Despite the fine weather of spring slowly stirring beneath the winter chill, every student in Masato's class was languishing in a fit of boredom. The Mathematics tutor, a congenial, soft-spoken man though he was, was mumbling into the whiteboard as he scribbled mysterious signs and symbols onto the surface; he could have been trying to summon a demon for all they knew. Masato yawned, his finger picking restlessly at the dog-eared corner of his textbook.
At least a demon appearance would have been infinitely more interesting.
At the end of the previous week, the class had been promised a new classmate. A boy from abroad, their principal had said. Be kind to him, she'd said. He's a bit different from you; help him out if he needs anything, she'd said.
And so they had all begun the day in a state of tense anticipation, eager for the arrival of new blood. What had she meant by "different"? Did he have a learning disability, or a physical handicap? What did he look like? What kind of personality did he have?
But the first lesson had flown by, then the second, and the third, and by now their excitement had been all but smothered in the droning monotony as time crawled by.
Masato was in the middle of stifling another yawn when the cadence of a solitary set of footsteps sprinted through the empty corridor outside. The sound grew louder and louder, going past the classroom, then halting and turning back, before a being who seemed to be made out of light and radiance burst through the doors of the classroom.
"I'm… I am so… so sorry that I'm late…!" the apparition managed to gasp, bowing under the stare of the forty pairs of wide eyes that gaped across the room at him.
A-angel…?
The teacher was the first to regain his composure. "C–Cardin Rasheville?"
Cardin nodded, still fighting to catch his breath. "Went… wrong classroom… So sorry… So sorry…"
"That's alright. Why don't you take a seat? There's a space…"—he swept his gaze across the room and gestured—"... over there."
He was pointing to the empty desk right next to Masato's.
Masato sat frozen as the angel hurried in his direction, head bowed and face flushed. The golden-haired vision was still trying to get his panting under control as he sat down, met Masato's stare, and flashed Masato a small smile as he put his bag down. "Hi."
"... Hi." Masato hesitated, then flipped his textbook to show the new boy which one they were using, before reopening it and tapping the page number to indicate where the lesson was currently at. He was rewarded with another smile from the angel, wider this time with gratitude.
It was so dazzling that it almost blinded him.
"Thanks."
"... O-okay." Dazed, Masato forced his gaze back to the textbook in front of him, but was unable to concentrate enough to learn anything else for the remainder of the period.
...
Fortunately, the next bell brought with it a recess. Not so fortunately, the recess in turn brought a throng of people around Cardin's desk. The crowd consisted of not just the people within the class; news travelled fast, and several students from other classes were also eager to be acquainted with the resplendent newcomer. Masato barely managed to escape to the canteen to get some food, but Cardin unwittingly found himself holding court with the people who were going to be his schoolmates for the foreseeable future.
"What's your name?"
"Is that your full name? Do you have a middle name?"
"I thought all foreigners have a middle name."
"Is your hair naturally that colour?"
"Are you wearing coloured contacts?"
"Do you have any sisters?"
"Do you play sports?"
"Do you have brothers?"
"Why did you only join mid-term?"
"Where did you study before this?"
"Why did you choose our school?"
"Are you local?"
"He can't be local, look at him!"
"ARE you local?"
"How many languages do you speak?"
"Want to join our club?"
Cardin laughed helplessly, trying not to show how overwhelmed he was as he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender to the barrage of queries. "Um, hi? I'm Cardin. Nice to meet you all."
"Did you just move here?"
"Is that why you joined us at this time?"
"What do your parents do?"
"Uh…" He mentally pulled up the details of the profile he had fabricated with some help from Nigel, Keary, and Mikka. "Um, my parents… travel a lot for work, and they were recently relocated here…"
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Not… that… I know of," Cardin said lamely. Luckily, the crowd seemed to think he was being funny, and laughed. "And of course," he continued, trying to steer the topic away from his family, "I'll be looking to join one of the after-school clubs, so… please be patient with me."
Truth be told, Cardin wasn't sure yet if he would have any time to join a school club. He had taken leave from Café Nim for a couple of weeks, with Nimue's blessing and full support, so that he could settle into the routine of school life, but he couldn't bear to abandon his kind-hearted boss to the ever-growing crowd of customers for too long, and had promised to be back as soon as he could.
And then there was also his other job to attend to…
Another question cut off his thoughts. "Do you live around here?"
"I… Yeah, kind of. Not too far from here. Just a short walk."
"Then why were you so late this morning? Everyone has been dying to meet you!"
Suddenly flustered, Cardin blinked rapidly, stammering, "That… Well, that's because… Um… There were some last-minute things that needed to be settled at home…"
Pink crept over his fair cheeks, and the girl who had asked the question so bluntly quickly received a nudge from an elbow or three to her ribs for putting the beautiful new boy in such a difficult spot. She shrank back in regret.
But it wasn't her question that had made Cardin blush, although he was embarrassed that he had been late on his very first day. He had been supposed to meet the school principal half an hour before the bell rang for the first lesson, so that he could have a quick tour around the campus before being shown to his class.
However, the reason why he hadn't been able to keep the appointment, the real reason why his face was turning a pleasant shade of ripened peach right now, was because he had been held up by a certain someone who had been most unwilling to let him go…
...