“But, Leonie, you’re doing your best, aren’t you?! You’re trying harder than anyone else at this Institute! For her to—”
“The process is not the issue, C-100. What matters are results. Anyone is capable of simply trying hard. Effort without results is meaningless.”
“No way—!”
“I’m sure you must feel the same yourself, C-100. You don’t take classroom learning seriously because you know you can succeed in practical training without studying. You know there will be no complaints as long as you produce results. Isn’t that right?”
“Y-you’re wrong!”
She had hit me where it hurt. While that hadn’t been my thoughts on the matter at all, you could easily see it that way if you summarized my school life up until now. I wanted to find some kind of counterargument, but I just wasn’t good enough with words. There was no way I could win in a verbal bout with someone like Professor Aliza, who had been a teacher for many years.
“C-088, as of now, the school is considering expelling you.”
“…What…?”
“It was a mistake to admit you into the Institute. At this rate, your abilities will fall permanently behind that of your peers.”
As Professor Aliza declared this with a sigh, Leonie rushed to respond to her.
“Please hold on, Professor! I’ll work even harder! I promise I’ll achieve better results, so please!”
“You’ve had plenty of time to do so already. I believe we’ve given you enough leeway. It turns out it was hopeless for you to try to become a hero after all.”
To Leonie—who had lived her life trying to be worthy of living up to her mother’s legacy—this was like being handed down a death sentence.
“You have sullied the name of the hero Lainie Baez.”
“How dare you…!”
I couldn’t hold back anymore. Who the hell did she think she was, talking down to my Leonie like that in front of the whole class? It was wrong of her, even if she was a teacher. I wasn’t sure why, but Professor Aliza was being malicious—she was clearly full of hostility toward Leonie.
I had half a mind to go right over to her and give her a slap in the face to wake her up. But I didn’t have the chance to. The reason being—
“Take that back, right now!”
—someone else had confronted her instead.
“C-005…”
“Leonie is a wonderful person. She’s worked harder than anyone else in order to become a hero. I won’t let anyone deny the effort she’s put in, not even you, Professor!”
It was Nor. I was totally surprised to see that this normally reserved girl had such a fierce streak in her. With tears in her eyes, she vehemently objected to what Professor Aliza had said. Despite having a good reputation among the teachers for being a high-achieving student, she seemed prepared to toss it all aside right now. She simply let her words fly in defense of her best friend.
“How unfortunate, C-005. It seems even an excellent student such as you has taken up with a group of dropouts.”
“They’re not dropouts! We’re—”
“Be silent.”
“—!”
Nor’s words caught in her throat at the way Professor Aliza’s voice had suddenly taken on a lower, more foreboding tone. Perhaps seeing this as a sign of Nor’s weakness, the professor pressed her even more.
“And now you think you can push your luck just because you’re a high achiever? You’re just a girl who’s only been at this school for a mere few months, so don’t get cocky. There are plenty of other students like you. How dare you be so conceited!”
“I’m not being conceited! I just think Leonie—”
“Enough. Go back to your seat. It’s time to for class to begin.”
“But, Professor!”
Bam—there was a heavy sound. Nor had fallen onto her backside.
“I told you to go sit down. Know your place, C-005.”
Professor Aliza had roughly pushed Nor out of the way. At that moment, the last thing I saw was Nor beginning to cry out of frustration, and Leonie standing there stricken by helplessness, still unable to say anything.
Then I heard a sound, like something snapping.
“Ugh…?! Y-you…!”
When I came back to my senses, I had punched Aliza. Somehow, I had managed not to use Gluttony on her, but she would have deserved it even if I did.
“That’s enough, asshole!”
I was as angry as angry could be.
Results were important, huh? Sure, of course they were. No matter how much effort you put in, people wouldn’t validate your hard work unless you also got some kind of result. I understood that. And we were here at a school for raising heroes. If a student was evaluated only on their effort and then went into actual combat or some other official work without real ability, they would end up harming not only themselves but also the people who relied on them. I understood the logic behind this.
But this school was supposed to be for raising heroes. In the process of raising them, wasn’t it the teacher’s job to guide their hero cadets to achieve good results? What Aliza was doing was only harvesting. Instead of trying to nurture the students herself, she was simply reaping the superior students and shipping them out to work. She didn’t genuinely care for her students in the slightest. On the contrary, she seemed like she only wanted to eliminate any and all students who lagged behind even a little. And what kind of teacher was that?
“Violence against an instructor—this will not be tolerated, C-100.”
“Do whatever you want, then. I had really aspired to be a hero, but if this is the only way to do it, then I take it all back.”
“And you too, C-088—”
“Don’t call us by numbers. She has a fine name—Leonie. Or do you not even know that?”
In the confused classroom, Aliza and I glared at each other. Though I almost missed it amid the explosive situation, I caught Aliza making a small sneer at me.
That’s when I understood—I had been the target of this whole thing from the beginning.
It was just a hunch, but this situation wasn’t only about Aliza’s hostility toward me. She was acting on behalf of the whole school. While they considered me a blight on the Institute, they couldn’t simply kick me out, since my grades in practical training were stellar. And so, they had concocted a plan to get rid of me. Aliza would attack Leonie for being an underachiever, trying to get me to explode and do something wrong. Those jerks really understood what made me tick to have come up with a scheme like that.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Your punishments will be forthcoming, so please prepare yourselves. The rest of today’s class will be a study hall.”
Saying this, Aliza left the classroom.
“Ruchika, I’m sorry… This is all my fault…”
“No, Nor. It’s not your fault. Aliza is the only one who’s in the wrong here.”
Comforting Nor, who had begun to cry, I turned around look behind me.
Leonie had already left her seat.
Our punishment was announced later that day.
“We’ll be expelled if we don’t earn higher than the specified grade on the next proficiency test…”
Both Leonie and I had been given this punishment. It looked like Aliza’s plan was to get rid of the both of us in one fell swoop.
The proficiency test in question was apparently an exam administered by the Institute on a deserted island. During the test, students were split into pairs and were given five days to reach the peak of a mountain on the northern portion of the island. It was a very difficult test, even for regular students using Gear, but it was supposed to be achievable if one stuck with the partnership their Gear recommended. In other words, if Leonie and I were to pair up for the test, we would be going against the advice of the Gear and be at a disadvantage. Maybe that was all part of the plan.
“But there’s no way they’ll get rid of us with this.”
Wasn’t it supposed to be a hero’s job to try to fight against and correct the unreasonable? At least, that was the kind of thing the Institute’s school regulations were constantly espousing. I opened the door to our room with full intention of giving Leonie a pep talk to light a fire under her.
But what I saw left me speechless.
“…Leonie, what are you doing?”
“……”
Leonie had packed up all her things. It looked like she was getting ready to go somewhere.
“I’m voluntarily withdrawing from the Institute. I don’t want to sully my mother’s good name any more than I already have.”