[Gundam Nova]

 

March 21st, I.J.C. 194, Earth, Sabua, Elysium Headquarters, 1:30 P.M.

 

“Remember, Yoha. It is just a question, you don’t need to feel pressure or anything. Just relax, you will get in without a problem.”  Mama said as she clenched my hand tightly. I could see the drop of sweat from her forehead.

 

“You are even more nervous than me, Don’t worry.” I chuckle lightly, calming her down by clenching her hand back. Today…is the day of the interview. And Honestly? I feel like a wreckage in the water, piece by piece, drifting in the water. 

 

I swear that If I let go even a little, the sweat would pour down like rain. I take in a deep breath, as I watch the clock, ticking and tocking away…

 

5 kids have gone before me, 4 came out crying, and the last one just straight up passed out. Right now, it was the 6th kid's turn, I didn’t bother looking at what they looked like, all I knew right now was to focus on myself.

 

Honestly, why am I even nervous? I passed more intense interviews than this before, job interviews, Uni interviews…but for some reason, right now…I was a nervous wreck. 

 

I could feel my gums start to shake a bit if I even lost my focus, my leg couldn’t stop tapping the floor and my hands were shaking…Hehe…Damn, I feel like a kid again, waiting at the dentist for my turn, nervous about how hurt it would be…

 

Click.

 

The door opened, revealing a girl about the same age as me, her green hair flowing down like a tree, her purple eyes glowing like an amethyst, I could see that she was an athlete, or at least she trained herself, judging from her legs, the way she walked, and how she posture herself. 

 

The girl didn’t even glance at me and walked toward the nun sitting at the far end of my seat, praying. When the nun noticed her, I saw the mouth move, probably asking about the result, the girl didn’t speak and just gave a thump up.

 

The nun was elated and quickly took the girl into a hug, and they soon walked away.

 

It seems she passed. Right…calm down, Yoha. It was just an interview. No need to be nervous. Taking in another deep breath I open my eyes and watch as the world around me seems clearer than ever.

 

“Mrs. Yoha Milas Revory, Please come to room 447.” So it is my turn now. Tapping my face with a bit of force, just enough to wake me up and not ruin the makeup the maid painstakingly put on. I get up.

 

“Good luck, Yoha,” Mama said, she kissed my forehead and patted it a little.

 

“I don’t need luck, 'cause I’m going to get in.” I smile at her and walk toward the room. 

 

[Gundam Nova]

 

“Another boring one, huh? Yoha Milas Revory…unknow name, background…Hoh? In protection of that Ottoman?” 

 

“You didn’t even study the material before, Ano. Why do you even become an interviewer?” The woman next to him speaks. Which Ano promptly ignored.

 

“It's not like it going to matter, What's weird is I can’t find anything about the Mother or the Father. Seems like the Ottomans really did a good job. They leave only the basic information while concealing the important bits. We can’t even question them like this…they are just too powerful for us.” he said, placing down the paper. 

 

“That’s why Mrs. Tomoe wants us to study the material beforehand, So we can adapt to the flow.” Another man in the room tucks his glass up to his eyesight as he looks over the paper.

 

“You just an asskisser, Rey.” Ano said, earning the ire from Rey. The two continue to banter while Tomoe, the only woman in the room, studies the file again.

 

Yoha Milas Revory, age 4 years old. Height 85.7 Cm, Weight 15.97 Kg. IQ test 189, IQ result may vary from the truth as it is from an Online test she did a month ago. It may be higher or lower. Grow up in Siga-8 a colony situated in Mar’s moon’s gravity. At 3 years old, create a companion AI named Haro. 

 

“She seems…capable. But how much was it that was a lie? We are about to find out.” Her words shut the two arguing idiots up. Making the room return to the peaceful silence again.

 

Soon, the door was not, thrice with a graceful pause each time.

 

“Come in.’ she said lightly but loud enough for the other person outside to hear. When the door was open, it revealed a girl, in a simple dress with a bit of makeup. She was more cuter than the image but that is what most tend to do anyway. Make the image a bit uglier so that they can earn a bit of points when the real one is much more beautiful.

 

Well, as long as the interviewee was into such a thing but sadly, at Elysium, they don’t have such an interviewer, they are all already in jail.

The girl, once inside walked toward the chair but didn’t sit down immediately, she bowed down lightly, raising her skirt a bit as a courtesy. It was after that, the girl finally sat down.

 

Oho? She isn’t nervous? No…I could see it, even though she pretended to be strong like now, I could see the shaking of her left hand.

“Welcome, Mrs. Yoha. My name is Tomoe Izuno, This is Ano Francius and Rey Langa. We will be your interviewer today.” Tomoe said softly, in a manner, she used to interview the kid. Start softly and slowly raise the intensity. It is the best way to see if the child can bear the pressure.

 

“My name is Yoha Milas Revory, It was a pressure to meet you, Dear interviewer.” The girl bowed her head lightly again. 

 

“We’ll start now then. Mrs. Yoha, Why do you choose our Academy as your place of Education?”

