Chapter 34 – First Day of School (2)

Rain makes his way to the Academy cafeteria after his orientation, hoping to try his first full meal there. When he arrives, his body immediately tenses in anxiety.

'There are way too many people here...'

Indeed, it looks as though a large portion of the current student body had similar inclinations as Rain. He silently curses his slightly shorter stature as he tries to spot the line for the buffet over the swirling mass of heads. As he does, he spots a familiar blonde girl moving through the crowd in front of him with purpose. Rain instinctively rolls his eyes...it's Ronin. 

However, he's also strangely...transfixed...by her movement through the crowd. Watching her move fills him with intense sensations of both awe and discomfort, but he struggles for several moments to determine why. Eventually, it dawns on him.

'She's not touching anyone...'

Once he makes that realization, her movements become much more unsettling to him. The cafeteria is absolutely teeming with people, all moving around erratically. He thinks it's completely unrealistic to navigate the crowd without bumping and brushing against people repeatedly. But that's exactly what Ronin is doing. 

What's more, there doesn't seem to be any hesitation at all to her movements. He can see people all throughout the large room suddenly redirecting themselves periodically, frantically trying to avoid other people that randomly appear in front of them as they navigate the crowd. But not her...her eyes seem to be staring far away, and every movement she makes seems like part of one uninterrupted motion. There's no redirections – no doubling back or changing paths – she's just always in the exact place she needs to be to miss touching anyone while still moving towards her goal. 

'So...fucking...creepy...'

Shaking off the eerie sensation from watching her movements, Rain begins making his way to the buffet line. As he does, he tries to imitate Ronin's movements on a whim. The longer he tries, the more unsettled he becomes by what he witnessed. He finds the task just as insurmountable as he thought it would be. Eventually, he gives up and just forces his way through the crowd. 

Half an hour later, he has a massive plate of food, a satisfied smile on his face, and none of his lingering apprehension from dealing with Ronin. He's walking through the now less crowded room, looking for an empty table to grab a seat at. Unfortunately, there aren't any in sight. As he continues scanning the room anxiously, he hears a girl's voice call out from nearby. 

"Hey, you!"

He glances towards the sound out of curiosity about who would be yelling so obnoxiously like that, and he spots the source of the voice, two tables over. It's a girl with long, wavy, dark brown hair and green eyes, and a beaming, white smile. Seeing her, Rain's a bit startled. First, because the girl is...insanely beautiful. Despite sensing that she's only a Champion, Rain feels confident that she gives Bright a run for her money in the looks department.

The girl also has a kind of...superficial...vibe about her. Rain sometimes got to watch old movies at the orphanage that followed high school students' lives before the world went to shit, and this girl just strikes him as the archetypical 'prom queen'. He'd be shocked if she didn't have a spoiled childhood. However, the second thing about the girl that startles Rain is...she appears to be staring at him. 

'Is she yelling at...me?'

Directing a dumbfounded expression towards her, he points a finger at himself questioningly. She smiles more widely and gives him an emphatic series of nods. Blinking in confusion, Rain reluctantly navigates his way over to her table. As he approaches it, he notices about ten people are already seated there, leaving a couple of empty seats.

There's something strange about the rest of them, though...they're all incredibly handsome dudes. Scanning his eyes over the guys at the table, most of them seem to be eating absentmindedly as they cast adoring glances at the singular girl. Rain makes an incredulous expression. 

'Somebody's certainly popular...'

Rain arrives in front of the girl, who is still giving him a dazzling smile. He tries to return a polite, if awkward, smile of his own. 

"Uhm...hi...you called?"

The girl's smile transitions into an amused one, and Rain thinks he sees a glint of mischief in her emerald green eyes, but it's gone so fast that he's left unsure. She leans her head to the side playfully as she chuckles, her fingers playing with a strand of her wavy, brown hair. 

"I did! You seem like you're looking for a place to eat, and we just happen to have a couple of seats left. It's like fate wanted me to meet you, don't you think?"

'That feels like...a stretch in logic...'

