The world we live in is imperfect. There will be millions trying to claim justice, but that is just impossible. No matter what, people will be unhappy and will never live equally. Despite many countries being in a great state, there is always dirty work being done behind the scenes. Corruption. It's inevitable. 

The United Empire, the world’s strongest and most developed country. Number one in everything. Nobody knows why it is so powerful though…

Excel High, the most unique high school in The United Empire. They deliberately split students into two divisions: Gold and Bronze. The Gold are more favoured, academic, physically fit and capable compared to the Bronze. It is unknown why the school has this system, but it is possible to move up to the Gold or move down to the Bronze. This system has clearly divided the students by hate and arrogance according to past students at this school. 

I sat down on one of the seats in the school hall. The welcoming assembly was soon to take place for us First Years. The number of students was slowly increasing and the hall was full of noise. I blocked out the sounds and emptied my mind. 

“Sorry, excuse me” called out a voice.

I immediately opened my eyes and stared right into the person’s green eyes. Not saying anything back, he continued. 

“Can I sit here?” he asked with a polite voice while scratching his greasy, brown hair.

I simply nodded and he looked pleased and sat next to me. “Pleased to meet you, I’m Reo.” 

I acknowledged his name and didn’t reply back. He was clearly uncomfortable, but it’s best if he doesn’t get involved with me. I want to be alone while I’m at this school. 

“Uhm..What’s your name?” Reo asked awkwardly. 

Without turning my head, I looked at him from the corner of my eyes. “Ari.” 

“Ah, okay…” 

Reo finally began to back away. I felt bad; he’s a friendly guy. Unfortunately, he just chose the wrong person to talk to. 

The lights from the back of the hall switched off and the lights at the front turned on. A man (who looked like the principal from previous photos I saw) walked onto the stage to give his speech. 

“Good morning and welcome…”

The speech was nothing important. We were already informed about everything before entering the school because of the school-student contract. I am in the Bronze Division. I would prefer to be in the Gold division because of the special rights, but overall, it’s not worth it. With the help of the school signs, I walked towards my class. 

I entered my class and it was already packed with students. However, I noticed that there were gold students in the class. I haven’t entered the wrong class. Maybe they went to the wrong class. I don’t know whether I should be surprised or not but, the Gold and the Bronze were on the opposite side of the class. Some were eyeing each other with disgust and hatred whereas others were just talking amongst themselves. 

The classroom door opened and a man with a white and black coloured suit (the same colour as our school uniform) walked in. He walked to the podium and told everyone to quieten down. “Hello everyone, welcome to your very first day at Excel High. I am Mr Hatsuo, your one and only teacher for the next three years. Your seats are already allocated to you so go around and find where you sit please.”

That being said, the students went loose and went searching for their seat. Conveniently, my seat was in the back row, right in the middle. I pulled out the chair and sat down. 

“Ah, Ari!” said a familiar voice.

I turned my head to see who it was. 

Is luck not on my side?

Why is he here? 

Reo.

“These three years are going to be a blast!” said Reo enthusiastically. It seems like he still hasn’t given up on trying to get close to me. 

I ignored him and looked straight to the front of the classroom, waiting for Mr Hatsuo to give us more information or some instructions. 

The talk Mr Hatsuo gave was again, nothing important.

I looked around the classroom and counted how many Bronze and Gold students there were in this class. Twelve and twelve. Both are equally split. 

It had been a week since I enrolled into this school, all the friendship groups have been formed and I, of course, have nobody to go to. There’s a chance to break in if you’re lucky, but I have no intention of doing that. 

“Okay, for your first assignment, I will assign you group projects. In groups of six, meaning that there will be four groups. However, there must be at least one person Gold and one Bronze in each group. Don’t split completely, you guys may be in different divisions but that doesn’t mean you don’t cooperate with each other.” 

The whole class groaned in response. Even I didn’t like this, I don’t want to work in groups.

