'Wait, there's a garden?' Mina asked as they approached the small flower garden. 

'Yep. You probably missed it last night since it was dark.' Sana said. 

'I was busy running too. Wow, this place is pretty huge..'

It simple flower garden, nothing extravagant or fancy. There were hedges along the perimeter to mark the boundary. A stone pathway led to a small and cozy looking garden shelter in the middle of the garden. There was a bench with a few pillows and a side table in the shelter which was surrounded by all sorts of flowers that were arranged according to color. 

'Chaeyoung is the only one who frequents this place although we do come out here to get some fresh air or have a picnic. This is the perfect place to practice her healing powers.' the taller girl explained.

'No wonder these flowers look so fresh.' Mina looked around. 'Smells really good here too.' 

'That small shed over there used to be a garden as well. There were patches of plants growing on both sides so we decided to just move them over here and turn that space into a tool shed and storeroom.' Sana pointed at a little metal hut across the courtyard. 'We'll head to the back if you're done admiring the flowers.' 

Mina took a glance at the red roses. She was tempted to pluck just one and give it to Sana but she didn't want to destroy the pretty bushes. Besides, it's weird to give a flower to someone you just met two and a half hours ago. If it's pretty, you should let it grow so that other people can admire it too, Mina mentally reminded herself.

'Let's go then. I can come here another time.' the copper haired girl smiled and the pair walked out of the flower garden.

'How many students were there in the past?' Mina asked as they walked go the back. The little stones crunched under their feet with each step they took. 

'I'm here for about four years but Jihyo was here for ten. When I joined there were probably a total of about 31 of us? Then they slowly left. Some left to fight and never came back and some just disappeared without a trace.' Sana pressed her lips together and looked down to the ground, hands shoved in her pocket. 

'They left to fight.. The hellhounds?' Mina asked carefully since she was on a sensitive topic. She had always been good at reading people.

'That and also attempts to rescue other mutants that Jihyo could track which were near the academy but she refused to continue after a year since there seemed to be more casualties from rescue missions and some don't even return. She didn't want to send more to their deaths and got into a big argument with the then leader but he gave in. You probably didn't know about it but there was a huge battle just last year and that's when the leader left with the experienced members and handed the leadership to Jihyo. She wanted to tag along since she could help but he made her stay to take care of the academy and the new members. When they left, only eight of us remained. As you can see, no one came back, but the numbers of hellhounds have been greatly reduced. There used to be a hell load all over the country but attacks now are rare to hear. The neighbouring school too lost many members. There are only ten members over there now.' 

Mina's mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to say something. It wasn't her fault since she had no idea about it at all but somehow she felt guilty that she wasn't able to save all those lives. Her fire affinity could have been a surprise attack to counter against the beasts; she could have saved so many.

'I'm sorry.' was all Mina managed to say.

'What for? For the loss? It's kind of the norm for mutants like us. People come and go and we're always in danger of losing our lives.' 

'No. Sorry for not being able to help those other mutants. My affinity could have caused a lot of destruction. I might have been able to save them all if I joined earlier.' 

Sana stopped walking and turned to face Mina. She placed her hands on Mina's shoulders and squeezed them.

'It's not your fault at all so you shouldn't feel sorry. You had no clue about this war at all so how can you blame yourself? Besides, it was a really fierce and bloody battle. What if you got hurt? Even worst, killed? That would be really bad. This was out of your knowledge and control. Think of it this way, now that you joined us, you can prevent other mutants from dying if there's ever another battle.' Sana knitted her eyebrows. Mina was so innocent that she wanted to just hug the girl and keep her away from all the bad things in the world.

'I'll make sure none of you ever get hurt.' Mina said and for just a second, Sana swore she saw a flicker of flames in the girl's determined eyes.

'Let's keep moving then, the playground is just up ahead.' Sana smiled and they resumed their stroll.

'Playground?' 

'We used to have kids here as well but then they either grew up like Jihyo or just left to go back home or wherever they wanted. We kept the playground since we all really just have the mental age of ten year olds and we love to play.' the older girl said and Mina laughed.

They could see a few figures running in the big field just further up. 

'They're probably playing Frisbee. Would you like to watch their game?' Sana asked when she saw the younger girl looking at the figures in the distance with interest. 

'Yes please.' 

As they approached, the figures shot them a few glances before stopping the game and walking over. 

'Hey! You're the new kid right? Mina?' a taller girl with a pixie cut said with a grin. 

'Yep, that's me.' 

'You're Japanese?' another girl with brown hair asked. 

'Yes I am. I'm from Kobe.' 

'Ooh.. I'm from Kyoto.' she smiled and extended a hand. 'Hirai Momo.' 

