I can't just 'happen' to bump into John at his school by coincidence.

  It's far enough on the outskirts of New Boston to make me look suspicious. And it's such a bare, destitute area that there's nothing I would realistically go for; there's no good alibi. Maybe I should just give up on the 'chance encounter' approach and go straight to-

  "You can come in, Meili."

  A masculine voice yanked me out of my thoughts and into reality. I shook my head, as though to clear it of excess weight, and stepped out of the hallway into the headmaster's office.

  Inside, Vaughn adjusted his glasses as he examined a stack of papers. The room was plush, with pristine leather seats around a glossily polished table, while the man sat at a busy yet well-organized desk in the back. A vase of crimson, distinctly jagged flowers decorated the nearest edge of the desk, which evoked a memory of the same flower species in Lingard Mansion. It seemed like a case of shared taste at the top.

  "Good afternoon, Headmaster Vaughn."

  I made a slight bow, then set my backpack on the floor. School had let out ten minutes before, but I'd been too afraid of being late to store it in my locker.

  "Good afternoon." He nodded, not looking up from his papers. "Give me a moment while I verify something…"

  If he wanted, he could blink and turn the whole school into rubble. So yes, I was shaking slightly. But my nerves were thankfully calmed by my new place in the Wellston top ten.

  Vaughn's treatment of me had changed since I reached it. He had started doing routine 'monthly checkups,' the first of which happened to be my only one-on-one conversation with him. For this meeting, he'd emailed me in advance and placed it after classes let out.

  I studied him as he flipped through the files, eventually noting the air of finality with which he placed them back on his desk. No singular quality of his stood out. He wasn't exceptionally tall or notably muscular. His voice wasn't sharp or intimidating, and his face was decidedly regular for a middle-aged man.

  I shivered a little, anyway, when he looked up and smiled at me.

  "I thought your request to end the year early was reasonable," Vaughn said, "so don't expect anything terrible of this meeting. I simply want to talk about a few things – firstly, have you informed your teachers of where you'll be going?"

  He gestured for me to sit down, and I obeyed.

  "I've told all of them about the internship," I said. "They said they were okay with me taking my final exams on the twenty-sixth to accommodate. But I think it was mostly pressure from my rank that got them to agree…"

  Vaughn shook his head. "May twenty-sixth is hardly a shock. Previously, other students have ended the year two weeks in advance."

  A non-answer, I couldn't help but think. Those might have all been high-rankers, too. I could hardly imagine a low-ranking student receiving permission to take their exams early, no matter their circumstances.

  He clicked a few times with his mouse, glancing at the large monitor on his desk. "Your facilitator at NXGen contacted me last week. He said that initiation for your internship will start June first. What will you be using the time in-between for?"

  "Ah... My parents want to give me time to move in and adjust to living mostly alone in another city," I half-lied. "The twenty-sixth just seemed like a good number." It was true, in the sense that my parents were using that reasoning to justify the extra few days – and with my apparent age, it wasn't a thought process you could take issue with.

  Vaughn rubbed his chin, holding uncomfortably solid eye contact before his gaze drifted to the side. For a brief moment, I thought I saw it lingering on my earrings.

  I thought as much," he said. "No issues there, either…"

  A few minutes of awful quiet passed, with Vaughn's attention set solely on his monitor and the loudest mouse clicks I'd ever heard. Eventually, he nodded unintelligibly to himself and handed me the files he'd been examining earlier.

  "A little more, and everything will be set. Take a look at these while I finish."

  Grateful to have something to do, I flipped through them. As it turned out, the files were student profiles of me, Sayila, Cecile, Seraphina, and Remi. On each one but Sayila's, the line 'estimated level projection: beginning of year four' was circled in bright red highlighter.

  Meili Strauss - 5.5, Cecile Arbor - 5.2, Seraphina Galanis - 8.1, Remi Sterling - 5.7. Using both her profile and my memories, I knew Sayila's power level had been a comparatively low 4.8 at the beginning of the year.

