Lunchtime!

The entire area began to particalize away, everything transitioning from the dark gloomy despair into bright emptiness.

"So bright…" Sofia said, stating the obvious as the calm seemed a bit annoyed at the swift transition.

"Well done! Excellent teamwork there." Bob relayed.

The tube elevator shot down from the ceiling and opened, team three had accomplished their unrealistic goal and had confined smoothly into something more than them.

"Come back now, you all scored great!"

It didn't take long for team three to find themselves back into the vanilla room they struggled in yesterday, even the speed from the elevator didn't bother them like it did before, however, it did bother Paul, as he was still badly injured from the simulation.

"You all did great! I'm surprised there weren't any problems in trying to create a team leader, which usually happens. You three can catch a break at the cafeteria now. And as for you, Paul, you'll be coming with me to the infirmary."

"Wait, I have a question for you, Yuki, how did you know his legs were his weak point?" Paul asked abruptly, even through the obvious pain, his curiosity was strong enough to delay the inevitable faint that accompanied overwhelming pain.

"I second that question." Sofia added.

"Well, he let me slide through it so I guessed that his lower body wasn't his strong suit." Yuki said, not realizing just how absurd his analysis was.

"What?! That was his reason?! Talk about a lucky guess…" Paul thought, then said "Alright, I've heard enough, you can take me to the infirmary now."

Bob and Paul exit the matted training room, leaving Sofia and Yuki alone.

Sofia and Yuki shortly exited after catching their breaths, and realizing the completion of the impossible.

They found themselves back in the hall that led them to the training room, and only one of them seemed to know where they were headed.

"I was surprised how you took charge during our fight on the second floor, I didn't think you had that in you." Sofia said, still surprised at how Yuki was able to analyze and relay the information in the midst of battle, something that is easier said than done.

"Oh—yeah, you too… say, how do you know where the cafeteria is anyway?" Yuki asked, as he didn't really know how to respond to a compliment, especially on something that he's never done before today.

This was his first taste of something that can be considered a mission, but it wasn't even close to the real thing, little did he know. It was like comparing processed meat with fresh meat, it was two totally different things that can seem the same without experience.

"Mr. Murasaki gave us a tour after we introduced ourselves."

"Geez.. just how late was I?" Yuki thought.

The two arrived at the Cafeteria, it wasn't as large as the ones that Yuki was used to, but it was much more appealing.

The tables were metal, along with pretty much everything else that wasn't the floor. The floor was freshly cleaned tile, and the area seemed much more ahead than Yuki thought, it seemed like something out of a movie to him.

Reed, Morna, Alex, and Vivian were seated at a table visible from the entrance, awaiting whoever finished their training as well.

"Hey guys!" Yuki shouted, still jubilant from the prior success.

"Sup Yuki, you guys finished earlier than I expected." Alex replied, surprising Yuki.

"See, he knows my name!"

"No, you're still the late kid." Vivian replied.

"What…" Yuki said as Vivian's words sucked the confidence from his soul quicker than a mosquito.

"How did you guys finish so quickly?" Sofia asked, her calmness remained as still as fresh cherry blossoms in spring.

"Well, me and Morna didn't really do much…" Reed replied, he seemed as if he didn't know how to respond to the question.

"Yeah, I feel kinda bad since our teammate did pretty much everything…" Morna added, she seemed much more declined than Reed, who was stuck in limbo.

"What?!" Sofia and Yuki said, both shocked that one person was able to complete an entire task made for three people all by themselves, just who was this beast that remained unidentified?

"Who the hell was your teammate?" Yuki asked.

"She's over there, eating alone." Morna said, pointing to the side with her thumb in the far northwest direction of the room.

There she was, their teammate, her name remained elusive to Yuki, who didn't really keep track of things like that, especially with the people who are only temporary within his journey.

"Who is she?" Yuki thought.

A shared thought with all the youth members who were unaware of her, her name, Anastasia Volkov, and she was far superior than anyone at the table.

