The Vast Struggle

[Mathios]

   Mornings in the land of Asuri were always a busy undertone for a subject. While the Mainland's metropolis people never slept and Hinatian's evenings were late night to , most Asurians were people whose life started early in the morning and ended only when they were done whatever they had to do and at whatever time that wise, satisfaction their only curfew. They let the birds sing in the morning and watched the moon rise at night, undisturbed by what time it was so long as they had something to do and were intent on having it done. Depending on the region and the city, different events and motions bloomed and faltered to make its people follow a new rhythm and strive for new objectives. Saka, the large city of the Rozan region and neighbor to Domir, the great Sleeping Mountain, was no exception.

   Like first weeks of June, as spring was coming to an end and bowing to its replacement by summer, Saka's pride, the High Collegial Institute of Saka was in its usual turmoil of the end-of-semester exams. A bustling establishment known internationally for its high academic standards and the landmark of many scholars in diverse fields, the HCIS, as its own population would call it, was a true house of knowledge and housed the birth of many a great mind. Mornings in such times as those were vastly in the rule of the students who, with the casual exceptions were always on the move and with thoughts largely dominated by the immense task that was the Examination Week at the Institute, and even the important businesspeople would be forced, each morning, to make way for the waves of eager and anxious students underway and flocking to school, keeping streets and alleys busy, breakfast houses full and their building's area filled with a background air of laughter, chatter and footsteps at a range all around, from the earliest time the doors opened to when they were forced to close. Sleep was sometimes both rare and harshly gained and in town, at that time every year ,everything went at the students' speed, not the world's. Everything but a few things.

   Walking in a more tranquil street adjacent to the busiest ones leading to school, a young man went at his own speed. Always the same streets in the same directions at the same times, he was never late and he never seemed pressed. He never ran to school, always walking in his relaxed and unworried stride, letting the other passing students wind by him in their impatient cycles of movement, his thin leather schoolbag in his hand and at his side, his eyes set forward with a serious expression, yet not a frown or anything neutral. As they zoomed by, people looked at him they huddled and whispered and chatted, yet he would remain undisturbed. When people walked to his side and came to talk, he would respond. He would look cheerful but kept his pace and they were the ones that had to slow down. If they were to leave, he would regain his usual state and show to be unperturbed. He never swerved off his course to engage in conversation and he never stopped to look at anything that might attract the attention of passerby's. Since he came to Saka and was first seen, three years ago, walking to school like he did on every morning, he was always constant.

   On this one particular morning of the second week of June's Monday, however, as he got to the school grounds, some people who chatted were distracted from their routines when the young man stopped at the school gates. Nudging and some intermittent and sporadic whispers came whistling through the air, thinly and secretly, as one by one, the usual students who ruled the Institute's morning front yard looked over at the unusual picture. Riveted in the eyes of the huge stone statue of the school pride's representation, a larger than life display of Nathan Shinevale, one of the greatest minds in the fields of science and technology that ever graced the soil of its footsteps and thoughts, the young man was looking up with a calm expression, his serious features relaxed and at ease. He stood there, schoolbag loosely in hand, for a moment before taking a deep breath, letting it out and voicing out, softly and to himself:

"Last week huh... this is it."

   He sighed and, with a blink and fixing his stare on the school front doors again gripped his schoolbag once more. As the chatter resumes and under the stares hesitating on his person before going back to their friends' conversation, Mathios walked in through the crowd and the front entrance.

   Keeping his pace through the hallways and navigating through the lower floor, where every student comes and goes to enter and leave school, casually and unobstructed, he walked over to the locker area buzzing with people and noise and the pressure of haste. He reached in his uniform's shirt and pulled out a pocket watch. As it's clicking arms indicated only fifteen minutes before his exam at nine, he shut it closed and put it back inside his shirt pocket and turned the corner to his locker area.

   Seemingly impossible to distract from his course, he approached his locker and as he did caught in his sight a small piece of paper taped by the top to the center of its metal door. In a flowing manner and gesture, he put down his bag in front of himself and the locker as he came to a stop and reached for the paper, which seemed to display a writing made in blue pen. He took hold of it and pulled it free from the door, bringing it a bit closer to his eyes. His eyes went over the lines as they read:

"Hey Mathios! It's Sam, we sit next to each other in Zeto class.
I've been holding out for a while because I'm nervous about asking,
but I was wondering if you would maybe, if you had the time, if you wanted...
to maybe come with me to the Prom Night on Thursda-"

   His read ended as soon as he crumpled the small paper note in his hand and made a rough ball with it in a vague joined movement of his hands before dropping it to his feet in a gesture of the utmost casual. He opened his locker and bent slightly forward with his left arm in front, diving behind the cover of door and hiding his face from the dropping shoulders and disappointed look of his classmate, watching him from the end of the same hallway.

"Not interested," he mouthed to himself as he grabbed his Robotics study notebook before bending out of the locker and closing its door.

   His face was as serious as ever even as he closed his eyes and nonchalantly put the notebook inside his bag. Far to his right, at the end of the hallway, Sam's hand was to her mouth and her eyes showed deep sorrow, her other hand tentatively pulled by a friend's attempting to lead her away from the area, mouthing something to her as she seemed daze.

   Mathios sighed and opened his eyes and grabbed his bag in a firm hand. He turned to the area exit, ready to head to his first exam of the week, and as he faced the mass room and the stairs to the higher floors, he came face to face with the new banner hung during the weekend, resting on the stairway columns like great drapes of glory. Through its bright colors and dark font, the HCIS announced to all:

"WELCOME TO EXAMINATION WEEK. PROCEED AND PREVAIL!"

[Gail Carrington]

It was ironic that she was going to be late to her Evolution of Technology exam because of her own special brand of “technological evolution.”

Gail Carrington sat on the ground in the courtyard, smack in the middle of the path, exactly where she’d collapsed half an hour ago. She’d been dreading this: her left Light leg had been making terrible noises for the past few days. She’d hoped that it would delay its inevitable breakdown until after the exams; she’d ignored the whirring and the grinding sounds and the occasional electric shocks it gave her, and studied instead.

