“So, how come you’re in our class?”

“Why not?”

The number in their group increased to five in the fifth period home economics class with the addition of Mayumi. On Alice’s left were Evie, Franco and Bianca, while the newcomer but also old guard sat on her right on the previously empty stool.

It was a chill class with lots of teaching downtime for the students to work on their “projects”, as cooking was something that couldn’t be taken home as homework. As such, there were no exams for this class and instead marking only involved what was done in class and a few relevant written reports.

“Hey, Alice, what’s your relationship with Kato?”

“W-w-w-what do you mean, r-relationship?!”

Alice jumped at the question, flustered. Fortunately, the others were too focused on the flaming kitchen in front of them to notice. Staring back at Mayumi, Alice could see nothing but innocence in her eye, which made it even harder to reply.

“Do you like him?”

“What—”

Levelling up her distress, she dropped the spoon in her hand onto the floor as her face turned beet-red. Amazingly, Mayumi didn’t blink during the whole ordeal, which internally scared the living soul out of Alice.

“Was it not clear enough?”

“N-no, it’s abundantly clear. And also no, it’s not what you think it is.”

After a short pause, Mayumi burst out laughing, apparently finished with her antics and returned to her usual bright smile.

“I thought I’d just ask directly. The two of you are super close, that much I can see.”

“R-really? Does it seem that way?”

While Alice’s stammer remained, Mayumi sighed exaggeratedly with an arrogant smirk.

“The whole class can see it if they have a pair of eyes. Kato was never subtle with the girls he favoured.”

“Then what you mean is—”

“Oops, I worded that wrong. I have to say ‘people’, not ‘girls’. That makes more sense.”

Mayumi’s grin turned several shades darker with evil. Knowing that her own face lit up for a moment there, Alice put a hand to her face in defeat. Unbelievable, this tiny runt was.

“Mayumi…”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry too much about it. I just want to know what everyone’s situation is. I just got back from a seven-year hiatus, y’know?”

“Then, if I may ask, what’s your relationship with Kato?”

“Hm, mine? You can say I’m another Caius or Eon. Don’t you agree?”

“Actually, yeah, I can see a lot of similarities. I’m not sure how I want to feel about it, though.”

“Pft. Well, I don’t blame you for asking. I do favour Kato in that sense.”

“… I see.”

“Your reaction, that’s all? I’m dropping my own dimes here, Alice! I pay my dues, obviously.”

“I guess... I’m kinda surprised that you would tell me that, that’s all.”

Mayumi put a finger to her head, and she struggled a little while she gave it some thought.

“Hmm. I guess I want to tell you because, well, it feels like we’re in a similar situation, aren’t we?”

She dropped another cryptic message accompanied by an innocent smile, and Alice could only hesitate.

“Mayumi, is he the reason why you’ve returned?”

A plethora of emotions danced across Mayumi’s face, a mixture of surprise, curiosity, admiration and satisfaction. She eventually shrugged contently.

“I guess it would have to be you who would ask that. None of the others would have the balls to ask that to my face.”

“You said it yourself. You’re their big boss, aren’t you?”

“So you’re not gonna recognize me as your boss?”

“Hmph. I’ve never recognized anybody as my boss.”

“Well, I guess that’s not out of the ordinary. To answer your question, it’s a partial yes. This is the last chance, after all. Am I right?”

Mayumi shrugged once more, and Alice’s eyes widened.

“You knew about that too?”

“It’s also my understanding that you’re joining the nomenklatura as well. So yes, I’m in the know, so to speak.”

Now, Alice was sufficiently alarmed. Mayumi was more mysterious than she initially thought.

“How did you—who are you?”

“You can say I’m connected to Eternia in an indirect way. I mean, most everyone in this school is, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. I heard it from when you broke off your engagement with a son of the Lafayette family.”

She smiled lightly, but it was obvious to Alice that she was hiding a lot more about herself than she was showing. Alice crossed her arms in defiance.

“If you’ve heard about that, then you’re not a nobody. You’re at least close to the nomenklatura to know that kind of info.”

“Hehehe. That’s about right. Still, I’m only tangentially related because I only happened to hear of it, not because I’m supposed to be privy to it.”

“Then you already knew who I was!”

