Room 4B

The first official day, I can't wait…

"Those uniforms look awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Trivy lets off a comical impression, most likely testing my limits to withhold the truth, it was simply impossible to avoid the truth around him, he reads me better than a half-assed summary placed gently on the back of a hardcover.

"You know they're cool."

"I know! These are way better than my old school uniforms!"

"And you even get a crazy cool gym uniform!"

"Yeah, and no more ties!"

After our blatant excitement for my new chapter, a small plague of silence hit the room harder than a freight train, something that arises much more often with strangers than with Trivy.

"Well—I'm off now."

"Yeah, see you when you get back then, loser…"

"Yeah, whatever."

The uniforms were probably the only highlight of yesterday.

The cool pure black colored jacket along with freshly steamed black slacks and clear black shoes, with the appearance of formality but the comfort of the clouds.

Quite frankly, yesterday sucked, not even the uniforms were enough to change that fact.

"Son is it because you have to share a room now, it can't be that bad, you shared one with your brother before."

"That's not it…"

"Oh… I know what it is…" Dad insisted on something with his childish demeanor.

"Would you quit it!"

I've grown tired of his unwanted spare change, sometimes he just didn't know when to shut up.

The classroom was somewhat filled already, with the teacher's attendance still in question.

The classroom was the same as before, the small cubicle-like desks that seemed as if they were donated rather than purchased, the windows were possibly the only truly spotless item within this room, that appeared to still be stuck within the past.

The yellow-tinted flooring didn't help modernize the classroom as well.

Kaso, that was the name I recall, was sitting along with the other misfits that got stuck in the back of the wagon.

I wasn't sure if approaching was the best possible option, after all, I've been told to make friends, more friends than just Trivy.

I don't know though, what would friends do other than get in the way, I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to finish what I started.

"You can still converse without making friends, you know that right?"

"Would you please get out of my head for one day!"

"I can't do that…"

"Fine, I'll talk to them, will that make you shut up?"

"You can try." I'll do whatever it takes just for some peace and quiet in here.

Approaching them wasn't as tedious as I expected.

All I needed was confidence, and annoyance from previous strides was enough to muster the words through the cage.

"Sup guys, you know who you're sharing your room with?"

"My roommate is Sofia Genovese… she terrifies me… can we switch?" Kaso replied, still a little nervous talking about his roommate whom he just met yesterday.

"Oh man, did you even sleep last night?" Mitsugi asked, even though something made me feel like he already knew the answer to that question.

"No… not when I share a room with someone like her…"

"What's wrong with her?" Everyone was acting as if they knew this girl before yesterday, and I felt a bit isolated and confused, to say the least.

"She's a Genovese. She is a daughter to one of the most powerful crime families in the world."

"Whoa… that's cool." Kumo added as if he were more lost than I.

"Why do you know so much about all of the students already?"

"Well, only someone who lives under a rock wouldn't know some of the students in this class."

I assume he was referring to me and possibly Kumo as well, but that didn't matter, what mattered now is that I know someone who can possibly tell me more information on others within the class.

The one student I wanted to know the most about was the first one that laid eyes on me, I still wasn't sure what his deal was, and why he even tried to intimidate me in the first place, who the hell does that anyway?

"What about him, who's he?" maybe Kaso would have the answer that somehow rose back up from the dirt.

"C'mon Yuki, leave him alone, he's just a kid…" I seriously don't know when my father will give me a single day to myself, let alone an hour, especially with the nonsense that he usually spouts.

The strange part of all this is being constantly reminded of the past as if it were part of the future, what does one to do if they only have broken clocks?

"He's probably the scariest person in this whole class. His name is Ichi Shogayaki, he's…"

Right when Kaso was getting to the more important facts on the individual who strikes more fear than a mafia heir, the teacher, Mr. Murasaki walked in, disrupting everyone's morning conversations, and turning them to utter silence and awe.

"Everyone, take your seats!" his authority was absolute within this classroom of eighteen students.

"We'll be doing a lot more today than we did yesterday! We start with basic combat training then we move to combat simulations. Combat Simulations are basically a computer-generated mission divided into groups of 3 to test your skills, it will feel and look as real as possible. I'll be assigning the teams of three right now. I'll be leaving a bowl of folded papers up here, each student will grab one piece and wait outside and organize in their groups, the numbers will be one to six. After you meet your groups go get changed into your gym wear and meet me in room 4B."

The simulation wasn't really at the executive floor right now, what was irking me was the knowledge of being teamed up with Ichi Shogayaki, a person I now know that is potentially the alpha of this entire class.

Maybe that was the reason for his ultimate display of dominance within my first steps into the classroom.

The selection was tedious, everyone going at the same time, worrying if they'll be stuck with useless puppets (a tier that I somehow found myself in for the moment) or monsters with a messy sheep hide.

The paper was folded in four and felt fresh, a feeling that can either feel as soothing as a subtle breeze in May or as rough as a snowstorm in January.

Unraveling it didn't take much, and my number was the number of creativity, the number 3.

