Where do you belong?

<<several weeks ago>>

General Minamino could be seen on a tall building, addressing the new set of soldiers.

"Men of valuable talents, your perseverance and guts have been rewarded. You all belong to the army as from today. Like I had promised, the top ten thousand would be given the opportunity to chose if they want to belong to the marine, Air force or militias.

You can still choose to remain in the army of course. And yes, the top ten thousand can choose any division they want to belong to that's if they decide to remain in the Army".

"Whoooa!!!"

"That's cool!"

"I'm so jealous!" Series of comments, and compliments could be heard from diverse angles.

"Keep your mouths shut!" Echoed the warrant officer, whose name was Steve Clark.

And immediately, everywhere became as silent as a cemetery. Although, some murmurings could still be heard.

"Jeez! Must he yell every time?" A voice whispered.

"What did you say?" Steve asked to confirm if he heard someone complaining, or it was just an assumption. The warrant officer's shouts as usual wasn't pleasing to the freshmen, as they felt he was to lousy.

On the other hand, Minamino was the head of other generals but, was an easygoing fellow.

"Let them be Clark, you worry too much." General Minamino said, touching Clark's back, before giving him a slight and gentle pat.

"Sorry sir!" He muttered in defeat.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Minamino laughed slightly, as he kept his gaze locked on the freshmen who were now looking at him in surprise.

"Only fifty thousand people managed to scale through the extraction process. That is, only you guys managed to become an official member of the military." He had a serious look on his face as he kept talking. "Thirty five from the first wave, and fifteen from the second wave."

"Fifteen? That's pretty low for us." A familiar voice whispered. "Isn't it Fushi?"

"Let me alone! Not like I care." Fujishimo retorted.

"Cmon, at least answer the question." Shinsui said in a funny manner as he stretched his arms out wide.

He had a brown hair that had a leftover cut with its sides tinted black, he also had a slender body build alongside a teenage facial look. His eyes were stone gray in color, and he was 5'7"/169cm tall.

Minamino resumed his speech, breaking Fushi who was ostensibly lost in his analysis out of his reverie:

"That doesn't mean you've achieved the world. This is just the beginning of your lives. Struggling to survive and striving to succeed." He paused for a few seconds, looking at the freshmen from left to right.

"Without further ado, the other generals would take care of assigning you to your squad."

He then looked at Clark.

"Continue from here, till the generals arrive." He ordered, in which the latter saluted.

"Yes sir!!!" Clark voice reverberated throughout the whole field.

As Minamino leaves, Clark turns towards our direction with a stern look:

"Listen you bunch of suckers! Get this straight into your light skulls. This is no place to feel comfortable. If you think life's gonna be easy, then this is no place for a teenage dream. Drop all what you seem to aspire. Try to live, the faster you die."

The manner in which he talked, was so domineering that everyone was now in a serious mood as they stared at him quietly.

One of Clark's talent was that he was no respecter of his juniors, neither was he a man without dignity. But, above all his speeches always had everyone's attention. As all stared at him in respect, and mild fear a voice echoed from the back.

"Nice, you kept them company. Now step aside!" The voice concluded with a grin.

It was the generals! All of them excluding Hiroshi (Fushi's dad).

Nazumoto was the one who ushered Clark aside with a dark grin that oppressed every single freshmen.

Hinata who had her black jacket on her shoulders was smiling slightly as usual.

A man with a big white cloak that had no hood, on a white long sleeved shirt with a black sash on it, was the one with the scariest appearance. He was in a complete OP captain outfit. *Overpowered*

He wasn't ugly but, his eyes were pure white and he had a long black hair that was a little below shoulder's length. His katana could easily be seen from afar in it's case that was hung around his waist. His body build was lean average. Although, he was a bit stocky.

He was the real deal.

"Listen up losers!" Nazumoto echoed.

"Like he (Clark) said, just quit! This isn't a game of kids. Welcome to hell!. Khe he ha ha!" Everyone stared quietly as Nazumoto laughed hysterically.

"I'm General Hinata, pleased to work with you!". Hinata said, maintaining a friendly smile.

"Pleased to work with you mam!" Everyone echoed with respect.

"Phew, at least this beauty isn't as vicious as the rest of 'em." A voice within the freshmen whispered.

Fujishimo was visibly furious at that statement. But Just then, a loud scream could be heard from the direction of the person who whispered. Blood and water gusted out of his mouth as he fell to his knees.