“Knew of you. I didn’t know what kind of a person you were, or what your relationship with Kato was like until today.”

Alice stiffened at the mention of Kato’s name, and tightened her hands’ grip on her arms to mentally defuse herself. She felt embarrassed not only because of Mayumi’s straightforwardness but also her own failure to not blush when that topic was brought up.

“Then how about your other reason to come back?”

“Hey, you’re pretty sharp, aren’t you? Not letting me get away with half an answer, huh?”

“Apparently, I’m the only one who’s qualified to ask, like you said earlier, right?”

“Not wrong.”

Mayumi grinned and nodded agreeably, wagging her finger at Alice. It wasn’t the condescending kind; rather, it was of the silly grandstanding kind that the Elites usually did.

“I just wanna settle some old scores. If you have an idea of how I knew you were going for nomenklatura status, then you’d probably know what kind of scores I’m settling; although those aren’t the only ones.”

“And you’re not gonna tell me what it is?”

“Nope. And the rest of the Elites don’t know either. It’s completely unrelated to them, after all. It’s my family’s business at the end of the day.”

“Really?”

“To be very honest, though, it’s not that big of a factor for me. If I end up not needing to deal with it, it’ll be even better.”

Alice nodded at the hint she dropped, understanding why she took such a roundabout way to explain herself. In Alice’s imaginative head, she already thought of several identities that Mayumi could be in relation to Eternia. But just as Mayumi did not question Alice’s unique position, Alice decided that Mayumi would explain herself when the need arises, at the very least to the original Elites.

“Also, there’s a third reason.”

“What? There is?”

“I don’t just have scores to settle with the establishment, but ironically, with the Elites as well. Or rather, I want to fix things up.”

“Fix things up? What kind of things?”

Mayumi shook her head readily and kept her mouth shut. Alice took that as another dead end and sighed, almost exaggeratedly. Maybe it was her impatience, but it might also be the Elites’ influence. Mayumi’s comment definitely piqued Alice’s interest, but if she was unwilling to say any further, that was fine; Alice was planning on cornering Kato about it later anyway. Parlaying that mild frustration, she demanded from Mayumi.

“Forget that then. What’s your endgame with Kato?”

Even Alice was surprised at the plain naked aggression in her question. Maybe it was because Mayumi was too much like the Elites that her usual restlessness with them naturally asserted itself. Mayumi was an original, after all, so it made perfect sense. Instead of asking an impossible question about her relationship with Eternia or the Elites, Alice instead asked an impossible question about her relationship with Kato. Amused, Mayumi gave her a rough shove on the back and moved across to join the others at the front of the stove. She gave Alice a parting peace sign.

“For starters, I’ll be tentatively joining you guys’ morning practices. I’m also a student of the performing arts, after all.”

“Wait, what? Really?”

Alice, too, followed her lead and joined in their multiple simultaneous cooking efforts. She didn’t even have the energy to find a better rebuke, and by corollary accepted Mayumi’s determination to do as she wanted. She briefly wondered if this was going to be the new norm between them going forward, but her thoughts were distracted by the flames continuously spouting out of the gas stove. It had only been half a day. She could think about it later, she guessed.

Inside the spacious drama classroom today after class were members of the drama department whom, on the back of Class C’s victory, secured the prime time slot for the upcoming talent show. It lasted for almost two hours, with both sides putting all of their weight into the fight. The last round did indeed go to a deciding match between the two class representatives, in which Class C ultimately prevailed. Of course, as the Elites had pointed out, Class C stole a couple of seats in the Assembly as collateral for their victory.

In a normal school, the student council was supposed to make the executive decision to cut one or the other in the talent show, but this was Korolev Senior; the decision was ultimately made by the Activity Council.

Nominally, the PSC and the AC were extensions of the student council, but it had been traditionally that these two organizations cannibalized certain responsibilities for themselves with great autonomy to exercise these privileges; namely public order and extracurricular activities respectively, to summarize their roles. The Student Liaison Office was, in some ways, the predecessor to the AC, and over the years it devolved into something that matched its namesake as it steadily lost its authority to the autonomy of the AC.

On a separate note, the Records Office was the SLO counterpart to the PSC, in that the Records Office shared equipment, facilities and intelligence with the PSC and vice-versa, albeit the level of integration was never as close as the one between the SLO and the AC. Their relationship was informal at best, but because of the practical logistics of how the faculty provided for these two groups, they coexisted alongside each other fairly closely.

