The five minutes passed so fast that Inna was only able to spot Raghnall, who was eagerly waving at her, and walk to him halfway before the old man's cloud appeared in the center stage. As usual, Professor Gnarly got out of his cloud and raised his hand to call back his cloud thing. Then, he called all the freshmen to gather in one area as he took out a small pouch.
The pouch looked similar to the pouch Inna had tied on her belt except that it was a brown sack with no designs. Then, professor Gnarly grabbed something inside the pouch and after a flash of light, a long brown table suddenly appeared in front of all of them. The table was similar to the tables in the lunch room except that it was a bit shorter in terms of length. The table had minimal designs on it, the table cloth a mere white cloth, but on top of it were different kinds of silverware and glasses. By the table were comfortable chairs that looked simply yet had a sense of propriety in the arrangement.
Inna, along with the other commoner students, couldn't help but be amazed at the great array before them. But the middle and high class students simply looked over in boredom, since they've seen this arrangement in almost every event they go to.
"Hah, look at those beggars. To think they're that excited from seeing such a basic arrangement."
A high class student beside Inna sneered. Hearing his tone, Inna looked over and saw that majority of the students who passed the first round were either from the high class or the middle class families. Since they're all bundled up into one space, Inna decided to count in her mind how many of them actually survived.
One, two, three…. Eight, nine, ten, eleven?
Her eyebrows rose as she tried counting in her mind again but it still resulted to the same number.
Wow. To think that they were so packed before, and now there's less than a dozen remaining after the first test.
And from the looks of it, one can clearly see that there were only two commoner students that were able to pass while the rest that were sneering at them were either from middle or high class families.
Inna was about to retort back towards the student when Professor Gnarly cut her off with a sneer of his own.
"Mind you that this 'basic' arrangement will be judging your fate."
Having the professor's attention on him, the student gulped and finally shut up. Then, Professor Gnarly chanted some words and the chairs moved slightly backwards.
"Now, students, choose your chairs wisely."
The students scampered off hurriedly towards the chairs of their choice that Inna was left to gaze in bewilderment at the dust that remained.
Why were they in such a hurry? It's just a seat. There were eleven seats in the table all in all, enough for all of them.
It's not like they're playing musical chairs or something.
Then, with those thoughts in mind, she slowly walked towards whatever chair she could grab on.
But a second before she grabbed on her chosen chair, someone would immediately steal it away from her. And it happen for about five times that she was nearly starting to get pissed.
Raghnall wanted to scream at her to hurry up and fight for the chair at the end of the table but any interference from their part as an audience towards the test would lead to him being punished by that old man NarNar. And still a bit traumatized by the previous punishment, he obediently shut his mouth and screamed in his mind instead, hoping she'd hear him somehow.
Meanwhile, Inna was still taking her time trying to find a vacant seat and when another chair was once again stolen away from her, she decided to give up with choosing one and instead decided to just wait for whatever available chair that'll appear.
There are eleven chairs after all. And it's not like someone will sit on two chairs anyways.
When the fighting finally ceased, everyone had their own chosen seat while Inna was left standing.
Inna looked over the table and saw one chair available so she merrily plumped her butt on it as she dragged it forward to tuck herself properly.
The chair she had was in the 'head' position. It was the only chair located at the end of the table and she felt quite satisfied with her chair because, through its position, she can see everything that's happening.
Which makes it easier for her to simply copy whatever the others were doing without being caught looking at her sides.
And well, truthfully, she also actually felt a bit superior sitting on that chair.
Inna tapped on the armrest of her chair as she looked around the table. At first, she felt happy with her chair, but when she observed the other students before her, they looked at her as though she was stupid. She noticed also that the high class students who flanked her began to snicker to themselves as they used some sort of eye signals to communicate.
Inna didn't understand the reason for their reaction so she just ruled it off as probably one of those ways on how they bully people in their world.
Well, that was she thought until Professor Gnarly spoke.
"Now that you've chosen your roles in this arrangement, I do expect for everyone to be able to execute it perfectly. These are the roles you chose, so I will not be hearing complaints about foul play and the like. Now, for the sake of the spectators, I'll be reading out the roles as it follows."
"The two students that sat at the end of the table would be the common people. The four students that follows would be the middle class people while the other four students nearest to the head of the table would be the high class people.…"
Inna thought that she was part of the 'common' people at first since she was technically sitting at the 'end' of the table. But when the two students on the other side of the table looked at each other in glee, she knew she fucked up.
But then, when Professor Gnarly paused his announcement, Inna thought she had no role. Or maybe she had an insignificant one at the very least. In fact, she was secretly hoping that she'd be given the role of a 'spectator' or probably as a 'judge' or something.
But apparently, this world isn't too kind to do that.
Turns out, Professor Gnarly paused his announcement because he was trying to recheck again and again if what he saw was true.
Such a brave soul, ey.
Look at that stupid smile. Does she think she can easily pass this test?
This girl is starting to push his buttons here.
To think she would choose that chair after the stunt she pulled back at the written test.
He laughed maniacally in his mind but then, he noticed that he paused for too long as he saw the eyes of some students that looked at him in confusion. So, recalling the test, he cleared his throat to recover and continued.
"And the student seated at the head of the table would be…"