Scarlet

We walk over to a lounge area in the entry room before sitting down as Carol begins explaining to me the Top class student benefits.

“Of course, there’s the living quarters and better treatment, but we also get the ability to take any classes we wish regardless of the year they’re meant for as long as we have the prerequisite classes already passed for them,” she says while holding up a single finger and leaning over the glass table we’re sitting around before holding up a second finger as she continues, “We can attempt to test out of any core class we take, which will let you take more classes over the years you’re here.”

The girl glances at the others who are paying attention as well only to turn her attention back to me again. “At the end of the semester, all of the current Top class students will compete for the prime spots available in the Interschool Tournaments held during the Winter break. There are various different spots, including the Class I team, the Class II team, and the Class III team, the solo prime participant for each Class, and a backup for each position. Although,” she pauses as she narrows her eyes on me and says with no little amount of envy, “someone already has a spot in the solo prime.”

I purse my lips at that and awkwardly start staring at the ceiling, which I suddenly find very interesting until she continues.

“Since there’s normally only five Class I Top class students, there normally isn’t any sort of method to decide the team participants,” she says, and I look back down at her to find her frowning. “So I’m not sure what-”

“No need to worry about that, since I won’t be participating in the team primaries,” I answer without any hesitation, apparently not surprising any of my teammates but very much surprising Carol, Nick, and Alex. So I clarify my reasoning for them before they can even ask, “I’m already in a team, so I won’t just be ditching them to join a prime team instead. And besides. I don’t want to bother with any other team tournaments.”

Carol opens her mouth to speak, only for Nick to give me a thumbs-up and exclaim, “Nice! We really are alike!”

I lightly smile at that and return his thumbs-up before Carol finally recovers.

“I guess that makes things easier for the university,” she mutters then straightens up and continues her little lecture. “Generally, the top ranking student is an automatic pick for the Class III solo primaries, but the other positions often have a lot of fighting over them. But that’s enough about the primaries for now. Top class students also get alerts about all Fractures that open up in the city and are delegated to the university within thirty seconds of a Demonic Assault starting.”

My eyebrows both lift in surprise, but she just turns her head to look at Michael, Emily, and Denise who mentioned being Advanced students and keeps talking, “Advanced students get an alert about all the Fractures after five minutes of a Demonic Assault beginning.” Then her gaze lands on Belle who looks rather embarrassed at being the only one here who’s a Regular student and finishes, “And Regular students get the alert at about ten minutes after a Demonic Assault starts.”

Carol doesn’t keep our attention on Belle for long though and quickly diverts the subject, understanding her embarrassment, “The university generally has a policy for only allowing about ten students at each Fracture at a time. But Top class students can generally ignore that limit as long as it’s a Fracture of the same class as them.” She then glances at Michael and adds, “Although you’ll have to get your own transportation since the university doesn’t do that for you.”

Michael just nods his head in understanding.

Free transportation to Fractures certainly is a very useful benefit to having rich people in my team, that’s for sure.

I frown as I feel a very light tickling sensation in the back of my neck. But even after patting my neck, it still remains.

That’s annoying.

“That’s about it for the benefits you should be aware of now,” Carol says before standing up and stretching her arms out slightly. “All in all, the Top class student spots are very coveted by the students. So you will have to fight to keep that rank in the next semester.”

I nod my head in agreement before patting my neck again at that tickling sensation that’s still there.

“Now then,” Carol says, a bit of a grin growing on her face as she looks between me, Belle, Emily, and Denise and says, “any of you want to check out the rest of the suite? It only gets better as you go further in!” And when she sees Belle, Emily, and Denise all showing clear interest, she continues, showing off a bit more excitement herself as she adds, “And the closet! You should see the closets! Not to mention the bedroom!”

The other girls grow excited for some reason, but then Carol just glances at the three guys and says, “Oh, and no guys. So you can leave.”

I almost snort in amusement at that. And again, when I see the slightly disappointed looks on their faces.

“I’m gonna be heading out too,” I tell them, seemingly disappointing all of the girls in the process. “I want to check out my own suite. So would you mind telling me where to find it on the website?”

Carol – still looking disappointed – opens her mouth to speak, only for Belle to raise a hand and stop her with an evil look on her face that has me narrowing my eyes before she says, “How about you join us and then she helps you after we’re finished?”

The other three girls just give me looks that are practically just begging without any words, so I just sigh and mutter, “Fine.”

I know they wouldn’t push if I insisted, but Carol is helping me this much already despite how we first met, and she really seems to want to show off her suite. So might as well if it’ll let me pay back that debt in a way.

That said… what the fuck is with this tickling sensation? It’s so annoying!

“Um, Scarlet…” Tar begins as I scratch at my neck to see if that’ll get rid of the sensation. “I think someone powerful is watching you.”

His words has me stopping in my tracks.

What? Who? How? And why don’t I feel any… oh.

“It looks like whoever they are is somehow managing to hide most of their intent, which shouldn’t be possible unless someone’s Class V,” Tar says, sounding honestly frightened.

Class… V?

The only Class V person who should be anywhere near the campus – anywhere near this city for that matter – is White.

But why would she be watching me?