"Is this how it goes?" Ritsuka asks, not sure if he's even doing it correctly as he dances with Edmond.
"It's definitely better than what it was before. So for now, you'll have that." Edmond said, having Ritsuka taking the initiative in the waltz. "Artoria Pendragon, Alter or not, is perhaps one of the best dancers in this school. If you are to be able to keep up with her, you must take the proper initiative in the dance. However!"
Edmond suddenly picks up the speed of the dance, fast enough to topple Ritsuka onto the floor. Ritsuka winces in pain, letting out small groans before slowly sitting up. "What the heck was that for?!"
"You need more endurance! Do you know how popular you are? You're going to be dancing with a great number of people." Edmond states, walking a few steps around Ritsuka. "I can name at least ten people. I could even bet for the female side of the school to take a gander at you! At this rate, you will be ripped to shreds in the first half hour…"
"I doubt that… I mean. A lot of them have their own dates and all that." Ritsuka slowly stands up. He lets out a faint sigh of exhaustion.
"Fair enough. There's some logic behind what you say. Fine. Five minutes. Then we will continue again." Edmond takes a cigarette and smokes it.
Chaldea Academy
By: NexusMHX
Chapter 15: The Dance
"And that's where all those bandages came from?" Emiya asks, taking a look at the bandages around Ritsuka's arms. Ritsuka simply lets out a chuckle as he takes the bandages off before putting on his suit jacket.
"Luckily, Head Nurse was kind enough to heal me properly for the dance. I'm prepared for whatever is in store for me." Ritsuka straightens one of the sleeves looking over at the others. "What do you think? Does it look good on me?"
"Not bad. Not bad at all." Cu comments with a smug expression on his face taking a look at Ritsuka in his full on outfit.
"Medea knew the right outfit for you, bro. For just a simple cleaning of the temple too? I'd say that this is quite the steal." Kintoki says in agreement.
"Do we all have our eggs?" Kotarou asks looking at everyone. One by one, they all took out their eggs.
"Out of pure curiosity. Who did you all get?" Cu asks, opening up his egg and takes out the small piece of paper. "I didn't look until now. But I can't just wait anymore. I got… Ah shit. Seriously? Medb?"
"Seems as if your luck fails you once again. Your luck is E Rank… Right?" Emiya gives a cocky smile before opening it and reads it. "Parvati?"
"Ain't Parvati the first year with the purple hair?" Kintoki questioned with Emiya slowly nodding.
"Yeah… I believe I've seen you with her a few times." Ritsuka comments.
"Ah dang it. You've got lucky… Despite you also being E-Rank." Cu growls in pain before looking over at Kintoki and Kotarou. "And you two?"
"Shuten…" Kintoki states looking at the egg. He doesn't say anything afterwards, after all. He already has more on his plate in the future now."
"Danzo-dono." Kotarou said with a small smile. "As long as it is someone that I'm familiar with, that is all that it matters."
"And what about you kid? Who did you get?" Everyone looks over at Ritsuka as he opens his egg.
"I've already taken a look at the egg a few days ago. I had to climb the waterfall to get it." Ritsuka takes out the egg.
"Someone actually put their egg on top of there? It's nothing for us… but it's quite something for a normal human. How desperate are you for a lady, eh?" Cu jokes smacking Ritsuka in the back, knocking the boy to plop into the ground. "Ah sorry. I forgot you're still a human."
"Thanks…" Ritsuka grunts as he slowly stands up. He takes a look at his watch, alerting him of the time. "Hey! We're late!"
"We're late?!" Emiya looks at his phone. "We're late!"
"I thought we had an hour!" Kintoki exclaims.
The bell rang yelling for the start of the event. There was still a few number of people still entering the gymnasium which had been decorated with multiple fine decorated, that would be seen in a royal kingdom. Ritsuka and the others make their way into the venue to see that it was already packed with people.
"They're so into it…" Ritsuka comments, taking a look at how much the gymnasium changed. He took a look at the corner of the room. There was another group whose presence stood out clearly that would come as a shock to any normal person, not used to these type of things. It was a string orchestra. "No way…"
"And what the hell are you staring at?" A voice came from behind Ritsuka that made him jump a little. He turns around to see Mordred standing around in a suit. "What's got you all confused about?"
"M-Mordred! I'm just surprised! I mean an actual string orchestra. You would see it for something like an opera or something fancy like that. It's crazy almost." Ritsuka looks around to see that the other guys had gone off somewhere.
"It isn't something you're used to, eh? Well not much you could do except just try to enjoy it. Seeya." Mordred waved before walking away. Ritsuka takes a step back, hoping to be able to find his usual group of friends. That was when he spotted Jeanne Alter a far bit in the distance. He walks over, tapping her shoulder. She turns around slowly, allowing Ritsuka to slowly process what he sees. "Oh, I- whoa!"
"Eh? Why are you yelling so suddenly?!" Jeanne Alter exclaims from the shock of the outburst. She wears a long purple dress with her silver hair, now long instead of the usual short cut.
"I mean… Jeanne! That looks great on you!" Ritsuka said not believing what he was seeing. Jeanne Alter looks a little bit flustered from the sudden compliment.
