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Sleman, city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The city of Yogyakarta is a sprawling metropolis with more than 3 million residents. It is once the center of the Javanese culture, and many ancient buildings remain in the area, including an impressive temple complex known as Prambanan, which dates back to the 8th century which the Borobudur Temple is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yogyakarta has many historical sites, also home to one of the country’s biggest universities, where students from around Indonesia gather. It’s also home of many historical museums such as Mataram Museum, Yogyakarta Gallery, and Taman Sari, or ‘Garden City’ in region of Yogyakarta.

Words cannot describe that Indonesia has several beautiful places and cities in here. Especially the sun, the sand and blue sky with the white clouds; people strolling around peacefully in the beach and the seashore. However, it was controlled by Singgahsana, an Indonesian governmental organization in the New World that keeps the existence of Phantom Beasts away from humanity during the Phantom Eruption, under the supervision of Nirvana Organization around the world. They keep monitoring the recent activity of Phantom Beasts, such as appearance rate, movement, type, etc. Only those who came from the 'internals' can find the secret base and to have full access there.

Sanjaya Adinata or known as Sanju; the eighteen years old Indonesian college student of Garuda University walking down the street of the city, slurping his cold jasmine tea bottle on his hand, the weather is sunny in the morning and needed fresh drinks. He has a scruffy black short hair with long messy bangs almost covering his dark brown eyes and his hair length reaching his neck and his cheeks, he has porcelain complexion with slightly light brown shade and youthful feminine face. He appears to be slim and a bit muscular while wearing his casual attire; black and white jacket with silver garuda batik patterns, revealing his white sweater with black collars, black pants tucked into his knee-length cargo boots, and pair of black wristbands with silver bracelets, silver rosary-like necklace around his neck.

Sanju is a humble, attentive and compassionate by nature and has been described by others as having very gentle eyes and expression. He is humble and modest about the events he has been involved in throughout his life but has proven himself to possess a natural charisma to make friends with his peers. He takes the time to observe everyone else's behavior and situations before reacting to them.

He was known for his warm yet, solemn smile to his face when he's not in combat, his fighting style is fluidic and smooth but powerful. However, he has a limit for his tolerance and empathetic disposition towards those who around him--such as his seriousness and how he able to maintain his emotions--which is 'unusual' for people who saw him angry under his quiet expression. He never get mad (unless he's serious) or frustrated whenever things turn out bad or messy. For his friends; Sanju considered themselves as family and sees them as siblings that he will protect, adore, and loves so much.

Sanju stared at his wristwatch on his left hand, before he stopped on his track as it was eight in the morning. He frowned before he he turn around and heading to the beach, he tossed the empty bottle to the trash can and he took a deep breath of the fresh air. The sun's warm light hit the sand and seashore in the Parangtritis Beach he just visited, there's so many people here and he observed the people from the distance--the sunny breeze passing softly and gently--ocean water licks the golden sand of the seashore.

As he was skipping along the seashore, Sanju was stretching his arms with a yawn.

"Where can I read book in peace?"

Sanju take a look around the beach that filled with tourists and locals enjoying their times together before he strolled down, until he stumbled upon the sea cave on the side; he never seen that cave before so he decided to enter inside the sea cave. Touching the cold yet, wet and rough surface of the walls of the cave with his hands. There were some sort of holes and openings that let the light went through the uneven spots, just enough to light the way for him.

The shade from the spots did cooled down the temperature for a while, he can control the temperature of his body well. Watching a body of water in front of him, along the scent of salt water that is strong but not strong enough to suffocate. Sanju take out the book he carried from his jacket and he sat down on the flat, dry rock on the sand there. The small openings in the cave gave enough light for him to read some of the words and letters, he shouldn't bother about his eyesight after his lasik surgery for his vision last month. "Let's see…"

Sanju murmured a few words from the book written by the archaeologist and infamous author Chelsea Wijaya, the individual who wrote the book about the Phantom Beasts and their origins from the book with studies and references. However he's curious about what's ahead there, closing the book with one hand and putting it back inside his jacket. There were patches of dry sands and rocks above the water from across him, wondering if there's something inside.

