It's been one week since Alexandria joined the Singularity club. According to the scheduled date, she received last time, today would be the next meeting. Dawn broke, signaling the start of a new day. The birds singing outside, working as a natural alarm to those who were light sleepers. Alexia slowly opened her eyes, a yawn escaping her mouth as she stretched her limbs in different directions, lying flat on her back as she gazed at her ceiling. As any typical teen would do, the first thing she did upon waking up was reach over to the nearby desk where her phone had been set to charge, looking at the display. A text had come in while she was asleep, 'Wear your uniform. Doors open at 8.' It was summer, the time of the year when sleeping in, waking up at absurd hours in the afternoon, and deciding to sleep some more were the ideals. All she wanted to do at the very moment was tuck herself back in and sleep some more. Although disgruntled, the blonde slugged her way out of bed with a grumble and made her way to her closet.

"Sometimes I think to myself...' Why didn't I think things through some more'...sleep really is a wondrous experience..."

She muttered with her eyes closed as a hand raised up to her head to attempt to straighten her now bed-headed golden locks; her other hand reached forward to open the closet. There wasn't much inside the little room, a few formal dresses, some coats and jackets, bags and sweaters, ideally most of the everyday apparel you'd find in a teenage girl's closet. A long skirt, white top, and a red tie hung aimlessly among the other items to one side of the room on a hanger to the corner. The Starlight Academy's Japanese-British-inspired uniform in its entirety was blue with gold and white highlights here and there. Usually, the female students' standard uniform was knee-length skirts, a white blouse, and the school-issued red tie. Seniors, however, had the additional option to wear a longer skirt, one that fell down to their ankles.

In contrast, the males had a blazer-oriented version. This long skirt alternative was the ideal trend during the winter semester. Still, in Alexia's poor case, this was literally her only option. Seeing it was the only variation of the uniform she was able to obtain. America only recently implemented this mandatory uniform over the past ten years, so these changes weren't honestly a problem for the academy in general as it was with other institutions.

Alexandria took the hanger out and tossed the whole outfit down on her bed, taking a moment to freshen up for the morning. As she got dressed and sat on the edge of her bed to put her shoes on, her phone pinged, notifying her of an incoming message. With a stretch, she reached over and checked the screen to see it was a weather alert warning the recipients about the high temperatures and the increased chance of rain that was forecasted for the remainder of the day,

“Another blazer of a day, huh…. What are we, Texas…?” she continued to complain as she went back to putting on her shoes, standing upright to take a look at herself for a moment in her mirror afterward. More so the long skirt she was wearing.

“Not like it’ll bother me much anyways…” her hand slowly running down the skirt to straighten it a bit as she smiled to herself.

There were some perks to being a singularity user; Some were barely affected by heatwaves, some to the cold, and others were even able to tolerate conditions that generally would prove rather bothersome for regular folks.

Of course, there were also some drawbacks to having a singularity; constant headaches, dizzy spells, and even in some cases, potential loss of memory after constant over usage of one’s singularity. Over the years, though, the latter became less apparent, thankfully.

“Flawless as usual, Alexis~ Time to impress the world!” she jeered, smirking at the mirror while picking up her phone, placing it in her pocket, then leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

As she trekked down the steps, she glanced around the house momentarily. She noticed her mother was in the living room, and by the looks of it, she was up to some early morning cleaning before little Veronica woke up.

At the time, though, they seemed to have locked gazes coincidentally yet, it was Mrs. Winchester who took the initiative to greet her lovely daughter.

“Good luck today, honey…. And please…. Try not to stir up trouble…” she said with a deep breath, causing Alexia to flinch before sighing herself.

“Aw, come on, mom… It was one time. You honestly need to let it go. I won’t stir up any more trouble. Trust me, I got this under control now, promise!”

“Let’s hope you do… for both our sakes,” she jeered at her daughter, which stirred a pout in response which made her smile, “Now off with you. I’ll pick you up when you're done, so just call me, alright?”

“Pause. Y-Your not gonna take me there…?”

