my line of sight, looking like he was helping me to find her… despite not knowing what Iris looked like.

“Not yet…”

“Then, she isn’t enrolled here?” Luca quickly deducted.

“Don’t say that, I’m sure she’d at least get accepted here!”

I turned a sharp glare towards Luca who was surprised and flinched.

“Hey, calm down, I was just stating the possibilities!”

“Don’t say that kind of a bad possibility! Have you ever heard that words are prayers?!”

“Uh… L-Luca, Lyra, calm down… Please…?”

“Hmph, Luca is so insensitive! What a kid!” I turned around and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Yup, obviously he’s just a 6-year-old kid, his mentality is much like a kid’s, unlike me whose mental age is umpteenth times above his.

“Whaaa?! Hey, you’re the younger one here!”

“Ah, uh, uhm, you two…”

Kiri tried to put himself between Luca and I, who were still bickering. He looked so flustered.

“Age is just a number! Maturity isn’t measured by your physical age! You don’t even understand that?! Whippersnapper!”

What a brat he is! Indeed, my first impression of him is… that he was such a brat.

I think Luca’s going to have that label in my mind from now on.

“Whippe-what?!” Luca asked me, his expression… he really has never heard of that vocabulary before!!

“Pfft, you don’t even know that? Haha!” I get to laugh at Luca, which is one of my guilty pleasure!

“…Khhh…”

I have managed to render the crown prince speechless! Mwahahahahaa!!!

Setting that small victory aside, I sighed.

“Iris… Just where are you…”

My first female friend, you hold a special place in my heart, and I wish that our friendship can last!

I remembered that I felt like I “befriended” other female friend back when I was just a small Reinst, but then suddenly, before I even noticed it, I never really saw her anymore…

But since I now have a mature mind, I’m sure I can try to keep the friendship going! This is yet another advantage I have.

When I think about it, reincarnating isn’t such a bad thing.

“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! >_

“Lyra, sorry for holding you back, I’m done.”

“No need to apologize for this, Iris. Come, let’s go to the classroom!”

“Un!”

At the same time as Iris said that, I felt something warm grasping my hand—ah, Iris’ hand! We are doing what girls used to do: walking while holding hands! It feels quite embarrassing as this is a new experience for me… but there’s no way I can refuse her hand!

Sometimes, I feel like I consider myself as a guardian with Iris as a child that I should protect rather than a friend of the same age… Not that I hate this feeling! I feel so reliable! Iris is so adorable and I don’t mind having a daughter like her!

…No, don’t ask who the father is!! I have no idea about that!

I can’t even imagine being married now!! …but I can already imagine having a cute daughter like Iris…? Eey, this and that are different things!!!

“Wait, Lyra, do you even know the way to our class?”

I stopped.

Oh right!! It’s not my old school!!

But no worries!

I took out something from my pocket and told Iris reassuringly.

“No problem, I have a map of our school here! Let’s take a look!”

“Lyra, you’re so dependable!”

Praise me, praise me more, Iris-chan!! …no, why am I so thirsty of praises? Calm down and mature up, me!

I briefly studied the map and pinpointed our current location and our goal.

It should be simple and easy.

“So, we are here… and our class should be there… so we go to… this direction! Let’s go!”

“Okay!”

I grabbed Iris’ hand and led the way.

…a few moments later…

“Lyra, where are we?” Iris stopped walking, so I also stopped in consideration of her… but what’s with her question?! Obviously, this is…

…

“Huh? Uh… wait, where is this in the map?”

I realized that this area shouldn’t be in our supposed track!

“Isn’t this Basic Level 3’s area?”

“Basic Level 3… Uh… why are we going in a different direction from our class?!”

“Lyra… could you be…”

Don’t say it, don’t say it!!

“Could you have no sense for direction?”

[T__T] Iris, you’re injuring my maiden heart!

“I… Uh… Maybe? What about you, Iris? Can you be the one to lead us?”

Being the older one, it would hurt my pride to ask someone (mentally) younger than me to lead the way, but I have no other choice.

“…I was just about to say that we’re the same! I also have no sense for direction! Ehehe!!”

…Iris, this is not a good time to be laughing like that…

“Hmm? You seem to be our juniors… Are you lost?”

A voice that belonged to a girl that seemed to be older than us could be heard—calling out to us from our back.

Oh… A Senpai (senior) who’d guide us back to the right path?!

We quickly turned over with pleading eyes—to find a cute and kind-looking senior with sparkly hazel eyes and her curly light brown hair.

She seems to be slightly younger than my big brother! Oops, right, we are in Basic Level 3’s turf, after all. Age-wise, they should be a year younger than Alt-nii.

“U-uhm, we’re new here… we’re supposed to be in the special class, but…”

“You two got separated from the rest of the group and ended up here, somehow?”

I hung my head and replied with a small voice, “…Yes.”

“L-lyra, don’t be so down… It’s normal to get lost… right?” Iris tried to cheer me up.

“My, my, this big sister is going to lead you back, then!” The senior in front of me puffed out her chest and smiled.

“Eh? You’re going to accompany those kids, El-el?”

The other girl next to the senior who greeted us asked.

“Yup, they’re new students, no wonder they are lost. I’ll be right back!”

“Okay, be careful! We’ll be waiting for you in class then, El-el!”

The senior that was called as, “El-el” gently took our hands and led the way confidently. Iris was standing to her left, and I was standing to her right.

“Uhm… thank you and sorry to bother you… El… Senpai?” Iris timidly called her name.

“No problem, Daddy says that we gotta help one another! What’s your name, little juniors?”

“I’m Iris!”

“I’m Lyra! …uhm, your name is El-el, Senpai…?”

“Yup! Ah, El-el is actually just a nickname! It’s derived from my full name.”

“That’s a cute nickname!” Iris commented.

“How is it derived from your full name?” In contrast to Iris’ remark, this was my response.

Curiosity is my forte!

“You see, my given name is Elise. But when you mention it, others with similar sounding names would also respond. So, in order to distinguish me from the others with similar names, my friends all decided to call me ‘El-el’. The first ‘el’ is from my given name, and the second ‘el’ is from my surname!”

“Eh, your surname also starts with ‘el’?!” Iris asked with a surprised tone.

“Yup!”

“Oh, what is your surname?” I asked.

This is interesting!

“It’s Elandia. I’m Elise Elandia!”

…why do I feel like it’s familiar?

Let’s rack out my brain to recall… where have I heard that name before…?

“The mastermind was Phillips Elandia. But he died in the middle of the interrogation. We’ve investigated the other people of Elandia and spared the innocent ones.”

I remember now. It was what my dad and my mom discussed just a few days after that incident in Chinosato.

Elise… Elandia…?!

Is this the work of the so-called destiny?