Backstabbed by the Matchup Board
Thankfully, the students who had barged into the Class A lecture hall didn't stage any show of force.
While Claudia stood at the podium pleading for signatures and participation in the boycott, the students from the other classes merely scattered toward the exits and along the walls, watching in silence.
Still, even that was apparently pressure enough — two students could be seen caving in and signing, as if nudged forward.
"Hey, everyone!"
Jamie, the class president, finally stepped in, unable to bear the sight any longer.
"Could you all please leave? Our classmates feel pressured."
She protested, but the other students just lounged around and pretended not to hear her, feigning indifference.
"Forget it, Jamie."
Meilin rose from her seat.
"Not worth wasting a thought on trash like that. What are they even going to do?"
She strode briskly out of the lecture hall, and the other students who had been hesitantly watching her led the way in a rush behind her.
"Please, everyone!"
From the podium, Claudia pleaded in an even more desperate voice.
"We all admit Professor Byeolya's classes are abnormal! So why isn't anyone trying to change them? I want you all to stand up and act with us!"
At that moment, Simon shot Dick a look. Dick gave a small nod and breezily struck up a conversation with Camibarez.
"Let's head out too, Cami! I'm kind of craving something nice and crunchy for lunch today, aren't you?"
"Oh, yes! Something crunchy…."
Even striking up conversation so she wouldn't feel awkward, Dick walked out with her.
Simon had just gathered his things and was about to leave the classroom last of all —
"Simon!"
Claudia leapt up from the podium and grabbed him by the sleeve.
"Hasn't your thinking changed at all over these past few days?"
The proportion of Class A students currently in favor of the boycott sat somewhere in the mid-thirties percent.
By Claudia's reckoning, there were three key figures she absolutely had to win over if she wanted to push that number past fifty.
Hector, Jamie, and Simon.
Hector, of course, marched to the beat of his own drum — no one was going to talk him into anything.
Jamie was on friendly terms with every student in class and recognized by all as their class president. Claudia intended to squeeze a signature out of her one way or another.
And then there was Simon.
He was one of the students who represented not just their class but the entire school, and he was tightly connected to every member of Squad 7.
Meilin might be squad leader, but everyone knew Simon was the true center of Squad 7. If she could win Simon over, she was convinced the other three would follow.
"We have to break this vicious cycle."
Claudia pleaded.
"This isn't about me and my personal grievances — it's about protecting the rights of every Kizen student. If we crumble here, Kizen will never, ever change. I knew someone as smart as you would understand!"
Simon was caught off guard.
It wasn't that he was particularly close to her, but the Claudia he knew had never been this kind of person.
Aside from being the best in class at Toxicology, she had been one of those perfectly ordinary girls you'd find anywhere in any classroom.
In the span of a single week, she'd become someone else entirely.
She genuinely believed the fate of every Kizen student rested on her shoulders, and she was resorting to increasingly extreme methods to force through the values she believed in.
The change had been so abrupt that Simon almost wondered whether she'd fallen victim to Serne's mind control.
So this is how frightening a sense of belonging can be.
When individuals voice their own thoughts one by one, those words weigh little. They're tossed out carelessly because no one has to take responsibility for them, and changing one's mind remains a personal freedom.
But the moment enough like-minded people gather, and a majority raises its voice as one and exerts pressure on the public, that power swells without limit. Perhaps even to the point of driving a Kizen professor from her post.
Of course, with that swelling power came an equally heavy burden of responsibility.
"I'm sorry, Claudia."
No matter what he said, it wouldn't reach the Claudia standing before him now. So Simon said nothing more and turned to leave.
"Why won't anyone help us?!"
But she refused to let go of his sleeve.
"Everyone knows it! Everyone knows feeding poison to students is wrong! And that correcting it is a just and righteous demand! That's why we stood up — for your sake too! So why won't you lend us your strength?!"
When Simon didn't answer, her voice began to tremble.
"You, of all people, with your grades so impor—"
"Claudia."
"…Ah. Yes."
"If you could turn back time."
Simon continued in a calm voice.
"You wouldn't really want to be doing this, would you?"
Thud.
Claudia's pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
That question — that single line.
It rattled her to her core.
Because she couldn't deny it outright.
While she stood frozen in shock, the boys and girls who had joined the boycott stared at Claudia in silence.
"N-no! That's not it!"
She answered quickly. It felt as though her true feelings had been laid bare, and she only cried out harder in response.
"Even if I could turn back time, I'd fight this same fight over and over again! I'm not wrong! You're the cowards too busy watching the professors' faces to act! Got it?"
"…."
Simon shot her one last pitying look, then turned his back.
At some point, the hand gripping his sleeve had gone completely slack.
They made it safely through the afternoon Toxicology class as well, and with that, the day's schedule was complete.
Hoping to refresh his mood, Simon headed to the men's dormitory communal bath with Dick.
Ahhh, this is the life. So this is what they mean by the blessings of civilization.
The day had left him feeling sour in more ways than one, but simply sinking into the hot water worked wonders.
After soaking until his body went limp in the steaming bath, he stepped out into the changing room and dried himself with a towel that had been laundered soft and fluffy.
As he was changing into the comfortable clothes he'd brought, Dick — who had been waiting for him in the changing room — grinned and said,
"Whoa! That's incredible."
"What is?"
"Just went to the bathroom and pooped purple."
The two of them traded worthless banter and snickered.
"Let's head up. Is Kajan back yet?"
"Already asleep, last I saw."
The moment Simon pushed open the door of the communal bath, feeling refreshed —
THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD!
BOOM! CRASH! BANG!
All hell had broken loose.
A horde of students came stampeding down the corridor like a herd of maddened buffalo.
"What's going on? Is it lunchtime already?"
Dick made a show of checking his wrist.