  Remi and Seraphina were in the grade below me and Cecile, but the school already had their files. I gave a cautious smile at the apparent meaning. "I don't think Sayila would appreciate the comparison, sir."

  He looked back at me, seemingly done with his computer. "The purpose, here, is not to insult her. Sayila has done a perfectly reasonable job as Queen. Her power level is the median among the past ten students who held the role."

  "Then-"

  "The point is that, in the upcoming years, we will have the most successful group of female students in the history of this school."

  I'd never considered it in those exact terms, but the claim was reasonable. Mostly because of Seraphina.

  "Unfortunately," he continued, "there is such a thing as too much success. As things stand, Seraphina will be the only one of you four to hold the title. You will likely be Jack for the next three years, Remi will be Jack for one, and Cecile will at best be an interim Jack during absences. Ordinarily, all four of you could have been Queen."

  It didn't have to be said aloud, just how important being a high school Royal was in the upper echelons of the hierarchy. There were royal-exclusive social societies at every major university, Queen sororities and King fraternities, and The Authorities had a large preference for hiring royals. In the Great Lakes Sector, over thirty percent of high-tiers had worked for The Authorities at some point in their lives.

  "That's an optimistic scenario for the four of us," I pointed out. "It's possible we take in another exceptionally powerful student in a few years."

  Vaughn nodded. "I believe Cecile's parents had the same thought. They contacted Remi's parents, as well as yours, and together they sent these files and a strongly worded email. Studying under a powerful god-tier is valuable, they said, but no more than spending time as the Jack or Queen of a school. They would prefer I not force them to choose between the two."

  "Ah…" There was probably a dumbfounded look on my face, betraying me. I didn't know what to say.

  A transfer threat? Or some kind of deception?

  With the mention of my parents, I wasn't sure if I believed him. But Vaughn had no reason to lie about something easily verifiable... the real issue was that he was simply hard to read. If he was angry, he didn't show it. His expression had been planted in the same mild smile the whole time, and his body language was unchanging.

  I had the vague, intuitive feeling he was amused, but it was weak to the point of nonexistence.

  Cecile's family, I understand, but also Remi's? And mine? I frowned, accepting that they'd taken part - though I didn't understand why they'd kept it a secret from me.

  "Being Jack under Arlo and Seraphina isn't at all a shameful thing," I said. "I can talk to my parents about…"

  His face shifted subtly. I thought I could feel some bemusement, so I trailed off.

  "If I disagreed with their thoughts, this wouldn't be an issue," Vaughn said. "The problem is that they're correct. Having multiple strong, promising students presents an inherent flaw, one they've pointed out to me."

  He looked at me expectantly, as though this were a fill-in-the-blank problem on my final exam.

  I thought for a moment. "You mean that parents might want to pull their high-tier children out if they can't expect to become a royal here? So even if lots of students would like to come, we're limited by our Royal positions?"

  His smile widened at the deduction, but I couldn't tell if it was any more genuine than before. He was technically an educator, so in a sense it was a reasonable thing to be happy about.

  "Very good. As headmaster, my ultimate duty is to maximize Wellston High School's success. I would hate to be limited to a small group of powerful students if more could be interested in attending... At the very least, I would like more 'room' than other schools."

  That makes sense and all, I thought, but you haven't told me anything about what this has to do with me.

  I knew better than to express the thought out loud. I put on some curiosity. "Can I ask how you plan to do it, then?"

  Vaughn nodded. "Historically, our situation isn't exactly unique - and as such, I plan to use a historical solution. Twenty years ago, a boarding school in New Phoenix had four powerful high-tiers in the same senior class. The weakest of the four, in his two matches as an interim Jack, defeated Turf Wars teams singlehandedly. The school achieved an undefeated record and a Sector Title."

  I had a strong suspicion, suddenly, about what Vaughn was going to say next.

  "Rather than having him graduate unrecognized, they petitioned the city authorities for a fourth official Royal spot, an Ace. The request was accepted, with their dominance as the main justification, and he became the official Jack at rank four. I believe Cecile's parents are hoping for this: she would be Jack, you would be Queen."

