Lelouch's POV
As it turns out, it seems I had greatly underestimated Blank. I've learned a great deal about these two siblings just through this chess match. I opened my eyes, temporarily breaking out of the deep concentration I had been in up until now and looked over my desk at my opponent.
Sora's sly grin has still not left his that face of his, and Shiro was as stoic as always. Shiro was a person who operated based on cold, calculating precision. Her ability to think was extraordinary; throughout this game she had flaunted her immense calculating ability that puts even chess engines to shame. If it was any other game but chess, I'd think she has some kind of precognition - it's almost as if she has a map in her head which shows all possible continuations with terrifying depth and accuracy.
That being said, I think I would be able to beat her. If anything, her being like a supercomputer is both her biggest strength and weakness. Identifying traps and tricks, and intuitively knowing which kinds of moves - like an early b6 push by black for example - can result in long term weaknesses which will be exploitable down the line. Shiro, as well as most computers, can avoid this for the most part by analysing the position at a depth of around twenty moves; if a move won't create a big weakness within that amount of moves then a computer will judge it as a good move, especially if it accomplishes a short-term goal or prevents an opponent's tactic.
There is a problem with this, however. In fact, it has a name: The Horizon Effect. Also known as The Horizon Problem, it's a name for the issue wherein a game such as chess has so many possible game states that computers and AI can only feasibly evaluate a small percentage of them.
Human beings can overcome this weakness by using their intuition and pattern recognition. A human chess player for example will easily be able to identify a variety of traps and tricks in a game by virtue of recognising them. Once a player falls for a trap once, they won't do so again because they'll remember it next time. A computer however has no simple way of doing this - the only way a computer can identify a trap is by evaluating the game state many moves down the game tree.
I had fallen behind a bit but when I realised all of this, I figured out how I can win. By exploiting tricks and traps that would have a negative effect mainly on the positional play of the game - something Shiro can't easily see, if at all.
"Knight g6" I said confidently.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some of the observers look surprised for a second. Namely, Ayanokōji narrowed his eyes when he heard my move - it was the first time a noticeable change appeared on his face since he entered this classroom. There are two possible reasons a person would have this reaction to my move and my evaluation of Ayanokōji would change drastically depending on which reason he gave for his reaction. I made a mental note to ask him later.
On one hand, he could be surprised because on the surface it looks like I'm simply giving away my knight for free. However, this was the trap I knew that Shiro would fall for. If the pawn on f7 takes my knight, it will open up a diagonal which the pawn previously blocked which I can use to force Shiro's castled king from out of its safety into the centre of the board. From there, it will be easy to attack and will eventually result in checkmate; even for a supercomputer, recovering from a position where your king is isolated is near impossible.
Despite this, the move I had played - knight to g6 - was still objectively a bad move. Why? It's because black can respond with a passive move that covers the diagonal. By doing this, it accomplishes two things - it makes black's pieces more active and developed and also forces me to retreat my knight back to where it was which effectively means I wasted two moves meanwhile black has been developing their pieces and building an attack.
If Ayanokōji noticed this, then he could be anywhere from a good player to a grandmaster - perhaps, even beyond that. However if his reasoning for why my move was bad is because it gives up a piece for free, then he's just an idiot.
I looked at Shiro expectedly, waiting for her response which would inevitably be 'f7 takes on g6', sealing the game. I couldn't help but feel a smug joy as she opened her mouth from across the desk.
With this, my victory is all but assured and I'm 20,000 points richer.
However, no response came from Shiro. Just as she was about to state her move, Sora stopped her. Then, he spoke for the first time since the game began.
"Don't take it, it's a trap. Play Knight to a5 instead."
My internal joy immediately vanished and I felt my blood run cold as a sudden realization hit me. I'd been so focused on deciphering Shiro and planning how to beat her that I'd completely forgotten: I wasn't playing against Shiro, I was playing against Blank.
Shiro's one weakness in chess - her lack of intuition and pattern recognition - was entirely covered by Sora, the man I had neglected to consider until now.
This is their dynamic, how they work together. They have no weakness.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. There was still technically eighteen minutes until the opening ceremony, but this school's campus is practically a mini-city and so it takes a surprising amount of time to walk from here to where the ceremony is located.
