So new, So fun, So scary

Spirits are dreams. What does he mean by that? How can spirits be dreams?

My confused eyes drifted to the man dressed in red, who was named Red. His blood-red eyes shifted between the participants, landing on me a few times.

Sensing our confusion, he took a breath, closed his eyes, and spoke once more.

“However, it’s clear something like that won’t make much sense to any of you.”

He looked forward, but it felt like he somehow was looking at every single one of us.

His hands hid behind his body, the lights dancing on his pale skin. Now that he was looking at me, I actually took the time to observe his appearance.

He looked middle-aged, like a father in his forties. Although I don’t really know why I think of a “father” when I look at him.

His body was slim and tall, and his suit was slightly loose. If I had to guess, maybe he just lost some weight since the first time he got the suit.

Now that I’m thinking about the suit, it was clean. Too clean; it’s just like the entrance to the building. I just want to grab a coffee and “accidentally” spill it on the damn suit just so it could look more “lived in,” like he actually wore the suit in the first place.

Overall, he looked clean, but something was telling me that it was all some…mask, some weird acting bit, like he’s trying to hide who he really is.

Yet with all that, he continued to speak.

“In this training camp, you’ll spend about ten months to a year learning the fundamentals of spirit hunting.”

As soon as he said that, four other people walked beside him on stage. They each had a designated color.

Blue: He had this oddly tired look, as if he just got out of bed. Of course he was wearing blue, but it wasn’t a light blue; it was more like a royal blue. His build was more of a Dorito: broad shoulders, thick biceps, and his thighs seemed to be well-toned. Honestly, to me at least, he seemed like a gym freak.

With dark blue hair and emerald green eyes, whoever this man in blue was seemed to be a respectable man.

Yellow: Walking onto the stage, a bit of her own hair between her lips, my first impression of this woman was that she must’ve been incredibly lazy. Everything from her clothes to her demeanor exclaimed that this woman didn’t seem to care about how she was perceived. She was short and slim; I'd say about six inches shorter than me. She, of course, was wearing yellow, and her hair was platinum blonde. Yet despite everything, she seemed extremely boring.

Purple: This woman seemed extremely calm, creepily calm. It kinda threw me off for a loop. Her figure, stature, and overall mood were just calm at first; I didn’t know why until I realized she was sleeping! Like, while standing, it’s actually fucking insane!

Green: And lastly, a man stood; he seemed to beam with this energy that was hard to explain; it was like he was yelling even though he wasn’t talking. He looked so loud; maybe it’s his smile or the way his eyes seemed to be lit at all times. Regardless, I feel like I’ll need earplugs.

Yet despite everything, they all look like an absolute unit together. It was kinda…boring. It was so boring.

Red spoke again.

“Now, let’s begin your training. It’s going to be hard; it's going to hurt, but at the end of the day–”

The wall behind the five began to shake and shift as a tire ripped through it, creating a portal. Red continued his speech, a yellow-reddish glow beaming from behind him.

“—I know you’re strong enough to crave a path forward.”

He turned to the left, looking at the entire class. Maybe it’s because of the light show, but it finally hit me. I really was in a room of about a hundred to three hundred people, but not only that; I really was about to start training to become a spirit hunter.

For a second, just for a second. I felt some sense of excitement.

My heart pounded just a little faster, a flutter, a flicker of light that rarely appeared in my heart.

Row by row, my fellow students walked into the light.

I knew that I had to capitalize on this rare glimmer of light.

And thus, I walked towards it.

…

..

.

The light was blinding; it took me a few seconds and a few blinks for my vision to clear.

The view was beautiful. The trees were a lush red hue. In front of me was a field lined with white chalk, a few small huts to the side, and a huge, layered building right in front of us.

It was honestly fantastic.

Like, seriously, what the fuck!? Are we really gonna train here? That red guy made it sound like we were gonna train in hell or something.

Biggest lie of the eight hundredth century!

Yet, like always, the colors seemed to dull the longer I was here, and I wasn’t even here long.

It was just so boring.

The training grounds were plain with basic chalk outlines. The trees had this bland red, and the buildings were boxy and uninspired.

It was both Boring and depressing.

Maybe I am in hell.

“Alright, listen up!”

