I saw Itsuki approaching us through the fog. After what felt like forever, he had finally returned with his final individual. The doctor and I both let out a sigh of relief, as we knew the dust had finally started to settle, and it was now time for us to leave.

"You're back, I was starting to worry!" said the doctor. Itsuki scoffed.

"I was never in any danger, I'm just glad nobody in our simulation lost their life. The worst we had were a couple of unconscious people, but even they are recovering now."

"I think it's best if we leave and shut this simulation down. Whatever unusuals left in here will be dealt with later, we just need to get everybody to safety," said Itsuki.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" I asked. I was still unsure of the circumstances, but based on the conditions of those who escaped, and that a menace had shown up when it wasn't supposed to, I could only assume the situation was dire.

"Not the slightest. But if I had to guess, I'd say they accidentally released unusuals of significantly higher threat levels into these rooms, causing mass destruction and injury to the participants..."

My suspicions were confirmed. If a menace-level threat was strong enough to knock out three individuals, I wondered what had happened to the other simulations that faced similar threats. If one were to encounter a menace alone...I didn't want to think about the consequences.

"This has never happened before in the history of the academy, as far as I am concerned. I wonder what Mr. Otsuka will have to say about this," said Itsuki, shutting his eyes. He was deep in thought.

After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes, sighed, and started to make his way toward the exit. He waved us over to him, and we followed. When everybody had exited the simulation, Itsuki turned around, and slammed the doors shut, locking them.

Immediately after doing so, a group of administrators swarmed the entrance to the simulation and blocked it off with caution tape. I looked around at the other simulations, and they were also blocked off with a similar-looking tape. Furthermore, I noticed something horrifying in the distance...

"Itsuki, look over there..." I said, pointing him in the direction of a group of white sheets covering what appeared to be bodies on the ground. It didn't take long for the two of us to realize that they were corpses...the doctor was right, people had died...

"Jesus Christ..." said Itsuki, walking away from us. He was angered, punching the air as he made his way to a group of administrators in the distance. When he arrived, he engaged in a violent argument with them. We couldn't hear what was being said, but we knew that he had completely lost his cool.

"Hachiro, was it?" asked the doctor, standing behind me.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm going to lead these three people to my medical tent. Thank you for providing this one with your shirt, if it wasn't for your selflessness, he would have most likely bled out and died where he lay. Here, take this." he said, tossing me a spare white T-Shirt. I put it on and gave the doctor a firm handshake before he left with the three individuals.

The doctor left, and I began to collect my thoughts. I was grateful to be alive. Despite only encountering an aberrant, I still struggled, and that was including all of the training I had endured up until that point. After walking toward one of the tents, a sense of urgency overcame my body as one thought entered my head.

...AKISADA!

I realized that Akisada hadn't contacted me yet. I hoped he hadn't perished with the group of bodies that lay no more than a few yards from the medical tents... I ran through the crowds of people in a desperate attempt to find him.

"Akisada! Where are you? Are you here?" I yelled across the field, but I got no response. I continued to make my way towards the simulations where the green envelopes had gathered. I was running quite fast, weaving in and out of the people that stood around me.

*Bang!*

"Ow!" I said, falling to the ground. I had run into somebody who was making their way in the opposite direction. When I stood up, I realized who I had run into. It was Kage, he was alive!

"Kage! I'm glad you're alive. Are you okay?" I asked him, helping him to his feet. He brushed himself off before punching me in the shoulder.

"Yeah I'm okay, but watch where you're going! I'm trying to find my sister, she's here too. Who are you looking for?" he asked.

"I'm looking for Akisada, have you seen him?"

"Oh yeah, I saw him back there by those two large trees, he's actually looking for you too. Listen, Hachiro, some serious shit went down, there was a freaking Terror-level unusual in our simulation, Tsukasa had to take it down because it was kicking our asses!"

"A WHAT?" I asked. Terror-level unusuals were powerful enough to wipe out an entire city of civilians, how on Earth did they manage to mess up and release one into a simulation??

"Listen I can't chat anymore, I need to find my sister, she should have been with the silver envelopes. I'll meet back up with you and Akisada when I find her, glad you're alive pal," he said, patting me on the back.

