1 Project Soul

1. Project Soul
The day started with a smile.
The ringing of her alarm clock tore Shizuka Souma from her dream world. She opened her eyes a crack and ...
"Good morning, Zuka!" Shouted Nana with her bright smile. The seven-year-old sat by Shizuka's bed and held out the alarm clock.
Shizuka turned off the alarm and smiled sleepily. "Morning, Nani. What was that supposed to mean?"
"You have to wake up, Zuka. There's breakfast!" Nana jumped up, turned and put the alarm clock back in its place - all in one quick movement. "I tried to wake you up! But you just went back to sleep, Zuka!" She was already completely dressed.
Shizuka nodded and sat up. She let her gaze wander around the room and sighed. It was very different from her world ... The room that Shizuka and Nana shared was small. There was room for two narrow beds, a closet, and a small table. One door led out of the room into the hallway, and another led into the small bathroom.
Shizuka got up and looked for something to wear from the closet. "I had such a beautiful dream. You were in it too! It was the first time that you were in one of my dreams, Nani. Otherwise I sometimes see my ... parents.", She said while she was getting dressed and the two of them light blue ribbons plaited into the white-blonde hair. “Does that look that good?” There were no mirrors in the rooms.
“Yes!” Nana beamed. "I dreamed of a big, blue rabbit"
Shizuka returned her smile. Like every morning, she tucked one of the flowers that grew on the windowsill into Nana’s hair. Then the two left their room.
The hallway that awaited them seemed to go on endlessly in both directions. There were doors in the walls at the same distance on both sides and lamps were always at the same distance on the ceiling.
Shizuka sighed. That was the world they had to live in: gray, calculated down to the last detail and always the same. Nothing changed here. Never. The government made sure that they got beds, food and selected books. But ... the facility was still reminiscent of a prison ...
Nana took Shizuka's hand and said: “Don't look so sad, Zuka!” Then she hopped off towards the breakfast room. Shizuka smiled and ran after Nana.
It took them a while to reach the gray double doors that led to the breakfast room, because the room was in the back of the building. Shizuka held the door open for Nana and followed her into the room beyond.
The hall was full of tables and benches where the "students" sat. The food counter was by the window to the left of the door and, as always, there was a long line in front of it. From a pedestal at the end of the hall, the government hired watchdogs watched everything.
"Zuka, Nani! We are here!", A voice called out to them. Shizuka spotted the caller immediately, because with her red hair she was hard to miss.Keiko Diamand stood at one of the many tables in the middle of the hall and waved to her friends. As always, she had her headphones on. The blond Sidney Mendoza sat next to her and looked around the hall, bored.
Shizuka and Nana made their way through the hall and sit down with the two of them.
"Good morning! We have already fetched you something to eat so you don't have to queue," said Keiko and pushed two tablets across the table. It was the usual breakfast: oatmeal with milk and a glass of juice.
"Thanks." Shizuka smiled.
Sidney sighed and poked at her oatmeal, bored. "The same thing every morning for four damn years!"
Keiko smiled. "Right, you've been here for four years ... believe me after a while you get used to all this stuff. Right, Zuka?" The redhead had been part of the project for eleven years now.
Shizuka just nodded. She had been there for six years.
Sidney nodded slowly. "I'm not buying that from you! How are you supposed to get used to this box?"

Crystel Lawrance watched the four of them over the rim of their glasses. They had all been here so much longer ... maybe they also knew how to get out of here.
'No,' Crystel smiled and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. 'If you knew a path, you wouldn't be here for a long time. I can also come home alone! '
Crystel was struck by the thought of her home. The flames flared again before her inner eye. The glass fell out of her hand and only the clink when it hit the stone floor pulled Crystel back into reality. For a moment she could only look at the broken glass, confused, then she sighed and hurriedly began to pick up the broken glass.
"Are you okay?" Asked a voice.
Crystel looked up into Shizuka's blue eyes. The younger one smiled. "May I help you?"
"No. I can do it myself," answered Crystel and picked up the last shard. Then she got up and walked towards the food counter to throw away the broken pieces. The cook let her behind the counter and into the kitchen with a fake smile.
Crystel leaned her back against a closet and closed it. She had been here for a year. And for a year they had haunted the memories of their burning home ... and if it was up to them it would never change.

