Obstacles To My Dream

Back to the first day of the entrance exam, after the group had separated.

“Eeeeeeehhhhh?”

A loud, astonished exclamation echoed through the hallways of the faculty building.

“B… But this doesn’t even make sense!” The culprit of such screams, a blond boy with spiky hair and a pair of round glasses continued. “This is Aoba Academy we’re talking about! How is it that there’s no NLS Club? The most popular sport in the world, and the gateway to prospective careers, NLS!”

“Mr. Circuit, I understand your concerns,” sitting in front of him was a middle-aged man in a white suit rubbing his temples to ease himself from the shrieking he’d suffered from. “And we did have an NLS Club, led by Sato-sensei. However, Sato-sensei himself put the club on disband mode until further notice, and with him currently being on a business trip, there’s nothing that we can do.”

“But why would the club be disbanded all of a sudden?” Lewis argued still, completely in disbelief of what he had just heard. “It just doesn’t make sense!”

“Look, I don’t know, okay?” The teacher, as if snapped from everything he went through, shouted at the poor boy. “Do you think none of the teachers here know how much of a lucrative business NLS is? There is nowhere else in the world that doesn’t have an NLS training facility! We get that! But that damn Sato just went up and pulled the plug on everything! And when we filed a complaint to the principal, did you know what that vile woman say?”

Taking a deep breath to catch some fresh air, the teacher once again continued at the same volume, perhaps even louder than before:

“LEAVE HIM BE! That’s what the vixen said! What, because he’s a little smart? Or because of your affair with him, …”

“That’s enough, Tada-sensei!” From the corner of the room, another teacher had to intervene. “You should not say such baseless rumors, especially not in front of a student!”

After the previous teacher was promptly dealt with, and Lewis was brought out of the vicinity safely, the one that interfered lightly bowed towards the boy as an apology:

“My deepest regrets for you to experience that, Mr. Circuit. Though it is unfortunate timing that you enrolled during this period, there is nothing we can do at the moment. Rest assured, however, as soon as Sato-sensei returns from his trip, we will inform him of the situation.”

“… I understand,” Lewis could only let out a sigh of acceptance. However, as soon as he was about to say goodbye to the teacher in charge, another idea flashed in his mind.

“Wait! Sensei, what about the clubroom? Can I at least use it for the time being?”

“But… without an advisor in charge…”

“Please, please, pretty please!” The boy was about as close to the ground as humanly possible. If it was any closer, his head would have been touching the floor. “I promise I won’t do any club activities until Sato-sensei returns, and I’ll keep it cleaned and maintained throughout too!”

The teacher hesitated for a moment before finally letting out a sigh and putting a small card in Lewis’s hand:

“Alright, you convinced me. Here’s the card key to the old NLS Club room. But remember: don’t do any club activities without Sato-sensei’s presence.”

“… Thank you, Sensei!” Lewis bowed to the best of his abilities again before dashing out to the club building, too happy to even remember saying goodbye to the kind-hearted teacher that helped him.

Aoba Academy’s clubs all lay in the largest building in the school. Spanning an impressive 20 floors, each being spacious enough to hold a dozen large halls, it was one of Aoba’s prized jewels. And among those jewels, the biggest and most dazzling one was the NLS Club.

Was.

Since the club was disbanded, the NLS clubroom, though still remained the biggest and most equipped one, was left unattended and locked, making its gigantic presence on the first floor more of a grim reminder than a prideful boast.

When Lewis arrived at the scene and unlocked the door, a cloud of dust rushed out of the room as if an army had stampeded across the hallway. However, that much didn’t deter the boy at all. Having patiently waited for the dust to settle, a smile once again formed on Lewis’s face.

“Finally, I’m here!” The boy loudly exclaimed. “The first step to my dream!”

Lewis quickly turned on the lights and went for a look around the room itself. NLS, for all of its hype and popularity, was still at its core an indoor sport, and so there was a lot less equipment in terms of quantity compared to regular ones. However, in terms of complexity, NLS stood on top of it all.

Though the room was large enough to hold two full classes – up to two hundred students – the main feature of the NLS clubroom was its six main VR machines, laid out in a horizontal formation in the middle of the room. Each one of the machines came with its own latest model helmet, the kind that dropped the idea of wiring completely and connected the devices using the strongest satellite signal money could buy. The machines even came with their own vacuum dome for absolute protection against outer hazards, so much so that even through all the dust just now, the six machines still shone as if they were brand new.

