After an hour of driving, we arrived at the dormitory, which indeed was a hotel in the mountainous region of southern Niangkee.
While I was in the lobby, my phone rang.
"Hello, this is Araka." I picked my phone.
"Ah, this is mom. Actually, the reason we call you now is that we have a surprise for you."
"So mom, what's the surprise?"
"Actually, we just received a call from Uncle Nakuo, he said you're allowed to participate in the entrance exam."
Wait, I'm allowed to participate the entrance exam? Wow that's such a great news. I imagined myself slaying through the exam, and making myself to the top of the list. I almost unable to contain my excitement that I jumped for a bit.
"Araka, anything exciting going on?" Jun asked.
"Look at this," I showed my phone's screen to Jun, which contains the QR code that was required for the entrance of the exam.
"That's good for you, indeed." Jun seemed agreed, "but are you really sure you're actually prepared for the entrance exam?"
That's indeed a good question. Imagine if I am taking the written test, and all those questions required complex calculus and physics that I haven't learned yet, that must be a "game over" for me. What should I do now?
"Sara-cha, are you okay? You looked quite down out of sudden." It was Amika who pulled me away from the confusion.
"Well, Araka, don't think too much about that part. Think about it. Do you remember what the driver said? It didn't really matter how high the grade you get, but your thinking process. If they let you in, they must have a good idea about how much you have learned at school. Plus, you can still take the exam next year, which is when you're supposed to take."
"That's right, Sara." Amika smiled and said, "Plus, you must be better than me at least, since you go to the school in Bakju, which do always have a better performance on exams than any of the schools in my hometown."
That does make sense, I thought. Maybe I shouldn't make myself too stressful here.
As we entered our designated dormitory, we found that the room was very comfortable. Only four people were sharing the same room, with two boys and two girls. There was a living room for social, and a study space with adjustable lighting and speaker. To give each one more privacy, they set up curtains between the beds, while all the roommates had to go out to take the shower.
Other than Jun and me, there were suppose to be two other roommates. However, it was quite clear that they were a bit late.
"Thank you so much for helping me." I heard a girl's voice approach the room.
"No problem, just be more careful about your belongings. Ah here we are." There was also a guy here.
The door opened, and there were two - one was a girl with long bronze ponytail in a white T-shirt and blue jeans; while the other one was a blonde-haired guy wearing black-framed glasses, he was wearing a pink hoodie and a long black pants.
As soon as he dropped the luggage, he immediately noticed Jun, and he was very excited: "Jun, is that you?"
Jun turned back from the table and took a closer look at the guy. He seemed to be also surprised: "Sukeo, why are you here?"
"So Jun, you know this guy?" I asked.
"Of course. He's also from our school. His name is Yoiki Sukeo （澄井 直）, and he's the head of the student council."
That name indeed sounded familiar, though since our grades was separated from Jim's grades, I still didn't know much about him.
"Nice to see you again. Ah, Is this girl your sister?"
"Yes, and her name is Araka." Jun started to introduce me to him.
"Nice to meet you Araka. Are you also taking the exam?"
I nodded.
"Ah, I also know this girl," the girl who came along with Sukeo said, "I saw her during the the grand Peni ceremony."
"So are you also a Peni?" I asked, though I had no idea about hers
"Yes, and my name is Peni Tenka（北依 天加）"
"Don't get caught by her unassuming appearance. She's pretty big deal, you know. She's actually from one of the larger branches of the Peni clan." Sukeo added.
"Nah, don't worry about it. It's not like the ancient time where we got hierarchies. We're pretty much the same here," Jun said.
"Well, that's fair. It's lucky to see everyone here is from Bakju, and at least know each other for any reason."
After a brief greeting, we decided to spend the best of our time today by exploring the facilities of the dormitory. While Tenka and me were exploring the swimming pool and the gym, Jun and Sukeo were exploring the study space, which I believed was basically what Jun always did. Eventually, we found the cafe located in the hotel, which had already been quite popular among the candidates. It was a good place to observe how the candidates were, I thought.
