Preparing for the Skill Assessment
The weekend date behind me, I returned to the Academy.
The happy holiday slipped away, and hellish weekdays came knocking.
"So boring."
I spun my pen between my fingers, killing time. Instructor Silvia was dutifully working through her explanation, but it was going in one ear and out the other.
"When does this end?"
<Well, until the Instructor says class is over, of course?>
It was just me muttering to myself, but our dear Writer kindly answered anyway. She was the only company I had in this yawn-inducing lecture, so I suppose I should be grateful.
<It's a classic setting from the web novels readers love. Personally, I think paying close attention wouldn't hurt.>
"You're saying that to someone who read that exact setting until he was sick of it."
I'd read encyclopedia-thick volumes of this stuff—chewed them up, savored every bite, devoured them whole. What Silvia was explaining was the same material I'd enjoyed back then, stuff I already knew cold. If a test were handed out right now, I'd score a hundred out of a hundred. How could I not be bored?
<You might get yourself in trouble acting all high and mighty, you know? The exams at Purity Academy are famously difficult—befitting such a prestigious institution.>
"So?"
<One slip and you could be expelled for failing to meet standards.>
"You think I'm that much of a blockhead?"
Encouraged by the Writer's enthusiastic support, I answered with all the sincerity her effort deserved.
"Ah. Yeah."
Could time just hurry up and pass already?
"That will be all for today's lesson. Students, feel free to pack up and head out."
Yes! You're the best, teach!
Maybe the curriculum had gone according to schedule—Silvia finished a whole twenty minutes early. I straightened my shoulders, finished a quick stretch, and hurriedly packed my bag.
Time to get home and crash.
"Hold it. Stop right there."
"Hm? Oh, Chloe. What is it?"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Home, obviously. What, are you planning to tag along like last time?"
"No, that's not it. Did you not check the group chat today?"
"The group chat?"
At her words, I pulled out my phone and opened the messenger app.
"Oh, there it is. Sent last night."
"I sent you a private message too, just in case—and you're telling me you never even checked it…"
"Sorry. I saw the notification pop up, but I was in the middle of watching Shorts."
"Wow, thanks for sharing, you jerk!"
SMACK!
"Ow."
Chloe's vicious smash landed square on my backside. It hurt. It really, really hurt. I rubbed my stinging rear with my hand.
"So what's the message about?"
"Are you missing hands or missing feet? Check it yourself!"
"You're the one who keeps yakking about it—might as well just tell me while you're at it."
"You're dead."
Chloe glared at me and raised her hand. One more word out of me and a second butt-smashing was a guaranteed certainty.
"Let's see… 'Starting tomorrow, we will conduct joint training in preparation for the upcoming skill assessment. Gather at the location marked on the map.'"
"Finished reading? Then follow me. The others already texted that they've arrived."
With that, Chloe slung her bag over her shoulder and swept out of the classroom.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"
"Coming, coming."
The party leader's word is law, after all. I hoisted my bag onto my shoulder and followed in her wake.
…
Out of the Class A classroom, our destination was the lounge café near the main building at the center of campus. Apparently it was popular, because the space beyond the windows was packed with customers clutching coffee cups.
"One look and I can tell there aren't any empty seats. Honestly, wouldn't it be better to just find somewhere else?"
"I reserved a table upstairs. A four-seater private room with soundproofing. Seeing this crowd, I'm glad I called the café ahead a week ago."
"Thorough as always."
"It takes this kind of effort for Eva to gather and talk with us in peace, so I'm the one putting in the work."
Eva, with her aversion to people, had dreaded setting foot outside her home. Even in the web novel, the Writer had described her sneaking around the Academy under a triple layer of stealth, presence concealment, and silence, hiding her identity the whole time. The heroines, unable to watch anymore, threw everything they had into helping her overcome her social anxiety—and in that arc, the help of Chloe, who had attended school alongside her since childhood, was spotlighted heavily.
Seeing this, maybe it was only natural Eva chose Chloe.
The problem was that she betrayed those expectations. Why did she have to pull off a catastrophic disaster of that magnitude at the very end?
"Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
"Nothing. Let's head in."
We walked to the counter and showed the staff our reservation on my phone. The employee greeted us with a bright smile and guided us upstairs.
"Eva, we're here!"
"W-w-welcome, Chloe."
BAM!
The moment we opened the door and stepped inside, Eva greeted us with an awkward wave of her hand. Chloe, wearing the expression of someone about to take a bite out of an adorable puppy, threw her arms around her.