*Cough *Cough *Cough *Cough!

"Know your place." The voice was so cold, everyone had to look at the person who talked, as it made them to shudder. Of course, It was General Kiirito. He was also known as "Saxvch the ghost."

He sounded so cool, yet so cold. His eyes were like coal stones. Unlike Jinoshi who's eyes were like flames, His was filled with no ounce of emotions.

His eyes had the texture of a diamond as his whole appearance passed nothing but fear to his subordinates.

"Krggh, krkkk, arrrggghh!" The victim shrieked in pain, wriggling from left to right.

Everyone now watched in fear as they began to acknowledged the statement 'know your place'. But, everyone was more worried of the discomforting scene.

General Kiirito had no emotions in his facial appearance. They couldn't tell what he was feeling at the moment, as his face lacked an expression.

Meanwhile, the victims bleeding tripled as he was beginning to lose his consciousness.

It looked like he was been choked or something similar but no one among the freshmen could tell as nothing happened to the others except the punished. Neither was Kiirito moving any part of his body.

"Hey it's enough!" Nazumoto echoed as he walks towards Kiirito. He repeated his statement due to Kiirito's hesitation.

Still refusing to adhere, Nazumoto moved closer and this time, held unto his hands.

"Hey, that's enough! He'll drop dead soon."

Kiirito turned his head slowly towards the person that had held him by the hand. He looked at Nazumoto in an emotionless manner, then he gazed at the hand Nazumoto used to hold his own.

Tension filled the atmosphere as everyone was expecting a fight to ensue, in which:

'The elephants battle, and the grasses suffer'.

Suddenly, a smile surfaced on Nazumoto's lips, spreading further to his cheeks as he walked back to were he stood at first.

The victim finally stopped bleeding. Although, he was still struggling with his breath but, the coughing of blood had finally ceased.

Everyone began to wonder what fate awaits them as Kiirito walked away coolly.

"Calm down everyone!" Nazumoto announced. A cocky smile still plastered on his face. "That was just a message to anyone who sh*ts with us. $

"We are sorry sir!" Every freshmen echoed in unison.

"There are no needs for apologies.

Are there?" Nazumoto intoned, alongside a devilish grin.

"Get yourselves back to order! And let's start registering you all as soon as possible."

Hinata said, as she signalled to the Warrant officer (Clark) who was holding a bunch of files to step forward.

It was now time to assign the freshmen to their squad, and for the top ten thousand people to make their decision.

After assigning the other people to their squads, we were now the only ones left to decide where our future in the military lies.

"I will make this quick." Says General Hinata.

"Either you're in the army, navy, air force or militias. If you want to remain in the army, walk over there." She said as she pointed towards the area she wanted the classified people to walk to.

"Those who prefer to join the Air force here, those interested in the navy here, and those who want to join the militias should just remain where they are." She added, waving her hands for emphasis.

Everyone hesitated as each individual pondered hard on their future.

"You all should have thought of it before you even applied for the exams. You must be aware of the reason you're standing here as a survivor." She sighed, hitting her head repeatedly but, in a slight manner as if she was trying to remember something.

"And oh, those who were in the top ten are also free to change, they'll still retain their promotions in their new force." She concluded.

After seconds of hesitating, a person walked up to the Navy spot.

"I heard the militia is the safest, and they receive a good pay." A voice whispered to another at my back as they walked towards the militia spot.

Soon, the air force spot was also getting filled, while, the army's spot was still clean.

Almost immediately, a leg crossed the Rubicon. It was the guy with 360waves who jogged right into the army spot with confidence. In which another followed, then another.

"What was my goal before I entered my details to fill in for a military spot?" Fushi pondered. "Mother..... Tssch! If I decide to join the navy just to prove someone wrong, or to prove that I am capable of what others do, then I'm absolutely useless. It seems my dream was to enter a place were dreams couldn't come to pass. A place were pain is like an antidote. A place were hatred is born and vendettas are allowed. A place with zero tolerance."

*Doof!!! A

"There will I be!" Fushi didn't know what he was thinking or what got into him. All he knew, and could remember was that he dashed into the army spot.

***

After weeks of joining the army, Fushi learnt that out of ten thousand, four joined the army, one joined the naval fleet, three joined the air force, while two joined the militias.

And out of the top ten, only one joined the naval fleet. It seemed like everyone wanted to be a hero fighting till the end for their country.

Or should we say wasting their lives?