After the boring tournament, I was filled with energy.
I hadn't fought for over 3 hours, so I decided to go home, and focus on turning that energy into something productive.
I didn't have an idea of what that would be, but as I was walking down the halls of the school, I was sure I would come up with something for me to motivate myself.
I wasn't far before I heard someone thundering down the halls.
By the sound of it, it seemed to be multiple people, and I instantly thought of the three mysterious girls.
When their images popped into my head, I broke out into a sprint.
It wasn't that they were bad people, but I just didn't feel like sitting down for a while doing nothing.
I hadn't done anything productive when I was with them, and this time I really needed to.
When I was thinking of an Academy for Kari, I completely forgot to apply to the Academies that I wanted to attend.
I cut a corner quickly, and took a glance over my shoulder.
It was the girls, and they were right behind me.
I picked up my pace to a full sprint, and pulled away as fast as I could.
I faked a left turn, and I heard somebody slip behind me, but I didn't have time to help Ariel up because the others were still keeping up with me.
I faked another right turn, and this time nobody fell for it.
Then I turned right at the next intersection, and I could see the exit.
"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?" Ariel's voice rang out from far behind me.
"BECAUSE I NEED TO SUBMIT MY ACADEMY APPLICATIONS," I yelled back.
After I stated my reason for sprinting away, I heard the girls slow down, but I didn't have any time.
I left all the documents on a different pulsewave than the one I bring to school, and I needed those to apply to any Academy.
I don't know why the girls fully stopped, but I didn't have any time to spare.
I wanted to go to an Academy in the Top 100, but I wouldn't be able to get into an Academy in the Bottom 100 if I didn't apply.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
When I returned home, I immediately made my way down the halls, and burst into my room.
I turned to my desk, and turned on its pulsewave.
It instantly booted up, and I got to work transferring documents to various Academies' websites.
The time that I had these done was 5:00A, but the stupid tournament only finished at 4:30A, and I stayed for an extra bit to see two mature girls play Rock Paper Scissors.
It was funny, but now it was 4:52A, and I still hadn't submitted any applications.
The admissions offices of these Academies were incredibly stingy, and wanted everything submitted right after the tests ended.
My pulsewave was thankfully sending applications in faster than the typical model, but I still had to navigate seventy websites.
I didn't think I would be rejected by any Academy below 60, so I still sent those first applications there, but I only got the first 20 done by 4:56.
I started to get into a rhythm though, and my pulsewave started to send things at its maximum copasity.
By 4:57, I had 38 applications fully submitted.
My fingers were flying across the holographic screens, and by 4:58, I had finished submitting all 70 of my applications.
My pulsewave on the other hand, had only fully submitted 48.
I could only looked as two submitted at the same time bringing it up to 50.
Then 30 seconds of silence.
Followed by a mass submission of 10 applications.
Only the top 10 needed to be submitted, and there was over a minute left, so I pushed back in my chair to relax.
I confidently watched as the number of submissions left went down from 6 to 5, and from 5 to 4.
The clock struck 4:59, and the number dropped to 3.
Then it dropped to 1 completely skipping 2.
There was still 30 seconds left for the application to the number 1 Academy to submit.
I did a small spin in my chair in celebration, and I grabbed a little confetti popper with 10 seconds left on the clock.
I watched as it counted down; 10,9,8,7...6....5...4....3
Why hasn't it submitted yet? I asked myself as my face started into one of fear, and I dropped my confetti bomb.
Then when there were only two seconds left, it was sent.
Suddenly a bang appeared in my right ear, and I jumped out of my chair in surprise.
I slipped on a can of what I would assume was some energy drink, and landed on the floor, hitting my head in the process
I quickly ignored the pain in my head, and looked at where that sound came from.
To my surprise I found the three girls standing in my doorway.
Kari was leading the three of them, and was currently the culprit for frightening me to death.
I quickly jumped to my feet, "Out. Now."
I couldn't see my face, but all three of them started to scamper for the exit, and I followed them to make sure they wouldn't go digging anywhere else.
I pointed to the table in the dining room, "You will sit here for a little while."
I pulled out a chair, and motioned for one of them to come over here.
Juliana came over, and meekly sat in the chair, and I pulled out another one.
I called another of them over, and Ariel came to sit next to Juliana.
I pulled out another chair, and Kari immediately darted over, and sat up straight.
"I am going to check if things went well. You will be staying in these exact positions until I come back," I said in a deep, unwavering voice, "If you don't, I will take this into the backyard, and you will be sent to the Hospital."
"I will be back soon," I said before I turned around, and walked back to my room.
Along the way, I closed and locked the door that I seemed to have forgotten to do beforehand.
When I got back, I checked the submissions that I had made, and immediately selected the one for the best Academy.
A screen that said, "Congrats, your application is now going to be reviewed by our talented staff, and we will get back to you with our decision. Have a great day!!!"
I breathed a sigh of relief, sat down in my chair, and felt my eyes water.
Nothing felt as good, as getting closer to my parents because it was one of the things I wanted to do.
I wanted to understand Od like they did.
I wanted to be able to move around like they did.
I just wanted to be a little more like them.
Then I remembered about the new pests in my house, and how they had scared the daylights out of me.
They thankfully hadn't ruined anything, but even then, why did they just enter my house without knocking, or asking for permission.
I wiped away the tears threatening to come down my face, and made my wake back to my dining room.
There the girls were sitting just like I had left them.
I opened the door, "Out. Now."
They looked over in unison, and saw me holding the door.
Slowly, they rose out of their chairs, and walked outside.
"Bye," I said, and gave them a small wave before slamming the door shut.
I watched them leave with a camera system I had set up myself, and I relaxed seeing that I was alone.
(You've infected exactly 1100 students and staff)
"Did you have to ruin my peace!" I asked the infuriating system, Do you mean there are still people at school?
(In case you didn't notice, there were over 700 people that hadn't had their spots ranked)
(The fact you managed to get everyone was an impressive feat)
Wow, I am just super happy to hear that, I sarcastically remarked.
(I am not joking about it being impressive)
(You might genuinely get a huge boost to your stats, and maybe even a little more)
What do you mean by that, I asked the flirtatious system.
(I may just be forced to give you around three rewards because of how much energy you'll gain)
(You infected the old man, so you'll at a minimum be getting at least one reward)
He was that strong? I was bewildered, Why was he so bad at keeping himself under control if he was so strong?
Nobody told me the old man who had to have his voice be augmented to sound persuasive would be someone strong, I internally screamed.
(The fact he was still respected despite people knowing that his voice was augmented should have been a huge hint)
Well I'm screwed, and I have made it big, I ignored the system, If he was that strong, and I infected him then I should be getting much stronger.
How long until I will get the boost? I asked the system.
(A week, plus or minus two days)
(You should get it before the month ends)
That is something I can sleep on, I thought before I collapsed from all of the fatigue of the past week.
Sam's increasing persistence, the talent awakening, and all of today's stupidly stressful tests really tired me out.
It wasn't even 6:00A, but I was already falling asleep.
I need to improve my discipline, I thought as I made my way back to my room.
I had triple checked that I locked every possible entrance before I would go to sleep, and I set alarms that I didn't know if I would wake up to.
I made my way to my comfortable bed and collapsed into it.