1.3-School is Over for Today

"Hey teacher Serah, so are you married or something?"

This kid is somewhat more dangerous than I thought. His straightforward personality might cause him real troubles in the near future.

"No, I am not, as you can see. Now, if you have any questions, make sure to raise your hands when asking." Ms. Serah gives the student a sharp glare and as she does, the student flinches as if he is against a grave danger.

"Pfft."

Hm? Was that Kasuna just then? I guess she likes to laugh at someone getting in trouble. What a strange hobby.

"Students, I will now hand a map of the school, and on the back, there will be a description of each facility. Also, stapled to the map, there is a permission form for students who are interested in staying in dorms. Yes, it is optional, and please get your parents or guardians to sign them. Don't sign up if you live close by."

I never thought that dorms were optional, but it makes sense since the government is to 100% support this school, funding an enormous amount of money here.

"I see some students are living alone and have no guardians that are present at the time. If this applies to you then please stay in class after school, and we'll discuss it later."

I guess I'm one of those students.

The same student that got in trouble earlier raises his hands up.

"What is it, Tachino?"

Tachino? This school is full of unusual names.

"What if you have some afterschool activities to sign up?"

"The signup dates for clubs are not today, it's tomorrow. Also, we will be ending class earlier than the regular class times. Today is just for introducing yourselves and getting used to this school."

"Oh, alright."

Ms. Serah starts handing out the map with a form attached to it.

"Ow."

I don't think Kasuna likes me one bit. She hits my face instead of my hands when giving the paper to the back. She was facing the front, so maybe she didn't know.

"...Oh, oops, my bad."

Yeah, no. She doesn't like me.

Everyone, including me, rips out the permission form and looks at the map closely. I look at my map and other people's maps.

My map...It's very different from other people. So as the other students. Some had simple structures with simple icons. Some had brown sheets of paper, each facility labeled in calligraphy.

"Teacher Serah? These maps are weird. All of us have different maps."

"Yeah, why is that?"

"Mine has cursive letters, I can't read them!"

"Mine has squiggles around the school map, I don't know where everything is!"

"Hey, hey, what's going on Ms. Serah?"

I saw Kasuna shivering immensely, so much that I can see her body shaking. I wonder what her map looks like. Mine is very complicated.

"Settle down, please. These maps are specialized for each of you guys, each of them expressing what you are. They have different meanings, which at first, you cannot identify. Look at the right corner of the map, do you see any letters there?

Everyone stares at the corner of the map.

"There are a total of 6 letters. E, D, C, B, A, and S. As you might've guessed, they represent what grade your talent is. Academics aren't all. This school specialized in a different range of talents such as athletic abilities. The grade averages the amount of talent you have."

As Ms. Serah speaks, students have faces of confusion, relief, and sadness all over.

"Hey, I got C, Isn't that bad?"

"I got a C, darn."

"Wow, same here! C am I right?"

"How the hell did I get a D?"

"Whoa, this girl got a B!"

Just then everyone's attention is all on Kasuna. Of course, I've known that she had looked and talked smart, but in a class full of Cs and Ds, B is a very high rank.

Still enough, Kasuna muttered to herself after everyone went back to their seats.

"Tch, I can't reach A or an S?"

I guess she expects more of what she got, but she should be happy for whatever she got, because it turns out B was the highest among the other students.

"Now, class, I will explain the grading systems. As you guys have seen, you have done an excellent job in the entrance exams. However, that is only your first step, so you can't expect that much grading counting from the exams. We had the authority to look into your past, don't worry, we will never expose them outside. It was only to evaluate your grading, nothing more. Besides a simple exam isn't going to determine a grade you will have to live on by until the end of this year."

"What..? So your grade doesn't change until next year?" Kasuna starts talking as she raises her voice steadily.

"Why yes, that means you guys have 2 more tries. What you get in the last year of your school matters the most."

"I see..."

Kasuna didn't seem sad, nor satisfied. Maybe she felt relieved that she still got 2 more tries, while she got a B as her grade for the whole entire year.

"Class, the map now is a different issue. You are allowed to look at each other's maps, but I suggest not if you are insecure about your grades. I assure you 100% of the students are able to read their maps of the school campus as time goes on. For now, study the patterns and try to shape the map. Think creatively, and you will get it."

Ms. Serah isn't lying, but it seems like most of the students have doubts about her.

Can you really read it?

What if you can't?

Mine is too complicated to figure out.

It's impossible.

How?

How?

I can see what they were thinking from their expressions. Probably something like those thoughts.

Ding, Ding, Ding.

The bell rings, and Ms. Serah closes her attendance book.

"Class, school is over for today."