Fenrir. Humankind's Last Fortress. Well, at least that's what the director called it. I shook my head at the memory. Everything happened so fast it was kind of a blur. I was brought here; a bit forcefully I might add; because I was apparently supposed to be a match for one of the New-Type God Eaters.
'New Type'. I guess I'll soon find out whatever that means. I had been taken to a large spacious room, where the man who introduced himself to me simply as the 'director', ordered me to stick my hand into a large red case of some sort, which stood in the centre of the otherwise empty room. I shuddered, as the pain I felt when the case clamped down on my arm came back fresh in my mind. The result was a sort of...well it was too large to be called a bracelet but still, I had some sort of armlet clamped tightly on my right wrist. It looks...permanent. There was a stupidly large blade in the case which I was ordered to pick up. I remember thinking it was a joke at first, but the sterness in the director's voice told me otherwise. Picking up the large blade with surprising; somewhat alarming; ease, a thin black material extended from the base of the blade, attaching itself to my armlet. I could feel it injecting something into my body, and I remember my right arm was covered with black veins temporarily. I guess we bonded.
But apparently, all that weirdness meant I passed the aptitude test and was now officially the first New Type God Eater of the Fenrir Far East Branch. I shuddered again, trying not to think of what the alternative outcome of the test would have been. From there it was a literal blur of procedures; a bunch of registrations, room assignments, filing away my new weapon in storage, even changing into a brand new outfit which, I guess I wasn't really against. I doubted my worn out clothes would have made much of an impression on the monsters we were supposed to fight. I sighed, gripping my new black and blue Fenrir issued jacket tightly as it all came back to me. Monsters. They were called Aragami. I managed to get to the city here a few weeks back, but the rest of my party didn't make it. They all fell victims to the aragami, in one way or another. In a way, I suppose it's fitting that I become a God Eater and joined the fight against the aragami, at least in honor of the memories of everyone and everything I've lost. Because frankly, I had nothing else to lose.
I shook my head, just about done with the reminiscing. My eyes went round the room in which I currently stood. It was another large area, but this time it was populated with a few people. From the way they were dressed; and the armlets on their wrists; I could tell they were God Eaters. Most of them, anyway. There was a reception desk, behind which a young ginger haired girl; probably around 18; stood attentively, tapping away at her keyboard, while also attending to several God Eaters in front of her. I spotted a place to sit in the far left corner of the room, so I moved to take a seat. There was already a boy seated on the bench there, and he turned to me as I sat. He looked ordinary at first glance, but then I noticed he also had an armlet like me and all the other God Eaters.
"Hey, you want some gum?"
I blinked once. Twice. "Uh...what?" The boy reached his hand into his pocket, then shook his head, "Oh, I'm all out. Looks like I just used the last piece. Sorry 'bout that" I raised my hands in front of me and gave him an awkward smile, "Uh, no it's okay really. Thanks anyway...I guess"
He nodded with a smile of his own, "I'm Kota Fujiki. You?"
"Kaito Kazuya"
"So..." Kota went on, "...you were a match too, huh?" I nodded, "Yeah. Jus t had the aptitude test a few minutes ago"
"Well that makes two of us" He gave me an appraising look, "You must be my age, or maybe a little older"
"I'm 16"
Kota grinned, "Oh well, I'm still your senior by a nanosecond! Nice to meet you" I returned his smile with one of my own. Kota might be a little bit out there, but he seems like a good person. At least I'd have one friend in this place.
We were interrupted by the clacking of heels approaching us at a steady rythm, before coming to a stop in front of us. We both turned to see a tall, dark haired, busty woman looking down at us through hard green eyes and a no-nonsense expression on her face. She had an air of importance around her, and when she spoke, she did so with authority.
"Stand up" Kota and I looked at each other and then back at her, both unsure of what was happening, "Huh?"
"I said, STAND UP! On your feet!" At that we both sprung to our feet, standing stiffly at attention. Seemingly satisfied, she went on, "I'm on a tight schedule so I'll be keeping this short. My name is Tsubaki Amamiya, and I'm your advisor"
"You're both scheduled for a medical checkup. After that you'll complete a full curriculum of basic physical training, basic combat training, as well as a weaponry/armor clinic" Tsubaki paused, inspecting Kota closely, before her green eyes fell on me, "We are the one's who have been protecting you up until now. But from this day forward, you'll be doing the protecting. If you don't want to die over something stupid, then answer my every order with a 'Yes'. Is that understood?" Without missing a beat we answered collectively, "Yes ma'am!" She nodded, "Alright, let's begin the medial checkups. We'll start with you." Her icy green gaze fell on me once more, "Report to Dr Paylor Sakaki's room by 1500 hours. Take a tour of the facility until then" Turning away from me, Tsubaki continued, "This is your new home, The Fenrir Far East Branch, AKA 'The Den'. Make sure you pay your respects to the members of your team"
I raised a brow, "Uh...what team?" I regretted the question immediately Tsubaki's glare fell on me once again. It felt like she was going to rip me apart right there and then. Luckily, she simply turned on her heels and walked away without another word. I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding. Kota did so as well, "Boy, that is one scary lady"
"Let's hope she didn't hear you say that"
Kota turned to me, "Anyway, you're taking the medical checkup first right?"
