Elite || Marhinki

•Chapter Seven: The Elite Training Center•

There were a few seconds of silence.

"Nice to meet you," I said awkwardly. The silence continued, as I leaned against the wall, making a triangle between the three of us. We all quietly looked at each other.

"You're a brown," David stated, as if he couldn't believe it. I shot him a look, as that was the stupidest thing he could've said.

"You're an observant one, aren't you?" Mari asked. She brought her hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and the arm of her shirt slid down her arm. I couldn't help but notice how muscular her arm was. "And you two are yellows. Guess we're in this together, huh? Bunch of poor people who've barely ever seen sunlight, throw into a world of Jewels."

"You were a miner?" I asked. From what I've heard of Brown miners, which wasn't much, they lived mostly underground. It would explain her fitness, as mining was hard work that took a lot of physical excursion.

"You guessed it," She frowned.

Before the situation could get even more awkward, a man entered the room from the door behind the desk. We all stared at him.

"Where's the fourth one?" He asked.

"What?" Mari replied.

The man sighed and pulled something out from under the desk. He placed them on the desk, and I noticed they were black uniforms.

"Who's David Moss?" The man asked.

"Me," David replied.

"Come here," The man instructed.

David did as the man asked. He grabbed David's bracelet arm, and turned the bracelet inside out. He picked a needle full of black liquid off the desk, and I could see David's eye widen. He jabbed it into David's bracelet, and we all watched in amazement as the yellow quickly faded away as it turned black. The man shoved one of the uniforms in his arms.

"Who's Anthony Padilla?" He asked.

"None of us," Mari replied. "He ain't here."

The man sighed. "Mariko Takahashi."

Mari walked up to him, and he did the same thing he'd done with David. Then he called my name.

I reluctantly held out my arm. I didn't want them to change the color of my bracelet, or take my clothes. As I watched the yellow disappear, reality really sunk in. I'm no longer a yellow. It was a terrifying realization.

"There are changing rooms on the train," The man yawned after he shoved a uniform into my arms. "Or you can get changed here. I don't care."

I turned to see that Mari was already changed, her brown clothes thrown on the floor. David and I made eye contact, and he shrugged.

I slowly got changed. Mari wasn't watching us, keeping her eyes on the door. When I threw my old clothes on the heap David and Mari had made, I closed my eyes, like I was saying goodbye.

The man pressed a button on the desk, and Mari opened the door. The three of us walked out of the room.

Waiting for us was a sleek, black train that shined in the bright lights of the room. There were a few other people here; five at the most. I assumed most were already on board. Everyone was wearing the same uniform, and everyone's bracelets were black. The people who weren't on the train already had luggage with them.

Everyone's attention was on us. I felt self-conscious; I would be spending the rest of my life with these people, and they already see me as an outsider. It made me want to get on the train quickly.