 

“Elysium Academy is the best place with both the equipment, capable professor, and environment for my study, thus the reason I choose this place.”  The standard answer is, well it's not like she expects much anyway. At least she come prepared.

 

“Describe a project or achievement from our Academy that inspires you to join.” Ano starts, not wasting any time for her to breathe.

 

“The development of the Mobile Suit, Specifically, The 87th mobile project, Kramadis. A modified version of Kraman, with enchant speed and armor, Fusion Energy backpack which allows for long operating time. Both are capable of operating in space and on the ground of Earth. This project led to the success of Gendaro, which then further developed into Dragruda.” 

 

Huh, an answer she didn’t expect, and from the face of the two, they didn’t expect it either, Project 87th is an old project from over 50 years ago. The fact that someone still remembers it is a miracle in itself and even know the details too.

 

“How will you manage your time in a busy schedule?” Rey completely changed the nature of the last question, but the girl didn't faze. She just continued to look at them.

 

“Please give me the time of the schedule, in 24 hours.”

 

“10-hour study, 8-hour sleep, 3 free time” 

 

“Does the free time, include both meal and bath time, and accounting the time at which I may have an accident that I need to take care of?” Rey nods at her. The girl took just a moment to think about it.

 

“I will cut my sleep by 2 hours, which would increase my free time, But that is not the answer you want to hear, isn’t it? In fact, the schedule you gave me is an absurd schedule that no kid could follow. What you want to hear is how do I deal with this, not how I will manage the time.” 

 

Rey nods again. Well, it seems this kid isn’t ordinary. Or boring as Ano says.

 

“First, I cut my study time from 10 hours to 6 hours. Which will increase my Free time by 4 hours, Then that time is when I truly do something that I like and is productive for my age and will not hinder my growth. The 10-hour study would only hinder my ability to explore other fields, which would limit my growth.”

 

“I see, I see…Then how do you stay motivated?”

 

“By doing something I like, I would not lose interest, but if I ever start to lose interest in something I like, It means that it is time to take a break. Overdoing things will make it lose its magic.” 

 

A good answer. 

 

“Then what is your hobby?” 

 

“Coding.” The girl answered without even thinking. 

 

“How do you think your hobby will contribute to the academy?” Tomoe asks, the child stays quiet for about a minute, then the minute becomes 2 as she still finds her answer. Well, well, looks like the interview is about to end-

 

“MARIA, Multifunctional Automated Response and Information Assistant, I can improve it, I just lack the necessary equipment.” She answers it confidently.

 

“Just because you have the protection of Ottoman doesn't mean you have the right to Military pro-” Tomoe quickly stopped Ano who was about to blow his fuse over the little girl.

 

“Girl, do you really think you can improve it? Something which even the best of our experts couldn’t do?”

 

“Yes, I know that program comes from the Agellus, which have a rather complex computer language, but once you dig into the base, everything is just simple HyperLink, The reason you could never improve it is that you all focus on the fancy outside, not the simple base.”

 

“Do you have evidence to prove your word?” 

 

“I have, Haro, My creation. If you manage to decode him then surely you can decode the MARIA too.” The girl said confidently while using her smartwatch and sending them the file through their phone. “Don’t worry, I didn’t hack your phone. I just use the local network to get access to it”

 

“You seem…to have a lot of confidence.” 

 

“As long as it's anything to Coding, I’m the most confident.” So it just coding huh? Well, there are other tests to be done.

 

Looking over the files, she quickly sent them to one of the professors, telling him to decode them quickly. 

 

“Then let’s resume the interview, this will be our last question. What do you think you can archive in the future?”

 

“Nothing.” Hm?

 

“May I ask why?”

 

“Everything is changing so fast, the next moment I know will become the past, all my dreams right now may already archive before I could even try them, that's why I would archive nothing as I am right now. The only way to truly accomplish something is to improve myself and live in the present.”

 

That is not something you would hear from a 4-year-old. But well…It is not a bad answer.

 

“Thank you for your time. I will send you the result at the end of the day. You may leave now.” 

“Thank you for having me.” The girl said as she got up and bowed down slightly again, with a slow step she walked out of the room. With the click of the door, the atmosphere finally relaxed again.

 

“What do you think?” 

 

“Too confident of herself, she wouldn’t-”

 

“I don’t need your opinion Ano, she just stabbed you in the hearth because even you can’t decode the MARIA. What I want is a fair evaluation.”

 

“Then just like I said she is too confident! Overconfident even! Just because she has the protection, she thinks she can do whatever she wants!? The fact that she has access to the Military program in itself is bad enough, and we couldn’t do anything about it since the one with the access is the Ottoman and the right to the program is theirs.”

 

“It just means that the Ottoman saw potential in her, I have received the result of the decoding of her Haro Program…and it wasn’t good. Henry and his team couldn’t crack the base, the base code is protected with real-time code changing every second, Of course, we could predict the pattern but it is just the first layer that will take at least 10 days of constant monitoring.”

 

Rey said, opening up the result with his laptop. And just like he said, thousands of words that she alone couldn’t understand changed every second. 

