Chapter 6: The First Day of Classes

The students had already been warned that they needed to wake up before 8 AM and be present in class, which would be the schedule from start to finish of the lesson.

So if someone woke up earlier, they could have breakfast too.

Actually, they could do whatever they wanted.

AS LONG AS they were in class at 8 o'clock sharp.

And if they weren't...

It certainly wouldn't go well for them.

7:40 AM

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Almost 97% of the students were already awake and getting ready for class.

The remaining 1.99% was waking up at that moment and rushing toward the cafeteria to have breakfast and prepare quickly.

The 1% were like Sato, one of the first to wake up. He had woken up before the sun rose.

Sato had a perfect routine. He would wake up, wash his face, go do physical exercise, pray, then take a shower, dress properly, then have breakfast, and finally make the last preparations for the day. And he had been doing this since a young age.

The 97% instead were similar to Kobayashi, who woke up only an hour before classes started and did his own things.

7:52 AM

And finally, the 0.1% was only Takeru, the only person who wasn't awake yet. He was sleeping so peacefully as if nothing had happened in the previous day. The multiple alarms that started ringing at 7 and rang until 7:55 every 5 minutes... he woke up at the last one.

It was 7:55 and the guy wakes up → gets up → washes his face → since he had slept in the school uniform they had given him yesterday, and he knew he wouldn't wake up early, he had put on his clothes before sleeping → runs → enters the cafeteria → grabs a croissant and a glass of tea → gulps it down while walking toward the classroom → throws away the plastic and enters the class.

ALL IN 5 MINUTES!

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8:00 AM

THE LESSON BEGINS!

"Good morning everyone, how are you?" says the professor.

"I hope you've learned your lesson now :)

What do you say, let's start everything over as if today were your first day and forget completely what happened? It's better for everyone.

And since we're starting over, you'll do the practical lesson starting tomorrow. The days will be divided like this: 3 days you do theory and 3 days you do practice. This week you'll only do 2 days of practice. And then Sunday you have off. Do whatever you want.

AH! And before I forget, the schedule for theoretical lessons will be from 8 AM to 2 PM.

And the practical ones from 6 in the morning until 12 noon, so wake up early tomorrow."

. . .

. .

.

"So let's start right away from where we were interrupted.

I was telling you that now I'll give you a test that will count as an entrance exam. It won't be graded, but it serves to measure your abilities. You'll do the same thing with practice tomorrow, and we'll talk about the evaluation method in the next lesson.

So let's start right away."

The professor takes out the papers from her bag and starts handing them out.

AND SO THE MOMENT OF CRISIS BEGINS!

The test consisted of 30 multiple choice questions and 20 true or false. Time available: 1 hour.

The pens start moving!

And the heads start spinning!

The questions were quite strange. Some full of calculations to do, like for example: If you find a Detroit 50 meters away, and you have a pistol in hand (USP), at what range can you hit the Detroit?

A) 30
B) 50
C) 20

And others full of logic, fast thinking, problem solving, and so on.

30 minutes pass.

Half the class still had blank papers.

Another 10 minutes pass.

Only ¼ of the class had blank papers.

Another 10 minutes pass.

Only ⅛ still had them.

Last 5 minutes.

Only Takeru had a blank paper.

TIME'S UP.

The professor collects all the papers.

"Well everyone, since the test has been completed, now you have a 10-minute break, then we'll start again."

Saying this, the professor leaves and sits down at her desk to do her things on the computer.

"Aragiri-san! How did it go?" asks Sato.

"WELL... WHAT CAN I SAY!"

"It didn't go well?"

"It didn't go well. The questions were too complicated for my brain, so I preferred not to think about them. I just guessed everything randomly, I didn't leave any blank since you just had to put X's. You? How did it go?"

"Not bad. I didn't understand some questions either. Kobayashi, what about you?"

Kobayashi had disappeared into thin air again. Since his test had gone so badly, he couldn't resist, so he had gone to the bathroom for the entire break time to avoid talking about it with anyone.

The 10 minutes pass like this, asking among classmates about their self-evaluation of the test.

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"Alright everyone, the break is over and now let's start with the lesson. Today we're talking about the most important element you need to know when you go into the Hollow.

RESCUE.

Rescue both of yourselves and of others. You must remember that life is the most important thing of all, and you must try to survive at all costs. So now I'll give you some tips that can be useful, and I'll also tell you how to use the mini medikit that each of you will have in your armor.

So, first of all—"

And so the professor starts explaining the various steps. At first it was interesting, but then slowly it was becoming deadly boring. The professor was so terrible at explaining that no one could have any idea.

She had turned a topic that could literally save your life into something boring that could kill you before you even entered the Hollow.

For Takeru it was like literally sleeping with his eyes open.

But somehow the hours passed. You could manage to take some notes, and for others you could leave them to GOD hoping everything would go well.

The professor was so strict that she didn't even let you look out the window.

Only head on the notes or toward the blackboard.

But Takeru looked outside anyway and saw that some classes were doing practical lessons.

. . .

. .

.

FINALLY IT'S 2:00 PM.

And the students were free from that hell. They quickly exit the classroom.

And go as far away from it as possible. Then, since they were free, they do whatever they want.

Everything was at their disposal.

As said by Professor Tachibana, the guards come to wake up the students who had practical class at 5:40 AM.

They banged on the door to wake them up.

"WAKE UP! AT 6 YOU NEED TO BE PRESENT IN THE COURTYARD IN GYM CLOTHES!

QUICK, GET OUT! SO YOU CAN EAT SOMETHING!"

Here too almost everyone was awake, except Takeru who wakes up like yesterday and does his whole marathon to arrive at the courtyard.

There, professors were waiting for them, so it wasn't just one class but there were others too with whom they would do the lesson.

Each professor had in hand the papers with the class.

1J1, Takeru's class.

The professor looked less like a teacher and more like a professional bodybuilder. All muscular with chest out, his thick mustache that went down below his lips, and his half-bald head gave off the aura of someone who had done a lot for that physique.

"HELLO EVERYONE!

MY NAME IS SUZUKI KAZUKI!

AND I'M YOUR PRACTICAL TRAINING INSTRUCTOR!

SO!

I'LL GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT WE'RE DOING TODAY.

SO, FIRST OF ALL, TODAY WE'LL DO SOME EXERCISES WHERE I'LL SEE HOW YOU ARE PHYSICALLY. THEY'LL BE BASIC EXERCISES LIKE A RUN, SOME PUSH UPS, SOME PULL UPS, LEG EXERCISES, SOME STRETCHING AND TEAMWORK TO SEE HOW YOU MANAGE.

AS YOU CAN ALREADY SEE, YOU'RE NOT ALONE BUT THERE ARE ALSO OTHER CLASSES WITH WHOM WE MUST SHARE THE COURTYARD AND THE TEAMWORK.

BECAUSE YES, THE TEAMS WILL BE MIXED AMONG ALL CLASSES, SINCE IN THE HOLLOW YOU WON'T GO WITH YOUR CLASSMATES, BUT YOU'LL HAVE MIXED TEAMS WITH ALL THE INSTITUTE'S STUDENTS.

WE DO THIS SO YOU CAN ALSO GET ALONG WITH OTHERS!

SO...

GET READY!"