"Dad, we're leaving!"
Lea grabbed her new walking cane and was about to leave the house when her dad shouted back from somewhere inside the house, "Don't be late for dinner, I'm making something special tonight."
"Okay!"
The door closed behind her.
Lea got into the front passenger seat of Alan's car.
"What do you think of my new glasses, Al? It arrived this morning," Lea asked after putting on the seatbelt.
"Nice."
"Say that after you see my face," Lea pouted.
Alan obediently turned his head to look at Lea who was now looking at him expectantly.
"The new glasses look pretty on you."
Lea smiled, satisfied with the compliment.
"Uncle Forger also wrote a letter saying that he'll come visit on his next vacation days," Lea relayed what was written on the postcard that was delivered together with her brand new glasses.
"If that day ever comes, that is."
"Is he that busy?"
"When is he never busy?"
"…That's true."
Lea touched the glasses on her face.
To Alan and Lea, Uncle Forger was like Santa Claus because he would always bring them presents and like Santa Claus, they only ever saw him once a year.
A quick car ride later, they arrived at the Awakeners Association. Alan parked the car close to the main entrance for Lea's convenience.
"Don't make eye contact with other Awakeners."
"Mm."
"If someone approaches you with a recruitment offer just say you're not interested and leave."
"Mm."
Lea adjusted the cap on her head while listening to Alan's nagging.
Before Alan could say anything more that would keep her longer in the car, Lea got out of the car.
"I'll keep you updated so don't spam my mailbox," Lea warned him before closing the car door.
.
.
.
"Welcome to the Awakeners Association. How may I help you?"
Lea was approached by an association employee who happened to notice her walked in with a cane.
"Ah, hello. I'm here to register," Lea responded in a quiet voice.
"Are you here for the Awakener Registration?"
Lea nodded and was then guided to the registration hall. When she got there, she was momentarily overwhelmed because it was her first time being in the same space with so many Awakeners.
Feeling exposed, Lea lowered her head.
'I'll have to get used to this.'
After taking a numbered ticket with the help of the association employee, Lea found an empty seat closest to the front of the counters and sat down.
While waiting her turn, she gave an update on the family group chat. The responses from her family came instantly.
She quietly chuckled looking at the three emoji stickers that reflected the personalities of the people in her family.
To dispel her boredom and anxiety, Lea read a manga on her phone until it was her turn.
She was prepared to be asked a series of questions by the association employee sitting at the opposite side of the counter.
"Your name please."
"Lea Carter."
"Did you awaken recently?"
"No, umm, I don't know the exact date," Lea answered honestly.
The slight hesitation in her voice caused the association employee to turn away from the computer screen and look at her with rising suspicion.
The Awakener Law required Awakeners to register themselves at any branch of the Awakeners Association within one year after they awakened, else they would be heavily fined.
Failure to do so will result in the individual being labelled as an Unregistered Awakener.
Most people registered as soon as they awakened, but due to her unique case, it took Lea this long to register.
'How can I explain this without making it sound unbelievable?'
When Lea wondered how to explain herself, the association employee asked another question.
"Have you completed your assessment?"
"A while ago, yes."
After her response, only the sound of typing on the keyboard and a mouse click was heard.
'Double-checking.'
What came next was unexpected.
"Excuse me for a moment."
The association employee broke into a fluster and left their seat, leaving Lea sitting awkwardly by herself at the counter.
She messaged Alan: It might take a little while longer
"Why? What's wrong?"
He instantly replied.
After typing a quick explanation about what just happened and hitting send, the association employee handling Lea's registration returned with a familiar face, Miss Bella.
"Hello, Miss Lea. I heard you're here to register."
"Yes."
"I'll help you with that if you don't mind."
"Okay."
Lea was actually relieved since Bella already knew about the reason for her very late registration.
Miss Bella moved the tablet stand to face Lea with the registration form ready on the screen, and started explaining the things Lea already heard from Alan but listened anyway since there might be some things Alan missed.
"For the talent and skill section, you can choose not to specify the details but it is mandatory to mark which talent group and skill category you belong to."
"What if I'm not sure if my talent belongs to any of the talent groups here?"
"In such cases, you can use your skill to ascertain what kind of talent you awakened as, but if you're still unsure, you can just leave it as either combat or non-combat talent."
Miss Bella gave a smooth answer without pause to Lea's question.
Lea began filling in the form and declared herself an Awakener with a non-combat talent.
As for the skill category, her hand holding the tablet pen carefully and unhurriedly went through each skill listed alphabetically on the form until it stopped on 'Heightened Sense(s)', and next to it, she simply wrote down: "Eyes".
After double-checking there was no discrepancy with her talent and skill, Lea completed her registration form.
Miss Bella looked over at it and said, "Your Awakener ID card will be completed shortly."
Lea nodded and went back to the same seat she had sat in earlier and waited some more.
She sent another message to Alan: Just submitted the form, now waiting for the card
Her brother replied with a thumbs-up sticker.