  Ah, okay. So that's why… For the past few months, I'd been wondering how exactly Seraphina became 'the Ace' in the canon comics. As far as I could research, it simply wasn't an existing royal title. All the other schools only had a Jack, Queen, and King – and Wellston High, even with its prestige, wasn't any different.

  "It's important that we have an undefeated record next year, then?"

  "And the title, yes," Vaughn confirmed. "But a perfect record will be more difficult. With the number of matches a year, Seraphina will inevitably have times she can't participate. And, to be frank, she is the primary reason I have hope we can achieve it to begin with."

  She's literally the only reason, I thought. He's been avoiding bringing up her superiority in power. Does he think I'd be sensitive, or maybe that something happened during the tour?

  "Being compared to Seraphina unfavorably doesn't bother me much," I said. "Even if it did, I have a feeling it'll happen enough in the next few years that one time won't make a difference."

  Is his smile more real now, or am I imagining it?

  "A realistic attitude. Good. I'll say this, then: you and Arlo are far behind her. Enough that you two will be the reason we succeed or fail. As such, I need verbal confirmation that you will continue bettering yourself this summer. At the minimum, I expect 4.4 by the next school year."

  Vaughn stared at me - almost through me, as though I were made of red-tinted glass.

  I noticed myself nodding a little low. "Yes, sir. I'll be at least a 4.4 when I leave New Boston."

  ***Beautiful***

  Ever since she had Meili, Alice Strauss had possessed so little free time that she'd forgotten what the words meant.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  'Free time.' It was time in which you were free to do whatever you pleased, with no obligation to your career, your family, or even yourself. You could spend it watching a bird pecking at a tree, or simply observing people milling around in the streets below you, without feeling like you'd failed. Time that could be spent on nothing at all.

  Thirty-six hours ago, Alice had been suturing a college girl's abdomen together at three in the morning, and she'd promised herself to cherish the free time she'd get for it. A complex overnight surgery, executed to perfection while overcoming sleep deprivation, earned you an afternoon off. The reward was equal across levels, a rare luxury, so she hadn't even complained when they gave her Wednesday afternoon instead of Friday.

  No. She'd started fantasizing about a few glorious hours spent on the couch watching brainless soap operas, or sitting in a lawn chair reading a book under the sun, or maybe even just an extra afternoon nap…

  "I'm telling you!" A woman's voice shrilled. "Vaughn's not going to realize the solution. We should have been more direct!"

  Alice bit down on a sigh and refocused on the speaking woman. Instead of her ideals, she was spending her afternoon in a conference room with two husbands and wives she barely knew, trying to overcome their children's unsatisfying placements in the Wellston High School power hierarchy. A quiet groan to her left reminded Alice that she'd dragged along her overworked husband - just for good misery-maximizing measure.

  Eventually, Alice managed to start fully processing the words being spoken. The woman's husband (Mr. and Mrs. Arbor, the two insisted on being called) had begun his retort.

  "…And what do you want to do, then? Tell a man two levels higher than us how to do his job?" Mr. Arbor shook his head with a snort. "Look, I didn't want to say this, but I thought we were being too direct in that first email. I chose not to speak up, with how much effort you were putting into browbeating everyone, but-"

  Mrs. Arbor let out a sharp, barking laugh. "Oh, here we go. You were making a fuss fifteen minutes ago about keeping things impersonal."

  "Yes, for the sake of productivity." Mr. Arbor glanced around the table, eyes sliding past its six inhabitants. "But I've given up on that, seeing as nobody has any realistic, meaningful ideas. "

  Including yourself, Alice thought. They had made precisely zero progress over the past half hour. The Arbors were the highest-ranking, most distinguished couple among them and spoke the most as a result. Unfortunately, they were more effective at airing dirty laundry than leading the conversation. Why is it that the people who respect everyone else's time the least, high-tiers, should make the plans?

  Mr. Sterling cleared his throat meekly from across the table. Alice thought it was his first time speaking. "Ah… To interject, Vaughn comes across as intelligent to me. Very- very well read, well researched, each time I've spoken to him. It's likely, I feel, he understands the possibility of an Ace."

