CHAPTER 1: The Troubled Audience Arc

Darkness covering over me, as I stood a cloaked image, an image of shadows stood loomed over me. Terror and authority emanated from him, ten orange glowing balls surrounded him like a celestial being.  These balls had the look of mini suns. He looked at me.

“You will never achieve an epiphany”. The shadow said.

I then roll over the bed, startled by the dream. Mum rushes up here, opening the door, peeping with her blonde hair and glasses. She then looked at me with an Is everything okay look, I sat back up and gave her a thumbs up.  She then closed the door, heading back downstairs. I ruffled my blonde hair and exasperated. I then walk to my closet and pick my clothes, a plain green shirt with a motor jacket that has a deeper shade of green, blue Jeans shorts and black kicks. I head out of my room, going for breakfast. After closing the door, I was greeted by a sweet aroma from our kitchen. I head downstairs to see mum shaking the frying pan. Her long golden hair stretched all the way from the back of her head to her shoulders. She is wearing a mini pink jacket to her long white dress and yellow slippers. I took a seat at the table as my mouth watered waiting to be served the sweet-scented dish.

“ Congrats on getting Arasaki Academy”. She said as she clapped her hands together. Her glasses were surprisingly shining, or that's just my imagination.

“ Satoshi……”. She called seriously in a motherly tone.

“ I know you want to be as strong as your dad……”. She didn’t continue, but I saw a glint of tear in her eyes.

“ I will become the strongest mum”. I assured her understanding her pain. She lost a husband and can’t lose a son. I then finish up and waved her exiting the house. I then begin to run, finally my journey begins.

As I reached the old, shabby coffee shop near the end of the road, I saw my two best friends waiting for me. They stood at the gate waiting for me. One with black hair, black glasses and azure eyes, a blue hood, blue short pants and white Kicks. The other with White hair, blue eyes devoid of life. He wore a red shirt with a smoking gun on it. The shirt was covered by his black coat, he also wore jeans pants. Among us, I am more than both of them, as, the white haired guy is the leanest. My bulky appearance makes me look like a twenty-year-old instead of a fifteen-year-old.

“ Bro, What's up?”. I was greeted by the dumbest among our group, Davian. He held his glasses and posed idol-like. He always likes to be the cool one. I nodded and looked at Shiro as he was more focused on eating his Wagashi.

“ Boys, cheer up! This is the time we become men”, he said as he rose his right hand pointing to the sky.

“ LET’S GO‼!”, he said as he pointed to the mouth of the coffee shop. We sat by the window side of the coffee shop where we could see outside, excitedly chatting about Arasaki Academy. The highly acknowledged academy is known for producing the strongest monster hunters by their brutal training methods.

“ We finally get to have some real fun,” I said, punching my hands together, all fired up.

“ Why do I get the feeling you are not talking about babies?” he asked, making a stupid face that irritated me so much that I caught his head and raffled his hair with my fists.

“ Ow!, Ow! Cut it out”, he kept winning until I finally stopped, he straightened his hood as we began to laugh. We then hear a chuckle beside Davian. We looked at the white haired boy sitting beside Davian.

“ Shiro did you just…… chuckle?”. Shiro looked up at us from his bento and shrugged and went back to eating. I am shocked. Shiro hadn’t shown any sign of emotion after the Black Death event. Davian got up with shiro. I tried to hold Shiro’s hand, unintentionally knocking Davians tea off. Shiro’s eyes glowed a darker shade of blue for a second as he caught the cup in that split second.

“ Wow, it seems we have an early bloomer among us,” Davian said, clapping. Shiro then placed the cup on the table, holding it with his fingers.

“ See you Later, Sato got to run a few errands ”. Davian said, calling me by my pet name "Sato". I smile, as I watch my friends leave, waving me as he and Shiro left. I then got up, leaving. As I was leaving, a girl passed by me. She has short brown hair and had a pink lily flower on it, she is wearing a white straight dress with a white ribbon around her waist. Her sweet scent attracted me. I turned but couldn't see her face. I then remembered, I am supposed to meet Davian and Shiro at the Academy. I turned excited leaving the coffee shop.

