Flashes of sunlight flared up onto the fogged glass of red-rimmed glasses. Gentle waves carried these dusky shafts along, stirred up by the light summer breeze that skimmed just above its dusk-enflamed surface. Lazy swarms of dragonflies hovered restlessly above the liquid mirror, thin wings just barely brushing the water. From all around, trumpeting white birds of the glorious Cygnus genus - swans, as they were referred to - sounded their lovely songs. Accompanying them were white geese of the Chen genus fluttering at the soothing edges. The painted sky above blazed with dawn-splashed nimbus clouds and a solar halo ringed loosely around the melting sun. All was so sleepy, so full of life and science. But...that was just it, wasn't it?

Among the contented goose and swan songs crackled a quiet sniffle. As if manifesting into a physical form of distress, a glistening pearl-like tear slipped down a smooth cheek. It was brushed away when the strawberry-blonde head moved, the flaxen hair bouncing to a significantly cheerier tune. Chitose rested her thin chin on cradled knees, watery honey-colored eyes just barely visible behind flashing glasses. The little puzzle-solver hadn't meant to cry. She hadn't let a tear slip for the longest time since she had left the horrendous period of bullying in the past. That was over now. It didn't matter. That's why all the insults, all the physical harm and the humiliation didn't matter...right? So why now? Especially in the heat of summer, why now? It was like a dam had shattered in the small girl's mind and flooded over just like the black-blue bruise staining her other cheek. This place was different. Astrea wasn't a hell, it was a heaven. It was, wasn't it? A place where her studies and intelligence wouldn't be mocked. Then why had she just been struck when leaving class? All she had done was answer a simple question like the teaching nun had instructed. And all it had received was a moment of praise and a cruel slap by a mocking classmate when the school day had come to an end.

Maybe she just couldn't escape this. Was there such a thing could fate? An eternal circle? An enigma of repetition? In the depths of her intensive studies, she had concluded such a thing existed, though couldn't scientifically apply such occurrences to any real situation so far. I'm so stupid... Why am I crying? So stupid and childish am I, but... As another sparkling tear bubbled and fell from the corner of a layer of thick lashes, Chitose felt her own body betray her. For so long it had been kept in, but she could no longer hide from the corruption of others. People hurt people, and no matter how long you tried to push through that, it wouldn't stop. Not until one day when the miserable shell of a figure could be redeemed. Those red-rimmed glasses had witnessed so many horrors and smirking faces. All they needed...was to reflect a smile.  

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Anissa had decided to come to the pond today but instead of for relaxation, she came here for an experiment for science. She had with her a petri dish in her hand as she was knelt on the ground trying to get a sample from the pond for her assignment. She'd decided to do hers on breeding bacteria and well, she'd never been this far from her own school before and decided to look into the pond that was present on the grounds of Lulim. As far as she knew, there wasn't a rule that girls from Miator couldn't be here and not only that, she saw girls from her school come to Lulim many a time. More than likely to visit students they knew attended the school so she decided that a change of scenery was good. Miator was fine but she wanted to look for samples for her project in a different setting this time. And she wasn't alone either. Unlike the last time when she went to check out the library, the gym, the classrooms, she'd been alone but this time she had her dog Spike with her who was poking his head out from her backpack while she was examining a sample of water she'd taken from the pond and mixed it into the petri dish with a solution and it changed colors. She smile at her success in her discovery. Well ... maybe not a success for those that probably like to come to this pond but for her it was.

She didn't have to go outside of the campus grounds to find what she was looking for. "This makes my project all too easy. Though I suppose I could've done something more challenging but this is fine. The colored solution tells me that this pond here on Lulim campus has bacteria in it. Now I just need to consult my books to find out which kind that is. Hopefully, it's good bacteria otherwise I'm going to be known as the girl on campus who had the pond quarantined," replied Anissa with a sigh as she placed the petri dish down beside her and reached for her backpack. Spike was panting heavily and happily and she couldn't help but pet him atop his head a little bit before removing the pup from her back and placing him on the ground. "Now don't go in the water, Spike. Be a good boy and stay right there. We'll walk around some before we head on home for the day once I'm done here," she assured him as she pulled out her science book to find the bacteria reference that she needed. All the while, she had no idea that she wasn't the only person out here today. Aside from the animals like the ducks and swans that were always at the pond, the tri-colored haired teen didn't notice any people around. Unlike a park or a library, the pond wasn't usually crowded. From what she saw here at least so for now, she was in the clear. Or was she?

