The Entrance Exams Are Finally Upon Us, Part 3

(Dazai Crowley's POV)

School Classroom, Present Day.

"Excuse me." I said.

The Practitioner, whose nameplate indicated they were in charge of Class 3-C, glared at me.

At first, I could tell they were quite annoyed, given how I was interrupting them during their break. But after looking at me for a second, that same gaze suddenly changed to that of surprise.

"Dazai?"

"Been a minute, huh, —Ms. Gwein."

Ms. Gwein glances at me for a moment.

"—My, my, you've certainly grown taller."

Have I?

I don't really believe that.

But atleast, I don't look as scrawny as I did before.

"And I see you haven't quit smoking."

Although Gwein clearly wasn't smoking in the middle of a school hallway, I did notice a small pack of cigarettes concealed in her left pocket.

"Tch, still on that, huh."

"It ruins your complexion."

"Yeah, well, nothing a little foundation can't fix."

"...That just makes you look worse."

I said, mumbling to myself.

"Oi, I heard that."

She said, while pulling my ear.

"Ow, ow, ow! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!"

"—Pft."

As I beg for mercy, Gwein suddenly chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Heh, nothing. I just missed you is all."

"—Enough to make you fall in love with me?"

She immediately pulls my ear again.

"Ah, wait, stop! You'll tear it off!"

She sighs.

"You really haven't changed one bit."

"Neither did you."

"I guess five years isn't enough to change us."

"If it was, I wouldn't be here."

"Heh, you're right."

"So, how's your sister doing?"

"She's been fine. She just misses you. Alot."

"I'm sure she does."

"She's here right now actually. You want to go see her?"

"Not right now. I rather not distract her from her studies. Maybe later though."

"Fair."

Although I said that, I couldn't picture that happening. If there's anything strong enough to motivate Alice into giving it everything she's got, it would most certainly be Gwein.

"And what about Roy? How's he doing?"

"Roy? He's, —well, what can I say, really? He's being true to himself, I guess."

"So the little hermit crab still hasn't come out of his shell, huh."

"Unfortunately. But I'm working on it."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it."

Gwein raised her eyebrow.

"—The last time you told me that, you nearly got somebody killed."

I pause for a moment.

"This and "that" are two completely different things."

She sighs.

"If you say so."

"Oh, yeah, speaking of which, I nearly forgot."

"Hmm?"

"You wouldn't happen to know the class we're supposed to be testing at, do you? They didn't exactly tell us where we're supposed to go."

"You're looking for Class 3-A. It's right down that hall."

"Appreciate it. Well, it was fun talking to you again."

"Yeah, catch you later, kid."

After giving my thanks, I walked off.

But before I left completely, I stopped.

"Hey, Gwein. Pay us a visit some time, will you? Drinks on me."

She crosses her arms and scoffs.

"Try pulling that line on me when your older."

"Heh, jokes on you, I just turned seventeen."

"To me, no matter how old you are, you still, and always will be, just a child."

A child, huh.

Heh.

I suppose you aren't wrong.

* * * * * * * * * *

It took a couple of minutes, but eventually I stumbled upon the room I was looking for.

Class 3-A.

After glancing through the nearby window, I noticed there was some students already inside.

Despite that, they haven't started testing yet.

"Dazai Crowley?" one of the teachers asked me.

"Yeah, this is Class 3-A, correct?"

"Yes. Please take a seat. We will begin shortly."

"Sure. Oh, but before we do that, can I talk with you outside, please?"

The man shifts his eyebrow.

"Why?"

"There's something I need to discuss with you."

"Is it urgent?"

"Not necessarily, but it's quite important."

He narrowed his eyes at me harshly.

"It won't take but a second, I promise."

The man sighed.

"Fine, but make it quick."

We eventually stepped outside before walking to someplace private.

"So, what is this about?"

"It's about this."

As I said that, I pulled an envelope out of the bag I was carrying before handing it to him.

He raised his eyebrow again, before proceeding to open it and read it to himself.

"—!?"

His expression changed.

"—This is…"

"A simple request, nothing more, nothing less."

The man sighs, almost as if he was expecting this.

"There are limits to what I'm capable of, kid."

"I'm aware. However, we cannot deny your position as a Practitioner either. I'm sure you can get something as simple as this done."

"Maybe, but, even still—"

"—What if I told you are in no position to refuse?"

The man immediately falls silent.

"Tch."

"—You kids are all the same. Always doing this and that just to stay ahead of the game. I bet you didn't even work hard enough to get this far."

