Classes

The two of us stared at each other for a few moments, wondering how we were supposed to get back to our places. After a few seconds of contemplation, I ended up shaking my head.

"Whatever, that's not too important right now. If our meeting takes too long, people will get suspicious and we'll be late for school."

Nathan clicked his tongue.

"Still can't escape school even after you die, huh?"

I hardened my expression.

"Focus!"

Nathan sighed.

"Ok, alright. So what I'm thinking is that we need a plan. But obviously, our plan is going to hinge on the basis of knowing what can happen in the future. The first meeting between the villain and protagonist is still early on in the prologue, so we just have to keep actions as true to the normal story for now."

My eyes widened slightly as I nodded. I really liked that idea.

"Yeah, we definitely can't think of a plan right away. We'll use this time to think and meet up after school back at the same place to discuss what we've thought of."

The corner of my lip twitched.

"But isn't it like... kind of a problem considering we've already gone off script?"

Nathan looked as nervous as I was.

"There's... There's just no way a little meeting like this will change that much, right?"

I frowned.

"Don't jinx it, man!"

While I said that, he was probably more unsure than I was, saying it more just to reassure himself. Nathan thought for a moment before raising a finger.

"Ah, we have to make me look beat up to make it believable!"

I looked at him while appalled.

"Huh? Isn't that just blatantly changing up the events?"

Nathan clapped his hands a few times.

"Yeah, but this is the best way to change it the least possible. Plus, I'm supposed to get bullied later in the day. Let's just shift that time to now."

I took a deep breath.

"I guess that makes sense. We have to gamble in certain places no matter what."

Nathan nodded.

"Alright, then hit me."

I looked back without moving.

"Huh?"

Nathan's eyelid twitched.

"How am I supposed to look beat up if I'm not beat up in the first place?"

I pursed my lips together.

"...Isn't it going to hurt though?"

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"A lot of things are going to hurt. No matter how hard you hit me, it's going to be pretty lukewarm in comparison."

He was right. After all, the hero really does go through some grueling stuff. With a sigh, I nodded.

"Alright."

Nathan stood up straight and closed his eyes. I took a deep breath and pulled back my fist. I put on the fiercest expression I could, trying to get the villain in me out on the surface. Then I reached out...

Very slowly.

When my fist weakly pressed against his face, I sighed.

"I can't do it."

Nathan looked slightly disappointed but didn't say anything. He scratched his hair.

"Alright, but you gotta get used to it if we can't come up with a concrete plan, or if the plan is to stall. After all, the hero gets bullied a lot."

I looked down at the floor before giving a nod.

"I'll find a way soon enough. Just... it's a little too much for me to suddenly become the bully."

From there, Nathan returned with a nod before getting up next to the school wall. He took a deep breath before slamming his head into the wall, which made me jump up in fright.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Nathan stumbled back and held onto his forehead with one head.

"...If I want to make this realistic, then the injuries have to be bad enough so that they can't make sense of them."

After taking another deep breath he ran towards the wall, landing with a hard thud. I flinched when a small crack came from his body. I raised both my hands weakly like I was surrendering while my legs crouched down slightly.

"Wait, wait, please stop, please."

Nathan was breathing rather roughly.

"I guess... this should be enough. You go on first to make it seem like you left me behind."

I let out a sigh of relief because it really did seem like he wanted to keep going. And so, I left, making my way back to the entrance of the school. Carrot Top and Baby Man were both still there waiting, then saluted right when he got back.

"Welcome back, Bryson!"

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence again!"

As for Minori, she was shaking like a leaf. The moment I returned, her gaze snapped to me, but right after she looked around to see if Natan was around. Seeing that he hadn't returned, she balled up her fists but was still too scared to look me in the eye.

Instead, she remained rooted at the spot with her head looking down at the ground.

I gave her a glance, trying not to look for too long. It seemed like she hated me now. I could feel my heart sink to my stomach. Honestly, it was a little hard to suppress the urge to clear up the misunderstanding right then and there.

But I remembered how hard Nathan hit the wall just to make it convincing. If he was trying that hard, then I couldn't just make light of his efforts.

Then, I gave a casual wave to signal to the other two.

"We're going to class."

With that, I tried my best to keep my back straight and began walking inside. Carrot Top awkwardly called out as I went in.

"Um, don't we first have to check the class board to see what classes we are assigned to?"

I froze, trying my best to stop myself from blushing in embarrassment. It was then I realized that Nathan probably didn't know either. I turned my head to the side, trying to project my voice, speaking at a volume just below a scream. At the same time, I glared at Carrot Top from over my shoulder.

"I know that we have to first check the class board to see the class we are assigned to! That's why one of you should've checked and reported back to me. Was that really not obvious?"

That... that must've covered it up well.

Carrot Top let out a little squeal almost like he was a pig.

"Y-Yes sir!"

He then rushed off to wherever the class board was. I then went back to casually walking forth, though I made sure to slow my pace so that Carrot Top could find me when he got back.

