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Before you read this, I would like for you all to know that if you would like to see my inspiration for the setting, way of writing, and the terminology, go ahead and read Tsutomu Satou's light novel series, Irregular at Magic High School. The beginning of this novel is very similar his, but obviously the whole novel will not be using Tsutomu's writing and choreography as a guideline.
So please go ahead and immerse yourself in his reading.
I hope you enjoy the start of a potentially very large web novel franchise!
Happy reading!
— The Clockmaker
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About two hours prior to the school's ceremony, a freshman gazed up at the complex with a gaze consisting of enigmatic components. In front of the auditorium where the ceremony would soon take place, the young man said nothing.
His uniform was at first glance quite fashionable for a school. In fact, it could be said that the design was intricate.
On the contrary, this was far from the case.
It was not a matter of design in terms of gender-corresponding apparel compared to the small group of girls in the distance, who were walking in the direction of the auditorium, but the details that were missing on his attire.
It would only make sense to have the school's emblem imbedded in the uniform of the students. Yet, the image of a black widow was not present in the freshman's empty space on his blazer.
A conversation played back in his head. It wasn't as if the exchange of words affected his mindset, but it was definitely connected to his current situation.
"You can't be serious, Vyrin! There's no way you-!"
"Look, I'm surprised I made it into the institution at all... I'm also surprised how you managed to figure out my situation but I won't even begin to ask about that."
The words flowing through his head were the words of a yelling female and himself, who seemed to be attempting to calming the former down. Judging from the attitude, it was safe to assume that the female had a strong relation with the young man, although pushing it as far as "girlfriend" or "lover" was pretty excessive.
"Vyrin, your knowledge about Filo is as deep as a fucking textbook... How in the *world* did you land in Class E?! Here you landed in the prime spot so how-?"
"It's an academy focused on Puppeteering skills," the freshman's voice pointed out in his own thoughts. "Variant Filo Puppeteers aren't a decisive component in such a space."
"... But the gap between you and the others in every aspect I can think of is immense! If we're taking Puppeteering into account then even so-!"
...
His thoughts dispersed.
The thought of attending a "school" was a misleading use of terminology. It was such a casual word that even the freshman standing before the institution mistakingly used the carefree word "school" to describe his new educational center.
The female in his head obviously cared deeply for the young man, however the latter seemed to lack the capability to care. On the other hand, in a contradicting fashion, the way he spoke was that of a person who was aware of the other's feelings and wished to acknowledge them.
His appearance was indeed striking, however his presence implied that he was nothing more than an average young man with no "exceptional" qualities.
Excluding his erect posture and sharp, slicing eyes, he wasn't exactly the most flashy and attractive male.
Besides, there was only one reason why the freshman was losing himself in his thoughts.
'What should I do until the ceremony?' he thought as he heaved a sigh.
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If there was one thing that the freshman could declare that he had full confidence in stating, it was perception. Or, more specifically, his analytical nature.
In moments he was able to dissect the complex of the academy: the main building, the practice building, and the experiment building.
Just by the locations, shapes, and sizes of the constructs, the young man was able to memorize almost the entire layout of the academy before even entering, although the email he received did label some features of the buildings.
»An auditorium|gymnasium whose internal arrangements can be altered with transformation machinery; a reading center with four levels above ground and three levels below; two small gymnasiums; a composition building containing a changing room, shower room, an equipment-storage room, and club rooms; the mess hall, the cafeteria, and the attainment department were in another construct; for the icing on the cake, numerous large, and small, annexes placed made the academy appear to be more of a megaversity than a mere "academy".«
It should be noted that the only reason as to why the academy wasn't made into a megaversity in the first place was simply because it was big enough as it was for the current Puppeteer population.
Due to the ID cards being handed out following the ceremony, it wasn't like the wandering freshman could access any other portions of the complex. In other words, he had to search for something to kill time, namely sit down and relax.
Visitors couldn't go to the open café today in an effort to evade a chaotic scene.
The bricks under his shoes stood firm under his weight and the sun bathed the world around him in light.
