Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V7: Misaka Mikoto's Monologue

Kuroko, Ruiko, Kazari, Yuu, Jouijrou, Ginro, Kinro, Kaede...

Those were eight.

Eight of the eighty-one names I knew.

Out of the one hundred students that were in our generation, I only remembered the name of eighty-one.

And I hated me for that.

When our curriculum really began, I was so focused on surviving that I didn't pay attention to anything. To anyone.

When we started, my results were outstanding in every aspect. Rin, Tsukasa, and Karma were the only ones that matched me. During those first six months, I was determined to get the top spot.

I foolishly thought that things would be easier for me if I occupied that spot.

Every day after our classes, we would pass a quiz about what had been seen the previous day, and at the end of the week we would pass a short test about what we had seen during the week. Even in the big exams of the end of the month I always got great results.

My physical aptitude was perfect as well and that aspect of the final exams of that first semester had been so easy for me that my confidence was in the sky.

Then. Reality hit me once the second semester began.

When the results of the academic part of the final exams were announced, I couldn't believe it. My scores had been so disastrous that I had fallen in the overall ranking from the second place to the forty-seventh.

If my physical exams hadn't been so outstanding, I would have been disposed of.

That had been my first real lesson.

No matter how certain and confident you were, things never really went the way you wanted. Never again did I take something for granted.

The physical part of the curriculum continued to be easy for me. But I struggled to keep up with the average requested in everything else... And when I realised it, nineteen students had vanished.

The day the twentieth student was disposed of I came to a decision. Even now, I could tell with detail what had happened on stage that day. It was completely printed in my memory.

During one of our physical exercises, Mikihiko, one of the students with the best physical abilities failed a physical test, he didn't even finish it. If it had been just that he would have been punished severely and that would have been the end of it. But something else had happened. I never knew what had really make the instructors dispose of him, but when I saw Nao's face I understood.

I couldn't know the how, but I understood the why.

During the next years, a capable and above average student was disposed of each time Nao was on the verge of being disposed of. Fifteen times it happened.

For a time, I even feared I would be her next target. She didn't take out the capable students because they were a threat to her but to show the instructors that her ranking didn't mean anything, that she could take down anyone above her. They understood that message and let her do.

That didn't stop until Nao approached Rin the day our training with weapons began.

And thus, I understood Nao valued her life more than anything. That we all valued our lives more than anything. And yet, I had no desire to live for the sake of living. What was the point of living if all I did was wait Nao, the instructors or Kiyotaka decided it was my time to go out?

So, I continued to give my all as I always did, but with a different goal.

I wouldn't fight because they wanted to see my limits. I wouldn't fight because of their petty projects.

No. I would fight for the sake, for the memory of all those kids they threw. I could have never protected them, that was far above my abilities back then. But I could remember them. Their names. Their struggles. Their tears. The few smiles they ever gave. Their will to live.

Kocho-sensei had been the only instructor that showed us kindness. She didn't deserve what happened to her. And I hated helping Karma get away with what he did... But it was necessary. Rin had left and with her support gone, Nao wouldn't restrain herself. I would have never stood a chance against her. So, Karma became my insurance.

Before coming to ANHS that was all I could do: survive and remember. But here, I do have the power to protect my classmates. I couldn't really outsmart Nao and Karma, but my scope was greater, and I could really use my abilities to shield my class against them.

In that sense, the existence of Ryuuen and Magane became a blessing. For the first time, I thought that it was possible to defeat Nao and Karma in something else than a race or a fight.

Nao herself disposed of fifteen capable students that might have had a chance to live. Karma took the life of the one of the two instructors that showed us some degree of kindness.

I hated how they disregarded everyone's value for their own sake.

But I couldn't hate them. They build up their own defences to protect themselves from that place. Therefore, just defeating them wouldn't do anything.

I was given the mission to show my superiority. That was supposed to be the reason I was here...

But it was just like Tsukasa told me in our last conversation.

Nao, Karma and even Kiyotaka.... All they had to do was understand.

Understand why a life was so valuable.

That was my resolve.

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Mikoto's monologue done. Hope you like it.

This starts Volume 7.

Would you like me to put some info on next chapter's note regarding what every member of the student council actually does? I made some research to better establish what their power is and such.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. I'll try to answer them as long as it's not a spoiler.

Thank you for reading.