___________________________________________
2:39 AM
Boy's Dorm
1st POV
I intentionally slept early last night just so I get the perfect time to research and get some more info about other martial arts.
I wouldn't overextend and get screwed over by Ryūen, nevertheless, I'll be sure to bite back as fast as I could when he starts his attacks.
Normally, I'd ignore his babblings and go on with my life, but my environment this time is different.
Where abilities and overall skills decide your fate, I can't possibly hope to hold my punches here.
Huff
The page automatically scrolled through as I copied the movements shown in the screen of my phone.
It's more or less impossible to learn a high degree of most martial arts just by doing this or that, however if it's only the basics... It's possible to pull off the basic skills and hits with talent a little faster than most people.
Which of course, I didn't have. Efforts alone won't get anywhere, therefore, I was stuck in a box. I have had experience in footwork from boxing at a young age but I never developed it to a high degree due to... Youth.
I can copy both the punches and kicks and make it look genuine, though, if I were to fight someone that has more than enough experience they'd know full well. I was heavily relying on the chance of this working on Ryūen.
And it's not all just about physical, I'd need some preparations for some select subjects which I don't do well. To solidify my position in the class, I would need to produce above average results in both physical activities and academics. It needs some serious balancing but I'm confident I can do it.
The rules of this school is both genius and idiotic, it's basically saying: "It's not against the rules if we don't catch you." They're more or less encouraging the cunning and possibly deranged students to do something underhanded. A simple tactic, one that pays off well for the school and students.
A sweat trickled down my cheek as I continued to imitate. If I were to be a copycat, I'd better make sure to see it through the end.
I struck harder at the air, my breathing slowly getting heavy, I threw a roundhouse kick with almost my full force. I tried to go for more but the sudden relapse of memories were enough to make me lose my focus.
"Guess that's enough for now." I chose to end it then and there.
Wiping the sweat in my whole body as I closed and threw the phone on the bed. 47:01 minutes
Even if the rooms are quite spacious, it still restricts some movements for further training.
Maybe a gym would be good? I thought. It shouldn't be too much of a issue knowing that I had a lot of points at my disposal, normally that is.
I have quite a few plans of use to this, that's why I'm quite restricted in spending it on things other than stored food and necessities.
It's still quite a while ahead, even if I roughly calculate my point usage, I'm not going to get reliant on the points that would arrive the next month.
No one knows how much exactly a whole class would get, considering the amount of people in one class, not just that, the way students act outside of the school shouldn't be excluded. Even the best genius won't be able to do this.
Therefore, those who have enough brains to lead would advise and guide their class to minimize, if not fully defend all of the damage they could.
In my theory, the only class that could do that is Class-A. It's still hypothetical.
I've no info on them except for one student, which doesn't really say a lot.
Class-A is my best bet-
"If I weren't in Class-B, that would indeed be the case." Condescending, but I'll take the lead in this month for the long term.
I continued on my basic strengthening workout. As I thought of multiple plans and tactics for me to thrive in this school.
The benefits of doing so is too great for me to ignore. I have no issues dealing with rival classes, jut one thing.
My classmates would expect me to play a role in the future once I'm done with what I've planned for now.
This is an abnormal school, I can't be overconfident for too many times.
But, Isn't my purpose here aligning with that?
Why not gamble it all then?
Rankings exists, then demotions and ascensions should naturally come with that. I could try and have our class ascend, try is the keyword.
I don't have much information yet, from this school and it's student.
For now, I'll get to know my classmates before moving on other people. I'm not a suicidal maniac or a lunatic, maybe just a little hint of idiocy.
Counting all that, I can still confidently say I was above average the rankings. The only way others would see that is if I show them results. It doesn't necessarily have to be concrete, I can go for some bluffs and fakes for them to value me at a higher degree.
After all this, I knew that this was the bare minimum yet. I'd need to form a plan which wouldn't be foiled all so easily.
This was step 1 to my plan. There are hundreds, if not thousands of steps before I get to build up a decent plan.
I need to count in other people in the fray, and to to that....
I'd need to increase my social network. And the best time to commit on that plan is this exact same day.
Sigh. I finished my remaining reps for pushups. Now switching over to pistol squats. This is the only thing that really takes a toll out of me.
I should get a decent amount of respect and a lot of acquaintances, friends, in my own class. Then in either lunch or the end of classes should I move to other students.
Maybe I could go all out and go for the upper years, but that's a plan for the future.
