Ever since I came to this city I often heard Satsuki's goons and people from higher tiers say that life was a race, and if you didn't run fast enough, or push enough people out of the way, you'd get trampled. I didn't really understand what they meant by that until today.

To climb that flight of stairs, Mako and I had to weave through scores of other students. I even had to use my scissor blade to knock a couple people down. Plus, I was right on the money about it being booby trapped, once I was halfway through climbing it, the staircase turned into a ramp. If I didn't bring my scissor blade with me, I wouldn't have made it past the first trap. It was not surprising that Satsuki didn't want me using Senketsu during the event.

"Mako, how many traps are usually there?" I asked as we ran to the next checkpoint.

"Usually there are about fifteen obstacles and fifteen questions." Mako panted as she tried to catch up with me. To her credit, she was pretty fast, in fact, if she was wearing a One-Star uniform, she'd beat me.

I ended up stopping dead in my tracks when I saw a screen right in front of me, and a bunch of people typing furiously on their tablets. My heart sank when I saw the contents on the screen.

"Two flasks with identical medium containing nutrients and glucose are inoculated with yeast cells that are capable of both anaerobic and aerobic respiration. Culture 1 is then sealed to prevent fresh air from reaching it; culture 2 is loosely capped to allow air to reach it. Both flasks are periodically shaken. Which culture will contain the most yeast cells after one week, and why?"

I turned to Mako, who was lost in thought, alternating between staring at the question and her tablet.

"I remember this… I got this… let's see… the second one allows air to pass through… so…" she grumbled in a frustrated tone.

I tried to recall all those biology lectures, reactions, and terms we learned over the course of one month, as I started to think, I felt a strange sensation, as if worms were crawling about in my brain. I knew it was my internal Life Fibres getting to work, strengthening my memory power to help me answer the question.

"Culture 2, because culture 1 doesn't have oxygen, so it goes through anaerobic respiration, which produces less ATP, and therefore, less yeast." I typed with a flourish, and then pressed the "send" button next to the text box.

Mako and I began to wait with bated breath, and then we heard a ping sound, we looked down, and received a message that we had answered correctly and that we could pass through. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Come on! It's already 5:00!" Mako pulled my hand and we started running again.

The next trap was a narrow path with a bunch of punching bags swinging from all directions, designed to knock you out if you weren't fast enough. We managed to make it past that one. Then we got a maths sum, which I thankfully solved correctly. After that, we came across a track with hurdles placed between the start and finish line. That was relatively easy to get past. I was wondering for a moment if Mako was exaggerating about how tough this could be, and then I was faced with the next question.

"Why is the concept of income or demand elasticity important for a producer of agricultural products?"

I was beyond pissed; economics was a course for One-Star students. I should have known that the questions would be biased in their favour. I told myself to calm down however, I had three chances. If I could do well on all the other questions I might have a chance. I looked at Mako however, who was busily typing away. I was sure she was trying to write some crap hoping she would be correct.

"Hey, you…"

I began to look for the source of the sound, and saw a girl standing right next to me. How she got there, I didn't know. Her wavy, boyish-short hair was black, and she wore thick rimmed glasses. She was wearing a band on her head, like the ones I've seen students wear while studying, and the One-Star uniform, but it was purple instead of blue. I chalked it up to a laundry mistake.

"…demand expands less than proportionately as real incomes grow, so demand tends to be income inelastic, so agricultural producer's demand curves will shift to the right…"

I raised an eyebrow at her babbling. She made a "tsk" sound with her tongue and shook her head.

"I'm giving you the answer."

I wasn't sure if I should trust her or not but I wrote exactly what she said… and she turned out to be right. Mako got the right answer as well. I started to sprint off but then that girl grabbed my arm.

"The traps and questions are only going to get tougher from here. Most of the people here have been doing this since they were ten, you and your friend will not survive alone. If you want to get past this you're going to have to let me go with you."

I backed away and held out my scissor blade at her, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Why? What's in it for you?"

The girl just stared at my scissor blade, frowning.

"I'm not physically strong; you're far from an intellectual. In exchange for my giving you the answers to the questions, you'll have to help me get past all these traps, deal?"

I turned to Mako, hoping that she'd give her opinion on all this.

"Hey, you look familiar, are you one of our classmates?"

The girl's eyes went slightly wide as she stared at Mako for a few seconds, as if they probably did meet before.

"What class are you from?"

"Ryuko and I are in class 3-K."

"Then you must be mistaken; I'm in class 1-G."

I grimaced when I realized that she was two years younger than us and much smarter.

"What's your name? My name's Mako."

