Chapter 8
Steps Towards the future
The deafening sound of the still quietness from the factory was quite unpleasant to the ears; a thief from above simply stared down below in complete awe of the ridiculous sight that was in front of him.
There was another him. Another Akira in this bizarre world.
He couldn't fully understand on what was this actually meant, but what was clear is that this was the first human he's seen in the warped world, and that human so happened was an exact replica of himself.
This odd revelation didn't bode too well on the thief at all. The booming within his chest was quick with its pace as Akira continued staring down, being completely perplexed.
"Arsène…" the thief let out with a soft and careful voice. Akira's body was paralyzed, for the more time that passed, the more that this revelation became worse for him to bare.
"What am I looking at right now?" He managed to utter out, waiting for the voice of his inner self to help reassure him. He hoped for a clue of some-sorts to help aid and settle down his worry for a clear explanation.
Akira kept his eye down low, waiting for Arsène to present the insurance he desperately sought for. Akira didn't expect any less from the demon when he chuckled. It was now a means to help soothe Akira whenever he felt alone.
'You know, I almost forgot on just how little you know about the palaces so far. I apologize for my incompetence on properly informing you more about this, partner.' Arsène apologized, setting Akira somewhat relieved that there was a reasonable explanation for this occurrence to have had happened.
Arsène spoke once again; the thief's focus still focus down below, but eagerly listening out to learn of the explanation about all of this.
'Let me elaborate more about these worlds then, or at least from what I have knowledge of them from before. What you see is your cognitive-existence within Munehisa's world. This is how your friend perceives you in his own reality. In which a reality that he has sculpted to whatever he desires for you or any others to be for his twisted goals and beliefs. And from I can observe, it seems that has high regards for you. So much so that he wants you to become some sort of leader in this 'army' they speak of.'
Akira took a minute to help him try to understand what Arsène said; slowly letting the information seep in his brain.
'His own reality? So you mean that person standing there isn't me at all, just what Munehisa thinks is me?' Arsène didn't respond, almost making Akira panic before he spoke again.
'Not necessarily. What you see is what Munehisa wishes for you to be, not how he thinks who you are in the real world truly. His desire will change whoever he wants to become a reality in his personal world where he has full control of. This has him disregarding about how anyone truly acts within real world. Everyone perceives one another differently, and makes what they see with them fit in their cognition. Munehisa took your appearance and behavior and distorted it to his ideal cognition. In which in turn, made you into what looks like a high-ranking official in his 'army'.'
Arsène finished. Akira continued looking at the Akira that Munehisa wanted in his world, not sure on how to interpret this. One thing was for sure though, and that was Akira's worry from before was gone, for his mind and body were more focused and composed now.
'So this is how he wants me to be in this world. Then what does he think of me really, what kind of person am I to him without his distorted desires?'
'For that you can't really tell. For in what he thinks you are as person is still left a mystery. But you can have a pretty good idea from just how he depicts you here on what he wants you to be. A leader that is loyal to him, or perhaps a potential partner in his endeavors, maybe even an accomplice of sorts, or a friend to help him in his struggle, maybe yet just another body he would like to control to help his own desires and ambitions…" Arsène trailed off, leaving his depictions out for his partner.
Akira couldn't even fathom on what Munehisa wanted for him to be. There were too many possibilities that could be true to pin one down as the definitive.
Quickly shaking his head, Akira started to disregarded the possibilities on Munehisa's perception of him.
'No use thinking about it too much now. I guess I'll find out more later on as we progress further inside…" Akira started then to put more attention on what exactly his made-up self looked like in this world that Munehisa created. And from what he could gather…his doppelganger had a strange look; more so than his phantom outfit.
The Akira below seemed to be wearing a kingly kind of outfit. Something you would see someone wear as a costume. He had on a great wool red cape, with white fluff on the edge, a black tunic with red jewels as the buttons, black camouflage trousers, and military-like combat boots. His mismatch between military and royalty made him look off putting.
The stance he showed was quite confident, yet calm and collected. His voice was disturbingly high and mighty from when he spoke, almost like a bad actor trying to deliver a character.
So in other words, he looked and sounded like an absolute idiot to his counter part watching in pain from above.
Akira groaned at the sight of himself acting and looking this way, for watching himself wear such clothing was just embarrassing to look at, even if he wasn't real.