"W-What?! What are you saying all of a sudden you dumbass?!" Jeanne Alter summons a bit of fire in her right hand.
"Sorry…" Ritsuka states with a small frown.
"T-Thanks…" Jeanne Alter mumbles to himself. Ritsuka gives her a confused expression. "It's nothing! Where is everyone?"
"Waiting in a different area." Artoria Alter states walking over to the two with a few other members of the usual group. She wore a black dress with her hairstyle being the same as usual. She takes a look at Ritsuka with a close eye. "It seems as if Medea's clothes suit you rather well."
"Oh, I don't know. I kept looking in the mirror and thinking 'this isn't going to work.'" Ritsuka said with a dejected expression on his face.
"I think you look perfectly fine." Okita comments, stepping up next to Artoria Alter. She wore a traditional dress with blue yet traditional japanese dress. Nobu and Ecchan walk up next to Okita with Emiya and the others not far behind.
"Thanks." Ritsuka gets a little flustered from the compliments he was receiving. "Say… Where's Marie?"
"She's hanging around near the orchestra. Apparently Mozart and Salieri are taking turns to see which one is the better composer." Cu said with everyone peeking over to the orchestra.
"No wonder there were two different styles of music… It was really disorientating." Ecchan comments. She had a rather plain dress on her which looked simple to put on, probably because of the low effort behind it. With the last note finished, the normal Jeanne picks up a microphone catching everyone's attention.
Jeanne wore a black dress with her blond hair, in her usual braided style. A spotlight shines over her as she test the microphone before speaking. "The time has come to begin the June Midterm's event, the all-night dance. This night comes only once a year. Please enjoy yourselves, everyone. In a few minutes, we will be starting the dance with the main event."
Jeanne stands over the podium as she is the master of ceremonies for the event. There was a certain uneasiness behind the whole room. A mixed feelings of both suspense and nervousness out of excitement for who their partners might be.
Throughout Chaldea Academy, the school bells could be heard. It was a normal Monday, morning. Just before lunch session was about to start. So it definitely caused some commotion around the students. Forty minutes earlier, the whole school was just issued with a study hall for every single classroom. As per usual, the majority of the students didn't actually study during this time. Most of them went to talk to their friends in their classrooms or started looking through their phones. But as soon as their phone's turned on. That is when they noticed. Was this some kind of elaborate prank pulled by the teachers?
Everyone was confused, nobody knew what exactly was going on. None of the teachers were even present as well. Then once the bells could be heard, music could be heard from the outside the school building. It was definitely weird and attracted everyone to rush outside the front doors of the academy. When the students came outside, they saw a small platform that wasn't there before. There was a small orchestra playing, being led by Mozart.
All of the teachers were present as well. Romani simply turns around, motioning for everyone to shush with a smile. Everyone then turns to the director of the academy. Olga Marie Animusphere. She makes her way to the top of the patio, tapping the mic where sound could be coming from the speakers.
"Graduation takes the form of many things for people. For some, it could be a moment the time to move on to something higher. To some kind of higher education. To some others. It could perhaps be the stopping point. To settle in on a job that suits your lifestyle. Though you go through many trials and tribulations. You will make new friends. You will most likely keep the ones that you've made already. Wherever life and your choices takes you, the real decisions come from today. If you work hard, you will reap the rewards that all of that hard work is going to pay for you. You are no longer just high school graduates. You are now an official member of society. Normally, a graduation would be held at the end of the year… However there is one person here at the academy that is graduating early." Olga looks over at a person standing at the end of one of the rows. She lets out a small smile. "Please welcome our graduate today."
The teachers gave off an applause as the student slowly walked up the steps. They had their black ceremonial robes on, the hat covering their face as they stood on the top of the podium. Olga looks over before grabbing a massive piece of paper from the desk and hands it to the man.
"Thank you very much!" The graduate said with a bright smile on their face. They give a bow towards the director.
"You worked hard to get where you are today! You deserve it!" Olga gives a small nod before turning towards the crowd. "With that being said, the graduation ceremony is finished. And so starts the beginning of the lunch period!"
Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
And yes! That includes me! I am now an official high school graduate! The situations that we have placed are definitely something to behold. Believe me. It's almost crazy how things like this can be. With COVID-19 and everything, it just shows to me that despite everything, life moves on. And it moves on in crazy ways. I've learned a lot more during this quarantine time than anything else before. I've created a new project that is going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to. It's probably going to take multiple amount of years before that is finally finished. I've closed a season to one of my bigger fanfictions, and I've started another one that revolves around my waifu for laifu.
I hope that things with you guys are going ok. Now that things are starting to open up once again, maybe life can get back to what it was. Who knows exactly how all of these things are going to turn out? Maybe I'll write a few servant graduation lines for fun. If enough people comment on who exactly they want to hear it from.
Also I feel like I need to go back to what Chaldea Academy was meant to be. A casual slice of life type of thing. I've been writing an arc and a half which I can already said is a bad thing for the whole concept of this thing is to be just casual fun.
But for now, this is NexusMHX signing off! If you enjoyed this, please make sure to follow/favorite/comment for more content. Stay Classy! And have a happy summer!