Even now, doors were bursting open all around them as students bolted downstairs half-shod, gasping for breath. Shouts and squeals rang out from every corner.
"Wow. It's like a zombie horde."
Dick let out an awkward laugh.
"Why do we even go all the way to Rochest and pay money for zombies? We could just pick one off right here!"
Simon, who'd been watching the students pour down the staircase, turned back around.
"Dick, any idea what this is about?"
"No clue. Maybe they're handing out free snacks in the dorms for the first time in ag— oh!"
Dick snapped his fingers.
"Right! Professor Jane said the Duel Evaluation matchups come out today, remember?"
"Oh!"
The two of them joined the zombie horde and dashed down to the first floor — but they soon had to stop in their tracks.
Looking down the stairwell, Simon saw students already lined up starting from the third floor, and peering further down, the entire first-floor lounge was packed shoulder to shoulder with not an inch of space to spare.
Dick shook his head.
"Talk about desperate. It's not like jumping the line gets your own squad's match announced any faster."
"And yet here we are, lining up too."
Dick waved his index finger side to side with a confident grin.
"Nope! We're taking a different route."
"?"
Dick led Simon to the window. With practiced ease, he tied a rope pulled from his subspace around a pillar, then nimbly rappelled down and out the window.
"The groundskeepers will chew us out if they catch us, so handle the cleanup, Simon!"
With that, Dick slid down the rope to the first floor in the blink of an eye.
Somehow the cleanup always ends up being my job.
Simon sighed quietly and summoned a Skeleton. Then he too climbed down the rope, and with a thought-command, ordered the Skeleton to cut the cord.
Shhhk.
Having retrieved the severed rope, Simon raised his arm overhead. The Skeleton, disassembled into bare bones, climbed in through the window from outside and returned to his subspace.
"You really do think of everything!"
Dick laughed in satisfaction.
The two of them made it safely down to the first floor and quickly cut across the garden.
"So where are we going?"
"We loop around the side to the dorm duty office!"
They slipped past the dormitory's crowded first-floor front desk and slipped into a quiet, empty corridor. Dick lowered his voice.
"This is a secret, but there's a Duel Evaluation list posted on the duty office bulletin board too. I hear the office gets the official paperwork before anyone else."
"Is it even okay for students to just walk in there?"
"As long as you've got business, who cares! From here on out, it's all about the acting!"
Dick declared he'd demonstrate first, flung open the duty office door, clutched his stomach, and let out a theatrical wail.
"Ohhhh, my belly! My guts are about to snap!"
Shrieking in full stage voice, he shuffled into the duty office.
"Professor Byeolya! What on earth did you feed us during class?! Ohhhh!"
Mid-wail, Dick winked and gestured for Simon to come in.
Why is it always me stuck with the embarrassing part?
Feeling his face burn, Simon followed him inside.
"Oh my, what seems to be the problem?"
The duty office caretaker's voice drifted from behind a curtain. She had her back turned, busily rummaging for something.
"Ohhhh! My belly! The cramps…! You know, I have a feeling some digestive medicine might just do the trick…!"
While Dick hammed it up, Simon quickly scanned the room for the bulletin board.
Found i— huh?
He did find the board — but some unwelcome faces had beaten them there.
"You two will try anything, won't you? Trash."
The hulking figure of Hector stared icily at Dick. The two faction boys flanking him snickered openly.
Soon, Hector's gaze shifted toward Simon.
"…."
"…."
As the two of them regarded each other in silence, one of the faction boys spoke up in a low voice.
"Hector! Found your name!"
A sinister smile crept across Hector's lips.
"This time, we settle it once and for all. Simon Polentia."
"We'll see who's looking down on whom."
Scowling ferociously, Hector turned to look where the faction boy was pointing. Simon, too, slid his eyes over for a discreet glance.
Arena 3 — Round 2, Match 6
Class A, Hector Moore vs. Class L, Malcolm Randolph
"Damn it all!"
As his face flushed red and mottled, Dick clutched his stomach and howled.
"Ahhh! My bellyyy! There are hundreds of students in the upper squads! It's hilarious to think a matchup like that would come up, my stomach hurrrts!"
Pfft—!
Pfft!
Even the faction boys couldn't hold back their laughter, clapping hands over their mouths. Hector strode up to Simon in long, heavy steps.
His face was so murderous that Simon readied himself for a fight — but Hector simply spat out,
"Our duel can wait for the 3rd BMAT."
Leaving only those words behind, Hector walked past Simon. Simon scratched the side of his head.
No wonder it feels like half the school's gunning for me this exam.
"Wait up, Hector!"
The faction boys hurried after him. Just then, the caretaker's voice rang out.
"Ah, Hector! I found the disinfectant!"
But Hector slammed the door behind him with a BANG! and was gone.
A moment later, one of the faction boys creaked the door back open, poked only his head inside, and offered a tiny remark.
"W-we don't need it anymore. Haha!"
Then he shut the door and scurried away.
"That guy's got some nerve, I'll give him that."
Dick clicked his tongue.
"He's the type who'd have 'DUEL ME! SIMON POLENTIA!' carved on his own gravestone. I swear."
"What can I do for you boys?"
The caretaker poked her head out suddenly and asked.
Snapping back to his senses, Dick clutched his stomach and resumed his performance.
"Ohhhhh! My bellyyy! I'm cursing the day Professor Byeolya was boooorn!"
While Dick held the attention, Simon quickly checked the Duel Evaluation matchups.
He found Dick's opponent first and memorized it, then spotted his own name right beside it.
As long as I avoid Serne, Chatel, and Lorraine, I'm fine. And I'd rather not fight Meilin either, if I can help it….
With that thought, Simon checked his opponent's name.
Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
An exasperated smile crept across his lips.