3.1

"Evelyn?"

"Here!"

"Ari?"

"Here."

"Rebecca?"

"Here Miss!"

Asahi drooled over his desk as the class register was being announced. As he dreamt away, he heard someone calling his name faintly.

"Asahi.... Asahi!... ASAHI!"

His back straightened up in shock from Evelyn's screaming.

"Ugh... What is it?"

"Miss is looking at you!"

Sure enough, the glaring eyes of a 29-year-old woman were staring him down, like an eagle ready to slaughter its prey.

"My my, what's been keeping you up all night?"

The class laughed at the blatant innuendo.

"I was preparing for the English midyears, Miss."

He forgot that he didn't actually take literature are a subject, but Miss Lock overlook his mistake. I assume she found his plight amusing.

"Really? Might I ask how Banquo developed over the course of the story?"

"Well, at first, Macbeth was regarded as a brilliant war hero, being alluded to as a lion, highlighting his loyalty to the crown. But, after he's exposed to the prophecy of the three witches, his hidden innate pride comes into highlight, as he slowly begins to change from a loyal servant to a megalomaniacal maestro. He begins to only hear what wants to hear and becomes drunk on the idea of being the most powerful person in the country, so much so that he murders the King and completely dismisses his wife's death. His plan fails to such an extent that he becomes a meaningless, pitiful character diminished to the status of a hare, in contrast to his prior status as a Lion".

"What a brilliant literary analysis, Asahi, but you're describing the wrong character!"

Oh dear.

After registration, he went to the canteen with Ari.

"Are you trying to make some sort of impression on us? I mean, It's only been 2 days since school started," Ari asked in true curiousity.

"Come on, I'm just a bit tired,"

As they entered the canteen, they noticed that it was overwhelmingly female-dominated. Ari walked into the canteen with no hesitation, but Asahi paused nervously.

"What's wrong? No way, are you scared of girls or something?!"

"N-no, It's just that, I-"

"This is brilliant!"

A group of 3rd-year girls walked past the two of them as this discussion was going on. Ari decided now would be a good time to make things a little interesting.

"Hey, Asahi, which of those girls are more of your type?"

"Er, I don't really know, I guess the brown-haired one in the middle?"

"Ah, I see..."

Just as the girls were walking past. Ari, who was originally facing Asahi, put his foot between Asahi's legs and pushed him. Asahi completely lost his balance and fell into the group of girls.

"Ah! My knees!"

"Oh my god, are you okay?!"

Asahi ended up sitting on top of the brown-haired girl. Ari took a few steps back and started to record the whole scenario, chuckling as everything started to go down. The two girls stared at the two of them on the floor in shock. Asahi, frozen in fear, mustered up the courage to attempt to dissolve the situation.

"I'm so sorry, honestly!"

"It's alright... are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess,"

He just realised that he was on top of an 18-year-old girl, and quickly got off her. His obvious blushing made her feel like teasing him a little.

"You know, you look quite cute when you blush... and the way your hair frames your eyes is really quite attractive..."

She got up and stared deeply into his eyes. She must have enjoyed seeing him get anxious.

"I... Er ... Thank you..."

He looked, felt, and sounded completely powerless. She twirled her hair and looked him up and down, slowly.

"Well, I've got some studying to do, so I guess I'll see you later ♡,"

She blew him a kiss as she walked off. Her 2 friends followed her, laughing. He stood there, and Ari was sprawled across the floor, holding his abdomen as he laughed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Look at your face! You look like a duck! This is too funny, man!"

"S-stop... Why did you even do that, you idiot!"

Ari laughed for at least 10 minutes before he calmed down and got up. Following this, he entered the canteen with Asahi and stood in line for food. As Asahi and Ari were talking, a big "crash" resonated across the dining hall.

"What did you just say?!"

A boy, who seemed to be in their year, was berating a girl who'd angered him. While the boy was using exaggerated hand gestures and a stern voice, she kept calm and composed, with one knee neatly placed on top of the other, and her long blond hair wrapped up in a messy bun.

"Doesn't she look sort of like a secretary who's been having an affair?" Asahi whispered.

"Ha ha, I didn't even think of that!" Ari replied.

"You can't just expect other people to pay for your food. His parents gave him that money. You have absolutely no right to take that love away from him,"

"Shut up, you bitch! He's a piece of shit! He just spends all that money on drugs and cigars anyway, so why the hell should it matter whether he gives it to me or not? He's wasting it either way!"

"You say that, but you have no idea what he's going through. Maybe he's using those drugs his mind off something. Maybe his parents feel bad for dismissing him and are giving him money as compensation for their own sense of guilt. No matter what circumstances he's using his money, it's got nothing to do with you. People like you are why humanity will never advance society to its potential,"

Asahi expected to hear the boy retaliate in an exaggerated manner, but he was truly caught off guard by his reply.

The boy stopped using hand gestures and place them loosely by his side, placing one of them into his trousers. He brushed his long rich navy hair back, revealing his structured face and hazel eyes. His previously erratic aura now transformed into a much more terrifying, calculated one. He matched, no, he surpassed the level of composure the girl had carried before, but surprisingly, the girl paid no heed to his stark change in demeanour.

