Reincarnated as a cannon fodder in an otome game

chapter 9

POV Asuri

Arriving at the gates of Mederry academy(A/n: it sounded random, so yeah), Chikako and I both froze. To say that the academy is big would be a grave insult, it was enormous! It's almost twice the size of the castle, which is also gigantic. Looking to my left side, I saw Chikako shaking but with a determined face. "It's fine, we'll definitely pass!" Encouraging her was the only thing I could do at this point since the exam would start in 3 hours and we will have to separate as this is not a group test, obviously. "Yeah, we will!" Smiling at me, she stopped shaking and adjusted her bag.

We were about to enter when we bumped into something. A barrier. The security is top notch too. "How do we get in Asu?". Glancing around, I saw a blue booth with 8 knights guarding it. "There." We walked towards the booth and noticed the knights going alert of our presence but still let us near the blue booth. "Good morning children, judging from the scrolls you are holding, you are here for the entrance exam, no?" A middle-aged man wearing a monocle and a suit greeted us nicely. "Yes, of course. Our school headmistress told us to give this to the registration area" We took out the scrolls Mrs. Fanna gave us and handed them to the man.

Reading through the scrolls, his eyes widen, adjusting the monocle incredulously. "Ah, it seems that you two are the advanced students my sister, Fanna, told me about. I deeply apologize for not noticing earlier. My name is Arman Badeaux, pleased to meet you Asuri Tanaka and Chikako Tanaka" We greeted him back with extra politely, making sure to bow. We talked for about Mrs. Fanna and the requirements for the entrance exam...

"And there, Asuri Tanaka examinee number and code–3426 and Chikako Tanaka examinee number and code–3427 you two are all set. I wish you both well on the examination." Giving us a brooch and a card with our codes, he smiled after we sincerely thanked him which shocked him. It was apparent that some polite gestures like these were kind of rare to him since this school is made up of 50% rich kids that don't even care about some of the school staff. Or was it that Mr. Arman didn't reveal his identity to the students. Now that I think about it, the game always had this headmaster who's back was the only thing shown. Same suit, same hair color, same hairstyle, and same shoes and handkerchief. Such a sly fox. It was now time for us to go inside because we only have 1 more hour to prepare or rest. Going out of the booth, the guards made a path directing to the school.

We skipped to the other side of the barrier without bumping our heads this time. For the two of us who only stayed at a small town, stepping into such magnificent school was overwhelming, well, at least for Chikako that is. I was used to some large and wealthy surroundings so it wasn't new anymore, but it's still nice to see such a place that's as prodigious as this.

Anyways, opening the map Mr. Arman gave us, we headed to the direction of the examination room. After all the walking, we stumbled upon people– from commoners to nobles – who were clearly older than us, heading to the giant crystal dome Mr. Arman was talking about. We went inside and felt the hot sensation turn into a cool, comforting breeze. Thousands of examinees were seated on different desks, quietly. A lot of them took a glance at us, thinking I don't know what, but we brushed it off and headed to some random secluded seats at the back of the room. The random looks eventually disappeared when some of school staff arrived with what looks like the student council. I can tell since one girl looks familiar.

A middle-aged lady then looked at the students intimidatingly and spoke, "Greetings. As you may know, this is the first stage of entering the Academy. Behind me are members from the student council. They will help monitor all of you in case cheating occurs. Out of all 3688 examinees, only 200 would be accepted. So do your best to be part of that 200."

'That's it? Wait, actually?'

After her short and pressuring speech, each of us were given a 10-page test paper with a time limit of 40 minutes. "If anyone of you cheat, disqualification would be there behind you. 40 minutes, start"