The Miracles of a Courageous Light
Pleased to Meet You, I'm…
The Manor stood towering over the new students yet at the same time it allowed them to step into its friendly surroundings. Most of them were breathless. They were looking at a truly magnificent piece of art.
The building was sandy in colour with thick, black window frames just peeking out of the building side. Some of the top rooms seemed to have balconies.
"Wow!" Mimi gasped, looking up at the huge building in front of her. Her gasp was shortly seconded by Hikari's and then by everyone else on the coach.
There were several luggage trolleys nearby, one for each student. They each loaded on their suitcases, with the help of each other and followed Mel up to the front door.
They walked into the reception and were greeted by walls thickly painted in royal blue and mauve. It looked as much of a palace on the inside, as it did on the outside. Taichi could barely make out the comments made from the students; although he did catch a "…magnificent…" somewhere within all the chatter.
Mel was stood in the middle of the foyer with a middle aged woman. They were both smiling at the students.
"This is Mistress Caliente. She'll be your personal tour guide for today. She's the head counsellor here at the Manor." Mel said before she left for the main reception desk.
"Good afternoon students. It's so wonderful to have you here at the Manor. There is no need to worry about your luggage. It will be taken care of. Now, if you could please follow me."
Mistress Caliente then led the students around the ground floor of Woodland Manor School. She showed them the library, computer suite, dining room, sports hall, dance hall and gym, the indoor swimming area, the ballroom, the block of classrooms, the labs and the theatre studio.
"The last stop on our tour is the assembly room. Please, take a seat wherever you feel comfortable. The headmaster is to tell you all about your new residence and then you shall be joining the other students for dinner. At exactly 8.30pm please report back to this room as you will be given out your room keys, uniform and class timetables." Mistress Caliente opened the doors and led the students into a room that looked very much like a dome. There was a centre stage in the middle surrounded by seats sloping up towards the ceiling.
"This place looks as if it could fit a million people inside!" Mimi said as she followed Taichi to a middle row of seats.
"Actually it can fit four thousand students exactly." Was the unexpected reply. Mimi turned to see who had spoken. Behind her was a boy with tousled red hair. He was carrying some sort of briefcase as his hand luggage.
"Oh. Well hi there. My name is Mimi." She said smiling. The boy smiled back.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Izumi Koushiro."
"These are my friends. Yagami Taichi, Yagami Hikari." Mimi pointed to the two she was about to sit down next to. "Would you like to join us?"
"Oh, if it's no trouble." Koushiro replied politely.
"Of course not!" Mimi grabbed the boys hand and sat down next to Hikari.
"Hi there!" Hikari said smiling at the redhead. "It's nice to meet a fellow native."
Koushiro nodded and turned the stage of the assembly room.
Stood in the centre was a man in his late fifties by the looks of things. Shortly after everyone was seated he began his speech.
"Good evening new students. I am the Headmaster here. We hope we can do whatever we can to make you feel welcome." He paused and looked around at the students for a few seconds. "Let me begin on the rules here while I have your focused attention. We do not tolerate negative or violent behaviour between students. After lights out nobody is to leave their room. Your curfew will be dependent on your age and there will be no room switches unless the circumstance is extremely significant. You are to wear you uniform weekdays between 8.50am and 4.30pm. At all times please be aware that you are representing a school." He paused again, smiling this time. "On a lighter note, I'd like to give you an insight of a day in the life of a student. Of course, I cannot do that, so let me present to you our youngest honour student Mister Yamato Ishida." The students clapped as a young, slim, blonde boy walked on stage.
Taichi's heart seemed to skip a beat at the very sight of the boy. He looked like an angel. He was neatly dressed in tight jeans and a short sleeved black shirt. His hair was a little messy yet not a single strand seemed out of place. He was truly beautiful.
The boy walked up to the microphone. He didn't appear nervous yet his cheeks were a little flustered. He looked around at all the faces as if he was looking for someone. His eyes rested on Taichi's face for a few seconds and it looked as though he was smiling. Smiling at Taichi. He gasped.
"So, Welcome. That's not just from me, but everyone here at the Manor. It's really great to see some new faces again this year. I myself have been here for two years so far and I have to say it's really been a great experience." He paused and looked back at Taichi again, before carrying on. "I'm from Japan. I'm here because my dad's a workaholic and just doesn't have the time to look out for me at the moment. I know each and every one of you have your own reasons for being here and trust me, we don't expect you to share them as much as the others do. They're personal reasons. I guess you want to know more about the Manor though, huh?" He chuckled and raised his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "I suppose a typical day is breakfast, lessons, lunch, lessons and then whatever it is you feel like doing until lights out. There are after school clubs and lots of other pretty cool extra curricular activities. I myself have a band and we perform for the students every so often. Other than that there are regular trips out to the towns to see movies and other things we kids still love to do. The only advice I can offer you is to study hard and have fun. Best of luck to you all." Yamato smiled and waved. He turned and jogged off stage.
The headmaster came back into view and dismissed the students for dinner.
"That Yamato sure seems smart, eh Taichi?" Hikari giggled as she followed Mimi down the stairs.
