~Third person POV~
Winter was slowly approaching, and the school timings were adjusted accordingly. By the time the sun's rays were shining in the halls of this hostel, it was already past nine in the morning.
An old lady was taking her sweet time cleaning the dining floor, leaving a mild phenyl smell. She was the landlady here and spent most of her time overlooking the needs of the students there.
"The building sure gets lonely when the kids leave," she said.
Whether it be them arguing, eating together, or just roaming around for no apparent reason, this woman had always found joy in watching those kids. Just by their presence, the place becomes lively.
Buzz Buzz
Her phone, which she had put on the hall table was vibrating when she looked over. And due to this, the phone was slowly shifting into a position where it might fall. She swiftly reached out and caught the device right before it sent itself over the edge.
"Phew! A close one," she uttered while picking up the incoming call.
The caller was Gary, a homeroom teacher at the very school that was responsible for managing the funds for this hostel.
"Hello." The voice of the young man came in from the device.
"Nice to hear from you after a while, Mr. Gary. How are you doing?" The lady asks him.
"I am perfectly fine. I was calling to see if Eric was there at the hostel. From what I know, he was reported to be sick and was not in a condition to come to school today."
"The boy's sick? I'll check immediately."
She immediately moved towards the boy's room. The sound of her slippers echoed through the walls of the hall before she stopped in front of the door.
"Boy, are you in there?" She called out but there was no response.
There was no lock on the door, so she tried to get it open. The door didn't open. She realized that Eric was probably inside as the door was locked from there.
She quietly put her ears on the door to listen in and heard light snores coming from the inside. A sigh of relief escaped her and she answered Gary's calls on the phone.
"Don't worry, he's there. I think he's a bit sick and probably some snoring because of that, I'll make sure to leave him with some soup."
"Thank you," said the young man before he cut the call and left the landlady to do the rest.
She turned around before leaving the boy not to disturb his sleeping time.
Inside the said room, there was a plank right below the door handle and a small recorder near it. Everything there was to be expected, but the very person who was living in that room was absent.
***
~Ichika POV~
Eric did not come today. He had a breakdown after he failed to harness Kai last night during the training.
"Leaving him alone was a mistake," I couldn't help but think.
That's why I went to his room last night. Taylor and Kelan were there at the door to his room, so I thought he'd be stable again. But that had not been enough.
I just wish he didn't do anything rash under a panic attack. As long as he was okay, I could move forward without worries.
Mr. Gary had already contacted the hostel and from what he knew, Eric was okay but taking some of his time to rest. I sent Eric a message and I'll know what he thinks of it later when he gets up.
As much as I was worried about him, there were other things to attend to.
The class was over and we had a short break before going outside.
We had some time on our hands so I took it upon myself to start a discussion. After making sure no one was eavesdropping upon us, I instructed one person to see the door and make sure to warn us if someone comes our way.
"There are two things on our agenda today. The first one is regarding the training. I have received a letter from the Instructor."
I showed them the envelope, which was there on one of the desks when we arrived in class today.
"It's the same envelope as the one we received in the hostel," Alex made an observation.
"I already went through its contents."
"What does it say?" asked Katie.
"After we had completed the necessary portions of our training, there will be a small examination before we are allowed to use Kai outside training."
As of this moment, we do not have that permission from the instructor.
"Will he himself come to take the exam, like in the screening?" This time it was Colin who asked that question.
During the screening, it was the instructor who had taken the charge to prepare all tests but even with that, he did not reveal his identity.
"No. Simon will be taking the said examination," I told him right after which he said in disappointment, "it would have been a good opportunity to land a punch on him." As much as I like that thought, I don't think any of us are in a condition to carry it out.
"So that's all for the said test. The second thing I want to bring up is about the missions we conduct."
Until now, we have been running a huge risk of encountering the police or even the Vizao (Special Forces trained in Kai to fight demons) whenever we go out on a mission. I have a method to resolve that.
"I call this strategy the 'Static watch'," and I will take my time explaining it to them.
This type of mission will not be focused on annihilating a demon, but more than that it will be focused on determining the source of the demon. As long as we stay focused on the wrong thing, we will never make progress with the assignment.
Based on a proper analysis we determine an area where a demon is likely to come. The said area of interest will be under constant watch from the teams we deploy for it. Their job will be to scout the activities in that region and only observe the situation.
If they focus just on that, they'll have a higher chance of locating the source of the demon and following it around to find more information. Of course, the more people we deploy, the larger the area that will be covered.
Since we will just be observing and not directly involved with the situation, it also reduces the risk we carry of unnecessarily getting entangled with the authorities.
I don't need to remind anyone of what happened when Christine was almost caught.
"So basically a pre-determined mission with extensive preparation all just to be able to gather more information," That was how Trystan summed it up.
"Not interested." It was needless to think who dropped that comment.
I kind of expected this, but I still didn't like it. Ugh, he's annoying.
"Care to tell why?" I asked Colin.
If he said something remotely sensible like 'You might be risking all the members on one single mission where we might be ambushed' I would be ready to discuss it with him. But Colin is not interested in offering a proper answer as well.
"I won't go out with idiots who are nothing but a burden," he hoisted his bag while standing up from his seat and walked out of the class leaving the rest of us to decide.
"His team is not going to be participating, is what I assume at this point," Katie's the one who is arguing with him but it looks like she is too tired to do so at this point.
The good thing about Colin is the fact that his uncooperativeness is predictable. Since I can predict it, I can take measures against it beforehand. I had finally received the reply to the message I had sent to Eric.
'I'll see what I can do.' was what he had sent.