November. Year 3210 of the International Calendar. Signs of early winter could be seen outside—the chill, the light fog.
The bus ride to the academy was a little shaky, as it turned out not all roads were equally maintained, or maybe it was the bus's suspension that wasn't.
Everyone inside the bus at least the students did not care, as all of them were sleeping, an effect of two consecutive exams.
Everyone was, however, woken up around two hours before arrival due to people bickering. Nobody knew how exactly the argument started, but it escalated quite quickly.
It had started as a minor issue when a boy refused to lower his legs, which were resting on the back of the seat in front of him, and went around here and there until it landed on the unfair treatment of unranked students.
The commotion spiraled into full-blown screaming, which earned the participants scornful looks from others whose peaceful slumber was broken, but while others were annoyed, no one had the energy to step in.
Well, it was only the girl who was screaming; the boy was simply ignoring her, which made the girl scream harder.
"Can you just please keep it down?"
And that comment was all it took for her to change targets, though it was technically friendly fire, and the argument lost its weight as the one who interrupted was also unranked, but who cared, the screaming girl clearly didn't.
Rowayne was also woken up by the noise. He looked around, then asked Ariel, who seemed oddly invested in the debate, which was basically one-sided screaming.
"What are they on about?" he whispered, which startled Ariel out of her focused state.
"You don't know?" Ariel looked at him strangely, and then, as if reaching a conclusion which she didn't bother sharing, nodded to herself.
"It is widely known that ranked students discriminate against unranked ones."
"What's the ranked and unranked thing? Also, isn't information about this realm restricted?"
Ariel nodded to herself again, further deepening her conclusion. Then explained,
"Ranked students are those who passed the entrance as top 1000. Unranked ones are those who were chosen after evaluation from instructors. And as for the other question, while information is restricted, there are ways to exploit that.
Like, for example, while you can't outright say something, you can imply it."
"That works, hmm.
But doesn't that mean they can imply anything, both good or bad, so long as they never state it directly and let the listeners connect the dots? That wouldn't count as slander either, right?"
Ariel's eyes widened slightly as she pondered that thought.
"That… that is smart and also very evil."
"Evil is subjective.
Also, this way they can shift others' attention from the main topic. After all, you wouldn't look good if you kept pressuring someone to reveal something else while they are implying misconduct and bullying—it makes you seem inhuman and bad for public image.
It also changes the focus from what they are teaching and how, to how they are managing their students."
"But this could also deter potential students," Ariel countered, more interested in the current conversation now.
"If they cared so much about what others say, they wouldn't make good students, would they? After all, here you can't even reveal your family connections; the only thing that should matter is your academic standing."
Then Rowayne leaned back in his seat and sighed, adding,
"But then you get students like them." He pointed with his eyes toward the girl who was screaming a few moments ago.
"Too overconfident that they will be ranked. Then when they fail and still get to enter, but as unranked, they try this type of bullshit to assert dominance."
He then leaned closer to Ariel and said in a barely audible tone,
"You know, on closer look, her behavior pattern resembles a dog—the small ones who keep barking but are too afraid to bite."
The comment made Ariel laugh, which surprisingly or unsurprisingly caught the attention of the screaming girl.
"Is there something funny?"
"No." Ariel quickly composed herself.
"Are we a joke to you?"
"No, I didn't mean that…"
Ariel tried to defend herself.
"Then what do you mean?"
Rowayne butted in. In a cold tone, he said,
"Is there a problem?"
"YES, THERE IS A PROBLEM! She just laughed at me?"
The girl couldn't see Rowayne. Rowayne couldn't see her either; the view was obscured by the seats in front of him. Unless he leaned hard toward Ariel, he wouldn't see the girl—not that he cared enough.
"So?"
"What do you mean, so? She just laughed at me!"
"How do you know she laughed at you?"
"She looked at my side, then laughed!"
"I think you have a misunderstanding. She was laughing at an adorable little puppy. Besides, who gave you the right to decide whether someone can laugh or not?"
That made Ariel laugh again, much to the other girl's annoyance.
She stood up from her seat and walked toward Ariel. Just as she was about to grab Ariel by the hair, she caught a glimpse of Rowayne and froze.
Her face went pale as she stood there, utterly silent.
This reaction confused Rowayne.
Do I look ugly or horrifying to warrant such a reaction from her?
"Is there something on my face?"
"N… No, sir."
'Sir? I am the same age as her physically'
"Then mind returning to your seat."
"Ye… yes."
"Well, that was easy," Rowayne said as the girl walked away hurriedly.
While Rowayne didn't remember her, she was one of his victims in the forest. Quite a coincidence. That day and his smile was the source of trauma for her now.