But no. Whatever deity wanted her to fail her EvoTech exam had used its divine powers to render her crippled on the ground, blocking the human traffic, receiving a variety of looks and whispers in her direction. Most avoided her, glancing at her reproachfully for hindering them as they rushed to their own exams. Some laughed openly at her misfortune, which made her blush. Others stooped to help her, both normal students and robotics majors, and she waved them all away silently, her face deepening in its shade strongly resembling a ripe tomato.

It was hard to blame the ones who stopped to stare, though: a girl in overalls, one leg ripped off and cast aside, her leg itself opened. A cylindrical casing hung on hinges, displaying a complicated mess of wires, circuit boards, whirring gears and flashing lights. It almost looked like her leg had vomited a rainbow, as she had pulled the mass of green, yellow, red, blue, purple, orange, white, and black wires out onto the ground in order to see them properly. Armed with only her trusty screwdriver, some soldering wire, and an exceptionally bad hair day, fixing her prosthetic leg was proving to be a challenge.

She was nothing if not resourceful, however. The onlookers and their jeers and whisperings had thrown her off initially, but not now: she had zoned in on her leg and muted her surroundings. Her fingers flew deftly from one wire to the other, using her screwdriver to pick out debris in the gears, hacking wires apart with the serrated edge of a discarded beer can that had been lying on the ground near her. She found a lighter just at the edge of her reach, and used it to burn some soldering wire to meld the electrical ends together. She even unclipped a silver earring from her ear and fixed it in her leg as a conductor, breaking the pin off and using it as a replacement to a damaged peg in a circuit board.

Unorthodox, yes. Would it have made her Technology teachers cry? Definitely. Was Gail now able to stand up after 45 minutes of work, slam her casing shut, and bolt off to class at speeds that would have caught the Track captain’s attention? You bet your ass!

Bag swinging wildly behind her, her silly hat nearly flying off her head, attached by a single thread caught in her hairband, she ran, dodging students and teachers alike, nearly crashing into a bench, a birdbath, and a small decorative garden fence. Finally, the evil deity that had it out for succeeded in presenting an obstacle that she faltered on: stairs.

Her shoulder hit the ground hard, but she reacted quick enough in her blinding pain to reach her uninjured arm up to grab her messenger bag before it went flying over her head and crashing onto the pavement. It met her hand and slowed dramatically, landing on her head with a faint thud as her laptop met her skull.

“Ow…” was all she could mumble, tears stinging her eyes from the pain. She scrunched up her face, frustrated.

I should have realized that, she thought, struggling to her feet. Her leg had been damaged more in the fall and would barely support her weight. She picked up her bag and hobbled pathetically inside the school, grumbling. Of course the calibration would be off, I was using an earring as a level calibration rod. It’s probably melted by now anyway. Why does silver have such a low melting point?! She hung her head in shame. I’m such a failure… Her only consolation was that Mathios had witnessed none of her humiliation: that would have been the ultimate addition to an already miserable day.

Dimly she saw a group of people in the locker hallway as she hopped along on one foot, leaning heavily on the lockers for support. She heard a girl wailing somewhere nearby, probably about being rejected as a partner for this stupid Prom business. If the choice had been to talk about Prom or stand in front of a Mach 1 racecar speeding down the tracks towards her face with sketchy telemetry reports on the breaks…Well, she’d probably rather have just talked about Prom, but it was a close call.

Not that anyone talked to her much anyway. She was kind of a loner, not by choice, but by freakishness. Who was she kidding? She glanced down at herself after receiving some more curious glances: her now 1 legged pair of overalls were grass stained and covered in mud, she was wearing only one earring, her face stung with a scrape, her left shoulder hung limply by her side, and her exposed leg twitched sporadically.  She checked her multi-faceted watch to check the time: 8:54. There was time to spare.

Thus, despite a sore shoulder, spasmodic leg, muddy clothes, disheveled hair and ruined overalls, her face broke into a quiet smile as she hobbled towards her room, past the gaggle of muttering girls, paying them no mind at all.

Compared to my morning so far, she thought triumphantly, this exam is going to be a snap!

[Zanibas]

   Light began to entrance itself through a window, onto the sleeping face of a seemingly young man. Nature's natural alarm clock had rung, and the body roused itself into motion. Early morning arrived, beginning another day of living life.

   Today had even more vigor outside than it usually did. Despite dawn being minutes in the past, students were more frantic, store owners setting up earlier, and the general bustle and hustle of the already busy area now more enhanced than normal. However, even though aware, James awoke in his normal fashion.

   Freshen up, make the bed, put on some casual clothes and start the ovens. Prepare the dough downstairs, and let it rise. Go shop for fresh produce, and then begin making the first of many delicacies. This was the rhythm of the first hour of James, as it has been for as long as he's been here. Of course, extra ingredients had to be bought for increased sales, but other than that, the steady rhythm kept its form.

   After the first batch came freshly out, the second hour of the day began, and marked the opening of the store. Immediately people rush in, students and workforce alike, all in a rush for breakfast. Of course, due to reasonable pricing and being overall divine sweets, in a matter of 10 minutes was the first stock gone. Luckily, the second batch finished right then and there, allowing the already counter-busy James to restock.

   This continued until around 11:30, where the main traffic ended. It was here that slow cooking items were set on old reliable machinery for after lunch, and the quick sweets ended its shift. Here James closed up shop temporarily, and began to change. Even though the Institute respected and trusted him, James could not waltz in with his casual jeans and white shirt. He had to have some class, after all. Wearing his white polo and tan pants, along with some nice leather shoes and a combing, James set out for his second job today.

   Ten people had filed formal requests for counseling, and many more were probably going to walk in through his office. Finals week had a tendency to create stress in the Institute's children, and thus it was natural that numbers rose during this time. With finals and prom approaching at the Institute, no wonder that some people fall when balancing studies and a social life. However, with a smile on his face, and with a brisk pace, he seemed unfaltered by the increased workload. It was fun work after all, assisting the young who fall, but can get up with a little help.

   It was halfway to the Institute, only 200 feet away from his home, that a franticly crying female student approached him concerning a certain rude boy and his antics about prom. Pausing for a moment, and looking straight into the girl's eyes, he said in his slightly husky, yet resassuring voice.

   "Miss. Please, walk with me to my office. Tell me all about it, and I'll be sure to slow down if you need more time." He placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, and suddenly the girl calmed to a slowed sniffling, her tension released. He smiled, she walked, and he followed.

