The Cadet Ranking System

Standing in columns is a group of about a hundred students; while we could find another hundred standing along the walls of the courtyard. Standing in front of everyone is the familiar silhouette of the small, ashen-haired lieutenant.

“Alright, before I start the debriefing. All candidates who have failed must follow the officers in front of them immediately.” Spreading her arms wide, she signals the officers to guide the failing candidates out of the courtyard. After a few moments, she starts to speak again.

“First, I would congratulate every one of you. You’re now part of the Academy.” The cadets elate after hearing the Lieutenant’s announcement.

“I’ll give you all a moment to relax. You did well.” After a moment of pause. “But you have noticed something after arriving here back from Mt. Atlas. We have given every single one of you a number, a cadet rank.” Everyone looks at each other as the ashen-haired lieutenant explains.

“This serves as an evaluation of your skills, knowledge, and determination here in the Academy. A person of a high rank, like Cadet 1, for example, will be given more privileges and resources from us.” I hear murmurs spread around me. This might not bode well because of my decision earlier, I thought.

“You may think that this is unfair. Yes, it is unfair. We are now in a world where there is scarce money and resources, and we can’t afford to give everyone the same treatment. But that is not to say that you are not at a disadvantage when it comes to training and knowledge. Everything you do with your time here will allow you to become the person you want to be, in whatever field you desire.” Silence as the Lieutenant explains.

“Take the founder of the Academy, for example. Grand Master Jack was an Electromagnetic Physicist, an expert in electric particles and magnetic fields. He designed the Charge Rifle, a single-shot weapon that could take down anomalies.” I got excited the moment I heard this. My father has always had one in his possession, and I could have my own soon.

“And you can also be as great as Grand Master Jack. That is the reason he created this place, after all. Now, you may all be wondering what your ranks are?” Everyone looks at each other.

“I think I was 26th?”

“Really? I was 35th.”

“I heard that guy is Cadet 1.”

“Who? The tall guy?”

“Yeah! Him. He doesn’t even look like our age.”

As everyone recollects what their numbers are, the Lieutenant continues.

“We have a very simple system in place when deciding what your ranks are in the beginning. Whoever got here first is Cadet 1, the second person is Cadet 2, and so on. To explain, it’s based on the last time that you entered those gates into this academy.” The Lieutenant looks at me.

“And sadly, it looks like some of you have made the foolish decision to run out and back in again.” Ugh... I feel gazes around me.

“But that is not very important. You can always move your way up in the rankings. Work hard or do nothing - it's up to you.” She stares at the entire crowd for a while.

“Your rankings are going to be posted on the walls of the main hall for everyone to see. You may now return to your respective rooms or roam the Academy. Official classes start tomorrow. That includes the 5:00 morning run. Don’t forget to set your alarms beforehand. Dismiss.” After giving us a salute. Everyone scatters, some returning to their rooms while the others form groups and start talking to each other about what just happened. I stand around for a few moments and see if Kaori is still around.

“Looks like she left already.” Julia’s nowhere to be seen, too. Maybe they left together.

“Hey!” Someone pats me on my back. I turn around and see a guy in front of me. He’s wearing circular glasses, not the kind that Jack wears, and stands at about 5 feet 4 inches tall.

“Umm... Hi?” I greet the unfamiliar face.

“My name’s Regin. Nice to meet you.” His cheeks widen after he says.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Alteo. Nice to meet you too.” We both shook hands, and that’s when I noticed the roughness and strength in his grip. The type of callouses and thickness of the skin is not something you would get for just merely exercising, I thought.

“That’s it. I’m just here to greet you. Later.”

“S-Sure.” I look at the guy named Regin after he leaves and introduces himself to another cadet.

“He greeted you too? Weird guy, isn’t he?” I turn around and see Jack smiling behind me.

“Yeah? You too?” I asked him.

“Yup. Wanna get something to eat? I’m starving.” I held my stomach. Though I don’t feel any hunger, it might be best if I take some nutrients in. Father said it is essential to being a Serviceman, after all.

“Let’s go.”

