Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.

Hello everyone! Rina Aria reporting here~ Wait, why I should report? It was weird to do a report in your own story... err, well whatever! Anyway, I will update this story like how I update Lost Treasure, meaning, when I reached some amount of view, I will update this story, already edited or not. But since the last chapter edited version isn't done yet, let's just believe that this story for now is the Unedited version. Well, since the cat is out of the bag (was it the right idiom? idc) let's just get the show rolling! Rina Aria present you the Chapter 4 of Memories From Back Then - "Nice To Meet You, I Am..."

Milla POV

After I saw the score announcement for the first term, I walked back to the class. My score wasn't that special after all, though Leia said that it was a complete understatement. Well, I was more interested on Mathis score rather than mine, which was just above mine as expected.

I had done my best to approach him this past 3 months, but apparently it was as hard as Leia had told me. Well, I had a quite matching schedule with him in all sort of activity. We both were in the Library Committee and had a mirroring extracurricular activity, because Kendo and Judo shared the same dojo. Albeit the actual reason I choose Kendo was because of my specialty on using sword, I just learnt that Mathis entered Judo later on.

Maybe the reason why he never realized my presence was because I never greeted him at the first place. I couldn't really help since my social ability wasn't as good as Leia. So I ended up looking at him from distance.

It wasn't that bad to be honest, since I managed to learn quite a lot about him. Mathis actually wore glasses not for its actual use, but more to create an image. He wore off the glasses when he did Judo and honestly, I found it as cool as when he wore his glasses. Talking about his Judo, I also noticed that albeit he toned it down, he was actually a professional on it. His move was beautiful and graceful at the same time, a kind of move that only could be done by someone who had finished his study on certain martial arts after doing it for so long. Did he have done it before?

In the Library Committee, he was devoted on the job and he often helped the Librarian on his spare time. He looked happy when he was surrounded by the book that he didn't notice me staring as I read near him. He was exceptionally delighted when he saw a medical book.

He was also often together with a guy from his class who wore a red jacket. Mai, Ibara Mai, told me that he is Suzaku Jun, someone who Mathis called as friend. They were often together as Mathis accompanied Suzaku to a sport shoe stores, looking for basketball shoe. That information was those I got from Mai since she had a thing or two for the basketball star.

There was no actual rush for me to get to know him. It was only three months after I first met him by coincidence although it was one-sided since he didn't realize me. There is this fact that we were on different classes. I was as good as stranger for him.

I let out a deep breath I didn't realize were holding in the middle of the afternoon class. The teacher's lecture went pass my head. When I turned to my side, Leia was already sleeping while Mai who got the front row were writing her 'Suzaku Jun report' that she hide under her lesson book. She was a stalker in and out despite her simple appearance and apparently 'healthy' attraction.

I looked to my side, the weather outside was so clear and it was bright. It really was the weather for summer. The cloud that were scattered in the sky looked so free and white. The color of the sky was so blue as well like the sea. Talking about sea, Leia made me and Mai agreed on a day in our summer break to visit the sea. I doubt Leia knew about my family business but it sounded like she knew that I wouldn't get out from my house this summer break. After all, I was used to help on the office work in summer albeit when I was still in dorm, I did it there.

But in Mai's case she would be too busy on attending Summer Class so she could monitor that Suzaku Jun who must enter supplementary lesson. Though talking about supplementary class, Leia had few as well. But since we were talking about Leia, she might just sleep through it instead of actually learning anything. She got into this school using recommendation for a good reason after all.

'I wouldn't see him again until the second term, huh…' I thought as I was thinking about the summer break. But I guess it wouldn't make any significance.

I pressed my cheek on the desk as the lecture faded into the background. I closed my eyelids as the wind blow from my side. It was my first summer break as a high school student. I wonder what would happen to me this summer… The sun was so bright when my consciousness faded into black.

Normal POV

The once bright sky had turned dark as dark-colored clouds covering it. The wind acted more fiercely in response to the darkening sky. Milla was just awakened after all of her classmate left the class. She briefly remembered nodding her head to her best friend, Mai and Leia, when they told her about going to sea. But the rest of what happened after wasn't registered inside her head.

"Oh, crap!" Milla shouted as she saw how the sky had turned black during her nap and quickly snatched her bag and then ran to the outside, hoping she would still make it to the bus stop before it would rain.

But when Milla was just walking down from the stairs to the 1st floor, it had started to rain. She looked outside the window and saw how it looked like it would take time to stop. She let out a deep breath and decided to just wait for it to stop since she didn't bring an umbrella today.

Milla was half-dragging her feet to the shoe locker and changed her indoor shoes with her outdoor one. She didn't want to miss on the bus just because of stupid downpour started again after the last ended, so she decided to just wait it out.

She stood still in one of the pillar and leaned slightly, thinking how bad her luck played on this day. Her love life was getting nowhere, she slept on the class, and now trapped in the school alone because of stupid water that fall from the sky.

