Leuko - Blind to the Sunlight

Chapter 41 : Class of the Wasted

I…I can be selfish?

Despite being a very simple question and with a very clear answer, my mind was still completely obsessed with finding it, and sincerely, I also almost forgot why I was even thinking about it at this point.

…but I didn't…despite being able to simply forget about this matter and to simply stop thinking about it…I just couldn't.

Worst of even, I wasn't even able to get convinced by a single excuse I told myself.

'Maybe asking for delaying a reunion isn't considered as selfish here.' That was my first one, but I quickly dismissed it as it seemed that I was the one who asked for a change, for a reason that would only benefit me. What was it if not selfish?

So in the end, I was left alone trying to look at every of my memory that didn't cause me pain to maybe found a reason, or a simple evidence that what just happen wasn't him accepting my selfish request…maybe a trap, maybe he would add a consequence to it later, maybe I imagined the whole thing, maybe I heard wrong, maybe he spoke wrong…or maybe…it didn't matter.

I was so preoccupied by this task that I didn't even hear Colress further instructions…if he even talked to me. All I know is that he sat back down on his own desk and continued to read while enjoying the silence of the room.

Even when Pandora presented me a half-eaten eaten poképuff with pleading eyes, I wasn't able to react. The reason was that I was fully focused on a memory, so I was only made aware after finishing it.

…I found him in my arm, and with sadness deep inside me.

… let's add it to the list of memories I will put deeper inside my mind…I found a lot of these during my recent research…now…next o…euh?

For the first time since I started to search for an answer, I was distracted. But not because of any pain, but because I suddenly felt a ray of lightning entering my brain. Not one I produced myself, but one coming from outside, I could tell because this one actually seemed happy to be there.

Now what could this possibly…AWAWAH!

All of my body suddenly grew tense as all of my muscles tightened, which rendered me unable to maintain my form and I fell off my chair.

I had no other choice but to refocus on the world outside to find a way to avoid my skull from hitting the ground, but it was a useless concern, as Pandora already grabbed my head and the rest of my body to avoid any collision.

"…sorry Luciel…but you responded as if you were dead…so I had to make sure you weren't." I was finally able to catch the meaning of a voice, and a quick look allowed me to see Iono with one of her fingers pointed toward me with some lightning arc covering it.

…wait…Iono? What is she doing there…are people finally here?

I quickly looked around, sitting beside me were only Mina who already looked tired from the class as she was already lying her head on her arm, and Allister tried his best to look mad at me, but couldn't stop himself from giving me worried glance as he hugged his plushie.

I also noticed that other people were behind me, but none of them were from people that I knew their name…but all of them seemed as equally lazy as Mina

… it seems I took a lot of time just looking at my memory that I lost track of time…well nothing new I guess.

"So, are you doing okay now Luciel…or did you need more rest? I mean, I understand that sometimes the stress renders you unable to count the wooloo jumping above the fence, but that's why you must throw the wooloo over it yourself in this case!" Iono regained her joyful attitude when she noticed that my movement had regained some liveness.

"If you're tired…you could just sleep during class…but usually you would do that at the far end of them…so the teacher can't see you…we can still change if you want." Mina added tiredly.

I finally understood what they meant, they probably thought that my lack of reaction was because I was sleeping…so the lightning Iono sent me was to wake me up. "I'm not tired."

This time, Mina looked at me in disbelief while counting on her fingers. "But didn't you wake up…at like…before 9 am? What do you mean you're not tired?"

"I don't need sleep…I think…" I responded, unsure of myself.

But both Iono and Mina looked at me in even more shock. "Wait? No lying? No tacky backsy? No deal to Giratina? That's just an ability that you have? Can I have it please? With this ability, I would finally be able to not feel guilty for staying awake!"

…Oh…so not sleeping is seen as exciting… that's good to know, I should avoid sleeping then…and if the reason why I am able to act normally without sleeping is because I control my brain…then maybe I should be able to replicate it by just controlling it for her.

"Well I can give it to you then." I responded while trying to smile, but stopped when I saw the fear on her face, so I just moved my hand toward her head instead to complete the deal.

But strangely, she only seemed more scared as she dodged my hand. Noticing that I was confused by her action, she tried to play it cool by moving her hand to her hip. "You know what, I just remembered that if I didn't feel guilt for that, then my existence would be too perfect for this world…so I think I prefer to not change how it works."

