I pocketed my phone and looked between the three women surrounding me. "I’ve got a meeting with Professor Reeves at seven. Research project."

Mera’s tail stiffened. "The one who wants to study your body?"

"My abilities," I corrected, though the way Reeves had looked at me in her office made the distinction feel academic.

"Same thing with you," Mera muttered.

Cheon folded her arms. "I still think this arrangement is inappropriate."

"Everything about me is inappropriate," I said. "That’s literally the point."

Cheon’s mouth thinned into a line. She’d been trying to maintain her class representative persona all day, but I could see the cracks. Her composure slipped every time she looked at my bandaged ribs or the bruises spreading across my jaw. She wanted to fix me. Control the situation. Make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.

Too late.

"You should come home first," she said. "Eat something. Change clothes."

"I’ll grab food on campus," I said. "The meeting’s in three hours. No point going home and coming back."

Usagi glanced between us, confusion plain on her face. She hadn’t quite pieced together the living situation yet.

"Fine," Cheon said. "But don’t—"

"Do anything stupid," I finished. "I know."

"You clearly don’t."

"Give him a break, Panda," Mera said, her tail curling around Cheon’s waist. "He just beat the actual main character."

Usagi’s eyebrows shot up. "Main what?"

"Figure of speech," I said quickly.

"Sure." Mera grinned, showing sharp teeth. "Absolutely what I meant."

I sent her a look that promised consequences later. She responded by licking her lips. Her tongue was slightly pointed. It made certain things extremely interesting.

"I should go," Usagi said. "My mom’s probably texting already. She watches all my matches."

"Tell her great job on the gum shots," I said.

Usagi beamed. "I will. And Rome—good fight. Really."

She jogged off down the hall, pink hair bouncing with every step. Not a bad kid. Talented with her abilities. Too earnest for her own good. She’d get eaten alive if she wasn’t careful.

Noel lingered, clearly uncomfortable about something. "We still need to talk."

"I know."

"Not now."

"I figured."

Her violet eyes narrowed. "Tomorrow. No excuses."

"Looking forward to it."

She turned and strode away, back rigid, head high. But her hand went to her mouth for a second, touching her lips like they still burned.

Cheon watched her go with that calculating expression she got whenever she was connecting dots nobody had told her existed. "What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"Your face. And hers."

I should’ve known better than to try hiding things from Cheon. The System Interface ability I’d drained from her let me read data on people. But even without it, she was naturally perceptive. Always watching. Always analyzing.

"Later," I said. "When we’re home."

She nodded, accepting the compromise. I felt her Essentia shift subtly, like lightning seeking ground. Her way of showing displeasure without saying it aloud.

"Be careful with Reeves," she said. "Something’s not right about her interest in you."

"I’ll be fine."

"That’s what you said before you broke three ribs."

"Four," I corrected. "And they’re mostly healed already."

Mera’s phone buzzed. She checked it and grimaced. "Great. My father wants a video call. Probably saw the match footage."

"Go," I said. "I’ll see you both at home."

""Don’t die," Mera said, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek.

Her tail flicked against my leg as she pulled away. The touch lingered even after she stepped back, that particular warmth her body temperature always carried settling into my skin like an afterimage.

Cheon hesitated. Then she squeezed my hand once, thumb brushing across my knuckles in a pattern that might have been morse code or just nerves, before turning to leave. No public kiss for her. Not yet. She was still the class representative. The optics mattered to her in ways they didn’t to Mera, and I wasn’t going to push that boundary before she was ready to cross it herself.

They walked away together. Not quite touching but moving in sync, their steps falling into the same rhythm without either of them consciously coordinating it. Three days living together and they’d already started finishing each other’s sentences, sharing closet space, trading off who made breakfast based on who woke up less murderous. It was fascinating to watch, the way two people could orbit each other and gradually collapse the distance without ever discussing it explicitly.

It was also a little terrifying, if I was being honest with myself. Because I was part of that orbit now whether I’d planned to be or not.

I checked my watch. Four hours until the meeting with Reeves. Four hours to eat something substantial, get the dried blood out of my hair, and figure out how to approach a professor who’d just offered me the choice between willing research subject and involuntary lab rat with the kind of smile that suggested she didn’t actually care which one I picked.

The cafeteria had that pre-dinner lull when I walked in. Not empty but not crowded. Enough people present that I couldn’t miss the reaction when the doors opened.