"Anyone got a three out here?!" as much as I felt stuck in the ground, watching my mouth repeat the same six words a million times while I could do nothing but helplessly watch as the quicksand slowly swallowed more flesh for every second, it something that naturally came out with the feeling of nerves stinging the hairs on my arms.

"That's me!—" a short pause occurred with us unsuccessfully greeting each other with eyesight "—But… we're the only number 3's out here that I know of, we'll have to wait for our last member."

This kid seemed as bland as yellow wallpaper or dry elevator music, in this class, he'd be nothing more than a forgotten face.

He wore sunglasses indoors (yeah, I didn't really want to poke the inflated balloon, too much of a hassle) and blonde stubby hair, as if he had just given it a light sunshower before arriving to class.

"Hey, I'm Yuki." why did this need to happen, I still don't see the point of forceful introductions, especially to the drywall.

"I know, you're the late kid."

Really… "Yeah… that's me…"

"Well, I'm Paul, nice to meet you, Yuki—" then suddenly, after formally introducing himself to me, he broke his attention, and swiftly averted it to the recent opening of the classroom door, and without hesitation, he shouted "3?!".

"Yes…" it was her, the demon that lurked within Kaso's room that was now no longer his, the heiress of the notorious crime family with no name.

"Nice! I'm Paul by the way."

"Oh. I'm Sofia, where is our other member?"

"It's me." as if I wasn't standing right there with Paul.

"Oh. The late kid."

"Why does everyone call me that?!"

"Cause…. You were late."

"Well, I'm Yuki." Maybe the simple nickname plastered onto my wall bothered me more than I thought it would, I guess you can say that for anything that doesn't involve obsession.

It didn't take long for the rest of the class to find their groups accordingly, something that we followed loosely to an extent.

Room 4B was our next destination and getting there wasn't too difficult, I'm not sure why I expected an ancient labyrinth of some sort to be our never-ending path to a simple training session, is it because everyone is already tense after the endurance test yesterday, or was it all just in my head?

Room 4B appeared vastly different than the shell it proposed itself to be, the outside being nothing more than a dried out burgundy door in a hall meant for no return.

The inside, however, was much more than that, it contained the appearance of an ancient dojo, even accustomed matts to fit the bill, which contrasted surprisingly well with the freshly pressed gray gym gear.

A simple sweatshirt and pants with the letters of the organization pressed firmly within the cloth.

There were 6 rooms past the entrance, each numbered accordingly.

"Each group will go to the area with their respective number on it, there you will meet an agent who will teach you the fundamentals of hand to hand combat. I will be in room 5." Mr. Murasaki spoke his absolute word and somehow triggered a delicate response from it.

"Aww man, why us?!" Vivian shouted. Alex, who I assume was also part of Vivian's team, was visibly not comfortable that he was somehow stuck with not only Mr. Murasaki, but with another monster altogether.

"This shouldn't be too difficult." Ichi said, hissing his grotesque arrogance through his perfect teeth.

It's as if that was part of his natural personality, even through facing something objectively much more powerful than himself.

He seemed like the type of man who would willingly throw himself off the edge with accepting his own word, rather than accepting the word of others.

That, in itself, can be looked at as a blessing and a curse.

Nonetheless, it was time our group entered our respective room, room 3, and met whoever awaited us.

Surprisingly enough, the face that awaited us was somewhat familiar, it was none other than Bob, the clerk to the youth building.

He wasn't placed within his usual formal attire though, he found himself within a karate master's outfit, along with a titular display of experience that wrapped around his waist.

"I will be teaching you three the fundamentals to hand to hand combat. Let's begin with one of you as an example, who wants to come up?"

"I'll do it." Sofia softly said, without a second of hesitation.

"The lady has the biggest balls here huh, well, let's see what you got."

Sofia stepped up with confidence in herself, it was quite glaring, it's as if she had already analyzed Bob based on his posture alone, and planned her next four to five moves before the battle had gotten to the pleasantry stage.

"Come at me with all you got."

"Ok." Sofia subtly replied, I couldn't quite put it eloquently enough trying to explain her whimsical confidence that she carried herself with, but it was a polar opposite to the blatant arrogance that Ichi brimmed with.

She prepared herself for battle by revealing an old fashioned prizefighting stance.

"Excellent stance, you clearly have experience…"

Sofia stepped closer with a hop that seemed as light as a subtle breeze in spring and contrasted drastically with a left hook that appeared to be enough to end the match in the first round.

Bob took notice of the strong example from the first trainee and simply used a simple backhand reflex to deflect a swing that would've caused trouble had it landed.

"I've seen enough—" the commanding words were enough to let the tension slip under the closed door behind us "—you don't need any training, your good as it is. Who's next?"

"I'll go." I spoke, but it just came out, and instantly regret began to bubble to the surface.

This is an uncontrollable urge, why have I been cursed by my father with traits of the past generation?

"Ok, come up, show me what you got."

This isn't something that I'd want to jump full force into, especially with the glaring outlier of my inexperience, but it's something that must be done, similar to a hurdle within a 110m relay.

In order for me to get to the top of the staircase, I had to do this, I had to.

I should welcome this feeble challenge with open arms, I want to do this, I want to gain more experience, I need to in order to get where I want, in order to find the one responsible for the ultimate sin…