In short, I have only around five minutes to turn this around. I'm already six points of material down and due to the tempo I just lost by going for that trap, I'm going to have a worse position too. In short, it's not possible to recover now. Perhaps I could've forced a stalemate if I had kept playing as normal, but I got overconfident in thinking I had deconstructed Blank. This trap which I had intended to set for Shiro ended up being my undoing. Blank is a truly formidable opponent.
"It's my loss. I resign." I said.
Somehow, I felt a strange sense of calm even though I had been thoroughly beaten. Perhaps it was because I had been so used to looking at the world from the sidelines. Everything, from school to chess and everything in between, came easy to me and so I developed apathy towards my daily life. Maybe this school, no, this class can reignite me and give me a goal to strive for.
Hmph. I'll beat you one day, Blank. I swear it.
"You look unusually happy for someone who just lost 10,000 points," Sora said in a teasing manner.
"Ah, I was so caught up in finally meeting worthy competition that I totally forgot about that."
Saying that, I pulled out my phone and transferred 5,000 of my points to both Sora and Shiro, as promised. I realised I had a smile on my face. I understood now a bit of what Ishihara-sensei meant when she said all of class E is once-in-a-generation talent. If everyone else here is comparable in overall strength to Blank, then this class can certainly be considered a miracle.
"You guys together seriously don't have any weaknesses, then? You completely cover each other's bases." I said, a slight trace of irritation in my tone.
"Well, that's not entirely true. Blank does have one weakness."
Well that's a surprise. I thought hard about it, but I couldn't think of anything. Light must've noticed my puzzled expression because he spoke up.
"Can't you figure it out? If not, then you're too caught up in the game you just played. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture." he said
Too caught up in the game I just played? What does that mean? Honestly, if everyone here is going to speak in riddles for the next three years then it's not going to be a fun time. I glanced over at the one guy I knew would also be bewildered along with me - the boy I'd know since I was a child - Suzaku Kururugi. As predicted, he wore an expression of confusion even more so than I did.
"I feel like I'm seriously losing it here. You're all acting like it's obvious. What is it?" I asked with clear frustration.
"It's violence." Ryuzaki, the ever-calm observer, said from his desk on the other side of Suzaku.
Then it clicked. Violence. What Light had said was true. I was thinking so much about how I could beat them at chess that I completely neglected to think about the bigger picture. Sora had even said it during his introduction - he was a shut-in, meaning he had probably never been in a direct confrontation, and Shiro was just a small girl. Beating them with violence seemed by far the most effective method. Somehow though, I felt like I didn't want to do that. I wanted to beat them fair and square on their own turf.
"I see..." was all I could say.
"In any case, if anyone here is threatened with violence I will be able to guard them. I don't know about students in this class, but I'm confident that I won't lose to any other student at this school. My training was very... rigorous." Suzaku said.
I'd severely hope he wouldn't be able to be beaten by anyone else at this school. If there is someone in this school that can beat Suzaku in a fight then I seriously have no idea why he's even in this class.
"That's... reassuring. It will be more reassuring once we see what you're capable of in P.E though." Sora said with a chuckle, to which Suzaku responded with a smile.
"Hey, there's only twelve minutes left until the opening ceremony starts. We'd better get going before we end up late." Light interjected.
Nods of agreement spread around the room, so I picked up my bag along with everyone else and headed out.
△▼△▼△▼△
Ayanokōji's POV
I'd expected this school's opening ceremony to be special in some way judging by what I knew of how the school operates but it was actually pretty generic.
After the ceremony, 70-80 percent of students headed back to the dormitories since we don't have anything left to do in school for the rest if the day. I decided to visit the convenience store on a whim.
I was lost in thought as I walked. I was pondering how much I should hold back at this school, if at all. Usually, I would do my best to just blend in and become a completely average student, allowing me to live a peaceful, ordinary student life.
However, that is practically impossible now. I'd been assigned to Class E - the 'experimental class' which is a small group of generational talents. Come next month when Class E is revealed to the rest of the student body, my standing out will be inevitable even if I try to pass my allocation off as a mistake.
In fact, if I try to act like a regular high-schooler I will probably stand out more in my class which is full of geniuses than I would if I didn't try to blend in.
The question, then, becomes this. How much should I hold back? If I become the weak link in the class I will surely be the centre of attention, at least in that classroom. Conversely, if I put myself forward as the most superior student, I will probably be challenged often and perhaps even end up with a target on my back born of jealousy.
