Chapter 2: Is it possible to all be in class E?

All 150 names? I look around at them in disbelief as the teacher checks them from his list, one by one. Anxiety is building up within me, and my brain stops working for a while as I stare blankly at the piece of paper that’s being marked. The boy carefully puts his pencil back onto the table and crosses his legs as he leans back on his chair. I noticed that he was the only one that didn’t list the names in alphabetical order, but in some other order that I couldn’t understand.

“All 150 names. You may line up again back outside.”

The boy nods and walks out of the now-overheating tent.

As the teacher continues, I keep writing.

“Well done. You may line up outside.” I clench my fists. Every muscle in my body was tight.

“You’re done. Line up outside, good job.” I shut my eyes. Recalling the rest of what I had remembered.

“All 150. You’re good to go.” I open my eyes.

“Alright, I’m done,” I gasp. I wait nervously until my paper is marked, then I leave the tent. Around half of the students had already gathered, so I suppose I wasn’t the slowest one.

I found Tomoko and Tomoki, who were talking with Maya about the significance of the different colored tents. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever understand why that would be important, no matter how hard I try.

I pull out my phone and instinctively check the headlines on social media. I’m definitely worried, but there’s nothing I can do now. Not soon after, everyone starts flocking back towards the crowd until all the students are back in line. It might have felt like only a short period of time has passed, but someone in our year has just finished their time here on this island.

“The results are in.” The crowd suddenly hushed.

“They have been forwarded to your emails, and if your scores were unsatisfactory, you will be leaving now on the same boat.”

In an instant, the atmosphere snapped from casual talk to silent anxiousness. I could almost feel the entire student body’s heart beat beating as one. Hopefully I’m not one of them… There’s no way everyone got all 150 names… right?

I open the email, then the file with the results.

Only ten people got all 150 names. I breathe a sigh of relief.

As I scroll down, I notice the familiar names, and I only had to scroll halfway through before I saw mine.

1st Kawari Maya: 150

1st Ayamo Tomoko: 150

20th Eito Jisen: 135

33rd Ayama Tomoki: 117

39th: Shimuni Toshiro: 112

44th: Haruki Akio: 111

59th: Himi Chikako: 106

74th: Tsuno Katsu: 94

Year High: 150

Year low: 0

Year average (of 150): 93.6

I breathe a sigh of relief. I managed to place 60th in the year somehow. I didn’t recognize anyone in the last 25 scores, but since there was at least one score of 0, I suddenly realized that there’s at least one student that did not want to attend Kaino High, and just enjoyed a free boat trip here and back. There could be many reasons, but I think the intensive and accelerated workload is a big deciding factor.

However, there must’ve been a few students that were not able to meet the cutoff after doing their best. There are many top students out there that are hard workers, but lack natural talent in academics. Unfortunately, for them, they will lose out once the gifted students decide to work just as hard as them.

I have a pretty decent memory, but I don’t know how much I can attribute that to genetics. I’m quite lucky the entrance exam was just memorization.

“ARGHHHHHH TOMOKOOOOOOO…” Jisen raged.

“Hey hey, what happened to ‘beating all of us’?” Tomoki teased.

“Let him be, Tomoki, don’t make things worse for me please.”

“Alright, alright. But hey, we all made it through, we should celebrate later tonight! We all did so well!” Well, I got last place compared to the rest of them, but sure, I’ll go along with it.

Mirai-sensei interrupted us before we got too far ahead of ourselves. “Now then, we will move onto the next block in the schedule-”

“WELCOME TO KAINO HIGH EVERYONE~~~~~” Hachiroka-sensei yelled.

“YEAHHHH” We cheered.

“IS EVERYONE EXCITED~~?”

“YEAHHHH”

“LET ME SPEAK HACHIROKA”.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU”

“YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH”

“ARE YOU AN IDOL OR SOMETHING. THEY NEED TO DECIDE THEIR CLASSES NOW.”

“Oh, sorry Mirai~, I can do that too myself…”

“What. No, I’m supposed to do that-”

“Great!~” Hachiroka turned around so that she was facing the students again.

