Chapter 5: She’s the Protagonist [4]

[Main Building, Class A-2]

[August, 1st, 9:00]

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Meredith stopped at the door and gazed at the previously blabbering Lesley who was now trying to shrink into her seat. Her voice was clear and showed no emotional fluctuations.

"Lesley."

"Eek!" What she would give for the ground to swallow her right her and now. "L-long t-time no see Sis Meredith."

"Yeah, long time no see. In the Academy, I'm your Instructor, note that." Contented with Lesley nodding like a chicken, she walked to the stands meant for instructors and stopped at the orb, a holographic projector. While she was studying it, she was also being scrutinized by her students.

From their perspective, her clothes looked more like they were meant for outing, but when combined with her no-nonsense expression, it nearly passed as military outfit.

She stood at 6ft, tall for a woman. And her athletic figure wasn't hidden by the clothes. Her raven black hair was done in a tidy bun, and the mole beneath her left eye gave her face an allure of it's own. Apparently finished with the orb, she shifted her sight to the students and finally took in the whole room, briefly stopping at the number 5 seat, her thoughts unknown.

"Good morning students, I'm your new Instructor. Now let's begin the first class, whatever it is." From the words that emerged from her mouth, there were a lot of things wrong with it. She didn't introduce herself, she didn't ask for their names, she didn't even know what the class was.

Lucas was clearly having none of it from his expression, and he acted on his thoughts by raising his hand.

"Yes?"

"Miss, aren't you meant to introduce yourself?" 

Instead of answering him, she leaned forward on the table, and responded with a question, her purple eyes boring into his blue.

"Do you not know who I am?"

"I do but-"

"Then zip it. I don't accomodate irrelevant questions."

She dug into her pocket and took out the five-inch rod, and from up close, you could see glowing blue runes, lines and circuits around the rod. She then tapped her wristwatch that doubled as a storage device, and a dagger came out.

 After fiddling with the table on which the projector laid, it opened a compartment meant for scanning. And she placed both rod and dagger inside.

When it stopped scanning, she returned both weapons and tapped the orb, causing a holographic display of the two to project side by side, with the dagger presented as it was, and the rod disassembled into smaller parts at the lines and circuits.

"If I'm thinking reasonably, my only qualification is that of a Combat Instructor, and not your homeroom teacher. But since Matias must have his reasons for putting you on my list of responsibilities, then don't make things burdensome for me," She then pointed at the hologram and asked the students a question.

"First of all, which is preferable? An Ambient, or an Evo-Craft."

Five students raised hands, and she picked Aaron Stetson, the Rank 6. And he confidently stood up, clearing his throat.

"Ahem. I think it's-"

"You think?"

"I-I mean..."

"When you speak, speak with confidence."

He took a deep breath, and stroked his spiky white hair which was standing on it's ends, before continuing.

"In my opinion, there is no preferable weapon since there are different variables which could influence the efficiency of the one in use."

"Go on."

"Knowing what to use depends on your supernatural ability, how much Evo you can harness, and your technical know how," She nodded at his answer.

"Passable. Sit down."

She turned to the hologram and tapped it, affirming.

"What he said is somewhat correct. As we all know, Ambients are rather rare, which is why most of us use Evo-Crafts," The hologram was moved in front of her, and she tapped the rod, causing it to expand into a bo staff, but still in it's disassembled form, before continuing.

"Evo-Crafts function as weapons, and mediums for us to harness Evo, since our bodies can't do so, and only instinctively utilize it when activating our abilities." 

She snagged a part of the hologram and threw it to the centre of the room, causing a diagram labelling the parts of the Evo-Craft to hover and expand for the students to see.

"If all ten of you were asked, how many would be confident enough to label the parts of my staff?"

As she expected it was only about four hands raised. She glanced at the raised hands. Avery, she wasn't surprised at that because Karter Corp owned about 60% of the Evo-Craft producing market.

The second was Aaron who just answered her, and from the Stetson surname and his white hair, it seemed like he was the son of the Titan Guild's Guildmaster. The third was the Rank 10, Lesley Palmer, the daughter of the Council's youngest member, and something like her nephew, a naughty one.

While the fourth was surprisingly Neesha, she didn't know why at that time, for someone like her who didn't give compliments, she subconsciously nodded with satisfaction.

"Drop your hands. Now, as I was saying. That's a problem that has been ignored, many Mutants never efficiently use their Evo-Crafts, because they don't acknowledge the simple fact that they are essentially technical equipments, and not just tools like Ambients."

"It isn't present now, but it was compulsory for Combat classes to take Evo-Crafting lessons during the Academy's early years, it later turned volitional, before completely abandoned six years ago."

She pointed at a particular point in the hologram, and continued.

"I'm not telling any of you to take the Crafting Course, but you should approach the Evo-Crafting students and learn more about Basic Circuitry and Elden grafting." And for the rest of the class, she basically summary of what they needed when picking weapons especially for those who had been given a chance to choose from the Vault.

