Yun Jiao found her classroom without help.
She'd looked at the map once in the car. Once was enough.
She walked in four minutes before class started.
Thirty seats. About twenty already filled.
Conversations happening, phones out, the relaxed pre-class energy of people who knew each other and knew this space.
She found a seat — middle row, slightly left, good sightline to the door and the board — and sat down.The conversations didn't stop.
But they adjusted.
She could feel it. The awareness spreading outward from her like ripples. Who is that. Is that the new girl. Did you see—
She put her bag down.
Took out her notebook.
Opened it to a fresh page.
"New girl."
The voice came from her right. A girl. Pretty, sharp-eyed, the particular confidence of someone who had a designated seat in the social hierarchy and knew exactly what it was.
Yun Jiao looked at her.
"Hi," she said warmly.
"You're Yun Jiao." Not a question. "Yunjinna's— whatever you are."
"Sister," Yun Jiao offered helpfully.
The girl's mouth curved. Not warmly. "Right. Sister." She looked Yun Jiao over once — the outfit, the bag, the face —
and Yun Jiao watched the calculation happen in real time.
"I'm Tang Siyao." One of Yunjinna's Four Stars.
"It's nice to meet you," Yun Jiao said, with a smile so genuine that Tang Siyao blinked.
"Yunjinna told us about you," Tang Siyao continued. Back on script. The smile returning. "Said you'd need some time to adjust. The transition from— well."
A small gracious gesture. "It must be a lot."
There it was.
The transition from.
Leaving the sentence unfinished so Yun Jiao could fill in the blank herself. Orphanage. Nothing. Somewhere less than here.
Said with such kindness. Such understanding.
Yun Jiao looked at her with wide, grateful eyes.
"Sister is so thoughtful," she said softly.
"She's been so worried about me adjusting. I keep telling her I'll be fine but she just—" she pressed a hand to her chest,exaggerating much while smiling sweetly "—she really cares. You can tell she has such a good heart."
Tang Siyao stared at her.
That was not the response she was expecting "...Right," she said.
"She's lucky to have friends like you looking out for her too," Yun Jiao added warmly. "It means a lot."
Tang Siyao opened her mouth.
Closed it.
She had come in with a very clear plan for how this conversation was going to go and it had somehow ended with her being thanked for being a good friend to Yunjinna and she couldn't find where it had gone wrong.
The professor walked in.
Class started.
Tang Siyao looked at her notes.
Yun Jiao looked at the board.
Under the desk her hand typed a quick message to Hawk: Tang Siyao. Four Stars. Yunjinna's. Note her.
Hawk's response: noted. Also the boy who walked into the pillar outside is in your class. Seat four from the left. He keeps looking at you.
She didn't look.
Wrote the date at the top of her page.
First day of school.
She was going to enjoy this.
—— SOMEWHERE ON THE FORTY-SECOND FLOOR —Si Xi's assistant knocked at ten AM.
"Sir. The campus visit has been confirmed for this afternoon."
Si Xi didn't look up from his desk. "Mm."
"The Dean has prepared a full itinerary—"
"I don't need an itinerary."
"...Of course." A pause. "Sir, if I may — you haven't visited the campus in the three years since the acquisition. Is there a particular reason for—"
"No."
The assistant paused."...Of course, sir."He left.
Si Xi looked at the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Jinhao University. His. In the technical, documented, absolute sense of the word — his. He'd acquired it three years ago and then left it to run itself because it ran perfectly well without him and he had other things to think about.
He had other things to think about now too.
And yet.
His phone was on the desk.
He looked at it.
The message was still there from Friday night.— A neighbour. —
He looked back at the city.
This afternoon, he thought.
He picked up his pen.
Went back to work.