Conquering Fear

In the canteen, Andrey greeted Lisa with his eyes and she did the same. She looked a bit frail to him which was most likely because of her just recovering from the fever. 

Andrey didn't fret over it much since he knew the reason. After greeting her with his eyes he went along with Jacob and Jenny to get their meal.

Lisa went back to the discussion going on among her friends,

"All this warrior thing...it sounds so scary to me," One of Lisa's friends said.

"Same! I've no interest in performing that aptitude test as I've already decided to become a doctor!" Another of her friends chimed in.

"But you all can still practice medicine while being a warrior. There's a special provision just for us there since a warrior who is also a doctor is much needed on the frontlines," Rebecca added. 

"Is that so?..." The girl thought over it a bit but a worrisome expression soon took over her face as she continued with a sigh, "...even so. It's not for me. I just can't get the image of those three warriors getting murdered by that reaper out of my mind...it still sends shivers down my spine...guess I'm a coward haha..." 

The girl was referring to the video which was shown to them all a few weeks back in the classroom. The image of the scene was still quite vivid in the minds of most students.

"It's still worth a try, even if you're scared you should do it. Things on the frontline have deteriorated considerably and we young students are needed more than ever. Your feeling scared doesn't make you a coward Hana, it's pretty normal because almost all of us present here are scared..." Lisa said and paused for a while before continuing.

"My father used to say this...both brave and cowardly people feel the same fear but what makes the two of them different is that the brave person acts and accepts the challenge even with the fear while the coward shows their back to the challenge and runs away,"

When Lisa finished everyone in the group became silent while Hana looked at the ground with a guilty conscience.

Seeing this Lisa realised that she should have toned down her words a bit and comforted Hana by saying, "You're one of the best in the class Hana that's why those words escaped my mouth...In these hard times when our human race might even go extinct it's important to think for the greater good of society rather than our feelings. I'm sorry if my words hurt you earlier,"

Silence ensued among the group once again and just when Rebecca was about to say something to break this awkward silence Hana said.

"Don't be...your words...they did hurt but I'm thankful for it. They woke me up and made me realize that I've been trying to escape from this collective responsibility that we all share as humans under the guise of being scared."

"You're not alone Hana...I was also planning to skip the test earlier as well...but not anymore let's all take part in it together and give our best," One of Hana's bestie chimed in with a sweet smile on her face as the group once again became cheerful.

On a different table,

Andrey and Jacob were trying to placate Jenny's troubled mind. Since the moment she heard Miss Jane's announcement in the morning, the fogs of nervousness have claimed a part of her mind as their own and been living rent-free there until now. It was manageable for her earlier but as time passed her nervousness only grew which led to her current state.

"It's just a test Jenny, you don't need to worry about it so much," Andrey attempted to help her.

"I know but I just can't stop this feeling of nervousness from arising inside me...what if I don't make it? What if I'm left behind while you all are selected? What if none of us are selected? What if..." Jenny was stopped abruptly by Jacob's firm grip on her shoulders as she looked towards him in surprise.

"Let me ask you some questions now, Do you know the format of the test?" He asked.

"I don't but that's..." Jacob didn't let her finish as he proceeded with his next question

"Do you know the results of the test?" He asked with an unchanging expression.

"How can I? It's not even out..."

"Exactly, stop worrying about things you can't control Jenny. We don't know what's going to happen in the future so what's the point of worrying over things that have not even happened? Just give your best Jenny. Don't think about clearing or failing the test and just give your best, all your worries and fear will automatically go away." Sensing the slight shivering of her body stopping Jacob let go of his grip on Jenny.

"Thank you," Jenny said after calming herself down. She truly felt each of Jacob's words and they helped her finally calm herself down.

"Get married already..." Andrey muttered softly from the sidelines but it was audible to both of them. Jacob directed a glare towards Andrey for joking at such moments whereas a tinge of red appeared on Jenny's face.

Upon seeing Jenny's expression Jacob's glaring face soon turned into an embarrassed one as he coughed lightly to forcefully change his expression.

Cough Cough

"I-I need to prepare some notes before the class so I will be going early..." Jacob managed to blurt out an excuse as he quickly escaped from the scene.

Andrey just grinned as he saw all this happening right in front of his eyes. Jenny too soon left for the classroom while Andrey being the slow eater took his time and was the last one to enter the classroom.

The next class was of Mr Thomson and he used the whole period to show several images of Category A reapers to make one point very clear to the students that the appearance of all reapers was very different and they needed to look for specific features to identify them.

This in turn made things difficult for the warriors and military personnel whose job was to take care of reapers in the frontlines. With a change in appearance comes a change in abilities as some might have a long tail which they used as a weapon like the ones which the students had earlier seen in the video. 

There were also some which could use their body parts as projectiles and shoot them towards others. Several people have lost their lives because of this unpredictability which shrouded each reaper. So if one was battling a reaper one should always observe its body parts intensely so that one could predict its attack pattern and not be taken in by surprise.

After the class ended Lisa was standing at the gate all by herself while waiting for Andrey to come. Andrey soon arrived and the two of them beamed a smile at each other upon meeting eyes.

"So, how was your day?" Andrey asked.

Lisa started whining about all the bad stuff that happened to her and Andrey listened to her with an amused expression on his face.

"Seems like a lot happened for you," Andrey said when Lisa paused to take a breather.

"I know right? What about you? How did your day go?" Lisa asked as she felt a bit embarrassed after realising that she almost lost herself a bit and ranted for so long.

"It was good. Mr Thomson told some very interesting stuff about the reapers today and apart from that I also saw the relationship between Jacob and Jenny deepening," Andrey said while looking towards the sky.

"That indeed is a good day. I hope the two of them get together quickly," Lisa said

"Same here, by the way since you have biology as your subject...are you planning to pursue the medical field in the Academy along with the regular training?" Andrey asked. he heard about this from Alex when he specifically inquired about it.

"Indeed, that's what I plan to do," Lisa replied.

"Damn, it's going to be quite arduous for you...you would be required to keep up with both your medical studies along with the studies required for becoming a warrior..." Andrey muttered.

"Well, it indeed is going to be hard but on the bright side...I would be able to help the warriors and other military personnel immediately when they are in need.," Lisa answered with deep conviction in her eyes.

"As motivated as ever, I'm relieved to see this Lisa again as this means that your health is all better now," Andrey said with a chuckle.

"Of course! You just wait as I go through all those piles of information on CoNet that you've been rubbing on my face for the last couple of days and rub it back on your face," Lisa said with an expression that didn't want to lose to Andrey.

"Sure, I'll be waiting for that time to come," Andrey said in an amused manner as the two of them soon reached the familiar crossroads and bid each other goodbye.