Era : Entropy

An Evaluation (Part One)

It was a few days after the bird attack. Shaken as they were, it didn't change their desire to talk. The classroom was full of chatter. Their Geography teacher hadn't shown up in 20 minutes. Angie as the class representative had made a note on the board to keep quiet and she was obeying it by playing checkers with Yukika.  Sakura was reading over her Chemistry notes while glancing every once in a while to the manga in her lap.

Silence washed through the room. Confused, Sakura looked up. Someone was at the door of the classroom, pleasantly smiling. She wore a blue jacket with the S.U.N. emblem and a sleek white dress underneath. Her high ponytail swung as she walked to the teacher's desk and took a seat. The whole class had their eyes on her. Or more specifically, her three milky white eyes. If she noticed their stares, she didn't say anything about it.

Her skin had a green tint to it. Her third eye nestled in the middle of her forehead, slightly shrunken compared to the other two. She sat up straight in her seat, unwavering. Her gaze seemed to not be on them, but a faraway object a thousand miles away that was somehow in their class. Her demeanor was relaxed. No, it wasn't relaxed, exactly. It was more like she abandoned all worries about the situation at hand, focusing on some higher plane of existence. She seemed to sit higher than any of them could reach.

"Hello Class 2-A. You can call me Oko," she spoke. Her voice was mystifying. There was no echo in the room, but there was another voice mirroring hers with every word she spoke. "After the incidents surrounding your school, the S.U.N. has decided to take action. As some of you might have suspected, we're at risk of a spirit burst."

Unsure murmurs filled the room. Angie glanced at her. A sickness pooled at her stomach. There was anxiety all around them. Her heartbeat was rapid. She could hear the wind rushing through the fans. She looked down at her feet.  Every crack in the smooth concrete was a threat of it crumbling down. She could fall down from her seat and be crushed by the falling debris.

A spirit burst could mean that their house would be destroyed, leaving them to live in a shelter. It could mean attacks each day with a chance of being ripped apart by out of control animals or winds. It could mean their world would be set ablaze, the lands turned to ashes. Her heartbeat was painful in her chest. She rested her head on the hard table, trying to calm down. The murmurs around her swallowed her mind whole. Everything was doomed.

Oko gestured for them to settle down.

"Do not worry. We'll be able to handle this. However, we wish to ask if any of you are interested in joining our forces," she spoke. The anxiety was quickly taken over with excitement. A new opportunity! New faces and experiences and a chance to tackle the spirit burst themselves. Sakura smiled thinking of the possibilities. 

"We're recruiting qualified young ones to help in our efforts to fight the rise of spiritual activity," Oko went on. "If you're interested, sign in your names with me and we'll carry out an evaluation to see if you can make the cut. Of course, we're not only recruiting attackers, but supporters like healers, weapon designers and assistants. Don't be hasty, take a moment to decide."

The three friends looked at each other. Did they really want to uproot their lives to join the cause? It was nerve wracking to think about. It would mean something completely different for them all. On one hand, she loved the idea of it. On the other, she didn't know if she could handle it. Her life was just fine right now, she wouldn't be at a loss if she didn't join. Except... perhaps losing a life full of action and fun. 

She could imagine swinging swords, slashing through spirits. As if. She would pass out just picking a single sword up. Perhaps she would experiment with different mixtures to fill bullets with. Or maybe she would mix in the wrong chemicals and die in a fiery explosion. She could be a commander, giving orders from the sidelines. And she would lead her team to certain doom and she would die in disgrace.