Proceeding to walk around for a couple minutes, using the portable console for navigation in order to fully memorize the complex before trusting himself, the young man spotted a series of benches resting in the shade of an overhang which was partially covered in leaves, surrounded by trees. The way it was set up, it was almost impossible to miss it, yet no individuals seemed to be sitting there.
'Perfect weather... Hopefully it keeps up,' the young man faintly thought. After sitting on one of the four-men benches, he opened up the weather portal and scrolled through the various passages.
'So this is part of a courtyard... which seems to be a shortcut from the composition building to the auditorium,' he couldn't help but point out.
"Whoa, it's a Class E student," a whisper sounded from a passing student's back. Unfortunately, more ill-will followed.
"Yeah... Wonder why a Vestigial is already here."
"Dunno. I mean, he's nothing but a leftover."
Unwanted words trickled into the young man's ears.
"Vestigials" were the referred students in the academy that scored in Class C-3 or lower. The term "vestigial" was referred to as an unimportant component in one's body due to evolution. Eventually, the word converted to describe a useless, unimportant individual in the academies.
Class E students were given even less respect. Not only that, but Class E students didn't even have the designated space for the emblem to go on, as well as a lack of design in the back of their collar, so picking them out was a piece of cake.
"Vitals" were the referred students in the academy that scored higher than Class C-3, all the way up to Class S-1. As expected, the term for "vitals" didn't change, still describing an important component in pretty much anything.
It was clear how big the gap of respect was between the two collective bodies of people.
The set standard for freshmen at the academy was 300; quite a low number even compared to the average high schools in the country.
Half of them were students in Class C-3 and below. If another student were to transfer and have the capability of Class C-2, however were near the bottom of the scorers above Class C-3, then they were turned away and given a spot for next year.
This explained why the young man was 16 years old, yet was a freshman in the fine institution.
Because of the academy's status as a Domestic Megaversity of Puppeteering-affiliated institution, the exchange of granted budget from the country and the definitiveness of results from the academy was an obligation.
The sole purpose for the academy to be established under national policy was for nurturing Puppeteers. No less.
Every year, more than 140 students graduate and go on to either the Domestic Megaversity of Puppeteering, or enroll in Puppeteering Application Establishment of Specialized Elite Training.
Becoming a Puppeteer was not a simple order. If one were to have a single unfortunate accident, a conclusion ending with something exponentially beyond a "minor issue" could occur. It was needless to say that this involved the Puppeteer's own life.
By sacrificing everything and pouring one's life into their training; this was what it meant to become a Puppeteer.
The very psychological structure of a Puppeteer could be permanently impaired by these accidents. Through intensive learning and basic trainings, these fatal, severe mistakes have been mostly neutralized.
That didn't mean that accidents involving Puppeteering and making the Puppeteer drop out due to circumstances was small, either.
Albeit considered "useless", the Classes C-3 and below were made to fill them in.
After all, all the country needed were results. If by enhancing low-class students even just enough, the requisite would be considered cleared.
These classes could use all of the same facilities as the upper classes could; all of the buildings, technologies, and equipment was entirely free for the lower classes to use.
The catch?
The lower classes, "Vestigials", did not receive any personal instruction in practical Puppeteering skills.
One must show results through their own works.
Even if this was the case, if they could not graduate from a Puppeteering academy, then advancing to the Domestic Megaversity of Puppeteering was an impossibility, and they would have to graduate from a normal high school.
Of course, this was expected by the lower class students. If given the privilege to even become a vestigial asset in a Puppeteering academy, they were informed that personal teachings were not to be given, and under that condition, must graduate the academy in order to pursue the way of Puppeteering.
The quantity of Puppeteering instructors was inadequate, so it was only expected for the higher classes to receive the aid of experienced Puppeteers.
Still, despite all this, it was forbidden to refer to the lower class students as "Vestigials" and the higher class students as "Vitals".
Contradicting the point of forbidding it in the first place, the terms were etched into the students' heads, especially the lower class students.
Nobody knew who was discriminated the most except for the discriminated themselves.
The lower classes knew this.
This included the freshman currently looking at the weather on his portable console.
'You make it sound like I didn't already know that,' he thought indifferently, reading the predicted future weather conditions on his console.
