8th October 11508, Wednesday
There was a certain event on that day. A sea of people, an Indiscernible cacophny of noise and conversation. This was the most active and populated area of the Manukia commercial zone.
You see, the school curriculum throughout the 2600 residential zones was never too uniform. Breaks, holidays, all manners of rest time for the students were all over the place and positioned throughout the year. Adding to that equation, what if there was a convention hall that held a special event throughout the year? The result was that the event might not be so special anymore...
There were about 10000 zones if the non-residential zones like Manukia were added into the mix, naturally the most frequent type of zone was the agricultural and produce regions that provided food for the entire population of humanity. The least common being the commercial zones, all in all there was a concentration of multiple residential zones worth of people on break attending, leading the venue to be quite packed almost the whole year.
Today, the students were split off into different groups. As long as they stuck to a group of 3 or more, the teachers would turn a blind eye, though that naturally came with its own fair share of troubles. In the morning and night they had to do a roll call to make sure everyone was together whether they left or arrived back at the hotel. This time Lastia's group joined with 5 others, Feilin, Pheena, Juri, Faramicia and Hengji.
Feilin, Pheena and Juri were off watching movies the day before. Faramicia and Hengji headed to the same area, it seemed like there was a town full of sets that belonged in movies and an entire industry derived from film culture.
"Really!? Did you guys really see the magical girl!? There were always rumours before, what with how the government always covered up with the same excuses! The disappearance from all those years back! The witness accounts.
And it finally only dawned on the populace yesterday! When a magical girl finally appeared to apprehended some terroristic cultists! " (Faramicia)
He had dirty blond hair that curled behind his neck, a sharp small nose, large glossy ink blue eyes and an effeminate face. Well, rather than effeminate it might be better to call it androgynous, his grades were average and he tended to keep away from everyone else in class, so he never stood out. His skin was still rough with signs of minimal care, his demure demeanour was nowhere to be seen, to the shock of his close companion.
"Oi! We just entered the convention hall and this is what you had to say?! Even for you there are limits you know?" (Hengji)
His friend was slightly shorter, accentuating their heights when standing in close proximity. His hair parted in the centre but rounded around the back like a drooping bowl. He also tended to do average in academics and didn't particularly stand out. Rather, those that stood out were only the social animals like Aloysius and Terrin, the overbearing fashionistas, Akira and Celia. In a small class of 20, it was near impossible not to know everyone or notice their little quirks, even so these 4 tended to stood out like sore thumbs. Maybe it was how they were active in interacting with their classmates and teachers, organising events or after school hangouts...?
It was one of the few mysteries outside of Yggdrasil's grasp. She tried to verify if it was just all in her own mind, by cross referencing with the impressions of other classmates. Who are those that stand out to you? Why? She wasn't losing her mind, there was some sort of undetectable quality humans had, something that could be likened to charisma.
But in this small classroom, using such a drastic word as a descriptor was also too much, a simple way to sum it all up is that some people are simply more likeable or easier to adjust to. Social malleability, it's something Yggdrasil has been trying to imitate, after all she needed to blend into human society and this was just one of the more rudimentary approaches for this endeavour, imitation or forgery of a persona who could get along with anyone.
It was also something she noticed. The class being small as it is, classmates had to put in effort to isolate themselves or they risk being dragged into social situations. Naturally the class venue itself, the classroom wasn't so wide that anyone could casually escape another's sight. In the end, most people stuck to a group and get by just fine.
"A magical girl... Would such a person really exist~?" (Pheena)
Her short black hair swayed as her eyes sparkle. Her group consisted of 3 girls bonding over as film enthusiasts. Feilin was a prominent looking young girl with unique twin drills, she naturally stood out for her extravagant hair style and love for horror movies. Pheena instead loved traditional hero movies such as certain colour coded heroes that wear full suits or don on masks. She easily gave off the impression of a tomboy as opposed to the ojou-sama that was her close friend.
The last and particularly short girl in her group was Juri, she had black pigtails and shoulder lengthed black hair like a back facing curtain, with an inner dye of sky blue that really caught the eye. She was more into romance plots, and perhaps it was for the best that the 3 strayed into their own genres so they could better share their love for the arts.
On the other hand, Faramicia and Hengji broke off from the bigger groups yesterday to explore the nearby arcades. It was one of the larger establishments that boasted an array of all sorts of genre of games, attracting many enthusiasts with limited time prizes that require winnings from those games. It was situated near the theme park and it wasn't difficult to keep in contact with each other over a phone, so they promptly joined up with the other guys before heading back to the hotel.
There were about 3 days in all, with the first 2 days being freely planned by the students. Of course there were also guide pamphlets with notable key locations for he students to rely on. The last day was a mandatory visit to a few ancient cultural sites such as museums, shrines and heritage sites.
Speaking of which, everyone had their own little 'game club', 'arcade club', 'fashion club', 'library club', 'film club' like cliques, what the hell did Lastia and the others have? If she thought about it, after school... They immediately went home. They were always tired from fighting Traces in the past, now they sort of went about it due to habit... So they're the go-home club, huh.