"Aether! Are you seriously going to be late for your first day of school?" The golden haired teen heard as he tossed around in his bed. He waved his arms around manically, feeling for the voice pestering him. Slowly opening his eye, he saw Lumine hovering over him with a concerned expression. "Ugh. Just forget it. I don't wanna…" He sank deeper into the pillows and she whacked him with her backpack. "Stop being so lazy! You don't want to have what happened in your last school happen here, right?" He groaned slowly and got up, rubbing his eyes. His menacing aura caused Lumine to take a few steps back. It was extremely intimidating…
"It's not gonna happennnn.." He groggily got out of bed, took a few steps, and fell to the ground. Lumine felt more at ease and chuckled at him lightheartedly. "Come downstairs when you're dressed. And maybe have a yogurt or something." She closed the door and Aether could hear her footsteps get farther away.
"Just perfect." He gently slapped his cheeks and ruffled his hair around. His long locks were tangled together. Quickly tying it in a messy braid he rummaged through his drawers and found his uniform. 'Well, this is still jarring to look at. At my old school I could wear whatever I wanted..' He stood in front of his full-body lengthed mirror and put the uniform in front of him. It was an average light-gray suit with the highschool's crest, along with some dress shoes and a blouse. He posed in it a bit and slapped his forehead. "This looks AWFUL. Seriously, who designed this? I wanna have a word with them." His criticisms were interrupted by his sister screaming at him from downstairs. "STOP SLACKING AND HURRY UP!" He quickly changed and scrambled for his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder and running down the stairs. Lumine turned to look at him and swooned. "AWWHH! Oooh, look at you! So freaking handsome! You look like such a good student!" She joked, pinching his cheek. He slapped her hand away and rolled his eyes. "Spare me." Opening the front door, Lumine grabbed her keys and quickly headed for the car. Aether finished up his yogurt and sighed as he heaved his heavy backpack onto the backseat. "Ready for a good day today?" She asked him, starting up the vehicle. He leaned his head back against the seat and grumbled in objection.
Once they drove to the school, Aether felt dumbfounded over how crazily HUGE it was. He awed and looked out the window, completely mesmerized as to how he got accepted in there. 'All thanks to Lumine…' He thought to himself. 'Holy shit, this place could be mistaken for an ivy league college…!' Lumine parked in the high school's parking lot and stepped out. Aether was so lost in thought that he didn't even realize she was tapping on the window in front of him. He jumped as she swiftly opened the door. "Is..this it? This has to be a dream…" She snickered and covered her mouth, ruffling his head. "Why are you so tired? Don't tell me you went to bed late again." He moved out of the way and stretched, feeling the cold air wisp against his body. "MMNggghhh, why are you so surprised? Anyways, I'm just gonna blow through the day and get home as soon as possible." Lumine frowned and looked to the ground sadly, awkwardly moving out of the way for him. She quietly murmured as he stepped out of the car. "Please just at least try to enjoy it... I really want you to have a better time here." 'Shit, I think I upset her again…' Aether thought. He patted her shoulder and softly smiled. "I'll be–fine. Come on, weren't you making a fuss about being late?" She nodded and they both headed off to the building.
A large clocktower in the center of it's architecture started to ring loudly as soon as they approached the school. DING! DONG! DING! DONG!
"Great." Aether said sarcastically as the twins walked up to the front entry doors. On one of the glass doors a paper was taped onto it that read; 'Please head to the main office if you're late.' He gripped the handle and violently shook it, but to no avail. The door wouldn't budge.
"Seriously? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" He frustratingly kicked it and Lumine yelled at him. "Stop that! We're the ones who took too long!" He turned his head to face her. 'Yet again, Lumine's the one who takes the blame with me. I feel bad for getting her wrapped up in this..' "I'm sorry. It was my fault we couldn't get here on time."
"Oh, really? That's good."
The twins turned to see a boy standing in front of them, holding a pair of keys in his fingers. His hair was a mix of black and a greenish-blue, dressed in a crisp uniform head to toe. The crest on his chest was one that Aether was slightly familiar with. "Liyue Highschool…?" He accidentally read aloud. The boy raised his eyebrow confusedly and then nodded his head. "Yeah, you are at Liyue Highschool; if that's the place you're looking for. I don't recognize you…' He eyed their outfits for a moment and nodded. "—-You must be new students here. Who are you guys?" Aether looked at Lumine and then back at him. "I'm Aether, and this is Lumine. And, yeah…we are new. So maybe you'll look past this?" He gave him a phony smile. The teen looked emotionless, ignoring his remark and walking up to the door. He brushed Aether aside with his shoulder and bent down. "Woah, HEY–" "It's cracked."
