The School Rankings

Alicia was in shock and most of all in anger. Why did he eliminate his own teammates, it didn't make sense, even if they were exhausted, they would still have been useful in the battle.

"Arthur"

"Yeah?"

"Can you step aside?"

Jack asked in a gentle voice as if he was talking to a friend. And seeing as how her partner also spoke in a friendly voice, it seemed as though he would comply.

But standing firm and not moving an inch, Arthur said with a straight face, "I will not abandon my companions."

Alicia was unsure as to what was about to happen, preparing herself for the upcoming battle.

Jack, however, proceeded to drop his axes on the ground. Making Alicia wonder what exactly was going on.

"Old man, me and Lei give up"

The red room soon changed color, returning to the previous holy white that gave off a calm atmosphere unlike the red daunting of the battlefield. The headmaster returned and the doors to the room opened up, with all of the previous participants reentering the room.

Seeing the familiar faces, angrily staring at him, Jack didn't care or even mind them as he sat on the ground, next to Arthur and Lei.

Alicia still standing with a dumbfounded expression, only sat down after Arthur had called for her attention.

[Welcome, Welcome, it seems that the entrance exam is finally complete. I will now be announcing the rankings for the start of your school year.]

[1. Alicia Onjouji]

[2. Arthur Reiss]

[3. Jack Withlock]

[4. Lei Retias]

[5. Damian Smith]

[...]

[8. Tarik Fornack]

[9. Hana Ortega]

[...]

Hana and Tarik, who were in a dark mood were stabbing Jack with deadly glares. Their annoyance could only be short to complete anger.

'They put Alicia over Arthur for political reasons, huh?'

[Hahaha, It seems that...Your battle ranks don't match your school ranking do they?]

It was a simple question but everyone knew who they were directed to as both Hana and Tarik, stared at the ground as they clenched their clothes. Smiling after receiving a dose of satisfaction, the old man didn't say anything else relating to the test.

[Seeing as how you all must be tired, your homeroom teacher will soon arrive, please follow her as she will show you to your dormitories.]

The doors suddenly opened once again, and with a bang she presented herself, it was none other, than someone Jack didn't know. Wearing a gray suit and a skirt, she made her presence known in an instant. Her brown hair and brown eyes caught the attention of many in the room.

"I am Sofia, from now on you shall all address me as Miss Sofia. I will be in charge of you troublemakers for the duration of your whole academic study, and I mean all of it, so we will be together for five years from now. Now if you would all just follow me."

Following behind her, the students all started to go up some stairs, Jack, Lei, Arthur, and Alicia were all at the back of the group. Lei, and especially Arthur were carefully watching the expressions of everybody around, considering that they had all gotten to the higher ranks. Alicia was more focused on the screen from Jack's hologram as she tried to read his messages to the best of her abilities.

Only being able to see a small part of the texts.

[Let the others win if you can, all top five rankers in the academy get the same rewards either way.]

[Don't hurt the little princess, her family has a lot of power over the holy land, if possible.]

Alicia soon stopped reading the text after the second one. She felt annoyed, just from reading it, as she hated the fact that she was just allowed to win. However, reading those texts made her wonder, why did he ask Arthur to step aside.

*

The building in the Aspect division seemed to be more unique than what Jack had expected. And it came with a simple fact, the S class was located in a specialized building, the others knew of this since they were guided by the staff but since both Jack and Arthur came with Olivia, they really had no way of knowing.

After being guided to the dormitories, everyone was allowed to rest for the day, however, some found some things annoying.

Firstly, it was the fact that only the top five had a personal training room, meaning that the others needed to go into a public space to train. But apart from that, nothing else was really given to the top five of the grade.

Taking a hot shower while resting his tired body, Jack received a message from the homeroom teacher of the S class.

[S - Class Building Layout]

[7th floor - Clubrooms]

[6th floor - Research Facilities]

[5th floor - Dormitories, Cafeteria, and Convenience Store]

[4th floor - Teacher's Office, and Teacher's Dormitories]

[3rd floor - Electives' Classrooms]

[2nd floor - Classrooms]

[1st floor - Indoors Gym, Auditorium, Indoors Pool, Infirmary, Sports Gym...]

[Outdoors - Field, Soccer Field, Baseball Field...]

