Brightly coloured streamers danced in the air, the colourful ribbons evident even from afar, creating a joyful atmosphere that shrouded Kishi Gakuen. Lights streaked from the skies — the parents of the students here, who were clearly intending to make a majestic entrance. It was an idea that would have worked, if not for the fact that since everyone was doing it.

The roads leading up to the school were lined with equally bright decorations, but it was evident that these decorations were handmade by the students, as the quality varied from item to item. It was a showcase of the students’ artistic talent for the eagle-eyed, but since Gaius and Isabelle made up around one-third of the people walking on the road, these decorations could be said to be somewhat…wasted.

Gaius could foresee a mass incident in which parents ran out of the school just to admire their children’s work in an hour or two later. In order to avert that embarrassing scenario for himself, he and Isabelle decided to pay close attention to the works put up by the road, in the hope of finding out Nakama’s piece. Such an effort would be stupendous and taxing on the mind, but it would be worth—

“Oh, come on,” said Gaius. “This is way too freaking obvious.”

“At least we know what she thinks about you now, Gaius,” Isabelle replied, mirth evident on her face. Nexus, who had his head out, was peering at the exquisite craftsmanship of the sculpture sitting close to Kishi Gakuen’s school gates. It was that of a teenager, one and a half meters tall, wielding a giant sword double his height and pointing it at imaginary enemies entering through the school gate. The sculpture wore a cloak of stone on, and behind him, tens of intricate stone swords were somehow floating behind the boy.

“I don’t recall being able to do that,” Gaius muttered.

“Artistic liberty, Master Gaius,” Nexus replied. “I think she did something to make these swords float too. One of those anti-gravity sigils she stealthily learnt from me, when she carved my body.”

“Does that meant that you can fly or something?” Gaius asked.

“I think I’ve shown you that once or twice, but yes, I can do something close to flight. I don’t like it, though. It’s not flight, it’s controlled floating,” Nexus replied.

“Let’s put that aside for now,” said Isabelle. “Gaius, why did you even send her to school when she can make a great living off the sculpting trade?”

“To broaden her mind?” Gaius replied, as they stepped across the gate. “Money really isn’t a concern to me now. Things like improving one’s mind, or being open to new possibilities is, especially for someone in their formative years.”

“You’re also in your formative years,” Isabelle muttered.

“I’m an exception,” Gaius replied. “Now, we should head towards Nakama’s classroom first, where she and her teacher will be waiting for us. How should we make our entrance?”

“Are you really sure you’re an exception?” Isabelle asked. “No, you don’t need any special entrance for this. I remembering cringing every time my parents did something funny before entering my classroom.”

She had a far-off gaze in her eyes as she spoke, and Gaius stole a thoughtful glance at her face. Isabelle, as she was right now, was at her most beautiful and distant state right now, and instead of snapping her back into reality, the boy was content to let her be for a moment. He’d seen such gazes before, back on Earth, whenever children in his care spoke of bygone days that involved family.

In the end, Gaius still didn’t know that much about Isabelle. He’d gotten a good grasp of her personality, but not much of her past. Most of that could be due to Gaius’ constant pursuit of greater security, but as the two went past an empty classroom, the boy decided to dedicate some time into asking about her past.

Isabelle returned from her mindless state of walking a few minutes later. “My apologies. I was spacing out there.”

“It’s good that you think back to your past once in a while,” said Gaius. “Memories are the foundation in which strength springs forth from, an indelible source of light when darkness completely falls. Look back, but don’t lose yourself.”

Isabelle reflected on the boy’s words in silence as the two arrived at the classroom Gaius had once taken the liberty to float in front of. It was packed, as expected, with students and their parents, some of which were more flamboyantly dressed than a peacock in mating season.

“See? Look at that student’s face,” said Isabelle. “He looks like he wants to cry, and when you look at his dad’s clothes, it’s hard not to see why.”

“What kind of store carries such clothes?” Gaius asked. “That’s not going to sell.”

“Precisely. He had it order-made,” said the former noble. “It’s the kind that someone high up in the social circle thinks it would be good, something that no one else dares to refute precisely because he’s too high.”

“I can’t even bring myself to describe it,” said Gaius. “Let’s not look at him any longer. My eyes are beginning to hurt. Where’s Nakama?”

The two looked around for a moment, and then saw her chatting away to her friends. She hadn’t noticed their arrival — a testament to how engrossed she was in their conversation — and the boy waved his hands lightly, indicating to Isabelle that they should sit down and wait for the little girl to be done.

After a few more minutes, Nakama turned away, and her eyes widened as she saw Gaius and Isabelle sitting around quietly. Her face changed from delight to horror to awkwardness, before walking over sheepishly.

“We’re here, Nakama,” Gaius said with a smile. “The three of us.”

Nexus popped a hand out of the boy’s tunic, waved it vigorously, and then retracted it, all in one second.

The worry on Nakama’s face faded away as Isabelle patted her head. “We saw your sculpture at the school gates. It was well done.”

Nakama beamed. “I also did a few around the school, and…”

After a few minutes of conversation, a woman in her mid-twenties walked into the classroom, and the chatter began to die down. “Parents and guardians, the parent-teacher meeting will begin shortly. Your child will be directed to teachers who have interacted the most with them, so do not feel alarmed when you see other parents conversing with different teachers. Please do not disturb other teachers regarding your child, either.”

“I will now begin to announce the allocations. Takemi Madoka, room 3-A. Hishuijin Nifura, room 3-B, Doo Hyun-Ba, room 3-C, Tang Lin Wan…”