   As they walked through the Courtyard into the wing that held his office, James noticed some scrap wiring on the ground. Although wondering for a moment of its purpose, he disposed of them into the nearby trashcan, and continued his focus on the sniffling girl  as she continued on with an elaborate story, beginning a process of healing once again.

[M.H. -Zero-]

It’s early Monday morning; students began entering school to prepare for their exams. Students are running left and right to see what classrooms they had been assigned too, while some seemed to be discussing prom dates and after parties. Among these hallways, a girl accompanies a young man, about the age of 20 with bandages covering his eyes. The two always seemed to be together, for good reasons as well.  The young man was often spoken about among his peers, and rumors would be spread concerning his blindness and why he was so silent all the time.

They were eventually stopped by a group of girls while on their way to their classroom.  

“Hey Aya, school’s almost ever and you know what’s Thursday, right?” said one of the girls to the young man’s companion, teasingly.

“Ya, I know! I cant wait! I already asked my prom date and he said yes!”

"Oh my God! you have to tell me all about!"

One girl, standing behind them, began to cry even louder after over hearing the conversation. Aya approached her.

“Awwww Sam  whats wrong?”She, continued crying while trying to catch her breath. She stuttered every time she tried to speak, but couldn’t bring herself to tell Aya what happened. One of the girl belonging to the group justified what happened.

“She kind of... got rejected in a really harsh way. I mean seriously, he just looked at her note and then threw it on the ground like garbage, how insensitive!...sigh …No wonder that Mathios kid is never with anyone. Just goes to show how you can’t just judge someone from appearances, huh. ”

The young man turned his head, slightly, towards the girl who just spoke, and turned away, his back to her almost immediately. He slowly walked towards the wall in front of him and leaned on it while waiting for his friend, Aya. His thoughts seemed to wander inside his mind, as he pondered upon what the girl had just said.

“C’ant judge anyone from appearances, huh? It would be nice if everyone thought that way. Then maybe, I wouldn’t need to hid anymore…”  His thoughts continued to wander.

“Whats with him, Aya? Is he depressed about prom stuff too?”

“Oh no, he’s just ..uhm…thinking about his exam this morning. Probably just reviewing some notes in his head. Ya that’s right…”  Aya responded quickly, but in a somewhat nervous tone of voice.

“You know, when I first saw you two together, I thought you guys were going out together. You know, it’s too bad he’s covering his eyes cause of his blindness. I’m sure he has some really nice ones to complement that hair.” Again, the girl spoke teasingly with a slight sense of interest. “So tell me Aya, who’s the lucky young stud your accompanying to the to prom, huh?”

Sam, yet again, began to burst in tears. It seemed any question concerning prom would tip the scales to over flowing her eyes with sorrow.

“Hehehe…uhm, I…don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about this now,” responded Aya, concerned with Sam’s depressive state. “Besides we should start heading to our class rooms. Exams start in 6 minutes. We’ll meet up after and talk about it alright, Sam?”

Sniff Sniff “O..O..Okay…”
Sam responded in a slightly reassured tone of voice, yet she was still on the verge of breaking into tears, again.  
Aya smiled at her as a friendly gesture. She turned back to the young man leaning against the wall and said “Time to go!”. He lifted his head, slightly, and lifted himself from the wall. They began to walk slowly towards their class. He walked by her, still deep in thought.  

“You know, even though you cant talk you should try finding a way to communicate with people anyway. Maybe you might meet someone just like you.” Aya tried getting his attention with words that can get to him, and she did, but as usual, he said nothing. He remained quite, and only spoke in his thoughts.

“I honestly doubt I’d ever meet someone like me, Aya. You’ve been my only friend up to now, but that’s only cause you know me more than any one else our age. Well anywho… Lets get this over with.“  

They entered the exam room, 5 minutes before it started, to ensure a seat next to each other. The teacher, already at her desk, stood up and approached them as they entered.

“So you’re the special student, I see. I heard a lot about both you and miss Mikado standing next to you from your teacher. I'll be the one replacing him seeing as he called in sick. Apparently, he called you a musical "prodigy". Well, I can't wait to see this "prodigy” in action," the teacher said, smiling in a teasing-like fashion."I just need to see both your ID cards before you sit at your seats."  

The young man stuck his hand inside his jean jacket's pocket.
He pulled out his ID card and handed it over; so did Aya.

“Student 0850964, Aya Mikado. Student 0830573, Ookami Ginyasha. Alright, you’re all set. Good luck!”

They both took thier seats and waited for the Exams to begin.

  
  

 

[Juusho]

As he walked to school, he wondered what today would bring. His master told him after exams were out, he had a surprise for him, something his master had never said before in his life. In a way, he was excited, and worried about what this "surprise" would be exactly.

Before long, he noticed he was already at the school grounds, bustling with many students heading into the building, headed towards exams. Raeyn walked along at a steady pace, checking his watch, noticing he had approximately a half hour before his exam would start.

"Hmmm.. Im supposed to have my World History exam today. My best class. Should be relatively easy, but best not to get too overconfident.. the teacher IS a curveball of sorts.. he loves his tricks."

As he was thinking to himself, he noticed a gap in the crowd of people ahead.

".. I wonder what's going on...?" he thought to himself, as he approached the "crowd".

As he got closer, he noticed a small figure sitting in the middle of the walkway, fiddling with a mechanical leg, busted open, wires everywhere, with a screwdriver and random scraps found nearby.

"... Hmm, seems like her leg isnt working, that sucks." he thought to himself, as he was starting to turn away.
".. Eh.. I guess i'll try and give her a hand, at least to the building entrance." he thought, as he turned back around, and broke through the crowd.

"Hey, you need a hand with anything? I can bring you to the entrance of the building where it'll be a little less crowded, if you want." Raeyn asked, as he kneeled down beside her.

Her face reddened as he approached her.

"Um...No. I'm fine. Thank you..." she said, pitifully stumbling onward, ignoring the twitchy circles her ankle was making.

"Alright, well, Good luck with your leg, then." he said, as he got up, and looked at his watch again.

"20 minutes till my exam.. better get moving."

He looked down one more time, to watch her fiddle with a couple more things inside her leg, and then turned back towards the school, heading off to his exam.

