Chapter 2: The School
Each student walked out of the bus in lanes, cuffed instantly as they walked out. Aamon gave a friendly smile and waved to Agni before stepping off the bus. Agni felt uneasy about him and continued walking, passing two kids groveling in pain—one with his back and forearm cut, and the other with his eye pierced by a foreign object.
As Agni heard screams upon exiting the bus, worry intensified when he looked at where Aamon was sitting. If Agni had any doubt about Aamon being a superhuman, it vanished instantly. A massive chunk had been expertly removed from the stainless steel seat where Aamon sat. It became clear that the foreign object launched into the other kid's eye was the chunk that Aamon had carved out.
Lost in thought, Agni considered, 'I could do that, but it's impressive to see another superhuman pull it off. I just hope he's on the right moral path after that display.' While lost in thought, a kid shoved Agni and yelled, "Hey, move it, you arsonist! I swear, is your brain as empty as that place you burned down?" He violently poked Agni's head. Agni walked out, replying, "IT WASN'T ME, ALRIGHT! WHY WON'T ANYONE GET THAT? JUST CUT IT!"
After Agni's outburst, a mocking voice was heard when he exited the door, "It wasn't me, alright, shut up, kid. Nobody cares." Two metallic rings were slapped onto Agni's wrists, perfectly fitting. The man putting them on, tall with brown skin and an unusual shade of blue hair, wore the same suit as the other guards. Agni squirmed as the cuffs glowed orange, feeling a stinging sensation on his wrists.
Retorting to the comment, Agni said, "Hey, that's the truth. I didn't do it to you... well, I can't call you anything because you haven't done anything too bad to me, but I'll get to it." The man replied, "Kid, I'm not paid enough to care if you'll get around to it." Agni walked off to the group designated by the man, witnessing strange events along the way. Another person from a different bus was dragged off, fingers clawing into the ground, shouting, "Please, No room, please, No room, please, NOOOOO ROOOOOM!"
Joining up with Aamon, he looked over at Agni and shook his wrist playfully, "Wooooow, that stung, wouldn't you agree? No need to be so harsh with the restraints; I can't even feel my aura anymore." Agni eagerly replied, "Yeah, what's with that? I can't feel it either. What's this stuff made of?" The guide answered, "Magic metal. You Aura-users react specially to it. I can't explain it, but that's the way it is."
"You know how boring that sounds, so boring. Can you say anything else that adds value to your life, bro?" Rudely interrupted a kid, "Ah, superhuman. So what brings you here? Did you get on the unfavorable side of humanity's adorable bad side?" Asked Aamon. "Adorable? Dude, they might be weaker than us physically, but they're still people. If you slip up, they'll give you a run for your money. I know plenty of normal humans that could kick your ass," Agni said with a pleased face, which soon shifted as the new acquaintance yelled, "Shut up, Agni! You don't get the privilege of speaking after what you did. By the way, Aamon, it's Renora Grey." Agni's face turned red as he shouted in anger, "COME ON, I CAN'T CATCH A BREAK, CAN I? I WAS FRAMED, DANG IT!"
Finally, the group is off as the guide and the group set off. They pass through the beautifully built school, a modern design with a sleek color palette of grey, orange, and blue despite being built more than 10 years ago. Clear hallways lead into gardens with stone tables where students can go to have lunch if the cafeteria is not their style. It's like no school they've ever seen. Even Aamon can't help but comment, "For a prison, you really spoil your prisoners. I know the school was made to reform criminals, but this is too much. Although it's quite nice, the only thing ruining it is your kind." Grinning as his calm and sinisterly calm voice flowed throughout the place, he seemed to be uncaring of the situation.
"The school was made in 1993 when the man himself, Clifton M Fischbach, sought to help improve the world with his game-changing studies on Aura. How aura users, due to relying on their souls to give them power, also had amplified emotions. Now not to discriminate, but y'all have a higher average of committing crime. With the climbing power rates of each generation and the events that caused what today's world is, they started turning this from just a school to a military... uh... I mean training academy for Aura users and racial specialists." The guide ranted on and on with passion, seemingly being an individual who enjoys the job he has been assigned.
While walking and being guided across both school ground and prisoner hold, the school's design is meant to be a combination to form prison dorms. Finally, while coming across the massive training ground, the whole group can see a kid and a yeti engaged in combat. The kid, wearing a black tank top, black tracksuit pants, a grey chain belt, and yellow shoes, had red eyes, sharp teeth, brown skin, and messy, spikey, pointy, and black hair. As he locked eyes with the group, and they locked eyes with him, most of the group all felt something indescribable when their hearts raced after seeing him throw a creature obviously far heavier than him into a cement wall. It made a crater more than 30 meters with his strength alone.
"And that's Keisuke Hiragi, currently the school's strongest 10th grader, the same age as you," the guide quickly replied with information. "It seems my interest has finally been piqued, the strongest, huh," asserted Aamon as he engaged in a stare-down with Keisuke. They both shared their charming demeanors—Keisuke grinning with wide eyes, and Aamon smiling maliciously with his sadistic presence felt at odds and on equal footing as Keisuke's devastatingly destructive aura.
While these two looked at each other, Renora and Agni humorously remarked, "You two want a room," and shared a high five at the coincidence. Aamon losing focus on Keisuke looked at them and said, "Hmm? Oh sorry, I was just looking at him. Compared to you two, I can tell he's on a whole other level similar to me, but that's just speculation. Even so, he is superhuman, so I can't be that far off." Aamon looked over at the field once more and saw Keisuke's head get smashed into the ground by the yeti, and blood spilled everywhere before freezing. "Talk about brutality, this school's
on a different type of energy," Agni stated after seeing that as the group was forced to move forward.
Finally, near the end of the day, the group was given their luggage and rooms to keep it in, told that school would start immediately the next day. While moving there, it was 7 pm, and they had been doing nothing but conversing. A similar presence from earlier could be felt, and as they turned around, they saw Keisuke Hiragi standing there. "How are you alive right now!?" Agni yelled in disbelief. "Wassup!" Keisuke informally greeted.
"My my, for someone of the same age as me, you sure are immature on the surface. Keisuke was it, I'm..." Aamon slowly spoke as he raised his arms to his chest with them in cuffs as he let out a sleazy smile; however, before he could finish his introduction, Keisuke quickly interrupted and said, "Yeah yeah, I know who you are, Aamon. I know most of you here; I snuck some documents from the office before your arrival and read up. Y'all are some cool dudes." Aamon thought to himself, "Interesting, I don't feel that same presence from earlier; he's calmer, more docile, childish even." "I saw your head get crushed in, how are you standing here!?" Agni asked once more in confusion. "Wassup Keisuke," Renora replied on a familiar informal ground.
"Hey, here." Keisuke pulled out his phone in its big red phone case and gave his number to the group. "I don't have long to talk, and if a girl comes here asking for Hiragi, you never saw me, right? Well, see you around!" As Keisuke jumped from tree to tree to floor to floor of the school in seconds. "Am I the only one concerned we might've just talked to a ghost!?" Agni yelled. "What a strange guy, even I'm stumped but not all that surprised; I could sense something off about him earlier," Aamon said. Right after his sentence, far off in the distance, screaming could be heard, "HIRAGIIIII!!"
The group of students shared a bewildered expression as some of the other students shake in fear, unable to stop themselves from fearing the predatory aura of the one who was speeding to them with rage and determination.