As Araka and Huashin entered the mini cinema, they put on their consoles.
"This is exactly what you recalled about your entrance exam," Huashin said. "I guess that should be what what happened at that time."
Araka nodded.
"So let's go," Huashin said while turning off the lights.
----
Why did I join the SAIR? This was the question that I always asked. The answers which was pretty straightforward, was that I want to help people.
In fact, the journey started long before the time when I first about the existence of the organization.
It was the time when Ms. Possible came around, which was a pretty big deal at the time.
The first time I came across with the existence of SAIR was when I was 6 years old during a dinner with my family. At that time, my family was having a dinner with Uncle Nakuo, the then deputy director of the SAIR Central and one of my father's closest friends. After the dinner, my parents went through a casual conversation with Uncle Nakuo. During the conversation, Uncle Nakuo seemed to be curious about future: "So Araka-nacha, what do you want to do the future?"
"I want to save people from the danger, like what Ms. Possible did!" I stood up from my chair and made a serious-looking "announcement". It was a very innocent answer, which was reasonable for a kid at that age. In my childhood, Ms. Possible (能齊cha) had a special place - it was my favorite cartoon. The story was mainly revolving around a girl named Sako, who one day received the superpower that made her strong and powerful. With the power, she was able to save people from danger and defeat the villains. More importantly, one of her most powerful spells had been the "purification beam": whenever Ms. Possible uses this spell, everything around her will be purified and every trace of evil disappeared.
At that time, for me, Sako was the idol I was following, and I hope one day I could also have the same power, such that I can save people in my surrounding from the danger.
Of course, that couldn't be real. Right after I talked about my "aspiration", everyone else other than my brother in the party chuckled in a friendly way. However, my older brother, Jun, immediately defended for me: "Why do you adults found it funny? Araka-cha just want to help others!"
Uncle Nakuo, however, seemed to take it a bit more seriously as he turned to my parents. "I think you two raised the children very well. I mean, it's increasingly rare for families like yours to have the pure spirits of heroism and contribution."
My mom, Moraka (萌川) smiled.
Then, he turned his head to me: "So Araka-nacha, Uncle Nakuo knows a way for you to help others like Ms. possible. However, before that, you need to work hard on making yourself smarter and stronger. Then, I will tell you how to get there when you grow up. Would you keep the promise for me?"
"Of course!" I immediately answered.
After that, Uncle Nakuo turned back to talk with my parents. For that part, I didn't remember that clearly, but I remembered that he informed my parents about the SAIR internship program for the youth. That time, I had no idea what the SAIR is. Is that an organization filled with people with superpowers?! Interesting! I thought, One day I will join them as well!
Even years after the conversation, some of details still remained in my mind. However, the things about the SAIR did not stick within that long. Even though I started to see them appear on the news, I was still not that interested as I just saw them just the same as other law enforcement agencies. It was not until when I turned 14 years old that my curiosity on SAIR reignited, when Jun decided to join the SAIR internship program.
One day, I sneaked into the study to grab a book to read. While inside the study, I saw Jun was focused and looking the laptop while the table was filled with paperwork. It was a great opportunity to prank Jun, since he didn't know that I'm here, I thought.
"Awoooooo", I approached him from behind and acted like a zombie, "I - am - get- ting - youuuuuuu."
"I saw you. Araka." Unexpectedly, Jun didn't seem to fell into my trick, "Come on, can you just grow up?"
"Uhh," I complained. However, while I was talking to Jun, I had a good peek of the screen and the documents, and one paper caught my attention.
A letter from SAIR? What was that? That rang the bell for me.
"Ah, so you want to know what this one is." Jun immediately pulled up the document I was looking at, "I actually planned to give you a surprise, but since you noticed, I will explain it to you now Do you remember what Uncle Nakuo told us years ago?"
"Umm, if I remembered correctly, I said I want to be someone like Ms. Possible. But that's just childish, isn't it?"
"Well, Turned out, Uncle Nakuo was very happy about what you said. In fact, he was so happy that he told our parents about the internship program in SAIR, in which we could join it when we turned 15."
"Wait, what is SAIR even."