After finding our way to the cafeteria, we waited in line behind those who came first and got our meals.

“Amazingly, these are free,” I say. Though I’m not surprised because this is the Academy after all, but still.

“Yeah. What’d you get?” Jack takes a look at my platter as we find our seats.

“Just some bread and soup.” I can’t believe they have bread here, I thought to myself.

“Oh, nice. I usually eat those at home, but this time, I got some fruits they offered.” Jack picks up the apple and shows it to me. It reminded me of the apple tree back at home. Father says that Mother used to take care of it, and now I’m in charge of it, that is until I came here.

“We have an apple tree back home; I can give you some?” I say to Jack.

“You have a tree? How’d you grow it?” He raises his voice after hearing my question.

“Well, I just followed some instructions. It’s not that hard.” It’s kind of complicated to explain the ecology behind growing a tree now, or whatever plant it might be. As we continued walking, we found open seats at the back end of the cafeteria. We sit down and start chowing our meals in silence. Feeling the warmth after drinking the potato soup, I look around the enormous hall and spot a blonde-haired girl in the distance.

“It’s Kaori” I murmur. As it seems that she’s one of the few people in this place that has yellow hair, it doesn’t take long for me to recognize that it’s here.

“Julia’s with her too.”

“Hmm?” Jack looks at me as he drinks his potato soup. He turns his head and sees the girl I just mentioned.

“Hah... That’s the girl from earlier.” After finishing his soup, he exclaims.

“Yeah,” I respond.

“That was a stupid decision. You lost out on the rankings. You’re supposed to be Cadet 3.” He looks at me with a calm expression. What’s more confusing is why he’s reacting this way.

“But you also did the same?” I told him.

“Yeah, I know...” He places one of his hands on his knees and starts pondering.

“But... that was my decision, just like you made yours.” Jack looks at me and smiles.

“Right...” I answer.

“Besides, I’m confident I can get that ranking back. I’m a Wilhelm after all.” I can feel the pride when he said that. It must give a person a lot of confidence if you consider that your ancestor is the founder of the Academy.

“That reminds me, that Braun dude. Why’d he say that?” This time, I ask Jack the question. He looks up and thinks for a moment.

“Maybe he believes in his skills?” He says to me while resting his face on his fisted hand.

“I guess.” A man of that stature and mystery sure gives off a different vibe. It didn’t even seem like he considered us equal. Maybe Jack’s right. Maybe that’s the mindset you have to have to reach the top.

“Can we sit here?”

“Huh?” Like a swift blade, I look up and see two girls standing in front of us. It’s Julia and Kaori.

“May we?” Kaori smiles as she looks at me.

“Y-Yeah! Sure...” I blurted out. Jack and I immediately move to the side, giving room to the newcomers. After sitting down and placing their platters on the table, I stare in silence as my heart starts beating. Calm down, I say to myself.

“So, girls, what are your names?” Jack initiated the conversation.

“I’m Kaori and she’s Julia, my friend.” She gives a hand to Julia as she introduces her. Her friend meekly bows in front of me and Jack.

“Thank you for helping us earlier. You gave me another chance!” Julia says, with her head still down.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind. You should be thanking Alteo. He was the one who went after you guys.” Jack points at me with his thumb. Feeling the attention change in my direction, I prepare myself.

“Of course! Of course! Alteo, right? Thank you very much!” After she looks at me for a brief moment to clarify my name, she continues bowing down as a gesture of her gratitude.

“No, no, it’s fine. Anyone would do the same thing I did.” I wave both my hands to hide the heat that’s going into my head.

“I doubt anyone would just do that, Alteo. Who would be crazy enough to give up their rank, more so Cadet 3?” Jack gives me the side-eye as he says. I glare at him back. He reacts by showing a big smile on his face.

“That is true? Why did you help us?” This time it was Kaori who asked me.

“H-Huh? Y-Yeah, I was worried because you guys weren’t back yet. So, I went looking for you.” Seeing her get close to me, I raise both my hands up and rest my back on the wall.

“Is that so?” Kaori tilts her head for confirmation.

