Cerulean Academy, Part 5

(Dazai Crowley's POV)

Cerulean Academy, Present Day

"Right. Is there anybody else who would like to interrupt me? No? Finally, let us begin. Now before we start, I want you all to listen closely first and wait patiently until after I am either finished or given you permission to speak. Therefore, I will not accept any questions until the end of my discussion. This way, I can effectively answer all of your questions without getting sidetracked or wasting precious time. If you must, you are also free to take notes accordingly."

Gwein glanced around the classroom for a second. It appears everyone has understood her terms.

She then turned around and grabbed a piece of chalk off her table in preparation for her discussion. Likewise, I too, along with other students, took out our pen and paper accordingly and got ready.

I would assume the other classes are also receiving the same lecture around now too.

"Okay then. First things first. As some of you may know already, Cerulean Academy is divided into four main classes. That being Class A, Class B, Class C and finally Class D. And from there, the school divides you into one of these four classes based on your performance. And it will be in these classes, you will spend the remainder of your highschool years until graduation. In principle, I suppose it's not that different from a regular school."

"However, do not let that fool you. As the principal said, Cerulean Academy is not your average school. Here, we promote competition and repetition above all else. Therefore, from this point forward, all four classes will be pitted against each other. These competitions may vary between special exams or outright mock battles between classes. As students representing your own class, you will be expected to participate and win against them all. Of course, when the time comes, how you choose to handle the situation will be up to your own discretion."

"Right. Now, of course during your school term, your hard work will be rewarded to some degree. In order to explain that, I want everyone here to pull out the phones that we issued you earlier today and search for an app called "Piggybank"."

Pft. What type of name is that? Regardless, one by one, the students did as we were instructed and took out our phones and scrolled until we found it.

"Click on it."

Doing as we were told, we were later directed into some sort of cash app-like screen that displayed our personal profile, and a couple of other options like "Transfer", "Withdraw", or "Deposit". At the top of the screen however lied a phrase written in bold letters.

"500 CP"

Skeptical, I raised my eyebrows.

"Looks like you guys have noticed it already. This is our "Class Point System". These Class Points, or CP for short, are your general forms of payment for all of the hard work you do here in this school. It works just like our regular currency system. For better context, 1 CP is equivalent to 1 dollar. In other words, just think of it like a special debit card."

So 500 CP would be equivalent to $500, huh.

"However there is one thing I should note. CP is only acceptable inside of Cerulean Academy. And they reset upon graduation. So don't bother saving them."

That's a reasonable limitation, I guess. But in that case, what's the point in making the correlation between these points and real world currency if the points themselves are only usable on campus?

—Wait, not unless…I suddenly glanced at the "Withdraw" and "Deposit" options on my screen.

Don't tell me…

"Sensei?"

Suddenly, Emmel raised his hand in the air.

"Didn't I tell you not to talk unless spoken to?"

He nods shamelessly.

"Sigh. What is it?"

"Are Class Points given to us on a timely basis, or do we need to grind for them ourselves?"

Irritated, Gwein scowled at him.

"If you had waited and listened, I would've gotten around to that. Nevertheless, the answer to your question would be "both". Every week, on Mondays, each class is allocated a set amount of Class Points. In this case, Class D's starting amount is 500."

Seeing as how today is a Monday, that would explain why the points were already transferred to us.

"Now if 500 isn't enough to satisfy you, there are multiple ways to earn extra CP. The methods to do so are typically divided into two types. One method would be to complete lesser, more mundane tasks. They are easy to do but the reward in return will be quite low. So much so that the points would usually be within the single or double digits."

"However, a more consistent fix would be the special exams and competitions that we will be holding. They are difficult but the rewards for them are not only usually within the triple or quadruple digits, they also increase the Class's Set Amount. By doing so, you'll receive an additional, and a very generous, increase to your weekly net worth."

"Right then. That should do it with the explanation of the Class Point System. But before I end it, there is one last thing I want to warn you about. Seeing as how everybody has their phones out, I want you to remove the battery pack casing on the back. There should be some strange looking black cards inside."

Seeing as how we were given permission, me and several others took out the phones they issued us and removed the back casing. And indeed, as she had said, there was this black card-ish looking object hidden underneath. I'm guessing these are the Black Cards the device itself is named after?

"These are your "Black Cards", and it's imperative that they remain intact inside your phones at all times. When the school distributes the points to the students, they will be sent to these cards in a fashion similar to, like I said before, a debit card."

"However the only way to interact with those points is via specialized systems like the Piggyback app provided on your phones. It should also be noted that these cards are very sensitive and can be damaged quite easily. That is why if yours breaks, we are willing to replace it for your convenience. However, all of your previous points will be lost."

So don't break them or risk losing your savings.

Got it.

"To negate that problem, we created a special casing to prevent damage. That being the phones we issued you earlier. In short, it works just like a regular phone. You can transfer your personal contacts and other data on to it and it'll still work like normally. On top of that, it is also water and fireproof and is made out of a special alloy that makes it near indestructible. We also don't plan on taking them back upon your graduation so please, feel free to keep and use them at your own leisure."

In other words, the phones the school gave us are nothing more but a convenient special casing to protect our digital wallets. This would explain the "purpose" I was searching for from it earlier.