“Now that we’ve had our break, we’re going to have to split ourselves into five classes! One teacher can only look after so many students after all~. How do we do that, you might ask? It’s simple, you will be picking your own classes!~ Keep in mind that although you’ll mostly be learning individually here, there will be heated competition between classes as well. So please organize yourselves into five classes in the next twenty minutes!~ I’m sure you’ve learned enough about your classmates on the lengthy boat ride here, so feel free to take that into consideration!”

She’s wrong. We have no idea what most of our peers’ strengths or weaknesses are, because we haven’t talked to them. The only thing we have is our results from the name memorizing exam…

Crap.

Before I realized it, half of the students that scored perfect had already silently grouped together, and were encouraging other high-scoring students to do the same.

“A good memory is the basis of academics! We will form the top class here at Kaino high!” Was the motto that they yelled.

We should be staying together and merging with another group that still needs members. Right now, our group consisted of seven people. I wonder if it’ll be a good idea to join up with Chikako, the popular girl from earlier-

“Chiiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaaakooooooooo-sannnnnn, would your group like to join together with our group?” It seems Maya had already decided for us. Chikako was already a part of a large group of sixteen students, and they happily joined up with us.

At the same time, without a word, a dark-haired boy also slid into the group.

Now we just needed one more, and we’d have a full class of 25. There were only a few stragglers left, and one girl with glasses who was carrying a book caught my eye. Maybe I should ask her to join? Nonono, that'd make me appear way too audacious, it’s better just to pretend I didn’t see her. But no one seems to be talking to her, what do I do? I get back on my phone, as this decision has proven itself too tiring and time-consuming to make.

“Hello there, would you like to join our group?” Akio whispered without stuttering. “Y-yes, please.”

Another Akio? They had identical stuttering voices. The only differences I could make out are that the girl had glasses while Akio’s voice is slightly deeper.

“What’s your name?’ “Wakara, Amako Wakara.”

Amako Wakara… I had memorized her name because it was one of the easier ones to remember, she had scored 100 on the naming test, so she’s in no way inferior to the other students. If it wasn’t for the naming test, I would not have remembered even the names of the ones in my current friend group. Maybe that test served as an icebreaker for the remaining students as well?

“Oh! It seems like we’ve got our last member. Let’s go, class!” Chikako rallied. The other classes have also formed at around the same time, and the teachers have noticed this as well.

“Well done, well done. That only took 15 minutes.” Mirai-sensei complimented us. “Now, we would like a class representative from each of the five classes you have just formed to come up here to pick a random slip of paper containing the name of your homeroom teacher. Don’t look at it just yet.”

Usually, homeroom teachers are assigned by the school, but it seems like here it doesn’t matter which teacher is assigned to which class. I watched as an arrogant looking boy from the leftmost class went up from his class and Chikako from ours. Another girl representative went up from the last class to our left, while a boy and a girl went up from the remaining two classes. It feels like these will be our class representatives from now on, we could feel the aura of leadership that followed them. They all chose their slips, and silently returned back to their classes.

“Before you reveal who you’ve chosen to your classmates, I’d like to tell you a bit about how your classes will work and some other logistics.” A short interlude from Mirai-sensei is appropriate to add more suspense to whether or not we managed to choose Hachiroka-sensei, the teacher that every class wanted due to her warm and kind persona.

“Usually, high schools have classes A, B, C, D, and E. We will have that too, but for now, all five classes are Class E. The first class examination will determine whether your class will be A, B, C, D, or E. Kaino High has altered its education system from different high schools to minimize the difference between the five classes as much as possible. Class A students will receive 20000 points monthly, Class B 17500, Class C 15000, Class D 12500, Class E 10000. Each point will correspond to one yen for you to spend however you’d like. Money here works exactly how money works anywhere else. You can trade with your classmates, but just remember that the limits and morals of money will apply here as well. You will be able to order most items such as food and everyday appliances on campus. However, if there’s a certain brand of food that you’re craving, you can order a variety of things on our online platform at an inflated price. Just keep in mind that your purchases will be reviewed to prevent violence, amongst other avoidable instances. Everyone will now be distributed 10000 points for this month. For those of you who think 10000 yen is not a lot, this is not the only source of points you will have. There will be frequent events held on a virtual platform that distribute points depending on your placement. Those will be a surprise for later…”

“Mmmm… Mmmm~ That’s a lot of information to shove them Mirai-sensei. But they’ve probably remembered everything so it’s alright. Now, let’s see who’s class I’ve been drawn to!”

