A Warning Of Time

April 20th, 3184
Friday - Morning

Many of the students had already recovered from the attack, and even I’m capable of walking despite my consciousness returning only just yesterday. This is thanks to the medical staff at the academy whose Soul Weapons specialize on medicines and healing.

Seeing as though every remaining injured student can now walk on their own, the mysterious maid wastes no time to explain everything. We were soon summoned to one of the teacher’s lounges. Waiting for us there lie a dozen chairs, spread across the room that point forward with a single chair in front of them all facing against them. Sitting in that seat is the woman with black hair in a French maid style outfit.

I noticed as I had entered the classroom, both Asaka and Kuno were already in two of the empty seats. I nod my head, glad that Kuno had made it out alive—and I’m sure Asaka is overjoyed.

As the last of the summoned students enter the room, behind them enters a blonde woman with her hair down. She is unable to walk without the support of a crutch due to a casted broken leg. The opposite arm that doesn’t wield the crutch is also sealed in a cast that presses against her arm. Noticing my glare, she hops past with an empty look on her face. Is that really Ena Minamoto?

Out of anyone here, Ena shows the most signs of damage despite not being in the fight for that long—or technically at all. She did, however, get part of a building collapsed on top of her so I can’t really say much about the situation. Although, it is very strange seeing her in such a state.

As the final students find a seat, the maid shoots up from hers. With a feather duster in her hand, she waves it around as she speaks.

“Hello students,” the maid greets, “I’m sure you’re all very confused as to what’s going on and I’ll be sure to keep this short.”

With a pause, she stares intently at all of the students as we stare back.

“I am a maid, servant to all time,” she introduces, “But that’d be a little strange to keep calling me ‘maid’, so I’ll give you a better name to call me. How does Mirai sound?”

Waiting for a response, the students, uncoordinated, greet Mirai awkwardly.

“Good,” Mirai claps her hands together, “I, first off, have to applaud you for sticking around in such a dangerous fight. If it weren’t for you, who knows what would have happened.”

Mirai walks around her chair, places her hands on the back of it, and leans on it.

“As stated, I’ll keep things brief. I am the headmaster of this academy. For reasons such as these, I’ve kept my identity a secret and instructed the teachers and staff here anonymously. Not even they knew of my existence.”

With a few awes in the crowd, Mirai continues.

“It’s unfortunate what happened with Jiro—the man who attacked all of you—but it happened in good timing as I should have revealed myself to you all around now anyway. I am here to tell you all about the reason why this school was founded.”

She pauses to let the students chatter amongst each other for a moment before continuing.

“To put it bluntly, there is a great war that will happen in 10 years time,” Mirai announces, “Humanity will fall and crumble to its knees. If nothing is done to protect it, we will all die. We all go extinct. These attackers don’t come from our world, however—or even this universe. This is a threat beyond space and time that threatens to end all life across the multiverse as we know it if no one stops them on their rampage. Every Soul Weapon academy across the country is preparing for this threat as we speak.”

With the bombshell she just dropped, we all fell completely silent. Did she just imply that the fate of the multiverse rests in our hands? No, there’s no way. Cutting me off from my thoughts, one of the students shot up from their seat. Ryuu stands with bandages covering parts of his body as he visibly looks angry.

“Oh, come on,” Ryuu exclaims, “Are we really going to believe this bitch? She shows up out of nowhere, claiming to be the headmaster, and says the universe is about to end? I call total BS. You’re probably working with that Jiro guy that kicked our asses for all we know. Where is he, anyway?”

Everyone grows silent, waiting for Mirai’s response, but it appears as though she is the one waiting for someone to talk. Without a word, she just stares at Ryuu. After a few moments of silence, Ryuu grows more angry. Not wanting him to start anything else, I speak up.

“No, I don’t think she’s with him,” I say as everyone but Mirai looks at me, “She helped fight him while we escaped. I think she was the one who beat him.”

Everyone looks around, puzzled at what I just said.

