As they made their way past the school gate of Silangan High, Callisto, Hinata, and Elesis followed the silhouettes of the students ahead of them towards the covered court.
Callisto's sky-blue eyes widened slightly at the sight before her.
Inside the venue were rows of plastic chairs arranged neatly for the arriving students. The stage is being set up by the teachers and volunteering high school seniors. The atmosphere within the covered court is electric as people trickle in.
"The opening ceremony should be starting soon," Hinata pointed out, turning to face Callisto and Hinata. "I'm gonna go find my classmates. I'll see you two later. Bye."
The two girls waved at the young man as he created distance between them.
"Yeah. Bye."
"Bye, Hina!"
With that, the red head suggested she and Callisto do the same thing. They searched for the familiar faces of their classmates or their adviser.
The last few days of the Brigada Eskwela allowed Callisto to get acquainted with her classmates and teachers, their faces and each of their unique scent have been ingrained to her since then.
However, since the event hasn't started yet, the students have yet to find the one thing to focus their attention on. Multiple eyes tracked Callisto as soon as she and Elesis walked by and entered their field of view, making it difficult for Callisto to use her ability without getting suspicious looks from the students.
"Look, it's her."
"I've seen her in the Brigada Eskwela last week."
"So pretty."
Fortunately, the sitting arrangement was made so that one column of a row of chairs was dedicated to a single grade level. As long as they know that, looking for their peers would be as difficult as looking for a pair of shoes in a shoe rack.
Once they found the column for the grade 10 students, they walked up from the front row and got found in return.
"Ms. Fredream, Ms. Mandjet!"
The voice calling for their names is familiar not only for Elesis, but also for Callisto who once met the person when she attended the Brigada Eskwela last week.
Their class adviser—Novelyn Nalicia.
"Ms. Nalicia, good morning," Callisto greeted politely.
"Good morning, Ms. Nalicia! How are you?"
Ms. Nalicia approached the two slowly, as though she was coming to talk to the two of her very close friends rather than just students.
"Good morning, you two. I'm good. How about you?"
"I was so excited about today that I ended up sleeping early last night, so now I feel really awake."
Callisto glanced at the red head's profile, a fond expression on her face as she listened to her story. Her gaze then returned to their adviser, Nalicia's bob hair perfectly framing her youthful yet mature face.
"I'm good, too."
"That's good to hear," Ms. Nalicia said in reply to the two, the words warm and genuine. "I'm looking forward to spending the school year with you both. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together. Now then, your classmates are waiting for you over there, so go ahead and join them."
"Yes! Thanks, Ms. Nalicia."
"We'll go ahead, then."
Following closely behind Elesis, Callisto found their classmates occupying the chairs in the middle of the column.
There were a few who took notice of Callisto and Elesis approaching before everyone else, immediately standing up to call and wave at them.
"El! Callisto!"
"We've been waiting for you two for ages!"
"We got your seats here!"
Among those few, there were ones Callisto was already familiar with since her first visit in the Megaverse book store. They were there with Elesis when Callisto was looking for a book to get and noticed her. As for the rest, Callisto met them during the Brigada Eskwela.
"Thanks for saving me and El seats," Callisto drew a polite smile on her face as she sat on the chair next to Elesis.
"Don't mention it!"
During this time, in the back row of the column for grade 11, Hinata was greeted by his classmates as he joined them, exchanging friendly conversations with everyone.
But in the earliest opportunity, the young man pushed his head up to have a wide view of the venue, his eyes zeroed in on a particular silver hair.
There was Callisto. The one next to her must be Elesis. It was so easy to tell them apart from most people around them because of the color of their hair.
Though he could see both of them, Hinata seemed to gravitate more towards the silver-haired girl.
Was it instinct that made him do that?
Anyway, Hinata watched Callisto converse with everyone around her.
"I wonder what they're talking about," Hinata asked himself in thought, his gaze never leaving the young lady's silhouette. "My friends are talking really loud. And they're too far. All I could hear is them laughing about something. Laughing..."
Hinata watched Callisto's head turn from one side to another, as though she was trying to service multiple customers at the same time in the convenience store.
Then, as she turned at an angle where Hinata could see her face, Callisto smiled.
"Ah!"
A fond expression washed over Hinata despite the pounding in his chest. Part of him was glad to see Callisto seemingly fitting in to her class already. But the other, the one he wouldn't dare let out, screams for him to be more than just an observer from the distance.
"Hey, Hinata," one of his friends called, pulling his focus away from the silver-haired girl. "Why the long face?"
"Ah, sorry. What is it?"
"Ah, you weren't listening, huh. We were talking about the new girl in grade 10 who's becoming one of the popular students right now."
Hinata was confused at first. Just who were they referring to? Then, another friend of Hinata, who had an observant look on him, gestured at Callisto's direction just now.
"You were looking at her just now."
"Callisto? What about her?
"Oh? You're not denying that you're looking at her?"
A slight frown contorted Hinata's face at his friends words.
"It's not like I was deliberately looking at her, she's just so easy to notice because of her hair. And besides, what's wrong with looking at your friend?"
As the last part of his query spilled from Hinata's mouth, the look on his friends contorted into a complete shock and disbelief.
"Hinata, you..."
"You did say you were here with her last week, but still..."
"You're calling a girl..."
"A friend?"
Hinata frowned a little more at his friends' exaggerated reactions. "What's wrong with calling her a friend?"
His friends looked at him with awkward eyes after his query.
"Nothing, really. It's just that, you know..."
The guy turned to themselves as if they were communicating with one another telepathically. Hinata, who already knew exactly what they were thinking, couldn't help the sigh coming out of his lips.
"You guys aren't being subtle at all. Callisto and I are friends. That's it."
Hinata's friends were silent for a moment. It was impossible to figure out what was in their minds until they all shot small, trusting smiles at him.
"If you say so, then so be it."
"If she's your friend, that means we're friends with her, too."
"I don't think that's how it works, Gilbert."