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Who: The Chitoku inaugural class.
Where: Chitoku campus, various locations.
When: Sunday, April 3, 2022, two days before the start of spring term.
What: The school has opened its doors.

After eight years of careful planning and preparation, the campus of Chitoku Academy for the Gifted was coming alive at last. Helpful staff members had been posted everywhere in anticipation of the crowd, and seemingly every variable had been accounted for in order to make the move-in and initial orientation go as smoothly as possible...

Save, that is, for the weather.

The sky had just opened up on several hundred students and their families. Boxes and suitcases were being hastily hauled to whatever shelter could be found, with the aforementioned helpful staff members now acting as guides to the most convenient locations, and clusters of people seemed to naturally form around them, waiting for the downpour to slacken so the day could proceed.

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Feeling the temperature drop, an chill wind, several complaints about such and such getting wet, and having a few drops hitting her were a few hints to hurry up and get her stuff.

A very helpful staff member had been more than happy to point Haruka towards the dorms with very specific instructions of where to turn and where not to and had even almost flagged down some other students that seemed to be going towards the dorms to give Haruka a hand until the girls had fortunately run on ahead to get out the rain without hearing the teacher call to them. Haruka assured her she'd be fine and that she'd spent the previous few days familiarizing herself with the online map of the school's layout. Even if the online map was pure visual.

Haruka followed the sounds of the crowds and listened for when the girls' voices seemed to split from the guys and into the building. She started following the girls until-

"Ah-"

At some point, the faulty zipper on her bag had started sliding back, causing a gap to form in her bag. It was right then that the gap was big enough that the items that had been crammed into the bag bust out, sending clothes to hit the ground quietly and a few books to hit more solidly.

"Oh dear-"

She turned immediately, tucking her cane under her arm as she felt and gathered her items.

It was only a few seconds before Haruka would no doubt hear a telltale rustle of fabric nearby, with a voice joining it soon after from down near her own level.

"Shikata Haruka. Right?" It was female, and sounded slightly older than most of the rest of the crowd nearby, but not quite old enough to be one of the parents. Whoever she was, though, she was helping pick up Haruka's scattered belongings.

Abruptly, there came a low chuckle from the newcomer's direction. "Heh, I guess this whole situation isn't shikata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai) nai (http://www.matsu-kaze.net/mk/aruiru/) after all."

Haruka turned her head in the direction of the female voice, looking a bit surprised. After a moment though, she laughed at the turn of phrase.

"No, it isn't at all," Haruka replied with a smile. She folded what felt like two balled shirts around her mic, stopping long enough to feel if that felt broken. She'd have to test it later to be sure. Tilting her head slightly, "You know who I am?"

"You're hard to miss. You're the only blind student here."

There was a short pause as the woman turned to gather a couple of books that had skidded a little farther away than the rest. "Ihoji Aya. I'm an assistant to the nursing staff, so knowing that kind of thing is part of my job."

"Really? I didn't notice," Haruka replied easily enough, feeling around until she couldn't find anything else in her immediate area. She had things neatly folded until she promptly shoved them deep into her bag with little care. When she was done, she nodded her head slightly,

"Pleased to meet you then, Ihoji-sensei." She tiled her head slightly again, reminiscent to a dog, and the rain drops started to come more steadily. "Moving day must be hectic if you're out here helping out too."

Aya slid her collected stack of items over a little more sharply than was entirely necessary, expecting that the sound would be enough for Haruka to notice.

"Hey, no need for the sarcasm." She was audibly annoyed. "This place has plenty of people who're out of the ordinary. It wouldn't be totally unreasonable... well, whatever," she huffed. "I'm here in case there's an accident. Lots of people gather, things happen."

Haruka noted the sound and reached for the stack. She initially reached too far right but caught it as she swept left. These two disappeared into the bag with much shoving and finicking to get it all and make it stay in.

"Sorry. I'll adjust snark levels in the future," she replied. Looking genuinely interested, "Like what?"

"People slip and fall, get allergy attacks, bee stings--all kinds of little stuff. And someone's gotta be around to take care of it." There was a sound nearby of some kind of crinkly fabric shifting; Aya was probably fortunate enough to be wearing a coat.

"Ishichi-sensei's busy with last-minute stuff, so us peons are all out here helping out."

"Sounds sucky," Haruka said succinctly with a nod. Looking skyward, she seemed to think on something, "So in a story that makes you the underpaid heroine? The one no one notices or just writes off as another school nurse but the one running to the aid of students, catching them as they fall, fighting against the bee sting conspiracy, battling stormy weather, and helping the klutzy blind."

"Hah!" The sharp bark of a laugh garnered a couple of funny looks, which Aya brushed off. "Not far off. Just switch out 'underpaid' for 'unpaid'. But hey, the rest of it's going to be worth the hassle, so Ishichi-sensei says."

Finally, she stood up and brushed herself off, then offered a hand to Haruka--before realizing what she was doing and sticking it in her pocket to cover her embarrassment. "You good from here? Not a lot of Braille around, but the elevator's got it, anyway."

