ARC I:

Antinomy

Chapter IV

PURPOSE

We were sparring today. I had the upper hand against him. Our Keyblades' clashed and sparks flew from each slash, the sound of clashing metal reverberated into my ears each time.

"Here goes..! Sonic Blade!" Yuro pulled his body back pulled his arm away, he pushed his weight forward and thrust his Keyblade in my direction, resulting in a fast dash attack. I managed to dodge away by an inch. He stopped in his tracks and looked at me, he had a determined look on his face. He wanted to beat me today, but I didn't let him.
"Blizzaga Dash," I pulled my body back and extended my arm back, I put it all into one force and dashed in his direction, cloaking my body in ice in the process. Yuro sidestepped. As expected, Blizzaga Dash is slower than Sonic Dash.

Yuro smirked, "Testing out new moves, eh? But that won't work. Come! Ice Barrage!" he extended his left hand into the sky as if he was trying to grasp something. Sharp crystals of ice start forming around him and they project themselves at me. I managed to block all of them, and I dashed forward to put the pressure on him. I went on the aggressive offensive tactic. Without rest, I swung my Two Become One at him in any way possible. The sparks flew once again as we clashed, people say that this was the ideal way for warriors to understand one another, it was through combat. Through combat, we would be able to understand the other from how we fight. I didn't understand how that works when I first heard it. But I feel like I know now. Those fierce eyes that Yuro has, it shows that he never gives up. That is made apparent in our bout, no matter how many times he missed or how many times I knocked him down, he got back up and faced me one more time till he ran out of stamina. I wonder what he sees in me this way. How much does he understand? Am I getting through to him at all in our fight? Thoughts like those fly through my thoughts as I continued to swing at him. He was gritting his teeth, he was trying desperately to block all of my swings. Alas, it was impossible to block all of them. I can tell that the recoil of trying to parry all of my swings are starting to take their toll on him. I jumped away from him to give him a bit of rest. His arm lowered down to his side, he was gasping for air. His stamina has finally run dry.

"You did well, Yuro," I call out, then I extend my arm towards him, pointing my Two Become One at him. In reaction, he gasped. He knew, he knew that I wouldn't let him off the hook unless I landed one magic attack on him. I could feel my blood pumping. I had no expression on my face, I was almost at my limit, but I still kept my straight face on. "... Finish this," my Keyblade lit a small blue flame at the tip, then it coated my entire Keyblade with the blue fire. I pulled my arm back, spreading my legs. "Inferno Break," I quietly spoke out the command. I pulled myself forward, swing my arm in a horizontal manner, the blue flames flew off my blade and projected themselves towards Yuro. The blue flames resembled the shape of a crescent moon. Yuro took the attack and fell over.

After our training session, our last one before I had to return to school tomorrow, we cleaned up and rested on a nearby bench in the hallway near the training field. Yuro still looked beat up, so I offered him a potion. He accepted it with a smile and drank it. Within seconds, his wounds healed up.

"It's amazing how potions can heal within a matter of seconds," Yuro spoke with wide eyes.
"The plant used to make it is rumored to have healing properties," I said.
"Amazing, these will be useful when we fight the Light Faction again," Yuro said in high spirits. Looks like he's revved up again. His positive energy motivated other students to continue trying despite their failures, people looked up to Yuro because of his interactions with the students. I have done nothing like that. I'm only known for my "robotic-like" behavior and my skills, that's it. I haven't really opened up to Yuro yet, if I ask him now, it might bring him down. I wouldn't want that.
".. Yeah," I agreed with Yuro. ".. I going to the roof for a while," I got up from my seat.
"Alright, stay safe," he said.

I nodded back at him and started making my way to the roof. During this time, the halls should be empty and the other students would either be in their dorm rooms or be studying.

I finally made my way to the rooftop via a set of stairs. I opened the door and walked in. The rooftop wasn't anything special. It just had ventilation shafts and railing all along the edges. I looked over to the thick forest area near us. Through that forest is the Light Faction Academy.

