Chapter 1 / Sincerely

To: Tokyo Institute of the Arts and Sciences
Subject: Application Letter

Dear Admissions Director,

Education is a lie.

Think about it: The very concept of "school" itself is deceptive and utterly corrupt. Money is plucked from the hands of taxpayers like apples from some gargantuan tree and spent on operating "schools" and "universities" that are established largely for proprietary gains and profit. Lackadaisical NEETs or delinquents - people with IQs pathetic enough to make a rock cry (not looking at you two, Sora and Shiro) - gain access to top tier institutions due to the financial prosperity of their parents.

Can't get your kid into university? Just buy a quarter of the school. Big deal.

Hah.

Sell your house. Sell your car. Sell your brats to a distant institution that converts years of their mortal souls into bland arrays of lectures and drivel - 95% of which is completely irrelevant to future job requirements. Tuition is only half of the yen in your bank account, ten centuries of student loans, four years worth of artificial noodles in their systems, and a do-or-die contract with the devil.

Interesting, given that the patrons of "education" still assert that school is a "vital component of modern society" or an "essential cornerstone of success."

What a joke. Don't make me laugh.

School is a meaningless concept built on faulty conjecture - a house of cards on a bed of sand.

School is a deceptive propaganda machine for preaching the supposed advantages of "hard work" and "hard workers."

School is a place where adults with no other employment options eek out a living by educating the next generation of societal baggage.

School is a mirror of the modern capitalist hierarchy, where the privileged few who are blessed with good looks, popularity, or social talent - those possessing the "means of production" - lord over the trampled outcasts and rebels like kings over serfs.

School is a modern labyrinth, a scourge of Daedalus, built to ensnare those foolish enough to believe in the monstrous lie of youth - no Ariadne exists; only the Minotaur can win.

And school is most definitely not romantic; nor is it a comedy.

It is reality, and reality is the worst lie of them all.

But I think your school is pretty nice. Let me know if I make it in.

Sincerely,

Hikigaya Hachiman