Jet facepalmed as they walked towards the Teacher's Estate. "Kane, didn't we agree to go easy on the kids?"
"I did go easy on them," Kane rumbled.
"I dunno, boss," Code said after blowing a bubble with gum. "You sounded pretty harsh."
Kane shrugged. "You are entitled to your opinion. If they cannot push past their mental barriers, they aren't ready to learn."
"Ugh~" Diamond groaned. "Why was I assigned to be a teacher? First Jet's driving, now this."
Jet turned to give him an offended look. "Excuse you? I'll have you know I'm a pro driver; I even have a license to drive an F1 race car."
Diamond frowned. "That's the problem. A Ranger isn't a race car, and not everyone is as fast as you."
"Tch. Excuses, excuses. You had fun, right Code?"
"Yep!" Code grinned brightly up at Jet, then leaned back to smirk at Diamond. "I guess some Vanguards can't handle that speed, while an Operator like me can."
Diamond growled at her, and Code laughed at the expression on his face. The very next moment, she was karate-chopped on her head.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, grabbing her head.
"Stop messing with him, Code." Bullseye smiled.
"...Yes, senior."
"Can you just practise a teaching session once and recreate it?" Anansi asked Rapido.
Rapido furrowed his brow for a moment, then shrugged while squinting. "Theoretically yes, but that would be a waste of time. You have to be able to think on your feet and constantly adapt to teach. Or at least that's what the book said..."
Anansi scratched his chin with a hand and nodded. "Makes sense."
"I can make an algorithm that can predict the course of a single lesson if you like," Code said as she pulled out a cell phone and began playing a game.
"You still carry that around?" Kane raised an eyebrow.
Code shrugged. "It feels nice. I heard people used these kinds of gadgets a long time ago. Do you know how rare these are?"
"Hey, just to confirm, how many scenarios would this algorithm of yours make?" Rapido asked.
Code frowned as her thumbs sped across the screen. "Roughly two hundred thousand, at the very least."
Rapido frowned. "Yeah, I am not going to waste my time on that."
Confucius and Sixteen walked alongside the others in silence, both lost in thought.
"Were you surprised to see him?" Confucius asked softly.
"...No. I already knew he'd be here," Sixteen answered.
Confucius nodded. "I'm a little surprised she didn't do anything."
Sixteen scoffed quietly. "Nothing surprises you old man."
"...Fair point. None of us would still be alive if we were surprised that easily."
Confucius paused, as if recalling something.
"But sometimes..." he whispered as he looked up at the blue sky, "Sometimes it's the most mundane things that shock our kind the most."
Sixteen glanced at him, giving no response.
****
Raidou leaned his back on the teacher's podium and observed his chatting classmates. With a small sigh, he pushed off and raised a hand.
"Quiet, everyone."
In a few short moments, all eyes turned to him.
"Alright guys, we're starting this meeting off by clarifying three things. One, we're allowed to fight each other only if it's for training. Two, everyone in this class is equal. Not in strength maybe, and I definitely can't say in our teachers' eyes but we're all in the same position, so it's best to deal with this together."
He paused for a few seconds to let the message sink in, then continued:
"And three, the most important things we were advised to deal with are both mentality and discipline. I'm not claiming I know your feelings, but I want to suggest we form groups within the class."
The quiet that had been established shattered as the class immediately began to talk amongst themselves. Raidou let them speak, and soon a person stood up and addressed him directly.
"And what exactly will forming groups accomplish?"
Raidou felt his eyebrow twitch at Jason's words. Why is it always this guy?
Jason continued without pausing: "You seem to be forgetting that we haven't known each other for more than a week. Some of us may not want to even associate. I know I don't."
Some people scowled at his arrogant tone.
"Putting people with inferiority complexes in groups with regular people will just end up causing problems. You can't claim to come up with a perfect grouping where people balance each other out; that isn't how real life works. People always have their own ideas and opinions. What if they don't want to change? Or worse, what if they affect those around them?"
Raidou stared at Jason, annoyed and confused as by how much one person could talk.
"And who exactly would affect all the people in their..."
Raidou's voice died down as Jason glanced backwards for a brief moment, and his gaze flickered towards Lisa.
It was just a single, brief moment, but Raidou met her eyes the moment he looked, and he turned his eyes away in a hurry.
This guy... Raidou gritted his teeth. He's trying to exclude her? No, not just that, he's also trying to get out of any class activities... or is he trying to undermine me? Or all three? Maybe more?
"Well, it seems you know who I'm talking about, don't you?" Jason smirked. "I saw you glance at her."
At those words, a few of their classmates realized who Jason was talking about, and all glanced at Lisa briefly.
Raidou frowned. "I—"
"I don't appreciate the looks you know," Lisa said.
The entire class fell silent at her voice, and Raidou flinched at the cold glare she fixed on him.
Jason turned around with a scoff. "No need to be dramatic—"
"Jason, break your fingers."
Jason scowled. "And why the hell would I do that?"
Lisa chuckled quietly, but...
Why does it feel like it got colder? thought Raidou.
"If I could control you however I wanted, would you have answered like that?" Lisa asked, glaring straight at Jason.
He flinched, but kept his composure. "There's no proof you used your power—"
"We're looking each other in the eye right? My power only works if I establish eye contact and lead the target into doing what I want. It isn't some charmspeak, and it isn't some automatic domination ability. If you understand that, I'd prefer if you didn't treat me like some sort of monster."
Even though she didn't raise her voice, almost every other person flinched at her cutting words.
Jason, however, didn't back down.
"And how exactly are we treating you like a monster?" Jason asked with raised eyebrows.
