Chapter 3 - Proper Introductions

4.17.1204 - Saturday

It only took a few weeks but Rean was finally starting to feel comfortable at Thors. He remembered how much of an emotional roller coaster his first day was. From being nervous about his uniform, getting calmed down by that petite brunette girl who greeted him, and the pain from Alisa's slap during the Class VII orientation. Right when he felt his luck starting to turn, reality hit him like an orbal truck. He'd been meaning to properly introduce himself to the petite brunette girl and thank her for calming him down on his first day. Unfortunately, every time he spotted her she was talking with a group of second-years and he didn't want to interrupt their conversations. Although he did find it kind of odd to see a first-year hanging out with second-years. He couldn't envision himself hanging out with second-year students. Knowing his luck they'd probably treat him like a little brother figure, and as a big brother himself he couldn't think of anything more embarrassing.

Rean was talking with his classmates Elliot and Gaius about that day's lessons before the topic changed to how their clubs were going. Everyone in Class VII had joined a club, the only exception being Rean. Rean listened to Elliot and Gaius talk about the Music club and Art club respectively. Suddenly Instructor Sara walked into the room.

She asked them "Hey kiddos I was just hoping someone could do a… teensy favor for me? There's something I need picked up from the Student Council room."

"What would that be?" Gaius asked.

"Heh. That's for me to know and you too find out! All I'll say is, it's something absolutely essential to your school life. And Somebody needs to get it! Though it doesn't matter who. Any volunteers?" Instructor Sara quipped.

Being the only one without a club starting soon, Rean decided to volunteer.

As Rean walked to the Student Council room he started to remember that the petite brunette girl that greeted him had the blue Student Council armband on her left arm. She was probably a new member. Rean started to hope that maybe she was helping in the Student Council room right now, if so maybe now he finally had a chance to properly introduce himself and thank her for helping him calm down on his first day.

Before he could enter the Student Union building however, he was stopped by a white haired second-year student with a bandana. He asked Rean if he had a spare 50 mira coin, which Rean did have. The second-year student said he was going to show Rean a trick. The second-year student threw Rean's coin into the air, and as it fell back down they swiped both their hands to catch it. Now it was up to Rean to guess in which hand the coin was, and he had no idea where it was. Rean went with gut and said their left hand, and low and behold it wasn't there. It also wasn't in the second-year's right hand, as if the coin vanished.

"Better luck next time kid, one of the Student Council members is still upstairs in the Student Council room by the way." the second-year student told Rean as he made his way to the front gate.

Rean questioned how in the world the second-year student knew he was on his way to see the Student Council, but as he entered he realized that the second-year student also left with his 50 mira coin. He decided that the second-year student was too far from the Student Union building that it wasn't worth it to chase after them. There was also the fact that he probably kept the lone Student Council member waiting for him for long enough. Rean figured that the only member left was the Student Council President. The petite brunette girl probably already left, once again he'll have to wait another time to properly introduce himself and thank her.

Once Rean got to the second floor he knocked on the Student Council room's door to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything.

He soon heard a familiar voice on the other side. "Hello! Please, come in! It's open!"

Rean could have sworn he heard that voice before, but he couldn't remember from where.

"Pardon the interruption." Rean said as he entered the Student Council room.

Once inside he realized it was only him and the very same petite brunette girl from his first day. He was surprised the Student Council President wasn't also there.

Not realizing he forgot to prepare an introduction, Rean wasn't sure what to say. "Oh! You're… that girl…"

He could see her start to smile as she spoke. "Heehee. It's been about two weeks, hasn't it? Welcome to the Student Council room, Rean Schwarzer. Instructor Sara sent you, right?"

He was caught off guard by her calling him by his full name again. He figured maybe the Student Council President told her or something. He realized he still needed to answer her question. "Y-Yes, So… you're a member of the Student Council, then?"

The more he looked at her the harder it was to believe she was first-year like him, she must've been like Fie and moved up a few years.

She must've realized that he was staring at her since she got a bit concerned and asked him if something was wrong.

He tried to come up with a good response and stumbled over his words. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was wondering… Umm… Are you a… second-year student?"

He mentally cursed himself, he meant to say first-year student.

To his surprise she didn't seem upset at his question like he'd assumed.

She smiled again and before answering. "Ahaha. I am but there's no need for formalities with me. There's no junior or senior in my book!"

She then properly introduced herself. "The name's Towa Herschel. I'm the Student Council President."

Rean was shocked to discover that not only was she his upperclassman, but also the Student Council President. He'd assumed she was a first-year like him this whole time. Now that he thought about it however it would explain why he never saw her with any of the other first-year classes, or why she hung around the second-years, or why she knew where everything was, and also why she was the only person in the Student Council room.

"P-President?!" was all Rean was able to say in response.

"Uh-huh. Does that surprise you? I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to interact with you and the other first-years during your time here. So if there's anything you need help with, you come and let me know, okay? I'll do everything in my power to make it better!" Towa continued.

"Th-Thank you. That's very kind." Rean responded.

Rean admittedly was still questioning how she became Student Council President. To be honest he was expecting a noble student to be the Student Council President, especially when most of the more involved students such as the club leaders were noble students. He could tell President Towa came from a commoner background by the fact she was wearing a green school uniform. Not that he thought nobles were better leaders, but after being at Thors for two weeks it was obvious to him that the noble students were going out of their way to take every leadership position available. Something must have happened the previous school year if a commoner student like President Towa was able to get in the high position of Student Council President.