Would I be accepted by the rest of Class E if I were to reveal my full capabilities? I couldn't be sure at this time. I'd only met my classmates earlier in the same day, after all. For now, I'll just do my part and sit at the average of my class. Of course, the average level in Class E is still probably far above even the best students in the other classes.
"My, what an unpleasant coincidence."
A sharp voice cut through my thoughts and grounded me back in reality. I looked toward the source. It was the girl who'd sat next to me on the bus, starting at me with contempt.
"There's no need to be so confrontational. My name is Ayanokōji Kiyotaka." I replied calmly.
"And you just introduced yourself like that?"
"Is there a problem with that? We've met each other multiple times now. Sharing my name is common courtesy, no?"
The girl didn't respond. I scanned my eyes over the shelves of various necessities like shampoo and thought about what I should buy. Cheap products should be the way to go for me, seeing as blowing through all my points could potentially have severe consequences - not just for me but for the rest of Class E as well.
"Horikita Suzune."
"Hm?" I involuntarily responded.
"It's my name. Don't get the wrong idea though. We aren't friends. I have no need for things like that."
"I see..."
Really, I thought that I had got off to a bad start at this school but Horikita seems to be doing arguably worse. I couldn't exactly call my classmates friends but our group seemed to get along fine collectively. Then again though, if Horikita was choosing isolation voluntarily then perhaps she's more content than I am.
I picked up a basket and dropped some basic necessities into it. I went for the cheaptest options because I didn't feel the need to be overly luxurious. I glanced in Horikita's direction and noticed she had also chosen the cheap options.
"I thought girls usually made a fuss over what kind of shampoo they bought."
"Well, that depends on the person, doesn't it? I'm the sort who doesn't know when you might need money," she replied.
She shot me an icy glare that seemed to say, Could you please not inspect other people's purchases without their permission?
"So, what was your first day here like?" I asked in an attempt to further the conversation.
"You don't seem like the kind of person to care about that."
"I'm just trying to make small talk."
"... I see. The opening ceremony was tedious, as was my classroom. Everyone decided to do introductions so I made a swift departure." she finally responded.
"You're going to be here for the next three years you know. Are you sure you want to be alone for that much time?"
"I've been alone for pretty much my entire life. Another three years is nothing to me," she told me a rather depressing fact.
"And what about you? I suppose you have already made a number of friends in the double-digits, which is why you're lecturing me, right?" she continued in a challenging tone.
"Ah, well, uh, not exactly..." Was all I could say
"That's the difference between you and I then. I am alone by choice, whereas you are alone because your social skills are tragic."
Ouch.
The ding sound that signifies when the door is opened reverberated in my ears, and I looked over to the entrance. Someone from my class had entered the store.
"Hey, Ayanokōji. So, you came here too?"
"I guess I was just curious," I responded.
He took a few seconds to look between me and Horikita, before speaking again.
"Don't tell me, you two are already dabbling in the dating scene?" he asked.
"Me, with this guy? Don't joke around." Horikita said coldly.
"You don't have to be so harsh about it," I sighed exasperatedly.
The new arrival smiled at our antics, and turned to address Horikita.
"I'm Yagami Light, Ayanokōji's classmate."
"Why does everybody feel the need to introduce themselves at every opportunity?" Horikita asked incredulously.
Light and I shared a quick glance.
"That'd be because it's social etiquette. Do you really think you can get far with that attitude?" I responded.
"I can get farther than you all on my own, thank you very much. I don't need your concern."
Light looked at me with a smug grin just before he was about to speak. Somehow, I felt like I knew what he was going to say.
"You've gotten yourself quite the interesting girlfriend, Ayanokōji. What's her name?" he asked.
He had purposely said that and asked me for her name rather than asking her directly to get under her skin. And it seemed to have worked, as Horikita's expression turned to one of irritation. I decided to play along.
"She's called Horikita. Quite the Ice Queen, isn't she?" I replied.
"What could you two idiots possibly be talking about, I wonder," Horikita said, clearly annoyed.
I was about to retort when something caught my interest. Some toiletries and food had been tucked away in the corner of the convenience store. At first glance, they appeared to be the same as the other items, but there was one big difference.
"Hey what's up with that," I said, pointing towards the clearance bin in the corner.
"Free?"
Horikita obviously also thought it was strange. Her irritated expression was replaced by a quizzical one. Light, on the other hand, just kept his relaxed smile. He probably already had an idea of why a store on campus would have free necessities.
