Tapper gripped his gray crossbody school bag. He needed to be calm but a grin would break out on his face once in a while.
School. It was a word he had never ever truly associated with himself.
But he was not just any ordinary student. He was Echo the Executor.
In the small time frame before school started, his training had intensified. Wayde had personally come to teach him. (Tapper never would have thought Wayde would be more merciless than Stain. He had nearly died.)
Tapper had to know how to utilize the small energy wisp the Master has granted to him and its functions such as…
Using it to activate the secret communication on his Executor bracelet.
"... Gather information on the classmates that you have. Especially the ones with talent and the ones with threat. Note any weaknesses of anyone you discover.
"Help Roman gain influence and connections.
" And keep an eye out for any Mikken family members."
That had been the brief order sent to Tapper this morning.
The Spectrum Education Institute was very large. It was the second largest school within Spectrum City but it's facilities were the top in terms of accommodations. Countless children of nobles and high class citizens enrolled received the best education the city had to offer. There were some commoners but those were few and far in between.
Also… the Mikken family?
He had checked his Executor bracelet for information. It said that they were a high class citizen of a very strong commoner hunter who had made a name. Things like that happen very often.
Tapper got onto a moving platform that worked similar to a subway. The surge of wind swept his ash colored ponytail out behind him as he marveled at the sights.
The flowering trees, beautiful buildings and gorgeous pathways.
'It's like a city only for children. I wonder if there is an AlleyWays here.' Tapper thought.
Soon, the platform had arrived at the Tapper's destination and he hopped off. Then he turned around and helped Roman off as well.
They made their way to a building and entered their first class. Many kids were already there and immediately noticed the chattering Roman.
He was speaking in an airy and knowing manner.
"The red on is the newest model that XXGames introduced for the overhead space VR system… it's disappointing really. The green one that Taxi pulled out was so much better!" Roman flourished his hands up and down.
"Mmm. You're right." Tapper (who can't tell the difference) said.
"Ahem! Excuse me.
"Not to interrupt but I actually like the red one…" said Interrupter #1.
"What bull. He's right. The green one is more flexible and more sensitive!"
"Too sensitive. How hard is it to walk in a straight line? It got me killed so often, the underworld blacklisted me."
Most of them had sat silently in a seat but some couldn't help but join in on Roman's one handed discussion on the newest game console model.
Soon a small but heated debate had formed around the Tourey Family Young Master. Tapper who had been blabbed at was immediately tossed aside.
Unfazed, he decided to just sit somewhere around the back so he can get a full view of everyone in the classroom.
'Look at these kids. That fellow obviously wants to join in, yet wants to look aloof..? Ah ha ha. Let's see how long he holds it in.
'That fellow is reaching into his pants. Does he think no one can see him if he puts books over his arms?
'The girl is too close to the Young Master… there must be some ulterior motive at work here.'
But before Tapper could verify any of his suspicions…
The bell rang.
Right on time as the bell alert system located on everyone's bracelet rang, the professor stepped in.
"Good morning students! Settle down, settle down!" His voice had an accent.
"I'm your Energy Theory Professor, Kyle Bandle. You may call me Professor Bandle…"
The next hour was spent on relatively simple icebreakers.
A few uproars were made when Roman introduced himself as a Tourey. And when one of the kids who had interacted with Roman earlier introduced himself as a Porrette.
A few kids that included Tapper chose to not state their last name. Tapper technically didn't have one so he had no way to give a last name anyways.
The class made little to no mention of any important knowledge.
Everyone's bracelets soon chimed again and everyone made their way to their next class. In Roman and Tapper's case…
Practical Energy Class.
Roman was much more excited than he was in the morning. He walked with some friends he made that were also headed for the Practical Energy Class. Tapper just followed along quietly behind Roman who didn't seem to mind.
He was too absorbed in chatting up with the Porrette fellow by the name of Leon.
Practical Energy Class, or PE for short, was located in a spacious field. It was a rather unusual class since the students were required to change their clothing.
The professor here was a much more gruff than Prof. Bandle. Bald and scarred with a towering physique. He looked just like an AlleyWays thug!
But…
"The name is Little Boo. But call me Instructor Boo."
Some people had broken out into laughter upon hearing the name.
"Instructor.. hehe… Instructor Boo… *snickers* sorry. But is your brother's name Big Boo?"
"Hahaha…." More people couldn't hold it in and laughed.
Of course, Boo's face went dark and ruthlessly punished the laughing children to laps. No one was spared.
No one laughed at his name after that.
Tapper had no trouble running one simple lap. He could sprint the whole thing in ten seconds at full power if he had wanted to.
But it would draw unnecessary attention to himself. Tapper didn't want that so he ran slower than Roman (who was fifth).
Roman ended up giving him strange looks after seeing him put on an act of a dying fish.
The rest of the class was basically Boo explaining the general rules of PE. Since energy was the basic foundation of the New Era that separated the top and bottom, this class was to help students gain control over it.
Tapper was interested but not too much so. Stain had explained all this to him and had started teaching him already.
Then there was break time.
Roman… was surprisingly popular. He had already made a friend group as well as exchange bracelet contacts with them.
Tapper had also got invited in but mostly, he was quiet. He only put in a few witty remarks here and there.
Tapper was well liked in general. He was confident and humorous. Friendly and clever. But most importantly...
He was good at making people feel good about themselves in a subtle way. They even forgot about his commoner status and treated him as one of their own.
Roman and Tapper have Bio Life studies afterwards. None of the friends that they newly made have this class so they parted ways.
BioLife was a study on animals and animal anatomy. The teacher was a young and beautiful lady who had a soothing and gentle voice.
