Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Clubit Academia ❯ The First Class of the Day ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The first class of the day

'Now let that be a lesson to you,' Kenshin said, walking out of the room and slamming the door.

'Yes ma...I mean sir,' muttered Paine, pulling his trousers up quickly so he wouldn't be late for his first class. Rushing out of the closest, he admired his new uniform. Simple white pants topped with a green buttoned shirt and a black jacket. They felt a lot more comfortable than a regular school uniform, and they also felt sort of cool, especially the purple choker that went around his neck. He hadn't seen anyone else wearing the uniform, nor had Dorou told him about it last night.

The compulsive thief had told him everything he needed to know about the Academy last night over another three duels (all of which Paine was able to win using Deus Ex Machina). From the dorm system to how classes worked, and with the sole exception of the uniform, which Kenshin had since debriefed him on, he now figured he knew pretty much everything that he needed to know.

He found Dorou wasn't that bad a guy as they started talking outside the duel. A bit forceful and constantly rude with that stealing thing he felt he had to do every five seconds, but otherwise a nice guy who was a bit of a laugh. By the end of the night, Paine felt it was a good thing he ended up with the guy as a roommate.

It was a good thing that the compulsive thief did tell him everything, for he would have never have guessed some of the stuff if he hadn't. Things here were apparently a little different to how they were done in both normal schools and other dueling academies. Here, dorms were apparently optional to join and also constantly being remade. The three obvious dorms were here: Ra Yellow, Obelisk Blue and Sleipher Red, but there were also two others, the Imperial Knights and the Knights of Konoha. Joining any of them also wasn't obligatory, and although most of the students did, there was a moderate handful still staying in the spare dorm, where no clan resided.

He was also told of The Ten. These ten were apparently the teachers that worked here at Clubit Academia, although this wasn't necessarily the case. Dorou had explained that this was more like a gentlemen's club if anything for some of the biggest names in the academy and was best seen as a form of administrating body. On top of that, the ten were also the Homeroom teachers, which he guessed meant that *that* Shariku was one of them.

Reaching the notice board he had been told to find by Dorou before Kenshin had stopped to discipline him, the new student had his eyes wander over its contents. The first thing that hit him was a red and black poster, asking for him to sign his name on it. It told him of numerous students being concerned about the lack of accuracy in some of the academy's concepts, the biggest of which was Sleipher Red, which the undersigned were all agreeing should be turned to Osiris Red. Not understanding in the slightest, Paine went on to read the list of classes and lectures.

This was the second big thing about the academy Dorou had warned him about. Classes weren't obligatory either. You could choose which ones you attended or didn't attend, and you could do as much or as little as you liked. Although many often followed the same lecturers to keep up with their individual courses, dropping a class for a day didn't really affect anything (although some teachers were known for attacking any of their regular attendees when they miss a lesson for lazy reasons).

Each student however, was expected to produce a monthly report on a subject of their choice which would then be marked and go towards their final grade. In a way, he felt this was better, he could write about what he wanted and it gave him a certain amount of freedom. He realized it also gave people a chance to be lazy, but that was their loss in the end.

There was one exception to this rule, and this was the Homeroom class. This was the one class that students were expected to come to at the first hour of each week, just for announcements and special projects mainly, but apparently some Homeroom's did have lessons during this time.

This did also mean that he would have to see her again.

That wasn't too bad, although the urge to avoid her was high. It did however mean that he got to ask her about the ranking system that Kenshin had told him about. He had no real idea about it, but he could guess the basics. If this was the way to become the strongest duelist in the country, then he had to go for it. He also wanted to ask her about where she disappeared to the other day.

Her room was Lecture Theatre four apparently, in this wing of the Academy. Looking to the clock, he saw he only had four minutes left. Completely forgetting the need for any form of stationary, he rushed off in the direction indicated by the map, expecting much punishment for if he was late.

**********************************

“The Romans -you're late, n00b!- are one of the shining examples of ancient tactical creativity. In a world full of savages and barbarians, they were quite literally the first to learn how to organize themselves beyond rushing at the enemy. Although others such as the Greeks were also learning how to build defenses and train their armies, it was the Roman's initiative that led to their conquest of most the continent, save for the one, small Gaulish village.”

Despite the size of the lecture theatre, which felt more like it was an auditorium, there were only around twenty students in the room, all spread out and only one or two of them sitting next to each other. Only Shariku seemed to have noticed him come in, as the others watched on, looking engrossed with the slideshow presentation.

