"Well, there is are 3 double bunkers, so we will all sleep in one bed!" she said with a big smile.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep in this," Mandy murmured.
"You don't need to, the streets are always here to welcome you," Jason said with a disinterested tone while walking in the van.
"I mean, it's only one night," Ella said trying to convince herself that it won't be that bad.
Ian who didn't want to offend his aunt just entered the van without saying a word. It was only aunt Susan and Mandy left outside.
"You know, you can always make them like you, just try to be more... yourself," she told Mandy gently.
Mandy who seemed to not care about what Susan was telling her entered the van with a disgusted expression. Susan was a kind person, so she chose to ignore Mandy's impoliteness.
"Well then, let me try and get some food from Pizza hoot if you don't mind. You children just wait here, I won't belong." Susan said
Ella looked around the place, and it wasn't as dirty as she thought, despite the weird smell, the place was clean. "Where does the smell come from then?" she asked once she realized the place was too clean to have such an unpleasant smell."
"Who cares, as long as we get a place to sleep..." Jason said while claiming one of the six beds, "At the moment it's 3 pm, so what are we suppose to do until tomorrow?"
"We're supposed to present ourselves at 5 pm at Dainsleif to confirm we are still going to participate," Ella said while typing on her phone seated legs crossed on a bed.
A few minutes later, Susan appeared with 5 boxes of Pizza, one for each. 'Here you go everyone, one whole pizza for everyone!" Susan said while lifting the Pizzas in the air.
They all took one box of pizza each and started eating on their beds. Ian was on his phone, scrolling pics on Instagram, when he saw a pic that intrigued him. He later saw that Red torch, the ranger of the grand order signed his son for the Dainsleif test.
"Hey everyone, the inscriptions have started, and Red torch's son is participating!" He said excited to meet the ranger, "We gotta go now, c'mon!"
Ian rushed outside while the others were taking their time to put their shoes on. Once they were all ready, they took a taxi straight to Dainsleif school.
It only took them 20 minutes to get there, but unfortunately for Ian, the Red torch already left. "Oh for f**k sake! I knew I should've left without you guys!" Ian exclaimed angrily.
"Don't worry, you'll see him tomorrow dumbass, for now, let's go and sign up," Jason said while rubbing Ian's hair.
They were arguing so much, they didn't realize that only the entrance of the school looked like a castle. It was unbelievably large, and the door entrance was as tall as a house. They entered the building, and there was a lady with a black suit and black glasses. They went towards her to seek more information about where to sign up.
"Good afternoon ma'am, we are here for," he said before he was interrupted by the lady.
"I know what you're here, just put your name, age, birth city, signature and you give the papers back..." She said with a cold look. on her face.
They did what the lady told them to do, and when they were all done, they gave the papers back to her.
"Alright, come back tomorrow. at 8 am, and don't be late or you'll be disqualified, now get outta here." She told them while placing the papers in different folders.
Once they were done, they wanted to explore the place. So they visited many places such as Trafford Centre, University of Manchester, and even the famous soccer stadiums which were last used in 2021. Soccer, basketball and any other sports have been replaced by an extreme ricochet. This sort consists of getting the ball by any means with your glider board and putting it in the opposite team's hole.
"I think we should go home now..." Mandy said, "it's 7 pm, and we have to pass admissions tests tomorrow."
"Your right, let's head ho– uh..." Ian said before he stopped speaking because two people were facing them. They were girls, one with blonde hair, and one with ginger hair, both wearing a school uniform with a buttoned shirt, and a skirt.
"Who are you supposed to be," Jason asked with his hands in his pockets looking at them with dilated eyes.
"I saw you on news, apparently you guys are the elite of the next generation." the blonde girl said
None of them answered because they were still trying to figure what the girls wanted from them.
"Are you guys lost?" Ella said in a sympathizing tone.
"Jason, is that your name? Anyways, it appears people say you are going to be the best of the water users, let's see about that," she said with a cold voice, while she lifted her hand and made a giant arrow about 5 meters made if the water right above her.
"If you manage to catch this arrow, then I admit, your strong, but if you don't, well you die." She said with the cruellest expression on her face ever. Even her blonde friend saw she was going too far.
She launched the arrow towards Jason at 30 miles per hour, but Jason didn't flinch and he simply raised his right hand towards the water arrow and stopped it. He didn't destroy it but he stopped it.
"I should have thought of such a useful attack, I would like to thank you for adding a new attack in my inventory," he said while giving her a smile that showed her he was superior.
"Catch," he said as he redirected the attack towards the ginger girl, but unlike Jason, the ginger girl cancelled the attack, because she was the one that launched it in the first place.
"Bravo, you didn't just stop my attack, you also used it against me... I'm quite impressed, you do control water better than me, but that doesn't mean you are a better fighter than me. Being a fighter is more than just knowing how to control water, it's more important."
"Don't act like your superior to me. Deep inside, you know you don't stand a chance." Jason replied.
"See you during the tests..." She said as she was leaving and waved at them, "By the way, my name is Erza, remember it..."
Ian and Mandy who were shaking because of the attack couldn't move. On the other hand, Ella and Jason knew that the attack she launched was surely the weakest she had.
"There will be strong people during this test..." Ella told Jason.
"As Chris told me, hard work always beat talent, I would just like to remind you. You maybe have the best talent out of all of them, but it doesn't mean you are the strongest. One thing's for sure, we will always find someone stronger than us during the test, we just gotta be prepared." Jason said as he was watching the two girls leave in their expensive car.
"Ok, so all this is great, but can we leave now," Ian asked still fidgeting from the confrontation with Erza.
They all agreed, and in less than an hour, they were already at the van. Ian's aunt was already sleeping deeply, so they walked in silently, and tucked themselves in their bed.
During the night, Jason and Ian were still awake.
"Jason, do you think there will be people as powerful as that ginger-haired girl at the tests?" Ian asked while looking at the ceiling as he was sleeping in the top bed.
"There will always be, but the thing is, you can be weaker than the person, but you still can beat him. The problem is being stronger, the problem is beating your enemy. In front of one of those demons, we will have to kill it, not look to be stronger than it." Jason retorted
"I still believe in God, because he gives me hope during the dark times, we always need someone you know will always be around you, and that person can't be anyone else than him..." Jason said, "Anyways, goodnight..." Jason went to sleep, and it took Jason ten minutes after tk fall asleep. Tomorrow was the day their lives would change forever.