'This is horrible to look at…at least with the phantom outfit I some kind of style…'
His attention was abrupted by a gunshot suddenly ringing throughout the metal building. Akira looked down to find his imposter holding a replica of his gun. It's details scarily accurate as shined with the small amount of light that shimmered on him in the dark factory.
Smoke slowly rised from the barrel, with the odd-looking Akira smiling on to the soldiers down below him from the podium.
"Now that I got your attention again, I think the proper introduction to the plans must now be followed." He kept his smile, as his expression became more unnerving with his calm yet joyful expression.
"Our general has appointed me to follow a certain procedure, so please follow along obediently or die, choice is up to you. Thank you." After finishing, the goo people looked around with a mix of confusion and fear, for not wanting to get on the bad side with the nutjob speaking to them.
"Now that more of you lovely volunteers have decided to join our cause, we can actually explain a bit more on the operation. But I know you're asking, "What is OPERATION:EXTINCT?" He put air quotes to emphasize the last bit; and with a quick little wave of his hand, the projection of the name of the operation changed to show a big map of Remnant with red arrows and x's all around it.
"Pretty simple really. Just the extinction of all humans. Nothing really too special or hard to comprehend exactly."
The way he smiled gently at the crowd after announcing it made Akira's gut twist on how easily he made it out to be, causing him to fidget a little with his red gloves to help distract and ease himself.
"As you can see, we do have a schedule and list on what kingdoms will be going down first. Vale being the one up and coming; then Mistral; on to Vacuo afterwards; and finally, the big one on our general's to do list. Atlas."
He waved to the projection again, as it changed one more time to show a map of Beacon. It had odd letters and numbers all around the place, numbers and letters such as WF3, GR7, Q, K.
"Beacon will be our main priority on taking down Vale, as the higher-ups are really looking to bringing it down as soon as possible. I don't know why though, as we could easily take down the city area first and then worry about the academy, especially with all the commotion that will be happening during the Vytal Festival once the other plans have been executed." He pouted after announcing the information, appearing disappointment with the set course of actions in place.
'The Vytal Festival? That's a good amount away, yet it's still something to look out for.' Akira thought, keeping a mental note about it for the future to come.
"Eh, not like I can complain about it though. For as long as we eradicate a lot of the citizens and huntsmen in the kingdom and crush their hopes of regaining the land, then I'm down for whatever." The projection went down, with the kingly Akira stepping down the podium and standing at eye level with the soldiers.
"That's really all you need to know. I know not that much more info, but that's how it is. The rest of it is for the more trust worthy and skilled individuals…you know, the important people. You see. You guys are here to just help be kinda like a…uhhh…'shield'? Oh yes! A shield! One to protect all the more important people. I mean genocide and war comes with sacrifices and casualties, and you lot have bravely chose to be those sacrifices. And for that very reason alone, I salute you." He stood straight as he gave a firm and goofy salute to the crowd. The soldiers didn't react much to the other Akira. The most they did was look at one another in slight hesitance and confusion. But other than that, they seemed up and ready for orders.
'Are these soldiers really that easily manipulated and tamed?' The thief thought upon this a bit more, wondering if this is how easily people are manipulated by Munehisa.
"You guys really are just puppets...oh well. I dismiss you to go patrol around the base or something. Just make yourselves useful and we'll all be fin-"
"Captain! Captain!" A soldier in white army wear screamed as he ran through the group of green outfitted soldiers.
"One of the Lieutenant's has gone missing! There is a hole in the gate now! I don't know how someone could do something like! We have an intruder in the base, the house needs maintenance, airships are running out of dust fuel, and..and…." He trailed off in the end, losing his breath and voice when the kingly Akira below looked onto him with a blank and emotionless stare.
"An intruder? A Lieutenant gone? And some rather heavy inconveniences? My oh my…"
He casually raised his head, his line of sight drawing near to where Akira was hiding.
'Don't see me…don't see me…please don't see me…' Akira couldn't move, for he was paralyzed on the spot, hoping no sudden movements would mean for him not to get caught.
That's when he finally noticed cold gray eyes staring right at him.
Akira froze as his eyes met his. They held their stare-down for few seconds until the Akira below looked away with slight amusement.
"Listen everyone! I want you all to spread out through the base to find the intruder. If you find him, bring him to me without the general's notice, got that?" They all nodded their heads in agreement, scurrying away to the front of the factory and leaving.