Sanju goes further and deeper when he reached the outer part that is seems to be the other side of the beach. "Hmm… fascinating," he murmured--he wasn't afraid that he was actually more curious at the other side of the beach, many seashells around the sands and whistled to himself. The sound echoes around him, causing the seashells to vibrate in rhythm with his song, then they clack in the echo inside the cave. "There are so many seashells over here."

Sanju saw a chest box hidden under the sands, he tilted his head. "Huh, there's something hidden underneath. I wonder what it is," he wondered, he kneel down and picked up the chest box, observing it at the moment. The chest box was gold in color with various symbols carved around it. Inside the chest there were all seashells, shells and even some stones; his eyes widened to see a medium-sized silver-gold pendant with purple hue that has three feather beads and purple pearls on it--Sanju grabbed the artifact carefully to see what does it looks like.

It is made from gold and has two feathers with the pearl and the purple-hued gemstone. The piece of metallic string was attached in between two layers of metal that makes a design like an X shape with a thin loop on each side; a strange symbol engraved inside the pendant, the bottom layer had an engraving of a tree with a spiral-like trunk in front of a small pool with water flowing in it. "I should make this as my bracelet pendant," he said as he attached the pendant to his silver bracelet that he had on his right hand, he wore another one on his left wrist. He looked at his wrist watch, taking note about time when he's going to leave.

"Ah! It's almost afternoon..."

He carried the chest box walked out of the sea cave with some curiosity in his mind, he decided to return to his residence first through his motorbike--he realized that he need to go back to the class since the class will start at ten.

Few minutes later...

"Sanju! There you are!"

Raiden Amagiri or known as Raiden; the eighteen years old Japanese student and his colleague who was three-months older than him approaching Sanju after calling out for him happily, wrapping his arm around his shoulder in ruffling his hair softly. He has a short purplish-black messy hair with the long bangs almost covering his dark magenta eyes and cheeks, light complexion while wearing his casual attire; consist of dark purple zipped turtleneck, black leather pants, black and red-laced boots, black and red-bordered leather jacket and pair of fingerless black gloves. "H-Hey! That's ticklish! Stop it!"

Sanju laughed a bit before he released him, fixing up his hair that reached into his neckline. "Woah, when did your hair becoming longer than before? No wonder our classmates staring at you, don't tell me you're becoming an adult now?"

Sanju's face went red when he joked around and he shake his head, he was playful but not when he mention that kind of stuff. "I-It's not like that! Perhaps it grows quickly than before; but that's not really the case!" Raiden tilted his head with innocent yet eccentric smile, explaining when they're entering the class because Sanju and Raiden are part of the international class in Garuda University--they took major in History and Archaeological Science.

"So, I heard there will be two foreign students from abroad in our class?" Raiden asked with a smile at his best friend, Sanju nodded since he was the class monitor. They were sophomores after they finished their orientation day, while they were expecting for the foreign students to go to Yogyakarta. "Yeah, one from South Korea and one was from United States--but he was Japanese born with American citizenship, I haven't gotten their names yet but they're around our ages."

Haruna Sinuraya or Haruna himself; the eighteen years old Indonesian who was one of Sanju's friends agreed, while he was tidying up the files on his folders to his bag. He has a short scruffy black hair with messy bangs almost covering his almond-colored eyes and has a slightly light tan complexion, he wears a black hoodie that covered his collared white shirt, he wears dark blue pants and black boots.

Haruna is easygoing and calm, mostly positive one despite his calm aura--making people think twice and he's very kind with a bit of a blunt personality to others, but it doesn't mean he would disrespect someone else. Both him and Sanju are close friends when they were in high school, they have been watching each other's backs and the kind of friends who likes to take care of the other; this can be both good and bad and tends to feel things more strongly than others.

"By the way, remember to bring the invitation for our class festival--the 'Euphonia Fiesta' thing? We're already in January, you know."

Damian Salim or known as Damian; the eighteen years old Indonesian college student and one of Sanju's close friends from high school asked, sitting behind his desk with one of his friends. He has a short messy black hair with dark brown shades (since he dyed his hair) with bangs almost covering his dark gray eyes, fair complexion and wears spectacles--he wears a white shirt underneath his dark brown cardigan sweater, khaki pants and black sport shoes.

