The bell rang.
That's the sound I'd been waiting for all day.
The teacher's last words faded into background noise as I packed my notebook, slung my bag over my shoulder, and slipped out before anyone could stop me.
Not even the four of them.
The hallway was already filling with voices. Laughter, footsteps, and the usual after-class chit-chatting chaos.
But my destination wasn't the dorms, nor is it the dining hall.
I turned toward the Class 1-A corridor instead.
Since my first day here, this classroom had always been quieter than the others.
The students there carried themselves differently. Focused, composed, as all of them are competing for number one. And in the middle of all that seriousness was her.
Shimotsuki. The only First Year to became a member of the High Council.
In fact, she's the only student to do so in the history of this school.
I stopped by the door and knocked lightly on the frame. "Hey, Shimotsuki."
Dozens of heads turned.
Not toward me, but towards her.
She was at her desk, packing up neatly, her pale hair catching the sunlight that spilled through the window. Her movements were slow and graceful.
As graceful as a swan....
Until now.
Her head lifted, and the moment she saw me, that cool composure vanished. "Faulk!"
The name left her lips brighter than the light around her.
She stood up, and a smile could be seen blooming across her face. The kind that could melt through marble.
The shift was so sudden, so out of place, that the entire class froze mid-motion.
So what Mari said seems to be true.
The girl who rarely spoke, who everyone thought was untouchable, was now smiling like a child who had been gifted her Christmas present.
She walked over, almost skipping, her usual elegance replaced by something alive and genuine.
"You're back already?" she said, voice bubbling with joy.
"I was going to visit after class, but—" she stopped herself, realizing all the stares.
Her expression softened, the faintest blush coloring her pale cheeks. "—but I guess this works too."
The 1-A students exchanged looks, whispering under their breath, like they'd just witnessed Moses splitting the sea.
I smiled faintly, scratching the back of my neck. "Yeah. I wanted to see you as fast as possible."
She pinched my hands, but I could tell it wasn't the harmful type.
"Oh, stop messing around."
The sight must've been strange to them. Their classmate that didn't spoke even a word to them is somehow forming multiple full sentences on someone they don't even know.
We left the classroom without saying much. Or rather, without needing to. The whispers behind us faded as we walked down the corridor, out the door, and toward the quiet part of the school grounds where hardly anyone went.
Right. It was at that spot Shimotsuki brought me to, when I found her and Kane talking.
Now that I think about it, who is Kane? I thought she never talked with anyone outside of the High Council. But that day, it seems Kane is comfortable enough to make fun of her, throwing a little joke and whatnot.
I could think about it later, I guess.
It didn't take long before the noise of the academy disappeared, replaced by the soft rustle of wind brushing through leaves.
The old tree stood there like it always had, tall and unmoving, its branches casting long shadows over the bench beneath it.
Shimotsuki sat first, smoothing her skirt before glancing up at me with that faint, questioning look she always wore when she was trying to read me.
I sat beside her, not too close, but close enough to catch the soft scent of her shampoo. It was faintly floral, like a pressed page in a book.
For a moment, neither of us said anything. It was the kind of silence that didn't ask to be filled. Then, softly, she turned to me.
"You said you wanted to see me." she murmured, voice carrying gently through the quiet air.
"Was there… something you wanted to talk about?"
I hesitated for a second, then nodded.
"Yeah. Actually, I have a question for you."
Her head tilted slightly, curious. "A question?"
Before I could second-guess myself, I reached out and took her hand.
Her fingers tensed immediately. Soft, cold from the shade, but trembling ever so slightly against my palm.
Her emerald eyes widened, a flicker of surprise breaking through that calm composure she always wore like armor.
We both spoke at the same time
"Faulker? We're too young for this, I'm gonna get pre-"
"Shimotsuki. Is there something you're hiding from me?"
.....What. I couldn't catch what she's trying to say.
Her lips parted, but no sound came out at first. Her cheeks is as red as tomato.
The wind filled the silence between us, brushing strands of her pale hair across her face.
"Um, could you repeat that, Faulker?"
I sighed. "I said, Is there something you're hiding from me, Shimotsuki?"
"Hiding?" she finally echoed, voice quiet, unsure.
"What… do you mean by that?"
I tightened my grip slightly.