"Well, things certainly already seem rather interesting for her today, wonder how my day will go.."

As he got to the entrance to school, he headed towards the exam board to see where exam would be located, then his locker. He passed a bunch of bustling students, whispering, talking about Prom, and who they were taking with them.

".. Prom eh? Maybe I'll go.. " he thought to himself, as he approached his locker.

As he opened his locker, he noticed something different out of the usual. A letter. As he slowly put his bag inside, grabbed his supplies needed for his exam, he took out the letter, looking at his watch. 8 minutes till it started.

".. Wonder who it's from?" he thought, as he opened the letter.

"Raeyn,
Its come to my attention that you still have not decided who you are bringing to prom, or if you are even going in the first place. But being the friend that I am, I dont want you to miss out on all the fun that could be had at Prom. I know your a shy guy, and so, I know that asking people to go with you is kinda hard. Thats why im doing the right thing by asking, do you want to go to Prom with me?
- Ellie"

He chuckled slightly, for two purposes. One, because he was shy, and because she obviously knew that, in itself, made his answer that much simpler, and two, because it was her out of all people that asked him.

".. Hehe, yeah, Ill go, just cause you asked." he thought to himself, as he closed his locker.

He approached his exam room, right next to his locker, and entered, grabbed the seat closest to the door, and relaxed into the chair, setting his stuff down. 6 minutes till exam week officially kicks off.

[Zeiven]

The morning was young, the air fresh and crisp with the smell of dew. The sun's light lent a beautiful aura to the the city, especially the collegial institute. There was excitement and tension in the air as student flocked to the school in great numbers for their exams, hopeful for the bright future ahead of them. It was the kind of scenes people took photos off for posterity.

Or at least that's what Zeiven estimated most people would say. To him, there was nothing special or even a minor thing worth mentioning about this morning. Sitting aside from the entrance, he opened up his packet of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. The packet look crumpled and beat-up and the brand markings and colours had been worn away from friction. It wasn't surprising, considering  he bought this pack almost a year ago and hadn't expended a single one in it since. He simply used the useless things as ab excuse to take a break and go outside for fifteen minutes. It was well-known that he took many of these breaks around this time of year, though no one could guess why.

Either way, he had become somewhat of a mythical figure to the library staff. To them, he always seemed to already be at work when they arrived in the morning and stayed even after everyone left. They joked about it, not realizing how true that fact was. Having nothing to occupy him around work, he spent a lot of time in the library outside of work hours. Most if not all of it was spent reading books at blinding fast speeds. He had for a goal to read every book in the library, a goal he was on his was to completing given more time.

He remarked how he should have been warned many times for taking so many breaks per day as he did during exam time. However, he worked so quickly and efficiently that it often seemed like he was everywhere at once. He knew the layout of the books in the library perfectly and could memorize and sort through a list of returns without breaking a sweat while putting them away in record time. Most people didn't even notice his absence, since any slack he left would be taken up and dealt with within the first few moments of his return. That's what happened when you did the same thing over and over.

Putting away the cigarette he had left unlit, he turned and headed back into the school, mixing in with the students who were still rushing in. He looked at a school clock and read off 8:50. A couple exams would be starting soon, meaning the library would be liberated from its excess occupants. In theory at least. He knew full well that there was always a few that happened to have an exam later in the day instead, and these folk would crowd up his library just as well.

As the clock hit nine, he stepped through the threshold of that very library and took a deep breath. He would focus on his work and avoid thinking about the people keeping him from sitting down and reading himself. At least they would leave eventually.

[Link Lyons]

"light, dark, earth, fire, wind, water as well as energy are the mai.." *Clang*

Link awakens to a loud thud, opening his eyes to a starlit night. Having spent another night upon the schools roof contemplating the upcoming exams.

"Uhg.. Another one of those dreams~" Link muttered to himself.

"Anything I can be of help with?" A calm reply followed by a quite sigh came from Links side.

Link looks to his side "Oh, Zeiven.. Seems I'm not the only one that never goes home." Link chuckles and sits up looking across the courtyard of the school.

"Library's quieter at night, nice place to relax." Zeiven responds looking across the courtyard pulling out a cigarette holding it between his lips.

Link glances at Zeiven, an odd confused look comes across Links face. Quickly Link closes his eyes and reopens them turning his abilities off. Link's passive ability to see ones energy signature always has acted up after sleep, this time more than usual, its as if his dreams were messing with his abilities in his sleep.

"Yeah.." Link looks down at the floor, a pile of files each individually labeled with a different students name spread out all over. "This is a mess.." Link quietly spoke his attention on the top 2 files Mathios~Gail goes through Links mind.

"I'm just having trouble with a few of my students, they have great potential, both very talented students but..one just doesn't seem to care and the other just has no heart in it at all."

Zeiven grabbing at the pack of cigarettes he places the unlit cigarette back into the pack and pockets it responding "This is unlike you, your out of your element."

Link takes a moment to think to himself..out of my element huh..wait, if I take them out of their element, putting them at a disadvantage, they would be forced to show me what they have. Its cruel but it just might work.

Link smiles and looks back up at Zeiven responding "Thanks." and grabs a hold of the files piling them behind him. Link stretches and leans back using the files as a pillow.

Zeiven nods, "You're welcome, I'm going back in now." He turns around, waving and shouting flatly "Evenin'"

Link closes his eyes, his mind at ease he passes out...

The courtyard soon filled with teachers arriving early to school ready to start their exams, students soon followed filling the courtyard with loud chatter and laughter. Link slowly awoke to the sound and checked his watch ~8:11am already~ Link smiled and sat up looking back over the courtyard this time filled with students walking back and forth. Noticing a few faces from class walk by Link smiled anticipating the day to come.

Someone caught Link's attention, it was Gail. walking quickly into the building her shoulders up high looking as determined as ever. ~She shows such grace outside of class..~ Link thought to himself, just as he did a loud electronic sound shot out from the courtyard and Gail quickly stumbled to the ground. Link stood up quickly from instinct worried about her. Link quickly stopped himself from attempting to go help her.

~..I need to see how she handles herself..in such a defenseless situation.~ Link thought to himself, slowly sitting back down observing the scene below. People quickly running by completely ignoring her, a few people stopping to ask her for help, Gail quickly denying any help from anybody.

