Nope. Miso cut through seven of the thirty pipes.
This was the worst score so far. He was the only kid to have failed the first test.
The crowd roars. Not in surprise or approval, but in laughter. What did this clown think? Joining the hunters with barely any offense?
Johann laughs so hard that his belly hurts. "OH GOD! OH GOD!"
Ichika puts her hands on her head due to the secondhand embarrassment. Why did he even try to get the permit for just work experience? He could have saved himself all this embarrassment. Even his sword striking technique was completely off.
The P.E teacher, Mr Patti tries his best not to laugh. "He…hehe….umm…take your seat…pfft."
Miso smiles awkwardly while his face is bright red from the embarrassment, nothing else he can do.
He walks back to the seat, where he sees all the other test takers giggling, looking at him.
They think of him as something even lesser than the crowd members, they think of him as a clown. He's not a human with thoughts and feelings, just a source of their entertainment.
Miso tries not to dwell on these thoughts, but it doesn't leave him. Everyone thinks that he's a loser.
He looks at them. They're still giggling. Except for Ichika, who looks so disgusted that she won't even look at his face.
Johann gets up from his seat and walks up to Miso.
He pats Miso on the shoulder and says, "Bro that was so hilarious! Do that again next time!"
"Uhh…I'm trying my hardest to pass." Miso says, while putting on a fake smile.
"Oh, are you for real?" Johann looks at him for a second, then starts laughing again.
He laughs so hard that he bends down from his stomach cramping.
"Oh my…oh my god I can't…. That was your best? Hahahahaha! Bro, you're so hilarious."
"Hehe…. thanks." Miso wants to run away from this school, and possibly this country.
"Uh, anyways…. here's the next test." Mr Patti snaps all of them back to reality.
"Stand within this square." He says and points at a 1/2-meter-long square bound by tape.
"Stay within this small square and make sure no more than five more balls hit you. You can defend or evade from them." Mr Patti says. "That cannon there will shoot balls randomly." He points at the cannon at the other end of the field.
"Alright, let's start in the same order." Cristopher is up first.
"Ready?" Mr Patti asks Cristopher.
"Yeah." Cristopher replies.
"Start!"
SQUELCH
An eye pops out of Cristopher's arm.
SQUELCH
SQUELCH
SQUELCH
SQUELCH
…
His arm is covered in eyes.
BOOM
The first ball is shot from the cannon.
The arm automatically catches it, as if it has a mind of its own.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The crowd yells ecstatically.
Someone screams, "I LOVE YOU!"
"I'm allowed to catch it, right?" Cristopher turns to Mr Patti.
"Yes."
"Sweet."
Cristopher catches every ball effortlessly. 20/20. Full marks.
The audience claps and cheers as if they're watching a movie.
"As expected from the genius." Mr Patti tells proudly.
"Anyways, NEXT!"
…..
All the kids pass, with the worst score being 15/20.
"NEXT"
Ichika doesn't seem to activate any abilities, but she dodges every single ball effortlessly- as if she can predict the future. She dodges every ball, even though she's only meant to move in a ½ meter length.
Johann lays down on the floor and relaxes as the blood wall he made keeps the balls away.
Wei Lim stands still. He doesn't even move. All of the balls mysteriously curve around him and miss him. None of them even seem to be shot towards the square.
"Next!"
Miso's turn.
The crowd giggles.
Everyone's waiting with bated breath, ready to see what he's going to do.
'I'm not embarrassing myself this time.' Miso thought. He's going all out.
The only ability that might even remotely be able to help him is his sense sacrifice.
Shadow hiding isn't useful, wall climbing isn't useful, invisibility isn't useful, camera access isn't useful, he doesn't have his dash yet. The swords…..yeah, they might also come in handy.
Miso pulls his sword out.
He's going to go all out. Every single thing he's learnt all these years, every feature use, every exercise, every book he read. This next attempt is going to be his best.
"Ready?" Mr Patti asks him.
"Yeah."
"Okay…..start!"
All senses will be temporarily sacrificed to Eyesight.
Now Miso cannot hear, he cannot taste, he cannot feel, he cannot smell.
But he can see clearly. He can even see what is behind him. The crowd behind him getting ready to laugh, Ichika staring at him in embarrassment. His PE teacher to his right, and the cannon to his front.
He can not only see just clearly, but his eyesight has also been boosted to 300%.
This means that Miso can see the slightly red tip of Ichika's nose even though she is 50 meters BEHIND him. He can clearly see the strands of hair in Mr. Patti's moustache even though he's 30 meters to his right. The colors are more vibrant and vivid. He can see everything in 360 degrees, and he can see them all 3 times better.
The first ball, coming to the left.
Miso dodges it.
The crowd goes "NOOOOO" They wanted to see Miso do something funny, not be competent.
Second ball, to the center.
Miso dodges it.
Third ball, left.
Shit, too late for Miso to try to move. Thankfully, he has his sword. He puts his sword in the way and manages to hit the ball away, but since he didn't hold his sword properly, his sword hits him in the nose.
The crowd laughs.
Fourth ball. Center.
Shit. Miso hits it away with his sword again, but almost trips. He tries to regain his balance before it's too late.
Fifth ball. Center.
Fuck, Miso hasn't caught his balance yet. The ball hits him in the stomach.
HEURGH!
The air gets knocked out of Miso and he lands on his knees, on the ground, gasping for air.
Sixth ball. Right. Right where his face is.
BAM
The ball hits him in his face, while he was trying to catch his breath.
Miso could clearly see the crowd dying laughing. But he couldn't hear it.
Ichika isn't watching anymore, but is red with embarrassment.
Johann collapses on the floor laughing.
Wei Lim and Cristopher giggle.
Seventh ball. Center. Straight to his nuts.
BAM
Thankfully, since all his other senses were shut down, he couldn't feel pain. But the ball hit his nuts with such force that Miso grabbed it in fear to check if his balls were seriously damaged.
He forgot about the other ball.
Eighth ball. Stomach.
He collapses.
Ninth ball. Face.
Tenth ball. Right on his mouth.
Eleventh ball. Stomach.
Miso gets into a fetal position, trying to protect himself from the balls. He turns away from the balls, letting them hit his back.
He covers his had with his hands, trying to act as if none of this is happening.
But unfortunately, his boosted vision showed him how everyone was laughing at how much of a loser he was in 4k Ultra-HD.
The P.E teacher didn't even tell them to shut the cannon down because even he was dying laughing at Miso getting hit.
Finally, the twentieth ball hits Miso in the back and he could finally stop laying like this.
He sees waves of laughter coming from everyone watching. But he couldn't hear it….yet.
Everything was silent. He did sacrifice his hearing and other senses temporarily for boosted eyesight after all.
Miso closes his eyes. He wished he could disappear off this planet.