When she turned to face the direction that the sound came from, she saw a girl roughly her own age. This person was wearing a black uniform with royal blue piping. The schoolgirl had long, dirty blonde hair, the front of which was braided on each side of her bangs. The rest of her mane hung straight and free down her back. This individual's most noticeable feature was her aqua-colored eyes. She also wore a very stern expression as she approached. Her eyes narrowed visibly over her mask as she looked at Christiana.

While at first a little concerned at the figure's approach, Christiana's trepidation soon melted away. A feeling of recognition immediately replaced that negative emotion.

"Samantha-senpai?" she asked as she watched the figure in front of her.

"Chris-chan?" the older party replied,

The two people examined each other's faces for a few seconds.

It was Christiana who broke the silence, and with a happy squeal, she ran up and hugged her old friend.

"Samantha! It is so good to see you!" she gushed as she continued to hug the other lass. "I haven't seen you since you finished primary school."

The youngster named Samantha embraced the shorter girl just as hard. "I missed you too, chibi! How's chibi number two?" she asked in a joking manner.

At this Christiana stepped back and playfully punched the other female lightly in the arm. "Don't call me chibi! I'm not that short!"

Both girls burst into giggles, clearly enjoying the playful exchange.

"Seriously, what are you doing here?" Samantha inquired of the other child. "Plus, where is your shadow?"

"Well, it has a lot to do with what you're wearing," the vertically challenged teenager responded. "Since Haruhi-nee and I are in the same matFam she wasn't selected to take part in the tournament."

"Wait, your in training to become a Keeper?" the girl with the dirty blonde hair countered. "That's great! While we probably won't be in the same grade, we will see each other daily if they pick you."

"Well, actually Johnathan-nii is a Year older than I am so we will most likely end up in your grade," she replied with a hesitant smile.

"That's perfect!" the other youth exclaimed. "There only two classes for each grade, so we would have a fifty/fifty chance of being in the same classroom. Plus, with your family's clout, your mother could pull some strings and make that into a certainty!"

The other girl appeared to be extremely excited at the possibility of Christiana attending the same class as her. She was literally bouncing up and down with her eyes were all but beaming in happiness.

"Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about this as Samantha is," she thought while trying to keep a smile on her face. "I'd better hurry and change the subject before she notices."

"So if you are in uniform, I take it that one of your patBrothers is with you?" she asked. She knew from past conversations that her friend did not have any matBrothers so her charge had to be a member of her patFam.

"Matthew," her companion proclaimed in a gentle but firm voice. "It's okay to come out. She's as refresh as a fridge. You can't get much cooler than she is."

As Christiana blushed lightly at the compliment, she saw a figure emerge from behind a bush next to a nearby entranceway. This young man was fairly tall, despite his face appearing to be slightly younger than his patSister. The boy had short dark-brown hair and large red mahogany eyes. These distinctive irises were of a shade that she had never seen before, and she found her gaze drawn to them.

Noticing the nervous look on the slim boy's visage, she put on her friendliest smile and extended her right hand for a handshake. "My name's Christiana, but your silly Keeper likes to call me chibi," she said in a gentle yet companionable tone. "What do you like to be called?"

The anxious youth looked first at her outstretched appendage and then at his sibling's face. It was obvious that he did not know how to handle the social situation.

"It's okay," the uniformed-clad child spoke in a kindly manner. "She's a good friend of mine and she is in training to wear the Black."

Still, the male hesitated, his viewpoint fixed upon the outstretched hand.

"Both her and her Sister were in the history club with me," she further explained. "We also met up in the mornings before class started and ate lunch together."

After hearing this, his eyes shifted to the face of his sibling. "Those were the ones that treated their brother just like he was another Sister?" he asked with a hopeful expression.

"Yep, that's her," the girl with the braided hair responded. "Well, she's one of the two."

"Oh," he replied. Then, as if something clicked in his head, he said, "Oh," a second time. A bright grin bloomed on his face as if it were a flower. His hesitancy gone, he finally reached out and grasped the extended hand with his own. "I didn't know why you wanted to shake hands with a male. Now it all makes sense. To answer your question, I'm called Matt by my friends."

"It's nice to meet you, Matt," she responded while looking the boy directly in the eyes. Then, unintentionally falling into the speech patterns drilled into her by Ana-onee she continued. "It is always a pleasure to become acquainted with another member of Samantha's House."

Then she released his hand when the shaking came to a halt. However, there was a certain hesitancy on his part. She got the distinct impression that he wanted to continue touching hands beyond what was socially acceptable. This made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she put on a friendly face nonetheless.

"I'm sorry," he explained. "You are the first girl outside of my Family that I have ever touched. I mean someone our age."

