”Doubt kills more dreams
Than failure ever will.”
As the two new students began to make their introductions, it was impossible for Iphianassa to hide her interest. She tried to keep her gaze fixated on the textbook, despite not actually reading anything that the words said, but couldn’t help herself from flicking her eyes up towards the front every few seconds. The cotton candy girl went first, introducing herself as Kazumi and enthusiastically offering a few things about herself to the classroom. At least she seemed to have a decent head on her shoulders, unlike most of the babbling buffoons that she called her classmates. Most of the girls were practically drooling over the new boy, and a majority of the guys were doing the same, only over the new girl. Unable to suppress it, Iphignea rolled her eyes, a common action for her to do when she was annoyed. She snorted a bit in amusement, earning her a couple of distasteful looks from the group of girls sitting closest to her as they babbled noisily about how cute the new boy was and who had the best chance of dating him. As if that really mattered.
Leaning back in her seat, she crossed her arms and her legs, decided to just own up to the fact that she was a bit interested in the new students. The professor was right when saying it was abnormal for them to have new students at this time of the year, but what he failed to mention was that it was abnormal for them have new students period. Akita was very small for the setup that it had, and she was lucky that they had their own private university attached to the high school and elementary school as well as the preschool. If not for that, she wouldn’t have been able to attend university at all. It was worth the fact that she was stuck with the same classmates that she had been going to school with over the last decade and then some.
At least the teachers were understanding of her history and had so far respected her boundaries when it came to certain things, most specifically gym class when required to swim and change in the locker rooms. She was given extra time over everyone else to leave class early before physical education, that way she could change without the risk of any of the other girls seeing. That, and she was allowed to come in after school hours for her annual sports physical, as well as any swimming tests and participation they were required to complete.
When it was the boy’s turn to speak, Iphianassa felt herself straighten a bit in interest before she caught herself and forced herself to hunker down slightly once more, arms still crossed in an attempt to show disinterest instead. As soon as he spoke, however, she felt herself go still at the sound. It was like liquid honey slowly dripping from a wooden spoon, oozing over her ears with a golden radiance and softness that rang with tranquility and warmth. Something about his voice made it so that she couldn’t help but relax, and before she knew what she was doing, her eyes were almost closed, as though the gentle lull of it were putting her to sleep. She was jerked out of this reverie, however, by his sister’s sudden outburst, and when she met the ruby gaze of the cotton candy girl, she felt her cheeks flush a light pink, something that was completely abnormal for her. It was generally very difficult for anyone to get under her skin, let alone embarrass her, but she felt the sensation nonetheless and quickly averted her gaze, her hand raising to slightly hide her face in an attempt to keep the blush from being seen. She knew it was too late, however, and that the Kazumi girl had seen her reaction to her words, and Iphignea cursed slightly under her breath. She didn’t spend the last decade and almost half keeping everyone except her adoptive family and Reiya at a distance just for these two kids to show up and try to disrupt that. She’d be damned if they somehow managed to get under her skin.
When the boy Natsuo slid out a quick retort to his sister’s announcement, Iphignea turned her face back slightly to look over at the two. The girl Kazumi looked ready to explode, but before she could, the professor slid in. Iphignea was forced to swallow down a laugh, but the smirk of amusement remained on her lips. The smirk was quickly wiped away, however, when the new girl quickly made her way over to the seat beside Iphignea. Of course she would pick the empty seats beside her, because why wouldn’t she. Groaning softly yet not very audibly, Iphignea turned back to her textbook, attempting to look enthralled with what she was reading. Being a social outcast definitely had its perks, and she had perfected the art of such, but it also had its cons; its cons being that the only available seats in the classroom were around her, as the other students tended to give her a wide berth. So of course these new, odd students would have to sit beside her, because where else would they sit?
As the girl neared her, Iphignea felt the hairs on her arms stand up once more. While it was very similar to the sensation of being watched, this was different - unnatural. Pausing, she turned her gaze up to the girl as she made herself comfortable, her mesmerizing eyes scrutinizing. There was something off about the two new students, and she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. The only other times she ever had this happen was when she was performing ceremonies at the temple or assisting one of the locals with banishing a spirit from their property, or when she was doing a tarot reading that ultimately would turn up to be accurate. She would have to keep an eye on these new students, because something wasn’t right with them, and while she respected other’s privacy enough to not dig into the two, she would definitely keep her guard up.