I know it's a very hectic task. I know it quite well, and I'm not patting myself on the back when I say that.
It's communication that I really have a knack on. Giving me a huge advantage. A one up even compared to highly social students.
I'm confident in pulling this off. If I had anything I'm good at, then it's exactly things like these.
Nonetheless, I should be wary of select few individuals which would be able to discern my true purpose. It's nigh impossible, but the chance is still there.
4:01 AM
Riiiing
I finished doing my exercise, and took 3 protein bars I bought on the way back yesterday. I took a mental note on all of those after I heard the alarm clock go off.
"It's 4 already?" My body clock has been weird these past few days. I was thinking it was still early, I might have skimmed through my "research" for far too much.
I looked over my desk and took notes of select few people that I think I needed to keep an eye for. My main problem as of the moment is Ryūen, it looks like he's leading his class with an iron first.
I'm not sure if I'm lucky to not be in his class or not. I don't do well with people like him.
The next person in the list is Horikita Manabu, the current president. It's not that he is a threat, but I took it in my liberty to keep him in the least case the student council interests me.
It's not that likely at the current moment, the tasks that I would do there contradicts my purpose of having fun in this school. My free time would heavily be depleted, not to mention I will have more power then necessary, it will attract unwanted attention.
Beep, I set yet another alarm for the next hour. I'll go for an hour run, I hope by the time I finish there are places that would sell breakfast and edible food rather than the convenience store.
"Well, crap." I forgot that I only brought a week's worth of casual clothing. If I recall correctly, I brought one jogging pants and a hoodie.
I'd need to buy some new clothes tomorrow.
I opened the box I left in the corner ever since I came to this school. I seriously forgot about it's existence.
My hands went over some casual clothes before I got what I was looking for.
It was neatly folded and arranged as I had beforehand. The smell didn't really change and still was giving off the odor of downy detergent.
Clothes ruffled. As I took off my undershirt and slacks. The school gave us multiple of these but only two blazers. I'm not quite sure what goes on in their head, however, it's clear it's nothing good.
After changing I went over to a smaller box inside the bigger one. I picked it up and pulled out my running shoes. It was light as a feather- maybe not.
It's just my heart rate hasn't quite gone down yet.
I put on a new pair of socks then wore my shoes.
"Fit as ever." I muttered to no one in particular. Tapping the point of it on the floor.
I grabbed my keycard and put it in my pocket, opening the door carefully and then locking it just as quickly.
____________________________________________
On the park.
Cicadas and other insects which I didn't know of were relentlessly making noises. Those said noises are the only few annoying things which I'd honestly grown a tolerance on. Because it's annoying nature is being overshadowed by the ability of the noise to cover the lonesome place.
That being said... They sure are active.
I heard Cicadas were peaking in June, and they were active in this month, which to say isn't all that weird. It must've just been a coincidence.
My feet were as fast, if not faster than usual. Good thing my conditioning has been going well these past few weeks. This was great as I need to do my best and reach my peak performance when my inevitable confrontation with Ryūen happens.
I continued to stroll through my way. The air passing through my whole body as I passed lots of trees. I could still do this in the current time seeing as it's not cold season. Once Winter hits I'd need to readjust my workouts alongside with diet.
What a pain. I thought. Humans are bound to adapt in these kind of situations I suppose.
I stopped myself from further useless thinking and switched topics.
When sensei said that students can buy anything they desired, excluding things that would land you in jail of course. The first thing I thought of were test papers and answers to quizzes alike.
This wasn't all that unusual, lots of "prestigious" universities/colleges would overlook any and every missing piece their client has once said client shows them cash. In addition to that, bribery for a failing grade or buying off tests marks wasn't all that rare outside here.
Not all students do that, yes, that would mean the obvious hint teachers gave in their wording were for students that needed those grades.
I merely explained one part of this hint, who knows how many parts it had. We all just knew anything had lots of uses inside these closed walls.
Let's say they had many uses, that's handy but we can't say all that useful for most. An individual student might only have one or two other uses for their points if we exclude their unnecessary usage at worldly things.
I am one of those, of course. When I manage to get my hands on my desired study papers, I would be able to cement my position inside and outside of my class. I still don't know if today was an ideal day for that... Doesn't mean I won't try though.
My tracks halted. As I took a seat on the nearby bench to catch my breath... And finally... After hours of thinking.
Plan A will commence in the very next hour.
_______________________________________________
.
.
.
.
.
Following the conclusion of my run,
I washed myself with the cold water coming from the shower.