…oh, so it's also cool to not be perfect…well I guess that's easy for me to achieve.

"Well I don't care about that, hit me up Luciel." She said with more excitement than I was used to from her while she presented her head to me, but before I could raise my hand, Iono grabbed it with a stifled smile. "I'm sure it would be better for you if you learn how to have a healthy sleep schedule instead."

Mina looked confused, but I guess she saw something I didn't, because she shook her head.

…well, I guess I will be stuck not sleeping alone then.

"If I agree to stop sleeping…will you stop leaving me alone in the middle of the night?" I was suddenly shaken by Allister's voice, which sounded filled with sadness and self-loathing. It even looked like he was avoiding me to see his face, but he still didn't know my vision was based on Pandora, so I could see him tightening his grip on his plushie.

…why is he asking it like…oh…right…oh…plunder…he did say he was afraid of sleeping alone…is he mad that I left him sleeping all alone…no.

I finally noticed the eyebag under his eye, telling me that he in fact didn't sleep since I was gone.

…so it means he's probably angry at me…

…how…how do I make him forgive me then…I was supposed to gain a lot of happy memories to not hurt them…but I already hurt him…

Should I give him another plushie…or maybe should I just propose to let him hit me?

…no…I know…the answer…I hope it is.

"Wait Allister, Luciel probably didn't think of that, he's not used to normal human interaction…you remember right?" I try to reassure him first, and it did look like it worked…but only because he looked more depressed than angry.

"I suppose…it's my fault for thinking he…"

"Allister." I interrupted him before he could finish, which made him look my way in surprise. He wasn't the only one, as even Iono seemed shocked by my action. But it didn't compare to the shock that my next words caused. "I'm sorry."

"Eh…wait no…you don't need to be sorry, I was the one who was selfishly asking for you to stay…I…I shouldn't have to…" Allister fidgeted with his arms in the air as he grew restless as his face turned red.

Well…it seems that just apologizing really isn't enough…I guess I should…euh?

Before I could arrive at any conclusion, Allister lowered his arm and head before whimpering. "… Thank you…Luciel…"

…did it really work?

"Well glad that this is settled, now, why don't you tell us why you were there this early in the first place if you don't need to sleep?" Iono placed herself between us as sweat dropped off her brow.

"Oh…I just didn't want to be late…so I arrived at 6am…"

"6 am!?" Mina responded in shock as she finally raised her face off her desk. "But that the time old man and people who have too much to do with their life wake up! Anyone with a little brain can tell that lying on your bed all day is way better than…oh wait…did I just insinuate that you had no brain…oh bother." Mina scratched her head anxiously.

Of course her comment didn't bother me, I knew I had a brain after all, that's why I'm able to even think right now! I do wonder how those who don't do however.

"Oh…I actually wanted to arrive sooner…but it took me a lot of time to prepare everyone their breakfast…the kitchen was hard to reach." I explained while pocking my finger.

"So it was you! All of my roommates were confused as to why I was the only one who received a meal on our table." She pointed a finger toward me before lowering it. "Wait, how did you even access our dorm? Shouldn't they be locked?"

"The Meltan opened it for me." I responded.

"They…they do that? Mine barely answers to my request…I was barely able to open it to see the letter that gave me my schedule…bummer to be real, I would have loved to miss my first week of class." Mina said while resting once more her face on her desk while lazily looking at Colress, who was still entirely focused on his book despite most of the classmates being present.

"…they seem not to despise me…or they fear me too much to show it." I gave a look at my meltan, who immediately started to tremble as it felt my gaze, it only calmed down again the moment I diverted my vision.

"…I really liked your breakfast…it was delicious…" Allister suddenly thanked me, as he fidgeted with his hand. `

"Ah right, thanks you Luciel, your pancakes were omega delicious!"

"…same…it was good…"

Both Iono and Mina immediately try to thank me right after, which would have been enough to make me blush if I didn't control my blood to not reach my cheeks.

"Thank you for loving mediocrity…I didn't make the best meal…it was rushed…and I'm sure I messed up a lot…" They probably only said that because…I'm not sure…maybe they are still scared I will cause more problems…they probably still think I'm unstable…and they are right.