"What a way to start summer break…" Milla muttered as she looked at the gray-colored sky looming over her.

Her surrounding was covered in silence except for constant sound from rain falling. It was a nice melody, and while Milla didn't hold anything against rain, but this time, she was in no mood to have rain. To save herself from boredom Milla decided to close her eyes and listened to the sound of her heartbeat and the rain she made a mental note to bring her MP3 player after summer break.

As her heart started to feel serene by the situation, Milla's ears caught the sound of someone approaching. It was echoing inside her ears that Milla deducted as the sound of shoes meeting floor. Milla shot her eyes open knowing there was someone other than her that was still in the school.

'Whoever it is, the sound was quite close…' Milla thought inwardly as she threw a glance to her back, noticing that the shoe locker was still devoid of life. She quickly turned her attention back to the rain because she didn't want whatever or whoever it is noticed that she knew of its/his/her presence.

Milla started to feel worried when no one appeared after some times and the sound disappeared as well. She gulped inwardly before looking behind her once more. When she knew what –or rather- who had created the stepping sound, she was conflicted either on relieved or surprised.

There was only one reason to that. It was because Jude Mathis was the one who made all that noise. And by some fate bad joke (and the writer glasses fetish), he was the one who Milla had eyes on.

Jude himself who was shutting himself inside the library all alone didn't notice that it had started raining when he stepped out. He wasn't bothered with the fact it rained at all despite not bringing umbrella. Well, at least until he noticed that certain person was waiting for the rain to stop as well.

'Milla Maxwell…' Jude noted inside his mind as he changed his indoor shoes with the outdoor one. He didn't expect that girl to remain on school this long either. He did know that they sometimes waited for the bus at the same time but he remembered that today there is neither club nor committee meeting so she had no valid reason on staying at school.

He remained uninterested however as he decided to wait for the rain to stop beside her. He took some distance so not to appear suspicious as he looked at the dark sky, half-wondering when the rain would stop. He wanted to get on doing his summer homework ASAP so he could do another thing instead. For example, he could help Jun on his homework.

The air between the two was still as if the time didn't move at all. The only sounds enveloping them were the sound of rain and some lightning from afar. Milla didn't have any problem with lightning so she remained quiet. Jude didn't bother to ask whether Milla was scared of lightning or not and remained quiet as well.

It was something normal for them. When they were left alone in the bus stop, none would speak a word to each other. They realized each other, but there was something preventing them to talk to each other. But both knew that the silence right now felt different. Once in the span of the three months that had passed, the silence was actually awkward.

Milla was fidgeting as she stared into the rain, wondering when it would stop. She clenched her fist and then let it go before clenching it again. She certainly felt the awkwardness that was in the air.

'I wonder why…' Milla thought as she stole a glance to Jude who simply stared into random space. She let out a sigh once more as she thought how it got her nowhere.

Jude took notice at the troubled look Milla put on. He was bothered up enough about her, despite not knowing her personally. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was actually the first time he talked to another girl personally beside Leia. He didn't know what pushed him to do it, but he did it before he even realized it.

"Why are you sighing?" Jude asked as he tried hard to sound natural.

Milla looked up and turned her head to the source of sounds. She was actually surprised that Jude actually said something that she instantly said, "Eh?"

"Do you hate rain?" Jude asked again, ignoring Milla's first response.

"No… I don't particularly hate them…" Milla replied nervously, didn't know what kind of answer she should give. It was true that she didn't particularly hate rain though.

"Thunder?"

"I'm fine with it."

"Storm?"

"Would there be one?"

"Ghost?"

"They are work of fiction."

The conversation died down at that point. Jude was utterly embarrassed at how he kept his conversation with useless talk. Milla found that it was surprising to talk with Jude. She was pretty convinced that Jude didn't notice her after all.

"Say, do you know who I am?" Milla asked out of curiosity. She had been keeping a close look to Jude since long, but she didn't know how about him.

"I know who you are. You are in Kendo club and we were in the same Library Committee… you are Leia's friend as well and…," Jude replied truthfully as he faced Milla who was gazing at him with friendly-yet-amazed eyes.

"And?" Milla prompted without further ado as she heard Jude stopping on the middle of his sentence. It was the first time they actually talked after all.

"… and we waited on the same bus stop every day," Jude finished his face with slightly nervous tone. He couldn't admit that he sometimes secretly took glance to the girl. Although it was a fact that Jude only learned about Milla's name this afternoon.

"I-is that so?" Milla replied nervously, not expecting this kind of answer. She thought herself as a sharp girl but she didn't notice it at all.

'Maybe I was too absorbed in my own thought to notice…' Milla thought as she placed her index finger over her cheeks.

Once again the conversation died down and silence hung on the air. But this time, the silence was actually nice. Especially when they both noticed that the raining started to stop pouring. Both took a step out at almost the same time as they looked up and saw how the sky had cleared up.

