The Birth of a Team
Me, Shine, Amy, and Rain. The four of us sat gathered around a single table.
"What kind of team are we going to make?" I asked.
"Well..."
Though she answered, Amy didn't offer any immediate suggestions, as if she hadn't given the concept of a team much deep thought yet.
"I wonder what a good name would be," Amy murmured softly, starting to jot down short words on a notepad.
Jeff, Amy, Rain, Shine, and Victor. She wrote down our names, our respective abilities, and then listed a series of words associated with them underneath.
"How about Raincoat?" Rain piped up.
No one paid any attention to her suggestion. Looking resentful at being ignored, Rain puffed her cheeks out like a balloon.
"How about Jeff?" Shine suggested.
"Me...?"
"Yeah. I'm saying we should name the team Jeff."
Shine looked at me as if she genuinely thought it was a brilliant idea. I stared at her, utterly flabbergasted. Did she honestly think naming the team after me was a good idea?
"I'm not really a fan of that..." I mumbled.
"I think it's great," Shine countered.
Her gaze locked onto me. After a brief silence, it was Shine who finally gave in.
"Well, if Jeff doesn't like it, I guess we can't help it," she said, sounding genuinely disappointed.
It seemed that if I hadn't rejected it, she would have pushed for 'Team Jeff' until the very end. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Are we allowed to just decide the team name however we want?" I asked Amy.
"Yeah. That's how it's usually done."
"That's surprisingly autonomous."
"Our basic motto is freedom, after all," Amy replied with a smile.
I nodded. I had seen many people cross paths with Amy, but very few of them ever bowed to greet her. Her position seemed incredibly high. Since she was an executive, she should have received treatment befitting that status, but most people treated her like a normal friend or a fellow coworker. While a hierarchy surely existed, it didn't feel forced. For me, someone who was used to a rigid, vertical organizational culture, this was a foreign sight.
"I like it," I said softly, swinging my legs. It was unfamiliar, but not in a bad way. Back in the laboratory... The laboratory?
"Jeff."
Just as I was about to sink into deep thought, Shine's voice snapped me out of it.
"Huh?"
"Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Amy said we should design a team mark."
"...I thought we were thinking of a name?"
"She said she's planning to leave that to Victor later," Shine explained.
Shine handed me a sketchbook as she spoke. Before I knew it, the table was piled high with colored pencils and crayons. When did she even bring those over? My confusion was brief, replaced by a strange urge as I stared at the blank white paper before me. I wanted to draw. I wanted to pour my artistic soul onto that pristine white canvas. Come to think of it, I hadn't drawn anything in ages.
"Alright!" I declared energetically, reaching out. Rain was already drawing a giant chick in her sketchbook. I couldn't let myself lose to Rain. I began moving my hand across the page.
Green and brown. And gold. Long, sweeping lines formed a sleek body, while golden highlights added a touch of elegance. Sharp white claws. And finally, a golden horn rising from its head.
"Wow..." I gasped in admiration at my half-finished drawing. This was a masterpiece. No matter how many times I looked at it, I couldn't call it anything else. I smacked my lips as I stared at the drawing. A team name had also popped into my head. I was sure this was a name that Amy, Shine, and Rain would all love.
Smacking my lips again, I set my hand back to work. I filled in the missing colors and even added a simple background. Roaaar! I could almost hear a savage roar echoing from the page.
"Done!"
Inside the sketchbook, a massive dinosaur was roaring. It was the coolest dinosaur I could possibly imagine.
"Amy! I'm done!" I slid the sketchbook over to her.
"Let's see." Taking the sketchbook from me, Amy began to examine the drawing.
"I thought of a team name too! The Dinos!" I declared.
I thought it was a truly brilliant idea. I looked at Amy with a confident expression. After staring at the drawing for a long time, Amy nodded silently.
"...It's... decent..."
She didn't say it was good. Where did it go wrong? Amy's right eyebrow twitched.
"Is it bad...?" I asked, deflating.
"Hmm... A little...?" Amy spoke carefully as she handed the sketchbook back to me.
Roar! The dinosaur stood majestically on the returned page. Though its savage roar echoed vividly in my ears, it hadn't won Amy's approval. I let out a small sigh and set down the crayon in my hand.
"I'm done too!" Rain cheered.
Rain's drawing was finished just a bit after mine. The chick drawn in her sketchbook was wearing a suit of armor.
"How is it?" Rain pushed her sketchbook to the center of the table. The drawing was cute, but it seemed a bit problematic to use as a team mark. I kept my mouth shut, glancing at Amy.