She walked past them after finishing her food, without even recognizing their presence, they were beneath her, in fact, very few within the program are capable of dealing with her one on one, but to them, she was nothing more than a mystery that slowly started forming into a myth.

"Where'd you guys get the food anyway? Do people work here?" Yuki asked.

"Were you not here for the tour lad?" Morna asked, not realizing she was talking to the only late student.

"He's the late kid." Sofia replied.

"Oh, so you're the late kid…" Morna still hadn't realized that a student was late to the youth program, but going along with the information seemed like the best option rather than questioning it.

"This late kid title is beginning to hurt…"

"Haha! Don't worry, just raise your hand." Alex said.

"Oh—" Yuki dumbfoundedly replied, and continued by raising his hand.

He was knocked over as soon as his hand raised, by something cold and rigid.

"What the heck…" Yuki exclaimed, swiftly looking up with contempt towards whatever knocked him over with a blindside hit.

It easily caught all of his attention, it was a rigid droid with an apron on, as if it was aware of privacy or clothing for that matter.

"So cool!!" Yuki was enraptured by the sight of this droid that was there to serve him, he couldn't believe that the amount of funds put into the IJA were so high that they even had up to date technology in the youth building cafeteria.

"What shall you like to eat?" the droid asked.

"Umm… maybe rice? Ooh, or a burger? I'm not sure…"

"How are you so indecisive…" Sofia commented, without expecting a reply from the child who was engulfed in awe of the lunch machine.

"A burger with a side of rice then?"

"Oh… I didn't know I could have both… sure…" this was new to Yuki, the very thought of having both was reserved for special occasions, it was only made when two things occurred, when he had enough funds to purchase ingredients for both and when he had enough energy to make both, two things that never met.

Yuki was used to sub-par cafeteria lunches and quick microwavable dinners, but something fresh like rice and burgers was like a five-star meal to him, it was a bite from the clouds, a meal blessed by angels.

The droid began preparing the simple meal for Yuki, and as it did so, another team walked into the cafeteria. This team consisted of Kumo, Asami, and Olivia.

"Woah! Is that a droid?!" Kumo yelled, it was obvious he didn't have much of an inside voice.

"You idiot, Sensei showed us that on the first day!" Olivia shouted, clearly the very thought of having to be in the same room with Kumo sprouted veins from her forehead.

"Wow, I didn't expect this many people to finish before us…" Asami said, self-analyzing why her team wasn't good enough to surpass the numbers in front of her, what had she done wrong, just one of the many critical thoughts that passed through.

"Me neither, how did you guys finish so fast?" Olivia asked.

"Our group was carried by——she left…" Reed replied.

"Same for us, Ichi even threatened us not to get involved…" Vivian replied.

"He���s really self-centered…" Alex added.

Little did the others know that the trial that Alex and Vivian's group went through, a simple bout between Mr. Murasaki and their team led a one-on-one between the teacher and Ichi.

Ichi tried his best to get Mr. Murasaki onto the ground, while Mr. Murasaki toyed with him like a lion with a full stomach toying with a half-eaten carcass.

"Seriously… it's as if those two are in a class of their own…" Asami said, taking note of the two trained killers that so happened to find themselves in youth class B.

"Yeah, those two are freaks…" Olivia added.

"Yeah, they probably have a lot of experience or something prior to the youth program." Morna said.

"It doesn't matter, that means we just have to work harder than them, if we want to become agents ourselves, we'll just have to surpass them along the way." Yuki said while grabbing his food from the droid, inadvertently lifting the mellow mood that drizzled within the cafeteria.

"Yeah, you're right, Yuki." Asami said.

"So—how does this thing work again?" Kumo asked, pointing at the lunch droid that recently cooked Yuki his meal.

"You literally just tell it what you want!" Olivia shouted at Kumo, it wasn't clear how much longer she could last with him in the same room, she was a ticking time bomb ready to explode any second now.

"Oh—right." Kumo replied.

The youths enjoyed a meal together in the calm before the storm, without much knowledge or worry on the massive hurricane that has yet to come, but when it does, it shall be one hell of a ride for them.