”Reina! Over here!” Felicie waved Reina over the moment she entered the gym. Reina gladly sat down next to her. If she’d come in here and been forced to sit down alone, it would have been so humiliating!

“What took you so long? What did Xia have to say?” Dawn asked. Reina shook her head.

“Nothing important, just a few things about my condition.” Reina lied. She didn’t like it but her friends couldn’t know the truth, not until all of them were okay with it. After all, she wasn’t the only one.

April clicked her tongue. “Narcolepsy is serious. Maybe not as serious as being kidnapped by your teacher but still serious.”

Reina was confused. “What?” How did this go to Xia kidnapping her?

May blushed and Monica cackled, slapping her on the back. “May thought just that while we were wondering what happened. I agreed with her, that would have been spicy!”

Reina couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing and immediately regretted it when May curled inward. “I’m sorry, it’s just the idea of Xia kidnapping me is hilarious! She would be caught before exiting her classroom!”

“You seem to know her very well. Care to explain?” Angel asked, popping out from nowhere.

Reina shrieked and toppled backward, bowling into Felicie and Dawn. Angel raised an eyebrow as they regained their balance. “Not very balanced, are you?”

Reina puffed out her cheeks. “You scared me!”

“If that’s all it takes to scare you, life is going to be very hard for you,” Angel noted. Felicie hugged Angel.

“That’s so mean, Angel! I was scared too. Anyway, why don’t you sit with us?” she asked. Reina nodded, forgetting about the rude comment. More friends was way better.

Angel carefully extracted herself from Felicie. “I think not, I have more important things than being friends.”

Reina gaped. “More important than being friends? Like what?”

Angel shot her a scornful look. “Like surviving.”

Before Reina could wonder what that meant, the doors opened and a figure walked out. Stout, with flowing white hair and a pointed beard; wrinkles so detailed, you could how his skin folded. No doubt, this was Veriy.

Veriy strolled to the center of the gym before tripping and falling flat on his face. Everybody laughed but when he didn’t get back up, things got more tense. Reina stared at him. Was he hurt? Did he break his bones? Was there a invisible dog chewing away at him?

“Is he okay?” Felicie whispered.

“I don’t know,” Juliet replied.

“Is he dead?” Reina asked innocently. Her friends glanced at her wearily.

“I don’t think I like how casually you said that,” Dawn noted.

“But you’re right, he might be in serious conditions. Somebody should go and help him up.” April suggested.

“Why don’t you do it?” Monica said. She shuddered. “There is no way in the world I’m going near that guy! What if he’s some creepy old pervert who loves beautiful girls?”

“Pervert?” Reina asked.

“You think you’re beautiful?” Juliet asked. The only response Monica gave was motioning towards her body. Juliet sighed and admitted defeat. “You are pretty beautiful.”

“Thank you!” Monica crowed.

“Dawn, what’s a pervert?” Reina asked, tugging on her sleeve. Dawn looked away pointedly and Reina frowned. She didn’t want to be ignored! Her tugging grew more incessant. “Dawn!”

“It’s a huge monster that kills people!” Dawn blurted out before covering her mouth. Juliet, Monica, April, and May stared at her in disbelief.

“Seriously?” April asked.

“What? I don’t want to tell her!” Dawn snapped. Reina was shaking at the thought of it being a monster. She knew Veriy was too nice to be a monster but what if he was taken over? Like an Arias? Oh god, that wasn’t good!

“A monster who kills people is worse than a pervert!” Juliet cried.

“April, is he really a monster?” Felicie asked. Reina quietly stood up and tip-toed over to their teacher. She needed to make sure he was alive!

“Of course not!” April exclaimed. “Does he look like a monster to you?” She directed Felicie’s gaze towards the downed body of Veriy.

“He looks like a slime,” Felicie stated.

“Er, well-Reina, what are you doing?” April asked. Reina grinned. Looks like they finally noticed her making her way to Veriy.

“I’m going to poke Veriy until he wakes up and proves he’s not a monster!” she declared. From her cloak, she withdrew a long stick, perfect for poking.

“We were joking, don’t poke our teacher!” Dawn shrieked, dashing towards Reina. Reina got on her knees and jabbed the stick into his cheeks.

“Hello? Veriy. Veriy, wake up!” She poked harder. “It’s not funny anymore!” she pouted. Now he was making her worry for real! But nothing could harm Veriy, he was immortal, right?

“Reina, come on.” Dawn reached her and pulled her away from her poking. Reina grumbled at that.

