"Shh! Don't let her know we're here!"
"Lemme see! I wanna see what she's doing!!"
"Keep your face covered! We can't let her notice us!!"
Three girls sat at the table of a cafe, wearing raincoats and hats while using newspapers to cover their faces.
The pitter patter of the rain filled the ears of all present, and the dark sky added to the gloomy atmosphere.
A few tables away, Melody seemed to sit at a table, dressed in her school uniform as she timidly held her hands together.
"I have never seen Melody act like this. This is beyond strange.", Elizabeth murmured as she spooned some cake in her mouth.
"She's always so pristine and high class... so to see her in such a timid state... just who do you think she's meeting with?"
"A political figure or perhaps a famous athlete... maybe a renowned artist or scientist? The possibilities go on and on. Either way, for her to act like this when she was so cool even on that cruise... it must be someone important."
"Ah! Someone just sat down!!"
"Shh!!"
Glancing over, the girls noticed a man who was dressed in a trenchcoat.
Pulling down his own hood, a lock of well kept blonde hair bursted forth, revealing the man's face.
"That's..."
"Ah! No wonder!"
"That history teacher who is also a well known political speaker! So she was setting her sights on him... but she's so young compared to him... do you think it could be an arranged marriage?"
Charlotte seemed to spout off her own opinions, however Elizabeth nodded with a firm no.
"That shouldn't be the case. Regardless of his standing in society... he is still far below her."
"That's... right.", Stella said, looking down with a heavy expression.
'She's... so far ahead... of everyone.'
'Even those who are rich and famous.'
"Oh... he seems to be laughing at her jokes. Ah... and now she's laughing. Man, they're really hitting it off."
'They... are?'
Stella turned to witness the scene, still trying to keep her face hidden from the two, however it was as she looked over that she saw it.
'That smile...'
Melody was laughing.
She was laughing so hard, in a manner that Stella had never before witnessed.
'I've never seen her smile so... genuinely.'
Then, looking to the man who was sitting across from the girl, Stella caught his eye.
Even while he laughed at the jokes of the girl, with one of his eyes he glanced over to Stella for just a moment, meeting his expression with hers.
Bump.
'He... I...'
Grabbing her heart, Stella looked away immediately.
'What... was that?'
'He... his laughter just now... that was fake.'
Stella had no idea how she knew.
Perhaps the influence of the man who she had lived with had rubbed off on her, and she was now able to read people better - just as he had been able to read her with such ease.
However there were two things which she recognized at a single glance.
'That man... even though he was laughing alongside Melody... his laughter was definitely fake.'
'And at the moment he looked at me... there was a legitimate desire in his eyes.'
'As if... he wanted me.'
Then, Stella grinned.
She grinned and she grinned, hiding her evil expression behind the raincoat of hers.
'Heh.'
'I found it.'
'My way to defeat her.'
----
"Corruption exists in all nations, on all levels. Whether rich or poor, peasant or noble, Emperor or King, there has always been corruption within every form of nation and society. And in the ancient Vythguardin myths, there was one man who saw this corruption on all levels and sought to completely eliminate it. Yet even that man who held the power to do so was defeated. What does this say about our society?"
Stella found herself in history class, being taught by a certain handsome and muscular instructor.
"That everything is hopeless.", one boy said sarcastically.
"Not exactly, but close. Rather than saying everything is hopeless, a better wording would be that it is hopeless to try and achieve perfection. Yet just because corruption exists in society doesn't mean it has to exist everywhere. And as citizens, it is our duty to not take part in such corruption."
"So you're saying that we should just let other people do as they please so long as we don't take part in the corruption?", another student asked.
"Absolutely not.", the instructor replied while nodding his head from side to side. "Rather, that is merely the first step. We must not take part in the corruption ourselves first, for if we do then it would be impossible to help reduce it. Ah, does anyone know the term for someone who tells others to do one thing but does the opposite themselves?"
Raising her hand, an intelligent girl with braided black hair and glasses smiled as she gave the answer.
"A hypocrite."
"Exactly, Genevieve. A hypocrite."
His expression becoming serious, the instructor spoke in a low tone as he addressed the students.
"This is the worst type of corruption that can come into society."