My body heat was steadily going down along with my heart rate. Cold showers are the best.
The switch of the shower made a silent creak as I turned it off completely.
Water dripped down my whole body, the early morning added with the very cold shower would've made me shiver if I weren't used to this.
Be that as it may, chills were going over my spine non-stop. I saw that I needed to wipe down sooner or later too. 5:00 AM
I pulled down the issued towel from the school. Taking my time with wiping, knowing that I needed further break just to be safe.
Proceeding to get dressed after I wiped my hair, my stomach grumbled.
Let's just hope the cafeteria is already open. During my whole run around the park and way past that, each establishments I saw were closed.
As I wore the second blazer, I didn't do any buttons once again. Reason being is that I just finished my exercise, requiring my body more air to take in.
I went to the bed and with little movements, I arranged the pillows, blanket and even the curtain right by the window in an orderly fashion.
There's not much dust, yet I still swept the entire room. I haven't settled in fully, causing myself no time to buy plates and other kitchen utilities. I'd be sure to buy some the weekend, school days are going to get very busy for me.
I checked my uniform to see if I ruined the ironing, to which, it thankfully wasn't. I put the broom aside the room, disconnecting my phone which was previously charging. Also grabbing my bag just close in it's side. After going through my plan again and again inside my head, I was set to go. "I guess I'll pull off another act." Talking to myself, I got out of the room; making sure that my footsteps weren't that loud.
I'm about to pull off a little gamble, with confidence that I'd be able to win this said gamble. When I start it like how my plan is supposed to go, then its natural I develop good academics just in case I ran out of papers to buy.
It seems hard, which it isn't. After I took the entrance exam, I was surprised to know that the questions had relative difficulty, but is unbefitting for the elites. Back in my school my grades were getting balanced out by my mediocre grades in mathematics and history. However, Going from the entrance exam I took, it was easy to discern that those tests were nothing but a facade for getting accepted.
All in all, I would say I still need those 2 subjects for now, History is where I'm having most the trouble with, that subject having the most content out of all. I could up my math percentage to 70-80%, same as I did in the past. If I can average those percentages, it gives me a chance to surpass a 90% in others. I could give English class a shot to try and ace it.
I'm free of 2 subjects at the moment, when my plan goes well, the academic evaluation of me should go up a level or two. In terms of physical evaluation, I tried my best. Judging from the interviewer's way of talking to me, I should've gotten higher than most. Let's say I'm sitting in the 9.9%. That's a lot of people above me.
I could only hypothesize in the moment, I might be higher or lower than that. The only way to make sure is to ask the teacher in my head. Who happens to be just right the other side of the door I stopped in front of.
Knock knock.
"Yes? A student seems to have early business with someone, I see~" Hoshinomiya-sensei's cheeky voice were at play as usual. She spoke those words as I heard her hurried footsteps towards the knob.
"I apologize for the sudden, uh, visit? I'd like to request a talk regarding school matters." I said as clearly as I could. Keeping a straight face against her chill-inducing smile.
"It's fine, you're up early aren't you?" She asks. Closing the door behind her and walking towards what I deem to be the counselor's room. I followed her, speaking no words and letting her hum all she wants.
As she took a stop, Hoshinomiya-sensei pulled out a key and opened the door. Beckoning me to go in.
"Pardon the intrusion." I muttered, seeing the neat and clean room. One large square table along with a beautiful chair behind it. Right in front of me was something like a couch chair.
"What trouble is my dear student having problems about, hmmm?" Free from any sorts of problems on the surface, sensei nonchalantly took a seat in front of me. I also took a sit myself.
Steeling myself for the deal that's about to launch in the air.
"I'm not worried about anything, Sensei." I paused, showing her a similar smile of her own. "You see, I'd like to buy something." I took my phone out. My smile not fading away from my face.
Hoshinomiya-sensei narrowed her eyes at it, compared to her day-to-day smile, the one she wore right now might be enough to frighten most students.
"I see, I see. Dear Sadi-kun here wants to buy test papers~" She grabbed the phone out of my hand, which wasn't the thing that's bothering me. I told everyone to call me 'Sadi' but that's for formality, did she use it against me? Or is she just that cheeky?
"To be specific, only two subjects.''
I didn't let her take the reins, wondering about how she knew what exactly is the reason I came here for. Connecting the dots inside my brain as I spoke to her in my normal tone.
"Fufuun~, You must be wondering how I hit the mark." Dramatically pausing like that, Sensei stood up from her seat and towered over my sitting figure. She hands me the phone with the calculator open.
