"I thought you had been held up somewhere and wouldn't be able to make it here," Jyorta said, placing the two plates of food on the table.
Pulling a plate closer to her, Haesha replied, "My friends dragged me towards the cafeteria designated to Warriors. Helpless, I could only tag along. But, when I scanned my ID card in the counter there, the person behind it denied me food. Noticing the time, I had to rush here."
She dipped her index finger in the gravy, tasting it with a slight lick. A frown emerged on her face as she began to eat her food, "If not for you, my only choice would have been to stay hungry."
"Well, my friends too coerced me to accompany them. I just logically refused them since Espers have separate areas for almost everything here. But, one of them suddenly tried to guilt-trip me for no reason. Even his choice of timing and the reason was out of the blue," Jyorta said, putting on a pitiful face.
"Oh," Haesha looked interested, her eyes widened as she gazed at Jyorta, signalling for him to continue.
His heart skipped a beat as he met her gaze, trying his best to nonchalantly divert his focus to his food, "Long ago, we were playing a punching game. During my turn, I tripped and gave him a stronger punch. Even then, it was a light punch at most since I was pretty frail back then. It then led to some mocking remarks that resulted in the girls showing support for me and opposing the boy. Well, it was all a game in the end but, that guy has now become shameless and is using that incident to act like a victim. He remarked that that incident decreased his charm with the girls and made his life worse. Continuing with that flow, he requested a favour."
Placing a morsel of the food in his mouth, Jyorta frowned at the taste, continuing, "The favour was me introducing him to one of my pretty relatives…supposedly. Once I refused, he latched on to me like a leech, addressing me as grandpa, ancestor, and a weird word. It was…yeah, it was grandstor. I don't even know what that means."
"Well, couldn't you introduce someone to him? Once you do it, he would stop bugging you right? Since everything will depend on his efforts following that," Haesha spoke, giving a neutral opinion.
"Well…" Jyorta trailed off, expressing a helpless smile, "One of my friends has a crush on him. She is pretty close to me and has shared many things over the past year. Even though she had given many hints, the dude is pretty dense and oblivious to her feelings. Suppose I introduce one of my relatives to him and they become close, my friend would pretty much kill me."
"If he is oblivious to hints, just state the fact directly to his face." Haesha raised her hand, twirling the ends of her braid. "A friend of mine liked this boy. Unlike her, he was somewhat popular in our class and also received considerable attention from the girls. Do you know what she did to win him over?"
"She…" Haesha trailed off, tilting her head to the side, pausing for greater suspense. Seeing the mildly irritated response from Jyorta, she laughed, "She concocted some fishy sketch and enacted it. At the end of it, she slapped him. It was a vicious slap, or so she claims."
"Then, before anyone could notice, she kissed his cheek, the same place she slapped and ran off. The next thing we knew, the boy fell for her."
"How…is that possible," Jyorta looked confused, "If a girl were to slap me, the most I would do is become angry. Something like falling for her is not possible. No sane guy would do so."
"It worked like a charm," Haesha laughed, "They were both weird and their weirdness was perfectly in sync with one another."
The sound of a bell ringing interrupted their conversation. Once the bell rang, there were a couple of shouts from the chefs, informing the students that the cafeteria was about to close.
"Man, I have only eaten half of the food. 30 minutes is too short of a time period considering the queue that forms here." Jyorta muttered, getting up from his seat as he noticed everyone else doing the same.
"We can walk slow and finish it by the time we reach the place to drop the plates. We can use the same queue, right?" Haesha smiled, gobbling a morsel of the food. Seeing her actions and at the fact that there was a precedent, Jyorta wasn't embarrassed to eat food while walking. He then noticed many other students mimicking similar actions, making him laugh.
"It seems there are many smart ones here," Jyorta remarked, gobbling up his food quickly. Anyway, he was a quick eater and had no qualms about stuffing his face full of food. Haesha was a lot slower than him, unwilling to make a mess and eat in an inelegant manner.
Dropping their plates in a designated corner and washing their hands, the duo exited the cafeteria. Jyorta turned around, looking at Haesha who appeared to be thinking of meeting with her friends. Thoughts rapidly flashed through his mind as he concocted a plan.
"Let's head to the White Building. Access to the portal is not restricted even during class hours. Moreover, there are many outlets for use so we don't need to fear them being preoccupied. We'll continue from where left off in the morning."