On the whiteboard to the left, something was written that seemed to stand out. He read it as he sat down somewhere near the middle.

Science cannot exist without art, yet art exists without boundaries

- Shariku-sama, sometime last year

“In any form of war and battle, creativity is the most important thing. Although you can learn from the mistakes and successes of the past, so too can your opponent. It is only in creativity where one can survive past others. Everything must be creative and new, else it stagnates and dies.”

She turned round quickly, facing a boy three aisles up, who had a pair of headphones on, with only one ear being covered though, the other letting its ear pretend to listen, and approached him with a quickening step.

“You, be creative. You have ten seconds.”

“What,” the unhygienic looking boy muttered, surprised as his daydream was interrupted. “wa err. I don't kow.”

“Wrong!” In an instant, she leapt over the seats, slamming her bare knee into his jaw. The student cried out loudly and fell back. Like Paine, the other students looked horrified, only a few at the back were giggling.

“Were this a war, he might have died,” she explained calmly, as if she hadn't just assaulted a student.

Paine wanted to stand up, to shout that there was something wrong with her. What she did to Zen yesterday seemed a bit playful, but this was downright violent- not to mention she had attacked him as well just for waking her up. Holding himself down in his seat, the new student waited as she continued her lecture, now sitting down right in front of the injured student.

“Remember this to be an important thought when building your decks. In the end, a duel is just a game. Many get competitive in this game, obtaining a Kaiba like, egotistical attitude. This is fine if you wanna be like that. But remember, if you just build or copy a cookie cutter or chaos deck, the deck you play with isn't yours. And without creativity and tactics, then the game you just won was won by no one.”

Silence filled the room before small mutterings began here and there, and Paine got the feeling the lesson had ended, even though only two minutes seemed to have passed in real time. Turning off the projector, Shariku sat back down in a big, green comfy chair that put his bench to shame.

“Duty, you may head to the nurse's office now.” Without a word, the slouchy looking boy jumped up and ran up the stairs, leaving his bag as he held blood in his mouth. No one seemed all that concerned now for some reason. “Okay messages,” the teacher muttered, clicking on a computer screen that was by her chair. “First off, as you can probably tell with all your marvelous eyes, we have a new student with us today. Don't get up!” Her tone of voice changed drastically as Paine started to edge upwards, fully expecting to have to. “Paine59 here has somewhat grabbed the attention of many people here already by obtaining a soul deck on his first day. We don't know how he's done it, but I certainly hope him to be an interesting character sometime in the future.”

Paine sat back, and waved as others turned to him. Most didn't seem that bothered.

“Other messages…let's see,” she consulted the screen again, reading it off monotonously. “Parts of the old forum seem to be on the blink, so try to limit your time in there as much as possible. Oh yes, that problem should be fixed tomorrow. If it's not, and we all know how lazy the headmaster can be, we'll inform you through your key pads.”

“Finally, there's a match tonight for the Shariku Rankings to be held at 9pm in the main dueling zone. Everyone and their friend are invited, so please try and make it.”

“Who's playing, Shariku-sama?” a boy near the bottom, with a bald almost shining head that looked familiar to Paine shouted out, raising his hand as he did so, looking a lot more excited than he did a second ago.

“It's nothing too special, I suppose. Icehawk will be fighting YY87. It's a frozen match, so it won't matter too much, but they are both excellent duelists so I suggest you get yourselves down there and learn something.”

A frozen match? He hadn't heard of that before. In so many ways, there were so many things for him to learn at this new academy. He was only just getting an inkling of a grasp on how things worked here. To think he thought it would have been easy.

“Okay, talk amongst yourselves,” she declared, before falling further back onto her comfy-looking armchair and appearing to fall asleep. Taking his moment, he stood up and went down, intending to speak to her, ask her all the questions he had. Before he got down a boy stopped him, a paper bag covering his head, a question mark hovering over him as if it were the most natural thing in the world,

“I wouldn't if I were you,” he said, looking apparently concerned for the boy.

“Why not?”

“Shariku-sama doesn't respond well to people waking her up.”

“I'll just be quick. I want to ask her about these rankings I keep hearing about.”

“Don't say I didn't warn you.”