He quickly made his way through the crowd of people and disappeared into it. I turned back around and pressed on in hopes of running into Akisada. After walking for a few more minutes, I eventually found him.

"Akisada! Over here!" I called out. He turned around, noticed me, and ran over to me. When he arrived, he laughed and gave me a high five. What was up with him?

"Hachiro, oh am I glad to see you! Our simulation got messed up and we ended up fighting a bunch of aberrants, people were getting wiped out left and right! I'm lucky I made it out alive, what's up with you?"

"The same, we had a menace in our simulation, and according to Kage, the golden envelopes had to deal with a terror-level threat..."

Akisada's aura changed from that of comical relief to that of seriousness immediately. As soon as he heard the word "terror", his entire demeanor changed.

"...wait, you mean the things capable of wiping out a city?"

"Yes, those exactly. A Kanpeki member killed it, but it absolutely annihilated the students Kage was with..."

"That's horrifying... I'm just glad you two are alive," said Akisada, giving me a hug. It was reassuring to know that the two friends that I had here were still alive. I began to wonder what might have happened to that one girl who was with me and Kage, Haruka...

"Attention students, please come to the center of the field immediately!" yelled a voice through a microphone. It was Mr. Otsuka. He was calling everybody to the center. Did this mean every simulation had been evacuated?

"Hey, follow me, I wanna hear this," I said, leading Akisada in my direction. We walked back to the middle of the field where a large crowd of people had gathered. The crowd was significantly smaller than the one that was present before the evaluation had begun, which wasn't a good sign...

When we arrived, Mr. Otsuka stepped up to a microphone that was set up on the field. He had removed his hat and had a look of sheer melancholy on his face. He was trying to prepare what he would say to us, but everybody could tell he was struggling to get the words out.

"Welcome back everybody. As I'm sure you're all aware, an incident has occurred within our testing facility. I know you all are confused and upset, and you all deserve to know the truth about what went on." he said with apprehension.

"As you can see, the crowd of individuals standing before me is not the same crowd that stood before me prior to the final evaluation taking place. It is much smaller...you see, we lost a significant number of students during the evaluation."

The entire field went dead silent. Not a single person spoke. The collective energy throughout the area was incredibly subdued, and it was full of lament. I took notice of the Kanpeki standing behind Mr. Otsuka. They were in formation, kneeling with their eyes shut.

"Prior to the evaluation, I took every single measure in my power to ensure that an event such as this would not take place. But even with the utmost preparation, I have failed every single one of you...and for that, I will never forgive myself..."

"I believe that the fatal error occurred when we scouted the surrounding area for suitable unusuals to insert into our simulations. The only reasonable explanation for such an event can be attributed to the failure to accurately classify the threat levels of the unusuals we apprehended."

"Every single unusual that you fought, was one level higher than it should have been. Unusuals that were supposed to be anomalies were actually aberrants, and so on...this led to the injury of many students, as well as the unfortunate deaths of a few students..."

As Mr. Otsuka continued his speech, my sword began to glow. Celeste was trying to listen in on the announcement. I was curious, had I actually defeated an aberrant? Or was I actually fighting a menace? I inquired Celeste about this.

"Hey Celeste, that demon I defeated earlier, was it truly an aberrant?"

"It was. Based on what Mr. Otsuka is saying, perhaps that demon would have been classified as an anomaly, but it actually possessed aberrant strength. My classification was indeed correct though, despite the academy's flaw."

"I see...so Itsuki's classification of the menace was also correct, despite it being labeled as an aberrant. Everything was labeled one level too low..."

"That's correct. Every single unusual that was faced in this evaluation was one-level higher than it was classified as," said Celeste, receding back into my blade. I looked back up at Mr. Otsuka, who was concluding his announcement.

"Every single one of you is resilient. Despite these dire circumstances, you all managed to come out alive. I want you all to listen carefully to what I am about to say next, as I am about to make a decision I have never made before in the history of this academy."

"Everybody standing here before me is a survivor. You all showed incredible valor in fighting these demons who were much stronger than anticipated. Because of this, I have decided to admit every single one of you into Eritoakademi."

"All of you, you are the generation of survivors..."