Francis smiled down at his 5-year-old son. "Are you ready, Mathieu?"
The small boy looked up at his father. He had golden hair that fell in wavy locks he inherited from Francis, light violet eyes, and smooth, pale skin. He was clutching a stuffed polar bear to his chest. "Papa… I'm a little nervous…"
"Mon fils, you'll be okay," Francis reassured. "You'll make friends."
The young boy looked uneasy, yet nodded. "Alright, Papa."
Francis smiled.
Oo
Francis knocked on the door of Mathieu's classroom.
A woman with long light brown locks flowing down her back opened the door. She had green eyes and wore a blue skirt and a white blouse and she wore black flats.
"Hello, I'm Miss Héderváry, but the class calls me Elizabeta." She smiled. "You must be the new child, Mathieu Bonnefoy, yes?"
Mathieu hid behind Francis.
"Yes," Francis answered. "Say hello, Mon petite Mathieu."
Mathieu looked up, then at his teacher. "B-bonjour, Mlle Héderváry."
Elizabeta clapped her hands together. "Aw," she cooed. "You're adorable, Mathieu~"
Mathieu blushed.
"Mon fils, I hope you have a wonderful day," Francis said. He hugged his son, then walked down the hall.
Elizabeta took Mathieu's hand and led him into the classroom and stood in front of the other kids.
"Class, this is Mathieu Bonnefoy. He is our new student, so be polite. Say hello, Mathieu."
Mathieu clutched his stuffed bear closer. "B-bonjour…"
"Hello and good morning, Mathieu," the class said together.
Elizabeta smiled. "Mathieu, you will be sitting in the second row next to Alfred Kirkland and Kiku Honda. Alfred is the American blond with blue eyes and Kiku is the Japanese brunette with brown eyes."
Mathieu shyly went to his assigned seat.
The blond leaned over. "I'm Alfred F. Jones, and I'm the Hero of this class," he whispered. "You don't have to worry about being of a different nationality. I'm American, Kiku's Japanese; we've got an Austrian, our teacher's Hungarian, two Korean twins, and a lot of others."
Mathieu looked at the dark haired boy next to him.
The brunette held out his hand. "Konnichiha, I'm Kiku Honda. It's very nice to meet you."
Mathieu shook Kiku's hand. "I'm Mathieu Williams-Bonnefoy; I'm part Canadian, part French."
At snack break, Mathieu sat on a swing, watching the other kids play Freeze Tag.
"Should I join them, Kumakichi?" he asked, looking at his stuffed polar bear.
Elizabeta sat on a swing next to him. "Mathieu, aren't you going to play with the other kids?"
"I want to… but I'm scared, Mlle Elizabeta," the blond said. "I've never played with other kids before… my only friends growing up were Papa and Kuma…kaji…"
"Kumakaji?" Elizabeta asked.
"My polar bear. I never remember his name."
"Oh, that's too bad," Elizabeta said. "Oh! I know!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small chain and a tag. "You can write his name on here when you remember what it is, then put this chain around his neck so you never forget!"
Mathieu looked amazed. "Mlle Elizabeta, that's a wonderful idea!"
Elizabeta smiled and attached the tag onto the chain and hung it around the polar bear's neck.
Mathieu smiled. "Do you have a marker?"
Elizabeta smiled and pulled out a pen. "What's his name"
"Kumajiro!" Mathieu answered happily. "K-U-M-A-J-I-R-O."
Elizabeta wrote it down, then put the chain back around Kumajiro's neck.
A boy wearing a formal blue outfit walked over. He had brown hair, brown/violet eyes, and a curl at the top of his head.
"You're Mathieu, yes?" he asked in a Austrian accent.
Mathieu nodded.
The boy held out a hand. "I'm Roderich Héderváry."
Mathieu took Roderich's hand.
"Do you want to play us?" the Austrian asked.
Mathieu nodded slowly. He looked at Elizabeta. "Will you hold Kuma?"
Elizabeta nodded, and Mathieu handed his stuffed bear to his teacher. Roderich then pulled Mathieu over to the other kids.
Elizabeta smiled. "Mathieu already has friends on his first day. Isn't that nice, Kumajiro?"
The bear stayed silent.