There, I failed my first mission and suffered the consequences. It was strange. My feelings wavered by my opponents words, which cost me the match. Will I be granted another chance to fight her? Ayako Tsumura, an elite member of the Light Faction Academy.. who is able to use Reflect. The most powerful type of defense magic a Keyblade Wielder can learn. Did she hold back on me? There's no way I could tell, that was only my first battle against someone from the opposing side.

I sighed and focused my gaze on the sun over on the horizon. The sky glowed a deep orange, the setting sun . That vision was ruined, as I look down and see the academy students rushing out through the front gates. I look ahead in the direction of the forest to see why, I notice the Light Faction Academy students running over, Keyblade in hand and ready to wage a war.

"Attention all students of Illusion Academy!" the speakers switch on and my attention switches to that. "The Enlightenment Academy has declared an attack on our Academy. All students to the front of the Academy immediately," the speakers switch off. I am left in awe. I didn't expect such a chance to come as soon as I wished for it. Coincidence? Faith? None of that matters now, what matters now is that now I have another chance to face Ayako again. I've prepared myself for this with Yuro for one month. That may not be enough to overpower her and Reflect, but I must make do with the strength I have at the moment.

I jumped over the railing and landed on the five-meter tall walls of the Illusion Academy. The recoil made me flinch, but I push down the pain and jump off the wall and onto the grassy ground. I take a quick glance around my surroundings. I spot Yuro in the crowd of students preparing to attack the incoming students from the opposing side. I decide to head off on my own to fight my way to Ayako. I know that's reckless of me to do, but a chance like this is rare. I must take it.

I stand on my feet and run ahead. But before I could get far, I hear Emigrace in my headset. "Stop," her voice was commanding and strict. I stopped in my tracks, "Return to the group and await orders," she continued.

I groaned and talked back, "Why?"
"Because you're a soldier. Disobeying someone of higher status is against your code as a soldier," she said.
"But..!" I hesitated.
"Don't disobey us, Operative Kazu Yuuki. Now return to your allies," she ordered.
"..Understood," I frowned. I curl my open palms into fists in frustration, then returned to the crowd of students to await orders.

There was a commotion among the gathered students, I was away from Yuro so I couldn't talk to him if I could. I didn't want to talk to him anyway, I was frustrated. For the first time, I was frustrated. It was a strange feeling. I didn't feel much of anything, but now, these feelings that are now surging up inside me feel like they're about to consume me whole. Even though they are just a few: happiness, anger and compassion. I felt like a slave to these few emotions that started swelling up. It all started when I met Ayako. Hypothetically speaking, if I were to kill her, maybe these feelings would go away. But if that were to happen, I would return to being empty like before. Things would return to where they were. However, I would lose connection with Yuro if I do that. I don't think Yuro would want that. I let these thoughts plague my mind for the time being.

"You know.. this is our first time ever coming in contact with the Light Faction Academy ever since the first stage of the Calamity Project," one of the male students said. My attention started moving back and forth to their comments. I felt curious to what they think about this.
"I know. It has been.. what? Ten years since the first stage?" a female student replied.
"Makes me wonder, will the Light Faction actually put up a fight?" another student commented.
"It would be no fun if they are just weak fodder."
"True that, I want some excitement in my life."

Don't underestimate them, I thought, they are more powerful than they seem.

"Isn't that one of the Elite Division members, Kazu Yuuki?" a male student called out to me.
"Yeah, what about it?" another student questioned.
"I dunno, it's odd. He seems much different than usual."
"Didn't you hear? He got jumped during his assassination mission. Apparently, he was tasked to kill one of the Light Faction Academy's Elite, Ayako Tsumura, but he failed," the student said.

Rumors spread quickly, huh? I thought.

