Capítulo 8: 7 - Entrance Exam [Part I]
Reading through the documents, the questions weren't all that challenging. Primarily, they were questions asking me about different fighting techniques and if I knew what they were, as well as about the history of the unusuals as a species.
Some of the questions read as follows:
"Are you aware of the existence of intelligent unusuals? If so, please tell us about your knowledge on this matter."
"Have you heard of the fighting style "Moon Jitsu?"
"Have you slain any unusual beings before enrolling in Eritoakademi? If so, please describe your encounter(s)."
"Do you know who The Kanpeki are, and what their job is?"
As the time ticked down, I answered each question the best that I could. Yui got up occasionally to walk around the classroom and make sure everyone was doing their best work. Akisada was writing quite a lot down.
"1 hour left," said Yui, it felt as if no time at all had passed! Though by looking at the papers and how much I had filled in, I knew I was in good shape to finish on time, in fact, I would surely finish early.
I glanced around the room a few times to see how the others were doing. Everyone was consumed by their papers, heads down and eyes focused on what they were writing, with the occasional stretch and cough in between. I could see people walking by the door, peering in through the window before continuing on their way.
"Hey, I have a question." said one of the people sitting to my right, Yui walked over.
"Yes? What is it?" she asked.
The person chose not to ask in front of everybody, rather choosing to whisper the question in Yui's ear. Upon doing so, Yui's eyes widened. The question was long, and perhaps a bit shocking considering what she said next~
"Oh, well uh. Okay, let me see your exam, go to room B-012 please, it's right upstairs," said Yui before taking the person's paper. They got up, grabbed their bag and weapon, and left the room. The whole room began looking around in confusion before Yui spoke up.
"Keep working, don't worry about them, they just had a few circumstances that hadn't been brought to my attention," she said.
Still confused, everyone returned to their papers, continuing their thoughts. Akisada was nearing completion of his papers, as he was on the final page of the packet.
Time continued ticking, faster and faster, I wrote my final answers down on the paper, and then~
"Time!" yelled Yui. Before I knew it, the exam was over. I had answered everything, but it felt like no more than 10 minutes had passed, that's how focused everyone was on their work. Yui walked around the classroom, collecting everybody's papers.
"I trust that everybody in this room has done their best work, I congratulate you all on completing the first part of the exam. If you would, please exit and wait for further instructions," said Yui.
Everybody got up and stretched collectively, the exam was long and tiring, and we were all mentally exhausted! Akisada walked over to talk with me~
"Oh my god, that was longer than I thought it would be. I'm tired already!"
"You thought it was long? It barely felt like any time passed to me." I said.
"Wow, you're lucky, I was sitting in limbo the whole time dwelling on the difference between whatever a Schozir and a Fjornir are, did you get that question?"
"No, I didn't. I wonder if everybody was given different questions..." I said. We both shrugged and followed the rest of the crowd out of the room.
We all left the exam room and went into the hallway, where Mr. Otsuka greeted us.
"Ah, welcome back everybody! You all look mentally worn out, and that's understandable! The exam is pretty tough every year, but we do that to make sure we pick the finest individuals to help carry on the legacy of defending the world."
"Your task is not complete yet, you all will be given a break to eat, but make sure to be back here by 1:00 for the next portion of the exam! Stretch, do whatever you need to do," he said.
It was nearing 12:00, the exam started close to 9:30 because registration took a bit of time. Akisada and I decided to eat lunch together and catch up on a few things since the last time we had seen each other. It had been a few years, actually.
We talked about what we both had been up to, as it turns out, Akisada had been training in secret as well, neither of us knew the other was training for this exam, but we were no more than a couple of houses apart from each other, doing the same thing...
Akisada's family grows crops, they're farmers. His family runs a business that supplies major distributors with food for City X specifically. It makes good money, but the job is tough, and there's the constant worry of unusuals stealing from your fields, which has been a rising problem in recent years.
After the break was over, we went back to the registration area, where we found the same group of students, but there were a few new faces added to the mix, I assumed they were just people from different rooms who had all taken the same exam. Mr. Otsuka came outside to speak to us.
"Welcome back everybody, I hope you are all well-fed and ready to go for part two of the exam. I will now explain how the second portion of the exam will operate, so listen closely, everyone."
"Part two of the exam relies on your technical ability, that is, your ability to move skillfully around a battlefield and act on technicalities within the field. You will all be split into groups, and placed into simulations where you will need to retrieve an object from an obstacle course."
