Sheila’s expression remained composed at first, but the slight pause in her eating and the faint sharpening of her gaze gave her away. Ariana adjusted her cracked glasses even though they had already been repaired by the infirmary staff, her face showing a soft mixture of surprise, confusion, and something that looked suspiciously like jealousy before she forced it into polite curiosity.

Dylan noticed and looked delighted, though he wisely chose not to say too much while still recovering from his own injuries. Charlotte noticed too, of course, and the satisfaction in her smile became almost dangerous. She did not have to say that she enjoyed making them react. Everyone at the table could see it.

Eventually, the conversation shifted away from Charlotte’s embellished version of events and toward the rankings. Sheila’s return to rank one became the first topic, with Max congratulating her properly and Dylan joking that the entire second-year class had looked ready to build her a throne just to keep Liam from sitting on it.

Sheila looked mildly embarrassed by that, but she did not deny the reaction. Ariana gently pointed out that whether the students liked the reason or not, Sheila now had a responsibility waiting for her, and Sheila accepted that with a small nod. Liam said nothing, but his silence carried agreement, and Sheila noticed.

Then, inevitably, the conversation turned toward the Berserker.

Dylan still looked half-unbelieving when he brought it up, saying that seeing Liam erase a Sync-class demon on the screen had made his own assessment feel embarrassingly small. Max was more direct, stating that no matter what the ranking said, fighting a Berserker alone and winning was beyond anything most students could even imagine attempting.

Ariana asked how Liam had maintained enough composure during the later portion of the fight, especially after taking so much damage, though Liam only gave a vague answer about instinct and necessity. Sheila studied him quietly when he said that, as if sensing there was more he was not saying.

Charlotte proudly added that she had saved him afterward, which led Dylan to remind everyone that she had already mentioned that at least six times. Charlotte corrected him by saying that important history deserved repetition.

The teasing followed naturally from there.

Dylan joked that Liam had somehow managed to be terrifying, irresponsible, and conveniently dependent on Charlotte all in the same assessment. Charlotte agreed far too quickly and claimed that this proved fate wanted them together in dramatic survival circumstances.

Max laughed and said Liam’s real punishment was not dropping to rank three but having Charlotte tell the story for the rest of the semester. Ariana tried to hide a smile behind her cup, while Sheila looked between Charlotte and Liam with a quiet expression that suggested she was still deciding how much of Charlotte’s story to believe.

Liam continued eating through most of it, occasionally giving short responses, none of which helped him escape the attention.

Through all of it, Asher remained mostly silent.

He ate, but not much. He listened, but rarely reacted. His eyes kept drifting toward Liam, studying him with an intensity that did not feel casual. Liam noticed every glance. He noticed the tension in Asher’s jaw, the way his fingers tightened around his utensils, and the way his expression hardened whenever someone mentioned the Berserker.

But Liam said nothing.

As much as he was physically present at the table, surrounded by chatter, laughter, teasing, and the relief of returning alive, a part of him remained distant. His thoughts kept circling back to Nalim, to the decisions he had made, to the ways he had let frustration guide him into a fight he did not truly need, and to the thirty-six hours where his survival had depended on Charlotte because he had been too damaged to protect himself.

Regulus’s words had not offended him.

That was the problem.

They had been accurate. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Liam had defeated the Berserker, but he had failed to survive the aftermath on his own. He had exposed more of himself than intended, given Thion more reason to focus on him, and created questions he would soon have to answer.

The ranking drop had solved one issue by returning leadership pressure to Sheila, but it had also marked the beginning of something else. The academy now knew far more about what he could do than he had wanted them to know. They knew he had gone looking for the Berserker. They knew there was a reason. And sooner or later, Thion would ask.

After the group finished eating, exhaustion finally overpowered conversation. The excitement of being back, the relief of food, and the temporary energy from the ranking announcement began fading from everyone’s bodies at once. Dylan leaned back with a groan and declared that if anyone tried to stop him from sleeping for the next twelve hours, he would consider it attempted murder.

Charlotte said she still wanted something sweet before sleeping, but even she looked ready to collapse into a proper bed. Sheila and Ariana decided to return to their dorms as well, both needing rest before the expectations surrounding Sheila’s new rank could begin pressing in more heavily. Max left with a tired wave, saying he wanted to check whether his bracer could be repaired before he slept, though no one believed he would make it far before falling onto his bed.

The group slowly split apart outside the cafeteria, moving in different directions through the academy corridors. Sheila paused briefly before leaving, her eyes meeting Liam’s once more in quiet acknowledgment, but neither of them said anything. Ariana gave him a small, gentle smile before following Sheila.

Charlotte lingered near Liam longer than necessary, naturally, teasing him about not missing her too much before she eventually headed off with a final promise that she would make sure everyone heard the "proper" version of their Nalim experience. Liam watched her go with a tired expression, while Dylan muttered that the academy was not emotionally prepared for Charlotte with an audience.

Eventually, Liam, Asher, and Dylan ended up walking the same way toward their dorm block.

The corridor was quieter than the cafeteria, the polished floor reflecting the evening light from the tall windows along the wall. Dylan walked between them for part of the way, yawning repeatedly and complaining about how his body felt as though it had been assembled incorrectly after Nalim. Liam said little, and Asher said even less.

The silence between Liam and Asher was not empty. It carried something dense and unfinished, something Dylan seemed to notice after a while because his usual jokes began thinning out until he finally looked between the two of them with faint suspicion.

When they reached the split near their block, Dylan slowed and looked toward his own room, clearly torn between curiosity and the desperate need to sleep. Before he could say anything, Asher stopped walking.

"Liam," Asher said.

Liam paused and turned his head slightly.

Asher stood a few steps behind him, his posture stiff, his expression sharper than it had been in the cafeteria. The exhaustion was still there, but beneath it was something hotter, something unsettled and refusing to quiet down. His hands were no longer clenched, but the tension in his fingers had not fully left.

"I want to talk," Asher said.

Dylan looked between them again, then slowly raised both hands as if removing himself from whatever was about to happen. Liam studied Asher for a brief moment, calm and unreadable, while the quiet corridor stretched around them.