The detention room was too quiet, the kind of quiet that turned seconds into weights. It was a library annex, all dusty sunlight and the faint smell of old paper. The only sound was the loud, deliberate tick of an analog clock on the wall.
[Ding!]
Event: Detention Session Begun
Status:
- Attention: 15/100
- Survival Probability: 39%
- Council Timer: 01:29:17
Sub-Objectives:
A) Request CCTV pull (+2% if admitted as evidence)
B) Trace forum poster pattern (+3% if linked)
C) Avoid private confrontation with President >10 min (−3% if breached)
Kaelan Thorne sat at the supervisor's desk by the door, a ledger open before him and a pen he never seemed to use. He was a statue of focused indifference, but Elara felt the weight of his attention like a physical pressure. Every few moments, his eyes would lift, sweep the room, and land on her for a fraction of a second too long—like a camera on manual focus, calibrating.
Elara ignored him, opening her school-issued tablet. She navigated to the facilities request portal. "Formal request: retain and provide unedited CCTV footage, Hallway B, from 12:10 to 12:25 PM on Wednesday." Her fingers hovered, then she added a strategic justification: "For student safety review." She hit send.
Almost immediately, a private chat window popped up from a user named Nora_H_AV.
Nora_H_AV: Heard you got Gable'd. Rough. Re: your request – I can see motion markers on the B-Hall cam for 12:16 and 12:22. Right by the lockers. Can't pull the full vid without a staff code, but I can grab a thumbnail still. Want it?
Elara's pulse eased a fraction. An ally. Or at least, someone who enjoyed circumventing bureaucracy.
Elara_V: Yes. And can you check the badge on the crimson blazer in the clip that's circulating? Orientation/details.
From across the room, Kaelan's voice cut through the silence, cool and precise. "Using school resources to tamper with an active disciplinary investigation is grounds for immediate suspension, Vance."
Elara didn't look up from her screen. "Using school resources to preserve evidence is called due process, President Thorne. You should try it sometime."
The soft scratching of his pen stopped.
[Ding!]
Event: Male Lead Interaction (On Site)
Status:
- Attention: 15/100 → 18/100 (Δ +3)
- Survival Probability: 39% → 38% (Δ −1%)
Note: Prolonged private time increases risk.
A new file arrived from Nora. It was a grainy, timestamped still from the hallway camera. The figure in the crimson blazer was a blur, but the badge on the blazer's breast pocket was visible. It was the Aethelstan crest. In the viral clip, the badge was a indistinct smudge. A tiny discrepancy, but a crack in the story.
Simultaneously, she pulled up an archive of the Aethelstan Confessions forum. Scrolling through the hateful posts attributed to her, she noticed a pattern. The most vicious ones, all posted within a frantic ten-minute window, consistently used a British spelling for "rumour" and "behaviour," unlike the American spellings used in her actual, verified school essays. And one post, accusing her of stealing a necklace, contained a unique misspelling: "neckalace." That same misspelling appeared in a comment on a months-old baking blog post… under a username that was definitely not hers.
[Ding!]
Note: Evidence Lead Confirmed
Projected Survival Gain: +3% (if admitted at Council)
She had a metadata tell. She had a badge inconsistency. It wasn't enough to prove who did it, but it was enough to cast reasonable doubt on who didn't.
Then, a new notification, public this time, flashed across the top of her screen from the Confessions board.
Anonymous User: The short clip was just a preview. The full, unedited video, showing everything, will be posted at 3:25 PM. Watch the bully fall in real time. #JusticeForMaya.
3:25 PM. Five minutes before the Disciplinary Council was set to convene.
[Thrum…]
Side Flag: Neutralize Scheduled Post
Timer: 00:20:00
Penalty on Failure: Survival −6%
Time seemed to sharpen, each tick of the clock a hammer blow. Elara's head snapped up. Kaelan was already looking at his own phone, his expression grim. He met her gaze across the silent room, his grey eyes devoid of their earlier detachment, replaced by a cold, final certainty.
"If you can't refute whatever is in that video before the Council sees it," he said, his voice low and carrying in the stillness, "then your expulsion will be unanimous."