The chalky white words started to zip around the room much faster, leaving everyone in a tizzy trying to formulate the actual question.
Megumi tried her best to get a glance of the word as the kept moving in the air and on the ground like bugs.
Suddenly, Sayko whipped her arms up, grabbing nothing in her hand. She studied it before releasing her fingers. She did the same thing several more times, even reaching at the floor.
The other student's seeing Sayko's actions did the same thing leaving Megumi as the only person confused.
"Wait. But they're not looking at anything…" Her thoughts shifted back to when everyone gave out the false name of their examiner, Sar.
"Hold on… Are we… seeing different things?"
"Four minutes!" Sar announced.
Startled Megumi understood now that she had to somehow catch the words that were flying all around her. Like Sayko and the other two she whipped her hand out in a desperate attempt to catch the flying words. She missed the first. Then the second.
She caught the first try, catching the word 'Where'.
"Correct." Sar announced.
Like last time, Sayko was first. She and Megumi watched as her sheet of paper vanished from her desk.
"If she could do it. So can I!" invigorated, Megumi pushed on to catch more of the flying words.
She pushed for another word failing and succeeding. The word she caught was 'Killed'.
She pushed on.
"Three minutes."
She moved forward. Trying to catch another word.
"Incorrect."
A sheet of paper vanished from another examinee's desk, leaving them in shock. Megumi tried to ignore this, continuing her search.
She failed and succeeded, catching words in her hands. Eventually she kept catching the same words by mistake leaving one-word unaccounted for.
"One minute."
"Correct"
Megumi once again was the last one not to answer. And there was only one word left to decipher the question. So far, the question posed seems to be, 'Where does a person go to killed?'
The phrasing didn't make sense to her. She searched around, looking for a word, any word that looked different. Using her keen new reflexes she caught a new word 'When'.
Megumi froze seeing this new word.
"Thirty seconds… Megumi Scorn."
Megumi felt as though everyone was staring at her now. Does she guess what the question is now? Or does she keep looking around for another word.
"What are you doing?" Sayko said with a fringe smile. She peeked with one eye on Megumi as she leaned back on her chair. "This question is easy."
"Shut it." Sar ordered.
Megumi could tell that Sayko wasn't mocking. It's like she had no doubts that she'd get it correct.
Megumi's mind raced. A light bulb lit up in Megumi's head and now she was going to take a chance.
Without hesitation Megumi wrote the word, 'PURGATORY' onto the sheet of paper
Her paper quickly vanished soon after with her answer recorded.
Theres a silence as the Sar didn't answer whether she was correct or not. Instead, he posed a new question posed at Megumi.
"Tell me… Megumi. Do you like to take chances?"
As much as she wanted to say something else, she understood that not answering the question would automatically fail her. She pursed her lips and answered.
"No. I don't like taking chances."
Sar looked at a paper in his hands as though it was Megumi's. It soon disappeared like mist from his hands as he gave his answer.
"Correct."
A wave of relief struck Megumi/ She never knew that answering simple questions could be so tense.
"Derrick Myers. You may leave now." Sar said.
The examinee that failed promptly got up, leaving the classroom.
"And Megumi. I will have to ask that you sit up here for the last two questions."
"What a shame." Sayko said.
Reluctantly, Megumi got up and sat at the desk Sar pointed to.
"And now, I will give you your fourth question. Like before you will answer it on a sheet of paper in your own words." Sar raised his chalk again and scribbled away into the air. Words formed one by one, this time forming what seemed to be a straightforward question.
Suddenly the letters in each word rapidly change to new different letters, then different symbols and numbers.
This turn of events even stumped Sayko as her eyes widened with her retained smile. She gazed more intently at it before shifting her eyes around the room.
"You all have three minutes to answer." Sar said.
"Three minutes!? How are we supposed to solve that!?" Megumi thought.
Sar watched on as everyone had their eyes glued keenly at the shifting question. They would periodically glance around as if there were other hidden clues or hints to solving this impossible question.
Sar glanced keenly at Megumi, narrowing his eyes. "This girl hasn't been in purgatory for a month and she's already trying to become a reaper… You've put up a good fight but you're not ready for what it takes. And this question to see that you fail…"
Sayko gave out a chuckle, as if the question was the most obvious thing in the world. The other examinee did the same and wrote down their answer with the response of, "Correct."
This left Megumi dumbfounded at how they could actually solve it as fast as they did. Panicked, she looked round the room more furiously, and bit her fingers as she found nothing of note.
Sar smirked. "As I suspected, she can't decipher the question. So that means she's still unaware of the shroud over her eyes."
Megumi looked back from her desk to the floating question above, biting her thumb. Suddenly a recollection of what Liang told her and Dino the night before arose.
"[You could say this is a little bit of insider knowledge, but no one needs to know I told you two…]"
********
Megumi and Dino at a quant table in Liang's Chinese decorated home. He stood in front of the two as K sat further behind Liang reading a book in his living room.
