Wise as an Owl [An Ookami-san and Her Seven Companions Fanfic]

♠️2

Nanase ran her fingers through her boyishly short hair as her gran spoke, no longer acting like a emotion-deprived robot. Instead, she actually bore a look of panic. Well, a hint of it, but still a look nonetheless!

"Grandma," she finally managed to grit out, her eyes darting to the woman. "This isn't another one of your elaborate jokes, right?"

Her rosy-cheeked gran shook her head, a dumbly innocent smile plastered on her face. "Of course not, babycakes! I've finally decided to enrol you into a real school! And with your intelligence, you got accepted," she snapped her fingers, "Just like that!"

Nanase frowned. "What about my tuition?"

The elderly woman scoffed loudly, waving it off. "Who cares about tuition?! Darling, you got accepted into the prestigious Otogi Academy! You'll finally be able to make some friends, work on your social skills! Which, you, uh, seriously are lacking, hate to admit it, sweetheart."

She paused, whispering. "Plus, between you and me, that tutor guy, Yuu, was he called? He's just downright creepy."

"He is not," Nanase responded with a huff, practically rolling her eyes at how childish her grandma was acting. Sometimes, she really wondered who the real adult was at that house.

"But anyways," her gran swiftly went back to her original topic, pushing in her sunglasses. "You'll be attending Otogi Academy on their scholarship program, 'cause you live so far from the school. Also because, let's face it Nanase, you're a child prodigy, and what school can't accept one of those, eh?"

Nanase shrugged. "Just because my intelligence greatly surpasses most my age, does not make me a-"

She received a look. "Yes it does, Nanase. The government labeled you as one, so therefore you are one. End of story."

"So~!" Two wrinkled, moisturizer-slathered hands rubbed against each other, warm grey eyes flashing. "You start next Monday! Be prepared."

And with a wink, her grandma left the table, leaving Nanase to sit there, and reflect.

Intensely.

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[]x[]x[]

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Smack.

Smack.

Nanase mentally cringed as the obnoxious bubblegum-smacking continued, courtesy of the bleach-blonde sitting next to her.

A week had past since her gran broke the news, and here Nanase was, sitting on the public bus, waiting for her stop at Otogi Academy.

With a sigh, she turned her head to stare out the large bus window, trying to tune out all the noise from the other passengers. Because seriously, she was getting one heck of a migraine.

Nanase stared and stared outside, her ears plugged, until Otogi Academy rolled into view. With a deep breath, the girl stood up, tightening her grip on her backpack. She soon filed out of the bus, along with several others who must've been students of the Academy as well.

The girl eyed the massive school, taking every nook and cranny into consideration. It's exterior looked relatively new, and was a toffee sort of colour. There were tons of high-schoolers all over the place, either entering the front of the Academy or just hanging around the sides, chattering to each other.

Straightening to her full height of 5'8, Nanase walked confidently towards the entrance as well, poker-faced as usual.

She let not a single hint of fear slip onto her face, despite the fact that she was very much younger than most of the students there.

Barely fourteen years of age, and already in her first year of high school. Reason being is that due to Nanase's intellect, she skipped several years. Not that it made much of a difference, though. The girl was fairly mature for her age, and was pretty tall, so she didn't stick out too much.

A shrill, bell-like sound echoed throughout the Academy, signalling the start of first period. Not wanting to be tardy (it was her first day, after all), Nanase wheedled her way past the other kids, who were all pushing and shoving their way into the school. It was quite rowdy, actually.

A tall, fair-skinned girl with long blue-black hair tied up in a ponytail was shouting at the teenagers, demanding order. Though, most of the students ignored her, desperate to make it to their class on time.

As soon as Nanase was in the school, she took a glance at a small sheet of paper held in her hand, written with the schedule and room numbers for each of her classes. First period was homeroom, in class 1-F.

Nanase suspected that the classes weren't organized by intelligence, but by random, and that she was most likely sorted out into the one which had the least amount of students. It didn't really make sense otherwise, though, for a school to be sorted out in such a way, Nanase really wondered just how many kids were attending here exactly. It must've been a heck of a lot, considering there were already 6 classes, and that was just for the first years!

Taking advantage of her long legs, Nanase made it to room 1-F in no time, her eyes glued to the directional signs posted up above.

The door was wide open, so the girl quickly darted inside, the bustling of students hitting her ears. Thankfully, no one payed any attention to her, so Nanase swiftly made her way to the back of the room, her eyes set on an empty spot in the second last row.

She placed her backpack on the back of the chair, and took a seat, unzipping her 'pack briefly so she could remove her binder and pencil case. The items rested neatly on the top of her desk.

A couple minutes later, the sensei, a stout middle-aged woman with round spectacles and a puff of black hair, clapped her hands twice, demanding that everyone's eyes be on her. She then proceeded to do the attendance, each person saying "Here!" after their name was called.

The sensei's eyes glanced sharply over the final name on the list, before hesitantly saying. "Watanabe, Nanase?"

Said girl's hand was slowly raised into the air, her yellow eyes staring back at the teacher evenly. "Present." Her voice was monotone, much like the 14-year-old's expression. She ignored the curious looks she got from the other students, who were probably wondering who exactly this newbie was.

"The scholarship student?" sensei drawled, raising an over-plucked eyebrow.

Nanase gave a curt nod.

"Huh." The woman placed her hands on her round hips, motioning with one finger for Nanase to get up. "Well then, stand up and introduce yourself." Her demand was said with a somewhat snarky air to it, the lady obviously not fond of Nanase, for whatever reason that may be.

Though, Nanase still did as the sensei asked, her wiry frame shooting up almost immediately. "Kon'nichiwa. My name is Nanase Watanabe. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She gave a stiff bow, not really meaning that last part there. She just wanted to get this over and done with, really.

The sensei squinted at the freckled girl. "You may sit down now."

She did just that, and the lesson begun, Nanase listening intently to every word the teacher said. She could not let her marks slip after all. Even if her grandmother didn't, Nanase set high expectations for herself.

Before Nanase knew it, half the day had already flown by, and she was now heading outside with her lunch, having escaped the class as soon as the bell rang to avoid confrontation with the others. She was an anti-social one, no doubt.

Little did Nanase know that at that moment, three pairs of eyes were on her, watching her every move.