He knew to be careful. A violent sleeper, that's what she was. He had found that out just the day before, and that weird strangle technique she used seemed to panic the person in her grasp more than damage. He'd just have to be ready to avoid it- though it did seem strange that she had fallen asleep so quickly. Stepping up to where the podium was, he wandered over to her quickly, seeing everyone eye him. He felt like he was on stage. In a way he was, he had played something like this in his last school, a pantomime where he had to poke the sleeping giant. Holding back a snigger that was reminded by the event, he stood next to her and went to shake her shoulder, the girl looking somewhat regal even when asleep.

“Excuse me, Ms. Oni…”

***********************

His head was throbbing, quite, quite painfully. It took him a moment to realize he was even on a bed, let alone being no where near his Homeroom. Looking around the room with half his usual vision, he saw only green curtains, before realizing how much his right eyeball hurt.

“He apparently tried to…wake her.” Voices from…somewhere. His depth perception was messed up.

“Oh god no!”

“He was lucky. From what the students tell me, she immediately fell back asleep, probably doesn't even know what she's done. And could you please not talk like that?”

“Sorry,” the other voice- a male- replied. “Do you think [i]he[/i] even knows what happened?”

“There is no use in speculating over such things. We shall have to ask him when he wakes up.”

He didn't want to wake up. Falling back down onto the bed, he tried to open an eye he could only guess was just a lump of black at the moment. His motions seemed to grab someone's attention and the conversation fell silent. Seconds later, one of the green curtains slid open, revealing a tall girl with green hair almost a long as he was.

“Ah, you're awake,” she said, approaching him with a light smile, showing him that she was a lot taller than he thought- a clear six and a half feet!

Groaning nonsensically, he was immediately pushed back down, his attempt at greeting her refused. “Please stay down,” she requested politely. “You were only kicked in the eye, but you might have a concussion.

The word `only' sent him off laughing for a second, and he let himself lie there as requested. Looking around, he could see where he had suspected he was before the curtain had moved away. The nurse's office was just that. Bigger than the one at his last school, it looked to have several beds, one of which was currently hidden buy another green curtain. Now that he could see, he realized they were alone, the other voice that he had heard now absent, making him wonder if he had been delirious in some way.

“How does your head feel?” she asked him calmly, leaning over him and still looking taller than he would were he able to stand. She wasn't wearing a nurse's uniform, or anything that looked remotely medicinal, instead she was dressed conservatively in a black suit. Around her neck hung a small crucifix that dangled.

“It's okay,” he replied honestly, the only searing pain he could feel being within his eye. He had no idea he could feel intense throbbing that far into the pupil.

“Well…okay,” she muttered, after a few seconds deliberation and a stretching of his skin that sent him into pure agony without her noticing. “I'll get you an ice pack, and then just take some time off until you heal.”

“Time off?” he muttered in despair. “But today's my first day. I'll be damned if I miss it.”

“The Lord will not punish you for spending time recuperating,” she said with a sweet smile and stern voice, turning back at the door. “Now stay there. Your deck is on the chair if you must insist on doing something, but don't duel anyone.” With that, she slid back through the door and out of sight, leaving Paine alone.

“Don't duel anyone…who am I going to duel?” he mumbled out aloud, grabbing his belt and looking at his deck. Yet again, that urge was still there; to touch and yet not touch. What did it mean? Dorou had given him a little more information than Shariku did, but it still didn't mean much. Would he not be able to properly look at it until it had finished making itself? And how long would that take? Would it depend on how many duels he had, or how many duels he didn't have? He was just as clueless as everyone else seemed to be. He looked around the nurse's office. He really wanted a match now. “But there's no one here, is there?”

“Nope just us,” the voice that made Paine nearly wet himself said. Screaming, he quickly calmed down as he heard quiet laughter, coming from behind a set of green curtains across the room. “Sorry. I did not mean to alarm you. Please except my apologies.” It didn't feel like anyone was there, but the voice told him differently. He couldn't entirely place the accent; something was telling him British, but something else was telling him French. For some reason, he ended it classing it as just Aristocractian.”

“Erm…it's okay,” Paine mumbled back, his heart no longer trying to eject out of his nose.

“So I heard Shariku attacked you?” the voice said, sounding humbly amused by the idea.

“Heh, I can't say I remember. She's a lot faster when asleep.”

“Indeed. There have been many a rumour that Shariku is at her strongest when completely unconscious. They say it allows her to dream of way to victory.”

“Er…yeah,” Paine replied, slightly confused. “Still, hurts a lot though.”

“Count yourself lucky,” the boy on the other side of the curtain said. “Have you met Malikxbakura yet?”

