Elias flinched in his seat, slightly startled by the sudden arrival of the soft and sonorous voice. However, after the initial surprise, he slowly relaxed his shoulders, before turning his head towards the speaker with a relaxed smile.

He had already figured out the identity of the individual behind him, as both the melodious voice and subtle scent of spring cologne in the air could only be characteristic of one person throughout his class year.

That was why he wasn't too surprised when he took in the image of the delicate teenage girl standing behind him, a girl who was his only other personal acquaintance within the whole academy aside from Damien.

Aamiya stood facing Elias, a soft smile plastered on her face as her fair and slender hands gently ran over the fur of a fluffy white cat in her arms. Her lake blue eyes twinkled like rippling starlight, perfectly complimented by her long flowing hair which fell over her shoulders like soft running water.

Her delicate pink hair was styled into a formal bun, firmly held in place by her signature swan-shaped silver hairpin. Her current hairstyle made her look a lot more formal and sophisticated, granting a touch of subtle maturity to her already elegant and youthful demeanor.

She was currently dressed in the academy's student female uniforms, further accentuating the formal look and making her style appear much more reserved than it usually was.

The uniform seemed to fit her aesthetics perfectly, as the girl popularly known as The Silver Swan of Loral Lake seemed to bring out its hidden charms much more than any other student.

Elias turned to look at Damien, sighing helplessly at the vast difference between his and the young lady's aesthetic choices.

After receiving a look of confusion from his childhood friend, Elias turned back to the young lady, ignoring Damien and finally returning her greetings.

"Good morning, Miss Aamiya. Fancy running into you today."

The young lady smiled softly, before moving to occupy the space beside him like it was the most natural thing to do.

"Please, just call me Aamiya. We are already acquainted, so no need to be so formal."

Elias was slightly confused, not understanding why she had abruptly decided to change her sitting position. He looked towards Damien with a questioning gaze, to which the latter shrugged dismissively as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

Elias sighed once again, before turning back towards Aamiya with a casual and polite smile.

The young lady settled into her seat with graceful poise, her posture elegant and light, as would be expected from a lady of noble bearing and background.

She placed a white silk scarf across her legs, its style and texture communicating just how expensive it must have been to purchase. Her sleeping pet was gently placed on her lap, making Elias assume that she was only using this high-quality scarf as a makeshift blanket for the cat.

Elias mentally estimated how much the scarf could have been cost, with his approximate coming out to around ninety to a hundred Nell. This was more than half the amount currently available to Elias, causing the young man to feel quite helpless.

This young lady, who was basically the same age as him, had spent more than half of his entire net worth on a scarf, making him feel quite dejected.

Elias slowly shook his head, imagining how nice it must have been to be that rich. He slowly raised his head and met the gaze of Aamiya, her smile one of amusement and suspicion.

Elias, suddenly realizing where his eyes had been, abruptly cleared his throat, not wanting to be misunderstood.

"Ahem... I'm sorry. I couldn't help but admire the texture and design of that scarf of yours. It seems to be quite the high-quality item."

Aamiya gave Elias a peculiar look, before chuckling in amusement while running her hands through the hem of her scarf. "Well of course, it was a gift from the son of a Viscount after all..."

Elias peered at Aamiya subtly, noting a concealed layer of annoyance beneath her voice. He tacitly decided not to ask about the specifics, as it seemed like the young lady wasn't quite open to discussing the topic anyway.

Elias then lingered for a bit, before getting back on track, as he still couldn't wrap his head around the present situation.

He still didn't understand why she had decided to vacate her previous sitting arrangements to move towards him and Damien.

"So Aamiya... Is there any reason why you decided to switch over to this part of the hall all of a sudden? It's not that I don't want you to sit here, it's just that I'm curious about the reasoning behind it."

Elias already had a definitive answer to the question but decided to ask it anyway, as he wanted to confirm his speculation.

Aamiya gave him a sporous smile, causing the dimples on her face to become much more pronounced, "Well what do you think?"

However before Elias could respond, the bright young lady spoke again, casually tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear in chic style.

"You must be aware of the group placements that were released yesterday right? I found out that you and I had been paired together, which was quite a pleasant surprise. This means that we will both be seeing a lot of each other from now on so.."

She casually placed her right hand on her chin, her lazy expression appearing as charming as could possibly be,

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Let's take care of each other in the future."

...

After about twenty minutes, Elias had finally gotten a complete round down on what he had missed the day before from Aamiya.

The duo chatted for quite a while, making it seem like they had both known each other longer than they actually did.

Aamiya enjoyed talking to Elias, as she felt like he wasn't like the other boys their age who mainly looked at her with lecherous and enthralled gazes.

He didn't seem to be greatly interested in her background and status either, speaking to her casually like she was just another random person his age. He was also respectful and well-mannered, which was always a bonus to her.

While they were talking, Elias looked at the snowy white cat resting peacefully on Aamiya's lap, no longer being able to hold back his interest.

"Do you mind if I ask for her name?"

Aamiya looked at Elias with surprise, "How did you know it's a girl?"

Elias lingered for a bit, before speaking with a bit of hidden embarrassment.

"Let's just say I have an interest in everything related to nature."

Aamiya looked at Elias's awkward expression, finding more and more unique sides of him that interested her as time went on.

She then peered down at her sleeping pet, stroking its pure white coat with a soft and gentle smile, "Her name is Ivory. She is a domesticated cat from the glacial mountain ranges of Lorraine. She is quite the reserved pet and doesn't take well to most people. Aside from me, she rarely reacts to anyone else.

