A month had passed since I entered the Royal Pioneer Academy. Thanks to all the incidents, my base was still just an ordinary house.
The principal and vice principal who would not stop picking at me were gone, so I thought I could finally focus on pioneering.
That lasted until the next principal and vice principal arrived. At the morning assembly on the first of the month, the new principal hit the stage with a greeting that landed hard.
"I am the first principal appointed to the Royal Pioneer Academy, Kakeru-kun! Nice to meet you! Right? And this is Vice Principal Delilah!"
Bowl cut, a loud gold tuxedo, and a rich-kid-little-boy look from head to toe. That was the new principal, Kakeru-kun. Next to him was a middle-aged woman in a bunny-girl outfit with a silver jacket over it. Delilah.
They were not the only strange thing. The schoolyard had changed too. The stage used for assembly sat at the edge of the yard, and the area where we stood, the seats, was boxed in with painted set walls so you could not see the rest of the grounds.
Kakeru-kun spoke from the stage in a high, boyish voice, bright and open.
"My job is Gambler!"
The students who had been quiet started to stir.
"No way. Gambler?"
"That is the one they call a cursed job, right?"
"People given Gambler are not supposed to live past twenty…"
"And he still climbed all the way to principal?"
"This guy might be the real deal…"
"You all know Gambler is called a cursed job! It is also called the strongest job! They say that power goes past even a Hero! I am the Gambler said to be closest to a Hero! Right?"
Kakeru-kun puffed out his chest.
"After all, they call me the Hundred-Billion Man. A super Gambler! I will use that power to lead all of you the right way! Right?"
Applause broke out. A man given an unlucky job who lived past twenty and became principal had the students in his hand.
"Oh, right! Vice Principal Delilah is my right hand, so I should introduce the left hand too! Right? Student Council President Weiss-kun!"
Weiss came out from the side of the stage as the new principal named him. After exposing the last principal and vice principal, he had become the academy's hero overnight.
"Now that this sage is student council president, I will show you a method of pioneering that is on another level. Believe in me and follow!"
The students got louder. I stood off to the side of that pack, alone.
Then the new principal ran through the current top class ranks.
1st: Class 1-K — S Rank
2nd: Class 1-B — A Rank
3rd: Class 1-S — B Rank
4th: Class 1-F — C Rank
4th: Class 1-P — C Rank
Class 1-K was still not at this academy, so they held the top rank on paper. Class 1-T, my old class, had been fifth at the entrance ceremony and had now dropped off the list.
In their place, Akemi's Class 1-F and Kurumi's Class 1-P had moved in. I muttered it under my breath.
"Every class but first is one I got mixed up with…"
Then it was time for the asset ranking. The principal said this instead.
"I do not care about class rank! The ones with the most money are the ones who matter! Right?"
A Gambler's values, I thought.
"Before we announce assets, I want to play a simple game! The game is the Toast Game! The rules are easy! Each class comes up on this stage in order and toasts with this glass! After the toast, if everyone drinks the grape juice inside, you clear it! I will give you a hundred million Ender out of my own pocket money! Right?"
"What?"
It was such a wild prize I thought I had heard wrong. Drink juice with your class and walk away with a hundred million.
"There are a few rules, though! Once the game starts, no one can drop out! Win or lose, you play to the end! That is just manners! Right?"
For a second I thought he had said something normal. That was on me.
"Not just anyone can play, though! Only classes with two or more people can join! Solo classes can sit there and watch! Right?"
I had seen that coming.
"And the third rule is that the grape juice has Potion of Forgetting mixed in! When you give the toast, swear you will forget everything that happened this past month, then drink!"
Potion of Forgetting is a magic drug that wipes a chosen memory from whoever drinks it.
"I am the first principal of the Royal Pioneer Academy, so I want all of you to restart with that same feeling! Right?"
So that was the point of throwing money around. The odd game made sense.
You are not allowed to give someone Potion of Forgetting without their consent. It can rewrite memory too easily, so that rule is obvious.
Unless something truly bad just happened, no one drinks it on purpose. A hundred million Ender, though, and anyone would be happy to.
The principal glanced at me and stuck out his tongue.
"And I know something! There is a bad kid in here who uses drugs to show everyone hallucinations! Too bad! Even those nasty visions will get wiped clean by this game! Right?"
The students roared. The new principal had their hearts.
They looked up at him with respect.
I thought I would see heart marks over most of their heads. Not one. Money marks floated there instead.
A few girls did have heart marks. When I looked closer, it was the usual group, Monaka and Kotone and the rest.
They seemed more interested in me than in the principal's speech. They kept glancing back, like kids at a class observation day checking whether their parent had come.
When our eyes met, the heart marks showed, and they gave small shy waves.