…

Going back to the point right after Noel, Brennan and Mr. Abrams 'picked up their pace', as They encountered the panicking trio of Ian, Ophelia and Aria...

Mr. Abrams: “Relax. You don't need any minutes, 'cause I'll be taking you there personally. We'll arrive at the assembly hall entrance in 30 seconds.”

Aria: “AAAAAAHH! Who- Who's there?!”

Mr. Abrams: “Your Homeroom teache-”

Ophelia: “NOEL!”

Mr. Abrams: “OOF!”

Aria: “EEK!”

Both Aria sitting fairly close to her, and their teacher Mr. Abrams were shoved aside as the innocent....ly aggressive girl charged at Noel's immediate direction.

Brennan: “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH DON'T KILL ME!!”

Brennan, who was standing next to Noel, shrieked for his life as the massively muscular behemoth came charging at him.

How was Noel's reaction? He stepped forward with arms spread wide and a smile on his face. Deep down, he was already feeling a bit guilty because not only did he ditch her, Ms. Ophelia here: but he completely forgot about her in the end too.

It was a touchingly beautiful scene...

A 6 foot 7 and a half inch girl crushing the life out of a four foot eleven inch twelve year old by bear-hugging him due to her sheer distress and concern for his safety.

Was it a touching reunion? Or a horrific one?

Noel: “...Ple..a...se..can't breathe-”

Ophelia: “Oh darn it! Where were you?! After that man chased you, and the both of you vanished... I was so- so scared! Not only was I left alone with two complete strangers, but you could've been killed while I was sitting around, doing absolutely nothing! Do you have any idea how I felt?!”

Noel: “...Painful..”

Ophelia: “Yes! It was definitely very painful. Having to worry so much for you...he didn't hurt you did he?!”

Noel: “...”

Aria: “Ophelia you're crushing him! Loosen up a bit,,,!”

Noel: “Sorry... if this... is my... punishment for... forgetting you ..back here, then... I'm sorry!”

Ophelia: “Huh? What are you...Ah, I'm sorry! You don't have to apologize, I was the one who – who hugged you for no reason! That's my... my fault! How can I make it up to you...?”

Noel: “You're fine... Phew!! That's better! He's gone by the way. Teacher scared him away.”

Mr. Abrams: “...”

Ophelia: “Teacher? Oh. Hello sir. Sorry for knocking you over just now.”

Mr. Abrams: “...It's fine. Everybody, hurry up and introduce yourselves.”

Noel: “Hello! My name's Noel. By the way, why did the two of you run away so fast earlier? It's great that you two weren't injured, however.”

Ian: “Sorry about that. My name's Ian! Before, we just saw her charging at us from behind you so we panicked and figured you guys were working for this really rude girl who bothered us today. Again, sorry Ophelia.”

Ophelia: “It's fine... I'm Ophelia and I apologize for scaring everyone and for hurting Noel... Oops!”

From the girl's left skirt pocket, out popped a book. Before anybody could read the title, however, Noel was already bringing it back into her hand.

Noel: “Here. This looks important to have... keep it with you and let me know if it works! I might wanna read it too.”

The last part he ended up whispering, to which she just nodded and grasped the book tightly before putting it away.

Its title? The book was called: 'How to make friends if you think you're too awkward'. She only looked around and silently thought to herself about no longer having any need for it.

Noel however...

{She had a book. She was carrying a book on her! How many people carry books with them wherever they go anyway?! Maybe Ophelia was the girl those two perverts wanted to meet?! PFFT, good luck on them if they plan on messing with her.

...Just in case I'll be there to make sure nothing bad happens to anyone.}

Aria: “Haa- haa -Hatchoo! Excuse me. Hello, sorry for earlier! My name's Aria and I too am sorry a second time for panicking during our previous encounter.”

Brennan: “My name is Brennan. Wow, you're shorter than Noel!”

Ian: “Leave me alone! I get picked on enough because of it already.”

Noel: “I'm not short I'm average!”

Ian: “...I don't think your height qualifies as 'average' for a 14 year old, or even if you were 13 years old! It's okay though, really. I for one, am happy to meet a fellow shortie~

Noel: “Stop calling me short! I'm only 12 and my height is average for this age!”

Aria: “...I can't believe it. Twelve years old starting high school... are you a genius? No - wait! A twelve year old wanting to join a hero school...

are you even going to be safe here?!”

Ian: “...I'm shorter than a twelve year old... I'm actually shorter than a twelve year old! Haha... ha.

...I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold... I'mshorterthanatwelveyearold...”

Brennan: “Haha...hey, being short isn't so bad! There are some things that tall people can't do-”

Ian: “LIKE WHAT?!!”

Brennan: “..........Crawl into tight spaces to save small children...?

Sorry, I got nothing.”

Ophelia: “...Is his age supposed to be surprising or something..? I'm also twelve years old...”