  "Understanding the possibility doesn't mean he'll aim for it." Mrs. Arbor frowned, striking a palm flat on the table. "What I'm saying is, we should make an argument for why acquiring an Ace is in his interests. Give him motivation to want it, and he'd be aligned with us fully!"

  "He already has motivation," Mr. Arbor cut in. "Not losing the enrollment of our children. The real issue here is that he might take offense at what we've already sent. If he thinks we're disrespecting him, or telling him how to feel, then…"

  "Can you stop with that? If even that little nudge was too dangerous, then we shouldn't have tried anything at all!"

  "Which is exactly what I've been trying to say! Or the language of the message should have been softer, at the very least!" Previously a light tan, the skin of Mr. Arbor's throat and neck was now flushed with red.

  Alice grimaced. This was why she and her husband had mentally disengaged. Along with simple fatigue, they'd been stuck in place long enough that it served as an excuse to zone out. But even though she wanted to go home, wanted to catch up on sleep, she couldn't bring herself to walk out of the room. The whole 'project' was ultimately motivated by a desire to have their children do well: becoming emotional or invested meant that you cared. In that sense, even unproductive hysterics were better than indifference.

  And wasn't she here, participating in this scheme, just like they were? Because she and her husband thought 'Queen Meili' sounded much better for their daughter than 'Meili the Jack?' Just like them, Alice hadn't been able to come up with anything to pull Vaughn to their side... though, in her mind, the underlying issue wasn't what anyone else had said.

  Vaughn was unpredictable. Even when she'd known him in high school, he was impossible to understand – and with his sudden career pivot away from The Authorities, nobody knew quite what to make of his goals. So exactly how he'd reacted to the message was anyone's guess, and the lack of knowledge was keeping the group from committing.

  "I don't see why we have to rush into anything," said Mrs. Sterling, seeming oddly happier and more composed than all. "Seeming overly pushy is no way to get people to do what you want. Not someone like Vaughn. We have enough time to let things cool off over the summer, observe, and go from there."

  Alice knew the Sterlings were the current king's parents, and she'd heard rumors of their powerful younger daughter, Remi, but she knew little beyond that.

  "And what if our first message already has him leaning our way?" Mrs. Arbor said. "We'd only be giving him time to convince himself out of it, and all when a few good arguments about the benefits would-"

  A ringtone sounded.

  The music came from Alice's left, where her husband had placed his smartphone on the table. He roused himself from his nap and snatched it up immediately.

  Even though Alice didn't see the screen, she knew who it was by the look that sprouted on his face.

  "Hello?" Haoyu spoke into the phone.

  The reply was muffled yet clear. "Hi, Dad. Is this a good time to talk?"

  "Err… Not exactly." Her husband's pupils practically bounced around, alternating between Alice, his phone, and the staring Arbors. "Is it important?"

  "Well, I just got out of a meeting with Vaughn, so I'd say so. He was talking about a transfer threat."

  For a long moment, their table was deathly silent.

  Haoyu broke it first. "Ah, that-"

  In one flurry of movement: Mrs. Arbor struck the table, jostling their overpriced coffees. Mr. Sterling groaned into his hands while his wife rubbed him on the back. Mr. Arbor lunged to his feet, scrambling for the phone while knocking his chair precariously in the process.

  Alice cringed, not liking her daughter's phrasing one bit.

  "Not a threat! Not a threat!" Mr. Arbor spoke into the phone, squeezing it tightly in his hand. His pine-green eyebrow twitched as he glared back at his wife. "An expression of our shared interests as parents! Interests that nobody should be faulted for having, not when it comes to their own children! Did Vaughn recognize this, or did he misunderstand?"

  There was a painful pause on the other side.

  "Headmaster Vaughn said that he also wants an Ace. So he wants us royals to try for a perfect record next year-"

  The man practically collapsed in his chair in relief. Alice wiped the sweat off her forehead.

  "-But whether or not he was offended by the email he got… I don't think he would ever tell a student. I'm sorry, um, Mr. Arbor? I assume?"