I heard Yuro is going to advance soon, but I don't know when. Currently, there are four elite members, including myself. There is only a fifth spot open. Others have been fighting over it, but from the looks of it, Yuro might advance to it first. I'm in the fourth seat, there are meetings, of course, for discussions regarding decisions from the higher-ups. I don't know any of the other seats, well, not entirely, I only know their names. I wasn't required to go to these meetings, to be clear, I was ordered not to attend them at all.

"Attention, students of Darkness Faction Academy!" someone with a tough sounding voice shouted. Almost instantly, all of the students stopped talking and turned to up front, as if they were like robots programmed to move with the use of a command.

"The Light Faction Academy is about to attack at any moment. According to the Overseer on the tower, they are reorganizing their platoon. Now will be the time to strike. There will be one objective: leave no survivors. It's the first time in ten years have we finally engaged in combat with the Light Faction. Do not let this chance escape us. Now that you know the objective.. CHARGE!" the leader turned around to 180 degrees and pointed towards the Light Faction. At that moment, the entire crowd of students rushed forward screaming their war cries. Unbeknownst to the leader, I have my own agenda. I had to locate Ayako Tsumura at all costs. We were away from the Academy by four or five meters, then the group began to split up. At the same time, I caught sight of the Light Faction doing the same thing as us. Within a matter of seconds, we were already engaging in fights with the other. The sun was still in the sky, still setting, the orange tint from the tiny bit of sunlight that was still shining over us started to disappear. The fight has begun, under the cover of dawn. I summoned my Two Become One and ran with it at my side. Two students from the Light Faction blocked my way, "So this guy is one of the 'elites' I have been hearing about? Ha! He doesn't look so tough!" one of them said.

"Don't judge others by their looks," I said to counter.
"Well, let's see about that," both of them charged at me with their Keyblades. I sidestep out of the way and I hit them with the side of my Keyblade on the temple of their heads, successfully knocking them out. They fell to the ground with a thud. I quickly dashed away to continue my search. Even though we were tasked to kill them, it would take too long. I needed all the time to find Ayako. I wanted a clean battle with a fresh opponent. In order to do that, I must save as much time as possible.
"It's a Illusion Academy student! Charge at him!" someone commanded, suddenly around five students made a dash towards me.

What a bother, I thought, just when I just saved some time, this had to happen. There are questions that I need to answer, an enemy that I must conquer. My feelings emerged from being in contact with her, even if killing her won't change a thing, I want to at least feel it again!

"Surrounding Attack Technique, Spiral Break."

Physical attacks are divided into different categories depending on the effect. This allows students to create their own attacks that work in different situations on the field. Such as, you would need to use a Surrounding Attack to gain the upper hand in a field of multiple enemies. Trick the enemy into lowering their guard and strike them down. These attacks are handy but take quite a while to master them successfully. For instance, a simple technique, Slashing, may take days or at the most, weeks to master; depending on how difficult it is. These attack techniques are special, as they come to the user's mind. Some attacks can be taught, but they take longer to master as opposed to attacks learned from the mind.