Everyone got out of their seats to decide their groups. The groups which were in the process of being formed were full of one division. It seemed like nobody wanted to go to the other division’s group. 

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Uhm guys, I think we should work together. Despite being in different divisions, we need to work together and have a fair share of members. Don’t you think it’s a bit unfair for only a single person from the other division to be in a group? How about we have at least two from the other division in a group?” proclaimed Reo. 

Some people took what he said into consideration, but others didn’t seem to budge. How arrogant. 

“Pft, don’t you tell me what to do you filthy bronze!” That came from Tatsuae. He sat on his desk with his hands in his pockets. His front tie loose with his top button undone. He seemed like the common school bully. I would’ve thought that people would dislike him, but the girls especially seemed to be head over heels for him. I guess that is what good looks get you, popularity. 

After Tatsuae made that remark, the Gold division seemed to follow what he said and not cooperate with the Bronze at all. It seemed like there would have to be one from the opposite division in the groups then. 

Tatsuae continued talking to those around him. There were a lot of guys around him and laughing at every ‘joke’ he pulled. The jokes weren’t funny, the guys looked pretty uncomfortable around him. Giving him fake laughs. 

That aside, it has almost been twenty minutes and a single group hasn’t completely formed yet. People were too afraid or stubborn to join the other division. Someone had to take the bullet. There needs to be two from the Gold and two from the Bronze to be on the other division’s team. I certainly wasn’t going to volunteer, that would give me too much attention. 

Reo volunteered to be in the other group and the next person…

“Hey Ayumi, you should go. You’re smart right? Go lend them a hand.” called a few from the bronze division. 

“No I- I don’t want-” 

“Go on!” said someone from the back pushing her forward. She had no choice to go. I almost felt bad for her. 

Now, we just need two Gold division students to join the two Bronze division teams. 

“Oi, Qen. Go join their group. I’m getting tired of waiting.” commanded Tatsuae. 

“Huh? Oka-okay…” he was clearly against joining the other Bronze group, but he couldn’t speak up against Tatsuae. 

One more person. 

Another five minutes went past and Tatsuae was about to speak up again, but someone else spoke up before him.

“I'll go” 

Everyone turned to see who said that. To many people’s surprise, it was Aimi. She is supposedly the ‘school idol’ I don’t know too much about her, but people admire her for her looks and she is quite smart and athletic apparently. Lots of girls are jealous of her long eyelashes and her black hair. 

She walked to our group and gave a gentle smile to everyone, “pleased to work with you guys” 

Everyone was momentarily silent and stared at her like they’ve seen an angel. Everyone in my group began crowding around her and spoke to her. She was definitely overwhelmed, but seemed to take it on pretty well. Not bad. 

The project was to do with giving a view on the story ‘Gone’. It’s about two lovers. The male was targeted by a group of men who threatened to attack him. He one day left for work and never came back home without a word and the wife was heart broken. We have to give our own opinion on the story, answering questions such as why did he leave, what was his reason, was he killed? 

If I was to give my own view, I would say that he had left to fight the group of men that threatened him, but he failed and was murdered in the act. He was too weak to protect himself. He didn’t inform his wife because he thought he would be able to win and return as a victor and show off his strength. Complete foolishness. 

Our group gathered around a table and we all took a seat. 

“Okay guys, let’s first discuss what we all think and then we can bring what we said together and reach a conclusion.” said Eri. She’s one of the top athletic student’s in the school. She is slightly taller than me at 5ft 10, not that I care though. She usually keeps her blonde hair in a ponytail. 

Everyone agreed with her statement and one by one, we spoke out on what we thought about the story. Everyone had their views mixed on fear, death and love. 

“Okay...Uh. Aaron was it?” asked Eri while pointing her pen towards me.

I’m not surprised she couldn’t remember my name, but Aaron was just too stupid. “Ari.”

“Ah! My bad, my bad.” 