"Your quite the woman. Most people wouldn't usually act on their emotions and call someone out like that. I mean, everyone else in this room just ignored me,"

Ari and Asahi briefly glanced at each other, both of them feeling guilty at the fact that what he was saying applied to them, too. In fact, they had purposely blocked the bullying out of their consciences and carried on with their meaningless conversation.

"Would you enlighten me with your name?"

"I don't think people like you deserve having the right to call people by their names. Please, just grow up."

Seiya smirked at her comment. He graciously accepted defeat and left the room.

3.2

Unfortunately for Asahi, Ari was not in any of his academic classes. He walked into his chemistry class, and sat down at a lone chair in the back corner of the classroom. But, as he looked to his right, a pair of striking green eyes stared back at him.

"Don't have any other friends in this class?"

"Yeah... none of the other boys are in this class. It's quite sad, actually,"

"Aw, that's unfortunate, isn't it?"

Evelyn accidentally let out a giggle. Yet, no matter how much she teased him, Asahi couldn't get annoyed at her. Perhaps a direct benefit of her being highly attractive, he thought.

As the lecturer droned on about some organic reaction pathways and chiral centres, Asahi looked out of the window.

What was the point of the girl trying to lecture him? What benefit did it serve her? All people had innate selfish desire. Some loved money, others loved power, some loved sex, and others loved recognition - there were many things that could drive an individual to pursue a certain action. Was her act of standing up for someone completely unbeknownst to her a form of her trying to make herself feel useful or impactful in some way? Was her kindness itself a form of selfishness? Perhaps she was blessed with the ability to feel positive after doing a deed she felt was "right". In that case, wouldn't her being kind simply be a way of her feeling good? Was that really true kindness then? If a person is inherently bad and derives pleasure from doing bad, and decides to satisfy those evil urges just once to feel a source of rapture, the person is subject to jail. Yet, if a person who was inherently kind, and derives pleasure from kindness, was free to do kind things for other people and derive joy in that manner, they would be celebrated for it. If you remove the context, they are essentially doing the same thing; they're both fulfilling their natural urges. Why was it fair for some people to be celebrated for acting naturally, while others were condemned for it? Surely, that was an awful dice God was throwing. It's also true that it is often the naturally good people that chastise naturally bad people the most. Does that mean that people who are excessively kind lack the ability to empathise with others? Are the most neutral people the greatest arbiters? In that case, surely that means God must be a neutral power.

"Asahi, would you mind telling me what this organic molecule is?"

He quickly glanced at the board.

"4-ethyl-3-methylyoct-4-ene."

"Correct, well done."

The professor got up from his chair and started to write up some data on the board.

"We're going to be doing an experiment for the rest of the day, and you will be working with your neighbour. Get your lab coats on, okay?"

Asahi took off his jacket and put on his coat. He watched Evelyn struggle next to him as she tried to button up her own, which seemed to be unable to get around her physique. For once, he saw her get flustered. In order to save her from embarrassment, he pretended not to notice her valiant efforts.

They proceeded with the experiment, and Evelyn started to watch the boiling acids as Asahi kept a hold on the stopwatch.

"Evelyn - is there a particular reason you keep a front up to other people?"

Evelyn quickly glanced around the room and saw that nobody was near enough to hear the two of them talking together.

"What are you talking about? I don't keep up a front. There really isn't any need to, is there?"

"Well, that's just not true."

He wondered how she would act to his provocation.

"I really don't care what you think. I don't keep up any front. I don't know why you're hung up on the idea that I've devised a new personality just for you alone. You're not that special."

She clearly had a distaste for him, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why.

The academic classes were shared so that each subject had 3 classes per year group, and within each class, there were members of all the different alphabet classes. This naturally led to some discrimination between the "superior" higher-order classes and the "defective" lower-lever ones. And this was clearly shown in the class. The members of the A, B, and C classes were all clustered near the front of the class, while the D, E, and F class members were all hiding in the back. Perhaps they felt a sense of security being near people who were in the same tier of the pecking order as themselves. Surprisingly, this worked both ways - those who were higher up felt discomfort with those who were lower down, while those who were lower down felt intimidated by those who were higher up. The school had managed to reciprocate a socioeconomic-style school body, simply by lettering and numbering the classes. There was absolutely no evidence to say that any class was more or less competent than the other, but the illusion the school had created was still a powerful one.

The lesson had ended, and all the members of the class returned to their form rooms.

"At the end of this year, there will be the annual school sports festival"

"Mis-"

"No. Everyone is going. The school takes the competition very, very seriously. Many top-level scouting agents come to the festival to look for sporting talent, so hopefully, some of you can showcase your abilities and get recruited for a semi-professional team. We can decide on all the roles and leadership positions tomorrow."

"Why are we doing it tomorrow when it's going to be at the end of the year?"

"Because I'll probably forget otherwise. Class dismissed."