TO BE OR NOT TO BE

"What a fool you are, Aram," Reia said. "How could you confuse me with David?"

"But he was very convincing, it's not my fault," Aram answered with a sad face.

"Exactly. I am cunning and clever," David said smiling. "And I made you."

"What did you say, moron? Who did who? Me and Reia, we actually won the fight."

"Victory doesn't interest me. I again showed you who is stronger and smarter."

"Again? When on the earth did you show me something like that, huh? Last time you were chained until Ksyu saved you."

"What did you say? Come here," David shouted with a raised hand.

"Will they ever calm down?" Reia asked Ksyu.

"When I first met them, they behaved the same way. But it seems to me that over time they will definitely get along."

"Who will get along with whom?" David shouted.

"Only over my dead body!" Aram shouted after.

"Tell me, Reia, what was that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a duel. How could you be above David's head in a split second? Was it your active superpower?"

"No, it was my passive superpower. But I don't like to talk about it."

Ksyu came closer to Reia and whispered in her ear.

"Are you really one of those?"

Reia looked at Ksyu and didn't say anything.

"You know, for a girl who looks like the coldest iceberg from the outside, you acted rather recklessly," Ksyu continued. "Our fight was not in the middle or even at the end, but the second in a row. At that moment people still had the desire and interest to watch the fights. I'm sure many people noticed your trick."

"There are a huge number of different superpowers that are similar to each other. I don't think I did anything supernatural."

"Then why are you making excuses and not denying what I said? You obviously have something to hide."

"Think as you wish. But I do not want to continue this dialogue."

Ksyu and Reia fell silent. David and Aram were still yelling at each other, trying to assert themselves.

"Come on boys," Reia said. "Let's look at our friends, maybe we can learn something interesting."

Reia, Aram, Ksyu, and David headed towards the arena again. It was also interesting for the guys to look at other students because some of them would later become their classmates. And the fights themselves promised to be interesting, despite the fact that they lasted only three minutes.

___

17:40. Although the so-called initiation ceremony began at 8 am, the first test did not end until 5:40 pm. Most of the students were already tired, and 3 tests were still waiting for them. Moreover, there was no information about one of them. And it was clear from the smiling faces of Chief William and Felix that this test would definitely be more of a trap than a pleasant surprise.

"Dear students! You did a great job! It was very interesting to watch your fights," William said from his podium.

"Now, I'm going to ask everyone to move to the gym. Your second test will take place there. It is the intellectual test," Felix continued.

"And remember the main rule: do not pretend to be who you are not. Be yourself," William said and, turning, left the arena with Felix.

"Such a strange name: "intelligence test". Why haven't we renamed this test yet?" William turned to Felix.

"Every time you ask me this question on September 1, and then every time you forget to rename. I'm sorry sir, but you're in charge here."

"Sir, dir, mir... Do it, call me the chief and that will be the end. You say "every September" as if we were not here for the second year, but for 20 years already. Come up with a new name, please."

"As you wish, Chief," Felix laughed and went forward.

The students headed to the gym. Hundreds of tables and chairs were placed throughout its area. There were already sheets with tests on them. The students randomly sat at the tables and the time went by. They had only 15 minutes to solve the problem assigned to them. The numbers on the holographic neon plaque hovering from the ceiling were getting less and less.

"15 minutes for the whole test," one of the students shouted. "They went completely crazy. What kind of intelligence test can be solved in such a short period of time?"

"Don't you dare say any bad words about our teachers! Each of them is a wonderful person who is worthy of respect just for the fact that he worked as a detective and saved at least one life!" one of the students replied.

"Guys, look at the paper, this is not a test, this is something completely different," Alex suddenly said.

There was only one assignment on paper. The description of the problem was as follows:

Imagine a situation. You are the head of one of Crotho's police departments. In front of you is a man tied to a chair who has been caught by the intelligence service. It is believed that he placed explosives throughout the Crotho metro. And at the very rush hour, exactly at 18:00, all the bombs will explode, killing thousands of people. Innocent victims will die, including old people, women, children. There are only 15 minutes left before the explosion and it is impossible to look for bombs at all metro stations. It is also impossible to evacuate all people. If you can get correct information about the places where the criminal planted the bomb, then experts will be able to stop the explosions and no one will die. Are you going to torture this person to get the information you need?

As soon as the students sitting in the gym read the assignment, their faces were distorted. Resentment, misunderstanding, and strange feelings entered their thoughts.

"What the…" David said quietly.

"How interesting," Ksyu said. "I haven't passed such tests for a long time. Well, I have never passed such a test, ahahahaha."