The solemn opening ceremony concluded, the crowd scattering like a broken anthill. The bustling noise quickly returned, replacing the previous solemn silence.
Makoto and Taeru glanced around, searching for Ginshikii's standout figure among the sea of black-and-white uniforms. But the mysterious fourth-year senior had vanished like a ghost, perhaps having slipped away early to the exclusive area for high-ranking Sentinels.
"He's fast..." Taeru muttered, his face full of admiration.
"Probably went to find a place to sleep." Makoto shrugged, offering a much more grounded deduction.
The two friends slowly strolled down the seemingly endless corridor leading to the main academic building. Aetherium High's hallway was nothing like a normal school. It was massive, wide enough for two cars to drive side-by-side, with a towering ceiling made of transparent tempered glass, catching all the natural light of the Tokyo sky. Hologram screens floated along the walls, constantly displaying weather stats, class schedules, and real-time achievement rankings.
The rhythmic click-clack of leather shoes against the polished marble floor blended with the buzzing chatter, the rustle of flipping pages, and the distant, metallic clashing of weapons from the training rooms. A chaotic yet vibrant symphony of youth and ambition.
"Hey Makoto, why so quiet? Crushing on the President?"
Taeru suddenly turned, nudging his friend's shoulder, a bright smile plastered on his face. He clearly hadn't snapped out of the afterglow of that charismatic speech.
"No... nothing like that." Makoto replied curtly, his eyes absentmindedly tracking the clouds drifting across the glass ceiling.
"Oh come on, your face is completely blank. Definitely bewitched by the icy beauty of Lady Kuroki, right? Makes sense though, rumor has it she's the dream Goddess of over half the guys in this school."
"I'm perfectly normal. Just hurry up and get to class, man! Period's about to start."
Makoto sighed, pushing Taeru's back to make him walk faster. He couldn't care less about "Goddesses" or "Presidents." All he cared about right now was his protesting stomach and the heavy drowsiness threatening to crash down on him.
◆ ◆ ◆
The atmosphere shifted sharply the moment they stepped into Class 3-D. The initial prying, curious stares aimed at the transfer student had faded. Everyone returned to their own circles; pre-formed cliques chattered excitedly about their summer breaks or newly acquired weapons.
Makoto quietly slipped to the back, pulling out his chair and dropping into it like a sack of potatoes. An amusing coincidence - Taeru's seat was right in front of his.
Bang!
The classroom door flew open. A female teacher marched in with an aura of absolute authority. Dressed in a sharp business suit, her hair tied in a tight bun, but the piercing gaze behind those thick glasses reeked of the danger of a battle-hardened warrior.
The chaotic, market-like classroom fell dead silent. Students sitting on desks scrambled down; those laughing instantly shut their mouths.
"Greetings. I am Namikawa, head of Combat Theory and Sentinel History. From today onwards, I will be responsible for cramming the necessary survival knowledge into your hollow skulls."
Ms. Namikawa paced the podium, the click-clack of her high heels striking the floor with an intimidating rhythm. She tapped the electronic board. A massive Hologram flickered to life in the center of the room, projecting grainy, archaic footage of the apocalypse.
"In 2104, a prophecy foretold the end of days. While it hasn't fully come to pass, since then, numerous grotesque entities have emerged, turning the world upside down."
Her voice dropped, echoing off the walls, recounting humanity's darkest days, when nuclear arsenals turned to useless scrap metal against the biological armor of the monsters. But then, from the ashes, the Phoenix was reborn. Scientists decoded human DNA, giving birth to the first generation of Sentinels.
"The Circulatory Power System. That is what courses through your veins right now. It is not magic. It is science, a forced evolution. You are no longer normal humans. You are weapons."
Makoto rested his chin on his hand, twirling a ballpoint pen. He had heard these lectures until his ears bled; he knew it better than the textbooks themselves. But watching Taeru and the rest of the class swallow her every word, he suddenly felt the invisible chasm separating him from them. To them, this was a glorious history, a sacred mission. To him, it was merely a collection of dull, blood-soaked memories.
The bell rang, ending the period. Ms. Namikawa gathered her materials and vanished like a phantom.
The classroom returned to its noisy baseline. After sitting in a daze for a long while with no sign of the next teacher, Makoto poked the back of the friend sitting in front of him:
"Hey Gyokushi, why isn't the teacher here yet? Did they forget our class?"
Taeru turned around, flipping through a thick textbook:
"It's a self-study period, didn't you check the schedule? Aetherium values self-discipline. Oh, right, I still have a few questions about that last lecture, gonna go ask for help. Wanna come?"
"Sure! Sitting here doing nothing is boring anyway. Who're you gonna ask?"
Taeru jerked his chin toward the upper rows, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper:
"Look at the second desk on the left. See the girl with long black hair, reading The Alchemist? That's Minazu Ashina, my childhood friend. Just between us, she looks cold, but she's actually super nice and ridiculously smart. Only downside is... she's a bit of a crybaby and really shy."
"Huh... How do you know so much? Got a crush on her?" Makoto grinned, teasing.
"W-what... I told you, she's a childhood friend!" Taeru's face flushed beet red. "She's got a ton of guys chasing after her, you know... Oh crap, on second thought! Going over there to talk to her in front of all these people is too embarrassing! I'll ask another day!"
"Heh... Chicken? If you like her, make a move!"
"You go ask her then! Stop messing with me!" Taeru snapped, turning away in a huff.
The two boys just sat there chatting about everything under the sun, completely ignoring the serious academic atmosphere around them. Makoto secretly thought everyone was working too hard, completely oblivious to the storm about to hit.
◆ ◆ ◆
Suddenly, a piercing alarm shattered every conversation. The hallway loudspeakers crackled with static before blaring an emergency broadcast:
"Attention all students, cease all activities and listen to this announcement. Today, an unscheduled assessment will be inserted into the 3rd period!"