But as I try to rationalize their feeling, Mina completely broke the illusion I set up myself. "Oh yeah definitely, you mess up my meal completely, I'm sure you added salt instead of sugar in my fruit salad…and I'm pretty sure there were some legume inside it too…and an olive…to be fair, I didn't know there existed a variety blue either…quite good actually." Mina's comment gathered the ire of both Allister and Iono, but I could see in their expression that they were only angry because she said it out loud, not because she lied.

I wasn't offended by this comment…just shocked that this wasn't how she wanted her salad…and why was she even surprised that there was a vegetable in it…That's how a salad works right? They just mix together disgusting ingredients and put a sauce over it, so it tastes less bad…and when she said she liked fruit salad, I just assumed we needed to add fruit to it.

But suddenly, the lack of complaint made me realize the absence of someone. "Wait…where are Cynthia…and Clair…and Sabrina? Did…Did they hate my plate so much that they couldn't even show up in class with how sick they got?"

Iono stopped glaring at Mina to look at me in concern, before looking with even more anger at Mina.

Realizing that I might have had a misunderstanding because of her, she took charge of responding. "No…Cynthia just isn't in our class…she's one with a tree apparently…"

"Doctor Oak isn't a tree… that's just his name." Allister intervened, but it only gathered a meek nod from Mina who continued her explanation.

"So, she's just not there…but we will see her again in other class I think…ah, but Clair is there and so is Sabrina…they just didn't sit with us." She said as she pointed above in the estrade, where I could see Clair sitting with no one beside her, and looking seriously in front of her.

…oh…so she didn't like my meal that much? Or is she angry because I harmed her yesterday?

Probably by pure coincidence, but Clair looked my way at this moment, before her eye widened when she realized I was also looking in her direction, as she proceeded to act as if she never looked in my direction…Then I guess that confirms that she really hated my meal.

"Also Luciel," Mina called me out of my thoughts, which made me look up to her again. "Cynthia loved the food you prepared for her…and I did too. Despite not being the best I had eaten…it was probably the first one I had eaten that was made specifically to make me happy…and that taste was more delicious than any other."

"…oh." I…I didn't know people could taste that…but it makes me happy that I try my best then, as it makes them even happier. "But then why is Clair staying away from me…did she not like it?"

Mina scratched the back of her head as she smiled at me awkwardly. "Well…I wouldn't say she didn't like it…just that she could not eat it."

"…oh…but I made my best to make it look good…because…she seemed to care a lot about appearance…was it not good enough?

But just as I was about to ask, my attention was drawn to the front of the class, where Colress finally put down his tablet on his desk and stood up from his chair.

Ding dong ding

A loud bell suddently ringed, which surprised me so much that I almost dropped my umbrella in fright. Other also seemed surprised by the sound, but not as much as me.

It seems I wasn't the only one who noticed his sudden change in action, as more and more students grew silent as they looked at him, insisting that those who noticed nothing to also stop talking with each other to look at what was happening.

Colress barely had the time to redress his glass when the whole class was now silent and looking at him with curiosity.

With how expressionless his face looked, it was impossible to know if he was satisfied or if he even planned for that, but since I was extremely near him, I was able to hear his murmur. "Hmm, that good behaviour, which must be praised."

"Welcome students to your first course in this academy, I, Nicolas Colress shall be your main instructor for the rest of the year in your general class. I will go into deeper detail about what this entails, but first I want to give you my gratitude for so politely and professionally stopping to talk." Colress then started to look around the class, as if he wanted to judge everyone's reaction, and seemed satisfied by the result.

"Very satisfying, they seem now more eager to listen to me…what a phenomenal discovery." He almost looked like he wanted to note it down, but he was able to keep his professionalism as he resumed his speech out loud. "Now, as you've probably been told, this academy prides itself on only bringing out the best instructor possible, but I believe that no one should believe anything without any proof behind it, so let me present myself. I am the head scientist of the Unova royal family, and I'm also the one who personally designed most of the accommodation that this academy prides itself on. Some things that you will even be able to see later on. My main domain of research is on how to bring out the human potential, but I can possess competence in other domains too. Some of them that you will have the opportunity to know during the years."

"Now, despite the presentation being completed, I would like to address another topic before explaining the objective of this class." The head of those who were already considering falling asleep perked up for an instant just to see what this was about.