Damian is coolheaded, professional and diligent when it comes to studies and as intelligent as he was serious about it, never distracted by any sudden challenges but he prefers a peaceful life at all costs. He isn't usually expressive but he gets angry easily, especially when his dignity involved--by means dignity is how well he does in academic aspects. "I know that, Damian," Sanju said with a sigh, already getting reminders about the event. He had a lot of works to do, but due to his position as as class monitor--he seems having a hard time to fix his schedule so he often relied on Damian as his vice class monitor.

Shihōin Masaki or Masaki; the eighteen years old Japanese student who was around Raiden and Sanju's age was reading his novel, sitting on the chair before the desk next to the window. has a dark purplish-red short hair with long bangs and mullet on his neck, fair skin and green eyes with the tints of light emerald sparks. Wearing his white collared shirt with long sleeves, a black vest and white cardigan with accents of blue and red squares--dark blue jeans covering his dark brown high boots.

Masaki mostly known for his stoic and emotionless expression, but deep down he actually cared for Sanju and Raiden since they became friends. It's unknown why he behaved like that in the class, but it was his usual behavior (according to Raiden) because of his ambition to become one of the top Upper-class Phantom Raider once they graduated from the university. He was known for his skilled archery skills and being an honor student in the international class of History, Archaeological and Cultural Science Studies.

Phantom Raiders are a skilled warriors who have high resistance against the epidemic of Phantom Beasts, and who have immunity on them. Not everyone can become like them and nor can enroll easily in Garuda University, let alone the candidates who are college students in Garuda University--they can die if they weren't careful and just like Masaki--they are very ambitious. Sanju also wanted to become one, ever since he grew up with these events and he wanted to become one as well, but his grandparents forbidding him and somewhat making him rebellious--causing him to join without their approval.

"Oi, Masaki... are you done reading yet?"

Raiden asked, he know that Masaki is known for his aloof and inflexible nature as a bookworm--sometimes he can be cold if anyone bothered his reading time. Masaki is the smartest in his class, quick learner and always stay collected and never gives up no matter what; though a bit slow and clueless about his friends' quirks. "No. Just read this for the next ten minutes," he answered, making Raiden groaned. "Bro, it has been fifteen minutes and you're still reading! Don't you worry about getting bad vision?"

"We've got another hour left, enough for them to have a speech," Masaki said, closing his book while looking up at him--narrowing his eyes. Oh fuck, he literally pissed him off once again.

"That's enough, you two."

Both Raiden and Masaki faced the direction when they were referring at; it was Sanju who reprimanded them calmly, he always able to ease Raiden's arguments despite their different personalities, since they first met during the archery club--even if Masaki's coolheaded nature can't tame him sometimes. “I wonder how long are they staying here, since they're using student visa."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Haruna continued while he sat down on his seat, but because they're foreign students--they will be studying together with them until they graduated together in the university, Masaki look back at them when he remained in his emotionless face while the students were on break time.

Masaki sighed quietly when he glanced at them before turning around and returned to the book he read from. "It's been three weeks already since they came to Indonesia and they're still not showing any sign of coming here, but I think they need to deal with visa and immigration papers first before they can come here."

Amane Izana or Izana; the Japanese female student was waiting for the two foreign students to arrive, she was a strict secretary of the international class. Her platinum-blonde hair fell down to her shoulders; slightly wavy with bangs between her face and bangs onto her teal-blue eyes, she has light snowy complexion. Wearing a black collared formal shirt with white collared formal shirt underneath, long white pants with pair of black-white sneakers and long black socks.

Izana is generally a very bright and cheerful, she cares deeply for those around her and quite hyper--to the point that Demian and Masaki commented on how it's "exhausting being around her" or "an adorable airhead." Her kindness knows no bounds, never judges the people based on their appearance or by their outer actions and believes that everyone is equal. She believes that humans are neither born or created "evil” and rather that their intentions change based on how they are raised, and always use her wisdom while wanting to become a Phantom Raider as well. However, Izana can be a bit moody and hot headed when someone would mistook her height, making her glare at them with her sharp, angry stare with a vein popped--being standing around 5'3 in height. "Urgh... it's so hot... I feel like melting..." she complained as she stood up in the middle of her desk, fanning herself with both hand.

