“So, any questions left?” Miss Nagako asked after firing three hours of information at the students. It started off with easy topics but then went on into the details of how this school came to be, causing Rei to be completely exhausted from trying to remember everything mentioned.
“You will now have a one hour lunch break, before coming back to this room. We will then, together with the other classes, enter the topic of the Kaizen Simulation. You can eat at the cafeteria, which is located at the other side of the school, right above the big ceremony hall.”
With those words Miss Nagako left the room and a short silence creeped into the room.
“Say, since we didn’t have the chance to do so before, how about we each introduce ourselves?” A guy with light-brown, stylish hair stood up, smiling at the whole class.
“I agree!” Akari exclaimed her support for the idea, with the nods of different people following. Rei didn’t really want to have everyone’s attention on him while he was talking about himself, but there was no way out of it without just making the situation worse.
The guy who brought up the idea continued talking.
“My name is Maruta Souta. I really enjoy hanging out with friends and also used to play tennis in middle school. I’m really bad with spiders though. Nice to meet you all,” he finished his basic introduction, before looking at the person sitting next to him: Tenji, who slowly stood up.
“I’m Tenji Akitarou. I like to listen to music and dislike…” he shot a glance towards Rei, “a lot of things.”
That bastard. It didn’t seem like they would get along any time soon, but Rei was totally fine with that. If someone hated him or not, it didn’t really matter. After leaving this place, he wouldn’t need to meet these people ever again. Then he could finally do what he always wanted to do.
“Uhm, sorry, could you introduce yourself too?” Murata spoke to Rei in a soft and polite tone. Shit, was it already his turn? He must’ve missed everyone else’s introduction while he was busy thinking about the future.
Startled and forgetting to stand up, he started his introduction.
“Kawakami Rei. I like… uhm.. what I like is...”
Wait, what even did he like? It’s not like he had too many hobbies, mostly because he hasn’t had the chance to gain them.
“I like sports… yeah. And I dislike… liars.”
Rei could hear the blonde delinquent snickering. Well, like mentioned before, it didn’t matter what these people thought of him.
“Nice to meet you, Kawakami. Guess that’s everyone, should we go and eat something?” Maruta smoothly dismissed the awkward atmosphere that Rei had created. To Rei, it seemed like he would most likely take the lead in this class.
The students stood up and headed out of the classroom. Most of them were already chatting in groups and getting familiar with each other, while Rei was walking behind them. Now that he missed most of the introductions, getting close to anyone seemed even more impossible than before. But with one exception, the people don’t seem all too bad. And while the teacher was hard to predict, his gut feeling was telling him that she didn’t have any bad intentions either, especially after she showed quite some sympathy towards the people of Yogore.
The only problem was the system itself. Considering that only one class can graduate, Rei will be forced to work with his team, meaning that keeping a constant distance like he had planned wasn’t going to work.
“What are you doing, hanging this far behind?” As usual, Akari appeared out of nowhere next to Rei, who took a step to the side in reflex.
“Did I sca-”
“No, I was just surprised.”
“Oh? Seems like you already understand me quite well considering that we only met a few hours ago.“
“Well, with someone as talkative as you, that isn’t really a challenge.”
“I know right?” Akari grinned with satisfaction. Seems like she took it as a compliment, even though it wasn’t supposed to be one.
“Well,” Akari continued the conversation, “you should probably also talk to some other people,” she says while looking at the group walking in front of them.
“Not interested. Besides, have you even talked to them?”
“Yep, I even got most of their phone numbers already!”
How the hell did she have time to do that?
Suddenly, the loud talking from the group walking in front of them stopped. The group has gotten bigger, as another class has bumped into them when leaving their classroom. The letter “B” could be read on their jackets. The awkward silence continued as the other two classes entered the hallway and walked towards the other building.
It wasn’t too unexpected either. After all, only one of these classes would be able to graduate. A certain rivalry and uncertainty could be felt in the air.
