2074.

The D era has taken over the world.

After the disappearance of Mikazuchi Ryuzaki, the Messiah Grand Prix descended upon Japan.

A grand prize was promised for the winner who reigns supreme in the whole country.

In the green region of Susanoo exists the legendary academy city on water—

GEN Academy.

The invitations for the upcoming cohort have been sent out and confirmed.

125 new students embark their journey to rock from the bottom to the top.

However—

The existence of a special class became necessary.

「Q Class」

—crossed from the rest of the school were 6 students.

Due to each and every one of their personal circumstances, they couldn't be a part of the main cohort.

And it was for these various reasons they became united.

Because underlying all their hearts was a single wish—

—Destruction.

This is their story.

...

In any regular circumstance, I would've been excited to go to GEN Academy.

But right now, I couldn't understand what was happening to me.

Upon arrival at the academy city on water, I was pulled aside by the Headmaster who congratulated me for being one of the "chosen ones".

Afterwards, he handed me over to Kuushu-sensei, who would be my homeroom teacher for the next three years.

Kuushu-sensei had a stone cold face as she bluntly told me to follow her.

As I did, she guided me to a small building that was separate from the main school building.

I feel like I should be glad this was happening to me, since the Headmaster told me I was one of the "chosen ones", but...

...right now, fear penetrated my heart.

"We're here."

A rustic, beat-up, postmodern building stood before me and Kuushu-sensei.

Compared to the highly technological marvels we have nowadays, this looked like something ripped straight out of 2024.

I was almost impressed they could preserve something so historic in the modern age.

"So... what is this meant to be exactly, sensei?"

Kuushu-sensei looked at me over her shoulder with a cruel gaze.

"Your new classroom for the next three years."

As she opened the door manually, I realised what sort of hell I've been shuffled into.

"Q Class."

Kuushu-sensei stepped to the side, allowing me to enter.

Inside was a single classroom with five other people in it.

There were six desks, arranged sporadically across the room.

At five of the desks were one person each, leaving one of them open for me.

Coincidentally, it was the rightmost back desk, the seat next to the window.

Traditionally, this used to be the protagonist's seat, but nowadays, it's considered the worst seat in the class.

Now it's the seat at the front next to the window which is most desirable.

The real protagonist's desk.

As I made my way to the seat, I made note of all my classmates.

Sitting at the leftmost front desk was a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail, and sitting at the rightmost front desk was a girl with short blonde hair.

It seems blondie was in the protagonist's seat.

Sitting at the leftmost middle desk was a girl with dark red hair tied in twin tails, and sitting at the rightmost middle desk was a girl with waist-length bubblegum pink hair, most likely dyed.

I was surprised at just how deep red her hair colour was, especially since it seemed to be her natural hair colour. It honestly looked like blood more than anything else...

And sitting at the back, right next to me, was a boy with long bleach white hair and, more notably, fox-like eyes.

As I sat down, he didn't even so much a glance at me.

Looks like this class was made up of four girls and two boys.

Kuushu-sensei stood at the teaching podium and delivered a packet of information straight to our phones.

As we opened the packet, a collective hologram popped out, explaining the rules and systems of this school.

My head was dizzy from how much information there was, but I guess I can just download a data packet to my neural launcher later to remember.

After finishing the explanation, I opened a holographic tab in front of me to check the number of private points loaded on my account.

100,000 Pr, huh?

I closed the tab and shuddered a little.

Man, that's a lot of money to trust a bunch of 15 year olds... not even mommy would trust me to handle that much without supervision.

"Any questions?"

The boy next to me flagged up a hand, the tab floating next to his head pinging.

"I do."

"Kuyou-san. What is it?"

His name was Kuyou, huh? What a peculiar surname. I've never heard anything like it before.

"Why were we put into Q Class?"

Honestly, I was thinking the same thing.

I knew that GEN Academy had classes ranging from A to E thanks to their famous intraclass wars that they stream real time, but I've never heard of a Q Class before at this school.