Not out of anger, but out of the frustration that had been eating at me since that day. "I mean the 3rd Seat and the 7th Seat." I said.
"The Mastermind and the Dorm Keeper. They both helped me that night. When things got complicated."
Her expression didn't change, but her eyes shifted. Just barely.
"There was nothing for them to gain by getting involved." I continued.
"Those kinds of people don't just do things out of kindness, not without reason. And yet… they helped me. Because of you."
Her fingers twitched in my hand.
"My intuition says there's something going on behind the scenes." I said, my voice quieter now. "There's something you're not telling me. Is that right?"
For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. The rustling leaves, the distant hum of the academy — even the wind went still.
Shimotsuki looked down at our joined hands, then back at me, her expression unreadable. Her lips curved slightly. Not into a smile, but something softer, sadder.
"…You're a terrible person, Faulk." she whispered.
"I know..."
Shimotsuki's silence stretched long enough for my heartbeat to sound louder than the wind. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet—resigned, almost.
"…You're right."
The words hit like a stone dropped into still water.
I felt my throat tighten. "So there is something..."
Shimotsuki exhaled softly, looking down at her knees. "Do you remember the Student Archive App?" she asked, her tone slow, careful.
"The one Aria, I, and that outside IT company worked on?"
I frowned.
"Yeah, I do. My classmates use it all the time. Mostly for stupid things, like stalking their crushes, bragging about grades..." I paused, then added, "But there's also people that uses it to find people of the same interest."
She nodded faintly. "I know."
Her hands folded in her lap. "That app wasn't supposed to be… for that. Not at first."
I stayed quiet, watching her.
"It was proposed by the Third Seat and the First Seat." she continued.
"Officially, they said it was meant to help students connect across divisions and years. A way to promote unity within the academy."
She laughed once—softly, bitterly. "But that was just the surface."
I feel like I know what she's gonna say, but I still asked, just to be safe.
Never have I ever wished to be so wrong in my life. "Then what was it really for?"
Shimotsuki hesitated, then looked up at me.
Her eyes sharp, glinting with something between guilt and defiance.
"Its real purpose was to collect data. Every student's background, family, achievements, habits… everything. You know how this academy works, Faulker. Most of us come from wealthy families. Politicians, executives, heirs. Information like that has value."
My stomach turned cold. "Value?"
"The 1st Seat wanted to sell it."
The words hung in the air, heavy enough to make the world go quiet again.
Before I could even think, my hands moved. I let go of her hand.
But then my fingers gripped the front of her uniform collar instead, pulling her just enough that our eyes were level.
"Why," I said through clenched teeth, "did you let that happen?"
Her breath hitched. She stared back at me.
But that wasn't the look I was expecting her to show.
She seems hurt. Her eyes screamed that she's scared by the anger in my voice.
That wasn't my intention. I never imagined there would be a time I would treat Shimotsuki this way. If possible, I wanted to reverse back my action.
But the world is not that nice.
The wind tugged at her pale hair, brushing strands across her face. She can't look me in the eyes.
I recalled her not being able to look me in the eyes multiple times before.
But this time, it was different.
Shimotsuki....
Shimotsuki took a quiet breath before speaking.
"There are seven seats on the High Council," she began, her voice steady but faint.
"But the First Seat and the Third Seat couldn't handle everything on their own. That's why they needed help—from me, the 4th Seat, and Aria, the 6th."
"At first, we didn't know what they were really planning," she continued.
"They told us it was a project. An app that could improve communication between students and departments. It sounded harmless. So we helped build it."
Her hands tightened slightly.
"When the app was finally finished, Aria was reviewing the contract before signing. She read through it again and again... and that's when she found it. Hidden clauses—ones that would've allowed the Council to sell student information to outside organizations."
I stayed silent, listening to her every words carefully.
"The app was ready to launch, but thankfully, neither Aria nor I had signed the contract yet. The problem was, the First Seat had already anticipated that. He made a clause saying that if we refused, then five out of the seven High Council seats could approve it instead."
She exhaled, voice trembling slightly now.
"The First, Second, Third, and Fifth Seats all signed. The Seventh Seat refused. That made only four signatures. Just one short of the majority needed to make it legal."
I looked at her in confusion. "Then... what happened?"
