"So let's continue, shall we?" Huashin said.
Araka nodded - the next part of her memory was about the time not only her unexpected entry into the entrance exam, but also the time when she met Sukeo, Tenka, and Okuri, her closest friends in the SAIR.
---
After an hour of driving, we arrived at the complex south of Niangkee. Rather than the pressing office buildings and training facilities I expected, it was something else: the dormitory looked more like a resort than a dormitory.
While I was in the lobby, my phone rang.
"Hello, Mom." I picked my phone.
"Araka?"
"Yes."
"Actually, the reason I call you now is that we have a surprise for you."
"Wait what?'
"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? I thought. Suddenly, a thrust of excitement came through my mind. I started imagine myself acing the exam, and making myself to the top of the list of candidates. I even jumped up a bit.
"Araka, anything 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, Araka." Jun seemed agreed, "but are you sure you're prepared for the entrance exam?"
Jun's question calmed me down a bit. Wait, what if all those questions required complex calculus and physics that I haven't learned yet? I thought. With this thought, my interests cooled down.
"Sara, are you okay? You looked quite down out of sudden." It was Amika who pulled me away from the confusion.
"Hey, Araka, don't think too much about it," Jun said, "if mom and even Uncle Nakuo said you can do it, you of course can."
After we dismissed Amika, we passed through the checkpoint and entered our designated dormitory, we found that the room was more comfrotable than we expected - enough for four people, with curtains for each bed; there was a even living room for social activities and a study space with adjustable lighting and USB ports.
Just I was trying to figure out who were the other two roomates are -
"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 out there.
The door opened. One was a girl with long orange 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 pair of long black pants.
As soon as he dropped the luggage, he immediately noticed Jun, and he was surprised: "Wait is that - Jun, why are you here?"
Jun turned back from the table and took a closer look at the guy: "Sukeo, why are you here?"
"Jun, you know this guy?" I asked.
"Of course. He's also from our school. His name is Yoiki Sukeo (澄井 直), president of the student council."
That name indeed sounded familiar, I thought, even though the middle school was technically separated from Jun's high school.
"Nice to see you again, Jun," Sukeo replied: "wait, I think I have also seen her for bit." He then turned to me: "Peni Araka, right? The one who despite in the middle school, also run in the high school team?"
I nodded.
"Nice to meet you, Araka. Are you also taking the exam?"
I nodded again.
"Wait, I also know this girl," the girl who came along with Sukeo said, "I saw her during the the Peni Clan ceremony last year."
"Wait, are you also a Peni?" I asked, though I had no idea about hers
"Yes, and I'm Peni Tenka（北依 天加）"
"Hey Tenka, 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," Jun said ,"It's not like the ancient time where we care about hierarchies. We're pretty much the same here."
"Well, that's fair. It's lucky to see everyone here is from Bakju, and at least know each other for one reason or the other," Jun said.
After the brief first encounter, 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. Eventually, we found the cafe located in the complex , 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 - born for combat and rescue ; meanwhile, to his left, there was this young girl who spent all her time typing on the laptop, presumably her skill was programing related.
"Araka, " Tenka called me, "since you entered the entrance exam, you must have something for your 'Special Skills', right?"
Special skills? Oh no, the form I filled was basically just a visitor form, I thoughtI 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 interested about it. She then lowered her volume and whispered to me: "Well for me, I don't really have any. Even though the form said it's required, I still couldn't find anything that was impressive. I did pass the preliminary check by lying about my knowledge about biology, the subject with the highest grade."
"That's cool. I mean, at least you got something that you're interested in," I said.
While we were talking, a red-brown haired high school boy came to our table. I caught part of his murmur: "Those Niangkee urbanites just don't really get who we are."
As soon as he saw us, he changed the tone: "Excuse me, may I have a seat here?"
"Sure." I gestured him to sit down.
The red haired guy nodded and grabbed a seat. He was wearing black t-shirt for top and a khaki coloured pants., 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, "How can I call ya?"
