New Friends - Military School (Part 5)

After a good night’s rest, I was feeling quite refreshed. As I woke up in the soft and gentle golden sunrise, Shizuko barged into our room early in the morning and dragged me, or rather kidnapped me into a car as I was washing myself up. 

“What’s going on?” I asked her. 

“Nothing. I personally got most of your papers ready so we can get you signed up to the military much faster than predicted." 

“Ah. Joining the army… I totally forgot about that. Oh yeah, the Lieutenant General asked me for a duel yesterday. Can you help me get out it?” 

Shizuko paused and looked at me. 
“Nope, I can’t do that.” she sighed. “But at least, I can help you train and maybe unlock some skills or talents of yours. Like maybe using your huge amount of Divine Essence as a weapon?”

“Hm.” I replied. “Ehh… well if you can’t get me out of the duel then that would be the next best option. I’ll take up on your offer, Shizuko.” 

“Alright then. Once you take a simple exam after you hand in your papers, meet me at the city’s centre. It’s not too far from the exam building.” 

“Fine with me.” I replied. “Oh. Are we here already?” 

“Yep. We are here.” Shizuko said as she handed me a thick pile of paper. “Your information and other stuff are already written on these papers. Now get off and go to that man in the booth. Hand him the papers and then follow his instructions. Get it? Alright, I’ll see you later!” 

I was left dumbfounded by the sudden events but I was in the public now, with some people already staring at me, so I pulled myself together and followed Shizuko’s instructions. 
I walked to the man in the booth and handed him the papers provided by Shizuko. 

“Mr… Void..? Is it?” the man asked. 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Okay. Do you have any letter of introduction?” 

I searched my pockets before handing him a letter that Vula had given me the night before. She just briefly told me it was a letter of introduction and I had forgotten about it. I quickly handed the letter to the man and he opened the letter carefully. 

“A letter of introduction from the Lieutenant General, Vula?” the man said calmly. But there was shaking in his voice.

After some more time had passed, the man stood up suddenly.

“Mrs Vu-, Mr Void, we are done here so please come this way.” the man said. He exited the booth and guided me into another room filled with other people.
“Please wait here until another staff member tells you to move once again.” he said before quickly leaving. 

I was left standing with almost everyone looking at me. I played it cool and sat down in an isolated chair. I could hear some whispers like: ‘Isn’t she the Lieutenant General Vula? Why is someone of such a high rank here?’ or ‘She’s a real hottie isn’t she? Should I try to pick her up later?’ and more. Either the comments were complimenting my looks or something about me being Vula. 

But I noticed one person who sat to my right with blue hair and was asleep. To be honest, she kind of looked like a cute bunny sleeping peacefully. I enjoyed the cute view of her sleeping but soon, another staff member (probably a Lieutenant) called for us and we were guided into another room, with tables and chairs with a device on top of each table. 

“Alright, everyone, please take a seat!” the man said. All of us followed his instruction and chose a table to sit. “Everyone, thank you for applying for the military. I am Lieutenant Safire, your Test Regulator. We won't be together for long but still, I welcome you all with open arms. Now, you may already have noticed, there's a tablet on your desk. Now when I say so, you can turn on the device and start the test. The test would be simple multiple-choice questions and some short answers. This test would be providing us data on what class we would put you in and also data on the general population's knowledge of warfare. Now. Begin!" 

As soon as the Lieutenant shouted start, we all turned on the device and asked us to confirm our personal information if it was correct or not. I scanned the screen and I once I confirmed everything was correct, I pressed next. 
And as Shizuko said, it was pretty simple. It may prove a little difficult for people who haven't experienced the battlefield yet but to me, it was a breeze. There were some more difficult questions like Question 26 which was: 
[A rounded bullet would create a wide crater and a pointed bullet would create a neat hole, but what does a pointed bullet with a flat or semi-rounded tip create?] 

It seemed like a trick question as I knew the tip only mattered. So I just wrote a crater with a depth longer than its width. But I'm still not too sure if it was correct or not. 

In any case, the test was simple. After a few hours (it was a long test) I reached the end and submitted it. I was given permission to leave but was told to come back 3 days later. And so I did. As I walked to the exit, I came across the same group at Pejene's recruitment centre. The males seemed to remember me and struck up a conversation as I walked passed them. 

"Oh! Aren't you the person who got dragged by the flame-haired girl that was with a group of army guys?" the person with white hair asked. 

"Hm? Now you mention it, brother... she is! Well, nice to meet you. I'm Kerui. Youngest of the Oko family. This is my older brothers, Ging and Jerik." 

