The trials.
They were tests to see the capability of the students, and how well they could handle certain situations that may unfold.
The first trial had focused on strength.
As a god, it was important to have the power to save others, along with casting judgment upon those who deem it.
In a much similar way, there was the second trial.
A trial that focused on speed, an important aspect for a god in order to reach a location in time in order to perform the action needed.
All students would have areas in which they excelled, as well as areas where they struggled.
An area focused on speed however…
An area that provided constant setbacks in the form of obstacles throughout the long narrow room, which had seemed like it had continued on forever…
The area in which the second trial took place, with a limited amount of time attached to it…
This area…was not a problem in the slightest for one particular student.
Shiro: [Too slow.]
While zooming through the obstacles that attempted to attack her in this room, Shiro gave her own critique of the onslaught that was unfolding towards her.
Rubber items had been shot, paddles around the room swung out at incredible speed, pillar-like objects that were both large in width, and had weighed a hefty amount; but not enough to truly injure someone had fallen from the ceiling that hung over the room.
None of these things, however, had slowed down Shiro Fuloreen.
Constantly shifting her body around, constantly moving past them before they had even begun their attack, constantly outsmarting them. Everything in the room had stood little to no chance against her. The only job that they were capable of was providing a much needed cardio workout for her.
To someone like Shiro Fuloreen…
This trial was a joke.
Shiro had passed the trial effortlessly, with a total time of one whole minute.
In one minute, out of the total ten, Shiro cleared the room that spanned one thousand meters long.
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Kōkatsu: [Alright, so, Shiro placed first with one minute on the dot, I got second with a total of two minutes and forty seconds, and both Nero and Silvia got the same time, shockin’ly, of four minutes and thirty one seconds. As such, Nero and Silvia will split our celebration dinner bill.]
Shiro, along with the group of friends that had gone with her, had all passed through the trial. Before they had even entered, however, an agreement was made that should they all pass, the one with the slowest time would pay for the meal afterwards. The losers in this scenario, had been both Nero and Silvia.
Silvia: [The coursssse wassssn’t that difficult, however, there were occassssionssss where I wassss required to move much more carefully. Thussss, I wassss forced to sssslow down.]
Nero: [I'm quite amazed I was able to complete the trial in that small amount of time. I was convinced before going into it that I would be required to use at least seven minutes.]
Kōkatsu: [That’s somethin’ I was actually curious about. Ya had some weird moments in that trial, where I saw ya movin’ as if ya knew what was comin’.]
Nero: [Hm? Oh well, yes, that’s mainly due to one of my abilities with my race.]
Shiro: [Abilities?]
Nero: [Yes. Us Oni have something known as Clairvoyance.]
Kōkatsu: [I remember hearin’ ‘bout that in a novel I read. It can let you see more shit, right?]
Nero: [Err…well, not exactly. I'm sure with some pieces of fiction out there that may be the case, but for our race it’s a tad bit different. For us, in the most basic sense, we gain the ability to communicate with one another, and when combined with matōki, we gain the ability to see into the future. Now this of course is determined by how much matōki you have, and typically, for weaker oni, it isn’t very long at all. In fact, it probably feels no different to them than the average being of another race. But I'm getting sidetracked a bit, so apologies but allow me to return to where we started. For someone like me, who has a large portion of matōki flowing through, I can see up to at least five seconds into the future.]
Shiro: [Wow! That seems really handy! But surely with an ability like that it would cause a lot of drainage in your matōki, right?]
Nero: [Yes. It does tend to tire me out quite heavily should I use it too often. I'm quite exhausted now after using it so much, but I will continue to press on until the end of the day!]
Mena: [Yeah! Go, Nero!]
Kōkatsu then turned to look at Mena, before turning her head in the opposite direction to face Shiro and Silvia.
Kōkatsu: [Were we ignorin’ her the whole time?]
Shiro: [I noticed she was there, but she wasn’t saying anything before so I didn’t really want to make any comments.]
Silvia: [I for one had forgotten that sssshe wassss sssstanding there.]
Despite her presence barely being noticed, Mena was dancing while walking alongside the group, constantly moving her arms towards the sky and back down.
Though she cried her heart out after Nero cleared the first trial, in the scenario of the second trial, her expression was that of an immense amount of joy.
Mena: [At this rate, all of you are gonna make it to the top! Then you’ll all be the big people in charge, while I work as the right hand for Nero!]
Kōkatsu: [Yer in a much better mood than ya were yesterday.]
