A Day In And A Day Out

After breakfast, Shindo carried his luggage downstairs from his room to Yoshido's vanta black muscle car. "Hurry up back there," Yoshido said while relaxing in the driver's seat. "This would be a lot easier if a certain lazy brother of mine offered to help," Shindo replied. "You know Shin, I can go to Tsuki anytime I want. You know why?" He said with his head sticking out of the car window. "Because for some reason, you're an instructor there even though you barely do anything," Shindo answered. "Exactly, but since you're a student, you have a specific time to be there. Now let's go," Yoshido commanded before starting the engine. "Yeah sure, you lazy idiot," Shindo muttered under his breath before entering the car.

After driving for what seemed like forever, the two brothers finally reached Funsui Oka, the location of the secluded Tsuki Academy. Shindo remembered what it was like when he first arrived at the academy two years ago; how everyone else was surprised by his appearance: his emerald green eyes, his unkept head of wolf gray hair along with his all black baggy tracksuit. Another key feature was his menacing smile that seemed to cause an unease in the room. His twin brother Hakumo had looked no different except for his piercing purple eye colour and black streak amidst his white hair.

Just when Shindo was about to exit after they parked, Yoshido pulled him back in. "I need to tell you something really quick," he said. Shindo froze before leaning back into his seat. "So the research unit called this morning. They said Haku's research mission was a success and that he might get back from Terra 23-4 really soon," Yoshido said with a smile on his face. Shindo didn't know how to react to the news. The only word he could use to describe the feeling was 'overjoyed'. "And another thing," Yoshido said, "they're sending a group this time to retrieve him. Hopefully, you'll make it in if you manage to activate your arashi before then."

Shindo simply smiled. "Don't worry bro, I'll make sure I'm part of that squad. And if I'm not, I'll still get to see Haku eventually," he said before exiting the car. After getting his stuff from the trunk, Shindo ran straight to hostel 3 to drop off his things before heading to class. On his way there, he found Hachi and Oda, his two childhood friends standing by the vending machine each with a drink in their hand. "Shindo Nakajima, it's about damn time you showed up," Hachi said, sounding rather irritated. "Sorry. Got a bit held up in some things," Shindo replied sounding bashful. "Anyway, no time to chat. Gotta go. Be right back," he said before running past them towards the stairs.

When Shindo finally reached squad three's dorm room, he hurriedly dropped his things onto the bed in the left corner, his bed, before heading back down the stairs to head to class with Hachi and Oda. When he got back to where he had left them, Korochi the fourth member of his dorm was chatting with them. "Hey, we're going to be late! Lets go!" Shindo shouted as he came down the stairs. "Only reason we're still here is because of you, moron," Hachi and Korochi replied in perfect unison. "If you say so. Anyway, to the classroom!" Shindo said jokingly before him and his group ran to class. When they got there, they quickly got to their seats just before class officially began.

The day ran so smoothly that Shindo almost forgot about Toya, the fifth member and final member of squad three. She had a reputation for bringing disaster. This even got her nicknamed 'Hurricane Toya' because of a certain incident in her first year. And during fifth period History, that's when it all happened. While Shindo was writing, the vent cover above him dropped onto his head. He pushed it off without saying a single word, stood up and turned towards Toya who was sitting right behind him. "What the hell Toya!?" He exclaimed while holding his head. "What? I had nothing to do with that," Toya replied calmly. "Yeah bro, it's just coincidental," Oda said, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Quit making a fuss about it. Compared to everything that happened to you last year, this is nothing, " Hachi pointed out while leaning back in his seat. "Yeah, fifteen broken bones, six stabs, a skull fracture and a concussion are a lot to handle and yet you healed from them like they were all nothing. Now sit back down and save that energy for combat practice," Korochi said. Shindo didn't bother arguing with them. He just sat back down and continued writing notes.

After History, everyone rushed to the locker rooms to get geared up for training. Soon after, everyone went out to the arena where all the training  instructors were standing rather leisurely. Once all the learners had assembled, Mr. Yamazaki stepped forward to give announcements. "Alright dimwits, listen up!" he said, "The year's announcements are as follows: First, since you kids appear to know everything based on last year's academic scores, we're going to designate this year for combat training. This only applies to third year's because this is their final year with us. Second, a group of delegates will be picked for a retrieval mission to bring back Hakumo Nakajima from Terra 23-4 soon. This again applies to third years only. And finally, all learners will be taken on special training missions throughout the year. Now, let's get to the combat exercises."

"Sir, I have a question," Shindo said. "What is it kid?" Mr. Yamazaki replied. "So since only us third years are going to be doing combat training the whole year, does that mean that the other students won't be training?" Shindo inquired. "Yeah sure why not. They can come make personal arrangements for training sessions if they want, I dont care," Mr. Yamazaki answered with his back turned. Just then, all the first and second years all shouted joyfully before exiting the arena as fast as possible. "That was unexpected. Shouldn't we stop them?" Yoshido asked. "No need bro. They would've just gotten in the way. Now can we start already?" Shindo said. "Fair point. Alright then, get into your squads and let's begin the team battle royale!" Yoshido shouted before joining the instructors.

Five minutes before the battle royale began, Shindo called his teammates together for some quick strategy planning. "So first off, I call squad leader as usual," he said. "Any objections?" he then asked. Oda then stepped forward. "I got one," he said, " why are you always squad leader even though you dont have a Sutomu kiki or even an arashi." Shindo's posture stiffened for a moment relaxing again. "Let's see," he began, "first, it's cause I have a ridiculously high IQ. Second, I dont need either of those to be better than you. And third, because I have more battle experience than all of you combined. So dont judge and I'll treat you to something special after training. Deal?" Oda stuck his hand forward in affirmation. "This is why you're my best friend. No offence Hachi," he said. "None taken," Hachi responded.

"Training begins in T-minus ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven..." the PA system rambled on before a loud horn signalled the begin of the training session. As the training progressed, Shindo's team were beating all the other squads like they were nothing. Their carefully planned tactics seemed to cover every scenario. If they were up against two squads at once, Shindo would yell,"Scorpion!" which began an attack that took out the incoming assailants while two squad members ran through the middle to take out the back. This tactic was especially dangerous because it was hard to predict which member would do which role.

When the squads left standing had decreased, a new announcement passed on the PA system. "Listen up, since the squads have gone down, we're going to have a soloist battle royale. Go nuts!" Mr. Yamazaki said. Everyone got confused. Shindo tried to sneak out from his group because he knew he was the only person who would have a high chance of getting taken out first. Just then, an arrow landed right in front of his feet. He let out a little 'eek' sound before slowly turning around. "Where do you think you're going?" Korochi asked with his bow in his hand. "I just realized that I have this illness called 'Not wanting to die' syndrome so I'll just go," Shindo said, stepping back slowly. "Not on my watch!" Hachi exclaimed before running straight to Shindo with two of his daggers in his hands.

Shindo ducked just before the daggers slashed past the place his neck had been shortly before. He then hit the back of Hachi's knee to bring him down before connecting a ferocious punch which sent him backwards. "I told you, I have more battle experience," he stated to teammates-turned-opponents. This triggered everyone to attack at once which made things more difficult for Shindo. When Toya was just about to pierce Shindo's shoulder with her katana she, along with everyone else, stepped back. "Hey Shin, what's up with your skin bro?" Ken, the class representative asked sounding agitated. Shindo looked down and almost passed out from what he saw; his skin revealed veins all over his body that had a neon green glow. His body felt like it was burning from the inside out. He looked at everyone and muttered one word, "Run." Just then, a ground shaking shockwave escaped from his body that threw everyone backwards before his vision went black.