"I brought her to class today to get her accustomed to the academy grounds, as she had spent a long time cooped up in my dorms doing nothing other than sleeping and eating. This is a good opportunity to try to improve her social habits, as I have noticed a lot of the other students—and even teachers—with pets since I arrived. Hopefully, she will make a friend or two."

While Elias and Aamiya were engrossed in their discussion, the cat in question was slowly stirring awake, its nap interrupted by the sounds of chatter around it.

The cat stretched and yawned tiredly in its owner's lap, its little face looking quite cute and adorable as it scanned around the spacious hall with a slight mix of confusion and fascination.

Its gaze eventually wandered over to the young man seated at its side, fixing its blue eyes intently on him with curiosity and interest.

This didn't escape the notice of its owner, as Aamiya wondered why her pet had suddenly taken an interest in him.

Wasn't it being too fast with getting social? This was only the first day, she had expected the process to take quite longer than that.

The cat then did something that shocked her even further, as it perked up its small head and abruptly leaped onto the legs of the young man, snuggling close to his stomach and calmly resuming its nap.

The sudden flurry of actions stunned Aamiya, as she turned towards Elias with a gaping expression. The cat's sudden leap had caught her off guard, giving her no time to react as she could only watch it fall back asleep, ignoring its owner as if she was never there.

Her cat, who was usually an antisocial animal and only acted comfortably around her, had suddenly leaped onto someone else, someone it was meeting for the first time!

The entire situation caused Aamiya to be unsure about how to feel, as she could only sit there in silence while alternating her gaze between her now sleeping pet and Elias's innocent smile.

Damien on the other hand, who had previously been lazying about, was now grinding his teeth in jealousy, murmuring to himself in a voice that only he could hear,

'Curse that guy's beautiful face! Even animals don't stand a chance, what the hell is this!'

Elias faced both the gazes of Aamiya and Damien, awkwardly scratching his cheek while speaking in a helpless voice, "Uhm... You don't need to be too surprised. Ever since I was young, animals seem to be very comfortable around me—sometimes even taking the initiative to associate with me themselves, like I've been blessed by them."

At the mention of this, Damien suddenly felt a realization dawn on him, causing him to morph into a look of contemplation as if he had suddenly discovered the answer to a long-lost question.

"No wonder those wild dogs only ever chased after me whenever we both went to pick out nuts and cherries from Mrs. Ler's garden. I always wondered why they always barked at me and pretended like you weren't there."

He turned towards Elias, nodding as if he had finally figured out the answer. "Now I know why..."

Elias rolled his eyes, not understanding why Damien had brought up such a random topic.

Aamiya on the other hand had a peculiar look in her eyes, lingering as if she had a question to ask but didn't know if she should ask it.

In the end, the young lady sighed, feeling like it wasn't the right time to ask personal questions and brushed off her curiosity.

A series of calm steps suddenly sounded out behind them, causing the three of them to perk up and turn their attention towards the sound.

A young man was walking in their direction, a look of seriousness etched onto his face as he was reading from a hard-covered fantasy book. This young man had on a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, giving him an intelligent and scholarly temperament at first glance.

He looked like the type of person who didn't like to be disturbed, only having time for reading and nothing else. His eyes behind the glasses scanned the pages with intent as if to make sure he wasn't missing any single detail.

He settled into the seat beside Damian, not sparing the people beside him a glance as he continued to read.

Elias noted that the young man had smooth mercury-colored hair, flowing down his waist like a long curtain, completely made out of silk and satin, draped over an open window.

His facial features were quite peculiar, looking as much humane as it was alien.

His eyes, lashes and brows were the same color as his gleaming hair, with the most obvious non-human characteristics being a small diamond-shaped chrome gem embedded into his forehead.

This caused him to look like something straight out of a fantasy painting, giving him an uncanny, but pleasant to look at appearance.

Elias noted all of these peculiar characteristics, running through the details as an answer popped into his head.

'He is a Sapphite...'

Indeed, The young man was a Sapphite, one of the four major intelligent races ruling over the world and the ones most praised for their intelligence and high intellect.

This was the first time Elias was being in such close proximity to one, causing him to peer at him with curiosity.

He leaned over to Damien, asking him for the young man's identity in hushed whispers.

"His name is Ne'em, and he is the fourth member of our group. He is a Sapphite and quite the silent fellow, always absorbed in his fantasy stories and never speaking unless he is spoken to. I met him for the first time yesterday, so that's all I currently know about him."

Elias nodded thoughtfully, taking one last glance at the young man absorbed in a story titled, 'A Knife in One, a Heart in Two', before eventually turning his head away.

This new addition to their group acted like the world around him didn't exist as if the only world that mattered to him was the one within his stories.

Elias sighed helplessly, feeling pity for him. If he was this absorbed in stories and fictional books, what time would he find to study and maintain good grades? Did he not care about that?

Reminding himself that it wasn't any of his business, Elias decided to not concern himself with it any further. He then mentally reviewed the number of people present, noting that one member was still missing.

"This accounts for four out of five of us. It seems like one person still hasn't arrived yet. Do you guys know who that is?"

Aamiya's face suddenly took on a complex and troubled expression, and she was about to speak up when a cold and chilling voice suddenly sounded out beside her, as if it had always been there, silently hidden beneath the shadows and away from all forms of attention present in the world.

"That would be me. Good morning, my name is Yves, the fifth member of the group. It's nice to make your acquaintance."