It was morning at the Academy and the cadets were seen circulating around the institution, while the employees were all busy with the tasks assigned to them. In the midst of all this, a boy observed the situation with a cool and serene gaze.
It's been 2 weeks since joining the Academy that nurtures the hopes of what remains of humanity, the Seed Pilot Academy. The results of the written tests had already been released and everything remained within Quagmire's plans, with him getting a 40 on all the written tests and scoring as little as possible, trying his best to do so without drawing too much attention.
The boy was leaning back in a comfortable chair as he drank coffee, looking at the people in the cafeteria, whoever it was. His idea was that getting information related to the people who inhabited that place and training his stealth skills to go unnoticed were great decisions.
Quagmire was constantly pulling a small silver pin on his wristwatch, an action that might be considered strange, but one that had far greater meaning than expected. That watch was actually a device created by Quagmire while still living on the outskirts, he created it with some stolen and purchased black market parts, and now that he's had a chance to work with suitable materials and tools, he's improved it by adding some extra functions, like stealthy voice and video recording and other things that haven't been perfectly framed yet.
His moment of peace and observation was suddenly interrupted by a group of 4 people coming towards him, their leader was a relatively short girl with long pink hair.
"Quagmire!" Alice exclaimed in surprise as she waved her hand.
"Hi." he replied dryly.
These people were the only ones who interacted with him in the last few weeks, in this case Alice was the one who took them to talk to him, being the only one really interested in trying to have any kind of friendly relationship with Quagmire, in the entire academy.
This lessened Quagmire's unfavorable gaze to Alice, who was very different from the other nobles who studied and worked in the place. He was now able to put up with most of Alice's nonsense, responding to her even when she said silly things.
''Class is about to start, do you want to come with us?''
He nodded again, lifting the straw of the plastic cup to his mouth as he rose from the chair he was sitting in. Quagmire avoided moving alone through areas with few people as much as possible to avoid problems.
"You know the professor has an announcement to make, right?" Alice asked the group.
"Yes, she mentioned it in the last class." The three replied.
Quagmire remained silent, just following the conversation.
''She said it would be something special. What do you think it might be?''
"Maybe some kind of test-related warning?" Olivia said.
"Honestly, I have no idea." Samuel said.
''I do not know. But I hope it's something beneficial for us.'' Mary answered last.
As for Quagmire, he was silent, using the cup of coffee he was drinking as an excuse not to comment.
Soon, they arrived at their classroom, the Veritas class. Upon entering, they found a huge room that had armchairs organized in the format of bleachers, where the bench responsible for the teachers was next to the door, at the bottom of the room.
Quickly, they made their way to the seats that were neither too high nor too low, from which they could watch the class without any problems. They sat side by side, but Quagmire chose to sit in the narrower corner beside the window.
A short time later, Professor Ana entered the room asking everyone who was still standing to sit down. The class took place normally, with some excerpts from articles for which Quagmire was responsible, when he was still under the pseudonym 'Mir', a researcher considered legendary in the Republic of Calazan to this day.
Olivia, being a great believer in Mir's teachings and articles, was able to recite the page of the book that the Professor asked her to read aloud, without even looking at the material, just speaking whatever came to her mind.
However, the class got a little shorter than usual when Professor Ana asked everyone to stop whatever they were doing and pay attention to what she had to say.
''As everyone knows, the Mirian competition is coming.'' She said in a happy tone.
''The tradition that was adopted a few years ago, in honor of the secret researcher who brought us to where we are today!''
Some people vibrated with happiness along with the teacher, one of them being Olivia.
''It is a very important event that will greatly affect the way the agency sees you.''
Alice repeated every word Professor Ana said as Samuel wrote everything down in his notebook.
''The competition has two modes in which 3 people from the room chosen by lot will compete with other classes and their innovations. Besides a pair sport, that is certainly the most interesting and important part of it all.''
Quagmire understood the reason for that competition. It wasn't something made for people to simply have fun, as teacher Ana made it sound. In fact, it was a kind of setup designed for people to unconsciously hand over their inventions to the agency, a way that Quagmire admitted was extremely smart and creative.
"A more detailed note will be published this evening, and everyone can check it through their phones." She waved her hand.
''As for the remaining class time we would have, we will use the last 50 minutes of all classes to discuss the competition starting today.''
Many people widened their eyes, immediately shifting their gaze to Alice, Olivia, Samuel and Mary, who were certainly the smartest people in the entire class (excluding Quagmire, who purposely made a fool of himself).
Quagmire pulled his seat closer to the window, watching the huge stream of people that surrounded Samuel and the others in seconds, sending a barrage of questions to the group.
'An interesting concept' The boy thought to himself, silently watching his peers.