That night, in a narrow, armored room containing a hard mattress and a desk with a capsule-shaped chair.
Cain sighed, leaning back in the chair. His two fingers pinched a microchip given by Master Kenji.
From the corner of his vision, a blue panel floated, awaiting a command from the user regarding the data that had been decrypted.
The boy swallowed and closed his eyes. He tried to release all the tension from his body and spoke.
"Yes, proceed."
The blue panel flickered, then the notification from it changed into a cluster of light that shot into Cain's forehead.
[Copying complete.]
[Data: Basic Kenjutsu updated!]
[Technique quick-draw Lightning Flash installed into your Basic Kenjutsu!]
[Basic Kenjutsu data proficiency up!]
Behind the notifications from the panel that kept appearing and obscuring the boy's face, he himself was gritting his teeth.
His head throbbed violently, feeling as if a blunt object was repeatedly pounding it. It lasted for a few seconds, but the agony was enough to drain all the energy out of Cain's body and make him soft and powerless.
'Just as I thought. Good thing I absorbed the information in my room.'
Gasping for breath, Cain slowly opened his eyelids. The flat ceiling felt cold thanks to the silence that enveloped the room.
Cain looked to the side. Through the window, a sleepless metropolis with neon lights illuminated this dark and gloomy world.
However, in his eyes, all of it only looked like an illusion for the people who still felt they couldn't close their eyes due to the threat from behind the thick walls that were towering over the entire city.
'How pathetic.'
The boy was unaware whether the cynical words that came out of his mouth were an insult to the view in front of him or to himself, who was gradually able to adapt to the surrounding situation.
Cain paused for a moment to gather all his messy thoughts. After the throbbing in his skull subsided, the boy stood up as he rotated his shoulders.
"That was one hell of a painful way of getting power. Huff, I better go to sleep!"
He sighed before climbing onto his hard bed, opened the white cloth he used as a blanket, and rested his head on a thin pillow.
Before sinking into darkness, Cain, who was spacing out, remembered something.
"Wait a minute, if I got that chip, would Abel and Rika get it too?"
Looking at the test held earlier, where the three of them managed to survive until the late game, they deserved more appreciation. And as he remembered from Master Kenji, the chip he received should have been given out tomorrow.
If that was true, Cain furrowed his brows and sank into his own thoughts.
"This might be a good opportunity to learn other things besides Kenjutsu."
The boy nodded, then continued to think about trivial matters that made his eyelids heavy, and he fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next day, after the gruesome running in the dirt field. Cain, Abel, and Rika sat together in the corner of the cafeteria. Each of them was holding two flavor variants of jelly packs.
Unlike the first day they visited, the cafeteria was brimming with cadets. Not only the new ones but also the seniors were participating.
Sounds of laughter and unrestrained shouting filled the air as the seniors exchanged jokes with their juniors. From another corner, Cain could see a silent table, where the atmosphere around it seemed heavy with awkwardness.
Cain squeezed the jelly packaging in his hand and sipped its contents. The softness of the jelly bouncing in his mouth with the sweet taste of chocolate made his expression melt away.
"Don't you think this is strange?"
"Hmm, what's strange about it?"
Rika swallowed her strawberry-flavored jelly pack while giving the boy next to her a sharp look.
"Eh, why are you suddenly so angry?"
Abel, who was flustered, turned to his side where Cain was leaning back until he lifted the chair's legs.
His blue irises shrank, as if he wanted to say something like, 'Help me, Cain.'
Cain sighed as he leaned forward, staring at him with arms crossed on his chest.
"Look at those seniors."
The blonde boy followed Cain's direction and looked around the entire room. Indeed, the number of seniors present was higher than usual.
He turned back to Cain once more, nodding.
"Well, there are more of them than usual, but what's strange about that? Isn't it good that we juniors can deepen our friendship with their seniors?"
"Y-Yeah, you do have a point, but."
Cain was cut off, his tongue getting twisted as he faced Abel's innocence, which shone like a halo behind his back.
He glanced at Rika next to Abel, seeing her nod and her red eyes narrowing to analyze the commotion happening.
"Rika, did you hear anything from Senior Luna?"
The girl stopped her activity when she heard Luna's name suddenly come up in the conversation. Rika shook her head and looked at Cain's face.
"No. Both of us just exchanged short messages about training as usual. How about you?"
Hearing that, his body stiffened. The sentence that came out of Rika's mouth turned into a knife that chipped away his sanity.
'Hmm, so the two of them are exchanging messages.'
"N-No, I didn't hear any news either."
His hands clenched tightly, unaware that the sentence he uttered turned into a boomerang that attacked him back, even twofold.
Since the first time Cain and Luna registered as friends. He had not once received a message from the girl, nor did he have the courage to initiate the exchange.
'Tch, you're such a coward(Me)!'
Cain clicked his tongue and shifted his gaze towards the wall. But at that moment, the noise in the cafeteria faded, replaced by whispers of awe due to someone's presence.
"Senior Luna is here."
The gray-haired boy turned his neck so quickly as if he wanted to snap it.
Luna walked in from the entrance. She was accompanied by her colleague, a blue-haired girl who had a handsome, boyish appearance.
Both headed to the counter to get their lunch portions. Luna and her friend glanced left and right before the blue-haired girl next to her pointed toward Cain and his friends.
'Eh, don't tell me?'
As Cain suspected, Luna and the blue-haired girl approached. Their expressions were gentle and even held a small smile, which made the male cadets around them clutch their chests, feeling pain due to their overly sweet expressions.
"Cain, Rika, may we join you?"
"Yes, of course, senior Luna."
Rika immediately stood up from her seat, her face glowing like a girl meeting her idol. Luna nodded and looked toward Cain, who nodded and spoke in a broken tone.
"P-Please, senior Luna, you too, senior."
"Um, thank you, Cain."
"Thank you."
Luna lifted the corner of her lips and sat next to Cain, while the short blue-haired girl took a chair next to Luna.
"Oh, yes, let me introduce you. This girl is my friend."
"Nice to meet you Cain, Rika, and Abel, right? My name is Chloe."
"Nice to meet you."
Cain, Rika, and Abel spoke simultaneously, which made the three of them look at each other and giggle. Rika was the first to realize as she asked senior Chloe.
"How do you know our names? Did senior Luna tell you?"
The Juniors' gaze shifted to Luna, who shook her head. Then, Chloe chuckled softly while covering her open mouth.
"No, not at all. It just so happens that I have a little brother that trains alongside you guys."
"Who?"
Abel immediately asked, drawing Chloe's attention to him. She parted her pink lips, causing the boy's face to blush.
"His name is Peter, have you met him?"
"Ah, yes, I have."
Unlike Abel, who nodded cheerfully, Rika and Cain just remained silent, apart from Rika, who was not very fond of interacting with strangers. Cain had his own story with that person.
'I understand now.'
Cain still remembered the great skill Peter possessed in his battle during yesterday's test.
Profound techniques and agility honed over the years. All of that shaped Peter as an ideal fighter. And that was achieved thanks to the help of Chloe, who was sitting at the same table as them.
He scanned the surrounding area, trying to find a figure of a tall, bulky boy with blue hair.
"If you are looking for Peter, he is not here."
The sudden statement that came out of Chloe's mouth drew Cain's gaze toward her.
"Nice to meet you, Cain. My little brother seemed to have learned a lot from you."
Cain swallowed because somehow the atmosphere at the table turned thick, slithering like a snake coiling around his neck.
'Gulp, s-she is dangerous.'