“Y-Yeah, we’re classmates after all... ha-ha...” I showed a wry smile.

“Yeah.” Seemingly satisfied with that explanation, Kaori fixes her posture as I relax. Taking a sip from my glass, I saw Julia staring at me, but this time there was no expression on her face. She looks at her friend and sighs, shaking her head in the process. I look in front of me and see Jack’s head resting on both his arms.

“What?” I asked him, my voice muffled by the glass in my mouth.

“Nothing.” He answers simply as we finally move on to another conversation. A few minutes later, after the girls finish eating, we make our way back to our rooms. Reaching the intersection of the dormitory rooms, we say goodbye to Julia and Kaori.

“See you guys at class tomorrow. Thank you once again.” With a smile on her face, Julia waves her hand as she and Kaori head to the Western section of the Academy. Jack and I go the opposite way shortly after.

“Man, that was rough. I’m kind of tired... Hah... I should take a nap.” Jack yawns beside me as we walk the aisle to the male dormitories.

“Yeah, me too...” I yaw right after him. “Do you know what your rank is?”

“My new evaluation was Cadet 105. Right after Julia, who’s Cadet 104.” Jack answers.

“I guess that makes me last.” Kaori was ahead of me when we entered the gates of the camp.

“So, only 107 candidates passed out of the 547 in this preliminary exam.” Jack strokes his chin.

“That’s still quite a lot, right? Compared to last year’s.” My father said the entrance rate was about 13% in the previous batch.

“I guess so, but what matters is how many will end up serving the Grand City.” He looks at me.

“Right, there’s also the matter of the ranks. Is it not that big of a deal?” I look back at Jack, who has a serious expression on his face.

“Hmm... I’m not sure. We need to climb back up the rankings to find out.” He crosses both his arms as he speaks. “Let’s check the leaderboard and the library in the afternoon. The former will explain more about the current situation.” Jack proposes.

“Yeah...” I wonder why Father never explained this to me. “Did you ever ask your parents what the system is like?” I ask Jack. Maybe there’s a reason for this.

“Umm... Yeah. I don’t have parents anymore.” He says and I stop.

“....” It was silent for a moment when Jack looked at me.

“I’m sorry.” Shaking my head, I walk beside him again. “I lost my mother too,” I tell him.

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, it was a long time ago. I don’t remember much.” Jack smiles at me, but I don’t feel any happiness from it.

“Yeah, same with me.” After I said that, we both became silent, and the air felt heavy. It continued like this till we reached the entrance of our rooms.

“See you later, Jack,” I say to him first as I raise my hand. He nods at me and enters his room. As I stand there, I wait for his door to click. Verifying that he was now inside, I also entered my room. It didn’t take long for me to remove the heavy boots and lie belly down on the hard bed. It feels like it’s been days since I felt this comfortable. Without a moment too soon, I close my eyes and doze off.

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It was about in the middle of the afternoon when I opened my eyes. My back feels warm, and my foreheads feel wet. That’s when I realized that I forgot to turn on the ceiling fan. Removing all my clothes off other than my short pants, I looked around the room and opened the window. A breeze of fresh air suddenly gusted through my face; I involuntarily closed my eyes to savor the cool scent. After a moment of appreciation, I turn to the view in front of me, and all I see is black.

The land is desolate, and there is no living being in sight. There are black spots scattered throughout the plains in front of me. The only thing that separates it from me are the thick walls and barricades that form around the Grand City. As the Academy is located in the North-east section of the sea, you can quite see the full view of Mt. Atlas, where the first coalition of Servicemen was born.

Looking above the sky, the clouds are grey. There is almost no tint of the setting sun, as is always the case in the afternoons when the weather suddenly changes. The only time you can take advantage of the big red ball of light is in the mornings past until ten o’clock. My father said that the weather used to be different. Though this fact didn’t bother me that much, I had wondered what it was like back before the Great Meteor.

“What am I thinking? I need to check the rankings.” After a deep sigh, I removed my arms from the windowsill and picked out what to wear. I didn’t bring much with me since my father said the Academy would provide everything that we needed. Still, I brought things that would at least remind me of home, even if it’s just my underwear.

