Araka stared at the ceiling of her dormitory, thinking about what will happen tomorrow. For her, tomorrow would be a big day: Huashin had just assigned her a new full suite dorm with a sofa and a bed with a more comfortable mattress, the kind of arrangement that belongs to a Rank 2 field agent; she would also have a long break from SAIR works such that she could focus on her life being a student - something Araka increasingly found hard to balance between her life within the SAIR. 

I’m not regretting anything, Araka told herself. She liked the time being with Huashin, with Director Ninfo, with Tenka, with Ami, with Hiraka - everyone liked Araka, and everyone knew Araka was powerful yet vulnerable. She also knew her Matake quirk had saved many lives and she had never been this close to becoming the real-life Ms Possible ever. However, she was also facing her choice again: her life being Peni Araka, the blue haired high school runner; or being Sara, the mysterious young Matake user who works behind the scene to prevent rogue Matake uses encroaching into everyone’s life. 

Then, her memory about the final part of the entrance exam came back - the one about her outstanding performance against current SAIR agents. 

—

As the simulation began, without further delay, we headed straight into the maze shaped by cargo containers.

“Jun, do you have any plans?" I asked while checking my surroundings seeing if the opponents had already arrived.

“Araka, do you remember what Hakasa and Marinda are good at?” 

“If I remembered correctly, Hakasa basically has the same abilities as mine - fast and agile, except she was using a physical sword rather than a laser blade; as for Marinda, other than having a pistol that could fire smokescreens, I didn’t see anything else standing out.”

“Don't forget Hakasa was also carrying a shield, which means your weapon might be blocked by her during close combat," Jun suggested, “if both of our opponents coordinate well, neither of us could attack them effectively - my vision would be blocked by the smoke screen, while yours would be blocked by the shield.”

“So do you mean-”

“That's right, while you get Marinda distracted, I can have sometime to aim at Hakasa-”

It didn't take too long for us to enter the first intersection, which the path branched into both ways. 

“Where should we go?” I asked, while scanning the surroundings.

While we were thinking, the cargo container in front of us opened - a young woman with short blue hair, not much older than me, rolled out of the container and stood in front of me - it was Hakasa. Her physique and darker skin echoed with years of track and field training. Without hesitation, she sprinted toward us with her sword. 

“Araka, just leave her to me!” Jun said while shielding me. 

Then, from my right side, someone was also approaching. I turned around, and I sensed something: a bullet coming toward me - something I didn’t know I could sense. 

“Watch Out!” In the split second, I screamed and rushed toward Jun, making both of us roll toward the path on the left. The energy beam formed at the tip of the railgun ended up making a hole in a container on the other side. 

As we stood up and made our way inside an opened container, Jun, still with the railgun in his hands, was looking around to see if Hakasa and Marinda had found us. 

“Jun, are you okay?” I asked Jun, who still had his railgun in his hand.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Jun replied, while still trying to regain some balance, “Well, I think I heard a gunshot. Did the bullet hurt you?”

“Not really, it just scratched my hoodie,” while dusting off myself, I still couldn’t believe how I managed to sense the bullet. Was it - was it the power Matake Huashin was talking about yesterday? More importantly, why could I sense Marinda’s move while not so much for Hakasa? 

“Wait, Araka, I know this simulation has boosted our physical performance, but since when you’re able to sense incoming bullets?” Jun seemed to be confused, “I didn’t even know you had that ability.”

After we sheltered ourselves properly inside the container, we started discussing the next step.

“So they could attack from anywhere,” Jun said, “that means we need to be extra careful in our approach.” 

“That's true. It's impossible for us to attack them under their eyes, as they were very well coordinated,” I said, “even Marinda seemed quite sharp at using her pistol despite the fact that she just got it.”

“Maybe we need to find a way to get them separated without letting the other one know," Jun suggested. 

“But how can we do this? If I remember correctly, Tesa said our opponents are familiar with the layout of the site, and they could easily track us down.”

“So do you know why they are able to track us down?" Jun suddenly realized something, “Maybe it’s because they put some tracker on us.”

“But wait a second - If I remembered correctly, all the clothes here are rendered within the simulation, and it’s impossible to put a tracker on us other than us taking off the tight suit. Plus, if that were the case, there was no way we could win - they will hunt us down right now.”