Tenka and me ordered some drink, and I used this opportunity to take a look at all of those candidates: there was a guy around Jun's age sat right beside me, who looked quite built up, as the muscles were almost popping out from the cloths, which he looked ideal for combat related tasks; meanwhile, to his left, there was this young girl who spent all her time typing on the laptop, presumably her skill was coding related; and finally, there is this girl
"Hi Araka, " it was Tenka who called me, "I was wondering what type of special skill did you have?"
Special skills? Taku, the form I filled was basically just a visitor form, and there was no needed for special skills as a visitor. I wasn't even sure if my skills could actually meet the level of these exams.
"Umm, I mean, I could run quite fast. I'm in the track and field team of my school."
"Wow, then you do have some special skills." It seemed to be that Tenka was very happy about it. She then lowered her volume and told me: "Well for me, I don't really have any. Even though it said it's required, I still couldn't find anything that was impressive. I did pass the preliminary check by lying about my level of skills in biology, which I do found I'm curious about."
"That's cool, still. I mean, at least you got something that you're interested in."
While we were talking, there was a guy who came for our table. He was having some monologue: "Those Niangkee urbanites just don't really get who we are."
"Excuse me, may I have a seat here?" He took a look
"Sure." I told him to sit down.
The guy who came for our table was not very tall. He was wearing black t-shirt for top and a yellow pants. He had dark brown hair and darker skin, while there was a decoration hanging on his neck. His accent was very similar to the ones we have, though it still sounded slightly more casual and rural than the one we have.
"You two are from Bakju, right?"
"That's true."
"Oh thanks god, finally found someone from my land." He felt relieved, "So May I ask how can I call you too?"
"I'm Tenka and this is Araka." Tenka took the turn.
"I'm Okuri, nice to meet you too."
"So you must be from Chuubo, right?" I asked.
"Of course, the southern part to be specific, that's why we have similar accents, even without speaking the dialect."
"But you're not from Bakju, right?"
"I'm from Laeshi（瀾溪), you know, the place west of Bakju," he said in the Chuubo dialect. That makes perfect sense, I thought, judging from his accent, "Bakju people are so friendly."
"So you are also taking the exam?"
"Of course, and I do have some interesting abilities. Do you want to take a look?"
"Sure," what type of skill he could have, I wondered.
He grabbed a rolled paper from his pocket, "See this paper ball? Just watch." He then toss the ball to the sky and threw it forward.
"Now, go there and check. You will find the surprise there," Okuri pointed at a corner on the other side of the cafe.
I walked all the way to the direction Okuri pointed at. There was a trash can there, and on the top of it, there was a paper ball lying there. I grabbed and unfolded, realizing that was the exact same paper he just tossed. That's amazing, I thought.
"See, that's what I mean," he said in a very loud voice.
I returned to the table and continued to chat with Tenka and Okuri, we chatted a bit more things going on in our places. I figured out that Okuri was raised in a village at the bottom of the Nanyun mountain. He was a bit struggle when chatting with someone online, since he couldn't really catch the online trends. That was pretty much what I expected to see, as even though nowhere in the nation had no access to internet, the barrier and difference in lifestyles still remained. He even recalled that Bakju was the only city that he think would stay in, as he thought anywhere else were either too foreign or not friendly enough.
After dismissing Okuri, Tenka and me were heading to the gym for a bit workout. While in the gym, I saw Jun and Sukeo were also there.
"Hi Tenka and Araka, we just started some workout, do you want to join?"
"Sure, but just one thing. Don't laugh at me if I didn't do well. I'm not that type of person who can do 500 pushups."
"No worries. I mean, you can just take a look at how we do the things, if you want."
While he was talking, Sukeo casually took off his hoodie. While I was expecting Sukeo to be someone who was not very physically built up, I was surprised when he pulled his hoodie off - he revealed his packs and muscles, moving up and down. It was the core that most of my attention, which looked almost perfect for his age. It was even better than Jun's, which is still quite good.
"Sukeo indeed has some good muscles." Tenka gasped.
Right after showing his body, Sukeo immediately started the squat workout. He chose the weight of 35kg each side, and easily did 15 reps in a short period. All his forms were perfect, and he didn't even feel a bit tired.
