Destiny's Blades: Realization Part I

Chapter 5 - Orientation

It's four in the morning.

I was dressed in my school uniform; with everything I had packed.

Adjusting my tie, I took a final glance at the room I once called home for the last two months.

"Zach! C'mon! Let's move! We still have to unpack at the dorms!" Mari called from the kitchen.

"I'll be there in a sec!" I shouted back.

"Hey, hey—What's all the fuss for kids?" Dad yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"We're trying to leave early, dad. You've still got some time before your speech," I replied. "Do you mind dropping the keys off at the front desk for us?"

"Where's the fire though? Why the rush?"

Mari huffed. "We still need to unpack when we get there. Plus, I want to familiarize myself with our living situation for the next, however long we're there."

"Oh, okay. Sure—Welp, I'm going back to sleep then." His voice was drowsy.

I walked to the restroom to make some last minute adjustments.

I made sure to bandage the cuts I received on my face from yesterday's incident. My hair was a little messy, so I fixed it, tying it back up into a wolf's tail.

It was hard to believe the person staring back at me was me.

Dark brown eyes, jet black hair. It just wasn't me.

It wasn't Zachary Kuchiyama.

I ran my fingers down the scar on my face.

I guess this'll stay with me, even if I change the way I look.

I nodded, satisfied, feeling that no one should recognize us after our little metamorphosis.

"Zach! C'mon! Chop, chop!!!" Mari huffed impatiently.

"Oh, calm down would you? I'm coming."

She was standing by the front door in her uniform, the handle of a light blue suitcase in hand.

She wore a black and red striped sweater over her blazer, which definitely was not a uniform item.

"This should be fine, right?" She twirled around.

"The colors match," I commented. "But you should probably take it off before the orientation speech, okay?"

She stepped up to me, brushing some lint off of my blazer.

"You look—good," She noted as her eyes lowered. "Do you think we'll see Rose and Jane there?"

I nodded, trying to put this delicately. "Most likely. If we do, we've never met them. Okay?"

"I know."

I grabbed the two rolling bags that were in the hall and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

As we exited the apartment complex, I took one last look.

Our new lives are ahead of us now. And right now; there's no looking back.



I looked at my watch.

Seven o'clock.

We've made perfect time and we were almost fully unpacked.

Mari was sitting at a small dining table in the corner of the room, chowing down on a bowl of cereal.

The dorm room was very, very, nice.

If you could even call this a dorm room at all.

This was definitely a major upgrade from the apartment we lived in.