Midnight Arcadia

Chapter 3

Sky looked towards his new teammates as the reality finally began to set in. How would he even begin to explain his situation to them, especially ones that looked so hard to talk too? Before he could even really think about it Nova had walked up behind him and grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him towards the girls. “Now now, Akiyama, you can’t be shy now!” Nova said, her amusement with Sky’s bashfulness not well hidden. Sky brought up his hand to give a wave. “Nice to meet you all… I’m Sky Akiyama.” he said. Nova muffled chuckles could be heard behind him. The blue haired young woman named Chiyoko walked up first and gave a look of disappointment after looking him up and down. “It would be just my luck to get someone like you as a teammate…” she said to herself yet not even hiding her disappointment whatsoever. “I’m Chiyoko Oshiro, it’s a pleasure for you, I’m sure.” She continued. Sky looked surprised along with Ayumi and the quiet girl that he had yet to be introduced to. “That Oshiro? The same medical giant Oshiro?” Sky said, completely shocked that his teammate was the heiress to the biggest medical company in the world. Chiyoko clearly had a very pleased expression, like she was happy to be recognized. “Of course, the one and only. I’m sure it’s a lot to take in.” she said, her high and mighty attitude becoming extremely grating already. The yellow haired girl cut in walking up to Sky, much to the annoyance of Chiyoko. She inspected him for a moment, the tension rising as Sky felt increasingly more uncomfortable. She raised her hand before speaking bluntly and to the point. “I’m Kaminari Himura.” She spoke. Sky hesitated for a moment before grabbing her hand and giving her a handshake and a smile to the best of his ability. His nerves clearly getting to him. Ayumi pats his shoulder with a smile that could melt ice. “We are on the same team, Akiyama! Isn’t that amazing?” she said happily. Sky relaxed a bit at a familiar face and let some of the tension that had built up ease. Chiyoko, not pleased with being ignored cut back in to ask questions. “I suppose since we are all on a team now, we should familiarize ourselves with each other’s Veins. Though I doubt any of them compare to mine.” She said with a snarky undertone, but the others agreed that it was smart. Ayumi spoke first, quiet but not afraid. “My Vein is Wind Manipulation, though my energy reserves are pretty low at the moment…” she said reminded of the day prior. Kaminari is up next and gives a similarly quick and concise response. “Hardlight Projection.” She spoke. She did not feel the need to elaborate any further and even Chiyoko didn’t want to test any further. Despite that Chiyoko brought a hand to her chest and proudly presented hers. “I call it Absolute Zero. I can lower the temperature of a radius around me to near absolute zero!” she exclaimed, clearly very proud of her ability. The girls then turned to Sky, waiting for him to share. His words got caught in his throat. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t have a strong Vein like theirs. The most he had ever done was land a punch that got him here in the first place. As he stumbled over his words once again, Nova grabbed onto his shoulders from behind and blurted it out. “He doesn’t have one yet! Akiyama here is a special case.” She said completely unserious. Everyone, even those were conversing amongst their own groups, had heard her say this. The entire classed looked towards Sky with shock. He could hear all of them begin to whisper and he looked down in disappointment. Koizumi playing favorites? A random with no Vein, why was he even here? Nova cut through the chatter. “Hey now, I hand-picked ‘em! He’s likely to surprise you all.” She said as she gave Sky a pat on the back. She walked towards the center of the courtyard and gathered all their attention. “Now that you all have your groups and have become acquainted with your group, it’s time that you all get to know each other. Despite you having a group, you will all be working together on the tasks given to you.” She explained. The class was then allowed to begin acquainting themselves with those outside of their group. A girl with purple hair walked up to Sky first, her appearance familiar. She looked him up and down with a confused look before her purple eyes landed directly on his black charcoal eyes. “I don’t get it, what made sis pick you? Must be something those damn eyes saw that I can’t…” she uttered, not really caring how Sky felt about it. Sky looked at her confused before speaking. “Sis? …You mean Ms. Koizumi?” he asked, his mind slowly putting the pieces together. “Yeah, I’m Galaxy Koizumi. The younger sister of