The First Mission

Another morning, but this one was different than the past month, we were told not to go directly to training, but rather to the classroom.

What was the reason for this, why was Mr. Murasaki halting our training?

Had we done enough for him to raise the stakes?

Whatever it was, the classroom was full, and most of us arrived early in anticipation of whatever Mr. Murasaki had to tell us.

"Hey Yuki, you're getting better at endurance" Alex said.

"Really? You think?"

"Well—it's weird, some days you finish early, but then some days you finish really late, why is that?"

"Oh—well—"

Some days I finished later than usual because I find Mitsugi passed out along the trail, I can't just leave him there, nor could I just tell Mitsugi's sensitive information to Alex, I'm sure Mitsugi would like to keep that information private.

"No reason—say, what do you think we'll be doing today, Paul?"

It would be best if I talked to someone else, I'm not sure how much longer I can withhold that information, especially from Alex, the only person who remembers my name…

"Same old, same old, why?"

"Well, there has to be a reason why Mr. Murasaki wanted us to meet within the classroom today, we've been heading straight to the training room for the past few days. And why is he so late, seems suspicious…"

"Ha! You should be the last person commenting on tardiness."

"Are we really still doing this…"

I mean c'mon, it's been a month, how the hell do people even remember that still?

"Alright class, settle down. We'll be doing something new today!—" Mr. Murasaki shouted as he strolled into the classroom. "—today, I will be giving you all your very first mission as a class."

This is it, our first mission.

This is where I can actually test myself and progress enough to be able to do something… even though it's only been a month, I feel like I'm a lot closer to my goal than where I was before.

I can't imagine what test he has for us, and even though It's almost guaranteed to be much more challenging than the training we all put ourselves through over the past month, I can't help but feel excited for this.

It felt like I knew about the surprise party before walking in, I can't really explain it.

The rest of the class couldn't contain their excitement as much as I did, some students even began to talk over Mr. Murasaki, which he didn't like at all.

"Settle down. I'm not done. I will be forming you all in groups of six, each group will receive an assist assignment within a block, helping local law enforcement there. Group #1 is Alex, Kaso, Olivia, Vivian, Anastasia, and Yuki. Group #2 is Kumo, Reed, Paul, Ichi, Gamal, and Lucas. Group #3 is Ramani, Asami, Takahiro, Sofia, Mitsugi, and Morna. You all will be transported to your rightful block within Kashitama by either vehicle or helicopter. Good Luck."

It didn't take long for each of the groups to informally meet at their respective helipad.

This is the first time for me, being in a helicopter that is, and a mission as well.

I know he just told us that it'll be an assist assignment not too long ago, but I still felt anxious about what awaited us.

"You guys will be fine, Star City is the majority of Block A, SCPD is one of the best police departments in all 4 Blocks of Kashitama." The Pilot said.

"Yeah, we'll be fine guys, besides all we're doing is assisting—" Olivia added, she glanced over at Kaso, who was as pale as a corpse, possibly from the anxiety that crept within all of us about this new assignment "—It's not that serious!"

"I know... but we're still graded on our performances here…" Kaso replied.

"He has a point." Alex added.

"This shouldn't be too hard." Vivian replied, confidence was brimming from her smirk, as if she'd already experienced something similar to this.

"Yeah, all we're doing is assisting." Olivia said.

"I—I don't know anymore…" Alex replied, his demeanor is now similar to Kaso, quivering in fear of the future.

"We need to get nothing less than an A…" Kaso added.

"It is not that serious guys!" Olivia shouted, still curious about why something so minuscule was taken so seriously.

What they failed to mention was that Star City's crime rate is one of the highest throughout all of the major cities in Kashitama, if Alex and Kaso both know that, then it is understandable of their fear for this, after all, we're stuck with the most notorious block within all of the blocks of Kashitama.

We all were scared, whether we'd like to admit it or not, the fact remains that this was something new to all of us, and failure wasn't an option.

Well, the fact still remains that we have Anastasia on our team, if my memory serves correctly, she was the one that single-handedly accomplished the team simulation with her team.

She hasn't said a single word since we left the youth building; in fact, I don't believe I've ever heard her speak before.

Just how good was she, I mean, I know that she took care of the simulation by herself, but is that even the full extent of her capabilities?

Just where the hell did she come from anyway?

"We've arrived." the Pilot abruptly said.

There it was, Star City, even though I've been here plenty of times before the view from the helicopter was—

"I've never seen the City from this angle, it's beautiful!" Father said.

—yes, it was beautiful.

The buildings reflected the beaming sun, the masses of people below looked more like a mosaic painting, this smell of commerce was certainly an acquired scent.