Ep.3

It had been roughly half an hour since we were guided into the Beacon ballroom. Currently, all of the entering students were here and trying to rest for tomorrow's initiation. How hard will the initiation be, I wondered.

"IT'S LIKE A HUGE SLEEPOVER!" Tyrian shouted with excitement as he jumped up and down. Neon and I were simply sitting down on our sleeping bags which were laid out on the Ballroom.

"Yeah, an awkward sleepover for everyone, where both genders are sleeping in the same hall. Most of the guys are topless, trying to impress as much as they can, and the girls are enjoying the view. The boys are also enjoying the view of looking at girls in pajamas." Neon had a hint of sarcasm. "At least the three of us are not topless." Neon said with a fair amount of relief. All of us were wearing dark grey jersey pants with different colored t-shirts. I was wearing black, Tyrian was wearing purple and Neon was wearing dark green.

"Neon, where is Cobalt?" I asked out of concern.

"Cobalt is in the roof." stated Neon.

"...He managed to find a place where he could sleep, huh." I showed no surprise at Neon's reply as Cobalt's resting place was always 'in the roof'. "What was his saying... 'Demonic ninja never show their sleeping face.'" I said, attempting to impersonate Cobalt.

Neon smiled and said "It's weakness, not sleeping face, although that works too."

"Well, since we're having a fun sleepover, where Neon is drooling over girls in PJs, let's add some more activity: me playing the guitar!" With a big smile on his face Tyrian drew out his electronic guitar.

"Tyrian, playing the guitar will wake the people who are already asleep," I gave a concerned comment to Tyrian. "Although, I do wish to hear you play."

"Hey, I'm not-" Neon began to speak in his defense.

""You are."" Both Tyrian and I interrupted him.

"You sharp bastards…"Neon gave up so easily.

I had fully prepared my resting spot with the sleeping bag that Beacon handed out, same with Neon and Tyrian. However, I found discomfort within my mind since Cobalt was sleeping in his favorite resting place... Does he even have proper sleeping equipment or a warm spot for him to have a good sleep? I couldn't help myself to think about nothing but checking upon him.

"Neon, where exactly is he? I want to check if he needs anything up there." I asked Neon for Cobalt's location.

"Go to the window over there and knock three once, then once again. He should come out after that and show himself at the window." Neon pointed at the window located upstairs.

"Thanks, I'll go check on him." I stood up and started my stroll upstairs. Above the stairs, there was just a long indoor veranda. Therefore, I was able to see all of the students from up here. Before going to the window, where my objective was, I decided to take a look at the students. Most of them were just getting ready to sleep, whilst some of them had already started to make friends and were planning for the initiation.

Then I began to wonder; what lead them to be here? Are they looking for a challenge? Are they looking for strength? Are they looking for happiness? Or are they looking to make up for their past failures? At the very least, all of the students must have some desire or motive to be here.

Then I shifted my gaze to my hand and quietly spoke "...What's mine?"

I regained myself from that deep thought, and noticed a girl with a black bow and black pajamas. She was sitting near the candles by the wall, all her attention focused on the book she was holding. I smiled slightly and questioned myself: is she going to sleep whilst wearing that bow?

Then two girls approached the girl with the bow. Actually, the blonde girl with an orange tank top and black shorts was dragging the dark red haired girl who was wearing a black tank top and long white jerseys with rose patterns.

"Hellooo~! I believe you two may know each other." said the blonde girl brightly to the girl with the black bow with an overwhelming smile.

Then the girl with the black bow looked at the dark haired girl and said "Aren't you the girl that exploded?"

As soon as she said that I rushed to cover my mouth with my hands, so as to not break the silence with my laughter. I thought to myself: What do you have to do to explode? I hope she didn't cause an explosion because of piles of dust.

"Uuh, yeah my name is Ruby," She offered her hand for a handshake, but the girl with the black bow declined the handshake by continuing to read her book. "But you can just call me crat... Actually, you can just call me Ruby." And yet she still tried to have a conversation with her even though the reading girl was seemingly disinterested.

"Okay." This was a total rejection from the girl with the bow.

Eavesdropping isn't my hobby and I'm aware that it's ill-mannered. However, I was very keen to know how this scene was going to play out.

"So, what's your name?" The blonde girl asked in an effort to continue the conversation.

"Blake..." She finally stated her name. Even the densest person would've realised that this girl was very tired from the disturbance to her reading time.

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang: Ruby's older sister!" Yang was trying her best to keep her positive tone as much as possible. At this moment, I realised how young this Ruby girl actually was...Yang should be a 1st year since she is in the hall with us, which meant that she was seventeen... So Ruby is sixteen? I guess she skipped her year just like Cobalt. I'm glad to find out that Cobalt may have a friend who's the same age as him. It's something that I could be envious about.

"I like your bow..." Yang blurted out a small flattery.

"Thanks." Blake replied in monotone.

"...It goes great…with your... pajamas." Yang was still trying to continue the conversation with flattery.

"Right..." Blake replied again in the same manner. When are they going to give up I wonder.

"Nice night, don't you think?" Even though I could only look at Ruby and Yang's back from this angle, I was able to see how disorganised they were and how they were probably making an expression of not knowing what to do.

"Yes, it's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book... That I will continue to read…As soon as you leave." As she said that, I couldn't hide my surprise from surfacing onto my face. Blake had bluntly asked them to leave her alone. Almost too blunt. Even her tone was filled with frustration.

"What's it about?" Instead of Yang trying to hold together what little conversation they were having, this time Ruby started a small topic. The mood changed as soon as she spoke.

"Huh?" Blake looked back at Ruby.

"Your book, does it have a name?" Her voice didn't have any sort of nervousness, unlike before.

"Well, it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." When I heard what she was reading I must admit I became quite curious too. The book sounded very symbolic. Was it about some sort of a monster? Or two different people fighting for a single world?

"Oh, yeah...that's real lovely…" Yang expressed her lack of interest.

"I love books, Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories about heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress" Said Ruby.

"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake started to show interest in Ruby and for the first time, she continued the conversation.

"Well I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and protected the people who couldn't protect themselves." There was no longer a trace of nervousness in her speech. She was simply sharing her innocent wish.

"That's very ambitious for a child, "Blake was no longer focusing on her book. Instead, she was focusing on the ambitious and dream filled little girl. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." Blake spoke her words as if she wished it was. Her tone was now thoughtful.

"Well that's why we're all here. To make it better" Those words... The person I was looking at wasn't a child. She was a person with a pure heart, nothing more or less. How long will she be able to keep her pure mindset, I pondered. I hoped for the best that she'll remain pure till the end. Then I stopped my childish eavesdropping and started going back to my objective: Cobalt.

I started walking towards the window that Neon had pointed at and tried to knock on the window, when I heard a new voice inquiring: "What in the world is going on over here?!" The voice came from where those girls were. Even though I wished to stop hearing their conversation, the majority of the students had fallen asleep. Therefore, I was able to hear them without focusing too much in the soft silence. I looked back to where they were and saw-

A girl with a bright blue pajama dress. Long white hair with eyes that reminded me of the empty sky.

"SI-" I couldn't finish my exclamation.

My hands shook.

My legs gave out.

The same nightmare... Same nightmare... Same nightmare... Same nightmare...Same nightmare...Same nightmare... Same nightmare... Same nightmare... Same nightmare...Same nightmare...Same nightmAre... SaMe nightmare... same Nightmare... Same nighTmare...Same niGhtmAre...SamENightMare... sAmEnIgHtmaRe...SAmeNiGhtMaRe... SAmEniGHtMarE-

When will I become free from these shackles?

Then I awoke from this nightmare.