Kanan lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Professor Borealis is your sister?"
"Yep. I'm Sean. Sean Borealis," the green-haired boy answered. "Don't think I'm getting any special treatment though. If anything, she's even harsher on me than everyone else. This is why I didn't want to join the practical beast taming division. I wanted to join general studies," he said sulkily.
"Did your family force you to apply for beast taming? That's strict," remarked Kanan.
He felt a pang of pity for the boy. It was good that his family was invested in his future, but he knew how unbearable it must feel to have your freedom restricted like that. Kanan wouldn't be able to take it.
"Huh? No. I failed the exam so I had to do this instead."
"Give me back my pity."
"???"
After a few more back and forth comments, the exam wrapped up and the students were free to go. Most rushed out immediately, eager to get out of the stifling atmosphere of the examination grounds. A few sat down, showing obvious signs of despair, while some made calls and relayed their experiences to their families and friends.
The official results of the examination would be out the next day, posted in front of the academy. Until then there was nothing more that the students could do.
Kanan decided to head out as well, leaving Sean to reconvene with his sister while Kanan headed back for the day.
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The following morning Kanan returned to the school. A large swathe of students hovered around the gates, many of whom were familiar faces from the day before. They all gathered around a large noticeboard posted at the entrance.
He had gotten a message from Aurelia that morning asking to meet up to check the results. And, sure enough, he soon spotted her leaning against the school gate, near where she had been the day prior.
Today she wore a white sunhat with a blue ribbon, protecting her from the harsh morning sunlight. It was pulled down low over her dark blue eyes, cutting off the gazes of curious students.
"Heeey!" Kanan called out, giving a wave.
The brim of the hat tipped up, and Aurelia's face was revealed as she gave a bright smile and waved her arm excitedly.
"You're finally here! You really kept me waiting, don't you care about your results? Look, practically all the other students are here already!"
It was true. Kanan gave a rough headcount, and there were more people present than there was at the test the previous day. Students must have brought their families, he figured. Still, even with that taken into account there couldn't be many students missing at this point.
Anyone who hadn't shown up yet was probably exceedingly nervous, competent, or simply careless. He scanned the crowd briefly, looking for a tuft of green, but it was nowhere to be seen. Sean was probably the latter, he figured.
"Sorry sorry. Have you been alone this whole time? Didn't any of your friends come?"
"Eh? You're my only fri-" Aurelia began to say something quite pitiful before cutting herself off, flushing red at her own words.
It made sense, now that Kanan thought about it. Whenever the girl met anybody else she would use her prim and proper attitude, hiding her real feelings. It wasn't exactly an ideal way to make friends. He wondered what exactly was different about himself. Maybe all she really needed was an opportunity to break the ice, like they did on the caravan.
"Haha, I didn't realize I had such an important position," Kanan teased. "Aurelia Celeste's #1 friend."
Aurelia gave an embarrassed scowl and smacked his chest lightly with a small fist.
"Like you're one to talk! I know you came here by yourself. You don't have any friends either, I bet!"
She declared so confidently, but inwardly she was a bit nervous. He very well could have made friends she didn't know about, or he could have friends from back home…
Kanan considered what she said. It was true, now that he thought about it. He really didn't have anyone he could call a friend, did he? Back in Melody Village he was a bit of an outcast, especially after beginning to live with Argana. And after coming to this town he hadn't associated with many people of his age. Should he have put some more effort into socializing?
His thoughts were soon interrupted by a cheerful voice from behind.
"Yo, Kanan, you're late too, huh? My sister realized I hadn't left yet and practically kicked me out of the house, hahaha!"
The sociable green-haired boy, Sean, arrived at the scene and started blabbering immediately. Seeing that Kanan was talking to Aurelia, he showed some surprise before introducing himself.
"Wow! If it isn't Aurelia Celeste. The #1 beauty of the new students. You're with someone quite famous, aren't you my friend? It's a pleasure to meet you Aurelia, my name is Sean, from the Borealis family."
Aurelia froze on the spot. It wasn't that Sean's greeting or energy had overwhelmed her, nor was she embarrassed at being called a beauty. The two words he had thrown in echoed around in her head, drowning out everything else he had to say: "My Friend."
"Aaaah!" she yelled, banging her head against the Academy gate. "You traitor! I thought we were the same!"
Sean's mouth dropped, and he inched closer to Kanan's side, whispering. "What's wrong with her, bro?"
Kanan just shook his head. He had thought this for a while, but Aurelia had a bit of a disappointing side to her.
Sean clapped his hands, as if trying to drive away the negative energy in the air.
"How about we check out the exam results now, huh? It looks like its beginning to clear up a little."
His words were true. The students, some jubilant and others in despair, were gradually receding away from the noticeboard. The three of them, with Kanan practically dragging Aurelia, walked up to the board and looked for their names.
The names on the board were organized by score, and situated at the top of the list, conspicuously, was the top applicant: Vanessa Laporte.
Kanan remembered the girl from the exam. With purple hair and a gloomy atmosphere, she had summoned an intimidating ghost beast with an eerie smile. The ranking was fair, Kanan admitted. Not only was the girl at the second circle, but ghost types were infamously hard to tame.
Generally speaking, only tamers with a special affinity for the type went out of their way to tame them. Ghosts were extremely picky regarding the energy of their tamers, and dissatisfied ghosts were highly rebellious. Training a reluctant ghost type was near-impossible as well, as they could disappear at will. Other than those with an affinity for ghosts as a whole, the only ghost tamers were those who had fortunate encounters that allowed them to forge a close bond as Kanan had with Poppy.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for Kanan to find his own name, situated in the 3rd place, and Sean's name a bit further down as well. Despite being a second circle, Kanan thought that he had probably lost some points due to the weak public evaluation of the Bubble Spider and the relatively unknown strength of the Mournwood Squirrel.
Seeing Kanan's name up there, Aurelia perked up a little. She had evidently been worried that her newfound friend wouldn't get into the Academy with her, despite her confidence in him.
"You did it! Congratulations!" She applauded.
Kanan smiled. "Thank you, Aurelia. And congratulations, Sean. Now your sister can let you live another day."
Sean's face darkened. "I don't know about that. She told me to get into the top 3, she's going to make me do extra training when I get home. She was the one who scored me, though! Wouldn't have killed her to toss me a few extra points as family," he sulked.
"Anyway, if I don't go home I can't get in trouble. Why don't we go celebrate?"
"Sounds good," Kanan replied. "But Aurelia, why are you still looking at the board?"
"Look here, Kanan," said Aurelia, pointing at the line where his name was. "It says that you made it into the practical taming department, not the breeding department. It must be a typo, right?"
Kanan just looked at her, unsure of how to break the news. Aurelia looked back and forth between his expression and the board, slowly catching on.
"Noooo!"