48. Roommates

“Over here, Armen!”

Noah was waving at me from one of the four bedrooms in the third-floor hallway. Maybe to avoid problems, the organizers had separated us between admitted candidates and rejected ones. Since only forty-two of us had “fulfilled” the requirements of the test, the bedrooms on the other wing of the base must be crammed full.

There was having quite a fuss in front of Noah’s bedroom, though.

“Let us pass, you bastard!” a brown-haired guy was complaining.

“Don’t wanna. I already let the colossus in, and he takes half of the room.”

“Nonsense! Sasha is not that big.”

“Sorry, crimson guy, but you’ve gotta let us in,” Leon said; his face was still masked. From what the Nyomin judge had said, he had evaluated his opponents’ strengths very accurately, and he had been ranked 24th. He went on: “We’re nineteen boys in total. The other room is full. And the third room has been squatted by the girls.”

There were twenty-three girls admitted as EPHT trainees, and I had wondered how they would fit in two bedrooms of ten people… So, in the end, they just stole one room from the boys. Noak tsked.

“So what of it? What do I get if I let you guys pass? Oh, but Armen, you’re different. I’ll let you pass if you crawl in.”

He grinned at me as I stopped by the group. I grinned back.

“Do I have to lick your feet while I’m at it, perv?”

“I’ll kick your face if you do.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Are you aware he’s bullying you, Forty-second?” Leon groaned.

“Haha. He’s totally not. He just fell for me and doesn’t want to admit it.”

They all snorted in disbelief as Noah’s jaw dropped in indignation. A tall black-skinned white-haired afro guy with sunglasses whistled, impressed.

“Whoa, the Forty-second’s really holding his ground against the Twenty-first.”

“You think so?” Noah replied. He put his arms on fire, and the seven of us flinched backwards.

“Hey, Forty-second,” the brown-haired guy grumbled to me, “if you’re smart, don’t tick the Twenty-first off. That guy’s from the Champion Institute. He’s crazy.”

“Oh? But I’m crazier than he is.” I made my way to Noah and stood before him. “Noah. I challenge you. The one who blinks last decides who can sleep in the bedroom. What do you say?”

Noah blinked, a bit fazed.

“Your challenge is lame.”

“Oh? Are you saying that because you think you will lose?”

“Let’s do it,” he replied.

I grinned, then turned to the others.

“You guys, you are the witnesses.”

“What if you win?” the afro guy asked. “Will you let us enter?”

“Of course, I’m not a bully like Noah…” The crimson guy nudged my head. “Ouch… Heh. I’ll just have you introduce yourselves. Don’t wanna sleep with strangers.”

They agreed. Then, on three, Noah and I looked at each other in the eye and began the challenge. I was sure to win. A strange silence filled the hallway. The other rooms were almost totally silent, proof that all the candidates were worn out. And there Noah and I were fooling around, staring at each other.

“It’s been a full minute already,” one of our witnesses whispered.

I smirked. Heh. Noah looked like a madman, his eyes bulging out like that. Suddenly, he puffed out his cheeks, tilted his head, pulled out his lips in a hilarious grimace. When the first witness burst out laughing, I couldn’t help it: I laughed too.

“You blinked, I win!” Noah snickered.

Did I blink? Well, even if I didn’t, I was still laughing, and I couldn’t protest.

“His way of laughing sure is odd…”

“Sure is…”

The door in front of us flew open, and Andrea Sisalik appeared, barking:

“Shut up, boys, and go to sleep! Noah, stop fooling around!”

Noah had turned a little pale.

“Don’t get mad, Andrea—” The door slammed shut. “Geez… Anyway, come in, all of you.”

The eight of us went into the bedroom. The “colossus” they had talked about before was already sound asleep despite the ruckus. Picking my idea, Noah ordered us to introduce ourselves. Did he proclaim himself our leader or something? Anyway, after everyone chose his bunk among the five bunk beds, he said:

“I go first: Noah Sarpong, from the Champion Institute, eighteen years old. I want to go to the training because I don’t want to be at the CI, that is, the Crapperific Institute.”

The brown-haired guy went next:

“Azwyne Liepa, from Nyomin High, seventeen. My father is an Independent Hero, and I want to become one too.”

“Oh? Is your dad famous?” the white-haired afro guy asked.

“W-Well… His Hero name is Liepa Dove.”

“Never heard of him,” a muscly hawk-nosed guy said as he sat down on his bunk. “Zacharias Karr, twenty, unemployed. I’m from Yokohama. I want to have a well-paid job.”

