The next morning, Elric and Ember got ready to head off to class. The college was only roughly fifteen minutes of walking away, so the duo didn't need to take Peliston's car to head there.
Their family home was in a good spot in the city, and many of the surrounding buildings were similar houses or apartment buildings largely inhabited by other college students.
Just like before she went up on stage previously, Ember looked a bit nervous.
"Elric, you seem really good at it, how can I make new friends here? Almost everyone I know stays back home… I hardly know anyone here."
The young man shrugged, then pointed at the tin of cookies that they'd prepared.
"Just be yourself, that's plenty enough. Now, those cookies will definitely help, too. No one can resist a bribe of cookies."
It had been a bit of a struggle for the couple to not munch through their freshly-created stash of 'bribes', but they managed in the end.
After confirming that they had everything they might need was packed into their bags, the duo headed for the door.
Outside, the morning sun cast long, boxy shadows off the apartments down the street, shading the clean sidewalks.
They could immediately see other people coming out from their residences to head to school, and after a short while walking, Elric grabbed onto Ember's hand and started running forward.
Not expecting it, Ember nearly tripped and face-planted into the ground, but Elric managed to pause in time to catch her.
"Sorry! I've got some friends over there, I'll introduce you to them."
The duo was close enough, and Elric's group of friends turned back to walk over to them.
"Yo, Elric."
Releasing Ember's hand, Elric reached up and gave the incoming dude a high-five.
There were three boys and two girls in the group, and Elric gave all of them high-fives as they walked up.
Seeing that it must be some kind of local greeting between friends, Ember bit at her lip. Should she join in, too?
She didn't have enough time to make up her mind before one of the dudes turned to her.
"So, she a long-lost sister or something?"
The dude extended a hand, offering to shake her hand.
"Hello, M'lady. The name's Roth, but you can call me whatever you like.~"
Elric lightly slapped the dude's shoulder when he smirked and winked at Ember.
"Piss off, man. You know I don't have any sisters."
Elric paused for a second as he remembered something.
He took a few steps back, then cleared his throat and started speaking in the most mid-western American accent he could manage.
"This here's the new model, with double the horsepower as before."
Elric moved his hand like he was slapping the roof of a car, but patted Ember's head lightly instead.
"This puppy can carry two dead bodies! And look! She can sing, too!"
Ember had no idea what was going on, but based on Elric's hand repeatedly patting her head, she realized she was probably supposed to say something.
"Aaaaaa…"
Elric's group of friends who were already struggling to hold their laughter started to lose their composure.
Elric coughed into his hand, then squatted down in front of Ember.
"The engine noise is a bit weird, but fear not! She's got new tires!"
Elric slapped his hand against Ember's clean new pair of walking shoes, which she had acquired from West's clothing shop.
When Elric stood back up, his face looked a bit red, and he reached an arm around Ember's shoulders.
"Sorry, I lost a bet before."
While gripping his stomach and trying to keep his laughter in, Roth questioned the truth of the situation.
"Bro… is this girl really your girlfriend?"
The young man nodded proudly.
"Yep! I told you not to underestimate me. This is Ember, please be friends with her, she only recently moved here for school."
Now that he knew who Ember was to Elric, Roth looked the girl up and down once more.
"Hm, you better not try to screw Ely-boy here over. That car-salesman introduction is reserved for only people we're really interested in."
A more serious expression surfaced on Ember's slightly red face as she nodded.
No matter what, she wouldn't hurt Elric!
Now that the introductions were out of the way, the entire group continued walking toward the college again, chatting about their upcoming classes as they traveled.
A few of them had the same classes as Elric, and Roth had the first class of the day with both Ember and Elric. Most of them were sophomores or juniors, so many of their classes were more specialized ones that the first-year Ember wouldn't be taking.
Elric himself only had two of his five classes with her.
The group started splitting up as they entered the campus, and as Elric's trio reached the first classroom, he saw a somewhat familiar face.
Cassie, the nursing aide/hotel worker was leaning against the wall outside of the classroom, a tired look in her eyes.
"Yo… Your name was Elric, right?"
Seeing Ember standing close to him, she tried to wipe away her exhaustion and smiled.
"Nice, looks like the two of you are still together!"
'Alright, Ember, this is your chance! I think I have a bunch of classes with this girl, she is perfect to be a friend! High five, cookie… which is best?'
After a moment, she popped a cookie out of the tin, then walked over to Cassie, raising her other hand into the air.
"High five!"
"Huh? Why… but sure."
Ember internally patted herself on the back as her hand slapped against the other girl's hand, and she held out the cookie a moment later.
"Ah… want to be friends?"
"Sure! I don't have a lot of time to hang out, though. I need to work."
Ember pumped her fist when she heard Cassie's acceptance.
Elric's advice had worked perfectly! Being straightforward and bribing the other party truly worked!