'This is NOT going to be a good day…' A bullet whizzed past Akira's ear, as his other self yelled from below.
"I know you're up there. Come down and face me." He spoke in a slow pace, his eyes showing excitement from how wide they were.
Akira's body shook at the announcement. He wasn't really looking for another fight today, he did almost die once today, and he would like to keep that to a minimum of just one.
"I really thought I was more sneakier than this," he whispered to himself while taking his gun out and standing up; his body still covered in the shadows.
'How am I going to get out of this mess?!' The thief panicked, keeping whatever cool he had left to not let the imposter get an upperhand between them.
Taking a deep breath, and thinking over his options, Akira made a quick plan on the spot.
'It's show time.'
"As much as I would love to stare at my own face, I got to go and be somewhere,. Its been a stressful morning for me believe it or not. So...see ya." Akira gave a quick two finger farewell gesture and jumped down head first at the imposter.
Shadows covered him quickly, helping him speed down even faster. While he was heading down, Akira pointed his gun straight at his imposter with side of Justine glowing a bright orange. He shot right down at the clone, in which he quickly sidestepped from the projectile, having the bullet pass and hit the ground, creating a large boom in the process.
"Is that all?!" Yelled the other Akira, as the explosion was nowhere near close to him.
The explosive round created dust and debris from the blast, and also help slow Akira down. With his semblance, Akira spun and turned in the air, loading in a single bullet within the chamber while doing so. The sides now glowed a dark purple before he shot at his other self again. The shot sent Akira flying back, as the gravity bullet flew at his counter part. His eyes widened at the unexpected action, but was ready to retaliate with raising his own gun and shooting the bullet out of the air with excellent precision.
"Coward…" He hissed to himself, seeing as when the dust cleared the thief had already disappeared from his view.
"He got away. Tch. He's probably escaped this place as well, with how fast he seemed to have moved from that sneaky little tactic. What a pity really…"
The clone fixed his cape a little and put his pistol away, not sure on what to do next.
"I guess we just have to raise the security up a little…"
'I'm about to take the longest and hottest shower ever when I get back home.' I thought with exhaustion, running through the sandstorm, while narrowly avoiding the lights of the watchtowers in the process.
I got to the gate eventually crouched down to go through the hole from before.
Getting caught really put on an extra layer of panic I didn't even know existed, and if it weren't for some quick thinking, I highly doubt I would have gotten out of there any better than I already did.
"I guess being the Phantom Thief isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world. What a bummer." I pulled out my scroll and looked into the screen. What I saw was a reflection of myself, but with an unusual grin spreading across my face.
'Huh? Why am I so...excited?'
I quickly shook off the smile, as my face returned to its neutral form.
'I can't get excited about this. I have a mission and goal that I need to carry out, and need to fulfill them to help Munehisa with whatever demons he has in him.' I turned on my phone to see the black eye staring at me. It was almost like it was waiting for me, which gave me a bit of the heebie jeebies.
I pressed it once, which immediately made it start on shifting and changing the world with red and black distortions spreading around the area around me.
After it finished its fancy wibble-wobble, I was put in front of Munehisa's store, standing there as if I were just daydreaming. The open sign was displayed in the front door, as the streets were slightly more brighter than I remembered. I checked the time to see that It was one o'clock in the afternoon.
"What the? I was in that place for that long? I didn't even notice."
I didn't think I was inside the palace for that long, maybe an hour or two, but five? That was a little too much in my opinion.
'Yes. The palace's time differs to the one in the real world. That's why you shouldn't spend all day inside one, or you may lose two or more in the outside world. You're lucky we didn't spend too much time in there.'
I nodded my head at the information, as I stared at the front of the shop, anxious to go in.
'I mean, I did just enter Munehisa's world and found out that he is a general of some kind plan to execute humans; so does that mean I can see him the same ever again? Probably not anymore, but I can help him with whatever he's messed up thing he's gotten into.' Determined, I went and promptly pushed past the door, as the small jingle indicated my entering.
'It smells a lot like alcohol this time around. I guess Munehisa was in the middle of having his occasional 'stress reliever'.' I walk up to the front of the store to see him exactly as I predicted. Drunk and bored.
"Hey! What are you doing here again? I thought you bought some stuff a few days ago?" His slight slur showed that he may have just started drinking, I never really knew though, as him getting drunk oddly resulted in him having different kind of personalities when he was like this.
