Ian finished her training and stepped out of the sparring hall to wait for Rui.
She was letting the breeze dry her sweat, savoring the cool air, when someone approached—and the figure she'd assumed was Rui turned out to be someone else entirely.
Abel.
The captain of the team that had expelled both her and Rui. The one responsible for it all.
The moment Ian recognized that face—one she had no desire to see—her mood soured instantly.
"Hey, Ian."
"...Ha."
The perfunctory greeting ended, and Abel, as he always did, brought up the same subject again.
The same old pitch: come back, whatever the circumstances.
Ian listened to him in silence.
"I'd appreciate an answer soon. We need to finalize things."
His voice was as slippery and unhurried as ever, which only made the irritation rise faster.
Her face did the work without being asked—brow furrowing, eyes fixed on him in a glare.
"I feel like I already told you this before... Do you have some kind of memory problem?"
Once before.
He'd proposed she return to them, and Ian had refused without hesitation.
The betrayal of being cast aside played a part, but more than anything—there was no version of this where she accepted a deal that meant leaving Rui behind.
Abel heard her answer, exhaled briefly, and took off his glasses.
"I can't tell if you're stupid or just slow... ah, same thing, I suppose."
"What?"
He polished his glasses with a calm, unhurried hand, and his eyes carried nothing but contempt.
"Face reality, Ian. Drop the romance and the friendship nonsense."
He finished cleaning the lenses and settled them back on his nose.
"Sure, kicking you out—that was unexpected. I didn't want that either. But Rui? That's a different story."
"..."
She'd seen it coming, but the sheer shamelessness with which he said it left Ian without words.
"She's a commoner by birth. You two run around together now, fine—but after graduation? Are you going to take her with you? People like us, with noble standing, can't be tied to someone like her for life."
It wasn't wrong.
Times had shifted, and ability was being valued more than before—but that hadn't shaken the foundation of the class system that still underpinned society.
"What exactly do you gain by throwing away your pride for her? Friendship? Are you two going to spread a blanket somewhere and go on a picnic?"
"Shut up."
"Listen to me, Ian. We're third-years. Graduation is a few months away. Don't let one or two years of mixing with the wrong crowd make you forget who you are."
Every word was true, and she had no rebuttal.
"This is my last offer. I'll give you until Monday. If you're interested, come find us—you know where we meet, right? We were there every day during winter break."
With that, Abel had nothing more to say. He turned and walked away without looking back, disappearing to the other side.
'...'
Ian felt a headache coming on.
If she thought about her family, the answer was obvious—she needed to stay in Alpha Class.
Her family was in decline, and Ian was its only hope.
Joining the Spring Festival Tournament, being on the same team as Abel—that alone wouldn't guarantee she stayed in Alpha, but it would improve the odds. That much was true.
'...Even so.'
Even so, Ian couldn't accept.
Because she had a friend.
Yes. A friend.
"Ian!"
Rui came running from a distance, her smile bright and unclouded.
Ian's heart lurched—had she heard any of that?—but the smile on Rui's face was as clear as ever, and Ian let out a quiet breath of relief.
"...You're early."
Ian set aside the noise in her head and went to meet her.
"Yeah! I'm starving, let's go eat!"
Rui reached out, grabbed Ian's hand, and broke into a run toward the dining hall.
Rui was always cheerful, but something about her energy today felt sharper than usual. Ian said nothing.
"Wait, aren't you going too fast?"
"..."
Rui didn't look back. She just kept running toward the dining hall.
As if she were fleeing something.
They arrived at the dining hall, ordered their meals as always, and sat by the window to eat.
They'd been inseparable long enough that running out of new things to say was nothing unusual—but today,
"..."
"..."
they were eating in a silence that felt heavier than normal.
Ian noticed it, but her attention kept drifting back to Abel's words, and she ate without really thinking, her gaze going distant.
Her resolve to stay with Rui hadn't wavered. Not yet.
'Please, Ian.'
The image surfaced—her father's face, both hands wrapped around hers, the last time she'd left for the academy.
"Ian."
Rui called her name mid-meal, and Ian snapped her head up with a start.
"...Oh. Yeah."
Her voice came out slightly off. Had Rui noticed?
Their eyes met.
"...Rui?"
Rui was smiling, the way she always did. That clean, sun-bright smile she always wore.
But right now, it was overcast. Like clouds had moved in.
"Let's drop out of the Spring Festival Tournament."
Rui said it plainly.
"...What?"
"Let's drop out of the Spring Festival Tournament."
It hit like a blow to the head—something Ian hadn't seen coming at all.
Every scattered thought in her mind went quiet.
"I've been thinking about it. Finding more teammates is too hard, and it makes more sense to focus on exams now."
Rui's voice was remarkably detached.
So detached it felt almost emotionless, like she was reading aloud from a newspaper.
"..."
When they'd been expelled from the team, Rui had been the one to rally them both.
*It's okay, Ian! Let's find a new team!*
That had been just last winter, not even half a year ago.
Rui had been the one who pulled Ian back up when she was drowning in humiliation and betrayal.
And now she was saying give up.
"Rui, I must have heard you wrong."
"No."
A firm voice.
"Let's drop out. The Spring Festival Tournament."
It landed clearly in her ears a second time.
Just the other day, Rui had been running around trying to recruit teammates.