As for her dog, Spike did as he was told while panting and then began barking and rolling all over the grass to get Anissa's attention. But the pup soon realize that it was very hard when his owner was distracted by her work and wouldn't play with him. For that, he'd begun to lay down on the ground and whine. Anissa heard this and lowered her book to look at Spike, rubbing his head again. "I know you want to play but I really need to get this done. I promise we will, okay? Don't worry, I won't forget about you, silly dog," she assured him by affectionately rubbing his back. Whether there was a no pet policy or not, the other reason she wanted him to behave was because she didn't want to get caught having him on campus. It wasn't anywhere in the rulebook nor had there been any other rules against it. For now, she was risking having Spike around her. At least until she'd been told she had to leave him home. Which would suck for her because she liked having him around, even though she knew she needed to give him a lot more attention. She tried. It was a lot easier having a dog than it was dealing with people and she wasn't going to be an irresponsible pet either. She was going to take care of her dog like she promised she would. Having finished rubbing Spike to make the dog feel a little better, she brushed off her hands before picking up the petri dish again and her book to do a comparison of her discovery.

Just as Chitose buried her tear-streaked face further into the concealing shelter of her knees, she heard the voice of another student. The voice wasn't addressing her. Rather, it was going on about a project. A project centered on the pond and apparent bacteria thriving within its watery depths. Scientific in nature, it sounded. The strawberry blonde head rose slowly along with misty honey colored irises. Blinking away a thin layer of tears, she analyzed her now blurred surroundings. Colors mixed and blended in strange moving hues and still that voice sounded. It was addressing something else now. An animal, perhaps? She was sure she heard barking. A small canine -- a pup, perhaps? Why would someone have a dog? Ah, no good...

Raising a peach-colored sleeve to her glasses, she slipped them off and gently brushed the soft fabric over them. Certain she could see now, she sniffled one final time as she pushed them back on with a slender index finger. There was a girl alright. A girl with tri-colored hair with a companion of the Canis genus. Intelligent, clouded eyes analyzed the scene. This girl was holding a petri dish and a book. Was she fond of science herself? Just the possibility made Chitose's heart flutter with butterflies of hope, but the realization that there was another student here and she had been crying suddenly kicked in, destroying the short-lived feeling. It wasn't like this girl would want anything to do with the meek little nerd anyways.

The teary little puzzle solver shifted to reposition her legs and push herself up. Clinging blades of grass and dirt clung to her thigh-black socks. They mirrored the bruise bleeding across her cheek. Maybe she could just slip away unnoticed. Fortunately, it hadn't seemed like this girl had noticed her yet. The calculations for a undetected getaway were favorably high, but knowing the klutz she was, she was worried she horribly miscalculated the percent error. No, the odds were in her favor this time. Brushing off her knees, she ever so quietly began to turn. A grassy knoll hooked her shoe. Just her luck. Letting out a distressed mewl, the strawberry blonde face-planted in the grass, right on her bruised cheek, too. A wave of displaced flaxen hair settled around her head. Looks like the margin of error had been larger than she had expected. Oh, well, as long as she hadn't been noticed. She spent little time to recover and eased herself up again. Her face stung now. She tried her best to ignore it. Though the world was more significantly blurry than before. How strange. A mound of emerald green lay like smeared paint below her. Shaking her dizzy head, she pivoted on an elbow and elevated a hand to adjust her glasses. Wait... Her glasses. Where were they?!

Curling up into a kneel, honey eyes squinted into slits. It aided little in helping the focus of her lenses. She was as blind as a bat. What luck! Not determined to loose her favorite pair of glasses, she brushed her palms across the waving grass in an arc. Nothing. Why now... She mentally hit herself. She had to get out of here, but without her optical aid, finding her way back would be a nightmare! Just maybe... No, no, she couldn't do that! Though the calculations did prove more favorable with that outcome... Inflating her small chest with a shaky breath, she located the colorful blur of that girl once more, and tried to project her voice:

"Um, e-excuse me, miss..." Her high pitched voice was shaking. Would it be heard?       