A suspenseful atmosphere filled our year as we crowded the leader with the paper slip. Slowly unfolding it, Chikako shut her eyes shut before fully revealing what was written on it.

“Hachiroka-sensei!”

“Alllllright!!!!” In a sense, it was somewhat expected, but we celebrated heartily nonetheless.

Mirai-sensei was drawn by the girl on our left, and the groups on our right each got Tatsumi-sensei and Fukashi-sensei. The rightmost group with the boy representative did not seem too happy with Fukashi-sensei, who, with his spectacles, did not appear to be a fun character.

“What’s the meaning of this? Why did we get a blank piece of paper?” The arrogant looking boy from the leftmost class barked.

“Ah, I see. don’t worry Yamada-kun.” Yushindo Yamada. The third last student alphabetically, who scored a perfect score of 150. “Your homeroom teacher has a rather severe case of motion sickness, especially when he’s on water. Needless to say it was not a pretty sight when he first arrived. However, he’s late. He should be here by now…”

“Hohoho what do we have here.” A loud chuckle resonated within each and every one of us, and we turned to look up the path to see a young man around twenty walking towards us from the direction of the school with only swim trunks and a surfboard underneath his arm.

“Th-those m-muscles…” A few students stammered. It is not an exaggeration to claim that a good handful of the girls instantly fell for him. Most of the boys were equally impressed.

“Who are you?” Yamada condescendingly smirked.

“That’s rude, boy... address me properly as Ichiro-sensei please.”

“He’s joking right? You’re not even that much older than us. You must be dreaming if you think you’ll be a suitable teacher for us.”

“I might not be very bright, but I assure you I’m more than capable of teaching a few high schoolers.”

“Yamada-kun, do not underestimate Ichiro-sensei’s abilities. Ichiro-sensei graduated first in his class two years ago and became the youngest ever qualified teacher just one year after he graduated. The qualifications of teaching here require not only proficient knowledge throughout all subjects taught but also advanced and unpredictable manipulation within them. Although I was just the youngest qualified teacher here a few years ago, he outclassed me utterly by ten entire years last year. And to think he only did so because everything else in the world was too easy for him… Tsk.”

“Ahahahahahaha Mirai-san you flatter me too much, I’m not nearly as capable as you describe me to be,” Ichiro-sensei chuckled. “Although I have to say, I’ve gotten bored of just learning, so I’m going to teach for a change. I know I also have a lot to learn too, so treat me well!”

“Students~ you heard him, please treat him with respect!” Youngest teacher. Huh. Sounds interesting. Hachiroka-sensei appears at least in her mid-thirties herself, and Mirai-sensei herself looks around thirty.

Impressive, Ichiro-sensei.

“Huh. Well we’ll see in class, Ichiro-sensei.” Yamada sneered, not the least bit frazzled by the evident skill gap.

“Of course, we will be learning there together, after all.” Ichiro-sensei responded with a charming smile that only annoyed Yamada even more.

“Allllllllright!~ Now that we’ve met our homeroom teachers, we can move on to a quick campus tour before we set you free for the rest of the day!”

We walked up a paved path from the beach that cuts through a small forest, and walked past a pentagon with a hole resting on two poles that says “Kaino high, Welcome!”

“Looks less like a gate and more like a bolt to me,” I joked.

“No… bolts are hexagon shaped…” Tomoko responded thoughtfully. “There aren’t a lot of things that are pentagon shaped are there?”

“Hm, I can only think of the side of a soccer ball.”

“Pentagons are a really terrible shape, aren’t they.”

I nodded in agreement, before following the rest of the group past the gate-like structure. What awaited us on the other side of the gate was quite a sight. A beautifully designed dojo-like building towered in front of us, with an equally tall building on the right and a slightly smaller one on the left. Upon closer observation, we quickly noticed that the building on the right was our dormitories, while the building on our left was our school. The school was a boring rectangular prism, which is slightly disappointing compared to the amount of detail put into the main building in front of us. The layout of the campus was rather ordinary as well. On the bright side, at least our dormitories had open hallways to walk outside and breathe fresh air.

