The Academy

This dream looked quite like the last, with a Renaissance setting full of green and white, but this time a symphony orchestra played in the background, the musicians were wearing white suits and playing a depressing melody, the vivacity of the colors present in the first dream disappeared here, such melody caused a crying desire, this sad waltz lulled the dream itself to turn a negative spiral, I was not swallowed by this whirlwind, the sound of the alarm was my lifebuoy

It was early morning, Spica barely showed, but I was already feeling fully awake, someone knocked on the bedroom door, but when I opened it there was only a cardboard box with a letter that was written:

“ I have never been one to give, after all, I have never received one, this uniform is extremely significant, for it will be your garment from the passage of your life as an ordinary citizen to become a warrior strong enough to protect everyone around you, you may be inspired by your sister, but the responsibility is yours for actions, speeches and mistakes, I hope to find the white of that very grim suit when I was in practice class and clean when it is theoretical, I hope that you will consider this a simple challenge against the other adversities that you will encounter or have already encountered, academic life will pass faster than you think, so dedicate yourself to make the most of it, plant relationships to reap friendships, for these will be the currents that will be saved in the future, or will be footprints of your passing in life.

General Hostviner”

Even though he was charitable, he still maintained his typical superb, since the letterpress gave aristocratic notoriety, even so, I kept it as part of the gift when I opened it I could see the items mentioned in it, the suit and dress shirt were white, but the pants were black, there were two pairs of shoes, one was for social uses and the other was a tennis shoe, both black and with black socks, the smell that the box gave off reminded me of a low-budget industrial product, but when you felt the fabric it seemed to be something absurdly expensive, so expensive that I took all the impurities from my body just to wear the uniform, wearing it on my body felt like I was wearing something heavenly, something divine, but my appreciation was interrupted precisely by the sound of the limo horn, apparently the General demands punctuality, thankfully I did not take my things out of the box, so I quickly packed my things and went quickly to the vehicle.

— Did you take a while? Were you putting on makeup?

—No, but if I did, would you have a problem?

— So the person who taught you did a terrible job, you didn’t even know how to wash your face right, let alone make a complex production.— He said this as he wiped my face with a handkerchief like a mother taking care of her child—You should follow my style so the beautiful ladies will run after you— And so was our conversation all the way through, that we practically crossed the entire city to get to the Academy perimeter took almost two hours, two stressful hours listening to the general’s love advice, but when we passed under an arch, The limo dropped me off at the scene.

— Look, your friend will come here soon, there's nothing better than welcoming him— Those were the general’s last words before he left for the Academy, I hadn’t seen Junjoumaru for a long time, since his visit to the field hospital, so I hoped to see that cheerful spirit as he has seemed heartening, But when I looked outside I was startled by a tall girl.

—So...sorry— She seemed to be a little bigger than my height and the long lavender hair further increases her stature, her hair possessed colors with a tone so dense that it seemed to stain her uniform, whose only difference from my uniform is her equal black skirt of her sock pants, however, his voice also seemed to remember the shadows of the night, something that Junjoumaru’s voice breaks. — Hey, Vi wait, a! younger brother— His typical energy was exemplified by his wave of the hand, behind him came to his father, with his right arm in a sling and his mother, with her cherry-colored hair, only she was stuck like a ponytail, she presented herself to me with a hug, to cushion my grief, then Junjoumaru made the proper introduction— This one is Victoria Mafrim, my cousin on my mother's side, she came directly from Capital City and entered the Academy by a double recommendation letter, for being an excellent student and a great fighter, so much so that she helped me for the practical exam.— When she spoke this last passage, a face of shame because it looked like a younger brother bragging about his older sister, something that Victoria also noticed and it was the first time I saw her brown eyes glow.

We walked along the route to the actual entrance of the Academy and there was a small crowd of parents and students in the entrance, although different from the time we saw the result of the test, Junjoumaru’s family and I entered and stayed in one of the nearby bleachers.

— Where are your things?— Were one of my few questions to them, Junjoumaru’s father replied that they had already been sent to the lodge the day before, leaving his son and niece free, at the same moment a staff member of the Academy came to me to deliver the keys and to tell me where my room was, just on the opposite side of the field that would be the presentation of the opening ceremony since the route would require us to pass the campus almost whole.

— So what is it like to have this blue arm, like, can you turn it into anything?— Was one of the first questions during our journey, but it was expected as I did not respond during our conversation at the field hospital.

