A man with smooth black-hair and blue eyes, stared at a report. he wore a clean formal attire as he faced a window wall with a clear skyscraper view of the city of Arc.
He sat inside a clean and tidy office where memorabilia and photos of past achievements and friends. He even had a tidy desk with a pile of paperwork on the side, and his name displayed for all to see.
'FALLOCK TREST"
He fixed his narrow glasses as he looked at the last report that was of labeled, 'Megumi scorn'.
"Person of interest? " He tossed the papers to the side. "Ridiculous." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What is Lilith thinking, adding some women, barely a month old, into the reaper's corp. exam? Does she really expect her to pas-"
"Master Trest! That person of interest passed their first exam!" A woman announced.
He glared back at his receptionist, who quickly closed his office door behind her.
"You can't be serious." he moaned, iritably.
"Yeah! Sar passed her just thirty minutes ago-"
"And I'm hearing this now!?" Fallock, scoffed. "And here I thought he was supposed to be the most ruthless and strict of the faculty at the academy."
"O-oh, By the way, aren't you supposed to be doing a speech in the next half an hour sir?"
"Yes. Yes." Fallock waved her off, turning back to look out the window. "I'll be heading there in the next five minutes. It doesn't take long with those quick transports."
The woman bowed and took her leave. Now alone, Fallock began to ponder. "And if I'm not mistaken, that man is also supposed to be coming back to the Reaper's corp."Fallock glanced at a huge file behind of a singular person. "I thought he left he'd never return after what happened ten years ago..."
Fallock turned his gaze over to some of his keepsakes. Seeing no other reason to linger, he got up, leaving his office.
********
Kailey, traversed through the staircase, slowly heading up.
She ignored the people around her, most of whom were leaving disappointed. "I guess my room wasn't the only one with a lot of rejected people..." she thought.
Frustrations were high in the air as the people leaving kept trash talking and whining about the results.
"Hey, where are you going?" Someone asked.
Kailey stopped and glanced to see some people conversing.
"Isn't the auditorium downstairs?"
"No, it's up here, you dummy. Just follow me, I'll show you where it is."
The two people, climbed up past Kailey entering into the hall. Kailey followed close behind. She observed as they diverged into the right hallway, entering in the double-sided door.
She glanced around until she found a clock. "Ten minutes, Huh. I guess I have some time to relax." Kailey continued straight down the hall. she glanced in each room looking for something more vacant, but it seemed that the examiners were still cleaning up the rooms. "Theres gotta be an empty room somehere."
Suddenly, Dino pushed right past her, leaving her puzzled. Not long after another woman shot past her, running like a beast on all fours while leaving a blue ethereal trace. She turned watching as the crazed women chased Dino down the hall turning towards the auditorium.
"BE MY BOYFRIEND!!" she screamed.
Kailey and the other people that watched, were left in shock and disbelief.
"So, he's here too…? And didn't I see the women from somewhere…"" Not wanting to draw any attention to herself she continued to traverse the halls. "Whatever…"it's not my problem anyways. I'm sure someone else will step in."
She saw the devastation left behind by the women. She literally left a trail of devastation on the left side of the hall. Kailey cringed and entered the first room on the opposite side that looked miraculously empty.
"Finally, somewhere quiet."
Kailey sat at the closest seat to the wall and leaned back on the chair with her legs crossed. She took her hidden pendant from her shirt, opening it back up.
She admired the picture within the pendant. With a faint sense of nostalgia washed over her. And she looked upon the picture, she slowly curled a faint and rare smile.
"I still have time. Just please hold out a little longer."
Unknown to her there was a group of women peeking in on Kailey, looking down at her with smug expressions. They just watched and deliberated amongst each other.
********
Megumi overlooked the courtyard from the roof, watching as many different people started to depart from the grounds. a sudden ringing then enveloped the entire academy, with no one escaping its sound. "That must mean all the exams are done, aren't they…"
Just as she gazed back into the hall balcony, she saw Dino still trying to escape from Sayko. She side-eyed the event trying to ignore what was happening. "Ehehehe... I guess they're still going at it too…"
"I suppose I should get going ... If I remember correctly, I have to go to the auditorium now." Megumi backed away from the ledge. She turned back to enter the school. But to her surprise, she was met with a faintly familiar face.