“Um,” Paine stuttered anxiously. “That's the girl…with the um… severed head…right?”

“That's correct.”

“Thought so.” The voice didn't respond as Paine waited for it to. It took him as moment to realize. “Oh!” he said, alarmed.

“Indeed.”

“But…” Paine was aghast with horror now. “But…”

“Shariku is not a bad person, despite outward appearances. Once she woke up, she did all that was within her power to keep the girl alive. If anything, Malikxbakura likes her change, even if it does mean she cannot duel anymore.”

“But…surely that's…” He wanted to say assault. He wanted to say murder. He just wasn't sure which.

“It is of no consequence. The law here does not work the same as out there.”

“What are you…” but his head was throbbing now, the pain a jackhammer on whatever part of the brain that was. Before he knew it, the voice had changed the conversation.

“So why did she attack you?”

“What?”

“You approached her, is that not true? Why would you commit such a sin while she was asleep?”

“LeBlanc…” another voice admonished. The nurse had returned, holding an ice pack that was already against his eye. It was impossible to tell when she had returned.

“Again, my apologies my dear,” the aristocratic voice said, with what felt like a small bow.

“It's hard to believe sometimes,” the nurse said, dabbing Paine's eye and speaking only to him. “He's the most well spoken of us, and yet he still swears as much as anyone else.

Figuring he must have missed part of the conversation, Paine let the nurse attend to him. Something which, as he looked at her the more, became less and less painful.

“And so?”

“What?” Paine realized he was being spoken to.

“Why did she attack?”

“Oh…I wanted to ask her about… these rankings I had heard about,” Paine said quickly, hissing loudly, the ice pack being lain to rest on his eyeball.

“Ah, the Shariku Rankings,” LeBlanc confirmed. “Yes, I suppose a newbie would be curious about them. Would you like me to fill you in?”

“Ah! Yes please,” Paine replied, the thought of being called a newbie feeling a lot nicer than the moniker Shariku had chosen for him. This guy, he figured, he could put into the category of the nice ones, rather than the weird and nasty ones

“So what do you know about them so far?”

“Nothing, I'm afraid. Ma…I mean Mr. Kenshin mentioned them last night.”

“You mean…. Ah,” LeBlanc seemed audibly happy.

“What?”

“Oh thank the lord; I've been brought a virgin.”

“What!” Taking back everything he had just thought, Paine stuttered loud enough to make his ice pack fall off.

“Ah forgive me, and you too please, Priestess.” The girl merely grumbled to herself, fixing Paine's ice pack for him and turning to get on with something else. “It's just so fun to explain such things.”

“Riiight,” Paine replied, wondering how far he could get out the door before the nurse tackled him back to his bed.

“Anyway, the Shariku Rankings was set up by Shariku as a result of her attempting to find a way to truly determine the best duelist in the land.”

“What?” Paine said. “You mean whoever is at the top is considered the best?”

“Please, let me finish,” LeBlanc asked politely. “At first it was a serious attempt to determine who was the greatest duelist, taking into account factors such as win/loss ratio, deck type, personal strategy and response to situations. But as time went on it became harder and harder to determine such a position.” Paine nodded; he could understand why that would be. “She tried all sorts of scenarios and methods, and she is still trying to get it just right.”

“If it's not right yet then why is everyone so interested in it?” He couldn't help interrupting. Being shown the path to the country's best had relit the fire in his heart and then threw a can of gasoline on it.

“Simply enough, it is because it is the most official ongoing tournament slash league that we have. Very few are willing to take the time and the effort to administer something that would take a lot of work, even in an official Academy. So when someone does, everyone wants to join up. The idea of a league is very appealing. Makes things more entertaining.”

“So how do they work?”

“That is where it gets complicated. The Ranking's rules are quite fluid in Shariku's palms, and the current rules are somewhat different than usual. To enter, one must consult Shariku herself, who, based on past performance, will determine the best place for you to start in the rankings. However, to make that place, you have to defeat the person holding that rank. Say if she chose number twenty four…”

“I think I'd be higher than that,” Paine said lightly.

“…, you would have to defeat the person holding rank 24. If you did, that person would be kicked out of the rankings altogether and they would have to re enter based on Shariku's judgment.”

“That isn't fair!” Paine said a bit too openly. “Does that mean even the person at number one would just get kicked out?”

