Tokyo Koudo Ikusei High School. This magnificent institution stood on an artificial island far removed from the clamor of the city, and its name was renowned throughout Japan's education system and society at large. It was famous for its near-100 percent rate of advancement to university and employment at top companies. It also drew attention for its extraordinary degree of freedom on campus and its unique, rigorous system for cultivating and selecting students. Here, "ability" was held as the highest standard, and the measures of ability went beyond academic achievement to include personal qualities, potential, and controllability.
From the moment they enrolled, new students were precisely divided into four distinctly different classes based on the results of their Entrance Test—a Comprehensive Assessment covering written exams, interviews, physical fitness, psychological evaluations, and other dimensions. This initial division was like an invisible brand, foreshadowing to some degree the paths they might take over the next three years and the resources the school would invest in them:
●Class A: Stable Top Students (Good Products): This class brought together students with top academic records, stable mental states, balanced overall abilities, and a high degree of potential and adaptability to rules. They were the Elite Seeds the school prioritized cultivating, representing the "Good Products" that best met the expectations of traditional elite education.
●Class B: Mediocre Talents and Students Under Observation: This class had the most diverse membership. Most were "Mediocre Talents" with good or average academic records, relatively even temperaments, no glaring weaknesses, and no outstanding strengths. It also included some students with exceptionally high grades but concerns or uncertainties in other areas of assessment, such as their psychological state, past experiences, or Potential Risks. They needed to be guided and observed in a gentler environment. For example, one student might have displayed astonishing warmth and leadership potential in an interview, while the evaluation report noted slight emotional fluctuations or a specific source of stress.
●Class C: Students with Academic Weaknesses: This class mainly consisted of students with relatively poor academic performance or clear shortcomings in their study habits or foundational knowledge. They were at a disadvantage in academic Competition and formed the group whose academic abilities the school's system was designed to improve.
●Class D: A Concentration of Problems (Flawed Products): This class gathered students assessed as high-risk or "difficult to control" due to significant issues in their psychological evaluations, conduct, social adaptability, or past records. Their academic performance might not have been the worst, but their personalities, behavior, or potential for disruption had earned them the label "Flawed Products." They were the main focus—and challenge—of the school's management and guidance.
This was the place Shimiya Kuki had chosen for his "new beginning"—a special environment that divided students from the outset and guided and selected them using different strategies. With the goal of finding emotion in mind, he was about to step onto a stage where worth was measured by multidimensional "ability."
As for the school life he was about to begin, something he had never truly experienced before, Shimiya Kuki might have felt the faintest glimmer of rational understanding: this was a completely new environment, one that might contain an "Emotional Variable." It was less anticipation than a calm acknowledgment that an Unknown Experimental Field was about to begin.
The huge Underwater Tunnel stretched like a tranquil ribbon beneath the deep artificial seawater, connecting the port outside to the Isolated Island Academy. A standard school bus traveled steadily along the middle lane.
Outside the windows, the seawater glowed a mysterious blue under powerful lights. Massive Concrete Support Structures stood silently amid the shifting light and shadow, creating a strange sense of isolation, as though they had completely cut off the clamor and dust of the outside world.
Inside the bus, the air conditioner blew cool air, the engine hummed in a steady, low drone, and plastic seats stood in neat rows. The bus was full of new students from all over the country, soon to be classmates. Students from Classes A, B, C, and D were mixed together, forming a temporary community bound for an unknown destination.
Excitement, curiosity, nervousness, and anticipation mingled in the air. Each student had a different picture in mind of the Boarding Life and the legendary school that awaited them.
At the front of the bus, a boy wearing thick glasses, his hair combed to a fault, was absorbed in a thick New Student Handbook and a University Preparatory Exercise Book. He muttered to himself as his fingers skimmed rapidly across the pages, as if trying to engrave every rule and fact into his mind in advance. His plans for the future seemed precise down to the minute, and his face was set with determination. He was undoubtedly a Seed Player from Class A.