“So it means it must be something within the simulation environment,” I thought. 

“Araka, did you turn on your laser blade as soon as you entered the 'maze'?”

“Of course, I need to defend myself.”

“I’ve got an idea - how about turning it off for a bit,” Jun said.

“Are you crazy? If they find us, we will be left defenseless!” While I usually agree with what Jun said, it sounded too absurd to me at first. 

“Shhh- Araka, lower your volume now,” Jun said while gesturing me lying down, “In case they find us, I can still launch some beams as distractions with my railgun. Plus, if you could sense the bullet, you can cover me again.”

Then, I sensed the sound of approaching steps. I whispered: “Jun, they’re coming. Close the door.”

As we hid behind the door, I overheard part of the conversation between Hakasa and Marinda. 

“Marinda, did your reading say anything?” I peeked through the gap and found it was from Hakasa, “How strange. I definitely saw them fleeing this way.”

“Well, the reading said otherwise. Maybe they have managed to escape and went somewhere else.”

As the two walked away, both of us exhaled after holding the breath for a few seconds.

It seemed to work, I thought. Then, it all made sense for me all of sudden: a lightsaber is a source of intense energy and heat - if I turn it off, it would be hard for the device to detect. 

“We're safe now,” Jun said while lowering his shoulders.

“So how are we going to pass this simulation, or at least survive long enough before they could launch fatal attacks on us?”

Jun rubbed his chin and started thinking. Even he couldn’t come up with a better idea, I thought, so how could we even do it? After a while, an idea started popping out. 

“Jun, I was thinking of one thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“How about this? Since we know that they're using some kind of sensor to track us down, how about we distract them by feeding them false locations? I can turn my lightsaber on and off and let them find me, and then you could ambush them from behind.”

Jun nodded. “I get your idea, but how could we actually do this if we have no idea about the layout of this place? Like for a real mission, we should have some access to some sort of map.”

“But Tesa didn’t give us one, remember? So how -“

“Hello,” a familiar voice passed through my ears.

“It’s Tesa,” Jun immediately recognized the voice and greeted her, “Hello Tesa.”

“So you're looking for a map, am I right?”

“Yes,” I said, “I mean it's hard to go around if we don't have anything to tell us directions.”

“Then that’s actually on me, because I should have grabbed one for you,” Tesa said. Then, a small scroll appeared in front of us. “Here is the layout of the site, use it wisely.”

As Tesa faded away again, I grabbed the scroll and pressed the button to open the scroll - it was indeed a detailed aerial view with our location marked on the map. 

“Uhmm, interesting,” Jun looked at the map and rubbed his chin again. Then his eyes fixed on a point - a small empty ground surrounded by containers - and then he pointed at the location. “Maybe we can set up the ambush here.”

I looked toward the spot Jun pointed at - it wasn’t only just a small field with only two ways out, but also had a huge puddle in the middle. 

After a brief discussion, we came up with the plan - Jun will position inside the crane nearby with his railgun aimed at Hakasa and Marinda, while me luring both of them into the field by flicking my lightsaber on and off.  

It didn’t take long for Hakasa to find me as I walked around the site and marked the direction to the field. 

“Gotcha, Araka!” She charged toward me with her sword swinging. It was still a shocking sight that she managed to swing the sword as if it were made of paper. I retreated backwards, toward the direction I marked with the lightsaber cuts on the containers. It didn’t take long for Hakasa to close in, and I was forced into a fight. 

Even within the simulated environment, I could barely handle the swings from Hakasa. Her speed was surprisingly fast, as if she was also a runner like me.

Just as I barely dodged an attack and retreated further, I realized something: where is Marinda? Why was she not here? Has she already seen through our plan? Anyway, I need to at least bring Hakasa to the trap first. 

After a while, as soon as both of us entered the empty ground, I turned on my lightsaber again. 

“Hah!” Hakasa attacked first. The blade was very close to my shoulder tip and I barely avoided the blade by blocking the sword using my own blade. I could see the sparkles coming between my lightsaber and the sword, and when I withdrew, the blade still made a cut on my shoulder. 

