As Joel waited in his office, he stood next to the window in his personal abode and viewed the training grounds where explorers usually went about their light training. It was such a vast swath of livable land, but no one really used it as such.

The weathered craters in the ground and marks on the training ground were evident on the equipment. They got a lot of use and for good reason. Beyond the training ground, all around it in fact, was the Terracolony. Joel saw it as a piece of Eden, a place of peace, and a place where life could finally flourish from such a horrible war.

There were of course other places to live than Terracolonies, but the world had changed so much in the last 5 decades. Living in here was still like living out there, it was normal. The size of this colony was incomprehensible though in a good way. It drowned out the strife of past conflicts since there were such vibrant colors all around.

It replaced the hard times of the past with an idyllic life where different people from around the world flourished further from the struggles of their predecessors.

A passing of the torch, Joel thought, as he looked to the 4 students in the training grounds. He very much knew who they were, going by how they were leaving marked slashes, burn marks, skewering shards of ice, and cratered explosions in the allotted area.

“I guess Itsuki’s words got through to the girls, Hah, he sure likes to put his nose where he wants to.” Joel’s scoff was directed at Itsuki but not derisively.

He had seen young talents like them for years, his time during the Explorer Program was enlightening so to say the least, and while he wondered what the future held, he’d hoped to be kept entertained. People as strange as Itsuki, valiant like Ikki, proud like Stella, and interesting like Amanda, were a treat to see since what they would do next was never certain.

They were just like the first explorers in the war who brought a smile to his lips even through those dark years of fighting for survival. These four were like the new kids on the block, who took to the streets to play in a place he once called his own.

His encounters during those times of war were always so fun and a few individuals would never leave his mind. Standing out in perpetuity to him, the one who was with the initial surviving research group stood out since that person seemed abnormal from their experiences after that accident.

Which, to Joel, seemed to have been caused by human incompetency and failure, especially for such an important research and military operation.

He sometimes remembered his talks with them, and it too brought a real smile to his face, not like the facade he put on as a headmaster. Joel still felt the need to force himself at times to keep up appearances, but he knew at least the times were better now, if only a bit better, which was something his cheek muscles thanked since they didn’t cramp up as much now.

Countries still fought each other, and the world still had many problems. It wasn’t perfect and he wasn’t naive to think that any one entity could make a perfect world.

It seemed like too much work, too much of a bother, and most definitely boring as all hell.

Life needed to be a bit random, but not chaotic, chaos was only beneficial if it was progressive and unintentional.

Like just now, as Joel witnessed as Itsuki made Amanda get caught in an explosion of grenades, and Ikki, who seemed to overwhelm Stella with his adept swordsmanship that was nothing she had seen before.

Even with how loud and disruptive the group of students were being, the world around them didn’t mind the chaos they made. In fact, the passerbyers envied or even felt driven as they watched the 4 students’ spar. Stella’s calm and resolute flame in her heart drove passion into people while Amanda’s cool head stirred those who wished to be as cool as her.

Getting up after being beaten down, Stella and Amanda held fast, driven by their goals and unknowingly inspiring others around them. Like stars, they shined, and for an old star like Joel, he did the same, albeit less so now since he was relegated to such an administrative role. He, and the rest of those who he deemed his interesting friends, still inspired and shined like a tapestry forever immortalized.

Yet, even with how majestic the mental image was, a bit of comedy was always in order.

“Heh.” Joel chuckled as he saw the sight of Ikki and Itsuki carrying Stella and Amanda on their respective backs. From this distance of a couple miles, with his enhanced vision, he could see that both girls were out like a light, likely from the hours of sparring they had done since the cold early morning.

“It’s wonderful that they’re getting along, but let’s hope this batch shows more promise. I may be in no rush, but I prefer happy endings over other such dreary outcomes.”

His words were for no one else but himself, Joel wanted to say this to all the students. But he kept these feelings close to his hearts, the truths he held, and many others held within, were covered up so that this world they were in could be cast into an illusion of peace. Peace that would hold and would continue to hold as long as humanity held strong and united.

