The week’s end arrived quickly, and so did the pace of Mayumi and Caius’ commitment to the musical. Less than a few days in, they were already sweating buckets out practicing the play’s dance sequences under Trisha. Once their choreography was satisfactory for the day, they would join in the choir under Mr Nigel.

As Anne warned and Caius remembered, the drama department’s operation was tight as they were under a very narrow timeline, which called into question Donovan’s need to start a war against Class D for the talent show’s golden time slot. Needless to say, there wasn’t much dissent when their operation was tight.

In the library’s upper floor were Caius and Cecilia, studying together for the next part of their assignment from their literature class, as they did before at the beginning of the week. They sat in the same positions too, facing each other from across the table. There was a wide, large window nearby, covered by water droplets and let in a meagre amount of light, which prompted the library custodians to turn on all the lights.

“In isolation, in the album, the reality of Tommy’s journey to the city finally catches up to him in Are We The Waiting. While he ditched everything and nothing in his old town, he realizes that he also has everything and nothing here in the city. He sees everything the city advertised with its starry nights of city lights, but at the same time there’s nowhere for him to start over. He eventually makes up his mind that it’s time to discard his old life in the suburbs, and that’s when St. Timmy shows up.”

Caius summarized the start of the next act in the album, but not necessarily the musical. He continued.

“The musical is a little different, using songs from their other albums to elucidate on the story. So, in Favourite Son that plays before it, it details Mark’s descent into depression that made him join the Navy. He didn’t like home, but he also didn’t want to slum it out in the city ghettos with Tommy. It’s just too much for a kid raised in the suburbs to accept. Are We The Waiting in the musical, instead of being Tommy’s story, was rebranded into Mark’s, and shares a similar sentiment. The decision to enlist was also a turning point; leaving everything he’s known behind in exchange for an unknown future.”

“Sounds good, yup. That’s Mark’s subplot to contrast with the route Tommy’s chosen. It’s one of many options of what disaffected teenagers chose to do to escape their dreadful lives.”

“Mark’s really gonna have it hard, though, since he’s going to be sent to fight in a foreign land. In reality, it’s supposed to be an allusion to our own foreign mission in Eiria, after all.”

“That’s actually a manifestation of their desire for escape from the reality they’re born into. They physically have to go to a foreign land to mentally leave behind what bitterness they had for their home.”

Caius spun the pencil in his hand as his other hand’s fingers tapped on the assignment paper on the table. He was an Elite, all right, fidgeting with both hands at the same time.

“That’s not a bad angle, actually, viewing Mark’s substory as an alternative choice to the dilemma of the Prince of Suburbia. Disenchantment with the status quo can manifest in different ways.”

“Of course. That’s why in the musical, they expanded the story to include a couple more characters. The original album only talks about Tommy, but to adapt it into a dramatic performance, there has to be a few more devices to make the main story stronger.”

“Yeah. Then as for the main story, St. Timmy is introduced next as the choice that Tommy makes in contrast to Mark’s. St. Timmy is supposedly a drug dealer from the ghetto who’s responsible for the inner city’s liveliness. To join the gangs swindling and shoplifting by day and partying in the hood at night, he needs to be initiated into this society in some form. So, through the use of psychoactive drugs, he forcibly changes his behaviour from something more befitting of a disgruntled suburban kid, to a headstrong, dangerous and confident underground gangster.”

Cecilia laughed at the very sober characterization of Tommy.

“I mean, that’s normally how people join the hood anyway. MJA refers to it as the ‘underbelly’, where all sorts of legally questionable things happen. We in civilized society call them ‘grey zones’, but it’s just another day in the ghetto.”

“It’s also a great place to have fun, I’ve heard. I’ve actually never seen what happens inside of it, since I’m strictly from civilization. A Prince of Suburbia, if you will. Have you?”

“No… I don’t think so. I spend time with some who are loosely associated with them, but I always refuse to join them when they suggest something way too far out of line for me.”

“Oh? Like what, specifically?”

“Like going to nightclubs and making dosh by serving the VIP guests there. I mean, I think they have a great time there, but as much fun as we have doing karaoke, I can’t get involved with anything more than that. I don’t think I have the guts to make the leap that Tommy did.”

“Is that really what happens?”

“Kind of. There’s a process of escalation. First, it’s going to a karaoke mixer with the local scum. Then, you get invited to dates or double dates to underground bars and clubs. Finally, after you make a decent name for yourself in those places, you get the big gig with the bosses. Something like that.”

Caius whistled.

“Then as someone with the experience, are the portrayals in the movies accurate?”

“No, no, no. I didn’t do nearly enough of that. I got to do the second thing once and I never went back. It just wasn’t the kind of thing for me.