 

“She is a genius, both her answers are thought on the spot and not rehearsed, and she didn’t crumble under pressure too, being too calm in fact,” he adds.

 

“I notice the change in her atmosphere once we start, it seems like she was able to change herself to adapt to the situation. What's more, her intelligence is real. Or at least that is what it seems to appear to be. We can send her to the testing ground next week. Are we in agreement?” She asks, receiving a nod from Rey and a hesitant nod from Ano. 

 

“Alright, let the next one come in.”

 

[Gundam Nova]

 

March 21st, I.J.C. 194, Earth, New Orleans, Ottoman’s Mansion, 6:44 P.M.

 

It arrived, I just received the result through the mail just now. Honestly, I’m still a bit in the cloud, I don’t know what happened after I got into the room, it feels like I switched with someone to answer, but I know that it is still me, after all, I still remember the feeling inside, It was…serene for some reason, I don’t have any worry, I don’t need to feel pressure.

 

But now is the result of my action, wheater I was conscious of is debatable, but the fact is the consequence is here. I quietly copy it to my Smartwatch and upload it to Haro, turning Off the Laptop, which Yohai isn’t inside anymore, I transfer her to My PC which has better processing Power.

 

She should be about…half done with whatever she was doing, I was starting to see the pattern in which she evolves herself, at least. Should take about another month, Well at least the ottoman didn’t complain about the power used by my PC.

 

I take Haro up into my arms and walk toward the Living room, I know the 4 of them will be there, Because they too, were waiting for my interview result. Knocking on the door 3 times just like how Mr.Hemston taught me, The door opened for me and the person behind it was none other than Mr.Hemston.

 

He was becoming akin to a mentor to me, Teaching me various things throughout my stay here, but most of them were etiquette. Well, they were mostly basic things, like how to posture myself, and how to act around others. 

Mostly it is about how to act around people and how to act around someone with status. I thank him briefly and walk inside. Hemston doesn’t really like a long thank you. Well, not from me, he seems to regard me as one of the masters in this house. He acts with me like he acts with Mama and the Ottoman couple. Always polite and tend to my every need.

 

Well, enough about that, I can see the look on the couple's faces already, Mr. Stephan is looking nonchalant like usual, and Mrs.Kylie is a bit worried. As for Mama? She was…nervous…She was really nervous, I hadn’t ever seen her this nervous before. I thought she didn’t care what academy I got into. But it seemed I was mistaken, she didn’t care what academy I got into, she seemed to just be nervous about whether I would get into the one I liked or not.

 

I applied to other academies too and already got them as my second and third choices. But I am confident that I won’t need to call their administrator. Because I will get into this one.

 

“I got the response,” I said lightly, Placing Haro down in the middle of the room. I look at their reaction and then look toward Haro, “Haro open the last mail I uploaded.” Within a second, Haro faces upward and his eyes glow bright, revealing a hologram of the Email Icon.

 

“Alright…I’m going to open it.” Touching the Email, it expands into a full-size video, with the woman named Tomoe? The one who interviews me on the screen.

 

“Good evening, Ms.Yoha. I hope that you are in good health. I will cut to the chase, You have been accepted alongside 167 people to test your ability in the Test ground. The test will happen on March 28th, Time 8:00 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. Break every 2 hours, including lunch break which will happen at 12:30 A.M. Participants could bring up to 3 personal Items, Whether it be a doll or even a computer. But the Exam equipment Will be provided by us. These Items are just for your comfort. Up to 2 Guardians will be allowed inside.  These are the essential, as for other rules, Please read at our website. That’s all. Goodbye.” the transmission ends. It was short, just cut to the chase without even the basics of pleasantries.

 

But the message was clear…I pass, I pass the interview…

 

“Mama, Look I pas-oof!” 

 

“Congratulations, dear. Most people don’t pass that stage.” She took me into a hug before I even knew it, Her arms were firm, hugging me as if there was no tomorrow.

 

“Of course! Who's daughter do you think I am?” I said confidently, as I returned the hug, I could feel her hug me even tighter. 

 

“Of course, You’re my little girl after all. This was as good as you pass the entrance, The Exam won’t be a problem with a brain like yours.” She caresses my head softly, and before I notice there is already Pudding in the room. 

 

“This call for a celebration, right? I ordered it this morning and ordered them to arrive around 6, so it is still very fresh.”  Mrs.Kylie comes up from behind me, with a plate of Pudding in her hand. 

 

“Thank you!” Taking the Pudding in my hand, I start to savor the delicious pudding. And it was so, so delicious! This taste, is sweet, yet not too sweet, the perfect ratio of Caramel, crunchy with a bit of bitterness to counter the sweetness…a hint of saltiness from the caramel…this is…“McMellow Palate’s Pudding!” 

 

“That’s right. And don’t worry, we still have a lot of Pudding left. So eat as much as you want, but not too much ok?” She said as she patted my head too. Ah! Tonight is going to be the best night ever!

.

.

.

.

It wasn’t the best night, I got a stomach ache the next day….