I jump about five meters in the air, hovering for a few seconds before spiraling into the ground with my arm extended with my Keyblade. I didn't intend to hit anyone with the attack, I just needed to confuse them for a bit. I hit the ground, creating a small hole in the ground with my Keyblade sticking out. I grab the handle and swing myself in a 60-degree angle to hit the opponent in front of me. I let go as soon as I made contact, I push him to the ground with my Keyblade now out of the ground. I quickly get up and crouched as the students from the Light Faction attempted to strike, I let them miss and I surprise them with a 360-degree sweep spin to knock them off their feet. Two more students remained. A female student among the three males I defeated attempted to fire a Blizzaga attack at point-blank range. That would inflict heavy damage if it connects. I grab her Keyblade and lifted it into the air, making her misfire the projectile. I stab the side of her stomach, made sure to miss any vital organs. I kicked her to remove my Keyblade from her body. I face the last student, who is a male. He seems to be trembling with fear, seeing how I defeated the other four of his comrades with ease. He couldn't hold his weapon properly, as he was shaking with fear. Which is made even more obvious as he is gritting his teeth and tears streaking down the sides of his face. A part of me wanted to leave him be, but another side of me wanted to make him suffer. I didn't have time to deal with this, but I have to take in the possibility that he might muster up the courage to attack me. I must remove all possibilities. I dashed up to him and jabbed his stomach with my left hand. He groaned in pain and let go of his Keyblade to hold his stomach with both hands. He fell to his knees, hanging his head. He lifted his head up to see my Keyblade as I was preparing a Fire spell. Looking at his wide eyes, he didn't even need to speak a word. I can already perceive what he would say; a whimper of denial or screams of mercy. Either way, I launched the Fire spell at point-blank range. I turned away as he screams in pure agony. His skin peeling off from the blistering heat. A Fire spell has the power of a low-tier Fira spell at that range. Nothing a simple Cura or Curaga could fix. A Potion wouldn't be enough to heal him now. I slowly walk away, a few feet away from the small post the Light Faction made. I saw someone in some high-end clothes, I assume they are a commander. Among the people there, I see Ayako preparing to head out onto the field. I assume because I see her grabbing a Potion or two.

"Ayako Tsumura!" I yell out to grab her attention. It proves to be successful as she stares at me with an angry look.
"You again?" she says in disgust as she walks over to me with her Keyblade in hand. Her Keyblade gives off an aura of light, with a huge emphasis on white on the design aspect.
"I fought my way over here to answer that question one month ago," I readied my weapon.
"Let me see if I can recall.. 'where is your free will,' right?" she said, and I nod in response.
"My objective was to kill the students, but I disobeyed that so I can fight you with no worries. All in order to fight the one girl who made my troublesome emotions emerge from within," I made eye contact with her, proving my determination.
"You proved that you are capable of free will. But I wonder, how long will it last? Because to me, you're just a dog who finally removed his leash," she smiles mockingly.
".. You better prepare yourself now, Tsumura. Because I'm not leaving without your head," I openly threaten her.
"Will you live up to those words, I wonder?" she mischievously smiles and moves into a fighting stance, spreading her legs and holding her weapon firmly at her side.

"You're one of the few people on par with my abilities, I'll break you and your words!" I yell and dash towards her to strike first. She parried my attack and knocked me back a few feet. She extended her arm in my direction, her pose seems to intend the preparation of a magic attack. "Triple Firaga!" she yelled. My predictions were correct, the three orbs of fire circled the tip of her Keyblade and finally projected themselves at me. I jump in her direction, curling my body into a ball and rolling a few feet to avoid her attack. But the Firaga orbs circled around and hit me in the back. I flinch from the burning fire that scorched my back. It was as if I was walking on burning coal during training, falling over and burning my back. I didn't anticipate that Triple Firaga would have homing properties to them. That was my mistake and my mistake alone. These mistakes would eventually kill me.

"What's wrong? Done already? I thought you were going to slice my head off. I had high hopes for you, but I am severely disappointed," she mocks me with a smile.

I have to think of a plan fast. I was too reckless on the field. I used up some of my valuable resources trying to take down the fodder. Now that I am up against the main course, I can't muster my strength up. I didn't have enough time to recover from training, now this. I sprung headfirst without a plan. Just the urge for settling the score with this girl and lock away my useless emotions. "I'm.. just getting started," my tone was hoarse. I get up from the ground and spread my feet a bit to level myself. I reach into the pocket of my blazer and take out a small bottle. I take out the cork that sealed the contents and drank the liquid. At that moment, the effects of the healing potion took effect, the pain from the blistering fire disappeared and I felt better. The reconstruction of my cells formed my skin back together in a second.