“Secondly, the romanticization of it is kinda sus because it appeals to ideals or morals that can sell to the general audience, like the idea of a kind-hearted mafia boss. I think that kind of thing happens very rarely, and in most situations, it’s a lot more cutthroat with their interests and egos. Certainly, the way the underbelly is portrayed in Auxirian Idiot is way closer to reality than one would expect.”

“I must say, then, as someone connected to Eternia in some way, I can see your point. Directors pick out the most sensational story to perform, after all. From the little I see of Kato and his people, I certainly understand how cutthroat that kind of a world is.”

“I think on Kato’s level in Eternia, that’s much higher than what Tommy gets to see, and it kinda applies to us and the top of Korolev too. To give an analogy, Class A owns the levers of control to the kinds of businesses that flourish in the ghettos like Shamshuipo, while Class G are the on-the-ground gangsters, or to Class A, are either the customers or the manual labourers who are needed for those businesses to serve or operate. I don’t know why, but Kato and Evie should have been in Class A.”

“Then St. Timmy is someone in between those two groups of people, making the money off of selling drugs to the underbelly as an agent of the mafia bosses above him.”

“Of course. That’s how the underground economy has to run. Where exactly do these goods come from? Nobody in the ghetto knows except for the criminal bosses running those drug businesses, and maybe the middle men like St. Timmy. If they do get a handle on that kind of information, they’ll be more than just a petty drug dealer, they’ll be considered a big shot who not just sells drugs but can also sell that info as an informant. Sounds familiar to our movies?”

“Ah, that does sound like it. It’s the runner working between the crime families who seems to know the ins and outs of the street feuds while also able to procure anything and everything for a client who can pay the price.”

“It’s just the nature of the business, and that’s also kind of how the families of the students of the higher classes are too in the real world. I would know, because I’m from Stephen’s family.”

“What? You’re from Stephen’s family? How?”

Genuinely surprised, he stopped both hands’ fidgeting at Cecilia’s assertion. Cecilia, in turn, hastily held up both her hands in reaction.

“I’m his cousin through my mom and his dad, but we lived away from each other and my mom broke ties with the family a long time ago. Today, we’re just strangers who happen to be related by blood, that’s all.”

“Hmm.”

Though Cecilia was quite callous at the mention of her family, Caius was a lot more than just apprehensive, but even then, she can only shrug at it. It was a natural reaction from someone who was actively resisting the PSC.

“If I’m on his side in any capacity, I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

Caius ruminated for a split second.

“So you’re saying you’re in Alice’s previous position?”

Cecilia laughed in earnest.

“More like Alice’s current position, and for as long as I can remember, too. If you’re still suspicious, Ariel would have told you by now, no?”

“No, but I’m still gonna ask Ariel to look at your file. For safe measures.”

“For the sake of Class F? I didn’t expect you to be the most loyal of the Elites.”

She laughed again, another one of honest merriment with a touch of edge. Caius was less serious as he said that jokingly.

“I’m not the most loyal, not by a long shot. If I had to name somebody, Kato probably fits the bill.”

“Well, whatever your alignment is, I get it, I get it. It’s almost like fraternizing with the enemy.”

“That’s right, but it’s okay. If I get to punch Stephen in the face like Kato did with Gilbert, you’d be fine with it, right?”

“Absolutely. I’d welcome that, in fact.”

Caius turned the page in his textbook.

“But, your affinity for rock and punk music is related to your family’s situation, right? If your mother broke ties with the family, I’m guessing that you’re not the one who’s left with the family fortune.”

Cecilia was surprised at his hypothesis, both at its accuracy and his audacity to speculate on someone else’s life. She always forgot that she was talking to an Elite, a being from a different dimension, but curiously also from the same one as Ariel’s.

“Your guess is right on the money that’s not mine; I’m sort of poor, on some level of that word’s meaning. Without the family’s support, my mom works many jobs in a day to get me into this school on her own.”

Caius felt that she didn’t want to elaborate any further on her family, so he let that be. That was enough of an explanation.

“Then how come you’re not in Class A? I think you have the abilities, and if you had just pulled a few strings, you would’ve gotten there.”

“I don’t want to be in the same class as Stephen. On the other hand, I do want to stay low, and move along at my own pace without others trying to get in my way. Staying out of politics here is how to accomplish that.”

“I see. That’s what you mean by neither blue nor yellow. But associating with me and Mayumi will mean you’ll be associating with the yellow camp, or the anti-neutrality camp. Will that be forgivable?”

“Depends. It’s not the end of the world for me in either direction. For good or for ill, I’m known for being Anne’s bitch in the drama department, and she together with Donovan are definitely in the pro-establishment blue camp.”