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Having found the comparison she was looking for in her book, she sat it and the petri dish down and took out her pen and notebook and began writing it down along with other various notes regarding it. She did this so she wouldn't forget and also so she wouldn't have to look it up again. It's not as if she would since she pretty much had an eidetic memory and had no trouble remembering anything that she learned and/or discovered. Once done, she closed her notebook and sat it down and picked up the petri dish to examine it once more. All was quiet at the pond except for the sounds of the water that flowed before her and the swans that flew up into the sky, spraying water behind them as they took off. She lowered the petri dish and took a moment to take in the scenery of the pond and the area. It was quite peaceful here and she surprisingly found it relaxing to which case it'd brought a small smile upon her face and it made her look down at Spike and rub him affectionately again. All this did was made him roll over on his back and wiggling around for more attention which Anissa couldn't help but laugh at. Maybe her cousins were right. Maybe sometimes it was okay to take her time to pay attention to even the smallest of things. It was actually worth it once she realized it.

She sat the petri dish down on the opposite side of her, deciding to take a break from studying to play with Spike who eventually rolled back over and climbed up into her lap. "It really is peaceful here. My old school wasn't anything like this but I can't help but still miss it sometimes," she said softly, holding Spike close to her. Her thoughts began to wander again but were soon interrupted by the sounds of howling which started her poor dog and caused him to growl and Anissa herself to jump in slight fright and holding Spike even closer to her. She turned to look in the direction in which the sound had came from and her eyes had came upon a girl with short peach colored hair and she wore the Lulim Girls Uniform. At first, Anissa believed the girl was there to tell her to leave in which she had no problem doing so since she was done with what she was doing here and didn't want to cause any trouble but the more she looked at her, she realized from her appearance that she was having a really, really bad day. She was a mess! She looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a patch of grass and she was making her way towards her but ... slowly? Rising, she stood up, brushing her own uniform off while steady holding her dog in her arms as she watched the girl.

She said nothing at first but that had changed when the girl had spoken to her in a very light and shaky tone. "A-Ano, are you alright?" she asked. She felt kind of stupid asking that question when it was pretty clear that she wasn't. Spike was still distressed and untrusting of the newcomer and growled more but Anissa quickly shushed him by rubbing him lightly on his head. "Calm down, Spike. Everything is fine," she assured him once more.

Chitose halted frozen in her tracks at the sound of a growl. It appeared as if the dog -- or at least, what she labeled the smallest moving colored blur to be, had spotted her. Did that mean the girl had too? Unable to distinguish anything, she held her palms up flat before her delicate frame, trying to convey to the protective canis that she meant no harm to him or his owner. She wasn't too experienced with dogs herself, but had learned a few helpful tips or two from the various regions of her studies. Sometimes flashing the emptiness of both palms could convey peaceful intentions to wary animals. Fingers had to be kept at a delicate curve, too, as to dissolve any instinctual assumption that that hand could come down in the form of an open-palmed smack atop their head. The little Einstein wasn't very afraid of the dog, but she found herself take an unconscious step backwards, more for the dog's sake of peace of mind than her own.

That was a good inquiry, if she was alright or not. In reality, no, but she felt so foolish and petrified with embarrassment right now that she couldn't make out any definite answer. So she just gave a nod, the bob of strawberry blonde hair bouncing about her neck.  The presence of this question meant the girl had noticed her now. That blob of color and the dog she was almost certain to conclude the girl was holding. Polar opposite cheeks filled with the blood of embarrassment. It created a strange, purplish veil over the bruise marring the right cheek. Flustered, she forgot for a moment what she was even planning to say next. She required this girl's aid for something. Something important... Reaching up once more, a habitual stretched out index finger contacted nothing but air. Oh yeah, her glasses.

"Um, y-you wouldn't have happened to see...a pair of glasses just now, have you?" Tiny hands fidgeted at the edge of the pink plaid skirt. "They are...um, red on the rims."

