I had just accepted a deal to give away half of my academic rewards. The justification for it being that I had no useful powers. Immediately after, a voice belonging inside my head started talking.

Coming to this school had made accept almost everything was possible. Can you present yourself, mysterious voice? I inquired my psyche. However, it was awkward to ignore the person in front of me. She was celebrating the fact she got what she wanted out of me.

‘You accepted her terms.’

If you had appeared earlier, I’d had more leverage.

‘A contract was required first. This product of your mind may be called Advisor. The girl and you have bounded. Thus, unlocking use of Party Influence.’

Overly specific requirements…I laughed at what life had thrown at my face. But even if she had ripped me off, my ESP did surface. So, I must uphold my part. “You actually did it. I can use ESP.” I told her.

Her head tilted to the side. Maybe she couldn’t believe it had been that easy. “Good for you. But what does it do?”

“Aside from flowery speech. I do not know. Yet.”

‘Ask yourself not what Advisor can do for you. But what you can do for yourself.’

Is it possible your speech is based on whatever I deem fancy?

‘Indeed…Regarding your abilities, a demonstration works better than a speech about it. Someone with your personality doesn’t exactly listen to their mentor’s guidance.’

Whatever. I had competed my current mission. Teacher Alan would assign me actual coursework. Seated at his desk, he looked bored and unmotivated. His display of lethargy damaged the impression he made at the Infirmary. But complaining about it…would be hypocritical of me.

“Teacher. My job is done. I’ve completed your assignment.”

“Right, right. Good job. I guess I can start the class now.” Alan scribbled the day’s agenda on a dusty chalkboard. But after writing it, he looked at the chalkstone and back at the board. “What did you do exactly Friedd. Can’t remember all my interactions with all of you.”

My jaw dropped. It was only a day ago. He had hyped me to discover my psychic powers. Then he forgets it? In Class F, even the teachers are third rate. “Ahem. Professor Alan, you instructed me to uncover my ESP. Thanks to her help, I did so. Can we start progressing on the syllabus? ASAP. I will count the days until my graduation from this disastrous school.”

“How much did you pay Filiel?” An unrelated student asked. Others were interested in knowing it too.

Confessing it, was a little embarrassing. Fifty was an outrageous cut. “Half of every Academic Credit I ever earn. And working as her teammate.”

My classmates had a look of wonder, as if they had discovered a precious stone. “Filiel doing teamwork!” It didn’t take long for them to rush us. They all polluted the classroom with noise. I distanced myself from them. However, she gladly received their attention.

By then I had noticed our personalities were far apart. Friendly, good-looking and industrious. Those were traits I lacked. It must have been the reason why my Middle School experience was such a disaster. And my freshman year at High School…It bombed hard. Not that I liked education anyway. Maybe things would have gone differently if my parents hadn’t enrolled me on an elite school. I couldn’t meet their expectations.

On the flipside, everyone here covets working with Filiel. But I’m not exactly proud of what I had to pay.

“I said! The class was starting.”

“But-t Teacher…Teams. We all want to team up with her. Can you blame us?”

“To start…Filiel is a Vanguard role. And Christian a Support. That rules out two thirds of you. So, only Specialists have an excuse to bother me.”

He was talking nonsense to me. I lifted my hand, but I didn’t wait for approval. “Teacher, you didn’t explain that in yesterday’s class. To give honest feedback, it consisted of pure filler.”

Offended, Alan scrambled his desk’s drawer for a ball pen. To my surprise, he bit down on it. My molars felt it. On more careful inspection, the pen had many bite marks. Teaching this class must be kind of stressful.

“Filler? Every now and then, I have to show off how much of an awesome teacher I am. You guys can’t go around blaming me for your bad performance. Especially on my professor evaluation!” He threw the punished ball pen back into its drawer. Alan drew a triangle on the chalkboard. “This goes for you Friedd. The triangle represents the triad. Going by statistical data, espers fit on three roles. Vanguard, Specialist and Support…”

His explaining driveled for a while. Around a quarter hour of technicalities.

“So, to summarize all of that. A third of all espers has psychic powers that can play the Vanguard role. The same with the rest. Which is why we split ourselves in triads.”

When Alan finished, the students turned up the volume. They had been discreetly chatting. But the one everyone fought over was silent. She got up, trying to appease the audience. “Not today friends. I never said that I was building a triad.” Her message was received with disappointment. “You set yourselves up. Next time, allow me to speak first.”

I stomped the floor in excitement. This is how it feels! Did you like it? Filiel had delivered poetic justice.

“All my talk about teamwork was useless then…” Alan said.

How bad of him to have wasted his time. Didn’t matter to me. My thoughts went to the girl seated in front. “My appreciation.”

