I woke up to the smell of burnt toast and something that might have been coffee if coffee hated you personally.
Maki was gone.
The bed was cold.
My ribs still hurt like someone had used them as a xylophone.
Sixty-seven hours until Reyna kicked my ass in front of the entire Academy.
Fantastic.
I sat up and immediately regretted every decision that had led to this moment.
My phone showed forty-seven unread messages.
Most from people I didn't know asking if I was dating the President's sister.
Three from Natalia with variations of "don't die."
One from Skylar: break her nose first. sets the tone.
Emi had sent a picture of protein pancakes with a heart emoji.
Akari's message was just: daddy needs to win so we can celebrate properly later~
I threw the phone across the room.
It bounced off a pile of dirty laundry and survived.
My status screen flickered to life.
Blue text hanging in the air like a cosmic to-do list I couldn't ignore.
SATORI NAKANO
