Chapter 5: “The Gifted Academy’s Specialty – Survival Warfield”
Chapter 5: “The Gifted Academy’s Specialty – Survival Warfield”
The mornings at the Gifted Academy were always a little noisy, but—today was on another level.
“It’s finally starting!!”
“First-years are competing? This could be legendary!”
Such shouts echoed from the stadium beside the auditorium. A hundred drones filled the sky, broadcasting aerial footage to the giant screen. The commentary was run by Ayano and Renji of the broadcasting club. They were hyped up since early morning.
“This is your commentator, Ayano!”
“And I’m Renji on analysis! This year’s spotlight is on the brilliant first-year Oliver Jones leading a rising team—”
“Excuse me! Don’t you mean Maharaja Walker-sama?”
The moment that correction was made, the stadium erupted in laughter and applause. The Maharaja’s fan club roared to life.
Apparently, I had a fan club too. I hadn’t realized it—or maybe I just hadn’t noticed.
Amid all that noise, a single girl sat quietly watching the monitor. Ririka. A classmate. And maybe… she had feelings for me? No, that must be my imagination.
A girl that beautiful? No way.
⸻
The stage was the Survival Field, set in the remodeled back mountain—augmented with virtual terrain.
Visible and invisible landscapes overlapped, creating a real battle zone that tested brains and teamwork.
At the starting point, my team and I were running our final checks.
“The bullets are paint rounds. A direct sensor hit means elimination. Area-of-effect hits also register, so be careful. Each team has different bullet colors—ours are blue.”
Rafaela was calmly managing the whole operation.
Fei Taro bounced in place, combat mode fully activated.
“Operation: Revenge of the Flowerpot Digging, here we go!”
Katie muttered, “Please don’t,” for what must’ve been the hundredth time. But somehow, it was reassuring.
Rafaela smiled, pulled on her camouflage cloak, and vanished like mist. By academy rules, a blue blinking dot would show up on the monitor every sixty seconds. Other teams appeared in their own colors—so complete concealment was impossible.
The starting gun fired.
⸻
“And now, the battle begins! At the central point, the powerhouse Storm Brain is making their move!”
Ayano’s booming commentary split the sky.
But who appeared there—was the Maharaja.
Mounted on his horse-type robot, Escar, he loosed an arrow-shaped paint shot.
“Sound trap detected. Reverse tracing complete.”
His arrow struck the audio trap, silencing it. The man knew how to make an entrance.
⸻
Meanwhile, I had circled around the rear.
(This route is a blind spot. Probability of no traps: 87%.)
Hachiko scanned the magnetic field at my feet and gave the OK signal.
Seizing the briefest opening, I landed a precise sniper shot at the enemy command post.
“Jones’s precision shot connects!!”
I didn’t know if Renji’s shout carried to me, but I could feel the hit.
⸻
During the intermission, the Talented Division put on performances to liven up the event.
A kid swung a giant brush, painting a landscape in midair.
A six-year-old prodigy played the violin.
Canon Maeda.
The Gifted Academy really was… different. And somehow, we were part of it too.
⸻
In the second half—
Katie was cornered once, but launched her eagle-type robot, Graphia, into the sky as a diversion.
In that moment, Fei Taro launched a surprise attack.
“Ku-ku-ku-ku!”
“What the—?! A rat!? …No, it’s a ferret!!”
Rafaela took advantage, hidden under her cloak, and landed a long-range shot. Beautiful coordination.
⸻
Near the end, the final showdown was between us and the powerful third-year “Klaus the Blaster.”
Klaus laughed as he faced me.
“A first-year runt making it this far, huh?”
“Sorry, but this is only the beginning for us.”
A cross-shot with Emil.
The Maharaja’s charge.
Rafaela’s encirclement.
Katie’s aerial disruption—
And I pulled the final trigger.
The match was decided.
But Klaus, in one last desperate move, fired a shot that hit Katie. She dropped to eighth place.
⸻
“The winners—Team Maharaja Walker!!”
The stadium erupted in cheers.
We had won. Truly.
⸻
Final Results:
1st: Oliver Jones
2nd: Emil Monarch
2nd: Maharaja Walker
4th: Rafaela Bird
8th: Katie Bird
“Damn it… Next time, I’m going even higher!!” Katie shouted.
But her voice carried pride too.
No one knew it yet.
That this victory would be remembered as the legendary “First-Year Formation.”
