Ren and Kai got out of the police station, still thinking over the offer Cass gave them to join SIED. But before they could think about it too much, they heard someone calling out behind them.
"Yo! You guys!"
It was Jackson and Mori.
A taxi van was waiting next to them.
Ren and Kai were a little surprised seeing them there, and they walked over.
"Hey guys… what are the two of you doing here?" Kai asked.
"What are we doing here, dude?" Mori snapped. "You guys disappeared for an entire day, then we only hear from you the next morning, and you say you're in a police station and we shouldn't worry. Why wouldn't we come to see you guys?"
Kai looked at Ren.
"You called them?" he asked.
Ren scratched the back of his head. "I mean… yeah. Like she said, we disappeared for an entire day. At some point we had to say something to the people we know. And I'm kind of an idiot for not guessing the two of you would come see us after hearing where we are."
"Well, we could all talk about this inside the taxi, okay?" Jackson said.
And with that, they got inside the van and turned on the privacy setting, putting the window between them and the driver.
"So start explaining," Mori demanded.
Ren and Kai started explaining everything.
A couple of minutes later, Jackson and Mori were literally shaking—why wouldn't they be? They had just learned that their friends somehow got involved with a gang not long after arriving on the island.
"What the heck, guys… how do you even achieve that? Just in a few days?" Jackson said, staring at them like they were insane.
"What are you guys, protagonists of some anime?"
"Wait, are we side characters?
Ren rolled his eyes Come on, man, don't make it sound like that."
"Things happened. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time… well mostly me," Ren admitted. "Kai was just dragged into the situation."
"But that doesn't change the fact that it's crazy!" Mori said. "You two nearly took down a gang, and they just let you go without anything? I can't believe it. At least you should get extra good grades in the hero course since the two of you did all of that!"
"Well…" Kai said, leaning back slightly. "We did get this one thing."
Jackson and Mori immediately locked onto him, waiting for what he was about to say.
"The girl that helped us out," Kai continued, "offered us a recommendation to join SIED."
Both of them were extremely surprised and shocked—it was so obvious that Ren couldn't help but ask, "Why are the two of you so shocked?"
"Why the hell do you think?" Jackson shot back. "You two got recommended to SIED."
"Wait, you know about SIED as well?" Ren asked.
"Well, yeah," Mori said. "You should've heard about it by now. You've been staying on the island for, what, two weeks?"
He paused, then squinted. "Wait… did you seriously just find out what SIED is earlier?"
"Hey," Ren defended himself, "I was busy with all the gang stuff until now. I'm sorry I haven't heard of it."
"So anyway," Ren continued, "why the shock?"
"Well, normally the way you get into SIED goes like this," Jackson explained. "First, you have to send in an application. Then whoever's in charge reviews your progress in the hero course. Obviously, all SIED members are in the hero course—joining SIED is kind of like joining the student council in normal schools."
"But the difference," he continued, "is that joining SIED comes with a bunch of real benefits. As long as you're officially part of it, you get more experience working with them. That work can overlap with school, meaning you can skip some days, and it massively increases your chances of moving from a normal school to an advanced school. And there are a bunch of other benefits too."
"That's why nearly everyone wants to join SIED," Mori added. "Well, except kids from influential families whose parents can already provide their children with basically most—if not all—of those benefits."
"Anyway," Jackson said, getting back on track, "the point is, because so many people want to join, it's extremely difficult to get in. Almost everyone fails the review. And let me clear this up—I don't know what standards the reviewers actually look for. Nobody does. It's just obvious those qualifications are insanely hard to meet."
Kai smiled. "Well all of that is true. And since Cass is giving us her recommendation, our chances of getting in should be high enough."
"Wait a minute," Mori said, frowning. "You two are seriously considering joining SIED?"
"Yes," Kai answered calmly.
"You two just got out of an extremely dangerous situation," Mori continued. "Joining SIED will only put you in even more dangerous ones. Are you two seriously okay with that?"
Ren just smiled. "Yeah. We're okay with it. Don't worry."
He had already decided to be a hero, and he knew that decision would drag him through plenty of dangerous moments and situations. He had accepted that a long time ago. If joining SIED would help him become a hero more smoothly, then he had no problem with it.
An image of Cass briefly popped into his head.
Yeah… definitely becoming a hero is my purpose for joining.
(authors note sorry, this chapter is so short. I just wanted it to end here nothing more. but don't worry because of that the chapter after this is 1452 words.)