— Of course not, I can't change its shape when I want to, I spent the whole week trying to do that with Berna, but unfortunately, I couldn't do anything

—Berna?

— Yeah, Lieutenant Colonel Berna.

— Wait a minute, did you spend a week with that beauty like her by your side?

— She is a good person, intelligent and solicitous, but nothing unusual.

— But imagine waking up to her every day?

—Wouldn't you be sick?—And we talked as we crossed the Academy, we passed the classrooms, the gymnasium internal and external, we passed by laboratories of chemistry, physics, mechanics, including we saw HF Armors frames stored there and computing, there was also a mini-stadium for simulated confrontations, both for a hand-to-hand fight and against HF Armors, then we arrived in the dormitories, one for the boys and one for the girls, the dormitories were huge, with the main hall had three pairs of ladder games, with two elevators to take the wheelchairs with physical difficulties, each room had two beds and ironically I was Junjoumaru’s roommate, each one has a huge closet, managed to accommodate all my things and yet there was room for one person to live alone, the bed is quite spacious for one person, Junjoumaru already exemplified us the resistance of the bed to jump it multiple times, after leaving my things, we ran out to the site of the ceremony promptly in a timely manner, on the way we saw the teachers meeting in a room, we think they were teachers for wearing robes grená with graduation cap of the same color, among them was Lt. Col. Berna who was talking to a colleague, to see her Junjoumaru wanted to greet her, I tried to stop him, but in the end, we went to greet her.

— Hello beautiful lady with a smirk, how's your day?— When Junjoumaru said this, she fell for the laugh, leaving him embarrassed because her colleagues also laughed at his gallant phrase, but she responded quickly.

— Cheerful as always in Ju? Finally, you met your friend— She ended the sentence by looking at me, the three of us talked a little about our proximity, she talked about the week he trained me and he talked about the things he had already revealed to me at the field hospital and left it to me to complement them, a beep warned us about the time, we set off for the ceremony site, while she went to meet with the other teachers when we arrived, all the students were gathered in Indian queue next to the stage, the place where we would be was vacant when we filled it, the event would begin.

On stage came General Hostviner, who was wearing a blue tunic, followed by the teachers and finally by some Holdfighters officers who made the security of the teachers, after they climbed up and sat in their seats, the General headed to the pulpit in front of him, his presence ended the parallel conversations on the spot, he observed everyone’s face, only then began his introductory speech

— Welcome to the 49th opening ceremony of the Academy of Holdfighter Formation of the Interstellar Human Union, Zaurus section, Nilma continent, you are here because you were the most capable of all the candidates who competed in the theoretical exam and the practical exam, I would like to say this, but you all know what happened that day, many of you did not get to step on the ground of the Colosseum, but you are here for a reason, to become defenders of humanity, so I will not commit the classic euphemisms of an opening ceremony to reassure your parents and guardians, because you felt in the skin the terror of the battlefield, so I will be direct: many men and women died to defend us that day, to defend the right of you to be here, now it remains for you to follow their example and become respectful and brave Holdfighters, so my teachers will make your lives look like purgatory, for our next six months, I want you to achieve at least a Class 5 mission.—When the General said that, there were noises coming from all the people present, a noise of resilience for the information given by the General, I did not know why, so I would ask Junjoumaru, but seeing his frightened side of him created a weight in his speech.

— So you haven’t studied this with Berna, okay, there are types of missions and Class 5 is for Holdfighters beginners and it takes three years to train us to graduate.— He quickly understood my doubt to look at my face, but soon after he answered me the general returned his speech with an emphatic speech

— This is necessary, after all, with so many happenings in recent years, an urgency has arisen for new graduates to occupy their posts to protect us— Numerous protests from his parents disrupted his speech, even the same beep from the beginning of the ceremony made everyone turn their attention to the General. —Okay, Okay, you guys managed to convince me, I won't be doing Class 5 missions for at least next year, but please know that your children will be the defenders of the human race on this planet.— The general closed his speech in the midst of the boos, so it was up to one of the teachers to calm the spirits and do all the ceremonial procedures like calling the president of the student body, who appeared to be exhausted by this breathless even with his clothes lined up, the only difference for novice students was the red tie on his collar, he talked about the good school life he has had so far, but also took the opportunity to say his stressful last months with the preparations for this event and the occurrence of last week, after the teachers spoke a little of each of them, going through the disciplinary curriculum that they taught, in the end, all sang the Union anthem, the soldiers gave ceremonial shots and the melody that was probably the anthem of the institution is played while the students gathered, I was going to accompany Junjoumaru, but Berna called me.