"Kirana, Kanae, what do you think?" she asked both of them, the two female students who also part of their class.

Kirana Tjahyadi or Kirana; a tall female Indonesian young adult around their age was standing with gentle smile, her hands clasped that she was glad while waiting for them to arrive. Having a snow-like white long hair with bangs almost covering her gradient purple eyes lights and pupils, snowy complexion and her hair has a light purple shade on her bangs and the end of her hair length. Her hair is tied into ponytail with black and purple-striped bowtie-like ribbon. With pink-green butterfly ornament, attached on a dark blue beret hat on her head. Wearing a white collared sleeved blouse, her sleeves has slits to her elbows and wears a black choker around her neck. A bluish-black upper-waist length long skirt that keeps her waist slim, a ribbon with a color of purple and turquoise stripes on the side of her waist--a black tights and strapped thigh-high black boots, she donned a two silver bracelets on her right wrist.

Kirana is independent, humorous, gentle and caring towards others; she was the 'mother' of the group due to her caring personality and supportive behavior towards her friends. In a way, she can be stubborn but loyal towards her friends, she tends to be a mediator when their arguments flaring up. On the other hand, she's very ambitious and has a strong motivation to encourage her close ones, very enthusiastic and never judge others. She often get rumored for being Sanju's girlfriend by several of her classmates, but neither she accepted it nor show her rejection--she just dismissed the issue or brushed it off like it's nothing when in fact it annoyed her since they never dated before.

"I'm fine with waiting... as long our supervisor hasn't arrived yet."

Ayatsuji Kanae or known as Kanae; the eighteen-years old female Japanese-American college student yawned due to her narcolepsy, but she shrugged it off since it didn't bother her--she was nodding with a yawn and rubbing her eyes a bit-she has a long light brown hair with vermillion streaks and framing her forehead, porcelain complexion and violet-blue eyes. Wearing a dark purplish-blue collared blouse with elbow-rolled sleeves, with the music note symbol hanging on them. With dark purplish-blue long skirt reaching her ankles, a black leather ankle boots with back heels, and black tights. Her accessories included a pair of dangling earrings with the feathers on the end, silver-red sukajan almost slipped from her shoulders with the insignia of white crane.

Kanae is a sleep-derived prodigy who has insomnia; however her narcolepsy won't come to her and she gained consciousness without any sleepy or hazy responses from them. Despite that her narcoleptic nature--Kanae is very brutal when it comes to her defense mechanism, her achievements in winning gold medals in karate tournament shown her dedication in sports, and taijutsu training. Kanae can appear snobbish or easily bored as her expression suggests; it won't change no matter the situation, only once her true emotions come out through words or actions that shows her soft-hearted and emphatic side of her.

"Sanju, what do you say?" Izana asked the class monitor, Sanju hummed and smiled while watching Raiden's attempt to mess around with their cold-hearted classmate before he replying. "I'm fine with that, it's just we have to start early."

The supervisor of the class entered the room, greeting everyone politely with a smile while sitting down in front of their seats. She was known as Siska Anindya, the twenty-seven years old powerful Indonesian Phantom Raider and the supervisor of 1-A Class that Sanju lead. She has a long glossy waist-length wavy scarlet hair that partially tied into a bun with red ribbon and golden hairpin ornaments--which her bangs almost covering her eyes and cheeks, fair complexion and dark brown eyes. She wears a white, sleeveless gown dress with a straps and embellished with with golden lapels around her waist, and a high slit along the right side that exposes her leg. She also wears a black coat with gold batik patterns on her both arms with white ruffles coming out of the sleeves. Her long coat is lined with gold, and has various gold and rose decorations and she has scarlet-colored armband on her left sleeve. She wears a golden cleopatra-like heeled sandals, and golden earrings on her ears.

Siska is known for her intelligence, kindness, and the gentleness in her nature--who happens to be a strict lecturer and supervisor to her students. However, she also cared about them and treated them like they were her children--she doesn't hesitate to protect them even if she get injured and supporting them no matter what. She was the favorite of all students, not even lecturers can imitate her since they only cared about battling of who's the strongest of all. "Hello, students! Have you finished your homework yet?" she asked with a smile, while the students responded either 'yes' and 'no'.

