Rei tightened his grip around his gun, closing one eye to aim. He momentarily stopped his breath, granting himself additional accuracy, before finally pulling the trigger. The explosive sound hit his ears and he could feel the recoil traveling through his arms. While the shot had hit it's target, it was far from perfect.
"Ohhh, at least you managed to hit it!" Akari exclaimed, watching him shoot at the round, flat and colorful practice target, which was situated about 15 meters away from them. Rei had hit the outer ring. It was harder to aim with a handgun that he had previously imagined. The weapon he had used was a hybrid handheld railgun. That meant that it should switch between two modes; semiautomatic and automatic. For the past few days, the class had gone through intensive lessons regarding various firearms and the technology surrounding them. That's how Rei had first learned how to disassemble a few basic guns, how to properly reload, how to fire the gun and most of all, gun safety. The boy clicked open the bottom lid of the gun, taking out the shiny, somewhat rectangular blue object that was inside of it.
"Looks like I still have quite a lot left. This stuff lasts forever..." he mumbled to himself. Caerulium. This is what the modern railguns would use as ammunition. It was a dense , artificially created resource which would be stuffed into the gun's magazine. Inside, there was a mechanism to cut off a piece of the block, before that piece was sucked into the gun chamber through electromagnetic forces, where it was then accelerated through the same technique, shooting the bullet out of the barrel. This allowed a gun to hold far more ammunition than when using traditional metal bullets. Not to mention that, thanks to Caerulium, the size of the bullet was able to reduced quite a lot. With traditional bullets, the most important part of the damage was the mass and the velocity - after all, that's how the energy behind the impact was created. Caerulium bullets were different. While the blue resource was extremely durable when it came to physical impacts and strains, it had a distinct weakness to heat, which was taken advantage of when it came to firearms. When the bullet was being shot through the air at immense speeds, the friction with the air would create heat, causing the bullet to light on fire and giving it the recognizable, blue light. The heat would destabilize the material, and once the bullet made impact with another object, it would collapse into itself, releasing a lot of energy as it caused a sort of miniature explosion. That way, even a small bullet could easily burn itself through armor and flesh, causing immense damage on the way. A pretty scary thing to imagine, especially looking at the dark, burnt holes the bullet left in the practice target - holes that were much larger than the bullet itself.
That said, Caerulium wasn't only used for it's destructive potential. After all, it was originally synthesized to be used as armor, and it still was used as such. A small, metal plate with a handle and a trigger on it, which, when triggered, would expand into a large, thin, blue shield made of the blue wonder-material. Due to it being able to withstand an impressive amount of impact despite being very thin, and therefore also lightweight, it was a very popular tool. That said, if the shield was made out of pure Caerulium, any type of heat, like that of blue bullets, would burn through the shield immediately. That was why the shield was layered with a Flame Retardant, a liquid which would form a protectively layer against the heat. Obviously, this thin layer could only withstand so much, so if the same spot would be hit multiple times, there was a possibility of the shield breaking, making it rather inconsistent. That said, it was perfect for storming short amounts of landmass or withholding a few moments of gunfire in an emergency.
Not to mention that this material and a lot of other modern warfare technology was invested or lead by the creator of the Kaizen Simulation - the one armed genius, Enomoto Yasao. That's why Rei had recognized the name when he had been reading through the Simulation catalogue; this man had also contributed a lot to the smart home technologies Rei's grandpa was using. That said, not much is known about the genius himself, other than his name, that he had one arm, and that he was dead. Due to his high importance, the military operation tried to keep his identity hidden as much as possible. It was only due to inside leaks that the public got to know his name and the fact that he was one-armed, and even after his death, not further information was released about his identity. And yet, all the privacy measurement seemed to have been in vain, as one day he had been found dead with a large hole through his head. The official report stated suicide as the cause of death, yet most of the public agreed that that was just a coverup of some sort, and that there was a grand conspiracy behind his death. Either way, Rei didn't know if he should be happy or sad that a genius like that was dead. Sure, he made a lot of advances for humanity, but...
He looked at the holes in the colorful, round plate.
Were those advances really positive?
"What are you doing, just standing there and staring into the void?" Akari inquired.
"Ugh, my head is so full. It hurts."
"What?"
"Break," Rei simply said, before sitting down into the grass. Everything here felt so real, even the sky above him looked realistic. Even after training in here for the past two weeks, it was still hard to grasp that it was all a simulation.
"That's not how you clear your head! You should instead do something fun! Let's go explore and see what the others are doing!" Akari said, clearly getting excited. Uh oh, Rei might've chosen the wrong dialogue option.
"No."
"Come on! I am a professional procrastinator and break-taker, so listen to me!" she groaned, grabbing Rei's hand and pulling on his arm.
"I don't want to end up like you though..."