~Is that Raeyn?~ Link thought to himself, ~Yeah, it is.~ as Raeyn stopped to try and help out Gail. Gail again quickly dismissing him.

~Shes got pride, I can say that much..but whats shes gonna do now..~ Link thinks watching Gail in her current situation.

Quickly Gail began to fiddle around, Link watched closely, a bit too far away to see details but he could see as she quickly regained her composure and somehow got back onto her feet. Quickly grabbing at her bag and dashing into the school.

~Wow, so she does have determination. Cant wait to see what she can do with that put into my class~ Link quickly thought as he turned around going into the school as his class was starting soon.

~Tommarows the class with Gail in it, I wonder if shes going to be okay to fight. Not to mention Mathios is in the same class, I really hope I can get him to show me his true potential.~

Link entered the class, his students all already sitting and waiting for him. ~heh, seems I was late again.~ Link thought to himself as he sat down in front of the class.

"Well students, Today is the day you will show me what you got. You all ready?"

[Mathios]

   Nonchalantly, Mathios started walking towards the stairs. Turning his head slightly to the left and slowing down a tad, he quickly observed the exam schedule board and memorized the first exam blocks. In an instant, it was done and he suddenly caught his pace again, giving the peculiar effect of a brief slow motion in his wake. Without haste, he started ascending the stairs, one by one as the population of the student body and some teachers rushed and zipped by him, making him appear even more unnaturally slow. His stare fixed in front of him, the noise around him and the agitation was almost muted by his unshakable rhythm and apparent concentration. In his own bubble of tempo, he spoke up his thoughts:

"First exam in programming... I'm going to have to try with that one."

   He closed his eyes, the steps still slowly flowing under his foot cycle and the movement keeping the same rate, almost as if totally unaffected by the sudden lack of vision even in the slightest. Partly a result of repetition. A small sigh parted his lips. His thoughts continued:

"Makes no sense that I'd have to try that hard for something so basic. What a drag."

   The eyes caught their line of action again as he circled the ramp and followed it to the next floor. From his higher position, he looked at the mass hall, a ton of students rushing inside the school like a constant current made up of an ocean of young people with bright futures. Around that ever-flowing push was the circling of those that didn't exactly know which room to head to for their first tests of knowledge and those that needed or forgot something. He reached another ramp and to the third floor as he observed that some parts of whole rambling itself were clogged. Most presumably swamped in areas due to those people that were busy doing their social attitude's duty and that weren't able to cut off conversations precisely when needed, along with those who were terrified to actually go where they needed to go; probably unprepared. Cliques moved in groups and pressured the loners to get out of the way, only splitting up to let people who had more of an image pass by.

    As he observed the phenomenon, a large group of people came down the stairs he was climbing, coming around the next ramp. A group of popular girls. He came towards them and engaged the next flight to the fourth floor. They paused at the base of the stairs as the first in line caught sight of him and quickly moved out of his way, silently and without particular gesture signalling to the other six or seven girls to do the same. Opportunistic students trying to ascend as well took that chance to squeeze past him and the group as fast as possible, one of them stumbling and dropping a few notepads. Mathios' eyes traveled to him, a few steps only in front, but kept walking as the pressure of the popular group made the clumsy student quickly forget about the pain of the marble stairs against his shin and mumble an apology before sprinting up the next flight with his head down. Unrestrained in his own walk, Mathios let go of the unfortunate one in his sight and sent his eyes back to their straight path.

"Hello Mathios!" the first one began, with a fluttering gesture of the hand for a greeting supplement. A few around her shyly lifted a hand to about chest level and agitated a few fingers and slightly twisted their wrists in a ridiculously small and hidden attempt at a similar invitation to acknowledgement.

   His eyes made a slight arc towards the ceiling before directing them to the girl now standing to his left. As usual, he kept the pace and his main motives while allowing answers to come through him nonetheless. His face brightened to a friendly smile:

"Hey Curtney."

"You got an exam at nine?," she asked in a slightly tempting voice.

"Yeah." As he kept walking up the stairs, the stationary girls' heads followed him.

"What class is it?," she mouthed a bit louder to compensate for the increasing distance.

"Programming and computing," he responded in an innocent voice, just barely loud enough so that she could hear it, his friendly face back to serious now that she couldn't see it.

"Oh! Um, that's nice, right?"

"Sure." His eyes closed and kept them shut in a very low sigh as he came around the next ramp to the fifth floor, where most of the Technology Program's exams were taking place. Coming back to a position where, from underneath, Curtney could see his face again, he reapplied the friendly traits.

"Uh... hey!," she spoke a bit louder still, her voice almost cracking in a higher pitched note flailed by nervousness and an obvious worry of being ignored. "I was just thinking: what would you say if we both went to the Prom togeth-"

"Sorry Curtney, gotta go. Exam waiting upstairs," he answered this time a bit louder and looking back up from her with a wave of the hand, his face gradually losing the friendliness through it. "Later."

   On the lower steps he distinguished a very low "..what?" come to his ear as he reached the top of the eastern stairway to the fifth floor of the institute and paused slightly. Once again, he took out the pocket watch: 8:54. Putting it back where it rested, he resumed his walk. He arrived at the corner of the first hallway and came around it to find himself in a walkway sided by people waiting for the teachers to open the classrooms and small groups discussing. As usual, some gazes turned to him and held, and greetings came from multiple parties. His friendly traits came booming in such instants and usually wore down only when some people came to him about something he really didn't seem to have any interest in. Of course that happened and before long with all of this flyer-worth of Prom Night business. This is when Mathios' expression usually went back to serious and people with similar inquisitive motives backed away.

   He closed his eyes and exhaled in an annoyed push as he reached the end of that hallway and its whispers and chatter and cut around the next corner into the main 5th floor hallway. As he did, his eyes opened to come face to face with a rather peculiar appearance of a classmate, Abigail Carrington. As he came around, she seemed to jump slightly as he caught her eyes, perhaps out of a focused state of mind, and pause for a small moment. His walk uninterrupted, he simply kept walking as he closed the distance and made a weak curve to the left in order to avoid walking directly into her, basically his first change of direct course of the day. While her walk looked like a clumsy limping and huddling for some reason, her clothes seemed to have had some serious unfortunate happening and her hair was raging in all directions. In that small instant he took to make notes on the new appearance, he also noticed some irregularities from the usual looks of one of her prosthetics. Probably some trouble with it. By what he remembered of the board space he memorized, she was probably heading to her Evolution of Technology final test, that theory supported by the fact that the corresponding door was just next to him, at the very corner of the hallway from where he turned.