Even with just having supplied the color of the rims, Chitose was certain the other girl could locate them if she had indeed saw them. Who losses a pair of red-rimmed glasses? In front of a lake, too. They were very special to her, and the thought of the pond suddenly churned a worrying nausea in the pit of her fluttering stomach. I hope they didn't fall into the pond... The strawberry blonde prayed for them to be laying someplace on the grass. She wouldn't mind wading through the lake to get them if the latter proved true, but the swans and geese were busy at play and she wouldn't be able to see clearly out of them from the pond water until she would be able to properly clean them since it streaked. Well, that and she was sure she had overheard the girl speaking of bacteria within the pond's numerous microscopic organism cultures. Not that that would be much of a monotony or pain; today wasn't going too well for her anyways.     

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Thanks to Spike growling the way he did, Anissa noticed this had caused the other girl to back away which she felt bad for since she hadn't trained Spike to do that to people. Although, she knew he could probably sense her weariness of other people and that was probably why he did that in order to protect her. But the girl appeared to be harmless just ... in need of some help. The way she walked she couldn't help but wonder if she was able to even see anything. She'd come across people that were literally blind as a bat without the glasses they were prescribed to where and then there were those like here that while not having too much trouble seeing and reading things, some things still appeared blurry so she would always have a pair of reading glasses on hand just in case. They weren't as good as prescription glasses but they worked whenever she need them. And as luck would have it, the girl was in need of her own glasses as she appeared to have lost them somewhere in the pond area.

How could she have not noticed this girl was here? Oh yeah, she was too busy focused on her project to notice that anyone was around that's why. Something could blow up in the background and Anissa would either not take notice to it or want to examine the cause behind it. People were usually the last thing on the list for her since she had any good experiences interacting with others. To answer the girl's question, she shook her head from side to side, her eyes not leaving the girl's face which was clearly messy along with her clothes from grass stains and ... blood? She was hurt too, making the tri colored teen tense up and feel bad for her. She simply couldn't ignore that and the blood on her face, if there was a cut there, it would get infected with whatever was out here. Kneeling, she sat Spike down on the ground who had calmed down once she'd scratched him lightly on the head a little bit and she then grabbed a hold of her bag, taking out tissues and a small pocket sized first aid kit she kept in hand in case of emergencies. "G-Gomen nasai, I haven't seen your glasses but I doubt you'd be able to see anything with that blood on your face. I have some tissues here and some alcohol pads if you'd like to clean your face first," Anissa offered to her.

The little puzzle solver's heart sunken upon seeing the colorful blur seemingly shake her head. So this girl hadn't seen her glasses... They had to be in the grass somewhere. She was sure she could find them if she calculated the velocity and distance of her fall correctly. Although one miscalculation, perhaps just one faulty carry of an exponent, and she'd probably step right on them! The thought stirred up a sickening sense of worry in her stomach. She tried to shake the negative thought from her head. It was best to try and stay positive. Positivity enhanced the outcome of success, after all, or so she had convinced herself to belief without scientific evidence.

Fidgeting with the edge of her pink plaid skirt, she watched what she assumed to be the little dog be set down, standing perfectly still posture-wise all the while. Though he seemed to have been soothed by his owner, she was still wary of him. Not out of fear, but when in the presence of protective animals, it was wise not to make any sudden movements as to accidently agitate them. That went especially true for dogs. Were pets even allowed on campus? Even if they weren't, it was not like she would tattle to a nun and have the little dog be taken away. If the athletic girls of the glistening white St. Spica institute were allowed to have horses, granted for academic purposes, then other students should be allowed to have pets. Even if they barked and didn't seem to friendly around others quite yet.

A soft blush warmed the scientist's tear-streaked face when the girl spoke again. Blood? Was she bleeding? Her face hurt, but she was so embarrassed that she hadn't noticed. How very embarrassing! Little hands tightened on the edge of her skirt. They loosened slightly at the offer to clean her face. Blushing more out of embarrassment, Chitose gave a small nod, strawberry blonde hair bobbing behind her. That should be easy...right? Well, she still couldn't really see, so the task would be difficult but manageable. Reaching out a small tensed hand, she hesitantly felt around for a tissue. Once fingers contacted the thin paper, they gradually withdrew the fluttering sheet back to her face where it was pressed down and glided across the soiled skin. She couldn't really distinguish the contents staining the tissue when she removed it, but small red smudges were apparent atop it. So it was true...she was bleeding. This only embarrassed her more. The little hand tightened, causing the now bloodied tissue to quiver like a leaf.