"When you get to your exam room, just remember, they're testing your perception. They might ask a couple of questions here and there, some more strict than others…. But overall, your senses will be key."
Dino brought his hand to his chin pondering what they've just been told.
"Uh." Megumi raised her hand. "Do you have any advice for us? For these tests I mean."
"Liang thought to himself for a moment. "Hmm… I supposed my only advice for those would be to keep an eye out for anything that feels off and different. If you do feel weird or different, it's probably because one of your perceptions are being blocked or shrouded."
"And what do we do then?" Dino asked.
Liang smiled, amused by the question "Well you just fire your five senses into overdrive, of course."
********
"One of my perceptions is probably blocked… But… How do I fire all of my senses into overdrive?"
"One minute." Sar announced
Yet again Megumi was faced with another timer that was counting down on her.
"[Calm yourself, and focus.]" Megumi's shadow said. Her dark copy repeated itself and with reluctance, Megumi listened.
She listened to the silence of the room, the smell of the chalk room. The touch of the cold deck, then the soft taste of vanilla in her mouth. She then opened her eyes, focusing her sight.
To her amazement the rapidly changing words dispelled forming actual words. With the question, 'Have you dispelled my illusion?'.
It was a shockingly simple question that was self-aware of the actual trail at hand. Megumi didn't hesitate to write in her answer.
'Yes, I broke through the illusion.'
Her paper vanished into mist. Sar with the paper in hand yet again scrutinized it. "This is… Correct."
There seemed to be a hint of disappointment in his voice. Without giving Megumi a chance to relish in this small victory he tossed the paper to the side and sighed. "Alright, fine. Now onto the final question…"
A new sheet of paper appeared before them all, with all of the seven deadly sins, accompanied by a checkbox.
"What is my sin? You have thirty seconds to answer."
"h-his … Sin?" Megumi pondered for a moment. "Liang warned me about this too…"
To Sar's surprise, Megumi was the first to check off a box. He raised a brow as he watched the sheet vanish from her desk. Sayko and the other examinee did the same, checking off a box with confidence.
Sar blurted out a laugh. He then conjured the three sheets of papers in front of them. He looked at the paper's seeing a single wrong answer.
"Sayko Alister… You passed."
Sayko's smile seemed to have widened as she leaned back at her desk.
"Megumi Scorn…" Sar took a deep breath. "You passed as well."
Sar then glanced over to the last examinee. "Trevor Tiles… You have failed.'
Sar showed the results to everyone there.
"My son is not Envy. It is in fact Greed."
Trevor slammed his fist on the desk. "Damn it! But how!?"
Sar brought his head and papers down as he explained. "While it's true that the sin of Envy can trick the mind of others. It cannot show them different illusions. In fact, what you believed were illusions were simply me stealing each of your perceptions away from you."
Sar brought his sharp gaze back up. "In fact, you can say that I created an illusion of a sin I never had. As a reaper You need to be able to identify a demon's true sin through their actions. Not being able to figure out their true sin could cost you your life in the field when you have to fight monstrous demons that could hide their true strength."
Trevor, as much as he didn't want to accept the judgement, was forced to listen. Both Megumi and Sayko could see that he was writhing but kept quiet as Sar continued.
"To be honest I'm Surprised that you discover- No… You knew my sin the entire time, didn't you." Sar darted his eyes at Megumi who froze.
Megumi suddenly felt shy and started to speak more merely. "I- I… I only figured it out after the fourth question. I figured that you might've been the reason why everyone was acting weird when I arrived."
"Ack! How could I miss something so simple!" Trevor complained.
Sar kept his eyes glued to Megumi as if pondering something. He turned his back and the door to their room opened as if by magic.
"Either way, Congratulations to the two of you for passing, and I'm sure you'll be able to next time Trevor." Sar raised his hand, gesturing with it. "The gathering won't take place for another hour so since we're early. So do what you will until then. Explore, talk, play games. Just don't cause a ruckus."
Megumi sat, surprised by the sudden end to their test. "He can't be serious. That's it? We're just done… Early?"
"Woohoo!!" Sayko sprinted out of the room, without a care in the world. "Thanks, teach!"
Sar could only give an exasperated sigh at her reckless behavior. Shortly after she popped her head back through the door.
"Hey Megumi, Wanna hang out?" Sayko asked.
Megumi was taken aback by her bluntness.
Not long after Sayko grabbed her by the hand dragging her out of the class with her. Megumi was dragged through the halls of the school, unsure what to make of the increasingly changing situation.
Back in the class Sar thought to himself still unsure what to make of Megumi. He chuckled. "What a shame. she could've had a more peaceful life..."
Just as Trevor began to leave the room, a woman with bright red hair showed up. "Done early again?"
"It's efficient, isn't it?"
"I won't deny that, but you should savor the new faces, you never know what the future entails." The women moved to sit atop the desk.
"We all know what their future entails Lilith. Don't pretend otherwise."
She smiled, hearing his remark. "If you say so..."