"They must be emergency relief supplies for students who use up their points. This school is so incredibly lenient," I said
"What kind of idiot could burn through 100,000 yen in a month?" Horikita asked condescendingly.
My eyes met Light's and we both understood the same thing. Despite the air of superiority that surrounds Horikita, she hadn't noticed anything suspicious about the S System yet.
"Hey, shut it! Just wait a sec! I'm looking for it right now!"
A sudden, loud voice dornwed out the store's peaceful background music.
"Come on, hurry up. You have a line of people waiting on you!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, if they have any complaints, they can take it up with me!"
Apparently, trouble was brewing by the register. A dispute had broken out between two young men who were glaring at each other. I didn't recognize either of them, but one stood out as a well-built man with striking red hair. He had a thoroughly ill-tempered look on his face and his hands were full of noodle cups.
I was about to approach him and speak up, but Light grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"He's clearly forgotten his student ID card. You were about to do something stupid like offering to pay for him, weren't you?"
It appears that Light had seen right through my intentions. I didn't think it was a particularly big deal, though.
"It's a few noodle cups. They're only around 150 yen each," I replied.
Light just looked at me and shrugged, as if to say Whatever, you do you.
I approached him and spoke up.
"What's going on here?"
"Huh? Who are you?"
I had meant to appear amicable, but the guy with red hair scowled at me. Apparently, he was under the mistaken impression that I was an enemy.
"My name's Ayanokōji. I just asked because it sounded like there was trouble."
At my explanation, the red-haired guy looked somewhat pacified and lowered his voice a little. "Oh. Gotcha. I forgot my student ID card. Forgot that it pretty much acts as our money from now on, too."
I looked at his empty hands. He'd put the noodle cups away. He started to leave, probably heading back to the dorms, where he'd likely forgotten his card. To be honest, the fact that the student ID card was necessary for payment hadn't clicked in my head until Light mentioned it, either.
"I can pay for you. I mean, it'd be annoying if you had to head all the way back to the dorms. I don't mind."
"That's true. You're right, it'd be absolutely annoying. Thanks."
The store wasn't particularly far from the dorms, but by the time he got back there would be a long line of students buying lunch.
"My name's Sudō," he said. "Thanks for helping me out. I owe you."
"Nice to meet you, Sudō."
Sudō handed me his noodle cup, and I walked over to the hot water dispenser. After watching our short exchange, Horikita sighed, aghast.
"You're acting like a pushover from the start. Do you intend to become his servant? Or are you doing this to make friends?" she asked.
"You know, people sometimes do things just to help another person out." Light interjected.
"That's right. I wasn't particularly planning on becoming his friend."
"You don't seem to be afraid." Horikita observed.
"Afraid? Why? Because he looks like a delinquent?" I asked.
"A normal person would try to keep someone like him at a distance."
"But Horikita, he doesn't look like an especially malicious person, he just seems a bit short-tempered. Besides, you don't look scared either." Light said in his usual, relaxed tone.
"Obviously, that's because only defenseless people would be frightened. If he acted violently, I could easily keep him in check."
"Easily, huh?" Light said with a raised eyebrow.
"We'd better finish up here. We'll be a nuisance to other customers if we linger around." I said before Horikita had the chance to snap at Light's remark.
They both nodded in agreement so we presented out student ID cards to the machine by the register. Since we didn't have to deal with small change, our transaction was fast and efficient.
"You really can use it like money..." I said to no one in particular.
My receipt showed the price of each item and the remaining amount of points. The payment had gone through without any problems. I poured hot water into my noodle cup while Light and I waited for Horikita. I'd thought it might be tricky, but opening the lid and pouring hot water up to the line was simple enough.
Anyway, this school was certainly eerie.
What merit could every student possibly have that would warrant such a massive allowance. Considering that there were about 160 people enrolled in my grade, that means that the school had forked out 16,000,000 yen to the first-years alone this month. Even for a government-supported school, that amount seemed quite excessive.
"How does this school benefit from giving us this much money?"
"They probably wouldn't." Light said nonchalantly.
Horikita, having just finished paying, shot him a quizzical look.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just what I said. This school probably wouldn't benefit from giving every student 100,000 yen a month."
It seemed like Light was dropping a few more subtle hints for Horikita, but it seemed that she had no interest in looking for a hidden meaning in his words. She just stared at him like he was an idiot.
"Ah, whatever. Forget I said anything," Light sighed.
