Itachi never liked bright colors.

Due to his work field, he found himself comfortable in the attire which blended entirely in the background, thus not bringing a sense of insecurity whenever he didn't use his eyes for illusion.

But right now what he wore contradicted his choice. Grey shirt over black formal pants but comfortable enough to not hinder his movements. A black necktie hung down his neck, providing a foreign sensation that Itachi was not used to nor fond of. Then came the long white and sea green patterned blazer over the attire which reached up to his upper thighs. The striking feature which differentiates his uniform from those that could be commonly seen this early in the morning was the blank space on his arm and chest where the eight-petaled-emblem was missing.

The lack of an emblem signifies the person being in the second course or more locally known as a 'Weed'. Among the two hundred students who get enrolled in the First High every year, a hundred of them were differentiated in Blooms, and the latter just like Itachi fell into the reserved course.

Those with extraordinary intellect and magical prowess were provided with the emblem of pride and those who lacked were scorned by their peers just like Itachi was at the moment.

"Isn't he a weed?"

"Wow...talk about being enthusiastic."

Itachi felt nothing out of the gossip he heard from the two passing girls. He knew that discrimination was the least of things he should be worrying about and since Itachi himself held back in his assessment, there was no point if him getting worked by just this.

There was a reason he chose to be in the second course, and that was to have a complete grasp on things transpiring around the school. He knew things were going to be messed up sooner than later and these second courses would be playing a vital role in that chaos. Well, Itachi would never accept that another reason for his choice to remain in the second course was that he didn't want to come across his hime as long he could.

But can someone blame Itachi? His princess was the embodiment of love and kindness. Someone who has never been brought to the darkness of the abyss nor she have caught a single glimpse of what kind of world Itachi lives in. The things Itachi has partaken in in the past. The massacre he ensued and the mayhem he solemnly caused was something he could not let Miyuki know for fear of getting hated by the person Itachi hold dearest to his heart.

The Sharingan possessor knew that his affection toward Miyuki was something which has been instilled in his consciousness through the experiment he went through at a very early age. But even so, Itachi had no issue accepting his adoration toward his hime for some reason.

First, it was his queen who brought these changes to him just after she adopted Itachi. It was around eleven years ago when Itachi found himself lying in a desolated forest, deprived of any populace and lack of any hope to survive another hour in that place. His body and soul were broken and his mind was pushed between two entities, one with whom he was currently and someone who has lived a short yet painfully eventful life. Itachi was anything but stable at that moment, entirely shaken up to the core and ready to throw away the life which was weighing him down with guilt and anguish.

At that time, a hand was extended in his direction. A much-needed support Itachi ever-sought but never was able to ask for it. He never dared to ask for assistance after what he has partaken in in his past life. Itachi never deserved that warmth that his queen enwrapped him in. The solace in her embrace he felt was something Itachi still could vividly remember and feel his heart race down.

He let himself get experimented on by her since the person who provided him another reason to live and gave him the purpose of his existence, was definitely allowed to tamper with Itachi's mindset and alter him in the way she found it suitable.

The second reason was the person whom Itachi has to serve and look after. His princess.

If anyone has drawn close to the perfection of one's existence then it was Miyuki, who by not only her outer appearance but from inside as well, seemed the most flawless and worthy to be served by him. She was everything someone could dream of or desire to be with. Miyuki was a goddess descendant in human flesh.

She is his princess. The one he needs to look after and protect from any kind of possible harm even if she likes his company or begs him to go away. He doesn't have the privilege to be with her so he always stayed at a distance but now, when his princess was at the most vulnerable phase of her life when she would be exposed to the world and had to meet varying people with distinguished intentions, Itachi had to be near his hime to lay protection around her.

"Okay, then Nii-san I would be off..."

Itachi's eyes widened when he heard a very familiar voice which he didn't expect to hear from this close that made Itachi feel his face being exposed to the source of the voice. Due to his engaging thoughts, he didn't keep a record of where he walking. He knew who the person was and who she was talking to. But the severeness of the matter stems from the fact that the speaker has halted her words since Itachi undoubtedly would have entered their field of vision.

True to his expectation, Miyuki who was telling her brother that she would be going off for the orientation preparation, felt someone standing on their left some meters away. It seemed from how her brother blinked that he also seemed to sense the person who suddenly walked in without giving away his presence until the point where he halted just now.

Miyuki along with Tatsuya turned their head to look toward the way they spotted the new appearance only for Miyuki to gasp in astonishment. Her eyes were not believing what she saw and thought her senses has betrayed the girl for the first time.

It was the same for Tatsuya as well since his eyes were also not making any sense of what he saw but he soon activated his elemental sight to ensure something.

