While the meeting between SOMA agents was being conducted on the ground floor, Takeru was still scrolling on his phone up in Group 6's dorm.
Suddenly, a Dikdok edit of a romance anime called "You and I are Poopers" popped up. At first, he smiled at how cute it was but then, it faded away when he was reminded of his own love.
"I wonder what Aiko-chan is doing right now... She's probably just gazing at the stars, she always loved doing that... I wonder, does she think about me?"
knock! knock!
"It seems Yoyo-senpai is back."
Takeru put his phone away and shouted, "The door's not locked!"
For some reason, the person didn't enter. Takeru was confused. "Yoyo-senpai, that's you, right? Just come in."
"..."
After an uncomfortable silence, Takeru heard footsteps walking away. "That was weird..."
After a while, Yoru walked through the door. "You doing alright? I quickly went outside to get some more snacks.", He said as he handed chips to Takeru.
"Thanks, Yoyo-senpai but didn't you come here just a little while ago?"
"Hmmm? What do you mean?"
"Someone just came and knocked on the door a while ago. They left without entering, that wasn't you?"
Yoru began rubbing his chin in wonder.
Takery made a weirded out expression. "Real people don't do that, do they? He really is a manga character..."
"Oh! That must have been Asano-chan! I told her to come up and tell my partner what the announcement was because I was going out for snacks."
Takeru instantly jumped out of bed. "THAT WAS ASANO-SAN!? YOYO-SENPAI, COME ON!"
"Woah woah woah! Stop being so loud, Ichino-kun. The other agents might hear you."
"Alright, alright, sorry but Yoyo-senpai! You know I don't want to face the other member, especially Asano-san and Warugaki-san! Why would you do that to me!? It would have been so awkward if she actually came in and I would've been so ashamed... Senpai! Why!? She probably heard my voice and didn't enter cause she she's disgusted by me and doesn't wanna see me..."
Yoru sighed. "Listen, Ichino-kun. You can't run away from facing the other members forever, I wanted you to deal with it already and get it over with. I know that you blame yourself for what happened but I promise, nobody else does. Not even Chairman-sama. In fact, he actually blames himself for sending you there. It's okay, they won't judge you and if they do, I'm right here for you, am I not?"
"You don't understand, Yoyo-senpai... If I wasn't such a coward and didn't let the alternate takeover me, nothing would've happened."
"Ichino-kun, you're only human and on top of that, only a child."
"But sti-"
"Besides, you definitely won't be able to run from facing the others now that the chairman gave that announcement..."
Takeru was confused. "What exactly was the announcement, Yoyo-senpai...?"
Yoru sat down on the mat and started opening up his snacks. "Every year, we have an event and we call them the exams. For 3 days, our regular activities are put on hold and the groups take on different tests against each other. This is done to gauge our strength and capabilities and to see how far we've come. There isn't a exact date for this event, it always happens in a random point of the year and the chairman just announced that it will start from tomorrow. You know what that means, right? You'll have to interact with all the groups."
Takeru gulped in nervousness of both facing the other members and the tests.
The next day, all the groups headed towards the Okutama region, the western most part of Tokyo. All the groups had arrived there except Group 6. Because Takeru was still nervous to meet the other members, he had forced Yoru to go to the location later than all the other groups. They were currently still being driven there by their driver while the other groups waited next to Lake Okutama.
The area the groups were in had been cleared out by Otori Tobu's unique ability. He and The Chairman were the only SOMA Tokyo Team members that didn't attend the event. During these 3 days, the chairman would be responsible for the handling the alternates that awaken. To aid him, a group from a different SOMA Team based somewhere outside of Tokyo would be sent. This time, only one man was sent, he was from the Kyoto Team and he went by the name Kobayashi Ken.
Waiting for Group 6's arrival, Ryuzaki Rin of Group 1 was getting annoyed.
"Shiori-san! Yoyo's group is the one that still hasn't arrived, right!? That dick! First, he fucking abandons us and throws away our bond and memories just because I was teasing him a bit and now, he's being annoying by being late! That guy's such a dick! Isn't that right, Shiori-san!?"
"Hehe... y-yeah?", Shiori replied in a shaky voice.
Rin crossed her arms and pouted her lips. "He's so mean..."
Shiori sat beside Rin on the rock and said, "Hey, Rin-chan... Don't be so mad at him... We gotta admit our faults too, right? He asked us many times to stop and take our job seriously and we didn't. If he made the judgement that we're not suitable for him, I can't blame him..."
"Screw that!", Rin shouted as she stood up in anger.
She gathered everyone's attention and said, "Hey everyone! We don't need to wait for the last group, okay!? Let's just start now!"
Hikari stood up from his rock and said, "Come on, Ryuzaki-chan. If we just started without them, wouldn't that be so ill-mannered and rude?"
"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!", Everyone shouted.
"OKAY, OKAY! GOT IT!", Hikari said as he quickly sat back down.
Rin sighed and said, "Like I said, we don't need to wait for them. It'll just be a waste of time, they'll arrive eventually. Let's just start the first match." She began scanning around the area with her eyes and shouted, "You! You'll be my first opponent! Come to the bridge, let's start!"
"Me!?", Rento replied in a shocked voice. Knowing how strong Rin was, Rento really did not want her to be his first opponent. He wanted to show off how cool he was to Ikari-san but if he got out in the first round, he would've failed completely.
"Yeah, you! Is there anyone else named Takahashi Rento here?"
"What? That doesn't even make any sense, you didn't say my na-"
"Whatever! Shut up! Just come and fight!"
Rento got even more nervous. "Wow... She's really fucking angry..."
Realizing he was nervous, Yuko grabbed Rento's shoulder and with a bright smile, she said, "Don't worry, Takahashi-kun. You'll do great!"
Hearing that immediately fired Rento up. He got from his rock filled with excitement and said, "Sure, bring it on! Let's fight!"
Rin smirked. "He's not doing shit to me..."
The first day of the exams would be One-on-one battles between the members of different groups not including the group leaders. They would done on one of the bridges above Lake Okutama.
This year, the first matchup of the exams would be Ryuzaki Rin against Takahashi Rento.
"Come at me, kiddo! Give it your all!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!"