'DRNNNGGGGG' The bell rang, signaling break time. All the students left their respective classes and headed to the school cafeteria located in the middle of the school, on the ground floor. The cafeteria was bustling with students, and the layout was very nice with many food stalls that were very clean. Kagena walked. He was walking towards the bakery while huddled with other students.
"Hey! Don't push me!" a boy pressed against her, annoyed. "You're the one who shouldn't have pushed me!" a girl said, pressing against another. "These... STUPID ASS PEOPLE!" Kagena whispered softly, squeezing against another student while his face grew increasingly irritated. .
A few minutes later, Kagena managed to get two toasted meat buns, then, he walked to look for an empty table. Immediately, he found one and immediately headed towards it. He pulled out a long chair near the table and immediately sat down.
"It really sucks, why do I always get bad things?" Kagena sighed as he opened his toast cover.
"It's rare for you to buy toast." Reva appeared in front of Kagena while carrying a lunch box.
"My rice supply is finished, so I'm eating toast." Kagena ate his toast.
Reva sat on the long chair in front of the kagena and then opened her packed lunch, "Even though I'm more full with rice." Reva took a spoon and fork from her lunch box and the contents of his lunch box were fried rice.
"Fried rice? It's really generic." Kagena pointed at his fried rice and then took another bite of his toast.
"I'd rather be full than have my stomach twisted like a snake because of hunger," Reva said, eating his fried rice.
Kagena immediately pointed at Reva in annoyance
"well, at least my quality is better than-"
"Than What?"
Ruya smiled sweetly and Kagena was immediately shocked and choked.
"Why are you here, Ruya? Trying to disturb Kagena?"
Reva took a tumbler from his lunch bag, then opened the lid and drank.
"What are you saying? The three of us are always together, right?" Ruya sat next to Kagena while Kagena hit his chest because he was choking with his face starting to turn blue. Then, Ruya hit Kagena's back hard with her left hand and Kagena immediately swallowed his food.
"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, RUYA!?" Kagena shouted while standing up and pointing at Ruya with an annoyed face.
"I just wanted to surprise you a little." Ruya smiled innocently, she raised both her hands to the side of her head, her tongue sticking out mischievously.
"BUT THAT'S NOT THE WAY!" Kagena brought his face closer to Ruya while holding Ruya's shoulders.
"Enough already, you're about to graduate but you still act like little kids." Reva closed his lunch box while Kagena looked at Reva with disgust.
"I feel like you were the most childish person in class." Kagena said that while sitting back down in his chair.
A few minutes later.
"So, why did Mr. Kozaki say that there would be a test later? Isn't the test later?" Kagena clasped both of his hands together, then he brought them closer to his face, right in front of his nose.
Time goes back to several tens of minutes later, in Kagena's class, a teacher wearing a red sweater, long black pants with black shoes while wearing a black watch and black round glasses. He stood in front of the class, on his right side, Mr. Zax sat at his desk.
"Good morning, my beloved student." Kozaki smiled while closing his eyes.
"Morning, Mr. Kozaki," the whole class said good morning to Mr. Kozaki.
"Sorry for interrupting your lesson, I'm here to convey information from the principal regarding a test that only applies to grade 12."
Mr. Kozaki took a paper from his book and read its contents
"On October 12th, an event called the "Sky Festival" will be held. Here, our school will conduct a test together with 1 other school with some information that we will send later." Kozaki read it out loud.
"Then, some of the tests are first, intelligence tests. Here you will answer questions on a sheet of paper. Second, a fitness test. Each student will advance as many as 5 individuals. They will fight a teddy bear that will be their opponent. The way to solve it is who is the fastest to knock the bear down before 15 seconds." Kozaki held his glasses and adjusted them.
Kagena was shocked while putting both of his hands behind his head
"1- 1- 15 WHAT?!" Kagena couldn't say anything while Reva put his right hand on his chin
"Well well well, interesting test. I think this is fun."
Reva smiled happily. Meanwhile, some of the students in front of them were smiling, happy, sad, or scared.
A muscular and large, red-haired male student with a grin on his face while cracking his hands found it interesting
"Test? How unusual, it seems like this test will be a competition of who is the strongest." Godo smiled broadly.
Next to Godo, his deskmate, a girl with long blue hair, wearing a silver necklace and a beautiful face like a princess, looked at Gozo with disgust
"I know what you're thinking." Sara shook her head in disappointment and then sighed.
"Then, the last stage of this exam is you guys doing a tournament but not a regular tournament like you think" Mr. Kozaki took a marker and drew something.
"Hey, Reva, what do you think the tournament will be like?" Kagena whispered to Reva
"Hmm, I don't know, maybe something generic like in the books" Reva said while reading his book.
Mr. Kozaki finished drawing and saw something like a sphere inside which was like mountains and nature.
"First, you guys will make a group. 1 group contains 3 people and then, you guys will be sent into a "Domain" or a place in a dimension."
Mr. Kozaki pointed to one of the spheres which inside looked like a desert.
"Well, this domain will always shift after 10 minutes and send you or your opponent to a different biome. So there is no such thing as a spawn camp here" Mr. Kozaki grinned while adjusting his glasses.
Reva whispered to Kagena, "He said that we can't spawn camp, but it seems like it would be suitable if we just randomly stand still and immediately do our strongest move. Maybe who knows, it might hit someone."
