Soon after the end of year assessment results came out, a strange dichotomy formed on campus. Half of the students became overjoyed, while the other half were gloomy as could be. It was common to see sights of jubilation and celebration everywhere, loud yells and cheers ringing out throughout, but there would simultaneously also be aggregations of sulking students silently dragging around their luggage and leaving campus.

At the same time, a new set of innocent and bright-eyed first years arrived at the school. They arrived in hoards, spilling into the dorms and stopping to look around at everything with eager eyes. Watching them nervously and excitedly fill into the 3C dorm, taking the spots of students who had just previously moved out, Emmet couldn’t help but have a strange feeling. Just a year ago, he had been in their same position. Time really moved quickly.

As for the four boys in 427, they would stay in the same room for their second year. However, starting from the third year, they would have to move out, find their own living space, and rent it out using points. The idea was, at that point, students could achieve a degree of self-sufficiency, and if they were properly skilled, could find work with much higher income (squires did not have to expend resources on schoolwork, so it was thought that they should have enough income for basic accommodations as well). The same principle applied to after fourth year: after that, students were no longer permitted squires altogether. The idea of Gemini Academy as a whole was to produce genius graduates who were completely competent in their own right.

The third week after the break began, the new school year finally started. The campus once again exploded into a canvas of heated activity, dense crowds of students walking or riding this way and that to attend their classes.

Riding into work for the first time in two weeks, Emmet finally saw Maisy. By now, most of the reporters had left her alone. Instead of looking excited, however, she looked a bit haggard; clearly, the constant media attention was exhausting.

“Big sis Maisy!” Emmet rushed over with a bright smile.

“Oh, Emmet!” Maisy smiled back, reaching over and patting Emmet on the head. “It’s been a while, huh?” Fatigue could be seen in her eyes. Not even after pulling all-nighters completing constructions did she look this tired.

“Congratulations on your advancement to grade eight! As expected, you passed with flying colors,” Emmet couldn’t help but cheer. “And congratulations on your groundbreaking new theory! You’re famous now!”

“...my theory?” Maisy let out a short laugh and then shook her head. “Emmet, in the end, it wasn’t my-”

“Yeah, that’s right!” The other debuggers around the company overheard Emmet’s cheers and hurriedly ran over to gather around Maisy. Soon enough, they had formed a semicircle around her. “Congratulations! We’re so glad to have known you before your fame!”

For the first time, Maisy looked embarrassed. She hurriedly waved her hand down, dismissing their praises. “It wasn’t much... Besides, that grand theory is…”

“Right, your theory!” The green-haired girl named Janine exclaimed. “Harbinger Complexity Class Equivalency… Your own piece of formations theory! My god, that’s incredible!”

“Yeah, imagine having a formations concept named after you! That’s amazing!” Another student chimed in.

“What amazing intellect! It’s an honor to work under a legend!”

“Hear, hear! What an amazing boss we have!”

All of the workers had starry eyes.

“Thank you, thank you,” Maisy formed a thin smile. Unintentionally, she began patting Emmet’s head more and more vigorously - ever since all the employees had celebrated Emmet’s 12th birthday at the company a few months ago, Maisy had gotten into the habit of patting him on the head. “But don’t you know, the theory really wasn’t mine. The idea behind it was actually Emmet’s.” She brought her gaze toward the little squire boy in front of her.

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“Emmet’s?” Everyone glanced toward the little squire boy and then burst out into a collective laughter. Some people even walked up to jokingly pat Emmet’s shoulders. “So modest! You’re surprisingly funny, Maisy.”

Maisy placed her hand to the side of her head and let out a brief frustrated sigh. “But it’s true… You know, the reporters kept saying that exact same thing.”

Thinking that she was still playing along, all of the other workers let out further cackles of laughter.

Maisy lifted her head. “Alright, enough about that, let’s get back to work! We still have a bunch of orders leftover from last year, and new stuff is already flowing in - chop, chop!”

“Roger!” Everyone stifled their laughter, nodding and turning back to their workstations. As they turned, they let out a final exclamation of praise: “Congratulations, boss Maisy!”

Just as Emmet was about to join them, turning around to grab a new formation from the pile, Maisy grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Hm?” Emmet formed a puzzled face.

“Emmet…” Maisy spoke slowly, her face conflicted. She leaned in, lowered her tone of voice, and patted his shoulder. “Hey... I know it’s frustrating, I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Emmet’s face was blank.

“I tried to tell those reporters that the idea really was yours you, but not knowing who you are, they thought I was joking. None of them can fathom a first year squire, someone who’s not even a proper student at the school, doing such a thing… and it doesn’t help that I have a reputation for eccentricity. They think I’m doing some kind of crazy fame deflection.”

“Wha?” Emmet blinked confusedly a couple times. “Your… your theory was inspired by me?”

Maisy looked surprised for a moment, and then brought her face down to Emmet’s level - she didn’t have to extend so far down anymore, as in the past year, Emmet had grown two inches. “Dummy, you don’t remember your own theory? About the Kamaran problem and the Bakastarian set?”

“Oh... “ Emmet had a moment of realization. “You mean… that one time when you asked for my thoughts? ...that inspired you?”

Maisy brought her hands down onto Emmet’s shoulders. “Yes, you dummy, yes! It’s your theory, Emmet. It was you who inspired me.”

Emmet blinked twice. “...huh... I… I mean... but I didn’t really say much… Are you sure it really wasn’t your idea?”

“My god, Emmet!” Maisy laughed disbelievingly. She slightly shook her head. “Emmet, you’re too damn innocent… Like this, you’re definitely gonna get conned some day.”

Emmet could only blankly stare back.

“You should have more confidence in yourself,” Maisy continued. “You don’t seem to realize, but you’ve got a gift. You just gotta hone it. Now that I’m an eighth year, I’ll be much more free, so if there’s anything you want to know, or if there’s anything you need, just ask me. It’s the least I can do to repay you.”

Emmet nodded blankly.

“I’m sorry I took the credit for your insight,” Maisy apologized. “I hope you believe me when I say I didn’t mean to, and that I don’t care about the prestige or any of that stuff… frankly, I think it’s tiring.” She patted him reassuringly. “Don’t worry. When you become famous in your own right, I’ll make sure to appropriately correct the record. By then, people will properly believe it.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Emmet smiled and retorted brightly.

“Hm?” Maisy raised an eyebrow.

“It’s totally fine,” Emmet gave a cheerful thumbs up. “Honestly, it really was just some vague idea I had, not anything that I would’ve written about. It’s thanks to you that the idea turned into a theory. And given your skills, it was probably something that you would have thought of too!” His face turned embarrassed. “Besides, don’t you remember, it was thanks to you that I’m worth anything in the first place… If I’d never met you, I would still be a clueless illiterate struggling in classes, much less able to give you ideas!”

As he spoke, Emmet felt warm emotions well up from inside him. Truly, he was more grateful toward Maisy than she could ever know. At his lowest moment, when it had just felt like the whole world was falling down on him, it was Maisy that had appeared like a beam of light, extending a helping hand and pulling him out of it. After riding with Maisy in her flying vehicle and experiencing the magical experience of flight for the first time, Emmet had suddenly felt alright again.

After that, Maisy had taught him to read, truly blessing him with wings. It was only then that he could properly soar up through the world of formations.

Maisy stared at Emmet for a moment, her eyes soft. She brought her hand up and patted Emmet’s head again. “You’re a good kiddo.”