Confused, Shizuka looked after Crystel until she disappeared into the kitchen, then she sat back down on her seat.
Sidney shook her head slightly. "Just give it up, Zuka. She doesn't want anyone to help her, how often do you want to try?"
"But she helped me. I just want her not to feel so alone here," Shizuka replied quietly.
Keiko smiled. "You know how it is the first time here.Crystel doesn't know her way around very well and doesn't know exactly what to do with the situation here. Give her a little more time. "
Shizuka nodded.
They quickly finished breakfast and left the hall. While Nana and Shizuka ran into their room again to look for Nana's school bag, Keiko and Sidney went ahead into the courtyard.
When they were out of the building, Keiko sighed in relief. "Finally! I can't stand the smell in there."
"At least you don't have to endure this view," answered Sidney and looked up at the high wall. She didn't let anything in from the outside world ... and nothing out of here.
"Right," mumbled Keiko and followed Sidney's gaze.
They made their way to their training ground. On the way, Sidney told, as always, about the latest stories from the stars of the outside world. It was more than forbidden to read the gossip magazines Sidney loved. But somehow the blonde managed to get one again and again. There were dozens of such notebooks under her mattress.
The two reached the training ground at the same time with Crystel. The black-haired woman nodded briefly to them, then went to the training ground. Keiko and Sidney were still waiting for Shizuka.
It came after a few minutes. "I'm sorry. I had to wait with Nana for her mother," she explained hastily. Then the three went to the training ground. It was a wide square with several obstacle courses and target mockups.
"Why is Nana allowed to go to school?" Sidney asked.
"Should she train with us?" Keiko wanted to know.
Sidney shook her head. "I don't mean that at all. Since I've been here I've been getting all this joke about" national security "and that we would put it in danger and then just let the Nana go to school?"
"She's only seven. Maybe she's not that dangerous yet," said Keiko with a shrug.
They reached the center of the training area. The others were already waiting. In addition to Crystel, there were three other people present. Two boys and a young man. The boys were Luciano Dracel and Jake Davis and were on the girls' teams.
Her instructor Arian Blake, a black-haired man whose left eye was covered by an eye patch, nodded to the three girls. "You are late."
"Excuse me, I stopped them both," Shizuka replied quietly.
Arian nodded. "Good. Just sit down with the others. I have two important messages for you."
Sidney, Keiko and Shizuka sat down with the others.
Arian eyed her briefly, then closed his eye and began. "The less important message first. A new ... Soul ... arrived yesterday." He uttered the word reluctantly. Soul. It was the name the government gave to the institution's "students".
Arian cleared his throat and continued. "Until further notice, she will be divided into infiltration group two, which means she will be your partner, Keiko.You will show her the area afterwards. "
Keiko looked up in surprise. She hadn't had a partner before ... and she'd got along well without them. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, and you will accept that," replied Arian coolly. "Katharina, you can appear now!"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a black-haired girl stood next to Arian. She looked at those present with numb, black eyes, then smiled.
"This one," explained Arian. "is Katharina Sanderson. She was moved here from the institute near New York and will be trained with you from now on. Katharina, do you want to tell something about yourself?"
She shook her head. "Not really."
"Well, then sit down first. I have a second, more important message.", Arian replied.
Katharina sat down next to Crystel and smiled at her. "Hi, partner!"
Crystel just smiled.
Arian cleared his throat again. "Do not be surprised if you will be assigned more missions than usual in the next few weeks, because a member of the government will visit the institute to find out about our progress. That means in plain language: do your best and just don't do anything stupid on! "At the last words he shot Sidney a warning look. But she just smiled.
"Who are you sending?" Luciano wanted to know.
"I'm not aware of this yet, but I believe it must be a senior member," said Arian. “And so that you are rested for your upcoming missions, you have the rest of the day free.” Without another word, he turned away and left.
Crystel raised an eyebrow. "Wow! Whoever comes here has to be pretty big beast if we even get some free time."
Keiko nodded. "I would like to know who it is!"
"It doesn't matter! We'll probably get to see him ... or not to see her anyway. After all, we are a threat to