Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 341: Arc 5, - 35: Ceremonious

"Kitty-cat!" Kineko hopped out of the carriage to chase. The stray ginger cat’s head swivelled and dashed in the other direction. "Wah!" she was picked up by two arms.

"Kid, don’t go chasing wild cats," Kazuo placed her down on the other side of him. "They’ve got all sorts of diseases."

"B-but, pumpkin!" Kineko reached her hand out.

"Don’t name them either..." Kazuo paid the driver and turned to the other four. They stood at the wrought iron gates under a less cloudy sky. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Wind howled and brushed against the large red and black banner hung on the archway—’Congratulations, Batch of 969!’ it read, with the image of several graduate caps in the air.

The citizens on the street would give a passing glance and some would peer through the wrought iron fences. Students in similar carmine and black robes as Fumeko walked in, either with friends or family in tow.

"You’re supposed to wear your cap," Hotaru spoke.

"Pretty sure you’re supposed to throw them," Jotou added.

"I’m not gonna wear the cap," Fumeko looked to them both.

"Then throwing it is!" Asobi cheered.

Much like open day, there were booths and such set up along the entrance into the campus. Not as many as before and passersby didn’t simply waltz in.

However, students of all years were present in smaller numbers; some guided guests, some were simply siblings of the graduates and some managed a few booths as well as advertise various school clubs.

The four walked in and looked about, before Kazuo and Kineko. "Hah! Thou hath arrived. I welcome thou once more adventuring detective," Tiffany made her presence known as she popped in out of nowhere. "And companions," she smiled to them all.

Fumeko cocked her head, "Were you waiting for me or something?"

"Naturally!" Most of her flair and splendour from the neck down was hidden away under her academic regalia similar to all the graduates—though she opted hold her cap instead of wearing it. "Thou requested I to save thou a seat."

"Oh, well, yeah, I remember that," Fumeko pouted. "But you didn’t have to wait for me at the gates..."

"Tiffany, right?" Jotou gave a small wave.

"Ohh, that’s Tiffany," Hotaru tilted her head.

Tiffany’s eye popped open, "Gh!" She then gasped with a hand to her chest as her face drew back in horror, "Thou... divulged mine primordial name to them...?"

"Uh," Fumeko froze. Tiffany almost looked... betrayed. "Just in passing, I mentioned it maybe twice," the brunette defended with furrowed brows.

"Yeah, it was just this morning she said she was looking forward to seeing you again," Hotaru’s ears pricked and she gave a nod.

"...Truly?" Tiffany leaned forward with a bit of intrigue.

Fumeko crossed her arms, "It’s not like I was excited or something, calm down."

"I didn’t even know her name," Asobi remarked with a wand to her chin.

"It was just in passing as far as I remember, why? Is it the wrong name or something?" Jotou raised a brow to the other blonde.

Tiffany hummed to herself... "Nay." She sighed and looked to them, "Tis fine. None of thy entourage attend this fair academy. Furthermore, it delights one such as myself to hear I was yearned for~" she smiled wide.

Fumeko’s cheeks went red, "I-I didn’t ’yearn’ for you!" her face scrunched before she scoffed.

"Well all that aside, a friend of Meko’s is a friend of us," Hotaru greeted with glistening fangs, "I’m Hotaru Kinoshita—Hotaru’ll be fine."

"Jotou Howllett; you can just call me Jotou."

"I’m the- Asobi... Just Asobi!" her wand sparkled rainbows, but sputtered to a stop as she realized they were still sort of undercover. "I’m planning to be a new student here! Nice to meet you, again!" she giggled and reached her hand out.

"A transfer student? From whence does thou hail from?" Tiffany took her hand to shake, somewhat awkwardly with her fishnet gloves.

"Hmm, if I go through my memories, I’m actually from Burnetrout!" Asobi was still shaking her hand.

"She meant the school genius," Fumeko corrected.

"Oh. I’ve never been to school!" the elf hopped.

"I impart thee mine best wishes then..."

"Sobi’s planning to take the entrance exam and do all the exams back-to-back to graduate," Fumeko elaborated.

"Mhm!"

"A, commendable endeavour," Tiffany cracked a smile.

"And... Tiffany kinda knows who we are already..." Fumeko’s eyes darted away from everyone’s face.

"Huh... Did, thou deduce our true identity?" Jotou glanced to Tiffany.

Tiffany giggled vivaciously, "Certainly tis not beyond the capabilities of I. For the void whispered secrets and confided in I about thy true personas."

"I sorta boasted about what we all did since we met in Kria..." Fumeko pursed her lips.

"I see," the redhead glared into the back of Fumeko’s head.

