6 Years Later (2121): Sector 1-Tenno Academy Class 2A

Aku opened her eyes to the sound of the lunch bell. She saw the rows of empty desks- the screens all flashing the lunch menu of the day: curry. Aku stood from her desk and yawned widely as she made her way to the door; her body was stiff. The hallway was filled with students chatting and running their separate ways. She glanced out the large window that made the outer wall of the building. The buildings of Sector 1 shot out from the ground in sharp angles with round edges. Aku lazily opened the door to class 2-A.

“Aku!!” Arisa called happily from her seat; her low brown pigtails bounced softly as she moved. She was in a bright mood as usual, “Were you asleep in class?”

Aku smiled as she sat across from her and began to rebraid her own long blonde hair, “Not all of us are excited to be at the academy Arisa.”

“Arisa,” Keiko pleaded as she lifted her head from the desk, “you’re going to share your lunch with me right?” her eyes poked through the pink hairs that hung over her face.

Arisa folded her arms and pouted, “Why do I even make you lunch in the mornings if you’re just going to leave it on the counter?” She shook her head and pushed the lunch box between her and Keiko.

“Ahh!! Arisa is always so sweet to make lunch for her loving sister,” Seiji was suddenly leaning on the desks they had pushed together, “Where is my loving lunch?” his free hand twisted the ends of his pale brown hair he tied over his shoulder.

Aku rolled her eyes, enemy.

He pointed to the far side of the classroom, “You think any of those agents know how to cook?”

Aku turned to look at them; her eyes fixated on the special crest adorned on their uniform sleeves. Shoutarou and Ryuichi were laughing and eating their bread hastily while Hiroto appeared fast asleep at his desk. Enemy, enemy, enemy.

Keiko and Arisa laughed slightly but Keiko’s face shifted when she saw who approached behind Arisa.

“I don’t know how Keiko leaves such delicious looking food at home,”

Arisa looked behind her to see Kyoushirou smiling at her. He had a thick neck and wide shoulders like a knight’s shield. She tried to hide her blush, “It’s only delicious looking,”

“Kyou!!! You have to hear what Ryu answered on his homework!!!” Shou shouted and Kyou walked over to them. Aku’s gaze followed him, enemy.

After a few moments of eating Aku stood from her seat, “I should head back to class.”

Keiko stood as well, “I’ll walk with you- I need to wash my hands anyways.”

Arisa smiled and waved as the two left. But when they stepped to the door a wave of girls were pushing through them, “Seiji!!”

Keiko growled at the annoyance. This always happened during lunch. They could hear Seiji from his desk, “Ahhh how nice to see all of you!”

Their tones and faces grew serious as they stepped into the empty hall, “So you think the rumors are true?”

Aku nodded, “There is a new agent joining their ranks...from Sector 21,”

“This is getting too risky...I don’t know how much longer we can hide like this.”

“We have to...it’s not like we can leave.”

Keiko sighed, “I know,” the two stepped into 2-B, “Just be careful. See what you can learn about him but keep your distance.”

Aku nodded, what else would she do?

“It’s going to be great here! You’ll see the clean sectors have a lot more to offer,” Ryu walked into the classroom with Kyou and a tall student following him.

Before Aku or Keiko could say anything the bell rang and Keiko ran out to get to her class. Aku took her seat and stared intently at the new tall student. Something about him made her senses alert. She didn’t like there being a new STAM agent and she certainly didn’t like the look that this one had in his eye, to think a child of Mr.Black might feel hesitant about a mere human.

“Alright class take your seats. We have a new student joining us today. He is a transfer student directly through STAM,” the teacher grinned pridefully, “so I will let him introduce himself,”

The boy stood at the front of the class with his hands in his pockets. He was tall and thin, his arms seemed nearly too long for his body. His dark greenish hair was shaved short on the sides while the hair on top was pulled back into a small bun, “I’m Reikokuna Kenji from Sector 21. Nice to meet ya’ ” he grinned in a way that made Aku’s skin crawl. The new agent.

End of the School Day

Kyoushirou was waiting at the front entrance of the academy; he was always the first one out of the school. He leaned against the wall of the gate and tried to ignore the murmurs about him, “That’s him- Rank 1- Kyoushirou- the leader- the face of STAM-”

He sighed, you’d think they would be used to me being here by now…

“Yo Kyou!” Shou grinned as he, Seiji, and Ryu walked up.

Kyou looked behind them and saw Hiroto making his way over, “Where’s Kenji?”

Ryu looked around confused, “What do you mean? Didn’t he come out with you?”

“We lost the new kid already?” Seiji chuckled.

Hiro walked past them with his hands in his pockets. He yawned widely as he spoke, “He ran out ahead of Kyou. He’s probably already at STAM.”

Sector 1: STAM HQ- Combat Facility

The 5 agents were standing above the facility in the operation room. All eyes were in the room below on Kenji as he warmed up for the upcoming test.

“Ah, this brings back memories,” Ryu rubbed his hands together, “Remember how scared I was that a real mutant would jump out during the test?”

Shou laughed, “You almost pissed your pants you were so scared.”

“This is stupid!” Seiji was grinding his teeth and stood with his arms crossed, “We all went through this when we were kids! Now this guy shows up and gets tested? It’s unfair.”

Hiro rolled his eyes. He was leaning against the wall, “You worried he’s gonna take your rank?”

Seiji scoffed, “Are you kidding? I’m worried we are wasting our time on this new guy. He doesn’t even have a weapon!”

“He’s got that spear thing though?” Ryu pointed to the long wooden spear that Kenji was using down below.

Shou shook his head, “It’s not from STAM.”

“He doesn’t have an anti-mutant weapon??” Ryu pushed his face against the glass trying to get a better look, “How is he gonna be an agent?”

Kyou was sitting at the main control seat. His brow furrowed and his scowl concerned, “STAM made an anti-mutant weapon for him.”

Everyone turned to Kyou but Kyou’s gaze was locked on Kenji below.

“He laughed at them and told them he was an anti-mutant weapon.”

Seiji scoffed, “What an asshole. There’s no way he will last.”

Kyou knew better. He knew what Kenji was: a mutant killer. His home town was famous for their brutal nature toward mutants. They hunted mutants for sport and displayed their corpses on the borders of their land. Kenji had been hunting mutants since he was a young boy, just like the other STAM agents. But Kenji was doing it without the help of weapons- it was just him and a spear. Kyou took a breath and spoke into the microphone to Kenji, “You are about to begin the combat assessment. You will be thrown into a combat situation against holographic mutants. Your job is to handle as many mutants as possible without harming any humans...”