Rogue

Chapter 15

The weeks had flown by quicker than Akira had anticipated. Tachikawa had helped train her a bit so she was more accustomed to Border's Kogetsu since she could no longer use her scythe. It was a bit difficult for her at first, but she still ended up besting Tachikawa in a ten rounds match. However, she never quite got the chance to spar with Izumi since his Captain believed it was irrelevant to her training.

And finally, it was Wednesday, January eighth and she had begun to make her way down to Border's common area for her official enlistment. Her green eyes were narrowed and her lips curled into a frown, giving an unapproachable appearance to those around her. Nothing against them, she just felt absolutely horrid in the uniform she had transformed into to match the other C-ranks. Who the hell chose white and bright orange?! She stomped her way into the main hall, casually glancing around and finding a familiar head of white hair in the center of the room.

Akira immediately scowled. Why does Kuga get to wear black?! The girl made her way over, crossing her arms and standing right in front of him, Mikumo, and Amatori. The shorter boy grinned up at her.

"Hello, Enomoto-san." She teasingly rolled her eyes at him, bonking his head with her fist.

"I already told you. Just call me Akira." She smiled down at the younger boy who patted down his hair.

"Okay."

"Huh?" She cocked a brow at Osamu who stood with the two. "Aren't you already enlisted?"

"Yeah. I'm here using a procedure of transfer to act as Yuma's chaperone." She nodded her head slowly, not entirely knowing what he was talking about. Almost immediately, Shinoda began his introduction to the enlistment and passed the mic over to Arashiyama Jun who Akira couldn't quite pull her eyes away from.

She had heard that Arashiyama Squad worked mostly as the PR team, and for good reason. This man was drop dead gorgeous. And his green eyes... Akira gulped as she looked up at the stage. And then she remembered what she was doing: joining Tachikawa Squad. The blonde shook her head of her thoughts. Plus, she thought Izumi was cuter, anyway.

Chika was the first to depart from the group, having separate training as a sniper.

"First things first, congratulations on your enlistment," Jun began once again. "General Manager Shinoda said it before but, you people are trainees. As such, only when you get raised to B-Rank and become regular members will you be able to take part in defense duty. Then, 'how do I become a regular member,' you ask? I'll start explaining how with this."

Akira turned her wrist over so she was looking at the back of her hand. A number was displayed, much to her chagrin. "In the activated trigger holder you all have is information on the trigger you chose for fighting. The numbers on your left hand reveal how long you've been using this trigger. Getting this number to reach 4000 is the necessary requirement to getting promoted to B-Rank."

The girl continued to glare down at her hand. Mikumo took note of her growing frustration and wondered just what was upsetting her. "In truth, most people start with 1000 points, but for people whom high talent has been recognized during their interim enlistment start with extra points. Of course, the number attributed varies depending on the hope we have for their fighting potential. Knowing this, you should work hard."

Akira kept her fists clenched at her side. Oh, was Kido gonna regret this. She assumed he had done this to spite her for her disregard for some of his rules and came to the conclusion that she was going to become the fastest promoted B-Rank agent in all of Border.

As the group began moving, Mikumo and Kuga fell into step on either side of the girl.

"What's wrong, Akira-san?" The girl grit her teeth and kept her narrowed eyes set forward.

"That bastard Kido made me start with 600 points." An eerie smile made its way to her face, making the four-eyed boy sweat. "I'm gonna make him regret it. I can't wait to see the look on his face..."

She released an evil chuckle and proceeded to find a secluded seat as they all gathered in front of several simulation rooms. Akira watched as trainee after trainee stepped up to the plate and took on a small Bamster, all with below-average times. She couldn't wait to show everyone up.

Kuga was called up to room five where the guy with the current top score had just completed his trial. However, the white-haired boy wasn't concerned by this at all. In fact, Akira was intrigued. She didn't actually know how strong this kid was.

The boy bent his knees and took stance, ready for the go ahead to complete his trial. And in the blink of an eye, the Bamster was slit in half, falling to the ground. A commotion was stirred at the fact, many claiming that his timing of 0.6 seconds was no more than a hoax.

"It's impossible. That was only a fluke! The measuring instrument must have broken down! Do it once more!" Akira sighed, mildly irritated by this boy's bigotry.

"One more time? Alright." Yuma almost mirrored his previous actions, lowering his time even further to 0.4 seconds. The crowd gagged at the perfection of his skills. However, Akira was ready to top it.

"Enomoto Akira, Room Five," an automated voice called. The blonde stood from her seat and walked down toward where Yuma stood. He smirked at her.

"Good luck," he teased. The girl narrowed her eyes and matched his enthusiasm.

"Don't cry when I beat you." As Akira entered the room, more whispers began to fill the area as she waited for her turn to begin. It seems people were quick to notice the number on her hand, chuckling and gossiping about her low ability.

"I feel kinda bad for her."

"It must suck to have to go after that kid..."

"She's cute... Too bad being pretty doesn't get you very far in Border."

Akira took a deep breath, letting the world fall silent on her deaf ears. It was just her and this fake Bamster. She reached across her body for the hilt of her Kogetsu on her left hip. She was about to steal Yuma's spotlight.

"Room Five. Get ready," the automated voice began again. "Begin." The girl seemed to have teleported across the simulation room, the Bamster quite literally crumbling into pieces as soon as the voice finished it's sentence. Akira released her breath finally, smoothly resheathing her sword and moving to the door. Everyone stared at her as well as the time behind her head. It read "5:00:00". Suwa had to go back into the logs and make sure she hadn't cheated to achieve such a time and he confirmed that it was in fact accurate. It had taken her less than 0.01 seconds to take down her enemy.

Everyone gaped at her, wondering how it could be humanly possible. Well, they thought she was human, at least. She then looked at the three boys who had been making a fuss the entire day so far.

"And I won't be doing it again," she sneered. Many of the official agents in the area watched as she returned to her seat, completely unbothered. She was a total enigma. Not only had she broken the record and made it impossible to ever be beaten again, but she absolutely demolished the Bamster. In mere milliseconds, she had managed to slice up an entire monster, not just its eye.

Izumi cackled in the surveillance room which he had decided to visit with his Captain. Neither of the boys wanted to admit it, but they wanted to watch Akira on her first day in Border. They knew she'd totally outshine everyone else, but they didn't know to what extent.

"Regardless of being given the least points, she's gonna surpass them right away."

"How long do you think it'll take her to get promoted?" Tachikawa tapped his chin as he watched the screen. He hummed in thought, trying to match Akira's potential with her ambition.

"I give it two days."

"Really?" Izumi crossed his arms, shifting his eyes from his Captain and back to the girl on the screen. His heart swelled just looking at her. "I think she's crazy enough to surpass 4000 by this afternoon."

"That's crazy," Tachikawa looked at the teen. "Never been done. I don't think even Akira could pull that off. Especially not with her points." A short silence settled between the two, all eyes still locked on the screen.

"You trying to put tonight's dinner on it?" Izumi extended his hand for Tachikawa to take. He gladly shook on it, finalizing their bet.

"You're on!"