Zhongli POV
It had been almost a month now and we still had no idea how we'd got here, after the first week we decided to try and spend more time with our classmates in an attempt to create a temporary life for ourselves while we were here, I heard Venti had been spending more and more time with that Matsushita girl, as well as the two he kissed, oddly enough. A friendship that comprised of Kushida stopping Venti and Matsushita from causing problems while Ayanokouji got dragged along.
Ei had gotten close with Shiina and had also managed to spend a great deal of time with Ryuuen aswell as a large foreign boy by the name of Albert, a grouping I barely understood myself, but I supposed it made sense once you ignored Ryuuen's less than favourable actions.
While I myself had become close with Sakayanagi, I had also got to know Kamuro and Hashimoto through our mutual friendship. Well, Kamuro seemed fairly adamant that she disliked Sakayanagi despite them spending alot of time together after the first week.
I looked towards Mashima-sensei as he began to speak, over the month and with the help of the phone I was now acquainted with, I had quickly understood the material in the lessons, only being thrown off when things I had considered basic knowledge didn't apply to this world.
The most obvious being that despite the far more advanced cities and locations, creations even remotely similar to that of ruin guards would be almost impossible with this worlds technology.
I was pulled from my thoughts by his words.
"Excuse me class, please pay attention for a moment."
While most of the class was already focused, the odd few who, like me, were distracted turned their attention towards the teacher as he continued.
"Since it's nearly the end of the month, we will be having a short quiz, while I don't doubt you will succeed, the results will not affect your report anyway."
I hadn't been too worried, I was confident enough in my skills, especially in English, which despite not being automatically translated by my brain like Japanese, I had been able to understand extremely quickly, testament to my ability to memorise information. As well as history, even though I hadn't had the benefit of living it like I had in Teyvat, I had found deeply interesting.
"Please pass the test to the person behind you, once you all have one, I will begin the exam. Please stay seated and quiet until you are finished."
After recieving my paper I waited for a moment before recieving the confirmation that we could start. It wasn't particularly hard, I realised after skimming the questions, other than the last few I should be able to get about seventy percent.
I smiled softly, at least I wouldn't look like an outcast for doing terribly.
Venti POV
I felt like I could cry.
This sucks!?
What does half of this even mean... The Japanese wasn't that bad, writing, as I'd learnt earlier, happened almost automatically, all I had to do was space out while absentmindedly thinking about what I wanted to write.
And I was a bard after all~
My ability to enthrall an audience was second to none!
But... What was the rest of this! I'd never even heard of this stuff!
I wrote what I could before dropping my head in my arms and promptly falling to sleep.
Ayanokouji POV
As I finished writing I glanced towards my seatmate, who seemed to be doing well enough. I'd decided to score fifty percent before doing what Venti had and lying down.
The bard had actually turned out to be more beneficial than I had expected, turns out the attention I got from being in a group with him and Kushida was offset by how kuch attention they drew to themselves.
Obviously avoiding them completely would have been better but after the first day any dream of that had been completely destroyed.
But I digress.
I looked up to find the class more or less finished before Chabashira-sensei called an end to the exam, picking up the tests and dismissing the class.
I got up and walked towards the door before being promptly interceoted by Kushida and Haruka, with Venti joining us groggily a moment later.
As we walked towards the dorms Kushida struck up some conversation, it had been habit to go to Venti's room over the past couple days, since he had always been happy to offer.
Until today where he'd suggested we go to mine, I hadn't had a reason to refuse to I found myself wandering towards the building.
"Soooo~ how do you think you all did in the exam?" She asked curiously.
"Average I suppose" I responded offhandedly.
"Pretty good!"
We turned towards Venti as he seemed hesitant to respond before he hung his head in defeat.
"Abysmal... But it's not like it mattered right!"
He said optimistically, causing Kushida to look at him hesitantly.
"I don't know... It's probably important you get a bit better..."
He sighed and looked at us hopefully.
"Kushida? You're pretty smart! And me and Koji could use some help, could you maybe teach us? Like a study group!"
Haruka quickly leapt on the idea.
"Yeah! It'd be fun, plus I could always do with getting better."
Kushida put a finger to her chin before breaking out in a grin.
"Sure! It'll be fun!"
We talked randomly for a while before everyone began to leave, after Venti went I was left alone before realising Kushida's phone was on the bed. I picked it up and left the room before heading to her dorm.
I knocked a few times only to get no response, I suppose it's not strange to have a late night walk but...
