This is the real first chapter.
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!(*$# You don't belong here, Kizutaka Rin &%($*
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Kansaki High School for Gifted Students.
That was the official name of the school I attended. It was a school that contained geniuses of every calibre. It was a school that celebrated achievement, it was a place where talent thrived, where traditional schooling theories were ignored and a place where everyone could achieve their very best.
Or so it was advertised. The motto—the school for future world leaders—was not exactly incorrect per se. But it didn't mean what it meant, at first glance. If this school taught anything, it was taught that to succeed in the real world, you needed to fight, betray, cheat and lie. In that respect, the school did exactly as advertised.
It was the beginning of the third semester.
We had recently run a huge school-wide exam. Every student participated in this long, ten-hour test, testing every possible aspect of our beings. With that, the principal announced the introduction of a new system—the Preseqta System.
…
Taking my seat, I placed my bag by the side of my chair. It was always light, I never carried textbooks, practice material or even stationary. I saw no need to do so, I had no reason to feign weakness, not in a school of such talent.
Despite spending a large portion of my life in the Ideal Human Project, there were still people here who surpassed me in some respects.
"As you all know, we are initiating the Preseqta System today. From 8 am onwards, the entire school will have access to their Preseqta profiles. We are not allowed to give you any more information other than that. This is another challenge given by the school. If I were to give my opinions, this is likely the biggest challenge you'll ever face in your whole life."
With a slight buzzing on all our of phones. We opened them to see the newly-implemented system.
It was something several years in the making.
It was something that was being developed all the way back during the existence of the Ideal Human Project.
It was the system that would change the way schooling worked, forever.
It was quite an unfitting time to implement it, however.
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A few days earlier.
It was a normal afternoon.
I was making my way through the school halls, biding my time as I waited for everyone to leave. It wasn't that our school was necessarily uncivilised. By the nature of the school's acceptance rate, all the students were calm upon being dismissed.
We all lived in the dorm building, not too far away from the main campus. I only stayed behind because I had nothing to do. If I were to go home straight after school, I'd only mind my time endlessly in my room. I preferred to walk around the empty classrooms.
Walking past the storage room, I could hear something ruffling.
There was the subtle sound of someone crying for help.
There was the muffled sound of screaming, like something was covering their mouth.
…
Slowly opening the door, I found myself beholding the sight of a young girl, completely tied up, with cuts all over her body. She looked at me with fear, tears and mucus seeped down her face, her teeth clenched the cloth that was in her mouth.
I stuck out my hand.
In pure anguish, she crawled toward the corner of the room.
I recognised her face, she was the star netball player of the school.
What had happened here?
I observed the scene. It seemed that the area around the site had been cleaned up, not a drop of blood was present. However, inside the storage room, blood littered the ground.
Looking at the wounds on her body and the nearby area, it appeared that there wasn't any sign of resistance. It was likely that whoever the perpetrator was, had quickly struck, immobilising her before she could resist. Still, to be able to pin down a girl who was both athletic and confident; it couldn't have been possible to do without at least some sign of fighting back.
Either the perpetrator managed to prepare something in advance, or they were so overpowering that she simply couldn't resist.
There were a few people in the school who could've displayed such a feat.
I kneeled down, making my way closer to her.
I'm supposed to help her right? That's what a normal person would do.
Despite her reluctance, I quickly untied her, pulling the cloth out of her mouth.
She was still quivering in fear. Shaking from her fingertips to her legs.
"Who did this."
She didn't respond. I didn't expect her to. I assumed that the perpetrator probably threatened them, or did something of the sort, considering they didn't bother taking her to another location out of the school.
It was likely because whoever the perpetrator was, wanted her to be found.
They wanted to spread a message of some sort.
She was still bleeding from all of her wounds.
I always carried a little bit of first aid equipment on me, for the purpose of being able to perform it on myself if I needed. The old me would've ignored such a scene.
But I wanted to be normal.
I'll do what a normal person is supposed to.
Taking some bandages out of my pocket, I grabbed her arm, wrapping them around her cuts. All of a sudden, she began to speak.
"…p-please d-don't tell… anyone… don't tell anyone… please…"
It was what I suspected.
She was being threatened.
Cleaning up her injuries, I observed the inside of the storage room. There was a decently-clear lack of any evidence on the ground. On her body, there was a single strand of hair. It was short, appearing like something from a boy. It wasn't possible to tell from just it, but it would make sense for a boy to be able to overpower her.
"What do you want me to do."
She looked at away, trying to wipe away the tears on her face.
"…I j-just… I just want… to go home…"
She was still in disarray. I wasn't going to be able to get any information out of her. It didn't matter that much anyways, I wasn't that interested in the whole situation.
I saw no reason to try to pursue whoever the perpetrator was. It would only put me in unnecessary danger. Protecting myself was something programmed deep into my brain. Regardless of what the situation was, my instincts always focused on protecting myself.
It wasn't something that I could control.
Without much else to do, I helped her up, before letting her stumble away on her own, limping through the halls.
…
I made my way back into the classroom. To pass the time, I usually just sat in the corner, staring up at the roof.
The sun, now in its descent, seeped through the half-open blinds of the classroom, casting slanting amber streaks across the room. The light gleamed on the room's well-worn surfaces, picking out the ghostly chalk dust dancing in the air, the forgotten doodles on the whiteboard, and the shadows nestled in the corners of the room. The square panes of the windows were slightly grubby, imprinted with a week's worth of eager fingerprints, but they were neither less nor more charming for it.
It was a somewhat cold afternoon, not enough to cause discomfort, but enough to be noticeable.
I wonder, what would a normal person have done in that situation.
If one was to be rational, reporting it to the police would seem to be the best option, but due to the lack of evidence and threats of the perpetrator, it'd likely cause more harm than good to the victim. It might bring themselves into the situation, putting themselves at danger of retaliation.
There was no right answer in situations like these. With the right skillset, someone might be able to help her, isolating themselves from the rest of the world, fighting back. They might be able to genuinely protect her.
I guess there was no correct answer. Human nature is fickle anyways.
I didn't feel like getting involved. It didn't interest me.
It was nothing compared to what happened during the Incident that Ruined the Outcomes.
I'd continue my normal school life, for as long as it was going to last.
That was my only 'desire' after all.