“Hello, are wewe a new student?” the woman at the front office asks me.
“Oh no,” I correct, “I’m just a temporary visitor. I think my name should be in the system, though.”
“I see. Let me check the database.” She clicks on a few tabs with her panya, kipanya and pushes a few buttons here and there before she asks, “And what’s your full name?”
“My name is Jordan Lunette,” I answer. My last name has always been something significant to me. Lunette derives from the moon. I’ve always regarded the moon as an elusive and mysterious mass. It has a bright side, and it has a dark side. It pulls and pushes the tides of the earth, choreographing the ocean like a skilled conductor, never having to do any zaidi than it has for years and years long passed. It religiously sticks to one routine. In a way, I’m glad that life hasn’t taken to the same mode of schedule. Change is what makes the world grow. Change is what makes the world adventurous.
“Ah, yes,” she says, clicking on another tab. “I’ve found you. Now I’ll have to ask wewe to stand right here and smile for me. This picture is going on your temporary I.D.”
I stand aside and try to smile in a subtle manner. I hate when I smile too big, and I have an unfortunate tendency of doing just that.
After taking the picture, she prints my new I.D. card out of a lamination machine and hands it over to me. Well, at least I look half decent.
My sister does the same thing, and we jiunge Kid and the others near the front doors of the school. The sun gambols in through the enormous hallways, and I’m suddenly filled with awe and an overwhelming zealous feeling of pure peace. The Academy is truly something to marvel over. There is no school that could compare to the beauty of this great building. I would gladly walk around this school during the siku just to examine its many classrooms and corridors.
“Took wewe two long enough,” Black nyota remarks with his arms behind his head, clearly exemplifying his relaxed mood.
I shrug. “We didn’t take that long, did we? I’m sorry if we kept wewe guys waiting.”
Suddenly the kengele rings and the hallways start flooding with kids and staff alike. I glower. Well, it wasn’t our fault. There was a long wait that we had to sit through.
“Oh, no.” Maka looks up at the clock. “Class is going to start soon. We’ll have to give wewe guys a tour later.”
Kid holds up a hand. “No worries. I have their tour under control. Besides it’s my job to look after these two. Go on to class. I won’t be long.”
“All right. If wewe say so, Kid. Come on, guys.” With that, Maka and the rest of them take their leave.
“Don’t have too much fun without me, sweetie,” Soul says, snapping his fingers and pointing at my sister. She giggles and I see a slight shade of pink bloom into her cheeks. If there isn’t something already going on between those two, I’ll be damned.
Kid brings us to the mission board, and I’m simply amazed. The entire ukuta is arrayed with various missions for students to participate in. All wewe have to do is request to be assigned to a mission wewe see, and it’s yours.
Kid points at a few of them. “Those ones at the juu are the most difficult. I would stay away from those until you’re zaidi experienced. Personally, I would start near the bottom and work my way up.”
“Why are wewe telling us this right now, Kid? We’re not exactly students yet. We can’t sign up for any missions,” my sister comments, holding a finger to her lips.
“This is just for future reference when wewe eventually become a part of the student body. Follow me. I’m going to onyesha wewe the cafeteria and maktaba now.”
The cafeteria and maktaba are both quite vast, and I’m very impressed with the grandeur state of the rooms, but not surprised. I expected as much from the size of this Academy. wewe could easily get Lost in this behemoth school if you’re not careful. I even heard that there are hidden dungeons and underground, stone corridors that could lead wewe to who knows where. There is a muziki room, but Kid points out that it’s barely used, and this makes my sister a little upset. Naturally, she’s the most music-oriented person in our family. She knows how to play a few songs on the kinanda and has even taken a few lessons, but she’s never completely learned how to play any complex solos.
Our last visit is the sparring room. The floors are cushioned with machungwa, chungwa foam-like material, and the ceiling is very far up with sunlight filtering in through the sky-views, giving the room a very blithe feeling. I look around me and no one’s here. They must all be in class.
“This is where I will be training you. I want wewe to ripoti here every morning at 6AM on the dot. I won’t tolerate any slacking.”
“Sure,” I say. “We’ll be here.”
“This room is huuuge!” my sister exclaims, outspreading her arms and spinning around in circles. “Oooh! Stairs that lead to the juu balconies! Can I go up there? Please?”
“Yes, wewe may. But make sure wewe don’t break anything up there. There’s a lot of exercise equipment on the balconies.”
But my sister’s not listening. She’s running up the stairs, eager to see what lies up above in such a bright and gigantic gym facility.
“She’s a very rambunctious person, my sister,” I point out.
“She reminds me a lot of Patty,” Kid majibu with his hands on his hips. We watch her run upstairs until she is Lost to sight. She is kind of like Patty. I bet they’re going to be the best of best friends. I smile to myself. I remember when I last had friends. It was in fourth grade. I was quite the social butterfly, kipepeo back then. But things have changed. I barely know how to keep a decent conversation going in real life. It’s disappointing. I’ve turned into such an introverted, quiet girl. I guess I’m not a very entertaining person to be around. That’s why I’ve traded the privilege of having Marafiki for building hobbies like writing, drawing, and creating video on the computer. I’m a stereotypical nerd, but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I’ve always known I’m just a little bit different. But different is good. That’s what I’ve always been taught. I thought I’d never have another social group. I thought I’d never see the day, but look where I’ve ended up. In just a few hours, I’ve developed a friendship with several people – one of those people being the son of Lord Death. It’s amazing how things can change like that.
