IQ Idiots

Chapter 1: Filthblood

"You don't belong here!"

"Get out of this room, you filthblood!"

"No one wants to affiliate with you!"

These were the words I heard the moment I sat down in my chair — the left-most column, the last row. If I looked straight ahead, I'd see my classmates' rotten faces. If I looked right, I'd stare out the open door at the corridor of the first floor of my school.

My name is Kinoshita Haruzaki, and I am a filthblood.

But hey, you might be wondering how I ended up like this. Let me take you back three months, to January of 2089, before I'd ever set foot in this hell of a place.

---

The alarm rang.

"Wh-wha? It's already 6 a.m.? Ugh! I've gotta go change — there's still an entrance exam I have to take."

I could hear birds chirping in a bright blue sky. I could feel the ground shake, and for a second I thought it was the hover trains. It wasn't. It was the stomping of rallyists gathered in front of SS Tech. Corporation, the world's leading company in technological development. Our house sat just a few blocks from that massive building, close enough that their angry shouts rattled the windows most mornings.

"Geez, they never learn, do they? Police'll probably haul them off soon enough."

That was my younger sister, Kinoshita Haruno. We don't get along particularly well — there's history there I'm not ready to get into — but even I'll admit, if what happened to us had happened to anyone else, they'd probably be angry too.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"Yeah. Entrance exam. Miyagi Advanced High."

"Really? You're going there?! My classmates say there's a ton of handsome upperclassmen."

"I don't even think I'll pass. I heard the acceptance rate's something like 0.001 percent."

"Knowing you, big bro, you could study anywhere. Besides — you've got a 217 IQ, right?"

"Haruno, don't just casually bring up someone's IQ. It's rude."

"Rude? I thought asking a girl her three sizes was rude. You're so lame. That's why you can't get a girlfriend."

She spun back into her room, her long black hair swishing past my face. I couldn't help but laugh a little. That was probably the longest conversation we'd had all month. I hoped we could be okay again soon.

"Haruno, I'm heading out! Eat breakfast, okay? I already washed my dishes, so wash yours too!"

I shut the door carefully. She was still in one of her moods. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever fully understand little sisters.

---

I took the hover train to Miyagi. The school prided itself on its facilities and its faculty — graduating from there practically guaranteed you a place in society. I was already a first-year turning second, so status like that didn't mean much to me yet. At my last school, Hitokuma Academy, everyone knew about my IQ. They wouldn't stop pushing worksheets on me, and there were other things there too — things I'd rather not get into. So I left. Again. This would be my fifth transfer. I don't have any real friends to speak of. Hard to, when you're never anywhere long enough.

Stepping off the train, I saw Miyagi Advanced High rising in the distance like a dome big enough to house more than a hundred thousand students from all over the world. The world's leading school, and I was standing at its gates with a knot in my stomach.