Haesha's eyes lit up as she readily nodded, "Let's go. I was about to ask you anyway."
'No, you were about to meet your friends.' Jyorta thought, accompanying her towards the White Building. He pondered and made a mental note of his behaviour, 'Am I acting too close to her even though we just met today? I definitely am; she seems like a nice person and is probably going along with me to not seem rude. Maybe, the fact that she doesn't know anyone among the Espers is also at play. At least, I am familiar to her after our interactions.'
He then noticed students marching out from the head office, wearing tracks, settling at the centre of the large ground.
A man flew through the sky, creating gusts of wind, landing before them. He observed the students, shouting, "Cadets; 20 days later, you will have to face the graduation ceremony. In response to that, we will be enacting a survival training today."
With a wave of his hands, the ground rumbled, producing a dust cloud. Jyorta noticed ten streaks converge towards the ends of the ground, pausing to reveal the figure of humans, possibly the faculty members—all seemed to be Espers.
"I heard that except for a select few teachers, the rest are Espers," Haesha muttered, gawking at the feat before her.
Cracks formed on the ground as the ten Espers emitted a dense fluctuation of psychic energy, lifting large blocks of soil, sending dust clouds spreading everywhere, masking the sight of the students.
A teacher hovered in the centre, shouting, his voice reverberating all across the ground, "Your task is to survive this for 10 minutes. Credits will be awarded based on your injuries. No injuries will net you 300 credits. The more you get injured, the lower you earn. Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir!" Followed by a deafening sound, the Cadets began to run in all directions, trying their best to find shelter against the falling rocks. The teachers continued to lift large pieces of the ground and send it flying towards the ground—their pattern random. Some teachers even discreetly targeted the Cadets who won their animosity, having the time of their lives.
"107, 359, and 468; eliminated," A teacher's voice resounded as three Cadets were lifted from the ground, their bodies drenched in blood. A pale blue light entered their bodies and immediately began to heal their injuries.
Two teachers worked together to safeguard the students from excessive harm while the rest worked to rescue and heal the wounded students.
Hearing a teacher call out numbers one after the other, Jyorta watched the scene in a daze, exclaiming, "They are maniacs."
"I want to join that," Haesha murmured, turning excited.
"Do you like to suffer," Jyorta gazed at her in shock, involuntarily taking a step back.
"Of course not," Haesha rolled her eyes, her gaze not once detaching away from the survival enactment, "I would love to be a part of the throwing lot."
"Well, I would love to do that too," Jyorta replied, being honest, his gaze filled with longing. "But, we need to be Wave Controllers to do that at the very least."
"Wave Controllers?" Haesha turned around, looking confused. "Are they Tier 2 Espers?"
"No, they are Tier 3 Espers. We will probably be informed of this information in a couple of days." Jyorta replied, noticing students from his batch converge outside the grounds, gazing at the phenomenon. There were many exclamations from them as the teachers hurled large blocks, raising one shrill scream after the other from the Cadets.
"64, 86, 111, and 713; eliminated." As the voice resounded, four students were lifted from the dust cloud, and carried towards a raised platform on the edge of the ground, receiving treatment. As the dust cloud increased in size, it gradually spread towards his direction.
Jyorta pulled the sleeve of his shirt, covering his nose with it. He then noticed the dust cloud stopping 3 metres from him, blocked by a barrier that had appeared since long ago, unnoticed by his senses.
"Time's up!" The voice resounded as the teachers dropped the blocks of soil, retracting their psychic arms. They then emitted a uniform release of their psychic energy, slamming the dust cloud to the ground, clearing up the atmosphere.
Weary figures got up, digging through the soil, coughing. Their bodies were brown, filled with patches of green as they tried to dust themselves. Black marks coagulated on their dress, a result due to the mix between their blood and the soil.
Some students plopped to the ground, uncaring of the surrounding gazes, beginning to weep. Others shouted in pain, clutching parts of their bodies that had suffered from broken bones. But, everyone had an expression of relief, having survived the onslaught.
"Yorta…" Haesha trailed off, swallowing her saliva in fear, her eyes glued to the injured Cadets.
"It's Jyorta," Jyorta replied, swallowing his saliva, trying to pacify his shivering arms.
"Do we have to experience these exercises too? Can't we opt for a different course?"
"From what I know, courses related to martial arts are compulsory."
"We are screwed."
"Indeed."