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Chapter 6: A Special Treat

"Good afternoon, students. I'm your headmaster, Mr. Barret Wallace. Headmaster Wallace, or just Mr. Wallace, is fine. For all the freshmen and transfer students, welcome to IMA; and to everyone else, welcome back. We put this assembly together for you youngins to learn a little more about how things work here; particularly, for you to learn the types of classes we offer and to familiarize you with the staff. We're gonna start off with your guidance counselors, who are here to help you if you have problems."

The students in the audience clapped. You were standing in the wings, watching as Logan stepped up to the podium.

"Hello there! I'm in charge of freshman guidance; my name is Logan Oliveira, but please, no need to be so formal! Just Logan is fine. You can come to me for issues about your schedule, teachers, extra-curricular activities... actually, just come visit me. It'll be fun, I promise."

The freshmen clapped, and Logan stepped aside, making room for Selphie.

"Hi! I'm Selphie Tilmitt. You can call me Selphie or Miss Tilmitt, whichever one you want. I'm in charge of sophomores, so for those of you that kinda, sorta know your way around high school- but not quite- my door is always open! Well, technically, I close it when I'm not in there, but in that instance, you won't need to be in there either, so... yeah!"

You smiled upon seeing Yuffie approach the podium next. The dark-haired ninja seemed to have grown a bit taller, and her hair was longer, but you could totally tell it was Yuffie. Seeing her grown up made you feel proud, for some reason.

"What's up? Yuffie Kisaragi, counselor of juniors. If you're a junior, you have your benchmark exams for college this year, so I'm not gonna be as nice as Selphie and Logan. If you're slacking off, be prepared for a verbal ass-kicking!" Her expression softened, "But other than that, we should get along fine."

You laughed. "I see Yuffie hasn't changed at all."

"No, never." Logan smiled. "Take a look at who the senior counselor is."

Turning back to the podium, you saw a head of blonde hair and gasped. "It's Quisty! But, didn't Vanille say she was a student still..?"

"Yes, but, it's Quistis; if anyone could handle both at the same time, it would be her," pointed out Logan.

"You have a point there." You nodded, and turned back to the assembly.

"...any type of help, particularly in finding which college or university will be the best fit for you, and filling out the appropriate paperwork," Quistis was saying. She looked more mature now; she'd always looked mature, but now she bore the appearance of a seasoned woman, in a good way of course. Her hair was pulled up as usual. "Unfortunately, I cannot be as present and open as the other counselors, so we may have to communicate via email sometimes. Either way, I look forward to speaking with all of you about these matters."

Everyone in the audience clapped.

"And now, a few words from our department heads," announced Barret.

You watched as a group of the older teachers walked out. Figures, none of your friends had gotten enough experience to be head of anything yet.

According to the initial announcement, Lulu was the head of magic classes, Laguna was the head of the arts, Nora was the head of cooking, Firion was in charge of history, and Genesis headed up the language department. Genesis was the one speaking when you decided to look into the crowd. You saw Arc, Ingus, Refia, and Luneth all sitting together in the front row, in that order. A little further back, you saw your student Vincent sitting with- was that the redhead that you'd seen this morning? That familiar-looking one?

By the time you'd finished observing the crowd, Cloud was leaving the podium.

"Finally, we'll have a few words from our new teachers-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody ever told me I'd be making a speech!" you complained. "Has no one here ever heard of that thing called 'prior notice?!'"

"It's okay! Just introduce yourself, say what class you're teaching, and a few other words about how you can't wait to get to know everyone. Piece of cake!" Logan smiled. "You've got this!"

"It's not like I have a choice..." you muttered grumpily as you walked out to the stage, just as Maqui was finishing his introduction, and waited for your turn.

"Hi. Um... my name is Chiara Pagliardi, and I teach art." The aqua-haired girl shifted uncomfortably. "Um, well, my talking isn't good sometimes, but I really love art, so I hope I can communicate well to share that love!"

Everyone clapped, which was good- it distracted you from your desire to glomp the next person to speak.

"Hello. I'm Hope Estheim, and I'll be teaching White Magic 2. This is a new course; there used to only be one white magic class, but we thought it would be best to have a separate class for some of the white magic one can learn. I look forward to teaching my students all about it."

You were up next.

"Uh, hey. I'm [full name], and I'm teaching Black Magic 2. I guess I'm taking over for somebody or something. So, yeah. I've already met some of my students, and you all seem so eager to learn! I hope you keep that attitude."

You earned applause from that little speech somehow. The last person to speak was Spencer-Lynn.

"Good afternoon, my name is Spencer-Lynn Cambridge-Oliveira, and I teach baking. Like Hope, my class was created based upon a split of an existing class. I have an immense love for pastries, so I know that I'll enjoy teaching all of my students, but- as you may have noticed- I'm expecting, so I unfortunately won't be here with you all for the whole year, but hopefully we'll enjoy each other whilst I'm still here!"

After that applause, everyone was advised to move to the football field, where the concert would take place, a pop concert featuring three girl groups. None of them seemed to look familiar to you.

"Oh, my gosh, this is-" Maceida had to hold in a fangirl squeal. "Could someone please explain to me how the fuck the senior board even knows about Candy Mafia?!"

"I'm not saying this is exactly how, but consider this: Laguna." Vanille laughed, "That guy's musical tastes are all across the board!"

You asked then, "What's a candy mafia? Should I be afraid of it?"

Maceida gasped in mock horror. "Well, gee, I'd expect that question out of any of our other friends, but you're telling me that you're from Earth and don't know about Candy Mafia- the girl group from Thailand with awesome music and even awesomer outfits?!"

"This is the first I'm hearing of all of this, yes," you nodded.

"I really ought to find friends with better music taste." Maceida grabbed your wrist and began to pull you closer to the stage. "Come on! Time for you to get educated!"

"Hey, wait for me!" Vanille followed behind you.