"Hey! Wake up already!"
Yui feels someone pat her cheek and she becomes alert. Her eyes blink open gradually. She sees three people huddled in front of her and she immediately sits straight.
"Where am I? What's going on?" She takes a quick look around. They are surrounded by tall shelving units holding a variety of tools and equipments. It is however quite scanty. She notices the rays from the sun shining on a surface about two shelves away from her. 'Must be the entrance,' she thinks to herself.
"We are about to find out," the only guy among them replies.
They are interrupted by the hissing sound of a loudspeaker.
"Students! Welcome officially to the Gloss Bodyguard Academy. I hope you liked our surprise." The announcer laughs horridly.
Yui rises to her feet as she listens. The others have also turned to the direction of the speaker and are paying rapt attention.
"You have been divided into groups of six. Your task is to find your way to the academy before noon. You have been provided with two compasses, two maps and two stopwatches, which you will find hidden in a box in your current location."
The four of them start to look around.
"I was wondering what this box was for," someone says. Yui is shocked to see a fifth person sitting in a corner far away from them.
"We should be able to divide those items," she thinks out loud. "I'll go and collect one or two. Maybe we can work this out together."
Each of them gives her a nod and she proceeds to the guy holding the box.
"We are supposed to be six. Have you seen the sixth person?" She asks when she gets to his side.
He shakes his head and opens the box. "I'll take one of each." He watches as she collects them.
"Would you like to join us? We hope to figure it out together."
Yui senses his hesitation when he doesn't reply. "You can always join us if you change your mind." She walks back to the rest of the group.
She unfolds the map and lays it on the floor next to the stopwatch and compass. It's much bigger than her own pocket map.
"It's a map of the district," one of the girls observes.
"But we don't know the exact place we are," the boy says.
Yui picks up the compass from the ground. "I'll go and check outside for any landmarks. I think I might know how to use this thing." She excuses herself and goes outside.
She notices that they are in a car dump yard and the whole area seems to be deserted. "Why would they bring us to a warehouse?" She says. She hears some noise from the loudspeaker and quickly heads back in.
"I apologize. There was a break in transmission," the announcer says.
Yui stops at the entrance as she is able to hear clearly from there.
"Not!"
Yui hears another round of laughter from the speaker.
"You have one hour and thirty minutes before the clock strikes noon. And I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but only the first two members of each group to get here will have the chance to be admitted into the academy. Your challenge begins! This entrance examination is going to be legendary!!"
Yui stays rigid contemplating on what to do. She is stuck between going on her own or working with the others.
She slaps her cheeks lightly as she chides herself for thinking about abandoning them. The moment she takes a step, she hears a ripping sound that causes her to halt.
"Look what you've done!" One of the girls shrieks. "How can we get to the academy without a map?"
"This is your fault!" The other girl retorts. "If you hadn't held it by that end, then it wouldn't have gotten torn at all."
"Well, I still have the stop-"
Yui hears the sound of something hit the floor followed by a smashing sound.
"Oh no you didn't!" The girls get into a fight.
Yui is about to go and intervene when she feels someone tug her by the arm.
"There's not much time left. We need to go."
"But we can't just leave them like that. We agreed we were going to do this together," Yui protests and removes her arm from his hold.
"They already destroyed two items. You still have the compass, don't you?"
She gives him a nod.
"If you are thinking this isn't fair, then do you think what they have done is?"
Yui presses her lips as she stops herself from overthinking.
"Come on," he beckons her and she joins him.
*
Principal Kazumi, Suzume, Miyoko, Asahi and the student representatives of the two houses; Miura Fuyuki and Hasegawa Akemi, are in the control room. They are watching the live recordings of each group from there.
"How many students are participating in the screening?" Asahi asks.
"Thirty of them," Akemi replies.
"Fuyuki, Akemi!" The principal calls.
"Yes!" They reply at once.
"The cameras are only limited to the rooms the students are transferred to and the assembly to watch which students arrive at the academy early enough. What provisions have been made for students who might fall into danger?"
"Dr Inoue is on standby. Also, students from the middle class and class 2 are patrolling all the routes connecting those places to the academy," Fuyuki replies. The principal doesn't look very pleased about the situation.
"We also have drones patrolling the area. Hima approved the deployment of the drones," Akemi adds.
Fuyuki casts a side glance at her and she smirks at him.
"You didn't inform us of your little arrangements," he
mutters so only her can hear.
"We didn't have to."
Their interaction doesn't go unnoticed by Asahi.
'I have a feeling there's something going on with these two. They are always at each other's neck especially when it comes to proving themselves. To see them collaborate on something like the entrance screening is quite unexpected,' Asahi thinks.
"Excuse me. I'll be right back." Asahi gets up from his seat and exits the room.