“What the heck, Dawn? I was busy!”

“Busy sticking a stick into his cheek?” Dawn asked and Reina blushed. When she said it like that. . . “Look, he’s probably fine. Maybe he go drunk or something.”

“Did you not think of the possibility he’s not really Veriy and there’s a psychopath in this room? For example, a serial killer maybe?” Angel called out. Dawn immediately recoiled while Reina laughed.

“Silly Angel, there’s no ways he’s a psychopath!”

Angel narrowed her eyes. “So you know him?”

“I mean, I think I do. He’s-“

“Hello!” Veriy snapped his head up suddenly, causing more than a few of Reina classmates to scream. Reina on the other hand simply waved.

“Hi, Veriy!” she chirped. Veriy looked at her and tilted his head.

“Do I know you? Who are you?” he asked and Reina pouted. Not this again.

“Come on, Veriy! It’s not funny! I’m Reina, remember? Well, I guess I didn’t remember so it’s not your fault if you can’t remember either, but it would be really nice if you did,” she blurted. Veriy feigned ignorance and glanced around blearily.

“Where am I? Have you people kidnapped me?”

“No! You dragged yourself in, we did nothing with you!” Dawn insisted, glaring at the downed figure.

He glowered. “I don’t like your attitude, young lady! Whoever took care of you must be ashamed at their shoddy work!”

Dawn gaped in horror and fury and Reina was mad as well. “Veriy! What’s gotten into you?” she asked. This was no way to treat somebody!

Veriy sniffed and turned away from Reina. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you either, young lady! I don’t know who you think you are but I don’t like it!”

“You’re not making any sense!” Reina snapped.

“Or maybe you’re not listening? Hm? Have you ever thought of that or does everything have to be my fault? I’m an old man, you know! Old and dying!” He dropped his head to the floor and was silent once more.

Dawn wasn’t about to let him off so easily though. “Hey, wake up! Even if you’re a teacher, you can’t go around saying things like that! Allow me to instruct you on proper manners”

Veriy looked up and asked, “Who are you?”

Dawn spluttered in annoyance, and looked like she was seconds away from hitting him before Reina placed a hand on her arm. “Wait, I think there’s a problem.”

“Duh. The problem is, this guy is a jerk! And a old, disgusting, smelly jerk as well!” Dawn insisted.

“I think he really forgot,” Reina stated.

“What, so he has memory problems?” Dawn scoffed. Then she took a moment to think. “Actually, that might make sense. He is super old.”

“Yeah!” Reina exclaimed, happy her friend was agreeing with her. “I think he’s like 250 or something!”

“Ah, no. He would be dead.” Dawn said. “But what do we do? He’s our teacher, isn’t he? Are we expected to lounge around all class and wait for it to end?”

“Why not?” Brandon called out. “It’s not like that stinking old fart is going to do anything about it.”

Reina spotted Dawn freeze up at his words, and she growled. What did Brandon do to her friend? He was already on her naughty list for being a meanie, but for hurting Dawn, he was one of the rare souls on the bad list!

“Veriy probably gave us instructions!” Reina said. Surely they were somewhere around here, it only needed to be discovered!

“Right. That coot lying in a puddle of drool? Don’t make me laugh, no way he’s smart enough for that!” Brandon chortled and several others joined in.

Reina scanned the ground furiously and located a hefty stack of paper lying on the ground. Triumphantly, she lifted it up as if it was the next coming of the king.

“. . .what am I supposed to be looking at here?” Angel asked.

“I don’t know!” Reina said. “I think it’s a result sheet,” she added after checking the top paper. “It gives information on what kind of fighting style we should use and the weapons that would best suit us, that kind of thing.”

“What? Let me see!” was the general outcry from her classmates as they charged at her. Panicking, Reina flung the paper into the sky, forcing everybody to try and grab it out of the air before somebody stepped on it.

“What’s so special about it?” Monica asked. At the looks she received, she clarified, “This is basically a club, right? I mean, it’s only a class because so many people wanted it. It’s not like we’re going to go out in the real world and fight villains. This isn’t a hero school!”

“But is it a shock for learning how to use our powers effectively and with control.” April reminded her. “And studies have indicated using weapons allow that to happen more quickly.”

Monica sighed. “I still find it useless.”

“Do you not like weapons?” Reina asked, baffled. How could some people not like weapons? Weapons were everything!

Monica appeared slightly disturbed. “It’s weird somebody like you is so in love with weapons,” she commented.

