As the doors opened, a shower of sunlight covered us from head to toes, blinding me on the spot, not letting me see what awaited for me outside. I instinctively lifted my arm to cover my eyes, but the damage was already done so it took a couple of seconds for my eyesight to recover.

I put my arm back down, and just like a curtain would open on a theater, revealing the play for the public, the scene in front of me was gradually revealed from top to bottom. The first thing I saw was a semicircle shaped structure, which I assumed were steps, filled to the brim with people, that probably were the students waiting for us. I moved my gaze while uncovering it until I could see everything in front of me. There was a path just like the others that went for about 20 meters, ending in a big white square of around 10 by 10 meters that I assumed was the arena.

Once I processed all the information, I realized that my 3 companions had already begin to walk towards the arena, leaving me a couple of meters behind, so I rushed behind them.

As we got closer, the faces of the people sitting around the arena got more and more defined, to the point where I could basically see them all perfectly, and just as I thought, everyone in here looked a tad older than me, since people usually entered the academy with 18 or 19 years, so by the second year the average age should be around 20, which got me even more nervous.

Not only the faces, but their muttering was starting to grow in volume, and I was about to say something about it when again, Mercedes talked first:

- God I hate students, they are so loud and noisy – she said with her usually irritated tone

- Weren’t you one of them some months ago?

- Well yeah, but I at least knew how to behave in public

- It didn’t seem like that back at Ito sensei’s office…

- What did you just say? – her annoyance and irritation grew a couple of levels, so I decided to not push further since I needed her on my side right now

- Me? Nothing at all – I said, quickly changing the subject, trying to get advantage of the situation - By the way, I can’t remember how this type of semicircular structure facing a stage was called. Perhaps you do?

- Of course I do. This is called an amphitheater – she said with airs of superiority – the Roman Empire used them to showcase gladiator fights, sport events and oth…. – she kept spitting everything she knew about them, and I let her talk while looking at her since I thought it my boost her ego which could be beneficial for me. At one point, she suddenly stopped talking and walking, and I thought she might’ve discovered that I wasn’t paying attention, so I quickly said:

- Carry on please

But she didn’t respond. Instead, she put a finger in her lips, signaling me to stop talking and then surreptitiously pointed forward, and only then I noticed it: we were already at the arena, where a makeshift podium has been made right in the center, with a lone microphone in it, and in front of the podium was Ito sensei. The crowd had stopped the whispers and the murmuring, so now the only thing that could be heard was the occasional gust of wind passing by. I saw that agent Meyer was positioning himself to Ito sensei’s right side, obviously maintaining some distance, so I lightly poked Mercedes arm and led her to his left, were we stood side by side, her being the closest one to the podium.

Once Ito sensei saw that we were all visible to the crowd, he taped the microphone once or twice, which made a horrible static noise, and only then started speaking:

- I’m sorry about that, this thing seems to hate me since always does the same – some students laughed at the introductory joke, but quickly got quiet to let sensei speak. It seemed that, even if they were misbehaving lately, they still had respect for the principal after all – I’d like to thank all of you for being here since I consider this a special occasion. I’ve been noticing lately that our moral has been somewhat down, and for me that is a big issue because if people don’t have something that drives them to do something, then it doesn’t matter how good they are at that something, they will never progress or unlock their full potential. So, I’ve contacted an alumni of this Academy who is also an old friend of mine, who’s been a White Police agent for fifteen years, and right now is acting as a tutor for two of the newest trainees of the White Police. As you might know, this year’s trials had some special rules due to certain circumstances surrounding the White Police, so these two young trainees here are the best of the best. Now, they’ll be giving you a little speech and then you’d be able to ask them anything you want.

Excuse me, what the fuck did he just say? A speech? I have to give a speech? I’ve never done that in my life and I didn’t come prepared. What the fuck am I going to say? I’m about to make the biggest fool of myself in front of hundreds of people.

As I panicked, I noticed that agent Meyer was approaching the podium and Ito sensei was retreating to agent’s Meyer previous position. For a moment, I thought that maybe he’d give the speech while Mercedes and I answer some questions, but my hopes were short lived as he started speaking:

- Hello everybody, my name is Emil Meyer and I’m currently a rank 4 agent and also this two trainees tutor – there were gasps and surprised expressions all over the crowd since rank 4 was a pretty good rank, even if it was only in the middle of the ladder – I’m gonna make it short since I’m not the main attraction here, but I do have to say something that may help my two young partners here with their speeches – confusion took over the crowd and myself, since I didn’t know what in the World could make my non-existent speech easier – As you might know, this year’s vacancies were limited to 5 as a decision to minimize the risk for the trainees. I myself was one of the main supporters of this rule since I had a bad experience in the past when I got a pretty bad trainee who almost got killed in five different occasions – there were a lot of complaints this time, since a lot of people thought that 5 vacancies was too little for the amount of students and applicants there were. Chaos was starting to unleash, when agent Meyer lifted his hand making silence take over once again as he continued – But, I also think that rules are meant to be broken sometimes. What I mean by this is that the 5 slots rule is not 100% exclusive, and exceptions can be made if the conditions are fulfilled. This year only five people met the expectations, but who knows, maybe next year will be different.

The stadium exploded with tens of different conversations, the majority being excited and cheerful. Agent Meyer looked back at Mercedes and I, giving us a smile and a wink that were supposed to say ‘You are welcome’ but I interpreted more like ‘You owe me one’ for some reason. He let the conversations slowly end one by one and when only a couple remained he taped the mic and said:

- I see that all of you got pretty hyped up, but remember, don’t get relaxed and overconfident because there is the possibility of an exception, on the contrary, you have to make that exception happen – No one answered but there were a lot of silence nods – Well, I think that’s all for me, so, without further ado, let me introduce to the first of the two trainees that will be at your disposal today – agent Meyer looked back at us, as if inviting us to come over.

