1.18 – Shark

Nathan stepped out of the vehicle in front of Ako Academy. The building seemed just fine, as if nothing had happened, but his vision immediately went towards where the explosion went off.

He could not see it from here, but he knew that it would be repaired, or at least covered up. No students from class 2-A would be attending school today. The funeral, a nationwide one, would happen while he had his P.E. class. The reality of that set the atmosphere just fine.

All of the students who walked toward the school had somber expressions on their faces, with determined eyes pointed towards where the explosion had happened as well. Nobody was chatty, and Nathan liked that. It would have been weird if there was as much chatter as there was a week ago. He would have probably considered these superhumans downright incapable of empathy.

Alicia hurried to catch up to him as he started walking forward. She had her uniform for now, and Nathan finally had his own cleaned up; it smelled of flowers, but not femininely so.

“So. Ready to receive your costume today?”

He glanced at her. “I just submitted my design yesterday evening.”

“Don’t underestimate the capabilities of Ako Academy; they are endorsed by The SHRA, just like some of the other universities. And Ako has the best minds of the superhero world on call.”

“You seem to know a lot of this stuff.”

“Of course I do. I have been preparing for this academy for a decade.”

How convenient that she was the first person that he got to meet. Walking Wikipedia for a friend was definitely an advantage.

They followed the same path that they had a week ago to arrive at the class of Mrs. Gurehi, and Alicia chuckled as he reached for the door.

“What is it?”

“Not gonna say your prayer this time around? All of that ‘You can do this!’, or ‘It’ll be fine!’ or whatnot.”

“Oh, shut up!” He waved her away, suppressing a smirk, and then stepped into the classroom.

Not all of the students were there; the class seemed half empty, and all of the eyes in the class pointed towards him more intently than they had a week ago. They felt the change in the atmosphere, these students. Just like he had.

They knew that their class could be next if this kind of attack was to repeat. It was a wake-up call of some sorts. Maybe the explosion had at least one positive impact. Just one. Nathan intended to take this class, and this whole academy, seriously, and now it appeared that his classmates would as well.

He sat down on the same chair which he picked a week ago, and Alicia followed without a word, apparently not finding the experience of sitting next to him as unpleasant as she did before. They made idle chatter as Nathan unpacked his things and put them on the desk, and then Mrs. Gurehi stepped into the classroom as well.

She seemed exactly the same as she had a week ago, her expression showing no hint of guilt or sadness at all. Nathan hadn’t seen her looking for survivors, but she wasn’t a super-hero. A rarity at this academy. The only tell about the fact that she was registering this situation was the fact that she was completely in black, which wasn’t, again, that much of a change, since she was wearing something similar a week ago as well.

“Hello, class, let us begin.” She tapped her desk to catch the attention of some of the chattering students. “As you may know, you are getting your costumes today. Apparently, after this class, you have P.E. with Mr. Deadlock, and so I have been advised to spend some of the valuable time that I have with you on distributing your costumes. A mighty waste, I must say, but let us begin so we don’t dwell on it for too long.” She clapped three times, and five well-built men in suits stepped inside, each holding several cardboard boxes stacked on each other.

They put them in front of the blackboard, and then each student was called in front of the class, receiving their costumes wrapped in a plastic seal. Nathan listened intently, trying to remember the faces and the names of his classmates, but it was easier said than done.

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They were all so unique, which should have made this part easy, but it was just so many names, and there was a thing he was never good at: memorization. It didn’t help that none of these students ever appeared in the game, and if they did, they only had a background role. Alicia was the only one that he could remember having any role at all from this class.

When his turn came, He walked forward, nervous yet excited. His own costume. It felt surreal. He received the black item and thanked the men in black suits, noting the logo of Ako Academy on their chests. He quickly hurried to go to his desk and admired the item in his hands.

It was nothing special. He could already imagine himself wearing it and cringing at the sight, but still, a wave of excitement coursed through him. When Alicia went next and when she got back, Nathan noted the sparkle in her eye.

Her superhero costume was mostly white, with parts of pink and black that showed on certain parts. There were also pink glasses, probably to protect her from the explosions. She did explain it a bit more in-depth yesterday, but he zoned out. She went too deep on some concepts and just couldn’t hold his attention, but he still supported her to his best ability.

“Looks good! You happy with it?”

“It’s… amazing. Of course it is, it has my colors. Oh, it’s gonna look so good.” Apparently she went with a full body suit, and not something like Vermillion Strike did, thank god. He was already feeling like a pervert for the first time in his life whenever he was in Strike’s company; no need to add up on that.