'Myoui Mina. Nice to meet you.' Mina grasped the hand firmly and shook it. 

'I'm Yoo Jeongyeon.' the pixie hair girl said.

'I'm Son Chaeyoung and this is Kim Dahyun.' a shorter girl said and the other pale girl beside her smiled brightly and waved at Mina.

'Do you two wanna join us? We could play three on three.' Jeongyeon suggested. 

'Maybe another day. Sorry.' Mina smiled apologetically. 

'It's alright. We'll get going then. See you at dinner time!' Jeongyeon shouted as she ran back to the centre of the field.

'You could join them; I pretty much finished the tour. The only thing left is that small gym there on the right and the armoury on the left.' Sana said as they walked back to the main building. 

'Nah.. Don't feel like running around today.' 

Sana nodded and they fell into silence. They entered through the back door and walked back down the corridor to the stairwell. 

'The next building down that corridor is called the east wing where the laundromat, tech room, art room and workshop are. Down that corridor is the west wing where the multi-story garage is.' Sana said, pointing down the corridor on their left then right. 'This building is the main building.' 

'Ah so that was what was down those hallways. It was all dark yesterday so I didn't think much of it.' 

The two walked up the stairs slowly. 

'Thanks for showing me around.' Mina said when they reached the second floor. 

'Don't mention it. We're partners anyway, good to spend some time together to get used to each other’s presence.' the blonde smiled. 'Dinner time is at 8 pm. You can do whatever you want till then.' 

Mina nodded and walked to her room. She looked back one more time to see Sana's room door close before she shut her own. The girl flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She hadn’t dated anyone in a few years from the fear that they might be afraid of her and get freaked out. Then again, perhaps she shouldn’t think of dating at all. This was a high risk vocation. Death rates are high and feelings could affect performance. Sana is nice and all but I shouldn’t risk anything, Mina thought before she drifted off to sleep.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Mina woke up a few hours later and checked the time. 

5:30 pm

Dinner would be in an hour and a half. Now, what could she do to keep herself occupied in this time frame? 

Go find Sana, said a little voice in her head.

What if she's busy with her own things? She might not even be in her room, Mina replied the little voice. Besides, I can't always count on her to kill my boredom.

Mina decided to just walk down to the field and see if they were still playing and join in. She got up and straightened her clothes before leaving the room. 

There wasn't anyone on the field anymore but there was someone at the small basketball court beside the playground shooting hoops. A black haired girl was standing in the rectangle preparing to shoot when she noticed Mina's presence. 

'Hey there. Wanna join?' the girl asked with a smile that revealed her two bunny-like front teeth. 

'Sure.' 

'Mina, right? Word spreads fast amongst eight people living in one building.' the girl giggled. 'Im Nayeon.' she said over their handshake.

'You look very good at basketball.' Mina said which made the girl laugh.

'I'm not. Do you want to see something?' Nayeon asked as she ran to the other end of the court and tossed the ball. A portal opened in the path of the ball and another above the hoop. The ball passed into the first portal before dropping out from the second portal, landing cleanly in the hoop. 

'You must be the teleporter.' Mina grinned.

'Yours truly.' Nayeon beamed. 'Why, aren't you a bright little cookie?' Nayeon passed the ball to Mina who caught it swiftly. 'Match?' 

'Sure but no powers.'

'Of course, we'll play fair and square.'

Nayeon had immediately regretted suggesting a match after the third consecutive shot from Mina. The girl sure was good at this. 

'It's okay, with practice you can make it.' Mina patted the older girl's shoulder as they walked off rhe court. 

'Damn you are good at this.' Nayeon said in amazement. She would never look at Mina the same again. Moral of the story: don't underestimate the shy kid.

'I'm not called the game master for nothing.' Mina grinned and Nayeon groaned.

'You should have told me earlier.. I could have saved myself the embarrassment.' 

'You didn't ask~' the Japanese girl sang. 

'I'll be taking a shower. So sticky.' Nayeon patted her neck as they climbed up the stairs. 

'Me too... Last one to freshen up is a pig!' Mina abruptly said and ran up the stairs with Nayeon in hot pursuit. 

Turns out Mina who suggested it was the last one out of the shower. The duo walked down the stairs with Mina rolling her eyes as Nayeon plastered the victorious smile on her face. 

'You two are early.' Jeongyeon said. 

'Jihyo is earlier. Do we have kimchi today? I mean.. Kimchi hyo is helping you.' Nayeon sniggered while Mina had a puzzled look on her face. 

'I would make kimchi for them occasionally and it's apparently so good that they said I could start a shop selling kimchi. Then they did wordplay on my name so I became kimchi hyo.' Jihyo explained as she stood up with a bottle of black pepper.