"He sure…hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Taichi said, blushing. Hikari giggled as she left the assembly room. They all made there way to the dining room together.
Already the room was full with students. There was a large amount of chatter that seemed to die when the new students walked in. It didn't last long though.
"Well, people here sure do loose interest quickly." Mimi said as she sat down at the nearest table. The others each took a seat with her. As Taichi sat down he couldn't help but fix his eyes on the door, hoping that Yamato would be walking in shortly.
"He's like a dream…" Taichi found himself saying. "Err." He blushed. Just at that moment Yamato Ishida walked in through the door. He looked around, waved at a table just opposite to Taichi's and sat down with his friends. Next to him was another boy with blonde hair. They looked similar. 'Perhaps they're brothers' Taichi thought.
To Yamato's left was a tall boy with cropped blue hair. It was a similar style to Hikari's. He glanced at the other boys around the table. There was a small boy, probably a little younger than Hikari and a female, although he couldn't clearly see her face as she was sat just to the side of the bluenette. Yamato must've seen him staring because he gave a little bit of a smile. Taichi forgot he was staring and quickly sat up and looked away.
The group ate their meals as if they hadn't eaten in days. Of course, they hadn't actually eaten since they'd left Rome International.
"Hey, guys? It's 8.15. Should we start making our way back to the assembly room?" Koushiro asked, glancing at his watch. Taichi nodded andthe groupall got up from our seats to leave.
Theymade their way back to the assembly room with no problem. Most of the other students were there and there was a sign on the door. Hikari went over to read it.
"Hey Hika, what did it say?" I asked as she walked back over.
"It says when Mistress Calinte appears we are to go into the assembly room and line up behind one of the four tables. They're labled 'A-F' 'G-L' 'M-S' 'T-Z'. We go to the table where the initial of our last name." Mimi and Taichi looked at her confused.
"That means you three go to table four, and I go to table two." Koushiro explained.
"Ooh." Taichi and Mimi both said in unison.
Just before 8.30 Mistress Caliente arrived and the students went up to collect their things.
"Name?"
"Yagami Taichi." Taichi stated at the lady. She picked up his uniform, a long envelope and a door key.
"Your in room 145. Your partner is Ishida Yamato." She said smiling, handing Taichi over his things. Taichi's face went from tanned to red in a matter of seconds. He said his thanks and walked over to his friends.
"..be sharing Mimi!" Hikari said as she hugged the other girl.
"Oh! This is going to be so much fun!" Mimi giggled. The two girls walked off together.
"Who've you got Koushiro?" Taichi asked.
"I believe I have a boy name Takeru Takashi. And you?" Koushiro asked looking up from his class forms.
"Uh, the guy who gave the speech." Taichi said, looking at his feet.
"What the headmaster?" Koushiro asked, his expression truly horrified. Taichi couldn't help but laugh.
"No! The Ishida guy."
"Oh." Koushiro replied. "Well, see you at breakfast." He smiled and walked off to find his room. Taichi smiled to himself and started making his way too room 145. 'This can't be real.' Taichi thought.
Room 145 was on the third floor at the back of the Manor's campus. He stood outside if for a few seconds before knocking. No answer.
"Can I help you?" Said a calm voice behind him. Taichi turned around to find himself face to face with his new roommate.
"Er. Hi. I'm Yagami Taichi…" He began. Yamato gave a small smile.
"New huh?" Taichi nodded.
"Yeah. I'm new, just got here today."
"That Yagami Taichi is because all the new students got here today. I'm Ishida Yamato, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and Taichi shook it warmly.
"Is my stuff going to be in my room?" Taichi asked as Yamato opened the door with his own key.
"I don't know, why don't you check." He said looking behind him. "I'll see-huh?" Yamato said as he walked into the room. He turned back to the door. "So your not just lost?" He asked Taichi, a confused expression on his face.
"Um, No." Taichi replied raising an eyebrow. "I got told this is my new room."
"Oh, do you not have a key yet?" Yamato asked.
"No. I have a key." Taichi held it up to show the blonde.
"Why didn't you let yourself in then?"
"I thought it was rude."
"Oh." There was silence for a few minutes. Yamato looked back at Taichi and laughed.
"What? What's funny?" He asked looking around at himself. Yamato laughed even harder. The sight of Taichi was just making him laugh so much. He hadn't laughed this much in a long time.
"It's nothing. Come in. This is your room too." Yamato said. He pointed to the bed with the two new suitcases piled next to it. Taichi smiled.
"Thanks." He said as he walked into the room. He put his stuff down on his bed and looked at the suitcases hoping they would unpack themselves. He was too tired right now. "So Yamato. What's it like here?" Taichi asked looking around the room. It was small and simple. The beds were large enough for three people let alone one. They each had a closet and a small cabnit. To the left of Yamato's bed was a door which Taichi assumed lead to the bathroom. It was so clean and so unlike Taichi.
"..but you get used to it." Yamato shrugged. "Hey Taichi, I'm sure it's been a long day for you. You better get some sleep." Yamato headed off into the bathroom.
Now he'd thought about it Taichi was very tired. He kicked off his shoes and rested his head against the headboard. He was asleep before Yamato returned to the bedroom.