Then he remembered what Instructor Sara sent him for. He asked President Towa what important thing exactly she had for Class VII.

In response he saw President Towa grab a pile of small notebooks that were on her desk and handed them to him. They were Class VII's Student Notebooks. President Towa made sure to point out that his Student Notebook was the one on top of the pile.

That explained how she knew his name.

He continued to listen as President Towa explained the contents of the Student Notebooks. He was a bit shocked to hear that Instructor Sara dumped all the work on to President Towa. Just by flipping through his Student Notebook he could tell President Towa put a lot of work into them. Which made him feel horrible when she started to apologize for not getting them finished in time for their first day.

He tried to reassure her that the delay wasn't a problem. Although he started to ask if the Student Council President should even have to make the Student Notebooks. To him that sounded like something the instructors should do.

However, President Towa told him that it wasn't such a big deal, as she usually was doing whatever the instructors asked of her. Rean was starting to think President Towa was a bit too nice for her own good. He even began to question if she even gets to rest with how much work the instructors dump on her desk. He started to wonder if he could do anything to help her.

President Towa then started saying something that caught his attention. "I really appreciate what you've all agreed to do, too."

Rean was confused, all he remembered agreeing to was to pick up and deliver Class VII's Student Notebooks, was there more to it?

President Towa probably saw his confusion since she started to elaborate. "Heehee, I heard all about it from Instructor Sara! She said you've agreed to help out the Student Council with our work, right? It's such a nice gesture! You're really getting Class VII off to a great start here at the academy."

She said all that with such a bright cheerful smile it made Rean feel horrible for what he was about to say next. "Umm… I'm sorry. I'm not sure what you're talking about…"

Suddenly Rean saw President Towa's bright cheerful smile turn to a confused face like his. Why did he feel so terrible for doing that?

President Towa attempted to clear things up. "Didn't you tell her that you wanted to help ease our workload? Something about wanting to better yourselves? To prove you were worthy of being part of this prestigious new class? She said you were all really eager to help out, so I should try to delegate some of my duties to you."

Rean slowly started to realize why Instructor Sara asked about a volunteer inside the classroom Rean was in when most of Class VII were still in the hallway.

Rean saw President Towa start to panic. "I-I'm sorry. Did I misunderstand her or something? Oh! How embarrassing! I-I didn't mean to start trying to force work onto you when you've only just enrolled!"

Rean knew there was no way to turn her down. For some reason he hated seeing President Towa in distress, and all he wanted to do was to cheer her up. He wasn't sure why though.

He tried to play it cool and started to explain the situation to President Towa. "No, no. Instructor Sara's absolutely right. Your plate is as full as I've seen, so if I can help you in any way, please let me."

President Towa's bright smile returned after he said that. "Ph-Phew… I thought there had been a terrible misunderstanding there for a moment! But don't worry. I won't give you anything TOO difficult! It'll mostly just be fulfilling… requests from people in the academy, and in Trista."

President Towa saw another look of confusion on Rean's face and decided to elaborate on what the requests were. She told him how she'd drop a list of requests in his mailbox in the Class VII dorm tomorrow morning.

Rean agreed to that arrangement, at this rate he'd do whatever President Towa asked him to do. She seemed so stressed, and he knew he wanted to help calm down like she did for him on his first day.

They both saw from the window that it was getting dark. They locked up the Student Council room and made their way to the dorms.

President Towa then informed Rean of a Thors tradition. If an upperclassman left at the same time as an underclassman, it was the upperclassman's job to walk their underclassman to their dorm before going to their dorm. Rean tried to tell President Towa that she didn't need to walk him to the Class VII Dorm, especially because it meant she would have to make a long walk back to the Lower-Class Dorm. Unfortunately for Rean President Towa wasn't having any of that, as long as they were students of Thors they needed to follow all the Thors traditions. After a long walk Rean and President Towa stopped in front of the Class VII Dorm.

President Towa turned to Rean. "Well that's the end of the line, make sure you get a good night's rest okay!"

Rean looked at President Towa with a smile. "Same goes to President Towa, thank you for everything."

Towa got flustered at that response. "Rean all I did was walk you to your dorm."

"Not just for walking me here President Towa, but for what you did for me on my first day here. I was so nervous when I got off the train. There were so many nervous thoughts in my head. Then you walked up to me and it put it at ease, so thank you. I've actually been meaning to say that for a while now. Glad I finally got it off my chest." Rean explained.

President Towa was at a loss for words, she was convinced by what Crow said a few weeks ago about only making Rean more nervous. But to hear that she actually helped him put her at ease. As Student Council President she couldn't be prouder. She also felt her face begin to heat up a bit. She wasn't sure why though, was the weather getting warmer? If she remembered correctly last April didn't feel so warm, so why now?

They both stood there for a few minutes not really sure what to do.

Suddenly a drunk Instructor Sara opened the door behind Rean and started pulling him inside.

Things only got worse for Rean when she opened her mouth. "Yeesh lover boy, aren't you going to give your girl a chance to sleep tonight or are you two just going to stand there and stare at each other all night?"

Rean decided that enough was enough and pushed Instructor Sara back inside before he turned to President Towa. "Sorry about that President Towa. I'll make sure to give everyone their Student Notebook. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight to you to Rean!" Towa quickly replied.

They both waved at each other goodnight before Rean closed the door.

Towa made her way back to the Lower-Class Dorm, still not sure why she was feeling warmer than normal.