"A...Arigato gozaimasu!" She stuttered out with a clumsy bow. It was a strained voicing of thanks; she was so embarrassed she had almost shouted the phrase in her jumbled reduced state of nerves.

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Spike had sat down fully beside Anissa while she rummaged through her bag for the extra pair of readers that she carried with her while the other girl cleaned her face with the offered tissues and alcohol pads. Having found the readers in the purple and magenta eye glass case she kept them in, she held it out for the girl to take them. "You're welcome. These ... might not be much help but they might help you see a little bit. Just enough to be able to find your glasses," Anissa offered to her. "They're not prescription glasses but they're somewhat useful. They're readers and you're more than welcome to use them if you want to." At this point, the thought of getting caught having Spike with her on campus grounds hadn't even come across Anissa's mind. More or less, she didn't want the other girl to try and go anywhere half blind if she couldn't see anything without her glasses. It wasn't safe for her to go anywhere. She couldn't necessarily relate entirely to her issue but she could ease some of her worry until she found her own glasses.

"Gomen, about my dog. He gets weary of strangers when he sees that I'm uncomfortable. He means no harm," Anissa told the girl. She figured she'd apologize about Spike's growling before it was eventually thrown back up in her face later on. She wasn't taking any chances on it so she figured she'd get it out of the way. She was probably breaking all sorts of rules by having him here on campus but she'll sort out the issues involving that later. That is, if the girl really wanted to tell on to a school staff. She'd hope not. If it would be a problem in the future, she was more than willing to leave him home. She didn't really want to do that since she wasn't good with interacting with people but rules were rules and she didn't want to be one of those problem students. As for Spike, he wasn't even paying attention right now to what was going on. He was too busy licking and biting on himself at the moment. Since Anissa was at ease for the time being, he saw no reason to be on guard. If she was fine, then so was he.

"Th-Thank you..." Chitose took the offered glasses with another clumsy bow, rocking quickly back onto her raised heels as to not topple forward face-first. Would these even help? She held them carefully between pinched forefingers. Maybe just a little. Though of slight aid or not, she was very gracious at the girl's kindness. The girl didn't seem like a bad person. Not yet at least. The strawberry blonde allowed herself to relax slightly with this conclusion. This girl won't hurt me... At least I hope not...

Fiddling with the glasses, she eventually slipped them. Blurred colors took a more defined shape though most still remained hazy. She could even see the girl and her dog now, even if only just a little. That relaxed yet seemed to embarrass her more. Honey irises looked to the small dog who appeared to be much calmer. So he was the protective type? A noble dog to have. Maybe not the most friendliness in the presence of strangers, but probably very loyal to his owner such as many specimens of the Canis genus were. A small, unsure smile uplifted shy, tightened lips. "I-It's alright. He is protective of you...”

Her nervous voice trailed off awkwardly at the end. She had swallowed a scientific statement she had been about to carry on and say and it had caused the last few words to come out weird. Hopefully the other didn’t notice… Chitose squirmed anyways. What now? Should she look for her glasses? Or maybe stay and talk with this girl a little more? She didn’t even know her name… And this girl had been so kind too. The shy little genius swayed, looking up to the tri-colored student. “U-um…” She started quietly. “Thank you for being….so kind. M-May I ask your name….?”

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

"You're welcome." The girl seemed to be okay with the offered readers that Anissa had given her so that meant she could see now, at least somewhat anyway. This way, she'll be able to find her glasses rather than thumbing about the area blindly trying to find them. There was the chance she would find them but only through by stepping on them and she was sure the girl didn't want that. Getting prescription glasses weren't the cheapest things in the world. The tri colored haired teen was glad that she didn't need them, yet anyway but readers helped whenever she needed them but she was doing her best to take care of her eyes so she wouldn't need them but sometimes that was next to impossible. In the meantime, she went back to petting her dog to calm him down as the other girl got closer. He seemed fine and wasn't threatened by her presence but she knew she'd have to break him out of growling at everyone he didn't know as it would become a problem. Picking him up, she held the small dog in her arms, holding him close to her chest as he barked and panted happily at being close to his owner. She took knowledge of the girl's comment of Spike being protective of her.

