The third chapter is up! Wahoo! Hope you people out there like it!

Again, I thank Cocoa-sensei for her support and nice compliment. Thank you! *bows*

Disclaimer, I do not own Uta no Prince-sama or any of the characters. And I also do not own the RPG game Aveyond. I only own my OCs and most parts of the plot. To be honest, there are some parts that are similar to the original RPG game. I simply couldn't find something better to replace it.

Let the show begin!

Chapter III

I gaped in awe as me and my companion walked through the forest. It was cool, and it made me feel happy. I could hear birds chirping on tree branches, and the warm sunlight sneaked through the leaves. It was a really nice view. I walked behind Haruka, who was holding the map and taking the lead. It gave me time to look at the small animals around. I saw one small light brown squirrel, hiding behind a flower that was larger than it. It was looking at my, wiggling its small nose. I walked over to it and knelt down, holding out my hand.

"Hi there, little one…" I said, smiling as it climbed onto my hand. It was so small and cute, looking at me with those big brown eyes. "I'm–"

"Nanami. Come on." Haruka called out to me. I looked up at her and stood up again, running to her.

"Look, Haruka. Isn't it cute?" I asked, holding up the squirrel. She didn't reply, but I could see in her eyes that she agreed. We went on walking through the forest. Occasionally, we would sit down and rest, but we would soon be up again, continuing our journey to the city. Luckily we did not encounter any monsters anywhere. It would have been a great problem for us. Soon, night fell. Haruka said we needed to find a place to stay, or monsters may attack us.

"We are an easy prey…" said Haruka. "Staying out in the open is not on our side." Her reason was convincing. We were not trained, so we had no ability to defend ourselves against any threat. So, as soon as we found a cave, we went in. I had gathered some twigs and sticks, which Haruka used to make a small fire that would provide heat and light. We both sat in silence, neither of us speaking about anything. I kept looking at the fire, sneaking glances at Haruka every now and then. She had her eyes fixed at the fire too, but the look they had told me she was not looking at the cackling flames. It was like her mind was wandering somewhere else.

"Haruka…" I called out to her. She slowly turned her gaze to me.

"…Yes…?"

"Are you okay?"

"…Yes…"

"Okay…" The conversation ended there, and we both sat in silence again. Slowly, I started feeling drowsy. My eyelids were getting heavier, but I wanted to stay up. Haruka, on the other hand, looked perfectly awake. I couldn't see any signs of tiredness or whatsoever. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus, but I couldn't.

"Nanami… You should sleep." I heard Haruka say. I couldn't even reply. I lay down on the ground and closed my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

Next morning, I woke up to see the squirrel I met the day before standing in front of my eyes. It had its head tilted to the left and was staring at me. I smiled a little and yawned, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. The fire was out, and Haruka was not in the cave. I looked around quickly and relaxed when I saw her sitting at the entrance. She turned around to look at me.

"Good morning, Nanami…" she greeted me. I smiled at her and got up, waking to the entrance of the cave. Haruka stood up as well.

"We will be on our way now, right?"

"Are you not hungry?" she asked. I shook my head.

"I can hold on. Let's go." I replied, walking out of the cave, with the squirrel, which I called Doro, on my shoulder. We continued our trip to the city and soon, after several hours passed, we were there, at Logar, the capital of this isle.

The city was huge, with people walking up and down the streets. I had never seen such a city before, so busy. Haruka and I walked through the streets, dodging people every now and then. This went on till we finally managed to reach the main square. The buildings at this part of the city looked new and bigger than others, so I guessed this was where people belonging to the higher class lived. Before I could even think, Haruka dragged me away.

"Come on. I think I know where the academy is." She said. I managed to quicken my pace so that I was walking by her. We walked along a trail, surrounded by flowers and trees on both sides. The trail was long and quiet. No people were around except for us. We kept walking till we reached a huge stone staircase. There was a large sign to the left. It read: Shining Academy for Sword and Magic.

"Here we are." I said with a smile. My mind was racing with thoughts. How would life be like here? Will we meet new friends, or make new foes? What would Eiichi do to us? I knew for sure he would make our life here miserable. We, as he thought, ruined his lucky day. He would not just brush it off. We climbed up the stairs, which took a lot of time as the staircase was bigger than it looked. When we finally reached the top, we saw it.

