Setro Academy is known as the best school around the world, available only to those who have the luck to be born with a platinum spoon in their mouth in conjunction with immense genius and talent. The only exceptions to this would be the external students that the school accepts in the high school division from the local schools, as a ‘tribute’ to its most celebrated graduate. Each year, they would only accept up to 10% of the upcoming freshman population as external students from the neighboring schools. External students have everything paid for by the school, tuition, books, the dorms; everything that a student could need, the school would pay for it as long as they attend Setro Academy. External students also get a free ride to Setro University, one of the leading institutes in the world. Even if you didn’t want to go to Setro University, you would be able to go to any university you wanted!

The total population of Setro Academy is around 1,800 students, split almost evenly across genders. Approximately 1,000 of those students belong to the elementary school division (K-6th Grade), and about 400 students are in the middle school division (7th-9th), with the rest of the population in the high school division (10th-12th). Ten percent doesn’t seem that bad at first glance, but the keyword is up to. This means they can accept no external students in a year, and it would be entirely reasonable. Setro Academy is a rigorous and renowned school, so outsiders needed to be screened extensively. If there were enough people who met the criteria, then they would be perfectly happy to fill the quota to the brim.

When I was in my third year of middle school, there were 128 upcoming freshmen in Setro Academy’s middle school division, allowing for only a maximum of thirteen external students. There were lots of geniuses and intellectuals in the surrounding area, at least ones smarter than me, but still, there were only three external students chosen: me, Lisa, and Ben. While our grades were good, they certainly weren’t the best. Which meant that there was a criterion for admission than academics and sports...

When I was accepted, they told me it was my personality and attitude in life that gave me the position. They said my mindset was still immature, but my character was one that could help the world.

Yeah, I was pretty sure they were blind at the time. Even I didn’t want me back then...

Looking back, my character was shit. I was blackmailing people for Pete’s sake!

And bullies are attending Setro Academy! They were bullying Ben earlier! How would those guys help humanity?! I question the criteria they use to judge people...

Setro Academy did not lack geniuses, nor did they require talents. Neither did the world. What humanity needed were people that could lead them, to show them the way to a better future. That was what Setro Academy wanted and aimed that every student could be. It was a precept set by the first founding father of Setro Academy.

Setro Academy was not always called as such. It used to be an average, below-average school that taught village kids from the local area. But that all changed with the emergence of Setro Academy’s golden generation, and the person who led them: Primo Ardor.

They all showed immense talent from a young age. Able to speak at two years of age, read and write at three years, learning sword fighting at the age of four, finishing the entire course of arithmetic in the school at the age of five (I’ve seen the level math was back then, and I’m not entirely impressed, but I’m pretty sure it was a big deal at the time.) Receiving national attention, invitations from institutes all the country was sent to this group of geniuses, all miraculously born in the same place. Yet they chose to stay in their hometown and attend the local school until graduation at 18 years of age.

Why?

They wanted to follow the most talented of the group, Primo. He was the core of the group, a born leader. Stories about him in his younger ages still are told today: Solving the nationwide famine for the price of a candied apple, defeating a royal knight with swordsmanship at the age of 8, triumphing over the wisest sage in a debate at the age of 9, inventing various gadgets we still use today at age 10… The tales go on and on. His team went on to become a band during the first world war hundreds of years ago and eventually ended in complete domination over their enemies. They all became nobles, with no casualties. It was the birth of an undying legendary team.

It’s no surprise that he went on to become the king of the continent at the age of 21, creating even more myths and legends about his deeds. He was beloved by all, hailed as a just and kind ruler, able to sympathize with peasants because he came from a humble background. He was everyone’s idol and still is to this day. He was a symbol of the infinite potential that belonged to humanity, a title that will never belong to anyone else.

But there is controversy over him. Some records have been dug up from the long-forgotten ruins of surviving enemies from the first world war. Journal entries labeling him as the Devil: flinging the fires of purgatory burning all that come near into ash. Allies called him both a descended angel from Heaven, sent to guard the empire with righteous flames and godly might. Others labeled him an evil alchemist king, a traveler from another world, a non-human; accusations of every sort were thrown at him.

He took it all in stride, leading his kingdom to greater heights over the next 60 years. He spent time improving the quality of life for commoners and inputted laws that would benefit everyone in the long-term. In the end, he even abolished monarchy a week before his disappearance, drafting the constitution we use today.

Primo Ardor, the greatest man ever to lay foot on the continent and the most mysterious, disappeared after leaving a message at his old school:

“I attribute all of my achievements to the education that my family, comrades, and most of all, my school has given me. Without it, I would never have been able to become the man I am today. 70 years ago, I believed that all I would ever amount to be a simple peasant farmer, content with having a hard yet simple life with my family.

I proclaim this establishment as Setro Academy, in hopes that future students will wield the education that it bestows upon them as if it were the king’s scepter, able to lead the world to a better and brighter future.

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While I disappear from this moment onwards, I will live in the hearts of my people. There are myriad mysteries in the world, and I can only hope to become one of them as I leave this world. I leave the future in the hands of my comrades and my children.”

With that led to the birth of the current Setro Academy. And every single graduate has lived up to his expectations.

Do you know what I hate about this?

He and his little band of geniuses were the reason that we must attend clubs every day, just like them! They’re the reason why the presentations are a huge deal! (Though it has a different meaning now.)

Primo Ardor… if you wanted to be a cool kid, you should have done it in a corner and stop bothering lazy kids like me.