The classroom fell dead silent. The smiling faces instantly froze.
"Consequently, the 3rd period for all classes will be moved to the 6th. The assessment encompasses knowledge and physical tests. Commencing in: 5 minutes! Good luck!"
The brief announcement from the tiny speaker was a spear thrust straight through the students' hearts. For Makoto and Taeru, it was a critical hit. Absolute panic gripped the two boys; before they could even process it, the bell signaling the start of the period rang out coldly.
Footsteps echoed from the corridor, growing louder, drowning out the frantic whispers. The moment Ms. Namikawa's shadow reappeared, the commotion died, returning the space to a suffocating silence.
"Ahem. As the Principal announced, we are conducting a test to evaluate your quality and reshuffle the classes. I will begin immediately."
She slammed a stack of test papers onto the desk, her voice flat but commanding:
"First is the knowledge test: 30 multiple-choice and essay questions in 60 minutes. You all know the rules. Cheating means instant expulsion. Don't be foolish enough to try."
She continued:
"After this will be the physical test for class placement. Any questions?"
A single, timid hand raised amidst the sea of tense gazes.
"Ah! Ichinose! Speak."
Makoto stood up, scratching his head awkwardly:
"U-uhm, Ms. Namikawa... I understand the grading for the theory part. But... how will the physical test be scored?"
"Good question. For the practical exam, the Academy has manufactured specialized combat Robots. Scores will be based on the efficiency and the time it takes you to neutralize the Robot after inflicting the required damage. The higher your score, the better your chances of getting into the elite class. Now, begin!"
◆ ◆ ◆
Time dragged on in agonizing tension. Only the scratch of pens on paper and muffled sighs filled the massive room.
The exam was far more difficult than imagined. It covered in-depth weapon mechanics, the ecological behavior of various monster species, the history of Sentinel wars. But the final boss was the practical application question, worth 50% of the grade:
Question: "Detail your response strategy upon encountering a mid-tier Goblin (Berserker Goblin) attacking a residential area. Hypothetical scenario: It is rampaging but suddenly shifts its target to attack you the moment you appear. Analyze terrain advantages, weapon utilization, and psychological warfare."
"A Goblin... huh?" Makoto muttered, the corner of his lips twitching upward. He spun his pen once, then started writing, his strokes messy but decisive.
The bell signaling the end of the exam rang like a death knell. The entire room looked like it had just survived a massacre; everyone's faces were pale and haggard. Even Taeru - who usually had decent grades - slumped onto his desk, gasping for air.
"Makoto, you alive?" Taeru turned back, his voice weak.
"I'm a dead man..." Makoto let out a long sigh, faking a dramatic head-clutch.
"Seriously... First day of school and we get hit with this nightmare class-transfer test. Poor you... Oh, by the way, how did you answer the practical application question? I BS-ed two whole pages, analyzing everything from wind direction to lighting angles, and I still feel like I missed something."
"That combat question? Well..." Makoto slid his scratch paper over.
"HUH!!? You... you actually wrote that??" Taeru shrieked, his eyes bulging as if they'd pop out of their sockets.
"Yeah? Is there a problem?" Makoto replied, a picture of innocent confusion.
"It's just... isn't this a little too simple?"
On Makoto's scratch paper, a single, neatly written line sat there, brutally concise:
"I just need to kill it."
"You seriously wrote only that on the actual test...?" Taeru stammered, unable to believe his eyes.
"W-well... yeah? I mean, it's just a Goblin, right? What's the big deal? Why analyze the wind for that?"
"But it's a Berserker Goblin! It's ten times stronger than a normal human! Answering like this... you're screwed, Makoto..." Taeru clutched his head, despairing on behalf of his friend.
"Whatever, haha! What about you, Gyokushi? Did okay?"
"Probably terrible, but at least I wasn't so hardcore that I handed in a blank page for the analysis section..."
Their twin sighs blended into a depressing harmony.
Before they could recover enough to keep whining, the commotion in the hallway dragged them back to reality. A mob of students surged toward the giant notice board at the end of the hall like moths to a flame. It was the physical test area assignments: A, B, C, D, and E, scattered across the academy's massive campus.
"I'm in Area C. What about you, Gyokushi?" Makoto glanced at the flickering electronic board.
"Area D, guess we're splitting up. Good luck, Makoto! Don't do anything stupid!"
"I know, I know! See ya later!"
Parting ways with Taeru, Makoto followed the signs to Area C. After a grueling fifteen-minute walk, a colossal, hemispherical metallic dome loomed before his eyes. He stood frozen for a moment, staggered by its scale - larger than any stadium he had ever seen in his life.
Stepping inside, high-capacity floodlights beamed down onto the arena floor, making it as bright as day. Surrounding the floor were stands packed with waiting examinees; the air was thick with the scent of sweat and anxiety.
"Didn't think it would be this massive... So bright..." Makoto squinted, muttering to himself.
Around him, the other students murmured nervously, double-checking their weapons and armor. An examiner approached, handing him a registration number and directing him to wait in the stands.
Strangely, amidst that suffocating tension, Makoto felt absolutely no fear. Instead, a bizarre calm washed over him, as if he had lived through this a thousand times before, on battlefields a hundred times more brutal than this.
"Test test... Hello everyone!"
A familiar voice echoed from the surround-sound speakers, drawing all eyes to the center.
"This is the Student Council President - Miyako Kuroki! I will personally be proctoring this area today! I expect all of you to give it your absolute best!"
Miyako's declaration acted as a starting gun, officially kicking off the brutal practical combat exam. And Makoto, currently yawning in the corner of the stands, had no idea he was about to become the epicenter of an earthquake.