"Araka, it's time to wake up."
Instead of still lying on the bed, Araka was looking at herself in her new uniform inside the mirror. She looked quite satisfied about her new apparel.
"I'm coming."
After having her breakfast, Araka grabbed her backpack and heading out.
"Araka, do you remember where we're heading for today?"
"The school, right?" Araka seemed confused about Jun's question.
"Ughh," Jun put his palm onto his forehead, "do you remember what we did in the summer?"
Araka suddenly remembered that she had already become an SAIR intern and today was the first day.
"I think we need to go now" Jun said while looking at his phone, "The driver said it would take longer for us to get there, since it's on the other side of the city, so he would come earlier today."
After forty minutes of driving, Araka ans Jun arrived at the training center in of the SAIR Central - which looked like a typical office campus with walls, without any logo at the front.
"ID please," upon entering the campus, Araka and Jun were greeted by the guard, who was also an SAIR agent.
While Jun grabbed his newly issued ID, Araka take off her backpack and look for her SAIR ID. It didn't take long for her to meet with disappointment as she reached the bottom of her backpack - she forgot to bring the ID.
"Araka, everything's alright?" Jun turned around, only to find a disappointed Araka sitting on the ground.
"We're sorry, we cannot let any civilian go beyond this point," the guard said.
"That's okay, I will call a taxi and head home to grab mine," Araka said in low voice with quietly browsing her phone.
Just as Araka and Jun were stranded at the entrance, someone unexpected came to rescue.
"Good morning, Captain Huashin."
"What's the matter, Agent Minde?"
"We were unable to verify the identity of the girl here."
Huashin looked at Araka for several seconds and then turned her head to the guard: "It's okay. I have the profile of her. She's one of my fellow students."
After Huashin showed her screen to the guard, the guard nodded and signaled both Araka and Jun to pass the checkpoint. Araka was still surprised by the result.
"I'm sorry, Instructor Huashin," Araka apologized.
"It's okay, Araka. I mean it happens sometimes. Just to remember bringing your ID next time, okay?" Huashin said while padding Araka's hair.
Just like the headquarters where she took the entrance exam, the SAIR Central campus was mostly indoor. Under the guide of Huashin, Araka and Jun made their way to a classroom located on the third floor of the building. In the classroom, Tenka, Okuri, and Sukeo were waiting for them.
"Good morning, Sara-cha," Tenka greeted Araka as soon as Araka grabbed a seat beside her.
"Good morning," Araka replied while still thinking about what happened earlier in the morning.
"Good morning, folks. I hope you find the campus to be welcoming," Huashin greeted everyone as she unpacked her bag on the lectern. "In case you forget my name, I'm Kou Huashin (高 化星), the instructive agent for the Combat and Rescue branch of the SAIR Central. Today is your first day in the SAIR, and of course me and Anawa, the instructor from the Research Branch, have prepared several things for you to do today. But before today's agenda, I want to remind you that this weekend will be the deadline of your move-in for the dormitory. You can bring as much stuff as you need for one month as long as it is neither home appliances or explosives."
How come I forgot this? Araka got slightly overwhelmed while checking her backpack, as she found nothing other than notebooks and stationeries.
"Araka, or I should say Sara." It seemed that Huashin found Araka got distracted by her own business.
"I'm sorry, Instructor Huashin," Araka apologized while trying to keep things in hand.
The lecture resumed: "So without further ado, let's start with today's agenda. First, I want to make sure everyone has reviewed the materials in the welcome package. So first, let's review what are the main responsibilities of being an SAIR agent. Could anyone recall what are the three categories of tasks we will handle?"
It was Sukeo who raised his hand first: "unclassified incidents investigation and documentation, specialized security missions, and catastrophe monitoring and rescue?"
"That's correct," Huashin nodded while writing the terms on the whiteboard. "By the way, does anyone here know what type of criminal cases or scenarios that are outside of our jurisdiction? This is a typical misconception among the public."
It seemed to be an interesting question, Araka thought as she was looking for the answer through her brain.
"Traffic accidents?" Tenka answered first, "If I remembered correctly, I have never seen SAIR agents present during a traffic accident."
"That could be true for most cases. However, it's not an absolute no-go zone, as there are traffic accidents that are caused by supernatural phenomena or other factors that may require our expertise."
"How about counterterrorism missions?" Okuri said, "hat should fall under the jurisdiction of the PSR (Federal Public Security Service)."
"Again, mostly the case, but the PSR and other intelligence agencies may request our help if there is a demand. But I think we're getting closer to the answer."
Hmm, what could that be? Araka thought. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere in the introduction manual.
"Cross border smuggling cases? That should be the case for the custom or the border security," Jun responded.
"Again, mostly true, but it depends on how the authorities and other bodies of the government respond."
Hold on, the answer is right there! Araka suddenly understood something. She raised her hand.
"Could it be any case without the request from local or federal authorities?"
