Chapter 8: Study Time

"Wake up everyone!" someone shouted very loudly at the top of their lungs through the dorm halls. It disrupted the deep sleep that everyone wanted to maintain at 5:30AM. "Everyone, it is time to wake up!"

As for the identity of that person, it was Leo Smith, who after shouting that a few times, opened up his dorm room and ran towards the bed. He was still dressed in just a T shirt and boxers, and as he came down on his bed...

"Rukio-kun! Wake up!"

"...uhhhhg...why are you being so loud?"

"Because, its study time!" Leo shouted in his energetic voice. "And you all asked me to wake up!"

"Is this really so important?" Rukio asked, wearing a T shirt and sleep pants.

"Of course it is! Its the first term midterm!"

"...already? Isn't this really early?" Rukio asked, having transfered from a normal school against his will. Not that he was complaining.

THis is kinda bothersome, but...it does feel nice, to be away from them...

Rukio's family was full of brutes, con artists, and such. Maybe because he was pressued by all of his family, and everyone in his school, but he had a very small, if not non-existant, pressence, and was easily able to go unnoticed. So to be away from all the pressure, to not feel so crushed, felt nice to him. He did feel sorry about what happened though, but it seemed at least most understood it wasn't his choice.

"So wait...why are we going to study now?"

"Because then, we might get some in before the distractions come".

"The distractions?"

"Yeah, the other classes will be giving it their all to bother us, distract us, and disrupt our flow. And, they only just released the test materials last night, at four AM, online. Now, all the other classes of course will have studied up on it, on a wide variety of subjects, the but the teachers would have made sure they knew where to focus. But, not us. Ours gets 'misplaced'".

"And they will use any and every possible method to mess with us".

"So then...the goal is to anticipate their question paths, and hit the mark?" Leo asked.

Toko nodded. "Today, we engage on a mental battlefield like no other, to prepare for the war".

"Don't you think Koro-sensei will help us?"

"Of course he will, but...think about the level he will be helping us. We will need our energy and concentration. So, who can cook?"

At that question, one person raised his hand, although rather meekly. It was Rukio.

"None of my other family could even remotely make anything taste good...so...I learned how to cook".

"Well, that is a surprise...alright, Rukio! Go and redeem yourself through our bellies!"

"Ah! Y-yes!" Rukio replied, hurrying off into the kitchen area.

"I will go help him. We need all hands on deck for this" Aria added, following him.

"Alright people!" Toko said, bringing out the coffee he had made. "Drink up!"

"Hold it! Hold it!" Akira shouted. "YOu...you are going to give Leo-kun and Shota-kun coffee?!"

"Damn right I am! You two ready to delve into those books and absorb every little detail!?"

""Aye, sir!""

And with that, much to the nightmare of his classmates, Toko gave them both coffee, and they drank it right up. Everyone was concerned by this. But they did not have time to argue. None of them had even focused on if they looked embarrassing or humiliating, as they were wearing mainly underwear, shirts, some shorts here and there. Only the most comfortable of clothing, to maximize focus ability.

"Lets do this! Lets energize up and get some pre-studying done! We cant be near the bottom!"

"...wait, what happens to the people at the bottom?"

"Rumor has it, that the worst five students of E class will suffer 'accidental tragedies' that force them to hike up and down that mountain naked".

"What?"

"Yeah. But, if we can somehow make it so that we get higher scores then the other classes, to where our five worth are sufficiently high enough, we might be able to avoid that since it would be seen as revenge, not justification".

"And also, no one wants to be the five lowest?"

"Exactly".

And so, the group began to study hard, getting about a good hour in...

Yes, an hour later, and suddenly the streets outside were filled with noise. From what it sounded like, a parade?

"Leo?"

Leo went over to the front door, and opened it enough to look out. The moment he did, parade music scored through the dorms, confetti burst in, and a few kids their age wearing the uniforms of their school came in, taking photos of everyone and everything...

And as everyone was basically in their underwear, it was embarrassing.

"What the hell, you cant barge in here!"

"Oh yes we can. Technically speaking, as members of the student council, we can come in and perform inspections whenever we want. And thanks to being part of the Press Club authorized by the Student Council as well, we can come in here for scoops and news updates for the school! We are also members of the Health Committee, which gives us permission to do on the spot inspections of your physical health whenever we want".

"In other words, we can come here whenever we want. Not like we would want to stay in this...dump?"

That was when they noticed that although certainly, there were plenty of them in their underwear desperately studying, their dorms were so much better then what they believed. No, some parts of it looked newer, better, and of high quality then their own, with better equipment and everything. And the smell of the food...it was fantastic, as if they had somehow managed to buy quality food instead of whatever cheap stuff they could manage.

As they looked around, everything looked new and better, to the point of being unreasonable. There was no reason their place should be better then theirs, that the blood rushed to their heads and they looked for the closest people, to punish however they wanted. And that was when, with their vision filled with red, they noticed something blue. And they looked for the slightest of excuses.

"You, brat! Stand up!"

