After the group assignments, I walked over to the two people who were my group mates. As I approached, I noticed that they were already talking to each other and it seemed they were sitting next to each other.

"I hope we can get along"

I thought as I approached the boy and the girl. Both had simple appearances and nothing too noticeable. The girl had brown hair braided in twin tails style with glasses, and there were some freckles around her face giving her a rather cute appearance. Meanwhile, the boy had the same color hair as the girl in a short cut.

Overall, their appearances were quite simple, quite similar to mine. This made me think that both were probably commoners just like me, although I didn't know why the nobles in this world had distinct hair colors.

"Hello, my name is Ren, I'm one of the members of the group"

I said as I approached the duo.

"And a pleasure, my name is Sena"

Said the girl with a soft smile on her face. After the girl introduced herself, I looked at the boy, and he soon introduced himself as well.

"And a pleasure, my name is Jim"

Said the boy as he extended his hand to me for a handshake. As soon as I shook his hand, I started discussing with both of them about our tasks for the project. In short, I would be responsible for researching the reasons for a war between two countries, while Sena would research if there was any benefit to justify the war.

Jim would be responsible for elaborating on how we would present our work. After discussing all these terms, we arranged to meet periodically in the cafeteria to report on the progress of our research. The week went by normally, where the three of us would meet in the cafeteria periodically and give a report on our work.

"Are you going out somewhere?"

Eric asked as he wrote something in his notebook. From the looks of it, his room also went through something similar to ours.

"I'm meeting someone"

I said ambiguously. Hearing my words, Eric's eyebrow rose, and he turned his gaze to me while keeping a smile on his face.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"With a girl?"

He asked, smiling.

"That's right, I guess you could call it a date"

I said, turning to Eric with a smile on my face. Hearing my words, Eric's smile turned to surprise, and he quickly ran towards me.

"Wait, seriously, who is it?"

Eric asked, looking curious.

"It even looks like I'm going to talk. That would be disrespectful to the other party if I just come out talking"

I said with a smile on my face. Hearing my words, Eric let out a sigh and seemed to accept what I said.

"Well, I guess you are right"

Eric said, looking back at me with a soft smile on his face.

"Anyway, good luck on the meeting"

Hearing Eric's words, a smile appeared on my face.

"Yes, thank you"

After my short conversation with Eric, I left the men's dormitory and started walking towards the place where I arranged to meet Emi. As the weather was cold, I was wearing a jacket along with a scarf. As I walked, I noticed a person sitting on a bench. The silver hair swaying in the wind gave the person a delicate image.

His hands were covered by gloves, and he wore a feminine beret, making the scene almost unreal. As these thoughts went through my head, the person looked at me and waved his hand in greeting.

"Hey"

She said, hearing her voice, I snapped out of my trance and walked towards Emi, who was waiting for me on the bench.

"Sorry for the delay. Did you wait long?"

I asked worriedly. Today was quite cold, and I was afraid she might catch a cold because of me.

"No, I just got here"

She said, shaking her head. After that, we stood in silence for a few seconds. I didn't know how to interact with women, as I had never been in a relationship before. But there was something I wanted Emi to know.

"Uhm..."

I made a noise, trying to pronounce the words, but they got stuck in my mouth just before I could speak. At that moment, I thought it might be too cliché, and Emi must have heard it a lot already. Seeing that I wanted to say something, Emi looked at me with her golden eyes.

"Do you want to tell me something?"

Emi asked, looking at me. Hearing her words, I decided that instead of just putting it away, it would be better to say what I was thinking at the moment. A natural relationship would flow better than one where both sides need to think a lot about what to say.

"It's no big deal. You've probably heard that a lot already, but... you look beautiful in that outfit"

As soon as she heard my words, Emi's eyes widened before she turned around and grabbed her beret.

"Emi, is everything okay?"

I asked, finding her reaction a little confusing.

"I-It's fine... it was just a little windy, so I had to hold onto my beret"

She said, still without turning around.

***

(What was that?)

Asked Emi as she could feel her cheeks warming up. For some reason, hearing Ren's words made Emi's heart race, and she felt her cheeks warm up.

(It's not like I've never heard those words before... why only now?)

For Emi, there was something new in the words that Ren spoke. For the first time in her life, she felt that these words had no ulterior motives or hidden agendas.