Gifted Academy: The Perfect Student

I was walking through the classroom building when I heard the intrusive melody of Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 5. It was a piece I had heard many times throughout my stay in the Ideal Human Project. However, I noticed that it was being played on a piano a few rooms down.

I decided to go over and see who was playing it.

Gently, I slid open the door to one of the music rooms that was near the end of the classroom building. I tried to keep the creaking to a minimum as I glanced in to find a familiar white-haired girl sitting elegantly at the grand piano.

I listened to the rest of the piece as she played. From what I could tell, the piece was played completely flawlessly—in an almost robotic sense. Eventually, it concluded as she softly closed the lid on the keys.

Without even looking over, she began speaking to me.

"Long time no see, Ayato."

"That was nice. I can tell you played it perfectly to the composer's writing."

"Of course, you wouldn't get it. You always played songs by ear."

"I probably wouldn't be able to play something like that by ear."

"As humble as always, I see~"

Leisurely, she got up and made her way over to me.

"Don't you have anything to say to me? Subject One."

"Ah, it's been a while since I've been called by that name."

"Of course, you've been living out a normal life, after all."

"What are you suggesting by that? Hasegawa Mio."

She did a little twirl before walking out the door.

"Whatever do I mean~?"

She began making her way down the hall.

"You know, normal life has its charms. But I've been bored. Ayato, I've been waiting to play with you again~"

"I'm not sure I'll take you up on that offer."

"You wouldn't reject a cute little girl like me, would you?"

"I might."

She giggled before sauntering away.

-

***

-

The next morning, I was awoken by the sound of my phone vibrating.

On the front screen, I saw an email from the school.

-

National High School

Later today, you will be receiving a notification from the school regarding the next special exam. Details will be on the Preseqta App like before. It will also be reiterated that if your bank balance falls below 0 points at any point, you will be immediately expelled from the school.

Advice from the principal, 'this next special exam is not what it seems at first glance.'

-

"Another special exam? Just after the last one as well," commented Kimura.

"I guess the school likes them."

A devious smile appeared on his face.

"Aha, well, luckily for me, I also like them~"

Later in the day, we received a notification on the Preseqta app.

-

Chess Tournament Special Exam

~

Exam

In this special exam, we will be imitating the necessity to work with others, a skill that is incredibly important in modern society.

This exam will be split into four main parts.

The student Katsuragi Alex will be excluded from this exam. He will receive none of the rewards but also none of the punishments.

~

Part 1 - Teammate Selection

Every student will choose a teammate to partner up with. You will be given 24 hours to confirm your choice. If you do not confirm your selection by then, you will be randomly allocated one and have two points deducted from your team in the next part.

There are specific rules for teammate selection:

- Class A students can only partner with Class E, Class D or Class C students.

~

Part 2 - Group Stage

Every team will be placed into one of 15 groups. Each group will include five teams. Each team play the others exactly once to determine an overall ranking. Teams will play each other in a game of standard transfer chess. A win counts as three points, a draw counts as one and a loss counts as zero. There will be no resignations. All games will be decided with a stalemate or a checkmate.

1. The top team in each group will be released from the special exam along with a reward of 15,000 points each.

2. The second-place team will be released from the special exam along with a reward of 3,000 points.

3. The third-place team will compete in the consolation group in the next part.

4. The fourth-ranked team will be forced to participate in the losers' group in the next part.

5. The fifth-ranked team will be forced to participate in the losers' group, along with a 30-second time deduction.

~

Part 3 - Extended Stage

The extended stage will be split into two main sections.

All teams in the consolation group will compete in one match against a randomly selected team. The winning team steals 1,000 points from the losing team. After the match is complete, the teams will be released from the special exam.

All teams in the losers' group will compete in a tournament-style knockout round. The losers of every round will move to the next. A single win is all that's needed to be released from the tournament. For every loss, each student in the team will lose 1,000 points and 500 extra points for each class they are above class E. (E.g. a class E student would lose 1,000 points per loss, but a class A student would lose 3,000 points per loss.)

There will be no resignations. All games will be decided with a stalemate or a checkmate.

~

Part 4 - Finals

Throughout the tournament, every student will be given a derived ELO. The eight students with the highest derived ELO will be allowed to participate in the Finals. The finals will be in tournament-style knockout matches until a winner is produced. Students will be given time based on their ELO.

Resignations are permitted.

Rewards for each round are as stated.

Top 8 - 500 points

Top 4 - 8,000 points

Top 2 - 20,000 points + a special ticket for the next special exam

Top 1 - 40,000 points + immunity from the next special exam

~

Further details will be released as the special exam goes on.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask your homeroom teacher.

We wish you good luck.

-

This exam seemed long at first. However, it wasn't as complex as it seemed.

"Wow, this looks interesting, although I'm not that good at chess," Kimura commented.

"Well, we've got some time to prepare."