“That’s true. Then, let’s get back to St. Timmy. We’ll learn later on that St. Timmy is just a figment of Tommy’s ego charged with drugs, but that’s for later. For now, St. Timmy allowed Tommy to become a charismatic rebel leader of the ghetto, and as a consequence, was able to capture the heart of Whatzshecalled, a real rebel from the underbelly.

“But there were major differences between them. For one, Whatzshecalled was never the druggie that Tommy was. The other difference is that she was truly born and raised in the city ghetto, having a deep understanding of the underbelly’s functions and therefore the real reasons to agitate for change. But again, this is a backdrop for what happens later. Right now, Tommy’s enjoying his new life of crime and drugs.”

Cecilia also flipped to the next page of her textbook.

“While that’s happening, Mark and Susan are having their own problems with their lives in Give Me Novacaine. Mark needs anaesthesia for the wounds he sustained during his military deployment, while back in Sunnyville, Susan is recovering from the birth of her son with melatonin, pot and alcohol.

“Both met huge roadblocks in their lives. Mark is suffering from actual physical injuries while overseas in search of finding peace with his ‘going nowhere’ suburban heritage. At home, Susan can’t cope with the responsibility of raising a child at her young age, so she drowns herself in a mixture of substances to run away from those responsibilities, and let the father handle all of it. A really big contrast with Tommy’s apparent success at this point in the story.”

“You could say they’re doubling as foils to Tommy, or the attempt to be. They’re contrasts that’ll continue throughout the story, and eventually we get to watch them converge. They realize they’re still suburban kids at the end of their journeys.”

Cecilia nodded.

“And this song marks the start of that contrast. We get back to Tommy and St. Timmy, and how he’s enamoured by the rebellion that’s led by Whatzshecalled. He openly professes his love for her in the performance of Last of the Auxirian Girls and She’s a Rebel, done with the verses from each respective song in a call-and-response. We get a few of these call-and-responses for other songs later on too, but anyways. This is the high point of Tommy’s life in the city, directly coming off contrasting with the misery of his friends.”

“The grass couldn’t look greener on his own pasture. While we don’t know exactly what Whatzshecalled actually does as a so-called ‘true’ rebel because the story is seen through Tommy’s eyes, we can surmise it’s likely something more substantial than Tommy’s immature rage; that’s why Tommy idolizes her in the first place. It’s about getting things done on the ground like leading rallies, spraying graffiti, establishing connections in and out of the underbelly, and bailing out comrades from their unquestionable stupidity. Things that Tommy also want to do if he’s aspiring to become a true rebel like Whatzshecalled.”

As Caius finished, Cecilia gave a dry chuckle.

“And she’s naive enough, or rather optimistic or idealistic enough, to accept Tommy’s desire to become one, and it’s exemplified in the next song. In Last Night on Earth, Tommy, under the influence of St. Timmy, persuades Whatzshecalled to take the same drugs he is, heroin in the original script. And in their dangerous combination of love, crime and drugs, Whatzshecalled expresses her trust in Tommy and takes the drug.”

“This part is particularly interesting, because Susan’s boyfriend, or husband, or whatever he is, sings this song with Whatzshecalled. It’s a love song, but they’re singing it to different people; he’s singing it to his kid, while Whatzshecalled’s singing it to Tommy.”

“Yup. That’s actually really cool that it fits both situations. Although Susan’s boyfriend isn’t that much better than Susan, at least his head was clear enough to actually take care of the kid properly.”

“And it turns out this is where the story starts to turn towards the climax, though it’s not apparent to the audience yet. That’s what’s amazing about this sequence, because where things start to fall apart has to be in the slowest and most subtle song. A lull in the battle that gives a false sense of security.”

Cecilia leaned back into her chair comfortably and began singing the first verse of the song, which was St. Timmy’s part.

“I text a postcard sent to you, did it go through—sending all my love to you. You are the moonlight of my life, every night—giving all my love to you.”

After the verse, Caius followed up with the pre-chorus.

“My beating heart belongs to you. I walked for miles ‘til I found you.”

““I’m here to honour you. If I lose everything in the fire; I’m sending all my love to you.”“

They finished with the chorus together. Caius grinned, both finished with the segment of the story that they needed for the next part of their assignment. Cecilia turned in her chair idly, head resting on top of and over the headrest with eyes on the ceiling. She was undoubtedly comfortable.

“Things here look pretty swell at the moment, too, don’t they? It’s less than a week and the two of you are already neck-deep in rehearsing.”

“Don’t even remind me. Mayumi might have had past experience, but I was just an extra. I’m not nearly as good as the others.”

