Chapter 4: The Sunflower within the field of Dandelions
"Wait, how I am in Slifer Red?" Kuro asked as he was given the red-tinted school uniform by the school, he performed well on the entrance exam, so what gives?
Kuro Helheim was in his dorm room as he was personally given a small box that had his new clothes, while the Obelisk blues get high-end lofts filled to the brim with grandiose and splendor galore, the Ra Yellows get a dorm that can be akin to that of a middle-class bedroom being mundane but serviceable, but the Slifer Red Dorm? They were like what you expect from a normal school with a dorm building, small, compact and a bit stuffy.
Kuro was taller than most people, being about 6'6, being in a small room such as the Slifer Red Dorm is going to be daunting for the Helheim Sibling, be he nevertheless sighed in defeat as he decided to roll with it, he wasn't as obsessed with dueling unlike his sister, so most likely he's placed here because its from the fact that he truly do need teaching of all kinds Duel monsters related?
The Silent Helheim sibling abide to the placement of school ranking until the staff member that gave him the school uniform finally spoke, giving Kuro a small but somewhat joyous smile, the Staff member was somewhat enjoying the fact that a tall guy like Kuro has to live in a small room like the Slifer Red dorm.
"Because, you may have the skill, but considering how well-versed, and powerful your deck archetype is, we're aren't sure that your skill at duel monsters is adequate enough that you can just run any deck there is and do well with it." Kuro sighed in disbelief but didn't want to argue, the Staff Member parted ways with the Helheim sibling, most likely going about to go tend other business with newly-arrived students.
Kuro looked around at his new room that he'll be staying for a definite amount of time, it was a singular bed, there was supposed to be a bunk bed but due to Kuro's size, the academy had to make some arrangements and differences to the normal ones, the bed looked stiff and rigid, as if the mattress was made of stone and the blanket was made of pine needles, there was also a small closet, it had a row of hangers waiting to have the many slifer red jackets to be hanged up with.
Kuro was humbled by the size of the room, it was slightly smaller than his own room, so to the Helheim Sibling, it felt sort of like home, it had a tiny refrigerator that could barely hold a can case of soda pop, and there was no stove to speak of, causing the silent Kuro to frown, if he was going to be here for a year at least, he would need to cook his own meals, barring his polite nature at the dinner table, eating very little so that the rest of his family could enjoy his meal, Kuro was a voracious eater, his high size practically meant a high metabolism.
After setting some of his personal belongings in the closet, Kuro headed out, he heard that their was going to be a nice initiation dinner at the student dorms, he was willing to head to the Slifer Red Dorm once he comes back from exploring, he was on an island that was solely dedicated for duel monsters, the surprises are near unlimited for the Helheim Sibling.
Kuro was silently ecstatic as he headed out of his living quarters with his duel disk on, ready to explore the Duel Academy island, his action was to take the path towards the Ra dorm, thank goodness that the higher ups of Duel Academy were willing to carve out dirt paths that connected the entirety of Duel Academy with a collection of roads, making traversal easier done than said.
As Kuro walked on the dirty road path towards the Ra Dorm, he began to notice that the sides of the road was littered with dandelions and snow thistle, yellow-headed weeds that seemed to invade the dirt path with their invasive strength.
"Hmm...Perhaps I should've brought my shepard's purse..." the Helheim Sibling said to himself as he kneeled down to a bushel of the yellow pseudo daffodils, picking them one by one and stashsing it into his pockets, he didn't mind the yellow bits of weeds dirtying his pockets.
"Half of cooking is about dirtying your hands." Kuro said to himself, he dusted off his dirt-ridden hands before embarking on his way, until he noticed another bushel of dandelions, the concept of passing up another harvest of 'Roadside greens' didn't occur in Kuro's mind as he began to pick the weeds once again.
"I guess Dandelion tea will be on the menu." Kuro said in a subtle but excited tone, picking a dandelion bud off from one weed as he plopped into his mouth, it was like eating a plastic bag in terms of texture and feel, but it tasted like freshly-harvest Brussels, Kuro smiled in delight from the healthy snack as he plucked another one right into his mouth.
He swallowed loudly as he began to go about his way towards the Ra Dorm, picking up several milkweeds on the way, weeds may be conceived as pests, but in actuality, they're not, they're just not in the right place.
The Silent Helheim sibling made his way to the Ra Yellow Dorm, it was more fancier looking than the apartment-like Slifer Red Dorm, he knew for sure that the Ra Yellows were most likely students that did better at the entrance exam, some Ra Yellow students were quick to dismiss the Slifer-red-bearing Kuro, quickly viewing him as a lesser student due to his lower level class.
