Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Unravel Dimension

The professor had just walked into the classroom. Silence filled the room as everyone sensed his presence. His sparkling eyeglasses directed toward us, commanding attention.

He pulled something from his pocket, raising it with seriousness. All eyes were on him as he held up the object, which appeared to be a ballpoint pen. My forehead furrowed in confusion.

"Hey, what do you think that is?" I asked Hidata, sitting beside me and next to Akemetsu. He was seated between Akemetsu and me, in the third row, second column.

"Gaika's Pen," he uttered.

Gaika's pen...?

Gaika's pen probably isn't an ordinary pen like the others. Maybe it contains some energy force or spell that could cause destruction if used.

"Gesmet, look at this object," the professor said authoritatively. "This is Gaika's pen, one of the powerful weapons that can immediately attack your opponent. If you are able to use this device, make sure your ability is sufficient to handle it," he continued.

Everyone seemed shocked and amazed, while Akemetsu and Hidata remained calm, crossing their arms. Akemetsu's emotions remained undetermined, though his eyes revealed a hint of amazement.

On the other hand, Hidata seemed uninterested in the discussion. "Gesmet, I trust that you will not betray my order. I expect all of you not to touch this device, even if a dangerous enemy comes to this school," the professor said, testing their loyalties.

"Now, I want to introduce myself, Hetmi Dugimara, the assistant head professor of Kenzetu High School, and I have been assigned to lecture all of you," he said.

"So first, we will test your abilities for a moment. This test is quite destructive, as it is your first ability test. I know that most of you experienced a critical test last year, however, the critical test is only the highest possible destructive test in the first battle. Therefore, the critical test you've already experienced is not the most destructive test here in Kenzetu," the professor explained.

I pondered what test he was going to point out. I had no idea what he was discussing. I looked at Hidata, hoping for some clarity, but he remained calm, showing no emotions.

"Why are you looking at me?" He gave me a glance, his blue eyes sparking. "At...suko?"

He really had his own delusional thinking again.

"None," I said, looking ahead. He chuckled, irritated.

"Tsk... Damn, never ever look at me that way again, it's damn irritating. I know my handsomeness makes you jealous," Hidata said, while Akemetsu chuckled a bit on the left side beside him.

"What?" Hidata burst out at Akemetsu. "You should realize that you're not the only one who was given handsomeness," Akemetsu argued.

"Then, just shut up," Hidata felt annoyed at Akemetsu while Akemetsu chuckled. "So you agree?" Akemetsu asked.

"Why are you two debating? Isn't it obvious that I am the one who possesses this handsomeness?" I bewildered, trying to convince them that I looked better than them.

"Nice joke," Akemetsu remarked.

"Now everyone, please pay attention to me," the professor interrupted. "The test shall now begin." Everyone, including Akemetsu and Hidata, stood up, while I remained seated, confused.

Hidata and Akemetsu were about to leave when suddenly they turned their heads to look at me. "What?" I asked, clueless. "Do you want to die?" Akemetsu threatened me.

I stood up from my seat, still clueless, and joined Hidata and Akemetsu as we started walking toward the test laboratory.

"What's going on?" I asked Hidata.

"We will be given time to test our abilities," Hidata explained.

"So what will happen if I test my ability?" I asked in confusion. "Nothing will happen except for knowing if your ability is AX or AL," my forehead started to crease, particularly due to confusion.

"AX and AL?" I asked again. "AX if your ability is above the average of 80 depending on Kenzetu's devices and is considered the strongest ability, while on the other hand, AL is what you call your ability if it is below the average of 80 and is determined as the lowest possible ability," Akemetsu explained, continuing Hidata's explanation.

We walked around the hallway, all of our classmates following the professor's directions. The hallway was unfamiliar to me, yet it seemed somewhat familiar.

We entered a room, an empty one with wide space, set for testing abilities. "Here you go, we will start testing your abilities using special enemies," the professor said.

The empty room now filled with dark shadows, or should I say filled with black paint, unlike earlier when it was filled with white paint. "What is happening?" said a girl with long orange hair, confused.

She was naturally shocked by the new room. Everyone started murmuring, noting that this was not ordinary like what they saw every day.

"Oh, where is the enemy, professor?" one guy asked.

"What happened?" I asked Hidata in confusion. "Curtain Spells," he said emotionlessly, though sounding confused.

"I think there might be something wrong here," Akemetsu said. Hidata stood beside Akemetsu while I remained standing beside Hidata.

I looked for the professor, but he was gone. "Where is the professor?" another guy asked. Silence filled the room for a moment.

Until many portals appeared in front of us. "What is this?" Akemetsu asked Hidata. "Seems like portals," I said.

"Yes, portals. But not ordinary portals. Only one portal leads to success in this test, while the rest lead to critical tests," the professor said.

"Are we going to pick one of those, Hidata?" a guy with violet eyes said. His eyes sparkled like Hidata's, but Hidata's eyes were clearer and shone brighter. "Not yet, Kaikase," Hidata said.

Kaikase was a little taller than me, but Hidata was a little taller than him. They were having an important conversation.

"But the portals may absorb us if we don't pick one of them," Kaikase said. Hidata remained calm, while Akemetsu thought about which portal to enter.

