My spirit animal is a F–Rank gecko-Chapter 17: The first special bond exam (3)

Everyone cheered with Jade, as the whole field was filled with the sound of laughter and clapping.

Jade is a student relations officer in the student council. Adam remembered seeing her often when there was an event or news in the school.

As the clapping became louder, Jade started lowering her hands.

"Ok, ok, settle down, people. You might be wondering: What IS a special bond exam?"

Jade cleared her throat and continued talking.

"The special bond exam is an exam you’ll be taking every couple of months or so. These exams are important for your class to earn points and graduate from Bondspire with honor!"

Someone raised their hand.

"You over there, what do you wanna ask?"

"How do the classes get decided?"

Jade rubbed her chin for a bit and then smirked.

"Well... Every first special bond exam is different than the other special bond exam. This bond exam will determine which class you’ll be placed in."

Jade’s finger formed a circle, and many hummingbirds started flying beside her and formed the letter B.

"For example, I myself am in Class B. And the highest is Class A. If you get placed in, like, Class P or even Class R, don’t get discouraged yet! Since your class can earn points throughout your school year, but most points are earned from the special bond exam. That’s why it’s important to take them!"

Another person raised their hand again, and Jade pointed at them.

"So... What will we have to do in this first special bond exam?"

Jade smirked a bit.

She then flew away to the side and pointed towards the four giant silver mountains that were connected by a forest.

"That, right there, is where your special bond exam will be located."

Jaster’s ears perked up hearing what Jade said.

"What! This is definitely not what I remembered!"

Jaster raised his hand.

"You, with the cute gecko on your shoulder. What do you wanna ask?"

Jade pointed towards Jaster.

"So, will the exam start on the mountain or what?"

Jaster’s question made many people more curious, as whispers started to form around the first years.

Jade tapped her cheeks for a bit and then smiled.

"Actually...."

She looked around, scanning all the first-year students.

"Your first exam is simple. Race your way up to the mountain top; the first 5 students who reach the top will earn a spot in Class A! And the list goes on and on until—"

Jade covered her mouth with her hands, trying so hard not to laugh.

"—until Class Z, of course... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Jaster frowned, not at Jade’s mockery, but at how the special bond exam had changed drastically.

In the game, the player’s gameplay would decide the main character’s class. But Troy would never go to Class Z, and there was barely any information about who was in Class Z.

Jaster started biting his nails. Sweat fell down from his forehead.

"If this exam is mainly racing to the top, I’ll definitely be at the lower end of the classes!"

"But of course,"

Jade wiped her tears; she glanced at all the students with a flying spirit animal.

"Flying or any sort of teleportation is banned from this exam, to make it fair for the students! But if you have any sort of skill that can boost your running, I’ll allow it!"

Jade cleared her throat, and a couple of hummingbirds carried a megaphone and gave it to her.

She turned on the megaphone and screamed.

"LET US BEGIN YOUR FIRST EVER... SPECIAL BOND EXAM!!!!"

The sound expanded throughout the open field.

Every student started preparing themselves, and Jade started counting on the megaphone.

"1..."

"Oh shit, Purple. Are you ready to run?" Jaster raised his eyebrows, looking at his gecko. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Krrk!" Purpleberry, with full determination, nodded.

"2..."

Jaster took a deep breath as the whole field became silent, waiting for the last countdown.

Until—

"3!"

Jade screamed as she flew up to the sky, and many first years started running with all their might.

Some used their skills to run faster, while other used their animal as a mount.

Meanwhile, Jaster, who had only been running for a couple of minutes, was already out of breath.

"Curse this weak body of mine!"

Adam had never exercised in his entire life; he hated even touching the sun back on Earth.

But now that he was faced with a physical activity, it made him want to start going to the gym.

Jaster was dead last, seeing all the other students running towards the forest.

"SHIT!!!"

He screamed out of frustration and plopped to the ground, feeling helpless.

Jade saw the poor kid on the ground. She flew towards him.

She went to the ground, seeing Jaster face-down on the grassy surface.