Mena: [Of course I am! We’re going to win! Or well, you guys! You guys are going to win!]
Nero: [Mena, please. You’re going to attract too much attention.]
Mena: [I can’t help it! I'm way too happy now!]
Seeing the excitement of the encourageable little sister, and the older brother who attempted to settle the ball of energy down, Shiro couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Shiro: [Hehehe! We certainly make quite the interesting bunch, don’t we?]
Turning her head back to the side it was previously facing, Shiro noticed someone familiar in the same direction as they had been walking.
Shiro: [Hey…that’s…]
Kōkatsu: [Hm? Oh hey…wait a fuckin’ minute…]
Nero: [Are you two alright? Your expressions seemed to have changed slightly.]
Mena: [Miss Kōkatsu looks kinda scary now…]
Silvia: [Thissss woman in front of ussss…do you two know her?]
Standing not far from the group, was a pale looking girl with luscious blonde hair and silk white clothes. Hair that perfectly moved with the breeze, and clothes that truly encapsulated purity, giving her an angelic like appearance. That description however, wasn’t far from the truth. This girl was just that, an angel. One who was taking part in this school course to become a goddess, and one who Shiro had gotten to know from a rather rude introduction.
Helig: [Kch.]
Despite her beautiful appearance, the girl’s expression contorted into one of disgust upon turning to see what the commotion behind her had been about, only to find Shiro there.
Shiro: [Hey…Helig. I haven’t seen you in a while…did you pass the first two trials as well…?]
Helig: [Does that foolish whore mind of yours only hold so many thoughts? Of course someone as gifted as I passed. This should not be shocking. Though I suppose to someone like you, that information wouldn’t be able to click with what little is in there.]
Helig then pointed towards Shiro’s forehead. After receiving an immediate verbal lashing after asking a simple question, and having her intelligence insulted by the end, Shiro dropped her gaze in sadness, moving her eyes to the side to stare at the ground to the right of her.
She wanted to be friends with Helig. She truly did. Even if Helig were to abuse her with words, she believed there was good in her heart, and thus the two of them could likely become close.
But this had been their second conversation, and much like the first, it was a conversation that felt as if it would lead to nothing.
It had felt that way, until…
Shiro: [Kō–]
Kōkatsu: [Ooooooh? Ya passed? Damn, that is actually pretty shockin’ to me.]
All of a sudden, Kōkatsu had moved past Shiro to speak to Helig. Helig’s expression upon seeing the tall kitsune girl changed from one of disgust to one of joy.
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Helig: [Yes. I was able to successfully strive through these trials, and as such, I am still here. Though it does not surprise me that a mighty kitsune as yourself was able to succeed as well. Your race is quite well known for their incredible skills in all areas.]
Kōkatsu: [Wow. I appreciate the compliment. Feels good knowin’ that after ya got done lickin’ the boots of those old fucks, ya made sure to also lick mine. Tell me, did ya make sure to also clean up their cocks after lickin’ their boots clean?]
Silence. A complete air of silence filled the area around them.
The students around had stopped speaking, and merely stared at the two girls who were now the ones in control of the right to speak. But even to them, it was clear that there were not multiple people, but only one in control.
Nero, Mena and Silvia had all taken the same action as one another. A gasp was let out, their hands quickly shutting their mouths so as to not cause too much noise to disperse, and the three of them moved backwards by two meters. All of this happening in less than a second
Shiro’s face slowly widened and turned towards Kōkatsu.
She realized what was happening.
The beast was finally let out of the cage.
Helig opened her once shut eyes that were filled with joy, which now had a look of confused anger on them. She stared up towards the girl who now towered over her.
Helig: [...Come again?]
Kōkatsu: [Hoho! I bet ya like sayin’ that afterwards too, don’tcha?]
A loud gasp then echoed around them.
The trio who had backed away earlier, performed the exact same action once again.
Shiro’s face, only widened more, upon hearing the words coming out of Kōkatsu’s mouth.
Kōkatsu: [Listen, crusty sock. I'm sure ya like gettin’ yer fill and pets and all that crap, but I don’t take too kindly to goody two-shoes half pint shits who decide my friends are the ones going around whorin’ themselves off. Especially from those who seem like they’re pretty familiar with goin’ around and playin’ hanky panky to get some good girl points. Get what I fuckin’ mean?]
What Shiro had received earlier from Helig, Kōkatsu was ready to pay back ten fold.