"15000 for two subjects? Please stop joking, Sensei." I tried sounding as if I knew what it was priced at, for people like sensei, I suppose it was already futile. Bargaining as I am, I arrived at the answer on my previous question.
She must have some kind of way to know of a student's scores. Maybe the whole class even. Every teacher might have that influence, I believed they had no way of knowing specific things past those scores.
"But I'm not joking, you see, those two subjects you want just so happens to have mathematics, which is debatably, what most students have the hardest time on. In addition, for those 15,000 maybe I should include quizzes and everything else for this month~?" Sensei spoke clearly with an overfamiliar tone. She revealed her cards confidently just to show me that she's up and above, and that I had no way of negotiations.
Apparently she somehow knew of what exact subjects I needed to focus on, then used it against me. As expected from a fox. Considering the way she talked, it appears that deals like buying test papers, is not something new.
"Then if you include answer sheets until next month, we have a deal." I wasn't having a hard time on these two subjects in general, I can cram studies from now up until the tests, but decided against it. It would take too much time, compared to when I get the specific lessons in the direct answer sheet. The latter takes too less time, in the price of tons of effort in a short span of time.
"Two months is a bit much don't you think? Your Sensei has some things to buy too... Sadi-kun." Her tone and way of speech completely baffles me, despite this... her current self right now is a better fit compared to her usual cheeky attitude. She must know that both of us were in a deadlock. To trust that nothing here we speak of comes out is the only way for us to proceed.
Deals like these aren't really forbidden, but could attract nasty rumors. We are in a stalemate is what I'm saying.
"We have the same goal, Sensei. I could assume that teachers get an increase in salary and reputation just for being in a higher class, right?" This was a natural. The position of a class can be said by how well the teachers guide and help their students. Yes, there's a barrier that's keeping them from "helping" a tad too much.
"You're a cunning one aren't you? Know that if our conversation gets out, both of us would have to suffer." She completely switched from overconfident to serious, adapting to the topic at hand.
"I know that full well. I'm willing to take necessary risks, seeing the good benefits ascending to Class-A gives." I spoke in a confident manner. This situation is very complex, I can't afford to make a single mistake causing my fuck-up. Hoshinomiya-sensei might or might not want to help her students, if the former is true, then something is preventing her from just giving me the papers at a lower price. "On that note, I understand the pressure you're feeling. This school gives great care at putting up price tags to things, after all." I tapped the table. Taking this case very seriously. I removed my smile the same way Sensei did.
"Fuhaha. Intriguing. You sure like to give effort in things that heavily concerns the future." Sensei broke her serious front, laughing in resignation. "I like it. Come what may... are you confident in getting our beloved Class to the summit?" Rather than doubt, I could sense that she was asking if I was willing to carry the burden of Class-B in my hands.
"Ichinose only has one fault, she's too good of a person. That's why with little interference... if you surround her with people that do well to protect her weak points... then I daresay, She's a student befitting on the top." Easier said than done. I thought to myself. I'd need to handle her myself to prevent any slips and trips from my classmates.
In reality, Ichinose was a very weak student considering her strength is also the root of her weakness. Someone needs to see and teach her how to look at a more realistic approach.
"If you take it upon yourself.... you might turn the whole 1st year against you. Jeez, just look how much her social network blew up." Sensei points her index finger at me, looking at how I'd react to such a statement.
"Humans are a bundle of greed. They try to involve themselves in something they're not supposed to be in. Students, especially don't know how to handle their emotions well just yet, they can be jealous or something." I stared at Sensei blankly. "Such immature people should not even be considered a threat." Adding a tone at the end, I lightly slammed the table. It made quite the sound.
Ichinose. i.e; the obvious leader of Class-B would continue to gain influence in our years, come the next day, week, month she might get recognized as one of the most known people in the school, counting on her charm, such a happening might have been inevitable.
The price to all of that is unwanted admiration, people that would target her, to some... that might grow an obsession towards that girl. She's still quite naive, her naivety would grow further if left unchecked... it would cause the downfall of the once good Class-B. I need to prevent that at all cost.
"That's a strong will. Mhm, yes. Exactly how I want youngsters nowadays! If you're willing to make a deal with me, right here and now, I shall help the ascension of our dear class while still playing safe of course." Hoshinomiya-sensei stretched her hand out to me, to which I gladly took on.
The die has been cast, from this point on, I would be tackling many challenges. But why is it that I'm so excited about it?