The girl was silent for a bit.

"Maiko, just Maiko. Now come on, we've spent too much time dawdling. Hurry."

Maiko joined us and we began to press on. After running for about ten minutes we came across a portion of the lane covered by a roof and haphazardly lined with street lights, garbage can lids were tied on to it so that the light was covered. I didn't know what kind of a trap this was supposed to be, but I was wary nonetheless.

Mako was about to run but I held out my hand, she understood, and we began to walk slowly and on tip toes, keeping our eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. We stopped when we saw a no-star boy run past us, when he was right under one of the street lights, an alarm went off, and a heavy bag tied with a rope fell from the roof, and the boy's leg was caught in a rope I didn't see earlier. Now he was dangling from up high.

Maiko was staring at the path, lost in thought. She furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hand on her chin.

"It appears that they painted the ropes so that they blend in with the dirt path, and of course, not all of the lights are rigged."

"It's simple," I interjected, "We find the path where we have to run into the least amount of lights." I began to survey the area, and as I did, I could feel my internal Life Fibres helping me to do a more thorough job.

"I got it! Just follow me!"

I ran to the right end of the path, Maiko and Mako following suit. I stopped when I came to a street light, and then turned left, then kept moving in a zig-zag motion until there were no lights in sight. Once we were sure that was the end of it, we were about to move on, but Maiko stopped us.

"Wait, take a look at this."

She pointed to a sign board at the end of the checkpoint which said this was trap 4 out of 60. That was strange, Mako said there were only fifteen questions and fifteen traps.

"What, 60?! That's more than usual!"

I felt as if an iron ball had dropped into my stomach. Thirty obstacles were bad enough.

"Satsuki probably thought we needed more of a challenge…" I grumbled.

"We're wasting time. Now come on, the next question is most probably going to be an English one."

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"Because I've done this before."

We were on the move again, but I was starting to wonder. For someone who supposedly needed our help, she could get by pretty well on her own. I was starting to seriously question whether or not she had some kind of ulterior motive. I became even more suspicious when we came to the next checkpoint, as she was right. On the board was a paragraph in English along with three questions. I had to let Maiko help us with this one.

A steep incline with rolling barrels designed to knock you out, a geography question, a slippery surface you need to skate on, an economics question, a series of climbing walls, a chemistry question… as we went on, I began to notice that there was always some sort of pattern. We always started with a biology question and ended with physics. Every question we got was already there in either those prototype tablets or our textbooks. Every single trap seemed to test the same things; endurance, speed, and quick thinking. I remembered that Mako said many of the people who pass this test and graduate in tiers aren't actually that intelligent… it made sense. If you could find a pattern in the system, you could get by.

By the time we got to the 58th trap or so, it was ten minutes to eight. And it was then when Maiko gestured to a part of the dirt road that began to branch out.

"It's a shortcut, come on."

Mako began to look in the direction of the detour, and then to the normal way. She began to furrow her brows and frown, shifting uneasily.

"I don't know you guys… I'll just go the normal way."

I wasn't sure who to trust, should I listen to Maiko, who helped us get through 58 obstacles without incident, or Mako? Then I remembered that you'd get expelled for getting to the academy late, and who knew how difficult the last two obstacles would be.

"…I'll see you in class."

I accompanied Maiko, the detour path was long and winding, and there didn't seem to be anything there until I saw an area with leafless trees and an assortment of metal scraps, perhaps pieces from past obstacles. I ran to it and began to look for a way out, and found nothing.

I didn't have time to beat myself up over the stupidity of my own actions. I stuffed my right hand in one of the uniform's pockets and closet it over the scissor blade inside, then turned to face her. She had this smug smile on her face, like everything was going according to plan.

"I thought you knew better than to extend a helping hand to others… it seems that Mankanshoku is a bad influence on you…"

Maiko swiped her finger across the band on her forehead and she began to shimmer, when it died down, her appearance changed. Her hair was a dark purple and she was now wearing black leggings, a purple low cut tunic with an indigo sash around the waistband, and underneath, a tight long sleeved black shirt. On the sash, there were three white stars. From the sash of her tunic, which was actually a belt, she got out a small, light throwing knife and threw it at my face; I luckily managed to dodge it. I ran towards her with my scissor blade, pointing it in her direction.

"I knew it! I knew something was fishy about you! You're in league with Satsuki, aren't you?!"

I tried to strike her, but she swiped a finger on her headband again and vanished. Seconds later, I felt a presence behind me. I rolled forward to dodge a second throwing knife.

"Wow, it took you this long to figure it out? How do you think I know the ins and outs of these traps? I designed them, and set all the questions as well."