"Hey, you seem out of place, how goes it?" Kuro heard beside him, he turned around to face against a Ra Yellow student, his hair was black like a crow and his stance was as strong as stone, he folded his arms as he gave the Helheim Sibling a slightly curved eyebrow.
"...Good..." Was all Kuro answered to the Ra Yellow student, the Ra Yellow student smirked a semi-cocky but endearing grin, he stick a hand out for Kuro to shake once he took notice of his Sister's duel disk that was around Kuro's right wrist.
"My name is Bastion Misawa, its a pleasure to meet the brother of Maria Helheim." He introduced himself to the Helheim Sibling, Kuro didn't want to object as he accepted Bastion's hand, he sighed internally as the reason why this Ra Yellow Student would even approach him was due to his connection to his famous sister.
"So, what brings you to the Ra Yellow Dorm? Perhaps its because you wanted to duel someone that was in a higher dorm than you?" Bastion inquired with an almost interrogative tone, Kuro scratched the back of his head as the thought of dueling today never came to mind.
"Not...Exactly...Just wanted to see the other dorms...See what they look like..." Kuro answered honestly, not used to such a confrontational introduction from someone, Bastion curved an eyebrow at such an answer, thinking that it was pure folly.
"Well, you'll eventually get here if you do well enough for your first year, and Obelisk blue afterwards." Bastion replied with, trying to be with the tall Helheim Sibling.
"Why were their...Was Freshman Obelisk Students?" Kuro suddenly asked the Ra Yellow Students, he quickly answered in a almost know-it-all tone.
"Obelisk Blue Freshman is due to those students taking dueling prep school before embarking onto Duel Academy, I'm in Ra Yellow because I ranked the highest in the written portion of the Entrance Exam." Bastion answered, unintentionally bragging about his compliments, Kuro wasn't interested in the slightest as he began to walk away from the Ra Yellow Dorm, leaving Bastion Misawa to his nonchalant gloating.
'At least I know why is there such a split in living quality...' Kuro mentally thought to himself, the school seemed to separate the school by school, rather than the amount of years spent here at the Duel Academy, if you're below average, its the Slifer Red Dorm, if you're above the vague line, you're at Ra Yellow, if you're good at had prep school, you're Obelisk Blue.
It made sense to Kuro, I mean, if you've put more effort into this, you're going to get rewarded for your labor, it was sort of like perfecting Miso Soup for Kuro, the more patience, the more effort that you put into the soup, the more taste it'll have.
The silent Helheim Sibling got onto to the path, walking towards the Obelisk, he hoped that he wouldn't get flagged or anything, he just wanted to explore before heading back to the dinner, he imagined massive banquets of various cuisines, like whole roasted pork, coa-roasted turkey, with a trays worth of the best sushi that the Island could obtain, Kuro thought himself as some sort of dragon stuffing large quantities of food into his gullet before roaring out bits of fiery sparks and food chunks from food-fueled satisfaction, it amused him and even made him chuckle lightly from the exaggeration.
As he imagined several more things, he began to walk through the dirt path without a care in the word,
"Ouch! Hey!" Kuro heard as he bumped into someone during his session of weird and amusing day dreaming, due to Kuro's height and size, he didn't even flinch from the sudden collision of another person,
The Helheim Sibling finally stepped back into reality, quickly he realizing that he just…Bumped into a…
A girl…Kuro cheeks flared up quicker than an firework and it was more red than a ripened tomato, he never spoke to girls before, at least, recently, nor has he ever made contact with a girl, he ignored them as much as frozen already prepared food, for he was either too busy cooking, or too busy feeding his sister and father.
The girl was on the ground as her two friends helped her get up, the girl that Kuro bumped into had a head of strawberry blonde hair, it was puffy and big, but to Kuro, it looked rather nice, her eyes were brown like cured hazelnut and her skin was vanilla flower white, not to white to be called pale in Kuro's eyes.
Her frame was petite yet bountiful, thin yet athletic, it also doesn't help that she's wearing the female Obelisk student uniform, with sleeveless vests that showed the entirety of arms and a dangerously short skirt that showed off most of the girls legs, Kuro did not dare to gawk at her out of fear of being labelled as some sort of pervert.
If Kuro could describe the girl on looks alone, he would say…Beautiful…And spicy if he wanted to put his culinary terminology into it.
The usually silent Helheim began to sputter and mumble under his breath as he didn't know what to do, the girl was helped up by her friends, as she glared at Kuro with eyes that blazed with a mixture of annoyance and anger, her friends were not nearly as aggressive as she was.
The Strawberry Blonde girl began to dust off the newly-acquired dust off from her skirt as she focused on the task at hand.