The red dude spoke again. Honestly, at this point, his voice started to sound annoying.

“This is an unnamed mountain within the Zero Fuku district, and this is where you’ll be training every day.”

As if they had planned this, which they probably did, the blue guy spoke.

“Five days a week with two rest days, you will wake up at six in the morning and train for eight hours. After that, you will meditate and rest for four hours and do light training for four hours. Then you sleep.”

What the hell type of schedule is that? I wasn’t given as much time to think on that the yellow woman said.

“You will get time for meals, so don’t worry about that.”

Again, another switch as Purple spoke.

“Now you will not be training that hard today. It’s just a basic evolution.”

Nothing about these people is “Basic.” I’m calling bullshit. Their names are literally colors, and not only that, but they dress up in only that color.

They're probably gonna trap us in a cave with a dangerous cyclops spirit or teleport us into the air or something real extra like that.

“Today we’ll have you spar against each other.”

What did she just say?

Sparring!? I don't know how to fight!? Well, I mean, I've been in a few, yeah, and sure, I took some boxing, sumo, and wrestling classes out of complete boredom, but this feels a little unfair.

The winds danced around me as Red pointed towards the large, boring boxed building.

“Every five minutes, two people will spar for three minutes and switch out. After everyone is done, we'll head back to the facility. You can choose to watch the matches, but there will be zero interruptions. Is that understood?”

Everyone around me gave nods and said, " Yes, ma’am."

It kinda felt like no one actually thought about what she was saying.

It's an evaluation, but it only lasts three minutes? How the hell can you evaluate anything based on three minutes?

“Alright then, if that's understood, then let's start. We'll address you by room number.”, Red exclaimed.

He pulled out a small tablet and pressed his finger against the screen. After a bit, he called out two room numbers.

“Number 28 and number 277! Everyone else heads to the building to watch or relax.”

Everyone shifted to where they were supposed to be. But something was still bothering me.

If we are numbered by room, then just how many of us are there?

Maybe it's because of where I lived, but it always seemed to me that the spirit hunter corporation was always understaffed.

Like, if spirit hunters are emitted by the hundreds, then that must mean two things. Either people die faster than they get emitted, or the selection process for spirit hunters is brutal.

Either way, something feels off. My heart is pounding in a way that I was unfamiliar with. Is this what it's like to feel nervous? To feel like I might not be enough?

It's so new, so fun, so scary. It's so fucking scary to feel nervous. It's so weird. Should nervousness feel scary and fun?

I don't know, but time seemed to fly. I went into the building and waited.

The interior was nice; it had cracks everywhere, but the cracks were filled with gold. Not only that, but there was enough space so that I didn't feel squished between people.

Of course I didn't talk to anyone. Honestly, I'm just worried that if we did start talking, I would get bored and want to leave the conversation as quickly as possible.

So I picked a nice corner and sat down. Hopefully no one tries to start anything dumb and today will go smoothly.

Is what I would think if I was a dumbass. I know what type of people go to these places. It's called Spirit HUNTER for a reason.

These people are fighters, and if I know anything about fighters, they're super annoying when they get pushed. Either mentally or physically.

It's only a matter of time.

“Excuse me! How dare you? Do you not understand who you are speaking to!” A strange voice broke from the crowd. It sounded extremely snobby.

I'm talking silver-spoon level of snobs. That annoying high-pitched “I'm better than you.” Type of voice.

But to every Ying there is a Yang.

“I'm speaking to a ‘Man’ who clearly hasn't felt a single ounce of love in his life!” another voice exclaimed. This new voice was snobby but in a different way.

If the first voice was “I am better than you.” Then this voice is “I know better than you.” Regardless, these two are annoying as hell. They didn't even need to speak for that long for me to know that I would hate them.

“What did you say? How dare you? How dare you speak to Apollo Von Spiderlily like that! You!? A low-class filth!” Apollo shouted in the third person like a fucking weirdo.

This Apollo guy looked rich, and he loved to show it. His hair was red and was slicked back with golden clips. His left and right hands both had golden rings on their middle fingers. He stood tall, taller than me at least, and his skin was fair, clean, and light.

His entire fit was filled with golden accessories. It screamed, “LOOK AT ME!” It's honestly kinda boring.