"Now then, I'm back up to full stamina. Time for me to go all out, Tsumura," I point my weapon towards her.
"Honestly, you're an idiot. Coming in without a plan.. well, I'll let it slide, for now, show me what the Darkness Faction offers, pawn!" she continues to mock me.

At least learn my name, I thought.

"Thundaga Shot," I spread my feet back and I grab the handle of my weapon with both hands. A huge orb of around three meters formed at the tip of my Keyblade. A yellow orb of crackling electricity. I swung my Keyblade in an act of throwing a ball, to launch the projectile at her. Upon contact, a cloud of smoke emerged around us, as soon as that happened, I jumped into the air so I can get a view from above. I spread my body open to hover for a bit. A gust of wind appeared from the center of the cloud and blew all of it away. As expected, Ayako would blow it away.

"A distraction..!" she gasped.
"Aerial Attack Technique, Diving Slash," I suspend the force that kept me in the air and prepares to dive with my arm pulled back, preparing for a slash. I knock her back a few inches with the attack. Her face screaming with surprise from my sudden attack. I stand up and swung my Two Become One at her repeatedly. As if on instinct, she cast a weak Reflect shield in front of her. I could tell it was weak because my weapon wasn't being reflected back to me and she could use the shield repeatedly. All I could do is put the pressure on her and hope for the shield to break. Yuro was powerless when I used this strategy. Theoretically, it can work on her. But I held off it thinking she might use a normal Reflect. But that wouldn't be enough to stop me. So she used a weak Reflect that she can consciously use without tiring out. This would me she is buying time for herself to think of a counter to this strategy. Then she can initiate that surprise attack while I'm busy bashing away at her shield like a fool. Coming to that conclusion, I back away from her.

"..." a few seconds of silence pass. She was intently staring at me, thinking that I'll restart my onslaught if she drops the Reflect. "What are you doing?" she asks. I stand there dumbfounded for a second.
"Huh?"
"What are you doing?" she repeats.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I don't understand your intention of coming her just to fight me. It has to something more than 'settling the score', it's more than that." Her statement was spot on.

"Yeah. It's more than a simple competition," I said. I have no clear understanding of myself, I'm constantly been in a conflict with myself ever since. I have no idea what I am doing with my life. All I have been doing up to an hour ago was obeying orders. Now that I have disobeyed those orders, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm simply a slave with no master. Plus, with these emotions surging up from me all of sudden, it's hard to express myself anymore. hotheaded, sulky, happiness, dread, cold and doubt; these emotions reflect my actions. I feel like my personality is all over the place, I don't feel like myself. At one instance, I'm happy, in another, I brimming with irritation, then doubting myself and my those around me and so forth. There is one person who lit up this path for me. She lit the path that'll bring me to interact with others. Ayako Tsumura, the woman who filled a hole in my cold, empty heart that lacked warm substance.

"I'm here to fulfill my curiosity," I continued. I want to learn more about myself, I want to walk down this new road that has been laid out for me. I take a step forward, "because the woman who made me lust for this fulfillment of self is right in front of me."

"..." she stood there in astonishment. She didn't expect this. "..I did..?" she asks. I nod, "Yeah. Because of you, my emotions are spiraling all over the place. Never before have I ever felt this way. Being unable to express them properly yet, knowing they exist is the most annoying thing. I can't even think straight. I've been acting on impulse ever since I'm all over the place. There is no exact definition of me. It's exactly as you say, I am a dog who just got his leash released. I'm a stray with no understanding of anything. That's why I came her, seeking for answers."

My prior thinking was to kill her in an attempt to push these emotions back down. But putting all the events that happened so far in my otherwise uneventful student-soldier training academy life, this change started because of her. Killing her won't make a difference, either is sparing her. All I have to do is accept it and walk down this new, fresh road that paved over the old, rocky one.

She smiles, "Answers? I'm honored to have you say that, now we can fight on equal ground now."

