Luminary Institute

2: Rampant Enthusiasm

Stopping outside of the door with Kaiser by her side, Nyssa fidgeted with her bag and stared down at her feet as Angelica did a mock salute. Placing a hand on Nyssa’s shoulder, Angelica grinned. “Just remember me as the kind older sister who sometimes comes by to your house, mkay? Not as the teacher. Nothing’s going to change, alright? I’ll just get everyone to calm down and call you in, okay?” 

“I mean... you’re more like an aunt, but sounds good,” Nyssa trailed off as she kept her eyes bolted to the floor. Feeling herself get rocked a little by Angelica’s playful push, she felt a bit of a teasing smile flit across her lips before the nervousness came crashing back down. 

Seeing Angelica walk into the room, Nyssa felt her heart rate spike as the door shut with a soft click. With the bustle leaking through the classroom’s walls disappearing within seconds, she bit her lip as Kaiser gave her a couple of reassuring pats on the back. 

Seconds later however, a huge cheer shot through the wall as Nyssa jolted her head upward. Hearing the chants of “New student! New student!” coming through the wall, she felt her hands clam up. 

Studying the gleaming metal walls to preoccupy herself, Nyssa couldn't help but nod at the... general quality of the building. Every waist to ceiling window was just as spotless as she remembered and the gleaming strips of light running down the ceiling and floor were, as always, just so... futuristic. 

Thank the heavens she was standing out of sight from those windows though. 

“Nyssa?” Angelica’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Come on in.” 

“A-Ah- huh? Ah yes!” Nyssa stammered as she clung to her bag. Taking a deep breath, she felt herself get pushed forward by Kaiser as she made her way into the classroom. Stopping by Angelica’s desk in the front of the room, Nyssa let out a couple awkward coughs. “H-Hi... I’m Nyssa Ravenstein, nice to meet you all!” 

Cheers. 

With the final words of introduction still on the tip of her tongue, the entire class had erupted into cheers. Feeling her ears and cheeks get warm, Nyssa couldn’t help but let out a sigh as relief washed over her in waves. 

It... It went well! Social debut, success! 

Resisting the urge to tear up a little, she shook her head to banish the thoughts before scanning the room. 

There... weren’t as many people as she had expected. Only five of them. 

“I’ll be heading out now, Angelica,” Kaiser poked his head through the door while giving the students a wave. “And everyone, nice to see you. Thanks for giving my daughter a warm welcome.” 

“Wait, Ravenstein! No wonder that last name sounded familiar!” A boy with blond hair bolted out of his seat as Kaiser closed the door. “Headmaster wai...t... Too late.” 

Yet, he among the others, had launched into conversation by now. Whether it was theories about Nyssa’s identity or powers, the classroom had, once again, devolved back into its chaotic, but warm, atmosphere. 

“Alright everyone! Calm down, calm down,” Angelica waved with her hands to get everyone’s attention. “As you can see, everyone, Nyssa is our newest student. We’ll do some more general icebreakers and break catching up in a second, but I need to fill out this roll sheet. Also, Nyssa, feel free to just take a seat wherever right now. There’s enough desks to go around.” 

Stammering out a “Y-Yes,” in reply, Nyssa took a few hesitant steps forward as she looked around. 

Well, everyone had... sort of congregated towards the desks in the center... 

“Don’t worry, we move around a lot anyway, so your desk doesn’t matter too much,” A brown-haired girl whispered towards her while patting the desk next to her. “Come on, just sit right here for now if you want.” 

Bobbing her head up and down a couple times, Nyssa took a few quick steps over and sat down before sliding down into her seat. “Thank you...” 

“No worries,” The brown-haired girl laughed while covering her mouth with a sleeve. “Nice to meet you though, Miss. Ravenstein~ what has made you grace us with your presence?” 

“J-Just call me Nyssa! I’m really not that important...” Nyssa reassured while sitting back up in her seat. 

“I know, I know, I’m just teasing,” The girl smiled as she reached over and gave Nyssa a pat. “I’m Celeste by the way. Just turned seventeen a couple months ago. Used to be the youngest here, but I’m assuming you’re younger?” 

“Just by a bit,” Nyssa confessed as she floundered with her hands before deciding to return the pat. “I’m turning seventeen in a month, though that would put me in a whole grade lower than you.” 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t really matter here,” Celeste shrugged, “Everyone here is under twenty, there’s not really enough of us to make a specific class for every year. So it’s kinda divided into the over twenties and the under twenties.” 

“Where are the over twenties then...?” Nyssa looked around. “Still on break?” 

“Nah, they went on a trip to get some hands-on experience. They’ll be back soon enough, or well... maybe a month or so? I don’t know,” Celeste leaned back in her chair. “We can talk more in a second though. Angelica’s done with the roll sheet.” 

“Sorry that it took so long, everyone! I’m a little rusty after the break,” Angelica scratched the back of her head with a sheepish laugh. “Welcome back from break though. Let’s clear out a space though and sit on the floor in the center of the room to get a little more informal, shall we? Just some quick catching up on the first day back~” 

“See? Told you we moved around a lot,” Celeste grinned while covering her mouth to hide the faint laughs slipping through her lips. “Angelica, I’ll get the floor cabinet from their drawer.” 

“Thank you, Celeste!” Angelica gave a thumbs-up before moving three desks at once with a light push. 

Strong... 

Struggling to just push one desk towards the side of the room, Nyssa couldn’t help but feel her jaw drop at Angelica’s strength. She had forgotten what a force Angelica was... 

Language omniscience and body maximization. An interesting set of powers if Nyssa had to say so herself. The strength was obviously amazing, but Angelica’s ability to hyper-focus and enter the zone whenever she wanted was what really made Nyssa envious. 

Yelping as a pillow smacked her in the side of the head, Nyssa caught it before it fell to the ground. 

“Sorry, Nyssa!” Celeste cried out before rushing over, “It didn’t hurt you right?” 

“No, no, I’m totally fine, just a little surprised,” Nyssa nodded while moving to the cleared out space in the center of the room. “Totally fine, it’s just a pillow after all.” 

“Right, right,” Celeste let out a sigh of relief as they put their pillows down to complete the small circle in the center of the room. “You never know though. Some people’s powers make them very fragile.” 

“True...” 

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