"Everyone here has secrets. You have yours, I have mine, and the school has its own."
~Sasha Ivanov, Year 2, Optima Eruditione Academia
Optima Eruditione Academia is a myth. Everyone knows about it, but no one has ever found it. Satellites have map...
Sasha walked through the school corridors, wondering why was she called an hour early by her home room teacher. Her footsteps echoed on the stony floor. The school corridors shined a mellow yellow under the morning sun, unlike the scorching colour it reflected in the afternoons. After a good four minutes walk, she was standing outside the staff room."
"Ah look, you are already here!" Ms. Natasha exclaimed. "Come on in Sasha."
Sasha nodded at her teacher and walked in.
"Optima has always trained students for the best. And for the being the best, it's necessary to cope students with distractions and see how they cope up with them. To see how many student's performances are effected by these things. You can only be the best if distractions don't affect your output! This is why the dorm assigning is done by lottery and they are co-ed. Another compulsory distraction here is club activities in fields not related to your skills." The teacher stopped for a moment to take a deep breathe. "So, I called you early to ask you which club did you want to join. Since you are new and late, your options are pretty limited. Here's the list, select something."
Sasha was handed a notepad, as the teacher looked intently at her. She stared at the list.
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These clubs are nuts. She thought to herself, but then, everyone here is nuts.
"Hmm.. Ms Natasha, what happens in Live Role Play club?" Sasha asked.
"They... have these drama sort of things. They enact characters from famous comics and animations, or something like that. But, if you are interested, contact Reiko Mizuno from Year 3. She is the club president. "
"What about the Assigned writing club?" Sasha remembered the name from the other day. Kiara's smiling face flashed inside her head.
"Ahhh this is a fairly new club, it was started about 2 years ago, if I am not wrong... I don't know much about this club though. You'll have to ask Kiara Bansal, Year 3. She's the club president."
"Can I get some time? I can't decide this instantaneously."
The teacher tapped her cheeks. Thinking for a few moments she replied, "You have until Lunch to tell me your decision. Talk with your club presidents before making a decision. It'd surely help."
The teacher took the list from her, and Sasha moved out.
So that's your name huh... Kiara Bansal...
The population on the corridors was still scarce, but not non-existent. Let's see.... the Year 3 home room, should be right about here... She thought as she stood in front of the class. The class was dark. No student was in there, yet.
Stepping inside, she camouflaged with the wall of the class. She stood there for minutes, before the first student entered. She remained unnoticed.
Fifteen minutes were left for the morning classes to start. The class was half full of students. But the person for whom she was waiting had not come yet.
"What business do you have here, dear?" A voice asked her. She whipped her head in the direction of the brunette.
Sasha stared at the brunette. The brunette stared back at her, as if she could see her. That's when Sasha noticed it, she was visible. Her whole body out in clear sight. She blinked twice, trying to catch her words.
"I... uh I was sent here by my home room teacher to visit Ms Reiko Mizuno and Ms Kiara Bansal." She said, recalling the names from her memory.
"Oh! Nice to meet you, I am sorry you can't meet Mizuno now, because she'll be doing in the combat class. But, you can talk to Kiara, which is...me?" The brunette replied in a generic tone. Her eyes checking every inch of the junior.
I know. Sasha had to bite her toungue from saying it out loud.
"Let's go out and talk." Kiara said, walking out. Sasha followed soon after.
"So..." Sasha dragged on.
"So ?"
"What happens in the Assigned Writing club?"
"Is that all you came here for?"
"Well... yeah... " For some reason Sasha felt nervous. She wanted to become invisible.
"Well that explains why you were trying to camouflage with the wall, anyways " Kiara's tone lightened up, atleast Sasha imagined it to, " The School Magazine club writes articles for the magazine, the journalist club does the same for the newspaper. But, sometimes they fall short of of articles. That is when we come into play. We write the filler articles. Like, this week, the newspaper gossip page is running blank, so we need to write articles for that. "
"Sounds like a very busy club. " Sasha commented.
Kiara laughed at that. "Busy? BUSY? You think the fucking AWC is busy?" She continued laughing until she was out of breathe.
Sasha stared at Kiara, agape. She didn't understand what was so funny. "I am sorry I don't get it."
"Ahh...hah...ha... apparently, the AWC is the most jobless club on campus. If a club gives its writings to us, then they are considered incompetent. " Kiara shrugged. Her lips fell into a flat line.
"So I see. " Sasha remarked.
"You name was... Sasha, right?" Kiara asked.
"Yep. Sasha Ivanov."Sasha nodded.
"Just a little warning, be careful about how and when you use your powers next time." Kiara spoke in a low voice with a smirk and moved back to her class.
Taka tightened her left hand into a fist as she watched the figure disappear into the chaos of the classroom. She tightened it so hard that it had turned red. She felt a weird emotion inside her. Something she had never felt before.
She didn't understand how did her camo break. Her new upgrade was flawless. Stable frequency, less mana consumption and her the things she touched with her skin also camouflaged with her, so her clothes didn't remain visible.
Sasha tried camouflaging again. She did it flawlessly, no flickering or what so ever. Slowly, she brought back her original colours. Huh, I did it this time, what went wrong back then? She questioned herself.
Deep inside her head, she felt like she had been played with, played with like a toy.