"Huh?"
"The door. You cracked it."
Aether cocked his head and noticed that there was a slight crack in the glass from where he kicked it. "You've gotta be kidding me…" He mumbled under his breath. The boy unbotheredly slid out his phone from his pocket and took a picture of it, tucking it back in his bag. He met Aether's panicked expression with a cold stare. "Being late isn't really a good look for your first day. And I'd say damaging property doesn't help your case.." "Hey. Are you trying to pick a fight?" Aether snapped, a vein popping up on his forehead. The tension between them was so bad that Lumine got in between them and nudged Aether away for some distance. "Hey, it's not just his fault! I just pushed him towards it and–"
"Lumine, you don't have to do that. I'll handle this. Come on, Aether. Let's go."
He placed the keys that he was holding into the lock and opened the front doors, holding one long enough for Lumine to follow after them. "Aether, meet me after lunch okay!" She yelled at him; hoping to reach her message across before the doors to discipline closed. She sighed and walked inside the main office, looking behind her. 'I really hope he's gonna be okay in there..!'
Aether stepped into the office with whom he dubbed the "annoying twerp" and sat at a chair in front of an intimidating man glued to his computer. The desk the man was using was scattered with papers and all sorts of pens and pencils. He took a sip from his coffee and set it down, making a soft thud on the wood. He looked away from the screen and greeted Aether face to face. "You need something?" The man asked. Aether turned and got a closer look at the person in front of him. He was tall, with black hair and a white streak coming down. His hair was pointed and resembled that of a wolf's. He looked at the engraved nameplate on the desk.. '...Mr. Wriothesley?' The disciplinarian coughed and Aether's attention was brought back. "Oh, uh…no." He clamped his lips shut and gave the teen a death glare that said, 'you better not say anything.' As if the teen didn't heed the warning at all he whipped out his phone and showed a photo of Aether's wound to the door. "I came here to tell you about this, Mr Wriothesley." He quickly filled him in on the details while Aether looked up at the ceiling, anxiously squirming in his seat. Once he stated everything the teen turned around and went out of his sight. Aether turned his body to see him leaving the room with a smirk on his face. 'I swear when I see you again, I'll–'
"So, Aether. Care to repeat to me what you did again?"
Aether left the office in total dismay, gripping the piece of paper the disciplinarian gave him with rage. "I can't believe this…I can't believe this…" He grumbled quietly over and over. His eyes continuously read what the slip said. 'I have to stay with straight A's for the entire marking period? What kind of punishment is this? This is singlehandedly the weirdest school I've ever heard of. And that twerp takes the cake.' Another huff went by as he searched for his class.
"Excuse me?" Wriothesley took another long sip of his coffee. "You heard me right. Prove to me that you're worth keeping in this school and I'll let this go." "Nonono, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the fact that you'll BOOT ME because of a DOOR..?!' The intimidating man nodded and keenly laughed. "Absolutely! This is a private institution. Do you really think we would waste our time twiddling our thumbs while a delinquent walks these halls? Not even a day and you're already making a mess here.' He takes a coffee stirrer and mixes in a bit more milk into his brew. "Besides, I've seen your track record. We don't want history to repeat itself, do we?' Aether shamefully looked down and stayed silent, crossing his arms. Wriothsely took out a card and scribbled something onto it and handed it to him. "Now don't disappoint me. You may leave."
Once he got to his class after a long maze of hallways his hand hovered over the doorknob hesitantly. "This doesn't even feel like It's worth it.." It opened up and a group of eyes immediately snapped towards him. He walked up to the center of the class and looked around. The teacher stopped the lesson and smiled, reaching out his hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Aether. Welcome to history." "Hello, Mr. Zhongli." He said to him. "Everyone, this is the new transfer student I've told you about. I do encourage you to give him a warm welcome." Aether looked at the class and felt his heart immediately plummet. His face grew cold, then hot; as he saw a familiar face in the middle of the room.
"YOU–" "Now take a seat next to Xiao." As if it were fate, Mr. Zhongli pointed towards an empty spot that was right next to his newfound enemy. "I..I…" He stumbled on his words, confounded with shock. "Is something the matter?" The teacher asked him. Aether shook his head and gripped his cheeks, pulling them down in agony.
"No…not at all…."
