Chapter 3: First Class, Start!

As I walked into the room with her, the first thing I noticed was the size of the room. It looked like a dome-shaped lecture theatre you'd find in a modern university – the design of the room was simple and nowhere as fancy, but it's simple design and colour scheme just served to give the room an air of grace.

The next thing I noticed was how relatively empty it was - there were barely enough people seated to fill a third of the desks lined along the middle and continuing to the back of the room. As I pondered the reason why, Ms. Shelle tapped me on the shoulder. "Class doesn't start for around ten more minutes, so you should go ahead and take a seat anywhere you'd like and make yourself comfortable. Since you're starting slightly late into the year, you may want to sit next to someone who can help you out."

I nodded, thanking her as I walked up the steps, deciding where I should sit. I had yet to finish climbing the first flight of stairs that I heard a feminine, slightly robotic voice call out at me from slightly above me, near the right edge of the room. As I looked up, I saw the smiling face of a girl of around my age, seated while resting her head on her hand, waving at me with her other hand.

"Yo, haven't seen you around here before. You the new student Ms. Shelle's been talking about?"

"Student…? I suppose I am?" I smiled at her. I thought this was a combat training institiute?

As I approached her, what looked like a human face started to show slightly more unique characteristics. There were faint lines along her cheeks, and her eyes were almost a neon-bright gold, in contrast to her short, black hair. These facial features, and her voice… a female CAST?

"Yup, students, that what we call ourselves," she chuckled. "I bet you've thought 'Huh, for a place focused on combat training, it's quite relaxed' before, am I right?"

"Now that you mention it…" As I look around, the atmosphere does seem unlike a strict, tense feel one would expect from a military institute. Ms. Shelle was behind the desk at the front of the room arranging files, while the others around the room were either lazing around or happily chatting away. It did feel like any other classroom in a university, honestly.

Well, except for the pile of weapons stacked in a corner near the front of the room.

"That's exactly why. It really gives us the feel that we're learning, not training, honestly. I've heard there's a separate facility for the more hardcore-style training, so maybe that's why. Well, you're new here, so it's no wonder you'd be taken aback, I guess. You'll get used to it in no time, though. At least, that's how it was for me. I'd definitely prefer this kind of environment compared to one where you'd have to prepare yourself to get yelled at every five minutes!" she laughed.

"Yeah, same here." I felt a sense of relief wash over me. While I wasn't expecting the hardcore military-style I've heard of back home, I was definitely prepared for something in between, at least. At least now it seems much easier to be more relaxed and enjoy myself. It was tiring to always have my guard up, after all.

"So? What's your story? It's pretty rare for someone to join in this far into the year. You pull some strings or anything?" she smirked at me. She sure got comfortable with me real quick…

"Not that I'm aware of. My name's Shiratori. I came here from a distant planet, and am living here with my sister right now. Is it that rare for students to come in outside the beginning of the year?" I asked, as I sat down next to her.

"I guess…? The programs here can get pretty tough, so I think most people would rather prepare themselves better and try again next year than join in late and struggle to catch up. Oh, the name's Ember. Nice to meet ya," she said, holding out her hand, with a big smile on her face.

"Nice to mee you too," I said, returning the gesture. "What kinds of things do they teach here, actually? I've heard it's mostly basic knowledge."

"Uhh…" she looked away from me and smiled awkwardly. I wonder what the problem was, until I heard another voice come from the steps behind me.

"You're asking the wrong person. That's not a question you'd expect an answer from, especially from her." I turned around at the voice and was met with a humanoid robot, but is much more robot than human than the one sitting next to me. Covered in black light armor, with streaks of white and sky blue, he sighed at Ember. A male CAST, huh? Getting to see all the different races this quickly is pretty damn exciting. Although, that was something pretty mean to say to a stranger… unless?

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" she pouted back at him.

"Well, it's true, isn't it? You're holding up well in the academics section, but nothing really sticks enough for you to describe it to the new student, am I right?"

"Guh…" Down and out for the count, huh? I giggled inwardly. As I listened to the two banter, I assumed that they must be close friends, at least.

