Halcyon City, a spectacular futuristic city, stands tall on Scandinavian land. The city is famous for its rapid advances in technology and science. Halcyon City is divided into two major districts: the Ataraxia District and the Arcane District. The Ataraxia District focuses on research and academics, while the Arcane District focuses on technological development and innovation.
Amidst the magnificence of this city stands a prestigious academy named Future Academy. On the evening of November 25, 2017, a grand dinner party was held to celebrate the graduation of the class of 2017 Future Academy at a luxurious convention hall in the highlands of Halcyon City. Kaiyō, one of the best students in his batch and the chief organizer of the evening's event, stood tall on stage, ready to open the event with a short but meaningful speech.
After his inspiring speech on stage, Kaiyō hurriedly went down to join his best friends, excited to reminisce about the ups and downs of their six years studying at the best academy in human history, as well as discuss their respective plans for the future.
"Kaiyō...! We're here!!!" shouted Miko.
"Hey Miko! Don't shout like that, it's too loud! It's shameful, you know." Miro scolded, flicking his friend's head.
"Ouch...!!, I was just telling him our current position. Miko protested, holding her head.
"You didn't have to shout, you know, Miko."
"Miro's right, Miko, you didn't have to shout. Kaiyō's ears are still normal." Someone suddenly chimed in, leaving Miko grumbling to herself.
"Huh? Who are you? Showing up out of nowhere and ordering people around—are you looking for a fight?"
"Huh? Are you sure you want to challenge me?" Leo scoffed. "Have you already forgotten what happened the last time we fought?"
His words hit home, dragging Miko back to the memory of her crushing defeat.
"Tsk…" She turned her flushed face away, fists clenched. "You were just lucky that time."
"Hahaha! Admit it, you can't beat me, little fox."
Miko, provoked by anger, threw a punch at the same time as Leo, who was excited to have successfully provoked a fight. Just before their fists met, Miro and Rei grabbed them both. Seeing his two friends acting like cats and dogs, Kaiyo, who had just arrived, tried to separate them.
"Hey, hey! You two—cut it out already!" Kaiyō shouted as he stepped between them, forcibly separating his two friends. "If you want to fight, save it for the arena later!"
"Huff…" Miko muttered, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down.
"Can't you guys get along for just two hours?" Kaiyō groaned, slapping his palm against his forehead.
She smirked. "Sorry, Kai. It's just that this muscle-brained lion here was itching for a fight."
"Huh!? Who are you calling a muscle-brained lion, huh!?"
"Who else but you, Arsenio Leo-san," Miko replied sweetly, clearly enjoying herself as she fanned the flames.
"Huh!? You wanna fight?!"
"Come on—who's afraid?"
The atmosphere heated up once again. But just as the two started acting up, Miro, Rei, and Kaiyō quietly stepped away—
because the principal was standing right behind Miko and Leo.
Seeing his students' behavior, the principal smacked them both on the head as punishment for causing trouble at an inappropriate time. Kaiyō, Miro, and Rei could only remain silent as they watched them faint from the academy principal's blow to the head.
A moment later, the academy principal stepped onto the podium to open the gift exchange event for all academy students.
"All right, everyone, since we will be moving on to the next event shortly, please place your gifts on the podium. To get them, you have to take a piece of paper containing clues about the color and shape of the gift you will receive."
Hearing the principal's words, the students headed to the podium to collect their gifts and take the clue papers.
"Kaiyō, Miro, let's go there. It's time for the gift exchange."
"What about Miko and Leo? They are still unconscious!" Miro asked Rei.
"Let's just get them both some gifts and give them to them when they wake up," replied Kaiyō.
"Ugh... okay, let's go up to the podium then," said Miro to Kaiyō and Rei.
***
On the same day, at the headquarters of a secret organization, one of their spies detected an anomaly, an unknown creature that suddenly appeared on the radar.
"Reporting to Alpha Leader! Emergency situation!"
"What's going on, Beta? What happened?" asked Alpha Leader.