However, Rain has no desire to say that out loud. He needs to try and be on good terms with as many students as possible here, and even an introvert like him can tell that this girl is the perfect gateway to that goal. So, he just smiles politely at her and responds with a lighthearted tone. 

"How thoughtful of fate, then, to look out for me like that. I'd be happy to sit with you all..."

The girl's expression becomes pleased, and she gestures to one of the seats near the corner of the table, across from her. He smiles appreciatively and takes a seat, then begins happily digging into his food. As he does, he casts a cursory glance around the table. He's once again a little unnerved to see so many handsome guys at the table, who all seem to be borderline obsessively staring at the girl. Well, all for one of them. 

Directly across the table from Rain, only a couple of seats over from the girl, there's a guy with sandy blonde hair and light brown eyes. Like the others, he is devastatingly handsome – a little on the tall side, lean but muscular, with a kind of pretty boy face that Rain would have felt compelled to throw something at pre-Marking. Unlike the others, however, he doesn't seem infatuated with the girl. Instead, he's...normal...just eating his food with a thoughtful expression. 

When Rain sits down, Normal Guy spares him a curious glance. Then, he cuts his eyes at the girl with a look that's almost...admonishing. He speaks to her in an exasperated tone. 

"Tess...come on. Don't you have enough guys fawning over you? Give it a rest, this is ridiculous."

The girl, presumably named Tess, doesn't even spare eye contact for Normal Guy. Instead, she's got her chin resting on her hand as she watches...Rain. There's a curious smile on her face, and she seems to be studying him intently. Since he's eating, that realization is...uncomfortable. Tess eventually responds to Normal Guy, still not sparing him a glance. 

"Relax, Niklaus, all I did was offer him a seat at our table. He happily accepted the invitation, with no insistence from me being necessary. Besides, he's not like everyone else here, can't you tell? Look at his eyes...so pretty!"

Sighing heavily at her response, Normal Guy – aka Niklaus – gives a very sympathetic look to Rain. Then, he takes another annoyed look at Tess. 

"Why do I find that hard to believe, hmm? Also, for the millionth time...don't call me that, you know I hate it. Just call me Nik."

Rain continues eating his plate of hot food happily, content to watch the quarrel between the two play out. However, Tess, who still hasn't taken her unnerving gaze off him, has other ideas. Flashing an overly polite smile, she directs a sweet voice at Rain. 

"So, Pretty Eyes, are you going to tell us your name? I'm Tess, and that's Nik, as you may have heard."

Swallowing his food and chasing it with a sip of water, he returns a small smile towards her before responding. 

"Hi Tess and Nik, I'm Rain. Nice to meet you. And...uhm...what about the rest of you?"

His eyes swivel around the table to the eight other guys, trying to catch their gazes for an introduction. However, they all seem completely oblivious...to everything. It's like the only thing they can see or hear is Tess. Only some of them are even eating. Rain feels a cold shiver run down his spine at the eerie observation. Before he can ask about them again, though, Tess quickly interjects, grabbing his attention. She flashes him a flirtatious smile, and her voice grows even sweeter.

"Rain, what a pretty name! Say...Rain...are you the one who arrived here yesterday, with that silver-haired, Demigod bombshell? What was she doing with you? I haven't seen her around since."

Rain feels a trace of apprehension over the question, for two reasons. First, he and Bright were only briefly in public view together, in the atrium, and he's almost certain that Tess was not around at the time. Second, regardless of how and why she's asking him this, he doesn't want to get a reputation as an orphan. Ronin was a serious slip-up on his part, but thankfully, she doesn't seem the gossiping type.

He doesn't want to seem too exceptional in any way, but he also can't seem helpless, and that's exactly what people will assume about an orphan. Having too weak of a reputation will hurt his chances in the Crucible. 

'Outright lying or telling the truth is probably not a great idea, so...deflect with an obvious joke? Maybe take a lighthearted dig at Tess while I'm at it, so she'll change the subject.'

He smiles absentmindedly, as though he just remembered something. 

"Oh, yeah, that's my girlfriend. I guess you would remember the only girl around here that's better looking than you."