“Indeed, it is so,” LeBlanc replied. “But there is some reason behind it. Once you have attained a rank, you may only fight those who are two or less ranks ahead of you, or two or more ranks behind you. The notion is, is that you fight people within your skill level. If you get defeated by someone lower than you, you get removed from the system. If you win, everything stays the same. They also have frozen matches, which are just a form of friendly, where no one gets kicked out.”

Paine fell silent at this. It made a certain amount of sense, with the notion of easy elimination ad constant competition, it made the duelists strive harder to stay in. It also felt a bit like boxing rules. Maybe it was being made to sound a bit more complicated than it was.

“So how do you make her enter you?”

“You have to prove yourself, n00b.” He did not allow himself to scream like a sissy, despite the burning instinct that now raged inside his frightened soul that told him to do so.

“Ah, Shariku-sama, good day to you,” Leblanc said from behind the curtain.

“Again?” Shariku chimed, realizing who it was. “What was it this time?”

“Nothing much I assure you,” the aristocratic sounding boy that Paine still knew nothing about said. “I merely woke up with a nosebleed, and I had the unfortunate bad luck to be contacted by Priestess at that very moment. As a result, I am interred against my will.”

“A mere nosebleed is not defined as enough blood to turn the pillow completely red!” Priestess shouted, her hand quickly covering her mouth. “Oh, excuse me. Speaking out of turn with two of the Ten present.”

“Don't sweat it,” Shariku said, quickly brushing it off, her head peeking behind LeBlanc's curtain, followed by a snort of laughter as she came back out, a cup of orange juice in her hand. “He wasn't going to drink it,” she said quickly, before the nurse detonated. It seemed to only half stop her.

“So how do I prove myself?” Paine asked eagerly, not caring so much for his dislike of the girl now. Despite his pains, if this was the person to speak to in order to be the best in the land, then he'd be as polite as he could possibly be. He should be doing so anyway, even if she wasn't constantly horrible and violent to him.

“You?” she said, as if the prospect had alarmed her. “In case you haven't noticed, you haven't even been through a single lecture yet. Common sense should tell you I wouldn't let you in.”

“That's not fair!” Paine shouted back, trying to hold himself in place as Shariku's eyes practically bulged at his outburst. “You know I'm a good duelist. I beat Guldalf, and I have a soul deck. They should both count for something right?”

“Like I told you before,” Shariku replied with both crossed arms and eyebrows. “Anyone can have a Soul Deck, it doesn't appear to determine your skill level, and so far, all five of your duels have been won by using the same old, broken card. Even if you hadn't, Guldalf is even more of a n00b than you are. Beating him doesn't mean anything.”

“Yes, it is losing against him that has more meaning,” LeBlanc said calmly, shutting Shariku up instantly, the girl now glaring at the curtain like it might ignite any second now.

“Surely there is no harm in just testing him, Shariku-sama,” Priestess quickly interrupted. “Both you and he have a free moment now, do you not?” Shariku looked first at the nurse, and then at the curtain, like she could see the person behind it with ease, before her head drooped.

“I'm being picked on here aren't I?”

“Indeed, I'm afraid you are,” LeBlanc said light heartedly.

“Fine. What will it matter anyway?”

Paine felt his pulse soar, completely forgetting his injury, he tried to jump out of bed and be immediately interrupted by an incredibly fast nurse who pushed him straight back down.

“You may duel in your bed,” the green haired girl said with her sweet smile, which more than helped in putting him down.

“Right, sorry,” he muttered before turning to Shariku. “So who do I duel? Either of you two Ten people is fine. I'll win regardless.”

“The cockiness is putting me off,” Shariku whined, talking like she was eight. “Can't I just cap him in the other eye and leave it?”

“After you've selected his opponent and apologized to him,” LeBlanc said, with an air of false admonishing.

“Okay,” she said childishly, walking back to Paine slouched. He got the feeling he was watching an act here, but couldn't quite tell. “You can duel Priestess,” she mumbled, clearly having decided in an instant.

“ME?” Priestess exclaimed, truly shocked.

“And please accept my apologies for severely damaging your face in a humorous manner.” With a quick and very small lean, the girl bowed towards him, causing Paine to jolt back sharply, excepting something randomly violent to happen as it did every time the girl was near him. Nothing did however, save the fact he swore she was blushing slightly; only her large glasses hiding it. Quickly turning, she faced away from him.

“Beat Priestess in a fresh and innovative way,” Shariku said, her voice now booming back to usual standards. “And I will put you in for a qualifying match.”