After the girl's background sank in, the student sitting next to her rose up. A handsome young man with electric blue hair and attractive features. His icy-blue eyes, sharp, piercing, and unnerving, resembled that of a vulture.
"Kaiser Solace. That's all."
Though more complete than Hazel's, his detached tone made the introduction sound even colder, almost unfriendly. Still, a few students eyed him with interest. His looks obviously attracted special interest from the females.
The next student, sitting in front of Hazel, stood up. Long silver hair cascaded his delicate face, and his eyes shone with soft green light.
"Ariel Hilton. I don't have any particular hobbies. Thank you."
Eventually, the introduction of the thirty students ended, turning their attention back to Instructor Rina who had been diligently listening.
"Very well, since we're finished here, let's begin the formal procedures. For the next three years, your freedom would be restricted including communication with the outside world except for a few instances. Also, to ensure the comfort of the students, the school provides every student with a currency of 100,000 private credits. Each credit equivalent to one silver note in the outside world."
"One hundred thousand silver notes?!"
"Wow! Are you for real?!"
"That's a thousand gold notes!"
At first, the students were perplexed, but when Instructor Rina calmly assured them, that emotion quickly shifted into elation. This was a very luxurious expense. Some parents couldn't provide that much in an entire year. However, a few were still skeptical.
'100,000 silver notes, enough to establish a business. This is too generous for a no-tuition school. Hmm, except they have ways to extort us later, it isn't feasible.'
The more Kaiser thought about it, the more absurd he found the idea. The school had more than four hundred students in total, so funding all the students with 100,000 per month seemed unreasonable.
'Interesting development.'
Ignoring the class's joy, Instructor Rina continued.
"The school ensures to deliver credits at the beginning of a new month. Also, you're free to spend the credits as you see fit since it can't be converted to real money outside the school. In this school, almost anything can be bought with credits."
With this piece of information, every student was quickly engrossed in their own discussions, eagerly chatting about how to spend the credits.
After the bell rang, Instructor Rina packed her things and exited the class. Immediately, the whole place was abuzz with chatter and small talk, people making friends and all.
Kaiser sat in his quiet corner, his lazy glances betraying little to no emotion.
"Socially detached, aren't you?"
A voice cut through the background chatter.
Kaiser turned his gaze slightly. Hazel Kane. The girl rumored to be the General's daughter. Her eyes were sharp, intimidating, but he didn't care.
He ignored her, pretending he didn't know she was addressing him. Instead, he began to examine the features of the phones they were given.
"Indeed, you're a cold one, huh?" She murmured, slight intrigue in her voice.
"Why do you care?" He replied flatly, uninterested in her.
"You reek of boredom," She teased, resting her chin on her hand. "But you hide it well. Almost too well."
That caught his attention.
Kaiser's gaze sharpened, just slightly. "Careful. Seeing too much gets people in trouble."
"I'll handle what comes my way." She retorted confidently.
"You're interesting," He said, eyes flicking to Sebastian. "And so is he."
Sebastian turned just in time to catch the glance. He winked at Hazel, then turned away. Hazel looked disturbed by his wink, her voice softened, almost a whisper.
"Is that so...?"
....
In another first year class...
[Class 1-D]
In the teacher's seat lounged a purple-haired boy, his violet eyes scanning his classmates with quiet amusement.
"Since the teacher's out, let's introduce ourselves." Another student stood up, voicing her thoughts to the class.
Before anyone could speak, the purple haired boy hit the table with strong force.
Bang!
Everyone looked towards him, slightly displeased. Though he had yet to speak, his arrogant posture on the podium was enough to draw scowls.
"Nice suggestion, Anna. I'd love to know how I'd address my future subordinates."
The girl's expression changed, surprised he knew her name.
"H-how did you know my name?!"
The boy scoffed, then explained leisurely. "Fool, your names and desk numbers are written on the class list."
Although he explained, his words and attitude aroused great displeasure from his classmates.
"Before you blow up..." He waved lightly. "You should know my name. Apollo Silverstein. Drill that into your heads."
Finally, a boy with spiky pink hair stood up, his face full of displeasure.
"Hey! Why are you speaking to us like you're some leader? We're your classmates, and you should respect us."
Apollo's eyes narrowed.
"Respect you?" He scoffed. "I only respect those better than me. Not the likes of you."
When the pink haired boy heard this, he was instantly furious. With large strides, he approached Apollo and swung a punch.
Unfortunately, Apollo wasn't weak. With a simple movement, he dodged the punch and instead, pulled the boy towards himself. Immediately, his arm locked the boy's neck in a chokehold.
"Alexander right? You're pretty good for a starter, though not there yet." Apollo grinned, tightening his grip.
"W-wait! Stop!"
Another boy shouted, realizing the situation could escalate. However, before he could intervene, two other boys, possibly delinquents had leaped towards Apollo.
Within moments, Apollo had them writhing on the floor, a heap of groaning bodies.
"Is there anyone else wishing to challenge me?"
He smiled, wiping the blood on his fist with Alexander's shirt.
The class went silent. Even if some of them had basic fighting experience, they weren't skilled fighters, nor could they match his skill. Someone like Apollo, who beat his enemies until they bled, instilled fear in them.
In that instant, the class understood…
Apollo wasn't asking for leadership. He was taking it. And just like that, Apollo Silverstein cemented his position as the undisputed leader of Class-D.
....
During lunch break, Kaiser from Class 1-E left the class alone and decided to explore the school building. Walking from the cafeteria, to the upper floors of the school building, and several other facilities, he made a surprising discovery.
'Overwhelming surveillance.'
His blue eyes narrowed softly. This amount of monitoring was absurd. It almost felt like the students were prisoners. Surprisingly though, there were some blind spots. And this realization made him smile thinly.
"So they're allowing undiscovered violence?"
Before he could think further on that, his phone; which was offered by the school after confiscating his, vibrated. Intrigued, he checked the message displayed.
-Unknown: Come to the principal's office whenever you're free.
Although Kaiser was slightly cautious, he decided to go immediately. After all, he was quite interested in the person who wanted to see him. Minutes later, he arrived at the academic building, striding straight for the principal's office.
Without bothering to knock, he entered. After all, there was no way that person hadn't sensed his arrival.