Alika brushed the snow off her shoulder and sighed. "Well... This is gonna be fun. I guess we might as well head inside before this escalates." Elena simply stared at the battle, eyes wide and sparkling. She readied her 40mm... took aim.... aaaaannd....."Nope, we are not getting involved." Elena suddenly lurched back as Alika, who was now had her Strikers on her back like a backpack, grabbed the back of her dirty camouflage jacket and began to drag her inside. "Bu- But! I want to fight ugly men and their pussy mages! I love snowball fi-" "No means no" "Aww....." They made it inside the impressive academy, oohing and awing at their new school. "Go big or go home when it comes to fighting demons da?" said Elena, staring at the high ceilings. "No shit..." Alika responded, equally amazed by the intricate architecture and decoration that adorned the arches and walls. The main hall was already beginning to fill with later year students. Most already grouping up in their clicks. Suddenly an announcement began to echo over the school grounds. [i]”All students, please proceed to the main hall with your luggage. You will be organized by year, and will wait for the headmaster to give his opening speech. Any students caught lingering around will be escorted personally.” A woman’s monotonous voice continued announcing. If it wasn't for the differentiation in the pauses between her words in each repeat, Varren would have gladly accepted a recording as a plausible answer. Keeping to the sidelines as the snowball fight waged on, the woman began another reciting of the phrase. ”All students, please proc- headmaster, what are you doing?!” The woman sounded surprised and completely awestruck, though her startled demeanor was drowned out by a deep clearing of a throat. The sound echoed throughout the whole entire campus, the consistency of the announcement increased in volume, to a nearly ear-shattering level. The voice exhaled deeply, then began in a raspy tone. ”All students who are currently standing around like a bunch of uninformed buffoons, please proceed into the main hall. As for those who are currently engaging in snowy warfare, I advise you follow the same suit, before I shove my lower-right crystalline edge up your rea-” [/i] Alika and Elena looked at each other for a moment in silence, then busted out laughing. "Oooh.... Da headmaster.... ho ho ho.... If dat isn't suggestive then I must be sober!" Elena said between her chuckles. Alika simply shook her head and smiled. She was happy her friend from a long time ago could come along with her to this amazing place. Not wanting to be cleaning bathrooms for the rest of their lives, they made their way to where their designated year was and waited. A formally dressed woman in a uniform similar to that of the schools (Which Elena has still failed to bother putting on) came to the stage. After a brief introduction she introduced their headmaster. Alika sighed in disappointment, utterly unsurprising while Elena held back a giggle. "Of course our headmaster is a fucking rock... Why would anything else make any sense..." Alika muttered to Elena, only increasing the difficulty of not laughing out at this. After a particularly long rant he dismissed them. Elena was quick to turn to Alika and grab her shoulders. "PARTNERS!" "Uhhh...." "Partners..?" "Ehh....." "Pweeeeease?" "Errr...... No..." ".......Что?!" "Look Elena, I'm really happy your with me at this school, alright? I really, really am.... It's just we can't just let our friendship decide this. We're both Strike Witches with similar combat roles, thus we can't really balance each other out in a combat situation.... It would be too risky... I'm sorry." Alika said with pain in her voice. She really wanted to be partners with Elena, but she knew the truth. She stared at the ground, not having the courage of facing the friend she turned down. Suddenly she was enveloped into a hug and felt Elena pat her head. "Tam yest my malen'kaya devochka.... Mama Elena is not mad." Elena griped Elena shoulders and smiled. "You know best, Alika, as always. You find good partner and I find mind. We still be friends tills the ends! Now then... Let us go comrade!" With that she grabbed Alika's hand and began to drag her into the crowd. "Wahh?" "We must make new friends! Talk to fellow comrades!"