Maybe we were the first batch of a secret sixth class? But it doesn't make sense why it's Q of all things... shouldn't it be F? Or even S to fit their ranking system?

Kuushu-sensei closed her eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot disclose the answer to that question. If you want to know the answer, you'll have to figure it out for yourselves."

"I see. If we manage to find out why, will you allow us to join back with everyone else?"

A sly but pleasant smile appeared on Kuyou's lips.

"I don't have the authority to guarantee that. If you want to join the mainstream classes, you'll have to talk with the School Director... but good luck getting in contact with him."

Kuyou raised an eyebrow before smirking with a nod, understanding the implication Kuushu-sensei was trying to convey.

I did a quick search on the School Director of GEN Academy, but came up empty handed. Weird...

"Hmm, I see."

Kuushu-sensei opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

"Are you dissatisfied with the position you're in, Kuyou-san?"

Kuyou chuckled, shaking his head.

"No, no, I don't have any qualms about this at all. You could put me in Z Class for all I care, and I'd still accept it. After all, I've always wanted to come to the academy city on water since I was young."

"In that case, good. If no one else has any other questions, I'll take my leave. You'll have free time until 10am for the opening ceremony."

No one else raised their hands, so Kuushu-sensei left us to our own devices.

The moment she left, the stuffy atmosphere in the class was immediately lifted, and everyone started talking casually.

"Ah... finally, we can kick back and relax!"

The first one to act was the brown haired girl. She stretched her back with a refreshing smile.

"Hehe, you were really late coming to class. Did you get into trouble or something?"

The pink haired girl, who sat in front of me, turned around and looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Woah, she was surprisingly cute...

"Considering Kuushu-sensei was directly responsible for wrangling him in, he might just be the worst out of all of us, Momoka-san."

Kuyou replied with a laugh before turning in his seat to face me. Seeing him up close like this, I had to admit he was certainly a handsome fellow... in comparison, I was totally average.

"It's nice to meet you, new guy. I'm Kuyou Aru."

He offered his hand out for a handshake. I extended my hand and shook his casually.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kuyou-san. I'm Takamine Minoru, but you can just call me Minoru."

"Minoru, huh? What rank are you?"

"...I'm Category King."

I scratched my cheek a little and laughed at the end, trying to make it less awkward for the two of them.

Whenever I mention my rank to other people, they make a huge deal out of it, so I'm always embarrassed to mention my Category to others since it's so high,

However, to my surprise, Kuyou snickered like it was any other normal day for him.

"Ku ku ku. See, what did I say? This guy's a monster."

"Wow, Takamine-san, you're that strong? That's so cool!"

The pink haired girl clapped her hands together and laughed.

Like Kuyou, she didn't seem all that surprised either.

"How about you, Kuyou-san?"

"Me? I'm Category Ace."

Kuyou grinned, proudly displaying his status to me as proof of his achievement.

As I read the floating screen at his palm, my eyes nearly popped out of my eyes in shock.

"Huh?!"

What the hell, he's that high up on the leaderboard?! Damn, Kuyou was the real deal... he really was the real deal.

Suddenly, I felt bad for shaking his hand like it was nothing... no wonder he didn't even bat an eye at my ranking too, since at his level, he's probably fought even more terrifying opponents than me...

I sighed, making the pink haired girl laugh and pat me on the shoulder.

"Ha ha ha, don't worry about it Minoru-san. Even though Kuyou-san's so strong, he's really nice."

"Yeah, I don't bite. Well, except in a battle."

"I'd hope so..."

I laughed away the awkwardness before turning to the pink haired girl.

"How about you, uh..."

I paused, realising I had no clue what her name was still. Noticing this, the pink haired girl perked up and waved her hands, signalling to me it was okay.

"Ah! Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Aiuchi Momoka, but feel free to call me Momo or Momoka! I'm Category Queen, but I've been trying my hardest to become Category King for a while now..."