"Spéciale Akademiko Intituvo do Refunderaden (Federal Special Science Institution) in Endosh, or Teseka in Watanaba or Takkuyuen (特科院) in Shinari," Jun explained, "it's an federal agency that was responsible for emergency assessments, disaster recoveries, as well as internal cybersecurity."
As I heard from Jun's introduction, I felt like it was something that did not sound real, more like from science fictions or even cartoon and animated series I watched since very young age.
"I mean, sometimes it's just crazy that it's just another government agency, like the State Police or whatever," Jun commented, "but it just had that efficiency and tech savvy style in it, which even made me think if they're also doing something else we shouldn't know."
However, even without these weird assumptions, it was still odd for me at that time, since I have heard that the minimal enrollment age for an SAIR agent was 22, letting alone a teenager intern program.
"Just three days ago, the SAIR sent me this letter, saying that I was invited to join the SAIR internship program." Jun showed me the letter.
"But if I remembered correctly, we are not old enough for that position, right?"
"Well, this is an internship program that are specifically targeted toward my age. The reason you haven't heard about it is that it is not an open listing, but rather through the recruitment via a current SAIR instructive agent, who gathered the list of potential candidates through random survey and close monitoring. To be honest, it was a surprise that I was able to receive an invitation letter this fast."
Of course, at that time, I did not understand the true significance of the letter - the letters were only handed out to a small number of individuals who were deemed as highly talented.
"So what are you going to do after you received the letter? Will there still be some kind of entrance exam?"
"Of course, there will be an entrance exam to ensure the candidates truly meet the standards. But before that, I needed to fill up the form to give them my basic information." Jun explained, "Actually, since the exams are going to take place in Niangkee（洋津), do you want to come with me during the entrance exams? Because I could include your name on the application as a family member and a special visitor."
"Sounds good." Even though I still had no idea what the internship would actually look like, at least this could be another trip to Niangkee, I thought at the time.
After that, Jun further explained to me about what were some of the activities to be expected during the internship. As he said, it was not as dangerous as being a full-time SAIR agent, as most times the interns would spend time on training and gaining leadership skills rather than doing real missions.
"However, there were opportunities for the interns assisting in the missions as long as the intern was qualified by SAIR," Jun said, "Eventually, these experiences could be added to the report card as extra credits, which could be helpful for university admissions, and the best among the interns would even enrolled in these 'special institution'", where they would continue their training and become SAIR instructive agents immediately."
About a week after we submitted the application, we l received the official confirmation of Jun's enrollment into the entrance exam, which we could finally start our trip to Niangkee. Just the night before the departure, I was still wondering what would an SAIR facility look like, as I was fascinated by the level of technology they used in their missions.
Our trip started by taking the high speed train there. It was the first time we travelled together by ourselves with our parents, which brought me some excitements. Since the travel cost was all covered by the SAIR, we were able to book our seats in the first class. The seats were very spacious such that I could fully stretch my legs while lying back.
I laid myself down and stretched my arms, while Jun was still reviewing some material before the arrival. It was always like that - for most times when I saw Jun, it was either him reading some documents or working on his inventions. It was hard to believe he hadn't turned into a nerd yet.
"Arriving at Niangkee. This will be the final stop. Please check your belongings and get prepared for departure."
After a 4 hour high speed rail trip, we arrived at Niangkee, the former capital pre university and still the largest city of the nation. Even though it no longer functioned as the capital, the SAIR headquarters still remained in the city as an decentralization effort.
As we quickly exit the station with the luggage, I saw a middle aged man in casual clothing holding a board with our names on it. Is he the guy that would take us to the place, I thought, as he looked no different than a single middle aged truck driver.
"So there he is," Jun pointed at him and approach him."Hello, sir, are you the one who will take us to the site?"
"So may I ask if you two are Jan Jun and Peni Araka?"
"Yes."
He nodded and said: "This way, please."
The man then led us to somewhere behind the main entrance, where a black minivan parked there. It looked a bit too sketchy, to say the least, as I was expecting a bus picking me up or something.
After a brief preparation and ID check, we soon departed.