"I couldn't help but hear some of you talking about why did we divided our group into two, we do lack the number of students we prepared for after all." He gestured to the rest of the class, which was obviously empty. It seems that every student decided to at least stay closer to the center despite their option, probably because it would be easier to listen to the teacher. "So some people who believe themselves smarter than every single planner behind this project would probably propose to simply throw every student in the same group, but the reason why these people weren't put in charge of the project in the first place."

I expected some people to scowl at the obvious insult, but it really didn't seem like anyone was truly bothered by his veiled insult. However, Colress seemed to expect this situation, and if he didn't, he wasn't bothered by it at all.

"If you had to ask this question to most of the workers in the academy how we proceeded with this decision, they would answer that it was simply a logistical issue, as we have already called a lot of competent instructors, whose time is worth a lot of money and respect. So they simply made sure to at least create a different group to justify their presence without sending them away with all the work we did to convince them to stay. Personally, I do give some respect to this answer, as I would have come up with the same on my own. But I'm not the dean, this responsibility is attributed to Geeta, which have more objectives to accomplish than to not worsen some relationship."

"This is easy to see by a simple analysis of the class distribution." The students raised an eyebrow at his statement, some even understanding where he was going to bring his point. "As to make it simple, your class have ten students fewer than the other class."

Despite the statement being definitely shocking to other people, it was still only enough to make people push gaps out of surprise, but they quickly calmed down the moment they realized they didn't care. But it wasn't the same the moment he gave the reason.

"So the class division was made with a simple objective, to separate those who wish to succeed…and those who simply don't care about their future standing. And I hope I don't have to explain which group you are."

One student timidly tries to answer the question. "…the group full of hope?"

Colress blankly looked at him as if the simple fact that he had to share the same oxygen as this student was an vexing. I know, I received this gaze a lot. "The fact that you are unable to answer this question correctly proves that you are even more hopeless than I anticipated.

"Gah." The student who just got accused pushed a strange scream as he lowered his head, but at least he could be happy about knowing that few people here were even bothered to look who said that. As for those who did, none seemed even bothered to remember him.

With one exception, whose boredom was not enough to stop him from speaking. "No offence to your capacity to judge our intelligence…I mean you do are right that we must be stupid, but I'm not under the impression that we're any stupider than those of the other class…especially compared to the guy who was able to get lost in a straight line." Another student with his leg resting on his desk, and his hand behind his head remarked. "And I really hope it's not about how powerful we are, cause we have three archons here…and if they also aren't strong enough to be considered powerful by you…Then I'm scared of what expectations this academy has for us."

Colress's eye lowered in intensity as he nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see where your confusion stems from, then to start, let me inform all of you that this institution has no expectation of you, they only care about the other class. The reason for it is not your strength or intelligence, even I can see a correlation between it. The reason is that you possess no ambition. You have no desire to become even stronger, nor do you have a grand goal that could inspire million. You are simply here because it was an option that was offered to you. Our plan was of course to reject all of those who showed this comportment with our test, but sadly, you all appear to be too talented to reject, which is why we prepared this class specifically for your type."

"Oh…so you all want to dispose of us?" The student's voice still sounded as bored as before, except that this time there was a larger trace of wariness in it.

The other students also reacted to it, but not with fear, but by also growing wary of Colress.

But all the tension was immediately cut by him. "Do not worry, we have enough resources to spend on all of you, so just lie around as much as you want. Sincerely, I won't care about your grade as long as it is not a failing one, the same applies for the other teacher of your class, they will all assume that this class is simply a gathering of lost causes. For the same reason, they were selected specially to educate your bunch, like me for example." The student suddenly beamed with a smile, but it was shut down by his next words. "Your presence in those classes is still mandatory of course."

"Tch, fine…then what even is the point then? Why even tell us that? Aren't you scared we will get angry or something?"

"On the contrary, we want you to get offended." Colress answered coldly, which drew the eyes of everyone. "We want you to feel like useless waste, we want you to feel shame toward your lack of ambition. So that in the end, you will decide to prove us wrong. And once you do, you will be transferred to the other class where you will receive more expectation than in this one…or you can give us right…and I have a feeling that most of you will, and I rarely trust these impressions."