"Kaikase, how many portals are there?" Hidata asked. I looked at the portals, realizing it was impossible to count them all.

"1,348 in total," Kaikase said, causing me to overthink. He counted them all mentally in just seconds, making the impossible possible.

"Good, that's an even number. Now count all the odd numbers," Hidata said, causing Kaikase to think. "W-what?" he doubtedly asked. "Just count all the odd numbers," Hidata said.

"Ahh, I think 674 in total?" Kaikase said, unsure. Hidata remained calm while Akemetsu thought about something else, and others started to walk back into the corner since there was no door to exit.

"674? How can we choose between 674 portals?" Hidata said, leaving Kaikase clueless. But something occurred to me, recalling my days as the former best mathematician in our school back in Tokyo.

"Hidata, I think we should choose the 11th one," I said confidently. Hidata glanced at me, his forehead creasing. "Why do you think so?" Hidata asked in confusion.

"1348. You said Kaikase should count all the odd numbers, not mentioning the integers. Therefore, 1 and 3 are odd numbers, while 4 and 8 are even numbers. However, if two even numbers are added, the answer is even, while if two odd numbers are added, the answer is also even," I explained.

"The sum of 1 and 3 is 4, which is even. If we base our answer on how many odd integers there are between 1 and 1348, Kaikase answered 674. Therefore, 7 is an odd number and the rest are even numbers. Going back to what I said before, the sum of both even and odd is even, and vice versa. Therefore, the sum of 1 and 3 is 4, which is even, and then the sum of 4 and the odd number 7 is 11, which is an odd number. So, we should choose the 11th portal," I continued.

Hidata, Akemetsu, and Kaikase remained expressionless. "No way, there is no 11th portal here now," Akemetsu said. "While all of you are discussing, I realized that one portal is missing, and it might be the 11th portal since there is a blank space between the 10th and 12th portals," Akemetsu added.

All of us remained clueless, none of us tried to look for the available portal to enter. Until energy struck, forcing us.

"Damn, the timing of Kenzetu's energy force is wrong," Kaikase said. "It was all planned," Hidata said.

"No, the portal isn't starting to absorb us," everyone panicked, some releasing their defenses before the energy force could attack or absorb us.

"I can sense the energy of the 12th portal; that might be critical," Akemetsu said, the enigma of portals spreading. Spells and powers from the portals continued to release.

We moved, the 12th portal seemed to be absorbing us. "Atsuko, use your defense energy," Hidata said, until I realized I was moving faster than them. I was definitely three meters ahead of them.

'Stop my moving...'

I suddenly stopped in motion, but the portal's energy was strong. Hidata flashed toward me and pulled my hand. "Next time, lock your arm with mine if you haven't yet learned how to control gravity," Hidata lectured me.

Gravity...? The portal had its own gravity. Maybe there was a magnetic field that absorbed us immediately.

Suddenly, all of us were absorbed by the portal. Hidata and others tried to release their defenses, but they didn't work. "Why didn't you do it?" I asked Hidata.

"We are being absorbed by the 11th portal, not the 12th," Hidata said, telling everyone to let themselves be absorbed by the energy. Others didn't follow Hidata, but most let themselves be absorbed by the 11th portal, which was hidden.

All of them entered automatically into the 11th portal, which we could not see. All of them were absorbed while Hidata, Kaikase, Akemetsu, and I remained standing.

Suddenly, Akemetsu was absorbed by energy. "You must be careful; landing is not easy," Hidata reminded Kaikase before Kaikase was also absorbed. "You two should follow me here, damn it," Kaikase said before being absorbed.

"Atsuko, you should go first—damn it, what are you doing?" Hidata asked me, but my body was being absorbed by another portal, not the 11th portal. "I don't know; I am being absorbed by the wrong portal," Hidata was confused; suddenly, he also found himself following me, out of control.

"Damn, we are absorbed by the wrong portal," Hidata uttered. His baritone voice approached me. "What should we do?" I asked him.

Before he could answer, both of us were totally absorbed by the portal. As we entered the portal, a heavy wind and magnetic field were felt, even the radiation of lights inside the portal radiated our eyes.

Hidata covered his eyes, sensitive to the light. As we entered the other dimension of the portal, we stood in front of a new room. A room filled with silence, painted white.

Hidata looked at me. "What?" I asked him.

"Have we returned to the original room?" Hidata asked.

I tried to look around, and it was nearly similar to the room we had just been in, albeit wider.

"Maybe not," I answered confidently.

Hidata scanned the room, and something caught his attention. He glanced at my side, meeting my eyes. "W-what?" I stuttered.

Hidata walked toward me and stopped in front of me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eyes with no emotion.

Suddenly, the floor cracked, an immediate occurrence causing it to collapse, except in our position. "The floor is a trap, and only we can escape this trap if you enable me to release my own dimension," he said.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"We were separately placed in one room to test our abilities. Atsuko, I want to ask you something that confuses me," Hidata said, his emotions still undetermined.

I was frozen, unable to move even my hands or head. He spoke so seriously, as if he could even kill me. "I want to ask you something, Atsuko."

"Are you.........a mind trickster?"