Chapter 5: the testing

“Just so you know. Tomorrow you will be tested so that we know what you will be responsible for doing,” Hitori said. “There are three tests. The first one is taking care of the younger survivors, we have 10 left that need to be cared for. The second one is seeing if you can carry heavy things because that will be helpful for rebuilding. The third test is seeing how you take care of plants,” Hitori said.

“Okay,” I said, feeling a little nervous. I then saw Ai come downstairs, she looked excited. “Hey Ai, what are you so excited about?” I asked. 

“Well, I got these new nail polishes and wondered if you wanted to paint your nails with me,” Ai said. “Of course,” I answered and we went upstairs to our room. 

I saw 3 bottles of nail polish on the floor, one was light blue, one was salmon pink, and one was dark purple. “Where did you get these?” I asked. “Miyoko gave them to me,” Ai said. 

“Ok, I might use the blue one,” I said, opening the bottle of blue nail polish. 

“Cool! But what is up with you and Hinata?” Ai asked, smirking. 

“Well. Wei was rude to me and Hinata yelled at him,” I said. “Then Hinata ran away, I heard that last part from Hitori,” Ai said. 

“But Kiko, don’t you see. Hinata likes you…a lot. He never stood up for me when Wei was rude to me and never hung out with me alone, but he did those things with you,” Ai said. 

“Really? Woah…I never realized, I was always preoccupied with other things that I never thought Hinata liked me,” I said, blushing. 

“Well, now you know, anyway, you will be tested tomorrow to see what your responsibility is. Each person has a different one, for me, I care for the younger survivors, Hinata works in the garden. Miyoko is rebuilding a house nearby and Wei helps Miyoko rebuild. 

“Okay, anyway, your nails look stunning Ai!” I said, just noticing her salmon pink nails. 

“Yours do too,” Ai said. 

The next day: 

I woke up and brushed my hair quickly, I wanted to meet Hitori and see what responsibility I would get so badly! I really wanted to work with Hinata, working with Ai would be fun too, but…Wei and Miyoko, I was not as close to is the nicest way to put it. 

I ran up to Hitori while she was drinking her cup of iced coffee and she said “it is time to do your testing,” 

We went to a room and I saw a potted plant, a weight, and a baby, crying. 

“Your first test is caring. This child is crying, what will you do?” Hitori asked. I tried to comfort the child by holding it, I sung a lullaby my mom sung for me when I was little but that didn’t help. 

“Okay, the first test is negative,” Hitori said. I guessed negative meant fail. 

Next was the weight. “You need to carry this weight and walk across the room to the door. If you are rebuilding you need to be strong,” Hitori said. 

I found a hard time carrying the weight and I dropped it just as we were getting close to the door. 

“Negative as well,” Hitori said, looking unimpressed. 

Next was the potted plant. I remembered when Hinata took me to his garden and knew exactly how to take care of it. I poured some water and took it to a window at the edge of the room. 

“Positive, Kiko, your new job will be planting,” Hitori said in a robotic tone. 

“Yes!” I said, I then thanked Hitori for letting me test and walked out of the room. I saw Miyoko and she was holding a file. 

“Kiko, you might want to see this,” Miyoko said mysteriously.