The open place was bursting with excitement, as students ran from place to place yelling at each other while laughing all the same. Our senpais are sure having a lot of fun. They must’ve expected us: many of them took the time to stop, smile and wave at us while we walked towards the main building.

“This is the Kaino Center, where you will find most of the products you will need during your studies here.” Mirai-sensei introduced as we walked into the luxurious looking building.

“No... way.”

“What is this?”

“Isn’t this just a…”

“DEPARTMENT STORE???” Chikako, in awe, couldn’t resist yelling those last two words. It was just as she had said, it was just a classic department store that sold just about everything. The outside was designed like a dojo though… What idiot was in charge of designing this school? Unlike most department stores, however, there was only a small section for clothes. Only boys could enter the boys clothes sections and the girls likewise. Those rules are eccentric but definitely reasonable after considering our age.

We slowly made our way into the building one by one. Luckily, the building is so spacious that it would have no problem fitting everyone at this school comfortably.

“The second floor consists of several large rooms that you can rent out for activities of your own choice. Every place in here is carefully monitored for everyone’s safety.”

So many possibilities. Renting out a large room makes group meetups much easier, and who knows what we could fit into those rooms. Maybe even a large-scale video game tournament.

Where all our friends can play together. Ah… that sounds so… funnnnnnnn. I can’t help but feel a bit giddy, coming here was definitely the right choice. This school is like the gift that keeps on gifting.

“One last thing before we disperse for today. The most important thing that you will want to explore tonight will be what’s available to you in your rooms. Virtual tournaments at this school are about as important as how well you do on exams. Make sure you take them seriously,” Mirai-sensei warned as she tried to gather back our attention, but most of the students have been completely mesmerized by the surroundings.

“Yes, yes, and now that they know that, students~ don’t go spending all your money tonight!”

“ALRIGHTTTT!”

From the unnecessary level of excitement that was aroused, I gathered that a good amount of these top students have never been in an actual department store before. It’s understandable, I wouldn’t ever leave my house either if I wasn’t forced to. They might have only gone shopping as a little kid, or perhaps their family only uses high quality ingredients.

I’ll never understand unnecessary excitement and curiosity.

Of course, Maya was the most excited by this, as she immediately dashed from item to item, observing each and every object in sight.

I had a sudden craving for some potato chips local to my hometown, so I looked up the brand on my phone.

“4000 yen???” I lost interest in potato chips instantly; I had anticipated an unfair price, but I didn’t think that the inflation would be this bad. Just like that, the craving disappeared. Looks like I will have to walk around this department store a little bit.

Sigh. “I think I’m just going to get some sushi.” I muttered under my breath.

“S-sushi? Me too!” Akio declared after tagging along. I didn’t take much notice to him as I found my way to the seafood sector which only sold packaged sushi and a few species of fish, crab, and shrimp for those confident enough in their cooking skills. It wasn’t that far from the entrance, so I managed to save a lot of time.

I take a close look at the few boxed sushi remaining, and set my eyes on one with the rare combo of salmon nigiri with tempura shrimp.

“Do you also like sushi?”

I turn around to see a girl around the same height as me carrying a bag with a few shrimps and a tuna fish.

“Oh, yeah.”

“They’re delicious, aren’t they? I really really like seafood too. My name’s Shimada, what’s yours?”

“Katsu.” Shimada. Rufya Shimada from the same friend group as Chikako.

“Tsuno Katsu-kun! Peculiar name isn’t it?” She looked down to observe the packaged sushi in my hands.

“Hm… I see they’re using Kuruma Ebi here as well… well that’s to be expected, it is one of the highest quality shrimp used for tempura.”

“Are you talking about my tempura?”

“Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just wondering how they managed to import fresh Kuruma Ebi from Kanagawa here.”

“Isn’t this packaged sushi?”

“You can’t tell? It’s obvious from the translucency that the sushi was freshly made at most a few hours ago.”

That’s eye-opening, and gives me an idea of the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. It’s quite incredible how she could tell the freshness of sushi just from a look.”

“You sure know your shrimp, haha.”

“Oh, do I? I just like reading up on the ocean, that’s all.” Shimada smiled.