Toko stood up, knowing this would be bad for him. He had some sort of terrible luck.

"And you too! White haired brat!"

Shota ended up chosen with him.

"Those boxers clearly have images of daggers on them! And those have ninjas with nunchucks! Imagery of weapons is now allowed on school grounds, which this is a part of! Remove them, now!"

Toko was absolutely sure now, he had bad luck. And this time Shota had gotten caught up in it too.

"That is, unless to make a proper lesson, you want us to make your whole class join with you".

Shota gulped as that was said. These people were so red, they didn't even realize they couldn't go that far. Not like this. But they pressured Toko anyways, and gave them no choice as they did what the bullies wanted.

"YOu shouldn't dally when your betters give you orders" they said. They had to be some levels of dense though, because although the two were humiliated, no one was laughing at them aside from the bulllies. No, rather, everyone was directing bloodlust at the bullies. At least, until they did burst into laughter.

But that included Toko and Shota. And at the same time, the bullies felt a breeze as there was a flash behind them. They turned around, and saw Rukio holding their belts. The two looked down, and saw their pants and underwear on the ground. They had not even noticed Rukio walk over to them, they had been so focused on Toko and Shota who were deperately pulling down their shirts to cover themselves.

And then, finally, they started to feel the bloodlust from the room as they stumbled back, quickly pulling their underwear and pants up and ran out the door in fear. Toko and Shota quickly pulled their boxers back up as well.

"...you were not kidding that they were disruptive".

"They usually would not go that far in this situation..."

None of them realized though it was because of the dorm situation that this happened.

"We should probably expect more name calling now, and dark looks".

"Things are only going to get worse".

"Well then, we better get dressed soon".

Leo looked confused again.

"Hold on, doesn't school start much later? Why do we need to start getting dressed soon?"

"That parade isn't just out there to make noise. There will be countless obstacles to block our way to school. That is one of them, but there will be others. So many others. You know how we have been learning parkour? We will be using that to the fullest".

"Alright, so...its going to be a marathon, and a race".

"Exactly".

"And thats why you wanted everyone up early...but did Leo and Shota really need coffee?"

"Of course. They are our Breakers after all".

"...breakers?"

"About that~" Aria said, coming over. "My mom told me a super cool idea we could try as well to help even the odds further".

The streets seemed unusually filled today, as the morning sun was rising into the sky. However, in truth, many of these seemingly normal, innocent people were anything but. They were hired muscle, there to block, obstruct, and interfere with E-Class. They had all their photos memorized, and were there to obstruct with them as needed.

And as this happened, a pair of girls wearing girly clothes walked down the street, noticing them all. However, when tehy looked at the pair, they immediately seemed uninterested.

"...why me?" Rukio asked. "They dont even know my face yet, right?"

"...I swear, I bet she got this idea from Elliot" Toko replied. Yes, in truth, the two girls were the boys Rukio and Toko. Toko already could pass for either gender, and Rukio was deemed not only to be adorable enough, but also had such a low pressence that it would help him go unnoticed if they did somehow have his face.

As for why they were wearing dresses, Aria's logic was that it was so they could hide their school clothes and backpacks underneath, where no one would notice. However, it did seem to be working. And because of that, they had reported the enforcers positions.

"It looks like they are weak on the fifth road" Toko reported over comms.

"And now, we shall go and sneak into the woods to change, and meet you at the school building".

"Aww, but I wanted to see..." someone started, but then Toko turned off the comms.

And thus, the next plan of theirs started. The entire reason to give Shota and Leo coffee.

"Lleeeeettttsss goooooo!"

"Race you there!"

Yes, as the two charged forwards, the Enforcers went to stop them, however.

"Too slow!"

"Around you here!"

"Is that the best you got?!"

"Lamezoids!"

Yes, they not only aggrivated and taunted by the two of them, but utterly distracted by them. As such, it created a hole within the perimeter that allowed the other students to get through. The moment everyone was through, Shota and Leo moved away and ran off with enough energy to boggle the minds of the enforcers.

"Haha! Worked like a charm!"

"Fantastic!"

And so, the class managed to safely and successfully make it to school on time.

"All of this...for a damn...study da..." Hiroki said, when they noticed Koro-sensei, clearly worried, looking dreadful about something. "...Koro-sensei, what is wrong?"

"...apparently, there was a scheduling mistake...so while we have been studying all week, we dont get a study day...because the test is today".

They tricked us! They played us and made us think today was a study day, and not a test day!

"Its okay everyone..." Toko said. "We can still crush them into dust".

No one noticed that Toko's language had gotten a bit darker, as if he had plans or something. Or like a great, dark fire had been lit under him.

Still, it appeared their day was not over yet.

"What the hell is with these questions..."

They expected something like this. They knew that the tests were hard, and always designed to be biased against them. That they would always get altered subject topics, or never get the information in time to be ready. But this year, it was different. This year, it was brutal.

And this year, E-Class was going farther then they ever had before.

Yes, E-Class was smashing through the first part. As if armed with swords and battleaxes rather then the pencils they should be, they were cleaving their way through one question after another.