"Our Eva in her uniform is just too cute, honestly, I can't stand it!"
"Ch-Chloe! You're squeezing too tight…"
The two of them rubbed their cheeks together in a storm of affection. It was a scene that would have made a polar bear weep tears of blood and hurl curses at the heavens. I clicked my tongue.
"Sweet as honey in there, huh."
"Honey? Where?"
"It's not about actual honey. It's an expression—when you watch two people gazing at each other so tenderly and lovingly, you say it's so sweet honey drips off them."
"I see."
Marin nodded as though she'd just acquired valuable new knowledge, then stuck the straw in her drink between her lips and sucked down the contents of her cup.
"Ma'am, one more vanilla latte."
"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm NOT a ma'am."
Marin placed her reorder with the same employee who had guided us here. Was it the phrasing? Or the mountain of empty coffee cups stacked beside her like a small alpine range?
The employee, looking as though she'd lost the will to be angry, shuffled out of the room with listless steps.
"Right, now that everyone's here, let's start the meeting."
TANG!
Chloe smacked the table with her palm, drawing our eyes toward her.
"The topic, as you all saw in the group chat, is the skill assessment."
"Skill assessment?"
"It's a regular exam, held once a month, that measures how much the students have improved."
"Ah, got it."
The test had three components: written, practical, and sparring. Students who placed above average could even earn extra credit.
"So, here's my thought—what if we all gathered after class from now on and prepared for the assessment together?"
"It would be valuable experience. High marks go a long way when we graduate."
It didn't carry the weight of midterms or finals, but for a student like Chloe who wanted to keep her grades at the top of the class, it was a chance to pull ahead of everyone else—so she threw herself into it. Put another way, for students who didn't give a damn about their grades, it was an exam you could coast through without any real consequence.
"Don't care. I'd rather catch up on sleep than waste time prepping for that."
"Uuuuh, doesn't that take a lot of time? I-I-I've got a boss to hunt today."
"Your vanilla latte has arrived, kiddo."
"Thanks. Ma'am."
The reactions from my party members were overwhelmingly negative. Aside from Chloe, not a single one of us showed the slightest interest in preparing for the skill assessment.
"Everyone, FOCUS!"
KWAANG!
"Eep!"
"Hmph."
Chloe slammed the table a second time. The sound was on another level from before, and Eva jolted in her seat with a start. I didn't flinch, but I did widen my eyes and stare at her at her violent outburst.
"We are a party. A community that acts together and shares one purpose."
"Of course, I'm not going to force anyone. Studying or not studying is your choice. But instead, I'm asking this of you."
Chloe bowed at the waist, folding herself nearly in half. She was begging us to take the skill assessment seriously.
Well, this is a fresh development.
According to the plot as the Writer had written it, she was supposed to prepare for the assessment alone. In the novel, Eva was described as spending the assessment period holed up playing games by herself.
Which made sense—the assessment was an individual exam. We might be her party members, but our scoring high wouldn't benefit her in any way whatsoever…
Wait. Hold on. Don't tell me—?
"Let's put in the work together. We'll combine our strength and aim for the top scores."
"Ch-Chloe!"
At Chloe's humble posture—she looked ready to press her head to the floor if asked—Eva hastily pulled her back upright.
"O-okay, I get it, so stop bowing. I like you better when you're confident, so…"
"Thank you, Eva! You really are the only one I can count on."
Swept along by the mood, Eva steeled herself to cooperate with her. Overjoyed at her precious friend's decision, Chloe embraced her once more in a show of affection.
Good grief, what a shameless display.
<And what will you do, dear reader?>
"Me, you ask…"
At the Writer's question, the corner of my mouth curled upward. The jumbled puzzle pieces clicked into place in my head. Lining up the web novel against our current situation, the path forward opened before me.
In the original story, Chloe's party consisted of Eva and no one else—she'd never actually filled her roster. But now? With Marin and me having joined, the conditions were met. A party assembled to her satisfaction. And if we wrapped up the skill assessment with top-tier results, then she would…
"—Too bad for me, I suppose. Everyone else proved it with their results, and I couldn't."
"Alright, count me in too."
"Really?"
"Why so surprised? Did you honestly think I'd turn you down?"
"W-well…"
Her reaction said it all. Truth be told, until a moment ago I'd had zero intention of accommodating whatever she did. It was only after recalling a particular line of Chloe's from the web novel that my thinking changed.
An opportunity like this? No way I'm passing it up.
Played right, I could drive a wedge between Chloe and Eva with ease.