The Archive Room – Later That Evening
I wasn't sure how long I'd been sitting there.
It could've been fifteen minutes. Could've been an hour.
Yuki didn't check the time. She just moved like it didn't matter.
Every motion deliberates. Every drawer closed softly. Every word calculated.
And then—finally—she spoke again.
"You asked me why I'm doing this," she said, not looking at me. "The answer is simple."
She reached into a cabinet.
Pulled out a black binder, much older than the others. The label had faded. It wasn't about me.
It was about someone else.
Subject #001
The Hint of a Past
"This student," she said, "was in the same class as the current student council president. Three years ago."
She opened the folder.
Photos. News clippings. Internal school memos.
"Gifted. Charismatic. Popular."
My eyes skimmed the notes.
He sounded… like me.
"He got too influential," Yuki said. "So, they isolated him. Slowly. Took his club away. Spread rumors. Removed support. Within a semester, he disappeared."
I looked up at her.
"Transferred?"
She met my eyes.
"Expelled."
I exhaled sharply. "For what?"
"Nothing. But they made it look like something."
She flipped the last page.
"His file is missing from the school's official records."
Gone. Wiped.
"That," she said, "is what happens when you don't notice the game being played around you."
The Offer
She walked toward the desk again.
Leaned on it.
Calm. Patient.
Then she said the words that made my chest tighten:
"You can help me take this entire school into our hands."
I blinked. "What?"
"You're already the center. Charisma, influence, attention. You don't need power. You attract it. But you're doing it blind."
She stepped closer.
"I have the map. The data. The blueprint."
"You want me to… rule the school with you?"
She didn't smile.
She didn't flinch.
"I want you to see what I see. And then decide who deserves to fall."
Jay Pulls Back
I stared at her.
At the photos. The reports. The organized madness.
I shook my head.
"I just wanted to go to school."
"You were never going to be normal," she said. "That illusion shattered the day you stepped through the gates."
"I didn't ask for any of this."
"No," she agreed. "But they're coming for you anyway."
A Moment—Too Close
She took another step closer.
We were nearly eye to eye now.
Not like before.
Not flirtation. Not play.
Just… cold truth.
"You're strong, Jay. But you're surrounded. And they will get to you. Through you. Or through them."
I swallowed. "Them?"
She nodded.
"Emma. Amaya. Sofia. Even Tyler. They're all pieces on the board now. Whether you want it or not."
"And you?"
"I'm the one playing."
Jay's Final Answer
I stepped back.
A slow breath filled my lungs.
"I can't."
She didn't flinch.
"I don't want to rule. I don't want to fight. I just want my high school life. Even if that's foolish."
She nodded once, almost like she predicted it.
"Then do me one Favor," she said, stepping past me.
"Keep this secret."
I turned toward her.
"In return," she added, "I'll clean up the mess they're making around you."
"You don't have to—"
"I already started."
Jay's Last Question
"Why?"
She paused at the door.
Didn't look back.
But her voice was soft this time. Not cold. Just… muted.
"Because I want to see if you're worth breaking the pattern for."
And then she was gone.