"Unpaid? Wow, the suck keeps coming..." She looked sympathetic though.

Haruka crammed in the last of her items and pushed down on the bag to force it to close enough so she could zip it back up. "I will be." She shrugged and grunted as the zipper kept being stubborn. Her brows burrowed and she jiggled it and pulled until it gave a satisfying zip. "If I get lost I'll start looking like a sad lost puppy until someone comes to help me out."

Here Mirai, in the playful way he was used to, slipped inside the crowd of girls heading into their dorm. Their voices were high and low, and constant in their talking. He glanced around the rabble, and began to feel like he would be unnoticed because of all this noise that filled the lobby.

He watched a girl struggle with her bag, holding a door open with her side first, and then pushing the bag along the floor with a foot. Then she grabbed it with both hands and the door closed and the ritual began anew. He began to feel like he should make his presence known. He leaned forward and used his foot to wedge open the door.

"Hello there. Do you need help?"

Aya had stuck around to deal with the (inordinate, she thought) number of students and groups who needed direction--but when she heard the voice of an odd man out (literally), she cut off a conversation with a nervous-looking third year who had apparently never been away from home to take care of the situation.

"Whoa there, bucko. Wrong dorm. Sugi's that way." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the boys' dorm. "It's a tough mistake to make. I'm kind of impressed."

Mirai held open the door as the girl passed through it 'thank you!' with increasing joviality. His smile then became somewhat straight and he adopted a remorseful tone. "Sorry. I don't think much of letting people struggle, sensei."

The sound of his voice was attracting a few passing glances. He bowed lightly and went to go back outside. He had no intention of losing his audience. A seed or something had been planted now that people had seen him, and they would talk and the curious would seek him eventually.

Meanwhile, Haruka was following still following the rushing sounds of girls. It was coming down harder now so more people were running for cover and there was less voices to follow. Though Haruka hurried up faster at first, her bag rolling behind her, she slowed when she realized she was pretty much soaked now anyway.

Her long hair stuck to her face and she took her time now, feeling carefully with her cane. There was less people around but the ground felt slipperier.

Her cane lightly hit something. Considering it was the middle of the path and how it felt, she turned her head to the person and bowed slightly as she said, "Sorry, my bad."

To which Mirai replied, "Well, it's not a problem."

From the look on his face, it was apparent that he had been caused some amount of shock. He squashed it down and replaced it with a small but nice smile. But it caught his notice that he wasn't even in her attention, and then even he realised that something was up. He stirred quietly, opened a pair of curious, watchful eyes, and watched.

"You must be heading to the girl's dorm. You're going the wrong way, you realise?"

She looked a bit surprised. She tried to remember where she'd been walking and compared it to the mental map in her head and where she'd heard the other girls walking.

She frowned for a moment, then said,

"Darn. Which direction should I be going in, Sensei?"

He had a deep enough voice for it.

There was a few moments of peace for Mirai to enjoy his title. He rolled the sound of it on his tongue. He was used to being mistaken for an older man now. He could have set people straight, but he of course did not reveal anything so undramatic and true. The emotion in his eyes grew distant and dark and out of sight,

"I can direct you to Yanagi - if you want. You were heading the right way. You were just a little off the beaten path."

Haruka tilted her head slightly.

"Huh. Felt like the middle of the road." She seemed to regard this a moment longer before continuing, "Sure. Which way?"

Mirai turned and waved a hand over his shoulder - he would have looked like a teacher no matter what he was doing. He was tucking the student card into the gap between the buttons of his shirt and walking slowly. He shot a curious glance back at the blind girl.

"It's back here. I think you might have to slow down in a while. It's quite crowded."

"'Kay." She nodded and following, shoes starting to slosh as she walked. She guesstimated how far ahead he was compared to her and her guess was fairly accurate. She ended up trailing a short distance behind and beside him before slowing down.

"That many people still out?"

"Enough so that they threw me out to come help the stragglers at the back of the herd," Mirai said.

He slowed down again so the girl could catch up. He could see how people might want to ask questions of her all day, but be unable to see past her blindness. But how fortunate he was to have all her attention to himself.

"Baaah," Haruka bleeted with a slight smile. She slowed down a bit more when her foot almost slipped, but nodded.

"Sucky. So said Ihoji-sensei. Unpaid and unappreciated huh?"

Mirai shook the rain off his umbrella. "Well, my life can be hard. I am sure an improvement will occur." He held it back a little, invitingly. "You don't have an umbrella or a hood, poor thing. Would you care to shelter from the rain?"

"A bit like closing the door after the tornadoes gone by," Haruka replied, gesturing to her appearance: long wet hair sticking to her face, neck and shoulders; her clothing completely soaked and stuck to her (though nothing indecent, save the tank top straps peeking near her neck); water sloshing from her shoes; and water dripping from everywhere all over her. However,

"But sure. Why not?"

She stepped closer, until she started feeling drops hitting her less. She tilted her head again, head turned right in Mirai's direction.

"Though in another story, this would be fulfilling a pretty inappropriate trope."

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