utopiamodsAs you all crowd onto the platform with your new and still bizarre mix of faces, expressions, clothing and wild theories, you are met by two girls and a boy. All three are in uniforms that would match if not for the colour differences - skirts and trousers, waistcoats, and light summer shirts that seem totally inappropriate for the thin layer of melting slush coating the station platform. Each has a beret with a crest - one girl's shows a sword, the other two have a shield.
At the first lull in the chatter, the shorter girl speaks up, her soft voice somehow cutting over you.
"Excuse me,"
She explains, in precise, quiet sentences, that the three of them are prefects, representing the two schools in Rakuen. Nanami of Fortitude, she says, placing a hand on her own collarbone, with her fellow prefect Lelouch, and Santana of Conquest, here pointing to the boy and the taller girl she's leaning against. The girl nods, looking fairly bored, whilst the boy doesn't appear to be paying much attention.
"We will be sorting you now. When we say your name, please move quickly and quietly to whoever called you."
"Yeah," Santana interrupts, "Then we can go back to the dorms. This'd better be the last lot we get in winter, seriously."
They separate, moving to stand several metres apart, and both girls pull a list from their waistcoat pocket. Alternating, they start to read out your names.