Though she seemed horrifying in this moment, and though Shiro did not agree with what she was doing, something became abundantly clear to Shiro. Kōkatsu was ready to stand up for her. Wherever, whenever. No matter the scenario, Kōkatsu would likely step in should Shiro be insulted or hurt by anyone.
This wasn’t to say that Kōkatsu thought she was weak, nor could she not stand up for herself, but it was clear that she had a large amount of respect and care for those she had cherished.
In her own eyes, Kōkatsu would make a wonderful mother. Shiro truly wished for her success in finding a family of her own to love. Preferably without the insults.
But that matter was not important at this moment, the real matter at hand was the verbal fight that was beginning to rise.
Helig: [May I ask what all this blasphemous prattle is all about? I merely referred to this girl as she is. She is a lowly succubus, who will stop at nothing to gain more sexual intercourse.]
Kōkatsu: [Ho? All that talkin’ ‘bout races sounds real good for ya. ‘Specially with this much of an audience, don’tcha think? Bet they might have a few words 'bout some of the shit yer sayin’, but we wouldn’t really wanna hear their words now would we?]
A few meters away, the trio had begun to whisper to one another.
Nero: [Is her accent getting stronger?]
Mena: [I believe so. By the way, brother, what does she mean by crusty sock?]
Silvia: [I believe I can ansssswer that. You ssssee I believe it referssss to–]
Nero: [Please do not answer that for her.]
The tension lingered on in the area around the two girls. No one dared interrupt, nor interfere, it was merely an intense heat that had occurred only through words, enveloping the space.
Helig: [Who in your right mind do you believe you are?!]
Kōkatsu: [Kōkatsu the Almighty, ya dumbass. Yer goin’ on and on ‘bout how Shiro here doesn’t have the brains to understand a single fuckin’ thing yer sayin’, meanwhile yer standin’ in front of me, clueless out of yer fuckin’ mind.]
Helig: [Kōkatsu…the Almighty?! As in–]
Kōkatsu: [Yep. THE Kōkatsu. I got tons of people kissin’ up to my ass, but I don’t need some spoiled, toplofty wet towel like you doin’ it. Speakin’ of ass, ya should probably head back to where ya were headed, otherwise yer backside might get quite the rude spankin’ once those dimwitted fucks see ya.]
Helig stood there, her face dyed red with embarrassment, upon receiving constant attacks from the most well known student at the school. To add to her freshly made, verbal injuries, Helig looked around to see the students who had been standing there, watching, had all now directed their attention at her in shock.
Helig: [...]
She did not say a word. She merely looked down at Shiro, with an angered expression riddled upon her face, and let out a grunt before running in the direction that she was once headed, away from everyone there.
It was still silent, and after she had disappeared, the students directed their attention to Kōkatsu and Shiro.
Kōkatsu: [Fuck ya lookin’ at? Scram.]
After telling them to leave, the students slowly shifted into walking once again, whispering to one another so that the girl standing nearby would not hear them.
Shiro slowly looked up to Kōkatsu, trying to speak to Kōkatsu in an almost silent voice.
Shiro:[Kō…]
Kōkatsu: [‘S fine. Everythin’ is fine, Shiro. She’ll think twice when she tries to insult ya next time, Anyone here who was whisperin’ is just gonna go home and not speak ‘bout it if they’re smart. They aren’t confrontin’ me or you. At most, the guys will go back to their dorms and fiddle their dicks around cause they saw me.]
Shiro wasn’t mad, nor disappointed, but she could tell that Kōkatsu was angry. She remembered the story that she had heard regarding the students who were once here, and had wondered if Helig had made a move, if Kōkatsu would do the same as back then.
Shiro: [Kō…listen…it’s oka–]
Kōkatsu: [It’s not fuckin’ okay! She thinks she can go around and say that shit to my friend?! I’ll knock that bitch’s jaw ou–]
Kōkatsu had moved her right arm in a violent manner, almost trying to simulate the action she would have performed towards Helig. Before the motion could finish, however, Kōkatsu felt Shiro grab onto her arm, causing her to settle down.
Kōkatsu: [Sorry. I got kinda worked up there.]
Kōkatsu lowered her arm, along with her ears, before her expression had gone back to normal shortly after.
Kōkatsu: [Man, I can’t fuckin’ think straight when I'm hungry. Oi, you guys. Let’s get some grub, pronto.]
Kōkatsu stared back at the trio who had been a few meters away from them.
Silvia: [Kōkatssssu, I believe we sssshould have a chat abou–]
All of a sudden, Kōkatsu’s expression gained an angered glare. Not one that she had usually done during much more simple matters, one that looked like a beast staring at its prey.
