With instinct honed by long practice, Sean woke up just in time to hear the directions for new students. He stood and stretched, looking upon the world with the kind of blissful serenity only someone who slept through a long, boring, pointless speech can muster.
[i]Straighten your clothes Sean.[/i] he could practically hear his mother nagging as he did just that. [i]This is your partner you'll be meeting, someone you'll be working with for the rest of your life. Make a good impression![/i]
Sean sighed. This was such a hassle; also, there wasn't much he could do. He was a Receiver, so it was his duty to support a Tuner.
"Lets see who they picked out for me, huh?" he said, ambling along with the flow of new students towards 4B.

[hr]

While she would never admit it, Kagura had more than just a few butterflies in her stomach. She'd been looking forward to coming to the Academy and meeting her partner for [i]months,[/i] ever since she had enrolled, in fact. But suddenly, the reality crashed down on her that she might not [i]get[/i] a partner. Even with Receivers being created artificially, Tuners still out numbered them. There might not be enough to go around, she might not end up being able to work with her partner and they might get split up (Mother and Uncle told her that had happened sometimes in their day), or any number of disasters.
She wanted to make some of those "lifelong friends." Would she be able to?
Kagura told a deep breath and smoothed out nonexistent wrinkles in her skirt. She stood up and began walking towards room 4B. She would manage. She would have to. She would make sure that her partnership was a success, if given the chance.