“And why would I do something like that? The benefit you’ll be getting from the exercise through walking there would be perfect, seeing you’ll be training and working even harder now. But please don't overdo it...And remember to call me when you get there!” Mrs. Winchester said to her as her gaze locked in place, “And remember. If this doesn’t work out….”

“Yea, I know. I know.” Alexia responded as she walked out the front door with a sigh, “Still worried about every single thing as always, Miss Paranoia…”

“What was that last part?”

“Nothing! See ya later!!” and with that, Alexia bolted through the door, her mother shaking her head a few times before returning to her cleaning, “That girl…..sometimes…” and with an exhale, she began to dust once more.

The journey took around five minutes by vehicle and thirty minutes by walking. Unlike the commute home like last time, she headed straight to her destination, with no sidetrack stops or brief stops. Just her excitement in every step as she made her way back to the school grounds.

“The first thing I’m gonna buy with the prize money will be my own car~.” she snickered to herself as she continued to mutter thoughts out loud, her greed knowing no bounds as each statement turned out more grand than the last, completely ignoring the fact that she wasn’t in the best of shape. The walk was indeed slowly taking a toll on her, evidence being the beads of sweat running down her face and the pants she let out along the way.

When she arrived at the halfway mark, only then did she feel the effects of the commute, stopping to catch her breath and complain a bit in place while wiping her brow.

“T-this, this is nothing though…it’s gonna be…harder work from here on out! Let’s do this Alexia!” he chanted to herself as she began to press on, making her way to the academy.

Meanwhile, Reynolds was leaning against a wall in the club room, a clipboard in hand with a list of names jotted down along with a few scribbles here and there. There was a checkbox beside two of the names, the two who were first to arrive at the meeting; Roy and Heidi. Reynolds looked down at his wrist for a moment, a sliver watch gleaming atop it, before looking back at the clipboard then towards the two present who seemed to behave a chat among themselves while they waited with him.

“Alright, Heidi! Ya ready to be wowed harder than ever before?!” Roy seemed quite cheerful. Despite his big size, he was loaded with energy, always active and on the move. He was in his academy uniform, though with his blazer off, letting it hang on a nearby chair.

“Just how will you “wow” me this time oh ‘Mighty One’” Heidi responded with a smug head shake, clearly exaggerating her words when she called him ‘Mighty One,’

“You gonna finally take me out to buy some ice-cream? Or maybe even a strawberry shortcake~?” she teased in response with her soft yet cute smile, her hand resting on her hip as she used the free arm to move the loose hair out of her face.

She, too, was in uniform, but due to the current heatwave and Heidi being...well, Heidi, her skirt was the short version hanging slightly past her knee cap. She, too, was a busy body by nature. Her chemistry with Roy even had Reynolds himself a bit curious about their relationship before attending the academy. In the end, it was nothing that concerned a man like him, so he dropped it there, chalking it up as another one of his back-log thoughts.

“Tch, as if I’d buy you ice-cream just off a whim, what’s in it for me, huh?” Roy declared as he folded his arms in front of him and leaned to one side, eyeing the girl as if he had entered a strict businessman mode.

“You get the honor and privilege of buying a gorgeous girl a treat as sweet as she is~” Heidi responded with a cute wink, keeping the eye closed as she stuck her tongue out to one side a bit.

“Yea…anyways,” he retorted, dismissing the thought almost instantly with a roll of his eyes before continuing, “It’s simple. I came up with a new move that would shock even Lexi herself! She may have pulled a fast one on me the week before, but this time I’m ready for her; she stands no chance!”

“Yea, Yea. Here we go again. What is that? Like your fifteenth new move this month…? I bet you're even planning on shouting out its name while you do it too. Y’know no one actually shouts their special moves out, right…?” Heidi scoffed as she rolled her eyes at him.

“Can it! Everyone knows when you shout your move out to distract em, your opponent will expect it, and that’s when BLAM! You catch em off guard with the ACTUAL move!” he said, motioning the different instances while he spoke.

“But honestly, I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand Lil miss heatw-“

“Okay, you two, that’s enough, settle down. We’re gonna start soon. I’m not one hundred percent sure all the names on this list are gonna show up today, so be mindful, you both aren’t the only ones for the day.” Reynolds chimed in with a finger tap on his clipboard.

