Project Honkai

3

Bonk!

First thing I feel in the morning is a giant smack in the head.

"Wakey, wakey," a pink haired idiot whispers, directly in my ear. I groan as I try to sit myself up, rubbing my temples in frustration, especially after that cartoonish 'bonk.' "What time is it..." I glance over at a nearby clock sitting on a nightstand. "Eh?! 4:00 AM?! Why so early.... And also, did you break into the goddamn dorm," I whined, a small frown appearing on my face.

"Huh? Well, I gotta train you first! With that body you'll probably drop out after the first round!" Round?! I tilt my head and muttered, ignoring the remark on my shape, "Round?"

"Hmm? I didn't tell you about it yet?! Eugh, well get dressed first and meet me at the lobby, I'll explain further there I guess.." I stare at Yume as she walks out of my room, not even bothering to close the door. I sigh and get up from bed to close it. How did I get here in the first place... I never agreed to any of this!

I walk over to the bathroom groggily to take a quick shower to get my mind off things.

***

Yume pov:

I wait patiently in the lobby. Hmph! She should be grateful that I'M training her! Not many people get this opportunity! I take my phone out from my pocket and start scrolling on it for a while to pass time 'cause GODDAMN that newbie takes a while. As I was doing so, I felt stares directly pointed at me, like if the entire world was watching me, an uncomfortable distress putting weight on my shoulders. I try and ignore them as much as possible, but then suddenly got a phone call, which helped in distracting me.

"Eh? Akane? What do you need from me?!"

...

"Hm? Yea, yea, I found the girl in the forest, you need her or something?"

...

"What?!" I cover my mouth. Did that come out louder than expected? I look around. Fortunately for me, there is no one is sight, which, now that I think about it, is kinda odd. I revert my focus back onto the phone call, "Hey, Aka-" Oh. She hung up. What the fuck??? After rolling my eyes, I decide to scroll on my phone a bit more until that girl finally arrives.

***

MC pov:

I arrive at the lobby and meet up with Yume. Her hair is tied up into a messy bun. Both of her hands are occupied, one scrolling on her phone, the other holding a small bag in the shape of a heart. I wave to her, "Hey." She seemed to have been completely absorbed by her phone because right when I said that, she jumped up a bit and had a shocked expression on her face.

"Eh?! Oh, it's just you. What do you want," she yelled at me. I shrug, "You told me to meet you here.." She puts her phone in her bag with haste and gestures for me to follow her.

We head into the elevator and Yume presses the button for the 4th floor. "Where are we going?" I actually wanted to ask this question from the very start. "Mm.. Well, as I said earlier, I need to train you for the try-outs. They start at around 4:00 PM. There are three main rounds, all to test your skills. It's best we train early," Yume stated. She seemed very serious about this whole 'try-out' thing, which was odd considering that even if I only knew her for about a day, she seemed to be more of a childish type of person with a big ego, kind of like the average bully in middle school.

We arrive at our floor and I take a minute to let my eyes explore the sights around me. There were about eight rooms, each having what looked to be a one sided window. We end up walking towards the sixth room which seemed to be vacant. When I entered the room, I immediately spot multiple training mechanisms. Treadmills, dumbbells, most things you would find at your local gym.

Yume slams her hand onto a conveniently nearby desk, which was really out of place, "Alright newbie," she places her bag down onto the desk, "First things first, I want you to spar with me!" She picks up a wooden baton that was conveniently lying on the floor next to us, "Here, use this." Yume hands me the baton and cracks her knuckles with a cocky grin painted on her face, "Don't hold back now, show me everything you got!"

I take the baton, putting it in my left hand, and try to throw a punch with my right, which was my dominant. She blocks it with ease and sends me a harsh kick to the stomach that made me jump back a bit. Suddenly she disappeared from my sight, "Behind you!" I try to dodge the best I can, ducking, and attempt to hit her with the baton flicking my wrist as I threw it, aiming for her head. She catches it, throwing it to her side, making the baton fall pathetically on the floor, and gives me an uppercut while I was distracted by the toss of my weapon. She's surprisingly strong and made me wince from the pain of the hit. While I was vulnerable, she appears behind me and gives me a harsh kick in the head.

I lay on the floor, not being able to get up. Yume crosses her arms, taunting, "You're really weak, you know?" I scoff as I attempt to get up, only to flop onto the floor again. The pink haired idiot rushed to get her phone from her bag to take a... selfie. "Loser," she mused. After teasing me a bit more and putting away her phone, she helped me stand back up, my head dizzy and wanting to fall back onto the floor. "Alright! For the first part of training, we'll start off on the treadmill, testing your stamina." I groan as I tumble over to the treadmill, almost tripping several times.

***

It was 3:30 now, only half an hour until 4:00 which is when the try-outs start. Yume stretches her arm and yawns, "Training's done now! Go away!" I stare at her confused, "Huh?"

"Mm, well, I have things to do y'know! Also, you should take a break, it's been a long day," she says while grabbing her phone from her bag. She shoos me off and I leave the room. I walk with anticipation and anxiety riling up inside me.

I enter the elevator once again and head to my room. Fortunately, there was no one there this time. I rest my back on the back of the elevator and let out a sigh. Who knew trying to become a magical girl, valkyrie, whatever it's called was so hard. I haven't exercised this much since elementary school! I take a minute to take in what happened these past few days. Ok, so this is a different dimension I believe... And there's this whole power system I'm guessing? Or is it just raw strength and knowledge? If there's a such thing as magical girls, then does that mean there's other mythical beings?

The elevator doors sliding open snapped me out of my thoughts. Walking out, I run into someone. "Eh!" The girl looks up at me. She has long silky white hair and ocean blue eyes. She has a long black cloak, which stands out compared to everyone else's "idol" like uniforms. She was also short, very short. "S-Sorry," she says running off in a rush. From behind, she had a weapon similar to a gun. It didn't look... particularly like the guns that I'm used to seeing. It was a lot like a Nerf gun in a way. I shrug, I shouldn't be analyzing people's guns.

I walk through the corridor to my room. As I was about to twist the doorknob, I find something on the door. It was a pink sticky note and on it were the words:

{I'm watching you!}