Shimotsuki's eyes dimmed.
"That night, when I called the High Council chat group, the Third Seat and the Seventh Seat answered. The Third Seat... he used that moment. He told me that... if I signed... he'd help out. The Seventh Seat tried to stop me, but he couldn't."
Her voice cracked, barely above a whisper.
"So I signed it... I chose your life, over the students' data."
I loosened my grip on her collar. My hands felt cold, heavy. "So… this is my fault, isn't it?"
Shimotsuki shook her head before I could even finish the sentence. "No, Faulker. Don't say that. The 3rd Seat saw the opportunity and took it. He used what mattered most to me."
Her voice was calm, but her eyes said otherwise. I could see the guilt sitting behind them like a shadow that refused to fade.
I exhaled slowly, staring down at my hands. "Then what does all of this even mean?"
She hesitated before answering.
"It means the app we built… the one for students? It's not just a database anymore. It holds every student's record. Children of governors, future leaders, politicians... If it leaks, their personal information will be out there for anyone to use."
I stayed quiet. My mind was trying to piece everything together, but the more she said, the less it made sense.
Then she added, "But it's worse for you."
My head snapped up. "For me?"
"You've encountered The Middle," she said softly, as if saying their name too loud would summon them.
"If the other Syndicates ever find out you took down all of The Middle's underlings alone… they'll come after you. They'll want information about you. Who you are, what you can do, how you survived. And now, all they need to do is find someone that would give them the information in exchange of money."
Her words dug deep, heavier than any wound I'd taken before.
"So that's it?" I muttered. "If one group doesn't kill me, another will come knocking right after?"
Shimotsuki didn't respond. She just looked down, her fingers gripping the edge of the bench.
My mind drifted, uninvited, back to that night.
The Middle Brother's face when he saw my brass pocket watch. The way his expression shifted from boredom, to shock, to pure hatred.
'That man… so you're related to him...'
Those words kept echoing in my head.
He'd lost all control the moment he saw it. The killing intent in his eyes was real.
I clenched my fists. The brass pocket watch felt heavier in my memory than it ever did in my hand.
Who was that man he was referring to?
And why… why did it make him want to kill me?
I finally spoke, my voice quieter than I expected.
"...Shimotsuki. About my pocket watch. Do you know anything about it?"
She blinked, caught off guard. "Your… pocket watch?"
I nodded. "The Middle Brother went crazy after seeing it. As if he had just seen a ghost."
Shimotsuki looked down, her eyes tracing the patterns on the bench as if she could find the answer there.
"I don't know anything about the pocket watch itself," she said after a pause.
"But… the 7th Seat told me something. That night, when he was fighting The Middle Brother."
I straightened up. "What did he say?"
She hesitated, then continued, her voice barely above a whisper.
"He said there was… another man. Someone who came to stop the fight."
"Another man?"
"Yeah," she said, looking distant now.
"He wore a black scarf. While the Seventh Seat and The Middle Brother were clashing, that man stepped right between them. Stopped their fists, barehanded. Even though he looked smaller than both of them."
My chest tightened. I could picture the scene, but I couldn't believe it. Moreover, after witnessing by myself how their punches can even shatter a wall of brick.
"Stopped them both? Just like that?"
Shimotsuki nodded. "He told them to stop and leave. But The Middle Brother didn't listen. He tried to punch the black-scarfed man."
She looked at me then, her emerald eyes were unreadable.
"The man hit back. Just once, to the solar plexus. The Middle Brother collapsed instantly."
I stayed silent, the wind brushing past the leaves above us.
"The man told The Middle's group to take their boss and leave," Shimotsuki continued softly.
"And when he noticed your pocket watch on the ground, he kicked it toward the 7th Seat and said something like… 'That, belongs to the boy over there.'"
Shimotsuki added.
"After that, he just… left. No one knew who he was. The 7th Seat never even saw his face clearly."
I leaned back against the bench, staring at nothing. A man in a black scarf. Small build, calm enough to stop two monsters mid-fight.
He can even knock out The Middle Brother with only one punch. I kicked him with my shins on his face, but he wasn't even fazed.
The black scarfed man knew my name. He even knew about the pocket watch.
I leaned back on the bench, staring up at the faint gaps of sky between the leaves. "So we don't know who he is."