…

There was a brief moment of silence after this was announced.

Brennan stopped laughing at Ian.

Aria stopped worrying over Noel's age and stood there, shocked.

Ian was frozen for a long while before he started to scream.

Mr. Abrams almost dropped his sheet of student profiles and quickly began searching for Ophelia's.

Noel was just as shocked and stupefied as Aria.

One single thought managed to unify this unlikely, yet fated gathering of humans: “She's actually 12 years old..?”

Aria: “...No way...”

Ian: “.........life isn't fair! Aaaah!! Give me some of your height! YOU HAVE TOO MUCH OF IT!”

Brennan: “.....And I thought I was pretty tall for my age... one can't judge a book by its cover, as mom always used to say...

.

.

.

..mom...”

Mr Abrams: “Impossible. That's physically impossible... right..?”

Noel: “S-See?! Being 12 is... is n-not so uncommon! Besides! It doesn't change who.. who you are inside..!”

Ophelia began to blush as she decided it was time for her to speak again.

Ophelia: “I'm sorry... I was only kidding... I didn't think it would cause all this.. trouble...”

Ian: “OH THANK the stars and Gods above! Life isn't as unfair to me as it seemed a second ago.”

Aria: “...Hehehe. You got us all~ Good one Ophelia! Nice!”

Noel: “...”

Brennan: “...”

Mr. Abrams: “...We wasted enough time! You've all introduced yourselves, let's go! I'm activating the teleportation now!”

Aria: “Haha...ha... wait. What teleportat- AAAAAAAAAAhhh...”

*Fwoom!*

Mr. Abrams didn't give the trio any time to understand as he activated his power in anger.

With a flash of light in the shape of a playing card with the letter 'Q' at the center forming above their heads before immediately surrounding everyone and stopping once it reached the ground below them, they were gone.

.

.

.

…

*Fwoom!*

As soon as the light appeared, a short grey – haired old man jumped in freight!

Principal: “What's happening?! I was only resting for a second, only for a second! I swear!”

Mr. Abrams: “Old man... were you... napping just now?”

Principal: “Never! I was only... I was only... only taking a momentary reprieve from entertaining all of our guests, I swear it!”

Mr. Abrams: “...Hmph, forget it! Have any other students come along this way?”

Principal: “Only 3...WAIT A MOMENT, you already found five?! That's great news! That makes all Twelve! Hooray!”

Mr. Abrams: “Where were the other three?”

Principal: “Haa-haha, funny story...sort of.

Most of the kids in your class... Failed to hand over actual contact information – only presenting our school with P.O Boxes. So when we mailed the updated info to their addresses, I theorize that, umm... those with P.O Boxes didn't bother to check theirs. Excluding Li Shun who was busy sleeping in late at the dorms...Leos and Rise were the two latecomers. Rise had been the boy that led poor Wayne on a wild goose chase all over campus, and Leos simply headed for the Non-Combatant Division Building.”

Mr. Abrams: “Damn stupid brats...! Why were most of them just naturally heading for the building...! Did NONE of them do any research before coming today?!”

Principal: “We can discuss the details about their intelligence gathering: or lack thereof, later on.

For now, I would like to start the assembly ahead of schedule. I know the crowd is getting restless, so I've been thinking of beginning early if you manage to find the remaining kids on time. Naturally, your class will be last, seeing as you're class C – 3 so you have until the end of B – 2's student self-introductions to have everyone introduce themselves and get along. Or at least, try to...”

Mr. Abrams: “...Got it. I'll have the little misfits introduce themselves before preparing to get on stage. By the way, about that one kid, Noel...”

Mr. Abrams prepared to take out his neon clipboard and present it forth, but something inside stopped him. Witnessing the kid act worried about people finding out, and remembering his answers written down, he decided to make a bet: a gamble on a decision he was sure that he would regret making.

He actually put the clipboard away.

Principal: “Hmm? What is it? Tell me what is concerning you so, about him.”

Mr. Abrams: “Well, uhm... Sir he's only twelve. I have a soft spot for weaklings getting picked on and he's an actual twelve year old non-combatant...! If there's even one single wrong move, the newly opened building and this whole massive project of gaining civilian aid will be trashed. I'm just... worried something will happen especially since the class has members like Ophelia and Elijah who can't use their powers well enough.”

Principal: “Say no more. I understand your concerns. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective... indeed, instead of his age simply attracting good attention towards us, it could also doom our hard work and effort! I'll have you gain an extra assistant teacher to oversee them even while they attend other classes!”

Mr. Abrams: “...(Wow. That on-the-spot excuse I threw at 'im actually ended up becoming useful. You better thank me kid.) I'm grateful! Thank you very much Principa-”

Principal: “Hahaha! No need, no need! All this means is that I'll be handing over the duties of cleanliness management to Ms. Ivory ahead of time! Wahahaha~”

Mr. Abrams: “...”

---