And with that introduction, I couldn't just go now as it would rude. But I was fine with it anyway. These guys seemed pretty nice and I could use some friends. So I made up my mind and replied back. 
"Oh, you were the group that was at Pejene's recruitment centre. Well, it's nice to finally meet you guys in person. I'm Void. Pleased to meet everyone here. And you are..?" I asked the females. 

"Guina Io." answered the dark-blonde girl, extending her arm. She had an unusual hair colour as her dark blonde hair faded into pure midnight black at her bangs. But it was quite easy to forget they were even there so I paid it no mind.
"Nice to meet you." I shook her hand. 

And the final member was... her. Platinum blonde hair. I could see it was platinum blonde since normal white hair or grey hair wasn't that shiny. 
"Vanti Jane." she said. Her voice was much colder than the others like she was not accepting me. 
"Oh, nice to meet you Jane." I replied. 

"Vanti is fine. No need to call me Jane."

Hm. Guess I was wrong. It was just her voice huh. I guess she accepted me after all. 
Anyway, after I had added them all on my phone, I rushed to the exit and went to the city centre to meet up with Shizuko. I already was late and since I had the encounter with the group that I saw waving at me back in Pejene. 

As I made my way to the city centre, I could see Shizuko tapping her foot repeatedly in front of a tree, now in more casual clothes. With her ahem, short* height, she was approached by some officers that asked her if she was lost. 
This undoubtedly made her pretty angry so I was in a big mess. I slowly approached her and she noticed me. 

"Oh there you are, Void!" she yelled. "You better give me a good excuse for why you are so late." 

"Sorry. I got caught by some people that recognised me as I was leaving the building. But I formed some new friendships though." 

"Oh? You did? Alright then. You are no longer a loner then." laughed Shizuko. 

"Ugh." 

Shizuko started walking and I followed. 
"Okay, but jokes aside, how was the test?" she asked. 

"Hmm. Pretty simple, like you said." 

"Uhm. That's good then. Maybe you'll get into Upper Class 1 or Upper Class 3 at least." 

"Hm? 'Upper Class'?" I said, confused. 

"Oh, it's the classing system that we use. From highest to lowest, it's Upper Class 1, Class 1, Lower Class 1, Upper Class 2, Class 2, Lower Class 2, and so forth. It's pretty detailed for a reason. The gap of strength between one class if we didn't have the Upper and Lower classes would be enormous." she answered, shrugging. 

"Ah... okay. I understand." I replied. 

"So? You ready for some training?" 

I smiled. 
"Course I am... but are we really going to train in a public park?" 

"Yep. There are some basic public training facilities here. We'll start from the basics and then move on to more difficult things alright?" 

"Sounds good." 

I made my way to an open training facility with Shizuko standing next to me before walking off to the other side. The earthy terrain that surrounded us provided some privacy from the public eye, which was useful. 

"So, this is just going to be a friendly fight okay? It's going to help me figure out your abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Got it?" 

I nodded in response. 

"Good," she replied. "Let us begin!" 

And with that, the battle had begun. It was basically my first fight with someone who actually knew how to fight. An experienced fighter too. Every attack, every faint attack, and every trick I had thrown at her was avoided and blocked. My heart beat faster and faster every second I fought with her. My blood rushed throughout my body at its maximum speed. But, in the end, after what seemed to be a short time, Shizuko was able to deal a finishing blow to me, thus making her the victor. 
I sat on the ground, now with all the built-up fatigue from the fight being released. 

"Phew. Good fight, Void! I was blown away by your skills!"

"Thanks." I returned. "You were an extremely tough opponent, and your defensive skills are out of this world. Like I was only able to land like 4 hits on you?" 

"Aww. Thanks for the compliment. Though I had to nearly all out just to block your attacks. Well, it felt like a short period of time, it had actually been..." Shizuko replied, pulling out a watch from a pocket, and checking the time. "Oh, what?! 2 hours?!"

"2 hours had passed? Already?" 

"Apparently so. It sure didn't feel like 2 hours. Maybe like 10 minutes at most. But let's call it a day then. Uhh... I'll get a report written with your abilities, weaknesses, and strengths by tomorrow morning. Well, you can do whatever you want now. Just call me if you need a ride home. Or just come with me. Do what you want." 

"Okay. I'll be looking forwards to that report. I'm going to walk around the city for now so see you later." 

"Alright then, see you later." she said as she walked to the park's exit. 

Once Shizuko left my view of sight, I started to walk in a random direction. I had no plans whatsoever right now but just before I and Shizuko started the friendly fight, I noticed in the corner of my eye, a person wearing a bright orange costume followed by someone who had long ruby hair..? Or was it pink hair? I cannot remember. But one thing is clear. That clown person has been here. And now, I wanted to find him. 

*I'm not that short! I'm still growing you know! - Shizuko 

...