Across the room, I noticed Blair’s team huddled together, their body language screaming dysfunction.
Blair stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Charles, who was mansplaining sothing with grand gestures.
Javier kept trying to interject, his entire body radiating anxious energy.
Hikaru stood slightly apart, her expression completely neutral—which for her was the equivalent of absolute contempt.
Dante Pope, who I now recognized as a skinny, dark-haired boy with nervous eyes, kept checking his phone like he was praying for an ergency that would get him out of there.
God, what a beautiful disaster. Whatever team na they chose, "Functional Unit" wouldn’t be it.
"We should register," Naomi said, pointing to Vale, who was now accepting team nas at his desk.
"I’ll do it," Belle volunteered, already pushing back her chair.
"I need coffee," Jordan announced, looking mournfully at the bottom of his empty cup. "Sothing that actually has caffeine in it, unlike whatever the cafeteria calls espresso."
"Class isn’t over," Naomi reminded him, glancing toward the front of the room.
"Vale doesn’t care." Jordan gestured to our instructor, who had abandoned any pretense of teaching and was now fully absorbed in whatever ga he had pulled up on his phone, one leg crossed over the other while a line of students ford at his desk to register their team nas.
"I’ll go with you," I said to Belle. She gave a startled look, like I’d announced I was speaking for the first ti, but said nothing. I had my own reasons for wanting to see Vale up close.
The team ahead of us, four boys with expensive haircuts and the kind of rigid posture that cos from years of private tutors, submitted their registration. "Obsidian Wolves," one of them announced with complete sincerity.
Vale didn’t look up from his tablet. "Original. That’s the third wolf-thed na I’ve written down today. You’d think hunters would have better instincts about blending into a crowd."
The boys shuffled away, looking vaguely wounded.
When it was our turn, Belle stepped forward without missing a beat. "Midnight Foxes. Squad Eight."
Vale looked up then, his mismatched eyes, one ice blue and one storm grey, moving between Belle and with the specific kind of attention that isn’t really casual at all. "Foxes. Planning to raid so henhouses?"
"Sothing like that," I said, watching him.
His gaze settled on for a beat too long. "Interesting team composition you’ve got there, Monroe. Quite the lucky draw."
The back of my neck went tight. "Just random, right? That’s what the system does."
Vale’s smile stretched into sothing that had no business being on a horoom teacher’s face. "Sure. Random." He typed our na into his tablet with two fingers, unhurried. "Midnight Foxes, registered. You’re going to need all the luck that cos with the na."
We turned to walk away. Belle moved close enough that I could hear her clearly without anyone else picking it up. "Was that weird? That felt weird."
"Extrely weird," I confird.
Back at our cluster of desks, I found Misato and Naomi midway through what appeared to be an actual, voluntary conversation. Misato was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, and there was sothing on her face that, after a mont, I identified as a smile. Small. Contained. But real. On a face that defaulted to combat-ready severity, it looked almost jarring.
"It just takes practice," Misato was saying. "You’re burning output too fast at the start of every engagent. I could walk you through so drills soti, show you how to pace it."
"That would be amazing," Naomi said, and she ant every word of it, her pink eyes wide with genuine gratitude.
Belle dropped back into her seat. "What would be amazing?"
"Misato offered to help with combat training," Naomi explained. "She knows how to maximize Wave Motion’s efficiency."
I raised my eyebrows. This was unexpected. Misato helping soone outside her Blair-protection duties? Maybe the team assignnts weren’t so random after all.
"Attention, future disappointnts!" Vale called from the front of the room. "Your teams are now locked in until winter evaluations. The first official ranking will be posted this Friday after your combat assessnts."
He checked his watch again. "And would you look at that—I’ve managed to fill an entire hour with aningful educational content. Class dismissed. Try not to die before tomorrow."
Students began gathering their things. I noticed Blair storming out of the room, Javier trailing after her like a nervous puppy. Hikaru left alone, as usual. Charles was already chatting up a blonde girl by the door.
"So," Jordan said, rejoining our group with a steaming cup of coffee from who-knows-where. "We’re really doing this Midnight Foxes thing, huh?"
"Looks like it," I replied, gathering my notebook.
"First team eting," Belle declared. "Lunch. Half hour. Usual table."
Misato hesitated. "I usually eat with Blair."
"Not today," Belle said firmly. "We need to strategize."
Misato’s eyes narrowed, but after a mont she nodded. "Fine."
As we filed out of the classroom, I felt Naomi fall into step beside . Her shoulder brushed against mine, and I caught the scent of her shampoo—sothing tropical and sweet.
"So team, huh?" she said quietly.
"Could be worse. We could be on Team Davenport."
Naomi glanced at Blair’s retreating back. "Think they’ll survive the sester?"
"Better question—will they survive the week?" I grinned.
Naomi laughed, the sound warming sothing in my chest that I imdiately tried to ignore. I needed to stay focused. This team assignnt was perfect for my plans. Naomi was already mine. Belle was warming up to . Jordan was too lazy to interfere. And now I had access to Misato, who might provide information about other potential targets.
The Divine Milking System had just gotten a lot more interesting. My extraction network was assembling itself, piece by piece.
"What are you thinking about?" Naomi asked, noticing my expression. "You look... scheming."
I smiled, the sa smile I’d used to charm dozens of won in my previous life.
"Just planning our path to the top of the leaderboard."
And if that path happened to involve extracting essence from my lovely teammates, well... that was just a strategic bonus.
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