Reason?

The reason Tatsuya had to utilize his special eyes was that there was actually no one standing there even though Tatsuya was sure that he saw a tall figure just a moment ago in the range of his vision.

"Someone was there, right Nii-san?"

Tatsuya was not able to respond to what his imouto said since he had a hard time digesting the magic input he has just registered and aligned it with the peculiar signature he has seen in the past.

This...this can't be...

"Nii-san?"

"Ah, sorry. Don't worry about it Miyuki and I don't think it would be better for you to keep the upperclassmen waiting."

Tatsuya had a very strong suspicion that his elemental sight was not playing tricks on him and the person who just vanished away within a fraction of a second was the same person whom his sister was desperately trying to meet for at least once in her life.

Sure he had his doubts but informing Miyuki about it when the information could go entirely wrong would be nothing but bring even more disappointment and sorrow for his imouto. Not to talk about the event where Miyuki had to play such a big role and has to be in the best state of mind as well. Telling her that she might have missed the savior she was hopelessly searching for all those times in the past, would surely make her thoughts conflicted.

On the other side, Miyuki knew her brother was hiding something but since he didn't seem to be responding to her truthfully at the moment and the fact that it really was getting late for the scheduled time, didn't let the girl linger on the matter for long before she hopped away.

'That was close... '

Itachi sighed as he appeared somewhat in a sort of garden as he walked the path. There were not many students early in the morning so seeing Itachi appear out of nowhere wouldn't get noticed until someone has those problematic eyes like what Tatsuya possesses.

Itachi has been warned by his Queen that even if the Sharingan wielder wants to, he wouldn't be able to hide from Tatsuya's elemental sight which not only regards any obstruction but also read and store a person's magical presence. Not to talk about Tatsuya's way above-average intelligence which made Itachi assured that he would get followed by his cousin if only Tatsuya was not wary of Itachi.

After all, there could be a chance that as a protective brother as he was, Tatsuya might seek distance between Itachi and Miyuki and for that, he shall just try to keep the princess away and might confront Itachi as well.

'When did I become this overthinker... 'Itachi sighed once again since he accepted the fact that currently was just exaggerating needless things. He knew his job and how he would execute it. Whatever reaction his hime would have, that wouldn't alter the role Itachi has to play.

"Are you a freshman? The ceremony is about to start?"

The first thing which registered in his vision was the shade of crimson which was followed by the slightly wider than the norm, bracelet on her left wrist which undoubtedly was a specialized CAD which must have been made with fashion sense in mind.

CAD or Casting Assistance Device works as the medium for the user to chant the spell which in ancient times was done through wands or talismans. The major difference between the two was that there was no requirement to verbally chant the spell and also the required time to cast magic has been reduced exponentially with CAD.

The number of people who could use magic without a CAD was as good as nill. But that doesn't mean that everyone who carries a CAD is a magician as well. It's just divergent on the nonmagical society, as self-protection in short.

Itachi was aware of the girl and the fact she didn't judge him by the lack of his emblem exposed a little about her personality.

"I am indeed newly enrolled and thanks for the reminder."

Itachi curtly replied before he walked ahead without providing any chance for the girl to speak further. In normal circumstances, Itachi would have stayed and chatted for a bit until the latter wouldn't have been called for work. But now someone was tailing Itachi and the Sharingan user, didn't want to create a scene out of it for now.

Mayumi turned her head and gazed at the back of the mysterious freshman for a bit in surprise for some specific reason when suddenly someone called for her.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me what that person introduced himself as?"

Mayumi snatched her gaze at the tall boy, who gave a friendly yet aura of superiority. His cold blue eyes were currently filled with impatience and slight annoyance as well. Upon thinking of what the boy asked, Mayumi didn't have to ponder much as she replied with her usual smile.

"He didn't introduce himself as far I remember. Quite reserved some freshmen have been enrolled this year."

Hearing the comment, Tatsuya's eyes which were scanning Mayumi's CAD and briefly her appearance, stiffened a bit.

Acknowledging his mistake of being brash, Tatsuya politely introduced himself, in an attempt to gloss over his actions.

"I...no, my name is Tatsuya Shiba."

There was a thoughtful look on the ruby eyes girl's as she murmured 'Shiba-kun huh...' in essence like she knew something about him. Might it be the reason that his imouto had the same last name and since being the perfect freshman representative Miyuki was, it was not unnatural for people to relate him to her.

But Mayumi's surprise stems from the fact that with the last name Shiba, she remembers someone has aced all the practical exams and had been a hot topic among the teachers as well. But she kept it aside and decided to return the gesture first.

"I am..."