  "No, no! That's perfectly alright! That's more than good enough!" He made no motion to return the phone, and Alice realized that she needed to explain what was happening to Meili. "Did he, ah, seem emotional in any way?" The man kept going. "Anger or antagonism? No issues if he seemed normal; I understand he's a difficult man to get a hold on…"

  Alice tapped Mr. Arbor on the shoulder, interrupting him with a meaningful look. He blinked at her, seemingly composing himself. "I suppose I just answered my own question," he said. "I'm going to hand the phone to your mother."

  Alice took it into her hands, and Meili spoke, "Hi Mom! Are you and Dad at a shady backroom meeting for Wellston High parents? Are Rei's parents there too?"

  Alice thought that the tone sounded joking, but with the muffle of the phone speakers… "They're here, but it's nothing shady at all, dear." She laughed lightly. "Mrs. Arbor is a member of The Authorities."

  There was another pause from Meili. More conspicuous and purposeful than the last.

  "Okay. Just so you know, I'm the weak link for a perfect record, so the headmaster needs me to make good progress. We might need to pay for a two-week battle camp in New Boston."

  Alice hid a wince. "Alright. We can look into them together once the school year ends."

  She'd figured something like this would happen, but the words stung more than she'd expected. She felt the warm, lingering burn of self-conscious shame.

  How greedy do you have to be? she scolded herself. Her daughter was already a 4.2, already on track to be a god-tier and royal at the most prestigious high school in the Great Lakes Sector. There was wanting your child to do well, wanting her to be happy, but Alice wondered if she'd gone too far.

  "Meili, I-"

  "Do you think being Queen will be good for me, Mom?" Meili's voice cut her off.

  Despite the answer being obvious, the question felt awfully pointed. "Yes. I think having the title will open doors for you in the future," Alice answered.

  The distinct sound of Meili's sigh made it through the microphone. Alice knew that her daughter could have hidden it if she wanted.

  "Okay. I'm sure it won't hurt. And I'm sure you and Dad had a reason for not telling me about what you've been doing."

  Alice gave her husband a worried look, one he returned. "Well…" she said. "If Vaughn agreed with us, we thought he might use his previous work contacts with The Authorities to get approval immediately. The title would be a nice surprise, and there wouldn't be any effect on you until you had it. It's - it's going to be a bit harder on you than we wanted."

  The justification felt shallow, and there was silence on the other end. Alice waited for a response, but she felt a pat on her shoulder before one came.

  She turned to find Mrs. Arbor standing behind her. "There's no need for false modesty," Mrs. Arbor said, smiling more fakely than a prosthetic leg. "That's multiple years as the Queen of Wellston! I'm sure you must be very proud of her."

  Alice blinked. Then she smiled back, hoping her acting was better than the green-haired woman's. "Thank you. It's an honor. I'm sure Cecile will do very well, too."

  Alice could see Mr. Arbor congratulating Haoyu from the corner of her eye. Her husband smiled and nodded along, bowing modestly in his chair as a show of respect to the higher-leveled man. It was the exhausting gap in positions between 4.6 and 5.8.

  But a difference that could potentially be overcome, in truth, now that Cecile Arbor's royal spot would depend on Meili's turf wars performance. Meili would be a god-tier in a few years, while the whole Arbor clan was famous for being perpetually stuck just below the 6.0 cutoff.

  And the Arbors had been insufferable the whole time. Barely accepting input from anyone, demonstrating a lack of respect for other people's time by bringing up personal drama, bullheadedly sticking to their own plans…

  From the shallows of her subconscious, Alice had a risky, horribly selfish idea. Telling the truth.

  "Sorry," she spoke into the phone. "I said that because it was easy to say, but it's a bad excuse."

  "Yeah?" said Meili.

  "We had our first meeting five days ago. Friday last week," Alice explained. "Truthfully, I was going to tell you over the weekend, but we had some emergencies at the clinic, and I ended up glued to the operating table for all of it."

