Chapter 7 – New Face

Yuki awoke to the sound of soft knocking on the door of the room he was sleeping in.

‘Where am I,’ he thought as he looked around, sleep slowing his mental faculties. ‘Oh yeah, the room Aether gave me.’

The knocking grew louder as the creator of the noise seemed to think that Yuki was still asleep.

“I’m up,” Yuki said to whoever was at the door.

“Oh, great! I was told to tell you by the others that we will be meeting in the main hall in an hour,” said the muffled voice that belonged to Sayuri. “So you got sometime to get ready before then. See ya there!”

When Yuki could hear her footsteps walking away from the door, he swung his feet around and got out of the warm bed. Getting ready wouldn’t take him an hour. It normally only took him five to ten minutes he thought as he walked into the bathroom.

Yuki stopped when he walked past his reflection in the bathroom mirror. 

“I want you to accept who you are.”

Fingering the long hair that fell down in front of his face, he remembered the words of Akira. The words that told him to stop hiding, the ones that accepted him for who he was. With a soft sigh, he went into the bathtub and turned the shower on. For what he was going to do, a bath wasn't going to cut it.

He stayed in there for almost the whole hour, scrubbing away at his skin as the thin layer of dirt that piled up for years was washed away and turned the water a light brown. From his hair a light black dye was being driven out as the natural brown returned.

Once he finished, he went to the mirror and began to shave what little facial hair he had. Years of not shaving only lead to a thin growth that couldn’t even be considered stubble. Then he found scissors in one of the drawers in the sink and started cutting the hair that hanged to his shoulder blades before he brushed it and left the bathroom.

He still had a few minutes left, and Yuki used that time to pick out an outfit. Once he was ready, he inhaled deeply to steel himself and opened the door to his room.

[Thank you,] the voice of Akira whispered in Yuki’s mind before he left with a nod of acknowledgment.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The main hall echoed with the sounds of dozens of teens and young adults sitting and chatting. Everyone in the facility had gathered there as today was the day they would be receiving the new trainees. They were also here to eat and were busy chowing down on their breakfast as they waited for the announcements to begin.

When the bell of the elevator gave off a small ding, not many noticed it or the late arrival of the person that was riding in it.

But those who did gave out a small gasp and couldn’t help but stare.

From the elevator walked out a Japanese person, a face that they didn’t recognize. A smooth, white pretty face that was surrounded by dark brown hair that stopped at the chin and curved softly around the cheeks. A pair of round, piercing grey eyes flicked across the hall observing the people that stared at them. The person itself was dressed in a long sweatshirt with sleeves that reached down until they stopped halfway past the hand, covering part of the thumb along with a pair of jeans that hugged their legs.

“Who’s she?” asked one boy with interested eyes.

“She must be new,” the boy next to him answered. “She’s really cute.”

“Oooo, look at her skin, it’s so smooth. I’m so jealous,” whispered one of the girls.

“I call dibs on her,” a rather large teen said with joking grin on his face.

Sayuri who was sitting near the entrance to the elevator to wait for Yuki looked up curiously as to what was the source of the commotion and let out a small squeak of surprise.

“YUKI-CHAN! You look so different with your hair cut!” she squealed in Japanese.

The people around began to whisper at the new information that was just gifted to them about the new arrival.

“Yuki? That’s a cute name perfect for a cute girl.”

“She’s Japanese, huh.”

Sayuri heard them and was thoroughly confused. Yuki-chan was a male. Of course she had prior knowledge of this and had never actually seen his face before so she could see how they had mistaken his gender. Even she was having a difficult time believing that a guy could look as pretty as Yuki did.

She scooted over to make room for Yuki on the bench she was sitting on when she saw that he (she?) was heading toward her and Yuki took a seat with a nod. Sayuri continued to stare at Yuki, can’t believing what was hidden behind the curtain of hair that used to hang from Yuki’s head.

“What?” Yuki asked as he took a bagel from a basket on the table in front of them that was filled with plates containing various breakfast items.

“Did… Did you always look like this?” Sayuri asked.

'Oh my god, even his voice sounds similar to a girl's,' she thought to herself.

“This is my face,” Yuki replied.

“I mean…” she muttered in a small voice. She look up and asked, “I just want to check. Are you a girl?”

“No,” Yuki answered in a plain voice. “Why?”

“Well, it’s just that you look so much like a girl. Your face is really cute,” she said, blushing a little.

“Is it weird, my face?” Yuki asked her, observing her with a careful look. “That I look so feminine but I’m a male?”

“No! Not at all!” Sayuri exclaimed. “I actual like how you look! I’ve never really liked masculine looking guys, you know?!"

“I think that you look really,” she continued before turning red, realizing what she was going to say, and whispered, “...pretty…”

Yuki paid no attention to the last part, and popped a strawberry in his mouth.

“Then you are in the minority,” he said after he swallowed with a small smile.

Sayuri thought she heard him say this with sad twinge in his voice but couldn’t see any reaction on his face. She realized that she was being teased and began to get mad.

“Gah, why did you make say something like that?!” she yelled while hitting him lightly on the arm.

“There’s nothing wrong with thinking someone is cute,” Yuki said nonchalantly.

“Stop teasing me!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The reactions to Yuki’s entrance was exactly how he predicted they would be. Everyone thought that he was a girl, and even Sayuri who already knew that he was a boy was doubting that information. For now the comments about him were nothing bad, some were even complimenting him. But Yuki knew from experience that this would change quickly when they discover his real gender. He wasn’t lying when he said that Sayuri was unique.

And now he waited for the announcements to begin, eating his bagel and trying to ignore the stares from the people around him. At exactly nine o’clock, a man walked on to the stage. It was the self-proclaimed manager, Robert Weber.

The main hall became quiet.

“Good morning,” Robert said in English. Yuki began to translate when he noticed Sayuri’s confused face. “Those of you that are second and third years already know who I am but to the newcomers I am Robert Weber, the manager of this facility. And I want us to welcome the new students that have just joined.”

Robert waited for the clapping to die down before continuing.

“As you first years already know, today is the day that we will be officially accepting you into our ranks. We will be giving you something a little special.”

‘Status crystals,’ Yuki thought to himself.

“It’s something that everyone here has and that you will need to stay here.”

[Status crystals,] Akira said in Yuki’s head, agreeing. 

“You will be receiving status cards!” Robert announced grandly. There was excited whispers from all the new trainees except Yuki.

“It is a kind of initiation here in our facility to receive a status card. When I call your name,  you’ll walk up to this stage and I will hand you a card. Prick one of your fingers on the corner of the plate and your status will be read. We will be projecting your status so that everyone can see it.”

‘We really need to look average now,’ Yuki groaned silently at the last part. He continued to translate Robert’s speech to Sayuri.

“Without further ado, let us begin,” Robert said. “Aaron Smith!”