As Amanda felt the heft of the pile of abandoned guns and other used up core weapons that clung to her armor, she looked to Itsuki. He was so close, yet his countenance wasn’t what stuck out to her, it was the switch in his other hand.
She knew what it was and after hearing the eerie click, like the ones that came before all the times he blew himself up in this mock fight, the dog pile of equipment on top of them all let out a chorus of beeps and erupted into blistering blazes of flying shrapnel.
Coupled with the explosives strapped to Itsuki’s augment suit, Amanda had no choice but to turtle up, but she was locked in close range by Itsuki’s gripping hand that firmly dug into her wrist.
It made it impossible to put up a steadfast defense against an enclosed point-blank explosion, so Amanda was battered by a force equal to that of several pounds of C4 to the face.
The boxes around her also imploded, whatever was inside had combusted instantly, ripping a roar across Amanda’s armor and further battering her already crumbling core energy shield.
The invisible aura enveloping her was torn away as the concussive blasts rocked her mind. Defensive auras made from core energy were durable enough to deflect core weapons but only up to a certain point of concentration.
With overwhelming firepower, it would be theoretically possible, but it was impractical. This was her fleeting thought as her focus faded fast. All she could now wonder was how the kid in front of her was still weathering his own suicidal attack.
Was it his armor? His experience in combat? Or did he just not feel or care about pain?
Perhaps it was all three, Amanda further thought, her mind racing but before she could come to a conclusive answer, her whole body fell to the ground. From the ringing in her ears, she believed she heard words of congratulations and welcome from Itsuki, but they cut out as this hazy dream ended.
Jolted awake after reliving her first defeat, Amanda found herself lying up on a medical bed. Feeling a pain in her right wrist, she looked over and saw the blue bruise peeking through the bandages applied to her recent injuries.
“Amanda! You’re awake. How do you feel? You’re not hurt, are you? They told me you might not wake up for a whole day, so I was really worried!”
Hearing that voice, Amanda recognized it to be Stella’s, who was lying next to her on her own infirmary bed, looking somewhat less worse for wear.
“I’m fine.” Amanda replied a bit awkwardly as she played with a lock of her long blue hair to take her mind off that vivid dream. “It was just a bad dream, sorry if I disturbed your rest.”
She was actually embarrassed since she thought her sudden awakening seemed quite unbecoming of her but quickly changed the subject.
“How about you, do you feel alright? What happened to you with your fight? You…lost as well?”
Stella nodded to Amanda, she knew she was fine but turned her eyes down to her hands as she sighed.
“I’m fine physically, but mentally, I’m a wreck. We both got beaten by two low rankers, it more than hurts my heart to know that. I feel like I brought shame upon my family pride. I didn’t think that pervert…..I mean, Ikki. Had such an ace up his sleeve.”
“You don’t say. That kid had some tricks as well, but I didn’t think he was crazy enough to blow himself up to that extent to win. As insane as he was, that was actually quite an eye-opening match, and I….”
While Amanda wanted to say she could relate to Stella, that she felt like her pride was hurt as well, she could not relate entirely since she was not a noble like her friend. While she knew of the political pressures on Stella’s shoulders, Amanda herself could not come up with comforting words for her friend.
They stayed in silence for a few seconds until a charming voice cut in.
“Knock knock. I hope you girls are doing alright.”
Allowing himself in through the sliding door and then knocking on it after the fact he was already in the room, Joel sat himself on a chair just across from their beds. The girls gave a nod of greeting and stayed silent, their internalized questions lingering at the tips of their lips.
“So? What did you think?” Joel asked enthusiastically.
Stella and Amanda both knew that he was not asking for their opinion of the match, but more about how they now saw Itsuki and Ikki. Stella started since she was the most frazzled by this development.
“Headmaster, please don’t toy with us and tell us straight. Why exactly has neither of those two low rankers been re-evaluated yet? In fact, why was Ikki forced to flunk last year? His skills are above even my own, so why?”
“Well, to answer your first question, tell me how ranks are assigned to explorers?”
“That’s easy.” Amanda stated. “The rank of an explorer is equivalent to the evaluated core energy power of a person, their potential, and after considering all 6 explorer characteristics. But that still doesn’t explain Itsuki’s low rank. If he’s already graduated from another academy and has the ability to best a B ranker like me, then he should’ve been reevaluated to a higher rank, he should be above my rank, in fact.”
“You are correct but you’re only reading from the United Nations doctrine. There is another system of evaluation, not really used worldwide though.”
“There’s another? I’ve never heard of it.” Amanda questioned if what Joel was implying was true. She had been all over the world this past year and as short as a year was, it was an informative journey.
So just what other power than the UN could have jurisdiction over explorer ranking. She had no idea that there was another form of evaluation she missed knowing about, but Joel corrected Amanda’s line of thinking.