"Wait, hold on. I haven't seen it mentioned in the book," Tenka said while checking her notes.
Huashin began explaining the answer: "Well, while we didn't explicitly mention that, in the third section of the introduction of the material, it mentioned 'the SAIR will take part in the investigation if the local, provincial, or federal authorities issued a request to the local SAIR branch, or in the case if the local authorities had been paralyzed due to unforeseen circumstances.'"
Oh my gosh, Araka felt relieved from the questions, I almost forgot most of the materials.
"If we don't have more questions, let's continue our review. So do you remember which branch you were assigned to?"
"Combat and Rescue Branch for both me and Araka," Jun said.
"Research Branch for me," Sukeo said.
"Combat for me as well," Okuri said.
"Rescue for me as well, but yeah I was assigned to the Combat and Rescue Branch," Tenka said.
"So does anyone here remember which branches were missing among all you mentioned?"
"Could it be the Executive Branch?" Sukeo said, "It was not available on the form when I first received my candidacy for the entrance exam."
"That's one of them. Does anyone here know what the other one is?"
For this question, no one seemed to have an answer.
"Weapon development," Jun was the only one who was able to break the silence.
"Bingo. The weapon development branch is one of the entities that was independent from most of the SAIR's daily operation, and it is also the most secretive part even to most lower ranking SAIR agents-"
"Captain Huashin, there is an emergency dispatch. Please make yourself available at the task force meeting room," the lecture was interrupted by a sudden call from the speaker of the classroom.
"I see," Huashin looked at her watch and nodded. "We'll pause our lecture here. I'll inform you later if your presence will be needed, otherwise Instructor Anawa will substitute for me."
The classroom buzzed briefly before quieting again. As Huashin left, Jun glanced toward Araka, who was still checking her SAIR manual in silence.
"Guess that will be typical for our SAIR for now," Okuri commented while laying back on the chair.
"Sara-cha," Tenka whispered beside her, "what do you think it's about?"
"I had no idea," Araka said while shrugged, "but I guess we need to get use to it. At least Huashin didn't care about my mistake in the morning."
Meanwhile, Huashin rushed to the task force meeting room inside the complex, and inside the room, Haseku and Director Ninfo were sitting inside the room, while the screen inside the room had turned on, showing the emergency dispatch mode slide.
"Director Ninfo, may I ask what happened?" Huashin entered the room and put away her backpack.
"Well," Ninfo sat the the other side of the table while folding his hands, and then signaled Haseku to open the video file provided by the Chuubo State Police and projected it on the screen, showing a police car chasing a truck down the YA-11 expressway northbound.
"Moments ago, the State Highway Police intercepted a truck originated from Niangchun, thought they confiscated a truck to believe have transported a panther linked to illegal hunting from the Tao Republic. While the officers tried to approach the truck, they found that it was not some animals, but one that was active that need our help.
"Because they believe it's related to shard resonance event?" Huashin, upon hearing this, straightened her posture, and Ninfo gave her a nod.
"Huashin, why're you moving so fast?" Haseku, while seeing Huashin started packing immediately, asked.
"Because it's shard related, and if the State Police is handling a shard related case, by this rate civilian casualties might be unmeasurable." Huashin said while packing her backpack.
"So Huashin, do you think the interns should come along?" Ninfo asked. In response, Huashin nodded: "Bring them along with Anawa, and Haseku. This is a rare opportunity for the interns to see what a real SAIR mission should function."
Back in the classroom, the confusion of the sudden dispatch still didn't thin out. Tenka stretched her arm while looking around: "I couldn't believe that even on the first day, after all these rise and fall during the entrance exam, we're now being instructor-less."
"Maybe something was indeed happening right now that require Huashin's intervention," Sukeo, while taking a sip of his water bottle, said: "but I'm curious what made Huashin different from other agents as being an instructive agent, because she didn't explain her special skills while didn't look like the bureaucratic type."
Araka, while sitting there, was still thinking about what would her Matake power actually made her different: she didn't feel it as a typical high school first year as she turned 15 other than being able to run faster than other, and she didn't even hear Moraka, her mother, mentioning that. What type of secret power was she holding other than her agility and stamina?
After a while, Anawa, wearing her usual lab coat outfit, entered the classroom: "Good morning everyone, and I apologize for this sudden change, but Instructor Huashin said this time will be a field activity to see how SAIR handles supernatural cases."
"So Instructor Anawa, what will we do as intern, since we're not trained for handling this type of event?" Tenka raised her hand and said.
"That's why your instructor Huashin specifically mentioned that this is a strict observation activity, and we will only watch the action from distance. However, since all of you had passed the entrance exam, you could provide some basic assistance, but don't say you're from SAIR."
Araka, upon hearing this, now had a glimpse of how SAIR functions. However, there were still more questions to be answered and that means she's about to figure out, what the so called Matake actually means.