Goals

About 3 days after the students registered, their studies were about to begin.

Hirowa called them into the small assembly room in the main building, to explain to them what the agenda was for the day, and the rest of the week.

As the students gathered and sat in the hall, he started speaking.

"I hope you all enjoyed your 3 day break. However, It's time to get serious now and start thinking of your futures. I'll get straight to it. Today and the rest of the week, you will all be deciding what pathways you're going to be taking at this Academy. I'll explain what I mean by that.

You all know the functions of institutions such as the horizon Academy is to make sure the future generations are well prepared for modern society.

Essentially, we help you utilise your powers in the best possible way and link it to the best possible occupation.

There are also non-conventional routes to take, which will all be discussed this week"

There was some information projected on a screen behind him as he continued speaking, "behind me are some examples of pathways you can all take. There are also some questionnaires under your seats, fill in your names and the pathway you think is best suited for you. You will be able to revisit this or change it in the first few weeks if you aren't happy with your current pathway."

The students reached down and grabbed the pieces of papers, talking amongst themselves as they figured out what they were going to do with their futures.

On the questionnaire, there were numerous pathways and branches they could've chosen. For example, in the medical pathway, there were various branches like; vet, psychiatrist, radiologist etc.

Other pathways included; Public services, Entertainment, and sport with a vast variety of branches to choose from.

As the students around him filled in their names ticked different boxes, Yashiro sat still with a completely blank mind.

He hadn't given much thought to what he wanted to do after entering the Academy. He looked over at Rando and Rani who appeared to have already ticked their boxes.

He moved over to Rando, tapped his shoulder and asked, "Hey Rando, what pathway did you select?"

Rando smiled softly before responding, "This has to be your decision to make Shiro. Don't let my decision influence yours. We'll talk about it after you have chosen a path"

Yashiro groaned before sinking back into his seat.

After a few more minutes, Hirowa addressed the room again.

"If you are finding it hard to choose a pathway. Remember, you still have the rest of the week to decide. Take your questionnaire's with you and bring them to the main staff room at any point after you fill them in. For those of you who have already decided, bring your questionnaire's forward. The data you've given would determine what your timetables would be like. Your new timetables will be given out within 2 days, that will be all."

As the students returned to their dorms, Rando and Rani caught up with Yashiro.

"Hey Yashiro, what did you end up picking?" Rani said, placing her hands on his shoulder and leaning on him.

"I haven't decided yet" He replied. "Frankly, I'm stumped. We're you guys able to decide?"

Excitedly, Rani said "Yeah, I chose the toxicology branch in the medical pathway"

"That's brilliant, Rani"

Rando nodded in agreement, as he and Rani had already discussed what pathways they were taking. He then addressed Yashiro, "in your case Yashiro, you just need to take your time. I'm sure it'll come to you"

He nodded and smiled at both Rando and Rani, before walking in a different direction. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I'm gonna blow off some steam at the gym"

As he left, Rando said to Rani, who was eager to help Yashiro, "Let's give him some space. He needs to figure this out himself"

After Yashiro finished at the gym and got back to his room, he decided to talk to his mother about what he was going through.

After about 2 rings, his mother picked up the phone.

"Hey mum how are you"

"I'm fine thank you son, is everything okay? You seem low"

Yashiro smiled slightly before responding, "I'm just finding it hard to make a decision. There are these pathways we can take, like a medicinal pathway, or a public service pathway but nothing is coming to mind. What do you think is best suited for my ability. Rani chose toxicology because of her poison abilities and that really goes so well. I can't think of anything that goes well with mine."

"Have you spoken to your teachers? They may have better ways for you to use and implement your powers"

"No I haven't, I'll do that tomorrow. I just wanted to know what you think"

Kirinaha laughed a little, "well, you've always had a strong sense of justice, just like your father did. Why not use your abilities to help others, like firefighting, or something similar?"

"I'll give that some thought, thanks mum"

"No problem, sweetheart"

"I'll let you know what pathway I decide to choose, I'll speak to you later"

"alright, have fun"

The next day, Yashiro went to the main staff room to speak to one of his teachers. After they told him to come in, he explained to them what his problem was. Zuno and Tokiho tried as much as they could to help him but by the end of the meeting, he realised that Rando was right. This was something he would have to think hard about and arrive at a conclusion himself.