Raiden was being the energetic and loudest one in the class but he had to hold back, besides he can't keep his excitement for meeting the new students from the other countries; Sanju is quiet and calm like a normal person in public and his friends would assume that as his normal behavior; however, if something bad comes on their ways.

Sanju's quiet and calm demeanor would easily change into serious and cold one and his expression changed into an enigmatic demeanor from a serene or confident gaze. He never get mad before, but if anyone pissed him off or made him upset--his aura substantially changed so does his expression in vice versa--making him look intimidating towards them, to the point they have to shut up or leave him.

"We have good news and bad news regarding the two foreign students from South Korea and United States, the good news is that they will be arriving soon; unfortunately they won't be able to join us fully for the next few days due to visa issues."

The lecturer spoke up, making Sanju to sigh deeply from disappointment and Izana to look away. "I knew it..." Raiden grumbled. "But don't worry, our student from South Korea has arrived and will be here in three hours--just that we need to wait for few days for the one from United States to arrive," the lecturer continued, making them to look forward at her again.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Raiden was excited because he can't wait to see him, but they need to wait for three hours which means they have to wait for the next class when the student from South Korea has arrived here. Raiden is known for his bubbly nature, to the point that he was the class clown and Sanju often has to reprimand him, being the class monitor; if Raiden wasn't keeping calm, then no one else can. "Raiden, try not to pick a fight with the other newbies, okay? I can tell you're too excited for it," Siska reprimanded, making him grinned sheepishly by her comment.

Raiden also prone to get into a fight but mostly to prevent Masaki and Haruna's bickering or if it was personal stuff, when he became upset or angry--his mood drastically changed into dark and disturbing aura that will scare their friends. His nature does make him got into trouble, he learns to put up with people like their classmates and it makes him more fun to hang out with someone, still their surprise for his bubbly and quirky behavior despite it's childish attitude--at least he made anyone happy.

Damian sighed, before he glanced at Sanju who was tidying up his books and notebooks when everyone was packing up because the class ended; since they're international students, they share classes together which kinda unusual for the other college students that part of the regular section. "I wonder who are these two international students they're talking about, let's just hope they won't act like a complete idiot. I'm not going to tolerate foreign students getting into fights or anything crazy happens in my class," Damian crossed his arms, while Raiden muttered a snarky retort. "Yeah right."

They paused when Sanju narrowed his eye at the two, the former two exchanged a nervous glance. "Oh boy," they muttered in unison, it seems like Sanju was unpleasant because he always the target of scolding from Siska. "Told you, make Sanjaya angry and you'll regret it," Haruna teased, while he was carrying his bagover his shoulders and his hands in his pocket. "I never seen Sanju fighting before, and I don't know if I want to see it for myself," Masaki remarked. "Masaki, please don't give that idea," Izana reminded him and Masaki sighed in response.

After the lecture...

Jeon Juha or known as Juha; the eighteen years old foreign student from South Korea has arrived in the international class of the campus of History, Archaeological and Cultural Science Studies, he was eighteen years old like them. He has snow-like short hair with a long bangs almost covering his eyes and his cheeks, alabaster complexion and blue-green colored eyes, wearing a long dark Prussian blue and white coat with neon-green accents and splash, he also wears a black turtleneck underneath his white collared long-sleeved shirt with black and gold belt around his waist, black slacks tucked under his black and neon-blue boots.

Juha is impassive and rigid but worse than Damian and Masaki combined, he always cold, cruel, blunt and serious--though despite his antagonistic personality, he is smart and dedicated towards his studies. He even do his homework the same, rather than his study mates who took their times every time until next class. "You must be the student from South Korea, right?" Sanju asked with a smile, seeing Juha was slightly surprised before he kept his usual cold-like composure--folding his arms with a nod. "Yes, it's me," he introduced himself coldly, folding his arms. "Are you the class monitor?"

Sanju didn't flinch at his tone, usually people who encountered him gets intimidated with his voice despite having a humble and soft-spoken personality. "Yup, I'm the class monitor. Nice to meet you, Juha. Do you want me to guide you around the class?"