Then, a period of awkward silence passed by. Shimada finally regained her composure and waved goodbye before leaving. “Nice meeting you, let’s be good friends this year!”

“Likewise.” How peculiar, I thought while waving in response.

“What did you two talk about?” Akio asked behind me.

“N-nothing. She just seemed to know her sushi. I mean, could you tell this sushi was fresh?”

“As long as the salmon looks shiny, it’s almost always fresh. Packaged sushi only has a shelf life of 2-3 days. If you’ve ever paid attention to the best before date, you would’ve known it was quite fresh.”

I felt attacked. I look down at the best before date, which was in three days. Agh. Rightfully so too.

“B-but what about the Kurumi Ebi huh? That must be some special knowledge right?”

“Katsu-kun. Kurumi Ebi is the ONLY shrimp they use for shrimp tempura.”

I was the only clueless one? Damn.

“Alright, alright, you’re right. It’s just me that knows nothing.”

“W-what? N-n-n-no, I-I was just pointing out that what she told you wasn’t anything special… that’s all!” Akio grinned.

“Don’t worry, I got it, thanks for teaching me something dude.” I turned around. “Oh yeah, you should stop stuttering so much, it makes you sound feminine. That never does you any good, especially around bullies. I’m heading back now, see you!” I waved as I left.

I’ve already noticed a few girls checking out Akio earlier. In fact, he could probably cross dress if he wanted to, I need to remember to tease him about that later.

But for now, I won’t need anything else for tonight since I don’t know what the dorms provide. I can always come back some other time to scout out the second floor. For now, my primary objective is to understand how the virtual setup in my room is going to function since Mirai-sensei stressed it very seriously.

I head out of the store and towards the direction of the dormitories, only stopping halfway to admire the sunset for a while before continuing. The chatter of students accompanied me as I entered the droms, which welcomed me with a light waft of mint. The boys live on the one side of the building, and the girls the other. I’m not quite sure what the purpose of this is, but it means boys and girls will be living on the same floor. Maybe the school tries to recreate realistic situations such as hotels as accurately as possible while still keeping the boys and girls somewhat segregated? Who knows. There’s 6 floors, and each floor has over 50 rooms. 50 rooms. 50 rooms split into the left side and the right side. We’ll be living with all our senpais as well.

I’ve thought this before and I’ll think it again. Who in their right mind designed this place? And who in their left mind approved of this?

I take the elevator all the way up to room 628. Two pi, I thought gleefully as I opened the door. Inside was an amazing sight to behold. There were large couches that faced a large TV, a kitchen, a large bathroom and a room with a twin sized bed. It feels luxurious, too luxurious for a mere high school student.

“Ahhhhhh” I exhaled as I lied down on one of the comfy couches.

Math was the one subject that I actually enjoyed, since it didn’t require any tedious memorization, and I barely had to spend any time on it. My one hour study blocks I set aside for myself in my schedule were actually just extra relaxing time for me.

“Just like this. This is perfect” This is what I want to do for the rest of the night. Just relaxing.

However, a large setup on the floor stole my attention before I could pursue that thought any further.

I yawned as I got up, and stood in the middle of the designated circle. Am I on a scale or something? It took a few seconds to realize I was just standing there looking down. I poked a few buttons while I bent down to pick up a headset.

*click* Right when I put it on, I felt a jolt surge through my body. “WHAT THE-!”

I opened my eyes to complete darkness. It didn’t hurt, but a tingling aftermath remained for a few more seconds before disappearing.

“Holy- What? Where am I?”

“WELCOME to the Virtual World of Kaino High!” A loud voice pierced my ears as the words appeared in bright, bubbly text, in front of me. “Here, you will be able to move freely while your body is frozen in place in your room. You will receive notifications from your phone on the side if you are contacted, and you can leave anytime by simply imagining the words ‘power off’—”

Power off.

*zip* Another jolt. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my room. Thank goodness. That was an unnecessary jump scare. I took a few deep breaths to recollect myself, before pressing the power button to go back again.

*click*

“WELCOME to-”

Power off.

Jeez. I anticipated it too. Why is it so loud? I looked down and realized that there were buttons controlling the sound volume which were turned onto max. If I’d have noticed that sooner, I’d have saved myself half my life energy. I furiously pound the volume down to 50%, before jumping back into the virtual world.

