My life would be so much easier if I had a different type of power.

Why wasn’t it some sort of physical power?

Something like Flash’s speed thing would be great, especially considering what I’m doing now….

Hell, I’d even take enhanced memory. At least I would be getting better grades on tests.

Useless thoughts appeared in my head amidst my panic. I was frantically sprinting up the fourth flight of stairs, trying to reach the rooftop in the shortest amount of time possible.

In the first place, why do I even have to do something like this? It would be fine if people learn to keep their hands to themselves! In the first place, why would someone even take a whole pile of survey results?!

In one hour and half hours, I need to find out where some random idiot decided to take the club’s survey results in this outlandishly large school campus. 

The penalty if I don’t: Instant expulsion and a ruined future.

Going to a prestigious school like Setro Academy is the dream of countless kids in the country, yet the standards here are too strict. The standards from middle school are too removed from the standards here, making it almost impossible to adapt. It's hard to keep up with a bunch of geniuses.

But that's not even the worst part...

Reaching the top of the stairs, I opened the door leading to the roof to the side of the building. There was some fencing in place, built to prevent students from falling if they got too close to the edge. It was perfect for allowing me to get a better look down at the streets.

I took a moment to adjust, panting from the vigorous dash to the roof. Once I had calmed down, I started scanning the vast crowds down below for any clue about where the survey results were. And of course, it wasn’t giving me any hints, and instead was filling me with a terrible dread.

Every year, during a particular week in winter, Setro Academy allowed outsiders to enter and tour the campus. People from all over the world come to visit Setro for this reason.

Why were there so many people here? It wasn’t only because of Setro’s appeal, but because the graduates it has produced. Throughout history, Setro graduates have been influential determiners in where society is today.

The bravest generals, the most brilliant scientists, the most adept athletes; all products of Setro's education.

While that’s all in the past, Setro still creates quality graduates. It’s impossible to see a Setro graduate in a position that can’t be called ‘successful’ by normal standards. In our modern society, most Setro graduates are foremost leaders in business and politics; those on the unsuccessful side are CEOs of wealthy companies or hold important government positions. The more successful ones are heads of huge conglomerates or are the leaders of a country. Even if you don’t have a chance of joining the school, it’s an honor to view the campus that has made the world it is today.

This leads to another reason why so many people were present. Setro’s auditorium was showcasing the achievements of the new freshman as they present their club projects, all completed in the past three months.

The presentations were an excellent way for the families of the students’ to view which students had more potential in the future.

Most of Setro Academy’s student population are children of those wealthy and influential graduates who run conglomerates, hospitals, cruise lines; if there is money in it, then they have it here. Those kids have been attending Setro Academy since they were five years old, known as elevator students/internal students as they go up through the years as a Setro Academy student.

The presentations reflect the parents of the students presenting’s company’s future outlook. Students not affiliated with any organizations - also known as external students (who apply for the school midway through the elevated school process that the internal students go through in Setro, and typically are from ordinary families) - are often snatched up by the conglomerates when they graduate if they show an excellent presentation.

It’s an essential tradition of Setro Academy, which is why expulsion is the punishment for not having a presentation, and since the leaders of the country are viewing this, showing a terrible performance (much less not having one) is asking never to be hired in the future.

Imagining the looks from classmates and others alike when they see that no one showed up for the club presentations for our club is just…ugh.

This goes to show how significant finding the survey results are; it’ll affect both my future and the rest of the club’s prospects as well.

I’m an external student that applied and was accepted to join Setro Academy’s High School Section, so I’m still not very familiar with the campus. Especially with its ludicrous size, that would take years to get a sense of. The school was like a miniature city, especially with its numerous club facilities, dormitories, sports fields, cram schools, restaurants, shops, and much more.

And to look for the results, I decided to go to the place with the most amount of people because I thought that maybe the person who took the results would be traveling through here as well.

In the end, it looked like I was going to have to use that.

And so I closed my eyes.

It was like I had flipped a switch

Once I opened my eyes again, I saw a whole different world.

A dark and sparse earth colored the world before me, save for the various scenes of toiling emotions down in the sea of people.

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I needed to look for people who were holding malicious intentions especially if they took the results on purpose. I could see the general emotions of who I looked at with my power, but I would need to focus on getting any sense of the more delicate feelings. I’ve done this for years now; it has even become a hobby. If there was ever a chance to save the day, then this was it.

And I did just that, concentrating on people with any ill intent with all my might, as I searched for the person who took the survey results.

* * *

I was an idiot for trying to save the day anyway; now I can’t even use my ability until tomorrow. My ability is very exceptionally useless; I thought to myself as I trudged around the area without any results to show for the past 20 minutes.

Knowing Ben, he would have found the survey results within the first 10 minutes and rushed back to the club room. His luck is scary good. It’s on the level of creating miracles by walking down the street. It only hurts to think that he wouldn’t text me that he had already found the data.

I’ll keep looking until I get a notification that the results were found, or until the time for presentation gets nearer.

To stave off boredom while looking for the survey results through the masses of people looking curiously around the campus, I had picked up some rocks and playing with them by throwing them up and down in the air.

I have already resigned to getting kicked out of the school, but a stupid sense of duty kept me looking throughout the crowd.