"Ah!" Tiffany tried to meet Fumeko’s gaze, "I was endeavouring to offer assistance in concealing that truth," she half-whispered.

"You don’t need to cover for me," the brunette replied—though, some part of her appreciated it as she gave the hint of a smirk to Tiffany.

"Well," Tiffany glanced to them all, "Befittingly of thy prominence, you are all striking and dapper for such an occasion. If it were not for my stellar perception, I may have not recognized you young detective."

"Oh come on, I just look a little tidier, don’t I?" Fumeko hid her face slightly.

"Tis a good look for this momentary period," Tiffany smiled.

Hotaru’s ears pricked as she watched the two conversed—her tail wagged slightly. On the other hand, Jotou’s brows knitted faintly to the two.

"Waiting here for something?" Kazuo held Kineko’s hand into the path.

"Oh dad, this is... Stella; she’s the one who gave us the tour last time," Fumeko introduced.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance yet again," Tiffany gave a small curtsy.

"Good to see you again kid. Graduating too?" Kazuo queried. Tiffany gave a nod.

"Dad, it’s the funny-talking lady I don’t undastand," Kineko pointed.

"Ugh, sorry about her," Fumeko said to the shorter blonde.

"You needn’t fret, I have that impression on most children. Come now, the ceremony shan’t be long to commence," she took Fumeko by the hand. "The chairs for family and friends lie on either side of our arrangement of seats.

Do find yourselves the best location to observe our ceremony. Farewell for now~!" Tiffany took Fumeko away.

"I’ll, see you guys later!" Fumeko went away with her without protest.

Asobi waved to them in glee. Jotou fluttered her lashes, "Guess she’s making new friends."

"Good for her," Hotaru chuckled.

"Anyways, the ceremony shan’t be long, shalt we depart?" Jotou crossed her arms.

"Don’t start," Hotaru side-eyed; to which Jotou giggled.

"It’s set up on the grass over there," Kazuo glanced towards the right. In the near distance, students were gathering towards the small stage set up outdoors.

_

"And now, for our headmaster, Holden Blackthorne," the announcing student said as he walked away from the microphone. Light claps went throughout the attendees.

A reedy man in a red and black suit got off from the faculty seats to the side and walked onto the stage, tucking his spectacles into his breast pocket.

He wore a few pins on his lapel and had a white beard contrasting his dark skin. His receding hairline reflected some sunlight as he took the podium. He cleared his throat, "Good morning to-"

His low and old voice greeted the faculty, the parents, the graduates and so on. The true question was, who the heck was listening?

Much of the students chatted amongst themselves, the guests and teachers were no different. Tiffany and Fumeko sat in the middle of the batch of students somewhere, "Does he just talk a lot?"

"Tis not a school assembly, if the head teacher did not yatter on about absolutely nothing," even Tiffany sighed as they all endured their long and dull graduation speech, ending with a congratulations.

...Before he went on and on about what graduating high school means and certain historic achievements about the academy.

Jotou got up and paced around the school grounds about two minutes into the headmaster’s speech. She returned to only see the headmaster just about finishing.

However, as he left and the student announcer got back on the podium, "And now, we invite the Grand Alderman, Lady Frederica Etta Pinberry to give a short speech." Light claps once more peppered throughout the crowd.

"Lady Pinberry?" Jotou took notice as she sat down.

"She’s in essence the president of Burnetrout," the redhead replied.

"I know, I’ve heard her mentioned in Tamara Palace, I’m just curious why she’s here," the blonde’s brows knitted.

"Dolpool Academy is the best school in the country," Kazuo explained. "It’s governmentally and privately endorsed. A graduation ceremony once a year is not too hard for her to make an appearance."

And that appearance was that of a woman in her mid to late 40s. Her heavily styled auburn hair cascaded in front of her shoulders and she wore a red suit with a black pencil skirt for the occasion.

"Congratulations to the graduands of Dolpool Academy," her words were slow and prideful. Her eyes scanned across the crowd as she spoke, addressing them all with commemoration and speaking of them being the future of Dolpool and Burnetrout.

The ceremony continued after the speech. One by one graduands were called up from the seats and onto the stage they went, receiving a rolled up parchment with a red and black ribbon.

They’d smile with the Grand Alderman and the headmaster for the bright flash of a camera at the front, before moving along for the next student.

As the names got called, Tiffany’s eyes widened... "Oh dear..."

"What?" Fumeko glanced to her.

"I didn’t think about this-"

"Tiffany Wells," the microphone blared out her name for everyone in attendance. She shrank in her seat and squeaked under her breath before she wordlessly got up and walked to the front with her head down and feet fast.