Feeling an itch, Joel scratched the mole just below his right eye. He felt as if something was writhing underneath it, like a swirling sensation as if his instincts were telling him something was wrong. He got an answer when Cyno walked into his office and saw the obvious frown on his friend’s face.

“I sleep in for one, day!” Cyno complained. “And the next thing I knew, I see that you’ve started having fun after I come back from the training camp. I can’t say I didn’t expect that, but what the heck man! I thought you’d keep us in the loop.” Cyno’s words were obviously angry and not the usual way of greeting a longtime friend, Joel still only waved to him as he kept his eyes on the departing students from the training grounds.

“Nice to see you too, Cyno. How was the training camp over the break, any good talents last year?”

“A few buds but no blossoms.” Cyno sighed and went over to sit in a cushioned chair just next to where Joe’ stood, as if it was already set for him. With a knowing look, Cyno asked.

“So, what’s this about the complaints from the new kids? I’ve been getting emails from the first years all night that I almost couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh that? I just wanted an excuse to talk to you, reminisce about the past…and do other stuff as well.”

“You have got to be kidding me? Do you know how much time I’m wasting sitting around here? I could be making breakthroughs in my research or..”

“Yeah, yeah.” Joel said dismissively, sitting himself down next to Cyno in a cushioned chair of his own. “But did you really want to get back to work so soon? Your motto is to relax and chill as needed, right? I believe you earned some R and R, don’t you say?”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Cyno shrugged, he guessed, yeah, why not, and took a swig of his cup of coffee.

“So? Over 40 years huh?” He let out a heavy breath.” Hah, can’t say it's been an honor, you know. To serve alongside you.”

“The feeling is mutual, but at least it was fun. Am I right?”

“I don’t think getting blasted out of the sky multiple times is considered fun, not to mention after what I saw on my time down there.”

“Aww! Come on, it was an amazing find, you can’t deny that.”

What Joel was referring to was Cyno’s discovery in the star depths on one of his first sorties. While he had been listed as MIA for a time, he was able to return alive, albeit with a bit of help from Joel and a few other surviving parties.

But the argument could be made that Cyno’s “little” encounter down in the depths of the stardepths was the turning point humanity needed, something he was all too knowledgeable about since people still wanted his autograph on his book after the war.

The book was supposed to be a remembrance of the fallen, to help the next generations understand the cost of the calamity and know what being an explorer meant. He shared all he could in the book in a way that was appealing, hoping it would inspire and prepare those who came after him.

But like the start of anything uncertain, it was a staggering success. The sales were great, but the intended effect, not so much.

“Hah, I wish you guys were here.” Cyno took the blank dog tags out of his lab coat and put it on the table, giving it a small smile.

Joel noticed whose it was, even though the name was scratched off, but even still, he and Cyno could still remember the golden visor of their shared friend.

“What do you think? Do you think we’ll ever retire?” Cyno asked since he much preferred to be on the internet all day in his retirement, rather than teaching kids.

“I have no clue, but what I do know is that going by your situation, you’ve probably got a few more decades in you. Especially with all your research.”

“Look who's talking. If you haven’t noticed, you’ve got work to do as well.”

Joel’s youthful appearance made him seem as if he was still a spirited young man, but he was in fact older than Cyno. Yet, he couldn’t deny Joel’s words. They had both aged 50 years since the Starfall Calamity but they both still looked only a little bit past their prime. In both their cases, core energy was to blame, among other things like technological advancements in medicine.

Perhaps they could live forever, but neither of them thought too much about it, since even with their youthful looks, life seemed short around them. Glancing at the cityscape, Cyno saw Itsuki and Ikki hop up and over across the building’s rooftops.

He frowned since he knew that they both shouldn’t be training so hard and should at least give themselves a break, but this was his own opinion.

As lazy as it sounded, you really needed time to reflect or just mess around to clear your head. But Ikki and Itsuki seemed as if they were built differently, the same was for the two girls sleeping on their backs.

“School hasn’t even started yet, but those four are really going at it. Remind me to tell them off, kids their age should be enjoying life.”

“If Itsuki heard you call him a kid, I think he’d be pissed.”

“You have a point, but really, he should take a break. This whole explorer life he has is going to get him killed one day.”

