The rest of the school day goes smoothly surprisingly. Word of Gentarō's feats in our first class spread like wildfire. What surprises me more however is how Gentarō is in all of my classes. I was afraid that I might get beaten up at some point later in the day as some kind of example to Gentarō, but Gentarō glared at anyone who so much as looked as if they were going to try and attack me.
All throughout the day, Gentarō has also been asking me a variety of questions. "How come everyone's got different colored uniforms with cool designs on them while we only get basic white uniforms?"
"Well, as I'm sure you're aware of by now...boosters are looked down upon here, so we don't get any kind of fancy uniforms... Every acolytes' uniforms are different so we all know who's who, for fights and whatnot." Like Gentarō said, boosters have just a plain white blazer and white pants, but every other acolyte has some kind of design on their uniform as well. Every uniform has golden outlines to match the golden buttons and zippers, but the designs for male acolyte uniforms are on the bottom half of their blazers while the girls' uniforms have their designs on the bottom half of their skirts, and the designs go full circle around the entire uniform.
Fire Acolytes have red uniforms with an orange and yellow flaming pattern on them, Cube Acolytes have royal blue uniforms with squares in several different blue colors on them without any specific kind of pattern, Hover Acolytes have yellowish-green uniforms with a similar design to the Cube Acolyte uniforms, but green circles instead, Beast Acolytes have purple uniforms with a variety of black animal footprints, Spike Acolytes have hot pink uniforms with bright pink spike like designs on them, Laser Acolytes have teal uniforms with cyan lines circling their uniforms, Force Acolytes have yellow uniforms with a pale yellow, wave like design on them, and lastly the Hard Acolytes have tan uniforms with a brown, rocky and rough kind of design on them.
"Maaaaan, these people are acolytist..." Gentarō grumbles.
"You just now realized?" I giggle nervously.
"Is property damage really taken care of daily?" He asks next.
"Yeah. There are even rooms with just spare desks and chairs in them. Everything in the school will be fixed the next day like it never even happened." I explain.
"Wow, the owner of this school must be rich."
"Yeah, apparently not only is the principal the owner of this school, but he's also head of the Acolyte Research Institute."
"Well, that explains the rich people vibe I was getting from this school..." Gentarō mumbles before looking over at a crowd in the hall that's starting to form. "What's going on over there?"
I look over to see the crowd as well. "Oh, probably a candidate for the student council. People in this school go crazy over them." I assume as I hear some of the things those students are saying.
I walk over to see who it is and Gentarō follows close behind me. "How do you become a candidate for student council?"
"A person is either chosen to be a candidate based on their grades, performance in classes, and how powerful their ability usage is. The candidates are all decided based on their performance during freshman year. The other way to become a candidate is to-" My breath hitches and I grind to a halt when I see who's walking down the hall.
"The other way is toooo..?" Gentarō asks before stopping as well and looking ahead with me. That dark brown, silky smooth hair that reaches just past the shoulders, those ruby red eyes, and that petite yet athletic figure that turns the heads of every male in the school; it's none other than Itsumi Nagako, a Fire Acolyte and another one of the school's top picks for student council president. Her beauty is unrivaled and it seems like she's always glowing no matter where she is, and the chibi lion with ruby red eyes as bright as hers and a flaming mane and flame tipped tail proves just how skillful she really is. Just looking at her fills me with nerves and anxiety, and being near her makes me feel hot. I would say it's because she's a Fire Acolyte, but who would I be kidding? I have a major crush on her and I've never even spoken to her.
Gentarō glances at me, then at Itsumi, then back at me, and a coy smirk spreads across his face. "Ahhhh, I see what's going on here." He nudges me with his elbow.
"W-W-What..? N-Nothing's going on..!" I quickly retort.
"Right right." He pats my back.
"I-I've never even spoken to her..!" I whisper yell, instantly regretting my words.
"You haven't? Well I'll call out to her for you!" He grins and turns in Itsumi's direction. I quickly pale and tense up, jumping up and covering his mouth just as he starts yelling. "Hey-mmph!" With strength that comes from god knows where, I manage to pull Gentarō away from the crowd and out of sight.
"Don't do that!" I scold.
"Why not? You have a crush on her right?" Gentarō couldn't be denser.
"E-Every guy has a crush on her at this school! Plus she's way out of my league! Not only is she a candidate for student council president, but she's also got top grades in all of her classes, and she's a Fire Acolyte! A simple fabricator class booster like me has got no chance with her!" I whisper yell.
"Oh come on, don't talk like that. You'll never know unless you try. Why don't you give it a shot?"
"Yeah, I don't think my poor heart could handle the rejection..." I grasp the cloth over my heart as I think of the pain I'd feel. "You said you wanted to know the other reason to be picked as a student council candidate right?"
Gentarō's eyes quickly light up at my question. "Yes! Tell me! Oh, also, what's the difference between a student council candidate and a student council president candidate?"
I sigh with relief at the change and subject. "A student council candidate is a candidate chosen by the school based on their freshman year performance, like I said. A student council president candidate is one of the 16 candidates that the other students think will most likely become the president. The only other way to become a student council candidate is to beat one of those 16 candidates, but in the history of this school, it's never been done before. The reason why is because these are the absolute best 16 students in regards to acolyte power and grades, meaning not only are they extremely powerful, they also fight smart as well."
"16 candidates huh..?" Gentarō mutters.
"Yep, those 16 are always one emanator and one fabricator from every type of acolyte...all except for boosters that is." I mention.
"No surprises there... So I'm guessing that the student council president is selected by..."
"It's a battle of strength; a tournament between those 16 candidates to decide who will take what position in the student council." I answer.
"A tournament of strength huh... You don't say." He smiles. I tilt my head, but he doesn't say anything else.