“You can always improve. You can always be stronger and smarter. Do not accept yourself!” – The Whitestorm

“The lights are back on?” Kaiyo looked above as the crowd erupted into confused chatter. The artificial lights in the academy’s vast room had suddenly brightened, momentarily blinding the contestants.

“The White Storm is gone!” Baru exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at the empty pillar where the masked man had stood just moments ago.

When did he even leave? Was it when the lights turned off? But how? There’s no way out, Kaiyo thought, uncertainty gnawing at her.

“Hmm, looks like he did disappear…” Sen observed coolly, his gaze fixed on the empty space, deep in thought. Kaiyo felt her cheeks flush as she watched Sen’s puzzled expression, his finger resting on his chin.

“Ahem, yeah,” Kaiyo agreed, trying to steady herself. She got flustered way too easily around Sen, and it was a problem. She needed to control herself a little better.

“If you’re wondering where I went, forget about that…” a voice startled them.

“WOAH, did your techno watches speak too, or is it just me?” Baru narrowed his eyes.

“It spoke through mine too. The White Storm is communicating through this device now,” Sen confirmed, his tone laced with curiosity.

“Young Knights, there will be doors that will open up. Go through a door, and you will escape,” the White Storm’s voice explained through the techno watches.

“That sounds easy—” Baru stopped suddenly, narrowing his eyes at the ground. “Guys, do you feel that?”

“The ground is shaking,” Hyo pointed out.

“No shit!” Baru snapped. “Is it an earthquake?”

No, that’s not it. THE WALLS ARE MOVING! Kaiyo observed in horror as every inch of the wall began to shift and reshape. No, doors? She stood in awe as the ground trembled with fierce reverberations, the academy walls forming into thousands of doors.

“Oh great, I love karma. I shouldn’t have said anything!” Baru cried out.

“T-That’s a lot of doors…” Hana shivered.

“You have one hour to escape the Academy. And also, I wouldn’t use your Super Sense to smash your way through. Our walls are made of materials that cancel out Super Senses,” the masked man’s voice commanded.

“GOD DAMN IT!” Baru cursed. “That’s what I wanted to do!”

Of course, Kaiyo knew it wouldn’t be that easy. If that were the case, passing the test would be too simple, at least for people with Touch as their Sense.

“Here’s a hint for all of you... What is most important in a door?”

What’s most important in a door? What does that even mean? Kaiyo was dumbfounded.

“You’re one hour... starts... NOW!” The masked man announced.

Kaiyo heard disorderly whispers from the crowd and even sensed some expressing regret for coming. Are people already giving up on the first challenge? It was sad to think they would give up so easily. I guess that’s also a test. Endurance. These challenges are designed to eliminate those who don’t truly want to become Knights. Kaiyo started to feel a little dizzy from all the noise. She still struggled to control it, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Hmm, interesting…” Kaiyo heard Sen mumble.

“What is your plan, Sen? It looks like all these people are as clueless as we are,” she pointed out.

“Well, we need to find the door that we can escape through. I’m just not sure what the White Storm meant when he said ‘what’s most important,’” Sen wondered aloud. “The good thing is that we’re in a position where we can split up if worse comes to worst. For now, though, I guess we’ll just have to start checking each door.” Sen walked up to a nearby door and tried to open it.

“Well?” Hana urged.

“It won’t open. It’s locked… I guess this isn’t the right one.”

“I think it’s best if we split up and search as many doors as we can,” Hana suggested.

“That’s the only option we have at the moment. There are thousands of doors, so we’d cover more ground if we do,” Sen agreed.

“Alright, and we can use our communication device if anything happens—” Hana stopped and widened her eyes as she glanced at Baru. “I mean, if anything happens, let’s meet back here…” Hana winked at Sen. It was clear Hana had learned her lesson from the first time about keeping certain information secret.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I’m ready to go door hunting!” Baru grinned. And with that, they all separated—well, almost all of them. Hana went with Baru to keep an eye on him, while Hyo went with Hono. Although they showed no signs of turning on them, they still needed to be monitored for now. They were still complete strangers.

There must be some clue that tells which door will open. Checking all the doors would take too long. Kaiyo walked up to a door and examined it. Each door was white, so that wasn’t going to help her.

What’s most important in a door? Obviously, the door itself, but that won’t help me. She wasn’t the best thinker, to be honest. Sen was more suited for that job. But I want to help him. He always helps me when I need it, so just this once, I want to be useful to him. Determined, she started to think intensely to herself. Come on, what’s most important in a door, what’s most important in a door!!!!

… Yeah, I don’t understand… She slumped to the ground with a defeated murmur. She wasn’t the dumbest person and had decent grades in school. However, critical thinking under pressure was not her forte. She often succumbed to the pressure and gave up.

Maybe I should stick with what I know? That was the only option she had. She planned to use her Super Sense and try her best to listen to what others were saying in hopes of finding any information.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Within a few seconds, she felt the switch in her nervous system turn on. Thousands of sounds came rushing into her eardrums, but before they overwhelmed her, she cut them off and urged herself to focus on one sound at a time. As the cacophony slowly faded from her mind, she found herself eavesdropping on a random stranger’s conversation.