"What a rude thing to say! Stand up, soldier!"
She put more force into her pull, eventually forcing Rei to get up on his feet, as he feared she might rip out his arm otherwise.
"You guys are coming too, right?" Akari turned around to face the two girls next to her. Initially, Rei had been training alone, and Akari was walking around with two other classmates when she spotted him. Of course, she then decided that she'd join him, probably just because she knew that he'd be annoyed at it. It felt weird, like he was suddenly part of the popular girls group.
That said, Rei didn't know much about the two girls. He knew that one of them was Akki's sister, a shy, calm girl with blonde twintails. She shared her brother's blue eyes, but unlike him, she didn't get on Rei's nerves at all; quite the opposite actually. She was usually very polite and knew when to keep her distance, which Rei appreciated. If he remembered correctly, her name was Tenji Yume, but he wasn't too sure.
The other girl was even more of a mystery to him. She had white, probably dyed, holder length hair and was probably the shortest member of the class. Unlike the Tenji sister, she was more similar to Akari, as she was rather energetic and loud in class. Sometimes Rei thinks that she was even weirder - of course, he hasn't really interacted with her all that much, so that impression solely came from how she acted with other people.
"Oh course! I'm sick of shooting practice!" the white haired girl exclaimed. For your information, she has been shooting for about twenty minutes. After Tenji nodded her head as well, the group left their spot, and with Akari in the front, dragging Rei along, they made their way through the grassy hills. Explosions and voices could be heard from all sides.
"What if someone accidentally hits us? What if an explosive blows us all up!?" the weird girl said, putting rather gory imagery into Rei's head.
"I-I'm sure everyone is cautious about not endangering anyone... right?" Tenji replied, but she didn't sound all too confident.
"Of course! The people here aren't stupid enough to-"
Boom. The ground, just a few meters in front of the group, went up in flames in a loud bang. If Rei hadn't gone deaf from the explosion, he definitely did after the white haired girl yelled into his ear. The girls all jumped backwards, with only Rei standing perfectly still.
"The hell was that!?" Akari shouted at nobody in particular.
"Sorry," a voice emerged, with a black haired, tall guy stepped through the smoke and dirt. His clothes we a mess, with his jacket half hanging off his shoulder and his shirt only half tucket in. The wavy hair, which overlapped over his round glasses on the right side of his face, gave him a rather unique look. He was also a member of Class 1-C, and another person that Rei basically knew nothing about. He knew his name and that he wasn't very talkative, but that was about it.
"Isamu! You almost killed us!" the white haired girl approached him, angry.
"Sorry, I was playing around with explosives."
"'Playing around'...?"
"Yes, I like the sound and visuals."
"Can you not talk about it like it's a movie?"
Hitofumi Isamu looked down on his hands, where he was carrying a bag in one hand and a trigger in the order.
"It's not my fault, it's so interesting. Makes me want to blow someone up."
"Don't say something so scary!"
"I was joking," he said with a deadpan expression.
"It's hard to tell with you... anyway, come with us! We're going to check on the others, and maybe spy on the other classes!"
Rei hadn't heard anything about spying, but he guessed that it'd at least make sense to get an idea of what their future opponents were up to.
"Do I have to? I want to keep experimenting with explosives."
"Yes you have to! You can blow up the students of the other classes," the white haired girl casually offered, turning around and leading the group together with Akari.
"Women are scary," Hitofumi mentioned as he walked past Rei. Watching Akari and the white haired girl chatting, who were constantly making sure that the others are following, Rei knew exactly what he meant.
The growing group made their way up a grassy hill, which served as a pretty good outlook position. Akari and the white haired girl laid down into the grass, probably to try to hide as they watched the other classes from afar. Tenji Yume followed suit, while Rei and Hitofumi just stood there.
"What are you, a kid? There's no need to play spies," Rei said, standing next to Akari.
"You wouldn't understand," Akari said, wiggling her index finger, with a smug grin, "this is part of our training. It's important to be able to spy on your enemies without being spotted, Agent Kawakami."
"Don't call me that."
The both of them put their attention to the people below, which all seemed to be part of Class A. They were chatting around, with the majority of them trying out various firearms. and then, in the middle of them, stood Hyoudo. As usual, her outfit stood out. It looked like a mix of a traditional swordman's robe and a modern military outfit. The dark fabric was covered in red patterns, sticking to the usual color scheme of the Kaizen Academy.
All students were currently wearing their 'combat uniform', which was different from the clothes they would wear during classes. The fabric was far more durable and heavy, and the girls skirts were replaced by baggy pants. Of course, each student had the option to customize this outfit, as long as the academy approved it.
"Ah! Akari!" a voice from below yelled towards them, with one of the girls waving at them.
"Shit, our hiding spot has been found. This is all your fault, Agent Kawakami," Akari said, in a forced serious tone.