"The academy…" In front of us stood a huge beautiful building. The external walls were decorated with marble, granite and quartz. The trees surrounding the building complimented the view, not to mention the flowers that were planted all around. Doro jumped off my shoulder and ran around, hiding in the flowers. I bent down and took in the nice scent of daffodils.

"It's so beautiful…" I heard my companion say. Haruka's crimson eyes were wide with awe. I couldn't help but smile at her attitude. The charm of the academy works on her too, I guess. I giggled at my own thoughts and got up, holding Doro in my hands.

"Let's go in, then." I said, walking to the main entrance with Haruka walking behind me. The guards at the door opened the door for us, and we walked in. The building on the inside was even more beautiful; the marbled floor, the decorated high walls. It was fascinating. As soon as we walked in, we were confronted by Master Ryuuya.

"You came." He said, approaching us. "I thought something happened to you."

"A-ah… We just had to spend a night in the forest." I replied. The swordsman nodded.

"I see. You should go to speak to Master Shining. Follow me." He said. Haruka and I followed him through the hallways till we reached a huge door. Master Ryuuya opened the door and walked in, with us walking behind him.

"Master Shining." Master Hyuuga bowed, and Haruka and I did the same. "I have brought–"

"Hmmm… New recruits, Mister Ryuuya?" the man sitting at the desk questioned, standing up and walking to us. He was tall. Really tall. He bent over and looked at me and Haruka closely then grinned. "Very well. Show me your tokens." Haruka and I held out our golden tokens, and the man, Master Shining, hummed in delight. "Good. The tokens are real. Welcome to Shining Academy!" he exclaimed, twirling in circles.

"All you need to do now is register your names here." Master Ryuuya said, holding out a large note book and a quill. There were some names registered there, most of them were labeled: "freshmen" I, with difficulty, wrote down my name. Well, I was a slave for most of my life. I had no rights of education. Luckily, Leena was kind enough to devote time to teach me. I handed the quill over to Haruka, and she wrote her name down with ease. Not only that, but her hand writing was beautiful. I soon found myself staring at her written name.

"Beautiful…" I muttered, which did not go unnoticed by Master Ryuuya, Haruka and Master Shining. Haruka blushed a bit while Master Shining took a quick look at the name.

"Mizashi Haruka, huh?" he asked, glancing at Haruka. "Now, Miss Mizashi… What classes will you apply for?" Apply for? Do we get the choice to choose our classes?

"Sword magic and Demon Summoning." She replied. Demon summoning? What was that? I decided to ask Haruka about it later. What puzzled me even more was the look Master Shining gave her. He looked… worried.

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes," was Haruka's firm reply. Master shining nodded his head.

"Very well." Then he turned to me. "What about you, Miss Nanami…?" I put a finger on my chin and thought deeply before saying.

"Healing magic."

"It's settled. Miss Mizashi, Mister Ryuuya will take you to your dormitory. As for you, Miss Nanami," he walked back to his desk and pulled a rope that was hanging next to the dark curtains. Immediately, Master Ringo came in.

"You called, Master Shining?" he said, bowing politely.

"Please escort Miss Nanami to her dormitory. That's all." Said the tall man before he disappeared. He was weird, but nice.

"Let's go, Haruka." Master Ryuuya said, leading Haruka outside. I turned to Master Ringo, who in turn smiled at me.

"Let's go now, Haruka. I have a lot to show you around here." He said, grabbing my hand and taking me outside. The dormitories were in a separate building, one larger than the Academy itself, though the size was not much different. Master Ringo took me to the section where the students of Magic stayed.

"It's huge…" I said, gaping in awe at the sight I was looking at. The pink-haired healer smiled and patted my head.

"I hope you like it here, Haruka." He said. "Now, I need to go. Be sure to pass by the main hall to check the rules, then go and ask for your key. Good luck." He said and walked away. I took a deep breath and walked in. It was a lobby, with a single, large desk in the middle. At the desk sat a man, who looked like 30-35. He looked up at me with his deep blue eyes.

"How may I help you?" he asked politely, removing some of his dark brown bangs away from his face. I approached the desk and shook away the nervousness.

"I'm here to register for– "

"You're here to become a healer. Am I right?" he asked, smiling at me. I felt my cheeks heat up a bit as I found myself drawn in by his warm attitude.

"Y-yes…"

"I see…" he laughed, writing down something. "Your name, please?"

"Nanami Haruka."

