Chapter 3: The Arena of Hearts
「Chapter 3: The Arena of Hearts」
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In the nurse's office, Oscar sat beside Rei, who was lying weakly on one of the hospital beds.
Just then, Jason and Aaron walked in, the previous traces of vomit gone from Aaron's clothes.
"How is she?" Jason asked in a worried tone as he approached Rei's bed.
"The nurse said she just ate a little too much, but she should be fine after a nap," Oscar replied to Jason with relief.
"I think a school assembly is being held right now, so it'll be fine if we just go back," Jason said before picking Rei up from the bed.
"Hey, dumpling, do you feel better?" Jason asked, holding Rei close to his chest. She just nodded weakly, resting her head on his chest.
"Wanna come along, Ron?" Jason asked Aaron, who was quietly leaning against the wall beside them.
"Obviously. It still smells like vomit, just so you know," Aaron said in disgust, making Jason roll his eyes in annoyance.
"Anyways, let's get going, Os."
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Back in the dorms, Jason carefully placed their dinner of nikujaga and curry rice on the table.
After setting down the chopsticks, he walked into the bedroom where Oscar had just finished dressing Rei.
She wore a cute polar bear onesie that contrasted nicely with her dewy black hair.
"Dinner's ready," Jason said as he sat on the bed beside Rei. "Will you eat, dumpling?"
Rei nodded softly and crawled into Jason's lap, latching onto him.
"Let's go." With that, they headed to the kitchen and sat at the table.
"Itadakimasu." Following that, they began to eat.
"Tell me when you're full this time, okay?" Jason said to Rei before feeding her with her small spoon.
After six small spoonfuls, she tapped Jason to indicate she was full. When they were done, Oscar took all the plates to wash.
"Do you wanna sleep now?" Jason asked, carrying Rei in his arms. She nodded shyly.
After getting her back patted, Rei let out a cute little burp and immediately began to feel sleepy.
"Wanna hear a bedtime story or a lullaby?" Jason asked, laying Rei down on the bed. After thinking for a while, she held up two fingers.
"Okay, lullaby. Hmm... I guess I'll go with 'Takeda'."
Just then, Oscar came into the room, having finished the dishes. Yawning sleepily, he simply got into bed.
Taking a deep breath, Jason began to sing softly. Getting into bed too, he gently brushed Rei's hair with his fingers as she closed her eyes.
Just like the day before, both Oscar and Rei were fast asleep by the time he was done. Turning off the bedside lamp, he kissed both their foreheads before going to bed himself.
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The next morning, after waving goodbye to Jason, Oscar and Rei headed into their classroom.
Rei wore a black and blue cropped jacket, a black baggy top with a small blue skull outline in the center, a blue skirt with black lines as a design, black hosiery, and her usual Jordans.
There were already a few students present; however, they seemed to stop and stare when the two walked in. The low whispers sent a wave of anxiety through Rei, who clung to Oscar's trousers.
Sitting down, Oscar pulled out a book titled The Ups and Downs Guide to Abilities, while Rei hung onto him like a koala, silently resting in his embrace.
Just then, a familiar face popped up in front of him.
"What do you want now, Liz?" Oscar said, clearly annoyed. "You already made her cry yesterday, so back off."
"I didn't mean to," Liz said in a pouting voice before smirking. "And besides, I'm older than you, so you can't force me."
"Really? Your height doesn't say that," Oscar retorted. "We both know you're as smart as your height."
"You're so mean!" Liz said angrily before throwing something at him. "Here, I was gonna give that to Alessia."
With that, she stormed off, leaving Oscar to look at what hit him - it was a small box of chocolate.
Without much thought, he just put it in his bag before turning back to his book.
Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the start of first period. As soon as it rang, the classroom door opened, and Leo walked in.
"Class, greet."
"Good day, Sergeant. We give our attention."
"Good morning, class. As I announced last week, today we're doing an evaluation test," Leo said with enthusiasm.
"First, line up: girls on the left, boys on the right. We're heading to the arena where you'll change into your sportswear," Leo explained, patiently waiting for the lines to form.
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Once the lines were formed, Leo led them through the long hallways to a big field that looked identical to the school's park field.
The total number of girls was eight, while the boys were ten.
"Excuse me, sir, but isn't this the central field?" one student asked in confusion. She had long wavy red hair and fox-like blue eyes, standing at 6'0".
Although it was a normal question, it caused the rest to begin murmuring.
"Is this a joke? What are we supposed to do here, meditate?" another student - a boy with brown hair and green eyes - said just loudly enough for Leo to hear.
"This here is a virtual training space," Leo clarified. "One click of a button, and it can change to match the training."
"Also, just to inform you - murmuring can be taken as a serious offense," Leo said in a darker tone, causing the murmuring students to flinch. "Other teachers won't take it as lightly."
"We apologize for our rudeness, Sergeant," the class said in unison.
"Good. Anyway, if you look that way, you'll see the changing rooms," Leo said in his usual merry tone, pointing to the two doors a few meters beside them. "Hurry up, though. Time is not on our side here, we only have two periods to work this out."
Immediately, the class headed to the changing rooms, maintaining their lines perfectly.