“Jordan?” Kid asks me. “May I ask wewe something?”
I look at him and smile. “Of course.”
“Well, I guess it’s not necessarily a question,” he says with a vague hint of hesitation in his voice. “It’s zaidi of a request.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I was wondering if you’d synchronize your soul wavelength with mine. If I’m going to be training you, I need to know what I’m working with.”
This is sort of random. I mean, we could synchronize our soul wavelengths tomorrow as a group when we’re training. Why does he want to synchronize them now?
“Um… Sure! I don’t mind.”
“Do wewe know how it works?”
“Yeah, my dad taught me how to do it when I was little. It was difficult at first, but I eventually got the hang of it.”
“Excellent.” He turns his torso toward me, hands at his sides; he looks relaxed and apathetic. I do the same, and we nod at each other to begin.
Expanding our souls to the size of hot air balloons, it takes the work of a moment for us to begin stretching the tips of our souls toward each other. My eyes close as I concentrate on the bond when something unexpected happens. A surge, a feeling rushes through me – a feeling I've never felt before. I sense something, something deep, within our connection. Something indescribable envelops my entire being, and I'm caught. I feel a powerful resonance, and my eyes snap open. Kid's eyes are already open, and I can tell he's feeling the same thing as I am. I can feel it. I feel a powerful pull toward him, a strong desire to be near him. I suddenly feel as if I've known Kid all my life, and he's the only thing keeping me on my feet. Every ounce of reason disappears. All that matters is Kid and only Kid. I feel the same feelings surging from his soul wavelength, and it makes me considerably astounded. I feel his desire. I feel his power. It's amazing.
I wish for the connection to last forever, to dwell in the rate of the omnipotent resonance for as long as possible when Kid’s soul snaps back – the connection Lost - and as it snaps back, Kid is thrown backward into a wall. With a small huff of pain, Kid falls to the floor, worn out and completely weakened.
“Kid!” I run over to him and kneel beside him. He rolls over on his back and looks up at me. “I’m okay.” He coughs.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened. That’s never occurred before. Are wewe sure you’re okay?”
With a look of discomfort, Kid forces himself into a sitting position. “Yeah, I’m fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced failure with resonance link. It’s just never been this violent before.”
He’s right. When soul resonance fails, it’s never this aggressive at all, but was that really resonance failure? I thought we were matching soul wavelengths perfectly. How strange. Usually, when two souls fail to connect, the soul explodes and snaps back into the meister’s body, leaving the meister considerably fatigued, but it never causes the meister to be thrown ten feet away from where he au she is standing. This doesn’t make sense. My soul wavelength synchronizes with my sister’s just fine. Why did it reject Kid’s after such an amazing resonance?
I look down at him and stare into his yellow eyes. He's staring back, and I can see that he knows exactly what I'm thinking about: the bond. I hold my gaze. I can't tear it away, not for a second. It's like whatever connection we just experienced is still there, and it's keeping my stare glued to his. What was that? I've never matched soul wavelengths so powerfully with another person like that before, not even my own sister au father. Why would my soul match so perfectly with Kid's like that? A boy that I barely know comes into my life, and in only two days, he matches soul wavelengths with me as if we've known each other since birth.
Gradually, I help him to his feet and he seems to shake off the pain with ease. I can’t see the son of Lord Death failing to comply with the requirements of soul resonance. The problem must have been me. What did I do wrong? I followed all of Dad’s instructions, didn’t I?
“I can’t apologize enough… That wasn’t intended whatsoever.”
“No need to apologize,” he says, with a small and comforting smile. He was just thrown into a ukuta because of my soul wavelength and he’s trying to comfort me? “I know wewe didn’t intend to throw me across the room. Unfortunately, I don’t understand what happened, but we’ll get to the bottom of it. I know a lot about phasmology, but I’ve never encountered something like this before.” He then appears to be in deep thought as he stares into the floor, like the secret to what happened between our souls lies within the ground somewhere.
“Right. Maybe Lord Death could shed some light on it,” I offer.
“Maybe you’re right.”
Finally, my sister makes her way back down the stairs and rejoins us.
"It's pretty cool up there," she points out. "I like this school. I hope we get in."
"I'm sure wewe two will," Kid assures, glancing at me briefly. "Say, Adrienne… Do wewe think your sister has a strong soul wavelength? And kwa strong, I mean significantly strong."
"Yeah," my sister responds. "I've always known she has a strong soul wavelength. I've never really been able to truly feel it, though. When two blood relatives match soul wavelengths, they don't even really have to try. Since they're related, they're automatically able to resonance without a problem."
"That is correct," Kid agrees. "I think your sister has a very…unique soul wavelength. Perhaps with time, we'll be able to learn zaidi about it."
Learn zaidi about my soul wavelength? He seems to forget that he and I just experienced a very strong resonance together. His soul plays in a large part of it, too, and because of that, I'm determined to learn zaidi about this young, meticulous Grim Reaper's soul wavelength as well. I'm having a feeling there's a lot zaidi to it than most people can sense. I'll get to the bottom of it one way au another. Why do Kid and I have such an esoteric bond? Why are we able to resonance so strongly? Why do I feel a strong pull to him like a magnet? What is going on?