Kōkatsu: [I said now. I'm not in the fuckin’ mood for excuses.]
Nero, Mena & Silvia: [R-Right!]
The trio quickly ran towards their position, before the group altogether continued to walk.
Shiro, however, continued to take note of Kōkatsu.
This was an odd scenario for her. She did not like to see Kōkatsu like this. She had wished that this matter would be resolved peacefully. She had hoped that Kōkatsu would not reach a terrifying level of frustration as she had now,
But to a certain degree…
On the other side of Shiro’s mind…
She felt safe with Kōkatsu.
Kōkatsu…to her…was a friend that she knew she could be loyal to, and a friend that would be loyal to her.
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Near the docks of the school, there had been a restaurant in which a group of friends had entered to enjoy their dinner. It was a restaurant in which the people eating there would be able to cook their own food, using the shichirins that were spread out across the tables.
For many of these friends, they sat down, had a chat, and enjoyed their meal. For one of them however, they spoke rarely, and once they had finished their meal, they had exited the restaurant to get some fresh air.
Instead, however, this person was skipping rocks outside, contemplating everything that had happened.
Shiro: [...]
She could feel the breeze in her hair, the sweet sounds of the sea, and the slightly quiet but peaceful sounding chatter behind her from where she had exited.
She had felt like she was back home once again, only in this scenario, it was slightly louder due to there being more people than just her mother.
She wasn’t sure how to feel in the slightest.
Should she be mad? Happy? Scared? Relieved? Stressed?
She truly did not know.
Quietly, she could hear the sounds of a shoji opening, followed by the sound of something moving along the grass.
???: [You finisssshed your meal rather quickly.]
Shiro: [Hm? Oh, hey Silvia. Yeah I guess…I did.]
Silvia: [Do you enjoy sssskipping rockssss often?]
Shiro: [I guess I do it occasionally…]
Silvia then moved from behind Shiro to beside her.
Silvia: [Do you mind if I join you?]
Shiro: [I'm okay with that…Here.]
Shiro handed Silvia a large amount of rocks that she had in her hand.
Silvia: [You sssseem rather worried.]
Shiro: [I guess I just…don’t know what to think right now.]
Silvia: [Hmm. Issss that sssso?]
They continued to skip rocks. Silvia’s managed to skip three times before plummeting into the sea, while Shiro’s skipped only once.
Silvia: [You know, Sssshiro, growing up wassss been rather difficult for me.]
Shiro: [It was?]
Silvia: [Hmh. Yessss. My family wassss very poor. Being homelessss, it wassss a feeling I had gotten ussssed to quite well. Food wassssn’t exssssactly eassssy to come by. We often had to beg for money. To top it all off, our rasssse wassss often made fun of for how we sssspoke.]
Shiro: [That’s horrible...]
Silvia: [There were timessss where a lot of large figuressss would come into the town. But they never cared for ussss, nor anyone elsssse who wassss in the ssssame sssscenario. To them, all that had mattered wassss the money they had.]
Shiro: [...]
One skip from Shiro, two from Silvia.
Silvia: [When Kōkatssssu ssssaid thosssse thingssss back there, I too wassss unssssure how to feel. But hearing her sssspeak that way, in that manner, assss if sssshe was berating anyone who had been in a high sssstanding in life…It made me feel glad to a degree…that there wassss ssssomeone who wassss willing to look out for thosssse in a worsssse possssition. Willing to look out for thosssse who are poor, who are disssscriminated upon…It made me feel like I mattered. I only ended up here becausssse I tried to my hardesssst to sssstudy for something like thissss. Ssssaving all my money on bookssss and for feessss. I tried to move forward with my life. But even after trying, I felt assss though nothing would truly change for me. Hearing thosssse wordssss earlier…it was nisssse…]
Shiro: [...]
One from Shiro, one from Silvia.
Silvia: [I undersssstand what happened might have confussssed you, it confussssed me assss well. I ssssertainly think that sssshe could have treated that Helig girl a little bit better. But ssssomeone like that, ssssomeone like Kōkatssssu, issss ssssomeone you sssshould keep in your life. Friendssss like that are a sssspecial kind.]
Silvia then turned to Shiro. Shiro turned to face her, only to now notice the tears streaming down her face. There was no change in her voice, no sniffling, nothing to truly tell that she was crying. Even in this moment, despite the tears falling down, she had a smile on her face.
Silvia: [I hope we’re able to be closssse like that too, Sssshiro!]
