Chapter 2

Ayanokōji's POV

Similarly to most of the student body, I disliked the entrance ceremony. There was far too much time spent in lines and far too many words of gratitude exchanged between the prinicpal and the students. But those weren't my only issues. The entrance ceremony represents the start of a new trial for the students. In order for students to enjoy their time at school, they must make friends, and there are only a few key days after the entrance ceremony to do that. Failure to do so signals the beginning of a tragic three years.

As someone who dislikes trouble, I decided I'd like to establish proper relationships. However I was unfamiliar with the notion and consequently I'd spend the day before agonizing over various scenarios and how I'd make friends.

I pondered this as I walked through a corridor, sometimes glancing into other classrooms full of students. When I reach mine, Class 1-E, should I burst into it and actively start talking to people? Should I secretly pass around a slip of paper with my email address? Someone like me needed to practice beause this environment was so alien compared to everything I'd experienced thus far. I was completely isolated on this battlefield, and it was do or die.

I reached class 1-E and as I entered through the door, I immediately noticed something odd. Compared to all of the other classes, which were lined with multiple rows of desks which spanned the entire room, this classroom had a mere 7 desks positioned in a straight line.

Four of these were occupied already while the other three including mine were vacant. I made my way over to the desk at the far side of the room, the very end desk in the line. I realised that no one had paid any attention to my entrance. Rather, two of the students were having a debate while the other two watched with mild interest.

One of the students in the debate was the boy who gave up his seat to the old woman on the bus - Kururugi Suzaku was his name if I recall correctly. His seat was the third one from the window, which means there is one desk between me and him.

In the desk between us was the boy he was having a debate with. He was raven-haired and his eyes resembled amethysts - they had a brilliant purple colour. He was leaning back in his chair away from his desk, his right leg crossed over his left giving off a confident aura.

"Your outlook is naive. If you spend your time doing everything by the book and trying to help everyone, you'll end up wasting your entire life." he said, looking at Kururugi and ignoring everything else around him.

"Results gained the wrong way are meaningless. When you're done, all you'll be left with is an emptiness as you look back at the path you've taken." Kururugi replied, slightly heated.

"Do you truly believe that, Suzaku?"

"Of course. As long as you make sure to do the right thing, whatever result you come out with is justified." Kururugi said this as if it was an indisputable fact.

"That's wrong. The ends justify the means. There will be times where you cannot afford to fail. What will you do then? You will have no choice but to use other people and discard them once their usefulness expires." the raven-haired boy replied calmly.

I see now. It appears that the 2 boys are having a discussion about their clashing ideologies which was effectively Individualism versus Altruism. If you asked me, I would have to side with the raven-haired boy. I have no interest in helping someone else if it negatively impacts me, and I have no problem using people for my own gains.

"It seems that we'll never see eye to eye when it comes to this. However, I think you'll end up living a life of isolation if you stick with that mindset." Kururugi sighed.

The raven-haired boy didn't respond and directed his attention toward the door. Two students had just entered the room, a boy and a girl who were holding hands.

Are they dating? I thought to my self but somehow, I didn't get that impression from them.

The boy was tall and lean - he had spiky black/maroon hair and red eyes with dark bags under them. He had quite a disheveled appearance. A sly grin sat on his face and he carried himself with an air of cockiness.

The girl was short and had extremely long and messy white hair. Curiously, her hair had a pale blue, purple, pink, green and yellow tint that covered it like a sheen. Like the boy, she was rather slim and had passive eyes which, similarly to her hair, consisted of an odd colour. They were a gradient yellow-red colour with golden pupils. She was quite cute, all things considered.

It seems that the last of us have arrived. I wonder, what is with this excessively small class?

Shortly after the new arrivals sat down, a woman entered the classroom. She was wearing casual clothing - a pink shirt accompanied by blue jeans. She had pale blue eyes which flickered around the room as she walked towards the podium in the centre, and long mint-green coloured hair which reached down to her lower back. She had delicate features and looked like a young adult - if I had to guess, I'd say her age is somewhere around twenty-four.

"Good morning everyone! My name is Ishihara Akiko and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher for the next three years, so we should get to know each other 'kay? I'll also be your instructor for English classes. The entrance ceremony will be in an hour, but before that I've got some written materials with information about this school's special rules for you all, as well as the admissions guides."

Ishihara-sensei passed each of us the familiar documents I'd recieved after being accepted.

This school differed from the multitude of other Japanese high schools in a few key ways. Here, all students were required to live in dormitories located on school premises. Also, except for special cases, such as studying abroad, students were forbidden to contact anyone outside the school. Even contact with your immediate family was forbidden without authorization. Naturally, leaving school grounds without permission was also strictly forbidden.