Ambients as they were called, were certain objects, mostly weapons, that experienced a phenomena where they assimilated enough existing atmospheric Evo to gain a [Skill] and the ability to absorb and harness Evo.

No matter the world, it was inevitable that human language was constantly evolving till it reached where it was now. But it was discovered about five years after the Depletion, that the Ancient language, Elden, had gained something like a will of it's own, a will that could be manipulated by and given different effects through certain rune combinations including Evo-ore amalgamation and synthesis.

For example, her Wristwatch was an Evo-Craft that had a dimensional space. Though it's runes and Circuits were nearly microscopic, they were still there. The wristwatch didn't need batteries and functioned entirely on atmospheric Evo.

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Evo, the metaphysical energy that allowed the existence of the supernatural, was discovered to have existed long before the Depletion. The Cosmic rays only functioned as a catalyst and Evo was the fuel for the process known as evolution.

RINGG!!

An hour had gone by.

"Okay students, the class is over. The next class is Combat practice. You have fifteen minutes to meet me at Combat area A-12."

With that, most of the students started going out. Meredith narrowed her eyes and called out to the person she had been watching throughout the whole class.

"Neesha Karr. Spare me a minute."

Most of the students were surprised, but could only swallow their curiosity and leave, especially Lesley who had to be dragged out by Aaron.

Neesha turned the wheelchair around and clenched her skirt, with her eyes on her feet, not looking up. Meredith thought she was shaking with fear, and inexplicably felt hurt that she didn't look her in the eyes, for the first time slightly regretting the way she presented herself. She didn't expect it, since she saw how Neesha presented herself without fear this morning. Was it because she was the one? From her reaction back in the stadium, Meredith knew for a fact that she was recognized.

Meredith wasn't someone who liked wasting time, but she stopped for a moment and looked closely at the person she had been made to forget. Long silver hair, and skin that now that they were only a metre apart, was more golden than brown. There was only one word that fit it-

"Sunkissed." 

"H-huh?"

Meredith's hand went to her mouth, blurting out her thoughts were something she'd never do, she was showing inconsistencies in character ever since she saw this girl, but what had happened, had happened. And she wasn't the only one, because Neesha-stonefaced-Karr was furiously blushing.

Neesha wasn't a dense person, Meredith was complimenting her. She glanced up to meet her Instructor's eyes and quickly faced down back.

Meredith walked closer and held Neesha's chin, raising her face for them to meet each other's eyes. Where Meredith's were purple and always scrutinizing, Neesha's were a calm and deep black that you could lose yourself in.

For both people who significantly valued personal space, it was really surprising they made contact like it was natural.

"Rank 5."

"Huh?" Neesha couldn't think clearly when she was this close to her dream.

"You're clearly strong enough to be Rank 1. But for some reason, you're still the fifth."

"A-ah, that's because it means something to me."

"The number five?"

"Yes."

Meredith released her chin, and grabbed Neesha's wrist with the her right hand, where she always wore her bracelet. She had long noticed the bracelet, or what was left of it. And even if it was mangled, when it was side by side with hers, their similarity was undeniable.

"Neesha Karr. Have we, by any chance met before?"

Neesha trembled. She had been having suspicions, did Meredith not remember her? Or in fact, she had lost her memories of her.

"Yes. you're the one who gave me this bracelet."

Apart from an "I see". She got no other reaction from her, her conjecture was spot on.

Instead of feeling devastated like before, she was actually somewhat grateful that Meredith's memories were gone. They could start anew.

In the span of the question, Meredith had moved back a little and was watching closely. And what she got from Neesha's posture was a 'please don't ask me any more'.

How did they even meet in the first place? For some reason-from her memories-she was always made to stay home and never socialized, she was even home schooled by her father, which meant that it was through him she met Neesha, as her mother had died from an accident when she was eight years old. But these memories, could she even trust them? Which one was true and which one was not. 

She looked at the girl who was shrouded in mystery, and thought back to the profile she went through yesterday, alongside others. That was something 'Meredith' did hours before 'she' took over.

In the profile, Neesha was said to have been taken in by Rivka Palmer, Lesley's mom, and the friend of her late parents. She wondered, was she also hiding something? because according to the profile, Neesha wasadopted ten years ago, on August, 12th, 2085.

August, 21st...August, 21st.

Meredith froze on the spot. This... wasn't it exactly a week after her father's death? And now that she thought about it, that was the moment where she felt her memories felt weird, like they weren't hers. She faced Neesha again, her gaze sharper than before, what were they all hiding from her?

"We're done here."

"Okay Instructor"

The air that was formerly filled with pink bubbles had turned sour.

Meredith walked to the door to leave first.

"Woaah!!"

BANG!

To meet an eavesdropping Lesley on the floor, she had most likely been leaning on the door.

Not in the least affected by the fall, she sprang up and dusted her grey skirt. Then turned to meet two cold gazes and gulped.

"I-I can explain...I mean, can I?"

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