— Day twelve. Initiation Week. Squad formation assembly.
The Squad Formation Assembly Ran in the Main Training Hall
Long room, high ceiling, the kind of space designed to hold a lot of people doing organized things simultaneously. Six hundred first-year students arranged in rows by their preliminary placement scores—high scores on the left side, low scores on the right, the middle occupied by the comfortable mass of everyone who had tested average and was going to be fine regardless.
King was at the far end of the right side.
He had expected this.
The formation system worked by sorting students into squads of five based on score compatibility, talent-type coverage, and what the Academy called "operational potential balance"—which meant they tried not to put all the high-scoring students in the same squad, because that produced one very strong squad and a lot of very weak ones. The computer system ran the combinations and produced optimal groupings.
It was, King had been told by the orientation card, the most sophisticated squad formation algorithm the Academy had developed in its hundred-year history. It accounted for forty-seven variables.
Forty-seven, he thought. That's a specific number.
He stood in his row and looked at the rest of the right side.
Haruto was three positions to his left—not because Haruto had scored badly, but because Haruto's preliminary tactical assessment had come back flagged with a note about high individual combat output, low cooperative integration score, which apparently moved you rightward on the formation grid. Haruto had been told this and had taken it with the specific expression of someone who understood what it meant and was going to argue with it through demonstrated performance rather than words.
Riku was further left than King had expected—he'd scored well on the tactical assessment, but the system had flagged him for low noble house sponsorship and no guild affiliation, which were apparently variables it cared about. He was standing in the middle-right section with the contained patience of someone who had read the formation manual in advance and understood exactly what was happening and why.
Sora was on the far left. High score, clean classification, solid placement results. She should have been matched into one of the top squads. But Stillwind—atmospheric and analytical talent, unusual application type—had flagged as low direct combat compatibility in the system's terminology, which was technically correct and also technically failed to account for what Stillwind could actually do in a combat context. She'd been moved right. Not as far right as King, but out of the top cluster.
Aki was in the middle section, which was where healers usually ended up—combat squads needed them but didn't typically prioritize them, so they got distributed into whatever grouping had a gap.
King looked at these positions.
We're going to be in the same squad, he thought. Not because the system designed it that way. Because the system's edge cases landed here.
He had not engineered this. He had simply noted it.
All the same, he thought. Good.
---
The formation process began at the ninth bell.
An Academy staff member stood at the front with the output printouts from the formation system. She called out the squad assignments in order—Squad One through whatever the final count was. Students moved to designated areas on the training floor when their number was called, forming up with their new squadmates for the first time.
Squad One had four S-rank candidates and one very surprised A-rank student who looked like he'd won something and wasn't sure he deserved it.
Squad Two had a similar configuration.
The squads moved through the numbers. Students shuffled between sections. The training floor reorganized itself into clusters, some confident, some cautious, some with the particular energetic awkwardness of people who had just met the people they were going to spend the next year intensively working with and were running the initial assessment.
King watched.
Haruto appeared at his elbow sometime around Squad Fifteen. "You're still over here," he said.
"Yes," King said.
"Me too." He looked at the clusters forming on the floor. "Riku's still on the right side."
"Yes."
"Sora's been moved." He pointed—she had moved slightly during the shuffling but was still in the middle-right section, standing with her notebook closed under her arm and the patient expression of someone who knew they hadn't been called yet and was using the time to observe.
"She'll be in the same group as us," King said.
Haruto looked at him. "How do you know?"
"The system put all the edge cases together," King said. "It's the most logical outcome given the constraint set."
"The constraint set," Haruto said.
"The things that made us not fit the standard squad configurations," King said. "You for tactical score reasons. Riku for affiliation reasons. Sora for talent-type classification reasons. Me for—"
"Everything reasons," Haruto said.
"Yes."
Haruto looked at the remaining unassigned students. He looked at King. He did not look comforted or uncomfortable about this—just like someone filing information. "What about Aki?"
"Healers go where the gaps are," King said. "There will be a gap in whatever squad we're in."
"You're very certain about this," Haruto said.
"It's the logical outcome," King said.
"You keep saying logical," Haruto said. "Like you ran the algorithm."
King said nothing.
Haruto looked at him with the specific expression that had become familiar—the one that said: I know you didn't run the algorithm. I also know that whatever you did is in the same category as running the algorithm. He turned back to watch the floor.
"Fine," he said. "I believe you."
---
They reached Squad Twenty-Two.
"Aizawa, Sora. Shimizu, Aki. Takahashi, Haruto. Tanaka, Riku."
They moved.
The staff member looked down at her printout. She turned to the next line. She looked at it. She looked up. She looked back down.
"Von Deluxh, King."
King moved.
He joined the four of them in the designated area—a marked square on the training floor, the same size as every other squad's square. He stood in it. Haruto was already there. Riku had arrived two seconds before King. Aki was looking at the group with the pleased expression of someone whose prediction had been confirmed. Sora's notebook was open.
First entry from inside the squad, King thought.