I only realized my problems by talking to her through fighting. If that's the case, then by experience I'll uncover those truths one by one. But one thing I'm still uncertain about, how can she change me? How did I come to this conclusion just from fighting her? Is it through understanding?

I zoned out for a bit, thinking too deep into this topic.

"Kazu Yuuki, I'll acknowledge you," she said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Alright.. here I go," both of us dash at the same time, knocking each other back and forth with the force of our blades. We were standing on equal ground at this point, we are rivals who have come to understand the other. That may be the case for her, but I don't know a thing about her, and just looking at her strength peaks my curiosity. I knew nothing about her, her past, what drives her, or who she really is. All the more I think about it, makes me want to know. For some reason, she made my emotions swell up with her words, I want to know how she did it, and now I want to know more about her. We are frenemies, slowly becoming frenemies.

In the background of the night sky and the moon that illuminated the ground we stand on, I see my comrades, fighting against Ayako's comrades. The essence of battle, the exhilaration of fighting. I couldn't bring myself to even kill her if I got the chance because I want to know more about her.

I pulled my arm back, flipping my Keyblade so I'm wielding it backhanded. I lock my sight on Ayako, and she does the same. "Zantetsuken," we dash at blinding speed, to the onlooker of the move, it would seem like we vanished out of thin air, but in reality, we moved at an impossible speed for a single slash. It's a strong move used to finish off opponents in one hit, meant as a finishing attack. At the end of the dash, we reappear with our arms extended towards the sky. Our pose suggests that we were stricken. Not even a second after we reappear, the grass in our path disintegrates and leaves the dirt, then I start feeling a sharp pain in the side of my stomach. I can only assume our attacks made contact. I fall to the ground in pain. I steal a glance behind me and see Ayako is on her knees as well.

"... Because I want to be a person," I say to myself as I continue my previous trail of thoughts.

The pain from the attack made me immobile, my breathing became thin and I felt like some force was restricting my respiratory system. I look around, and I see my acquaintance, Yuro calls out to me. I look all around me, some casualties on both sides have occurred... but that's too be expected, I guess.

Yuro grabbed me and pulled my arm around his shoulders and he helped me stand on my feet. I steal a glance at Ayako, and I see a boy do the same.

"Attention, students of Enlightenment Academy!" a woman yelled into a microphone, which reverberated the sound throughout the battlefield. In an instant, the fighting stopped.
"A battle was well fought today. All students, retreat back to the Light Faction and take all injured students. The dead will be left behind to lighten the load."

I can only assume that she must be the Light Faction's Commander. Yuro dragged me all the way back to the academy, and I see the Enlightment Academy students run past me carrying their comrades on their backs, ignoring the rest of us and ran back to their camp.

"Kazu Yuuki," Emigrace called out to me through my earpiece.
"..What..?" I groan.
"Report to my office afterward."
"..Understood."

We finally regrouped with the remaining students of the academy. It seems we had thirty-six deaths and one-hundred-one injured, I was one of the injured. I healed myself with a Curaga spell. It has the same effect as a Potion but is more effective with healing. However, it drains your entire mana supply and you have to wait for it to recharge. Because of that, the Cure spell chain is only used in emergency situations, as magic is highly valued for their versatile use in battle and ranged attacks.

I have Yuro let go of me, and the day after, I reported to Emigrace's office.

I lowered myself into the cushioned chair, after waiting for about fifty seconds, she finally began talking.

"Regarding the battle from yesterday.." she began but stopped dead in her tracks as she flipped through some of the papers she was holding, and looked at me with a shocked expression which was a bit funny. She continued, "... you injured eight students and one of them was Ayako Tsumura, the target objective from your failed assassination mission one month back."
I nod sharply, "Well, what about it?"
"There are a couple things wrong here. Firstly, only eight students? I thought you were tasked to kill them, not injure them, am I wrong?" she tilted her head in confusion.
"No, you're not wrong. I just wanted to fight Ayako, but those seven got in my way, so I did my best to save time. Resulting in me knocking them out," I try to explain carefully, but the careless factor of what occurred during those events remained evident in my voice.
"I'm not being paid enough to add your actions in your missions onto my workload. This isn't in my jurisdiction," she slammed the papers on her desk and frowned at me.

