Noooooo, why why why why why. Both knees dropped to the pavement as I pressed my hands against my head.
"Ew, what's wrong with him?"
"Weirdo."
"Come on, orientation's starting soon."
Footsteps moved around me but not one person stopped as I stayed down long enough to feel the concrete through my uniform pants.
Shit. Letting out a slow breath, standing up.
I guess I'll just have to thug it out. Slouching, I started slowly walking, falling behind as everyone else raced toward the massive building in front of me.
This isn't no ordinary high school, I thought, biting my nails, Prestige is a high school only for the elites known to produce the world's greatest young minds.
The same line I read on the application form knowing that every kid wants to go to this school.
It's the same one I filled out laughing, knowing my grades were so far below average that rejection was basically guaranteed, yet I'm here…
And the thing about Prestige, the part buried in fine print nobody actually reads until it's too late, is that acceptance is binding. No way of declining and no appeals. I mean it's not like I had anywhere else to go either.
I chewed my nail faster as I stared up at the orientation hall. This building was enormous, and walking deeper into the high school it looked less like a school and more like something that had decided to become a city on its own.
"Hey, maybe it's not all bad" I muttered grinning smugly as I wiggled both of my hands
"There are beauties everywhere! Mwahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
A few people turned to stare as I slowly dropped my head. "I'm fucked."
The orientation hall was the last thing I expected.
I stopped just past the entrance, and for a second I forgot I was supposed to keep walking. The hall was built like a stadium.
Rows and rows of seats curved upward in every direction around a central stage, and the stage itself sat low in the middle as four big screens surrounded it overhead.
The ceiling climbed so high above it that the top felt more like sky than roof. Students were still filing in from every entrance, filling seats in clusters as the noise of it all ricocheted off every wall at once.
I found a random spot somewhere in the middle. Not too close and not too far. I sat down, leaned back, and looked around.
There are a lot of students. More than I expected. I tried to count the rows but I gave up after 53.
Then the lights shifted subtly, the kind where the room gets slightly brighter at the center and slightly darker everywhere else.
The murmuring thinned out on its own. As everyone waited for an announcement or instruction.
I turned back to see a figure was already on the stage.
I didn't see him walk out. He was simply there, standing at the center with both hands clasped loosely behind him.
Tall, white hair, white beard, and a black suit. He made the room recalibrate without raising his voice or lifting a hand.
He looked across the seats slowly, like he had no particular place to be.
"Welcome to Prestige." His voice carried without effort.
"My name is Takayama Kiyoshi. I am the president of Prestige." He let that sit for a moment.
"I will not waste your time with ceremony. You are here because you were selected. What that selection means, you will come to understand on your own. What I will tell you now is the structure of your life here, because unlike most things at Prestige, this much I will give you clearly."
A faint murmur ran through the seats.
"Each day contains three classes. They range from thirty minutes to three hours. Your schedule will differ from the student sitting next to you. You will not always know why." He paused.
I tried not to flinch. Three hours? What the HELL do you mean by THREE hours?!
"Classes are not your primary concern. They are one layer of what happens here.
Assessment at Prestige is continuous. It does not begin when a teacher enters a room. It does not end when you leave one. The hallways. The meals. The time you believe is free. All of it counts. The criteria by which you are assessed will not be fully disclosed. Some results will be shared with you immediately. Others will arrive days later. Some you will never hear about at all."
The murmuring stopped entirely.
"You are divided into groups. Five groups per year. Your ranking exists both as an individual and as a group. Your group ranking matters more." His eyes moved across the room at a pace that felt almost personal, like he was reading faces. "At the end of the first year, only the first place group advances. The remaining four groups are dismissed from Prestige permanently. There are no transfers. There are no appeals."
Nobody moved.
"This campus is large. It functions as its own self-contained environment. Dormitories, dining halls, recreational facilities, medical, everything you need exists within these grounds. You will not need to leave. For the duration of your enrollment, this is where you live."
He reached into his jacket pocket and held up nothing. "Your phones. Open them."
The sound of screens lighting up spread across the hall like a slow wave. I pulled mine out and found a notification already waiting. An app had already been installed and I hadn't known or suspected a thing.
I opened it as a massive map filled the screen. The campus was massive, labeled in clean sections. Dormitory blocks, class buildings, a medical wing, three separate dining halls, outdoor grounds that stretched further than the screen.
