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[h3][color=C0E7F8]星野光[/color][/h3][img]https://i.imgur.com/BE5EM1C.png[/img][/center][hr][right][color=#8B989E][b]Amegakure no Sato Academy[/b]
Morning[/color][/right][hr]
	Excitement electrified the air, buzzing from one near-graduate to the next. Though they all stood in their places, their faces in rapt attention, it was all the little cues that belied their nervousness, their anxiousness, but most of all, their anticipation at finally moving on to the next stage of their lives. For each of the children standing assembled before the Amekage and her entourage, each one held a different focus than their neighbor: some focused on the Amekage herself - some on the Kage's assistant, their eyes hungrily gazing at the headbands held in his hand. Others still looked to their parents, their former teachers, or each other. Most found it difficult to keep their fingers still, their feet calm, or their mouths unclenched. 

	In such an atmosphere, Hikari couldn't help but be infected by it. 

	For her, her head was tilted upwards. Her focus was towards the sun that broke free from the cover of the ever-present gray that clouded it Her focus was towards the sun that was always shining. At her parents insistence, she was forced discard her usual wear for the graduation and instead don something formal, something befitting to celebrate the current momentous occasion in her life. The young girl pouted and fought against it, but right now, in this moment, she would be eternally grateful to her parents for making her do so. The deep blue sleeveless qipao she was made to wear allowed every inch of her skin to drink deep of the sun's warmth, the golden Fumetsu tree that highlighted and coiled all around her dress glittered and glowed as if it had dipped itself into the bright rays and painted the falling rain around her into blinding stars.

	And then just as quickly as it came, the rainclouds above ate up the sun once more. Broken out of her reverie, the loss punctuated by a crack of thunder, she noticed that in one hand she held her new headband. She hardly remembered when it had been given to her or when she had taken it, but she supposed this actually was what she had come here for. Her, and the many friends that surrounded her.

	Hikari stared at the now suddenly heavy weight that she held in her hand before her eyes quickly shifted back towards the front as the Amekage spoke for the first time to the assembled and newly named shinobi. A hand clenched tight around a newly received headband as the Kage spoke of sacrifice, of the new responsibilities that now rested on all their shoulders. 

	But as before, Hikari soon became caught up in the quiet jubilant glee of her comrades as they all together tied their headbands on, now becoming full-fledged ninjas of Amegakure. As the assistant said his final comments and turned to follow his master, a singular roaring cheer sounded behind him.

	Hikari's voice was among the loudest, her voice ringing pure and clear as she became one step closer to achieving her goal, her face beaming and bright.

	Just like the sun that was swallowed up by the clouds however, Hikari quickly became swarmed by the sea of friends she had made during her time at the Academy. Memories were shared, tears were shed, wishes were made aloud, and the young star did her best to earnestly speak and respond to each one. There were two faces she was looking for in particular however that she couldn't find among the crowd, instead finding them out among the outskirts of it.

	Deftly and gracefully, she navigated from body to body and from conversation to conversation as smoothly as she could, doing her best to give her full, albeit brief, attention to every person that spoke to her until she linked arms with the first person she was looking for and then dancing her way and linking arms with the other, pulling the trio of them out from the masses. On one side of her was a taller girl with beautiful short black hair and a bandage placed carefully over her nose, and on the other was a surly boy who, despite the occasion, looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

	[color=C0E7F8]"Sadako~, Kyosuke~,"[/color] the acrobat intoned playfully, her elbows fiercely locked around theirs as she exaggeratingly threw her head from one sourpuss to the other. [color=C0E7F8]"You both are planning to go to the party with all of us at Saito no Kareraisu aren't you? Especially after all the trouble I went through to organize everything right~? I mean, you would not believe how long it took me to make and deliver all those invitations. I imagine you both know how hard it is to sneak out of the orphanage, but do you know how hard it is to sneak anything [i]in[/i]?"[/color]