"Finally, a day off. This must be godsent, don't you think, guys?" Garnet said as we, together with Lucas and Alicia, were walking out of the Central Block. It was 8 a.m.
Flashback_
"Tomorrow, you shall have a day off. Use it as you please. There will be civilians coming to visit the Island to get an experience. Make them feel welcomed if you can. The First Stage shall begin the day after, so don't get too carried away. Otherwise, enjoy your day off."
End of flashback_
Civilians were walking around with senior agents in black suits patrolling the city.
'These civilian tours happen at most once a month. There was a time I dreamt of paying for one, though I wouldn't say it's cheap.'
"Where's Flora?" Lucas asked Alicia.
"She decided to practise a bit since she barely finished on time yesterday, but she'll be joining us soon. She won't take long."
'She doesn't want to pull the squad behind, so she's taking some extra training. She's motivated to help uplift the squad.'
"Makes sense. So, where are we going first?"
We didn't even need to consult each other.
"The mall. My room gives me this abandoned vibe every time I walk in. It's way too empty," said Alicia.
"I meant after the mall. I was thinking we could tour the entire Central Block. I was told there are a lot of surprises on the upper floors," said Garnet.
Garnet and I never got the opportunity to visit the upper floors on the first day since time ran out.
"I've also heard a lot from those who were there," I added.
"Okay. Mall, then Central Block. Maybe Flora will be done training by the time we get to the Central Block."
On our way to the mall, we saw a few agents dressed in training suits running along the path. One stopped near us to catch her breath, unable to keep up with the rest. She was dripping with sweat as she gasped for air. The look she gave us was one of bitterness and regret.
'Not all agents were allowed to take this break. Those who failed to finish yesterday's shooting practice on time were required to continue training today. That's just how things work around here.'
She stood up and continued running. Her day was going to be a long one.
The mall was much more engaging than we thought. People were walking all over the place. The arcades and games were quite enjoyable, I must say.
"Why did you become an agent?" Alicia asked me as we were walking out of the mall holding ice cream.
"To earn money."
"So, your family relies on you for money?"
"I wouldn't say that, I'm just trying to become a little independent."
"Oh, it's you who doesn't want to rely on them for money."
"Yeah. You?"
"Well, I wanna make sure no one else has to go through what I went through when I was little."
She paused for a while. I wanted to ask what happened, but thought against it. We weren't that familiar yet.
"Sorry for whatever happened," I said.
"It's okay. There's Flora," she said, pointing at a dark-haired girl.
"Hi guys, so, what'd I miss?"
"Nothing much, we just came from the mall," said Garnet.
"Yeah, we were planning on touring the Central Block," Alicia added.
Flora looked at her watch.
"Let's go then. I'll do my shopping later. How are the prices there?" she asked.
"The same as back in Staryl City. Though this place has a lot more to offer."
We reached the Central Block. Our rooms were all on the ground floor. Every agent got their spacious room.
The first floor was the training hall, a big hall with huge screens at the top of every wall.
"I heard this place uses hologram technology," I said to Alicia.
"Yeah, I wonder if we can get the chance to use it, you know, in preparation for tomorrow. Who is Garnet calling?"
"Hey, guys, did you bring your cards with you?" Garnet asked, walking towards us.
"I brought mine," said Lucas, focused on his phone playing video games.
"Me too."
"Why are you asking?" asked Alicia.
"I was on the phone with Melissa. She said that we could use this place to train."
"He's right, the feature is unlocked on our cards according to Echo," I added, looking at my phone.
We could do some of the unlocked training procedures.
"Shooting training is unlocked. I wonder why no other squads are taking it."
"I'll go to the reception on the ground floor to register our squad. The rest of you can go to your rooms and get changed. Let's all be here in about ten minutes," said Alicia.
'She's slowly taking the lead in the squad. Not that I'm opposed to it.' I thought.
'There are two types of training, normal and special. Normal training is free to use and we can use it any time we want. But special training uses advanced hologram technology to create real-world environments without the need for Virtual Reality goggles. We can only take it once a week for free at our assigned time. Any other time we must pay to use it, and it was not cheap.'
A while later_
I was the third to get back there. I found Garnet and Flora waiting for the rest of us. They also looked like they had just gotten there.
"Who are they?" I asked Garnet. There was a group of five people, four guys and one girl, standing next to the wall, all dressed in training suits.
"Squad Tsadi. They were here before us and had the same idea of training here. It's a nice surprise since we can take them on," said Garnet.
They were all on their phones.
'It's almost like agents in E.A. agreed that whenever nothing important is going on, you have to be on your phone. Or maybe it's the free wifi.'
The girl walked up to us just as Alicia was arriving.
"Alicia," she said.
"Your squad came here too, Sloane?"
"Yeah, we wanted to be sure we're ready for tomorrow."
I could recognise one of them.
'Calvin Kret, so you're here too, huh?'
He lives in the room next to mine, and I wouldn't say we were too fond of each other. A fight could have started, had Garnet not been there. Our eyes met for a brief period. We were both thinking the same thing.
We were going to settle our little beef once and for all in this match.
Lucas arrived last.
"Guys, this is Sloane, my friend from Squad Tsadi. We used to take missions with her before this squad system came along. Sloane, this is Flora, Garnet, Caspian, and Lucas."
"It's nice to meet you, Squad Zayin." She said as her squadmates came over.
"The tall one is Randall, next to him are Calvin, Marc, and Billy. Now that we're all here, how about we begin the training?"
"Only the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) is unlocked, but there are some pretty good exercises involving two squads we can do," I said. "How about we do Cross Over?"
"Fine by me," said Alicia as she looked at the details on her phone.
"Okay. Let's do it. But first, we all agree on the terms of the bout?"
I quickly read through the terms Alicia and Sloane had created. I was shocked.
'Seriously? Are these guys for real?'
I wanted to question whether the terms were fair for both teams, but since everyone had already accepted, I decided to remain silent.
Sloane and the rest of Squad Tsadi walked to the other side of the huge hall. They were going to start from that side. Calvin glanced at me and smiled as they left.
"Good luck, Caspian. You'll need it," he confidently said.
"You know him?" Alicia asked me.
"Yes, but we're not necessarily fond of each other."
"Ready!" she shouted once they were all there. On our side, we all stepped behind the yellow and black striped line on the ground.
[Press the red button on the wall after you've tapped ready below.]
[Ready]
On tapping ready on her phone, the large red button on the wall glowed red. As soon as she pressed it, a buzz echoed across the hall, and some sections of the ground beyond the yellow line opened up. Steel walls emerged from the ground, spaced about three meters apart, and rose to a height of about three meters, forming a maze.
[Training Hall activated_
Training mode: MILES
Training Exercise: Cross Over
Duration: About 1 hour]
'So, this is the training hall? Amazing.'
I looked at the training log on the app.
[Yesterday_
9.30 p.m. - Squad Alef performed coordination training using holograms.
10.12 p.m. - Squad Alef performed squad training against Squad Tsadi.]
'While some squads are wasting time, some are already at work. This might make the difference between the best and worst squads tomorrow.'
Flashback, During Mr Manabu's speech_
"You might not have known this, but at E.A., an agent's success is measured based on efficiency. The same will apply to squads. Take note of that."
End of Flashback_
'That fact is starting to become evident the longer we stay here. Training sessions are short but engaging, we spend less time being taught and more time practising to ensure quick mastery, we are given just enough resources to avoid wastage… But one thing mustn't be overlooked, efficiency cannot overtake our humanity, and that might cause problems.'