After a few hours passed listening to German Barns' motivational speech, we found ourselves headed toward our various dormitories, to get some rest for the remainder of the day.
Stepping out from that furnace of a hall, I looked around and saw a good number of us were sweating profusely.
Some had beads of sweat on their face and a number of them were drenched with it.
As the little breeze outside touched our bodies, we felt a soothing cold calm that tended to our discomfort.
I heaved a sigh as I journeyed toward the hostel like several of my mates.
There was a reason for my sigh regardless, being that I knew Bright was trying his best to catch up to me from behind.
If he succeeds in doing so, he would jump on me with profound enthusiasm and make the both of us fall to the ground.
I wonder how someone could be that energetic on their first day, much less toward a total stranger.
I wasn't going to have that anyway and so, I started to countdown in silence, targeting exactly when he would make body contact with me and when he would attempt to do so… I would dodge.
Not long afterwards, I heard his joyous chant of victory as he leapt into the air, his shadow growing bigger and bigger with each second that went by.
Bright Holden was already close.
"There you are, roomie!" he exclaimed, the arms of his shadow spreading out wide.
Bright descended with hopes of landing on my body but quite unfortunately for the young man, I foresaw this coming and sidestepped, leaving him crashing down on bare ground.
Seeing Bright on the floor, I looked at him and released another sigh, "Watch it, man."
As I was still scolding him, he turned his face toward me and the facial expression that I saw had me weak and short of words.
'Is he crying?'
"My face!!" Bright yelled out. "I'm gonna break out! No no no!"
I facepalmed at this sight of Bright.
Perhaps I should have even allowed him to land on top of me like before, that was a better sight to behold than what was happening before my eyes right now.
His face was smeared with dust from the ground and turned red as it seemed every drop of blood in his body rushed to his face.
As he yet lamented, a line of blood dripped from his left nostril, triggering a slight cringe within me.
"Dude," I said to him, pointing to my left nostrils. "You have—"
"My face!!" he cried out again, paying me no heed with tears flowing generously from his eyes.
"Dude, you have blood right there," I tried to let him know for the second time but it seemed he was more bothered about the dirt on his face.
It was getting frustrating and I couldn't deal with Bright any longer.
I massaged my forehead and shook my head, gross disappointment etched on my face.
'Ah, fuck. Now, I have to get used to his dramatic ass all over again. Nay, not today, man. Not today.'
Saying this in my mind, I turned frontward and left the boy to continue wallowing on the floor as much as he liked.
"Hey, man! Won't you help me out at least?" he said, his pitiable face shooting at me like a child seeking the help of his parents.
I halted and gave him a sidelong glance.
Of course, he wanted attention from me.
I knew that but that didn't mean that I was willing to give it to him.
After a short pause and silence, he turned around and continued to walk forward.
"You can crawl and abase yourself on the ground for as long as you like. I'm not picking you up and I'm not sure any other person intends to do the same," I told him, lifting my eyes to look at the other recruits who walked past us, minding their businesses.
"You have feet, Bright… use them before you lose them."
Damn, that was some fire quote I made up on the spot!
Well, forget all that. That was just a facade for me to escape Bright's plan.
In the past, he had done something mischievous and I was not going to fall for it again.
After he landed on me and we both fell, I had risen quickly, and quite angrily, but Bright still went ahead to ask that I give him a hand.
Tch! I stupidly fell for it. As he took my hand, he pulled me back to the ground a second time.
Right now, I was a hundred per cent sure that was what was going through his head.
Anyways, I felt the fire of my spontaneous quote right inside my chest and the inner me boomed with brilliant energy at my own intelligence.
My words left Bright with a sour expression on his face.
He was struck with an instant dose of cluelessness and couldn't help but stare at me ceaselessly as I continued to walk.
Bright blinked several times as he gazed at me cluelessly. 'What the fuck is wrong with this dude?' he thought.
'Such a sick bastard.'
After a few minutes of staying on the ground by himself and watching fellow recruits walk past him without a care in the world or even an iota of inclination to help him up, he rose to his feet and dusted himself.
'Fine. I will get up myself. All that motivational speech instead of lending me a hand. Tsk!'
Bright shook his head and exhaled, blending into the crowd of recruits that were headed back to the dormitories.
Even if he wished to deny it, I had been right because I knew how this world worked.
A few of us, recruits, did too. However, most didn't and they were going also find out, sooner or later, the hard way
Our current world thrived on the saying: "Survival of the fittest".
Not the richest.
Not the poorest.
Not the weakest.
Not the strongest.
Not the smartest.
Only those who are fit and have equipped themselves properly and adequately for the most possible dire situation at every possible time will survive.
Even if Bright wanted to refute my words to him, he couldn't. At the back of his mind he knew what I told him was the truth and he had seen it.
No one cared for another and if that was the case, one had to care for themselves.
The walk from the blazing hall to the dormitories in the Eastern Wing of the Cube was not a very long one, but it wasn't short either.
Maybe I was feeling it because I was walking alone.
The Eastern Wing of the Cube housed many structures and essential facilities offering the domestic services which we needed for our daily living.
The idea was that once one entered the Cube, you cannot leave until you graduate, except under special circumstances.
However, these 'special' conditions, whenever granted, were most of the time given to the descendants of the silver spoon families.
Only those ones had the power and influences that could click the right buttons to get leave on these special cases granted.
At the same time, it was not that easy even for their calibre of persons.
Anyways, the dormitories were only one set of structures in the Eastern Wing of the Cube.
There was a large mall that housed several stores as well, a park and playground, a small field etc.
Most of the things we would need in our day-to-day activities were in proximity to us.
Naturally, one could see why there was no need to leave since everything we would possibly want could be found within the Cube.
Reaching the gates that led into the male dormitory, two men dressed in black uniforms stood guard and examined the male recruits one after the other before letting them inside with their luggage.
I didn't have much with me aside from one leather bag that contained some clothes so my search was going to be quick.
"Your ID?" the older of the two guards requested.
I took out my cube and showed them and after a quick assessment, I was released with my name registered into the Dormitory Catalogue.
As I entered the dorm and climbed the stairs toward my room, I felt an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia once again.
Everything came flooding back into my head like it was just yesterday.
As I reached my door, following the instructions that German had given about how to operate the cube, which I already knew, I muttered, "Card Mode."
Hearkening to my voice, the black cube in my palm twisted and turned as it took on a new form, stretching itself until it became what I had instructed it to be—a key card.
I slotted the black key card into the appropriate slit on the door.
Click~!
After pushing in a few more details and getting a green checkmark, it opened up and I entered.
Collecting my breath, I looked around the room, checking out every nook and crank which my eyes could see as I looked at the door.
It was still as beautiful and perfectly arranged as ever.
Of course, I knew this room.
I had stayed here for a long time before graduating from the Cube.
However, after my graduation, I never returned here.
Perhaps, that was why it looked fresh to me since I had not set my eyes on it in years.
Riddled with exhaustion from the long travel, I dropped my luggage and took a section of the room, had my bath and fixed myself something to eat.
Bright wouldn't be coming in until after about two to three hours since he would go and burn his time in his other pal's room.
Well, good for him as it was good for me.
At least, I had enough time to catch some quality sleep before the next day when we would meet German for the second time and our real journey in the Cube begins.