During the years that an ally of the PSC became student council president, they would use the SLO to put pressure on the AC to bend to its will. Conversely, during the years that an ally of the AC was student council president, they would turn the Records Office into an arm that would let them have immense leverage over the PSC.

But this year the balance of power was broken by Class B taking control of student council. It was purely a coincidence that the city of Lien on the other side of the border was almost in open rebellion in the name of justice and freedom, and then in Korolev Senior an underdog group of students were elected to the presidency. And then not too soon after that, one of two pillars of Korolev Senior’s establishment, the PSC, suffered an almost fatal wound by the senatorial investigation scandal and forcing their marshal to resign. Cecilia felt she didn’t live in more troubled times than these.

For better or for worse, the departure of Gilbert from the PSC meant that there was only one other candidate that was far enough from his inner circle to justify his succession, and that was the now-former president of the drama department, Donovan Avgothia. His protégés from the drama department naturally joined him at the PSC, and with them the PSC gained new blood, new ideas and newbie incompetence that came with such a shift in human resources.

“And with today’s victory in the Class War, my duties here are close to its end. I won’t be able to take on the role of president of the drama department any longer.”

Donovan waved to the crowd of students who were sitting in chairs or standing up haphazardly, most of which were from Class Cs of all three years. He stood at the blackboard that allowed this classroom to be used as a regular one. There was a mini-stage at the other end of the classroom complete with an elevated platform and a backstage. The drama room was also two stories high, essentially as large as the main music room.

The crowd was rather large today. There were almost sixty students in here, close to a third of which were from Class 3-C. Normally there wouldn’t be this many gathered at once as students had their own roles and specializations, so they had their daily activities separated accordingly. Though there were students from outside of Class C, their total didn’t make it to five, and they were mostly made up of subject enthusiasts or those who were seeking to join Class C the next year.

Donovan was an imposing man by his own right, so appearance-wise he fitted the bill to become PSC marshal. His dirty blond hair was not unlike Cecilia’s, and he had a face that was comparable to a rough boulder. If he put on a chequered shirt and overalls he would look like a stereotypical lumberjack, but in the school’s semi-formal uniform he was just a big guy with an abundance of short facial hair.

“This is an unprecedented situation as I was never expected to become marshal, so we won’t have an internal election lest we set inappropriate precedents. There won’t be a new president, and I’ll leave the student body to our general operations manager, Anne Congreve.”

A freckled brunette with twin ponytails in the audience stood up at the mention of her name, waving to her peers as they clapped in response. It was a clear acknowledgement of her rising to the position of president in all but title.

“Of course, our faculty advisors, Mr Verne, Mr Nigel and Mr Madison will continue in their roles unchanged, and helping out where there’s any backfilling of duties needed as a consequence of my departure. As for myself, I won’t say goodbye to all of you yet. I’ll still be here as a senior member, as well as my trusted classmates who are going with me to the PSC. We’ll just be doing less work here, and it’ll be a wonderful opportunity for others to take on leading roles on both the stage and the drama department.”

Murmurs abound, Donovan continued professionally with the corporate smile on his face.

“As you all know, we’re gonna be performing our rendition of Auxirian Idiot as a part of the talent show and a few of us moving on to the PSC were casted in some major roles, including myself where I’ve been casted in Tommy’s role. We’ll have to vacate these roles and the faculty must recast them. Mr Verne?”

Mr Verne stood up at his cue and waved to the obviously growing noise that was the crowd.

“Although this will mean our schedule is a bit shorter to make the November timeline for the talent show, which is only less than seven weeks out, hopefully we can find the appropriate people to fill in these roles in the stage performance by the end of this week. This means emergency tryouts, especially for the role of Tommy.”

“Isn’t Tommy’s role tied to Whatzshecalled’s?”

A question from the audience was shouted out at Mr Verne, who took it good-naturedly.

“That’s right. That’s why the tryouts will be different from usual. We don’t want to take away roles that were already decided on, but we’ll have to accommodate both sides by making some compromises between the tied roles and our new replacements.”