“Heh. Well. Me and Heidi are always free, not sure about the others. I know Cheveyo had a thing today. Mmmm, I think he said it was a family reunion or something.”

“Huh? He didn’t tell me about that. I see. Well, then I’ll try to contact him later just to make sure.” Reynolds said as he started to scribble across Cheveyo’s name with a pen on the clipboard, “Well. Hmm. Heidi, have you heard anything from Deveron over the past week or so? Roy?”

“Sorry to say I haven’t, Mr. Reynolds. I don’t know where he lives to know exactly what he’s been up to; come to think of it, I don’t even have his number or any way to contact him.” Heidi responded with an arm on her shoulder and a slightly disappointed look on her face.

“Ha. Deveron? I doubt he’ll show up teach. That guy…Mr “Hotshot, this team is beneath me” Tch.” Roy began to mutter after responding, patting his own uniform a bit to straighten it out, seeing it was close in some places.

“Just forget about him showing up, to be honest. Lexi, on the other hand, she’ll definitely show up.” He went on to say confidently.

Reynolds placed a hand on his chin; his thoughts began to flow one after another as he looked at the remaining names on the list. ‘Alexandria Winchester’ ‘Deveron Mosely.’ For a moment, he seemed to have reached forward with his pen to mark out the names.

Still, then he stopped, “Alright, let’s go ahead and start the training session,” he said to the two, pointing his pen over towards a nearby wall. Near the wall, there were stacked weights, neatly arranged in terms of type; Leg Weights, Arm Weights, Wrist Weights, and a Weighted Belt.

“Go ahead and put those on. They’re training weights. Only put two on, though, save some for the others since we have a limited supply.” He instructed as he looked at his wrist once more.

“Weights…Damn it.” Roy was looking a bit defeated. It was as if he was dealt a fatal blow and fell into a slightly defeated daze. Heidi, on the other hand, simply smiled and pushed at his shoulder lightly,

“Don’t worry about it. If you need help, point them on, I’m always happy to help, ‘Oh Mighty One,’” she said with a tease as she began to strap two of the weights to her left arm and her right leg, respectively.

“I-I’m fine! I don’t need your help….” He retorted before sighing, “It was a matter of time before this was gonna happen…but ya know what that means, Heidi.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s Time! Time for my special ‘Roy’s Weight Loss Program!” he bellowed, quickly tightening, not one, not two but three weights onto himself.

“Oi. I said two each.” Reynolds responded as he looked over at Roy, shaking his head with his hand to his face for a brief moment.

“Relaaaax, teach! Chev ain’t coming, so that means there’s two extra! Erm one. One extra.” Roy smirked as he adjusted the weights on his person.

“Relax, huh. Alright, your right. Then you won’t mind giving me one hundred push-ups now, won’t you? I mean, you're happy to take Cheveyo’s set as well, right?”

Roy’s soul left his body, “W-wa-wa-wait a minute teach!”

“Hahahaha, what’s the matter ‘Ye Ol’ Mighty? One hundred should be child’s play for one as great as you~ You can do it!” Heidi began cheering him on with a grin on her face.

“You’re a singularity user. One hundred push-ups should indeed be child’s play. Now hop to it.” Reynolds tapped his clipboard, motioning to Roy that he was about to keep count and watch over the execution, all the while Heidi slowly did her warm-ups, though her laughter was always present.

“Y-Yes, sir!”

It had already been fifteen minutes. The only people present at the academy were a few teachers; Reynolds included Heidi and Roy. The latter of which was now laying flat on the ground, struggling to push himself up.

“One...One hundred ten!” Roy was letting out all he had, pushing himself beyond the goal Reynolds had set for him.

“Atta boy! You can do it! Go, Roy! Go~!” Heidi wholeheartedly cheered as she watched him push himself up once more.

“Umm, Roy. You can stop.” Reynolds repeated. He had been instructing the boy to stop from the moment he’d achieve the goal mark. He also repeated after each push-up called out afterward. However, the determination and the perseverance Roy displayed couldn’t help but impress him.

One…One Hundred…Eleven…Gah!” And with that, he finally collapsed, breathing but totally drained.

