'The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness, and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.'
The five of us sat around a table. There was work strewn all around as the others studied vigorously. It seemed that the sight of other students slacking off motivated them to work harder. They wanted to get ahead whilst the other students were wasting their time.
"Kai, I don't really understand question six, b," said Itsuki.
"You just have to balance the oxygen by adding hydrogen to the right side."
"Oh, so like this?"
They were all working hard.
I didn't really have much to do. I was scrolling through the various different apps on the phone, looking at what each of them did. All of a sudden, the school sent a message to everyone.
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National High School
Students will have a meeting in the assembly hall at 11:15 am regarding the Preseqta System.
Attendance is optional.
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It was a pretty odd message. Preseqta was the only app on our phones which we couldn't access yet. It seemed a little weird to make the assembly optional. I guess freedom was the theme of the school, so they don't force anyone to do anything.
"Are you guys going?" Asked Takeuchi
"I think we should. It sounds pretty important," replied Furukawa.
As agreement spread through the group, everyone began packing up their things.
"It's starting in ten minutes. We should probably get going."
"Yeah."
We slowly began making our way over.
We took seats on the crude plastic chairs they had placed all through the assembly hall—I guess they ran out of budget for nicer chairs. After a short moment, a man wearing a well-fitted suit and tie walked on stage.
"We will be initiating the main Preseqta System at 6 am tomorrow. However, the app will be activated very soon. Don't worry. This is nothing you should be worried about. It is an app on your phone which shows various pieces of information on each other, as well as the place where you will receive reports from the school. Be sure to check it every single day. Otherwise, you may miss out on something important—which you will regret."
He continued to talk about some other stuff about behaviour and the school.
The speech went on for about fifteen minutes before we were dismissed once again. There was an eruption of chatter about what they had just been informed of. It was just about the end of the recess, so our group headed back to the classrooms.
As we took seats in 2-E, the teacher walked in.
"Welcome back, the five of you."
She started pulling up some material on the board as the others grabbed their workbooks.
The class went by. As usual, it was filled with as much silence as before.
"I feel so special being here," commented Itsuki.
"Yeah, it's like we're getting private lessons," replied Furukawa.
Suddenly, Furukawa turned around and looked at the group.
"By the way, Akane's birthday is tomorrow. I was hoping to celebrate it with a little party in the dorm since we can't really go anywhere else," said Furukawa.
"That sounds fun," replied Hamasaki.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind going," added Takeuchi.
"I'll invite all of 2-E, although I'm not sure how many will show up," said Furukawa.
"I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't mind going to a party," said Hamasaki.
"Yeah, I suppose," he replied.
The teacher walked over and had a look at the work we did.
"Good job, guys, I'll hand out the homework for today, and then we can move on to the next lesson," she said.
After giving us the homework, she pulled up the next subject on the board.
*
The bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day, although not many students really cared.
We packed up our things and began making our way out of the classroom.
"Ah, I felt like that was such a good day of school," commented Takeuchi.
"Yeah, fewer people really makes a difference," added Itsuki.
"Do you guys want to do something?" asked Furukawa.
Takeuchi suggested, "we could go to the cafe."
"I think it's best we save our points at the moment," Furukawa replied.
It seemed that Kimura and I weren't the only people who thought about conserving points.
"I suppose," Takeuchi sighed.
"We could do some more studying at the library," said Hamasaki.
"But we've already done so much studying today..." replied Takeuchi.
The group then fell into silence as they tried to think of something to do.
Now that I considered it, the school was certainly quite lacking in the entertainment department. Our phones didn't have the capability to install any games, and if you wanted to play video games, you'd have to buy a console or laptop from the department store, which came at quite a heavy cost. Aside from that, there was the sports centre and library; both were public spaces for students to hang out.
Even with that, most students opted to stand in groups and chat. When compared to the outside, there were basically no recreational facilities at the school. I wonder if the school was planning on constructing some in the near future.
"I think I'll go back to my room to do some more studying," said Hamasaki.
"Wow, you're really studious," commented Itsuki.
"Yeah, I'd like to do well on the next exams."
She left the group and made her way toward the dormitory.
The rest of us continued to stand around, trying to find something to do.
"Do you think there are any ways to earn points here, like getting a job or something?" asked Furukawa.
"I don't think so. All the employees seem to be external," I replied.
"Hm, surely there's some way to earn more points."
Points were indeed extremely valuable. It would be wise to gather as many as you could, although there didn't appear to be any way to get it aside from the monthly allowance.
Suddenly, I felt a vibration on my leg—my phone had received a notification.
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National High School
The Preseqta app has been activated. You may check the information that has been released. Any information on the app that you cannot see has been hidden intentionally.
If you have any problems or concerns, please notify your teacher.
Make sure you check your phones every morning. You will receive your first special exam in the next few days.
Good luck.
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