the Nova Koizumi.” She said, her voice growing sarcastic when mentioning Nova. Sky looked at her with awe. Being a Koizumi must mean her Vein is strong. The Koizumi family had always been a prominent figure within Kigen’s hero world due to their strong blood, and Sky was standing in the presence of two of them. “My Vein is called Rewrite. I can take a 10x10x10 space and rewrite the laws of the space, given my energy can keep up with it. I can tell by the look on your face that you were curious about it.” She said, catching Sky off guard. He apologized with a bashful smile. Before Galaxy walked off though she said one more thing. “I hope you can keep up with the expectations of being hand picked by her. It’s tough.” She said more like a warning than anything else. She walked off and began to talk with the other students. Sky couldn’t help but let out a wavering sigh. Those words really set the reality in for him, he had gone from no one to having these crushing expectations placed upon him, even if it was only by a few. He did his best to steel his resolve and carry on. He walked up to another student who seemed very laid back, their demeanor suggesting that they were tired. They gave a peace sign before speaking. “Yo, Mr. Picked-by-the-strongest… I’m Kouka Fujioka.” They spoke. The nickname rubbed Sky the wrong way, but he pushed past it and introduced himself. The two couldn’t hold a conversation for very long due to Kouka seemingly falling asleep. Sky raised his hand slightly, preparing to wake them up but he decided against it. He merely moved on. After quietly stepping away from the sleeping Mochi, he bumped into a quiet girl. “Ah, I’m sorry. Are you alright?” he asked, worried that he had inconvenienced her. The girl looked towards him, her deep violet eyes and black hair making an impression on him. “I’m alright. You’re the boy picked by Ms. Koizumi, aren’t you?” she spoke, her voice quiet. Sky had quickly grown tired of being just the ‘boy who was picked by Nova Koizumi’, but he had no choice in the matter. He nodded and said that was him, introducing himself in the process. The girl was extremely quiet, even more so than Kaminari, but she eventually introduced herself as Nise Kasei. The two exchanged a few more words before parting, just mere small talk. Sky let out a sigh before passing by another girl on his way back to his group. He couldn’t explain why but he stopped in his tracks as he passed by, her white hair and silver eyes so catching, as if something deep down was telling him to stay still and run away all at the same time. The girl had been looking directly at him at the same time. She was the one to break the tension. “Miyuki Yukimura. You can stop staring now.” She said, calling out his staring. This finally made him snap out of it and speak back. “Sorry, I’m Sky Akiyama.” He said in return. The interaction was so brief, but it was one that confused him so thoroughly. He couldn’t explain why he felt compelled to stop and look at her the way he did. He decided to just let out a sigh and continue. After the brief introduction with Miyuki, he spoke to the remaining students. A girl named Kaede, with blonde hair down to her shoulders. A girl named Mio that had short, platinum blonde hair. And finally, a boy named Ryo, with short black hair. Once the students had acquainted themselves, they lined up in front of Nova once more. “That’s everything for today and will conclude the team selection process for this year. Before you all head home, you will get measured for your uniform. I’m looking forward to next week once school officially starts.” She said with her characteristically usual smile. Sky shuffled in the line as the students got measured one by one. He couldn’t help but think of how out of place he felt, like he didn’t belong here. Two Koizumi’s, the heiress to the Oshiro company, all of these exceedingly talented individuals. He wasn’t like Akihiko, even though Sky had fought back against his bullies all his life, this was out of his league. His overthinking was stopped once he reached the front of the line and began to get measured. Once the process was complete, he waved to Ayumi and Akihiko, who reciprocated. He attempted to do the same with Chiyoko and Kaminari to little success. He began to walk home as a figure on top of a building overlooking the sidewalk leading out of Himeji looked down upon the students. She dialed a number on her phone and within moments the other side of the line picked up. “This is Andrea, the boy you requested me to look over looks completely normal. Are you sure you wish for me to continue? … …Understood. I will be on the lookout for Origin.”

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To Be Continued