Joel nodded, a somewhat worried look in his expression. “Noted.” He said as he continued to watch with wriggling interest. This new batch of first years was interesting and with how Itsuki of all people took interest, the recent developments around the world seemed to only enrich the pot of excitement in Joel’s mind.

“Hey, by the way, I got a gaming system set up in my office recently, wanna game for a bit?” His tone more laxed, Joel wiped away all semblance of etiquette, producing a gaming controller from out of nowhere.

“Do you always have to change the subject so much? Hah.” Cyno sighed for the umpteenth time, but reluctantly took the controller. “Sure, I’ve got time and the school year is about to start, so let’s enjoy our break while we can.”

“Alright!” Joel cheered and winked charmingly. “Should we do a public arena or ranked? Not sure where we left off, but let’s also get the other guys in the game, they should be on by now.”

“Eh! Let’s go with public for now, but no overnight gaming or else I’ll get a headache.”

“Really? I’m surprised that a smart mind like yours still getting aches.”

“Don’t patronize me Joel, hurry up and start already.”

This was a somewhat unusual sight, from an out of context point of view you’d just see two grown men having some fun over a video game, but for others that knew their background, it was hard to believe that these two people and the people who were online with them, were the most influential men and women in the world.

And they were playing video games as if they were teenagers.

Later on in the day, while in the dormitory, Itsuki had just finished his bath and had gotten changed after his morning training with Ikki, Stella, and Amanda.

The girls had passed out, but they recovered quick enough to bathe before hitting the sack for a nap. Expecting that the girls were probably back in their rooms resting, it was surprising to see that Amanda was up and about.

“You sure you don’t need any more rest? You threw up earlier.” Itsuki asked Amanda, who was sitting on a couch in front of a flat screen TV.

“Didn’t think you cared.” She grumbled, still griping at how brutal he was in their sparring. Itsuki had used a liberal number of weapons on her, and while Amanda felt she was making progress on learning how to counter Itsuki someday, it was hard to think he was truly helping her.

“Shouldn’t you be off doing explorer or supervisor things right now? I thought you said you’d be busy.”

“I am, I was about to drag you off to help me do paperwork since you still have energy, but I can tell you aren’t really adept with the computer, going by how yesterday went.”

“Th-That was a fluke! The computer was old, so don’t blame me for that, also I….huh?”

Broken from her explanation, Amanda turned back to the TV. She was playing a game and it had suddenly turned into a game over screen. Seeing the player’s name that killed her, Amanda groaned.

“Oh come on! That’s the third time this match, I can’t even get a good weapon with this guy around. He keeps hunting me. Curse you, and who even names themselves TentacleMaid.”

Amanda raged but pressed the revive button, setting her back to the default load out and spawn point.

She was playing an arena game where the goal was to be the last man or team standing, on her last life, Amanda hoped to stay low, but Itsuki seemed to have other plans.

“Hey, move over.”

“Huh? Come on, just let me at least finish this game alright? I want to get my revenge before this game is over.” Amanda said, holding tight to the controller.

Itsuki only looked at her with his uninterested eyes, but she could see that there was a slight frown in his brow as he looked at the TV screen. Had she done something wrong, Amanda was about to ask but Itsuki spoke first.

“Add me to your team. I’ll help.” Getting his personal terminal out, Itsuki opened the same game as Amanda. Due to its Cross-platform nature and open lobby, this online game of apex entertainment had a legendary status as being the best game for pickup teams.

“Why? Shouldn’t you be working?” Amanda asked tentatively, but Itsuki said nothing. He only looked at her with his eyes, telling her to hurry up without even saying anything.

Amanda sighed in exasperation and sent the invite.

“Fine! Just don’t slow me down.” Amanda jeered and Itsuki nodded.

“Let’s hurry up and kill TentacleMaid, and his friends as well. They could use a good lesson in duty.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Do you know them?”

“Not important, hey, hurry and get your shields up. There’s a charger over here, so take it!”

“S-Sure! Whatever.”

Amanda complied. She still found Itsuki annoying and troublesome, but she tried to ignore that for now. Maybe they’d become friends by having moments like this and maybe tomorrow, Itsuki would go easier on her……maybe. She hoped……