For the recruits who had made it past the obstacle course, they were led to the second examination hall, the written exam. Those who had made it to the final checkpoint of the obstacle course were allowed to take the written exam as well, to make up for their performance in the physical. For Oliver, the hard part of the recruitment exam had already passed, all that was left now was to answer questions on a piece of paper. Once entering the second examination hall, they were met with a new instructor.
"H- hi everyone! I am B tier Researcher, Penelope, and I will be the instructor/invigilator for your written exam..." the instructor said. The way she spoke seemed to indicate she was on edge. Oliver could understand why. If he was in charge of a hundred dumb teenagers and young adults, he'd get nervous too.
"The exam will begin in half an hour, but if you wish, you can enter the exam hall straight away! And... oh yes, if you all have any questions, please ask away! I- I'll try to answer them..." Penelope said, trying her very best.
Amongst the crowd, one recruit raised their hand. It was the same guy who made a scene back in the waiting room, and also pushed Olivia during the physical exam.
"Where's Senior investigator Kiel? You're obviously a newbie, and I don't want a greenhorn in charge of me" the guy said.
Penelope felt a bit offended, yet she couldn't refute him since he did have a point.
"W- well I might be inexperienced... but I assure you that I'm very qualified to oversee you all. Oh and to answer your question, Senior investigator Kiel is out fetching some special guests for the closing ceremony!" Penelope said, trying to play it off cool.
Special guests? Hearing that excited Oliver. He was an avid fan of many cadets, and he had always wanted to meet the greats. So this may be the chance for him to meet one of his heroes!
"Woah someone looks excited..." Olivia said, walking towards Oliver with a smirk
"Of course I am! Hey, who do you think the special guests will be?!" Oliver asked excitedly.
Olivia backed up a bit, as she wasn't used to seeing Oliver so excited about a single topic.
"Um well... I barely know any F.A.T.E members... oh! But there's one guy I really wanna meet!" Olivia said.
"Hmm, who's that?" Oliver asked, curious to know about his sister's interests.
"I really wanna meet A tier Investigator squad captain, Ren! He's so cool! I saw him once on TV and I've been a fan ever since! I heard he's only two years older than us, yet he's already reached the A tier! Not to mention he's so freaking hot! Ah he's so damn cool!" Olivia said, fangirling.
"Ren... oh you mean the captain of squadron A? Yeah I guess he's cool" Oliver said, as if he didn't really care that much.
"Huh? What the hell did you say?" Olivia said, practically shoving her face into his.
Oliver tried to explain his reasoning, but Olivia wasn't having any of it.
"You guess he's cool? He is cool! He's like the best investigator!" Olivia said defensively.
"W- well he's a great Investigator, a prodigy even. But I wouldn't say he's the best. He's extremely impressive even for an A tier, but investigators such as Captain Himel and Senior investigator Liam are much stronger" Oliver explained.
Olivia made a confused face.
"Huh? Who are those old bastards...?" Olivia said, unimpressed.
This time, Oliver wasn't having any of it.
"Old bastards?! Those guys are the cornerstone of the F.A.T.E organisation! They were the first batch of F.A.T.E operators that were sent to protect humanity from Festers, and you call them old bastards?! Do you seriously not care about history? About legacy?!" Oliver said.
"They're probably old and decrepit now! And so what if they were the first cadets? I don't see you praising an old piece of toast that was eaten by Queen Elizabeth!" Olivia retorted.
"That is completely different!! Also why her of all people?" Oliver responded back.
"Is not!"
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"Is too!"
The two continued to bicker back and forth, to the point where the other recruits had to break them both up to not cause a fight.
"Geez, are you two always this childish? Honestly you two shouldn't be cadets..." the guy from before said, sounding snarky.
The two of them slowly turned their heads to face him. The look they gave him, could kill a small Victorian child. He was a bit surprised by their hostility before composing himself.
"Geez... it was only a joke" the guy said, trying not to get embarrassed.
"Dude... like who the hell are you? This is the third time you've bothered me... are you like a stalker?" Olivia said, making a disgusted face.
"Like hell I'd stalk a violent girl like you!" The guy shouted. He calmed down a bit before answering her question.
"My name is Sebastian, and I'm going to be the next Ren!" He said, rather confidently.
The two paused for a moment, before laughing at him.
"You? The next Ren? Hahahahha!" Olivia said in between laughs.
"Olivia let's not embarrass him... he already did that himself!!" Oliver added, laughing as well.
Sebastian's face turned bright red.
"You... you two are the worst..." Sebastian said, feeling extremely embarrassed.
"You know, if you wanted to embarrass yourself, you could've compared yourself to someone cooler ya know!" Oliver said, still laughing.