Afterwards, he thanked them and went back to his room and started thinking about what he really wanted.

After a lot of deliberation, he realised everytime he thought about it, he pictured himself doing something in the public service pathway. He didn't know if it was because of what his mother said or if those were his true feelings, but he ran his finger through the branches again to see if any would catch his eye.

As he scrolled, he noticed a particular branch entitled 'Guardian'

"Guardian?" He muttered to himself.

He pulled out his laptop and quickly searched 'guardian pathway'

It stated, 'A guardian is a rare individual or group of individuals who are called upon if the emergency services require help. Similarly to the police, they are given the authority to appherend criminals and law breakers and are allowed to act on their own within the constructs of the law before the emergency services get to the scene of a crime or emergency.'

He smiled at the sight of this, thinking to himself [A guardian. It makes me sound like a dad but I can see myself doing that]

He checked the questionnaire one more time to make sure he was happy with his choice then ticked the guardian box.

As he was about to walk back to the staff room, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in" He said, and Rando poked his head through the door before fully walking in.

"Any luck?" He asked.

Yashiro smiled and showed him his questionnaire

"Guardian" Rando replied, reading out loud, before breaking into a grin. "We're in the same pathway. I picked police"

"I knew we were brothers" Yashiro said, as the pair laughed and headed to the staff room.

*

A small number of the group who had been stirring up a storm, responsible for robbing the museum gathered in their usual safe house.

"Thank you all for gathering here" 1 said, addressing the whole room of about 10 people "We all know why we are here so I won't waste your time. There are only 2 pieces left to complete the fetter staff. As soon as it's completed, as you all know, we will obtain the key to immortality and complete invincibility. We'd be unstoppable.

All attempts to retrieve the pieces have been successful so far but the last 2 may prove difficult because of where they're located.

One is located at one of the police stations nearby, Imahaya Akanori's precinct."

As he said this, there where a few sighs and groans from the people in the room. In the background, someone said, "isn't that where that cyborg detective is located?"

"That's a very tricky place for a piece to be in" 3 said, "Do you have a plan to get it? Without any of us getting arrested or killed?"

"I'm working on it 3, I'll let you all know" He paused for a few seconds, then continued. "Now, as for the other location, it is the disreputable Horizon Academy"

5 laughed while 3 and several others put their heads in their hands.

1 continued, "we will leave that piece for last. Even though he's not here right now, 0 should be able to help us with that, it shouldn't be much of a problem. For now, we just need to focus on the police station"

2, who sat with her legs crossed and arms folded, finally spoke. "1, we are going through all this trouble collecting pieces. How can we all be so sure that it'll grant us immortality and/or invincibility?"

The room went silent as they awaited 1's response. After a few seconds, he finally answered.

"We can't be 100 percent sure about anything but we've all at some point, seen the grandmaster. He looks like he's lived for 500 years or more but even if all of us went against him together, most of us would probably die.

No one said anything, so 1 continued, "Going off that, there has to be some element of truth to what he's telling us about what happens after we assemble all the pieces. Is that good enough for you, 2?"

She nodded in response

"As I was saying, the police station. We need to know schedules, numbers of officers at every given time, we also need to think about the most likely location to hide the fragment of the fetter staff.

2, 7, and 9 I'll leave that to you.

We'll formulate a plan based on your feedback. Any other questions?"

"What should the rest of us be doing for the time being" 5 asked, with a menacing smile

1 sighed, "keep a low profile, especially you, 3 the police know what you look now" 5 was about to tease 3, but 1 cut him off "you too 5, your violent nature can bring us unnecessary attention. So cool it" He waited to see if there were any more questions, then spoke once more.

"We are so close guys. We're very close to achieving our goal. We can't fail or falter now. I'll speak to 0 regarding the horizon Academy and get back to all of you. That will be all"

As he said this, he walked slowly towards the entrance of the safe house/ hideout.

[These next few weeks should be very interesting. Old man, I'm close to achieving your dream. Just watch me] 3 thought, as everyone started to leave.