Cecilia, who was spaced out staring at the floor, looked up at Mr Verne’s response. She didn’t expect her part, Whatzshecalled, to be managed in this manner. In her head, she sighed at Mr Verne’s decision as, while it was nice to retain a main role, it wasn’t worth the daggers in the eyes of her peers that were now unrelentingly digging into her back. She sat alone in one of the chairs near the front as she usually did, since almost none of Class C were her friends.

“Then what you’re saying is, we’ll have to recast Tommy’s role with Cecilia remaining in her part?”

“For now, yes, that’s our intention.”

Anne asked to specifically confirm, and nodded agreeably at Mr Verne’s answer. Murmurs turned loud at the revelation and a girl behind her piped up in response.

“Why can’t we recast both parts?”

In Auxirian Idiot, Whatzshecalled was a true rebel that Tommy met in the city ghetto, whom he fell madly in love with. So if Donovan was vacating Tommy’s role, then Cecilia expected her role to be re-casted too, but apparently that wasn’t the case and it didn’t fall on the deaf ears of her peers.

“Because we really don’t have enough time to do both roles’ recasting. It’ll be a lot faster if Mr Verne can make an executive decision on who gets Tommy’s role, or on any of the roles, to be very honest. If the AC announced the talent show at a sooner, more appropriate timing, we wouldn’t have this kind of time crunch.”

Donovan slighted the AC behind a reasonable explanation in place of Mr Verne, who himself nodded in agreement. It attracted some sneers from the crowd, naturally so as they were Donovan’s clique.

“In any case, our ultimate goal is to put on as good of a show as we can with the resources we have, so let’s put our faith in Mr Verne to see this through.”

Anne piped up to affirm Donovan’s assertion. With both de facto leaders of the drama department taking the same stance the rest of the room quieted down, albeit begrudgingly.

“Thanks, Anne.”

“Oh, no, no need to thank me. Your explanation is reasonable, given our circumstances. That’s all.”

And just like that, Donovan and Mr Verne sat back down as the rest of the room started moving again, suddenly dismissed. A smaller crowd gathered around them to ask further questions, but otherwise the club returned to their regularly scheduled programs.

There were a few specialists within the drama department. The fashion team, for example, was in charge of makeup and costumes. There was the small film crew, who took care of producing the show from off the stage. A few were in the publicity team, which took care of advertisement and liaison with those outside the drama department; doubling as secretaries for Donovan and Anne due to the nature of that role. Most of the rest were in the nebulous stage crew, who were responsible for everything on stage; from procuring props, lighting, and sound for performance prepping, to directing cues and making scene transitions during a performance.

Performers, those who were selected to play a role in a performance, were not mutually exclusive. Students were expected and did take on multiple roles, whether they were performing or not, and the big stage crew was usually made almost entirely of performers; there might be a few outliers when there was not enough manpower. Only the most precocious of performers would not voluntarily accept a stage crew role, for example the relocation of props during a transition. All of these people were under the direction of the president and the general operations manager—which was just another name for the vice-president—to bring the whole thing together into a show.

“Looks like you lucked out. You got to keep your role, Celia.”

“Not too bad, is it? I’d bet it was Don who vouched for you.”

“I wish I had Don’s bankrolling too. Celia, what’s your secret, really?”

“I don’t have any secret, really…”

“Aw, don’t sell yourself so low, Celia. If you just kept yourself not so shaggy, you could have been a popular girl for sure.”

“It’s obvious that Don’s liked you since the start of high school. You’re still unsure? If I were you, I would’ve taken his bait a long time ago, just for the benefits.”

“Flora, it’s useless. Celia’s too airheaded to even know that that was an option, despite us reminding her all this time.”

“I know, Risa. Celia’s been too obstinate. What’s wrong with Don?”

Cecilia’s only two friends in the drama department were these two black-haired Yue girls from Class 3-E. They weren’t performers like Cecilia was, and instead they were just enthusiasts who were part of the fashion team, and luckily for Cecilia they were the only ones who were willing to do her makeup for her these last two years. As dedicated makeup artists and hairdressers, naturally, their faces too were perennially behind mascara and powder, and wore intricate hair accessories, earrings and baggy clothes of today’s popular trends. Together with Cecilia, their appearance was not too far from the classical punk style and ethos.