I decided to wander before I eventually decided to head onto the rooftop, I'd almost reached the top when I began to hear it.
"That bitch." The voice was so different I barely recognised it as Kushida's.
"So stuck up and annoying! Always glaring at my friends and..."
She trailed off before blinking.
"Huh... My friends... I..."
She nervously scratched her arms before kicking the railing roughly.
"Ugh! Why can't I get that dammed kiss out my head aswell! How dare that dammed... How dare he..."
She paused again before slamming her foot off the railing again and sliding down so her back was against it, her face in her palms as she sat.
I thought through my options before deciding to take a risk, this was my best opportunity to try and be a normal friend and see what it's like.
I stepped out quietly and sat beside her, she turned her head towards me and muttered quietly.
"Did you hear?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?" I responded monotonously.
"Tell anyone and I'll say you raped me..."
"That would be a false accusation you know."
She paused before reaching out to take my hand.
"No it... It..." She paused for a moment before her entire body seemed to give up, something seemed to have really messed with her.
"Sorry..." She muttered as she held my hand nervously.
I looked down at her silently and nodded as we sat there.
"It isn't fair... I was supposed to be the one everyone wanted... Needed. I was supposed to hold everyone's secrets."
"So why do I feel so awful..."
"It's all your fault... All of you... You and Venti and Matsushita and... And I feel so... So guilty..."
She barely murmured the last bit before tears slipped from her eyes.
"We all love you, Kushida, no matter how you are, no matter how you really feel, remember what Venti said? That he wanted class D to be free? That includes you." I encouraged her, lies slipping through my lips, I never loved her, I don't see her as anything.
But that doesn't mean I can't try.
Ei POV
I stepped into the room, the first of the month was upon us and hopefully all of our planning had been worth it.
I glanced at Ryuuen and gave a small nod.
This was it.
Sakagami-sensei walked in and began to speak.
"Everyone settle down, I have something important to tell you all."
My eyes narrowed in excitement.
"You may have noticed you all earned less points this month, this is not a mistake. This school told you that you were evaluated based on merit and that is shown through your points."
While a good portion of the class were restless, we'd earned a comfortable forty nine thousand points so we had no reason to panic too much.
After the class calmed down he continued.
"If you'll look here, you'll see the class points for each class. Class points determine your allowance by taking the amount of class points and multiplying by one hundred. Therefore every class began with one thousand points, these are decreased through negative actions on your part, and the whole class influences the amount."
He pinned the poster to the board, showing the points for each class.
Class A- 940
Class B- 650
Class C- 490
Class D- 0
I smirked slightly at the idea of Venti's reaction before focusing.
The numbers were too uniform, it was almost obvious that mine and Ryuuen's assumption that the classes were sorted by skill was correct.
"As you can see, class A scored the highest with D the lowest. This comes from the classes being sorted by skill, class A are the elites while class D are defective. I'm sure you can figure out what that makes class C and B."
While it had been likely, it was nice to have the confirmation.
"Should you overtake another class, you will be promoted, should you overtake class B for example, you will become the new class B"
Ryuuen began to smirk as he spoke.
"Let me guess, we have to overtake class A to get any rewards right" he called out, much to the worry of the rest of the class.
"Exactly."
As the class began to panic I decided now was the time to step up. People are often far more receptive during times like these.
"You're acting like your chances have disappeared. Well I can assure you that they haven't, you've seen the students of class B right? All they talk about is being friendly and helpful towards people. This isn't some petty game, this is our future. And as of today, we are at war, and in war the weak get crushed. Why should it matter if we're beneath them now? We're not the defectives are we?"
Throwing class D as the lowest of the low would put my class on a pedestal, and we would desperately need the confidence if we were to challenge A and B.
My cold tone froze the class, with only Ryuuen and a few others smirking.
After a moment people began to speak up.
"Yeah! Why should it matter that they have a slightly better letter?"
"Exactly! It's not like we're class D!"
As the ambition began to grow in the hearts of my classmates I looked towards the room that housed class A. This was war, and despite everything, in war, I always win.
I, the raiden shogun, will destroy you Morax.
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I hope you all liked this, I was kinda worried that Kushida's bit was out of character but she is a person, I genuinely feel that if she had friends she'd feel bad for lying like she does. But please tell me if you didn't like it.
Ei and Ryuuen have finally reached the start of their battle against the other classes so expect them to make moves shortly.
See you all in the next chapter!