” Noah?
What are you looking at?”
The familiar gentle voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Noah came back to his senses and found Rover looking at him, her golden pupils carrying a trace of inquiry.
“Ah?
I’m fine.
I just spaced out for a moment.” Noah quickly smiled, covering up the turmoil inside.
“Is that so.” Rover responded softly and withdrew her gaze.
She continued taking small sips of water, her posture elegant and natural.
However, Rover’s eyelashes lowered imperceptibly for an instant.
She had noticed Noah’s line of sight just now.
From the moment he saw that red-eyed new student enter the door, his gaze had been firmly locked onto the other person.
And when she spoke to him, the look in his eyes as he looked at her…
There was surprise, confusion, scrutiny…
A very complex expression.
Why would he show that kind of look.
Before that, he had been watching that new student the whole time, extremely focused.
Rover’s fingertips unconsciously stroked the cool surface of the water bottle.
That new student… really was very beautiful.
A calm temperament, distinctive hairstyle, delicate features.
Even from her long experience, she could be considered outstanding.
Compared to herself, each had their own strengths.
She glanced once more at Noah beside her, who had already turned his head the other way and was pretending to examine the decorations of the report hall.
A faint, indescribable strange emotion flashed through her heart.
It was very slight so slight that it was like a breeze brushing across a lake surface, instantly suppressed by more rational thoughts.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence.
Perhaps that girl reminded him of someone.
Rover stopped thinking further and turned her attention back to the ceremony that was about to begin.
On the podium at the front of the report hall, the staff from the Department of Exostrider Engineering had already begun adjusting the equipment.
The host had also stepped onto the stage.
The welcome meeting was about to start.
At this moment, on the other side of the front row of the report hall, Kuchiba Chisa seemed to have finally found an empty seat and quietly sat down.
She slightly lowered her head, her red pupils looking at her own fingertips, as if all the noise around her had nothing to do with her.
Only no one saw that, beneath her lowered eyelids.
Just now… she seemed to have sensed a particularly intense gaze.
But when she raised her head, she only saw the unfamiliar figures in the front row.
“It should… just be an illusion.”
She gently shook her head, setting aside that inexplicable concern, and focused her attention on the podium at the front of the report hall.
Soon, the ceremony proceeded in an orderly manner.
The speech from the leadership of the Department of Exostrider Engineering at Startorch Academy was brief and powerful welcoming the Black Shores exchange students, encouraging the department’s new students, and emphasizing academic spirit and scientific research responsibility.
The applause from below was polite and restrained.
Next to take the stage was the team leader from the Black Shores side Director Chen.
This spirited middle-aged man had changed out of his travel casual clothes and was now wearing a neatly pressed silver-gray administrative suit, looking capable and steady.
His speech focused more on academic exchange and shared mission.
His tone was calm but carried the inherent confidence belonging to the Black Shores.
He thanked Startorch Academy for their hospitality and looked forward to the students of both sides sparking intellectual collisions and facing the challenges of the Lament together.
Noah listened from below, but his mind was somewhat drifting.
It was only when Director Chen mentioned “Please invite our student representative to come up and speak” that he slightly focused his attention.
The one who took the stage was a steady-looking male student with glasses it was precisely that Teaching Assistant Li Wei.
His speech was steady and balanced, expressing gratitude and anticipation, as well as an attitude of diligent study the standard template of an excellent student.
As he listened, Noah’s gaze once again involuntarily drifted toward Kuchiba Chisa, who was sitting quietly not far away.
She was slightly tilting her head up, watching the stage.
Her side profile looked calm and focused under the bright lighting of the report hall.
Soon, it was time for all the exchange students to go on stage together for a group appearance.
Under the host’s guidance, all the Black Shores students including Noah and Rover stood up in turn, walked up the steps on the side of the podium, and stood in two rows on stage.
When Noah and Rover stood side by side on stage, a wave of suppressed low exclamations clearly came from below.
Under the spotlight, the outstanding appearances and temperaments of the two were further amplified.
Rover’s standing posture was upright yet not stiff.
She wore a gentle and appropriate smile.
Her golden pupils flowed with a calm luster under the lights.
Noah stood half a step beside her, equally upright in posture, with a faint smile at the corners of his mouth.
His gaze swept across the audience below, calmly accepting everyone’s attention.
The applause from below grew much warmer.
Kuchiba Chisa also followed the crowd and applauded.
Her gaze subconsciously swept across the particularly eye-catching pair of man and woman on stage.
The two were indeed very outstanding she objectively evaluated them in her heart but did not think much further and quickly shifted her gaze away.
She had no idea at all that the handsome male student on stage was the very source of that gaze which had given her a slight sensation just moments ago.
The simple appearance and greeting segment quickly ended.
Noah had barely sat down when he let out a slight sigh of relief.
Although he had been very calm on stage just now, he actually wasn’t very accustomed to this kind of situation where he was the center of everyone’s attention.
Rover beside him, however, remained completely at ease, as if she had only just taken a short walk.
Next was the welcome ceremony for the department’s own new students in the Department of Exostrider Engineering.
The host loudly announced: “Next, please welcome the new student representative of the Department of Exostrider Engineering this year, Kuchiba Chisa, to come up and speak.”
Amid the applause, that slender figure in the white uniform skirt stood up and walked steadily toward the podium.
The originally somewhat listless Noah instantly sat up straight, his gaze tightly following her.
Rover beside him imperceptibly glanced sideways at him.
That instantaneous change in his demeanor had not escaped her perception.
That extremely faint inexplicable emotion in her heart quietly surfaced again, yet her expression showed no change whatsoever.
Rover continued to calmly gaze toward the podium, as if she were simply paying attention to the normal flow of the ceremony.
Kuchiba Chisa stood firm behind the podium and adjusted the height of the microphone.
She raised those calm red pupils and looked toward the hundreds of faces below.
Her voice, amplified through the sound system, clearly spread to every corner of the report hall.
“Respected academy leaders, dear teachers, and fellow students, good morning everyone.
I am Kuchiba Chisa.
It is a great honor to speak here as the new student representative…”
The opening was standard and fluent polite remarks thanking the academy and looking forward to the future.
Noah listened and felt that this was slightly different from the gentle and reserved image of the Chisa he remembered.
At this moment, she on stage appeared steady and calm, even carrying a trace of detachment from just having arrived.
“…Being able to gather with everyone here at Startorch Academy, this holy temple of academia, holds extraordinary significance for me.”
Kuchiba Chisa’s voice continued steadily.
“I come from an island nation called Ashinohara.
There, for Resonators like me, what we face is not entirely goodwill and acceptance.”
She paused.
A trace of complex emotion flashed through her red pupils, yet her voice remained clear.
“Startorch Academy has opened its doors to me and to all scholars who may face difficulties because of their identity as Resonators.”
“The Academy Metropolis of Lahai-Roi, with its inclusiveness and vision, has provided soil for countless Resonators to pursue knowledge and truth.
It has also given me a second chance to choose my life.
For this, I am deeply grateful.”
“Here, Resonance power is not an anomaly that needs to be hidden, but a force that can be explored, guided, and used to serve civilization.
This city, hailed as the ‘Resonator Academic Utopia,’ lives up to its name.”
“I look forward to, in the days to come, learning and growing together with all my teachers and friends in this land of free exploration, and contributing my own strength to the world we cherish.”
At the end of her speech, she slightly bowed.
…
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