"An anomaly has been detected in the waters near the city of Halcyon, specifically in the Ataraxia district!!"
"An anomaly? What do you see, Beta?"
"An anomaly that is... weird.?"
"Weird?" asked Alpha Leader, confused.
"We detected an object that shows signs of life, but we can't find any data on it in our systems.
"What kind of creature is this?" thought Alpha Leader.
"Identify further whether it is truly a living creature or just a machine."
"Yes, Alpha Leader!"
"It has been confirmed to be a living creature, sir."
"Calculate the threat level. If it is classified as a threat, prepare a team to go down to the location."
"This... it can't be..." said Beta with an expression of disbelief.
"What is it, Beta? What is the threat level?"
"The threat level is... Inferno!!"
"Inferno, you say!!?? Where is the anomaly headed?" asked Alpha Leader in a panic.
"It is headed for the multipurpose building in the city of Halcyon, sir. This afternoon I received a report that tonight there will be an event held there..."
"An event? What kind of event? Organized by whom?" asked the Alpha leader in a panic.
"A graduation dinner by..."
"By whom, Beta observer?!"
"Future Academy, sir."
Alpha Leader was shocked and fell silent for a moment upon hearing this.
"Beta... prepare the troops to guard there... NOW!!"
"YES, ALPHA LEADER!!"
***
"Urgh... Where... where am I...? Is this the afterlife?" asked Miiko, who had just regained consciousness from her faint.
"Hey..." someone greeted Miko.
"Huh? Who is that? Are you the grim reaper?" asked Miko, who was still not fully conscious.
Smack!
Leo slapped Miko, bringing her back to her senses completely.
"Arrgh!! That hurts," Miko said, fully awake now.
"Who did you call the Grim Reaper, huh?" Leo asked jokingly.
"Sorry, sorry, I thought I was in another realm, haha.
"Finally, you're awake, Miko," said Miro.
"So, what did I miss while I was passed out?," asked Miiko to Miro.
"Just the gift giving ceremony."
"WHAT!? THE GIFT GIVING CEREMONY!?"
"Yes, Miko, you only missed the part where you lined up for gifts."
"Then what should I do?" Miko asked with a sad look on her face.
"Kaiyō already got the gifts for both of you," Rei replied.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH, KAI!"
"Here, here's the gift." Kaiyō said as he handed over the gift.
"Thank you so much, Kai. I'm curious to know who it's from, hehe." Miko said.
"What about me, Kai?" Leo asked.
"It's okay, Rei got it for me," Kaiyō replied.
"Okay, thank you so much, Rei. Sorry for the trouble."
"It's okay, Leo. Here's yours," Rei said as she handed Leo the gift.
They began to open their gifts, starting with Miko.
With an amazed expression, Miko was very happy to receive a trench coat that she had wanted for a long time. The coat was dark blue, made of wool fabric that was very soft and warm to wear, especially when the weather turned cold. It was perfect because winter was approaching.
Miko enthusiastically tried on her gift and asked her friends what gifts they had received.
Since they were all confused about who would open the next gift, Rei opened her gift and found a book, more precisely a novel written by Rei's favorite author. Rei was surprised because he himself could not buy the latest volume because it was always sold out in every bookstore. He was curious about who gave him the novel. Inside the gift box, there was only a message that read, "Hope you like it. M.A.."
"Well, I'm going now to get something to eat," said Leo.
"Arghhh... You're always thinking about food," said Miiko.
"The thing is, I got food as a gift, and the note in the gift says I have to go to the food court."
"Oh really?" asked Miko suspiciously.
"It's true, if you don't believe me, just read this."
Miko read the letter inside Leo's gift and was surprised to find out that Leo's gift was from someone nicknamed "Genius Chef from Academy". The letter Leo received read, "Whoever receives this letter must come to the food area with this letter to get a special meal from the genius chef."
"Haha, I'm leaving now, friends," said Leo as he went to find food.
Miko was silent and stunned, still unable to believe that Leo had received a special meal from the genius chef.
