Ayuki woke up in her apartment, the Center Borrow. The only thought running through her head was the rough day she had with the defarins. Yesterday's training was—intense. It wasn't your everyday practice; it was real experience with a dormin type. One mistake could have been fatal. A blast of sand already felt as if it'd kill her. Her heart raced so fast that she couldn't stay calm at all. There were moments that her feet felt stuck to the ground like blocks of stone. The thought of using her ability against the defarin didn't even cross her mind; that's how panicked she was that day.

Now that she was calm, however, she could review the whole situation. It was Eran who used his Fes to slow down the defarin's movements on the critical moments. She didn't see where he was, but his yelling voice came from somewhere above. Faye must have helped him to get a clear view of the recruits with those portals of hers. It might've not been as dangerous as everyone experienced it, but the fear was real.

With a clear visual of the defarin's appearance in mind, Ayuki used her Fes with the goal of sensing something more from it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't feel anything from it. She sat on her bed in her thinking position; legs crossed, elbows on her knees with one hand leaning against her lips. Damn it. This could mean a few things. She can't empathize with dormins or just defarins, she can only empathize with humans, or her ability isn't developed enough to be able to relate to anything else besides humans. As of yet, only time and experience will tell.

Thanks to her well-functioning memories, however, she started to notice something new in her ability. At first, she thought she could only empathize with people when she saw their emotions. Now, she discovered that there's more to it.

Take Ryuzo for example. Ever since Ayuki was around him, she feels like she keeps knowing him a lot better. He doesn't like to be around out with people, because he doesn't trust them due to his outcast treatment in the past. It was clear to her now that Melderoy wasn't part of the Farenhall kingdom. He's from another place, an outsider just like Ayuki herself. He doesn't value his life, but he does seem to care about someone else.

He never told me this kind of things, but I can somehow tell now. His body language, his actions, his way of speaking—all these things make me understand him better. I might even be imagining it, but I'm beginning to see his childhood life a bit. His hometown, the plague, and—the cyllius were involved. He's been alone for a while after that incident, and he blames the Order for that. Will I know his past more if I stay with him? Is his grudge against the Order just? He's not the type to tell me, but perhaps I will find out as I keep observing him.

"Ayuki," a light and pure voice said, it was also cute by the way.

Ayuki looked at the source of direction and saw the light blue butterfly floating in the corner of her room. "Ellyia! Good morning. H-how are you?"

"Good morning. Fine. I have a message from Aisha. She wanted to introduce the squad to you and Ryuzo. It starts at twelve o'clock. You can come, but she said it's not necessary."

Today's plan was just to buy the equipment necessary for tomorrow's survival week. An introduction to Ayuki's new squad wouldn't take much time so she agreed to meet them.

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The location was at a training court inside the Order headquarters. Thanks to the tour, finding her way around wasn't a problem. She wanted to know if Ryuzo would also join, but she realized there was no way to contact him. Communication Tags only work between two persons—Ayuki only had one that allowed her to communicate with Dedroy. I still ask him random questions if I want to—Dedroy doesn't mind answering them. He might have been my trainer for a while, but he's more of a good friend to me.

Upon arrival, Ayuki saw a group of Elites training together. Most of them were running laps, some were sparring, and other's were training with the help of a coordinator. Dancil was there too, helping an Elite with a combat simulation—well, that's at least what Ayuki thought since Dancil can create illusions, and the Elite was making evasive and attacking movements while nothing was there.

"Ayuki!" From the Elites crowd, Aisha waved at her with her usual enthusiasm. "You came! Come here!" She gestured a high-five.

"Heya!" Ayuki said and greeted her high-five with a satisfying hand slap. Aisha was closest to a friend Ayuki could think of. She didn't spend much time with her, but Aisha was the easiest person to relate to. She admires Yeon Althain and is fully committed to following in her footsteps. She has a big heart and is always considerate of other people. She always energetic, cheerful, and social too. Ayuki hasn't seen Aisha's ability in action yet, but as an agility booster, she should be very agile and quick at making decisions.

"Welcome, welcome," Aisha said. "don't be shy and say hello to the other members of squad seventeen."

"Yo! Good work yesterday, that must have been a real shocker, eh?" Eran said as he approached Ayuki.

"Hey Eran. Yeah, I still get nightmares from defarins sometimes. Ah, but thanks for the help yesterday. Your ability was a lifesaver." Ayuki performed a little bow towards him.

"Ooh, you noticed? Nice!" Eran smirked.

"Hey, hey, who is this?" Another woman spoke that stood next to Aisha. She had her brown curly hair in a ponytail. The scar on her forehead was noticeable, but her missing left leg stood out more. She held two wooden sticks that supported her body from below. I think you call those things crutches?