"Rejected," Amy said flatly.
"Why?!" Rain's eyes went wide. It seemed she hadn't expected her drawing to be rejected at all.
"But it's so cute!" Rain argued, waving her sketchbook. I agreed with her. It was cute. But that was all.
"Rain, what was your thought process behind this drawing?" Amy asked.
"I drew it while thinking of our team! Chicks are cute, right? So that represents me."
Rain's explanation sounded surprisingly plausible. Amy nodded, gesturing for her to continue.
"The armor is Victor and Amy! Since your abilities are so amazing, you can protect us!"
"Are you planning on only being protected?"
"No! Look closely here!" Rain pushed her sketchbook toward Amy once more. Her tiny finger pointed to the chick's waist. There was a pair of dual swords strapped to its waist.
"This is Jeff and Shine. Shine has the same ability as Jeff, right? That means Shine can also use powerful lightning abilities just like Jeff, which means they'll be responsible for our team's firepower."
If one only listened to Rain's explanation, it actually made a lot of sense. However, Amy let out a soft sigh and shook her head.
"Do you really think that? You think a mark like this is good?"
"Yes!" Rain nodded. I also nodded cautiously. To think such a deep meaning was hidden behind a drawing I had thought was just cute. I quietly covered the dinosaur drawn in my sketchbook.
"Absolutely not."
Amy's rejection was firm. Rain collapsed onto the table as if she had been struck by lightning.
"Sob..."
"I'm done too."
Just then, Shine, who had been quietly drawing, presented her sketchbook. I gasped in admiration at her work. It was simple yet intuitive. A black lion's head. Water droplets swirling around it. And a small lightning bolt pattern connecting the water droplets and the lion. I felt a deep sense of defeat looking at Shine's drawing. Rain must have felt the same, as she quickly hid her drawing behind her back.
"This is good."
Amy admired Shine's drawing. It was the first time praise had come out of Amy's mouth. Amy pulled out a blank sheet of A4 paper, placed it next to Shine's drawing, and began to sketch with a ballpoint pen. Drawn more cleanly and with sharper angles, her version gave off a much sleeker feel than Shine's original.
In the end, Shine's drawing was chosen as the team mark. Shine nodded as Amy explained that they would make a few minor adjustments to her draft before officially adopting it. As for the team name, they decided to let Victor choose it. Mine, Shine's, and Rain's naming senses were all atrocious.
"Are we forming the team right now?" I asked.
"No, we can't make it that quickly. We have to go through various procedures and ultimately get approval from Jean."
At Amy's words, I recalled the image of Jean chewing on hay. Because he didn't look particularly reliable, I had completely forgotten about his high rank.
"Then around when will we officially become a team?" I asked, my eyes shining.
Amy, Shine, Rain, and Victor. The thought of belonging to the same group as the people I loved filled me with lingering excitement. It felt different from simply belonging to an organization like the Resistance. It felt like we had something smaller, something uniquely ours.
"Next month, at the earliest?" Amy replied.
"Then will we be going on missions with you starting then, Amy?"
"No."
"Pardon...?" I asked again, wondering if I had misheard.
"Shine and Jeff can't go on missions."
"Why...?"
My heart sank at Amy's words. Hearing that we couldn't go together was incredibly shocking.
"You two are too young."
"We... we're not young," I protested.
"You're still too young, so no." Amy stroked my head as she spoke. I glared up at her, my eyes full of discontent.
"I'm not young."
Amy laughed playfully and began to knead my cheeks.
"Sorry, I misspoke. Jeff isn't young."
"Yes, exactly." I nodded. My cheeks were being squished this way and that by Amy's hands, distorting my vision.
"So we can go on missions together."
"No. Not yet." Amy shook her head and pulled her hands back. My thoroughly kneaded cheeks burned red.
"If you pass all the training stages, I'll allow you to go on missions with us."
"Training stages...?"
"If you can pass them, that is." Amy's voice was tinged with a strange amusement.
I nodded. There was nothing I couldn't do. If the qualification to go on missions was passing the training stages Amy mentioned, it meant Rain had passed them too. If Rain could do it, there was no way I couldn't. With that thought, I looked over at Rain. She seemed to have been stimulated by Shine's drawing and was already working on a new one. I can do it too. I'm going to go on missions with Amy.
"I can do it!" I shouted energetically.
Perhaps because I had raised my voice quite a bit, Shine, who was focused on her drawing, jumped in surprise. The crayon she was holding slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.