Bang!

Teacher Claire smacked the chalkboard with her palm.

The large letters written on it shook for a moment from the impact.

End of semester tournament.

It was the beginning of the final exams.

“This Wednesday, the end-of-semester tournament begins! It will be reflected in your grades, so prepare diligently!”

[It’s finally starting!]

Tournament, huh?

Hmm, no matter how much I think about it, I have no idea why this kind of thing is the final exam.

Most academy novels divide up the students based on their rank.

 If the 1st and 2nd place meet in the preliminaries and the 1st place happens to lose, that person would end up with the lowest grade.

When I asked the Author about this, the development was revised. Today, she’ll probably discuss that.

“There will be a loser’s bracket in the tournament. So don’t worry too much.”

“A, a loser’s bracket?”

Ah, she’s talking about it right now.

She seemed concerned about the students looking anxious.

“There has been talk before that the tournament lacks a seeding system. So there will be a loser’s bracket this time.”

“Oh, ohhh…”

“And one more thing.”

Teacher Claire delivered an important fact to the students, who were feeling relieved.

…In a way, this might be a better solution.

Even I didn’t think of this. The Author sometimes comes up with good ideas.

“This tournament will be in teams of two.”

“Wh, what?!”

“If we add a loser’s bracket, there won’t be enough time. Everyone agreed to this. The rationale was sound.”

Hmm, look at how flustered they are.

They must be the students who heard about the tournament contents from their seniors.

Seeing those guys get confused when the content differs from their knowledge is a bit satisfying.

Like I can control the emotions of the puppets!… Something like that?

Well, it’s not that I controlled it, but still.

“So, sound rationale?”

“Yes. Have you all ever tried working in sync with others before?”

“…Ugh.”

“You haven’t, right? I know.”

“B-but…!”

The student who tried to argue couldn’t continue speaking after seeing Claire’s expression.

…A look as  if longing for something. She’s probably thinking of her dead former comrades.

That was part of her setting, after all.

“I’m saying this because I also had such times. …Trying to work in sync with others is something a hero must do.”

“B-but! We have no experience working together right now! For the exam content to suddenly…”

Change like this, does it make sense?

The student who tried to say that finally shut his mouth, realizing Claire was staring intently at him.

Right, the teachers were just turning a blind eye to it.

The academy exam contents are confidential. Moreover, the exam content is only revealed on Monday of that week.

Knowing the exam content beforehand should be impossible in the first place. The teachers were just kindly overlooking that.

The students realized they were already being let off.

“So try it out this week… Didn’t you all want to become heroes?”

“Y-yes. That’s right…”

“Most heroes don’t wander around alone like you think. At a minimum, they work in teams of two. That’s the basics. The solo heroes you imagine are a tiny minority.”

Teacher Claire wrote on the chalkboard with the chalk.

Teams of 2.

“Ordinary superhumans can’t handle the monsters at the front lines alone. So most form teams… Who do you think the superhumans team up with?”

“Their close colleagues, of course. Isn’t it obvious?”

“You’re partially correct. About half the time, they work with people who aren’t their colleagues. It’s different from what you think.”

“…What?”

Huh, really?

Even I didn’t know that.

The Author probably set that without telling me.

She doesn’t bother explaining things to me that don’t need explaining.

I’ve suffered a lot because of that.

“As you all know, superhumans are busy. The front lines, exterminating villains, patrols for citizens’ safety, etc. They’re so busy they can barely catch their breath.”

Before I knew it, Claire had returned to lecture mode. She walked around the students as she continued speaking.

“Superhumans are also human. They need rest, and they get injured too. Having mismatched schedules with colleagues is a daily occurrence…Then, what will you do  if a teammate gets hurt and your schedules don’t align?”

“Nu-nurse the colleague or something?”

“Are you crazy? Superhumans are in short supply as they are. You’re going to leave a perfectly fine person alone just because one teammate got hurt?  If we did that, we would have progressed much slower than now.”

“…”

The student who had been answering the teacher’s questions lost her words.

Her opinions had been completely refuted, so that’s understandable.

“The answer is simple. You go on missions with a superhuman whose hands are free, one you’re meeting for the first time. Or one you only know by face.”

“…B-but! We don’t know what kind of accident might happen then!”

“Of course, we know that. That’s why the content of this final exam was decided. I don’t think this will solve everything, but isn’t getting used to it even a little better?”

[Hmm, not a bad setting, right?]

My focus was completely shattered by the Author’s words.