Juha isn't easy to do the ice breaking, but Sanju managed to do that smoothly with a few minutes of practice. After some minutes of discussion about where is he living before they got here in Indonesia; he decided to stay at the dormitory because he's an exchange student who needed to get accustomed to the environment first. "Darn, he's mysterious..." Izana murmured, seeing Juha from the distance as she was looking at him from above the classroom door.

Masaki sighed, looking at his watch--the clock shows twelve, he's planning to practice archery in the archery club after the college hours is over--his proficiency in archery gained him quite popularity as the Ace of the Archery Club, not to mention he attracted many girls and a lot of boys. "That's just who he is," Kanae mumbled, when she returned to her seat. Juha was somewhat amused despite being a new student in their campus--they were happy to be having free time without having to listen to the boring lectures anymore while the lecturer was gone, it appears like Siska is a lecturer and supervisor who were loved by all students. "Hello, Juha! Welcome to our class, I'm your lecturer and you can call me Miss Siska!" she greeted him.

Siska greeted him that made him startled by her presence, he gulped as he awkwardly greeted her. "Hello, Miss Siska..." he uttered, making her smiled as she glanced at Sanju. "Why don't you guys give a detour for him? He needs some guidance around some places in Yogyakarta, is that okay?" she asked, the class monitor saw the female students (except Izana, Kirana and Kanae) were trying their hardest not to squeal at the sight of him--before he smiled at her.

"Pleasure is ours."

Few minutes later--

Sanju felt like he's like babysitting his friends when they were having so much fun in the carnival game booth by playing darts, he was used to them having a rough time, whether in a joke or a serious fight. They both have a very turbulent relationship between themselves to begin with, sometimes they do fight with each other for a few minutes until one of them said something when both can't think of any comebacks--he know how to stop the conflict and find resolve between them.

Raiden threw the dart at the target when the shot landed straight at the bull's-eye, which means he wins a prize. "Hey, not bad," Masaki commented, since the carnival booths that takes place in the national convention hall, have a variety of games--ranging from the most ordinary to the unique.

Of course, it wasn't an official game booth organized by them but was separate from it--consisting only the students of the Garuda University, the campus has many different kinds of themes in between of the stalls. "Okay, okay! I choose... that bunny plushie!"

Raiden spoke up, pointing at the medium-sized white-red plushie while he got cash from his pockets. Haruna snickered when he saw him fell down after getting the huge plushie instead of the medium-sized one he wanted, making them laugh and Juha couldn't help but laugh at his carelessness. "How did you come to Indonesia?" Sanju asked him, while Juha replied when Kirana, Kanae and Izana listening to Juha's story. "I took scholarship program from South Korean government to study abroad, I always wanted to become a Phantom Raider but my homeland hasn't held any program so... I choose to attend here. I also lived in California, where my relatives lived there."

Juha explained, slowly starting to warm up to them. He didn't know why, the Indonesian friends and students he encountered were so kind... even his supervisor. Haruna was the first to befriend with him after Sanju introduced him to everyone, so they won't be awkward to be around him. "Woah, that's cool! Some of us took scholarship program and some are... enlisting with the test, right?" he asked, Damian nodded as Kirana explained to him. "Right, also do you like billiard? There's a billiard in this carnival too!"

His eyes widened, before he instantly replied to them. "Yes."

It took him few days to get along with them, especially to his lecturer who treated him like she was his friend.

On the other side…

"So, this is where you are now… Juha."

The young man was smoking his kiseru once he has arrived in the airport of Yogyakarta, carrying his luggages that he came. He has a golden blonde short hair with longer bangs almost covering his brown eyes under his sunglasses he wears--and fair complexion. He wears a black collared coat with splash of light khaki with four black belts, with the Nirvana Organization's crest on his upper sleeves and light khaki buttons. As he wears his new attire underneath, only showing his black formal shirt and black pants tucked into his knee-length black boots with white splashes.

He was the eighteen-years old Japanese-born American foreign college student will be attending Garuda University where he attended here, he didn't expect his old friend would be in Indonesia after they separate ways--since he know that Juha is his old friend after their last time meeting in California--he narrowed his eyes for a moment when he take out his phone, before a smirk crept up on his lips after he left the gate to his taxi. "Looks like you will be happy to see me," he said, before pressing the button on his phone.

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