“I dunno, you seem to have just as much talent, not gonna lie.”

Caius was smug, pointing his finger at her.

“If I’m talented, then you must be a star. You can do stage acting, singing and dancing all at once and better than literally everyone else. You become a completely different person when on stage, y’know? I still don’t understand why the drama department wasn’t willing to do a regular play and put you in a star role. They’re literally wasting their talent.”

She struggled to keep her wide smile at bay and felt elated at his praise, so she covered it up with a cough into her clenched hand.

“Ahem. That’s just a day on the job, nothing more. And even if I’m that good, no one except for Don wants to put me in a star role, and even when he did, someone with real clout had to take an even higher profile star role for it to be acceptable to the rest of the department.”

It was Caius’ turn to turn in his chair.

“All that political BS for their bruised egos. A sad way for the drama department to fall.”

“That’s what you get when you put any group of people together. Even among friend circles, there’ll be this kind of tribalistic drama when egos clash.”

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He put his feet up on the chair next to him lazily, giving it a little thought.

“No, that’s right. I can totally imagine that happening. Squabbling is just human nature, even between the closest of friends.”

“Are you speaking from experience? With the Elites?”

“Absolutely.”

Caius laughed gleefully at the presumption, precisely because she was right. For a group as large as theirs it was relatively peaceful, but there was inevitably friction in some way or another.

“Are we done with our classwork here?”

“I think so.”

He closed his text with a loud flap of the pages, which reminded Cecilia.

“Wait a minute, isn’t the class going through the story kinda quick? It’s only the first week of introducing this work, right? It’s five weeks per work of literature to study, and this is only the fifth week of school. That means we finished with Les Misérables a week early.”

“True. We’re speed-running this like a mofo, but that’s okay. It means the later weeks in the semester will be easier.”

He maintained his grin and added a shrug to it, and while the words don’t seem to suggest it, Cecilia couldn’t help but roll her eyes at his naked confidence. Caius laughed at her reaction. He leaned forward to rest his chin in his hands, supported by the elbows on the desk.

“Now, that’s what a response to an Elite should look like.”

“Don’t even remind me. Both Eon and Kato are just as annoying as you are.”

“C’mon, give me a little credit. I’m the least annoying of the three.”

“I’ll need a rain check on that one, and even then I’d still press ‘x’ to doubt.”

Cecilia had been joining the Elites at lunchtime, at the surprising insistence of Mayumi. While Mayumi was well-behaved towards Cecilia, the other two Elites Eon and Kato certainly didn’t hold any quarter.

“Are you still upset about the equinox festival being postponed to next next week? As amazing as we are, we can’t do anything about that. We can’t do much if the weather forecast is continuous rain for the next week or so.”

“No, no, no, it’s not about that. It only moved a little further away, not cancelled.”

She was a little upset.

“It’ll be great. If we get clear skies, we’ll be able to see fireworks and have events on the river. The one year that it happened right after rainfall, it was still damp and cloudy so everything was sticky and we couldn’t see any fireworks. Sad days.”

“It’s fine! I’m not upset about it!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes?!”

She was quite upset now, comically so with her agitated frown, and Caius merely smirked. There was not a fine line between friends and insulting the intelligence of an enemy, it seemed. On the other hand, there was no doubt he was only this outrageous with Mayumi, so it was sort of reassuring at the same time that Caius treated her like a friend, if she could call it that. A little odd and with the truth impossible to grasp, she continued to carry that displeasure in her face, inadvertently making it known to Caius and his hidden amusement.

----------------------------------------

Monday, September 26, 1887. Korolev Senior, central atrium.

Rrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnng!

“Gimme cherry bombs and gasoline! Debutantes in surgery! And the headline: LEGALIZE—!”

““—the truth!”“

Posing in front of a small crowd of students, Mayumi closed it off with a solid final riff of her guitar.

“Thank you, everybody! Thanks for coming to our first live!”

“That was sick!” “It was awesome, sister!” “Woooooo!”

Even the rest of the Elites were surprised at Mayumi’s popularity among the other classes, though her bubbly personality would be welcomed anywhere.

The atrium was a busy place at lunchtime as usual. Not only did students loiter along the lockers and hallways, but they also flocked to the different landmarks in the atrium like the mobile billboards, under the spiral staircase, and the few indoor trees that saw sunlight only from the transparent glass ceiling several floors up.

Carrying with them folding tables and lawn chairs that they took from nearby storage rooms, it solved the problem of class confrontation in the cafeteria by essentially expanding into the atrium to make space. As such, it was occupied by mostly of the lower classes and therefore, they appreciated the show that the Elites of Class F put on. There were even observers on the second and third floor balconies.