“I can’t help it! My goal is to become the best fighter in the world and do a bunch of tournaments!” Reina told her friends. Her eyes were ablaze with passion; this was her dream and she was going to commit everything to it!

“I’m doing this because I'm bored and it’s mandatory,” Monica grumbled.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing too hard. Just a little bit of sparring with gear on and we probably won’t get to that until much later. This is mixed with gym, so most of the time, we’re going to be doing regular PE activities. Think of this as fencing!” Juliet suggested.

“T-this is scary,” May admitted, clutching close to Monica. “I don’t want to be hurt!”

“We’re not going to be doing much at all. This is like wrestling or fencing, just another sport we do for fun! Do you get hurt during fencing or wrestling?” Juliet asked.

“Yes,” May said.

“Yes,” Monica said.

Juliet breathed out through her nose. “Let me rephrase that. Do you get critically injured during wrestling or fencing?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Come on! Stop worrying and get your paper!” Reina ordered firmly, her own paper grasped in her hand. She couldn’t wait to see what she got!

“Fine, fine, so bossy,” Juliet murmured but Reina could tell there weren’t any hard feelings. Braving the crowd, her friends went and retrieved their own papers. For a few minutes, the gym was quiet as we took in the information.

For Reina, it was stated the weapon she should use was a long, bladed one; preferably a sword. That was obvious, duh. Her strength level was 100 pounds and her top speed was 15 miles per hour, though not able to sustain it for long. There were a bunch of other information which Reina disregarded. They were about her hair color and stuff and last she checked, her hair was a freakish orange.

“What did you get?” Reina asked Felicie.

“I got a shield. Is that good?” Felicie asked, tilting her head inquisitively. Reina shrieked and grabbed her hands in her own.

“Are you kidding, that’s great! I love shielders, they’re so big and strong! They’re so protected, it makes me jealous!” Reina squealed. Instead of looking happy, Felicie wore a sad expression.

“But I’m not big or strong. . .” she trailed off.

“Don’t worry! You’re going to get super strong here! Veriy’s a great teacher!” Reina reassured her. Felicie didn’t exactly look convinced, glancing at the prone body of Veriy, but eventually nodded.

“Okay! I trust you!” Felicie crowed, appearing much happier than before. She gazed sternly at her paper as if she was expecting a shield to pop out from it.

“I got a mace,” Monica cackled.

“I have a sword,” April told them.

“A bow for me!” Juliet said.

“I have gauntlets,” Dawn said.

“And I have a sword as well! Yay, April! We’re sword buddies!” Reina exclaimed. She had another buddy who used a sword! Now all she had to do was take her under her wing and teach her everything she knew!

April smiled. “Yeah, I guess that means we’re the most awesome.” She fist-bumped Reina and she giggled at the funny action.

“What about you, May? What did you get?” Monica asked May.

“I-I got a-“ She mumbled the rest so quietly none of us could hear it. Monica leaned in.

“Can you repeat that for me?” she asked.

“I have a smoke bomb,” she whispered, us being able to scarcely hear it.

“A smoke bomb? How is that a weapon?” Monica snarked before Reina poked her in the stomach. “What?”

Reina merely pointed at May, who was beginning to cry from Monica’s words. Monica’s harsh expression slid off and she pulled May into a hug. “Oh, I didn’t mean that. The smoke bomb is the best weapon!” Monica glared at Reina and the others like if she were to disagree, she would kill them.

Juliet snorted. “Wasn’t it her who said that about smoke bombs? I like them, useful for a quick escape.”

“Wait, how do you know so much? Did you actually use them to escape?” Felicie asked, orbs large. Juliet nodded, smirking.

“It was a cold day, not unlike this one. I’d been watching a movie with my friends but as we left, I heard a noise coming from the alleyway. Next thing I knew, I was being kidnapped! Luckily, I was a genius and created a smoke bomb from the scraps around me and tossed it right into my captors face! I got away, and they were taken to jail!” Juliet reminisced with a dreamy smile.

“Wow!” Reina breathed, feeling enlightened. “You’re so cool, Juliet!”

“Ah!” If anything, Juliet looked even smugger. “Yes I am, even cooler than Monica!”

Dawn sweat-dropped nearby. “For some reason, I think there’s more to the story. Like the fact that it’s made up.”

“Well, there isn’t anything more! So don’t go searching for it or something stupid like that, alright?” Juliet demanded.

“. . .fine.” Dawn drawled out before staring at Veriy. “We have the sheets, now what? It sounds like we’re supposed to use the weapons but I don’t see any. . .”