Protective yes but she didn't want it to get to a point where he'd end up biting someone. She'd really get into trouble then, especially since she never asked to bring him on campus grounds in the first place. She frowned a bit and said, "Hai ... he is demo, please don't tell anyone that I brought him here. I'd ... like to not get in any trouble over it," she pleaded of the other girl. She didn't seem the type that would considering how nervous she appeared already just by looking at her. It wasn't hard for Anissa to notice that but she still didn't want to take the chance since she didn't know this girl. She seemed nice, she suppose but she wasn't going to get her hopes up high on a decent social experience that didn't turn into an embarrassing disaster. She glanced down at Spike, rubbing his head lightly then her gaze shifted back over in the other girl's direction when asked of her name. It'd been the first time someone had ever bothered to ask. Given that she was a secluded nerd, no one ever took interest in her name, let alone her existence so this was a little odd for her and different too. "A-Atashi wa Granville Anissa desu," she introduced herself, stammering a bit.

Chitose watched the sweet scene of the owner and dog interact. Even with her still slightly blurry vision, she could distinguish the canine's obvious happiness. He didn't even seem as wary of the little puzzle-solver's presence that much anymore. The girl's words that were projected next sunk the strawberry blonde's heart a little. Who could ever potentially sever such a bonded pair? She certainly wouldn't whether aganist the rules or not. Besides, she would probably faint just trying to approach and inform a stern nun anyways, so it wasn't like she could get very far in the act even if she desired too. Though desire to she did not. "O-Of course I wouldn't tell anyone..."

Her small voice quivered out a genuine truth. Hopefully it would be enough to assure the girl that her little companion was safe in her knowledge if his existence. Besides, she would only feel like a bully if she told on the girl, and a bully she absurely was not! To even think about the possibility of being lumped into the group of tormentors that once and still occasionally tormented her... It made her feel slightly sick to her stomach. Chitose listened thoughtfully to the girl's stammmered introduction. Anissa Granville? The name sounded foreign. Was she from America, perhaps? The strawberry blonde was almost afraid to give an attempt to pronounce the unfamiliar name, concerned that she would mess it up.

"I-It's nice to meet you...ah, Granville-san." It came out more like "Guranbillu" with her heavy Japanese accent. An honest attempt, but incredibly embarrassing too! Chitose wanted to squirm in embarrassment at the fact she'd butchered the other's name so badly. Should she introduce herself as well? That's how introductions worked, right? She wasn't too sure - it had been so long since she had spoken to someone like this... Bowing clumsily, she decided to complete the exchange, the dangling strawberry bob framing her face.

"Aoihime. Aoihime Chitose. D-Douzo yoroshiku..." She murmured, voice heavy with nervousness. Was that correct? Not sure what to say next as she came part way up from her way, she distinguished the Petri dish from before. That's right... She'd heard the girl voicing something about bacteria samples and the pond... "Ano... Y-You wouldn't happen to be doing a bacteriological water analysis on this pond, would you?"

Little hands flew up to cover her mouth, a rosy blush painting across her cheeks. Oh gosh, now this girl was probably going to think she's weird... Lowering her head a little more, Chitose kept her hands veiling her mouth, looking incredibly nervous as she looked at the girl.

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Anissa was relieved to hear that. Just by looking at the girl and seeing how nervous she appeared, she didn't look to be someone that would go and tell on others without telling on her own self in the process. In any case, she didn't have to worry about being reported to any of the school officials about having her dog on campus. So long as he wasn't bothering anybody, then she shouldn't have any problems right? Well, dogs can be a handful as the tri colored haired teen knew upon doing her research on how to properly be able to take care of a dog. They required a lot more attention than cats who could pretty much take of themselves. She probably would've lucked out more having a cat but she was fine with Spike. She haven't had any troubles with him so far and was hoping to keep it that way. Steady petting the canine, the girl before her introduced herself after Anissa did but butchered her last name pretty badly trying to pronounce it. Anissa was used to it. Many confused her surname as her being foreign when she was born and raised in Japan. The only problem was, she didn't know her father and her mother, no matter how many times she asked her, would tell her about him. So it was possible that she was mixed with foreign blood and just didn't know it. Right now though, she wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Her mother had always been finicky anyway about the subject of her father so she decided not to bring it up anymore. She would again in the future but not right now. Right now, it wasn't important. In any case, she was just hoping this interacting between her and Chitose wouldn't turn disastrous. So far it hadn't but she was cautious by nature and therefore unable to help but worry that she'll say something to upset the other. "Nice to meet you, Aoihime-san," said Anissa.