Their first performance was awfully successful, to Kato’s surprise. The sound setup was clean, thanks to Alice; their form was sharp; and the audience reacted well to about thirty minutes of MJA’s music. He was sure that the PSC would come and break up the party, but then again after that senatorial debacle they seemed to be laying low for the time being.

“Kato! Was that great, or was that great?”

“It was fantastic, all right? Just as I expected from you, Mayumi.”

Like from the very start, the first name that came out of her mouth was the Eternian boy’s as they began to pack up. Mayumi posed in front of Kato with the Gibson Les Paul Jr. in her hands, to which he nonchalantly turned away and bent down to put away his own.

“Hey! You think you can diss me like that? Who d’ya think taught ye how to play this here, boy?”

“What the—stop!”

Instantly, he was ruffled up by her arm around his neck that pulled his face against her flat chest, followed by her knuckles of her other hand drilling circles into the side of his head. The smile on her face stretched across the plains and hills of her face unrelentingly, and chortled uncontrollably for no other reason but the unsolicited post-performance euphoria.

And of course, he was instantly annoyed at the physical assault and he carefully extricated himself out of her still-feeble clutches. He held her wrists at arm’s length, preventing her from attempting it again.

“Control yourself, sister. That wasn’t a diss.”

“Nuh-uh. You know I’m always right, and I know a diss when I hear one.”

“C’mon, sis, don’t be like this. We’re closing shop, it’s enough!”

“But I just got started?”

“And that’s already enough with you!”

“Heh, and you thought you wouldn’t be the straight man again.”

She ended with a haughty and amused snicker, which drove Kato’s nerves up the wall. Before he acted on that impulse, he quickly decided to drop this at once and go back to unplugging his setup. He let go of her wrists, but then he noticed she already wrapped her hands around his own wrists, tugging at it tenderly.

“...what is it?”

“Remember, I’m always right. You can’t fight me on any terms.”

This time, she beamed in earnest and without any trace of the pompous attitude she wore a moment ago. It was a simple, pure-hearted smile that captivated Kato within it, who inadvertently allowed her hands to find its way to holding onto his.

“I don’t think I’d ever want to fight you...”

“Perfect. Then you’ll do everything as I say, right?”

“Now, that, I can’t do either…”

It had already been a few moments too many that Mayumi wouldn’t let go and Kato could feel the heat from the stares around him, especially from the other Elites.

“Hah. Of course you wouldn’t. An Elite bends to no-one, not even their own. Although I would recommend that you still submit to me, the boss of this particular realm.”

And just as quickly, the serenity disappeared and the sneer returned with its arrogance and condescension, which was the natural state of affairs apparently. Finally, Mayumi reached for her case as she pulled apart the guitar’s strap around her torso, and Kato let out a breath of relief that he didn’t realize he was holding onto.

“I think we’re all under your suzerainty for as long as we can remember. Isn’t that already it?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. What I’m looking for is your undying fealty to the crown, sir Kato the knight.”

“On the topic of the crown, this is what you and the drama department are going to do for the musical, right? We are not gonna do the same stuff for the talent show, sadly.”

“Nah, this is for fun. For the talent show, you’re probably going to have to go all-in with the original jazz ensemble. I know that we thought we could do a rock band arrangement, but after a week I think Caius is too overwhelmed by all that practice, and if we’re going to be only playing MJA songs for this setup, I think you’ll have a better chance at getting a nomination for playing jazz without me and Caius instead.”

“Cool. I’m glad that you think of dragging all of us into the anti-neutrality protest as ‘for fun’.”

“Are you even listening to me?! Anyway, this was Alice’s idea, and by extension, it was the Jupiters’ idea. Not that it was, like, a bad idea. It makes total sense and Chantal was completely on board with it. I’m just along for the ride, bro.”

“I mean, you’re right, it’s their idea, but you still agreed to be the new face of the protests.”

“Don’t be a dick, dick.”

“Who did you think I learned that skill from?”

Kato had the last snicker as they slung their cases on their backs and got to dismantle the amps. Nearby, the crew helped Franco with the drum set, which would need to be taken back and forth multiple times in sections to the music room if it weren’t for Evie, Yui and Cecilia here to help. They didn’t use the drums on the fourth floor; it remained there.

On approach was a familiar grouchy member of the PSC followed by his two peons from Class A. His chronically messy hair was glistening in the midday sunlight, something that also got a little in the way of the Elites, but it was only when Stephen stopped in front of Mayumi that the striking similarity of their hair was noticed by Kato. Sparing Kato only a glance, Stephen held up his cleanse tag, and attached to it was the red ribbon of the PSC.