"Oh well, guess we have our first loser!"

Jaster’s eyes shot up, and he immediately got up.

"Who are you calling a loser, huh?"

Jaster started running faster and faster, as Jade’s teasing worked.

"I’m not a loser!!"

She chuckled, watching him slowly fade away from the grassy field.

"Oh, you poor freshman, you’ve no idea what’s coming to you."

---

In the student council room.

Marcus, the president of the student council, was cleaning many papers scattered all around the table.

His blue-haired vice president sat on the sofa while fiddling with her arm.

She looked up and saw the tired Marcus.

The girl had a soft voice. "Are you ok, Marcus?" She asked with a concerned look.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sadly, no, Coral... These past few days, the headmaster has been pestering me about a lot of things, not to mention the upcoming presidential election."

His eyes drifted towards a paper showing the candidate for the new president.

"Meryl, she has a bombardier beetle as a spirit animal; what a unique spirit she’s got!"

Coral’s eyes lit up.

"Woah, that is unique. What about the other candidate?"

He picked up the paper beside him, showing a girl with dark teal hair color.

"Elaine, she’s always at the top of her class, which is Class C, and she has a narwhal as a spirit animal!"

Coral’s eyes widened after hearing "Class C."

"What was Meryl’s class again?"

"She’s Class A."

Coral looked around; she rubbed her cheek.

"Don’t you think it’s obvious which is a better candidate..." Coral said with a nervous laugh afterward.

Marcus glared at her, which made her immediately stop talking.

"My class was once Class K. But we climbed up until we reached Class A—"

He started walking towards Coral slowly.

"—while you’re naturally Class A. But ever since my class climbed up, you’ve been demoted to Class B. Most people would shame you for it, but did I judge you entirely by your class?"

Marcus looked down at Coral; his golden eyes pierced through her soul, as she let out a low gulp.

"No... You don’t. You saw my potential and offered me the vice president role."

Coral admitted her defeat and looked down at her shoes.

"That’s why!"

Marcus went back to his desk and sat on the chair.

"Don’t judge people by their classes."

"Yes... You’re right..."

The atmosphere was heavy; the silence between the two after that felt suffocating for Coral.

She tried to change the subject.

"Also, doesn’t the special bond exam for the first years start right now?"

Marcus perked his eyes.

"Yes.. it is, although I don’t understand why the headmaster would want to change it last second. We already planned what the exam would be."

Marcus rubbed his head.

"Oh? Is that why I saw Jade’s hummingbirds all around Silver Mountain?"

Coral spotted a little hummingbird outside the window.

"Speaking of birds..."

Coral’s blue eyes began to glow red as she pointed one of her arms towards the window.

[ Skill activated ]

Abyss Bloom — Lv. 10

A blue-violet energy burst from her palm, and it shot through the window, scaring the bird.

Marcus got up at the sound of the window shattering.

"CORAL! The fuck was that?!"

Instead of answering, she pointed towards the peeking hummingbird.

"Oh... Jade, you can come out. Stop hiding."

The hummingbird rushed inside and went immediately towards Coral.

Its beak poked at her face repeatedly.

"AHH, YOU CRAZY BIRD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Instead of helping, Marcus just sipped his coffee while reading one of the papers on the desk.

"MARCUS, HELP!!"

Jade’s voice echoed from within the green bird.

"How dare you try to hurt my bird! I’ll poke you to death, bitch!"

Marcus wasn’t planning on getting involved, but the two bickering made it so he could not focus.

So he gave a sigh and put down the coffee.

"Stop it, both of you!"

Marcus bent the light from the lamp that was on the table

and created a huge glowing yellow hand that separated the two.

Jade’s hummingbird burst into a glittering smoke and revealed the purple-cardiganed girl.

"UGH, Marcus, you’re such a party pooper!"

Jade pouted, while Coral fixed her tie.

"Serves you right! You’re lucky I didn’t use my signature skill on you!"

Both of the girls glared at each other, while Marcus blinked repeatedly; he let out an exhausted sigh.

"It’s like babysitting with these two....."