Not far away, two stylish girls with light-colored hair and immaculate makeup leaned together, excitedly discussing something in hushed voices. Their fingers flew across their phone screens as they shared photos from social media. Their conversation revolved around rumors of the school's famous Handsome Senior, recruitment information for the Fashion Club, and which Convenience Store had the best snacks. Their bright eyes sparkled with longing for a free and colorful high school life. They might have belonged to Class B or Class C, with a clear goal of enjoying campus life.
A tall boy in a sports jacket, the outlines of his muscles faintly visible, wore headphones and swayed slightly to a rhythm no one else could hear. He gazed blankly at the ceiling. Every so often, he squeezed his strong arm, seeming to imagine himself sweating it out on the sports field, and the corners of his mouth lifted without him noticing. A Sports Specialist? Perhaps a member of Class B or C.
In the middle of the bus, a girl with waist-length pink hair smiled as she spoke to the somewhat reserved classmate beside her. Her smile was warm and sincere, and her voice gentle and pleasant. She naturally asked about the other student's hometown and interests, her words filled with eagerness to make new friends and fit into the group. Her presence was like a patch of gentle sunshine, making the air around her feel a little lighter. Her natural warmth made her a typical candidate for Class B's "students under observation."
Not every face showed such excitement. A beautiful girl with smooth, long black hair and a cold expression sat alone in an aisle seat, arms folded. Her sharp gaze swept over the bus, as though she were measuring everyone's "worth" with an invisible ruler. There was no anticipation in her eyes, only an almost exacting scrutiny and a clear sense of Competition. Was this the edge of a Class A Top Student, or the wariness of one of Class B's "problem" Top Students?
In another corner, a rather thin-looking boy wore a cap pulled low over his face. He sat quietly against the seatback, his gaze lowered, seemingly indifferent to all the commotion around him, like a deep pool with no visible bottom.
At the back of the bus, several boys with flamboyant hairstyles and casual postures chatted loudly, oblivious to everyone around them. Their topics occasionally touched on mocking challenges to the School Rules, drawing sidelong glances from those nearby. One of them, sturdily built and wearing a defiant expression, had a particularly loud voice and an air of someone who feared nothing.
Shimiya Kuki sat by the window, his head tilted slightly against the cold glass, eyes closed. To adapt to his new identity as an ordinary high school student, he had consciously reined in many of his old habits before enrollment, striving to adjust himself. Now that he had finished running around to complete the enrollment procedures, fatigue crept up on him during the steady ride toward an unknown campus.
He relaxed his body, his breathing gradually becoming slow and even, and fell asleep. Morning sunlight filtered through the window, softly illuminating his peaceful, expressionless sleeping face and tracing the slightly slender outline of the boy. The surrounding clamor and anticipation seemed shut away behind an invisible barrier.
The sounds in the bus rose and fell like a miniature social symphony—pages turning, murmurs, laughter, the faint beat leaking from someone's headphones... But this "melody," mingled with all kinds of emotions, was abruptly interrupted by a voice.
It was a clear, pleasant female voice, naturally warm yet unmistakably firm. She needed to make herself heard, so she spoke a little louder than in ordinary conversation. Her words rang out clearly from the front of the bus:
"Sorry to interrupt, everyone! Could someone please give this elderly lady a seat? She's having a hard time standing. Please!"
Her voice carried a sincere plea, cutting through the background noise. It was like a key, instantly unlocking a brief silence in the bus.
Shimiya Kuki was roused from sleep by the voice.
He slowly opened his eyes. Beneath his thick eyelashes, his dark eyes still held a trace of lingering sleepiness, like a deep pool veiled in mist. His face showed no annoyance or emotional reaction at being disturbed, only the stillness of the deep sea.
He quietly let his eyes adjust to the bus's rather dim light, affected by the blue seawater outside the windows, then calmly turned his gaze toward the source of the voice, near the front door. There, he saw the girl who had made the request, with coffee-colored hair cut to her shoulders, and an elderly woman beside her, holding onto a seatback and looking somewhat tired.
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