(A/N: Sorry y'all for the delay, I had to use the whole weekend to study for the AP Calculus BC exam that was today, so I really didn't have anytime at all to write, as my parents were watching me the whole time, and to explain it simply, they're Asian. As I'm free now, I'll be releasing 2-3 chaps today and 2-3 chaps tomorrow.)
As I walked up to the admissions table, I slowly changed my hair and facial features.
By pushing mana through the Skin Transformation stigma I rearranged my hair so that it was black, short, and wavy now, the strands of hair not reaching past my ears.
I also changed my face, morphing it back to Akimitsu's original face.
With these preparations, I approached the desk.
"You have a letter, or are you a walk-in?"
Shaking my head, I showed my empty hands.
"Well, since you're a walk-in, you might not know, but you have to be at least (F) rank to enroll."
He then looked me over from top to bottom.
"Although it looks like you already meet the other requirement, which is that you have to be 16 or under to enroll."
"Well, we'll have to check you anyways, as there are some cheeky bastards that have successfully hidden their age, not saying that you are one."
I watched as I could practically read the thoughts on his face.
"Whew, what is it with this creepy silent kid."
"Please step over to the side."
I walked to the place he had pointed to, where a crystal ball the size of my head lay.
"Drop some of your blood on it and it'll tell us your rank. If you don't know, dark red is (F-) then it goes to a lighter red and then a pinkish red before going onto dark orange, indicating that you are (E-) rank, although I doubt a little kid like you is even old enough to reach that rank yet."
Unperturbed by his incessant rambling, I quickly bit the soft part between my thumb and index finger again, and let the blood drip down.
As soon as my blood touched the crystal ball, it turned dark red, and then quickly started changing colors, turning lighter and lighter before it turned orange, and then it repeated the process again, finally stopping when the color reached a deep yellow.
"Holy shit! What the hell of you been doing kid! How the fuck are you already (D-) rank?"
'Ok, calm down, calm down, although there is a 1 in a million chance that he is a genius, I still have to check his age, after all, we are in a town famous for its black magic.'
"Ok kid, you've passed the first test, now come over here and do the same thing."
I dropped a little more of my blood on the next crystal ball, and then a number started to appear slowly inside the interior.
It started at one, then two, and then kept climbing up, but then quickly stopped at thirteen.
'I think I can now die happy, seeing the birth of who I am sure will be a great hero in the future.'
I gulped in disgust as the admission officer stared greedily at my body.
I mean, it wasn't like he desired it in THAT way, it was just that I was definitely like a golden sheep that had just hopped into his lap, being an incomparable genius after all. This guy would definitely get a huge bonus for finding me or something.
"W-what's your name?" He asked, in a small whisper, not even bothering to hide his reverence.
'Hmm, what should my name be.'
"My name is Kurayami Dokusha."
Wait what? You might be wondering why I chose this name, right? Well, it was because I had grown fond of the last name Kurayami, as it had a really cool meaning (darkness), and Dokusha was the name that I had come to love in my past life, having started originally as a derogatory nickname, literally translating to "reader".
"U-umm, so uh, what do I call you?"
"Kurayami is fine."
"So, Kurayami, as you have satisfied the eligibility requirements, please accept this mask and get onto the train car numbered 77."
I took the mask, put it on, and then quickly found car number 77.
As soon as I entered, the door shut and locked with a click, this was the examiner trying to make the examinees anxious.
But, all I did was sit down on the bed in the car.
As I laid there, I fingered the mask on my face.
These masks were nothing more than fabric covering a round piece of plastic that had two holes, some contours, and a slit in it.
But, the special thing about these masks were that they were used to calculate everything about a student at the L, the name that the students called the academy.
A student's mask contained all their points, there scores, all their personal data ,and the mask was watching them at all times.
Of course, this system had been implemented where everybody had to wear their mask during classes so that none of the teachers could discriminate, teaching all students fairly so that everybody had an equal chance.
Of course, if a human was overseeing the mask system, then the purpose would be lost, so that was why an intelligent, independent AI oversaw the whole mask system.
But, because this was an intelligent, self acting AI, even the empress couldn't control it, so nobody was able to access its information at all, safely securing everybody's private information.
And I was going to exploit this system as much as I could.
I relaxed again as I waited for the train to start moving.
I knew that I had come in at almost the end of the admission period, so the test was going to start soon.
If I remembered correctly, there wouldn't be any main characters on this train, as they would all be on the train in the capitol, or on random trains spread across the country.
'I'm pretty sure that only 5 people made it off this train, after all, it was a pretty famous scene in the book.'
I unknowingly dosed off for a few minutes before a robotic voice, the voice of the AI, resonated through the speakers.
"Congratulations to all of you for being able to participate in this year's Laramil Academy admissions test!"
"In a few minutes, the first test will be starting. Please don't worry too much when the test starts!... Oh yeah, make sure to survive to the end so that I can see all you beautiful people on the other side!"
Anybody hearing this immediately became chilled to the bone, having realized something after hearing the word "survive" coming out of the loudspeakers.
And they would have all realized how bad their luck was as they all thought the same thing.
"Fuck! Was I really that hated by Lady Luck to be put on the Train to Purgatory!"
And as the commotion quickly spread across the train, there were two particular rooms that seemed like they had no life in them. One was car number 77 with a little boy that laid soundlessly on the bed, a small smile creeping up on his face. On the other hand, in car 53, there was the sound of a rope creaking above a knocked over stool, a teenage girl hanging by the neck above it, a room that really had no life in it anymore, and the first casualty among many that would happen on this train.
The childish voice, that now seemed demonic, rang out again.
"Let the games begin!"