"Oh, that's right," Leo suddenly said, making the students stop in their tracks. "Alessia, Oscar - come here. The rest, continue."
Rei, who was at the very back of the girls' line, turned to Oscar for permission.
Oscar, noticing Rei's worried gaze, just nodded before heading over to her and holding her hand.
Hand in hand, Oscar and Rei walked to Leo.
『怖い
(Scary)』 Rei couldn't help but think, looking up at the tall Leo, who seemed even taller from her perspective.
"You might feel uncomfortable changing in front of the others," Leo said, kneeling to reach her level. However, this only made Rei back off even more, hiding behind Oscar's leg.
"For now, you two can change in the teachers' changing room over there," Leo said, pointing at a separate pair of doors next to the main changing rooms.
"Thank you for your consideration, Sergeant Leo," Oscar said respectfully before heading to the changing rooms with Rei.
Their sports outfit consisted of a black and blue sports shirt with black and blue trousers for the boys, while the girls' outfit was the same shirt but with black and blue shorts instead of trousers, plus a pair of stretchy hosiery.
Although it fit her perfectly, Rei seemed uncomfortable in it as she kept pulling at the shorts and fidgeting with the shirt.
"What's wrong, princess?" Oscar asked, concerned. "Is there anything wrong with the clothes?"
She nodded and began to tug on her shorts again before touching her arms.
"Oh, I get it!" Oscar said in realization. "You don't like that it's showing your arms and legs."
Rei immediately nodded and began jumping and clapping, happy he understood her.
"Well, if that's the case, the pantyhose are right there," Oscar said, pointing behind Rei to a beanbag where the black hosiery lay.
"And I think I should have your arm-length gloves with me."
After putting them on, Rei looked even cuter than before, with her hair now in a high ponytail.
Looking at herself in the nearby mirror, Rei clapped her hands and jumped in excitement before twirling around to look at Oscar, a sweet small smile plastered on her face.
'I can't believe she got so worked up over something as simple as sleeves' Oscar thought, smiling on the outside.
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When they stepped out of the changing room, everyone was already out and in their sportswear.
"Now that everyone is here, let me explain exactly what you'll be doing in this test," Leo said. He then brought out a device similar to a remote, with three buttons and a screen that displayed numbers.
Clicking one of the buttons, the scenery around them changed to that of a track field with obstacle courses.
Strangely, there also seemed to be a booth right beside the tracks, big enough to fit at least three people.
"This is an evaluation system designed to scan the level of your ability," Leo said, pointing at the booth. "You'll all get your levels, and then we'll do the physical evaluation."
"Any score you get will be used to form a training schedule for you," Leo explained carefully. "But be careful - any mishaps might damage your track record or training."
"First up, Gabrielle Monroe"
Stepping forward was the same girl with red wavy hair and fox-like blue eyes.
"Get into the booth and I'll relay further instructions," Leo said, to which Abby responded with a "Yes, sir."
Inside the booth was a round steel panel mounted on a stand.
"You see that round thingy there? I need you to attack it with all you've got," Leo said, causing Abby to look at him confused. "With your ability, I mean."
Nodding, Abby took a step back. Taking a deep breath, she stretched out her hands toward the panel.
Suddenly, sparks began to form in the air, turning into flames that flew toward the panel, hitting it with great force.
Just then, on the glass screen, a message popped up, a mechanical voice reading it out loud.
￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
ASSESSMENT COMPLETED
ABILITY: Fire
LEVEL: 1570
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"Hm, nice job, Gabrielle. That's a really good score," Leo said before recording it on his digital clipboard.
Just then, the watch on Abby's hand began to glow with a loud buzz.
"Don't worry too much - that's just the sound of your student data being updated," Leo said with a cheeky smile.
"Let's see... up next, Nathaniel Clifford."
With that, the lines continued. Some scored high, others lower, but all were in the range of 1200-1600.
"Now, Oscar Kizuki."
Hearing his name, Oscar let go of Rei's hand to take the test. However, she hugged his leg instead.
"I need to go, princess," he said, but Rei only shook her head in refusal.
"Just stay here, I'll be back in no time," Oscar said, patting her head. This time, Rei slowly let go and took a step back, nodding her head while looking down with the saddest expression.
'I feel like she's guilt-tripping me at this point' Oscar thought, flustered, before walking into the booth.
Taking a deep breath, he stretched out his hands toward the panel.
After just one spark, a small flame emerged near his palms.
However, after swirling for a while, it grew to the size of a fist before firing at the panel.
A second later, the usual message popped up on the glass screen, the same mechanical voice reading it out loud.
￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
ASSESSMENT COMPLETED
ABILITY: Fire
LEVEL: 1982
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"Woah, he scored higher than Abby!" a student shouted in amazement.
"I thought she would be the highest," another whispered to her friend.
"Wow, great score, Oscar," Leo said with a thumbs up before writing it down on his clipboard.
Oscar then walked back to Rei, who had been standing in the same spot, twiddling her fingers timidly.
As soon as Oscar got close, she hugged his leg again, more firmly this time.
"Okay, up last - Alessia Kizuki," Leo announced, a little excited to see what she could do.
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Words to know:
•Nikujaga : Hearty meat and potato stew
•Curry Rice : Mildly sweet curry over rice
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