"LET'S FREAKING GOOOOO!!" Viktor screamed inside his room as he read the notification displayed by his ID card.
[Congratulations Viktor Megara! You're among the few participants to make it to the last phase!
Your rank is: 83/128
The next phase will start today at 5 pm.
Your first match is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am in ring B.
A special transport for you is set to leave at 8 am towards the stadium where the final phase will take place.
Your designated waiting room is Room 43]
In another room, a grin formed in the face of Ilya.
[Congratulations Ilya Basset! You're among the few participants to make it to the last phase!
Your rank is: 78/128
The next phase will start today at 5 pm.
Your first match is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am in ring C.
A special transport for you is set to leave at 8 am towards the stadium where the final phase will take place.
Your designated waiting room is Room 67]
Inside his room, Jake's eyes glowed with happiness.
"YESSSS!!" he exclaimed.
[Congratulations Jake Weyer! You're among the few participants to make it to the last phase!
Your rank is: 40/128
The next phase will start today at 5 pm.
Your first match is scheduled for today at 8 pm in ring B.
A special transport for you is set to leave at 6 pm towards the stadium where the final phase will take place.
Your designated waiting room is Room 32]
******
Ilya was standing in front of the cafeteria, looking absentmindedly at the notification.
'I didn't think I would make it this far,' she thought proud of herself.
Just then.
"ILYA!" someone screamed her name.
She quickly turned around just to see Viktor jumping to hug her.
"I can't believe we classified," he said holding back tears of joy while holding her tight.
Unable to move, Ilya turned so red it seemed all the blood in her body had suddenly decided to head for her face.
After a second, Viktor calmed down, realized he had hugged Ilya without thinking and jumped back.
Ilya looked downward, her hair covering her blushed face.
"I…Uhmm… S-sorry I wasn't thinking."
Ilya's hand started twitching. Noticing Ilya's silence, danger sirens went off inside Viktor's head.
"Y-you see I was so happy I just had to do something. I couldn't contain mys—"
BONK
When Jake arrived at the cafeteria he noticed Viktor crouching on the ground while holding his head and Ilya standing beside him and looking away, not showing her face.
"It hurts…" Viktor muttered.
"Everything alright?"
Viktor gave Jake a thumbs-up while Ilya simply nodded, still not showing her face. Jake was confused about their behavior but he decided not to ask.
"Congratulations on your ranking," Ilya told Jake with a smile as she finally turned around. Her face had finally regained its natural color.
"Yeah man, congrats!" Viktor said as he stood up.
He quickly glanced at Ilya who seemed to have gone back to normal and let out an internal sigh.
'At least she doesn't seem mad anymore,' he thought.
"Congrats to you too! I can't believe the three of us made it this far," Jake said as they entered the cafeteria.
"I thought I was going to die during the second phase," Viktor said.
"I bet they had to pull you out from a pool of your own piss," Ilya mocked with a smirk.
"..."
Just as Viktor was about to retort, the slight pain coming from his head stopped him from doing so.
"Whoah, it's weird seeing you so quiet," Jake chuckled.
Jake's remark made Ilya feel bad, she had also acted without thinking and hit Viktor.
"Nice, a group just left a table," Jake exclaimed as he rushed to the free table, leaving Ilya and Viktor behind. He successfully secured the table and started ordering his food, while Ilya and Viktor walked at their own pace.
"Next time don't hug me so suddenly," Ilya muttered, she looked away, hiding her slightly blushed face.
'???' Viktor was completely taken aback.
The food was served even faster than in their academy and it tasted even better, but that was to be expected from the HSA.
The three of them started sharing their experiences from the preliminary phase and exchanging advice.
"Man, I wish Seth could be here too," Jake commented changing the atmosphere.
The comment seemed to sadden Ilya and Viktor too. None of the three had heard from him for around a month now.
"Yeah… He'd have some top-notch fighting tips too," Viktor added.
Ilya nodded.
"Let's not depress ourselves, I'm sure he's fine and counting on us to do our best," Ilya said.
"Plus, if he's not able to awaken his ability, it'd really help him to have some strong connections in the HSA that could land him a good job. Let's do our best so we can help him too."
Ilya agreed with Viktor while Jake remained silent.
"Do you guys think he'll ever be able to awaken his ability?" Jake asked.
The question took Viktor and Ilya by surprise.
"I mean we want him to but…" Ilya started.
"I thought the time he took off the school was him trying to come to terms with the idea he wouldn't," Viktor continued a little less tactfully.
'I've thought that too, though I tried to deny it. After all, no one tries as hard as him, no one works as hard as him, so why should he be the one not to awaken an ability,' Jake thought as he remembered every time he saw Seth training after school hours or every time he came to school with wounds from training in the gym close to his house. 'Even though every day that passed reduced his chances of awakening his ability, even though every day at the academy reminded him of his condition, he always smiled and remained positive. So why should his bad luck completely disregard his efforts?'
******
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
From an aircraft hovering in the sky, a girl stared at the chaos below her. She was around 17 years old, she herself didn't even know for sure. Her head and upper face were wrapped in bandages.
Abilities flew from one building to another and explosions tore the already destroyed city apart. Espers were dying on the ground, yet she couldn't feel anything from it, after all, her whole world was painted in a grayscale.
She was standing at the edge of the open cargo door, but she wasn't scared of falling. A woman placed a hand on her shoulder.
"This is a test, the board of directors wants to make sure you'll be useful to the New World. Needless to say, they'll send you back if they're not satisfied with the results," the woman explained. "I tried to convince them not to but—"
"I'll do it," the girl answered plainly.
The woman grinned.
"Very well. Your mission is simple: kill all of the enemy forces."