Lea kept herself busy with her phone to distract herself from the small bit of guilt budding at the edge of her conscience for only registering one skill instead of two.
'You're not doing anything wrong, Lea. The law didn't say anything about how many skills you have to register.'
It was a legal loophole that Lea took advantage of, and a loophole that Lea repeatedly comforted herself by thinking so.
.
.
.
Lea stared at the brand new Awakener ID card with her name clearly written on it.
'It's official now.'
"Your Awakener grade is left empty until after you complete the mandatory basic training," said Miss Bella.
"Mandatory?"
A bolt of unexpected news was about to disrupt Lea's peace.
Miss Bella misunderstood that Lea might not have heard her clearly so she repeated, "Yes, mandatory basic training."
"…I totally forgot about that."
Lea expressed how much she disliked the thought of it with a gloomy sigh.
"The sign-up schedule is available on the Awakener Association app, please take a look at it."
Lea's mood turned gloomier when Miss Bella did not give an alternative route, which meant the training was unavoidable even in Lea's current delicate physical condition.
Lea put the card away and left the Awakeners Association's building as fast as she could.
The second Lea got in Alan's car, he noticed the change in her mood.
"What happened?"
"Mandatory. Basic. Training."
For each word that came out of her mouth, her mood soured even more.
Alan mouthed a silent 'ah'.
"I thought I successfully escaped P.E. class after graduation, never thought the universe would betray me like this," Lea grumbled as she slumped in the car seat.
"It's only for four months, not three years."
"You're not making me feel any better, Al."
To lighten her mood, Alan took her to a restaurant that he claimed to be the best noodle place in the area.
While waiting for the food they ordered, Lea downloaded the Awakeners Association app on her phone.
'The sooner I deal with it, the sooner I can forget about it.'
After completing the simple registration process with the ID number on her Awakener ID card, she found the sign-up button for the mandatory basic training.
"All of the earliest dates are full already," Lea muttered as she scrolled down on the page.
Alan heard her muttering and gave a plausible explanation, "Summer semester break is coming up, that's the busiest time for the training institute."
"Why?" Lea cluelessly asked.
"Oh right, you don't know."
Alan forgot this happened when she was under a long sleep and started to properly explain.
"There's this thing called the Special Summer Programme. Non-awakened students from all over the world can sign up for it and experience the same kind of training a newbie Awakener goes through at the training institute."
"Why would people willingly go through it?"
As someone who dislikes doing physical activity, Lea couldn't understand why ordinary people would choose to go through the extra hardship.
'Since they're students, is there a special benefit?'
"For special credit, plus it'll look good on their resume when they're job hunting."
Her assumption was confirmed soon after she thought of it.
Alan continued, "The association limits the number of students per country. I heard universities fight to get the spot for the earliest date to get ahead of everyone else."
Lea rested her chin on her hand while scrolling down the page and saw that the later dates still had many available spots left.
"Talk with your physical therapist first before you choose a date," Alan advised. "Even though it said basic training, it'll be hard for you, Lea."
Lea glanced up from her phone. By how serious he sounded, Lea was afraid to know but she still had to.
"How hard?"
"Obviously, the training routines are adjusted separately for the awakened and non-awakened, but since you're now part of the awakened group, it'll be ten times harder than your high school P.E. classes."
Her mouth gaped open in utter shock.
Then, she hit her head on the table with a groan.
"You don't have to be all depressed about it, Lea. The trainers are not hard on non-combatants, I'll help you prepare for it."
Despite her brother's attempt of consoling her, Lea's head remained stuck on the table.
Her brother who enjoys all kinds of outdoor activities that require moving his body like parkour and wall climbing will never understand her dislike of such things.
How they were able to stay close despite liking opposite things was still a mystery to her.
Their conversation continued to be on pause even after their food was served.
Alan almost completely inhaled his spicy red noodles when he got a call.
He stood up and walked away from the table to answer it.
Lea found it suspicious, the part that he answered after walking away as if he didn't want her to hear the voice of whoever was calling him.
When her brother came back a moment later, she didn't mention anything about her suspicion and just ate her noodles quietly.
A new customer walked into the restaurant.
Alan stood up again without saying a word and this time, Lea raised her head from the table but her view was blocked by her brother's back.
"Sorry I'm late. Traffic piled up on my way back."
Lea's ears perked with interest when she heard a woman talking to her brother so familiarly.
'Girlfriend? But why do I know that voice?'
It seemed the woman finally noticed that there was a third person when she asked Alan in a suspicious tone, "You didn't say another person was joining."
"I didn't ask to meet you here to talk about work," Alan spoke in a calm tone. "Just wanted to do a little surprise for both of you."
'Both of you?'
Lea particularly caught on to those words.
Alan finally stepped aside, revealing the two people to each other.
Clueless was the first expression that appeared on both of their faces, which was then instantly replaced by shock and disbelief when the realisation kicked in.
"…Shannon?"
Lea broke the silence first.
When she called out the woman's name, she was still unclear because six years was a long time for a person to change their looks and demeanour.