Tiffany took her diploma from the headmaster’s hands and looked to the audience rather than the camera... Her eye lingered on a certain brunette, rather than anyone else in the crowd...

With a hint of a smile breaking through, she stood tall and took a pose with a bright vibrant smile. "FLASH!"

"Fumeko Namora," the next name called down the row.

She got up from her seat. Of course she knew all the eyes of ’her classmates’ looking at her, trying to discern who the heck was this person.

Regardless, Fumeko walked forward through the aisles of chairs with her gaze on Tiffany walking back down. She walked up the steps and she still decided to not wear her cap.

The entire audience from this stage... Woah. She hardly ever stood taller than most, but to see her on the stage and her alone... A little fear crept into her stomach.

Her brows remained tensed as she reached her hand out to the headmaster and Grand Alderman. "Congratulations Ms Namora," the headmaster handed with a smile.

"Thanks," she uttered to the man she had only seen today; what manner of conversations went with him and her father? She could only wonder.

The scroll within her grasp, much like what Jotou said, felt somehow useless despite barely knowing its value. She glanced up to face the camera as the cameraperson counted down.

Her gaze followed through the crowd on her right side, to see her friends and family sitting in a row second from the front. She noticed them clapping and her dad had a small but proud smile.

Only then did she see Hotaru point two fingers to either side of her lips and moved them up to mimic a smile. Fumeko relaxed her brows in the nick of time and managed to give a small smile- "FLASH!"

_

The students meandered the academy’s grounds, talking to people and hanging out with friends and family. The morning was getting darker by the hour and by ten, the clouds were getting a little thicker.

Hotaru’s ears pricked and she looked up. It almost felt like little raindrops were falling onto her ears despite there being no rain. However, she sensed rain was due.

"That wasn’t too bad I guess," Fumeko opened up the scroll to the certificate with her name on it. Kineko reached her hand for it and Fumeko simply gave it to her. The little one examined the glossy text and her sister’s name with great intrigue.

"You’ll still be you detective," Jotou smiled. "Unless you’re planning to go to university."

Fumeko sneered, "Eugh, probably not." She took the scroll back from Kineko and stuffed the certificate back in.

"Aww, I wanna wead mowre!" Kineko frowned.

"It’s a piece of paper with words on it, it’s not that interesting," Fumeko replied.

"Do we go now?" Asobi turned to the redhead.

"Hm," Hotaru looked back down from the sky, "Sure. The headmaster should be in," Hotaru held a folder she had under her trench coat. "We can go discuss your enrolment."

"Yay!"

"We should be getting home quick though," the wolf-girl checked her watch, "It’ll start raining around eleven thirty."

"Okay," Kazuo held Kineko’s hand. "I’ll have to go sign Kineko up for the academy’s entrance exam. You kids’ll be good on your own?"

"We’ll be fine dad," Fumeko replied. With a nod, Kazuo left with Kineko who waved goodbye to them.

"Asobi and I’ll meet you back here," Hotaru bade farewell and left the scene, leaving two of them there.

Jotou let out a sigh, "So, how does it feel?"

Fumeko thudded the hard scroll against Jotou’s elbow, "Decent weapon."

Jotou was hardly amused...

"It’s like you said; this doesn’t really mean much. I’m, more so glad you’re all here and stuff," she admitted.

Jotou smirked, "Aw detective, you care for us so much~"

Fumeko groaned with furrowed brows. "So, what now? We’re gonna go get some good lunch, right?"

"I mean yeah, after everyone comes back," Jotou could catch out of the corner of her eye, students talking about her. ’Are they... gossiping about me? What’s going on?’

"What happened?" Fumeko noticed the blonde’s visage.

"Nothing," Jotou looked back and the students that looked in her general direction would swivel their heads away entirely... "Looks like I’m getting attention." It was not too different a feeling than being in the gala with so many eyes.

"You wanna get out of here?" the brunette queried.

"No need. I was just gonna explore the school a bit; there might be secrets hiding here," the blonde giggled. "Let’s go on a little adventure; every school has its forbidden spots."

It was not that the brunette was not interested or excited about the idea, but her brown eyes noticed another blonde by herself with a scroll of her own.

For what it was worth, that girl was a mystery of her own... One that Fumeko was not opposed to finding out. "Actually... I think I’m gonna stay at the school for a bit longer.

What if you guys go home first and I’ll meet you there before we go get lunch?" she plotted.

"Hm," Jotou noticed Tiffany nearby. "Sure, if you wanna," Jotou hid a little pout. "D’you know how to get back home?"

"I’m not an idiot!"

The blonde stuck her tongue out and gave her a wink, "Alright, alright. I’ll see you later then; go have fun with your friend."