  She sighed deeply. "You know how my ability level sets me up to take the fall. It's the same with your father, with this new product launch. He's the lowest-leveled on his team after some layoffs, so they've forgotten all about the fact he has a wife and child."

  "Um, Mom?" Came Meili's voice. "Are you still in the room with them? I'm not sure this is…"

  "The point is," Alice rolled forward before she could lose her nerve, "there was another surgeon stuck with me on weekend duty. Barely a high-tier, and he was only a Jack in high school – that's why he was there with me. Which made me think of something."

  The Arbors and Sterlings had started gathering their things to leave, but the Arbors stopped short to listen. Haoyu shot Alice a glance, raising his eyebrows, but she shook her head.

  "Once you evolved your ability," she said, "I stopped worrying that you would ever end up in my position. As a god-tier, you won't be saddled with work you'll never be recognized for. You won't be stuck in the same spot, watching all your higher-level peers soar above you. Peers who kill more patients per surgery, all while performing easier operations with the benefit of sleep and a schedule."

  Alice had purposefully allowed her bitterness to start seeping into her tone. She could suddenly imagine, in vivid detail, what type of look had sprouted on the Arbors' faces. She made sure not to look at them.

  "But I realized you could end up somewhere where everyone's a god-tier. Where everyone's at least as strong as you, and everyone is a former King or Queen. While you're on the lower end of god-tier, the only former Jack among your peers…"

  "I imagined you in my place again," she said after a while. "I couldn't take it."

  It had been 10:00 PM on Saturday when it happened. Alice had been putting on her gummy, sweat-stained surgical gloves in the middle of a dark operating room, her sole partner away for a bathroom break. She'd been lonely, and she hadn't been able to keep herself from jealousy or anger, thinking of her coworkers relaxing at home with their families.

  Then Alice thought of her daughter, standing alone in the room instead of her.

  "I don't want you there," Alice said bitterly. "You shouldn't have to let someone who's worse at speaking, less intelligent, and less skillful than you beat you into a lesser shape. Not because of something… something irrelevant like-"

  "Mom," came Meili's voice. "I get it. You don't have to explain anymore."

  "I was scared you would disagree about trying to bargain with Vaughn," she whispered. "Scared you might think it was too risky for us. I was horrified you might make us stand against your own future."

  Alice had been staring straight into the phone. As though doing so would let her see her daughter's face. She looked up from it, soaking in the anger in the Arbors' eyes, reading the negative curve of their lips.

  "I'm sorry for using you like this," she added, whispering.

  "So Cecile's parents are still there," Meili said with a tone of recognition. She spoke it quietly enough that only Alice could hear. "If you put it that way, I've been using you my whole life, Mom."

  "Thank you," said Alice. She muted herself, muted the call, but didn't hang up.

  Then she checked her wallet, packed her purse, and gave a long, meaningful glance to her husband. It was time to leave.

  The Sterlings had already made their exit. The Arbors could have left at any moment, but they had instead stood and listened to an indictment of themselves. A massively successful defense lawyer and a veteran of The Authorities, both with ability levels approaching 6.0... How much of their success was their own? How much of it was due to others' restraints?

  Alice kept the phone held to her ear, Haoyu behind her, and began walking slowly to the conference room's exit. They made it three steps away before a voice stopped them.

  "It must be excruciatingly hard to pull off," Mr. Arbor ground out testily from behind them. "Victimizing yourself like at 4.7. Nineteen of twenty people would kill to stand in your place."

  The man wouldn't do anything but talk. Not when Meili, their daughter, was waiting on the other side of the phone. Alice wanted to keep walking, but she spun when Haoyu did.

  "My wife is no liar," he stated firmly.

  "Ah." Mr. Arbor wore a savage expression. "So you can pay attention when people talk. Tell me, where am I mistaken?"

  Haoyu, slouching tiredly with his dark eye bags and thinning hair, demonstrated the wit Alice loved him for.

  "It's not hard to understand," he said, grasping her hand. "When the mountain is steep enough, 'higher than most' is a foot off the ground."

  They turned and walked out of the room.