"Wow," Christiana thought, "He doesn't get out much, does he?" Then she realized that this was the situation that many members of the emotionally weaker sex were in. Even here in the West, where boys were treated better than in the East, males had very little contact with individuals external to their own House. Part of the reason the government allowed them to go to school at all was to help socialize them. If someone has no experience with people outside of their families, then how would they react to their brides? It would not be a pleasant occasion for anyone involved.

"At least they get an excellent education," she thought as she looked at the academy beside her. That was less for the males themselves than for the girls that accompanied them at all times. Those females had to be properly trained to earn a good salary as an adult.

Of course, a bonus of having knowledgeable men was to make them appropriate companions for their Wives. Since they would be alone together for extended periods, women overwhelmingly preferred a well-educated companion. After all, it wouldn't be pleasant to spend weeks in each other's company every Year if the other party couldn't hold a decent conversation.

"So, is what she said about you true?" he asked in a very shy manner, not meeting her eyes with his own.

Suddenly dragged back to the here and now Christiana was somewhat confused by Matthew's sudden question.

"What do you mean?" she replied, genuinely bewildered by his unexpected query.

"Do you really treat your Brother the same way you do your Sisters?" he asked, this time directly meeting her gaze. The look of expectation worn on his face was unmistakable.

"Of course," she responded with no hesitation and extremely nonchalantly. To her, it was just like someone asking her if her eyes were blue. If you simply glanced at her, the color of her pupils was obvious. Why would they bother to ask?

Therefore, she was totally taken off guard when Matt burst into tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad.." she stated, even more confused than she had been by his initial question. Unsure of what to do, she looked at her friend for help only to be met with an exaggerated shrug from the black-clad girl.

"I'm not unhappy," the youth finally pronounced after what seemed like an eternity to Christiana. "You just made me very, very happy."

"Why?" was the only reply that she could think of. The entire situation struck her as being quite odd.

"When Samantha-nee first became my Keeper, it surprised me how well she treated me when compared to the other Keepers I saw at school," he explained. "It was only later that she informed me about you and your sister and how it profoundly influenced her view of males. To be truthful, I could not believe what she told me. How could not one, but two Sisters treat their Brother as an equal? How could they play with him, joke around with him, or even eat at the same table with him? To me, it sounded almost like a legend of long ago, back when our ancestors were on Old Earth and the gender numbers were practically the same."

He then began crying once again and momentarily could not continue. Thinking that the boy had said all that he wanted to, Christiana started to speak. However, she stopped when she saw her friend hold up her hand with her palm facing towards herself.

After a minute or two, the young man was finally able to resume speaking. "Knowing that people like you and your sister exist gives me hope that there are others with similar views. Females who treat their Brothers and Husbands as equals, and not as possessions."

"I am glad that Haruhi-nee and I give you hope," she replied in a gentle voice. "But we are living in the West, where men are treated better than they are in the East. This is where the rebellion took place after all."

"No Chris-chan," Samantha interjected. "That isn't really how things are. I thought that was the case after talking with the two of you. However, after seeing how the other Keepers manage their males here at the academy, I no longer think that way."

"But the Uprising..." she started, merely to be cut off.

"If you notice, they don't teach us about that event in school," the other girl continued. "In fact, they severely reprimanded me in class when I mentioned it one day. It is as if the government doesn't want males to know that the insurrection even happened."

"But they mention it in almost every History book I have ever read about that period," she replied, puzzled by what her friend had said. "After all, it was the most important event since the Founding."

"We can't access those books," Matthew interjected. "Some Houses forbid men from reading any historical information."

"I believe it's because they don't want to give males any ideas," Samantha chimed in. "Of course there aren't enough of them now to have any hope of winning if they tried to revolt."

"I do not think that you realize how different your matFam is," Matthew said. "In fact, I would say that they are unique."

"But," Christiana began, only to be cut off by the older girl yet again.

"He's right. Your family's way of thinking could be viewed as radical, even in the West. Most people I know don't question the treatment of their Brothers. Instead, they seem to think that treating them as less than human is as natural as breathing."

Suddenly Samantha's com' chimed. After taking it out and glancing at the screen, she announced, "I'm sorry. Our transport is here and we have to get going."

Then the older young woman walked over to Christiana and gave her a big hug. "It was great seeing you again. Let me give you my new com' eye-dee so we can talk on the phone later this evening."

"Sure," the younger girl replied as she broke the embrace and pulled out her own com.' Then, with the click of the button, the two exchanged contact information.

"It was very nice to meet you," Matthew stated. Surprisingly, he reached out his right hand towards the schoolgirl he just met.

"It was nice to meet you as well," she acknowledged as she took his slender appendage into her own.

With this, the boy's face burst into an enormous smile. Then with a slight wave, he and his patSister walked away.

After peeking at the clock on her com' the lone child realized that she also had to get going if she wanted to catch her own ride. Then she rushed off towards the parking lot while looking forward to seeing her secMother.