Though, walking slowly ended up being involuntary as I continued forth. I was dazzled by how luxurious everything looked. The halls themselves were wide, allowing many to pass through. The walls themselves looked as though they were made out of pure gold, while the occasional white pillars separated them.

There were also various small pedestals with similarly golden decorations of various types of creatures, from what looked like a boar, to dragons.

Baby Man crossed his arms and upturned his nose with pride.

"Hmph, only natural for the most prestigious Golden Gold School!"

I blinked a few times. The name of this place really did sound quite terrible, but just the hallways suddenly made everything feel a bit fitting. Though it was somewhat described in the game, the actual halls themselves were never described all that much. As for the exterior of the school, it was pure black.

From what I could remember, it seemed some sort of black ore was somehow responsible for guarding against magical attacks. The classrooms too had black walls to deal with possible magical accidents.

That left only the hallways to be where they showed off the golden nature of the place. Gold still had magic-repellent properties, but they were relatively weak. Ironically enough, while this place looked the most lavish, gold was still not nearly as expensive as the strange black ore.

Soon enough, Carrot Top had come back, panting hard.

"I found out... Bryson sir is in the prestigious Class A!"

Baby Man enthusiastically clapped.

"Amazing! I'm sure we aren't so fit to be in class A like Bryson, but we shall settle for class B."

After hearing that, Carrot Top awkwardly stammered.

"U-Um..."

Baby Man looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Ah, is it that we are actually Class A? It appears the two of us aren't that bad after all. Of course, Bryson is still above us."

Carrot Top scratched the back of his head and said rather sheepishly.

"We... are both in Class D."

Baby Man's face paled, becoming whiter than a sheet.

I already knew this much. As for why these arbitrary letters seemed to matter so much to them, there was a ranking system for classes depending on a person's talent. In total, there were five different classes for each year. Depending on one's test scores and magical aptitude, they would be placed higher.

The lowest was Class D. Those that were placed in that class were considered to be failures, because they didn't pass the test and were only allowed in because their parents gave a hefty sum of money to the school.

Then there was Class C. The nickname for this place was the commoner class. The reason was that many commoner families save a decent sum of money and would try their luck to enter the class. While many wouldn't be able to get a good test score, their magical aptitude may have been just barely good enough to be accepted, thus landing in Class C.

As such, many commoners ended up being in that particular class.

Above even that was Class B. The basic requirement for this class was if someone at least passed the test, and had decent aptitude. An overwhelming magic talent could make up for failing the test though. This was a high enough rank to be proud of oneself and to be considered a bigshot among nobles.

Next was the class I was in, Class A. Here, there were basically two conditions to get in. One would have to have an outstanding magical talent and get a decent amount of questions right. If I had to say, it should be about 70% of all the answers. The other option was if someone had gotten perfect on their test, not even a 99% would count, then had decent talent.

Both Natan and Bryson were in Class A. Natan got in because of his overwhelming talent. As for me, I got in because I had a perfect score on the test.

Just thinking about that made me feel a bit of despair since I hadn't inherited all the knowledge to get perfect on said test. What was supposed to be my one strength... was non-existent.

But let me finish my explanation before I wallow in despair. I said there were five classes, but only described four.

Higher than A was Class S.

The requirements were so stringent that there were certain years where nobody would end up in that class, though generally speaking there were about five in each year. The person that was now my older sister (by one year), was actually in that class. The first requirement was getting a perfect test score, then the second was an outstanding magical aptitude.

Now that I think about it, Bryson was probably rather upset when he realized that he was in Class A, but not Class S because of his magical aptitude.

Not that I really cared, because being in Class S would honestly probably make things harder for me considering I wasn't actually smart. Both Carrot Top and Baby Man were still there, quite stunned at their own place.

I saw an opportunity to get these two mosquitos away from me and decided to take it.

"Don't talk to me unless you reach Class A."

Without turning back, I began walking away, leaving the two rooted on the spot. Oh yeah, if someone did well enough in a class, then they could be promoted to one class above. After reaching a certain requirement and being at the top of their respective class, then they would reach the next higher class. The only exception was Class S, but there were rumors that there actually was something above Class S.

Though, it seemed nobody had reached that height even for hundreds of years.

The opportunity was given once per month, and on the flip side, a person could be demoted as well, usually when someone was promoted. But assuming that the worst person was still decent enough, they could stay in the class despite someone else getting promoted.

Bryson in the story was rather obsessed with getting to the top spot of Class A. As for me... I didn't really want to. Not demoting was good enough for me, and would be a difficult task. But I should still act like I wanted the spot for the sake of the story.

I scanned the hallways, ignoring all of the different labels and trying to find the one that said Class A. After going through the whole first floor I didn't find it. The only class I did see were all the different Class Ds.

I then went to the floor above, doing the same thing, but was only able to find Class Cs. As I was going up the stairs, I suddenly realized something.

...If Class D was on the first floor, and Class C was on the second floor, then Class A should be on the fourth. The corner of my lip twitched.

Ah, crap. My stupidity is already making me fumble about.

I went to the fourth floor, and sure enough, there was class A there for the first years.

And along with it, was Jess. She had her arms crossed and was glaring at me.

Did I... do something?