I snapped back to reality, realizing that, even if he had helped us warming up the public, I still had no speech to give and had no idea what to do. So I again started panicking, something that was happening too usual for my liking lately, but I, again, got saved by Mercedes who stepped forward and slowly but with determination started walking towards the podium, and only then agent Meyer finished his sentence.

- Some of you may already know her since she graduated top of her class last year from this same academy – as Emil talked, mumbling started to grow all around the arena – With 20 years old, I give you trainee Mercedes Wood, or as I have nicknamed her: ‘The Moody Queen’

There were some laughs as agent Meyer mentioned the nickname he’d given Mercedes, including my own, since it was actually pretty accurate, at least on the moody part; but the laughs ceased as she stood right in front of the podium (that was short enough so everything above her chest was visible) and they were replaced by amazed reactions and gasps, mainly from the male audience, due to the fact that she was somewhat pretty (even if not my type) and well, she had big boobs.

- Ahem – she cleared her throat as a sign to everyone to make silence and only when the last student was quiet she started talking – thank you agent Meyer for that introduction – she said with her usually annoyed voice, which probably gave everyone here a hint on why he gave her the nickname – As some of you may know, until last year I was a student of this academy just like you. I’ve slept in the same beds, eat the same food and took the same classes and exams that you do. So, what made me different from the rest of my class? What made me top of my entire generation? What makes me different from any of you? Any answers?

There were whispers and murmur all over the crowd, but no answers. Maybe it was from the nerves of the situation, maybe because they thought it was a rhetorical question that Mercedes was going to answer herself or maybe because they didn’t know the answer. Whatever the reason, not one person said anything.

The situation was starting to feel uncomfortable when suddenly a hand rose from the first row of the steps. I followed the hand down to see who it belonged to, and found out a girl who was using a different uniform from the rest of the students. And it wasn’t only her, I saw a couple more students, some boys some girls, wearing this exact uniform that differentiated them from their classmates. The girl had a prideful expression on her face, accentuated by her chin being slightly up, and the way she was lifting her hand resembled like a Nobile or even royalty in movies would do it.

- Yes? – Mercedes asked curiously

- Innate talent of course. Everyone knows that some people are more gifted than others and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. In my case I’ve been called a prodigy all my life in almost everything I did so from the beginning I’m better than most of the students here.

- That’s an amazing answer Miss…

- Longbottom. Victoria Longbottom

- Victoria, it is amazing how bad your answer was – Mercedes said with total calm on her face, while Victoria’s expression contorted in surprise, anger and embarrassment - Yes, of course some people might have an advantage over the rest because of their physique, their reflexes or eyesight, just to give some examples, but that’s not nearly enough to stand out over the rest.

The girl hid her hand, her face red from embarrassment

- I see from your uniform that you qualified for the special training offered to some students on their fourth semester, correct? – Mercedes asked and Victoria gave her a slight nod in confirmation, since it was more of a rhetorical question – Well, even if you were a prodigy as you say, that alone wouldn’t get you there. Trust me, I myself had classmates who had a lot of potential, even more than I did, but barely passed their tests because they lacked a lot of other things. Actually, all that people that told you that you are ‘a prodigy’ and that you are where you are because of some kind of ‘gift’ are only underestimating your capabilities, your efforts and your hard work.

- But, if it is not talent or something like that, then what got me here?

- I cannot know since I’m neither you nor your teachers, but I can assure you that it wasn’t just that.

I didn’t realize until now how serious, correct and strict Mercedes could be when she wasn’t moody, but right now she could easily be mistaken for a teacher or even the principal, if it wasn’t for her (to) young appearance

She lifted her gaze, finishing her exchange with the Longbottom girl, targeting the entire crowd once again and continued:

- Going back to my initial question, I’m going to tell you the answer. From the beginning of my training, and even before that, I had a goal I wanted to achieve. Only when you have something to work for you can be the best version of yourself

She made a pause and scrutinized her audience. I did the same and noticed a lot of confused and not convinced expressions. She probably noticed too, because after a thinking for a moment, she sighed and continued:

- I’ve heard from Ito sensei that a lot of you think that it is not worth it to risk being a WP since the crime rate has been going up for a while now instead of down

There was again some murmuring on the crowd, but this time accompanied by some elusive faces and gazes, almost as if they were ashamed of thinking that way, so everyone got really surprised to hear what followed that sentence

- Well you are not the only ones, I think that too – Mercedes added with a straight face – or thought, I should say. When I graduated I also had this feeling that it was the same if I became an agent or not, because I wouldn’t be able to make a difference. I mean, if the actual agents who were pretty superior to me in skill, experience and basically everything couldn’t do it, why would I be any different? But that was my first mistake. To think that there was just one solution and that if it didn’t work then nothing would. Yes, right now the White Police is struggling against crime, but that’s maybe because they are approaching it the wrong way, or maybe because crime is not the only problem, but there are a lot of other factors that contribute to the situation too. What I’m trying to say with this, is that we shouldn’t give up because someone else couldn’t do it, on the contrary, we should analyze why they couldn’t, see what they did wrong and work from there, because maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but someday in the future, there will be a generation that will have enough tools and experience to get over this problem and solve it once and for all, but that won’t happen unless you make it happen, unless we make it happen. So, if you don’t see a future where the White Police are relevant, then make it your goal to create that future. Make it your goal to surpass your predecessors and show them that there is a way. Make it your goal to be better.

As she finished her speech, almost everyone in the audience stood up and started applauding, some nodding in agreement, some smiling and cheering, some talking with their classmates, and some doing all three. It wasn’t that big of a thing, but it was enough to make it clear that she had accomplished what she wanted. And now, it was my turn.