— So what did you think about the ceremony?

—Normal, after all, I expected it to be quite busy, but because the general said that during his speech, wouldn't it be something extremely important that couldn't be said to the public?

— He wanted to make everything clear to everyone about the state of the troops and the urgency for us to train new soldiers.

— But wouldn't that scare us?— When I asked her, Junjoumaru approached with his cousin—So, you come with us, we're going to the pizzeria before curfew, will you want to go with us and will you, Lt. Col Berna, accompany us?— Upon seeing them arriving in Berna quickly said goodbye and went straight to the teachers' lounge.

We spent the rest of the afternoon delighting ourselves with several slices of pizza, Junjoumaru always sought to be the center of attention, while I sat next to Victoria and she felt ashamed for this next to me, but her aunt tried to break her ice with me — So, have you got used to using that arm, don't you feel any pain in it?

— No, actually nothing but cold, although after a while you get used to this feeling.—When I showed my arm to her, Victoria took my arm like she was grabbing her pillow —What a nice feeling!— Everyone was amazed at her rare moment of spontaneity, as I touched my arm I could feel her temperature, an intense heat that felt like I was lying in the middle of the asphalt at noon of a sunny day, Junjoumaru’s parents quickly tried to separate her from me, but it was just her progeny throwing a piece of pizza up high, so Mozzarella, her favorite taste, made her untie me.

— When she is aficioned by something, she hardly leaves this thing to figure everything out, but I just talked about you yesterday, I can not imagine where it came from her interest to you.— He said that while he was taking her place, then everything returned to normal, we continued eating until sunset, Junjoumaru’s parents took us to the gate of the school— We hope you enjoy this school life, after all, you will have to overcome the pressure of this period of life, especially now as that speak of the general— Junjoumaru’s parents seemed concerned about the future of their children, but they knew the competence of the institution, seeing the concern of their parents, Junjoumaru soon tries to calm down.

—Relax elders, we will be fine, after all, we will be trained at the Holdfigthers training institution, the final warriors, of course, we will have the best training to fight against those bad bugs, you must remember your time serving, then it will be a park ride for us— He tried his most latent skill: his persuasion, pity that his father was the master, as he had already rightly spoken at the celebration at the pizzeria when he managed to win over the mother of Junjoumaru.— I hope you do not use this ability so much, because you lied badly, sculpt a child, everything you say will be used against you in the future, so telling you the truth guarantees you safety, speak lies is to implant chains for the future, I conquered your mother talking That would give you the best treasure of her life, then you were born, now if you say that you and your cousin will be well, you will have to show us.— His speech practically left his son speechless, but Victoria quickly interceded for her beloved cousin — Uncle, please trust us, even with the events of last week we are here alive, so please trust us.

Upon seeing the faint facet of his niece between the long strands of hair and after seeing the same face on his wife the father of Junjoumaru accepted, still reluctantly, the speech of his son, but before leaving the couple I decided to embrace his dependents, first his son, after his niece, I was only waving to say goodbye to them, however, the two were not afraid to hug me, a warmth that I thought would be unfamiliar, but as I felt it reminded me of my parents, my sister and everything she did until that night, I tried to hold the cry, but by the time I finally knew the tears were coming from my face, a noisy siren alerted us to enter the institution, a teacher, without that ceremonial dress earlier, was already at the portal waiting for us, on the three of us said our proper goodbyes to Junjoumaru’s parents and followed the teacher to the opening ceremony site where some Holdfitghters finished cleaning the site, even starting to dim the spotlights and lighting the place up, all the new students were already in place with the teachers, we thought they were waiting for us, but just behind us came the general at large steps.

— As none of you fled when they had the opportunity, at least that shows that they are not cowards, I Tell you what: From today you are recruits from this Academy and I will be your general, not by my title, but to manage you, This Academy is still a school, but the syllabus will be different from what you were studying to do admission test, we will see everything you need to become a great Holdfighter, from the good old math, through languages, even technologies and finally passing through the theoretical training, many of you have already strolled by the Academy rush before the opening ceremony so you must have seen our facilities and with the exception of the HF Armors you have built, these could be in pieces after a training battle simulated, I want this school in the same way as you were given today, particularly new.—The General’s words reverberated to all the newcomers, seemed everyone knew his story in combat, so soon they knew the weight of the punishments he gave to those who did not respect his orders, it was funny to see everyone think he is a headsman when I lived on the same roof as him for seven days, then I know practically an entire library about him against their visual knowledge, but when I shed a slight smile, the general had noticed and quickly looked at me with a fierce look, but accompanied with several curious glances and even sharing the same anger with me, after this visual scolding he returned to his speech reminders.

