Chapter 1: New Systems

I woke up from my bed and continued my morning routine, as usual. I was aware that school starts again today so I had woken up earlier than usual. There was also going to be an important announcement so I had to get there on time.

I did look forward to seeing how the school will change and how everyone would react. For more than a month students had thought this would be a normal school and they continued to believe it however only a handful of students knew of what is yet to come. Older years were forbidden to warn students so the first-year students had no way of knowing unless they had done thorough research. Fortunately, I am amongst the handful of students who know the special exams and classes.

Other than the school education itself everyone was looking forward to another thing, my duel. When someone challenges another to a duel, there is time for both parties to train for the duel. The time given is two weeks so I had enough time to relax.

After I changed my pajamas to my uniform, I threw myself onto the couch while letting out a frustrated sigh.

I had initially wanted to test however with all that is going on and all that is going to happen I cannot just simply rest.

She's joining the school today.

Yatogami Yumi will be starting school today so I guess I shouldn't start the plan too early or else there wouldn't be much of an effect. I have to start at the perfect time which wouldn't be hard but also wouldn't be easy considering how much Yatogami is feared even amongst the third years who know her.

"Alright I guess I should go now then." I muttered to myself before leaving my dormitory.

I walked over to the elevator to see a girl sleeping near the elevator doors. It was a girl I was familiar with.

"Nakamoto-san." I called out as I poked her face. "Nakamoto-san."

She eventually woke up and when she did she acted like she didn't know me however when her brain had finally finished processing she then stood up as fast as she could and bowed to me whilst apologising. We then entered the elevator.

"You nervous?" I asked her. She didn't reply instantly however she did hold her skirt tightly.

"I'm fine."

If there was one thing I had learnt from movies or unrealistic TV series that said that they were "relatable" was that the words Nakamoto Ryoko had just said were the exact opposite of what she actually felt.

Being the person I am, I didn't question her further on the subject.

"Are you excited to see what's happening to happen?" I asked.

"Well there has to be something that's going to change." Nakamoto replied. It was obvious that she had other things on her mind so I didn't ask any more questions.

The elevator then stopped at the ground floor, the lobby. We got out of the elevator and found that students were waiting for us. We walked over to them and now it wasn't only Akito, Harumi, and Kaori who were waiting for me but five others.

They then noticed us and walked towards us.

"You're are finally here, Tadashi." Kaori said as if she was scolding me.

"Why did you guys go out so early?" I asked to defend myself to which had no reply and was completely dodged.

"Let's go then."

What the hell is this?

* * * * * *

We all sat down in our designated seats in the hall. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary which made more students more curious about what is to come.

The Headmaster, Asano Yoiichi, welcomed us back after a whole week of holiday.

"There will be a change in classes and new special exams."

The whole hall was then full of students whispering to each other.

"The higher years were forbidden to warn any first-year students of what is to come. This academy is not built on purely academics, this academy will test and teach you all types of intelligence as well as increase your physical abilities." The Headmaster continued to explain the new systems.

The first semester was designed to make the students feel as if the school was like any normal school. The second semester would hit students like a truck.

The first semester was the real test. From the start of the semester till the end. The whole thing was a test.

Some students were put in Class A to boost their ego which would then be destroyed and students who were put in other classes had the chance to be put in higher classes.

The reason the school had put students in classes in which they did not belong was that they purely wanted to play with the hearts of the students.

There were many new systems that confused some students, for example, there was a new class system, point system, and dormitory system.

The classes you were out in were determined by your career choice. The new point system was a system that determined every student's rank. The new point and dormitory system were closely linked as our new dormitories also affected our points.

Everyone was given a large mansion to live in. These mansions allowed around 7-10 students to live in as a group depending on the size of the mansion. Each mansion had a name and the name of the mansion was the name of your group. The total of every student in each group was the group's point.

The top five groups will all receive prizes and the prizes vary depending on the group's rank. Bronze rank is given to the fifth highest group; Silver rank is given to the fourth highest; Diamond rank is given to the third highest; Ruby rank is given to the second highest and Emerald rank is given to the group with the most points. There will also be a prize given at the end of the year.

The prizes given are unknown as it changes each year.

Points will be given to individual students and/or to the whole group/s.

Each student's 'Student Profile' will display your group name however the rank of your group will only be shown at the end of each semester. Your 'Student Profile' will also display data such as your date of birth, bank balance, overall grades—including academics and physical abilities—and student ID which is extremely important.