“I told you guys many times. He’s just not the type for me. You saw how he took the PSC job so readily. I don’t think I can handle being the… the marshal’s object of affection.”

“I can’t believe you. A man’s gotta have some ambition to be a man. From my point of view, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.”

“And besides, it’s not like you’re accepting his hand in marriage. If it really turns out that you don’t like him, then you can leave him after we graduate. You can’t force a relationship that isn’t working anyway, so no harm in that.”

“You two… if I really were like you two, I would have done that a long time ago, but I still don’t want to be so involved like that. I dunno, it’s just hard to put myself into the fire.”

Cecilia could only force a smile at her two sighing companions.

“I guess that can’t be helped. Celia’s been too traumatized, eh?”

“I wouldn’t say traumatized, just really cautious, and I just don’t want to have unnecessary trouble following me around.”

“That’s what we call traumatized, Celia.”

Flora patted her head as Risa picked up their schoolbags, preparing to leave. There was only this general members’ meeting, and the fashion team didn’t need to show up as much as the performers, after all.

“We’ll see you around, Celia.”

“See ya.”

“Bye.”

The two fashionable gals left the buzzing room, leaving Cecilia alone in her seat once more. Cecilia appreciated their friendship over the last two years. If they were Class C, they would not have been friends at all, and even as non-Class C students, it was already a miracle that they remained friends for this long.

“Cecilia!”

A shrilly voice called out not long after the Yue pair departed and it was a voice Cecilia recognized like the back of her hand, for better or for ill. It was Anne, and as usual the annoyance and disapproval in her tone was as clear as day, despite the neutrality of the lettered words that were coming out of her mouth.

“Have you finished helping the lighting team fix their setup? Last I heard, we needed to replace several big coloured lights and put them together, and they’re going in the centre, so it’s important we have it. What’s the status?”

“Um, I still haven’t been able to get the lights replaced. I’ve handed the potential receipt to Ariel, but she hasn’t approved of the transaction yet.”

“And did you ask Mr Verne to push that forward? The drama department’s funded nominally through the student government, but we, as a non-partisan union, can have our money bills recommended directly by the faculty.”

Procuring resources for school clubs was somewhat bureaucratic in Korolev Senior. In general, school clubs were divided between two groups; ones affiliated with the AC, and the independents. In technical terms, the first group were school clubs funded directly by the student government; the second group were known as non-partisan unions, i.e. student organizations established by the faculty. This was what the drama department was. In other words, if the student council was not willing to provide funds, the faculty sponsoring the non-partisan union could recommend a money bill amendment in the Assembly to enforce the change in the budget. Of course, this was the case only if the faculty agreed to intervene, and that was what Anne was asking for.

“No, not yet. I just asked Ariel last Friday, so it’s only been two days… ”

“Hmph. I know you’re friends with Madam Secretary, but I’ve told you many times before. If they don’t get anything done within two days, use Mr Verne’s position to get things done. Like Mr Verne said, we have just seven weeks to get a stage performance out the door, and neither the setup nor the casting are even close to wrapped up. We don’t have spare days to waste, do you understand?”

“Um, but we’re not supposed to use Mr Verne as much as possible…”

Of course not. Using faculty intervention was controversial because it violated the “students governing student life” principle. For non-partisan unions, it obviously happened more often, but usually only with good reason, and the only non-partisan union that regularly warranted this intervention was the student newspaper club. Anne rolled her eyes.

“And I have a stage performance to bring together. The Assembly’s convention is tomorrow, so let’s use what we have to get this done, all right?”

Anne closed on the topic just like that, leaving her in a sticky situation. As Cecilia was a Member of the Assembly for the Class C constituency, thanks to Donovan’s grace, she would have to propose a money bill in the Assembly’s convention tomorrow with Mr Verne’s signature, which should expedite the passage of the bill within the session. Anne basically told her to take the brunt of the blame if the Assembly, especially the Mona faction, took offence to faculty intervention.

In the years that the AC’s faction controlled the student council, every faculty intervention went to the courts; essentially filibustering by delaying that bill’s passage by a week since the court almost always returned in favour of the faculty, and the Assembly convened only once a week. The judicial review would not accomplish anything substantial, but it obviously frustrated the efforts of the PSC and the non-partisan unions that backed the PSC. This was a major reason why the contest over the student council was important to these two factions.