"I'm Tenka, and this is Araka." Tenka took the turn.
"I'm Okuri, Hikutani Okuri, nice to meet you too."
"So you must be from Chuubo, right?" I asked.
"Of course, the part near Nanyun Mountains 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), the city further west of Bakju," he said with his Chuubo dialect. That makes perfect sense, I thought, judging from his accent. "Bakju people are so friendly," he said.
"So you're also taking the exam?"
"Of course, and I do have some interesting abilities. Wanna take a look?"
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 inside 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 said myself.
"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, and I figured out that Okuri was raised in a village at the bottom of the Nanyun mountain. He found it challenging 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 we have internet everywhere, the barrier and difference in lifestyles still remained. He even recalled that Bakju was the only city that he 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?" Sukeo said.
"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, wityh his broad shoulders moving up and down. In contrast, Jun, as I had always known, wasn't too keen on workout, but he is capable enought to do some pushes.
"Sukeo indeed has some good muscles." Tenka commented.
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.
"So Sukeo, is this your special skill?" I asked.
"Actually, it's not what you think - it's more of paperwork related, if you would like to call it."
After seeing Sukeo's demonstrations, me and Tenka were also eager to try. However, Tenka seemed to be struggle a bit more - while she still had the courage to try new stuffs, her form was slightly more problematic.
As I work on my pushups, Sukeo came by: "Araka, so I kinda forgot what's your specialty again?"
"1K and marathon," I said.
"And is that your special skill?"
"Well, yes," I said.
"Maybe you should 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 trialstarted, I started running along the course with several A.I. competitors, which didn't take long for me to takeover all of them. It was the same as the machine I saw in an upscale gym. As usual, I made my leap forward at the final lap, which I had completed in the first place.
As the laps came to the end, the machine displayed a special message - "You have set the record for this machine." Though for me, it was a small warmup - afterall, I still have to save some energy for the entrance exam.
"Let's go, Araka!" Tenka cheered.
"That's the spirit." Sukeo chanted.
After the workout, all of us also had dinner together, which all of us shared more about ourselves.
----
While I was sleeping that night, I found myself being stranded onto a stone tablet. While I tried to escape,the tablet kept shaking. Not long after, I found a beast tried to approach me. While I thought I will be swalloed, the beast started speaking in a soft voice: "Wake up, Araka."
As I slowly lifting my eye lids, I found Tenka, only in her pink underwear, lying on top of me.
"What are you doing, Tenka? I'm not thinking of doing anything weird- " I was a bit scared.
"Why is your face blushing?" She took a look at my body, which was only covered with my bra and brief, "Umm, I thought I'm the only one who slept without pajamas-"
"Could you just wake me up in the normal way?" I woke up and rubbed my head: "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."
"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.
"Wait, don't talk to 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 required. "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. Or, Sara the runner?"
I nodded: "that could work, though I don't really like people giving me nicknames."
"How about Sara-cha?" Tenka said with a smile, "That would be a cute name for you."
"Hmm, I guess that works," I said.
"Then that will be it," Tenka said while adjusting her hairs, "sorry for interrupting your sleep. I wish you good luck for your upcoming exams. See you tomorrow."
"Good night."
---
"Wait, Araka?" Huashin said while eating her popcorn.
"Yes?"
"So how come does this clip becomes so clear? I mean, this one seemed to be the most well reconstructed one so far."
"Maybe because how everyone's still around here," Araka said, "even Tenka didn't change that much from her entrance exam, other than now also having Matake fields."
Huahsin nodded: "And I guess everyone had come so far, after all these chaos."
Araka nodded. The statement drew by Huashin wasn't just a statement of fact, but also a concern - all of them, including Araka, were supposed to behave like high school students. But as everything on the SAIR becoming messier, and more people having or at least acknowledged the power of Matake, for Araka, it was only for time to tell whether all of them, even Tenka, could remain the same.
Sara the runner, Araka recalled what Tenka once called her, if that Sara still runs in the light, rather than running with the burden of shadows.