Once Chifuyu managed to calm down, she told Hitagi to follow her and soon caught up to Kyoku, who was already close to the school's entrance. There weren't other students, which made sense considering that barely any people transferred schools in the middle of a semester.

"You might've wondered at first why you were both accepted into the Academy" - Chifuyu said, looking at the two of them over her shoulder after overtaking Kyoku to walk in front of them. - "The reason for that is quite simple. Would you like to take a guess?"

"Because of our powers" - Kyoku said, his tone clearly unamused. Not so much at the fact that they were spying on him, but because if they could, anyone could. Sighing when he realized there wasn't much he could do about it, he continued. - "But I assume there is a reason behind that"

Chifuyu felt happy that one of the two new students was relatively cooperative and smart. Hitagi, on the other hand... she still seemed to be quite reluctant to interact with people.

"You would be right in both assumptions" - Chifuyu continued her explanation - "We take in Late Bloomers because of Japan's current situation in The Abyss"

That was something that Kyoku felt a deeply-rooted interest in. Ever since the morning, he had been wondering just what The Abyss was and why it was so important, so hearing the term come from Chifuyu made him curious. Late Bloomers was self-explanatory. Probably a term referring to people who acquired their powers later in life, instead of having them since birth.

"I won't explain what The Abyss is now" - Chifuyu said, sensing his shift in focus the moment she said the term, something that made her think he perhaps knew more than they thought. - "That will be explained to you later. The important thing now is Japan's situation"

And what came after that was an eye-opener for Kyoku and even for Hitagi, who still didn't care much but could more or less understand it. Japan was at war.

It wasn't an active war or anything like that, but something akin to a thousand years old cold war that kept running to this day. Apparently, Japan's Abyssal community had been all but eradicated in the past, forcing them to keep themselves inside of their small island-country. The reason why this happened was infighting.

The strongest figures in Japan couldn't come to an agreement or held grudges between themselves, weakening the country a lot. Thus, when Korea and China attacked, they could do nothing to defend themselves. The strong figures were murdered, the weakest ones slaughtered and the few that survived in the form of children or elderly were ignored or taken as slaves. This situation is repeated all the time, as whenever a strong figure is born in Japan, they kill it before it grows.

That was when Kyoku realized something that mildly infuriated him. Everyone in Japan had been robbed of their freedom. They couldn't leave the country, they couldn't grow stronger, they couldn't do anything. And it only worsened when he realized a more important matter. He, too, would be robbed of his freedom.

Before he realized it, they were already inside of Aoi'mizumi, in what looked like a big hall with two pairs of stairs leading to what he believed where the two buildings to the sides of the main one. They were connected by bridges and he assumed they were the dormitories, big enough to house at least a thousand people each. Chifuyu finished her explanation as soon as they stopped moving.

"That is why the higher-ups in Japan decided to found this school" - she said, a bit of passion leaking into her voice. - "So Japan could train the younger generations to help freeing the country"

After that, she explained that the dormitories were shared, two people per room. Hitagi wanted to complain, but decided against it when she realized Chifuyu and the school wouldn't care about it. Before they left, she handed them each a PocketBook.

"This one has all the books you will need on your time here at Aoi'mizumi" - she said before looking at Kyoku, who had shown curiosity about the Abyss before. - "It also has a book with info on The Abyss"

Once she told them each their room number, she informed them that they had to show up the following day, at half-past six sharp in the morning, or they would receive a punishment for arriving late on their first day. Not one to argue about things he really couldn't control, Kyoku simply strode to his room, making sure to not even try and say something Hitagi. He didn't hate her or anything, but he simply didn't want to deal with her at the current moment.

While he walked, Kyoku thought of everything he learned and how much he had changed in the small time frame of a single day. From being constantly bored, to suddenly be invited to the most prestigious 'Arts Academy' in all of Japan, having magical powers that turned his entire life into a videogame and suddenly facing the attack of what seemed to be a cult -from the appearance of the train and the description of the creatures in it-. He had met Hitagi, who appeared to be someone with powers, which he still didn't know and wasn't sure if Hitagi herself knew, and Chifuyu Orimura, who was the strongest person he had met to date.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The situation of Japan was also something he thought about in the long path to his dormitory, and it was what worried him the most. He had two options, from what he had inferred from Chifuyu's Status Board and the info she had given them.