Lisa frowned. ...There's no actual way to prove the class was avoiding me... dammit. How do I—
"Can I say one thing?"
Everyone turned to look in Liam's direction as he got to his feet.
"Well, Raidou, can I speak?" he asked.
Raidou blinked several times in surprise, then nodded.
"Alright. The first thing I want to say is that even though I personally agree with Jason about the groups, I still think they're a good idea. If you look at it from a purely objective stance, it can help us form closer bonds with each other. That can also lead to stuff like joint training and group study sessions. The joint training part also supports Raidou's point about the sparring."
Liam paused, then glared straight at Jason. "However, indirect accusations will cause the class to break apart. You, Jason, are trying to act like the logic core of an android. The only thing you're accomplishing is acting like a virus in the system. There's no proof Lisa's using her power, so intentionally making people distrust her over something she might do is just wrong."
Lisa stared at Liam in shock. Jason, on the other hand, sneered.
"And why should we believe anything coming out of the mouth of her lackey?"
Liam fell silent, but a vein throbbed on his forehead. He shared a quick glance with Lisa, then turned away. Seeing it, Jason laughed.
"What, am I right? Did I hit a nerve? I'm—"
"What's with this jerk?" Lisa clicked her tongue.
Liam crossed his arms. "No idea. He keeps trying to prove stuff with no solid evidence."
Jason, and everyone else, was taken aback.
He sighed. "What—"
"Hey Lisa, I wonder why he's going so far. Don't you?"
"Yeah, it's weird. We're all in this together, right? So why is he so dead set on making his classmates exclude people?"
Jason frowned. "Hey don't—"
"When you think about it, it's like he's trying to make a fool out of Raidou and make himself the class rep, right, Liam?"
Liam put a hand on his chin and nodded sagely. "I think you're right. Maybe his plan is something like: embarrass Raidou and make the class assume he's incompetent. Although Raidou didn't fall for something so childish."
Lisa nodded as well. "Yeah, and then his next step would probably be to: "Pretend I have the class's best interest at heart while I slowly break them up into factions."
Everyone's eyes slowly turned to Jason, and Nanami spoke up.
"Hey, Jason, why are you sweating?"
Jason turned around, his expression incredulous. "It's perfectly normal to sweat!"
Liam and Lisa chuckled. "Look how nervous he is; maybe we're onto something Liam."
"Maybe. What else would he do though?" Liam frowned with a confused expression on his face.
Lisa smiled and rose a finger as if she were a teacher. "You see, Liam, normally people in power would start solidifying their own faction to make sure others don't get in their way. Then they would make the others do whatever they want."
Liam furrowed his brow. "That seems kind of stupid. There are people like Lee, Kazumi, and Raidou in this class. How would he manipulate them?"
Lisa crossed her arms with a smirk. "And that's the flaw in his plan. You can't control wild cards simply because they're wild. But then again, there's another way to prevent anyone at all from falling for it."
Jason struggled to keep his expression straight, even though his hands were twitching. He could feel all of his classmates' eyes on him, and they were not particularly friendly looks.
Liam leaned forward. "Really? And what method would that be?"
Lisa chuckled. "Expose the plan in front of everyone."
In response, all eyes turned to Lisa. She remained silent for a beat, then shrugged.
"Of course, this is all speculation. There isn't any real proof, and unlike some people, I don't want to accuse anyone of doing anything they might do. I'm not that kind of person."
Jason stared at them. For ten full seconds, he did nothing but stare.
I could... I could say that Lisa's using Hypnosis right now, but the implications are too many. I thought that idiot Liam wasn't a people person?! And how the hell were they so synchronized?! That was actually impressive—NO! No, how do I defuse this?
Jason's eyebrow twitched, the only sign of his agitation.
No matter what I do, these morons are going to start treating speculation as fact. And I've made an enemy out of Raidou, so he'll definitely stand up for them. And they have other friends too...
Jason sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I hope you all know what you're risking. This little comedy skit holds much more meaning than you think."
"What meaning?" Nanami asked loudly.
This idiot!
Jason sighed and ignored him, then took his seat.
I'll make sure to deal with them both when I get the chance. Enjoy your victory, you two. I'll make you regret it.
****
The meeting went on quickly, with no other interruptions apart from Nanami's confusion. A vote was held, and it was agreed that the class would be separated temporarily into four groups, six members each. The goal was to get classmates to understand each other enough before any social circles formed. It was agreed that the groups were to study, and if possible, train together. There would be changes in each group's composition every five days.
After that was over, Lee suggested the entire class have a shared alarm, because it was highly likely their teachers would call them at dawn to begin their train—
"Pfft," Nanami laughed. "'Dawn', get it? We're in Dawn Academy?"
Everyone stared at him in silence.
"Urgh..." Nanami sank lower in his seat in embarrassment.
Of course, not everybody agreed to the shared alarm idea. Jason, Nelly, Jeremy, and six others refused for various reasons. Kazumi was one of them, although his reason was much more specific:
"I don't need it. I sleep for only five hours."
Lee didn't bother explaining that the activity was meant for class unity.
"Alright, guys." Raidou clapped, drawing their attention. "Is that all?"
There was silence, and right before Raidou tried to announce the ending of the meeting...
"I have a suggestion!" Nanami said as he surged to his feet, a grin on his face. It quickly disappeared though, when Raidou fixed him with a death glare.
"I-I promise this actually makes sense!" Nanami said hurriedly, waving his hands around nervously.
Raidou sighed. "Fine. What is it?"
Nanami grinned again, then pointed to his left.
"Let's make him the Class Guru!"