“Well of course you haven’t, it only applies here, here in Andromeda. We do things very differently from everyone else. It's why we’re considered the strongest academy and terracolony in the world, and how we survived the Starfall Calamity War.”
Joel then posture with his hands to get his point across, pretending to be like a teacher or dad who was giving the two girls a life lesson.
“How we maintain ourselves is through a mix of well-rounded education and strict training for explorers and our military force. And while we do rank our student explorers by UN standards, they fail to reflect all aspects that our curriculum develops in our explorers, especially since the UN ranking system was made after the war and is a somewhat watered down and narrow minded version. Experience and technique are not judged in the UN evaluation. In fact, Physical ability and versatility have very low weight in rank designation. This is due to how the UN and the world at large see the mainstay of explorers to be their core affinity and proficiency to manifest otherworldly abilities as political and militaristic deterrents. These are seen more favorably than if you are proficient in swinging a sword or shooting a gun.”
It was a mouthful, but Stella and Amanda got the gist of Joel’s annoying fatherly explanation.
“Well, that’s dumb.” Amanda groaned. Joel chuckled as if to agree but reeled his laughter in.
“While I do agree with you Amanda, that’s a matter that is more than out of our hands. But going back to Stella’s question about Ikki’s flunking last year, does the name Kurogen ring any bells?”
“Kurogen?” Stella looked down to pause and came upon a small revelation. “You mean like Ryu Kurogen, Japan’s first corebinder from the Starfall Calamity War.”
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It was well known that at the turning point of that war, people all over the world took the stage to dawn the title of hero or savior. Ryu Kurogen was one such person who took part in the first explorer drop into the final stardepth. He was also known for the liberation of Tokyo from the menace of monster occupation and had done it single handedly.
After the war, his family name became a staple in Japan becoming associated with promising Explorers who have high standing in the Explorer community. It was said that every person with the Kurogen name or associated with the organization Mister Kurogen created was a proficient explorer. But that detail caught Stella’s mind and Joel gave her a look as if he knew she had come to a realization.
“He’s…a failure?” She asked, her words heavy and Joel nodded gravely.
“Indeed. It’s not well known, but the Kurogen family have had a fall from grace in recent years. In order to keep their bloodline pure and their honor untarnished, Ikki himself was disowned for his low talent and they began taking a few unseemly actions that I can’t really discuss. But concerning Ikki. Being the adamant willed young man he was, Ikki kept his family name out of his sheer determination to show that he could become an explorer like his predecessors.”
“That’s insane! Being an explorer is no walk in the park, there’s no way that Ikki could become an explorer with his swordsmanship alone. Even if he has a few manifest abilities, he’s better off staying a civilian.”
It was better Ikki stayed away from a career as an explorer since Stella knew he’d be the first to die.
“Again, you're not wrong.” Joel agreed. “Myself and Itsuki both thought him to be crazy at first, but he showed his worth. Which was why he’s been given a chance here in Andromeda.”
“How? How did he do it?”
“In battle.” Joel produced a holo projected recording of a news outlet commonly seen on TV. It was dated a year prior, and the name of the topic was something no one in the room could not help to recognize.
“Last year, the Eastern bloc suffered an outbreak of monsters from its nearby stardepths. The human population was cut in half by the time it was cleaned up. Even with the disastrous results, the “Kurogens” and their branch families were touted as the saviors. Yet, this news outlet misses many key pieces of information.”
Pulling up another projection, explorer records were displayed. Showing the Top ranked explorers and their number of kills in the Eastern Bloc Monster Outbreak Clean Up Operation.
“If you look, Ikki actually took part in the cleanup operations under Itsuki as his second. And he did quite well for a green horn.”
Stella’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw Ikki’s profile.
“Over a thousand kills! With only his manifested weapon!” Stella was beside herself, while the number of one thousand kills was a drop in the bucket since the outbreak’s total monster count numbered a few million, this was an impressive kill count for a single first year who was given temporary explorer status.
“If Ikki can do this, then why is he still a first-year student? This should be more than enough to give him explorer status or even awards for his valor.”
“That’s because the Kurogen family interfered. They erased his records and did a number of other things to interfere with his explorer career because they could not condone his radical spirit. They wanted to make themselves look good and show only that they were talented, so they erased the records of any foreign party.”
Clapping his hands, Joel dismissed the holo projection with a grin towards the girls.
“Luckily, Andromeda always keeps a backup. While I don’t want to give you all his personal details and say any more on the topic of foreign relations, I’ll just say this. Ikki and Itsuki have both gone through a lot more than the two of you in your entire lives. Like you girls, they have goals and they’ve resolved themselves to reach it. At almost any cost.”
Joel turned to Stella, looking her in the eye with a degree of seriousness behind his deep red eyes.
“Stella, why did you come to the academy? There were other options than coming to this foreign land. And Amanda, why did you choose to come here as well? With your skills you could live a cushy life in a different academy. You both had more choices, so why are you here? Here of all places?”
