Morning ten minutes before 500
'Hey! It's time! Ruth shouted inside Ellia, walking her up. "I woke you up as you asked."
'Well, thanks.' Ellia voiced inwardly while rising to a sitting position.
It was still dark inside, not that it mattered. It would always be dark inside with the no window policy.
But despite it being so dark, Ellia noticed a small figure to her right. A bit too small to be Alex.
Lifting the bed sheets, a little sense of deja vu came upon Ellia, causing her to chuckle.
"Aerie?"
"Hmmm?" Aerie grumbled, slowly opening her eyes.
"When did you get here," Ellia asked while peeking down her bed. She then noticed Alex passed out on the ground.
"Last night when you fell asleep," Aerie answered.
"Why did you do that?"
"Because Alex seemed to be bothering you, so I kicked him out.
Ellia smiled as she listened to Aerie's words. "Good job. If something like this happens again, then make sure to kick him out."
"Unum." Aerie nodded.
"Alright, we're going to be leaving soon, so get in your full winter assault uniform," Ellia said as she got from bed, stepping over Alex. Then grabbing a newly washed uniform, she quickly dressed.
After changing, she walked to the light switch and took in a deep breath.
"Alright, people! Wake up!" Ellia yelled at the top of her lungs while flicking the lights on and off. "We have exactly eight minutes before 500, so I advise you to all dress up in two minutes!
Ellia watched as everyone jumped out of bed and jumped around like headless chickens after her clamorous yelling.
"It's already time?!" Owen shouted while pulling up his pants.
"Shit, I thought I set up an alarm." Issac scrambled to find his glasses.
Levi lazily climbed down from his bunk bed with a yawn. And only after taking his time to stretch did he start to dress.
Mike also sat up from his mattress and started to dress with a little urgency on his face.
May, on the other hand, looked around in confusion that soon turned into panic.
But then there was Alex, simply unbelievable. He was still knocked on the ground cold.
Seeing such things, Ellia marched over to Alex in heavy steps. Then raising her right arm with open palms, she brought it down on him.
"Get the fuck up!" Ellia yelled. A loud smack followed after the yell.
"Tugh?! Huh?!" Alex gasped, winding his eyes. A red streak shaped in her hand was printed across his clueless face. "What's happening?!"
"Look around for yourself." Ellia said, "Just hurry up and get dressed."
"Ah, got it."
Having nothing else to say, Ellia walked toward Aerie. "Hey, did you cause the bruise on Alex's cheek?"
When talking to Alex just now, she caught a glimpse of a purple bruise on his chin that wasn't there last night.
"N-no, I didn't... I kinda did... didn't." Aerie, as a nervous expression took over her face.
"Tell me what happened."
"Ah... you see, I thought Alex was doing something weird to you, so I tried pulling him away, but while I was doing so, I think he bumped his chin on the edge of the bed. I swear I didn't hit him. I swear.
'Bumped?' Ellia thought, looking at Aerie. 'Then why was he out cold for the entity of the night?'
But after pondering it over, it made sense to Ellia. Alex had that coming from a mile away.
Standing still, Ellia and Aerie waited for everyone to tidy up before they all left room 32 as a whole group. Walking all the way to training grounds.
Arriving in the same pine forest, the group noticed their instructor James standing straight with a flask light stuck onto the headband he had around his forehead.
James flashed the whole group with a blinding light while they lined up, then yelled. "A minute later, and I would have done the unspeakable, But it looks like you barely saved yourselves today! Good job."
"Thank you, instructor!" Everyone shouted
"Now listing up from three weeks from now, there will be a tanking test for every student in Everwhite for a chance to raise their ranks. And I won't be naming bit some people here need to start trying these ranking tests!" James walked left and right, eyeballing everyone while screaming. "And from now on, we're going to be training for three weeks straight! A maximum of two hours of sleep per day, and the rest will be either physical training or mental. It will hurt, and you will be tired, and some might die but rejoice! There will be three hot meals every day!"
"Hooah!" Issac, Mike, Owen, and even May shouted in delighted enthusiasm.
"Well said!" James clapped, then pointed towards a freeing pool of water that had already started to form ice on the surface. It was about three feet deep, and who knows how the water got there. "Now get in!"
Hearing James shout, everyone froze. Their enthusiasm was now nowhere to be found.
"R-right now? With our uniform?" May asked, her teeth chattering just by imaging how cold that water would be.
"Yes, with you're uniform on! And don't worry, we have medical staff that would at least try to save your life!"
Then as the person she was, Ellia stepped forward with a sigh. She was confident cold didn't affect her, so she walked right into the ice-cold pool. Ripples of water were created as she walked deeper into the water.
And with a high stat value in endurance, Ellia hardly felt anything.
"It ain't that cold," Ellia said, encouraging everyone else to come inside.
"Ah fuck it!" Owen shouted as he ran into the freezing water but instantly regretted his choice. With chattering teeth, he tried to climb back out but was kicked back in by James.