    “ Woww! That's cool”, Davian said watching the tall silver structure in front of us, apparently it is the gate. The Large silver gates are laced with gold linens and a crest in the middle. The Crest has a large shield in the middle with two swords crossing it, a spear in the middle. It made us look like little figures in front of it. The gate opened with a loud but slow creak. We then stared in amazement as many people entered and we followed. As we entered, we saw many buildings but, there was the building at the end that had the same crest as the gate’s. It was as large as a cinema on the outside. The inside made us think it was really a cinema. A stage in the middle, seats all around it, and a series of excited people waiting for our hosts. I then had a chilly feeling but ignored it. We then sat down in the midst of the crowd, conversing, waiting for the host. As we were talking, the microphone screeched, catching all our attention to the stage

“ Who’s that?”, someone whispered. No one responded. We were to intrigued by the way the person on the stage entered without anyone’s notice. The person on the stage is a brown haired woman, who wore military clothing. She wore a black ribbon around her neck that seems to choke her, a gold object at its center. She wore a plain white shirt and a green coat, with green fitting pants and black heels, her short sword sheathed at her waist level on her right. Her green coat and pants had a darker shade of green linens on them. The coat had golden shoulder pads, The sword’s sheath was pure black with ancient green writing on it and a green dragon, her right hand on the hilt of her sword.

“ When did she get here?”, another asked. Just then gravity weighed us down, people were off their seats in no time holding, struggling to breathe the pure taste of fear shriveled through us. Shiro sat unaffected by the sharp killing intent of the girl, along with an elect few. Davian and I were too busy to see them as we were trying to get some air. The pressure then lifted. As It lifted, people gasped for air, even us drenched in sweat.

“ Sorry for the rude introduction,” she said, her voice melodious and seductive. We all then sat down quietly as we listened attentively.

“ I just wanted to see your capabilities and I see you are quite weak”. She said blatantly.“ In this school strength and wits is everything. The strong devours the weak. If any of you are not prepared, then leave”. No one dared to leave. Then a red haired guy stood up and walked down towards her. He wore a blue tank top with brown large pants. He is bigger than I, he looked like a monster.

“ What gives you the right to test us” he said as he stood over her completely making her look like an ant. As they saw she wasn't acting, the people started reacting, throwing insults at her.

“YEAH‼! TEACH THAT ***** A LESSON‼”, one shouted.

“THAT'S RIGHT. SHOW THAT ***** WHO’S BOSS‼”. Another shouted. Others joined later. Causing a whole commotion. The strange lady then shrugged and stared at him coldly.

“ He is a fool,” Shiro said as he watched quietly. The red haired guy stood with pride, undermining her, standing atop her with a smug look. The hostess then glowed green, her green dark aura spread across the building, her eyes emanating death. The red haired guy's face changed in horror as he had realized he had made a mistake, but, it was too late. Gravity weighed him down.

“ This is your place, STAY THERE!!,” she said dejected at the site of him. She then raised her left hand to the hilt of her sword. She looks at him, not being able to talk. She then began to clench her left fist slowly, loud cracks could be heard. It was slow, but we cringed at a few pops. All except Kuro. The red-haired guy gritted his fists as his pride was hurt, and he realized that he has made the grandest mistake of his life.

“PLEASE!! S... P…!! A...!!!! R...!! E...!!!! M… E!!!. I BEG OF YOU!!!. PLEASE!!!!”, he begged. She looked at him with cold glowing eyes, green aura flowing out of them. She gave him a soft reassuring smile then snapped her fingers. We then begin to hear bones cracking, his boy shrinking and twisting in weird, too traumatizing to say ways, his screams filled the room, people gasped in horror at what the hostess just did with a smile, some closed their ears and others covered their eyes unable to bear the sight of it, but no one dared talked or move. His body fell limp unconscious from the pain, his eyes rolled over, saliva falling from his mouth. She then looked up sharply.

“ I am Yuzaki Yuna, of the Discipline committee of Arasaki Academy”. She said, placing her hands on her chests.

“ Welcome to Arasaki Academy” she said smiling.

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