She'd almost forgotten about her project until Chitose had mentioned it and that was the first time she'd forgotten about anything she was working on. Not that it was an assignment that was due right away but still, she didn't like to take forever working on something when it wasn't necessary to lag about. She preferred to get her work done and do it right as well as efficiently the first time. But what surprised her more is the girl knew what she was doing. If it'd been anyone else, she'd have to sit there and explain the entire thing to them which would not only take forever but also having to make sure they understand every word that came out of her mouth without them looking at her with a dazed and confused look on their faces. Still, discovering that someone here was just as knowledgeable about science like she was, was refreshing and therefore her uneasiness began to fade. "You're familiar with the subject of bacteriological water analysis? That's so surprising." In the spirit of happiness, she put Spike down on the ground beside her and carefully picked up the petri dish and held it up, pointing at it with her right index finger. "My science project requires me to study bacteria outside so I decided to come here to Lulim Campus and get a sample from the pond to see what type of bacteria I end up finding. But the most interesting factoid about bacteria is that we humans carry more bacteria no matter how much we try to avoid touching things we don't particularly want or like touching." Realizing she'd spoken too much, she blinked a few times, lowering the petri dish in her lap and looked away in slight embarrassment at her over excitement. "G-Gomen. I didn't mean to ramble and I've probably bored you talking about all that stuff," Anissa apologized.

A "nice to meet you" was given, making Chitose smile a little. So far so good, right? Yet she had completely butchered this girl's last name just moments ago... The thought planted a seed of worry that made her fidget once more with the hem of her skirt. It was getting a little crumpled now with all the nervous teasing of the fabric. Anissa hasn't seemed upset, or even mildly bothered, by the fact her name had been mispronounced now that she thought of it. In fact, the girl hadn't even seemed to acknowledge it. Was she used to it? The little scientist hypothesized so. Being in Japan with a foreign-sounding last name, if was sure to be mispronounced quite often yet, of course, that was all by mishap of the Japanese accent. This lead her to wonder for a moment if Anissa was from Japan at all. Granted, she possessed a foreign sounding full name, but there were cases where that was merely by namesake and not birthplace. Especially here within such a diverse student population. Given a few mental calculations, she had long concluded that there were quite a significant amount of girls here with foreign sounding names that were born and raised in Japan. She wondered if that was the case with the tri colored-haired teen.

What was said next brought a starry sparkle to the honey-gold eyes. Lowering her hands from her mouth cautiously, she gave a slight nod, strawberry blonde hair curling about her neck. She knew quite a lot about bacteriological water analysis and had studied portions of it before with regards to various lakes and ponds as an addition to her extensive studies before she was sent to Astrea. Chitose peered eagerly into the blurry Petri dish when it was next held up, squinting to see while she absorbed all of what Anissa had to say. This was incredible! Someone who actually understood this field and stoked a passion for it like her! Some part of her wanted to bounce in elation while another part wanted to squirm ecstatically. Though for the sake of composure and conversation, she kept herself still, nodding all the while at the explanation of bacteria. The bespectacled scientist's heart sunk a little when the girl suddenly lowered the dish and apologized for her long-winded speech. What was she apologizing for? Chitose adored this kind of stuff! Fighting back a habitual blush, she shook her head with vigor, little hands raised to her flat chest.

"N-No, no! I absolutely adore this and science itself! Pathogenic bacteria; marine autotrophic microbes and the harmless and infectous strains -- i-it's all so...f-fascinating!" Now it was Chitose's turn to be embarrassed after her passionate little outburst. Science was her life, her soul and passion. Her very reason for existence. Many failed to understand this scentific passion, which landed her a spot on the receiving end for many a year of torturous bullying, but no matter how bad it got or will get, she wouldn't give up on it. Not then, not now. And those currently misplaced red-rimmed glasses had seen her through it all.