"Well I ummm… kinda blew a lot of it with my recent classes. I just need another resupply is all."
He gave me a once over from behind the counter, and shrugged. I guess he doesn't care about the reasoning that much.
"Yeah, whatever. Just make it quick. You know I hate it when your around me at this time." I gave a quick nod and made another good resupply for Justine. she really needed it, but if I were to keep on exploring his palace, I would need to keep my ammo supply up. That means a lot of money was needed in order to keep this up…
After making the purchase, I got thinking on how I could use Munehisa's drunken state to my advantage. I could maybe squeeze some info from him about what he's been doing lately, then maybe it could help me understand on why his palace looks like it is and what exactly is going on.
"Hey, Munehisa?" I spoke up, as he gave a quick side glance at me.
"What?" He responded angrily, probably since he doesn't like me hanging around longer than I had to.
I tried to think of a smart way to make him start talking about the things in his life, but even if he was drunk, he wasn't stupid, so this made it harder to question him.
'Something clever, maybe even witty? Oh man, this harder than I thought. I got to be quick, or he's going to be even more pissed.'
"Well… I was just wondering…on why…you drink so much?"
I knew that asking something like that wasn't the best or smartest thing to start with, but it was either playing it safe or getting kicked out of the store.
Apparently Munehisa didn't really mind it. In fact, his expression softened up a bit as he looked away at the green reptilian wall paper in beside of him.
"I never tell you much about me myself, do I? By now I would think you would know my whole life story. Heh, I don't even know if I even want to tell you. But maybe I will. Not today though, I got a lot of things to be doing Akira, and a lot of things to worry about. So just carry on, don't worry too much on me." He got up, rubbing his face a little with his hand, letting a tired sigh escape in the meantime.
"Have a nice one." After that, he walked in his backroom, ending the conversation short.
I'm a little confused on how he reacted. I didn't really have any good expectations when I did ask him the question, especially since it seemed to be out of the blue.
"Was I asking too much?" I softly spoke, earning Arsène's voice to speak up.
'Maybe…who knows how much he is willing to reveal to you, and how much he could tolerate you knowing. You shouldn't press on too much partner, know your limits with these things. If you cannot extract much information from him in the real world, then the palace will have to be your only bet on knowing more about him.'
"I guess you're right. I should get going then." I whispered, swiftly turning around to make my exit.
I noticed a figure outside the shops door, standing still, like it was waiting on someone.
I didn't think too much on that fact, hell it could just be a another odd customer that Munehisa deals with.
I headed to the door and pushed on it, leaving the store and walking outside.
A soft gasp caught my immediate attention, as the air was engulfed with a sudden aura of hostility and coldness to it.
I just kept my head low and walked forward, trying to go on with my day in peace and not disturb whoever came by.
But the person felt familiar. I felt like I needed to know who this person was.
Curiosity soon taking over me, I took a slight peek to my left, only meeting vicious red eyes. They gazed into mine with such ferocity that I just stared on, not knowing on how to react.
Why is he here…
I quickly snapped my head straight, ignoring the exchange with the person beforehand completely and speed off straight ahead.
Walking a good couple of blocks away from the store and area, my mind ran with all sorts of crazy stuff with that short encounter.
'Arsène. Did you say that?' I asked. It seemed like a voice just popped out of nowhere. It didn't sound like him though, it sounded much similar, like I said it…
'I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything.'
'Really?' I responded, surprised by this sudden event.
Who was that then? Another voice in my head? But who else could that be besides Arsène?
'Arsène, did I usually have voices in my head? Like in the previous world?'
'I wouldn't know. I never stuck around with you in the previous world for too long. I was quickly used to fuse with another persona to create another right when he was given the chance. Though I was still with that Akira in his subconscious mind, I was never there much to help him in his journey, only in the end was I needed once again…'
Arsène's disappointment was clear with his words, making me wonder exactly how felt about all of this himself. But he didn't gave me much time to speak as he spoke up again within my mind.
'But to answer your question. No. I don't know if he had another voice. I laid dormant for most of my time with him.' Arsène became mute again right after he finished, leaving me alone again.
'Why is he here'…That's what it said, but what could that mean exactly? What co-'
A spike of pain came out of nowhere; my head pulsed with great intensity. I fell down onto my knees harshly, clutching my head in desperation to numb any kind of pain that it was emitting.