Momoka frowned a little.

"Don't worry, your day in the sun will come soon. I'm sure of it."

Kuyou gave her some encouraging words, making Momoka giggle.

As we talked, the brown haired girl and red haired girl waltzed over to us.

"Ehh, what's this? How cheeky of you to hog all the boys attention to yourself, Momoka-chan."

As the brown haired girl poked fun out of her, Momoka puffed her cheeks out.

"What? I'm just introducing myself to Minoru-san! You two should do the same!"

"Oh, is that the late kid's name? Hey Minoru-kun, I'm Amasawa Iori! You can call me Iori though. I'm Category Jack, but I'm right at the cusp of becoming Category Queen! Just need a few more wins."

"I'm Busujima Mari. Category Joker."

Even though her hair was such a fiery colour, Busujima sure had a cool and straightforward personality. It was like she'd rather do anything else other than socialise with us right now.

"...huh? Category Joker? I've never heard of that before."

I raised an eyebrow to Busujima. Kuyou chimed in.

"Neither have I, but apparently it's supposed to be a temporary stand-in for Mari-san since she's only recently started cardfighting."

"Eh? She's a newbie at the game?! B-but how, everyone plays Vanguard when they're young!"

Momoka and Iori laughed at my overreaction. Kuyou smiled a little, laughing too.

"Yeah, we were all surprised too. But hey, everyone has their circumstances. I won't judge. Besides, now that Mari-san's here, it just means she has front row seats to some of the best players at the school."

Now that Kuyou mentioned it, everyone here - including me - were ranked really high up on the leaderboard... with the exception of Busujima of course.

But even then, Category Joker is a special designation... so does that mean...?

"Oh... guys, I think I figured it out!"

Momoka and Iori raised their eyebrows. Kuyou's face turned serious. Busujima's expression remained neutral.

"What did you figure out, Minoru-san?" Momoka said.

"The reason why we're in Q Class."

"Go on." Iori said.

"It's because we all have special Categories! Kuyou-san is Category Ace, I'm Category King, Momoka-san is Category Queen, Iori-san is Category Jack, and Busujima-san is Category Joker! It makes sense when we look at it that way, right?"

Even though I was enthusiastic about presenting my theory, the reaction I got from everyone was beyond lukewarm. Iori laughed while Momoka frowned. The thin smile Kuyou wore briefly returned.

"Ku ku... I had the same thought as you initially, Minoru-san. But there's two problems with that proposal."

"There is?"

I tilted my head. Kuyou nodded before putting up two fingers.

"Firstly, A Class is filled exclusively to the brim with students that are Category Jack or higher. And, from what I've heard... if the rumours are true, even E Class has a Category Ace student in their roster."

Kuyou lowered one finger, leaving up his index finger.

"And secondly..."

Then, he used it to point at the last person in this classroom.

The one girl who didn't join the rest of us in this corner of Q Class.

The blonde girl, sitting in the protagonist's seat.

"...you see that person over there?"

Everyone's gazes fell on her.

An uncomfortable shift occurred in the air.

The atmosphere went stale.

"They're Category Zero."

Kuyou's smile turned into disgust.

"The lowest possible Category. Even lower than Category One. The worst possible failure. A complete loser, through and through."

I turned my gaze towards the girl, who had her back hunched and turned away from the rest of us as she was forced to listen to the vile words spewing out of Kuyou's mouth.

"...you didn't need to say it so loudly, Kuyou-san."

Kuyou raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? It's just the truth. They know they're a failure."

"Even so... you didn't have to rub it in like that. Have some more sensitivity, man."

As I looked at the girls to see if anyone else agreed, a pit formed in my stomach when I saw none of them had any problem with Kuyou's behaviour.

Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this is wrong, right...?

"Ku ku. It sounds like you're the sensitive one here, Minoru-san. Look, it's not like I'm hiding my disdain towards their ranking or anything. I think it would be more rude if I talked about them like this behind their back. Or... would you rather prefer that?"

