The Association

Arial told us all to head towards the Association Hotel, to which we'd have to show our badges—all of us were going together, and once getting there, we did exactly that. "Hello," the woman by the desk replied, "welcome—please show us your badges."

Upon showing our badges, a purple orb by their desk began glowing without her needing to do anything up-close—quickly, a key popped up from thin air that displayed our floor and room numbers. "Your rooms will be on Floor 28, C3, C2 and C1—refer to the teleportation orb over there to instantly get to your desired floor." I've never known that teleportation magic was this common—I've never used it prior to getting evaluated, so I'd assume it's gate-kept by the Association through this badge/note system?

Right after the lady quit speaking, Xter stated, "really? All our rooms are right next to each other? Are you guys trying to make a breeding facility here or something?"

Ella was left without words leaving her mouth, meanwhile I couldn't help myself but laugh at Xter's wit—I didn't expect him to have a sense of humor, let alone one that could make me burst out laughing. 

Once walking up to the door, surprise hogged space on all of our faces—our doors started glowing upon putting hands on the doorknobs. "Huh?" It was responsive to magic. We were quite quiet and didn't talk prior to this, but I ended up raising a question: "Can I try opening one of your doors, guys?"

Xter was silent, but Ella affirmed me. "Sure—I'm curious too." I had already slightly opened up my door (Ella's door wasn't open at all), but when I tried to open her door, it wouldn't budge nor would it glow; quickly, I said, "I see—in other words, no one but us can open our doors." Ella then added, "interesting." Xter subsequently looked away after our little experiment and then went into his dorm; we followed suit, soon after.

A rather small three-room dorm—bedroom that includes a desk w/ a PC, a dresser, fluffy carpet, a plant w/ instructions of watering it daily; a mini-kitchen with a fridge, stove, cooking tools, and recipes that are mandatory to fulfil daily; and a bathroom with equipment you'd expect from any normal restroom.

Then as I walked closer, from the side, "meow!" A cat was in my room!! "Huh?!" As I got down to see it up-close, a note with instructions popped up, along with a litter box:

"Name your cat anything you'd like. He's your only true companion; take care of it rigorously—neglect will result in severe punishment." Why would they enforce something like this?! Regardless, instructions were instructions—it wasn't my place to ignore rules in spite of them being strange in one way or another.

I'll have to grab more things from my place tomorrow—didn't expect to be abruptly put into a new place without warning; everything here seems to be made on the spur of the moment, really. Well, it has all the equipment for living, so I guess I can probably manage for tonight.

As I got comfy in bed, the cat jumped up and rubbed against my face. I smiled. "Why is this a thing…" it kept rubbing against my face and purring. "Maybe… I see why it's a thing." "Fine… your name will be…" I grabbed the cat and turned it around to see if it has any balls… "yup, you got balls—in that case, your name will be…" I looked up… "hmm… what about… Thundermeow Meoximus?" Giggled. "That's it! Your name is Thundermeow!! Thundermeow Meowximus!!" After I said that, above it, a name appeared which quickly faded away as the seconds progressed… "Hah, seems like your name is official now."

At exactly seven in the morning, the alarm clock began going off even though I didn't set it—it seems like they predetermined things even to that extent; I turned it off and then went back to dozing off, but then, at this point to no one's surprise, just five minutes later it went off again, except this time, a holographic timer started ticking with one-hour on the clock:

[YOU HAVE 54 MINUTES AND 41 SECONDS TO LEAVE THE DORM - URGENTLY COMMIT TO YOUR CHORES]

Upon quickly speedrunning my chores and then finally trying to leave my room, the door BEEPED and began glowing red—a warning reminder showed up!! 

[FEED THUNDERMEOW MEOWIMUS - WARNING 1 OUT OF 3 HAS BEEN USED UP]

"Huh… what the actual fuck…" I fed him and then left at exactly eight in the morning… it was a coincidence that I left at that time, but a bunch of other people seemed to be leaving concurrently with me, including my alleged teammates.

Ella was truly sweet—she initiated the friendliness, expectedly knowing how Xter and I are. "Good morning, you two!" Then gently smiled and added with a minor stutter, "y— you two slept well?" Xter didn't reply, so I thought I should be the one breaking the ice. "Umm… I slept well, but you know… it was a little unexpected what we had going on in our rooms…" She awkwardly chuckled and affirmed me. "Yeah… I guess…"

Xter was silent, as usual; I wasn't going to let that slide. "Yo Xter, you going to stay emo or are you going to say somethin' too?" Instead of blasting off at me—which was my expectation—he had a rather simple but satisfactory answer, "need my morning coffee, man, shut the fuck up."

I glanced to the side, then thought for a moment or two—needed the wit to gather up, and then replied, "oh, really? I guess you're more feminine than I thought." That ticked him off—I ended up giggling at my own joke. "Yeah, guess I am—problem?" I followed up, "no, no, why would that be a problem?" 

At first, I felt respect and mild jealousy over Xter's attitude and abilities, next it was just spite—he seemed to be mean and arrogant, but now I'm starting to enjoy this little banter we have going on.

As we teleported downstairs and started leaving the place, a loud notification sound vibrated through the lobby. "Team EXAD, please refer to the reception desk," we went up to it and the lady notified us. "Hello Team EXAD, please wait outside room H-2 on the first floor—you will be taken in before 8:30."

I wonder what's this about—Xter and Ella must also be wondering. We went there and waited. Exactly at 8:30, another notification sound popped up and the door opened; we went in. "Hello, I'm here regarding the legal side of being a Player—before proceeding with your training and missions, you'll need to assign the burden-of-responsibility in terms of your potential death to yourself rather than us. Or, in other words, you'll sign a contract that will excuse us from responsibility in case of you dying. Please read over the contract fully and then make your decision."

Xter went up and signed it without even looking at the contract; Ella was visually anxious and uneasy, so I went ahead and signed it first upon reading the contract—it wasn't particularly special nor did it include anything fishy. She signed last. It's only expected that we undergo contracts like that—being a Player has always been, obviously, dangerous, so we need to take responsibility in case of accidents or even death.

Right after all of us were done signing, the man in a suit stated, "since you signed, from today on, you are officially Players! Welcome to the Association!" Arial subsequently came out from a door other than the one we entered the room from.

"Seems like it's time to start your first mission—ready?"