She seems very stressed today, from her ruffled suit and messy hair, she hasn't been home in days, maybe even weeks. Out of my own selfish desire, I went to fight Ayako, which caused this mess. Normally she would "half-ass" the work if I did the mission correctly. Since I disobeyed orders and acted according to what I wanted to do, she's stressing over it. I can't blame her since it's her responsibility for what I do and what happens to me.

"But seriously, why are you so hung up on this Ayako girl? What did she do that made you want to fight her so badly? Including on the warfield, what is up with you lately!?" she finally snapped from stress.
"Ehhh.. I wouldn't say anything is out of the ordinary today," I lied, of course.

Something was definitely wrong, for the sake of Emigrace's stress load. I didn't want her to worry about it anytime soon.

"Are you mocking me?" she glared.
"Mocking? How?" I asked.

I guess she saw through my obvious lie. Well, I wasn't the best liar anyway.

She sighed, "You know, you can't lie your way outta this that easily. We aren't idiots here."
"I'm just confused, is all," I vaguely explain.

I hoped that I can be as vague as possible to annoy her to the point that she wouldn't want to continue. Which would lead her to change the topic? I guess this shows how much I wanted to avoid the subject.

"Confused? About what?" she persisted.
"... About myself. Now, are we done here? I want to go back to the previous topic if possible. I feel uncomfortable discussing this."

I might have jumped the gun by saying it was uncomfortable.

"Alright. I don't have enough tolerance to start interrogating you. There are other people that are fit for that job anyway," she leaned back in her chair.
A tough sounding voice came from the direction of the door, "Emigrace. It's me, Ace."
"Come on in! That was perfect timing, by the way, I was getting tired dealing with him today... haha."

Her fake laugh was so obvious it hurts.

I looked at me, and a man of average build stepped into the office. He had a neat suit on, with highly combed hair. I assumed he just came from a council meeting if the Head of Mission Management came in dressed like that.

"Oh. By 'him' you, of course, mean our school's trained dog. My sorry to have kept you waiting, Emigrace and Operative Yuuki."

A dog? At least show some more respect, I'm at least capable of knowing that much.

".. Not at all," I bitterly said.
"Well then, I heard he has been doing poorly as of late. More recently, the small battle from yesterday. But one thing puzzles me: why did the Light Faction advance and challenge us directly?" he held a finger up to his chin and gazed up at the ceiling.
"What do you mean?" Emigrace asked.

Given the respectful tone from her, Ace must be higher up the ranks.

"The Light Faction has been relatively passive. This is very strange. You do know the concept of Yin and Yang, correct?" Ace asked.
"That old thing? A little bit."
"Yin is normally passive and Yang is active. Yin is the white dot traveling within the dark. Yang is the dark dot traveling in the white. Yin is supposedly the Light Faction according to beliefs from our ancestors. But this is increasingly strange. lately, the Light Faction has been more active than us. Is it possible that the Yin and Yang, according to religious belief, to change places?" Ace was practically mumbling to himself at this point. Tapping his foot and gripping the tip of his chin to be lost in deep thought.
"What do you mean... by Yin and Yang?" I asked, curious.
"Oh. Our ancestors had a belief that of Yin and Yang. A belief on how they are interconnected or even interrelated, despite being the opposite. That nothing is absolute over the other, everything is in peace and harmony. Those were the philosophical teachings from our ancestors. Believing that we needed to be separated, our ancestors split up and eventually erected the Darkness which is Yang, the other erected the Light, Yin. We were supposed to be in peace and harmony with the other. But lately, we have been putting in all our efforts in disrupting that balance and now the Light Faction is now on the active while we remained on standby. It's almost as if the roles have switched. Funny, ain't it?" he smiled.