Aisha tabbed the woman on her shoulder and grinned at her. "It's our newest member."

"Oh, from the current recruits?" More Elites started to gather around Ayuki. "Let me see," or "Who?" some of them said. It's been a while since this many persons focused their attention on her. The last time was the group of civilians that confronted her in front of the library.

"I'm Ayuki Kazumi. I just joined the SA program, nice to meet you all." I think this is a bit too overwhelming.

Fortunately, after a short introduction to a few Elites, most of them left off and resumed their training. Now, only four people were standing before Ayuki. You had Aisha and Eran, the curly ponytail with one leg, and Yuu.

"Nice meeting you Ayuki," curly ponytail said, "I'm Risha, a member of squad seventeen." She waved her hand while leaning on her crutches to keep her body in balance. She must be one of the members that, as Aisha mentioned, are under 'rehabilitation'.

The attention gaze shifted from Risha to the man next to her. "As you can see"—he pointed to his name plate—"I'm Yuu, a member of squad seventeen and also still a recruit like you."

Ayuki waved at them. "I've seen you in the program Yuu. You're really good. I'm surprised you're still a recruit."

Eran sniggered. "Well, I'm not. If you ask me, he'll stay a recruit for the rest of his life."

"Shut it dude!" Yuu exploded. "That was just an accident! This SA exam will be a breeze this time, you'll see."

"Guys! Guys," Aisha smacked them both on the back of their heads, "can we perhaps focus here?" Aisha was clearly the leader of this squad. Eran and Yuu both looked like troublesome people to handle, but it looks like she can manage them with ease. "This introduction is meant for our new members, Ryuzo and Ayuki. Ayuki, do you think Ryuzo will come?"

From what I can tell, he won't. An introduction would feel like something unnecessary to him, a hassle. And if the introduction was important, then he will probably ask me later about it. "I'm sorry to say, but I doubt it. I can inform him though if there's anything he should know."

"Ahh, I see, "Aisha responded. "Okay, then let's begin." She placed her hands together. "First of all, we're very happy to have you in our squad, Ayuki. We hope that you can learn a lot from us and grow as we embark on our journey in search of the truth while we develop our strength individually and as a team. Likewise, we hope to also learn a lot from you in the process. After all, Yeon used to say this: 'Proudness can blinding.' Let's all be humble and help each other out. Nobody is perfect."

Ayuki just nodded along, astonished by Aisha's attitude towards the team. Hearing her talk like this, felt very comforting. Any regret of being here vanished away like snow before the sun.

"So, this isn't everyone. We're still missing Jae, but he can't come with his current condition. Risha, on the other hand, is here, but she won't be able to train with us for a while. She needs to take as much time as possible to make a good recovery. Like I explained before, we can't do any away missions with our current situation. That's why we want you and Ryuzo's support. That's how it is. Ayuki, do you perhaps have any question for us. We'll be glad to answer them."

"Questions? I have too many, to be honest, but for now, I'd like to know more about the injuries of Risha and Jae. What happened and how did it happen?" I need to know how good my survival chance will be in this squad. How well do they handle dangerous situations?

"That is ..." Risha hesitated to give a reply.

Aisha rested her hand on Risha's shoulder. "You don't need to tell everything. Just the mission is good enough."

"Okay. I'll try. When Jae and I became Elites, we felt so proud; we thought we could handle everything, that we could save the world from the Dark nature. That's why we decided to participate in a mission called the 'The Nest Clearing'—a mission focused on handling the furmin. We underestimated the mission and the situation got out of hand. There were just too many of them. We—had no chance."

Ayuki felt sorry for asking such a question, but she felt it was important to know about it. Based on Risha's answer, Ayuki learned something new. There are missions that you can participate with your squad, but there are also missions that you can choose to do yourself. In other words, you don't necessarily need a squad to undertake away missions. "I'm sorry to hear that Risha."

"It's okay. I'm better off than most people who were there; take Jae for example..."

Ayuki wasn't sure whether she wanted to know more about it. Too many depressive stories are not good for the motivation, so she decided to ask something related to another topic. "How do you feel about the Order? How trustworthy are they?"

"You want to join the Order, but you don't trust them yet?" Yuu asked.

Ayuki stroked her neck. "I wish to believe the Varyion Order is righteous, but I don't know much about the Order in the first place. You can blame my memory loss for that." Ryuzo holds an honest grudge against them. 

"Yes, we understand," Aisha said. "The Order has changed a lot these past years, and I can assure you that these changes are all very positive. Things are looking better, and the hope of restoring our kingdom has never been this strong before thanks to the Order's influence." Her cheerful expression turned grim. "In the past, however, it's unclear how the Order operated. The fact that their records were erased is already a bad sign. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of corruption was going on."

"What made the Order change?"