The time shortly passed as the sun cast its sunlight over the entire empire. The sound of morning birds singing their melodies lingered vibrantly as the empire grew talkative.
"Mother, can we see the undergraduates today as you promised?" a young child asked while holding their mother's hand.
The young woman glanced down at her son as her long black hair fell to her side. She smiled calmly and said, "All right… As I promised…"
The young mother walked forward with her young son as they watched many of the undergraduates walk out of a massive traditional Chinese dormitory that was surrounded by large walls and massive wooden doors with their academy education seminar uniforms.
Dazzled by the undergraduates' appearances, the young boy began to wave his hand at them as they walked down towards a large bridge and towards the city that surrounded a massive building. Many of the young undergraduates waved at the young boy, leaving him smiling as they hurried away towards the building.
Turning back to his mother, the young boy stated with sparkles in his eyes, "Mother, did you see that?! They waved at me!!"
The young woman laughed at her son before responding, "Yes, I saw everything…"
Not before long, the sound of footsteps hustling ahead of them was heard. The young woman glanced forward as her son turned around to see a group of older teens waiting on the side. With her eyes widening, she clasped her hands against her mouth and thought, "That's…"
"Ryuu, hurry or we'll be late to see Tsuyoshi and the others arrive!!" a female voice exclaimed from within the group of teens.
A tall teenager rushed out of the massive wooden doors that remained open. His dull silverish white hair rustled in the wind with his undone tie as his golden yellow eyes flickered at the group of teens. Tightening his tie, a young girl stood in front of him in her uniform as her back remained facing the young mother and her son. Her long dark purple hair that had streaks of vibrant light purple color that faded together towards her tips brushed through the wind as her hair remained tied to the right side of her scalp.
"What's the rush, Yumi? They won't be here just yet," Ryuu responded to the girl.
The girl turned away, revealing her mystic purple and aqua blue heterochromia eyes. Sighing, she walked towards the group of teens as if they were huddling on the side. Seeing six of the teens standing around, a young girl with black hair and amethyst purple eyes stepped forward as she had a smile on her face with a tint of blush on her cheeks.
"There's no need to rush, Tsuyoshi and his team should be arriving soon…" she said calmly.
Yumi glanced over to the woman and stated, "Do you know when he's arriving, Sakura?"
Nodding to Yumi, Sakura turned to the rest of the others. A young man with black hair with orange eyes stepped forward as a woman with long black hair that faded into a blue tint of color with a few white hair streaks as well as large fluffy fox ears and a black tail stood beside him.
He looked down at the woman as she raised her head, revealing her Egyptian blue and emerald green eyes as she had blue whisker marks on her cheeks. Another male individual stepped forward with his brownish blonde hair as his bright green eyes trailed to Ryuu. A young woman stepped out from behind him as she had long light brown tan hair that had faded into a lighter brown color as her eye sockets held silver and mint green heterochromia eyes.
She asked, "Shall we get going?"
Sakura nodded her head, however, turned towards the young man with orange eyes and asked, "Sadao, where's Mamoru?"
Sadao responded, "He left before we even woke up."
"Visiting the memorial park I presume," the young woman beside him said.
Sakura frowned at her response as everyone else went silent. "It really has been a year since then…" she muttered.
Yumi walked forward towards the team and asked, "Since we are getting our new recruit today, why don't we celebrate it and give them a warm welcome? It'd be nice to do so for our new recruit."
Sadao glanced over to the woman standing alongside him. With a smile, he asked, "Do you think that'd be a good idea, Yuka?"
With her tail brushing side to side, Yuka glanced at him before responding, "That'd be a good idea,"
Turning to face the team, Yuka continued, "Sakura and I can show the new recruit around while you guys get everything situated. Yui and Yumi should be able to do the preparations along with Akihiro and Ryuu. Sadao and Mamoru can also go ahead and gather the other teams after sessions are done for the day."
Yui smiled at Yuka's response and stated, "Yumi and I can also get the food while you guys are out. It won't take long to cook the food."
The team agreed to the welcoming celebration for their new recruit. Walking together as they crossed the bridge, Akihiro glanced to the side, seeing the young boy dazzled by their appearances as well as his mother.
Yui followed his eyes, seeing the two before raising her hand towards them with a smile with Akihiro. A small mint green ray of light trailed out from Yui's fingertips and around the two as if it was dancing around them. The ray of light vanished into thin air in front of the two, forming into a mint green Chinese chrysanthemum pulp in front of the young boy. Yuka turned to face the young boy, seeing Yui's flower pulp slowly bloom in front of the young boy.
Extending her hand towards them, water droplets rose out from within the river beneath them and assisted the pulp. They watched the young boy fluster in shyness as he received the flower that blossomed just in front of him. The two smiled and let out a small giggle before turning away and proceeding with the team as they headed towards the educational seminar building.
The sound of the wind chimes ringing from all around flowed within the wind throughout the city. In the memorial park, a young man remained standing alone in front of a headstone that had the name of Mayumi Kamaki carved on it.
Listening to the wind chimes singing from the city, the young man turned away from the headstone as a pink Chinese peony rested in front of it. Walking down the staircase that led up to the memorial park, a sudden gust of wind brushed through the area, brushing his brown hair to the side.
A strong sweet fragrance of a plum and lotus flower blew in the wind around him. Not recognizing the fragrance, he slowly came to a stop just when a bright red lotus petal blew in front of him.
Shocked, his blue eyes followed the petal that drifted further away into the sky before it drifted down the staircase in front of him. He soon followed by continuing his walk down the staircase as many of the undergraduates of the educational seminar came to view.