“If only they could just tell us what we’re supposed to look for instead of giving us some cryptic riddle,” one spat crossly.

Nope, won’t find any info there… She tried her best to switch between conversations, but it was impossible to control which one. Dizzily, Kaiyo ended up randomly earwigging another person.

“No matter how much I turn the knob, it still won’t open. Are most of these just fake doors or something?” she picked up a stranger's remark.

Kaiyo paused, realizing something from his words. Deactivating her senses, she felt a few droplets of sweat trickle down her flushed cheeks.

Wait a minute… no matter how much I turn a knob?... A Knob! A door is useless if it has no knob! So that’s the most important part of the door!

She scrutinized the knobs more closely. One knob was white and the other was BROWN! That’s it. The color of the knobs must indicate whether you can open them or not. Kaiyo tried to open the door with the brown knob. But to her dismay, it remained firmly shut.

So brown isn’t the color? What about— Kaiyo scanned for a door with a different color. Yellow? She attempted, but the door stubbornly refused to open.

The doors weren’t just on the bottom level; they stretched layer upon layer to the very top of the room. But surely they wouldn’t place the exit so high up? How are we supposed to get up there? I mean, I guess climbing, but… I don’t see the academy doing that. I need to trust my gut.

She decided to focus on the lower level.

All around, people tugged angrily at the knobs, bewildered as to why they wouldn’t open. Kaiyo was certain that once she found the correct door, it wouldn’t be the only one. There had to be other doors through which people could escape. If there was only one, it would be nearly impossible for everyone to use it.

So, yellow and brown and white aren’t the colors, she thought.

Unfortunately, no matter where she viewed, all the doors seemed to have those similar colors. Kaiyo heaved a defeated sigh. If it took her this long to understand the hint, there was no way more than a quarter of the people would escape the Academy. She glanced at her techno watch.

“How much time is remaining, Techno Watch?”

“Current time remaining is... 51 minutes and 6 seconds.”

Alright, I still have some time. As she resumed her search for differently colored knobs, a reflective light caught her eye. She focused on it and realized it was a knob—a transparent knob.

It almost looks like a diamond knob— Wait. Diamond? Is that a reference to a diamond-ranked Knight? And because it was so clear, it was almost indistinguishable from the other white ones.

Her heart leaped with excitement as Kaiyo reached for the knob, but just as she was, another hand extended toward it. Instinctively, she grasped the knob first, glaring at the stranger.

“Let me check that door…” a girl in front of her spoke in an icy tone.

Kaiyo was momentarily taken aback by the girl's beauty. About the same age and height as Kaiyo, with a more petite figure, her long, silky, light blue hair and gorgeous blue eyes gave her the appearance of a model. The sheathed sword attached to the stranger's waist increased Kaiyo’s anxiety.

“Umm, is it okay if I check first?” Kaiyo smiled politely, still holding the knob tightly.

“I don’t think you understand. Let me check that door…” The girl’s tone was harsher this time.

Geez, she looks menacing. Did she wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?

“Listen, since you seem very inclined to open this, you must have figured out the clue…” Kaiyo deduced with a whisper, trying to get the attention of the other contestants. The girl looked at her bluntly, and her cold glare intensified.

“And what if I have? Why does that matter?” she muttered back.

Oh god, this is going to be hard.

“I won’t ask again. let me check it,” the blue-haired girl asked again.

Kaiyo stood her ground. I need to stay strong for Sen. I want to be as helpful as I can!

“I’m warning you. If you’re not going to move by asking, I’ll have to use force.”

“Wait wait!” Kaiyo exclaimed while whispering. “Listen to me for one second! We don’t want other people to find out about this. The fewer people that pass this test, the better our chances…” Kaiyo said, trying to reason.

“That’s true, but that’s not the point—”

“It is!” Kaiyo interjected. “Listen, let me call my team, and then we both go through,” she proposed. The girl looked at her with disdain.

“And how does that benefit me?”

“The benefit is that only we know.”

“That’s not good enough. You’re just an obstacle in my way. Why can’t I do the same thing without you?”

Kaiyo stiffened; that was true. In her current position, the girl didn’t need Kaiyo at all. But that didn’t mean Kaiyo couldn’t create a reason.

“Because if you do, I’ll make a scene… and then everyone will know.”

“Is that a threat?” the girl narrowed her eyes.

“It is whatever you make of it…”

There was a tense silence between them as they locked eyes, stretching on for way too long. Finally, the blue-haired girl sighed.

“Fine, do as you wish. But don’t expect me to help you with anything else. Let’s call it a truce until we finish the first challenge.”

Kaiyo nodded, relieved. She didn’t want to resort to threats, but it had been necessary. Leaning toward her earpiece, she started to call her team. But before that, she quietly turned the knob.

“Click!”

She was right. She didn’t want to open the door fully, though, as doing so would attract unnecessary attention. I can’t wait to see Sen’s expression. I’M FINALLY USEFUL!