Lewis was dying to touch the machines, but as much as he wanted to, the boy still remembered his promise to the teacher just a few minutes ago. And so, with a heavy heart, he pushed down his desire as deep as he could and grabbed a nearby vacuum cleaner, starting what would soon become his daily routine in the currently empty room.

The next day came and went as fast as the first, and Lewis was once again all alone in the clubroom. Though he had told his fellow friends and clubmates that he had secured the room for themselves, both Mike and Zain, as if foretold each other, had other businesses that they had to attend to.

“Hah…” Lewis let out a sigh as his hands moved to the beat of the vacuum machine. “I hope that the club would officially reform soon…”

After the cleaning session, there was nothing much for Lewis to do. The day before, he was so engrossed in the VR machines that he didn’t take a closer look at everything else around him, but upon even closer inspection, there really was nothing else – only a large monitor spanning the frontal wall and a set of lounge chairs opposite to each other. Once he was done cleaning, Lewis could only lie down on one of the couches and fiddled with his phone.

Suddenly, the boy heard the clubroom’s door opening. Not a pleasant one of a curious individual visiting, but a violent, brash pull that rocked even the monitor in front of him.

Entered a pair of girls. The shorter, black-haired girl looked around Lewis’s age, while the taller redhead seemed like she was a year or two older – around the President’s age if he had to guess a number. And by the looks on their faces, especially the younger one, Lewis had a feeling that they weren’t here just for show.

“Where is he?” The young girl shouted. If her voice could be personified, it would be a giant several times her size, aggressive and unsophisticated.

However, as bad as his impression of her was, Lewis still had to answer the question. The only problem was that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“He? Who’s he? In fact, who are you? Why are you barging into this clubroom?”

“This clubroom… is the NLS Club, am I correct?” The red-headed girl spoke. Her demeanor was the complete opposite of the younger one – that of a cool, dignified queen speaking to her subjects – but the pressure that she exuded was miles stronger than her partner. And it was at this moment that Lewis noticed the extra accessories on the girls, as well as the kind of predicament he was in.

On each of the girl’s arms was a band. For the black-haired, a blue armband with the letters “Secretary”. For the redhead, a yellow one with the word “Vice-President”.

“U-Um, yes, Miss Vice-President…” Lewis tried to sound polite, instantly regretting his rude question from before. Though he was indeed angry at the secretary for charging into the clubroom like a stampeding animal, the boy also knew that if he messed with the Student Council, there would be very little chance the clubroom he’d worked so far for would be safe.

“So out with it, newbie!” Shouted the younger girl once again. “Where is he?”

“B-But I don’t even know who you’re talking about…”

“Ugh, is there anyone else in this god-forsaken club you dimwit?” The girl seemed to have gone past her point of anger – a very low bar to cross, but existed, nonetheless. “That other new kid! Kuroshi Zain!”

Zain? A drop of cold sweat poured on Lewis’s forehead. What does Zain have to do with them? And didn’t he literally just enter yesterday through the extra exam?

“Well? Cat got your tongue?” The girl continued, but Lewis didn’t respond. For one, he didn’t know how to, but mostly it was because he was lost in his own thoughts. And the girl was not happy to see that.

Lewis was forcefully thrown out of his trance as the young boy felt the air leaving his lungs by the second, and his neck felt like being wrapped by a tight rope. Once the boy settled himself again, his mind was in utter shock as the girl shorter than him by almost a head was lifting him straight in the air, with only one arm nonetheless.

“Answer me! Where is Kuroshi Zain?”

Before, Lewis didn’t answer because his mind was elsewhere. Now, he couldn’t answer because of the chokehold the secretary girl was holding him in. Desperately clawing onto the girl's hands, which felt more like red-hot iron than regular skin and bones, Lewis struggled to find a way out, to no avail.

“Well? Answer me!”

No matter how much the girl shouted, he couldn’t do anything. A quiet, frustrated tear rolled down his cheek as Lewis saw flashes of his life appearing before him – from his childhood moments to meeting Mike, learning his dream, and going to Aoba.

However, he wasn’t destined to die just yet.

“Mirai, drop that boy this instance!”