☾ Granville, Anissa ☽

Anissa's eyes widened in surprise at this. Not even at her former school she found anyone that actually enjoyed the subject of science, much less anything outside of it. She was always the outcast because everyone around her made her either feel as if she was the stupid one or they had no idea what she was talking about and therefore ignored her because she was what they considered to be a "dork". So it was nice to finally meet someone that she didn't have to dumb down whatever she spoke about and with that being said, she felt a little more at ease. Maybe the idea of interacting with others wasn't such a bad idea at all. To meet another fellow enthusiast of all things educational and scientific was refreshing and for the first time, Anissa smiled, despite her embarrassment of speaking too much about her interests and what she found to be fascinating. But at least Chitose didn't seem to mind and wasn't offended at all. Spike noticed the change in his owner's mood and wagged his tail happily while barking a few times, which made the tri colored haired teen come out of her brief astonishment at discovering another person that may be just like her. Possibly in more ways than one. "Well then, I'm glad," Anissa finally said, breaking the momentary silence that'd been brought on. "I ... usually never meet anyone who likes the same kind of stuff I do so it's kind of nice to be able to talk to someone without making them feel as if they are less intelligent than myself or I'm the one that appears the be the buffoon."

Anissa knew she wasn't anything like the girls of today that were her age. Most girls her age were either still into playing with dolls are starting to notice boys and not finding them to be idiotic and troublesome. She was the exact opposite which is why her mother thought of her to be such a boring child. Granted deep down and in her own way, she was proud of her daughter's success and achievements but at the same time, she didn't want her to drown herself in them and wanted her to learn to have some fun and make friends. The same things her cousins had also encouraged her to do. If only it were that easy. They made it sound easy but Anissa wasn't the social butterfly that they all try and make her out to be. She was awkward, didn't like to stand out, didn't like to be the center of attention and focused on things that interested her and things that could be beneficial to the future. For the first time though, she didn't feel so out of place meeting a fellow science lover. It was unexpected and definitely not intentional but nevertheless, she didn't regret it and this girl, Chitose may be her first official friend. If she wanted that, that is. Setting the petri dish down, she moved her hand to rub Spike atop the head who panted happily and it'd made her even giggle a bit, something she didn't expect out of herself. "I'm glad I didn't offend you with my own fascination then. W-Would you like to ... be friends then?" Anissa asked awkwardly. She wasn't normally the first to extend the offer of friendship but in this case, some exceptions could be made.

Chitose nodded enthusiastically at the girl's words. She could fully agree with them. Having to simplify every ration and snippet for someone less involved in the field to understand. She had never been on the receiving end, of course, but she was sure it felt a bit overwhelming. But it's not like many wished to listen to the long-winded discussions of an aspiring scientist anyways... People didn't understand it, and when a mass majority didn't understand something, they ignored or tried to eradicate it. For the little strawberry blonde, that had taken shape in the form of being physically, mentally, and emotionally bullied since she was little. It hurt and still did, but she never allowed any of those bullies see it get to her. They couldn't destroy her passion. No striking open palm, balled fist, sharp words, or swinging kick could damage her could do that. A scientist's passion was their life. And she wasn't about to let it die at the hands of anyone who threatened to or did hurt her. That was a satisfaction to them that she wouldn't give.

A breathless puff of air soon escaped from the little genius's chest, honey-gold eyes widening well beyond their teary limits. Friends. That was a field she had yet to explore. She had never had a friend before. No one had ever wanted to be her friend... Granted, there were a few kind-hearted souls here and there in the past that picked her up and dusted her off, but the topic had never been brought up. It felt kind of like a dream. Had she even heard right? The puzzle-solver clutched the edge of her skirt to compose herself. Her heart was pounding in the sheer shock of the fairy-tale inquiry. She did want to be friends with this girl. And her dog, too, if be welcomed. Being friends with someone would be a whole new territory to explore. How would it go? Relaxing her stretched features, she produced a sweet smile, one that a small child would give and filled with just as much nervous warmth if not more. "I would like to, v-very much so."

She felt like she wanted to cry again, though this time, not out of sadness, but rather, amiable acceptance. Lowering her head, she shuffled a strand of her strawberry-blonde bob sheepishly, the smile smearing away with the presence of awakened nervousness yet not fully drying up yet. "I-If you'll have me..."