Miko fell silent and stared in shock, still unable to believe that Leo had received a special meal from the genius chef.
Miro and Kaiyō chuckled at Miko's reaction to Leo's gift.
"Damn it! I want some of that special food too if it's from her..." said Miko.
"Anyway, back to the topic. Rei has opened his gift, Leo has opened his gift, how about Miro to open her gift now?"
"Huh, me? Umm, okay."
Miro opened her gift, which was quite small compared to her friends' gifts.
Miro was amazed by the gift he received. It was a necklace shaped like a phoenix with a ruby gemstone set in the bird's eye.
"Woah! It's beautiful."
"What? What are you— woah!"
"Hey Miro, look, there's a gem in its eye!"
"Is this a ruby?" asked Miro, checking the authenticity of the gem.
"Try it on."
"Okay, okay..."
"It's beautiful..." Kaiyo said without realizing it.
"It suits you perfectly, Miro!"
The red-haired woman's cheeks flushed at her friend's compliment and she asked shyly.
"Um… does it really suit me?"
"Yes, it suits you perfectly," said Miko.
"Thank you," said Miro with a smile.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you guys that Yuki is coming here," said Miro.
"Oh... wait a minute!? Yuki is coming here!?" Miko asked with a surprised expression.
"Yes, as far as I know, Kaiyō invited her," Miro replied.
"Really?!" Miiko asked.
"It's true, if you don't believe me, just ask Kai."
"Yuki also told me earlier that she was on her way." Rei said.
"Okay, I'm leaving now! I'll be back soon with someone!"
Miko ran off excitedly upon hearing that her adorable junior was coming to her graduation dinner.
After Miko left them, Rei asked Kaiyō what gift he got from the gift exchange. Hearing Rei's question, Miro also became curious about the gift he got and forced Kaiyō to open his gift right away.
Kaiyō, who was cornered, was forced to open the gift he received. Before he opened it, Miro was quite surprised because Kaiyō's gift was very similar to his own gift before it was collected to be distributed randomly.
The gift Kaiyō received was not very big, only about the size of two stacked novels.
Just before Kaiyō opened his gift,
he saw the look of surprise on Miro's face. Sensing something strange, Kaiyō asked Miro if there was something wrong with his gift.
Rei, who heard Kaiyō's question, immediately looked at Miro and asked her the same thing.
After a moment of silence, Miro snapped out of her reverie and replied that there was nothing strange about Kaiyo's gift.
Hearing Miro's words, Kaiyō returned to his gift and began to open the box inside.
Curious, Kaiyō immediately opened the box, which turned out to contain a necklace, just like the one Miro had received from his gift, but the difference was in the design of the pendant.
Miro's necklace had a phoenix motif, while Kaiyō's pendant had a blue and yellow four-pointed star motif.
Miro, who had confirmed that the contents of Kaiyō's gift came from her, was afraid that Kaiyō would not like it.
Taking a deep breath while gathering her courage, Miro tried to ask Kaiyō if he liked the necklace or not.
"Huh... Kai, do you like the necklace?"
"Hmm? This necklace?"
"Y-yes..."
Miro took a deep breath and closed her eyes, expecting Kaiyō to dislike her gift.
"I love it, why?"
Miro was quite surprised to hear Kaiyō's answer. She didn't expect Kaiyō to like it and felt relieved that what she had thought would happen didn't.
"No, I just asked if you liked it or not."
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, why do you like that necklace?"
"I like this necklace because the pendant is shaped like a star. You may not know this, but I really like anything related to stars."
Knowing that Kaiyō liked things related to stars, Miro wrote it down in her notes.
Kaiyō was curious about what Miro had written in her notes and tried to peek at what she had written, but Miro, who noticed Kaiyō peeking, immediately hid her notes.
"It's a secret..." said Miro with a slight smile.
Kaiyō, who failed to see the inside of Miro's notebook, could only sigh while wearing the necklace he had received, which Miro saw with a smiling expression, resting his chin on his hand.