There was a long silence in the room, as it slowly turned into a standoff, but sadly for the student, Colress had no interest in joining in. "Of course Geeta did tell me that to reveal that information, but under my recent discovery, it is important to be honest to build trust."

He looked back at the class…and was only met with disappointment. He probably hoped that his speech would have worked to at least generate anger from us, but it didn't. Instead, they looked relieved, happy even that they received no expectation.

The sight was so shocking for him that he even took the time to fix his glass for more than three seconds before murmuring between his breath. "I can already rule it as a failure."

But he quickly hid his reaction by turning his back on the class to open the giant screen. His words regained his previous emotionlessness, which made the class give back their attention to him. "Now that I have completed this phase, it's time to present the main reason why you are here, your class. The schedule for today is really simple, I will present to you the topic we will research in our General Class, then I will present to you your homework."

A wave of groans appeared, but once more, Colress ignored it.

"Now, if you aren't as stupid as others believe, you would have already assumed that we do not have any concrete topic, well you will be right. This class will mostly be used to teach you multiple skills that some may consider basic for any member of society, for example mathematics, geography, economy, science and most importantly, language." As he spoke, the screen in front of him suddenly lit up and showcased the words he meant.

At first I was shocked by its sudden apparition, until I saw Allister remove his meltan from his wrist, as it formed into a flat surface as he brought a pen toward it. He slowly started to write in it, until he felt my gaze and looked at me with a questioning gaze.

But instead of asking him any question, I simply copied his action, he is the wisest person here, so this is probably the most normal thing someone should do, even if the majority of the class were barely listening, even less writing.

I'm sure Mina was already sleeping, and it wasn't note that Iono was typing on her Meltan.

"Now the reason why our first mouth we will make an intensive course on the language is really simple, it is that presently the only reason that everyone here is able to understand each other is because Olympia is directly putting the translation inside your brain. So to finally allow her to fully rest, you will have to learn every language of each nation."

This declaration jolted everyone out of their reverie, so I noted it down, because I was still unsure what I was even supposed to write there.

"Wait, what do you mean by learning every language? I'm barely able to care about my own!" A student stood up from his chair to complain.

"Yeah, couldn't we just agree on one language that everyone has to learn…preferably the one I already know." Another student tried to reach out, but before any more could, Colress shut them down.

"As logical as it is, this idea was rejected so as not to show any favouritism toward any region in particular…we did consider teaching the new language of Danu…but..." Colress threw a look at me, and I immediately understood where the problem lay. My progenitor definitely tried to create its own language…but there were too few people to actually consider it a language.

"Now, it is really important that I possess a detailed outlook on your general competence in multiple languages so I can give you the proper exercise. After all, not everyone speaks the same language, even if they have a similar level of education. So I would hate to waste your time by making you learn a language you already know…but maybe there are people here who do not possess such a problem, and have already mastered every language. For those people, the first mouth in my class should be extremely relaxing. In fact, I think keeping you here would be an insult to your time, so you will be free to roam the academy for this class. Now please raise your hand if you're in that category."

The moment he mentioned being free of class, everyone's eyes opened widely as they immediately raised their hand.

Wow, I didn't know so many people knew this many languages…well, this proves that I'm really not special then.

Even Mina raised her hand, and she didn't even know how to speak other than Alolian. So she must have learned Kantosian, Orasian, Sihnohian, Kalosian, Galarian and Paldean in less than a day, no wonder she's so tired today.

And to say I was scared to raise my hand because I didn't want the teacher to hold big expectations off me, and immediately being disappointed when he noticed how bad I am.

Colress even seemed as happy as I was about this fact. "Ah, what wonderful news to see almost everyone raising their hand, it seems I won't have to waste a lot of time then." He smiled as he started to type on his Meltan, and right after, we received a notification in our. "Now then, I prepared a small test to see your capacity, but seeing your assurance, I don't think it will be a problem…" Colress shut his mouth as he saw everyone's hands lowering even faster than they raised.

…wait…

I looked at my side, and despite Iono keeping her hand raised, I could see Mina had completely lowered her hand and even looked like she wanted to hide under the desk.

I barely had the time to get confused that I realized that now, I was one of the few ones who still had their hand raised…which made people draw their gaze toward me…including the teacher…

It took me a moment, but I finally realized what happened as I scowled.

…bunch of liars.