The staff member—she had a name tag that read Coordinator Yuta—looked at their group. She looked at the printout. She looked at their group again.
"Squad designation," she said, reading. She stopped.
She read it again.
"Squad—" She looked at the printout more carefully, as if the reading might have changed between the first and second time. It hadn't. "Squad Zero."
A pause.
Not a long pause. Maybe two seconds. But two seconds of pause from a staff member reading out routine designations in a room full of students who were listening was approximately two seconds more than routine designations required.
"Is that—" Haruto started.
"Squad Zero," Coordinator Yuta confirmed. She said it the way people confirmed things they were not fully on board with confirming. "Your squad designation is Squad Zero."
"That's not a number," Riku said.
"No," she agreed. "It's—the system—" She turned the printout over, as if the explanation might be on the back. It wasn't. "The formation algorithm designated your group Squad Zero. This is—" She stopped herself before she said unprecedented, visibly decided she was going to maintain professional language, and said instead: "This is an unusual output."
"Has it happened before?" Sora asked. She had her pen ready.
"No," Coordinator Yuta said.
Sora wrote.
"What does it mean for the squad?" Riku asked. Practically. Getting to the relevant information.
"Operationally, nothing," Coordinator Yuta said. She had found her professional footing again. "Squad designation is administrative. Your training schedule, your mission access, your evaluation metrics are all the same as any other squad." She looked at the printout one more time. "The designation is—the system assigned it. It stands."
"Squad Zero," Haruto said.
He said it the way you said something you were trying on to hear how it sounded.
"Squad Zero," Aki said. She said it with the tone of someone who thought this was fine and possibly good.
"I'll need to update the board," Coordinator Yuta said, almost to herself. She made a note on the printout. She moved on to the next group.
Their squad square was still marked. They were still standing in it.
Riku looked at King.
"You called it," he said.
"I called the squad composition," King said. "Not the designation."
"The designation is a consequence of the composition," Riku said.
"Probably," King said.
Riku wrote something in his pocket journal. He wrote it with the particular focused brevity of someone compressing a significant observation into minimum words.
"What did you write?" Haruto asked.
"That the algorithm created a new category," Riku said, "rather than put us in an existing one."
"What does that mean?" Haruto said.
"I don't know yet," Riku said. "I'm filing it."
---
The squad assignment included a squad leader designation.
This was normally determined by score and rank—the highest-classified, highest-scoring member of the squad was appointed lead, with the others filing into support positions based on their talent types.
The squad leader designation for Squad Zero came out of the system as: Von Deluxh, King. F-Rank (Unknown Variable). Designated: Squad Lead.
Coordinator Yuta read this privately first. She looked at it for a moment. Then she looked at the table beside her where Johnson was standing—he had come in after the formation process started, she had not been expecting him, and he had said nothing since he arrived except to stand where he could see the printouts as they came through.
She showed him the squad lead designation.
Johnson read it.
He looked at Squad Zero's marked square—King standing in it, hands in his pockets, watching the other squads form up with the mild, attentive expression he apparently wore as a default.
Johnson looked at the designation.
He looked at King.
He looked at the designation again.
Then he did nothing for a long time—not dramatically, not visibly—just stood there with the printout in his hand and the expression of a man who had filed five separate personal notes about a student in the last twelve days and was now holding documentation that the Academy's most sophisticated formation algorithm had designated that student squad leader of a group with no precedent number.
Squad Zero, he thought. Lead: F-Rank Unknown Variable.
"Is there an error?" Coordinator Yuta asked.
"No," Johnson said. He handed the printout back. "It's correct."
---
She read it out.
When Coordinator Yuta announced the squad lead designation for Squad Zero, the reactions were as follows:
Haruto said: "Obviously."
Aki said: "That makes sense." She wrote in the green notebook.
Riku said nothing. He opened the pocket journal, added two words below whatever he'd written before, and closed it.
Sora wrote two lines in her notebook, looked at King for a moment, wrote a third line, and looked away.
King said: "I don't know anything about leading a squad."
"Nobody does on day one," Haruto said.
"I don't know enough about how squads work," King said. "You should lead. You've trained for this specifically."
"I have tactical isolation flags on my record," Haruto said.
"That's a systems note. It doesn't mean you can't—"
"King," Haruto said. He said it with the simple directness he used when he wanted a conversation to stop going around the same point. "The system put you in front. I've watched you for twelve days." He looked at him. "I don't know what you are. I know you should be in front."
King looked at him.
Haruto met his eyes and didn't move.
"All right," King said.
"Good," Haruto said. "So. What's the plan?"
"I don't have a plan yet," King said.
"When will you have one?"
"After I know what we're doing," King said. "What's the first Initiation Week trial?"
"Survival in the Dacia Training Forest," Riku said, pulling the schedule from his coat pocket—he had printed it two days ago. "Starts tomorrow morning. Monster-hunting and resource acquisition over three days. We're evaluated on performance and group coordination."
King looked at the schedule.
"What do we know about the forest?" he asked.