That's when the other voice replied to Apollo.

“I don't care that you're from some fancy-ass family! That just tells me that you definitely know nothing about love.”

Something about whatever this love-crazed idiot said ticked off Apollo. The golden man stepped towards “Romeo” and nuzzled a finger against his chest.

“And who are you to lecture me on love?”

“My name is Valentine, Drew Valentine.”

Drew Valentine, he's on the shorter end. Honestly, I think he's about chin level to me if I had to guess.

“Is that so? Well then, Valentine, I'll only say this once, but I'll be clear so that even low-class, trash-eating filth like you can understand.”

He stepped close, really close to Drew. Poor guy; he could probably smell his breath from that distance. I could’ve sworn I saw some of the gold from Apollo sprinkle onto Drew.

And then it started.

“You are nothing. I don’t mean that metaphorically; I mean that objectively. When you stand before a shining beacon like me, you are nothing. It is dishonorable that you haven't bowed, let alone wished for your own death, when being graced with my presence. The only thing you’re good for- the only thing a toe-licking, trash-gobbling, irrelevant monkey like you is serving me and introducing me to your mother so I can breed her a better son–”

His rant was cut short with a loud slap. It silenced the crowd, maybe even broke the sound barrier, or at least that's what it felt like.

The slap was from Drew. His palm hung in the air lazily as if it was a taunt. His face was calm, dead calm, a calm you only saw when someone knew what was about to happen.

He spoke.

“Don’t you ever speak about a woman- let alone my mother like that ever again.”

He didn’t yell, which everyone but me found odd or at least impressive, but I didn’t; I knew that look on Drew's face.

Boredom. I knew that feeling all too well.

He knew what reaction would come next when you slap a guy like Apollo mid-rant. I guess I did too, or at least I think. I can't really explain why I did what I did next, otherwise.

“How–I–you!” Apollo was shocked.

Then it happened; within a split second, my body moved across the room to grab Apollo's hand before it could touch Drew. Within a split second, I felt something; it was that same feeling back at the river.

He was gonna hit Drew with the weird energy I felt. Is that why I moved? Because when Drew attacked, there was no energy behind it.

Gold, those gold eyes pierced through my retinas. His eyes twitched with rage; the wrist I held back from striking another member shook with this confusion.

“Get your hand off of my wrist. Right this instant, you monkey.”

Another insult, although I can’t tell if he's just an ass or a racist; calling me a monkey feels racist.

Maybe that's why I didn’t let go, Spite. His right wrist was locked down in the grip of my left hand.

“Let’s just calm down.” It was the only thing I could say.

Just calm the fuck down; the air vibrated with this tension that built faster than anyone could defuse. The ground cracked in webs under Apollo; the gold hue from his hand expanded outwards through the room.

“Don’t you dare tell me what to do! Who the hell even are you?”

“I’m–”

“Well, well, well. It seems like we have two idiots who are excited. Let’s save this excitement for the evolution; as a matter of fact, you two are next. Number 44 and Number 301.” Blue showed up out of nowhere.

He didn’t do much physically, but it was more about his presence. His clear, deep voice, his posture, his eyes.

I finally let go of Apollo's wrist. He quickly moved his hand to his side like he was snatching his purse back from someone who stole it.

“Three minutes to beat this simpultion's ass isn’t nearly enough, but it’ll do for now.”

God, his fucking voice again: it’s so annoying!

We followed Blue outside; there were the rest of the colors as Red stood in the center of a circle. It looked really odd; there was chalk, at least I think it's chalk, and the circle looked weird.

We stood in the circle opposed form eachother. With Red standing in the valley between me and the little bitch prince.

“Alright, number 44 and number 301, are you both ready?”

The bitch ass prince gave a little huff as his way of saying yes. It pissed me off, the smugness.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I kept my response simple.

“Good. Yellow!”

My eyes shifted towards Yellow; she used a hand sign while whispering something. I couldn’t hear all of it, but I was able to pick up–

“May Time flow within my restrictions.”

The hell does that mean?

Whatever it is, it must have caused the circle to glow and create a bubble to trap us in.

Everything had a yellow hue; Red’s hand raised in the air.

Both of us got into our ideas of a fighting stance.

The hand flew down and—

“Go!”