The night wind whistled across the thinning leaves of the trees surrounding the dorms for boys. Claude could only listen to its song while waiting for Eugene outside.
On this side of the university premises, six buildings rose to accommodate the male students. Claude lived in the one that faced the front parking spaces. It was called the Cavalry dorm, simply because it faced the incoming people first. Two buildings stood on each side, one more next to those buildings. If seen from above, it was like two vertical lines surrounded the horizontal Cavalry dorm.
Behind it was the General's dorm, the original dorm for Psi Saint Alpha brothers. However, when the school expanded, they reached out to other dorms. Tonight, the recruitment was to be held in its halls.
"Hey, you waiting long?" Eugene called out as he ran out of the staircase's grill gates. He jogged to Claude, who was sitting on a stone bench outside the dorm. Close to seven more people trailed behind Eugene. They all seemed to be headed to recruitment.
"Are you ready to party?" Eugene laughed and led the group with high spirits. They only needed to cross their dorm's wide first-floor tunnel to the General's dorm.
Claude looked around the first-ever dorm for males in their university. The scents in the area mixed like a banquet of aromatic dishes. It didn't make Claude happy, however. He even grimaced at the unpalatable smell. He already figured the place would smell so badly. The recruitment hadn't even started yet.
More people joined them outside the dorm. A senior brother welcomed them to the dorm and led them to the courtyard behind it. When Claude walked under the tunnel leading behind the dorm, he caught a whiff of that familiar scent he smelled that morning.
He turned and saw many students opening their windows to look at the courtyard. Most of them wore grins, expecting a show from the aspirants. Psi Saint Alpha wasn't hard to get into, they said. One only needed to be the person they were looking for.
"Aspirants!" The dorm leader and chapter president started his speech. "Welcome to our prestigious brotherhood! Though not all of you will be sworn and initiated this coming weekend, we still offer our help to everyone who has taken an interest in joining.
"We are the Psi Saint Alpha. We believe power and authority only come from other people's need for guidance. Without anyone to follow them, no one will become leaders, protectors… great men!"
"People before power! Blood before paper!" The sworn brothers chanted in the background. Their thunderous response awed the aspirants.
However, their voices only made Claude's ears hurt. He lowered his head and covered one of his ears. It didn't help that it rang from the loud yells. When he lifted his face, he caught someone looking at him from afar. The guy had an assuming look of plain black hair and thick-rimmed glasses, but the weight of his gaze kept drawing Claude.
When Eugene nudged Claude, the violinist used the excuse to look away. He entertained Eugene's side comments, which he failed to understand because of his ringing ears. Soon, the ringing faded, and Claude sighed in relief.
"Okay!" The chapter president laughed and pointed at the crowd. "We heard someone playing violin from the Cavalry dorm earlier. Is he here?"
Claude flinched at the sudden call. Even if most students in the Cavalry dorm didn't know his name, they could pinpoint which room it was coming from. He glared at Eugene, who beamed a smile at him. He hissed under his breath. "Don't."
However, someone else among them raised a hand and quietly pointed at Claude's head. He didn't even realize someone was doing that before Claude caught people turning to look at him. Soon, the crowd parted to show him to the chapter president on stage. Claude couldn't help but look up and not cower at the spotlight.
The chapter president stared at him for a moment before grinning big. "You! What's your name? Do you want to come closer? Come on!"
"…okay…" Claude didn't pass on the invitation. He was already singled out. If he declined and showed inferiority, wouldn't sick bastards target him? It was pretty easy to find him. They only needed to follow the violin's song tomorrow.
"What's your name, buddy?" The chapter president wrapped an arm around his neck. "Don't be shy now. We're all going to be brothers here in the future."
Claude glanced at the hand around him. However, he shouldn't be caught glaring at the chapter president. He lifted his gaze and caught the audience's gaze… even that bespectacled man looking at him earlier. For some reason, the guy's gaze grew scorching and hostile. Before Claude could return the glare, the arm around him flew off, faster than when it came.
The chapter president cleared his throat and asked again to attract Claude's attention. Claude looked at his face, noticing the strange fear.
A slight chuckle escaped Claude's lips. He quickly recalled it, however. "It's Claude Lavallee."
…
"Coming through! Coming through! Don't block the most handsome man tonight!" Eugene and his dorm friends laughed as they surrounded Claude. These guys' antics were enough to make Claude's head hurt. More when they kept teasing him about the recruitment.
They were already heading back to their rooms before ten in the evening. The recruitment wasn't like the ones they heard of. There were no strange tasks or incredible yet fabricated stories of greatness. What they got was more of an orientation to what to expect in their male dorm community. They also got an introduction to some people the community looked forward to knowing.
Claude was even the first one to be called. Not only would everyone hear his violin, but they also saw his name on the topnotcher's list.
However, the man himself didn't want all the attention. Claude just wanted to get the best grades he could and open up as many opportunities as he could be offered. Being popular wasn't on his list… as long as it didn't serve him any purpose.
"Dude, I don't think I can sleep tonight!" Eugene laughed as he dove into his bed. They had both changed out of their outside clothes. He looked up and saw Claude opening the windows. "You're playing again?"
"Treat this as a lullaby." Claude looked up at the waxing moon shining down at them. The moonlight even crossed into their room through the window. Claude stared at the lit floor before standing under the light. He propped the violin on his neck and started soft and slow. The music coming from it entranced Eugene for a bit before he completely fell asleep.
Under the moon, the violin sang a serenade. Everyone who could hear it felt like they could sleep better tonight. They just hoped Claude wouldn't whip his violin out during crunch weeks.
In a room in the General's dorm, Len sat on his bed. His legs were on the bed, but his back was against the headboard, which was lined with pillows. He looked to the side where the violin was coming from. A smile lined his lips before continuing with his book.