She cocked her head, trying to remember. "Haven't I seen him from somewhere…?"
His short stature and round nose were so familiar to Megumi, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The short man before her pulled his curled hair to the back, acting suave. "Hey beautiful, I've been looking all over you." He winked. "So how about we get to know each other."
Megumi looked at the man, stupefied. She cringed, unsure what to make of the situation. "Uhh…. Who are… you, again?"
"Ack." Axen remained cool and composed., popping the collar of the shirt he wore. "S-so you don't remember my handsome face."
"Handsome?" Megumi thought.
"Of right." The man cleared his throat, "My names Axen, future reaper and protector of the weak. By fate we met in the most unlikely of places. You may not know it but when our eyes met eyes for the briefest of seconds, I was absolutely captivated radiance of your beauty!" Axen outstretched his arms, posing dramatically.
Megumi still couldn't remember the guy. In fact, his face now seemed less familiar to her. "R…Right… I uhh… Have to be somewhere so if you don't mind-"
Axen blocked her path. "Hey, hey. Let's not get too hasty here. Listen you're a fine-looking Gal, and I'm a very experienced guy, so why don't get together and see how things work-"
"I-I'm sorry but I'm not interested."
Just as Megumi tried to force her way around him. He grabbed her hand tight. "Hey, wait." he said.
Megumi glanced back at Axen. Suddenly her brain felt much fuzzier. And her world felt like it was spinning.
"I'm sure we can work something out." Axen's voice started to distort. He slowly reached his hands up, smiling confidently.
********
Fallock, marched through the halls with Sar's now accompanying him.
"I find that hard to believe, Sar." Another person with large glasses and a short stature joined the two. She had short blonde hair and was overlooking one of her reports and summarizing it for Fallock.
"According to this, the pool of potential students is three times bigger than we expected," she said.
"I expected as much that's why we have grimms participating this time to evaluate the best from them" As Fallock and the other two turned the corner they found a trail of devastation left behind.
There was a brief silence among the three until the women with glasses tilted her glasses with a hypothetical answer. "Markus, must've stopped by recently…"
Fallock sighed, exhaustively. "I'll have to talk to him later and remind him about our rules.'
Sar shook his head, disappointed. "Would you like me to look for him?"
"No. We'll worry about it after my speech. Fran, do me a favor and try to locate him." Fallock continued on through the hall.
"S-sure. I'll go look now. "
"Very Good."
Fran took off, leaving Sar and Fallock as they entered through a double-sided door, leading into the auditorium.
Inside, it was like a huge stadium with rows and rows of seats. Indistinct chatter was ongoing with many different people talking over each other, waiting for the main event to begin.
Gazing around the huge auditorium, Fallock could tell that people were missing from the thousands of applicants that passed. Sar took notice of this as well.
"Want to fail the ones that don't arrive like last time?" Sar asked.
"Yes. If you're not in before I start, we'll fail them." With those words said, Fallock continued down the several steps to reach the stage. Sudden hushes and whispers erupted as they caught sight of Fallock.
Some of the examinees started talking in a more hushed tone.
"That's him! That's the headmaster," someone said.
"Is it true that her took on a whole army of demons by himself?" another said.
"Yeah."
"I wonder what Sin he has…." Someone else asked.
"Shh! Don't let him hear you say that I heard he failed someone fifty years ago, when they asked him that question."
Fallock ignored all of the examinees, who were whispering amongst each other. He continued to the stage where several other grimms wearing hoods were waiting. Sar conjured a hood of his own as he followed, pulling it up. He then joining the ranks of other grimms, standing at attention.
Fallock stood in the center in front of all the other Reapers behind him. He examined the room, not hearing a peep from anybody.