“Are you blind? Look over there.” Angel commanded.

Reina turned and spotted a large tray with many numerous types of weapons scattered around. There were already multiple people around there, examining and testing out the various weapons.

Reina grumped. What was Veriy thinking, that’s not how you were supposed to treat weapons! It’s like he collected them in a pile and tossed them onto the tray!

“Come on, let’s go! I want to find me a mace!” Monica cried, hands itching at the thought. Dawn sighed and shook her head.

“You’re already crazy enough without one, I shudder to think what you’ll do now. Probably smash somebody’s skull in if you’re not careful.”

“Say, Dawn! How about a friendly spar sometime?” Monica suggested, grinning slyly. Dawn shook her head immediately.

“No way, you’re up to something. Besides, I feel like these weapons aren’t made for fighting.” Dawn stated.

“Hey, Reina? Aren’t you going to come with?” Felicie asked when she noticed Reina was still standing in the same spot.

Reina shook. “No way! I’m not going anywhere near that pile! The mistreatment of weapons is staggering!”

Angel scoffed. “You act as if the weapons are alive.”

Reina glared at her. “One day, you’re going to need that weapon to save your life and you’re going to regret not treating it with the respect it deserves.”

Angel rolled her eyes. “Sure, like that’s going to happen.”

“Please, Reina? Pretty please?” Felicie unleashed her ultimate weapon, the puppy dog eyes. Even Reina was forced to concede, not being able to access her own complete puppy dog eyes with her eyepatch.

“Fine!” Reina stomped over and gagged at the sight of tie weapons. They were all dulled to the point you could stab yourself full force and it wouldn’t do much more than sting you! Of course, she didn't like fighting but weapons needed to be respected.

“I think this is mine!” Felicie hefted up a circular wooden shield with a metal rim adding more structural support. Reina examined it with a careful eye.

There were definite signs of usage and damage; the wood was chipping away and flakes of the metal was falling apart. Reina honestly doubted it could withstand a few punches.

She didn’t want to make Felicie feel bad so she put on a happy smile and exclaimed, “It’s wonderful!” Felicie beamed, hugging Reina. Reina winced at the crunching noise it made when it was pressed against their two bodies and hoped Felicie hadn’t heard that.

“Oh, thank you! I’m going to be the best shielder in the world and protect you! Together, we’ll be offense and defense!” she said. Reina nodded.

“Of course!” Before that could happen, she needed a better weapon. She knew the Academy didn’t give them better weapons on purpose in order to test their will (they had more money than they used, considering the huge pile of backup money Reina knew they had) but couldn’t they not use the same tools for 5 years? She’d seen them when she first arrived!

“Now what?” Dawn asked, fastening on a pair of metal gauntlets. “These are actually really heavy,” she noted, lifting her arms up and down.

“Look at me, look at me!” Monica dragged her mace out of the pile, a simple metal band with a ball covered with spikes on top. She waved it around, forcing Reina to bring Felicie and May away. “I’m so-“ The mace’s heavy weight got the better of her and it slipped out of her grip. We stared at the mace before taking another step back.

“Hey! It’s not my fault, the handle is slippery!” Monica tried to explain.

“Right. It’s slippery.” Juliet deadpanned.

“No, seriously, what do we do next? They didn't put us together into a room and told us to grab weapons, only not to tell us what to do next? That’s insane teaching!” Dawn critiqued.

“We have an insane teacher so maybe that’s why?” Felicie suggested.

“Veriy is not insane! Stupid and slow, maybe, but not insane!” Reina defended her long time friend. Her friends looked at her with disbelief in their gazes. “What?” she asked defensively.

April shook her head. “Nothing, nothing. I think we’re supposed to be using this.”

“This” turned out to be a holographic message that Veriy (or somebody else) had left for everybody. Each person had their individual one, which was quickly explained when April started the message.

It was of a figureless person doing simple moves using the respective weapons of its owner. And when Reina said simple, she meant beginner level. She supposed that made sense because most of the people here had never even touched a weapon before but it still rankled her.

Reina was a champion in sword fighting! She’d gotten this way through strenuous work and never giving up. (Well, not her per se but it still counted!) And now she was expected to work on a downward slash over and over again.

“Reina, are you okay? You seem mad.” Felicie asked, concern for her friend clear in her voice. Reina took several deep breaths to calm herself. She didn’t want to ruin this for her friends and as the senior fighter, she had a duty to explain this to them.

