A Utopia-like Distopia

It was the next day; class had just ended.

"What did you guys choose?"

I walked along the footpath with Akechi and Shimizu. We were making our way through the well-kept schoolyard with several gardeners always caring for the grass and greenery around the area.

"I paid the token."

"Same here," I responded.

I could hear the gentle splashing of the water fountain as we crossed paths with several other students.

"Haa, looks like we all chose the same thing! I just didn't want to risk getting a Core Attribute exposed."

"Yeah, we've only got seven in total and there are still almost three whole years of school left. By the way, Rin, are you hungry? Hana and I were thinking of having some lunch at FARM."

I thought about it for a moment.

"I'll join you."

"That's the spirit! I'm really craving their potato salad right now."

After a little while, we arrive at the large automatic doors of the entrance of the mall. It was quite a large building, almost as big as the entire classroom district. The mall was the main point of attraction for many students, giving the school more than enough students to pick from to create the most talented cohort of any school.

A wave of warm air splashed into my body as we entered. There was a lot of background chatter along with the quiet humming of music. Even though the mall was the gathering place for many students, the place was never crowded, since it was much larger than necessary for the size of the cohort. All the prices were also incredibly low, to the point where it was impossible for the mall to be making any profit.

…

We sat down at the cafe that Shimizu suggested. The two of them were scrolling through their phones so I decided to open mine as well.

The previous night, I had analysed the scores of all the students who had theirs revealed. Based on what I could see, it seemed that the scores were distributed on a normal curve, favouring scores around 50. Of all the available scores, I only saw two above 90.

It was likely due to the fact that those who were more capable realised that paying the token was the objectively better option.

Still, even those near the middle and bottom of the curve were still some of the nations most gifted students.

This knowledge might come in handy in the future.

"Oh yeah, Hana, Rin do you guys have any plans on Saturday?"

She looked up from her phone.

"Nope, I'm free. Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Me too, I don't have anything on," I added.

Shimizu tapped some things on his phone.

"Apparently the arcade is running a half-off deal. Let's go have some fun and relax."

"Um, I kind of need to study… aren't there mock exams in a week or so, Shimizu-senpai?"

He looked at the calendar on his phone.

"Ah, I mean, can't you spare one day? You never study anyways."

"Hey! I do study… sometimes…"

"Come on…! I'll help you study on Sunday, so come with us on Saturday?"

Begrudgingly, Akechi agreed.

"Fine, I'll come, just for a little. How about you Kizutaka-senpai? Are you coming?"

"I'll come along."

It wasn't like I had anything else to do anyways.

• ───────────────── •

Late at night, I found myself browsing through some of the shelves in the library. I was bored as usual, without much else to do. We read lots of books as a part of the Ideal Human Project, but I never found myself very interested in any. Many of the other Outcomes stated that it was their favourite activity, but I found it just as mundane as any other.

As I strolled through the silent oasis, I saw someone peer at me through one of the shelves.

"What are you doing here, Tobiichi."

"Aha, so you did see me~."

I pulled a book off the shelves and flipped through it.

"So Kizutaka, what are you doing here so late at night?"

"That's what I'm asking you. I'm just bored."

Sliding a book through the little slot that she was glancing through, she began making her way around the aisle, into mine.

"I thought I'd see you here. Isn't that a good enough reason?"

"I don't see why you'd make that assumption. It sounds more like you followed me here."

She giggled.

"Aah, don't sweat the details. Anyways, how did you find the special exam last night?"

"I don't have much of an opinion on it."

"I'm sure you do~. It clearly shows the schools intentions, you know that too."

"It doesn't matter that much to me."

I placed the book back onto the shelf.

Tobiichi took a seat on the edge of one of the couches, gesturing for me to go over.

"I assume you chose to pay the token, isn't that right?"

"Sure."

"You didn't feel like testing your luck? Tokens are valuable at this school you know? They might be just as valuable as our Core Attributes."

I grabbed another book off of the shelf, it was one that I often saw my instructor reading.

"Haa, are you ignoring me again?"

"I just have nothing to say."

"That's not a problem, you can just listen to me talk then~"

I flipped through the book.

"You know, Kizutaka. Hasabe from 1-A asked me out yesterday."

"I don't really care."

"It was such a boring confession, bowing his head and everything."

I placed the book back onto the shelf, I didn't have any interest in it either.

"Kizutaka, do you want to know what my Appearance Attribute is?"

"Not particularly."

"If you just ask me, I'll show it to you."

I didn't care that much. I was still sifting through books, trying to see if there was anything that could catch my attention.

Suddenly, Tobiichi started to laugh.

"Ah, I'm glad you're like this, Kizutaka. It's refreshing~."

With that, she hopped off of the arm of the couch and made her way out of the library.