As the auditorium emptied out, I stayed on stage a second longer, just long enough to make sure every eye got one last look at me. I lifted my hand and gave the top ten a slow, dramatic wave.
"Try to keep up," I said, smiling like I was doing them a favor.
Then I turned and left, cape swaying behind me.
The walk back to the Aetherium, the towering black spire that served as the academy's core, felt longer than usual. Maybe it was the silence after all that noise. Or maybe it was the fact that, for the first time since I'd arrived, my head finally had room to think.
Tomorrow… my school life officially starts.
It still sounds strange in my head. School life.
Back in my first life, I didn't have something like that. No uniforms. No friends. No promises about the future. Just cold concrete, half-eaten scraps, and the faint smell of rain clinging to my skin.