After a change of clothes, I headed outside. Looking to the left, I noticed Jack’s room was slightly open.

“Hello, Jack? You in there?” I ask while knocking on the door. No reply. “Is he not inside?” I thought to myself. I hesitated slightly and took a peek at the gap. The door sways side to side, but I don’t see anyone from this point of view. Pushing it slightly open, I gather more information as to what’s happening inside.

“He’s not here.” I look around, not minding too much about the mess he has in his room. After another sigh, I headed back outside, then slowly closed his door. After the click, I feel the tension release from my body.

“Hmm?” I look around and immediately jump when I see someone standing behind me. It’s a little kid, he’s smiling at me.

“H-Hey, kid.” I smile back while scratching my head to feign ignorance.

“Hello! I’m Tom!” the kid says and suddenly scurries right past me.

“Hey!” Surprised by the unexpected reaction, I instinctively shouted.

“Hah...” I sigh for the third time while I look at the back of the running child going away from me.

“That’s to the overpass. Where is he going?” I wonder to myself as I stand up and pat my newly dressed pants repeatedly. Scratching my head again, I walk towards the dormitory entry point.

“Hey there, recruit. Where are you planning to go?” The officer asks after I reach the entryway.

“Umm... Did you see a kid pass by here?” I tilt my head slightly.

“A kid? No. Other than you, that is.”

“Huh? I’m pretty sure he headed this way.” I murmur, turning around to check and see if there’s another diversion in the hallway.

“There’s only two corners. That’s really weird. Maybe he went to the other hallway.” I scratch the back of my head again before looking right back at the officer.

“Ah, yeah. I wanted to ask. Where can I find the rankings?”

“Oh, it’s right by the hallway on the first floor. You should see it immediately if you go down.”

“Alright, thanks.” After waving at the officer, I tried to pass by him.

“Wait.” He blocks the way with his right hand. I look up at him and he drifts his arm in front of me right above his eyebrow.

“Don’t forget to salute,” he says amicably.

“Y-Yeah, sorry. I forgot.” Following his gesture, I raise my left hand instead.

“Good, now be on your way. Remember, don’t be too late. Your morning training starts at five o’clock. You’ll need to get some sleep.” I hear his voice behind me as I walk away. Since I’ve taken quite a long nap, 3-4 hours, I think I probably won’t need to sleep much later tonight.

Entering the main hallway that leads to the staircase, I start to see some of the same cadets roaming around. Since there’s around a hundred of us left, so it’s not as lively as it was yesterday. What’s more, the previous candidates don’t stay in the same institution. After spending one year in the initial Academy, you then move on to more advanced facilities throughout the Grand City. Father said they do this in advance to accustom the candidates slowly in the work of a Serviceman..

“There’s a lot more people here.” As I reach the first floor, I notice more candidates roaming about. There’s an enormous group gathered in one spot right in the middle of the center courtyard.

“There it is.” As I slowly walk behind the mass of cadets, I look up and see a huge cylindrical screen rotating, and neatly showing, in rows and columns, all the candidates that are in this academy right now. After waiting for a bit, I see the image of Braun Hauchman, slightly larger than the others, which is then followed by the next ranked candidates until it reaches Kaori’s face, Cadet 106. Right after her is me.

“Hmm...” Seeing my face on the screen, it then continues on to show the rest of the candidates who failed the initial exams. Their faces greyed out and marked with an X. Despite being last in the rankings, I felt a sense of pride seeing that.

“Of course, I know that wouldn’t be enough.” I say to myself.

“Hey,” While still looking at the rotating screen, someone calls out to me.

“Hey Jack.” I greet him as he walks closer to me.

“I knocked on your door earlier, but you didn’t respond, so I went ahead instead.”

“Nope, it’s fine.”

“Yeah, nothing’s changed here, as we expected.” He looks at the rankings and places both his hands in his pockets. After a few brief moments, he says, “Wanna head to the library?”

“Sure.” I respond shortly after.