It was then that the boy passed by her desk, having followed his sister rather closely. The sensation that followed was the same, but was accompanied by the feeling that she was being watched. As he passed, she turned her face up slightly towards him, their eyes meeting again. The same electricity that she felt the first time crackled in the air between them, and she felt her breath hitch slightly in surprise at the intensity of his gaze and of the feelings that immediately began to swell within her. Her heart once more sped up and she felt an odd stirring in the pit of her stomach, almost like before she would go on a ride at the amusement park with Reiya. Was this excitement, nervousness, or something else? She didn’t know, and she also didn’t know if she liked it all that much.
Quickly turning her face down again - she seemed to be doing that a lot today - she pressed her hand to her chest and forced herself to slow her breathing, calling on her years of meditation to help ground herself. As soon as the two new students were seated, the professor fixated a look on Iphignea, causing her to peer back-up at him wearily. Her eyes widened slightly as she could see where he was clearly going with the look, and before she could stop him, a devilish smile crossed his lips.
“Aha - seeing as you all will be spending so much time near one another, I just had a glorious idea,” he said, the same conniving grin on his face as before. “Our dear and beloved Iphianassa I’m sure would be more than happy to give you two a tour of the academy. Consider her to be your own personal helper for the next week - if you need anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask her.”
Iphignea felt her face heat up, but this time it was with annoyance, and she glared at the professor. ”Aw, come on, Professor Iyoto, do I really-” The professor cut her off quickly, before she could get any more words out. “Yes, really, you do have to. Consider it your punishment for skipping out on cleaning duty last week,” he smirked, his arms crossed in a mocking way. Unable to argue with him, she sighed in defeat before leaning back into her seat once more. The professor dropped his arms and went to his desk before continuing. “As for what we’re going to be doing today, I would like to spend the next twenty-to-thirty minutes focused on independent group work. Pair off into groups of four, and afterward, we will continue with our lessons from last week. Consider this a good opportunity to catch up on any homework or studying you haven’t completed, as well as to individually ask me any questions about anything you may not have understood over the course so far. As for our new little group of musketeers in the back,” he said, looking pointedly over at Iphignea, Kazumi, and Natsuo, “I would like for you three to take the opportunity to get to know each other, as you all will be spending quite a bit of time together on projects, seeing as you’re seated so closely to one another. Also, once he arrives, Kenta Hamaski will be joining your group, as he’s the next closest in seating to you three, so Iphignea, I’m putting you in charge of ensuring that he is caught up to pace when he gets here.”
Letting out a long and very audible groan of annoyance, especially at being paired with that egotistical and cocky airhead Hamaski, Iphignea once more rolled her eyes before submitting to the fact that she didn’t have a choice in any of this. Slapping her textbook closed, she slid that and her notebook back into her bag, before turning in her seat to face the two new kids. Obviously attempting to keep her eyes off of the Natsuo boy, as looking at him brought up things that she couldn’t quite control, she started off with fixating her gaze on the Kazumi girl. A bit awkwardly, as she wasn’t really the social type of person that their professor was clearly trying to force her to be, she introduced herself.
”Well, as you’ve probably already gathered, I’m Iphianassa, but most people-” she found amusement in that statement, as most people referred to the very seldom few who actually spoke to her, ”-most people just call me Iphignea. It’s a lot shorter and easier to say, so feel free to call me whatever. I know my name can be a mouthful.” When she felt eyes on her and looked over to see their professor pointedly looking at her, and could tell that while their classmates were definitely working, they were also very obviously interested in listening to her conversation with the beautiful new students, she sighed and continued on. ”Um, I guess I should tell you something about myself then? Although, I’m really not that interesting, so I’m not sure what you would want to know, exactly,” she ended on a mutter. Gathering herself, though, she finished her introduction. ”I guess I could tell you that I live in a series of temples that are owned by my family - er, adoptive family - and I assist with the duties and ceremonies there. I also like to swim, as well as anything involving physical activity. I like spicy food, and I really enjoy being outside in the fresh air, especially in the summertime, and weirdly enough, I enjoy bird watching. Something about how freeing it is to watch them fly away, with their ability to go literally anywhere, I guess, or something cheesy like that,” she said, feeling immensely uncomfortable and awkward telling these random people such random facts about herself. Letting out a breathy, awkward laugh, she gave Kazumi a slightly nervous smile. ”Sorry, I’m not really good at this whole show-and-tell thing. As you could probably tell from the lack of people sitting near me, I’m not exactly what you could call popular,” she said, using her fingers to put air quotes around the last word.