“The hell are you going on about,” Ryuu exclaims, “She wasn’t there during the fight. She just showed up after the fact. She’s a liar and a—”

“Let the young man speak,” Mirai interrupts.

I explain to everyone what I had seen while getting dragged away. According to everyone, they all have accounts similar to Asaka. Once bound, they blacked out, and woke up eventually in the infirmary. No memory of Mirai.

“What he said is true,” Mirai confirms, “Whether or not you want to believe him is up to your own decision.”

“Why the hell were you the only one who woke up,” Ryuu complains.

“Look man,” I snap, “I’m just as lost as you. I told myself ‘I want to wake up’ and I did. That’s it. Maybe I just have more willpower than you.”

With that, Ryuu grows silent as he slowly sits down, arms crossed.

“Any more questions,” Mirai asks.

“I’ve got one,” Asaka says as he stands up.

Mirai nods his head, allowing him to speak.

“What happened to Jiro? You seemed to graze over his situation.”

“Ah, yes,” Mirai speaks, “As I said, some people are after me, and he is one of them. As anticlimactic as it sounds, he and I talked it out.”

“Are you serious,” the normally refined Asaka blurts out, “Numerous students almost died, and you simply ‘talked it out’?”

Mirai sighs.

“It’s not as simple as it may seem. If you wish to ask him, you may do so yourself.”

As Mirai said that, Asaka looked at her in concern.

“I told you,” Ryuu shouted, “She is working with him!”

“Quiet,” Takashi, who sat beside him, demanded.

“We’re not working with each other in any sort of way. He insists something he’s looking for is here, and so I’ve allowed him to stay. He only did what he did because he knew I wouldn’t come out under normal circumstances.”

“What do you have from him that would make him so angry that he’d slaughter innocent children just to get to you,” Asaka asks.

“Nothing. It’s a simple misunderstanding,” Mirai said with a stern face, “As I said, if you wish to know more, you may ask him directly. With that, I have one last thing to announce.”

Everyone, now tense, listens intently to what Mirai is about to say.

“There will be changes to the curriculum. I am only looking for the best of the best. Anyone else will get in the way and get injured. Of course, any help is great, but I’d like to minimize as many casualties as I can for when the time comes. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be assessing all of you to see where you are all at. Based on my findings, I’ll split you all up into different classes, and we’ll see where we go from there. I sense great promise in some of you.”

She gazes around the room as the students look at her in awe.

“Now it’s time to exit serious mode, or whatever,” as Mirai said that, she waved her hand across her face as it instantly glowed into a kinder look, “I am sorry for dropping such a bombshell on all of you, but you have to trust me. Anything I do is for your sake. Happy learning!”

With that, Mirai skipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. The room, dead silent. Until after a moment, everyone started rambling with each other about what had just happened. A couple students such as Takashi, Asaka, and Kano left the room, but most stayed to converse. Eventually, I decided to head out but felt someone approach me from behind.

Standing in the middle of the hallway as I turn around is Ena. Getting a closer look at her face, there seems to be a halfway attempt at putting on makeup, but it’s clear that she couldn’t get it done like she normally does. Not even her hair is in her usual twin tails, but rather is brushed straight down. I sigh as I start to speak.

“Look,” I say, “If it's about the fight, let’s just call it a draw and have a rematch some other time. Okay?”

Barely able to finish my sentence, Ena responds.

“No.”

“Wh-What? If you’re insisting that you won, that’s certainly not what—”

“No,” Ena repeats.

“What do you mean, ‘no’,” I ask, frustrated.

“I mean,” she says with a sigh, “It wasn’t a tie. And I didn't win. You did.”

Taken aback, I give her a confused look.

‘I’m sorry. How did I win?”

With a sigh, she looks me in the eyes.

“Just before Jiro came down with his dragon, something sliced my foot.”

That’s right, just before the ceiling collapsed, I noticed Ena trip on something.

“Whatever had sliced my foot was sent flying to you” Ena continues, “It made me lose my balance and take a couple steps back. That’s when I got buried. But I’m almost certain I know what caused me to trip.”