Every year, Setro Academy receives countless applications to become an external student. Sometimes it makes sense, the smartest kids and the best athletic kids are accepted. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense, and ordinary kids are admitted. It was almost like a lottery, but no one believed it to be so. Regardless, those students turned out to become the cream of the crop in their year.

In my year, public outrage almost broke out when three kids from the same school and class were accepted as external students. The world went into shock when my deeds were made public to give a reason why I was chosen.

Hilarious.

It was the closest I had ever felt to happiness when I received the call that graduation day, six months ago.

* * *

I wasn’t planning on going to the roof during my week of waiting. It lost its charm for me at the moment, plus I wasn’t sure if they were going to attempt some crazy stunt again. It was doubtful but better safe than sorry, right?

My life during that week was that of a stalker's, depending on how you look at it.

I was part of the “go home club,” aka no club at all. The only thing I felt like doing at the time was watching the bullies’ reactions to what had happened. I decided to start with Andre, and thus I pretended to be interested in the basketball club. I accompanied their practice that Monday, watching them do their thing. Man, was it awkward!

I didn’t know anything about basketball, but I could tell that they were doing bad. Some were fumbling with basketballs all over the place, unable to dribble properly. Drills were taking forever, and no one could make a hoop, it was so bad that the coach decided to end it early. Andre was particularly doing terrible, literally sweating sheets of sweat. He was disgustingly anxious, and he couldn’t hide it.

Sorry that a certain ‘murderer’ decided to spectate your practice.

I was sure that he was suspicious that I knew what he did, but I gave him no clues. I acted the pure boy, curious when games were starting, questioning if I could join midway, and asking for forms. It was decent acting if I do say so myself. The coach said I could watch their next game, which luckily for me, was coming up in the next hour. It was the preliminary match of some league at the time. For years, my school has always cinched first place, but this time...

We lost terribly. Tee-hee

I might not have mentioned it before, but our middle school was upper-tier in the local area, with a couple of Setro Academy external students in the last ten years (Yes, that’s how they ranked schools in the area. Not by grades, but by the amount of Setro Academy external students accepted in the last ten years.) The school standards shot up, and only above-average students could be at our school. We were pretty much the sports and academic tyrants of the district.

So, when we lost 256-4, you can only imagine the faces of disbelief and triumph of the somewhat below-average opponents and the looks on our side. The coach was screaming bloody murder at our team, especially when they had someone (me) interested in the group watching. Little did he know, that it was entirely my fault that this happened.

I don’t regret a thing, it was great.

I used my ‘God’s Eye’ throughout the game, and found that Andre was surprisingly focused. He kept a smile on his face, trying to help keep motivation up with his teammates after the second quarter. He was also the only person that scored on our team, eliciting shrill cries of joy from all around. The pure emotion and heartbreak throughout the game could have been made into a stellar movie. He had girls from both sides trying to cheer him up throughout the game, including his beautiful girlfriend. Even when the other team won, I was pretty sure they felt like they lost. All the girls were staring daggers at them. Andre, with his handsome and earnest face, was the epitome of sportsmanship.

But I knew.

Ah, what a fake, I thought at the time.

I never noticed it before, but he was scum, trash, filth, and rubbish. Sportsmanship? I thought he wanted to kill someone. I felt the panic he held towards me, every time he looked at my direction during the game. I sensed the murderous intent when he lost by over 250 points. But I didn’t detect a trace of guilt. He wanted to hurt me because he knew it was my fault it turned out this way.

Truly deserving of retribution. Thanks for making my job guiltless.

I called up the private investigator, telling him to get over here. He was going to see something interesting.

It was a home game, so all the boys went into the locker room to get changed and ready to go home. Or that was what was supposed to happen… I could hear the coach’s screams for half an hour before he stormed out of the place. I waited a little longer for the sobs to end and for the team members to leave before I went in.

There, I was met with a raging Andre. He was screaming curses at me and punching walls and lockers. His handsome face was distorted, making him look repulsive. It was sickening. I just watched on from a corner, until he calmed down a little bit. It was fifteen more minutes before the tantrum started to subside. Really, how pathetic.

I was more surprised that someone could yell that loud for that long without losing their voice. It was impressive, enough to make someone want to applaud him. Oh, that’s what I did…

I walked out, clapping for him. That was when he first registered my presence and the look of surprise on his face… I nearly grinned on impulse, but instead, I called out to him, asking if he was ok. It must have pulled some trigger because he went berserk after that.

It honestly hurt, much more than falling off the building. But my heart was at peace, and it felt quite good knowing that he was going to get his.

The malice he was giving off was heart-wrenching, almost making me afraid for my life. Luckily, he knew his limits and stopped when I started spitting blood. He held back before it got too dangerous. Still, he gave me quite the number of punches.

I’ll pay this back many times over, you bastard, was what I thought while being cursed and punched.

When the grin appeared on my face, I could feel the fear settling deep within him. He feared taking responsibility for what had happened to me, giving me excuses that it was my fault that I was beaten. If I hadn’t pushed off that scrawny kid off the building with me, then they wouldn’t have lost the game! I should have just fallen off like I was supposed to, even death would have been too good for me…

I shook my head. With such a loose composure, how could he also be considered a candidate for a Setro Academy external student? I gave a signal with my hand, and the private investigator came in. I could see Andre’s beautiful deep blue pupils shrink to a pinpoint when he saw the camera resting in that man’s hands.

One moment, he was giving excuses, and the next he was on his knees, begging for mercy.

“Sorry, but I don’t like giving mercy to trash like you.”

At those words, anguish and hopelessness were all that I could feel from him.

One down, two more to go.

 ...I realize that I broke that rule again...