°°°°
Cron crossed the gate of Seraphis Institute of Magical Studies for the first time. The sweet floral scent of the blooming flowers reached his nose, blending with the air of early spring. Ahead, a wide cobblestone path led towards the entrance of the academy's main building. At its center, stood a large fountain, where several pathways spread out, guiding people toward the facilities, lush gardens, and other locations scattered across the campus.
As he walked along the cobbled path, his figure caught the attention of people nearby. Nearby students and campus staff froze, their gazes were drawn irresistibly at the sight of a peerless student, as if time had stopped moving forward.
As usual, however, Cron ignored the attention like it was none of his business—even as they began to gossip among themselves.
"My goodness... w-who is that?"
"No idea.. "
"Hey, do you think he's one of 'them'"
"What 'them'? Oh! You mean—"
Various students began to discuss with their own respective group about Cron's identity. Looking at his appearance, he had to be someone important.
"..." The young man with messy brown hair, who had been silent for a while, followed closely behind him. His eyes scanned his surroundings as he listened to the onlookers before looking at Cron—looking at him as if there was something in his mind.
Cron, with his keen hearing, swore he heard a particular brown-haired student behind him sigh in defeat, but he decided to ignore it.
"Hey bro... seems like the Class Assignment Board's right there, wanna check it out?" He heard someone call out to him. The voice came from the brown-haired young man who was now hurrying his footsteps with a confident stride.
"Name's Callum, you are?" the young man, Callum, added with a flashy grin.
"Quite persistent, isn't he?"
"Cron." He replied with a casual nod before introducing himself, offering a small, distant smile in return.
With that, the two boys made their way toward the Class Assignment Board, which was put temporarily right next to the large fountain near the main building. One was an aloof, stunning youth; the other one was average in appearance, his friendly demeanor a sharp contrast to Cron's.
The striking contrast between the pairing of the duo drew more than just the attention of the people nearby.
Cron, along with Callum, looked for his name. His purple eyes narrowed as he scanned the lists on the board indicating the names of students, along with their assigned classes. His gaze locked onto the list labeled "Class 1-A1"; a flicker of certainty showed on his face.
Sure enough, he found his full name, Cron Cromwell, right at the very top. Below it, names of other male students filled the left half column of the list while names of female students filled the other half, likely his would-be classmates. He wasn't sure about the ordering of names but he didn't care.
"As expected, they always put people of my kind at the top class. There was even no need for me to take entrance exams." He thought.
"Man, seriously? I studied hard! Where in the world is my name? I should be Class B at least! Ugh!" Callum groaned, his voice growing louder, making Cron break free from his reverie.
"..." Cron sighed as he watched Callum. From the looks of it, it seemed the boy had skipped Class 1-A and went straight to search for his name in the Class 1-B list. This brown-haired fella kept bouncing to and fro between the list for Class 1-B1 through Class 1-B4 as if dreading the possibility of being placed in Class C.
For the first time in a while, his mouth curled in slight amusement ... Nearby people gasped dramatically in return but he wasn't going to give them attention.
Just in case, he redirected his attention back to the Class 1-A1's list and began searching the names once again—this time, he did not find his. His index finger moved downwards, tracing along the list of unfamiliar names until it finally stopped.
He didn't know why he was complled to help.
There it was, far down the list of male students, a person's name was listed: Callum Lockwood.
Though still unsure if the surname was the right one, he turned to Callum and said nonetheless:
"Your name is here."
Cron's face returned to its usual aloofness, though his voice carried the barest trace of amusement.
"!!!" Callum gasped, turning his head like an old, rusty clockwork mechanism as he processed the news. He rushed towards Cron's side to confirm the boy's words. Once he found it, he looked at the class label and then at Cron, his eyes widening in disbelief.
" Top class? Me?! Outrageous!" Callum asked.
"Is that you?" Cron glanced sideways.
"Yes..."
"Then we're classmates."
"..."
"..."
The two boys fell silent as they stared at each other, though it seemed that Callum's mind wandered elsewhere—daydreaming. Slowly, a weird grin appeared on his face, his shoulders shaking. His jaws clenched tightly as he celebrated inwardly as if fighting back a victorious yell.
Finally, he turned to Cron, who had been watching him with a calm, unreadable expression.
"...W-well then, I guess we're classmates this year." He tried to speak calmly to his new classmate before following with a teasing grin.
"Must have been fate, eh?"
Cron was about to say something back when a series of high-pitched, feminine voices rose from behind—growing louder, sharper, and unmistakably getting closer
"Lady Celeste! We're classmates this year! Yay!" One of the girls squealed, a hint of devotion in her voice blended with her excitement.
Out of curiosity, Cron turned to look at the commotion; however, with many students around, he could only see much.
A group of girls were surrounding another female student as they walked in a group like a horde of fans surrounding their idol. Boys looked their way as if they wanted to join as well—perhaps out of respect or rather... awkwardness.
After all, it would be unfit for boys to casually approach a group of girls; at least that's what he thought.
Cron quickly lost interest and turned away; he couldn't really see the center of that commotion. In the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimmer of gold—hair, shining under the sunlight.
"..." He felt they had dawdled for far too long. He turned to Callum, whose eyes were still glued to the list for some unknown reason, intending to leave immediately. However, he hesitated; he wasn't one to approach people first.
Instead, he resolved to wait for him and thus, he stepped aside.
"Hey! Move it! Will you? We want to see the list too!" A girl's shrilling voice rang out from behind, cutting through the crowd. The tone of her voice startled Cron and Callum. "We want to see if we're classmates with Lady Celeste!"
The boys both turned to look at her—a girl, quite cute with her auburn hair that hung above her shoulders, was frowning at them.
"Who's Celeste?" Cron asked. Looking at the girl, he was somehow reminded of one of his family members. This girl though, was quite rude.
Meanwhile, Callum just nodded and tilted his head.
"Eh? Uh!.. T-that's..." The girl was taken aback, her smug attitude faltering as she looked at Cron's charming face. She took a deep breath, and her eyes began darting around, her face red as beetroot. And then—She glared at Callum, redirecting her anger.
"Y-you fool! Who is she, you asked?!"
"Huh?! It wasn't me!"
"D-Don't you see? Lady Celeste is a Go—mpmhh!" Before the girl could continue, someone had stepped forward and her speech was abruptly cut off by a dainty hand covering her mouth.
Its owner, a beautiful girl, with flaxen blond hair that shimmered under the golden rays of sunlight. Her eyes, a mix of amber and green, was staring at Cron's face. Her gaze lingered for a brief moment".
"P-please forgive this girl!... A-ah, this way!" She apologized before dragging away the girl, who seemed to have melted in her arms. More girls followed her like bodyguards.
Cron could guess that beauty was their "idol"—Celeste. He guessed it by the fact she was the most stunning among that group. He knew he was being stereotypical.
"Did you hear what the loudmouthed girl said?" Callum asked suddenly.
"That you're a fool?" Cron replied with a straight face.
"...N-no, that Celeste is a goddess!" Callum exclaimed, "Gods... You know? Awesome bunch; they are a rare sight here. I heard many tales about the Pantheon Gods. They say that lo—"
The boy began talking incessantly, telling tales of the legend he had heard at some point. Unfortunately for him, Cron wasn't going to listen to his monologue
"Yeah, I did hear it..." Cron replied curtly, his gaze on Celeste, Callum's voice echoing in the background. He had heard stories about Gods from his family, even more so than others. After all...
He was one of them.
And yet—
"Gods, what's so special about them?" he thought.