"Oh, and one last thing. Although I can guarantee its durability, if there is by some chance your phone is broken or reported lost, we can replace them as well. However, as these phones are expensive to make, you will have to pay a dreadful price. So please be mindful of that and treat them with care."

As Gwein said that, she glanced at the whole class with a subtle yet very intimidating look. I don't even want to imagine the price. Oh well, I doubt any of us are planning on breaking them anytime soon.

"Right, that about does it for my initial explanation. Any questions?"

Ester raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"You said each class has a set amount of points they will receive on a weekly basis. We can adjust that amount accordingly via competitions and exams. But for now, we all have a set amount that we start with. For example Class D's starting amount is 500. Does that mean the other classes are 500 as well?"

Gwein smiled.

"No."

"No?"

Everyone raised their eyebrows.

In order to better explain, using the chalk that she already had in her hand, Gwein started writing a couple of words and numbers on the board.

The diagram she wrote were as follows:

Class A — 1500 CP

Class B — 900 CP

Class C — 750 CP

Class D — 500 CP.

"What the hell!?"

Unsurprisingly, cries of complaints were loudly voiced aloud. The starting amount for each class was vastly different then the other. And we, of Class D, were at the very bottom of the totem pole.

"—I figured it would be something like this."

"More like feared."

I sighed.

Although me and Ester had an idea it would turn out like this, it was still sad to see the truth on paper.

Ryoku raised her hand.

"Excuse me, Sensei? Why are the starting amounts for each class so different from one another?"

"Good question."

As Gwein nonchalantly said that, she shook her shoulders before taking a seat on the corner of her table and staring at us with a curious gaze.

"Even though you are a teacher, you do not know?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. You tell me."

Gwein clearly knows the root cause of the situation. She just wants us to figure it out.

"Does this have something to do with our overall "performance" you were talking about earlier?"

Bingo.

"My, my. You catch on quickly. It is as you say."

"So then, judging by how this system is set up, then that would mean the worse you "perform", the higher the chance you would end up in the lower classes becomes? Is this correct?"

"Indeed."

"Then let me ask you this. As a teacher, I'm sure you would have access to the official grading sheets and the report cards of all the students here who took the Entrance Exams prior to today, correct?"

She nods.

"In that case, you would have known that there were quite a few students here who actually scored pretty high. And yet despite that, they were still placed in this class in particular. Why is that?"

For a second, Gwein didn't respond. I highly doubt it was because she didn't know, but rather, she was waiting to see the extent of Ryoku's thinking.

"You say that this school judges our "performance". The word "performance" however is a pretty vague word, which is why I'm sure most of us believed you were strictly referring to our test scores back in the Entrance Exams. However, after seeing the situation for what it is now, I'm beginning to assume that, perhaps, there are some other criterias involved."

"Oh, really now? Is that what you truly think?"

"Of course. And it would be wise of you to tell us."

"—Is that so? Should I take that as some form of threat, Mrs. Ryoku?"

Those words brought silence to the room. Even Ryoku, who had become the voice of the people, (that being us of Class D), had gone quiet.

Did I by chance misjudge the situation?

Was Mrs. Gwein truly trying to keep the true circumstances behind the situation under wraps?

"No. What I say is not a threat, but the truth. A soldier can only excel in a war once he is properly informed after all. And we students are no different."

Diffusing a situation that could've easily become a bomb, Ryoku calmly responded with a firm conviction. Her eyes, unwavering.

"Heh."

Suddenly, Gwein chuckled.

"The Personality Discernment Test."

—I fucking knew it.

"It's just like you said. There were certainly other criterias involved that lied outside the exam itself. The Personality Discernment Test was one part of it. We used that test to get a better idea of who you were as a person. And although it held no particular significance in terms of your overall grades, it was still necessary. After all, academic ability isn't the only thing that makes a person a cut above the rest."

"So you analyzed our character traits?"

"You could say that, yes. You see, the school wanted to understand the type of people that we were dealing with first. Your pros and cons. Your strengths and weaknesses. That sort of thing. So in addition to the test, we also performed a couple of basic background checks on you all as well."

"B—background checks!?"

Skeptical comments of that nature were voiced. I'm not surprised though. Usually when a person tells you they did a "background check" on you, all sorts of concerns are bound to arise. And for some, one can only pray that they didn't delve too far deep.

I'm sure there are quite a lot of students here who have plenty of secrets they wouldn't want revealed.

"Relax, relax. Remember we have a reputation to uphold here too, you know. So all we did was perform a surface level examination. Anything deeper than that would be borderline illegal."

And just like that, Gwein swiftly addressed those concerns. Though this might be enough to ease some of their worries, she most likely didn't want to bring up this subject in the first place considering how touchy this topic can be in today's society.

"In that case, if you have already gone to that extent, why bother with the Personality test you guys had implemented during the exams?"

"To see both sides of the same coin, I suppose. In other words, we wanted to see how you would see yourself from a subjective standpoint. For example, some of you consider yourselves to be honest and humble, while others, conceited and perfect."

So even our own opinions of ourselves was also a factor within one very ambiguous equation.

"And these types of facts are all something in which you factored into our overall "performance", huh?"

"Indeed."

Ryoku sighed. Whether that was a sigh of relief for understanding the truth or a scoff of discontent for what the situation was, is something I couldn't say. Regardless, now somewhat satisfied, she took a seat and began to hash out some of her thoughts.