As Kuyou flipped the dilemma back at me, I could feel tension in the air heighten. At the very least, even if they weren't taking my side, the girls weren't taking Kuyou's either... that gave me some momentarily relief, since it meant it was still a one on one between me and him.

"No, I wouldn't..."

"Well there you go."

"But..."

I raised my head and looked at Kuyou right in the eyes.

As I stared into the windows of his soul, my heart squeezed in fear.

What the hell was this sudden shift in aura...?!

"...it doesn't mean what you did wasn't rude. H-how would you feel if someone started shaming you out of nowhere for everyone to hear?"

I gulped, having stammered through my words. Kuyou sighed before shrugging.

"I wouldn't care less, to be honest. I know my own self-worth. Haters gonna hate, ku ku."

It was honestly infuriating how Kuyou's suave confidence allowed him to act so arrogant. He was just so nice and friendly moments ago, so how could he switch up on me like this so quickly...?

"Hmm. Well, here's an idea. If you're concerned about whether or not my words caused harm, why don't you ask... it directly on how it feels?"

For some reason, it bugged me how distantly Kuyou referred to her.

"If they're upset by what I said, then I'll apologise. But if they're not, you owe everyone here an apology."

"Huh? What, why everyone?"

Kuyou's smile faded. Then, he chuckled.

"Ah... sorry, I didn't realise. Minoru-san, I don't mean to cause any offence, but this is a genuine question: are you socially inept?"

I stared at Kuyou with a dumbfounded face.

"What...? Of course not! I don't owe anyone an apology for what I said!"

"You do. See, the reason I asked that is because, I don't know whether or not you noticed, but..."

Kuyou pointed up at the air.

"The vibes from earlier... have been totally ruined by your self-righteousness."

My eyes widened. As much as I hate to admit it, he did have a point...

Everything was going well between the five of us until the topic of Categories came up...

...and now, the atmosphere has been poisoned by our argument.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and sighed, gazing over everyone at least once.

"Alright, fine. I'll give everyone an apology if I'm wrong."

I stood and strolled over to the blonde girl. She was closed off from the rest of us, her eyes downcast at her lap.

"Uh, hey..."

I reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. I felt awkward for disturbing her this way, but I had no other choice...

She flinched before looking up at me with cautious eyes. She frowned, looking away again.

"...h-hi."

She mumbled a greeting, hugging her torso with her arms.

"I... I'm Takamine Minoru. And you are?"

"...K-Kurosaki Yuuma."

Kurosaki...? Somehow, I feel like I've heard of that name before.

"It's nice to meet you, Kurosaki-san. Uh... well, there's no easy of putting this, but... did you hear what Kuyou-san said earlier?"

Kurosaki paused, seeming to mull over it. Then, she nodded.

"Were... were you hurt by it?"

Once more, she paused again, seeming to mull over it.

She parted her lips, like she was going to speak, before hesitating and stopping herself momentarily.

Then, like a defeated animal, she shook her head.

"See, what did I tell you, Minoru-san?"

From across the classroom, Kuyou called out to me after seeing Kurosaki's answer.

"Losers always know their place. That's why words like this don't bother them."

I ignored him and turned back to Kurosaki.

"Are you sure? Earlier, it looked like—"

"...p-please don't talk to me anymore."

I was taken aback by Kurosaki's callous words.

Did she actually mean it...? Or did she say it out of self-defence...?

"I... I don't want you to be hurt because of me."

She whispered that last part to me, hoping the others wouldn't hear.

I grit my teeth.

Damn it...

I knew it.

I should've realised sooner...

The situation is so blindly obvious to me now.

Of course everything about this didn't sit right with me...

Kuyou's blatant disgust, the girl's lack of reaction, their collective attitude towards this...

It was because they were trying to ignore Kurosaki's existence.