"Yeah...about that, I have no idea who Dr Paylor Sakaki is, or where his room is. I would have asked her, but..." I sighed. Kota laughed, "Yeah, so not a good idea. Well, you still got some time. She said you should look around the place, maybe you could find someone that can help" I raised a brow, "And what about you?"
"I'm just gonna head over to my room and chill till my turn comes up. There's a cool terminal in there, I wanna check it out"
"Oh...right" I suppose I was hoping he would come with me and we'd explore the facility together. Kota seemed to notice my deflation, and slapped me on the shoulder reassuringly, "You'll be fine Kaito, we'll meet up back here later okay?" I nodded and he grinned, "Alright then. See ya" And just like that, I was all alone again, as Kota bolted up the stairs and straight for the elevators. Letting out a small sigh, I moved to the stairs as well, when a small hand tugged my sleeve. Alarmed, I turned to see a little affluent-looking girl standing by the stairs, looking just as lost as I was.
"Um...Excuse me, do you work here?"
I pondered the question for a few seconds before I replied, "Well, yeah, I suppose I do work here now" The girl's face seemed to brighten up with relief, "I seem to have gotten separated from my father...Do you know where my father is?" I gave her an apologetic look, "Sorry I'm kind of new here. I've never met your father, so I don't know who or where he is" The girl visibly deflated, "Oh...well, I guess I can ask that operator lady over there, so that's alright" Before I could say anything else, she put a smile on her face, "See you!" and with that she headed over to the reception. I sighed, feeling somewhat disappointed that I couldn't help her, before shaking it off and heading up the stairs to the elevator.
Right in front of the elevator I paused, realising that I actually don't know where exactly the elevator was supposed to take me. As I stood there contemplating, a girl suddenly approched me, "Hey, you're one of the rookies aren't you?" I turned to face her with a sheepsih look on my face, "That obvious huh?" She let out a small laugh, "A little bit. I'm Licca Kusunoki. It's nice to meet you"
"I'm Kaito Kazuya" I said as I took a closer look at her. From the googles on her head, the leather gloves, the overall, and the grease stains on her face, it was easy to guess that she worked in maintenance, probably as one of the engineers. But I decided to ask anyway, "You work in maintenace here?" She smirked, "That obvious huh? Yeah, I'm a mechanic in the God Arc Maintenance Unit of the Far East Branch. I was officially assigned two years ago, but I've already got more than five years of experience as a crew member" There was a hint of pride in her tone as she spoke, and I laughed lightly, "Well that's really impressive"
"Sure is. With me on the job I'll do my best to keep your God Arc in top shape to make sure you have no trouble in battle"
God Arc. She was referring to the large weapons God Eaters carried about into battle. I would have to get used to a lot of terminology around here.
"By the way, I'm actually supposed to head to Dr Paylor Sakaki for a medical at 1500 hours? I have no idea where the place is"
Licca raised a brow, "1500 hours? That's about 15 minutes from now" I stared at her, wide eyed, "Wait really? I thought I had more time than that" She shrugged, "You'll soon find that we don't really get a lot of free time. Anyway, just take the elevator down to the Laboratory section. Dr Sakaki's office is all the way at the back" I heaved a sigh of relief, "Thanks Licca" She winked, "Anytime. When you do have some free time, let's go to lunch together" I stared at Licca, and I could feel my face going hot, "Uh...wha..?" Licca rolled her eyes and laughed, "It's a friendly lunch, rookie"
"Uh...yeah sure, I definitely knew that..."
"I'll see you later" With that, Licca turned and walked away, and I turned and entered the elevator, pressing the button labelled Laboratory. In about a minute, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing a long hallway, which was mostly empty, save for a few people going in and out of the various door which I assumed led to various labs. I could make out a single door which stood at the end of the hallway and headed for it. I peered all around me as I walked, peeking into some of the open doors to try and get a glimpse of the labs. Fenrir sure had state of the art facilities, I'll give them that. As I neared the door to Sakaki's office, a voice called out to me, "Oh, hello there, you must be the rookie!" I turned in the direction of the voice to see a pink haired girl smiling sweetly at me. A quick glance at her armlet told me she was a God Eater, as she bobbed over to me cheerily.
"They said we'd be getting two new kids today. I'm Kanon. Kanon Daiba. What's your name?"
"Kaito. Kaito Kazuya" She smiled, "Well, you must be on your way to your medical checkup then. It's the door right there at the end of the hall" I followed her finger as she pointed, "Doc's a little eccentric but...hey, he's a very kind man, so you'll be fine!" I smiled back, "I best be on my way then, thanks for the directions" She flashed me a thumbs up, "Anytime rookie!" As she bobbed away again, I began to wonder how obvious it was that I was new here. Did I really seem that oblivious? Letting out a sigh, I headed towards the end of the hallway once more, opening the door to Dr Sakaki's office and stepping inside.