Most of the people were fellow students, dressed in navy blazers, sporting Setro Academy’s insignia on the left side of the blazer with different colored striped ties, complete with dress pants for guys, or a skirt for girls. They were all from the elementary and middle school sections of the academy, as all the high school students were already in the auditorium preparing for their presentations.

There were many refined looking parents and some well-dressed kids coming from other parts of the country, looking around the school as well. But one particular thing I noticed, was that there were quite a number burly men, sporting a big pair of sunglasses giving off an intimidating aura, looking around at every nook and cranny as they passed through the school.

I guess Setro Academy takes security seriously during events like this. As expected of a prestigious school filled with rich kids.

After walking around for a good 15 minutes with even less of a clue to where the survey results were than before, but with a nice addition of some rocks to play with, I might as well to go back the club room to figure out some plan for the presentation.

I could probably come up with some fake results based on prior data; maybe it’ll fly by. Or perhaps I could try changing the whole idea and present something else? No that wouldn’t work…..

While coming up with crappy ideas to skirt the expulsion punishment, I could hear sounds coming from a nearby alleyway interrupting my thinking. Feeling a bit curious, I peeked around the corner to look at what was going on.

The first thing I saw were the survey results. They were in a messy pile on the ground, but it didn’t look like anything was ripped or torn which was a godsend.

The next thing I saw were people. It was a group of high school students in a circle that blocked others from looking in, as they faced towards the dead end that the alley led into. It seemed as if they were kicking a dirty pile of something that suspiciously looked like a person.

They were yelling some insults at the thing on the ground, which confirmed that the identity of the dirty pile as a person. There were also some shrill calls for them to stop in the background, most likely belonging to a panicking girl.

It was a case of bullying.

Honestly, it was my first time seeing any bullying, and one really wouldn't think of seeing it in a prestigious place like this. It was against the rules for one, as it could severely damage the reputation of a school especially in an area like Setro Academy. The punishment for bullying was expulsion, no questions asked.

Two, even if you got out of the expulsion, 95% of the student population was made up of rich kids, and the external students were ensured to have a successful career in whatever they did when they graduated. Bullying the head of a future conglomerate or the kid of an influential company was a terrible idea, no matter how one looked at it.

I knew what I should have done: Call a teacher over and get these people expelled, or stand up for the bullied kid on the ground.

Instead what I DID do was put down the rocks in my hands and grab the pile of survey results from the ground, not even wondering why the hell they were there in the first place. I was extremely relieved that I found them before the presentation.

Thank you, Lady Luck! Now I have to hurry back to the club room and input the results before the presenta—

“Don’t worry Stella; I’ll make sure they can’t hurt you at all!”

As I was standing up to run back to the club room, I heard a voice that I recognized: It was Ben, and with the shout, that Stella was the girl calling for the bullies to stop.

They were both fellow members of the Human Nature Research Club. There were only five members of the club, with only two males, comprising of Ben and me, and Stella is one of the three girls. Members were also forced to meet each other every day, for 2 hours minimum by Setro Academy’s rules.

I say forced one-sidedly, I bet everyone else loves meeting up. I’m the only one who hates being in the club, and I’m practically a ghost member. I do my fair share of work during club projects, yet they never even contact me when they have meetups or celebrations as a club outside of regulated times. (Damn normies)

It’s like I don’t exist. Whenever the girls in the club are talking to me, they don’t even look at me. They focus on Ben out of the corner of their eyes. Even outside of the club they’re fawning over him.

He’s got them all tightly within his grasp, and they love it.

And the worst part about it is that he’s oblivious to it.

Ben has an above average face; he’s kind and friendly, if not too familiar at times. His grades are decent, a little bit lower than mine. He’s very average in athletics but has good stamina.

Honestly speaking, the only thing he has going for him is that he attends Setro Academy, but that shouldn’t be a plus within the school. It makes no sense how he has these people wrapped around his finger.

If he were alone, I would probably have left him.

A terrible thought, but there wasn’t anything I could have done in a reasonable amount of time; most of the teachers were getting prepared for the presentation or helping lead the festival. I don’t even know where I could find one, much less bring a teacher over.

Truthfully, Ben probably would have even complimented me on letting us get the survey results back on time while he was being bullied.

Even if I did stand up and fight the bullies with him, it would result in us missing the club presentations.

But Stella was there.

It wasn’t as if I liked her, but we were friends in elementary school. At least for a couple of months, before she transferred away. It’s a sad thing to say, but she’s the only person I have considered to be a good friend in my entire life.

She doesn’t remember me at all, despite the fact that I remember her.

Maybe I’ve changed too much since then.

It saddened me when I first realized this, but in the end, I have nothing to say about it.

I shook my head a little. This isn’t the time to reminisce.

Once I realized the identities of the victims, I decided to deliberate on a course of action.

How can I do this with relative safety? I need to get the bullies away from Ben…

After a moment of thinking, I acted on a straightforward three-step plan:

First, I proceeded to pick up the rocks that I had left on the ground in favor of the survey results earlier.

Then I threw the rocks as hard as I could at the heads of the bullies who were roughing up Ben.

And the moment the rocks were in the air, I ran to the club room with the survey results in hand as fast I could.