They were trying to isolate her from being part of the class.

...all because she was Category Zero.

Even if they don't say or do anything against her, they're still complicit in this.

What the fuck is wrong with all of you...

If I don't do something now, the remaining three years of class would stay like this.

...I can't let this slide.

My heart pounded with adrenaline as I raised my finger at Kuyou.

"Oi, Kuyou."

"What now, Minoru?"

"Me and you. Let's fight."

"Ku ku... and where is this coming from?"

"I finally realised why this situation made me so uncomfortable. It's because of you and your flippant behaviour. That's why... I'm going to beat you to a pulp and put you in your place."

I tightened the fist my other hand was making.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was scared.

Terrified, even...

...because Kuyou was on a plane of existence far higher than mine.

Peering into his eyes alone, I could tell just what sort of ruthless monster he was on the battlefield.

But...

For the sake of what I believed in—

For the sake of what mommy taught me—

For the sake of Kurosaki, who couldn't fight back herself—

For the sake of freedom—

For the sake of not letting assholes like Kuyou get their way—

—I had to try at least!

"...you really are one self-righteous fellow."

Kuyou closed his eyes and sighed. Then, he opened his eyes and stood, chuckling.

"But... ku ku ku... I am interested in seeing just how strong you are, Minoru-san. So let's do it. I'll fight you."

I smirked and curled my pointing hand into another fist, putting it close to my chest.

"Bring it on, Kuyou-san!"

"Woah, woah, hold on boys! Don't forget about us ladies! I want a piece of this action too!"

Iori stood, putting her hands between the two of us.

"There's six people here, so why don't we have a team match? On one side we'll have me, Kuyou-kun, and Busujima-san, and on the other side, we'll have Minoru-kun, Momoka-chan, and Kurosaki-san. How does that sound?"

"That sounds fine. I can agree to that."

Kuyou approved of Iori's idea. Busujima nodded in agreement. However, Momoka protested.

"H-hang on, why am I with Minoru-san...? Doesn't it seem a little unfair that you get to decide?!"

"It's for balance. You guys have Kurosaki-san, who is Category Zero, and we have Kuyou-kun, who is Category Ace. So, to compensate, I'm putting the second and third strongest on Minoru-kun's side."

"Ah... yeah, that makes sense. Alright, fine. Let's do our best to win together, Minoru-san!"

Momoka smiled and gave me a high-five. I reluctantly gave a high-five back, before looking at Kurosaki.

To my surprise though, there was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

"Sorry to get you roped into this... are you alright with joining this team fight?"

She nodded.

"Y-yes... I'd be really glad to be part of your team."

Kurosaki smiled a little, making me look away in panic.

...holy heckers, that was way too cute...!

I breathed a sigh of relief as it didn't seem Kurosaki saw my blushing face.

At the very least, I was glad that Kurosaki could seem to relax a little more now that she was being included, even if it was for something silly - or I guess serious? - like this.

"Alright, decide your order and we'll get this show on the road!"

Iori cheered, pumping her fists in the air. At least she was bringing the upbeat atmosphere back with her excitement...

"Minoru-san."

As I went to discuss with Kurosaki and Momoka our order, Kuyou called out to me with his hands in his pockets.

"...what is it?"

"Let's save the best for last."

With a cocky smirk, Kuyou turned his back on me and walked back over to Iori and Busujima.

I tightened my fist.

What a ridiculous request...

Even though it was an enigmatic statement, it was easy to decipher the meaning behind it.

In other words, he was telling me to choose seat three, since that was what he was choosing.

That way, our fight would be the last to be held.

I sighed.

As much as I want to beat the stuffing out of him as soon as possible, I understood his sentiment of wanting to make it a spectacle.

Well, fine.

If that's what he wants, he can have it.

After all, if he wants to turn his inevitable loss into a public execution, then he can be my guest.

It works out for me either way.

Because no matter what...

...I will win with these wings of mine.

Right, Sagitta?