“Sounds familiar. Leon Sakamoto, eighteen, unemployed, looking for a job.” Was he, really?

“Sean Bensaïd, fifteen,” a freckled boy said. “I’m from Jianshan, my parents are Nyomin Heroes, and I’m actually a Nyomin candidate, but I chose to take this examination out of curiosity.”

What?! We all stared at the boy. Well, he didn’t steal someone else’s place, since the jury had only admitted forty-two out of the sixty candidates they should have normally accepted. Were the rejected candidates’ results so bad? Or was it that the cute Nyomin judge had been a bit too strict? Anyway, fortunately, Arkifa and Nina had passed, I had passed, as well as Leon…

“To be honest, I was quite disappointed,” Sean added. “Apart from some exceptions, you guys won’t be able to compete with the Nyomin trainees at all.”

There was a tense silence.

“He’s looking for trouble, isn’t he?” Noah commented.

“He is,” I approved.

“Totally,” Zacharias grunted, standing up.

“Calm down, guys-tachi, calm down,” the white-haired afro guy intervened. He was tall, skinny, and wore a stylish tight-fitting pajama, which reminded me I hadn’t even thought about bringing one for myself. “Let’s not fight tonight. I’m sure Sean-kun didn’t mean it this way. Now then, let me introduce myself. I am Ilija Guiomar Molinelli, twenty-three years old. It seems like I’m the oldest one here, so you can call me big bro! Shashashasha!”

Ilija’s way of laughing was weirder than mine, and even weirder than Linah’s. I smiled.

“I always wanted to have a big bro.”

“Shashasha! Is that so? Armen-kun, was it? Then call me big bro all you want.”

“Big bro. Why the kun?”

“Shashasha, it’s an affectionate honorific from my hometown. I am from Yokohama just like Zacharias, by-the-bye.”

That wasn’t surprising, considering Yokohama was just about two hundred kilometers away from here and was the most populous city in the peninsula.

“Guess it’s my turn!” The one who spoke was wearing a white helmet. I remembered him. He was the boy who had come up to me when we were about to get on the bus and leave Nyomin University. So he was able to speak, after all. “Oliver Picasso, thirteen. My power allows me to connect minds. I think some of you guys already know why I’m wearing this helmet: it’s because, when I’m not wearing it, you can hear my thoughts.”

He took off his helmet and grinned at us. There was a silence. I heard some snorts.

“Isn’t it a bit embarrassing, sometimes?” Azwyne asked. “When you see a girl you like or a guy you hate…”

Oliver grinned, and there was another silence.

“Shashasha! It is, it is!” Ilija then approved. “Wearing a helmet all the time must be tiring.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, kid, I’ll just knock you out if you annoy me,” Noah said.

I looked around, confused. Was I supposed to hear that kid’s thoughts? Finally, Oliver’s eyes turned to me.

“There’s only one person who seems not to hear my thoughts in this room, and that’s you, Armen Moon. I’d want to know why.”

I smiled, embarrassed under my roommates’ gazes.

“I don’t have a clue. Did you say something interesting just now?”

“Oliver is now thinking you must have some kind of protection around your mind,” Sean said.

“He just thought that you must have cheated during the first test,” Noah added. “Is that true?”

“What?” I froze.

“Shashashashasha, I don’t think Armen-kun would do something like that,” Ilija replied cheerfully. “He seems so innocent, does he not? Well, you didn’t introduce yourself yet.”

Why was he so optimistic about me? I cleared my throat.

“Armen Moon, seventeen, I’m a telekinetic, and… I’m a musician. Actually, I released an album with a friend last year—”

“It’s not the time to do your self-promotion, stupidstar.”

“I was just saying.”

They laughed. Then we all turned to the last one of us, the colossus.

“Sasha Devkota,” Azwyne snorted. “I heard he knocked out several candidates. Can’t believe he’s sleeping with all this noise.”

“A true hero,” I nodded, impressed.

“Shashasha! We’d better do the same!” Ilija said. “Nice to meet you, all of you! I hope we will have fun during those two months of training together!”

When he lay down on his own bunk, his feet were sticking out.

Sean, Leon, and Zacharias had chosen the top bunks; Azwyne, Oliver, Ilija, Sasha, and Noah were in the bottom bunks. I was going to go up to my own bunk when Noah grabbed me by the wrist.

“Stupidstar, where are you going? I beat you to your challenge, didn’t I?”