Silvia then turned back to return to the restaurant, wiping the tears from her face with her large coat. Shiro turned around to speak to her before she left.
Shiro: [Silvia!]
Silvia turned her head to face Shiro.
Shiro: [I thought…I thought you only wanted to be friends because of our deal,,,]
Silvia: [Who knowssss. My rasssse issss known for how dessssceiving we are. Maybe I lied about the friend part, or maybe not.]
With a kind smile on her face like she had moments prior, Silvia slithered her way back into the restaurant.
Shiro stood there for a few moments without moving.
She was simply acknowledging everything that was said to her.
Then, she dumped a majority of the rocks in her hand onto the ground where they were picked up from.
All except for one.
Shiro looked out to the sea, and in a calm but focused manner, threw the rock.
…
Five skips.
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Kōkatsu: [So, I thought before we go through the last three trials, me and ya make some friendship bracelets!]
Shiro and Kōkatsu were now back in their dorm for the night, performing a fun activity before they slept for the big third trial the following day.
This idea was sprung onto Shiro out of the blue, without anything prior leading up to it. Regardless, Shiro enjoyed the idea, so she agreed to following Kōkatsu on this activity.
Shiro: [So what do we wanna do for our bracelets? I think we should put our names in the middle, and then whatever color works on the side.]
Kōkatsu: [Hmm. Hmm. Alright! Sounds good to me!]
The two of them had finally begun crafting their bracelets.
Shiro: [Hey, Kō?]
Kōkatsu: [Can’t look up cause I'm focused but I can hear ya and speak. Sup?]
Shiro: [You gotta work on your politeness.]
Kōkatsu: [Yeah, yeah, I know. I went a little overboard today. My bad.]
Shiro: [I'm glad you understand. Oh, and Kō?]
Kōkatsu: [Hm?]
Shiro: [You’re a really nice friend.]
Kōkatsu: [Ha?!]
Kōkatsu then looked up to see Shiro, but due to her quick movement, the pieces she had already put into the bracelet flew off.
Kōkatsu: [AAAAH! MY BRACELET! I TOLD YA I COULDN’T LOOK UP!]
Shiro: [But you looked up on your own!]
Kōkatsu then started crawling around the room, picking up her pieces as she went.
Kōkatsu: [Honestly, why’d ya have to go sayin’ that shit?! Now I'm all confused and I gotta look for these fuckin’ pieces.]
Shiro: [Hehe! Sorry! But what I said is what I meant. You’re a really nice friend.]
Kōkatsu: [I heard ya the first time! What do ya want me to say?! Yer a super cool friend too! More than me!]
Shiro: [Wrong. I may be good, but you’re better.]
Kōkatsu: [Haaaaaa?! Don’t go gettin’ shit wrong! I'm at second, or whatever is slightly higher than second, and yer at first!]
Shiro: [Higher than second is first.]
Kōkatsu: [I'm at like one point one, and yer at one!]
Shiro: [Well technically speaking your number there would be greater.]
Kōkatsu: [DO I GOTTA DRILL THIS INTO YER HEAD FOR YA TO UNDERSTAND?!]
The two continued their back and forth game of who was a better friend with one another. However, unbeknownst to Kōkatsu, Shiro’s comments were done in such a method to prove her point.
Kōkatsu was a different type of friend.
A different, very nice friend.
Eventually the two of them finished the bracelets while arguing, and showed them off to each other.
Kōkatsu: [See? Mine’s got yer name in the middle, and then I got a nice white and blue bead pattern on the side. Pretty cool, right?]
Shiro: [That’s really nice! It goes great with mine!]
Kōkatsu: [Hmm? Oh shit, it does! Yers has my name there, and then a white and red pattern! Actually…wait…hey Shiro…ya placed an extra red in the middle of some of them.]
Shiro: [Oh. I just liked how the extra red looked in the middle, you know? The white color on the outside plus the two reds in the middle of them has a nice feel to it. At least I think so.]
Kōkatsu: [Ya know what, yeah. It does look real good.]
The two of them then looked up at each other, smiling and laughing.
Shiro & Kōkatsu: [To us!]
The two of them then raised their fist in the air, with their bracelets touching each other by the names.
Kōkatsu: [Let’s kick that third trial’s ass tomorrow!]
Shiro: [Yeah! Let’s do it!]
That day, Shiro and Kōkatsu had become even closer than what the two of them imagined when they had first met.
That day, the dynamic duo of Shiro and Kōkatsu had truly been formed.
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