Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of footsteps stopped every few moments, following the rustling of paper as a robot donned in grey and futuristic blue walked down a row of desks to meet each person and relay their final judgement.
Groans, and the noises of paper being frantically shuffled permeated through the air. Mixed in, were the odd whispers of glee and clicking of keyboards.
While the others were waiting for their results, Yuhi sat languidly against his hover chair. Back and forth, ever so slightly, he made a game of seeing how far down in any direction could he make his chair go before someone called him out.
Yuhi looked around the room, unsurprised that nobody cared. With a quick glance, he noted his fellow peers' actions. Many were sitting upright on their seats, trying to look as uncaring as possible, to show that they were confident in their outcomes.
A small amount looked queasy, covered in sweat, and even trembled. One guy looked like he was about to faint!
Their conversations were interesting to listen into as well.
"What did you get for question 55? I got it wrong," Someone close by had asked to the person in front of them.
"The mitochondria is the power house of the cell," The guy in front answered sincerely.
"That doesn't make sense? It was a math question?"
"I never said i got it right either, now did I?"
Yuhi's eyes narrowed, amused by the conversations and then observed the notable reactions of a select few. A boy with bright green hair was busy dancing on his hover chair. It wasn't anything fancy, just a few upper limb motions here and there. He seemed to have no shame, moving with passion and with a jovial smile plastered on his face.
"That guy is failing 100% and he knows it." Yuhi mercilessly concluded.
Another boy was deep in concentration, staring straight ahead without moving or blinking. He seemed to be doing some sort of meditation.
A girl with long pink hair a little farther back was praying intensely. Her hands were clasped tightly, brought close to her bowed head as she muttered suspicious, ominous-sounding prayers...or incantations.
"Okay, either she aced the exam, or no one is making it out of this room al-."
A shadow loomed over Yuhi, interrupting his thoughts. He was greeted with the sight of a tall robot in the shape of a woman. Its eyes were circular with electric blue neon lights. It laid down a booklet on his desk, then continued on to the next victim.
Again, Yuhi didn't worry for his mark. He knew exactly what he had gotten before the exam was even graded. 76%. A barely passing grade, in which he made sure he got exactly that. The moment he saw the "_/454 marks", he instantly calculated that he needed exactly 340.5 marks to pass. Yuhi then got the rest wrong on purpose, and chose to distribute those marks however he liked to make it less suspicious.
Why go through all the trouble, you may ask? You see, Yuhi here was a simple guy who wanted to get the most out of his life without having to stand out amongst the crowd and be forced to slave away for the rich. Because, screw the rich. Honestly.
Proud of himself, he flipped through his papers. Of course, in this technologically advanced and beloved Earth of his, they could've used a good variety of different methods to "write" the exam.
Yuhi recalled all the different ways he wrote his tests over the years. Attaching his mind to a machine, using his HoloBands, attaching his mind to the database, attaching his mind to the professor's, attaching his mind to his brother's friend's genius dog, blah blah blah. The usual.
He lifted his right arm to check out his HoloBand. It was a flexible grey cuff that went from his wrist to just before the joint of his arm. There were square patterns on it, reminiscent of the old keys of a keyboard on one of the earliest models of a computer. He tapped one thoughtlessly, wanting to hear the cute little chime it made whenever it was used.
Yuhi sighed, looking at it lovingly. "It would've been so much easier to use you..."
The Imperial Academy of Yee Nork was the second best school in the world. To the point where the fame got to the educational officials' heads, and now they believe they need to keep ancient traditions alive. Like having their most important exam on flimsy, flammable paper.
Yuhi shivered, remembering the 7-hour long exam. Physically, he had been fine writing for that prolonged period of time. However, having to reload the mechanical pencil every now and then, or having bits of eraser left on the sheets, or even the eraser not even erasing properly...?
What were they, cavemen?!
He could imagine his professors and the school board behind the walls of his exam hall, laughing at the students' suffering. Especially his professor, probably saying something like, "Back in my day, we had to use knives to sharpen pencils...because the pencils were made of sticks!!"
Crying in the inside, the robot lady had just finished handing out all the exams and returned to the front of the room. Walking perfectly straight and turning at an exact angle, she opened the entrance door and ushered in a woman draped in impressive clothing.
She wore a formal suit adorned with many military badges. Her stance was rigid and she bore herself in a strict manner. Her eyes were sharp and her face showed initial signs of aging. Just from her appearance alone, the commotion and chaos within the room died down easily.
Everyone gazed at her with reverence in their eyes. They knew who she was. Yuhi sat up straighter in his seat as well. He believes she deserves the utmost respect.
After all, General Sawyers fought their principal for their rights to better cafeteria food. Screw liquidized nutrition packs! Why is food the only thing they don't want to keep traditional?!