I narrowed one eye. What was he planning?

“You did. So what?”

“You said: the one who blinks last decides who can sleep in the bedroom.”

“I… did say that. So what?”

Noah smirked.

“You must be tired. I won’t prevent you from sleeping… if you promise something.”

I wasn’t tired at all, so why would I? I was a bit annoyed.

“What promise? Did you not have enough with one kiss?”

“Stupidstar, if you keep hitting on me, I’ll beat you up.”

“So scary. So? What do you want?”

“A free meal. No, wait, you’ll pay a meal to all our roommates who want to join. Tomorrow at noon, at Somerville, Coquelicot Square.” He loosened his grasp. “Don’t let us down.”

Did he seriously think I was rich? Someone turned off the lights as soon as I reached my bunk.

The silence fell in the bedroom. I soon heard snores and regular breathings. Everyone was worn out after the test. I switched on my phone, then checked my messages. There were only three of them. One was from Linah:

‘Yesterday, Linah, 12:31: How was the first test?!! Tell me!! Did you pass?’

Oh, right, I had forgotten to check my messages before getting on the bus yesterday. I answered:

‘Armen, 23:43: I passed! 😱 😁 😁 😁’

‘23:43: I ranked last’

‘23:43: But I’m happy 😄’

She didn’t answer. She probably was tired from the train and already asleep on Phoenix Island. That’s what I thought until I read Ray’s message:

‘Yesterday, Ray, 11:50: Oh, Armen, they just informed us that our phones won’t work on the Phoenix Academy’s grounds. So if I don’t answer your messages, you know why. I hope you are okay!’

I pouted. Did that mean I wouldn’t be able to use my phone either once I would get there?

The last message was from Zeeta.

‘Zeeta, 23:39: How are you doing?’

‘Armen, 23:46: I passed the test! 😁 😁 😁’

His answer came right away:

‘Zeeta, 23:46: As expected from my music partner 😎’

‘Armen, 23:47: You believed in me more than I did! As expected of you too! 🎔 🎔 🎔’

‘23:48: I’m last ranked though 😅’

‘Zeeta, 23:48: So many hearts are bad for my heart… 😳’

‘23:49: First ranked and last ranked... You sure like the extremes 😂’

‘23:49: Btw, I hope your fellow candidates aren’t bullying you. If you need help, let me know.’

I bit my lips, muffling a chuckle. If Leon was Zeeta, it only would make sense he would talk about bullies after seeing Noah’s behavior. Also, how did he know I had come first place in the quiz?

I cast a glance at Leon’s bunk. Even though he was covering himself with his blanket, I could guess the light of a phone passing through. I typed:

‘Armen, 23:51: Did you think of the possibility I could be the bully?’

‘Zeeta, 23:51: lol’

‘23:52: You should be back to Farskyer tomorrow morning, right?’

‘Armen, 23:53: Yes, at ten o’clock, normally. I have the water train at seven o’clock in the afternoon.’

It was at six o’clock, actually. I just lied to see if Zeeta would correct me, but he didn’t, surely thinking I would check again the schedule. I couldn’t think of a way to make him reveal his identity… I gave up. After all, he was the one who was hiding.

‘Zeeta, 23:55: How about we "eat" lunch together tomorrow? So you can tell me about the tests.’

He was clearly trying to break Noah’s plans. I rolled my eyes.

‘Armen, 23:56: I’m in! 😍 But what about your job?’

‘Zeeta, 23:57: Don’t worry, I’m done for now. Let’s meet at noon in the ODD, in front of your old house.’

What was he planning, really? I was intrigued.

‘Armen, 23:59: Works for me 😄 But if some bullies follow me, what should I do?’

He took some time to answer:

‘Zeeta, 00:02: If that happens, let’s invite them.’

So he did want to meet Noah as Zeeta. I smiled.

‘Armen, 00:03: Okay 👍 😊’

‘00:06: Sleep well. I’m gonna spend a night meditating surrounded by weirdos. See u tomorrow!’

‘00:07: 👈 Or rather, today.’

‘Zeeta, 00:07: 😂 Sweet meditations.’

I breathed in a long streak of lifeforce, then looked back at the phone. Azritz hadn’t said anything, but just in case she couldn’t sleep, waiting for news, I wrote to her too.

‘Armen, 00:12: Big sis, I may be a genius after all. 😮 Is it contagious? 😷’

I laughed silently. I was well aware I was far from being one.