Students stepped aside. Not dramatically. Not like I was some kind of celebrity. Just a subtle repositioning, bodies angling away from the path between the entrance and the food line, creating a corridor I hadn’t asked for and didn’t particularly want. Conversations didn’t stop exactly. They just got quieter. Shifted in subject matter. Phones came out at three separate tables before I’d made it halfway across the room.

I grabbed a tray and kept walking. Ignored the attention because acknowledging it would make it worse. But I couldn’t miss the whispers trailing behind me like cigarette smoke.

"—beat Nolan Traore—"

"—six different abilities—"

"—Angelo Corporation heir—"

"—sleeping with Cheon and Mera—"

Convenient how they skipped over the part where I nearly died. Multiple times. The bruises on my face and the limp probably didn’t fit the whispered legend they were building.

I filled my tray with everything the healing ability demanded. Protein. Carbs. Fats. My body burned through calories at three times the normal rate when repairing major damage. The dinner lady raised an eyebrow at the mountain of food but didn’t comment.

I found an empty table near the window and started systematically destroying my meal. My body felt hollow, like I’d been running for days without stopping. The first few bites barely registered. I was halfway through a burger when a shadow fell across my tray.

Aurora.

Her green eyes met mine for a second before dropping to the mass of bandages visible beneath my partly open uniform shirt.

"Can I sit?" she asked.

I gestured to the empty chair with my burger. "Free country."

She sat, folding her hands on the table in front of her. Her nails gleamed with that crystalline quality, catching the light in ways normal nails couldn’t. She hadn’t ordered food. Probably wasn’t here to eat.

"You went too far," she said.

"Maybe. But I won."

"Nolan’s in the infirmary."

"I know."

"He has a concussion."

"That makes two of us."

Her eyes flicked to the bruising along my jaw, the split lip, the bandages. "Why did you do it? Push that hard?"

"Because he was worth beating at his best."

"He could have been seriously hurt."

"So could I."

She frowned. "You don’t care."

"I care about winning."

"And that’s it?"

I put down the burger. Leaned forward. Let my voice drop into that register I used when I actually meant something. "No, Aurora. I care about a lot of things. But he threw the first punch. And the second. And the tenth. All I did was finish it."

Her fingers tightened against each other. The tiny orbs embedded in her palms caught the light, refracting it across the tabletop in blue and gold patterns.

"You wanted to humiliate him."

"I wanted to win."

"You were showing off."

"I was fighting to my strengths."

She wasn’t buying it. I could see the knowledge in her eyes. She understood what had happened out there. Felt it. Recognized that I’d used every advantage, including the emotional ones. The way I’d talked about her to throw Nolan off balance. The way I’d toyed with his jealousy until it broke his control.

I’d done all of that deliberately.

And I’d do it again.

""You said we were friends," she said quietly.

"We are."

"Friends don’t hurt people I care about."

"They do when those people try to cave their skulls in."

She stood. Every line of her posture was tight. Controlled. "I have to go. Nolan—"

"Needs you. I know."

Something flashed in her eyes. Anger, probably. Or maybe frustration that I wasn’t cooperating with whatever script she’d written in her head on the walk over here. She’d come to deliver a piece of her mind. I was supposed to look guilty. Apologize. Show some remorse about winning the way I did.

I didn’t feel any.

"Good luck with your research meeting," she said finally.

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"

"Cheon told me."

Of course she did. Cheon had probably decided Aurora deserved to know where I was going to be in case something went sideways. Tracking my movements in case I vanished into a lab and never came back out. It was thoughtful in the way that good intelligence work usually is. Sweet, if sweet could be terrifying.

"Thanks," I said. "Tell Nolan the rematch will be even better."

Her lips pressed together until the line of them was thin and pale. But she didn’t move. Didn’t turn toward the door. Just stood there holding something back that wanted out.

"Be careful with Professor Reeves," she said finally. "She’s not like other teachers. She wants things from people."

"What kind of things?"

"Data." Aurora shrugged. "Results. Proof of her theories. She’s brilliant, but she’s not patient."

"I’ll keep that in mind." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

She nodded and turned to go.

"Aurora," I called after her.

She paused, looking back over her shoulder.

"Nice shot from the rooftop," I said. "Next time aim for my leg instead of my chest. Better chance of slowing me down."

A ghost of a smile crossed her face. "I’ll remember that."