As Archer went down the school halls going towards his classroom. He probably should’ve made it to his classroom already, but the large building caused him to get lost with all its twists and turns, more than once.

Eventually he finally found his homeroom, class 101-A, “Ah there.” He said opening the door.

Entering the classroom, he interrupted the middle of a lecture that the teacher gave. Abe Blackowl, if Archer recalled correctly, was a man who came from a very affluent family that had lived off of old money for many generations now. Even before the near collapse of sixty years ago the Blackowls were one of the first entire families to develop some sort of powers. They admittedly were known to be a bit of an elitist family due to that.

“Your name now.” Blackowl growled out, immediately noticing Archer’s rank and not happy that he was interrupted.

“Archer Griffen sir. Uh. Sorry for being late. I got a bit lost around the place.” Archer said scratching the back of his head.

“Ah. The troublemaker.” The gaunt-looking man nodded.

“Oh. Hah. Word has already been spread around huh?” Archer said giving a small laugh.

“Sit down and be quiet.” Blackowl ordered.

“Yes sir. Right away.” Archer said slinking off to the corner seat of the long classroom table at the back, while everyone else was staring at him. This is a little bit embarrassing. He thought to himself, almost wanting to laugh at just how much of an idiot he made himself to be.

“Excuse me. Pardon me. Don’t mind me.” Archer said as he moved around everyone to get to his seat. Finally reaching his seat he sat down and looked up to see an even more upset Blackowl staring at him.

After another long hard moment of staring Blackowl began to continue his speech, “Continuing on, Trinity Academy demands only the best. Now some of you have been fortunate enough to enter the academy despite your subpar abilities.” He paused and looked directly at Archer as well as a few of the other lower ranks.

“If you are to apply yourself you may be able to rise up the ranks. That applies to everyone. By the end of the three years some of your former A ranks might make it to S rank. However this will not be easy.” He said, “But you were the colours of Trinity Academy and represent it. You will bring pride to it or you will not graduate. Once you have graduated you have the choice to continue your studies or take what you learned and apply it to the real world.” Blackowl then paused and gazed at the much lower-ranked students.

“Those of lower ranks are weak. Incapable of anything. Only those truly gifted will amount to anything.” He declared boldly.

As Blackowl kept talking, Archer quickly noticed that everything he was talking about pertained to D ranks and up. Advice for those of the lowest ranks was near nonexistent. Looking through the crowd he could tell that the body language of the older ranks seemed to deflate as Blackowl continued to talk.

Well, save for a few. That Luna girl from earlier was in his class, which made things convenient when it came to keeping tabs on her. She didn’t look like she was paying much attention, more so suffering from a terrible headache.

That didn’t seem right to Archer. But there wasn’t anything he could do right now, so he took a mental note of her and continued his scan of the group. There were a few other people who seemed to be rather defiant to Blackowl’s claims. Archer assumed these were his fellow ranked peers.

“Sir!” A girl with deep, straight purple hair raised her hand up emphatically.

“What is it Selena Schenn?” Blackowl said with a sour taste in his mouth.

“You say that we lower ranks can’t amount to anything. But wasn’t Stark Mastiff an F rank when he entered Trinity Academy? Is he not now one of the most revered heroes in the world?” She questioned.

“That was over twenty years ago. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, Miss Schenn. They are exceptions to the norm. Something clearly you are not.” He said condescendingly which caused a few others around Selena to laugh. Her face turned a light shade of red from embarrassment.

“Now if you are done interrupting me. You all have your timetable. Clubs begin their recruitment process near the end of the month of October, and at the end of the bell you are free to go home. Make sure to pick up your textbook as you leave. Tomorrow will begin a hard journey for all of you. Make sure not to fail.” He said as he got up and headed to the door, “There is still half an hour before the final bell, I will allow you to get to know one another.”

Immediately, once he left the students began to move around and conversing with one another. The students of similar ranks all kept themselves together. As Archer simply sat in the corner trying his best to look nonexistent, he noticed that two bigger guys walked up to where Selena was sitting while she was writing something down on her agenda.

“You’re an F rank. And you think you're special?” The one leading the charge asked, rather loudly in fact.

Seems like people like making a habit of causing a big scene against low ranks. Archer said resting his head on his desk with his arms. Makes gossip easy to overhear at least.

“Better than you losers.” She said staring defiantly at them.

“What. Did. You. Say?” The one slightly behind the one leading the charge asked in a dangerous whisper. He looked as though he was about to attack her at any moment.

“I said you two are losers.” She said unflinchingly.

A crowd was gathering and the one leading the confrontation simply smiled at her, “You have a smart mouth don’t you? But you are an F-rank, we’re both rank D for a reason. We’re stronger than you.” He said leaning in menacingly.

Selena stared back at him. Tsk. Can’t see her face. Archer said, but her body language betrayed her slightly. He noticed her shake. What the other man said was true, the ranks are meant to represent skill. The fact that he was two ranks higher meant that he outclassed her, and then some.

“You’re not here because you're special. You’re here as a charity case F-rank, thanks to the anniversary. Next year the lot of you will all be gone as the trash gets cleared. Though, if you're smart you might stay around a little longer.” He said with a wicked grin on his face.

Think of the cover. Think of the cover. This is not the job. Bullying is common in this school. You already know that from the reports. You are an F-rank that has no real skills Archer. You cannot help her. Think of the mission. Complete the mission. Archer tried to remind himself.

“With a pretty face like yours as long as you know how to shut your mouth. We might protect you.” The guy said reaching a hand out to grab her.

Ah, you know what? Plans change. Archer said as he began to pull his chair away from the desk.

“Stop.” Another boy said appearing next to the two and grabbed the D rank's hand.

“What? Who are you?” He said shocked ripping his hand free from the boy’s grip. Looking down he noticed his rank, “Hah. You F ranks stick together huh?”

“Don’t you touch her. Apologize and leave her alone.” He said adamantly.

“Or what you’ll hurt me?” He asked before the two began to laugh.

“Yes.”

With that simple three-letter word, the laughter ceased, “What’s your name?” The lead D rank demanded.

“Ran. Ran Almer. Yours?” Ran said simply keeping his voice steady.

“You don’t remember my name? It’s Danson Hausen. This here is Kenneth Len.” Danson spat, “Remember those names for your own good.”

“You think you can play big bad hero huh?” Kenneth said.

“Someone has to in order to stop you losers.” Ran replied stoically.

“You wanna die kid?” Kenneth threatened. Every other student, regardless of rank watched this display, all rather interested in what would happen. The higher ranks excitedly waited for this Ran Almer to be squashed while the lower F and E’s hoped for some miracle.

“What is going on here?” A voice from the door called out.

Turning around, everyone looked wide-eyed as they saw Mercy Cowen standing there at the doorway. She had a foul look on her face as she stared at this ridiculous display of four low ranks squabbling.

“Uh, nothing.” Danson said alarmed, recognizing the younger sister of the principal standing before him.

“Were you idiots about to start a fight inside a classroom?” She said with an unimpressed sneer on her face.

“No-” Danson began before immediately getting cut off.

“Get out. Everyone. Class is dismissed. Settle your problems without damaging school property.” She ordered the entire class before leaving.

“This isn’t over. We’ll be seeing you outside.” Danson warned Ran just as the rest of the class began to pack their things and leave.