"Well, if you would excuse me…" Jude said with a soft tone. He was actually glad that Milla acted normal around him and it eased his worry a little bit. If all girls were like Leia, he would get a constant headache.

Milla looked at Jude's back and contemplated on what she should do. It was the first time they actually conversed so Milla didn't want it to end just like this and then turned into stranger again. She took a deep breath and mustered up her courage when she then half-shouted, "Err you are walking to bus stop as well, right?"

Jude stopped in his track and turned around, his face turned pink a little bit but Milla didn't notice. He looked like he was listening to Milla so Milla continued, "Well, could we walk together there? You know… we go to the same direction after all…"

Jude was taken off-guard since he wasn't good around girl except his family and Leia who were already close enough as family. But again, Milla was a friend of Leia, there was no difference between it. He at least knew that he shouldn't lose composure. At this time… he wondered what Jun would reply… he was better at this kind of thing…

But Jun dramatic monologue appeared inside his mind that he quickly brushed it off. It was too scary to even imagine it that he shook his head.

Milla saw this gesture as disapproval and asked, "You don't want to?"

Jude was surprised once more and he looked from one side to another, completely flustered. He then quickly said, "N-no, I mean… it's not like I tried to reject it was just that I remembered about horrible memory so I instantly shook it off. What I meant to say is actually it is okay… really."

Milla tried to hold her laughter inside seeing how Jude wasn't good at this kind of thing as well. She quickly approached him and they started to walk together to the bus stop without saying anything. Both weren't bothered with this silence in the slightest bit since both sucked at conversation.

When they reached the bus stop, Milla checked the bus schedule and found that it would arrive soon. She turned to Jude and naturally said, "It seems that there is no need to wait for long…"

"It looked like that to me…" Jude said with a nonchalant expression. He was actually nervous since he wasn't used to Milla acting casually around him.

They both turned silent once more until Jude cleared his throat. Milla was surprised and turned around when Jude said, "Well, let me set it straight. I knew your name."

Milla nodded and then replied, "Well, I know yours as well, you gave speech at Entrance Ceremony after all." She was forgotten about how Leia had mentioned her that Jude was bad with names of those strangers to him.

"But… we never introduced ourselves to each other…" Jude trailed down as he tried to avoid Milla's magenta eyes.

"Now that mention it, yes we never did," Milla responded naturally with a nod to herself. Actually, it was something she was afraid to do but somehow now that the subject was touched, she didn't fear it as she thought.

Jude looked away, wondering how he should do this introduction stuff. He took another deep breath before offering his hands to Milla and said, "How about we do it now?"

Milla looked at Jude's face and then to his hands and then back to his face once more before lowering it again. She didn't see it coming at all. But she welcomed the gesture. It would be a step forward for her to know about Jude a little bit closer.

Milla took Jude's hand and both shook it lightly. Jude smiled in friendly gesture as he said, "Nice to meet you, I am Jude Mathis. You can call me Jude."

Milla returned the smile and then said, "Nice to meet you, Jude. I am Milla Maxwell. Feel free to call me Milla."

To Be Continued in ~Summer Break mini Arc~

Hello everyone who was reading this Author note~ Rina Aria speaking here~ Well it's quite hard to think of situation where Milla and Jude would finally know each other directly. So with Deus Ex Rina (lol) I made them meet each other. I did my research about weather in Japan (what, Namco is in Japan so why not make the story happen there?) during Summer. Yeah, maybe it was just the beginning of Summer Break a little bit early for rain, but who cares? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

So, since I finally changed the season let's continue on what I had started last chapter. Yeah, this is OC Introduction time! Now we had Ibara Mai in the show. I didn't spoil too much of the girl yet because she had another role later.

Rina : Hey, Mai hurry up and wave to the monitor!

Mai : W-what? Why I should do that?

Rina: Just do it! Or should I use the power of keyboard to force you?

Mai: O-okay... *wave*

OC introduction place:

1. Ibara Mai: She is a sweet and polite looking girl who had a lot of hidden weird quirk under her desk. She was obviously stalking Suzaku Jun in a lot of his action minus his house. We all shall wonder how come those two fool managed to miss each other, but that wasn't the point. It was the truth that Mai is a soft spoken girl though but if only you are in her good side. Otherwise she was merciless especially if her enemies retorts to violence.

She had short dark brown hair that only reached above her shoulders. She is the only glasses girl so far in this series. Her glasses are oval with black hanging frame. Her spring attire consists of pale pink long sleeved turtle neck and grey overalls that reached her knees. The rest of her seasonal attire at school is mostly the same with different sleeves length and at winter she would wore the school blazer. No one knew how she managed to move freely in fight with constricting clothes.

Mai blood type is AB. She is born at 20 November so she is a Scorpio. She entered Flower-arranging club and she joined Disciplinary Committee earning her the title of "Thorn full Rose". Her favorite flower is well, Rose. And to make things worse, her favorite color is red.