"Good Morning Abigail," he spoke out loud, his face remaining serious but less strict and more honest under the looks of some other traveling students. Abigail's face seemed to unfreeze at that instant, perhaps recognizing him out of her deep concentration. As he finished his greeting, his stare went back to the front, casually. He waved to her without stopping, passing her to get to his own examination room on time. "Good luck on that EvoTech exam."

   The hallways of the 5th floor always were usually quieter, especially with everyone in their respective rooms. his city shoes clapped against the ceramic tiles as he kept walking towards the next hallway and his destination.

[Gail Carrington]

Gail blinked in surprise, coming out of her focused reverie at the sound of her name. She turned her head just in time to see Mathios disappearing out of the corner of her eye, fingers outstretched in the form of a wave. She couldn’t help but feel her determined grin widen at the greeting.

“Morning, Mathios!” She chirped cheerily back, just loud enough to hear over the hustle and bustle. “Thanks, and good luck on your exam, too!” She added, a bit louder. “You’ll do great!”

She hobbled onward, feeling the little bit of actual leg flesh she had tingle with numbness from the voltage pumped into it every few seconds. She nearly fell, but grabbed onto a backpack in front of her for support before she hit the ground.

“What the? Hey, watch where you’re-” the angry student carrying the backpack began, but stopped short upon seeing her smoking leg. “Oh. Uh…Sorry.” He pulled her upright and leaned her gently against the locker, before bolting away. She caught the look of horror on his face before he turned away, however, and her heart sank. Was she really that scary?

Finally she made it to her classroom. As soon as she reached its familiar confines, she leaned against the wall next to the door, pulled out her screwdriver, and detached her leg. At least the people here didn’t give her looks of terror: used to her by now, the ones watching merely expressed some curiosity, though most were frantically pouring over their textbooks and notes in a last-ditch effort to absorb some information.

Leaning the now completely dead piece of complicated machinery against the neutral colored wall, quietly ignoring the residual smoke and hissing noises coming from it, she hopped her way to her seat, flailing her arms madly to keep her balance. Some chuckles rose from the crowd of nervous onlookers, which distracted her enough to make her fall forward. Luckily, she was at her seat, and only had to pull herself up onto her chair. She was beginning to think that she probably should have just given in and taken a wheelchair today, but the memory of existing in one for so many years was wracking and unpleasant, a feeling she wanted to avoid during the first of her last exams.

At this point, she realized she had forgotten her writing utensils, and sighed miserably to herself. There was no Mathios to ask for a pencil here, so she shyly raised a hand and asked loudly (or at least, loudly for her) if anyone had a spare.

“I do, for a gorgeous girl like you,” came a nasally voice behind her. She groaned internally. “That is, if you've got a 'yes' for me,” the voice continued, forming corporeally in her vision as her pseudo stalker Herman Werner came into view. He was the type of guy that gave her goosebumps, and not in a good way. As a lonely, friendless girl, she thought she would have loved the attention Herman showered on her, but after realizing he just wanted her as a status symbol, a hot broad he placed beside him (not to mention one that would do his homework for him better than he could do it himself), she tried to avoid him like a plague. Of course, it had taken her two months of ‘dating’ him to realize this (if it could be called that: mostly he just dragged her into conversations and let her stand there awkwardly while he chattered about the tricks she could do for him, as if she were a dog), and another month to make him realize it was over. Still, he was persistent.

“Does…anybody else have a pencil?” she squeaked hopefully. He ignored her.

“And I’ll let you borrow my pencil, if you’ll go to prom with me!” He said, then sniffled. She groaned, audibly this time.

“Please, does anybody else have a pencil?!” she cried. The student next to her, a blond haired boy she didn’t really recognize, took pity on her and handed her one, most likely to make Herman go back to his lonely corner of the room.

“Um, no thanks, Herman, I’ve got one now,” she said.

“Well…Well…My offer still stands!” Herman said, and glared at the blond boy as he left in defeat. Gail sat back in her chair, relieved, tapping her foot, twirling the pencil in her hand, waiting for the exam to start.

[M.H. -Zero-]

Sitting down, arms crossed as usual. Ookami looked eager to get this exam started. His foot began to tap rapidly; faster at every minute that passed.

“Hmmm…still three minutes… If only everyone could just get here ahead of time. Then we can start early and get it over with… I’d like to get home and practice more. My aim seemed a bit off yesterday. I kept hitting the target about half a centimeter off from the center. I guess I wasn’t focused enough…”

He turned his head towards the right, in the direction of the window, and then turns it back and tilts it backwards, towards the ceiling.

“Hmpf, I guess school HAS been taking its toll on me…Sigh…It’s made me slack off on my training...”

The clock was still ticking, now with two minutes till crunch time.

“Uhg…I still can’t believe what that guy did to Sam. I mean, she’s so kind and attractive… I’m sure he’s gonna regret what he did after she finds someone else, and honestly, who else would he go to prom with? Hmm, makes me wonder if he even cares about it...”

Aya seemed to be thinking about this strongly while she stared at Ookami.
What she just spoke of did catch his attention, although he showed no real sign of interest.
He remained, arms crossed and head bent back towards the ceiling, still in his thoughts.

“Huh, prom? I honestly see no point in going as well. I hope Aya knows that I’m only going for her sake, just to make sure her date doesn’t try anything funny. …sigh… Another night I can spend training and I have to waste it on some stupid social event…What a drag. “

“Alright, students, please be seated and prepare your instruments for examination.” The teacher’s voice projected across the classroom. “Your symphony exam shall proceed as followed…”  

The clock finally struck 9:00.

It was time to begin...

    

[Juusho]

Just after Raeyn had sat down and relaxed, his friends entered the room. Ellie, Reyu, and Kale walked in, and sat next to him. He enjoyed the fact that they were bickering amongst themselves, Kale being ever silent, but nonetheless, a friend till the end.