"Good." He wrote down something again. "Magic section: Healing major. True?"

"Yes…"

"Very well." He then handed me the paper after he was done writing. "I'm Leon. If you need to ask about anything, you are very welcome here. Now, take this to Miss Lia. She will give you the key to your room." I took the paper and looked at it then back at Leon.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome." He replied. "This way, please." He gestured to a door at the left side of the room. It was brown with a hint of red, and it had a sign on it that read: Magicians' Dorms. On the other side of the room was a door, but it was royal blue. The sign on it read: Knights' Dorms. So Haruka was staying there. I wondered whether I was allowed to see her or not, but I had to find my room first. I opened the door and peeked in, surprised to find a long hallway. I walked through only to find a single door at its end. I opened the door and walked into a large room. It looked like a large ballroom, but with staircases all over, people going up and down. It felt like those stories Leena used to read for me. I found myself smiling as I admired the large room.

"It looks so good. Right, Doro?" I questioned the little squirrel, who was standing on my head at that time. It let out a squeak, which I took as a yes. "Now, where can I find Miss Lia…?" I looked around, searching for anyone that could be the person I was looking for. Unfortunately, I saw no one. As I turned around, I bumped into someone and fell down. The person fell down too. I opened my eyes and was about to apologize when-

"I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" I heard a feminine voice ask. It was the girl I bumped into. She had long wavy burgundy hair and pinkish eyes. She looked at me worriedly and quickly helped me up. "I should have looked where I was going. I'm really sorry." I shook my head.

"It's not your fault. No need to worry." I replied. She gave me a warm smile.

"I'm Shibuya Tomochika, but please call me Tomo." She held out her hand. I took it and smiled.

"I'm Nanami Haruka. Nice to meet you, Tomo." Then I remembered what I was here for. "Um… May I ask you a question? Do you know where Miss Lia is? I need to–"

"Oh, right. Come on." Without another word, she dragged me along, almost bumping into everyone in sight. It was not long before we reached a small room. Inside was a woman seated at a desk, looking through a lot of papers. She seemed to notice us, as she put her work aside and looked up at us.

"May I help you, Miss Shibuya?" she asked. Tomo pushed me forward.

"Yes. Haruka here came to receive her key and room number."

"Okay. Do you have the registration document with you?" she asked. I nodded and handed her the paper Leon gave me. She read it quickly then looked through the contents on an open drawer by her side. She pulled out several papers and a key. "Here, your room is number '304' on the third floor. These are your schedules and your pass cards. You will need these to receive your study books tomorrow. Also, please change into your uniform as soon as possible. Good luck." I took the things and walked out of the room. Tomo squealed.

"Yes! Finally I have a roommate!" she exclaimed, hugging me tightly. I smiled and hugged back. "Come on now. I'll take you to our room. I remember there was a spare uniform there too…" We both went to our dorm room. By that time, it was dusk. Time passed quickly, I could even notice. I was tired, and what I needed was a long, nice sleep.

"Here it is." Tomo said, opening the door. The room was not very big, but it looked warm. It had two medium-sized beds and a small closet. I walked in and sat down on the bed. It was soft and warm. I could not resist throwing myself back on it, feeling by body sink into the soft mattress.

"So soft…" I said. Tomo laughed.

"I can tell you came from Holan. You were a slave, right?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yes… I'm glad I'm free now…"

"Slavery is such a horrible thing…"

"Yeah…" I stared at the ceiling, thinking of all the other slaves back at Holan. It made me angry, thinking of how horrible they are treated. With a sigh, I sat up. "One day, I will ban slavery. It's my goal."

"That's a noble goal, Haruka." She replied with a laugh, throwing me the uniform I was going to wear. It was dark green, lined with white. That was when I noticed that Tomo's uniform was dark red lined with black. I thought of asking, but I was too tired to do so. I simply changed my outfit and threw away my slave dress. My new clothes were more comfortable. I lay back on my new bed and yawned, crawling under the covers.

"Goodnight, Tomo." I whispered before I fell to a deep sleep, not even bothering to think of my hunger. My energy was drained, and soon, I was absorbed into the world of darkness.

Wow, that was quite long. I hope it was good too. I had intended to make Otoya and Tokiya appear in this one, but I guess I'll leave it for the next chapter.

I'll see you all next time, minna! If you like, you can leave a review. Bye-bye!

KuraiHaru17