“All right.”

Cecilia could only feebly agree with Anne’s patronizing suggestion. Anne responded with another impatient roll of her eyes, and without wasting a second she switched to the next item of business.

“On the topic of procuring new stuff, I believe the fashion team too had a list of items that they need purchased. Go ahead and make them from our purse, and get it to them by next week when they meet. Check with Mabel to make sure you’re getting the right things for her.”

She handed a paper list to Cecilia, who also had access to the drama department’s purse, and again thanks to Donovan. It was a liquid pool of cash for the department carried by the faculty advisors, and it was a subset of the overall budget. The remaining balance was inside student council.

“Okay, understood.”

“For now, please go to Mr Verne anyway. He needs your help with recasting Tommy’s role. Go on.”

Casually and honestly quite abruptly, Anne dismissed Cecilia with a wave of her hand and moved on without a second thought to the next group of students to berate; at least that was Cecilia’s imagination. Thinking rationally though, Anne had always been like this to her, and she didn’t expect Anne’s attitude to change.

“Ah, Cecilia, you’re here.”

At the corner of the chalkboard were the three faculty advisors and Donovan, surrounded by some of the remaining cast; the departing cast, of course, didn’t need to be there. Donovan graciously came up to Cecilia first.

“Sounded like you got an earful from Anne over there. Don’t take it too personally. She’s trying to get things done by a deadline.”

“No, no, no, I didn’t take that personally, Don. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Cool. Good to hear.”

Cecilia, of course, didn’t mention the part where Anne was like this to her on a regular basis, though Donovan already had an idea that that was happening. Plus, she was sure Anne was using Cecilia’s personal connection to Ariel and therefore the student council to try to expedite some of these money requests, and when things weren’t working out, Anne immediately threw it away and proceeded to go with a method that utterly disrespected Ariel’s position; all while Cecilia did the dirty work.

“Cecilia’s here? Great, then most of the main cast’s here. Then let’s start.”

Mr Verne noticed that Cecilia joined them, and got the attention of the cast. Cecilia guessed that Anne volunteered to Mr Verne to call her over because Anne had housekeeping items to push on her.

“As we all know, we’re in a bit of a pinch because we need to recast a bunch of roles. Most importantly, we’re recasting Tommy’s and St. Timmy’s roles. Quite honestly, we’ve lost too many star talents both on and off the current cast to Don’s new job, and I don’t think any of you left in the secondary roles would want to upgrade to a main role when we’re already three weeks into practice.”

The students looked around to each other in curiosity, but also in expected silence. Mr Verne’s appraisal was accurate. There was already a drought of star talents in the drama department after the seniors from last year had graduated, and on top of losing the students moving out with Donovan, the pool of talent left was even drier.

“Normally, I’d suggest bringing up first- or second-year students in this case, but that’s not fair to them on this short of a timeline; using them to fill in the vacant secondary and backup roles is already challenging enough.

“So we’re open to multiple avenues of filling these roles; if anyone is willing to volunteer for an upgrade, let me know by the end of the day after tomorrow, because we’ll need to find a replacement for the role you’re vacating. Afterwards, we’ll go back to the tryout list from before and ask those on it to quickly re-audition. Sounds good?”

Surprisingly there were no complaints about the arrangement. Probably because it was an emergency situation, they were more willing to let the teacher handle everything.

“Cecilia, you will need to choose somebody to pair up for Tommy’s role. Please show up for club every day this week to do the re-casting with us.”

“Okay.”

Cecilia looked away from Mr Verne to Donovan expectantly, and he shrugged with an expression that read “it isn’t my problem anymore”. There was no doubt that Donovan was excited for this golden opportunity in the PSC, basically being handed a free pass upwards. From the utilitarian perspective, she felt a bit uneasy with Donovan’s departure as he was her get-out-of-jail-free card for years, but at the same time she was emotionally relieved to not have to implicitly reject his advances over and over again.

“Or, if you think otherwise, you can also settle for a downgrade by the end of the day after. You’re welcome to do that, and so is anyone else.”

Although the offer sounded great in the ears of the others, it was not really acceptable given the little time they had left. Despite that reality, she could still feel the smirks and snarky eyes on her; though it was a logical fallacy that this decision affected her at all, the optics seemed cynical enough.