She disappeared again, I began to survey the area, looking for any signs of movement, and I saw a giant gear rolling towards me. I got out of the way, but it grazed my left arm, which was now bloody.

"Who are you really?!"

Before I could act, I felt rusty chains snaring my leg, she pulled on them and I fell face first into the ground. I spit out dirt and began to prop myself up.

"My name is Maiko Ogure, and I'm the head of Event Coordination."

I felt her pulling the chains again, and I was being dragged across the dirt. I was being hit by rocks and logs until I found myself dangling in mid-air from an unknown height. I tried to search for Maiko, but she was nowhere to be seen.

If I had Senketsu right now, he'd help me to see the Nexus Threads of her uniform and I'd be able to slice her in two.

"Stop playing hide-and-seek and get me down from here! What? Are you too scared to show yourself and fight me one on one?!"

I heard chuckling to my left.

"You call it cowardice…"

A throwing knife made its way into my leg, I cried out from the pain.

"… I call it pragmatism."

I winced as the scent of blood made its way into my nostrils.

"Don't underestimate me! I got two high tier students demoted AND gave Satsuki a good fight!"

Maiko began to chuckle again.

"I'm a cut above those fools you dealt with, Matoi. And as for Lady Satsuki… she was most likely showing you but a fraction of her strength. I've been designing contraptions since I was eight years old, and managed to perfect my craft thanks to Lady Satsuki. If you think you'll be able to evade me, you are gravely mistaken."

She cut the chains down and I fell to the floor again. My head was woozy and I felt like I was seeing double. Then from my peripheral vision I saw two throwing knives aimed at my neck and torso, I was too weak to even dodge them.

"When you don't have the Kamui with you, you're a joke."

I was being impaled with knives, one after the other, and Maiko was moving so fast. After an unknown period of time, I found that she had stabbed me everywhere except my navel. I knew my internal Life Fibres were the only reason why I was alive even after taking a wound to the heart. I could barely feel my body, or see, or smell, or even hear. However, I was still present enough to hear a faint pinging sound, like the ones our tablets make when we get a notification.

"Darn it… I'm out of time. How am I going to explain this…?"

Whatever she said after that was barely intelligible to me, and after a minute or two I couldn't hear her voice again. I had guessed that she left. Then I felt it, a sensation as if worms were moving about inside my body, and then burning pain, as if my skin was being sewed back together. When I looked down, the wounds in my heart and legs were healed, but my arms were still bloody, and all the throwing knives were scattered across the floor. I glanced at my watch, and it was now 8:15.

I didn't understand, what was it with Satsuki and letting me go? And if Maiko didn't want to get me expelled or kill me… what was she after?

I knew thinking about it would eat into my time. I hadn't answered any questions wrong so far, and my wounds would get better as time went by. So I decided to guess the answers for the last question and get past the next trap to the best of my ability. I hoped Mako was waiting for me on the other side.

"Forgive me, my lady. I was unable to locate Matoi's Nexus Threads."

Lady Satsuki stared at me blankly as she held a cup of tea in her hand. Behind her, Houka was searching through surveillance camera footage.

"Did you get a chance to observe her fighting style? Was she focused on blocking any particular part of her body?"

"Yes to the former and no to the latter, my lady."

She placed her tea cup on the glass table in front of her and began to pace the floor, looking somewhat uneasy.

"Then she most likely doesn't know where they are. In fact, it would be safe to say that she has no idea that Hybrids even have Nexus Threads. After all, Ishin abandoned her with little to no information."

She turned to face the monitor in front of us, which showed the footage of my fight with Ryuko, and she began to murmur something.

"My lady," Houka walked up to her, "What exactly… is the purpose of this? Wouldn't it be easier to just-"

"I told you. You can't kill her, Hybrids can't be killed with normal weapons. The only things that can kill her are this," she gestured to Bakuzan, "and the rending scissors. And even then, the only sure fire way to do it is to cut her Nexus Thread."

"If that's the case, then Hybrids are no different from the uniforms they wear."

"Correct."

At that moment, a three star student burst in with a tablet.

"My lady, the results for Senior Division have arrived."

He was about to hand the tablet to her, but he tripped over his shoes, dropping the tablet and grabbing Lady Satsuki's arm by mistake. I sighed, knowing what would happen next.

Her fists clenched, her eyes wide with fury, and she kneed him in the groin and punched his face. He was sprawled on the floor, his eyes black and his nose bloody. She walked up to him, and drew her sword. Her teeth were clenched and her hands were shaking.

"Don't. Touch. Me."