Luke Reese pulled back a chair and took the seat across from Zachary. They were all in the same dormitories, but the space given to each of the top ranks was so vast they barely had any chance to run into each other.

Zachary observed his classmate sit down in a perfect posture and place his cutlery down.

“Is the spaghetti here good?” Luke asked. “I’ve never had it.“

“It’s palatable.“

“I see.“ Luke nodded and tore into his own food.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you as,” Zachary said, leaning forward on his table. "Kristina Steitz is missing too, right? Where is she?“

Luke raised his eyebrow. “Missing? Not really? She texted me and said she’s fine.“

Zachary tore his eyes away from Luke and thought for a few seconds. She was in touch, but Ralph wouldn’t even answer any texts or calls. Then, was both of their truancy not connected?

He still needed more information to reach a conclusion.

“Well,” Luke continued. “I wanted to talk to you about your friend as well.“

Zachary leaned back in his chair and pushed his chin up, gesturing at him to continue.

“His reputation is being dragged deep through the mud. It’s not good.“

“What? You want to help someone you’ve never spoken a word to with their reputation in school? Regardless of the rumors, his rank is F.“ Zachary asked. “What’s your goal here?“

“It’s not about helping him just because of his rank. I understand that’s his thing to overcome.“ Luke shook his head from side to side and continued. “What I don’t like is the fact that he’s being used in the feud between us, high rankers, or more specifically you.“

“What do you mean?“ Zachary frowned. Feud, with him? Zachary had been having a rather quiet first week. He had no idea what possible feud he was a part of.

“All this is a ploy—”

“Do you guys really have to do this on my table.“A sharp voice from their left cut them off.

Luke and Zachary snapped to the side to see a blonde youth with glimmering yellow eyes staring at them. His lips curved into a frown.

“Leone Hendrickson!? Since when have you been here” Zachary asked.

“When? You sat here AFTER me!“

“Really?“ Luke chimed in. “I didn’t even notice you.“

“Oh! What’s this? Why are the top ranks gathered here?“

This time, they were interrupted from the other side. Seraphina Exise stepped up to the table and pulled a seat for herself, Leslie, Soliana and Blaine following right behind her.

Before sitting down, she pulled Luke’s chin to the side with her fingers and smiled. “Looking good, as always,” she said.

The boy blushed faintly from the sudden round of flirting, but turned his head away and said a word of thanks.

The flirt smirked and sat down with crossed legs. Blaine pinched Seraphina’s ears for acting out of line and sat next to her while the other two took a seat next to Zachary.

“Really, do you guys have to do this at my table?“ Leone sighed.

“Haha!“ Seraphina giggled and said. “Isn’t it fine? We’re all dormmates. We should eat together sometimes.“

Soliana, the elf, stuck out her tongue when her friend talked about dormmates. She was the only one here out of the top 10 ranks.

Whispers and gazes from their immediate vicinity converged at the gathering of the top ranks, but the cafeteria was still too busy with its own stuff for something like this. The students themselves appreciated the lack of attention, though.

Zachary maintained his calm and cold facade as he haughtily continued eating. An impromptu gathering like this was more than he expected and he was nervous, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t handle it.

“So? What’s the scene here!“ Leslie excitedly alternated her gaze between the other three.

“It’s nothing much,” Luke answered. “We were just talking about Zachary’s friend.“

“Oh, interesting.“ Blaine turned to Zachary and interlocked her fingers, resting her chin on them. “Aren’t you going to do anything about them? I imagine it must be quite tough on your friend. The names have made their way far into the other courses as well.“

Zachary narrowed his eyes and held in a sigh. “He said he’s fine, so there’s nothing to worry about.“

Zachary honestly didn’t have much of a clue on what he could do. He considered himself observant, but these people seemed to suggest there was someone pulling the strings in the back, and he did not know who.

Instead of showing it outright, he decided to shut the matter down by saying it was something that didn't bother them. It was worth turning down some information in exchange for your reputation in Zachary’s eyes.

Luke heard Zachary’s proclamation and nodded quietly.

—Crash!

Before the air of tension could pass over the group, a crashing sound boomed in the air.

Their table was pushed back as a lanky boy crashed against it and fell to the ground.

All of them stood up at once and turned to the opposite end of the cafeteria where a commotion had broken out.

“Hey, isn’t that!“

“What, what! That’s the Student Council badge!“

“No way, you mean that’s the second year’s ice princess? What did those guys do?“

Whispers spread all over the place as the other students all stared at the same sight.

A group of around ten thuggish students, cowering in front of the girl with long black hair and sparkling golden eyes.

“Hey, Leone Hendrickson…” Blaine muttered. “Isn’t that the senior you’re real chummy with?“

Leone continued to stare at the sight, baffled at the sudden events.

“What is Rin doing here…?“