Rising Star, Part One

{Professor Zhang}

Well, this is surprising. 

Just a moment ago, I walked into the faculty room for our usual daily meeting. Which, over the last week, has basically just been Professor Chen and Professor Sato's daily opportunity to vent about how awful Akari Nakamura had been the day prior. 

Naturally, I'm a little surprised to see that we've got some guests this morning. Sitting right next to the door, almost like she was positioned in such a way as to prevent anyone from coming in or escaping, is a woman who certainly does not belong to Crescent Moon's faculty. 

She has long, wild black hair and icy, light blue eyes. Her gaze is sharp and I watch as it bounces from each of the professors, one by one, all the way up to me, where it lingers. 

[Ah, shit,] I think to myself, trying to put on a polite smile. [What's she doing here?] 

"Ah, Professor Zhang," she says, smirking. "I'm glad to see you again."