After the whole assembly was over, students were all excited and some were worried.

* * * * * *

"Ten minutes until our groups and classes are revealed." Yamada said as he watched his phone.

"We can talk about that later, what we need to talk about right now is why we are on a small balcony on the library's highest floor!" Kaori yelled.

"Are you scared of heights?" Akito mocked.

"YES! YES I AM! PLEASE GET ME OFF OF THIS PLACE!" Kaori cried.

Kaori, Akito, Harumi, Shimoda, and Takemoto then got off the balcony while me, Yamada, Ryoko, Uehara, and Kitamura stayed.

"What the hell! Why did it become smaller?!"

Uehara was right, the balcony had gotten smaller only because the size adjusts to the number of people on the balcony.

"It adjusts to the number of people on the balcony." Kitamura explained.

We were all shocked as Kitamura has never said anything like it before.

"Are you…interested in balconies?" Uehara asked.

"Of course, I'm not! What idiot is interested in balconies?!" Kitamura yelled. "I want to become an engineer so I'm interested in Kinoshita Akihiro, the man who created this type of balcony."

"He's a guy." Uehara blurted.

"Not like that you idiot!"

Nakamoto giggled at the idiocracy while Yamada scoffed at it.

The sound of a bell then stopped everyone. Without any waiting, we all got out our phones and went to our Student Profile on the school app which was pre-installed on our phones when we had gotten them. The others walked onto the balcony and we all showed our phone screens.

"Nakamoto-san, when the hell did you get ¥500,000,000?" Kitamura asked. I saw Yamada get more frustrated however he controlled himself and tolerated the idiocracy with a sigh however Kitamura did get us all to ask Nakamoto why she had so much money.

"I was given it in the first week."

"Oh yeah, there was an announcement that one student would get half a billion yen." Kaori said.

"We're missing the point of showing each other our Student Profiles." Shimoda said, frustrated.

"Akito, Asagiri, Tsukamoto, Nakamoto, and Ikeda are in the same group." Uehara said.

"Yoshio, Tomiko, Yuuda, Uehara, and Kitamura are all in the same group which means no one's on their own!" Ryoko said with her usual smile.

"All the houses are named after famous scientists and philosophers." Shimoda added. She then looked at us. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…it's just you've never spoken out before." Akito said. Shimoda realised what she had done and her face beat red.

"Oh, Tomiko-chan, are you getting comfortable with them?" Nakamoto teased Shimoda. Shimoda then playfully punched Nakamoto.

"We are in House Archimedes and you guys are in House Aristotle." Akito said.

"Great analysis, Aki-chan." Kaori teased which enraged Akito however he didn't react as Kaori wanted him to.

"If we are in different groups that would also mean we would be competing with each other."

Yamada's analysis was true that we would now be competing with each other however there would come a time when there will be betrayal amongst the groups due to the friendships students have made or will be made and due to this groups will crumble however if Yamada is going to try to compete with us because he is also competing with me and when push comes to shove, he would try to do things others would not expect him to do so I would have to be wary of that and try to stop that.

"Not necessarily." Shimoda's words had gotten everyone's complete attention. "We could compete and work together."

"Are you suggesting we form an alliance?" I asked.

"I guess so. If we form an alliance then we could help one another when certain situations happen and when this happens, both groups will give each other something that both groups will agree on." Shimoda explained. "For example, if Tsukamoto's group is threatened by another group then my group will come to aid Tsukamoto's and in return, Tsukamoto's group will give my group anything we want."

"Anything we want? Shouldn't we limit that to something reasonable?" Kaori suggested.

"Yeah." Akito said in agreement.

"Then how about money is limited to a maximum of ¥50,000,000 and the objects are limited to five objects and you can only pick the money or the object, you can't pick both." Nakamoto suggested.

"If we had a maximum of ¥50,000,000 each time then what is the use for the objects trade?" Kitamura asked.

"The school might give us objects which you cannot buy so if that happens and one of the groups needs help then the other will be able to choose that object." Akito replied.

"How about it then?" Yamada let out his hand to me. "Tsukamoto Tadashi, do you accept?"

I then shook his hand.

"We'll use one of the school's contracts."

We then used one of the school's contracts and everyone signed it and Fukuwara-sensei was with us as a witness.

Kaori found me on the rooftop after the contract signing.

"You did something with the groups didn't you?" She asked. She looked serious about something as if she didn't like what I had done.

"I did." I replied.

"You took Nakamoto-san as a hostage as well."

"I did."