His first option and the easiest one was to simply go with the flow and join the JRA, which he assumed meant something along the lines of 'Japanese Revolutionary Army', and help fight the outside threats to free Japan. It was the most dangerous route in his eyes, but it was also the one he was inclined towards. After all, he would be fighting for his own freedom too.

The second option, the most dangerous at the moment and later on too, was going rogue. That would mean that he might be chased by his fellow Japanese as a possible threat, and it brought little to no reward, besides a momentary freedom.

'It isn't really that hard, Kyoku' - he thought, realizing that he actually did have a third option. Entering his dorm room, numbered 30-5 and seeing it empty, he simply muttered it lowly. - "I just have to grow strong enough so that neither partiy can restrict my freedom, for neither fear, nor society's sake"

"For now, I need to learn as much as I can" - he said, focusing on the appearance of his dorm room.

The entire school seemed to have a Victorian, Gothic design. The interior was the same, just a bit modernized. Each room seemed to have air conditioning and heating, and was big enough for two people to live in comfortably. There were two full sized beds, a closet on each side of the room, two drawers and two desks with a computer each. Simple, but it covered all needs. Still, he made sure to take a mental note to ask Chifuyu if he could make modifications to the room.

Seeing a few sets of shirts on top of the bed on the left side of the room, he simply went to the right one and allowed himself to plop down on it. He was mentally exhausted, but he still needed to check one more thing. Grabbing the PocketBook from his pocket, as redundant and obvious as it was, he unlocked it.

The first book he found in it seemed to be formatted like a pamphlet and the title read 'The Abyss for Late Bloomers'. Immediately, Kyoku opened it and began reading.

> The Abyss encompasses everything related to the supernatural side of the world. Most people are born into the Abyss, be it because of family or the circumstances of their origin, but in some weird cases people like you reading this appear. They are people who awaken their powers later in life, for whatever reason. Some because of an experiment, other's because of magical sources, and some even because of the blessing from a Divine Entity or a ritual.

>

> This pamphlet was created to explain the bigger picture about The Abyss to those who have have developed or awakened powers later in their lives, also known as Late Bloomers

Most of what he read there, Kyoku had already assumed. Still, knowing the amount of ways people could develop 'supernatural' powers he felt amazed. He wondered what kind of experiment people would have to make for someone to develop powers, but it only lasted for only a moment. He would have time for that later, but for now, his priority was reading.

> The first mention of The Abyss dates back to 1792-1750 BC, where it was mentioned in Hammurabi's Code. Back then it was a term used to refer to the place they locked those who used supernatural powers to break the law, and it wouldn't take its more 'modern' meaning until after the Bible was written. There was one law from Hammurabi's Code that survived in the 'prison' known as The Abyss, and managed to survive all the way to the modern Abyss. It was the one known as a law of retribution. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Kyoku felt amazed when he read those words. It meant that, for as long as humanity had existed, The Abyss had too. Of course, the Egyptians were unified since 3100 BC, at least 1500 years before Hammurabi was even born. But that didn't mean that the supernatural didn't exist back then, just that there were no records of it.

> The modern day Abyss is ruled by the Top 10 strongest powerhouses in the world. These are the Central America with the Guild known as Tikal, the Chinese with their Guild Yueguang, the Koreans under the banner of Geodaehan-Yong, Spain with the Columbus Visionaries, then most part of the Mesopotamian region is under Babylon, the southern Atlantic Ocean ruled by Atlantis, the Greek Pantheon, the Egyptians under the rule of Cleopatra the 23rd, the Hindu Pantheon and their followers and the most recent one in their rise to power, the USA's Chrysanthemum Paladins.

It was a lot to take in. The amount of powerhouses was not simple, and they were all composed of more than one individual. The fact that some Pantheons were included in the mix just made Kyoku realize how small he was when compared to the massiveness of The Abyss. He was a frog at the bottom of the well, and he would have a hard time climbing out of it.

There was one more line that made him feel a bit honored and thankful, but also worried because of what it might imply.

> Then there is Gaia. Gaia is an entity of sorts, believed to be the Will of the World. Nobody has ever seen her, and rarely does anyone hear her words. She is known to sometimes talk to a selected few, but on a very rare occasion and usually it doesn't happen more than twice in a hundred years. She is the reason why The Abyss remains hidden from the mundane world.