1
"Hey, Hazama. Do you have any plans for the weekend?"
"Plans? Hmm... nah, I don't have any."
"You don't?"
"Yeah, I'll just stay in my room and watch anime all day"
"What about studying?"
"..."
She placed her cyan mechanical pencil down.
She shifted her gaze straight at me. Her eyes says she already knows the answer, but it seems like she's wants me to say it.
Something tells me I'm going to get scolded no matter what answer I give her.
"Yeah, I'll just stay in my room at watch anime all day"
"Hey, don't dodge the question! Did you seriously not thought of studying at all?!"
"Yes..."
"Hazama, you should try to put efforts in studying! You might risk getting expelled, you know how strict this place is, right?!" She slapped the desk a few times.
Suzie Seal, the girl with perfect grades in my class, if not, the whole academy. Polite, disciplined, respectful, sociable, glasses and a good posture, everything you need for an ideal class president.
She is the only person in the history of our academy to get perfect scores in every subjects, you might have the chance to win every lotteries you've every touched in your life than to see a number other 100 beside her name on the scoreboard.
Aside from her academic performance, her mastery of her own superpower is high enough to placed her in the top 10 of the student ranking. She's in an entirely different league from me, the lowest in the superpower ranking. Not like I have any powers to begin with.
And the perfect girl happens to be the girl who's scolding me.
"I mean, as long as I pass the writing tests I get to stay, right?"
"No!" She slammed the desk.
It scares me seeing her act like this.
"*Sigh*" she shook her head.
"Yes, you're not wrong but you must not think like that, even when you're somehow the only powerless person in the superpower academy!"
"You worry too much"
"*Sigh*" she shook her head.
it's true that I should work harder.
I'm grateful she's genuinely worried about me.
But, as long as I get the passing numbers I don't really care.
The scolding stopped.
Suzie begun writing, seems to be working on something the student council does. Well, it's not like I know anything about the student council so I don't have the right to judge, but what I do know is she really have a beautiful handwriting.
Looking at her working hard, it makes me want to do something, it would make me feel guilty for slacking off in front of someone who is putting in effort at something.
I stood up.
Suzie lifted her head a bit, curious what I'm up to.
I look around the room trying to find at least a thing I could do, even if it doesn't really result in something big.
...
I found nothing
I sit down, defeated.
She seems to be absorbed in her work again.
I rest on my hand. The small keychain on her mechanical pencil rings faintly as she wrote.
"Hey Suzie"
"Hm?" She replied, she didn't pause what she was doing.
Suzie doesn't even lift her head a bit. It makes me feel a little guilty for bothering her when she's working. But I guess it's better than nothing.
"That keychain... do you like guns or something?"
she stop writing, turned her mechanical pencil a bit. The look on her make it obvious that she spot what I was talking about.
"This?"
"Yeah, I didn't knew you'd like guns of all thing"
"No, I don't" She shook her head
"Oh, sorry for assuming things"
"Nah, nah, it's fine, don't apologize" she waved her hands a bit. "I thought this look cute"
"Hmm.."
"Hazama, you have a gun, if I remember correctly"
I nodded.
"Yeah, it's a pistol. I got it from my uncle"
"Yeah, I remember, I still can't believe your uncle would casually give you a weapon and call it 'for self-defense'. But that's for another time."
Suzie stretched her arms and let out a moan.
"Ugh.. Hazama, do you know that a bullet shot from a pistol can travel between 700 and 1,500 fps"
I tilted my head "I thought the highest you could get was 120 frames per second"
"No, I meant feet per second" Suzie sighed
"Oh, I see"
"Yeah, it's roughly 477 to 1,023 miles per hour"
"Wow" I clapped, I don't know why and when I will ever use this but I guess it wouldn't hurt to know a fact or two.
Suzie checked her wristwatch and stood up. She packed her stationeries.
"I have to go now, see you later Hazama"
She left the classroom
"Later" I waved.
She slides the classroom door close.
"..." I scratched my head
Next period must be starting soon, I probably should go too
I leaned down to grab my bag, in process, I spot something lying down beneath the desk, something cyan. It's a mechanical pencil with a gun keychain.
Must be Suzie's
I pick it up and put it in my pockets. I'll give it to her the next time I see her so definitely next break or lunch time.
I existed the unused classroom.
2
The stairs spirals down endlessly. I don't know how long I've been going downstairs, I know the academy is big and stairway has to be long so you can reach any floor, but, isn't this too much?
The sound of students speaking begun to die out, I guess they stopped chitchat since the classes are soon starting.
A fireball flies across my sight.
The sudden light causes me to flinch a little.
Thud.
Shit! I tripped!
The person who shot the fireball said. "Are you okay?"
How can I be okay? I'm falling down. At this rate I will die if I hit the ground. But, what's this feeling? The wind brushing my skin, it's refreshing.
I can see the end of the stairs I thought to be endless.
But
Something's telling me I won't go out like this?
A student appears from the corner. He didn't seems to notice me, at this point I will crashed into him.
BOOM
I somehow survived despite the speed I was diving at. Well, whatever, I should be worried about this student. I stood up and wipes the dust off my clothes.
"Hey, are you okay?" I reached my hand out.
"Ugh..." he groans
The student has brown hair. He is wearing a blue necktie, which indicates he's a first year just like me.
He opens his eyes.
He's glaring at me right off the bat.
I can't blame him since I crashed into him unannounced, but is it really my fault? He was in my way.
"Are you fucking messing with me? He slapped my hand away
He stood up and wipes the dust off as well. He looks extremely pissed.
I shook my head. "No, no, I'm not, I mean, It wouldn't even be worth it if I did"
He raised his eyebrow. "Now you're looking down on me" his tone sounds louder.
"Listen, I'm not-"
He shoved his finger to my face.
"Enough with your crap, it's obvious you're asking for a fight. I know you. You're the guy with no powers, I guess staying here gave you a bighead, huh?! Even when you're powerless, you've grown rather arrogant, haven't you?! Fine, I'll put you at your place."
He raised his hand in the air and declares
"I, Schwartz Will, call for a match"
Wait, hold on, I know he has all the right to be mad but calling a match against someone like me? It's all a misunderstanding, I don't even want to mess anybody. Ah, my head hurt.
I sigh.
It doesn't look like he'll let me off easily, I guess, I have no options but to accept his challenge.
I raised my hand as I gulped hard.
"I, Rei Hazama, accept."