As he opened his mouth a rumbling began. The whole room started to shake and dust started to fall from the ceiling.
Suddenly the Voices of three different women boomed.
"YOU BASTARD!!"
Confused, He looked up, seeing cracks form. "What in the…"
BOOOOOOMM
From above and from the sides of the auditorium, the walls and ceilings erupted.
From the left, a brown-haired woman was punched by Kailey's barrier fists.
From the right, Dino was being dropped kicked in the face by Sayko.
And from above, Axen was hammered by the blunt end Megumi's crimson scythe.
The victims all met in the center in front of Fallock with the three girls also meeting in the center, too focused on the people they just attacked.
"P-pervert!" Megumi backed away in disgust, holding her chest with a flushed face.
"I said I was sorry. It was just an… accident." Axen wheezed. His nose bled, quickly after.
Kailey picked her pendant up from the now unconscious woman. She scoffed. She looked back up, seeing that Dino was simply writhing in pain from the previous attack.
"Aarrghh!! You crazy asshole! Why'd you do that!?"
Sayko had her cyan blue ethereal cat ears, claws and tail and was jumping from side to side as if she was boxing Dino. "You should've said 'no'. Only I can be your best friend."
"what!?"
"That's right, Me as your girl friend and you as my boy friend." Sayko ceased her jumping.
At that moment, Megumi, Kailey and Sayko finally noticed each other.
"Megumi?" Kailey and Sayko said in unison. They then looked at each other confused at what was happening. "Who are you?" They asked each other.
Even Megumi was dumbstruck but suddenly met them.
"Where are we- Eep!" Megumi's scythe vanished the instant she finally looked up. Before her and the other two was a large stadium of people watching in absolute shock.
Sar immediately recognized, both Megumi and Sayko. He could only shake his head disapprovingly.
A second later even Dino finally realized the room they were in. He looked at the stadium of people and then the reaper's right behind him. "Ah, crap."
Fallock who was watching all this unfold narrowed his eyes. He glanced from the two sides, seeing that the one to his left had two other women peeking through the newly made hole. He sighed.
"I suppose you all are the missing examinees." Fallock said.
Megumi jumped and looked back, finding a tall imposing man, wearing a business suit. "And you're Megumi Scorn…"
Fallock glared at the small group of people before him. and scrutinized Megumi specifically with his harsh gaze.
In an instant, Megumi, Kailey and Sayko were surrounded by the hooded grimms. Their powers were immediately dampened. And they were restrained.
Even Dino Axen and the girl was brought up and restrained,
"Hey, I didn't do anything, Dino blurted.
A sharp tip pointed straight at Dino, shutting him up. It was retracted and extended straight to Megumi who stood frozen.
Megumi traced the sharp tip back to Fallock who was simply pointing at her with a single finger. "H…Hey, Whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry. T-this is the auditorium, right? Why don't we-"
"QUIET!" Fallock shouted.
Fallock's eyes glared even harsher at Megumi. Just before Anyone else could speak, Fallock spoke up with the full weight of his authority. "Have them sweated, anyone that speaks out among with will be failed on the spot and barred from joining our association."
Everyone immediately went quiet, with some pursed their lips as if to lock their mouths. They were escorted from the stage, leaving Megumi face to face with Fallock.
The tip of Fallock's sharp fingers slowly retracted away, as he did, they circled around her like a shark to its prey. "You come here to become a reaper… am I wrong?"
"Y…Yes."
"So, tell me, how long have you been in purgatory?"
"I…I don't know. A few weeks, I think. Maybe a month."
Whispers of shock and awe erupted from the stands. In an instant, they silenced upon seeing Fallock raise his hands.
"Now tell me, honestly. How much do you know about purgatory?"
"I...." A silence struck Megumi. She couldn't understand why he was asking all these strange questions. "I Don't know a lot… But I've definitely learned so much. About the demons, about the people here and about the sins we carry here to purgatory."
Fallock raised a brow. "Is that so?" Fallock then stopped, standing tall over Megumi. "Then you've failed."