They were dismissed early because of the need to wait for the recasting, with the drama department only doing housekeeping work. While there were hardworking members staying behind, knowing they would need all the time that they would get, the performers couldn’t make much progress without the main roles filled out. Donovan waved to Cecilia as she was about to leave.

“Hey, Cecilia. Sorry again, eh? I wished I could have casted in the play together with you. I have no doubt that it would have been a great show.”

“Don’t worry about it, Don. You’re moving up in the world, so just take it as you should.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to move to the PSC with me? You don’t have to put much effort into it. You can just coast alongside me, and relax and get some benefits. Anne’s too much of a chore for you, no?”

Suddenly, Donovan took her by the hand, and quite elegantly too; as expected from a star talent. He seemed truly sincere in his words, and perhaps too conspicuously attached to her. She let him hold her hand, as she did many times before, and amicably declined whatever he suggested, as she also did many times before.

“I’m very sure. I’m not interested in the PSC. Like you said, if Anne’s really too much of a chore for me, I would’ve agreed with you the first time.”

“Then, can you at least tell me why? Is it because of your cousin?”

Cecilia let out a forced laugh and almost rolled her eyes, but luckily her general lethargy prevented her from doing so.

“No, no, no, Stephen has nothing to do with it. Our families might not be close, but we’re not enemies either.”

She extricated her hand from his grasp and turned away to the side with a harsh look on her face, unwilling to say any further. Donovan, of course, saw the discrepancy between her expression and her words in plain sight but agreed with her nonetheless.

“I see. If you say so, then I’ll take your word for it. I wished you could have joined me, but if you insist, then please make Auxirian Idiot successful. It’ll be in your hands, Cecilia.”

“Shouldn’t it be in Anne’s hands?”

“You’re the star, after all. You’ll end up choosing the next Tommy, now that my role in the drama department’s been relegated.”

“You mean that’s your doing? Why?”

“Well, for this particular instance, I really think you have the talent to make the show a success, so at the very least I want to keep you in a primary role to put at ease Mr Verne’s headaches. Of course, I’ll still be around here to help out, just less often than I would’ve liked.”

She nodded slowly with a twinge of cynicism. It was another way of saying “I don’t want to leave behind a mess of a student organization because it’ll hurt my reputation down the road”.

“Whatever, dude. Then exactly how often are you gonna be sticking around to help out? Not enough to be here every day I assume. That’s why you had to give up your role.”

“It seems at most I can join only a few times a week, probably less. Sadly, there’s much to do on the PSC side, but at least with me in charge, the rest of the drama department will continue to be in good standing. The PSC is our patron, after all.”

“You don’t say.”

“Anyway, it’s unfortunate that you don’t want to come with me. You’re welcome to change your mind at any time, if you so choose to.”

He left behind a wink, to which she promptly shrugged and turned again to leave the drama classroom. She let out a breath of relief as her tedious day finally ended.

If Donovan mentioned Stephen, then she didn’t expect him to have any trouble moving into the PSC. They had a good friendship to start with already, and while Gilbert resigned, Stephen decided to, controversially, stay on the PSC. This was the source of the narrative that Donovan would just become a puppet of the Gilbert faction, which had many grains of truth in it, knowing their friendship quite well. She sighed at the thought of Stephen, with whom she had a neutral yet rocky relationship with, and as her thoughts drifted from Stephen to her family, she sighed again and shook her head furiously to try to get rid of it from her thoughts. No need to think any deeper than it was necessary, she told herself.

Instead, she forced her thoughts to wander back to her encounter earlier in the day with the rebel from Class F. She remembered the siege of the 3-F classroom not too long ago and how Stephen was on one side while Caius was on the other. It was almost surreal to think that people like these actually existed, personifying two opposing positions and ideals not just from their actions but from their very personalities as well. Even more interesting was how a plain person like her had some kind of connection to these two extraordinary individuals, not unlike how Tommy first went into the city and was at the same time awed and disappointed by the city lights; awed by its romanticism, disappointed by its reality. As she exited the school through the big front doors and skipped off the grand steps, she snickered to herself at the realization that she looked forward to having Caius rejoin her at some point to discuss Auxirian Idiot again.