'Could you just sprinkle some into the soup? Oh and set the table, dinner would be ready soon.' Jeongyeon said to no one in particular as she was focused on frying the meat. 

Mina and Nayeon were about to step forward to help lay the cutlery but the plates and utensils had already rose from the counter and glided through the air before finding their spot on the table. It was almost as if they had a mind of their own as they never once bumped into each other.

'I got it you two, go get the rest of the girls.' Jihyo sniggered when she glanced back to the two girls. 

'That never fails to amaze me.' Mina muttered. Just when they were about to walk out of the kitchen, they heard the others approach. 

'We need a faster reaction time.' Nayeon whispered to Mina and the latter laughed.

'Wew~ what’s for dinner, Chef Yoo?' a voice sounded from behind Mina and she turned around to see the other members strolling in. She unconsciously scanned her eyes over the girls, looking for a particular haired girl.

'Where's Sana?' Mina unconsciously asked before realising that she probably sounded clingy towards her new friend.

'I think she's still in her room. She might be sleeping or something.' Chaeyoung replied. 

'I'll go get her.' Mina said and walked out of the kitchen. Jihyo, who had heard the exchange, smiled lightly. 

Nayeon slung an arm around Jihyo's shoulder.

'Should we start first?' the older girl asked.

'Nah, let's wait a little. I'm sure they won't take long.' Jihyo said and patted Nayeon's arm. 

'Alright then.' the girl pulled her arm away and went to take her seat beside Jeongyeon.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Mina's hand glided along the handrails as she sprinted up the stairs two steps at a time. She walked briskly to Sana's door while catching her breath. She double checked the name on the door before gently rapping her knuckles on the wooden door. No response. She knocked a little louder. Still no response. 

She was about to knock again when she heard the lock unlatch and the door opened just enough for Sana to peek her head out. The girl's hair was a little messy and her eyes were half lidded.

'Oh Mina..' Sana greeted as she recognized the face standing in front of her, voice cracking a little. 'You need something?' she asked as she opened the door to reveal half her body. 

'Did I wake you up?' Mina's eyebrow scrunched together but the blonde waved her off. 'It's dinner time so I came to get you.' 

'Oh.. Okay. I'll be down in a bit. You could go tell the rest to start eating if they're hungry. You too.' Sana said but Mina shook her head.

'I can wait for you.. If you don't mind that is.' Mina offered and Sana gave a small smile. 

'That would be nice of you and no trouble at all. You're my partner anyway; I think we'll be relying on each other a lot so let's just try not to feel guilty for it.' Sana said and opened the door a little wider. 'Come on in.' 

Mina stepped inside for the second time that day. The covers were a little rumpled and Mina sat on the edge of the bed. Sana yawned as she shuffled over to the towel rack and pulled the white cloth off the rail.

'I'll be right back.' Sana said and walked into the toilet. Mina could hear the tap turn on and the splashing of water as Sana freshened up. The girl was out soon enough, looking more awake too. She shuffled across the room and hung the towel back before turning to Mina. 

'Shall we go?' 

'Ah yes.' Mina stood up. The two girls walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen where the chatter of the other girls could be heard when they were halfway down the hall. The most distinctive voice Mina was able to pick out was Jihyo's. 

'Jihyo is like our mic.' Sana giggled.

'Explains why I can hear her voice from here.' Mina grinned. 

'Oh there you two are. I was about to go up and look for you. Sit, we're about to start.' Jihyo beckoned as the pair appeared in the doorway. 

When everyone was seated, they tucked in. It was like a tradition for everyone to have dinner together at the school. It was a way of bonding. Usually they'd discuss and share what they have done earlier in the day or just random topics to talk about. Some days they talk about more serious things if there were incidents of attacks. 

Today, it was a mix of random topics and what they did in the day. Mina found it really easy to join the conversation. She had expected it to be awkward since she just got to know them this morning but surprisingly, the conversation flowed smoothly and she didn't feel awkward or excluded at all. Sana too had promised to tell her all the inside jokes they had so she wouldn't feel too lost at times. 

After dinner, everyone returned to their room while the ones on duty stayed to do the dishes. They really just had to load them into the dish washer and come take them out after they are done washing up. 

Mina took a quick shower and dried her hair before lying down on her bed and staring at the ceiling. There were many thoughts and worries going through her mind. The what ifs. What if she gets caught? What if her friends get caught. What if they can't defeat the rebels? 

So many questions but only time will tell. 

Mina let out a sigh. She was too tired to think. It was probably the adrenaline of being in a new environment that kept her going today, along with that power nap. 

The weariness was starting to kick in and she closed her eyes. Tucking herself under the fluffy blanket, she let her mind relax and slowly slipped into the land of dreams.