(Dazai Crowley's POV)
Cerulean Academy, Present Day
One hour has passed since the ceremony started.
My ass hurts, and the air inside feels stale.
—God, I just want to go back home already.
It seems I wasn't the only one suffering either. Many students nearby were twitching about in discomfort.
Unfortunately though, it doesn't seem like this ceremony will be ending any time soon.
The next person who took to the podium was another male teacher named Vert.
Like Troy and Garcello, Vert was also a tall yet also slim man. He had brown disheveled hair and wore a pair of reading glasses. Besides that however, he didn't stand out much in terms of appearance. However, his speech told us otherwise.
"War."
Uh oh.
"War can be cruel and unforgiving. It can rob a person of their spirit, destroy their lives and ruin futures. It is something that is truly traumatic."
"—However, war can also teach us lots of things. It can be a source of inspiration. It can separate the weak from the strong. All things considered, war is essential to human development."
That was basically the gist of what he said.
....I don't know what surprised me more.
The fact that he actually believes that, or the fact how he was able to say that to the crowd with a straight face.
Looking at it from a moral perspective, war is undoubtedly wrong. People fight. People die. And people lose the things that they hold dear.
But looking at it a different way, war also did contribute greatly to society.
In more ways than one, I might add.
But why talk about "war" right now?
There was only one reason.
"That is why I want to start a war of my own, right here in this very school."
Yep, I figured as much.
In response to those words, many eyes were widened in utter surprise. Students nearby began mumbling to another amongst themselves. And yet, the school took no action to silence neither them, nor Vert himself.
Not even Principal Garcello himself looked concerned. In fact, it appears as though he approved of this statement to some degree.
Regardless, Vert ignored the eyes of the skeptical, and continued on without so much of a flinch.
"In due time, the four classes of Cerulean will fight against each other. When that time comes, it will be a total massacre for everyone involved. However, only one thing will be made clear."
"The weak will perish and the strong will prevail. Such is the law of the jungle. And as a teacher of Cerulean Academy, I will see to it personally that this rule is enforced without exception."
After readjusting his glasses a little, Mr. Vert took a small bow and exited center stage.
"Starting a war, huh. How preposterous."
"Even if it's just a mock battle, war isn't something you should speak of so lightly..."
In this moment of silence, many students took the time to consider Mr. Vert's words.
Of course, it goes without saying that most stood against his ideals. Yamato was one of them.
I too had formulated an opinion of my own, however voicing that aloud would be pointless.
Besides, the next person has already arrived.
"Hey, Alice. Look over there.."
"Hmm? Wait a second….—is that Master??"
It was none other than Mrs. Gwein herself.
A woman who we haven't last seen in years.
For a moment, I noticed that she took the time to look over the crowd. A second later, a small grin appeared on her lips. Most likely she noticed Alice sitting somewhere within the crowd.
Whether that was true or not is something that I don't know. Regardless of reason however, she erased her smile and cleared her throat.
"Allow me to be frank", she says.
"Society does not care about whether you are weak or whether you are strong. In the end, there are only two types of people in this world. Those who are useful and those who are not."
As she said that, she stopped for a moment and threw a sideways glance at both Mr. Vert and Mr. Naoto before continuing.
"Unlike what many may assume, a man's true worth is not measured by the power they wield but rather the accomplishments they've achieved and their capacity to perform great things. This capacity is what we call, potential."
"Whether you are strong, bold, rich or poor, I couldn't care less who you are. I'm only interested in your potential. If you don't have that, then you're not worth my time."
"If you want to become the best of the best, then prove to me your worth."
And with that, Gwein stepped off stage. Her speech, though short and rather simple, held an equal amount of power compared to the others.
At the very least, she got her point across.