On the right corner, there was a tab for schedule.
Three classes. Times, locations, and room numbers. First one was in forty minutes.
I stared at it longer than I needed to while still trying to wrap my head around everything.
"The app contains your daily schedule and campus navigation." Takayama continued. "Your schedule updates each morning. You are expected to be where it tells you to be, when it tells you to be there. Nothing more will be handed to you beyond this."
He looked out at the room one final time.
"You were not admitted because you are exceptional. You were admitted because something in you responded to instability in a way that interested us." A pause that lasted just long enough to be uncomfortable. "Whether that something is real or coincidental, Prestige will find out."
He unclasped his hands.
"That is all."
He walked off the stage the same way he arrived as the lights shifted back. Around me the hall erupted back into noise all at once, voices overlapping as people got up from their seats, and the collective exhale of a room that had been holding its breath.
I stayed seated for a second.
"Responding to instability, huh?" I looked back down at my phone. "First class is in thirty-eight minutes, Building C, Room 4."
I got up clenching my fists, letting out a little grin. "This is going to be fun."
After a few minutes of walking I finally found the room, on the west side of the campus.
I pushed the door open as every head turned to see who it was.
I stood in the doorway for a half second longer than I should have. Shocked, the room was already more than half full, as most students had settled into seats.
I scanned the room once as everyone had unnaturally good posture. "To be honest it kinda scared me how still they were."
There was something in the air that I didn't have a word for at the time. It wasn't arrogance exactly but more like density. Like the room was already full of something before anyone had spoken.
I walked to the back right corner near the window, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"See, in this class everyone is like a shark compared to me I'm just a fish." I tapped my finger on the desk. "So wouldn't it make more sense, instead of being inside the tank, to be on the outside and just watch?"
I leaned back and looked at the room from where I was sitting.
The remaining students trickled in over the next few minutes.
Another figure appeared, at the doorway, as every body subconsciously straightened and stopped talking. The door opened turning a few heads.
We all thought he was the teacher but he dropped into the nearest empty seat without apology or explanation, slouching immediately.
A few students glanced at him but nobody really seemed to notice or care.
The teacher wasn't in yet. I guess it was lucky timing.
Then the door opened again and the energy shifted in a different way entirely.
A man with average height, slightly rumpled, the kind of tired that looked like an everyday thing.
He moved to the front of the room, and set nothing down because he was carrying nothing, and stood at the board without turning around for a moment.
Then he turned around.
"Nemui." He said, "That's what you'll call me."
He yawned and covered his mouth loosely.
Then he turned to the board and pulled up two displays side by side. Clean digital leaderboards already populated by numbers.
The room changed immediately to a collective stillness, the kind that happens when something unexpected appears and nobody wants to be the first to react.
One board was titled by class ranking across all first year groups. The other was internal, individual rankings within this room. Both already had points next to names.
1st Class 2 929
2nd Class 4 899
3rd Class 3 708
4th Class 5 543
5th Class 1 371
My name was on the individual board. I found it near the bottom without much surprise.
24th Haji Akarime 4
Someone near the front spoke before they could stop themselves. "These already have scores."
Nemui looked at the board like he was reading it for the first time too. "Mm." He turned back around. "They do."
"But orientation just ended."
"Yes."
He pulled the chair from behind the desk, sat down, and folded his arms on the surface in front of him.
"Prestige evaluates continuously. You were told this 50 minutes ago." Another yawn. He pressed the back of his hand against his mouth and waited for it to pass. "The walk here. Where you sat. How long it took you to make a decision." His eyes moved across the room, unhurried. "How you looked at the board just now."
Nobody spoke.
"The leaderboards update daily. Group rank matters more than individual rank." He rested his chin on his forearm, settling in. "I won't explain the full criteria because I don't have it to give you. Neither does anyone else. It's not a deflection, it's just how this works."
He slowly blinked. "Figure out what's being measured. Or don't. Either way it's being measured."
His eyes were already getting heavy as his head bobbled.
"One thing before I sleep." He said it casually, the way someone mentions they're stepping out for air.
The room held completely still.
"Never be late to class" Naturally pausing because he spoke at his own pace. "Or you'll learn the hard way. Either way it's up to you, I don't really care too much."
He put his head down on his folded arms.
Within seconds, his breathing slowed.
For a moment nobody moved. Then someone let out a breath.