"So, did ya find anything interesting in your locker today, man?" asked Reyu, leaning over his shoulder, his six foot flat, moderately in shape figure overshadowing the light a little, asking in a quizzical tone, but suggestively.
".. Yeah, as a matter of fact. Wonder who opened my locker so they could place it there." Raeyn said, as he arched an eyebrow, with a sarcastic tone of voice, turning around to look at him..
"hehehe, don't know man, wasn't me!" Reyu responded as he went to his seat. Reyu was the kind of guy to rely on in tight situations. Since Raeyn had come to this school, Reyu was his first friend, and had enjoyed many an occasion something or another to make a memory from.
"Sure it wasnt, I believe you, seeing as your the only other person who knows my combo." he said as he returned  into his chair properly, with 3 minutes to go until the exam start.

As he did so, he noticed who was in front of him. Ellie, standing in front of his desk, leaning over, hands on the desk, staring. She was considered tall for a female, but to others, and to Raeyn who stood at a good 6'4, she was the smallest of their group, standing at 5'8. Her red hair, cute face, with a serious demeanor on it, and fashion-sensible clothing gave her a little bit of class. Her sport-like figure wasnt too given away underneath all the clothing, but people knew she had a body most girls would have killed for. She liked doing sports, getting dirty, enjoyed video games, and generally liked doing things with her hands, which really kept her in shape. She was, ideally, a perfect girl, from most guys and some girls points of view.

".. So? What's your answer?" she said, friendly, yet, with that tone of voice that really implied death if you answered wrong.
"Heh, Sure, I'll go, but only because of two things. One; Because its you, and because of that, Two; Because you'd drag me along either way, willingly or not." he said, smirking.
"Right answer!" she said, smiling widely, hopping to her seat beside him.
"I thought so." he said, chuckling lightly.

Kale was just silent, sitting behind Raeyn, smiling and nodding as he had passed him, his usual habit. He stood at a good 5'10, and didnt look intimidating, for he wasnt the type to want to hurt anyone, but he was outrageously smart, even more so then most of the kids of the school. Even though he hardly spoke, he was a great friend, and always viable to find a solution in the "worst" of times. Kale was the go-to guy about anything history related, in school at least. He once said, he wanted to be a History teacher, because he loved the subject. we also told him he'd have to get used to speaking, which he immediately dropped the idea. He was extremely shy, but extremely passionate about his focus. "Sometimes, I wish I were as smart as him, but im glad he's my friend. He'll be around for a long time, I can feel it." he thought to himself, letting a quick smile go.

Just then, the teacher walked into the room, bringing in the test papers and passing a stack to each student at the front of each row, to pass backwards.

"Alright guys, today is test day. There's a minute to go, so lets quiet down and focus will we?" said the Teacher, beckoning everyone's attention. "You've got three hours to do this test, but you can leave after an hour and a half, if you think you've finished, and believe you'll pass. But on this one, I highly recommend you take your time, go over everything carefully." he said, with a straight, but serious tone of voice. "Exams like these arent taken lightly. So I hope you take them as seriously as I wrote them. Good luck, you may begin." the teacher proclaimed, and beckoned them to start.

"Here we go! Time to give this my all, ace the exam, and get done with school!" Raeyn thought to himself, proudly.

The clock hit 9; Exam Week was finally in full swing.

[Link Lyons]

"Well students, Today is the day you will show me what you got. You all ready?"

An uproar comes from the students, the noise easily filling the hallways with the enthusiastic shout outs of the students.

"Alright Alright calm down." Link smiled and started calling out names grouping the students by tier.

Link then called out to his highest ranked student "Kris, you have already showed me your readiness to advance well past my classes so your test will be the following. you will help me with the basic self-defense portion of the class, show me you can hold out against them all!"

Kris gave a quick nod and rushed over to Link's side. Link looked over at the basic self-defense group with a calm look upon his face quickly announced the procedures for their portion of their exams.

"Now then! Each of you will be attacked by Kris. He will be attacking you with full offense, you need to show him you can use your knowledge in aikibudo to defend yourself for 3 minutes and still be standing afterwords, if you can do this you pass. That is all."

Kris quickly gathered up all the basic self-defense students, with a few quick words and firm facial expressions he led them out the door followed by leading them outside with haste to where they would be holding their portion of the exams.

Link then turned his attention towards the advanced students, a group of 6 students separated into three tiers and began announcing their Exam qualifications.

"If you haven't already guessed based on your grouping. You will each be sparring the other person paired next to you. Take a close look at your opponent for this will be the one thing keeping you from passing your Exams."

Quickly the air in the room turned hostile, each of the students staring into their sparring partners eyes. None showed fear of loosing and Link showed great joy from the looks upon their faces. Link regained his composure and quickly continued talking.

"You will be using everything I've taught you in Self-Defense and Offensive ability along with your own unique styles to show me you are all well rounded and ready to advance to the next year, for some of you this is the last I will see of you so show me you have learned everything I can possibly teach you!"

Link quickly shot off the floor his hand quickly and dominantly pointing towards the first in line to spar, voicing their names with a quick but strict voice. "Zak! Mitsuko!" quickly the two stood at attention as the air filled with tension and silence. The other students quickly backing up to the far edges of the wall behind Link staying clear of the battle to come.

A small grin slowly appeared on Link's face as he stepped back himself quickly declaring..

"Begin!"

[Zeiven]

Zeiven walked into the office silently, acting as if he had never left. It had filled up at this point with all the other employees. He was bid good morning by everyone he passed, giving a polite response every single time without fail. He sat at one of the computers and looked at the workload for the day. There were many books to reshelf, not surprising in the least considering how many books were being removed from their proper places every minute. Despite it being the end of the year, there were also some students that needed to be chased down. Neither of those things sounded very good especially since he hadn't had breakfast.

He turned around and spotted one of the coworkers he knew best. Everyone called him Simon, but Zeiven knew his actual name was Semyon and he persisted in calling him by that name. Possibly because of that, but there was some sort of friendship that existed between the two. To that effect, Zeiven called him over with his classic quip, "Hey, Semyon, get over here". With a smile, Semyon walked over and patted Zeiven on the back as he spoke, "As eloquent as always, my good friend Zeiven. Now what can I do for the library's old hermit?"