By the time Itachi reached the auditorium, the place was already half full with students taking io their desired seats and waiting for the ceremony to begin. There was no written nor verbal rule implied on sitting arrangements so everyone was free to take a seat anywhere they want. Be it at last or first, the edge or center.

However, despite it not being enforced by the school, clearly the sense of discrimination could be seen by the divisions of students among two groups where the front section was acquired by the First course and the rear section was slowly getting occupied by the reserves.

Again, there was no specified rule for sitting arrangements but it was like a natural conscience that the second-course student had understood their position and had no intention to go against the norm. It was the same for Itachi.

He had no motivation to purposely gather attention on his by breaking the 'custom' and walking toward the face of the crowd. He in fact chose the last row and took the corner most seat from where he was able to keep an eye on everyone and everything transpiring inside the place. He already had marked the exits and once the ceremony starts, he would use his Sharingan to assess the possibility of some trap or any source of disturbance which might come in the way of the freshman representative's speech.

"Er...is the seat beside you, occupied?"

Just as Itachi was getting comfortable in his seat, he heard a voice from his left before his eyes fell on an orange-red-haired girl with a slender build and a lively persona as she asked Tatsuya in an uncertain tone.

Despite there being so many vacant seats, she decided to walk all over here seemed weird but soon he realized there were more girls on the back.

"Help yourself." Itachi shortly replied before he saw four seats beside him filling with females, signifying that they were probably finding seats to remain together.

"I am Erika Chiba. What about you?"

As Itachi judged, the redhead was indeed an enthusiastic child who was not even able to suppress her curiosity and jumped on introduction despite Itachi having his eyes closed and his body leaning on his seat to show that he actually trying to take snooze when he had time.

But to not come out rude, Itachi turned his head and spoke out his name, "Itachi Uchiha. Nice to meet you."

"Uchiha..." Despite Erika murmuring it like that, both of them knew that the girl was unaware of the last name. Well, Itachi was the last and first Uchiha in this world so Erika's bewilderment was justified.

"Myself, Shibata Mizuki."

The other girl tilted her head to look in Itachi's direction before she introduced herself with a small smile and slight redness on her pale cheeks. This girl in comparison to Erika was more curvaceous with measurement of her bust scaling over average. But those were not the factor that swayed Itachi's attention but rather the pair of glasses she wore over her golden eyes.

In this era when optic disparity has become a legend and the widespread vision correction makes it needless for someone to go for an extra prop. This girl was wearing it meant either she had the hobby of it or...

'Over-sensitivity to spirit particles huh... '

It seemed, due to his curiosity or not Itachi had been staring at Mizuki's eyes for a good while since the tinge of redness on her cheek has grown to a full-blown blush by now, as the girl fidgeted under Itachi's gaze.

Erika smirked when she saw Itachi hurriedly withdrawing his eyes as she spoke in a teasing tone, "Is it what it is called to get mesmerized by the first look, Uchiha-kun?"

"First, please call me by my first name. And second, I indeed got dazed looking at her eyes."

The blush grew fiercer as the glass-wearing girl timidly settled in her seat, having no intention to look back at Itachi once again. Seeing the reaction, Erika smirk grew wider as she slightly elbowed Itachi before she tried to get a reaction out of him as well with her words, "Aren't you a charmer, Itachi? Ah, you can call me Erika as well, by the way."

Growing familiarity from the get-go was indeed new but not unpleasant so Itachi took up the offer and replied with the genuine words he came up hearing Erika's evaluation toward him.

"No actually not, Erika. And if I really have been, then wouldn't you have seen me getting all excited and worked up when such a beautiful girl as you chose to sit beside me of all places."

"Eh?"

This time it was Erika's turn to be taken aback as she looked at Itachi with an astonished expression receiving no particular response in return. Maybe it was the first time that Erika had no words to refute as just like Mizuki she also settled back in her seat as they saw the ceremony commencing.

Itachi shook his head slightly before his left eye closed the shade of the right one shifted to glow in a crimson shade. He intended to have a quick scan of the auditorium but with a stroke of luck, the first person his eyes landed upon was someone Itachi was familiar with.

It was his princess.

Itachi's eyes widened slightly as he gazed at Miyuki but it was not because he was looking at his precious hime which made him this startled. Rather because, just like Itachi...

...Miyuki was looking at no one, but him...

A/N;- I didn't intend to prolong their meeting this long but all the introductions and all. Anyway, there is a particular reason why Itachi seemed different and that was because he was involved in the experimentation and his will turned to serve under the Yotsuba. Not like he would go truly emotionless and would occasional flirting would be mentioned as well. Just that, he holds Miyuki as his utmost priority.

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