While on the road, since I had nothing else to do, I looked around to find someone to chat with. I noticed there was a girl who sat beside me. Maybe I can chat with her for a bit, I thought.
"Uhhh, hello." I tried to greet her.
"Ah, hi. Nice to meet you. She seemed to be quite kind, I thought, "so your name is Peni Araka, right?"
"Yes. But I prefer to be called as Sara. So what's your name?"
"I'm Peni Asumi (北依 修美), and you can call me Amika."
Wait, so she's also a Peni? She must be a big deal, I thought.
"I know you're curious about my name, and many people would do too," she smile, "It really sounds like that I'm from that big family or something, isn't it?"
"I mean, your name really sounds like someone who's from some prestigious families."
"Well, actually no. It just happened to be that my grandma had Peni in her family name, and most of our family aren't even Shinari, we're actually Namesama."
"But you said you're from Chuubo, right?"
"Well, what if I'm from that 'rural' part of Chuubo?"
"Ah, so you're from Pinzan?"
She nodded.
"I see. I haven't met anyone from that area. This is actually my first time."
"Ah, nice to meet you." She looked at me, "so are you taking the entrance exam?"
"Ummm not really, it's my older brother's." I pointed at Jun."
While we were talking, we saw the car started getting slower, as there was a traffic jam.
"Tsuosyrenshian (作肆人相)," that middle aged man, who's now the driver, cursed in a very heavy Niangkee dialect. While the car stopped, I noticed there was a pendulum hanged on the mirror. There was a handsome young man in the picture, wearing the uniform that somewhat resembled nowadays' SAIR uniform, but looked more formal. However, the scar on the face told another story.
"Sir, just a bit curious," Jun seemed also noticed the pendulum.
"That picture, right?" the middle aged man pulled out a cigarette from the pocket and lighted it up, "yes, that was indeed me, when I was around your age. Aged really fast, huh?"
"So you were also an SAIR agent, right?" Amika asked.
"What do you mean 'were'? In SAIR, we never outsource any of our business, even transporting students like you."
"So you're a real SAIR agent?" Amika seemed very interested in.
"Yes and no. I no longer do missions myself, but I do have a job as a driver for SAIR and provide transportation when needed." He put the cigarette on the hand, "Still, I do say my job is quite boring compare to many other stuff those other folks do."
As the traffic went to a complete stop, the driver seemed lost his patience. While I was expecting the driver continued to complain, he put up the siren on the top of the van and sped up. It was very effective, as all the traffic started giving a path to our car. As the van advanced, we were able to see the cause of the traffic jam - a major collision on the expressway.
"Those Syren (肆人,bastard), they need to learn how to drive like a driver, not like an SAIR agent in those movies" the driver said when he passed through the crash site. "Sorry, old habit. In your days, at least you guys had quite a bit of money on your hand, not like the SAIR in my days."
What did he mean by that? I was curious.
"Ah, sorry again, kinda talked a bit too much here. Anyway, I'm going to give you guys more detail about your exam."
"So first, you folks will arrive at the SAIR federal headquarters, which is in the mountain south of Niangkee.
The dormitory you will stay in will be a good one - reserved typically for guests from the other divisions, and feel free to use any amenities to get your first day a bit more relaxed.
Jun nodded while I was barely focused.
"The real deal starts the next day, where you're going to meet your examiners and that's where the three day exam began," the man said: "Each part take up one day, so take break when need."
The man continued explaining: the first day is the written exam, which was basically problem solving that testing our basic knowledge; the second day is the physical performance examination day, which ther would be a series of workout; and the third one, which was the most confusing part at the time, "Special Skill exam"
"And the final part is the special skill exam. Now I don't really know much detail about this one, since they just added this part last year. However," the driver paused. "What I knew was that it was an assessment based on what you filled on the 'Skills and Qualifications' and 'Weapon Preference' section of your application."
"So how would they even test it?" Jun asked, "Mine is something like robotics."
"Again, I had no idea," the man said, "but they will find the way."
----
"So that's where you first met Amika, right?" Huashin said while wearing her console.
"Yes."
"Okay," Huashin said, "let's continue to the next part, where you unexpectedly entered the exam."