“My scythe,” I whisper.

Ena nods her head in agreement.

“So,” Ena sighs, “You technically made me move from my spot. So you win.”

For a moment, without speaking, Ena and I stare at each other before she continues.

“Alright,” she mumbles, “So are you going to make me your pet—your cat I think you said? What do you want?”

“I, uh,” I stutter, with an even bigger loss for words than what Mirai dropped on us, “I… wasn’t actually planning on going through with that. I just wanted to beat you so you’d stop bothering me.”

With a moment to think, Ena finally responds.

“Well, fine,” she puffs, “For now, I’ll be kinder to you until you think of a real punishment.”

Awkwardly, I nod my head in agreement.

“But,” she continues, “I hate to admit it… but you were a good opponent. You lost your cool a bit, but aside from that, not bad.”

“I—thanks, Ena.”

“However, that is the last compliment I give you,” Ena announces with a finger in the air.

“What happened to the ‘being nice’ thing,” I laugh.

With a jolt, she freezes before pouting and storming off—well, as much as she could with the crutch.

Suddenly Ena stops and turns her head.

"Oh, and," Ena speaks, "Thanks for saving me."

With that, not even waiting for my response, she took off even faster than she was previously going. I can’t tell if it was our fight, or if a boulder hit her head when the ceiling collapsed, but something had definitely changed in her. Not much, but it’s progress. Maybe I was being too hard on her as well. She is just a young girl, after all—albeit with a serious superiority complex.

With that strange conversation out of the way, I head back for my dorm room. Waiting outside my door, however, is yet another person. This time it's Miho. Realizing it's him, I run up to him and give him a hug.

“Where on earth were you,” I ask worriedly, “I didn’t see you during the fight and the third years that were evacuating people didn’t spot you either.”

“Oh, wow. Didn’t think you cared this much about me,” Miho laughs, “But to be honest, I was just going to the washroom when all that happened. I knew I was nowhere near strong enough to do anything against a freakin’ dragon! So I just let the stronger students deal with it. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Frustration rises in me as I had been worrying all this time, wondering where he was, only to find he was taking a leak when this all went down.

“Okay,” I sigh, “I’m just glad you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Aww, thanks bro!”

“I do have to ask,” I continue, “What are you doing here waiting for me.”

“Ah, yes,” Miho gasps, “that time maid lady, Mirai, said something about classes being split up based on power.”

“Huh,” I mumble.

Something about what he said made me pause. Regardless, I nod my head in understanding as he continues.

“So, since I obviously want to be in the same class as you, I wanted to get stronger!”

“Does this even apply to you, though,” I ask, “You’re technically only in the middle school division, I’m not sure if she’d even group you in.”

“That's right,” he slapped his fist to his hand, “I already asked her—she gave me the a-ok. Since I have some first year high school classes, I’ll count for the running.”

“Really,” I say, surprised.

“I’m pretty sure she sees potential in me,” Miho grins, “But anyway, I was wondering if you and I could get some training in. Pretty sure there’s a tournament coming up that’ll help her figure out who’s strong and who’s not.”

“Really? I didn’t hear anything about that.”

“Huh, really,” he ponders, “She told me, though. Whoops! Maybe I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but I already let it slip to Kiyoko, too. Hehe, perhaps I really am special if she lets me in on secrets like these.”

Miho starts to laugh as his ego grows higher.

“Alright, alright. Calm down,” I say as I wave my hands in a downward motion, “I’ll train you. How’s tomorrow sound? I should be well enough to get a good sparing in.”

“Really,” Miho exclaims, “Yayy!”

Miho jumps down the flight of stairs as he runs off to where his dorm is.

“It’s the weekend tomorrow,” he yells, “So meet me in the woods at 8 a.m. at your special spot!”

“See you there,” I call out to him as I wave my hand.

Finally alone, I enter my dorm and immediately head to bed. The second my body touches it, every inch fills with pain—but that good, restful kind. With that, I turn off my side table’s light and close my eyes, falling to sleep within minutes.