"You may work together in the obstacle course, but you must all contribute to the task, meaning nobody can "solo" the obstacle course for their group. This is to promote teamwork and efficiency."
"When everybody is ready, come up to one of the staff members here and take a numbered slip, they're numbered 1-25, those are your group numbers."
Akisada and I looked at each other, we were having the same thought process.
"I hope I get put in your group, I wanna see what your abilities are like," he said, I replied with pretty much the same thing.
"Me too. All we can hope for is luck being on our side."
"Agreed. Let's grab our slips."
We went into lines parallel from each other and tried to line ourselves up side by side so that we "in theory" would grab the same numbered slip, but our plan didn't work out so well, considering my slip read "13" and Akisada's read "21". Each line had a different amount of people in it, so our math was clearly skewed.
"Darn, well, I wish you the best of luck Hachiro, I hope to see you in the final examination if you make it!" said Akisada.
"Hey, you too man, and don't worry, we're both gonna make it, I know it," I replied, giving him a fist bump before making my way to the room marked on the back of the slip. I was assigned to [SIMULATION NO. 13 - ROOM A-034].
I grabbed my sword and made my way to the room. Inside was a group of people, each with their own weapons. I saw a large variety of weapons in this room. Swords, sickles, knives, wands, and even a few guns. I wasn't even aware people could have extraordinary abilities that pertained to firearms.
Once the room was filled, there were well over 100 of us. I remembered what Botan said earlier at my door, nearly 3,000 people were applying. If there were 25 groups, that meant there were 120 people per simulation. With so many people, this was bound to be difficult...
I looked towards the back wall and noticed what appeared to be a small building extending to the ceiling, covered in traps and contraptions. Was this the exam? The building seemed quite...small...
"GOOD AFTERNOOOOOON everybody..." yelled a voice through a microphone. Standing in front of us was Mr. Otsuka himself. He was our room's proctor??
"Yes, you may all be surprised to see me! However, don't let my presence startle you by any means. We simply didn't have enough staff available today to cover every room. I'd say a good half of the groups are being run by Kanpeki members, and the other half, with the exception of this one, by regular staff."
Everybody was looking around at each other with a panicked expression, apart from a few kids whose confidence I could tell had only grown significantly knowing that they would be performing in front of the director. I personally was amped, as putting on a good show would certainly solidify a spot for me in the final exam.
"Contrary to popular belief, I am not harsh. Whatever your parents may have told you, as I'm aware a great majority of you come from a family line of individuals who attended this school, applies to the FORMER director, my father Tadashi Otsuka. He was very harsh, and most likely taught your parents. But he retired 12 years ago, and I took his place."
"You should consider yourselves lucky to have me as your examiner, if you perform well and complete the task at hand, I'll pass every single one of you to the final examination, something the other proctors probably wouldn't do, haha!"
"But the one caveat is this, this challenge is incredibly tough. It's meant to be challenging for a group your size, so don't think sheer numbers alone will be enough to cheat your way to victory! Now, allow me to explain in detail what it is you need to accomplish here today."
Mr. Otsuka pressed a button on the table in front of him, and suddenly the walls began to expand and retract, and the ceiling opened up. Technology was truly advancing faster than ever before in today's day and age. The things steam could do were incredible.
The building that I had seen earlier at the back of the room, wasn't a building at all. It was a tower... a skyscraper, extending high into the sky. There was a safety net below us in case anybody was to fall. I couldn't see the top of the tower, it extended beyond the clouds... how did I not notice this incredible tower from outside?
"As you could all probably tell, Eritoakademi is a campus, meaning we have very large buildings in a lot of very large places, this building is no exception. This is not the school, this is the examination building."
"In this building, there are a lot of obstacle courses that are meant to test your skills in a lot of varying circumstances. . This specific course is known as the "Tower of Testament". Completing it serves as a testament to everyone's ability here, as well as proof that you are ready to advance to the final examination."
"There is a glowing orb located at the top of this obstacle course. You must retrieve the orb and bring it back to me. Upon doing so, you will be released, and pass onto the final examination."
"You may use any powers available to you, but keep in mind that you must follow some specific rules. One, no soloing the tower, you must all work together. Two, nobody is left behind, you must all collectively progress. Three, have fun, or at least try to, as this will be unforgiving..."
"So, without any further to do, please get ready to begin the exam. On my mark, you will all begin."
"Are there any questions?" asked Mr. Otsuka. Nobody spoke up, meaning everybody understood the task at hand.
"Very well then, let us begin."
"On your marks..."
"Get set..."
"..."
"..GO!!!!!"
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