Chapter 119 | The Five-Minute Lie

The pieces fell into place in my head.

Misato wanted to win. Not for Blair. Not even for the squad. For herself. She needed to prove she could lead, that she was more than just the attack dog who followed Blair’s commands or mopped up her messes. Whatever complicated position she held in that Summit House, this was her shot at something separate.

This bet wasn’t about me and Blair at all. It was Misato choosing Misato for the first time in probably her entire life.

Belle stood up and rolled her shoulders. Something in her spine cracked loud enough to make Jordan wince.

"Sixteen minutes. I need coffee."

"Get me one," Jordan said without opening his eyes.

"Get your own."

"Please?"

"Ugh. Fine."

They headed out together. Belle’s electric blue hair and Jordan’s perpetually disheveled brown vanishing through the doorway.

Naomi stayed put in her chair. Her staff still strapped across her back. The shell necklace at her throat sat crooked like she’d been messing with it.

Misato glanced between me and Naomi. Whatever she saw on our faces was apparently enough.

"I’ll be outside."

The door closed behind her with a quiet click. Now it was just me and Naomi in the viewing room, the frozen image of my blood-soaked face filling the screen behind us.

Naomi spoke to her hands instead of to me.

"I’m trying really hard not to be that girlfriend. The jealous one. The insecure one who needs you to tell her she’s special every five minutes. But."

"But?"

"But I keep thinking about Aurora. She’s Silver tier like me. She’s ranked twenty-three. Actually elite. She’s gorgeous and confident and probably better at this whole thing than I’ll ever be."

"Better at what."

"At everything you need."

I moved to the chair next to hers. Our arms almost touched.

"Aurora’s ranked higher than you. Yeah. She’s stunning. Absolutely. Her ability’s probably stronger than yours is right now. All of that’s true."

Naomi flinched like I’d just confirmed every awful thought she’d been having for the past hour.

"But Aurora didn’t sit next to me in Theory when I looked completely lost. She didn’t offer to help me practice combat drills at seven at night when she could’ve been doing literally anything else. She didn’t trust me with something she’d never trusted anyone with before."

"That’s just circumstances. Timing."

"Maybe. Or maybe you’re actually kind and she’s actually strategic and the world has space for both of you in it."

"Your sandwich theory again."

"It’s a good theory."

"It’s objectifying."

"It’s the truth."

Naomi finally looked at me. Her pink eyes were wet but she wasn’t crying. Not yet anyway.

"If I asked you to choose. Between me and Belle and Aurora and whoever else you end up finding. Would you?"

"No."

The word came out flat. Certain. Lying would’ve been worse than anything.

Her breath stopped for a second.

"At least you’re honest."

"You asked for honesty."

"I did."

She got to her feet. Adjusted the staff on her back. Touched the shell necklace again like it was a nervous habit.

"Results post in eleven minutes. I’ll see you there."

"Naomi—"

"It’s fine. Really. I just need to process it. Again. Apparently that’s my thing now. Processing your choices."

She walked out.

The door clicked shut. Quiet. Final.

I sat there alone staring at the frozen image on the screen. My own face covered in blood, shocked and exhausted but still standing.

That guy had killed an alpha. Made a bet with the richest girl in school. Started building an extraction network that spanned multiple women who all knew about each other to varying degrees.

That guy was six days old and already causing chaos wherever he went.

I pulled out my phone and typed a message to Aurora.

what do you like besides chocolate

why

because I’m planning

oooh he’s planning

cute

I like honesty. people who don’t waste my time. and boys who don’t forget our dates

I apologized

you did

doesn’t mean I’m not gonna make you work for it

noted

7pm. east field. don’t be late

She sent a fox emoji. Then a flame emoji. Then something that might’ve been a peach or possibly something more explicit.

I closed the messages and checked the time.

10:57 AM.

Three minutes until results posted.

Three minutes until I found out if the Midnight Foxes actually pulled off a top five finish. If my bet with Blair was legitimate. If Misato got to stay in my squad for the entire semester.

If I’d just locked myself into the hardest four months of my academy career or guaranteed my early exit from this place.

I got up and left the viewing room. Misato stood outside leaning against the wall with her phone gripped in both hands like it might explode at any second.

Her knuckles looked bone-white under the fluorescent hallway lights.

"Sixty seconds," I said.

"I can count."

"You nervous?"

"No."

"Liar."

She gave me a look that could’ve stripped paint off steel plating. Then her face shifted. Just a fraction. Just enough that I noticed the crack in her armor.

"If this doesn’t work," she started, her voice a low murmur. "If we miss the cut... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed it. Shouldn’t have made you think this was a sure thing."

"We made it."

"You don’t know that for certain."

"I killed an alpha with a borrowed spear I’d never held before today. Jordan held five shadows at once when his limit was supposed to be three. Naomi cleared half the enemies by herself while keeping friendly fire at zero. Belle’s detection was perfect the entire run and saved our asses at least four times. We earned this."

"Earning doesn’t always translate into results. Not in this academy."

"Today it does."

Belle and Jordan came back around the corner. Both carrying coffee cups. Both looking like they’d already made peace with death as an inevitable outcome and decided caffeine was the appropriate coping mechanism.

Naomi appeared from the opposite direction walking slowly like she was trying to delay the moment of truth. Her staff was put away somewhere I couldn’t see. Her hands hung empty at her sides. Her expression stayed carefully blank in that way people do when they’re preparing for disappointment.

Misato’s phone buzzed in her grip. The screen lit up bright enough to see from where I stood three feet away.

Results were live.