We walked down the hallway and came to an armored door. I should ask for that guy's name while we're at it.

 

“Hey big guy, what’s your name? You seem to know mine, so it’d be nice to know yours.”

 

He turned back with a slight smile. It seemed that this guy did have some sort of humor under his serious face.

 

“Me? Goongaga.”

 

“What…?”

 

“My bad, my name is Haruka Okami.”

 

His smirk seemed to get wider as I didn’t understand his joke. Ah… He was one of those weird guys with strange humor. This spring wolf put his arms behind his back and turned around. His green hair seemed to almost flutter in the moonlight. I turned and looked through the windows, and today had a full moon. Maybe the apple rabbits I cut were a sign.

 

“Just call me Haru, most people at school call me that anyway.”

 

“Let’s get going already, we’ve already wasted so much time today.”

 

Hiiragi looked irritated as she looked back at Haru and I. She definitely had something against me, I’ll have fun teasing her later on. Haru seemed to be the serious type, but he seemed nice under all that rough skin. He grabbed the knob on the armored door and turned hard. Ether energy seeped from his hand into the door and some sort of lock was removed.

 

“Come on in. Everyone’s waiting.”

 

The door slowly revealed a whole headquarters. There were many people at different stations monitoring areas with screens. This was how Tokyo was protected during the “awakening.” There was a whole host of different staff, but the one in front of me was an old man. He looked to be in his early sixties at most to me. His build was strong though, I could see his muscles on his arms while he wore a full suit. He noticed me staring and smiled at me.

 

“Everyone, welcome this is Schwalbe we’ve found. Shinjeo Curato!”

 

A wide range of voices came in welcoming me. These people seemed nice, this section of ESSE wasn’t one I knew of, but it was completely different from the mellow atmosphere of Section 13 in the future. The man in front of me began to introduce himself.

“My name is Quinton Dawn, I am the director of the 11th Section of ESSE.”

 

He reached his hand out and I shook it well. This man was definitely strong, I felt a slight release of ether energy that was far stronger than what I had built up here. 

 

“I’m Shinjeo Curato, as you know, why’d you bring me here?”

 

“We’d like to introduce you and give you a tour of our organization.”

 

“That’s all? Then, let’s go on.”

 

“You sure are quick on accepting this. Call me Quinton for now.”

 

“Follow me, I will show you our facilities.”

 

Hiiragi and Haru followed close behind me as Quinton walked over to another door. He put his hand on a sensor and the door slid open. It revealed a hallway, similar to a school hallway. The hallway itself was armored, I walked in behind Quinton and looked to my left. There were kids my age dueling on different areas and to my right there were kids in classrooms studying. It looked to be an academy of some sort for training Schwalbes.

 

“Did you learn everything on your own?”

 

“I did, most of the techniques came from fighting monsters in barriers.”

“Where did you live before moving to Tokyo?”

 

“I live in the Saitama area, mostly honing my skills over the years.”

 

“Hm, I see, you must have been fighting for a long time on your own.”

 

“I had to protect my family somehow.”

 

Everything I said was a complete lie, except living in Saitama for awhile. I couldn’t just reveal that my experience came from the future. I had to pretend that I had been honing my abilities on my own for years just hunting single monsters.

 

“I awakened my powers and first accessed the system when I was seven.”

 

“That’s a young age, it was probably because of your potential for ether energy. We checked the amount you unleashed and it was enough to fuel five D-Class students.”

 

“Really? I never knew how strong I was compared to others. I never met anyone like me in the Saitama area.”

 

We walked through the hallway and a couple faces were peering out towards me. All the young people here looked at me and turned away whenever I met their eyes. They were curious as to who I was probably, I guessed that very few students were toured by Quinton himself.

 

“These are the normal classes we have. They are the same as any other Japanese School, if you joined us, you would have an education probably higher than most schools here. We are government-funded you see.”

 

“Wow, that must be huge. The government itself was watching over this?”

 

“Yes, there’s even more here, you can train your abilities and ready yourself for monster attacks.”

 

Section 11 of the ESSE was completely different from Section 13. Section 13 was no school, it was a laboratory for testing Schwalbes, my experience there wasn’t too good, but that’s where I began. I could guess that ESSE had many different facilities that dealt with Schwalbes using different methods. This information can be useful later on too.

 

“Shinjeo, you are a rare individual. Most kids who awaken early without anyone around either die, or they end up getting out of control. The reason this facility exists is to help them control their abilities and get stronger.”

 

“How long has this operation for the ESSE been running for?”

 

“Almost 20 years. Other sections may have been running for even longer.”

 

We kept walking and before I realized it, I was in front of the principal's office. I think I know where this goes next, it would be time to settle down and talk privately.

 

“Come inside, Shinjeo, let’s have a private talk here for a bit. Private Hiiragi and Private Okami, please stay outside and watch for disturbances as we talk.”

 

I wouldn’t need to worry about time here, so I thought that I should relax and talk to this man for a bit. It would be very good to gain allies early on, there would be resources a freelancer couldn’t reach even by themselves. An opportunity was being set for me, this path would be a big influence on me. I was going to begin proper training.

 

“Let’s start with you Shinjeo. What are your goals?”

 

I thought hard about my values. The person I was before and the person I am now. I had many memories flash through my head. I closed my eyes and searched deep. I looked at myself from the future, who was I going to become?

 

“My goal is to reach the “truth” of this world.”