As I stabilized myself and retreated back, I started looking around to see if Jun had already made his way. However, I hadn’t seen any of the shots from his railgun being fired. Where are you, Jun?

“You got distracted, huh?” Hakasa attacked again. This time, I withdrew my lightsaber earlier and rushed forward with my blade. My blade landed on Hakasa’s blade, which managed to stop Hakasa’s attack this time. Yet, while I tried to attack her again, she escaped by blocking my attack using her shield.

She’s so powerful, I thought, If this were my optimal performance I could have by now, then in real life I might have died by now. 

“Not too bad, Araka,” Hakasa smirked, “but try this.”

She then swung the blade again toward. This time, she decided to attack me from the left. As I adjusted my posture, she suddenly changed her course and attacked from sideways, which I barely escaped by lowering my body and rolled to the back. 

As I eventually stood up, I realized that my right arm was injured - a long scar laid beneath the broken sleeve. Hakasa followed up with another attack, and while I managed to block it, I knew it couldn’t sustain my effort at this rate. Jun, where are you? I thought, just fire at anything right now! 

“Araka,” it was Jun’s voice, “can you hear me? I just figured out how to turn on the microphone.

“I can hear you,” I replied, while trying to fend off Hakasa’s attack.

“Listen, can - can you hold on for a bit longer? I will fend of Marinda and will be back-” 

“The jacket is indeed annoying, huh?” Just as I became fatigued under Hakasa’s constant attacks, Hakasa took off her zipped jacket and changed into the full track-and-field outfit - the one with sports bra style top and running brief at bottom. She seemed more determined despite removing an extra layer of defense. 

Then, Jun’s voice came through again.

“Araka, move away!” Then it coupled with the sound of a gunshot. 

As I was trying to figure out what happened, right in front of me, Hakasa launched another attack. She pointed the sword sideways and sprinted toward me - even after all of these, she was still able to carry the sword like a wood stick. Without much choice, I positioned my body into a defensive position.

“Hah!!”

I froze for a bit while seeing the blade coming toward me. Is that over? 

“Gotcha! ”

“Got you!”

In a split second, I saw a light beam landed at the puddle from the crane nearby. It was just the moment before Hakasa’s blade landed on me, and I could clearly feel both the heat of the beam and the sharpness of the blade. 

Then everything turned white. 

Simulation concluded, please remain where you are.”

So it ended, I exhaled, but who was the one that was eliminated in the session?

“Please take off your console and take a look around at your instructors.”

As I took off the console, I found myself standing right in front of Hakasa, the one with short blue hair and a white hairpin similar to mine; meanwhile, Jun was facing off Marinda on a raised platform. Everything on our hand was no longer threatening - all were just rods and plastic props. 

“Araka, you can move now. The simulation is over,” Hakasa said while waving her right palm in front of my face, signaling me to lower my arm. 

“Here is the damage report for the combat simulation:

Jan Jun: 100 points.

Peni Hakasa: 100 points.

Peni Araka: 90 points.

Otanaku Marinda: 5 points. 

So it was Jun and Hakasa that triggered the end of the simulation. But what happened? I thought while still unwrapping my head from the simulation. 

“Good job, everyone,” Marinda walked to me as the platform lowered to the ground, “it seemed both of you are doing surprisingly well in the combat situation even at first try.”

“So Instrutor Marinda, may I ask why Jun had the highest damage that triggered the end of the simulation?” I asked. 

“Marinda ‘shot’ me from the back,” Jun said, “she got me right after I fired my shot.”

“There was a fatal shot from you as well, Jun,” Hakasa commented while still panting, “you basically boiled the water we stood upon.”

“So we’re getting green bars?” Jun asked.

“Well,” Hakasa said, “I think your instructors said before that your score in this session doesn’t really matter, and you will eventually  receive your internship right after this session.”

“Hakasa was right. That’s why I tried to give you an option to end this session earlier. I was really impressed that you still put all your best effort into this session.”

"So do we have anything else to do after that?"

"No, you will just need to sign the form and showed you're willing to join the SAIR, and that will be it," Marinda said. 

“Thank you instructor Hakasa and Marinda,” I said while still trying to catch my breath, “I’m looking forward to becoming an SAIR agent just like you.”

----