“If I may, papers, please.”

“I’ve got papers. I always do.”

Both were noticeably well-mannered, but Kato and Cecilia, who also took notice of her cousin’s intrusion, could feel something awkwardly off between the two. It wasn’t the usual animosity between the laypeople and the PSC; it felt like something that could be deeply cutting.

Mayumi pulled out the permit that Scarlett signed in her own name. It only took a moment for Stephen to hand it back to her.”

“The SLO’s permit looks good. Remember to keep to your permit’s boundaries.”

“Thanks, chief.”

Sparing another, final glance at Kato, Stephen and his men retreated as quickly as they had arrived, which left the Elites a little bit bamboozled by the interaction.

Cecilia went up to Kato and Mayumi, worried about her cousin’s intentions.

“W-what was that about?”

“That’s what I want to know too, Kato. How does your school’s disciplinary police body work here?”

“I’m just as confused as you are. I was expecting some hardcore questioning, but it turned out not to be. They’ll ask for your permit for atrium activities, which are given out by the SLO, and then ask why you needed it. A routine check.”

“Then everybody else here in the atrium also has a permit?”

“For the organizer in charge of taking out all these tables and chairs. You’re the liable party if something out of line happens.”

“So I’m being thrown under the bus?! Not that it matters that much if the PSC gets me, I guess.”

“You’re not afraid of suspension or expulsion? Okay, sis.”

“Eheheheh, well, at least he didn’t make a scene just now. I was expecting more from him too, given the stage you have here.”

Cecilia pointed to the drapery behind their setup, which was a large black blossom flag held up by two mobile light posts on each side. It was a flagrant display of a specific contemporary political position. But though the connotation was in opposition to the PSC, the link was not direct because the establishment was technically not in the wider pan-blue camp. If they ever made that direct endorsement, it would be the end of the PSC and the current order in Korolev Senior, as it would be a naked act of treason against Eternia.

The pan-blue camp was a collective term for supporters of the current status quo between Eternia, which was the Yue underground mob, and Auxiria, the state that, now, was the sole sovereign over the continent of Candor. They were pro-collaboration with the legal ruling party, the imperial government of Auxiria, and therefore they most likely had vested interests, economic or otherwise, on the Auxirian side that motivated them to support the maintenance of the status quo.

On the other side, the pan-yellow camp demanded that the Eternians take over from Auxirian rule in order to oversee the process of political self-determination for the various groups under their aegis, primarily for the Yue people. In recent years, the two factions became more and more polarized as the blue camp veered deep into treasonous territory, being accused of slowly turning into an arm of the Auxirian imperial government rather than Eternia. In reaction, the yellow camp’s attitude on self-determination turned just as hardline, and the result of it was the still-developing political unrest in Lien.

“The Act of Neutrality hadn’t passed yet, so it’s still fine to do it here in the atrium. They can’t touch us yet. Of course, if you’re doing what Chantal’s doing and deliberately waving this flag outside the atrium, then you’ll get beaned.”

“Don’t sweat it, Celia. We’re not gonna treat you or him differently just because he’s your cousin, y’know? He’ll be smited with the force of a first-class Elite, just as we planned it.”

Mayumi winked as she showed off her nonexistent biceps to a now-smiling Cecilia. Kato shrugged, also just as unrepentant.

Suddenly, Caius clapped his hands at them to signal the others’ readiness for departure.

“Let’s go already, we’ll meet you guys back at the studio. Celia, come here.”

““Okay!”“

Caius handed over his keyboard, its stands and the sheet music to her as he moved together with Franco together in moving out the biggest of the percussion. With the rest of the Elites laughing at their struggle, as they expected they would, Mayumi and Kato went to carry their amps and other peripherals back to the fourth floor. With whichever free hands they had, the Elites waved at each other as they parted.

“Ain’t that nice? Celia’s been a good sport. I always have confidence in my judgment of other people’s character.”

“Yes, and yes, you do. I don’t expect anything less from you.”

“Now you’re a li’l too happy there, bootlicker.”

“I don’t think so, Mayumi. It’s been the same this whole time. Imagine how upset you’d be if everyone had something annoying to say at every single opportunity. We can find that kind of trouble elsewhere.”

“Implyin’ you’re not doing that at this very moment.”

“We’re being very generous with our patience, sister.”

Mayumi grinned and said nothing further. Not only her judgment but her self-awareness too were her strengths.

“About Celia though, I didn’t know that Caius was in the same class as her. She’s also Ariel’s friend, so that helps.”

“I heard that now, they get together in the library during fifth period to skip it.”

Another, more mischievous grin appeared on Mayumi’s face. Again, Kato only sneered.