Shimotsuki shook her head. "No. But… he doesn't seem like an enemy. At the very least, not yet."
Her voice wavered slightly at the end, and I couldn't tell if she was reassuring me, or herself.
For now, that man in the black scarf remained a shadow in my mind. Not an ally. Not an enemy.
Just someone standing somewhere between the two, watching from the edge of all this chaos.
But why?
I let the silence linger for a bit. The breeze carried the faint sound of laughter from somewhere beyond the building, too far to matter. My thoughts were still circling around that black-scarfed man when I decided to break the stillness.
"…Shimotsuki," I said quietly, "about the app."
She turned her head slightly.
"If the High Council really plans to sell the students' information… is there a way to stop them? Or maybe disable the app entirely?"
Her expression darkened. "No. Not in the way you're thinking."
I frowned. "Why not?"
"It's not something Aria and I can just delete," she said.
"It's a joint project. We built it under contract with outside collaborators. Even if we wanted to shut it down, we'd need their approval first."
"And they won't give it, right?" I muttered.
Shimotsuki nodded slowly. "They've invested too much to let it go. To them, the app is a goldmine. Cutting it off would mean losing influence, and even profit."
I sighed and leaned forward, elbows on my knees. "So there's really nothing we can do?"
She paused, eyes narrowing slightly in thought. Then she said, almost under her breath,
"…Unless."
I looked up. "Unless what?"
Her gaze met mine, steady and unblinking.
"Unless you become... The new 1st Seat of the High Council."
I stared at her like she'd just told me to flap my wings and fly.
"Become the First Seat?" I scoffed quietly.
"Good joke."
Shimotsuki didn't answer. She didn't even blink.
I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head.
"Oh, you're serious? Shimotsuki, I barely surpassed half of the students of our year academically. I don't do speeches, I don't have a club, I don't know how to play politics, and I'm not exactly the kind of guy people look at and go, 'Yeah, that guy's definitely a good leader.'"
"You're wrong," she said, simply.
I laughed, hollow and unsure.
"You really think I can sit in that room, across from people who run this academy, and tell them what to do?"
"Yes."
I blinked at her, thrown off by how quickly she said it. Her tone didn't waver, her eyes didn't flinch.
"Why?" I asked, my voice low. "Why me, of all people?"
She folded her hands in her lap, her voice calm but edged with something unshakable.
She took a slow breath before speaking.
"When you're around, I can't seem to take my eyes off of you. So, I knew this for sure."
Her voice softened, but her words cut through the noise in my head.
"You're more suited to lead than you think."
I blinked, unsure how to respond.
Shimotsuki continued before I could interrupt.
"You're not the kind of leader who commands from above. You're the kind who stands with the people beside you. You care about everyone under you. Every friend, every stranger who happens to cross your path. You notice things. You remember them."
She clasped her hands together, resting them on her knees.
"You don't lead because you want power. You lead because you don't want anyone to fall behind."
Her gaze flicked toward me again, her expression soft but unwavering.
"You're not an ordinary leader, Faulker. You're the kind who leads from behind. Someone who pushes others forward, even when you're the one bleeding. That's what this academy needs."
I stayed quiet. My chest felt heavy, like her words had dug up something I wasn't ready to admit.
She smiled faintly, that calm, fragile smile she always wore when she'd already decided something.
"Even when you were in the hospital," she went on, "you still managed to bring everyone together. Alejandro, Nayuta, Shayne, Lyna, Mari, Clara, Sera… all of them gathered in one room because of you. You made two completely different group who doesn't knew each other start caring about one another."
I looked down at my hands, unable to meet her eyes. "That wasn't me. They just—"
"It was you," she interrupted gently, shaking her head in disagreement.
"You also make people feel seen. That's a kind of charisma no speech can create. Even I was attracted by it. Isn't that proof enough?"
I didn't say anything after that. The wind rustled through the branches above us, scattering sunlight through the leaves.
Shimotsuki leaned back slightly, her voice lowering.
"That's why I said you're the only one who can do it. The First Seat doesn't need another politician or strategist. It needs someone who remembers... what it means to be... human."
Her words hung there, quiet but immovable.
And for the first time… I couldn't find a reason to argue.