'Dammit…another one?! Why do these happen at all in the first place!?'
The pain that throbbed in my head started to quickly vanish as fast as it came, it was so fast that it felt like I never had it in the first place. This enabled me to stand right back up on my feet, having one hand still on the soft aching on my head.
'This isn't good. So much is happening in way too little time. And even if I get used to it, something else just pops up from nowhere. This is just not my week.'
All this sudden pain and information that was dumped on me was really building up my stress. In such a short time I had so much happening that I can't keep up with it all. With the constant random flash of memories of the previous world, the voices in my head, and the back-to-back near death experiences, I don't know if I'm in any condition to do much really for now.
'I need to calm down. I'm rushing into things way too quickly and often, I need to just relax for the rest of the day.' I slowly then started to go forward slowly, not having any idea on where I was going exactly. I left the tired and disoriented state of my body lead me to whatever misfortunes could come my way.
My mind was in a daze, and my body is pretty tired with all the rush and thrill from the palace. I don't really haves a direction to be going right now, just really walking around town is all.
My movements were slow and sluggish, as with no sense of direction either. I just kinda went with the flow, as having to think more on the crazy stuff that has happened recently would just be torture for me now.
It's a good thing Arsène didn't really want to talk with me now , for voices in my head were not what I was looking for.
'I need to do something that doesn't involve too much brain work, but what could I do?'
I lazily started to think of random things I could potentially do right this instance while still walking on without coordination.
'Mom's flower shop? Naw, she would probably put me to work, and if she saw me in potential pain, then she would babysit me, and I don't want that disturbing her work. Maybe study? But on what exactly, I've been learning the same thing for years now…'
"Excuse me." A polite sounding voice behind me stopped me in my tracks, as I turned around to see who would call out to me out of nowhere.
A girl who looked to be around my age, maybe older, was standing before me. She had vibrant red hair, eyes like emerald, and a smile as sweet as honey. She looked to be in a battle outfit, which had her wearing some sort of battle armor made of bronze for her top and a mini skirt as her bottom. She also had long opera-length gloves and high-heeled boots that were brown. She had no weapons though, and looked to have several missing accessory's that came with her outfit.
I just stared in a sort trance, my mind still not clear from the past pain.
"Y-yeah?" I managed to voice out, realizing that I needed to come up with some sort of response. I quickly then turn my gaze toward the ground, avoiding any sort of weird eye contact at the girl. I don't think I'm in any condition to be talking to any person right now.
She didn't really mind, as she spoke up. "I was wondering if you knew on how to get around the city of vale. You see I just transferred here as of recent."
"Oh...really?" She did look a little odd. From what she was wearing, it would be easy to assume that she was a huntress in training. I've never seen her around Signal, and that vibrant red hair would be real noticeable at Signal with the rumors and gossip. So I guess she must really have transferred from somewhere else.
Shuffling a bit to face her, I did my best to compose my self as best I could.
"So you uh…lost or something? You need directions?"
"Yes, I would appreciate it if you could steer me to the airship port to Beacon Academy."
I raised my eyebrow in interest, with her destination catching my full attention.
'Beacon huh? She must be one of the people attending the initiation then. I guess I could show her the airship transfer port. Not like this would be a hassle or anything.'
I gave her a quick nod and spoke out. "Sure thing. Follow me then." She nodded, closely following me when I started to head over to the air ports.
It was a little odd on just walking through the town with some girl following me. We didn't talk on most of the way over there, so I decided to ask a quick question partway through the way.
"So I guess your attending the initiation for Beacon then?" The question caught her off guard. She quickly snapped her head from looking at the ground and responded politely soon after.
"Huh? Oh yes, I will be attending Beacon's initiation to enroll in the school." She gave a quick smile, picking up the pace to star walking beside me, becoming instantly more happy and energetic than before.
"Will you be attending as well?"
I was surprised for her to think that I would be one of the potential students attending, with what I was wearing and all, I wouldn't have thought of her to pick me up as a huntsmen in training either.
"How do you know I'm training to be a huntsmen?" She quickly started to think about it, her face scrunched in concentration.
"Well, to be honest, I could sense something about you that seemed…off. Like a sort of power that's close to a semblance, but not really…its hard to explain…" Sweat started to form on my head, with odd reason being unexpected and alarming.