The four classes finally reached the end of the long hallway and entered the cafeteria: A big hall with various tables and the kitchen at the end. Just like the classrooms, it was much more normal than Rei had expected. There wasn’t a single sign that this was part of a military facility. Maybe it was designed so that the students would be more familiar and therefore more relaxed in the new environment?
Class C picked one of the big tables that offered more than eight seats. Since there was currently only one generation at this school, the big hall felt empty, it was almost sad. Rei did spot the student council sitting at a table in the corner though.
Sitting down, Rei noticed the tablet, which was built into the table, in front of him. It shouldn’t be surprising that the facility was up to date with the technology standard of schools, especially since they claim to possess a revolutionary simulation-like system.
“What are you choosing?” Akaris voice appeared next to Rei once again, but this time, she wasn’t talking to him. The class was already actively engaging with each other, and more and more voices filled the empty hall. Meanwhile Rei was busy staring at the list of available dishes displayed on the tablet. He almost expected it to have some exquisite dishes, but in the end, it contained nothing but the usual, cheap school food.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Waiting for the food to come, Rei noticed another classmate of his sitting on the opposite end, who also doesn’t seem to be interested in participating in the ongoing conversation. His black, messy hair that’s covering parts of his eyes and the beanie he’s wearing combined with the stoic look on his face makes him even less approachable than Rei. He casually takes out a book and starts reading. Is he not excited? After all, this is the first school day. Normally, people seem to be very attentive on the first few days, being curious about every little detail. But instead, this guy was just sitting there, reading “Courageous New World”, paying no attention to his surroundings. Well, it’s not like Rei was any better. Actually, the more he thought about it, he probably preferred to have the quiet kinds around him, rather than hyperactive balls of energy like Akari. Maybe because he himself isn’t a big talker either? Maybe they are even pretty similar? Rei did make up his mind to not get unnecessarily involved with anyone here, but it won’t harm to find out if there is anyone similar to him, right?
“Ummm… that’s ‘Courageous New World’ you’re reading, right? Do you like such books?”
Rei was unsure why he was even asking that, it wasn’t like he liked reading himself.
“No, I pastet this cover onto the book in order to deceive the teachers. It’s the newest Jump Magazine issue.” He showed Rei the actual content of the book: a page filled with manga characters.
Maybe they weren’t so similar after all.
“I-I see, interesting…”
The conversation came to a halt and Rei went back to staring at his tablet. Was there really nobody normal in this class? This is a god damn military academy, he expected the students to be a little bit more serious.
Quite honestly, if everyone is like this, then interacting with his classmates will take more energy than the actual training.
As Rei was finishing his in silence, surrounded by his talkative classmates, a redheaded boy came over to their table. He had his slightly long hair tied up to a short ponytail and was wearing a friendly smile. For some reason though, it was that exact smile which unreasonably pissed Rei off.
"Hey. I know this might sound awkward, but I just wanted to introduce myself," he sheepishly started a conversation, addressing the entire Class C.
"I'm Akata Yashiro, from Class 1-B. I just wanted to get acquainted with the other classes, considering that we're supposed to be rivals and all."
True enough, we are fighting over the top spot in order to graduate successfully, though we don't even know the criterias on which Director Mazato will choose the class.
"I personally don't think we need to be enemies or treat each other with malice. Rather, I'd like to have a fair competition between the classes."
A rather naive suggestion. After all, everyone wants to guarantee that they can reach their goal, this is exactly why they're here in the first place. To achieve that, it's probably best to just prove to Director Mazato that your class was worthy but... making the other classes seem incompetent was a valid strategy too. There was no way to tell if the classes could actually leave the fierce competition out of their personal relationships.
Murata stood up with a big smile, seemingly taking the initiative to speak for his class.
"I think we would appreciate that as well, right?" He looked around the table, seeking for confirmation.