Zeiven pointed to the screen, "I'm not in the mood for this just yet, and I haven't eaten either. Take over while I take your office work." He stood up without waiting for a response, then added, "Please". Semyon laughed and gave him a thumbs up, "Straight to point as always. Alright, you deserve to eat a bit. I'll go deal with the little kiddies." Semyon sat down and got to work on the list. Zeiven walked over to the small employee kitchen. He pulled his bag out of a cupboard and went looking inside. What he pulled out was a small plastic bag filled with what looked like cornflake breakfast cereal. Putting the bag away, he filled a cup with water and walked over to the desk Semyon usually worked at.

As he sat down and threw a first handful of flakes into his mouth, everyone around him smiled and snickered. His cereal was almost as famous as his work habits. It was a special purely organic mix that was prepared and made by hand in a specialty shop in Saka. The others often joked at how he payed at least twice as much as they did for something a simple as cereal. Ignoring them, he kept popping the stuff into his mouth while sipping water from time to time. Simultaneously, his free hand got onto the computer and went through lists about books to be bought, books requiring repair, and other more maintenance-minded issues.

[Jin_Karyu]

Jin wakes up. Its monday morning. Its sunny and noisy outside. Cars moving, people shouting in the distance, birds singing joyfully are part of the first feeling of this day. Jin has beed preparing for a good part of the night to be ready for the first exam: World History. His progam was one of the hardest of the school and he had to. Jin sits on his bed and watches at this parent's picture near his pillow.

"Finally, the last week of school. I have the World history exam at 9:00."

Jin stands up and go wash himself. Jin's mind is still foggy from the sleep when he gets out of the shower and makes himself some food to take out. He puts his school clothes, takes his bag, his food and watches at the clock... 8:57.

"What?"

Jin thinks for a second.

"The time cannot be wrong... and if it is, its even later than on the clock", thinks Jin.
"DAMN! I cannot  be late for an exam!"

Jin knew that the walking time to get to the school is about ten minutes. Jin drops his bag, keeping only his pencils and stuff necessary for the exam, gets out of his student room and locks the door. Jin started running.

"If I run fast enough to get there in time, people might see me and notice of my unusual speed, thinks Jin. My true strength cannot be discovered by anyone... If it becomes known by the girls at the school, I might not be able to ask anyone to the prom thursday... They might think I'm not even human and kick me out of the school! But on the other hand if I cannot make the exam, they'll kick me out anyway... Screw girls! I need good grades from a good school, or else I won't be able to carry justice and peace through the world!"

Jin increases his speed. One minute later, when he gets to the school, no one is outside, they're all in their classes, ready to make their exams. Jin enters throught the open outside doors like a flash and runs to his classroom. His footsteps are heavy and fast.

"People must hear me, but I cannot waste any second" thinks Jin.

He jumps on the doorknob like a falcon diving on his prey, opens the door and enters the room. Everyone, including the teacher, is looking at him. Some with curiosity in their eyes, some with fear.  One second later the bell rings.

- Sorry I'm late, tells Jin to the teacher, while walking to his usual seat, a bit shy because of all these looks towards him. (Mostly because all the girls in the room were looking at him.)
- Good lord, Jin, I thought it was some kind of army rushing into the school, says the teacher. Take your seat, we're going to start this exam now.

Jin sits down on his chair and locks his eyes on his desk, too shy to look around. At least he made it in time. But when he reaches in his pocket to take his stuff, his pocket is empty.

"Damn, they must have slipped out when I jumped over the school's gate... "

Jin looks around. Left, a wall, front, Louis, a bad-looking guy that always asks Jin for a pencil (will have no spare one), behind, some guys he never talked to because he looks too stupid, and right, a girl. Her name was Ellie, a tall girl, maybe 5'7 or 5'8 with red hair, really cute face, rank 1 body and and really classy-looking dress. But Jin doesn't really know who she is except that.

"That's the kind of girl I would like to ask to the prom..." thinks Jin while staring at her for a second.

- Excuse me, I dropped my pencils, do you have one spare you could lend me for the exam please?
- Oh yeah, of course." She dives her hand in her bag and gives Jin a pencil.

Jin cannot help but notice the guy behind Ellie, Raeyn if he remembers correctly, is staring at him with some serious looking eyes.

- Here big guy! says Ellie with a big smile, sorry for the eraser, I only have one.
- Thanks a lot... desk neighbor... awnsered Jin.

"Man why do I always look stupind in front of cute girls" thinks Jin while turning towards his desk. Everyone recieves his copy of the exam and starts writing.

[Zanibas]

"Have a good day now, and remember: you always have that other guy to ask!"

   These were the parting words said exactly at 12:00, accompanied with the ringing of a familiar chime. Another soul had been comforted, ready to take on the rest of the week with vigor, both academically and socially.

   With 15 minutes left until his first scheduled appointment came in, James took the moment to brew a cup of tea, and absorb the surroundings he'd been used to for many a year. The oak desk still had its sturdy feel, the carpet floor recently cleaned by the janitor, and the calm breeze comforted James, as it had been for many a year.

   The quaint room was not as decorated as the other counselors who hoped to impress their students, but still had its adornments. Flowing calligraphy displayed itself on plain tapestries. Generic house plants guarded the doors on either side. A vintage picture, well aged with yellow, told the story of a small unknown village.

   It was only during his time here that James reflected on the life beyond what was here. The times here were so calm at times that it was natural for James to think. However, it wasn't like the philosophical and analytical contemplation that his fellow peers often bragged of. Sometimes he thought of his past, and sometimes he thought of the future. Sometimes about his life dreams, and sometimes about the day's events. He too had dreams, and despite being the age he was, it was a reason to think beyond sweets and counsel.

    A faint sweet aroma swayed with the breeze, and interrupted his train of thought. James took his teacup, and poured a serving.

   ...

   Five seconds later, strong slow footsteps echoed in the hall. One could easily mistake them as an angry boy's shoes, but the sound was distinctly one of an angry girl. By instinct, James took out his second, more adorned teacup, and poured a serving as the door now echoed the anger being pounded into it. Unscheduled appointment.

   "JI - I- JIIII!"

   "Come in Curtney. That door is going to cry if you hit it any harder."