'Does she know about persona's and my power?' I kept thinking about all of the possibilities, until she spoke again.
"Also, I suppose your gun hanging out from your jacket is a good give-away as well." After pointing out that little tidbit, I checked to see that my jacket was unbuttoned a little at the bottom, having my gun sticking out a bit from its holster.
"Oh, I guess that gives it away too…" The red haired girl made a slight giggle, making my face grow a little hot.
"Well you're right I guess. About me being a huntsmen in training and all, and I guess my semblance is a little unique in its own right."
She perked up with my words, a curious look was shown in her eyes.
"Is it really? Can you tell me what it is then?" I rubbed the back of my neck with her insistence to tell her about. I'm pretty sure there's no harm in telling her, but its not like I needed to.
"Hehe, It's a secret." To my luck, she seemed okay with me not telling her.
"Okay. So you will be entering initiation at Beacon also?"
"No." Was the quick response I gave, which led her to looking dissatisfied.
"I see." She trailed, uncomfortable on the quick answer.
"I'm sorry that you weren't able to attend. I would have sworn with what I was feeling from you that you would be a potential student there…" I cursed a little inside my head, as leaving a girl looking all sorry and confused was a pain to see in my eyes.
"Don't worry about." I spoke up, trying to sound like it was no big deal.
"Not like I would be going anytime soon. I mean, I am only fifteen after all."
"Fifteen?"
I chuckled a little, her surprise was something I expected when I told her.
"Yep, fifteen. Some people do say I look a little older than usual though, from how I act and talk, but that never really bothered me. But I guess that's a good compliment to have I suppose." I gave her quick smile, amused with her assumption.
"Well, I would just have assumed from you appearance and impression…" She let out a breath, clearly troubled with me. "I guess I just assumed a lot about you. And we only just met, so I shouldn't be acting this judgmental to someone I just met…"
"Hey it's alright. You're not the first one to assume a lot about me, nor be all confused and stuff. I guess I'm just really hard to talk and get to know or something, haha." That last bit didn't reassure the girl too much. We ended up with some weird air around us both afterwards, which wasn't the best feeling of course.
I of course quickly changed the subject about the whole huntsmen and academy thing.
"So, what made you transfer here? You didn't like your previous home or something?" Her sullen face indicated something bad, looks like I'm hitting all the wrong notes when talking to her…
"Well…" She started; looking off to the side and avoiding eye contact. "I think Vale will be a good chance for me to explore more of the world of Remnant, I guess. My professional advisors suggested that I stayed at Mistral to keep up my reputation of my title and name, but I expressed my interest in going to Vale instead, they were reluctant, but eventually let me do what I pleased." I looked on in interest, not sure on what she was referring to with the 'title' thing she mentioned.
"Title? Advisors? You sound pretty important if you got some professionals suggesting your next move in your career."
"Yes… I am very important to them, a little too much for my liking…" I decided to once again drop the conversation, knowing full well that this was looking to be a little too personal for her now.
'Dang. I can't get a break with these bad choice of words, I never knew how tactless I was with my words.'
"A-anyway, I don't think I got your name. I mean I don't know if that matters to you or anything."
She quickly waved her hand to dismiss the idea. "Oh no! It's okay I suppose. My name Is Pyrrah Nikos, a pleasure meet you."
"Likewise. The names Akira Kurusu by the way."
It seemed like we were getting somewhere, as the introduction of ourselves settled the air around us.
I looked around and notice we were getting real close to the airship drop off.
"Well looks like were almost there. Not to be rude or anything, but you think you could get there from here?" I stopped at a sidewalk. The location of the airships were just around the corner.
"I don't mind going the rest of the way by myself. Thank you for your generosity Kurusu." And with that she left, as she turned the corner, the last thing I saw was her ponytail swaying in the air.
"What a strange week this has been…" I groaned to myself, as the headache from before was now long gone, and the day seemed still far from over.
'I believe you still have time left in the day partner. What do you plan to do with it?' Arsène seemed interested in what I would do next, as his presence seemed pretty strong in my mind.
"I don't know to be honest really. The headache is gone, so that's a plus. I'll probably just keep on walking, not like I'm in a hurry or anything for something."
A beeping sound came from my scroll. I soon turned it on to see that I received a message from Ruby.
"Hey! I need to talk to you about something, it's important!" I looked on with a raised brow, as the three exclamation marks seemed to indicate that it was indeed, something important.