“Woooooo!” Heidi quickly ran over to a nearby duffle bag filled with bottles of water. Opening it up, she pulled out two before rushing back to the exhausted boy instead of handing it to him. She emptied the contents of the first one over his head, all the while cheering.

“Heidi!” Reynolds exclaimed. He indeed was displeased by the display of sportsmanship’. After all, besides Roy himself, the floor beneath him was drenched, which in turn, due to being tile with grooves, flowed along the channel and spreading. If they were any closer to the machine, it would spark.

“Whoops!” Sorry! I’ll clean it up right away!” She responded, placing the other bottle beside Roy before running back over to the duffle back and pulled out one of the towels present in it, quickly scooting back over to clean up the mess around him, throwing another towel at the boy himself.

“Th-That…was hell... Never…Again.” Roy muttered to himself as he slowly, slowly tried to pick himself up.

A hand slowly raised towards his face. Reynolds was indeed at a loss for words right now, looking at the pitiful sight of his students that made up this team. Two of them were somewhat unpredictable; one was reliable, but only for a specific time frame. The other is barely even around at all.

“What a mess of a team this is…God help us…” Reynolds sighed as he slowly lowered his head a bit.

“That…bad huh?” a voice responded to him, causing him to look up; his senses perked as his eyes wandered over towards the door where the voice originated from, “Am I…Am I late…? Phew”

Alexandria stood at the door, leaning against the frame with an arm stretched out for support. She seemed out of breath, with a few beads of sweat still on her forehead, yet her being radiated with energy. At the moment, she was just in the middle of closing her phone with her other hand, pushing the item into her pocket afterward.

“Late? Not at all. Head over there and strap two of those weights on; you're just in time to start your set.” He once again pointed over towards the weights.

“R-Right!” A smirk grew on the girl’s face as she moved over towards the wall. Even though she was a bit tired, it was hard to think that was the case based on her attitude towards the assigned task. With a strap on her and a press there, she strapped one onto her right arm and the other onto her left leg, mirroring Heidi, seeing she didn’t know otherwise.

“I figured you’d show up eventually, so I’m going to do a bit of a roll call. Say here when I call your name.” Reynolds looked down at his clipboard, preparing his pen as he called the first name.

“Roy Brooks.”

“G-G…Gah…H-Here…!” Roy lifted his hand a bit, draining what little energy he’d recovered just now before going back flat on the ground.

“Heidi Graham.”

“Here, Here!” Heidi lifted her hand also.

“Alexandria Winchester.” Reynolds said before stopping, “Huh… that’s a mouthful in all honesty.”

“H-Here…” Alexia seemed to be kneeling down, looking at her weights as if trying to adjust them once more. It was strange; when she lifted the weights, they weren’t heavy in the slightest, but she felt far more pressure when she placed them onto her arm and leg.

Reynolds began to move his right hand through his hair, taking a moment before looking back at the clipboard.

“Cheveyo Hunt.”

He knew he wasn’t here, but it was still appropriate to call out names just in case. A few seconds had passed without much being said – the sound of footsteps echoing in the hall.

“Sad, he couldn’t attend. I had a surprise all planned up for later.” He looked at the last name on the list and called it out.

“Deveron Mosely.”

“Here.” A relatively strong voice responded to the name uttered. The voice caught the attention of both Roy and Heidi, who both turned quickly. Reynolds, however, didn’t even look up, as if he had known from the beginning who the voice originated from; instead, all he said was.

“You’re late.”

“You sure about that. Clearly, I’m not since you told the blonde there she was right on time.” A tall African-American teenager entered the room; his physique was well-built. His muscles toned despite being in uniform. His power bracelets were strapped around both his wrists – two in total, and his face seemed serious yet playful. He towered over Reynolds by a couple inches since Deveron was six-foot-three inches (one hundred and ninety-two centimeters); even compared to the others on the team, he was way taller than them.

“So, I heard we had some new blood joining the club. That makes five of us now, huh, teach?” his eyes turned directly towards Alexia.

“That’s right, That’s Alexandria; she’ll be joining the team.”