In the end, this is all a setting of her liking. I was stupid for intently listening to the teacher’s words.

After circling around the students once, Claire returned to the chalkboard and wrote in the empty space with the chalk.

“The evaluation criteria for this final exam is simple. Teamwork and the ability to handle unexpected situations… It’s different from the old days when ranking was the standard for everything.”

Teamwork, written in large letters on the chalkboard.

Claire spoke loudly to the students blankly staring at the board.

“The partners for this tournament will be decided by drawing lots.”

Ha, I see. Then who will I be with?

I peeked at Siwoo and Amelia.

Those two will be together, right?

…Do I have to team up with someone I don’t know?

However, after all the students had drawn their lots and I had seen the results, I was shocked.

Amelia was next to me.

“Arte, I’m counting on you.”

“Y-yes. I’m counting on you too.”

What the.

I thought for sure Amelia and Siwoo would be on the same team.

Why did she come here?

[Whew, the opportunity has finally arrived. Do you know how hard it was to have a heroine set up but not be able to use her?]

…What? Heroine?

I hurriedly glanced next to Siwoo.

… It’s a girl. According to the Author, she must be the heroine.

But now? All of a sudden?

She must have noticed my confusion. She began explaining confidently.

[You see, I had a heroine set up, but there ended up being less contact with her than I thought. Since it turned out this way, I thought I’d try increasing her role.]

But you told the readers she was the heroine without doing anything with her?

At the Author’s words, I stared intently at that girl.

…Heroine? You mentioned that before? When?

I stared at her for a long time, and the timid-looking heroine, noticing my gaze, got startled and trembled.

“Arte, do you have some business with her?”

“No, she just looks familiar… Do you know her, Amelia?”

“Who knows? We’re in the same class, but I haven’t talked to her aside from sparring with her on the first day.”

“Ah.”

That’s it.

I realized it from Amelia’s words.

Back when we had just entered school not long ago, that girl who got thrashed by Amelia in the first spar.

It was her.

“…I see.”

Come to think of it, the Author had mentioned something like that before.

She said both of them were heroine candidates when they sparred.

I thought the Author had rejected her since they had never met after that, so I forgot about it.

Seems she was lying in wait because the timing to use her never came up.

Indeed, there were a bit too few heroines.

There have only been three heroine candidates so far.

Lyla, Amelia, and that girl.

…Claire definitely wasn’t a heroine. At most, she was a supporting character.

Lyla was consumed as a villain, and that girl only now appears.

Unlike most academy novels, there has only been one heroine. This is a bit unusual, considering that most novels have harems or multiple heroines to choose from.

Is she planning to start introducing other heroines and let it run differently?

“…A-Arte.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry too much. It’ll be fine.”

“?”

Amelia spouted nonsense.

What’s she worried about?

What is she thinking to comfort me like that suddenly?

Her looking at me like I’m some poor thing to be pitied made me feel a bit annoyed.

***

The girl, Dorothy, was very flustered.

“Nice to meet you, Dorothy.”

“Oh, yes. …You know my name?”

“We’re in the same class.”

She just accepted that the popular Siwoo ended up in the same group as her.

And while it’s surprising he knows the name of someone as useless as her, she thought it was possible.

There are always some who know their classmates’ names, even  if they aren’t close.

But Dorothy couldn’t stand Arte’s gaze.

“…Is something wrong?”

“N-no! It’s nothing!”

The closer Siwoo got to her out of concern, the more piercing Arte’s gaze became.

‘H-hiii. Scary.’

When there were rumors among the students that she was someone whose thoughts were impossible to know, she didn’t understand what they meant.

She thought she was just a person who was always smiling brightly, pretty, and strong, unlike herself.

Now, she clearly understood.

‘Why is she looking at me like that!’

Her eyes are glaring at me like she wants to kill me, but she’s smiling…!

“You don’t look well… Should I help you to the infirmary?”

“D-don’t come any closer! Please!”

“…O-okay. Sorry.”

Siwoo looked hurt at being rejected, but Dorothy couldn’t help it.

The gaze on her back was getting more and more piercing, making it hard to endure.

“Um, Teacher. About changing the drawing…”

“I explained earlier. This test is to see how well you synch up with someone you’re meeting for the first time. The moment you change, I’ll give you both the lowest score, so don’t even dream of it.”

“…Yes.”

Dorothy wanted to cry.

 If she could, she wanted to give her spot to Arte.

She started resenting the teacher.