Joel’s words cut deep into their thoughts, making Amanda and Stella stay silent as they brooded his questions in their minds. Their goals here, their purpose here. Thoughts flashed across their eyes and Joel knew he had done enough.
Looking over to the door, he hollered.
“You can come in now.”
At the sound of the room’s door sliding open again, they were broken from their deep thoughts. Amanda and Stella looked over to where Joel was looking and shuddered at who they saw come in.
With the left side of his face covered in bandages, his left arm put into a cast, and walking with crutches since his right leg was also in a cast, Itsuki hobbled in. His singular uncovered black eye had that signature glare that evoked fear in both of the girls.
The mock fight had left them both somewhat traumatized and the resulting injuries they saw that Itsuki had suffered were unbelievable to them.
They had fought in simulation mode, so getting off with a few bruises and a concussion was what was thought to be the limit, but Itsuki had most definitely suffered more grievous injuries.
Standing next to Joel, Itsuki looked over to him.
“Did you tell them about last year?”
“Yup, I’m guessing you want to give them the whole warning gist early, right?”
Itsuki nodded to him and looked at the girls who had the question written on their faces.
“Hmph. I’m guessing you’re surprised by how injured I am. Well, it's best that I break this to you now.”
“Break what to us?” Amanda asked. “What are you even talking about?”
“I’m here to break the veiled idea that you both have about explorers. I’ve seen your kind before, people who think becoming an explorer is easy as long as you have a good enough rank or enough skill. I’ve read your files a bit and while they are impressive, they're far from explorer material. I may be wrong since I don’t know either of your values or your goals that drove you to come here to this academy, but even still, that doesn’t matter.”
Itsuki looked upon them as if holding a higher position even though he looked like the loser of a fight.
“You came here to be explorers and that’s final. If you expect to continue, then take a good look at me.”
Itsuki indicated his injuries, making the girls tense up as they could only imagine how much pain he was in. His tone, with firm, had been tinged with slight pain that they didn’t miss.
“This, hah. This is the bare minimum you will have to suffer if you want to really become explorers that will have the strength and will to achieve your goals. Because, as explorers, everything is stacked against us. Inside and outside the star depths.”
“And is this supposed to scare us? Make us reconsider!” Amanda asked harshly.
“No, it's a reminder.” Itsuki replied as he sighed. ”Hah, 20 years, it's been 20 years since the war and people think everything is back to normal.”
Itsuki felt his gut clench and he mumbled.
“That’s far from the truth.”
His words going unheard, he looked the two girls dead in the eye.
“I may have not witnessed the war firsthand, but I'll finish with this. Buckle up or shut up. Either case, it's up to you in the end if you have what it takes to become real explorers. That’s all I have to say. For now, welcome to the Academy.”
His speech done, Itsuki left and Joel followed him with the usual smile he had on his face. Letting the girls have his words sink in. They felt that Itsuki was being harsh but felt that a tinged of worry for their well-being was laced between his abrasive words. Itsuki was worried for another person, a trait that the girls had a hard time seeing in him with his troubling personality.
As Itsuki was walking with Joel through the halls of the hospital patient wing, Joel tapped his back and gave him a sly smile.
“I’ve never seen you personally give students the warning. Do they interest you that much?”
“Of course, of the new students, they have the most potential by UN standards. We can’t let them slip through our fingers and be taken by another group.”
“So objective as always, didn’t your vacation loosen you up at all?”
“It did, but now that I’m back I have work to do, so I can’t let up. In any case, report this to her.”
“Her?” Joel asked as to make sure so he stopped with Itsuki who looked at the large viewing window that showed the hospital garden. It was a comforting sight for those who were recovering, especially for those who needed it mentally.
Suddenly, a swarm of glinting butterflies then flew by the window and Itsuki looked to the flitting blue wings of the beautiful creatures.
“Yes, she should be informed.” Itsuki shrugged his broken shoulder and felt the deep hole Amanda had made in his left collar bone. This wound was no ordinary injury and Itsuki knew that.
“Interesting.” He mumbled. “She’ll do well in the future.”
“Hmmm? Did you say something?” Joel noticed the change in mood, but Itsuki only looked away.
“It’s nothing, just thought about someone and was wondering if we’ll see them again.”
“Oh, ho ho, do tell?” Joel began to nudge Itsuki who grimaced in pain.
“Quit it, I’ve still got broken bones and my organs are still recovering from the first round of treatments. Just get back to work already or I’ll put a rubber bullet between your eyes.”
Itsuki threatened but Joel shrugged it off as he walked ahead and disappeared around a corner as he waved goodbye to Itsuki, who sighed for the umpteenth time.
[Headmaster Joel M Fox]image [https://i.postimg.cc/pV8HDnRj/1696136937548.jpg]