While I was impressed, Tenka looked even more excited. I can feel her eyes became torches as she saw Sukeo's performance.
"So Sukeo, is this your special skill?" I asked.
"Actually, it's not. It's more like a supportive ability, if you like to call it."
After that small show of Sukeo, all of us went to our own workouts. The only one who seemed to be a bit weak among us was Tenka, who still had the courage to try new stuffs, even though it was somewhat clear that many of her workouts were not on form.
While I was doing my own workout routine, Sukeo came by: "Araka, if I remembered correctly, you're in the track and field team right?"
"Yes, and my specialty is the 1000m."
"And is that your special skill?"
"Well, yes."
"Maybe you can try the VR treadmill there," Tenka came back from the machine and suggested, "I found it could actually simulate the race track, but I'm not that good at it."
Maybe that's a good opportunity, I thought.
I took a step onto the machine and set myself straight. As the course started, I started running along the course with several A.I. competitors. It was the same as the machine I saw in an upscale gym. It was a good way to see how well I can do, as I had already completed my warm up. As expected, I made my advance at the final lap, which I had completed in the first place. After completed, the machine displayed a special message - "you have set the record for this machine." Of course, I also the leader board displaying the history of player played, in which Tenka's score is at the bottom.
"Let's gooo. That's the spirit." Sukeo chanted. For me, it's still not even the best one, as I need to save some energy for the upcoming exams.
"Wow, Araka, you're amazing!" Tenka praised, which just made me feel even more satisfied.
After spending time around the dormitory and having dinner, since we know tomorrow's exam would begin very early, we went to the room and did some final reviews. Not long after, we all went to bed very early on.
After taking a quick shower, I hid myself in the curtain and turned off all the lights.
While in the dream, I found myself being struggled onto a stone tablet. I tried to escape, but the tablet kept shaking. Not long after, I found a beast tried to approach me. While I was thinking being eaten was inevitable, the beast started speaking in a girly voice: "Wake up, Araka."
As I slowly lifting my eye lids, I found Tenka only in underwear lying on top of me.
"What are you doing Tenka? I'm not doing anything nakui- " I was a bit scared, thinking she's doing something weird.
"Why is your face so red?" She took a look at my body, "Umm, I thought I'm the only one who slept without pajamas-"
"Could you just wake me up in the normal way? Or is that way how you do things like that."
"I tried to wake you up the normal way, but you didn't respond, and continue to make that funny 'fushi-fushi' sound. So I had to do it that way, which it works well for my friends at least."
"Ughh, okay. So why did you want to wake me up like this in the middle of the night-"
"Araka, can I get your autograph?" her eyes started sparkling.
"Hey, don't take me like a celebrity or something-"
"No no no, it's not like that. I collect autographs from everyone I made friend with," she pulled out a notebook showing autographs from different people, "but it's a bit weird when asking in the public, so I decided to do it now."
"Ugh, okay." I grabbed my pen from my backpack, and signed on the notebook.
"Wow, your signature is amazing! You did practice a lot, right?"
"Yeah, my family is kind of strict on that."
"Wait, that doesn't looks like the name 'Araka'." Tenka noticed something. This was a strict rule by my family, in which I couldn't give my signature out using my real name unless it's require. "Is that your pen name or something?"
"Actually, I would prefer to be known as Sara, as you can see here, because my name is kind of sensitive." I explained, "it's my family's rule that I couldn't sign with my real name until I'm matured."
"Ah, so I will call you Sara from now on."
I nodded.
"I see. Well, sorry for interrupting your sleep. I wish you good luck for your upcoming exams. See you tomorrow."
"Good night."
I was lying on my bed, thinking about tomorrow's entrance exam. It's lucky for me to be able to take the exams even before me meeting the age threshold. It could be challenging for sure, but why would Uncle Nakuo wanted me to join the SAIR so early? How could I make sure I'm standing out from those people who were older than me? Maybe it's not as hard as I thought, like Jun said. Maybe. I would figure it out tomorrow.
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