"I won't tell either of you what to do, but I'd advise against wasting money. It's difficult to fix frivolous spending habits. Once a person gets used to an easy life, they find they need more and more. When you lose it, the shock can be great," Horikita said.
I had no intention of wasting my points on miscellaneous junk, and I had no doubt that Light didn't either. After paying and exiting the store, I found Sudō seated outside, waiting for me. When I saw him, he gently waved me over. I waved in return, feeling somewhat embarassed, yet happy.
"Are you really going to eat here?" I asked him.
"Of course. It's just common sense."
Sudō perplexed me with his matter-of-fact reply. Horikita sighed in exasperation.
"I'm going back. I'll be stripped of my dignity if I spend more time here," she said.
"What do you mean 'dignity'? We're just high school students. We're ordinary. Or, what, are you the high-born daughter of some noble family or something?"
Horikita didn't flinch at Sudō's harsh tone. Seemingly irritated, Sudō set his noodle cup on the ground and stood.
"Huh? Hey, listen to people when they're talking to you! Hey!" he said.
"What's his problem? He just sudenly got angry." Horikita said this to me and Light, completely ignoring Sudō. This was apparently too much for Sudō, who started to shout.
"Hey, get over here! I'll smack that smug look off your face!" he yelled.
"Hey, while it's true that Horikita is pretty rude you're also taking this too far." Light said.
It was apparent that Sudō's patience had run out. "Huh? What was that? She has a bratty, obnoxious attitude. That's bad, especially for a girl!"
"For a girl? That's rather outdated thinking. Ayanokōji, I would advise you not to become his friend," Horikita said. With that, she turned her back on Sudō.
"Hey, wait! You shitty girl!"
"Calm down." I help Sudō back as he actually tried to grab Horikita. She made her way in the direction of the dorms without stopping or glancing back.
"What the hell is her deal? Goddamn it!" he shouted.
"There are many different types of people, you know." I said.
"Yeah and besides, your attitude wasn't exactly praiseworthy either." Light added.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sudō glared at Light.
Still staring at Light, Sudō ripped the cover from his noodle cup and began eating. Just a little while ago, he'd fought in front of the register, too. He probably had a short fuse.
"Hey, you guys first years? This is our spot."
As Sudō slurped his ramen, three boys called out to us. They seemed to have just come out of the same store and were carrying the same brand of noodle cups.
"Who are you? I was already here. You're in the way. Get lost," Sudō barked.
"You certainly have a way with words, Sudō." Light said sarcastically.
"You hear this guy? 'Get lost,' he says. What a cocky little first-year punk."
The three laughed in Sudō's face. Sudō shot up, slamming his noodle cup against the ground. The broth and noodles splashed everywhere. I heard Light stifle a laugh from beside me. I knew he was going to make fun of me for buying Sudō those noodles later, but I ignored him for now.
"'First-year punk,' huh? You tryin' to make fun of me, huh?!"
Sudō had an extremely short fuse. If I had to guess, he was the type to immediately threaten anyone or anything that crossed him.
"You're awfully mouthy, considering we're second-year students. We already put out bags here, see?"
Plop! With those words, the second-year students put down their bags and guffawed loudly.
"See, our stuff's here. Now, beat it," one of them said.
"You got a lot of guts, asshole."
Sudō didn't back down, unfazed by being outnumbered. It looked like fists were going to fly at any moment. I, of course, didn't want any part of it and I'm sure Light didn't either.
"Oh, wow, scary. What class are you in? Wait, never mind. I think I know. You're in Class D, aren't you?"
"Yeah, so what?" Sudō snapped.
The upperclassmen students exchanced glances and burst into laughter. Seeing this, Light and I also exchanged glances, as if to say That wasn't just a guess, right?
"You hear that? He's in Class D! I knew it! It was a dead giveaway!"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Hey!"
As Sudō barked at them, the boys grinned and stepped backwards.
"Aw, you poor things. Since you're 'defective,' we'll let you off the hook, just for today. Let's get going, guys."
It appears Light and I had been lumped in with Sudō.
"Hey, don't run away! Hey!" Sudō shouted.
"Yeah, yeah, keep on yapping. You guys'll be in hell soon enough anyway."
Be in hell?
They appeared calm and composed. I wondered what they'd meant. Previously, I'd been certain this school would be filled with upper-class young men and women, but there seemed to be plenty of rowdy, combative people like Sudō or those upperclassmen.