“Good for them, ain’t it? Good for Caius, to be honest. Celia’s totally in Caius’ strike zone, in my humble opinion.”

“Heheheh. I’m just happy that it’s happening. How much time do you give them before they officially get together?”

“Laying it out straight, eh? I don’t know, sister. It could be days, it could be years. One factor is what Celia’s thoughts are and how receptive she is to the idea; that’s an unknown as of right now. The other is if Caius thinks he’s ready for that idea.”

“That’s a long-winded way of saying you have no idea. Just give me a number, bro.”

“That’s exactly it. I’ll give you a random number and you’ll ask why, so I preemptively answered the ‘why’ question first.”

Mayumi snickered. Maybe she trained the Elites a little too well.

“Then I hope it can be very soon. I can expedite the process, and I have the resources. There have to be opportunities during these weeks before the talent show when we’re with the drama department. I can feel it.”

She puffed out her tiny chest in the affirmative.

“Now that’s some ulterior motivation you got there. He’s one of your lackeys too, are you sure you want to sell him off to another woman?”

“Why does it sound like you’re attacking my character somehow? Anyway, I’m just glad that that’s a possible pairing. Don’t you think so?”

“More power to you to get those two together, then. I have enough girls around me to take care of, and Caius doesn’t have enough.”

“Ooo, look at you, pimpin’!”

“It’s not pimping! I have, like, five other girls living with me, two of which are my sisters. And then at school, I have you here too. There are plenty to go around to give me a headache.”

“One man with six wives, is a harem still a thing that’s allowed?”

“No, but again, two of them are my sisters, and one of them can be my grandmother. That’s not a harem, that’s an extended family.”

“So the other three are bride candidates, including myself, right?”

“Technically one of them was already a bride, and no, there’s no open position for this job. It’s closed until further notice.”

“Aww…”

Mayumi wailed without any trace of gloom, and in fact she was still grinning brightly at Kato. He had dodged the question with a shrug of his shoulders like it was nothing. Momentarily, he wondered how angry Mayumi would be if he were to answer the question truthfully, but it was a useless contemplation as he had zero intentions of answering it anyway.

They had made it to their studio on the fourth floor and dumped their cargo inside the sound room for practice tomorrow morning, since after school Mayumi and Caius would be absent due to the musical’s rehearsal.

“With all this practice, are you gonna be able to pass those advanced classes’ exams in a couple of weeks? Remember, Sisi mentioned that on your first day.”

“Hmm? Exams? You don’t need to worry about that. My marks are way better than yours.”

Bemused, Kato put a hand to his hip, unconvinced.

“Are you using your eye again? Y’know, as a kid it never mattered if you got caught cheating, even if it’s impossible for the teachers to catch you specifically cheating. But cheating in high school is kinda cringe.”

“I can’t cheat with my eye anyway. Schools know to set up Teller sonographs to detect mana fields that my eye’s powers will distort.”

“And when did they start doing that?”

“How rude. For your information, it has been the case since the start of junior high school. I haven’t cheated in years.”

“Sounds like someone stupidly proud of having quit smoking when they could have not done that thing in the first place.”

“Hey! Fuck you, leather man!”

“What, do they just let a Teller sonograph run in the back while you write an exam? That’s a lot of electricity wasted.”

“Are you saying that I’m a waste of electricity?”

“Listen to me. It’s the exam that you’re writing that’s a waste of time.”

Teller sonographs were alchemical measurement devices, found in most science wings, that printed out raw field data of the mana fields in its sensor’s vicinity. In the past, Teller sonographs could take up whole rooms, and were only fitting for laboratories. And before the invention of Teller sonographs were a variety of archaic and analog methods of mana field measurement, including manual human-written methods. But even in today’s economy, with cheaper, portable desktop-ready typewriter-sized Teller sonographs, they were still prohibitively expensive, in the upwards of tens of thousands of dollars per machine.

“No, you’re right. Exams are a waste of time.”

Almost instantly, Mayumi closed the distance between the two of them, wrapping her arms around his neck and perching on it once more.

“...Mayumi?”

She buried her face in his chest, not letting him see her face, but her eyepatch was flipped up, meaning her right eye was open.

“Do you remember back then, the final day I was here in Korolev, that I confessed to you?”

Kato curled his lips. It took a moment for him to reply.

“...of course, I do.”

“You weren’t able to give me an answer that day, and that happened to be the final day as well.”

Another pause. He chose his words carefully, hyper-conscious of the warm body clinging to him. The furnace that was his forehead was turned on to maximum, and he could feel the sweat drops forming on it.

“I had no idea what to say, to be perfectly honest. If I remember correctly, I think I panicked and told you to get back to me for an answer some time later.”