"Definitely! Having unnecessary drama will only make the school experience tougher!" Akari agreed. The rest also seemed to be fine with that, nicking their heads. The only ones that didn't communicate any opinion were Rei, who was just observing the situation, and-
"Don't you think that might be difficult? Considering that we are all striving for the same thing, it will be a direct competition. We pretty much have to prove that we are suited better for the job than you in order to gain what we're here for."
The one who replied was none other than Tenji, the delinquent-looking guy. He surprisingly shared the opinion with Rei.
"While that may be true, I still think we should try. The more tension there is between the classes, the more would it affect the students, possibly putting them under pressure. That might even lead to incidents outside of lessons, and nobody would want that, right?" Akata rebutted with a polite tone and an even politer smile.
"Well, I guess, just don't expect everything to go smoothly."
"Guess that's settled then. Thanks for reaching out to us, Akata." Murata ended the discussion by clapping his hands together.
After everyone had finished their meal, the class headed back to their classroom. Miss Nagako was already waiting for them.
"Shall we?"
Everyone remembered what was coming now. They were going to enter the previously mentioned 'Kaizen Simulation'. Well, if it really existed, that is. After all, nobody had heard of such technology before, so Rei had his fair amount of doubts. But he was going to see it with his own eyes anyway.
Miss Nagako led the class downstairs and opened multiple doors on the way. After a short but silent walk, they seemingly arrived at their destination: a wide room, containing quite a few seats and multiple, large monitors, which were attached to the walls. Other than that, it seemed to be completely empty, though it did have three doors, including the one they just walked through. The other two were quite big, metal sliding-doors, that seem to require some code instead of the usual badge to open.
The students from all classes were asked to take a seat and soon, the room was filled with all four classes. Most of the people were whispering to one another, anxious about what was going to come next.
"This is so exciting..." Akari, who once again managed to take a spot next to Rei, mumbled, seemingly to herself. Well, this time, even Rei couldn't deny that his heart was beating fast.
Finally, the Director arrived in the room, standing in front of his students.
"Welcome. I assume our teachers already explained why you're here, yes?"
He made a short pause.
"Well, then please follow our technical team." He pointed towards a group of 5 men in uniform.
"Wait, that was all?" Akari wondered. Rei too had hoped that they would give some kind of explanation about this technology, like how it worked or what the process was going to be. His nervousness slowly transformed into anxiety.
Nonetheless, the students followed the men in uniform through one of the doors. Behind it, they could find more seats. This time, each seat had multiple wires attached to it and besides the seats, there was nothing else to find in the dim room. The grey walls and the thick metal door made quite the impact.
"Take a seat," one of the men ordered. Rei was extremely wary of this situation, but didn't see any other way but to follow the orders and take a seat. Soon, one of the men began attaching the wires, which had strange plugs at the end, to various spots on Rei's body. Finally, something heavy was strapped around his head, though he couldn't catch a glimpse of what it was. Without uttering a single word, the men prepared every student this way. Once done, they finally spoke.
"No matter what happens, don't move. Don't. Move."
With that, the doors shut close in an instant and the already quite dim room was thrown into absolute darkness.
Rei could hear the breathing of multiple people. Nobody moved. Nobody said anything. So quiet.
Suddenly, some gasps were heard, as the seats began to fold back, basically transforming into beds.
What was going to happen? Is this really okay? Was he going to be fine? Will it hurt? What if it doesn't work?
No matter how hard Rei tried, he couldn't calm his mind. His heart was beating so fast.
Bang, bang, bang.
The sound was so loud, it forced itself into his skull. His breathing started to accelerate even more and he could feel the sweat on his forehead. Thoughts were flying left and rights. Doubts. Worries. Even fear.
Until - nothingness. A slight warm feeling surrounded Rei’s head, before his mind went blank. As black and quiet as the room itself. No thought survived in his mind, as Rei’s consciousness was pulled deep, deep into the sea of uncertainty. The pressure forced him deeper and deeper - until he hit the sandy bottom.