Then two people started whispering, gradually the room loosened, chairs shifted as students turned toward each other.
Everyone's voices picked up in careful increments as nobody was sure how loud they were allowed to be.
I stayed where I was as people started talking, noticing a few stand out people.
"Ight. If the board shows individual scores, how are we supposed to determine the class rankings?"
> Kiritsu Ishigaki
> Cool ass hair i'm ngl
"Hmpt- figure that out for ur selves" he spat, standing in front of the wall crossing his arms.
> Keita Okamoto
> Nationally ranked high school badminton player
"C'mon don't be like Keita. Eeeehhh, wait, wait what about we add up our points an-"
> Hina Suzuki.
> Somehow friends with everyone
"543, class 5" everyone looked up, surprised to see the kid that was late already had the answer, adjusting his glasses.
> Unknown
> Weird posture ass everytime he sits down
"Actually, the total is 541." Tsuyosa Hitoride spoke calmly.
> Tsuyosa Hitoride
> Hitoride Family
"Which means the classification method can't be determined from the scores alone."
A thin boy near the back tilted his head.
"Then where did the extra two points go?"
> Higuma Yujin
> Skinny, like concerningly skinny
"Haaaa, there's no point in trying to figure it out. There's only about 3 minutes left of class either way" A booming voice came from a big dude sitting on the table.
> Kaede Inoue
> Muscular asf
"Dude i think you should be more worried about crushing your table…"
> Mio Kadowaki
> Weird lips, idk man
"Yo, what you say to me-" Kaede's eyes narrowed.
"Shh i'm trying to sleep, damn keep it down." She put her head back down.
> Yuka Moriyama
> …
"Tsk-" Kaede flicked his head toward the nearest window.
I watched from the back, my chin naturally resting on my hand.
Nobody was getting anywhere. Kiritsu kept pushing for a method, Tsuyosa had already said the most useful thing in the room and stopped talking, and everyone else was just filling air.
I looked at the board too for a second then looked away.
Then Hina turned in her seat, scanning the room with that easy smile, and her eyes landed on me.
"Hey, you've been quiet this whole time." She tilted her head. "What do you think?"
Every head that hadn't already looked at me did now.
"I don't know." I calmly responded.
"I see… aren't you Haji Akarime?" Hina asked.
"Yes."
A few people turned back around. Kiritsu looked at me for half a second longer before doing the same.
"Tsk- of course number 24 doesn't have anything to say. He's holding our class points down." Kaede's eyes barreled into me.
That was fine. All I need to do is survive four years either way.
The glasses kid didn't turn away though. He was looking at me with no expression.
I looked back at him.
"Shun." He said.
"What?"
"My name." He adjusted his glasses with one finger. "Shun Kitagawa."
"Haji." I said.
He nodded once and faced forward again.
The bell rang before the conversation found anywhere else to go.
Senpai Nemui didn't move nor lift his head. His breathing hadn't changed once the entire class.
Standing, I picked up my phone and checked the schedule.
Second class was in forty minutes. Building A.
I glanced at Nemui on the way out. Shaking my head, How is he a teacher.
Building A was on the other side of campus.
I checked the map twice, took one wrong turn, and arrived with a minute to spare. I pushed the door open and stopped.
I scanned the room once just to be sure. It's the same faces huh? I guess we really are grouped. Then why do we have to change classrooms?
Kiritsu was already seated near the front. Hina was turned sideways in her chair talking to someone. Atamai was in the corner while Kaede was taking up more space than his chair allowed.
"...is this the same class?" Someone near the middle said it out loud before I could.
A few heads turned. Then more. The recognition spread around the room in a slow wave as people started looking at each other.
"Same room too, almost." Hina said, curiously looking around.
"Different building." Tsuyosa said from his seat, not looking up.
"So we're grouped." Kiritsu said it like a conclusion, already processing.
"Nemui said five groups." Haruto leaned back in his chair with a grin, arms folded behind his head. "Guess we're stuck with each other."
"Lucky us." Kaede said flatly.
I found a seat toward the back, setting my phone on the desk.
The noise level climbed gradually. People introducing themselves properly for the first time.
Higuma had pulled his chair sideways and was listening to two separate conversations at once without contributing to either.
Then the door opened quietly.
He was stocky, hair slightly off, like he'd run a hand through it sometime that morning and hadn't thought about it since.