"My name is Kurt. I'm a friend of Ember's, even before we enrolled here. Pleasure." he said, extending his arm and hand.

"Pleasure to meet you too. Name's Shiratori." The serious type, huh? Seems like he's the type to care for his friends, though, judging by his interactions with Ember.

"To answer your question, the academics side of the basic course is mainly focused on calculation prowess, knowledge of the body, and the environment. Sometimes we also learn about the history of the ARKS, too." Math, biology, history, and ecology, huh? Makes sense, I guess these are the most practical subjects I'd think of too. Math probably also includes things like physics.

"The basic combat course is pretty simple as well. Its main focus is to keep everyone in a condition that is fit enough to at least have enough stamina during prolonged battles and to be capable enough to fight dangerous wildlife."

"Yup, the easy stuff! The real good stuff is in the practical combat course, I tell you!" Ember suddenly chimed in, with a smug look on her face. Figured she'd choose the combat course, heh. "You're going for the practical combat course too, aren't you?!" she asked fiercely.

"Yeah, that's right. How about you, Kurt?"

"As enticing as it sounds, I opted for the academics side. I'm not that confident in my combat abilities, unfortunately. It's more peaceful there, too, as, for obvious reasons, the combat course is much more popular." Makes sense, it's the group of people that will stand out the most, after all. Not as many people consider those working their butts off in the background. Rather unfortunate, if I had to say.

"Guess I'll see you there too, then." The both of them seem momentarily surprised at my reply.

"You're going for both?!"

"Yup. Is it that unusual?"

"Not unusual, per se… it's somewhat uncommon, but there have been people who started off saying they want to do both. Most don't last too long, though, and eventually stick with only one. Probably a ridiculous amount of work to do, trying to keep up with both."

"Well, I guess that's the good part of this place, right? They pretty much let you choose and do whatever you want." Kurt and Ember both replied. Huh, that bad? I wonder if it's like doing a double degree, or something.

"Anyway, enough talk. Looks like class is about to start." Kurt gestured towards the front of the room, where Ms. Shelle has started to prepare for the lesson in proper, as he sat down next to me. Alright, let's see what this place has in store!

All in all, it was pretty ordinary, as far as academics went. The priorities of what was taught wasn't too clear though, and we ended up going deeper than I thought into some topics. It seemed that they didn't really have a fleshed-out curriculum, and instead focused on what was useful in practice. Looking around, the students present also had quite the varied age range – it felt like high school and undergraduate university mixed into one. Which reminded me, nobody has ever asked me about my age. Then again, I'm in a place where androids exist, maybe age just isn't too big of a deal for them.

…

"It's finally over…" I heard a groan to my right, as Ember stretched upwards and proceeded to slump forward on the desk. "So, what are you guys gonna do after this? Any plans? Especially you, Shiratori, did you want us to take you around the place?"

"I'm good for today, I have to get home early for some business today. I'd like a tour tomorrow, though, if you don't mind?"

"Yes, I'm free tomorrow. After class, then?" Kurt replied.

"Sounds good."

"I'm all set!"

"See you guys tomorrow, then!" I turned around and waved to the pair, as I made my way out of the room.

That was fun, all in all. It was mostly learning stuff that I had already learnt before, albeit learning it in a different way and context. I managed to learn a bit about the institute itself, and I met two new friends, so it was definitely an eventful day.

I should go back home early, I promised I'd be home before dinner… I checked my phone, and I had ample time to walk. As I left the building, I imagined what else my days would have in store for me in this world.

Chapter 3 done!

Wow, that was almost twice as long as my other two chapters. Lots of new characters, so I guess it was bound to happen.

You'll notice that I've conveniently left a lot of things unexplained. I was thinking of trying out a style of storytelling where I would occasionally insert flashback chapters explaining the past, and the two will eventually converge (see Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?, although in reverse). For now I'm trying to consider when I should start the flashback episodes, either directly after this chapter, or the one after. Updates should come in rather frequently as I still have plenty of ideas, I just need to smooth out the flow of events…

Main girl will be introduced a bit later.

Until next update!