“You said to give you a couple of weeks to sort things out, and you’ll get back to me.”

“Was that what I said?”

“Meanie. How can you forget?”

He could feel her grip tighten around him by just a little bit.

“If a certain someone didn’t just up and leave without a trace the next day, then I might have remembered those little details.”

“Now you know why I had to confess to you that day, right? It wasn’t my choice to leave, and it was my very last day. But then, after what had happened following that, how could I not leave?”

“You could have sat through the shitstorm together with us. Did you know how we fixed everything in the end? We waited for Caius to come back to his senses. That was our only option. If he didn’t, you would have come back to a very different Class F.”

“Figures. There wasn’t another option, after all.”

“And conversely, now you know why I remember only the events following that. It was painful for everyone, even the Jupiter sisters, Mayumi.”

“Mhm.”

She pressed her face hard into his chest as her ears registered the words she didn’t want to hear; she already heard it in a vision from her eye’s precognitive powers, but it hurt all the same.

She could admit, it was a very disastrous situation that she had left behind. She had already lost count of how many times she replayed the day in her mind and thought of what she should have done instead. And because of issues in her home, she had no choice but to leave them behind the very next day.

It tormented her for a long time afterwards. Arriving at a new place, she couldn’t explain to anyone what was going through her head, because even if she did, no one would understand; at least that was what she thought. It was a lot later that she laid down the conviction to act further in order to justify to herself, to absolve herself, and to accept the guilt of the collateral consequences of her actions. And so, she would ask the following, in total disregard for Kato’s and the Elites’ woes.

“Do you have an answer for me yet? I’ve already waited for more than just a few weeks.”

“No. Give me a rain check on that one. I’ll get back to you in a couple of weeks.”

Mysteriously, Mayumi began to chuckle as Kato ignored her real question.

“Then I’ll be expecting a satisfying answer at the equinox festival. Can I do that?”

“What makes you think I’ll be giving you a satisfying answer? Don’t put words in my mouth, eh?”

“What a jerk. How could you so coldly cast aside a girl’s hopes and dreams? I’ve waited for you for years.”

“You think you can call this situation for a normal response? You’re lucky everyone’s still together after those years you’ve waited for.”

Her shoulders were still bouncing from her laughter, obviously aware of Kato’s thinly-veiled accusation. She didn’t need to hear any further. It was this confession that almost shattered the Elites as a group of friends, seven years ago.

“Well, I guess you’re the one lucky guy who can choose between a number of women.”

A vein figuratively popped somewhere on his head.

“Mayumi, what’s the real reason you’ve come back to Korolev?”

“I just want to come back to the Elites and have one last dance. That’s all.”

“A last dance?”

“Yes, because if not now, when will we be able to be all together again?”

“But what’s in it for you? What exactly is this last dance? Chasing after where we left off seven years ago? Or are you going to leave it in the past and just be satisfied with a plain-old band reunion?”

“...”

Mayumi let go of him, taking a few slow steps backward. Her lame eye was visible and the hesitation on her face was apparent. Kato gritted his teeth.

“If you’re using your eye, then I suppose you already know how I’m going to respond.”

She shook her head, and forced a wry smile.

“No. I can’t see beyond the event horizon anymore. It’s all a blur. I can only see the immediate future.”

“Then whatever blur you see, it still doesn’t look very good.”

“Heh. That’s right.”

In the momentary calm, he finally felt the ambience in the room had chilled to a frost. It was Mayumi’s undying flame that had warmed the studio, but with it extinguished, Kato realized he had let himself go a little too far. Normally, Mirabelle was one to push his buttons, but Mayumi was on another level. He had forgotten about that.

“Then, tell me, what would you want out of our reunion?”

Kato didn’t hesitate in his reply. He put his hands behind his head nonchalantly, trying to go for a lighthearted anwer.

“Nothing special in particular. Your presence is already enough for everyone.”

Without thought, Mayumi nodded. The rigid smile melted into a soft one, and a little bit of warmth returned. Only moments after, did she realize she wanted to take the easy way out. She didn’t want to answer that question Kato had asked, to him or even to herself. She hated herself for doing that, but the timing had passed. She could ruminate all about it on her own later.

“I’m glad to hear that everyone still prostrates to me.”

“What the hell, the way you just put that, sounded disgusting.”

A cackle from her restored the scene to its original colour. She twirled the ring of keys in her hand, ready to leave the studio and rejoin the Elites downstairs.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. You know that already.”

Kato was relieved, yet perplexed. However, he put his thoughts away for the time being and turned around to head for the door.

“And I know it more than I’d like to. Let’s go, Mayumi.”