Sigh.

I turn around.

"Whether I trained for this or not, doesn't matter. All of this is nothing more than basic insurance."

* * * * * * * * * *

"It is now five minutes before the next Entrance Exams begin. All Applicants are to have found and been seated in their corresponding classes."

Updating us on the current time, the loudspeaker declared yet another announcement.

However, this time, the later parts of what it informed us about came more of a warning compared to the other times it spoke.

In five minutes, the exams will begin. During that time, the doors will lock and will not open until the exams themselves are over.

In other words, if you're late, you're basically locked out of your once in a year chance to transfer over.

Upon realizing this news, I noticed the hallways were starting to get a lot more rowdier.

Most likely it was the remaining students rushing to get to their classes on time.

—I better be careful if I don't want to bump into somebody by accident.

After taking care of business, I decided to walk back to where Alice and the others were.

"Slow down, Esmes! We'll get in trouble if we run through the hallways!"

"I don't care! I can't afford to be late!!"

Let's see, I think I take a left over here?

And then from there—

—Huh?

"Huh!?"

Oh, shit.

As soon as I rounded the nearby corner, I bumped into a person. More specifically, a girl.

Papers also went flying.

"—Ow."

Yeah, that definitely hurt.

"Are you okay!?"

The other girl asked.

"—Yeah, I'm fine. I think...."

As the woman named Esmes replied with those words, she tried propping herself straight.

"—!?"

Suddenly though, as she sat up, her expression changed to that of surprise and dread.

Waves of embarrassment flushed her cheeks.

At the same time though, I too had stumbled upon an interesting development.

Somehow, during that moment, my hand had suddenly grabbed something both soft yet plump.

It was at that moment, we both realized that my hand had grabbed one of her breasts.

—Oh, so does this make me a "lucky pervert"?

If so—

"How flat..."

I mumble aloud.

"F—F—Flat!?"

Well, I wouldn't say "flat" per say. It had some suppleness to it, but I've definitely felt bigger.

Of course, I wasn't going to say that aloud.

But even still—

"Y—you bastard!!"

Smack!!

Before I even realized it, she slapped my face.

"I can't believe this! It's not even our first day and you're already defiling the body of royalty!? A peasant such as yourself should feel ashamed!!"

—Woah, "defile" is a pretty strong word, especially in this day and age.

And I'm not exactly a "peasant" either…

Wait, that's not what I should be focused on!

"Hold on, wait, I didn't mean to—"

Ptuh....

—Did she just spit on me?

"Damn it all, you even made me spill all my study notes! Because of you, we're going to be late!!"

"Those were your research papers?"

"Obviously! And I was still reading some of it too! Ugh, you even spilled coffee all over it too!"

"...I see, my bad."

Apparently, during our tumble, the cup of coffee Emmel had paid for me earlier had flown out of my hand and spilt everywhere, eventually soaking a majority of her papers in the process.

"Oh, don't give me that! Shit, shit, shit! Pyua, hurry up and clean this up. Now!!"

"Uh, r—right!"

"Here, atleast let me help you out."

"A—ah, thank you."

Perhaps feeling guilty of our encounter or feeling pity of the girl being ordered around by such a haughty sounding woman, I extended her my aid.

As such, we both bent down to help put everything in order.

However, it would soon be made clear that the cleanup was going to take quite some time.

Time which none of us could afford.

Using the watch attached to her wrist, Esmes kept a close eye on the time and counted down the passing seconds with impatient footsteps.

"Tch, screw this! Salvage what you can and make a break for it! I can't be late for this!"

"R—right! I'm coming!"

In her rush, Pyua scrambled even faster to take what she could and rush off.

"Here, take this too." I replied while handing her some more papers off the floor.

But just as I tried handing it to her, for some reason, she stopped moving and stared at me.

"Is there something wrong?"

"...N—no, it's nothing. I appreciate your help."

"No problem."

Well, that was werid.

"Here, Esmes."

"Just put it in the bag already!"

As Esmes said that, she picked up her bag off the ground before allowing Pyua to stuff the papers inside in a rather crude manner.

After gathering what little they could in time, the two of them were ready to dart off in their original direction. Before they left however, it seemed like Esmes had one last thing to tell me.

"Consider yourself lucky, peasant. If I had more time on my hands, you best believe I would have made you thoroughly regret what you've done."

I didn't respond.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even fathom how I would reply. Well, not like it would've helped either, considering her attitude.