Reva grinned with his random plan.
"Oi, this isn't a cartoon, how could we possibly do that. The chance is very small. Nah not even close"
Kagena said while waving his hands in a disapproving pose.
"Really random friends, I hate those who are always serious." Ruya smiled at Kagena and Reva.
"Your task here is only 1, collect scrolls. They are divided into 3, namely bronze, silver, and platinum scrolls. Don't ask why the name is bad because this school didn't decide the name." Mr. Kozaki chuckled while holding his head. "Bruh, but at least the concept is interesting and not the usual generic thing."
A student leaned in, with a slender but slightly muscular body and black hair with yellow pupils, named Yuxian, was interested in it.
"I agree with you, the concept is very interesting, but I wonder how they executed it." His deskmate, with turquoise hair and sunglasses, Reimu smiled.
"Okay, so, a bronze scroll gives you about 10 points. Silver is 25 and platinum is 50. And all the scrolls are spread across all domains. To win the tournament, it's quite simple, it's either getting 3 platinum scrolls or grinding for 1 platinum scroll and 4 silver scrolls. For platinum and silver, we made it so that it's in the form of colors, so you can get it wrong. who knows when you get 3 platinum scrolls, but 1 is actually a silver scroll and you lose. "
Mr. Kozaki drew and showed the scroll shapes.
"Sir, I want to ask." Kagena raised his hand, his face covered in curiosity.
"Hmm? What's wrong, Kagena?"
Mr. Kozaki looked at Kagena.
"You said that all the scrolls are spread throughout the domain, but how do we know each scroll's location?"
Kagena rubbed his head.
"Ah, good question."
Mr. Kozaki took something from his right pocket in the form of a brown box equipped with a screen.
"This is an SC or called a scroll container. It's round, like a locater. If you know one of the famous cartoons, it's like tracking a ball. So, this is how it works. SC works when your position is close to a scroll and later a scroll will be detected on your radar. Then, you are given 3x the chance to expand the range on your radar and instantly find out all scrolls within a distance of 1 kilometer. remember, only 3x, so use it well."
Mr. Kozaki put his SC into his pocket.
"Thank you, sir." Kagena bowed his head and immediately sat down.
"No problem, I'm glad you asked" Mr. Kozaki smiled.
"Sir, I want to ask" Sara raised her hand with an anticipatory face.
"What is it, Sara?" Mr. Kozaki looked at Sara.
"If for example each shift is 10 minutes, will we teleport to a predetermined place? Or is it completely random? Because I've seen similar, random things happen, but in the same place. For example, all the students are on shift, but they're all on the mainland, even though the location is different. And how long will it take in this last stage?" Sara said with a curious face.
"About the shift, it's completely random. So for example, you are in a desert biome, then a shift occurs, you could jump from the sky and immediately fall into lava. And each shift is different in each group. So it's really not all groups shift to the same place and it's completely random. for the time..."
Mr. Kozaki grinned while raising and clenching his right fist.
"3 days inside the domain. but, for those outside, that time is only about 3 hours long. then, maybe someone asks, 'what if someone cheats or does dirty things?' and to put it simply, the domain will kick you straight away. so if for example there is a crazy person who deliberately makes you bleed, the blood will be detected by the perpetrator and the perpetrator will be kicked straight away. The audience, judges, and others will be watching on a large crystal projected into the domain. So, the important thing is that you win fairly and without any suspicion.
All the students stood up and shouted "READY, SIR!"
while bowing their heads. "Huh? Huh?!" Kagena was late to get up and immediately bowed too.
"Good, then, I'll excuse myself, Mr. Zax." Mr. Kozaki shook hands with Mr. Zax.
"Thank you for the information." Mr. Zax smiled. Then Mr. Kozaki left the room and the students sat down.
Ruya closed her book. "Alright, now it's time for us to do our best on this exam. Right? Kagena?" Ruya smiled at Kagena.
"That's how it is, but this is definitely going to be interesting." Kagena cracked his hands with a determined expression.
"We should just follow my plan."
"The stupidest plan on the planet."
Kagena raised and pointed his finger at his own side head. Then he looked towards the window, thinking about something.
"Huh... maybe this life is good enough... right?"
Time now returns to the present in the canteen.
"Well, I don't know. But one thing is for sure, the sky festival will be the hardest thing in school. Don't forget your practice, because I'm sure we will be a team." Reva pointed at the kagena with his spoon, then ate his fried rice.
"How are you sure about that?"
"because that certainty has been established."
Ruya ate her food, Kagena gave up and continued eating.
'DRIIIIIINNGGGG' the school bell rang. The students were getting ready to walk towards their homes. Kagena and Reva arrived at the school gate.
"So, is it time to see you tomorrow?" Kagena asked, crossing his arms.
"Sure, but remember, prepare yourself for the festival. I don't want us to be on the same team and you're just a burden." Reva went to the right while waving his hand.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!? HUH!??!" Kagena raised his right fist with an annoyed expression. Then he took a breath, "Phew... Alright, is it time to go back?" Kagena smiled then walked straight.
A beautiful sunset, the view of the school after class. Kagena smiled at himself, seeing good potential in the future, but can peace be perfect and never change? Everything is just certainty. But, within that certainty, there is a mysterious doubt.