"I can't deal with anymore surprises right now…" I quickly responded back, wanting more clarification about this important matter.
"What is it? You know I have a day off right?"
"Oh! Sorry! But this is really important! Like, life changing potentially!"
I just shook my head, wanting to just find out on what is happening that would get her so hyped up out of nowhere.
"What is it? It better be good."
"Okay. Don't freak out or anything. But you have chance to enter Beacon Academy!"
My legs went completely null, as I almost fell over with the news that just got dropped on me.
'I could enter Beacon? How?'
I text back to Ruby immediately, wanting to know more.
"How? I thought Ozpin made it clear that I couldn't join."
"Well I told Qrow about the whole situation, and he decided to talk to Ozpin. He managed to convince him to accept you at the initiation!" The news boggled my mind, I couldn't be able to think of anything to make this seem less surreal.
'Just like that? After a few words with Ozpin? Qrow managed to get me in that easily? This is insane…'
After everything that has happened, I just needed rest. I don't care if it was mid-day and sunny out, I just need rest.
"That sounds great Ruby, really it is. But I'm kinda busy right now. You think we could talk this over tomorrow?"
After stuffing my scroll back in my satchel, and ignoring the buzz from within it, I tucked my hands in my pockets, hanging my head down and quietly and slowly started to head back home.
"Are you excited? This is a big day for you two. Initiation…hoo boy, now that takes me back…" Taiyang's reminiscence of the past was quickly ignored by his daughters, as they kept walking on toward the airship transport.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it dad. But still! I can't believe that my baby sister is coming with me!" A long haired blonde girl cheered, as she wrapped her arms around the small girl which was Ruby.
"Yang…air…" Ruby squeaked out, her face turning an unusual shade of blue.
Yang did as she was told and let go of her sister from her bear hug.
"Sorry Rubes, but this is amazing! I mean you are one special girl to be accepted early. I just can't wait to go to Beacon with you!"
Ruby sighed at her sister's enthusiasm, as she didn't like all this constant talk of her about being special.
"Yang, you know I don't like bragging about stuff like that. I just got lucky is all, not like it's that big of a deal." Yang just smirked, leaning on close to Ruby.
"Yeah I know, with you and your friend together at the bank robbery."
"Exactly." Responded Ruby quickly, unaware of her sister's teasing.
Silence followed soon after that, with Yang pouting at the simple reaction she got from her sister. The walk over to the transport was kinda long, with them having to take a boat from Patch and go through most of the city just to get there.
It wasn't long until they got to the area. Airships and other vehicles alike were all around with a large crowd of what appeared to be teenagers around one giant and fancy looking airship, catching the attention of the sisters.
"Is that it? The big ship over there?" Ruby questioned, as a hand gently rested on her shoulder.
"Yep. That's the ship that will take you on one heck of a journey. I have no doubt that you girls will pass the initiation, but please be good with your classes and teammates, I don't want any of you two to be expelled." Taiyang said with a soft voice, directing it a bit more of his voice to the older sister.
"It'll be fine dad. I got this, and so does Ruby, right Rubes?" Yang cheerfully voiced, looking expectantly at Ruby.
"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine with the whole school stuff."
'It's the people there that I'm worried about…' Ruby thought, scared at the thought of having no friends.
Taiyang just looked at them with a bit of uncertainty, until he let out a long sigh, leaving a gentle smile on his face.
"Okay then, I trust you two will do fine. Just don't get caught in the wrong crowd, and especially don't talk bad to your teachers. Oh! And don't get all friendly with boys, also make sure you don-"
"We get it!" The sisters said in unison, making their dad chuckle nervously.
"Sorry,sorry. You know how I get." Taiyang let out nervously while rubbing his neck.
The family all just laughed it off, letting themselves enjoy the moment.
"You don't have to worry too much dad, it's not like we're never going to see you again, we could always visit on our days off you know."
"Yeah…Well you two should get going, I think I held on to you two for long enough. Good luck." He quickly gave the girls a quick hug, wrapping each in one of his arms.
"I can't believe you'll be leaving me this early…" Taiyang muttered, more to himself than the girls. He let go of them after a good amount passed and got a good look on his daughters.
Yang, his eldest and the one that resembles him the most. With her long and luscious blond hair and her extreme training as a hand-to-hand combat fighter, she was a bright and cheerful person who never let the bad things get to her, while being a bit of a trouble maker.
