Finally, after enduring for 30 minutes, the ceremony was done. Sitting for 30 minutes was not a big deal, but sitting with boredom haunting you was torture. My back was fine but my mind was telling me the opposite.
Anyway, now would be the time to be excited because I would assume that any information available would be unfolded when class started. I looked around the crowd and saw everyone was drained. Well, it was expected. No one wanted to hear the elders of the school talking about how appreciative they were to have us in here for 30 minutes.
Saki was in front of me, so I couldn't see her expression. But her body was slightly deflated, I figured the ceremony was too mundane even for an upbeat person like her.
I tapped her right shoulder and asked, "How was the ceremony?"
"You haven't experienced these right? It has always been like this. Honestly, I had hoped it to be different since the school itself is unique."
"You've been through these a lot, huh? It didn't seem all that boring to me, but looking at everyone, they are telling a different story."
"It's your first time, Hiryu-kun. Anything that is considered a first always has an alleviatory effect or an exaggerated one. It really depends on the situation, but you got the former one, which is super good!"
"In any case, you should be prepared too since this school is full of firsts. I doubt you would get alleviatory effects any time soon though."
"Getting exaggerated effects doesn't regularly mean awful, you know," Saki said.
"I'd rather have alleviation because it couldn't possibly be detrimental, while exaggeration is a double-edged sword."
"Hmm, but you love clashing and battling, I thought you'd love taking risks."
"No. That's totally different. You got it wrong. In batt-," a sudden announcement that came from the principal interrupted me.
"You will be escorted to the classroom by a supervisor, who is standing at the front of your line. Please make sure to move in an orderly fashion," he said.
We were the second to move, so I continued where I left off, "In battle, you have to keep a cool head. I love fighting, but I'm not willing to take any risk that could potentially hurt myself or others. Combat requires both brains and brawn."
"Haha, I could see where that comes from. In practice, no matter how much I came at you, your expression never changed. Just looking at it made me lose the will to fight."
"That's one way to put it. Decreasing an opponent's morale creates a huge advantage."
Saki nodded diligently before averting her eyes to the front. Students in our class were following the supervisor one by one in line. It was like ants marching back to their nests after finding enough nutrients for winter.
We kept walking towards what seemed like an endless hall, exactly similar to Saki's house. I was familiar with it, so I didn't have any complaints. But the others didn't appear to be satisfied at all. Being in another tiring situation wasn't ideal.
The impressions of the academy were changing slowly. No, drastically. After all, it usually only takes one bad action amongst thousands of good actions to paint a notorious image over its face. It is a cruel concept, but it happens all the time. People are more intrigued by the news that has shock value, which mostly affiliates with dreadful accounts.
There are more small concepts that branch from it but you should get the gist. The case here didn't precisely describe the situation then. Still, it came from that notion. It is easy to ruin a reputation, but it is the opposite when building it back up. For me, the excitement still retained, but I couldn't say the same for the rest of the students here.
A moment later, we reached our classroom. We had to line up in front of it for an attendance check. Suddenly, I felt a light tap on my right shoulder. I stopped myself a bit but kept going as I thought it was merely a mistake. But it came again. Maybe someone behind wanted to talk. Why? It had only been less than an hour since we got here, so why would they want to talk?
Unless it was someone I knew, but that was impossible since I had never experienced proper education. The only one I truly knew in my neighborhood was Saki. All others were either younger or older than me, and they were simply acquaintances.
Then I realized I was overthinking it. Possibly, they only wanted to befriend me with a friendly greeting. I wasn't used to it, so I might have overcomplicated the situation. All I needed to do was to respond with an amiable manner for about a minute and then I could go on with my day. Better yet, I could have my first friend in a school environment.
I turned around to see who was it, and to my surprise, it was one of the girls that I exchanged looks earlier on the bus, 'Huh, so she is my classmate.' I was relieved but worried at the same time. Though a familiar sighting would calm me down, it wasn't enough, since we hadn't even talked a word.
"Hey. I figured that I should befriend you sooner or later since we are in the same class, and we knew each other by accident already. Is that okay?"