Restoration: Book 1/3

Chapter 7

I did my best to blend into the crowd of young adults as we were led through the freshly constructed home, past a thick bunker door, and finally down a concrete staircase.

My eyes danced around anxiously. This was the first time I'd been down here. I'd noticed the heavy door and had wondered what it could lead to but hadn't had the chance to investigate.

We were in what was supposed to be a dining room area. There were no appliances since our meals were to be provided for us, but there were a few refrigerators that I assumed were filled with water and two long tables with a few dozen chairs.

Stark white tiles lay clean and shiny on the floors, and once we were all down the stairs, Madara spoke again, "This is the eating area. You'll notice four doorways."

As he said it, I noticed there were, indeed, four doorways exiting the room, not counting the one we'd entered through. There was one on the left side of the room and one on the right, both of which had no door but a wide walkway leading to a hall. The other two were on the wall behind where Madara was addressing us. These two had heavy steel doors, like the one at the top of the stairs.

"To your left is the bunking area. Your arrangements have been assigned, and we'll go over who is sleeping where momentarily."

There were a few murmurs in the group, but I ignored them as the dark-haired man continued, "To your right leads to the bathing area. Please keep in mind my warning about inappropriate behavior."

A few snickers came from a pair of boys behind me, but I didn't dare turn to see who it was, afraid that Madara would notice me not giving him my full attention and get angry. The man in question moved on with his tour, motioning to the door behind him further to the left, "This leads to the physical training rooms, while the other leads to the mental training rooms. You'll get more acquainted with each in the coming days."

A nervous sheen of sweat started to dust my skin as I tried to imagine what we'd be doing behind either of these doors. About an hour later, after being assigned beds, we were given the rest of the afternoon to get to know each other and change into our new clothes so they could be rid of our old ones. After we were dressed in matching black shorts and tee shirts, Masumi and Madara collected our discarded clothing and disappeared upstairs.

The sound of the thick door slamming shut and locking made me shiver with discomfort. I thought we'd sleep on bunk beds, but I was wrong. While they weren't the most comfortable or luxurious, we were each assigned a twin-sized cot with one pillow, sheet, and thin blanket, all a dull gray color.

When they'd said that girls and boys would be sleeping in the same room, I thought they'd at least have the bed assignments with females on one side of the room and males on the other, but that was not the case. There were more males than females, so the ratio was slightly off, but beds were staggered mostly in boy-girl-boy-girl fashion.

To my discomfort, I'll be sleeping with an unfamiliar young man on either side of me for the next twelve weeks. This fact significantly increased my anxiety since I've never had a boyfriend or close male friend.

Almost naturally, once we were given free rein to mingle, everyone gathered in a loose circle and went around the room, introducing themselves. I studied everyone as they spoke and interacted, and I could already tell who would be leaders and followers, for the most part.

Since nearly thirty applicants were accepted, I couldn't remember everyone's name, but a few did stick with me.

For example, there are the Haruno sisters: Sakura and Karin. Karin screamed "leader" while her younger sister was more subdued. Both seemed nice enough. Sakura's best friend from their school in Sunagakure, Ino, had also been accepted. Sakura and Ino were the same age as me, while Karin was a year and a half older. A small smile graced my lips upon hearing that at least someone would have a friend close by to bring them comfort in this unknown environment.