Prologue: Arrival at Lysithea Academy
Cloud filtered sunlight drapes the stone walk. Young people file between marble columns, their blazers crisp. In the center stands Yu Asagiri. He’s here for his dream, chasing his brother’s old legend. Do you remember feeling like everything hangs on one first step?
Elitism mixes with the morning. Laughter echoes from students passing as Yu clutches his old canvas bag. A voice cuts through — “Hey! You lost?” It’s Erina Serlis, a known prodigy and top name in class.
Chapter 1: The Invitation and the Bet
Afternoon sunlight glints off gold trim in the main lobby. Headmaster Voltaire’s voice fills the hall as a hush falls. Lysithea Academy will select four elite among the first-years. They’ll battle as teams under the Four Pillars. Yu tenses as Voltaire’s gaze lingers on him.
Sound fun? If you’d been here, would you want to join — or play it safe?
Saito bursts in later that day, ready with rumors. “Yu, they say people ‘disappear’ after losing the Trials…” Saito ponders this out loud as Aki, stoic and quiet, just shrugs. Erina catches Yu’s eye. Her grin is all teeth and light.
“Scared? I bet you’ll make it farther than me, right?” she asks, gentle and daring at once.
Yu goes stiff, then replies — “Why not? Let’s see who makes the Pillars first.” Each voice at their table adds more spark. Something starts tonight, even if none of them notice how deep the rules go.
Chapter 2: Into the Trials
The next day hides sunlight with rain. They walk down past topiary and eagle statues — everyone buzzing with tension. In the arena, screens show stage layouts. First stage: logic relay. Each team must solve a code-puzzle — but wrong moves close future doors.
Saito starts sweating. Aki grinds his teeth. Yu stills, remembering his brother’s hints: At Lysithea, brawn means nothing without brain.
You ever fumbled in front of a crowd, knowing people expected more from you?
The first puzzle’s timer pings. Yu watches Erina work; she’s way ahead but keeps glancing back, maybe wanting to help. He flips a switch, taking a risk — and slots in the final key.
Chapter 3: Rivalries in Bloom
Each successful team returns past the fallen, many sitting with hands on heads, silent and shut down from shame. Erina’s team and Yu’s move forward. But rumors start that these games test more than wit — something about ‘realignments’ and hidden ranking lists that never leave the wall’s shade.
At dinner, Yu sits with Saito and Aki. People stare, whisper; others isolate, drawing maps on napkins or grinding grit between teeth. Does pressure break people, or do they break the pressure?
Night brings new tension. A note slid under Yu’s door warns: ‘If you lose on purpose, the cost isn’t yours alone.’ Shadows swirl in the lamp’s soft glow, hinting there’s more at risk than report cards. When he tells Saito, gets just silence in reply, nerves knot.
Chapter 4: Erina’s Gambit
The next event pairs teams in mental chess, ‘strategy-off duels’. Saito freezes up. Aki tries a trick he learned from street shogi, but Yu’s analyze-first approach puts their team ahead — until Erina springs a trap, pressing Yu fast with unexpected moves.
Erina’s rival, Shoji Min, taunts from the side. “She’s the real threat. Bet she outplays him by the third board,” Shoji says loudly. There’s a sudden hush. Yu’s fingers lock. Erina offers a tiny nod, as if apologizing before victory,
then wins — clean, smooth, final.
Chapter 5: Fragments and Stakeouts
Yu wakes that night to someone rattling his door. Out in the hall, a shadow runs toward the north stairs. If you heard a noise in an empty dorm at 2 a.m., would you go look, or stay put?
He follows, finding a faint glow from a hidden keypad near a statue. As Yu presses for clues, he finds part of a coded sheet — ‘OPUS: SELECTION DURING STAGE THREE, NOT BEFORE’ printed on black ink. The puzzle runs deeper. Stakes shift as Yu wonders if the staff are forcing local battles to shake loose real gifts.
Chapter 6: More Than Games
Dawn’s pale blue. Cafeteria clatter fills the air. Yu talks quietly with Aki, who confides: “Four years ago, they nearly closed Lysithea after someone… cracked during a Pillar Challenge.Quiet like death, and then nothing.” Both boys stare at their trays, fear and awe mixed.
This isn’t just a contest, is it? What drove these planners to shape young lives so harshly?
Erina approaches again. “We’re all being pushed,” she says, tired. “But if I can’t face truth here, where could I? Let’s meet, tonight. I have something to show you.” Before Yu can reply, she presses a folded card into his palm,
and walks off in a sharp click of shoes.
Chapter 7: Fracture Lines
Twilight in the archives. Yu meets Erina in the old sub-basement. Rows of books line the dark. She whispers, “The Four Pillars story is a front. Real test is deeper — family projects and experiments, some lost. Not all returns through the front door.”
Yu freezes, mind racing. Is he more pawn than player now?
Before they can talk out their next move, the old wall by the archives opens.
Someone’s spied their meeting — and someone’s shadow blocks the way. Fade to black. Just silence and a last line of worries echoing, as the academy itself seems to creak awake, ready to remake every future, no matter what it takes.
