Ayo sat in the front row, silently flipping through a book in front of her. Most importantly, the seat right next to her was empty.

'Perfect.'

Walking towards her, I suddenly got a message from Song.

[There's a trap on the way to Shin's seat.]

[Too bad for them, I'm not sitting there today.]

It hadn't been the first time the nobles had tried setting me up; it certainly wouldn't be the last. They'd been slowly ramping up their attempts since Monday.

'How childish.'

Passing by a bunch of nobles also sitting in the front row, I noticed a foot slide inconspicuously from the tables, right in front of my path.

The bastards were trying to trip me.

Naturally, I returned the favor. Instead of peacefully passing by the foot, I stomped on its exposed ankle.

"Arggh!"

The owner collapsed, screaming from behind her table. The friends surrounding her rushed to her aid, all the while glaring daggers at me.

One boy leaned forward threateningly.

"Are you insane?"

I covered my mouth in mock surprise, not even bothering to suppress the grin on my face.

"I am so sorry. But isn't it rather careless to extend your foot to the walkway?"

Their eyes just widened incredulously at me, after all, the malice in my voice was clear. Before any of them could retort, I went on my merry way, acting like the incident behind me hadn't just happened, and soon enough I stood before Ayo.

The girl watched me with a mix of curiosity and suspicion as I stood before her.

"You're not my seatmate."

'Right. That.'

It was the name of the cadet she constantly annoyed. At the start of the semester, given her powerful heritage, many nobles tried making connections with her.

Ayo hadn't chased them away, though. No, she'd annoyed them with a never ending spiel to the point that those nobles left on their own volition.

Her current seatmate was the last of those nobles, the only one that had been able to barely withstand the annoyance. But even he left after this week.

There really wasn't much Ayo offered, at least in comparison to her counterparts, Racheal and Varic.

'Might as well get rid of him now.'

I shrugged and asked.

"Does that really matter?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it, considering for a bit before smiling.

"I guess not."

Ayo wasn't a stupid person, someone like her had long seen the writing on the wall with her so-called 'friends'. She didn't seem the slightest bit disappointed in not sitting next to any of them, and instead looked more curious about me.

I didn't wait for her permission to take a seat, which only seemed to further stroke her interest.

It would all work in my favor in the end, after all, I needed her to be at least a little curious for my offer to even stand a chance. She could be a very fickle girl when she wanted to.

That's what I told myself, as I tried focusing entirely on the board, even as I felt her eyes drilling holes into the side of my face. The girl didn't even bother staring sneakily, and just openly observed me like I was some sort of zoo creature.

Just two minutes under that stare was enough to force a response from me.

"What?"

But she wasn't looking at me again. Instead she'd begun staring at the ceiling, as though she'd found the most interesting specimen there.

For once, I empathized with the nobles.

'This plan can still work, right.'

Just when I was about to speak again, she lowered her eyes, flicking her attention back to me.

"It's nothing, I just find this situation strange."

"How so?"

It was my turn to act oblivious.

"I mean, come on. Why does a cadet ranked 2nd in the simulation suddenly have interest in me, someone who couldn't even make it to the top 5."

"No need to put yourself down."

"Sure, but you still haven't answered my question."

Class would be starting soon, so even if I began explaining now, I'd likely be interrupted by the instructor. I decided to play it safe, and test the waters by bullshitting.

"Maybe it's because I find you pretty."

The girl let out a chuckle at that, not the slightest bit flustered by the statement.

"Everyone finds me pretty. Not everyone sits right next to me. Try again."

She definitely wasn't buying it. But then again, I hadn't expected her to. At least with this I was certain she was the same person from the novel.

With the way things had been progressing recently, I couldn't be too sure of anything.

Right as I was about to spew some more bullshit, a familiar, jolly old professor stepped in.

Ayo immediately stopped paying attention to me, shifting her focus to the man. I did the same. The class remained a bit noisy, as the man dragged a chalkboard up the podium with him.

On it, he scribbled the word 'Survival'. Then he turned, and gave the class a light cough. That much was enough to put the cadets in order.

He began afterwards.

"Good. I'm sure the simulation proved rather enlightening to you lot."

The class remained silent. Scott only chuckled in response.

"It's fine if you don't wish to speak about your experiences. I've already watched most of it, and while I was largely disappointed for the most part, I'd be lying if I said there weren't any delightful surprises."

His eyes lingered on me a bit, before he clapped his hands, continuing.

"But this is not the time to focus on the successes among you. We shall focus on the failures, and see how you can best learn from them. Those who died due to the blizzard should raise their hands."

No one raised their hands, but the professor wasn't even the slightest bit incensed by that.

"That's fine too, I guess, everyone gets shy. I'll just have to play your videos from the simulation in front of the whole class."

Multiple hands immediately shot up from the crowd, making the professor's smile widen.

"It's always lovely to see students suddenly gain confidence. Sadly, I'll be playing the videos regardless."

The class burst into grumbles and protests. In response, the man just set the first video to play on the projector, and began his lecture.

"Here…"

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