Hearing those words caused Sebastian to snap.
"Huh? What the hell did you say about Captain Ren?" Sebastian said, suddenly becoming serious.
"What? Are you like a fan of his or something?" Oliver asked, still not taking him seriously.
Sebastian clenched his fist tightly before attempting to punch Oliver. The punch was extremely fast, so much so that Oliver couldn't react; even though he was a good few inches away from him. Fortunately for Oliver, someone stopped it.
"Mr. Alabaster... you know that the assault of another recruit is prohibited? If I report you, you'd be disqualified. Meaning that you wouldn't be able to take the recruitment test for another 5 years..." Katherine said, smiling slightly as a way of patronising him.
Sebastian clicked his tongue before calming down.
"I'm sorry... but they started it! Especially this guy, he made fun of Captain Ren!" Sebastian said, pointing at Oliver.
Katherine turned to Oliver with her eyebrow raised.
"Oh? You don't like Captain Ren?" Katherine asked, curiously.
"Why does everyone keep thinking I hate him? I don't! It's just there's way cooler people! Like General Sieg!" Oliver said, sounding frustrated.
Katherine was surprised, but in a good way. It was as if she found a pearl inside a supermarket oyster.
"Yes... I also don't see what's so great about him..." Katherine said, chuckling.
Both Sebastian and Olivia stared daggers into Katherine, but with a single glare, the two backed off. Oliver felt a bit scared too, even if the glare wasn't directed at him.
"Well... if you three are done bickering, the exam is about to begin. Oh and Oliver, here you can borrow this..." Katherine said, handing him a pen.
Oliver was confused why she gave it to him, but he appreciated the gesture. Katherine looked at his confused expression before chuckling.
"You really are quite adorable aren't you? I gave you that pen because we're going to have to answer a written exam. And judging by how you came in so late, you probably didn't bring a pen did you?" Katherine asked, smirking a bit.
Oliver checked his pockets, and indeed he didn't bring a pen. It was safe to say that he felt a bit embarrassed.
"Did you really forget to bring a pen?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I- I thought they'd give you a pen for the test..." Oliver said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Hmph, typical. I mean I doubted you would bring one since you're such a loser" Sebastian said in a boastful tone.
The three slowly turned their heads to Sebastian, making sure they took just enough time for him to realise his mistake, and feel the humiliation.
"O- okay I get damnit!" Sebastian shouted, visibility flustered. He was so angry in fact that he stormed off from them.
"Huh that's the second time he's yelled at us and stormed off like a bitch..." Olivia said, whispering it into Oliver's ear so Sebastian wouldn't hear.
Oliver nudged her as he shook his head as if to say "okay that's enough".
"Don't act as if you didn't make fun of him too!" Olivia said defensively.
"At least I know when to stop!" Oliver said in response.
The two went back to arguing, as if the last few moments didn't just happen. Katherine watched the two argue, and smiled a bit. It wasn't out of a cruel sense of entertainment seeing two people argue, but it was as if she was projecting herself onto the two. Seeing them bicker, but not out of hate, was like watching someone succeed in something you couldn't do. So in a way, seeing them so close was... infuriating. But she couldn't show that could she?
"Well it was nice talking to you all, but I must get going. It's a tradition for me to sit down at my exam table before answering an exam. It gets me in the mood..." Katherine said, smiling and waving at the two.
As Katherine left, Olivia watched with suspicion in her eyes. Oliver noticed this, and decided to ask her about it.
"What's wrong sis?" Oliver asked, sounding a bit concerned.
"I don't know... maybe it's that sense of superiority... or the way she looks... but it's as if she's acting... I don't like it. She's fishy... you shouldn't get close to her" Olivia said, crossing her arms.
"Are you sure this isn't just your insecurities?" Oliver retorted.
"I'm not that insecure, okay! It's just that as your older sister, I don't want you interacting with such suspicious girls!" Olivia said, sounding defensive.
"But you're only older than me by a minute!" Oliver responded.
"Still, I'm the older sibling, so you gotta listen to me!" Olivia said, sounding rather proud.
Oliver rolled his eyes before walking away.
"Yeah yeah...." Oliver said, mumbling a bit.
Olivia turned her head and crossed her arms to show Oliver she was upset. Oliver ignored her childish antics, instead making his way to the exam hall. Olivia mumbled to herself about how stupid Oliver was, but in her mind, she couldn't get Katherine's suspiciousness out of her head. She didn't exactly know if Katherine was a good person or a bad one, but one thing was clear... She has some weird interests with Oliv
er.
"Like hell I'm letting Oliver get a girlfriend before I get a boyfriend!"