Ruby, his younger daughter. She looked nothing like him in any physical sense, but she was a spitting image of her mother. She was always quirky and kindhearted, never really focusing on the bad. Tai bet that her unique and infectious personality would make her really popular with the kids that do get to know her, even if she didn't think so.
Yang and Ruby just stood and stared at their father's now retreating figure.
As he was about to turn the corner, he looked over his shoulder and gave them a smile, waving slightly till he was out of sight.
"Looks like it's up to us now. C'mon Ruby, let's go." Yang pat her sister on the back a little, making her way to the mass crowd of people surrounding a specific airship, with Ruby trailing slightly behind.
'Big day today, don't you think? A day where this determines whether or not that your abilities and skills are worthy enough for you to gain a title, a title in which you have been striving for so long now. Will you be a legend that will have stories revolving your amazing ventures, or a coward who will shrivel up to the masses.' Arsène's voice rung out, as his seemingly demon like voice boomed out for his partner to hear…
'This cereal still sucks…' Akira thought, as the bland and bad taste of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes stung his taste buds.
'It seems my voice has fallen upon a deaf ears…' Arsène quickly became silent soon after. Akira merely pondered on what could happen today.
"Beacon Academy huh? Seems surreal to think I might be able to join. But then again, I do have some more attention going to be paid more to me than most of the other participants." Akira spoke out softly to himself, still a little confused onto why his condition to attend had to be like it was.
Ruby made sure to tell him as soon as she could about his more 'special' case on the whole matter of trying to attend Beacon.
And to Akira, he didn't find the the requirements fair when he found out exactly on what he needs he needed to meet.
There were a few things that needed to be met in order for him to pass. One was for him to not be able to use his semblance whatsoever, which he found redundant and plain idiotic. Not using his semblance gave him a clear disadvantage from the very start, making it unnecessarily harder for him on the get go. The second thing was that he needed to kill at least one of each type of grimm located in the fighting area, which were five in total. One Beowolf, Nevermore, Deathstalker, Ursa, and a King Taijitu. All but one difficult to kill without a semblance. The last one was the odd one out of the bunch, as it wasn't really a clear set rule, more like a timer put in place for him.
If all the other participants were to finish the initiation before he was done with the requirements, he would have only ten minutes to finish, as he would need to complete all that was needed and head to the designated area to finish his 'special' initiation.
With all the rules set for him, he made sure to prepare himself as much as he could for what he expected to be more rough days for to come forth.
With a long and winded sigh, Akira thought upon all the things that were going on with the situation of the initiation.
'I guess no matter what happens, this isn't something that will change on a whim like my sudden approval to be there in the first place. But I guess that's just life.' After the thought, Akira distastefully finished his bowl of cereal and started to get ready to just leave his house.
Walking up to a mirror near the front door, he did a once over his clothing that he prepped for the seemingly impossible challenge awaiting for him.
He ended up with going with his typical attire, not wanting to change up too much. The only difference was that his blazer was unbuttoned, and his turtle neck was replaced with a basic white dress shirt.
And as a little touch from his mom. There was a little accessory surrounding his eyes, as its shiny black color seemed to reflect off the mirror.
Akira pushed up his glasses and admired on how normal he seemed to look in them. As if he were made to fit in them.
Nodding in satisfaction, Akira checked over everything he needed for the trip, to the dust rounds, his weapons, the amount of variety of bullets, and other tiny things like his gun holster's tightness.
After all prepped up and ready, he made his way to the front door to make his way out of the house. But something suddenly caught his attention in the corner of his eye.
There was a piece of paper that was laying on a end table near the front door, folded up all neat and carefully.
'What is this?'
Akira picked up the piece of paper and examined it a little. It seemed to be something from his Mom, as the neat handwriting was a dead giveaway, and the 'To Akira' on the front was sort of obvious as well.
"Mom left a note…" Akira was about to open it, but his phone started to buzz, making him more aware on the limited amount of time left he had.
"I'll read it later." Akira decided, stuffing the paper quickly inside his blazer.
Akira made his way out of the small cozy cabin, quickly making his way to the city of Vale.
'Well this is it I guess,' Akira thought while walking briskly forward, taking a slight peek over his shoulder to see the home that he may not see for a while.
'Well, let's see if my life will change.'