"Good day, my dear new students. I hope you are all doing well.
"I am your Prof. Nora~!
"Well now you have gotten to know me…" Nora's tone suddenly took a turn.
"Let's get started, shall we~?"
She gleefully reached into the cooler next to her and pulled out…
A corpse.
A bloody dead corpse of a rat.
*Squplaaapp* That was the sound of her slamming it onto a flap surface.
"In the New Era, many animals underwent mutation. Such as the Rattus Norvegicus, the brown rat you see in front of me…"
*Riiiiiippp* She took a knife and sliced the bloody corpse down the middle.
"...became much bigger and more ferocious."
*Retch*
Tapper, Roman, and a few other kids all vomited.
Tapper puked not because he had never seen such bloody scenes before (he has)...
… but rather because he remembered the sensation of killing on his Executor inauguration.
He held his chest and breathed hard. Tapper shut his eyes.
The final look of horror… the blood… the feeling of flesh giving away under his blade.
The strange coldness was able to numb him back then but now?
Tapper cannot forget so easily.
A few kids who had little to no reaction looked down disdainfully at those who had vomited. A few of them even snorted and muttered something like, "weaklings" and "pampered" under their breaths.
"Eh? Oh my dears! I'm so sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that!" Nora said with an innocent smile.
Tapper rolled his eyes.
"But you will be doing dissection in the future! Prepare yourselves~!"
'Okay. Dead animals. Dead animals. I have seen so many corpses and death in the AlleyWays, why am I being perturbed right now?'
But he could not stop the flashbacks from entering his mind and the shuddering of his hands.
The next lesson was just history. Plain old history.
Professor Poland was a new professor of commoner background that had started this year. Tapper, who was a brilliant reader of body language could tell that the teacher wasn't remotely nervous at all.
He was totally relaxed and had no interaction hiccups.
Tapper was amazed.
'This fellow is so much younger than other professors and still could keep his act together under noble children.'
He admired Prof. Poland. Poland's passion for history was clear to see.
The last class was called Basic Common Sense.
Roman has laughed when he heard the name but Tapper did not.
This was the only mandatory class everyone had to attend. It taught students how to live away from the city. The curriculum included combat techniques, how to make fire, wield different weapons and machinery, and etc.
'The class may seem like a joke but many people who newly entered the AlleyWays had died because they lacked what the name suggested. Survival common sense.' Tapper had thought.
This class had no specially assigned teacher because the school would regularly invite profesional survivalists to lecture.
The first day was just a tour of different areas and rules of Basic Common Sense. This class was two hours long total but just the tour made up most of it. As expected of the most important class.
Then it was lunchtime.
Roman had run off with some other nobles and there was no more room. Tapper sat at an empty table close by to keep an eye on Roman.
He stared at the noble kids and made notes with his secret notebook. Only he could see it so he wasn't worried it would be discovered by some children.
Then a voice came from behind him said,
"I know what you're thinking. Don't bother."
A green haired boy plopped down on the seat in front of Tapper and blocked his view of the noble table.
'Green hair is the second most common color hair after blue. But this boy's hair looks so much like seaweed. How messy.'
Tapper swore that the image that Roman's hair takes on right after waking up would be the exact same if Roman's hair was green as well. It instantly made him want to fix it.
"Don't bother what?" Tapper asked, confused.
"I see you staring at the noble's table over there. Us humble non nobles could never fit in there. No matter how hard you try."
Tapper was rather peeved by the newcomer. He knew that he had said it out of goodwill but the messy hair low key got on his nerves.
"Oh. Thanks for telling me." Tapper hoped a cold response would chase him away.
'It was cold enough, right?'
"You're welcome." The boy said, "Trust me. I've been through it too. They don't like us and look down on us. Tsk. Us non nobles need to stick together.
"My name is Finan. Yours?" He held out his hand.
Not wanting to be rude, Tapper briefly shook and released. "I'm Tapper."
"Tapper, huh? Nice name. Tap into the mystery of the world I suppose. Hey, do you mind if I invite my friend over?"
Tapper has a lot of patience, but he wasn't entirely infallible. 'Maybe this fellow was dense or something. Should I make myself more clear?'
And the way that Finan had just randomly interpreted his name got on his nerves.
'Sigh. Why am I so ticked so suddenly? Finan should really comb his hair but it's not my problem.'
"Hey, Gary! Come over here! Gary? Gary!!" Finan shouted without Tapper answering. It was very loud and gathered a lot of attention. A lot of people looked over at him. "I found a seat!"
A blue haired boy came over. He was much skinnier and looked shy with his bangs obstructing his eyes.
"Okay stop… I can see you…!" Then he turned towards Tapper.
"Um.. hello.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Gary." The boy said.
"Gary Mikken."
—————
Tapper's gathered info on his bracelet notebook:
[Kyle Bandle: Energy Theory Professor.
Unknown accent: pronounces "settle" as "seedole"]
[Little Boo: Practical Energy Professor.
Preferred title: Instructor Boo (or just Instructor)
Got angry over people laughing at his name.
Set fire to paper after touching for ten seconds].
[Leon Porrette: classmate of the Young Master in Energy Theory.
Does not like green Taxi game consoles.]
[Hellen Nora: BioLife Professor.
Took joy in slicing apart Rattus Norvegicus corpse.
Took greater joy in seeing students puke at sight of blood.
Possible psychological issues. Beware]
[Daris Poland: History Professor.
New teacher. Not nervous. Passionate]
[Finan: approached observer at lunch
Seaweed colored hair that's uncombed. Forcibly or densely invaded the seat next to the observer and brought Gary Mikken over.]