'Hmm... he's pretty outspoken. I can see why Melody likes him so much. He's calm and collected, good looking, physically muscular and he seems to be very strong. It's like he's perfect in almost every way. And that isn't to even consider his social standing in politics.'
Perfect in every way.
That was exactly what this man was.
On the outside.
'I... guess I'll have to find out how to take his attention from Melody. She has history during a different period, so she won't find out about any advances I make... but the real problem is actually approaching him in the first place.'
As she thought up her battle plan to somehow seduce a full grown man, Stella didn't even consider the unreasonableness behind her desire to defeat the girl who she considered to be a rival.
Ring!!!
Suddenly, the bell began to ring as all the students stood up from their desks, quickly leaving the classroom only for the teacher to shout out at them.
"Don't forget to read the chapter tonight on the Dictator of the Snakemen!! There are so many lessons to be learned from this story, and especially considering the current situation with Joraten and Forgestaria!!"
"Yeah yeah, we get it."
"We'll do our reading! See ya tomorrow, Mr. Pertan!"
The students rushed out while chatting and laughing among one another, however the instructor then spoke up to another student.
"Ah, and Hailey... will you stay behind after school today? I need to talk to you about your grades."
'Eh?'
As Stella overheard the statement of the man while she left with the rest of the students, a demented idea sprung in her mind.
'Staying after... to talk about grades...'
Then, smiling to herself, the girl used every muscle in her mouth to prevent herself from making a wicked grin.
'I see.'
----
Study.
Study.
Study.
Study.
Study study study study study study.
Her eyes were covered in veins.
Her expression was not that of a sane person, but rather an obsessive fanatic.
Scribbling back and forth as she turned pages with one hand, furiously writing with the other, the girl's eyes twitched from word to word and page to page as she furiously took in the content of the textbook before her.
'I have to know everything.'
'I have to be able to do perfect on the next test.'
"You look like you've lost your mind. But perhaps given the irrational nature of your actions which I have witnessed thus far... maybe it would be correct to say that you had already lost it before I even met you?"
"Be quiet, dad. I'm trying to study here."
"Very well. I will be in the living room, should you require me."
"I won't."
----
'Hergar the snakeman... after taking control as the successor of the village, he established a Dictatorship which completely threw out any and all human rights from it's subjects. By taking control of the food supply and using deception to make his subjects believe that he was the provider of any and all food, they began to worship him, brainwashed into thinking that he was the very source of sustenance. And because of this... dissidence was unthinkable.'
Stella made her way to the class on the test day, completely prepared after having spent hour upon hour, day after day studying with every second of her free time.
'However... that was until the traitors of humanity showed up. Serving the Queen of Evil, they used even greater deception as they acted like they were liberating the snakemen, only to put them underneath a ruler whose Dictatorship would one day span the entire world.'
"Stella, are you alright? Your eyes have bags under them?"
"Ah? I'm fine, fine. Don't worry about me. I was just studying a little late last night."
'The snakemen massacre... the day that the four humans were arrested and scheduled for execution. After their heads were chopped off using a guillotine, the heads began to SPEAK.'
With a grin, Stella stopped herself from laughing as she went over the content in her head.
'And as they spoke the praises of their rulers, those evil beings appeared - slaughtering every last person or monster who dared to go against them.'
'The antiheroes.'
----
Stella finished the test without challenge.
Having studied to the point where one might question her own sanity, she had breezed through each question.
Not a single time did she find herself surprised or concerned about a question, and as such she sat back with her eyes closed, a smug grin on her face.
'Now I pretend to be asleep after finishing. Should I snore a bit to get his attention? No, that would decrease my appeal. Maybe I should drool a bit? No, some guys might consider that to be cute but I know nothing about his preferences. Maybe I should have studied him a bit more. However more than anything, I know that he loves Vythguardian lore. Therefore if I know so much about it, he is sure to notice me. But even more important...'
Stella did everything she could to stop herself from smiling as she pretended to sleep at her desk.
'Is that I don't accidentally get a question correct.'
----
Zero.
This number flashed before the eyes of Stella, and she had to contain her ability to shout out in joy.
A number which resembled the very concept of failure, the very essence of a person so worthless that even attempting to teach them would be a waste, a number so low that even through sheer probability it would be unreasonable to achieve.
Yet Stella had achieved this score.
'Exactly... as planned.'
