Chapter 3

The training room was a completely plain white twenty-inch twenty arena with a few benches and a vending machine on one side. The rest was completely empty without a speck of dust and a scientist came in rushing with a large suitcase. She wore a similar coat and a dangly earpiece on her left side. Her smile reached from ear-to-ear and her eyes were as bright as the sun.

"I'm Claire Smith, assistant manager in the Management of TMS department. I got ahold of the latest modal and I would love to witness you guys using the new prototype before we can make it official!" She explained happily while placing it on the floor and opening it with a click of the locks.

As the lid sprang open, they gawked at the miniature devices. It was as small as a hearing aid and their smiles dropped. Hong Gil was the one who broke the silence. "Is that really it?"

Claire looked at him scandalously before she huffed, "For your information, these little babies will connect with your brain membrane cells and calculate your imagination sequence that recalibrates your-"

"Can I try it on?" Petra interrupted, hoping for the biological explanation to be put on hold. "I would love to feel the…uh, 'imagination sequence being recalibrated' right now!"

Claire nodding in agreement and let Petra placed one into her ear before she turned to face the walls. With an arm lifted, they were taken back by the sudden thunderclouds forming into the sky and began drizzling. The water hit their feet and she let out a shaky breath and nodded.

"That felt awesome," she complimented while pulling it out with a smile. "You guys have to try it on!"

Fleur, Lewis, and Hong Gil did so, each amazing the rest with their capabilities. When Zuriana's turn came up, she nodded shorty and took the contraption into her ear, and stared at the ceiling. The others joined her gaze upward, wondering what she would do. They could only gawp in silent amazement.

The plain white ceiling had changed into a dark blue arena with blinking stars and occasional streams of asteroids passing them. When they lowered their gazes to their feet, they could see themselves on a green and blue orb that resembled their planet, Earth. Claire was jumping in ecstasy and opened her mouth to speak, only for her words to get lost at the sight of something approaching from beyond. A flaming large-scaled meteor was rapidly growing at the size and they were horrified to see it aiming at Zuriana herself. The girls' pupils were diluted in fear and total concentration as they kept coming closer. The others tried to move but they couldn't move.

But apparently, the force wasn't on Kousuke who rushed to her side and gave her shoulders a jerk, catching her off guard and the imagination displays to blink out of sight. She blinked rapidly in confusion before glancing at them each with a look of apology.

"S-Sorry, guys," stuttered the Muslim while her hands awkwardly fumbled to get the earpiece out of her ear. "I-I don't know w-what got into me."

Kousuke watched her bow stiffly before heading straight for the door. He gave the others a look of concern. They shared the same emotion but didn't know what to do. Lewis quickly suggested, "You're a doctor, right? Go check her out."

He obliged immediately and began his way to the girls' room. He stopped in front of it and listened intently to any sound from the other side. He could hear a ferocious sound of scratching pencil upon paper and gave a knock.

The sound of scratching halted and the soft voice asked, "Who is it?"

"Just me, Kousuke the Nurse," he answered without much thought. "You okay in there?"

"Y-Yeah," muttered the girl. Kousuke could hear her fumbling around in the room before the door was yanked open and he saw her in a messy loose hijab and a hoodie covering her face. "W-What's up? I'm fine!"

He examined her from head to toe, taking in the twitching fingers at her side and her tapping toes. 'She's anxious about something. But she doesn't seem to be injured or anything…' His eyes moved to the room and took in the messy bedspreads and he sighed. 'But she's hiding something.' "Can I come in for a second? We need to talk about what happened."

She looked surprised at his idea but nodded feverishly before asking for a minute to clean up. He let her do so and waited outside, hearing the sound of drawers opening and closing in a rush. When she opened the door, her hijab was fixed and the hoodie was off, revealing the flushed expression she upheld. She took a step back for him to enter and he went in before she closed the door. They stood in silence for a moment before she asked, "What did you want to ask me?"

"You were hiding something under your sheets just now. And I heard pencil scratches," he explained, catching her off guard of his attentiveness. "I'm not stupid, Zuriana. Were you writing?"

She bit her lower lip, considering the idea of answering truthfully before sidetracking, and said, "None of your business, doc. I'm just resting, that's all."

Kousuke took in the way her eyes trailed to her left side and he let out a heavy sigh before approaching the dresser that had three drawers. He didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to recognize the stickers of Petra's and Fleur's perfume stanch from the top. He leaned down and casually pulled open the locker, getting a yell from the Muslim. He wasn't surprised to see a thick book and a pencil on top of her the neat piles of clothing.

"So, let me see your secrets," he hummed while opening it.

Zuriana hurried to his side to grab it from his grasps, only for him to lift it out of her reach. She tried jumping but failed miserably and growled. "That's a preach in privacy. You shouldn't be doing this, less to a girl."

"Well, I'm your counsellor, missy," he added, making her look livid. "So I have the authority to see these kinds of things you-"

He stopped at the sight of messy scribbles and arrows pointing at names, planets, and ideas. Kousuke tried deciphering the words and could make out 'Earth in mortal danger' and 'Title (?)'. He couldn't stop his lips curling to a smile as he muttered, "Ideas?"

The girl looked embarrassed and jerked her face away before nodded in affirmation. Kousuke gave a kind smile and punched her shoulder lightly before saying, "If that helps, then I won't question."

He left the room just like that, leaving Zuriana staring at nothing with a red face. She was astonished about his actions, 'He didn't press on?' She hurried outside to ask Kousuke why he hadn't asked as everyone else did in her life. But she was alarmed by an announcement.

"To Mr Tachibana, Master Caulfer, Miss Dominic, Master Park, Miss Dressler, Miss Abdul Razak and Mrs Simmons; please head to Meeting Room Alpha for an emergency meeting. Dr Nickilopus Van Hugh is waiting to explain everything. Thank you," the announcement finished, leaving a slight buzz in the air.

Kousuke glanced over his shoulder at Zuriana with a look of concern and they shared nods before heading straight for the infirmary to get the others.