"Ah, damn it! If those had been nice second-year students, or cute girls, that would've been great. Instead, we had to deal with those annoying morons."
Sudō didn't bother to clean up his mess. He thrust his hands into his pockets before heading back. I looked at the wall outside the convenience store, discovering two surveillance cameras.
"That might lead to problems later," I muttered.
Light seemed to agree, as he reluctantly bent down and started to help me pick up the cup and clean up the mess. Come to think of it, as soon as those second-year students found out Sudō was in Class D, their attitudes had changed. Although it ate at me, I couldn't explain it.
△▼△▼△▼△
I made idle conversation with Light as we headed back towards the dormitory, our homes from that day onward.
"It appears we've been blessed with a rather valuable hint," Light said.
"Yeah. We should let our classmates know tomorrow." I replied.
"Speaking of our classmates, what's your impression of them, Ayanokōji?" he asked me.
My impression of my classmates, huh? Although I hadn't spent much time with them at all, I had already begun to paint a picture of what they were like in my head. It was much easier to do so when you have six classmates, as opposed to the usual thirty-nine.
"Shiro has caught my interest the most," I said.
"Really, why's that?"
"I take it you aren't a chess player then, Light. During Blank's game against Lelouch, she displayed extraordinary calculative abilities. Her moves were played with utmost accuracy."
"Ah, that's right. I have played a bit of chess but never really studied it seriously."
"Who are you most interested in then, Light?" I asked him.
"Definitely, it would have to be Sora. He claimed to be a shut-in his whole life but had no problem speaking up to our class. Additionally, his deductive reasoning is very impressive especially since he had barely anything to go on and he didn't look like he had thought that hard about it at all. Oh, and his one move during that chess game seemed to really shake Lelouch up. I can't help but be intruiged by him."
"I'd be inclined to agree, Sora is also very enigmatic. But then again, our whole class is enigmatic."
Class 1-E was shrouded in mystery. Ishihara-sensei had told us we were an 'experimental class' but refused to elaborate on what exactly that meant. Additionally, we were supposedly made up of generational talents which would pique almost anyone's interest.
"That's true," Light said with a small laugh.
"Oh, right, Ayanokōji," he called out to me. "Can I have your contact info? I think it will be a good idea for us to establish connections within our class as soon as possible."
He was definitely right about that. If our deductions about being disadvantaged and having to compete against other classes was true, then we'll have to do everything we can possibly do to make up for that. Establishing trust and relationships between the students of Class E was one of those vital things.
After exchanging contact information with Light, I received a keycard for Room 401 in the dorms and a handbook containing information about the dorm's rules. It seemed that Light's room was on a different floor than mine, so I split off from him on the elevator and made my way to my room.
"So they don't place restrictions on electricity or gas usage?"
I'd initially assumed that the school would deduct the cost from our points. This school really went to great lengths to have a perfect system for its students. However, I was a little surprised that they'd implemented co-ed dormitories. After all, this was high school, so the rules stated that unsuitable romantic relationships were frowned upon. In short, sex was strictly forbidden... obviously. I mean, a member of the clergy wouldn't say that engaging in illicit sexual activity was okay.
I lay on my bed and thought about everything I'd learned in this short day. I'd met a very intruiging group of classmates and seemingly made my first friend, in Light. This school seemed to operate in a very luxurious yet mysterious fashion, and I felt that our class had only scratched the surface when it comes to deciphering the inner workings of the school.
Most importantly though, I was finally free. When I wanted to eat something, I could eat it. When I wanted to do something, I could do it. I almost didn't want to graduate. Before being accepted, I'd honestly thought I would've been fine either way, that the difference between passing and failing would have been trivial. But my true feelings finally welled up. I was glad to have been admitted here.
This is the start of my new life, my chance to redefine myself. For the first time since I can remember, I am truly excited.
A/N: 5398 words! A bit of a quiet chapter compared to chapter 1, but some downtime was necessary for me to set up the next few chapters.
I should have another chapter out in a day or two, maybe three. I tend to favour longer chapters over more regular updates because I think it allows each update to be better and also gives a better structure to the story. Next one should be the longest yet, since there's quite a lot to go over.
The first day has roughly followed the events of the original Light Novel - after all, there's not too much that can happen this early on. Expect some unique developments and subplots to come up in the upcoming chapters though.
Thanks for reading <3