It had been nearly a decade since I stood like this on a platform. Waiting for a train. Surrounded by people wearing colors other than white. I wore a black gakuran and carried a dark handbag.
Somehow, they matched my messy black hair and cold, piercing blue eyes too well.
Today is my first day in Central Academy for Human Structure and Progress.
The best school in the nation. Or at least that's what everyone keeps saying.
A place where so-called geniuses and top students go.
It promises to nurture students into something greater than themselves.
What a frame.
It should say, "Shape students into rats serving tyrants in the future."
Tyrants.
The ones who control the game.
The ones who hand us the paper that tells us where our lives should go.
Rats.
That's what we are.
Rats who follow without question.
Without even knowing where we're going.
Likely, most of you probably don't understand what I'm saying.
The truth is, most of the people standing on this platform with me don't understand it either.
Their smiles. Their laughs. Their conversations. All so comfortable.
Most of them are unaware of what's moving beneath the surface.
And beneath it is what we call the "System."
The System. It's how the world is.
The tyrants set the room we move in and see it as a four-dimensional world.
And we, the rats, remain unaware of what exists above us kept chasing the cheese we are given.
They teach us that following their direction is called virtue by convincing us it is for our parents, our children, or our families.
But the truth is, virtue is just an illusion dressed up as morality.
In reality, our fate is sealed before we even start playing the game.
We are nothing more than tools. Designed and shaped to move for the system called society.
And it was built on three precise steps:
Study. Work. Die.
Most of us rats follow this path, fooled into believing it was virtue.
Convinced it is morality.
But the truth is, it was never meant for us.
It was built for them.
For their control.
And for their gain.
The warning bell cut through my thoughts.
The train approached.
It stopped across me. The doors slid open with a soft hiss. I stepped inside.
The train was crowded. Not full, but no seats left.
Guess I would have to stand.
As I reached for the handrail,
I felt a foot tap against mine. My mind immediately sensed something was wrong. I turned quickly to see a girl in a white uniform with a blue tie and a short black skirt tripping beside me.
With reflex, I twisted and had no choice but to catch her by the waist.
She gasped sharply and lost hold of her handbag as I caught her just in time. Her long white hair, with two styled strands, fell gracefully over her face, covering her beautiful but sharp icy blue eyes, almost the same color as mine.
"You okay?"
I asked calmly, letting go of her waist as she steadied herself.
"Yeah, don't mind it."
She said flatly like it was nothing. Picking up her handbag, she walked away without another word.
What an untypical way to respond. Most people would at least mutter "thank you" or even apologize for the bother. But hers doesn't follow the normal behavior pattern. In that response alone, I could say she was different. Or maybe she just didn't like the way I grabbed her waist.