“Hmmm.” Deveron began to sift through Alexia, almost creepily, though afterward, he simply scoffed at the sight of her. “Seriously teach. I know you were desperate for another member. Still, you can’t just let anyone join in, you know…We don’t even need to participate in the team tournaments. You have me, after all.”

“Don’t mess around. I know you want to just participate in the individual brackets. Still, the team tournament this year will help that attitude of yours. This is also not up for debate.” Reynolds looked over at Deveron, only grinning at him before adjusting his glasses. “Now…Be nice.”

“Tch. Fine. I’ll play along…”

Deveron walked over to Alexia, looking her up and down once more before giving her a smile.

“Sup, Newbie. Wonder which pair of idiots got you to join. Well, they always said the weak flock to the strong; try not to hold the team back.”

“Call me Alexia, and don’t worry. I’ll be sure to take it slow, so you don’t fall too far behind me.” She retorted as she smirked, seeing that this caught Deveron’s attention.

“A sharp tongue on this one, huh. Interesting. So tell me ‘Alexia. Why’d you join?”

“The Money.”

“Come again...?”

“You heard me.”

“What.”

“Wow, you're slower than I gave you credit for. Ok, lemme dumb it down for you. It’s simple. I’m in it for the scholarship and prize money. Did I explain it too fast for you? Or did it all fly over your head~? You being that tall though, I’d been impressed if it did.”

“Pft. Ha! So, you just came for the cash. Man teach you, picked a winner here; this greedy girl just came here for fame and fortune. Might as well leave while you can blonde.

“Ok? Though the training just started, so that wouldn’t be ideal.”

“I meant leaving practice.”

“As if. I already made my mind up. Walked all the way here and strapped these things on. Too late to go back at this point, so you're stuck with me. Poor you, huh.”

“Tch…”

“H-Hey, come on now, Dev. You’re just mad we’re all aiming for the same thing, aren’t ya.” Roy finally rose from the ground, dusting himself off and wiping the sweat and water from his face, “Besides, if anyone’s gonna win that prize money, it’s obviously gonna be me!”

“Laying on your face must’ve made you delusional.” Deveron retorted, his gaze now over at Roy.

“Come on, you two. Now that we have a whole group, we can just split the money between us if we win!” Heidi joined the conversation.

“’ If’? There’s no ‘if’ when I’m involved. I know I’m winning.” Deveron began to chuckle to himself.

“Oh wow, you better be careful! You might step and trip over that ego of yours…” Alexia was unimpressed, but so was Deveron.

“It’s normal for the best to hear the sheep out a few times. When you're looking at the best, you can’t help but bleat~! It’s nature, after all, ~! Besides, it’s not like America will want any of you anyways.”

“Pft. Man, you are full of yourself. America won’t want me? Then I’ll just make America like me and shine. Modern Problem, Modern Solution.” Alexia crossed her arms, looking up towards the towering Deveron.

“Poetic…” Deveron had had enough of trying to instigate the newcomer and merely backed off, for now, seeing she wasn’t about to fall quickly.

Reynolds kept his eyes on both Alexia and Deveron. The first meeting, and already both are at each other’s throats. Honestly, what a team. He looked down at his wrist once more, noticing it was almost time. Outside, the thunder boomed as the signs of a storm became more evident to those inside.

In the distance, two figures were walking down the sidewalk towards the academy. One was a tall man, dressed in a black and white suit. His fair white skin was visible in the little daylight that remained throughout the current overcast. Next to him was a young woman, rather pale in comparison to his fair skin. She wore a moderately simple black dress, accompanied by her cherry red lips – she wore a silver rosary with a simple cross on the end. In her hand, she had a black parasol with a rose on the top that shaded her from the already dimmed sunlight. She was by every means a Gothic Lolita to the highest degree. Her power bracelet was positioned directly around her neck like a choker. In contrast, the male’s bracelet could not be seen at all.

“I believe we’re here, Ms. Pearl.” The man informed his female companion as they both stopped to examine the academy gate.

“Excellent. We shall let the sirens beckon forth and dull the children in the illumination of joy. Come~” and on the note, both began to walk once more, entering the school grounds.