His jacket sat on him as he moved to the front of the room without rushing and without announcing himself, there was a subtle shift as the room just adjusted around him.
He looked across the class once and said nothing.
Then he picked up a stack of papers from the desk and started moving between the rows.
"Single task today." His deep voice had a casual edge to it."Question's on the sheet. Two lines below it." He set one down on each desk without breaking stride. "That's your space. Don't waste it."
He returned to the front.
Kiritsu's hand was already halfway up. "Is there a word limit?"
He looked at Kiritsu for a beat. "I just told you. Two lines."
"Right, but within the two lines-"
"Two lines." He repeated it with finality, like the question hadn't been worth the air.
Kiritsu put his hand down.
"You have until the end of class." He leaned against the desk at the front, arms crossed loosely. "Don't overthink it. Or do. Up to you."
Papers flipped.
I turned mine over.
The question read:
"What remains when everything expected has been removed?"
Two lines underneath it and nothing else.
I read it once looking at the ceiling for a second then looked back at it.
Around me pens were already moving. Kiritsu was writing paragraphs. Haruto had a slight grin. Hina was tilting her head back and forth slowly like she was weighing two different versions of the same answer.
I looked at the two lines then at the question.
Nothing particularly clever came. No angle that felt more honest than another. It could mean anything. A philosophy problem, a logic riddle, a personality test. Genuinely anything.
I wrote one word.
Clicked my pen and leaned back.
The rest of the class kept going. Haruto had already filled both lines and looked mildly pleased with himself.
Tsuyosa's pen was still hovering, not writing.
Kaede was leaning so far forward his chair was tilting.
The teacher sat at the front the whole time. Not watching anyone closely with arms still crossed.
At one point he glanced across the room and said nothing.
But two people near the window who had been whispering immediately stopped and looked back at their papers.
When the bell rang he stood and moved through the rows collecting sheets without looking at them.
He tapped the stack once against the desk.
"Results when they're ready." He tucked the folder under his arm.
"How long?" Higuma asked quietly from the back.
He glanced over with a mild look, that wasn't quite dismissive but wasn't quite engaged either.
"When they're ready."
"Excuse me sensei, can you wait for a second! What should we call you-" Hina rose up from her seat quickly.
He walked out.
The door clicked shut behind him and the room exhaled all at once.
"Did anyone actually know what that question was asking?" Hina said.
"No." Haruto said cheerfully.
Kaede cracked his knuckles. "Then what was the point?"
Nobody answered that.
"Wait, are we sure that everyone even had the same question." Kaede looked around.
"Hina what about you-"
"..." Hina avoided his gaze.
"Higuma what was your question-"
"Something about trade routes," Higuma said. "I'm not gonna lie, I might have forgot."
Haruto snorted. "Trade routes? I got a logic puzzle about elevators."
Kaede frowned. "Those are not the same category of question."
"Maybe that's the point," Haruto said.
"Or maybe you're just coping," Kaede replied.
"It was poorly written," Kiritsu flatly butted in.
The silence hung for a moment.
I picked up my phone and checked the schedule.
Still twenty minutes until the next class.
"Haji?" Hina said. "What did you get?"
I stood up.
"I forgot."
Haruto laughed. "Dude! You forgot a test question that might decide your rank?"
"Yeah."
I walked out into the hallway before the conversation turned into something I'd have to participate in.
Where do I get milk tea?
Rank | Name | Points
1 Atamai Mienai 43
2 Tsuyosa Hitoride 38
3 Kiritsu Ishigaki 37
4 Haruto Hashimoto 36
5 Keita Okamoto 35
6 Lucien Moreau 33
7 Hina Suzuki 30
8 Sora Aoyama 30
9 Yuka Moriyama 27
10 Nikolai Petrov 27
11 Ayumi Nakahara 25
12 Higuma Yujin 24
13 Kael Renshaw 21
14 Emi Kuroda 21
15 Taichi Morimoto 17
16 Kaede Inoue 17
17 Fumiko Watanabe 15
18 Shun Kitagawa 12
19 Anya Valenti 12
20 Mio Kadowaki 10
21 Tatsuya Kobayashi 9
22 Leif Sørensen 7
23 Isolde Ferreira 6
24 Haji Akarime 4
25 Kenta Ogawa 3
26 Yui Matsumoto 1