—So let's go to the subject of this meeting, everyone raises the keys they received along with their uniforms?— All quickly show keys with keychains that looked like numbered cards, the colors for the male dorm keychains were blue with the numbers blank while for the female dorm was pink with the numbers in black, all the cards seemed to have embossed bas-relief inscriptions resembling signal traces fixed on them.— It's good that everyone is with their keys, imagine the horror to lose just on the first day, so you must have realized that there are grooves in your keychains, well these are your identification cards, they own your people, out that will be your cards of debit, all you will consume in and outside the gym should go through this card, including when they enter and leave their dormitories, you have the free movement out of the campus until 18:00 hours, circulation between classes and clubs until 20:00 and between dormitories until 00:00 Although you were too tired to make dating during this schedule, more one thing: students are allowed but do not advance the red signal, after all, we do not have so many of this type of protection Here, that's all, they can go, but we'll start 7:00.—With all released, soon the students dispersed, including Junjoumaru himself who tried to pull conversation with Berna, when I would follow him to pass for more shame, Victoria quickly took my left arm, her side showed that she wanted to talk to me, then I accompanied her to the courtyard that served as a lobby for the two dormitories, on the way to the site she seemed very ashamed to be with me, when arriving at the courtyard, there was a small structure in the middle to protect everyone from the daylight and the rain, the place had little incident lighting, but as the night showed the moon of Zaurus, whose name is Nike for being the first celestial body of this solar system found beyond the star itself, marking the first step towards colonization and expansion of the human empire, the light from that moon bathed her lavender-colored hair as soon as she started talking.

— I'm sorry for what I did this afternoon

— Relax, if I couldn't handle people looking at my arm, maybe I wouldn't even be here in the first place—A silence took over the environment, after all we seemed lovers in the first encounters, so we were blushing, however something generated a doubt in me— So why did you want to take my arm then?

— Because of the smell it gives off, this smell seems familiar to me, it felt like my cousin is on your side, you know very well she was one of the victims of the Bloodynight, when we bumped into each other earlier I could smell a similar smell coming from her from you, but it wasn't until I sat down next to you that I was sure it was her scent, but my cousin said he didn't know you before the theoretical test, so did you know her?—When she said that, an impulse arose in me coming directly from my right arm, an impulse to embrace her, when I approached her she walked away from me by reflection, but when she realized my intention, she soon embraced me, a feeling of nostalgia arose in me.

— Excuse me, but I need to get my roommate inside so I don't have a problem with the general.— Junjoumaru’s voice soon startled us, his face looked like a mixture of father worried about his daughter and surprised by my act, it scared her, making her run back to the female dorm, meanwhile I soon to the room with shame that I did, Junjoumaru was with me right behind trying to talk something, but I arrived right in the room, when I touched clothes he arrived in the room.

— Dude I didn't know you were interested in my cousin

— I'm not, it was just a reflex action when she talked about your sister—When I said that he calmed down and started talking— She and my sister were very close, so much so that when her family came here, the two slept together in the same bed, but when her family had to stay longer in the Capital City, my sister was sad, almost depressed, it was then our father gave us our first cell phones, that's when they communicated day and night, talked about their day, talked about their changes and even helped each other at school, all by cell phone, this was constant until the Bloodynight , because of what happened that night that she decided to study here to become a Holdfighter.— His gaze was happy to remember the past at the beginning of his speech, but when he recalled about the Bloodynight his side became sad and lonely, it ended his unwillingness to talk, he quickly entered the bathroom of the room, the only one we shared, while I finished packing the uniform to wear the next day, he was bathing in the shower, when he left, already dressed in his pajamas, it was time to sleep, while he slept on the bed left of the bedroom door, but next to the bathroom, I was already lying on the bed to the right, closer to the closet, it took me a little longer to fall asleep in relation to him, who fell asleep and quickly fell asleep, because I was remembering everything that happened today, the day that started leaving the General’s mansion, until closing in ceiling of this dormitory, going by to meet Victoria, Junjoumaru’s mother and this Academy that is spoken so much, but when I realized I was already back in the lap of Morpheus.