I would tell the group what I had honestly thought about the story, but I think I should just lie. I decided to briefly copy the other student’s opinions in my group. “The husband ran away from home because he was too scared. That’s all that I think.”

“Okay..” Eri seemed dissatisfied with my answer, but that doesn’t bother me. 

Aimi was the last one to give her view. 

“I believe that the husband was worried that his wife would get hurt by the group of men so he decided to run away from home. I believe that the group of men threatened to hurt his wife so he decided to leave his wife so she wouldn’t get hurt because he truly loved her.”

Aimi’s statement had left the rest speechless. She should be a politician since she likes talking a lot. 

“Wow Aimi, that was incredible!” Everyone in the group started praising her. 

Aimi’s cheeks went slightly red. 

“Okay, I think that we all agree that Aimi has the best view so we will use hers’” said Eri. 

Everyone nodded and the discussion came to an end. 

Although it seems like the Bronze and Gold Division hate each other, deep down, the Bronze seem like they want to get along with the Gold Division. The Gold Division is just too smug and arrogant. This is what I can suggest from observing the group discussion that just took place. 

It was lunch time. Aimi quickly exchanged contact details with everyone from the group. She quickly gave me a look. I returned the glance and she looked away, feeling uncomfortable. Getting close to her will be a hassle, she’s way too popular. 

Everyone from the group disbanded, went with their friends and left the class. 

I got up and headed to the refectory. 

I chose my usual meal, a tuna sandwich and a bottle of water. I sat at a table alone. Not many really looked at me, if they did, they would give an apologetic look (probably because I’m alone) and then would continue talking to their friends again. 

Looking around the canteen, the students were mainly divided amongst each other. There were some Bronze and Gold students talking, but it is hard to see unless you pay close attention. The tables for Gold students only are more luxurious looking and expensive looking compared to the Bronze. It was straight up discrimination. The best spots to get a good seating area and a good view was only allocated for the Gold. I wouldn’t mind having these luxuries, but it’s a small price to pay for not having attention drawn to myself.

I finished my meal and left the canteen. I decided to walk on the school grounds outside to catch some fresh air. 

The weather was perfect, not too cold, not too warm. It was the perfect weather for me to walk in, I put my hands in my pockets and walked around. 

It was quite crowded so I decided to walk somewhere where it was less crowded. 

After walking for a few minutes, I found a small alleyway, there were no restrictions, so I went through. 

Nobody could be seen around here. 

“No please!” cried a voice. 

I instantly stopped and tried to pick up on who was talking. 

“This is the fourth time. I told you to get me and the lads some burgers, but you couldn’t get there in time and they’ve sold out!” shouted another voice. 

It seems like someone is getting bullied. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and slowly put it over the wall and pressed record  to see who it was. 

“You piece of-” 

THACK

I stopped recording, lowered my volume and I pressed play. 

Three guys and the victim is...Ayumi. The three guys are from the Gold division and they seem to be from my class. I remember they were temporarily talking to Tatsuae. The guy with the blonde hair, whose name was Huoe slapped Ayumi. If this was any other high school student, they would’ve come and stopped them by now. Unfortunately for Ayumi, I don’t care whether she’s being hurt or not. Even if she was about to be killed, I still would not step in. I turned away and began walking back. 

“Ahh!” screamed Ayumi. 

Her voice seemed more close in distance compared to before… 

I turned and met eye contact with her. Behind her was Huoe. I’ve been spotted, great. 

“Huh? Oi!” called Huoe. He looked more annoyed than scared that I had seen what he had done. 

Another guy walked forward, Jase. He approached me and grabbed my arm and pulled me into the area where Ayumi was being beaten. 

The third person, Qason, gave me a hard look.

I looked down at Ayumi and there was blood dripping from her nose. She was already hit before I came it seemed. 

“Sorry pal, I guess you were just unlucky to come here at the wrong time. We’re going to have to teach you a lesson to make sure you don’t go spreading anything” said Huoe while cracking his knuckles and rolling his neck. 

Ah, what bad luck.