"Don't call me that."
Rei was hoping that they'd finally return to their spot now, but instead, Akari jumped back on her legs, walking down the hill. Rei really didn't feel like talking to Class A, but before he knew it, Akari had grabbed his wrist, pulling him down the hill, with both of them only making it half way through before stumbling and rolling the rest of the distance. Luckily the grass was soft.
As Rei felt too stupid to get up, Akari immediately ran to her friends, engaging in lively chatter.
"How does she act that friendly with the students of the other classes? She really is a mystery," Hitofumi worded his thoughts after faceplanting into the grass next to Rei. They could hear the white girl laughing at them.
"...Yeah," Rei simply replied, watching Akari laugh and joke around like it's nothing. He wondered if he could act like that too?
No, the thought of Rei going around joking and laughing with everyone like an extroverted menace gave him goosebumps.
"You are Kawakami Rei, right? Your fight against Tenji was an interesting watch," a calm voice talked to him, and as Rei looked up, none other than Hyoudo stood before him. Her stern, violet eyes, her traditional outfit and her serious stance made Rei feel a little silly as he was lying in the grass, so he quickly sat up.
"Yeah, I am..." he replied, only for his eyes to wander down, looking at what Hyoudo was holding. A sword. A wide, dark sword. It had glassy looking lines spread across it's thick blade. The lines met at the tip of the weapon, spreading and branching out as they ran along the blackish metal. At the end of the handle, there was some kind of thin tube or cable attached, which came out of a weird looking backpack that the girl was wearing. It reminded Rei of gas tanks that scuba divers would wear, except that the tanks were partly covered by fabric and also had various pockets attacked to it. Meanwhile, there was a silver, headband looking thing attached to her wooden hair ornament, which held her hair in a ponytail. It looked similar to a pair of headphones, except it was simply attached to the ears, not actually covering or entering them. What a weird get-up.
"What are you wearing?" Rei blurted out.
"Ah, this? Don't worry about it, I know it looks a little intimidating."
No, rather than intimidating, it just looked strange. Though from a certain perspective it did look kind of cool, and the more Rei stared at her, the more she looked like some kind of cyber-samurai. That said, Rei had no clue what the head piece did, and the sword looked anything but normal either. It made him excited to fight against Class A.
That said, that was still a long time away, as it was the last class battle to be held. They'd first have to go against Class B, and then Class D. But it didn't matter; they'd definitely have to win all of them. It was a direct confrontation, a direct, fighting focused battle. Rei's pride wouldn't allow him to lose.
Then again, it all depended on his classmates...
...were they really going to be okay?
"I wish I could've faced off against you too, Kawakami. Maybe next time," Hyoudo declared, before bowing lightly and walking off. She was similar to the Director, in the way that they both stuck to their own pace. It kind of caught Rei off-guard.
"What a gathering," a far too familiar voice rang up next. What the hell was going on? Lately Rei has been constantly talking to people, he hoped that this wouldn't keep up, or else all his energy might go into social interactions.
Though the person who the voice belonged to was someone Rei had spent too much time with anyway.
"I thought Hyoudo's outfit was weird, but you definitely outmatch her."
Akki was clothed in a long, baggy, dark firefighter outfit. His head was covered by a respiratory protection mask, with the transparent glass, that would normally go over his face, being folded upwards. Similar to Hyoudo, he was wearing a backpack with what seemed to be gas tanks inside it. But that wasn't quite right. Because over his shoulder, he was carrying the final piece, which explained the rest of the outfit: a flamethrower.
"Shut up, it looks cool. Not to mention that whatever fabric this outfit is made of, it's pretty insane. I can barely feel the heat of the flames through them."
"Why a flamethrower? That seems useless."
"It's not, it's cool."
"And?"
"It's cool."
Why can't there be anyone normal? An explosive-obsessed maniac and a flame spouting bastard; Rei really didn't want to know what his remaining classmates were up to. That said, he'd also slowly have to decide on his firearm choice. The class only had a certain amount of points available, which they could use to buy items during the class battles. It was decided that for now, they'd split up the points evenly among the eight people. Of course, that meant that they weren't able to put their money together and buy something bigger, but if someone had an idea or strategy that would make that necessary, they'd readjust the point distribution. Rei didn't think that was necessary though.
His points should be enough to get him a decent amount of equipment, and that should guarantee his win. After all, Rei wanted to make sure to be one of the best. If he himself wouldn't be able to take on three or four enemies by himself, or assure his class's victory, then he'd just have to work harder. He'd learn with each fight, he'd train until exhaustion every day, all to bag those three wins.
It felt like there was a milestone right in front of him. Just a few more steps, and he'd finally be able to see a good amount of progress. The upcoming battles would decide if Rei was climbing or stumbling.