Where are you?
Melanie's apartment was smaller than the top 10 students as she's ranked 11th out of 8000 people in 4th year.
Regardless her ego wouldn't settle for less unless it came from the best as Dean and Kat were able to witness firsthand.
[Wow this place is beautifully decorated and the furniture is so pretty], Kat spoke out with sparkling eyes. She then walked forward in her holographic form maintaining the maximum distance from Dean as he too looked around admiring the place.
"Indeed, up on that wall are copies of old art pieces that survived the great nuclear war, but did you know that piece right there was based on a high fantasy book which turned into a film trilogy...."
Dean went on a tangent as he was a big history nerd specifically on 21st century culture before the old nations bombed each other. His hobby was researching and collecting 'junk' from that era, sadly all of his collection were back home as he was hardly in his apartment because he was either training or studying in the library. The only time Dean was at his place was for sleep or cooking his own meal.
Kat was silently listening with a small smile as Dean was rarely passionate in talking or discussing his hobbies due to his status as the 'lonely number 2' of the academy.
....and-"
Dean pushed up his glasses and walked into the kitchen after noticing the kitchen knife stand with several well-made knives, he pulled out one of them and stared deeply at the engravings and notices how sharp the blade was for a regular steel knife.
"-this is Japanese steel custom made. The craftsmanship is exquisite and the knife itself is well maintained as if the person kept it for display only or showed care in handling it but why did she get Japanese made steel and not Mars?", Dean excitably said fully unaware that Melanie cooks her own meals as her palette wouldn't settle for food prepared by 'lowly' chefs.
Even the few restaurants located in Pleasantville were not up to her standard as her 'refined' tongue was reserved for either Star-Class chefs or her own cooking.
[Well you know Melanie is part Japanese despite being mostly Russian and from what Jen told me, Melanie cooks her own meals. I'm surprised you didn't know her own heritage as her family controls 1/5 of Earth and was one of the founding pillars of the United Human Alliance.]
"Oh I only study what was taught and noble houses' history don't interest me much. Speaking of which...", Dean replied returning back to his usual expressionless face.
Unaccustomed and ignorant of the fact Dean was at a young lady's residence, he quickly went to Melanie's bedroom and barge inside....
.
.
.
.
...only to find the bedroom empty. He turned towards Kat with a questioning look suggesting 'Where are they?'
But Kat only shook her head in response to the silent question leaving Dean to sigh heavily.
He went back outside the bedroom with many thoughts running through his head like...
'Where are you?'
....rapidly turning to dark thoughts
'Is she dead?'
devolving into darker ones.
'Did she turn into a fiend or something worse?'
In the end, Dean didn't know and just slump down on a expensive lavish couch in the living room. He took off his glasses and placed them on the coffee table in front of him.
Sigh
Dean sighed again and rubbed his face with both hands feeling slightly stressed out.
Why?
While Dean had no friends for the past four years at the academy, the closest person that he could have called a friend was Melanie Asato-Romanoff.
The two didn't exactly start off on the right foot as Dean 'stole' Melanie's 2nd spot leaving her at 3rd place in the rankings unlike her ex-fiancé who was at the very top. This and the fact that Dean was a low-born commoner caused Melanie to loathe him.
But fate kept on putting the two together forcing them to cooperate on their school assignments as Dean was always a diligent student and Melanie's massive ego wouldn't stand a failing grade because of her immaturity.
Over the years, Melanie attempted to fight fate while Dean didn't care, but somehow they always run into each other.
Eventually she gave up and became less hostile to Dean even her big ego shrank three sizes as she got to know Dean through their brief conversations and spying.
Yes spying, unbeknownst to Dean, Melanie stalked....spied on him to make sure he wasn't a political enemy or trying to gain her trust politically.....but it was only an excuse.
Anyway now, Melanie was missing and fate wasn't pulling the strings for the two to meet anytime soon....at least that was what Dean assumed.
Kat 'sat' down next to Dean while his thoughts eventually drifted to his first meeting with Melanie...
***
5 years ago
At the education section of Omega Academy where lectures were held, in the hallways there were several screens on the walls where a crowd gathered showing the class ranking based on written and practical tests. Dean was in front of the crowd with a stoic face but inwardly he was nervous about the results as despite studying and training hard, he was still human.
Looking at the results-
__________________________
Note: To know your exact grades, say 'Show entrance exam grades' to your virtual assistant.
First Year Entrance Exam Results:
1) Mark von Harem
2) Dean McLovin
3) Melanie Asato-Romanoff
.
.
.
8000) Joe Jameson Joestar
Note: To know your exact grades, say 'Show entrance exam grades' to your virtual assistant.
__________________________
-Dean was ecstatic enough to crack a small smile on his usual stoic face.
He turned around and to head towards the Office of Student Housing for first years, where his room assignment would be along with his luggage, as all first years were separated into several groups touring different parts of the academy.
But, as Dean turned around he noticed a beautiful girl around his age as despite being in the same tour group for several hours his full attention was on the tour itself and not the group he was in.
She also turned around facing Dean as she stood at about 5'10" (177.8 cm), a couple inches taller than Dean.
He noticed that the girl had snow white hair with the tips being violet, her eyes were strikingly violet too almost glowing. Her face was perfectly symmetrical with dark eyebrows in contrast to her white hair giving her a sharp look.
Staring at her, Dean could only mutter a few words,
"You're really pretty."
The girl, Melanie Asato-Romanoff, was amused that a decent looking boy wearing thick glasses complemented her even a simple one as it fueled her ego. She would have judged his looks better as she was drawn to his deep piercing blue eyes, but Melanie was engaged and decent looking was a good enough complement to the opposite gender.
With a smirk, she was about to say her thanks, but she saw the boy's name tag on his chest with it being 'Dean McLovin'. That name was the name of that nobody who took her rightful spot next to her beloved Mark.
Melanie knew all of her competitors as she paid attention to all of the higher noble classes and even lower nobles who had potential in the top 10...no top 100 as while they could be potential competitors, they could also be potential allies to her beloved faction. So to her, Dean McLovin was a nobody suggesting he was a lowborn commoner.
Now with a frown that turned into a hateful look as she believed Dean was looking down on her and potentially woo her, Melanie hatefully said with a thick Slavic accent,
"Watch your tongue you filthy peasant."
She turned around and headed out towards the dorm area, Melanie could have threaten Dean more, but she knew that he could be an asset to the UHA as all noble families are sworn to protect it and not harm potential assets.....unless they face the wrath of the Royal Inquisitors.
Dean was left confused by her response, but quickly thought it was that 'time of the month' for girls her age.
He didn't know her name since he didn't look at her nametag on her chest as Granny Judy taught Dean to always look at a girl from the neck up when talking to them and avoid ogling the pretty girls....unless Dean was in a relationship with them. He quickly headed to the dorm area also.
For Melanie, she hoped to never run into or at least avoid interacting with that peasant boy again.
Alas, fate was either very fickle or enjoyed seeing the two interact because....
They ran into each other again at the Office of Student Housing.
Again because they were next door neighbors since both were 2nd and 3rd ranker respectively.
Again because they had the same classes at the same periods.
Again they ran into each other over and over.
.
.
.
.
While this was happening, one digital pink girl was giggling with her best friend over these run-ins...
***
A/N: And I'm so sorry~
Sorry couldn't help myself when I made the chapter title like that XD.
Anyways I introduced our organic female lead though it was through a flashback but maybe she'll appear in present time....alive hopefully? Oh and also sane too.