Have the roles switched? True, that's rather strange. But what's even more out of the ordinary is that we are defying the lesson taught to us by our ancestors.

"No respect for the dead, I see," I said out loud.
"Hahaha.. I suppose. Well, what do you think Emigrace?" Ace turned to Emigrace, who had her arms crossed the entire time.
"I agree that it's rather strange. I guess this means that the Light Faction is growing stronger, possibly stronger than our top members. Which is quite bad," Emigrace glared at me, as if I kicked her dog right in front of her."Yes?" I answered back in a monotone voice.
"I'd like you to be the leader of a group mission that will be scheduled for the following week, starting tomorrow. Your team will be the entire elite squad you had yet to meet," he said and moved his arm in the direction of the door, "Come in, everyone."

Five students walked, almost instantly, as if Ace told them to wait there till he called them in.

"The four current seats of the Elite Division in the academy have gathered. First, the girl with the uninterested expression, Scarlet Rose. Second, a happy-go-lucky girl, Xiu Li. Third, a girl with a glaring stare that would be enough to send a very soft, timid guy in tears, Selena Rose, the younger sister of Scarlet Rose. Fourth, the truant of the group with social problems, Kazu Yuuki. Finally, the fifth person is the positive, caring student that accepts himself as a dimwit, Yuro Lakewood. Although he isn't one of the elites yet, I made a special offer: if he can pass this mission on an equal level with his peers here, he can advance," he introduces them.

'Isn't that.. out of your job jurisdiction?' I wanted to say that, but I kept it to myself and went along. Looking at the rest of the group that just walked in, they seem to be insulted by the way Ace introduced them. It was understandable, to say the least.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kazu Yuuki," I said, trying to be welcoming.
"Nice seeing you here, Kazu. At least there is someone here I know that doesn't totally hate my guts! Hahahaha..." his nervous laughter echoes throughout the room as he turns to Selena, who gives him a menacing glare that made him yelp in terror.
"Nice of them to be conveniently there when you need to come out," I looked at Ace, who laughed in response to my empty-handed comment.

Although, Yuro is the only one I actually know in the group. That wouldn't be the case if I attempted to be social in the academy, but due to orders from the high brass and Emigrace herself, that wasn't possible until recently. In fact, I can feel Emigrace's gaze on me, to which I can assume a face of pure irritation seeing that I made friends with someone which is in violation of my agreement with her.

I turn around to face her, and sure enough, I was correct. She quickly changes her expression to a faked smile and says, "Kazu, when did you meet Mr. Lakewood?" judging from her tone, she is trying her hardest trying not to snap at me on the spot for the second time today.

"Oh! Let me answer that, Ms! I was his training partner during his one month of recuperation," Yuro answers quickly like an excited little boy who just got called on by the teacher for the first time in class.

My first thought: are you an idiot?
Which, from my punishment one month ago, I'd already confirmed that. But his dimwitted behavior seems to be stuck in my first impression on him. While he is quite the role model for the students out there in this academy to "not give up" isn't in his moral code. He even motivates struggling students to improve, even going as far as to train with them and helping them improve their weak points. He may be dimwitted, but there is more to him that meets the eye.

"What did we say about not making unnecessary acquaintances?" her voice gave off a malicious tone, most likely towards me and Yuro.
"'We?'" I questioned.
"She means the brass and herself," Ace confirmed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group stood in awkward silence as Emigrace was ready to kill me with her bare hands, as Yuro unintentionally added more stress on the now one-hundred-pound weight that sits on her shoulders because of me.

Still, I wonder what will become of me in the upcoming days. I still need answers, I guess those will be slowly be revealed as I continue my days. Well, only time will tell.

END

NEXT TIME:

COMMUNICATION