However, the campus also came equipped with many excellent facilities. With its own karaoke spot, theater, café, boutique, and more, you could easily compare this school to a small city. The campus spread over more than 600,000 square meters.

This school boasted another unique feature: the S System.

"I will now hand out your student ID cards. Using these, you can access any of the facilities on campus, purchase goods from the store and so on. Basically, it's your credit card for your next three years here. Be careful with how much you spend, 'kay? I wouldn't want any of you running out of money in the first month. At this school, you can buy anything with points - you can purchase anything located on the school campus."

Our points, which were loaded on our ID cards, acted as our currency. It looked like the school would provide these free of charge.

Your student cards are easy to use, all you do is swipe them through the machine scanner like you would a real credit card. Points are automatically desposited into your account on the first of every month. You should all have been given 100,000 points for this month. One point is equal to one yen, so the value of currency shouldn't be confusing. That's all."

Some eyes widened at the mention of being given 100,000 points, namely Kururugi and the white haired girl wore an expression of surprise. Ishihara kept the cheerful smile on her face and continued in her jovial tone.

"This school evaluates students' talents. All of you managed to get accepted her which speaks for itself about your value and potential. The amount you've been given reflects the evaluation of your worth. After you graduate, all your points will be returned to the school and there's no way to convert points to cash, so there's no point in saving them. You can do anything you want with your points - you can also transfer them to another student if you wish. Stealing and Extortion is strictly forbidden and will be punished if it's discovered, so make sure you don't do anything like that or you'll be in trouble~. This school monitors bullying very carefully."

Some students showed an expression of understanding while Ishihara-sensei spoke, while some others like myself and the raven-haired boy who was in the debate earlier looked disinterested. Kururugi and the white-haired girl still looked somewhat bewildered.

"There's also one more thing I need to tell you all about before I leave." Ishihara-sensei said in a slightly more serious tone than what she had used thus far.

"I'm sure you've all noticed by now that this class is different to all the others. You only have seven students and no one here exactly fits the normal description of a high-schooler."

It appears that there was something up, after all. I felt a little concerned about none of us fitting the description of a 'Normal High-Schooler'. If it was known that our class is some kind of special class consisting of unusual individuals then it would be hard for me to blend in as an ordinary student.

"In truth, you've all been evaluated by the school as excellent students. One could even call each one of you here a once-in-a-generation talent. It just so happens that seven of you applied to this school in the same year, so the school decided to create an experimental special class for you: Class-E. Normally, there are only classes A through D at this school each year and so none of the other students will know about the existence of this class until next month. Does anyone have any questions~?"

This was certainly a concerning development. It will be near impossible for me to act like an ordinary student now, at least within this class. In a normal classroom, it would be simple but in a classroom specifically designated for outstanding students it would be extremely difficult to act like an average run-of-the-mill high-schooler. Additionally, if what Ishihara-sensei said about each of us being a once-in-a-generation talent is true then it's likely that they would see through me. How troublesome.

"Sensei, what is the purpose of the school changing its entire system and assigning us a unique class? Would it be a problem if we were placed in the other classes?" someone spoke up.

It was one of the two boys who had been silently observing the debate before Ishihara-sensei came in. He was above average in height, with light brown hair and brown eyes. He spoke in a calm yet polite manner.

"At this time I can't tell you the specifics, but there is a reason why the school decided to give you your own class. As for your other question, it would probably pose a problem if you were all fairly allocated to the other classes though I can't tell you why that is yet either~."

Ishihara-sensei was back to speaking in her bright and cheery tone. This school truly did seem to be unique seeing as the classes didn't seem to operate simply as groups of students learning in the same room. If it did, then there would be no reason for the school to allocate us to a special 'experimental' class. There was likely a lot of things the teachers aren't letting on at this time. I looked around the room to gauge the reactions of my classmates.

Kururugi and the white-haired girl looked more confused than before Ishihara-sensei elaborated. If anything, this tells me that these two were not evaluated highly based on their deductive reasoning. The two boys who stayed silent during the debate earlier both had a relaxed and calm expression, as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said. The spiky black haired boy's expression was still identical to how it was when he entered the class, the sly grin ever present on his face. The last student, the one with amethyst eyes who argued in favour of individualism earlier and sits next to me, just looked disinterested. He is the one that I'm most curious about right now. Like me, he looks apathetic towards what sensei is saying and he also shares the same view on individualism as I do.

"If no one has any more questions then I'll be taking my leave. Make sure you have fun during your time here, 'kay?" with that, Ishihara-sensei left the classroom