*click*

“Welcome to the virtual world of Kaino high!” Ah, that’s much better.

“Who are you?”

…

Did I just try to ask a programmed system a question? Did those jumpscares scare my sanity out of me as well?

“Your personal AI, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Tsuno Katsu!”

“Gah!” I jumped. It spoke back… It spoke back???

“Who… are you? Were you… programmed?”

“Of course!”

Damn. That was a ridiculously stupid question. Though I was flustered, at least this will make figuring this out that much faster.

I move my arm in awe, and throw out some flimsy punches to fully understand the absurdity that has become reality. I tried to do some kicks, and those worked as well. I felt like a baby exploring a new world. I could run on the spot, sit down, and even jump. I can’t help but imagine the sight of my body actually moving around crazily in my room, despite just being told I’m frozen in place.

“So… AI. What’s so important about this virtual world? Do we just get to play games on here or something?” I’d be very happy if that were the case.

“You can think of it kind of like a game. You will have anonymous tests taken here from time to time, and these tests will have a significant impact on your overall grade for the year. You will still partake in in-person examinations, of course. The tests in this virtual world will focus on your ability to apply your knowledge, along with plenty of other factors.”

Okay. That makes sense.

“Sometimes, you might have to take tests in groups. In those cases, your identity will be revealed to your teammates.”

So not complete anonymity? I see.

“You will always be given the details of the test an arbitrary amount of time before a test is given, so you can use that time to prepare in whatever way you see fit.”

“Doesn’t that ruin the test then? If we’re given the test before we take it.”

“Heehahoheehahee” The AI chained the letter h with a whole bunch of vowels. Was it just my imagination, or was that supposed to be a sad mockery of a human laugh?

“The tests won’t be that easy, Katsu-kun!” This was followed by a quiet flapping sound that probably mimicked a wink of sorts.

The AI sounded much like my older sister when I told her I wasn’t going to study for my elementary school exams. Such nagging wasn’t fun to deal with. She left home five years ago for junior high at some place abroad, and I haven’t seen her since.

“Anyways, ahem, you will also be earning points from the tests. Those will accumulate and will be placed in a ranking system for the entire school. All three school years will be participating in the same events, so naturally, the top spots of the leaderboards are generally all third years. But don’t worry, your performance will be based relative to other students in your year. This leaderboard resets every term, so you will always have a chance to overtake the top students here.”

The entire school? It seems unfair. The third years might only be two years older than us, but two years of learning at this age makes a massive difference.

“Typically, the top eight students in points will reveal their true identities to the school, while the top sixteen will have a choice as to whether or not they reveal their true identities.”

This means that no matter what place we rank, we’re going to be anonymous.

“Does that make sense? I can repeat all of that if you need.”

So there’s tests that give you points, a leaderboard that all students at Kaino high are a part of, and the interesting fact that the smartest eight students at the school will be revealed every term. I think I’m starting to understand how the system works.

However, this sounds like a lot of work. What if I just skipped a few tests to rest and scroll through my phone?

“Are there consequences to not doing well on the tests apart from a bad grade?”

“Of course! One of the most important things you will be graduating from this school with will be the notes on how you did/improved during your time here. Those notes are equally, maybe even more important to anyone looking at your profile in the future, especially from the numerous connections that Kaino high has. We’re pretty well known at the top of society. If you do poorly, you risk having a bad profile written up on you. Whether or not you’d rather live a boring life with a minimum wage job or a comfortable life with a well-paid job is up to you though.”

Of course I need a well-paid job where I can take as many days off as I can. It looks like I’m going to have to put in effort so I don’t leave a bad impression on the ones writing my report. As long as I try hardest during the tests, I’ll be doing all I can. That should be enough to convince them I’m a hardworking student deserving of praise. Or something like that.

“Is there anything else for me to do here?”

“Nope! Please come back on when you receive an email regarding your next test-”

“NEW MESSAGE” I heard the sound of a ring from my phone take over the AI’s voice.

“Dear students, your next examination will be in two days at 6pm. Details will be released tomorrow during class. The topic of the test will be:

Escape the Labyrinth: A diagnostic exam

”