Who decides what is right and what is wrong?
***
After attending the last two classes of the day, Kay returned to his dorm. Walking into his air-conditioned room, he dropped his bag on the ground and sat on the bed. Following behind him was Shiina, still supervising him as usual.
"So, you're planning on staying here till nighttime?"
"Yep~ aren't you glad that someone's keeping you company?"
"Sure, I guess."
Lying down, Kay stared at the room for a little while before closing his eyes. After a long day of hard work, he quickly drifted off to sleep.
*
"Kay... Kay... wakey-wakey little boy."
"Huh?"
A few hours had passed since he started his nap. Shiina was prodding at his forehead with her fingernail, stabbing into his skin. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Kay slowly pulled himself up, looking around before talking to Shiina.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing much. The cafeteria is offering afternoon tea."
"What. Do you want to go?"
"Huh, o-oh, um, yeah, I guess so."
For some reason, Shiina seemed to have been caught off-guard. Kay's demeanour was friendlier than usual. The two of them got up and began making their way down the hall. Their shoes thumped into the carpet, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing through the hallway. It was dead silent, eerily so.
As they took the stairs down to the bottom, they saw Leon and Mateo also walking down. Hearing footsteps, Leon turned around to see Kay and Shiina.
"Oh hey~ what a coincidence seeing you guys! Are you also going to the cafeteria?"
"Yep! I can't miss out on afternoon tea," replied Shiina.
"Ah, I missed lunch, so I'm starving right now."
"Why'd you miss lunch?"
"I wanted to do some extra studying in the library, just to realise that I missed the lunch window."
After a little while, the four of them made their way through the schoolyard, taking in a breath of fresh air. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, staining the clouds with a bright pinkish, purple-y colour. Before long, they entered the large cafeteria building, noticing that there weren't many students inside.
"I guess lots of the students can't be bothered getting afternoon tea then."
"I mean, we are pretty early," replied Mateo.
Lining up in the very short queue, the group of students received small trays of desserts and cups of coffee. Afterwards, they looked out into the seating area.
There were plenty of empty seats around, so they just chose a random spot to sit.
"Ah, these desserts are so good!"
Shiina had a beaming smile, scooping bites of cake into her mouth. As she happily chowed down on her meal, Leon decided to discuss the Engage App.
"Have you guys looked into it?" he asked.
"Not really," Shiina replied, trying to keep the food from falling out of her mouth.
"You can see the ranks and results of all of the students."
"Really, of anyone?"
"Yep, all you have to do is search their name."
Kay took out his phone and opened the app. There was someone on his mind who he wanted to check the strength of.
-
Student - Callum Ffrench
Rank: #30
Class: 1-A
-
There were dropdowns where you could see the academic and physical examination results.
-
Student - Callum Ffrench
General Physical Ability: C (60sth percentile)
Offensive Combat Strength: D+ (58th percentile)
Technique and Spatial Awareness: B- (81st percentile)
Defensive Combat Ability: C (62nd percentile)
***
Unique Skill Bonus: Observable (+3)
Overall Score: 60 (Scaled)
-
After scanning through his data, Kay closed the app once again.
"Have any of you considered duelling another student?" asked Leon.
"Well, I don't really have anything to gain, so I haven't thought about it," said Shiina.
"Oh yeah, you're the first-ranked, aren't you."
"Yep, although I'm pretty sure I'll be having to fight to keep my position."
"Well, if you're really that strong, it shouldn't take long before people give up."
They sipped on their coffee whilst having some casual chatter. More and more students began entering the cafeteria, grabbing some afternoon tea as well. Even with afternoon tea, differently ranked students were still treated differently. Some were given nothing aside from a cup of tea.
After finishing the last of her cake, Shiina turned her attention to Mateo.
"You're ranked fourth, right? Has anyone challenged your position?"
"Not yet, although people have often found me pretty intimidating."
"Ah... I can see that. Well, that's a good thing, right?'
"I suppose so..."
"Oh well, actually, have you considered joining the student council?"
Mateo suddenly perked up, seemingly very interested in the concept of the student council. He leaned in, giving her all of his attention. Shiina continued.
"Some people asked if I wanted to join, so I told them I'll think about it."
With a glint of envy in his eyes, Mateo stared at Shiina.
"W-well, um, are they currently looking for new members?" he asked.
"I'm not too sure. They probably are since they asked me if I wanted to join."
"Ah, well, I've actually been wanting to join."
"I'll tell them if I see them again, although you're probably better off telling them yourself. I'm not really too sure what their criteria are. Ranks are probably pretty important."
Mateo seemed confused.
"Don't the top three ranked students automatically become part of the student council?" he asked.
"Oh, that! That's just that we have permission to enter the room and listen in whenever. If you actually want to do stuff, you have to formally join."
"So that's how it works..."
"Yeah, well, good luck if you're going to try to get in!"
"Yeah... maybe I'll ask them tomorrow."
After a few more minutes, the group finished their food and drinks. Taking their trays back to the counter, Kay and Shiina left, making their way back to his room. The sky had significantly darkened in the time that they were having afternoon tea. Without the lights, it would be basically pitch-black outside.
Before long, they entered the dormitory building.
"Aren't you going to go back to your room now?" asked Kay.
"I'll stay for a little longer. It's not that late. Anyways, I could always just sleep in your room~"
"I'm pretty sure that's not allowed."
"No one's gotta know~"
"I'll report you."
"Geh."
After teasing Kay a little, Shiina made her way over to the vending machine that was placed near the front of the reception area. As she looked through the glass, she noticed the price tags.
"They all cost Universal Tokens. I wonder how we get them?" she pondered.
"Probably as rewards for doing well on a test or something."
"I guess so."
The two of them sat around in Kay's room for a little bit before Shiina decided to leave for the night.
"See you tomorrow, Kay~"