"It's a controlled training environment," Sora said. "Bounded by a mana barrier perimeter. The monsters inside are ranked E to C, mostly. Low-density in the outer sections, higher as you move inward." She had already looked this up. Of course she had. "The standard approach for new squads is to stay near the outer perimeter for the first day, take easy targets, build cohesion."
"And the non-standard approach?" King asked.
She looked at him. "Go deeper. Higher yield targets. Higher risk. Better results if it works."
"Higher rank monsters," Haruto said. He said it with the specific energy of someone who had already decided which approach he preferred.
"We're not going to rush into B-rank territory on day one," Riku said.
"We're not going to hide in the outer perimeter either," Haruto said.
"Nobody said hide," Riku said.
"Standard approach means outer perimeter," Haruto said. "Outer perimeter means we produce the same results as every other squad. We're Squad Zero. We should produce something else."
Riku looked at him. Then he looked at King.
King was looking at the schedule. He turned it over. On the back was the forest map—the training environment's layout, the marked perimeter, the approximate monster distribution zones.
"There's a ridge in the middle section," King said, pointing at the map. "Mid-forest elevation. If we establish a position there on day one, we have sightlines over the eastern and western zones without being in either. We can pick our targets based on what moves toward us rather than going to find it."
Riku looked at the map.
"That's not outer perimeter," he said.
"No," King said.
"It's not deep forest either," Sora said. She was looking at the map. "The ridge is mid-section. High elevation, low monster density at the position itself, good observation range." She pointed at two features on the map. "These rock formations would give shelter. That stream means water access."
"And if something finds us on the ridge?" Riku asked.
"Then Haruto and I handle the front," King said. "You and Sora handle the perimeter and approach assessment. Aki handles anything that happens to the people handling the front."
"Efficient," Riku said. He was writing.
"We haven't practiced any of this," Haruto said.
"No," King said.
"We've known each other twelve days."
"Yes."
"And your plan is to go to the mid-forest ridge on day one of the first trial."
"If we all agree," King said. He looked at each of them. "I'm the designated lead. I'm not deciding alone. If someone has a better read on this, I want to hear it."
A pause.
Haruto looked at the map. He looked at the ridge position. He looked at King. "I agree," he said.
Sora looked at the map for a longer moment—the analytical look of someone running the variables, checking the logic, looking for the flaw. "I agree," she said.
"I agree," Aki said, without particular drama. She had been listening to the whole conversation with the focused attention she brought to medical assessments. "Tactically, the ridge makes sense. The elevated position reduces the number of approach directions we have to cover. That matters for a healer." She paused. "Also if we're going to the mid-section I want everyone to do a full physical check tonight. Sleep well. Eat properly at breakfast."
"We know," Haruto said.
"I'm saying it anyway," Aki said. "That's the job."
Riku closed his journal. "Agreed," he said. "Ridge position, day one. Adjust based on what we see when we get there."
King looked at all of them.
"All right," he said.
"All right," Haruto said. He looked at the Squad Zero designation on the printout Coordinator Yuta had left in their square area. He picked it up. He read it. "Squad Zero," he said.
"It's not a bad name," Aki said.
"It's not a name," Riku said. "It's the absence of a number."
"Which is appropriate," Sora said, without looking up from the map.
Riku looked at her.
She looked back.
"Because we're outside the numbered system," she said. "The algorithm couldn't place us in an existing category so it created a new one. Zero isn't the lowest number. It's before the numbers start." She closed the map and put it with her notes. "That's not bad."
A pause.
"Sora thinks our squad name means we're before the numbers start," Haruto said, to King, with the tone of someone reporting something he had decided was good news.
"I heard," King said.
"Is that what you think too?"
King considered.
Squad Zero, he thought. The designation that has never existed. For a group that doesn't fit the existing categories. Because the algorithm processed forty-seven variables and produced something it hadn't produced before.
"It fits," he said.
Haruto nodded. He tucked the printout into his jacket with the satisfaction of someone who had just received official documentation of something they had already decided was true.
---
Across the training floor, in the staff observation area, Edward Johnson was still holding his own copy of the Squad Zero formation sheet.
He had been holding it for seven minutes.
Around him, the formation process had concluded—all six hundred students had their designations, all squads had moved to their orientation briefings, the training hall was beginning the next phase of the day's schedule.
Johnson looked at the sheet.
Squad Zero. Lead: Von Deluxh, King. F-Rank (Unknown Variable).
The algorithm had been running for a decade without producing a Squad Zero.
It had run for a decade, processing forty-seven variables, and on the first occasion that King Von Deluxh was one of the inputs, it had created a category that hadn't existed.
He wrote, in the margin of the sheet, in the clean professional script he used for personal combat notes:
The system doesn't know what to do with him either.
He underlined it once.
He put the sheet in the same folder where he kept his personal notes.
He went to find his observation position for tomorrow's forest trial.
He was going to watch Squad Zero's first day.
He was going to watch King Von Deluxh lead a squad into the Dacia Training Forest.
He was, he thought, going to learn something.
He was not yet sure what.