Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

"Yesterday," Miss Heaven began. "An Expert senior student engaged an Adept junior student."

A brief pause.

"The senior was recovered with no visible major injuries but was completely unconscious. He still hasn’t woken up."

Her expression remained unreadable.

"The junior disappeared into thin air."

She folded her arms.

"And that junior just so happens to be an Air User. So you tell me, what do you think this is about?"

Mr. Ryco didn’t bother entertaining the question.

"So Professor Wakefield suspects Virel might’ve been responsible for the break-in at the library?"

"Probably."

Mr. Ryco frowned.

"What does the Academy actually know about this kid?"

Miss Heaven adjusted her glasses. A smug excuse for a smile settled across her face.

"I’ll tell you."

She took another sip of coffee before continuing.

"Finch Virel is a lazy backbencher who sleeps more than he breathes."

She reached into the biscuit packet and took another.

"He fails over half of the class tests, contributes almost nothing during lectures, and has never been particularly remarkable in either cognitive thinking or Ability mastery."

She broke the biscuit cleanly in half.

"I’ll admit..." she said, "...I was a bit intrigued when word came that he’d challenged a senior one-on-one."

She scoffed.

"Then again, what else should one expect from someone who barely uses half his brain?"

Another bite.

"I already knew he’d be no match."

Another sip.

"In fact..." she said matter-of-factly, "...I’m almost certain Virel collapsed somewhere discreet after the fight."

A pause.

"Or more likely, the senior buried him."

Mr. Ryco stared at her in complete surprise.

"Heaven." He said. "I know you can be completely heartless sometimes." His voice grew quieter. "But that’s still your student."

Miss Heaven remained unmoved.

"Students come." She took another bite. "And students go."

Mr. Ryco walked over to the wall of monitors.

"Did we recover any footage of the fight?" He asked.

"No. The hill blocks surveillance coverage."

She pointed uninterestedly toward one of the feeds.

"And the Bird Bot assigned to Kaelitha only recorded Virel saving her. It followed her once she escaped."

Mr. Ryco looked back.

"So... he saved her." He folded his arms thoughtfully. "That doesn’t sound like someone as hopeless as you described. Maybe he actually managed to—"

Miss Heaven snorted before he could finish.

The sound echoed embarrassingly loudly through the office.

Mr. Ryco looked at her, conviction gaining momentum.

"How can you be so certain? What if you’re wrong? What if your student actually possessed enough potential to fight an Expert?"

Miss Heaven sighed.

"I don’t have time to argue with you." She took another sip of coffee. "The senior will wake up eventually. Then the truth will reveal itself."

Mr. Ryco remained silent for a long moment.

"And did you tell Professor Wakefield all of this?"

"Certainly."

A soft laugh escaped him.

"You never cease to amaze me, Heaven."

Miss Heaven froze. The biscuit stopped halfway to her mouth.

She slowly turned toward him. Her eyes narrowed.

"Miss Heaven." Her voice dropped several degrees. "This will be the last time I make this correction."

Mr. Ryco’s smile vanished immediately. He inclined his head.

"My apologies."

A brief silence followed.

"Did Professor Wakefield ask about me?"

Miss Heaven sighed in annoyance.

"Why aren’t you leaving already..." she said, more to herself than to him.

Mr. Ryco ignored the remark.

"What did you tell him?" He probed.

"I told him you went out."

"Did you also tell him where I went? Or what I went there for?"

"It didn’t matter."

Mr. Ryco frowned.

"How can you say that? I went over there to do something important. And it seems you made it sound as though I was avoiding my duties."

Miss Heaven looked at him blankly.

"Weren’t you?"

Mr. Ryco blinked. "What?"

She folded her arms.

"There was nothing inaccurate about what I told the Professor. In my opinion, your self-appointed task of ’explaining things’ to students was entirely unnecessary."

She held his gaze.

"So yes. You simply went out."

Mr. Ryco looked genuinely irritated.

Miss Heaven drained the last of her coffee, set the mug on the desk, and headed for the door.

"We’re not finished talking." Mr. Ryco called after her.

"As far as I’m concerned," she replied without stopping, "this conversation should’ve ended a long time ago."

She reached for the handle.

"I dislike unnecessary discussions. And you just seem to be so full of them."

Mr. Ryco watched her for a second. Then a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, at least I got you to say more than five sentences today."

Miss Heaven stopped.

She shot him one long, icy glare.

Then walked out without another word.

Mr. Ryco smiled to himself.

***

Back at Base, Squad 11-D sat in a rough circle on the hard floor, sharing what remained of their breakfast.

A packet of crackers. A few slices of cheese. Water.

Isaiah looked mournfully into the nearly empty food crate.

"At this rate," he sighed, "our glorious supply of food will officially cease to exist by tonight."

Grover shrugged as he bit into a cracker.

"We’ll find something in the forest again."

"We said that yesterday too."

"And we did."

Isaiah couldn’t argue with that.

Nearby, Yesu sat beside Farida.

Unlike earlier that morning, Farida finally looked alive again. The news that Finch had survived had lifted a mountain from her shoulders.

She nudged Yesu lightly.

"So..." she said. "What did Mr. Ryco talk to you about?"

Yesu chewed thoughtfully.

"Nothing much. It was mostly about Prep."

Farida laughed.

"Oh. I keep forgetting you’re actually a Prep student."

From across the room, Reggie spoke without looking up.

"Of course you do."

Everyone glanced at him.

"She wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place."

Farida frowned.

"Reggie. Stop saying things like that."

Reggie simply broke another cracker in half.

He didn’t answer.

He’d had this argument too many times already. He looked exhausted by it.

Suddenly—

BEEP.

The transmitter echoed through the Base.

Every head snapped toward it.

Nobody moved.

They had known the day’s Directive was coming but it still made every stomach tighten.

The transmitter crackled.

"Attention, Squad 11-D."

A pause.

"Welcome to Day Four."

The entire Base froze.

Farida whispered first.

"Miss Heaven."

Isaiah swallowed.

"Oh no."

Miss Heaven. Of all people.

Her emotionless voice continued.

"Today’s Directive is..."

Another pause.

"Capture and Bounty."

Nobody dared interrupt. As though she was right in front of them.

"Scale hunting will continue exactly as before. However, every squad member now carries a bounty"

Several students exchanged uneasy glances.

"Successfully capturing and bringing an opponent back to your Base will earn you bonus Scales."

Carrots slowly lowered her cracker.

"Captives may not be intentionally injured. They are also permitted to negotiate their release."

"Scales may be exchanged as ransom."

The Base grew quieter. Then came the final rule.

"Bluffing is allowed."

A beat.

"Breaking a negotiated agreement is also allowed... but your opponent will remember it."

The last statement carried the same cruel edge that always accompanied her voice.

None of them could see her, yet they could all picture the faint smirk on her face.

A chill crept through the room.

Nobody spoke.

Finally—

"Good luck."

There was nothing well wishing about it. As far as it had come from her.

The transmission ended.

The silence that followed was somehow worse.

Several seconds passed.

Then someone sighed.

"We’re dead."

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