The young Japanese man in the black suit tugged uncomfortably at his collar as the two teachers walked down the corridor. He had unruly brown hair and red framed glasses.

His companion could not have seemed more different. With his spiky ice blue hair, colorful Hawaiian shirt, baggy jeans, and loafers, more than a few eyes were drawn to his extraordinary appearance.

“Is this it?” The man in the suit stopped outside of a room.

“Hmmm… yup, this is the one. Why so nervous Yaichi?”

“I’ve always been invited as a skill demonstrator, I’ve never been the teacher.”

“Just follow my lead, you’ll be fine.”

The bell rang right as the two men entered the room, one striding confidently the other tiptoeing timidly.

“Alright, alright. I know you’re excited but you need to calm down before we can start.” The man in the Hawaiian shirt clapped his hands together and wrote two names on the board, slapping his hand next to one of them. “My name is Richard Mann. You may call me Mr. Mann or Mr. M.”

He jabbed a thumb at his colleague. “And you should call him K sensei.”

“Ignore that.” Yaichi’s eyebrows twitched in barely contained annoyance. “Y-”

“We’re you’re homeroom teachers for The World Beyond part of the curriculum.” Richard plowed right on ahead overriding Yaichi’s protests. “Everyday we’ll meet here before splitting up. Who plans on playing a hero?”

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Over two thirds of the students raised their hands. The other option was become a strategist. The vast majority of players preferred to play as heroes. After all, managing an empire was nowhere near as glamorous as roaming the universe in pursuit of glory and adventure.

-|-

“So what team do you want to join?” Sophie asked Amy. The four girls gathered in Fiona and Amy’s room to hang out before bed.

“Lance seems pretty cool.”

“Of course they do, they’re the champions.” Sophie rolled her eyes. “Who doesn’t want to join them? What about you Lauren?”

Lauren wasn’t her actual name, but since no one could pronounce her original name properly she just went by Lauren. The Indian girl lay back on Fiona’s bed tapping the her shades thoughtfully against her lips. “Maybe Dark Abyss.”

Sophie pretended to throw up. “You want to join them? They’re so edgy they’re name even has ‘dark’ in it. I’d rather join Spinaker’s Circus.”

“You want to join the worst team in existence?”

“No, but I’d rather join them than Dark Abyss.”

Lauren huffed and several seconds of awkward silence were finally broken by Amy asking Fiona for her opinion.

“I’m not really thinking of going pro. But if I had to choose a team… I’ll go with Winning Vision.”

“Not thinking of going pro?!” The other girls chorused and stared incredulously at Fiona who scratched her head in embarrassment.

“Then why are you here?”

“A bet.” Fiona told the others about the fiasco with James and how coming to the academy was all Isaac’s idea. “I was originally going to just play casually as a strategist,” she concluded.

“But now?”

“Now I’ll play as a hero too and pound him to a pulp.”