“Respect is important. Bringing one of them in is a disservice to you. Like I said. I had a hard time adapting to Class F.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“At first, I was desperate to return. But I found Class F to work better for my goals. I’m not going anywhere else.”

“So, you have a Life Plan. Mine was run over by a truck. And this school’s Council President sat behind the wheel.”

If I stay here, I’ll miss valuable years of grinding. As much as it weighted on me, I considered going back to the family. I could fail this school year, or the next one. At best case, my psychic education would take a year and a half. But much worse was that I had no idea of what Reyna did with my stuff. I suspect she disposed of everything.

“What are you going to do after graduation?” I asked what I was uncertain of.

“Get back to business. I always knew I would end up here. So, back home, everything’s ready for my arrival.”

Unlike me. As I was kidnapped. I remembered when Reyna or Otto mentioned something about esper bloodlines. Meaning not all students here are abductees. I mean…That Student Council could have been nicer.

It was also nice that Filiel hadn’t gotten the short end of the stick. Like I did. It was best to tell her what happened. I tried to be hush about it, so Alan wouldn’t notice me talking in class.

She stayed silent for a while. “…You don’t seem the Old Money type.”

“I didn’t talk to them much. But you…would have fitted like a glove. Don’t you think we should have gotten each other’s place?”

“Can’t do anything about it.”

“Right. Now that you heard me out…What if we forget the credits business and I get you half of my inheritance? It’s much, much better than the fake currency of this school.”

She shook in negation. “There’s no evidence to corroborate your story. I’ll take the credits.”

A completely logical answer. She was in the right once more. But that won’t go on forever. I didn’t plan to stay at the losing side of arguments. Somehow, I was going to improve my lot.

And if it’s possible to escape. I’ll be first student to do so.

Seven Star College had every card against me. Secured facilities. Enclosed by a flesh burning fog. Guarded by its own private army. And an overpowered, overzealous Student Council. The security was impeccable. Yet, one of these days…

But for now, I have coursework to complete. I may have lost track of the time, but the class went on.

“Is everyone warmed up? I had this class planned for yesterday. But as we all know it, a new student joined us. I know you guys prefer practice over theory. So…” He wrote and underlined ‘PE Class.’ “To change things up. And our new arrival can break the ice with his ESP. Aren’t I great? Be sure to write that in your teacher’s eval.”

‘Do not worry. Possessing an Advisor comes with a usability advantage. You will catch up to your peers without complications.’

I hope so…

“And I’m not doing this because the Faculty ordered me. Off the record…I’m covering for you. Since Filiel does most of you guys’ schoolwork, the report sheets have become a little suspicious.”

“Thanks Teacher! I’ll give you a thumbs up on the evaluation.” Said someone at the back.

“That’s the spirit!” Alan responded. “Now go get your stuff. See you outside the schoolhouse.”

This class was something else. My classmates flurried downstairs. Descending the staircase was like traveling down clogged piping. I lost sight of Filiel, when the girls and boys separated into different rooms.

I had entered the men’s locker room. A place where talk happened, that no female should ever hear. The grid of lockers was immense. Mostly because it must hold the belongings of the other classes apart from mine. Remarkably, every door had a name tag and an electronic lock like the residence doors. Campus F’s designer mixed high-end technology with ultra-low budget everything else. It was kind of cyberpunk.

When I swiped my student ID, the door let out a cheerful beep. Not fitting for my opinion of the College. Anyways, my locker was stocked with PE Uniforms. I took one change and tried to mind my own business.

But some others wouldn’t let me. I wish I could tell that they had come to greet me. However, they had come to haze the rookie. Getting along with Filiel didn’t help me fit in their pecking order. I guess some of them even had a crush on her. Thus, making me the victim of their pent-up frustrations.

In such cases, it’s best to ignore them. Well, regardless if ignoring them was really the best course of action, I would have done so anyways. It’s my nature.

“Hold up.” The guy Filiel had shut down intruded the group. The one that wanted to recover his seat but ended up in mine. "Leave him be. If you go hard on him, he'll blow the whistle." Whether he wanted to genuinely help me, or just mock me the others left me be.

This event had helped me differentiate which guys I should actually talk to.

I got the other uniform on. To be fair, it made self-conscious of my physique. The navy shorts were true to their name. My untanned legs were exposed for everyone to see. But I didn’t have any complaints on the wine athleisure top. Top grade. In the end, these uniforms had the same color scheme as the other.

After exiting, I hooked up with Filiel. Apart from wearing the same clothes, she had tied her long hair. As promised, the teacher waited for us outside the building. And he announced where we were going. The far edge of the campus, where the forest began.