A change this sudden made no sense.
*Don't tell me...*
"Did Abel come to you?"
Rui shook her head.
"No. I just kept thinking about it on my own."
"You."
Ian's grip tightened on the fork in her hand. The sunlight seemed to vanish.
Rui's face, already clouded, looked like it was about to rain.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
Ian tried to brush it off and go back to eating—but
"Ian."
Rui's voice was heavier than Ian had ever heard it, and Ian flinched, looking up.
"...Let's stop being stubborn."
Stubborn.
Ian set down her fork.
"What did you say?"
"I've been thinking, and I think we've been too stubborn about this—"
Bang—
Before Rui could finish, Ian shoved back from the table and stood.
The fork slipped from her hand and clattered against the floor, the harsh metallic sound drawing every eye in the dining hall toward them.
"Stubborn?"
Ian's voice began to shake.
"Stubborn? Everything we did—that's what you're calling it?"
Her voice kept rising, and heads turned one by one, murmurs spreading through the room—but Ian saw nothing except Rui.
She felt bewildered by the change in her, and at the same time, something that felt like resentment was beginning to take root.
"Ian..."
Ian looked away.
If she kept listening, the resentment would only grow—and if it did, she was going to end up saying something she'd regret to Rui.
"I'm going ahead. Let's talk later."
She didn't look back.
Right now, the only thing she wanted was to get out of there.
She gathered her dishes roughly and left without ever seeing the expression on Rui's face.
In the end, Rui finished her meal alone.
The weight of people's stares was uncomfortable, but she'd been taught that wasting food was wrong.
She couldn't taste any of it.
Her mind kept replaying the conversation between Ian and Abel from just moments ago.
*...Because of me.*
If she hadn't been there, would Ian have gone back to that team?
She could endure having her efforts dismissed. She could endure her actions being written off as delusion.
But knowing that she—her closest friend—had become an obstacle for Ian cut into her like a blade.
A clatter.
"Oh."
When she came back to herself, her plate was empty.
She found her own hand, still mechanically scraping a fork against the bottom of a bare bowl.
She got up without energy, cleared her dishes, and walked out of the dining hall.
She wandered the quiet academy grounds—sparse with people on a weekend—without any destination in mind.
Just walking.
She wasn't sure how many hours passed.
When her legs finally started to ache, Rui sat down on a bench without a word.
She'd always been told that if you keep smiling, good fortune will come. A small, cheerful thing her father used to say—her father who told simple, funny stories, and her wise mother beside him.
The people in her village would smile when they saw her smile, and seeing their smiles made her smile more.
"..."
The sun slipped behind the clouds.
"...Heh."
The reality waiting outside her village had not been kind.
There were geniuses everywhere who cleared her best efforts without breaking a sweat, and the wall of class and birth pressed in tighter around her with every passing day.
When things were hard, she smiled.
...
"Hk..."
The clouds that had swallowed the sun began to darken.
"...Hff... hk... gh..."
And from those darkened clouds, rain began to fall.
"Hh... ngh... hk..."
She knew she should hold it in, but once the dam broke she had no idea how to stop it, and in the end it simply gave way.
The tears that came pouring out—Rui sat on that bench and let them fall, for a long, long time.
"..."
She'd cried for what felt like forever, and now, at last, something in her had settled.
"Snff."
Her nose throbbed and her swollen eyes stung, and Rui smoothed down her disheveled hair.
She set aside the ideal and looked at reality.
Even if she and Ian—barely scraping by on ability—managed to recruit other students, they'd be a team that washed out in the early rounds, let alone placing in the top tier.
Abel had been right. The odds were low.
"..."
She'd climbed into Alpha Class and worked as hard as she could, kept smiling.
There were times she was looked down on, but she hadn't let it stop her.
She'd believed that if she kept trying, people would recognize her.
Had it all been wasted effort? Had it all been pointless?
She was sitting there, lost in those thoughts, when—
Thud—
She sensed someone walking toward her.
The approach was so natural, so unhurried, that Rui startled and ducked her head lower.
*...Ian?*
Was it Ian?
Not wanting to be seen with red eyes, she quickly wiped at her face.
"I wasn't crying, you can't just show up like this—"
"Oh... Rui?"
Her hands stilled mid-wipe.
That wasn't Ian's voice.
A low, mid-register male voice. A familiar one she'd heard somewhere before.
Rui looked up—and standing there was someone she hadn't expected at all.
"Hello?"
A boy looking at her with a slightly awkward smile.
Dark brown hair with a hint of black, and a calm, quietly composed air about him.
"Rutess...?"
It was Rutess Liperto.
She wondered what on earth had brought him here—but her swollen eyes sent her gaze dropping back down in a hurry.
"...What are you doing here..."
She managed a small, fading greeting, and Rutess scratched the back of his head.
"Is now... not a good time to talk?"
Rui gave a small shake of her head.
"I'm fine..."
"Really?"
She gave a faint nod and slowly lifted her head.
She'd been taught that burdening others with your feelings was one of the worst things you could do.
"Yes... I'm really fine..."
She took a breath and raised her head once more—and in that moment, Rui's breath caught.
"Hi."
Standing beside Rutess, seemingly out of nowhere, was a girl.
The girl Rui had always looked up to.
"...Elline?"
It was Elline Pailless.