I know this! I studied this!

It was not just last night they had done this. For the past week, ever since the Kyoto Trip, they had been waking up earlier, thanks to Leo. That was why, they had become a bit more adjusted to being in their underwear around each other, aside from living in the dorm rooms, as a group just a bit faster. That was why, Toko was confident. He would pay that humiliation back, the feeling of them forcibly dominating his mind, several times over. He would not be in last place. He would not allow himself to be made of a joke by those people again.

And so, he kept slashing, and slashing, and slashing away...he kept progressing and...

Wh-what?! This is...

Toko saw as something unfathomable passed his eyes. A question that he was sure was far beyond middle school levels, especially for a Freshman. Something that not even a high school freshman would experience. This was a question...for a HIgh School Senior...

And thus, he felt as if a giant monster had knocked him down and pinned him to the ground.

But, he knew what to do. Something this tricky, just move on and keep going. Dont let them get you stuck. So he got up and kept going and...

What the...but, this book was said to be too graphic for schools...wait, they are asking us to write why it was too graphic? For a social studies question?!

Another blow had been dealt.

But once again, Toko got up one more time, to search for another question...

These...these questions...this is not just a change of topics! Hitting a mock 20 supercreature is easier then this! This is just...impossible! No! No no no!

And because of that, Toko and his class began to crash and burn from the tests one by one.

So in terms of the Class E Test Scores...nearly everyone was pretty much at the bottom of the barrel.

"I can't believe how bad that was..." Haruyo mentioned, fifth last in the class.

"That was just aweful" Ryosuke added, fourth last in the class.

"Damn it..." Toko said, showing unusual levels of being upset as he was third last in class.

"I swear, this was way too severe!" Faye remarked, being second last in class.

"That was haaaarrrd..." Leo said, having scored the very worst somehow.

"Leo-kun scored the worst?"

"Yeah. He can speak multiple languages, but even he cant be ready for such a terrible but normalish situation".

Indeed, Leo was a natural genius, despite how he acted. There was no reason for why he should have failed. And Toko was one of their smartest, so him failing also didn't quite seem right.

"What happened exactly?"

"Someone must have learned all the languages I can speak" Leo mentioned. "I can speak French Fluently, and read it just fine, but...its my slowest language to translate".

"Wait, your test was written in French?!"

"The whole damn thing" Leo pouted. "Is that even fair?"

"Technically, the school has to give a test in a language you are listed as being fluent in, so they took advantage of it. That was why Toko messed up too".

"Who thought learning English at a young age would be a hinderance".

"Ah...sorry about that, Toko" Aria replied, understanding that it was somewhat her fault. Toko had only recently become someone who was considered fluent in English, so they had used that against him and gave him tests that switched from Japanese to English.

As a result, two of the smartest people in class had ended up getting the lowest scores.

"Hey...dont worry" a particular student said, walking into the classroom at such a late hour and holding a piece of paper. He walked up to Koro-sensei's desk with a cool and collected smile, as if all was right, or maybe just he felt that good. It would make sense after all, as he gave Koro-sensei a paper. "Because like my dad, they were not ready for me either".

Looking much like his father did when he was his age, Elliot Akabane smiled as Koro-sensei saw the pap...

"A perfect score! One hundred percent! Top of grade and class!" Koro-sensei announced, and suddenly the dark clouds over the class no longer felt as dark or overwhelming. Rather, when Karma turned around and looked at the five lowest, they felt as if they were challanged.

"Now you know, we cant run away from them. We cant show them weakness or fear...but, we can mercilessly disect them, slowly make them boil, and fill them with regret. But, now they know their grand plans...wont work forever".

Even though some of them felt worried for their immediate future, even they felt a fire of action over them. Because now, a crack had formed in their impenetrable wall of grades. A wall that had kept Class E at the bottom, and the others at top. And that was all they needed. For a crack would become a leak, and then a gush, and then a flood.

"Ohohohohohohohohohohoh...well said, Kar...Elliot-kun. That said...stop skipping class and stealing my snacks!"

"Oh, but my dad said you were okay with it" Elliot said. He was happy to see his other classmates no longer looking depressed, and was all ready to help them fight off the people who were keeping them oppressed.

Meanwhile, later that night, as some of the students were walking home after talking about their grades and talking to their teachers about improvement (so they would not drop into E-Class), and as the darkness set, the sky lacked a moon to shine with.

"Hahahaha! I wish we were able to mess with those brats ourselves".

"Hey, they said they would take pictures when they get them, so that should help us feel like we are there".

"Yeah...those damn E Class flunkies need to pay for what they did to us".

"Damn right" he said, when they noticed a shadow cast by a steet lamp they passed of a third person behind them. BUt, as they turned around...

"AHHHG!" "NOOOO!"

A few moments later, when people nearby looked at where the screaming came from, they soon called 911 afterwards.

AN: We got our Akabane! Woot! Also, there we go...a fire has been lit under everyone, and it looks like things will be getting kicked up a notch! Hope everyone enjoyed!