"Watch where you going you big oaf!" The girl insulted as she poked a finger on Kuro's chest, causing the Helheim Sibling to blush even more so from the sudden pokes, he started to stutter under his breath once again, muttering small drops of 'Sorry' and 'won't happen again'.
One of the Strawberry Blonde girl's friends, the one with the stylish black hair began to giggle upon seeing Kuro's blushing face and wimpy demeanor despite his height and muscular frame.
"Oh come on Jasmine, calm down, this guy clearly didn't mean to push you over like that." The Strawberry Blonde, named Jasmine heard from his golden-headed friend, despite the cooling words coming from her friend's mouth, Jasmine was still ticked off.
"Yeah look at his blushing face, this guy couldn't even harm a fly if he wanted to." The black-haired friend of Jasmine said with a almost-mean-spirited giggle exiting out from her lips.
"Tch, I guess you're right Mindy, Guess this guy has no spine." Jasmine dismissed with a mean smirk on her face, Kuro felt his heart get smashed from such a remark, but he didn't want to object to the girl claims, he can barely breath out a sigh, how in any way he could speak right now?
The girl with Blonde hair approached the heavily sheepish Kuro as she began to apologize for her friends behaviors towards him, he was still blubbering like a fish out of water.
"Sorry for Jasmine and Mindy, names Alexis by the way, I saw you at the Entrance Exam that was a really good play you did there, Kuro Helheim." She complimented with an honest smile on her face, a compliment from a pretty girl only made Kuro blushed more but he was at least responsive enough to nod as a gesture of thanks.
"Jasmine, please apologize to Kuro here." Alexis asked of the Strawberry Blonde girl, Jasmine scoffed before turning away with an abrasive armfold; ready to argue for the concept of such an action.
"You're not going to apologize to the Brother of the Dark Star of Duel Monsters?" Alexis questioned Jasmine with a smug smile on her face, this immediately got Jasmine's attention, quickly turning back to Kuro with an inquisitive look on her face, surprised and shocked to hear from such a remark, she stopped glaring for a split second before going to the same scowl.
Kuro thought she looked stunning when she wasn't glaring, her friends were just as pretty but…Jasmine seemed to stood out for him…Perhaps it's because she had more…'Spice' to her compared to Alexis or Mindy, first impressions of course can be deceiving, like with anything really.
"And yet this guy here is in the Slifer Dorm? The lowest of the Low? I guess you don't match your sister then, come on Mindy, let's get to the dinner." Jasmine dismissed with her nose up in the air giving Jasmine a sense of pride and hubris within herself as her friend followed her.
Kuro could notice Jasmine was masking something underneath her cold first impression but he wasn't sure to say what it was she was hiding, perhaps, some disappointment? He wasn't sure in the slightest.
"…Don't worry Kuro, they'll come around…Eventually…I'll see you in class tomorrow okay?" Alexis said in a friendly tone so she can make the Helheim Brother more comfortable due to being a new student and all, Kuro once again nodded in a state of sheepish silence as Alexis Rhodes and her friends headed off to the Obelisk Girl's dorm.
With all of that said and done, Kuro breathed out a deep sigh, he quickly chomped down on a dandelion bud as an attempt to calm his stress and agitation, his blush died down and so did the internal petrification inside him, as he began to wonder why he felt so immobilized from the sight of Jasmine in particular.
Perhaps it was the fact that she was the first person he met that didn't held him in higher regard due to his connections with his sister? Well, it seemed like she held him in lower regards than anything else.
'At least...She was not feigning kindness to me.' Kuro thought to himself, Jasmine's nasty glare was a reminder to him, that no matter how close he is to the 'Dark Star of Duel Monsters' that doesn't mean he can garner the same respect as her naturally.
As Kuro cool off, he began to explore the rest of the island, the thought of the Strawberry Blonde Jasmine disappeared as it was replaced with the plentiful dandelions that were found throughout the Duel Academy, it seemed like the island was fair game for the plants to inhabit, as long as it wasn't near the dorms and buildings, the weeds and roadside greens could live wherever they want.
The Silent Helheim sibling continued on his path, his pant pockets completely filled to the brim with dandelions of various shape and sizes, he noticed that their was a Dueling Dome nearby, almost as if Kuro traversed the whole island in a mindless spree of weed picking, shrugging, Kuro decided to head inside, might as well see what a stadium solely dedicated for dueling looks like.
Maybe he could watch a duel or something before dinner starts, he had the snacks to do so, he plopped a mouth of dandelion buds into his mouth before he entered into the Obelisk Blue duel arena, completely unaware what was going to happen next.