"Stella. Please see me today after class. We have to talk about your recent... test score."
"Alright, Mr. Pertan!"
With this, the cards had been dealt.
The dice had been rolled, and the game was set.
The deck had been rigged, and all she had to do was show her hand.
'It doesn't matter if it's illegal.'
'It doesn't matter if he'll get in trouble.'
'Because when they are controlled by their emotions... people can be manipulated to do anything.'
How naive she was.
The deck was rigged.
Yet Stella failed to realize one critical issue.
'I'll... win him over... and then I'll watch her expression as I brag about it.'
Stella failed to realize that her opponent had brought his own deck.
----
"Zero... percent."
Slapping a book of grades onto the desk before him, the toned man leaned forward in his seat to face the girl who sat across from him.
Taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes, the man then gazed at the window as he began to speak.
"You were trying to fail, weren't you?"
The girl smiled gently, brushing her hair behind her ear as she looked the man in the eyes with confidence.
"Why would you think that?"
"Thirty multiple choice questions with four answers each along with three short answer questions and one long essay question. This was the test, correct?"
"That it was."
Stella responded promptly as the man slightly grinned to himself on seeing her smug expression.
"Thirty multiple choice questions with four answers each, yet for each and every question you picked not only the wrong answer, but the absurd answer - the answer which was so obviously wrong that anyone with even the slightest shred of common sense would know that it was incorrect. Take this question for example. 'What is the single factor which united the hosts of sin with one another.' The answer is obviously, evil. They were all beings that were so evil when it came to their respective sins that they were chosen by the origins of sin to represent these sins as hosts of sin itself. However, for some strange reason... you put suffering as the answer."
The man smiled to himself in a mocking manner as he let out a chuckle.
"Heh... as if such evil beings could possibly understand what it means to suffer."
"They are mere stories, are they not? You act as if they truly happened."
The girl spoke her mind, digging into the man as he looked up with surprise.
This surprise quickly turned to a smile as he sat forward, excited to speak to the girl.
"Oh... but they are more than just stories. These legends promote a way of life. A way of life that will help us to live in this world without corruption and suffering. However... there is one major flaw in all of these stories."
"Hmm... and what is that?"
Acting as if she was interested, Stella rested her elbow on her table as she placed her chin in her palm.
"Each and every one of the legends from the ancient Vythguard Empire... is one of failure."
Standing up, the man walked over to the window as he peeked outside into the courtyards.
Looking down, he witnessed a group of boys surrounding another boy as they pummeled him.
"In the Vythguardian myths, the villains ended up defeating the heroes, and even the man who represented those heroes lost in the end. The Queen of Evil was allowed to take her rein and form a Dictatorship. And as a historian, I always wondered what demented author could write up such things. However I then realized why that was."
Turning to Stella, the man spoke with a grave tone.
"It was meant as a warning... so that future generations wouldn't fall into such traps."
Making his way back to his seat, the man took in a deep breath as he continued.
"We seem to have gone off topic. My point is this. Among the 30 multiple choice questions, you managed not only to pick the wrong answer for every single one, but the answer which would irritate a teacher more than anything. It is as if you were personally trying to tell me that you've learned absolutely nothing in my class."
As the man looked into the eyes of the girl, she merely tilted her head with a playful smile.
"Yet that is not all. No, that is only the beginning. If one is to get zero points on an exam, then normally the only way to do so would be to not try at all, leaving these essay questions completely blank. Yet YOU answered every single one of them."
"Hehe..."
With a quiet laugh, Stella merely looked into the eyes of the man, confidence filling her expression as she played innocent.
"And not only did you answer every single one of them... but each and every sentence you wrote was BEAUTIFUL. If I were an English teacher, I would have been forced to give you full points based on how well crafted the arguments were alone. Yet I am not an English teacher."
Thinning his eyes, the man spoke in a deep tone as he suspiciously analyzed the girl.
"Every single sentence you wrote was so utterly WRONG that even if the arguments were beautifully crafted, I was forced to not allow you to gain even a single point."
"So what's your point in saying all this?"
"You seem to be playing dumb, yet I can see right through it, girl."
With a grin, the handsome man held out both hands as he smiled.
"In order for one to do EVERYTHING wrong, you must first know how to do everything RIGHT."
----