Apart from that, Olivia also sent the basic schedule for tomorrow. Finishing his bath, Jack proceeded to lie down on his fancy bed. Looking around he found the room to be too luxurious for some students.

Continuing the theme of white represents good, the walls were all painted white with little sprinklings of golden patterns all over the room. A large and fluffy bed, a large wardrobe, a clean and large bathroom, and even a personal training room. It was nothing like his previous home.

*Knock Knock

Interrupting Jack's rest, was someone knocking on his door. He tried to ignore them at first, but the sound only continued to get louder and more repetitive as time passed by, So with no choice whatsoever, Jack opened his door. Only to be greeted by 5 kids, he rather not see.

Entering the room without permission, was Arthur who sat on the ground. Alicia also entered the room while avoiding Jack's eyes. Hana and Tarik, both had the same annoyed expression as they were dragged here by Arthur.

The only one that remained outside was Lei, who only entered the room after Jack said to come in.

Arthur, Alicia, Tarik, and Lei all sat on the ground, while Hana decided to sit on the only chair in the room.

Jack, on the other hand, decided to lie down on his bed, with his head pointed towards the picnic that was taking place in his room.

"Why did you guys come into my room?"

"Uh, I just thought it would be great if we all could hang out."

"No, no, I understand that, I'm asking why you brought Ortega and Fornack, into my room."

Just from that sentence, alone everyone inside the room could feel the tensions rising, as the both of them snapped.

"Why can't I be here, you backstabbing bastard?"

"Yeah, why is it? You deceitful bastard."

"...Because you guys aren't a part of the top five"

The silence before the storm.

"...I'M GOING TO KILL THIS BASTARD. HE DARES TO SAY THAT AFTER ELIMINATING ME?"

"YEAH, WHAT? YOU THINK YOU ARE ALL THAT GREAT AFTER BETRAYING?"

The bickering between the three continued until another knocking was heard on the door, and a familiar face appeared the moment Arthur opened the door.

And without any notice, he dragged another uninvited guest into Jack's room.

Noticing who it was, Jack gave him a slight look before turning to look at Hana and Tarik, "It seems the top five are already in this room"

Stopping the fight before, it even started was Damian, the only person here with blue eyes and black hair.

"Can you guys be quiet? My room is right next to yours and I can hear you guys screaming". Unexpectedly, however, both Hana and Tarik apologized to Damian while Jack didn't bother to even speak a single word.

In the end, the group ended up becoming even larger as Damian sat down with the rest, and started to eat the snacks brought here by Arthur.

The conversation amongst the group was of no importance.

Or so it was until Arthur decided to ask, "By the way, Jack, why did you surrender at the last moment?"

It was a simple question that caught the attention of everyone, especially Alicia who had her ears opened as she waited for the answer.

"Just because."

"Hmm, I see"

Stomping the ground with her hand, Alicia glared at Jack, "That's a lie, it was because someone told you to give up, isn't that right?"

"...Well yeah, I guess?"

Confused at his honest answer, Alicia was stunned for a second.

"...Why?"

"Because the rankings didn't matter starting from the top five."

"Huh? Just for that?"

"Yeah"

Completely dumbfounded at Jack's lack of interest in what she considered to be important, Alicia found herself to be embarrassed at the fact that she had cared so much about it until now. And seeing how everyone was questioning Jack, Damian also decided to jump on the bus.

"You let me get the top five, right?"

"...Yeah"

"Why?"

"Because you were smart enough to not let your magician get so far from you, unlike the other two. But I debated between you, and Tarik's partner."

And the trend of asking, Jack questions about the previous test, continued. This time it was Hana.

"Why did you have to backstab me?"

"Because the headmaster told me to do so?"

"Eh? The headmaster? Why?"

"Why do you think? We have two arrogant little bastards acting all tough. Who wouldn't want them to get beaten up?"

Seeing the sound argument, both Tarik and Hana, accepted the fact. And this time, it was Arthur once again asking another question.

"You seem to have a lot of connections in the academy, don't you, Jack?"

"Hmm, yeah, it is because I lost my memory"

"Oh, you are that kid, huh?", Said Hana.

"Hmm, you know, Jack?"

"Yeah, I received the report of a child who had not been attending middle school, seeing as though there was a possibility of him being recruited by a follower, it was decided that he would be investigated. In the end, all we could discover was that he had lost his memories, and also some other irrelevant material."

"Irrelevant material?"