“Yeah, I’m good! Come on, let’s go over there!” Reina pulled Felicie and dragged her over to one of the stations.

A secluded area had dozens of cubicles, each with more than enough space, even for a newbie who was likely going to smash their weapon into things. The cubicles were protected by shatterproof glass and Reina doubted anybody had the strength to break them.

“Here you go!” Reina dropped Felicie off at a cubicle and entered the one right next to it. Grinning at her friend, she tapped the button which would allow her to access the hologram.

“A-are you sure about this, Reina? What if I hurt myself?” Felicie whimpered.

Reina personally thought the odds of hurting yourself with a shield was unlikely but then again, who knew? Felicie could bump her knee on the metal or drop it onto her feet. Reina winced. That would hurt.

“Don’t worry! If you need help, remember that I’m right next to you! I’ll help you.” Reina reassured her.

Felicie sighed. “Thanks, that means a lot. How come you’re so confident anyway?” she asked.

Reina giggled. “Don’t tell anybody but I’ve been doing this for a while,” she admitted. It felt good to tell her that.

Felicie’s eyes widened comically. “Wow, really? Then you must be really good!”

Reina shrugged, trying hard to contain the flood of excitement in her. She felt like if she didn’t try to bottle it down, it would come rushing up and tear out of her body, causing her to jump into the air and yell. “It’s nothing, just a few tricks I picked up here and there.”

Felicie’s smile didn’t dim. “Still, I think that’s awesome! You must be some sort of warrior!”

“Maybe!” Reina chuckled sheepishly. “Anyway, I think you should start. A lot of other people have already begun.” she pointed out. It was true, a lot of the class had followed their example and were testing their weapons. Reina cringed at the sight. No offense to any of them, but they sucked. Bad.

“You’re right, thanks! But what about you, you don’t have a weapon!” Felicie realized.

Reina gave her an uncharacteristic smirk. Something about using a sword brought out this fiery urge inside of her. “Don’t worry, I have my own.”

Felicie gaped. “Of course! You’re like some sort of secret warrior, of course you have your own sword!”

Relishing the reverence in her tone, Reina took a moment to decide which blade she was going to use. If she was going to do standard movements (and she was, didn’t want to draw attention) the katana would probably be best.

Reina didn’t like the katana a lot and drew out her favorite weapon instead. Felicie’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

“What kind of sword is that?” she asked.

Reina paused. “Um, I don’t know?” Felicie shot her an unimpressed look and Reina floundered. “I tried searching on the internet but I couldn’t find it!” she whined.

“Eh, checks out. It looks so cool, though!” Felicie said.

It was sword that was thick, but slanted at an angle. Part of the blade was missing too, forming the shape of a crescent moon. Battle scars lined the otherwise smooth metal and Reina shivered in anticipation. She was so happy!

Reina turned on the hologram and got into ready stance. Had hologram advised her to put her feet out and grip her sword with a hand on the top and bottom of her hilt.

Frowning, Reina did so. She liked to keep her feet front and back, not left and right. And she found it was easier to control your weapon in a fight if you concentrated your grip on one spot.

The faceless person continued, dishing out more advice which Reina was confused about. Why would she block an attack that way? The angle left her entirely vulnerable to a blow from the left! And she wouldn’t dare lift her sword so high, that was plain stupid!

It didn’t take her long to realize what was going on and the moment she did, she wanted to cry from disappointment. Frankly, she really should have seen this coming from a mile away.

14 to 15 year olds learning how to fight? Not only would that trigger a lot of public backlash, there was bound to be more than one severed limb. It was just that Reina had been so happy to get back to fighting without hiding it, and even more excited to have friends who did the same that she forgot the crucial fact.

After checking the other’s lessons as well, it was confirmed. The fighting styles they were learning were equally for show as much as it was real combat. And everybody knew that was a stupid idea to do.

Sure, this kind of fighting would make a difference against a normal criminal, but against those who had really trained? Not even a chance.

What had she been expecting, kids running up walls and landing ground shattering hits? Moving so fast that you couldn’t be caught on camera? Combing defense and offense to create unbreakable protection and unrelenting attack.

Reina sighed. She did the moves dutifully but soon couldn’t take it any longer. It was bad enough she wasn’t going to be able to fight and had to watch her friends learn this; did she have to contaminate her own fighting style with this? The answer was a resolute no.

Dropping all pretense of trying by turning off the hologram, Reina let the sleepiness that had always been itching in the corners of her mind seep through.

Somebody would wake her up, right?