(Dazai Crowley's POV)
Cerulean Academy, Present Day
Mrs. Gwein sighs.
"Ahem."
Silence immediately returned.
"Right then. Is there anybody else who would like to interrupt me? No? Then, let us begin. Now before we start, I want you all to listen closely first and wait patiently until after I am either finished or given you permission to speak."
"Therefore, I will not accept any questions until the end of my discussion. This way, I can effectively answer all of your questions without getting sidetracked or wasting precious time."
"If you must, feel free to take notes accordingly."
One by one, certain students in the room, myself and Ester included, took out our pen and paper.
—I have a feeling what she's about to say was going to be important moving forward.
Mrs. Gwein glances around the classroom.
It appears everyone understood her terms.
Satisfied, she continues:
"Okay then. First things first. As you may know already, Cerulean Academy is divided into four classes. Class A, Class B, Class C and Class D."
"From there, the school divides you students into one of these four classes based on your performance."
Four classes, A through D.
"And it will be in these classes, you will spend the remainder of your highschool years until graduation. In principle, I suppose it's not that different from regular highschool."
No, it's not.
"—However, do not let that fool you."
The average, and the elite.
The strong and the weak.
Revealing the differences between the two, and isolating those who are unnecessary.
This is the Cerulean Academy's primary objective.
Therefore—
"—Cerulean Academy is not your average highschool".
This wasn't a message.
This was a warning.
"Here, we promote competition and growth above all else. Therefore, from this point forward, all four classes will be pitted against each other. These competitions may vary between special exams or outright mock battles between classes."
"As students representing your own class, you will be expected to participate and win against them all. Of course, when the time comes, how you choose to handle the situation will be up to you and your class's own discretion."
"Right. Now, of course, all of your hard work will be rewarded. But before I explain that however, I will first distribute your student ID cards."
One by one, we all received our cards.
Once I received mine, I checked it out for myself. My name, my birthday, and other information was displayed on the holographic-like screen.
However, there was one thing that I noticed.
The words "500 CP" were written in bold letters.
To the uninformed, curious glances were shared.
"Looks like you guys have noticed it already. This is our "Class Point System". These Class Points, or CP for short, are your general forms of payment for all of the hard work you do here in this school. For better context, 1 CP is equivalent to 1 dollar. In other words, just think of it like a credit card."
"Every week, on Mondays, each class is allocated a set amount of Class Points. You can increase your Set Amount via future competitions, but for now, Class D's starting amount is 500. However there is one thing I should note. CP is only acceptable on campus and they reset upon graduation, so don't bother saving them either. That about does it for my initial explanation."
"—Any questions?"
The students were now free to speak their mind.
On that note, Ester immediately raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Is the starting amount for the other three classes the same as well?"
Gwein smiled.
"No."
"No?"
Everyone raised their eyebrows.
In order to better explain, Gwein started writing a couple of words and numbers on the board.
The diagram she wrote were as follows:
Class A — 1500 CP
Class B — 900 CP
Class C — 750 CP
Class D — 500 CP.
"What the hell!?"
Unsurprisingly, cries of complaints were loudly voiced aloud. The starting amount for each class was vastly different then the other. And we of Class D were at the bottom of the totem pole.
"—I figured it would be something like this."
"Yep."
I sighed.
Naturally, some of the class threw a fit.
To appease their anger however, Ryoku was next to stand up and raised her hand.
"Excuse me, Sensei?"
"Yes?"
"Why are the starting amounts for each class so different from one another?"
It was a question that addressed their concerns.
"Good question."
"Does that mean you don't know?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. You tell me."
As Gwein nonchalantly said that, she shook her shoulders before taking a seat on the corner of her table. She stares at us with a curious gaze.
I could be mistaken, but it was almost as if she want us to figure it out for ourselves.
"Does this have something to do with our overall "performance" you were talking about earlier?"
"My, my. You catch on quickly. It is as you say."
"So then, judging by how this system is set up, then that would mean the worse you "perform", the higher the chance you would end up in the lower classes becomes? Is this correct?"
"Indeed."
"Then let me ask you this. As a teacher, I'm sure you would have access to the official grading sheets and the report cards of all the students here who took the Entrance Exams, correct?"
She nods.
"In that case, you would have known that there were quite a few students here who actually scored pretty high. And yet despite that, they were still placed in this class in particular."
"Why is that?"
For a second, with an indifferent expression, Gwein didn't respond.
Without hesitation, Ryoku then approaches the heart of the matter.
"You say this school judges our "performance". The word "performance" however is a pretty vague word, which is why I'm sure most of us believed you were strictly referring to our test scores back in the Entrance Exams. However, after seeing the situation for what it is now, I'm beginning to assume that perhaps there are some other criterias involved."
"Oh, really now? Is that what you truly think?"
"Of course. And it would be wise of you to tell us."
"—Is that so? Should I take that as some form of threat, Mrs. Ryoku?"
A verbal landmine was placed on the ground.
The commander, Ryoku however, smiles, clearly noticing the trap within her words.
"No. What I say is not a threat, but the truth. After all, you can only expect a soldier to excel once he is properly informed of the conditions of battle."
Ryoku calmly responded with polite conviction. Her gaze softened, but her eyes, unwavering.
"Heh."
Suddenly, as if satisfied, Gwein chuckled.
"You really are an interesting one, you know that? It's as you say. There were certainly other criterias involved that lied outside the exam."
"And that is?"
What else could it possibly be?
The answer should be fairly obvious.
"—Your character traits."