The campus tried to act normal again.
That was the strangest part.
After the wellness schedules, the dorm upgrades, the skincare bags, and the gaming gear, Campus-2 moved forward like it had completed a task. Like it had offered compensation and therefore deserved peace. The announcement boards returned to their usual nonsense. Students complained about quizzes again. A club recruitment booth popped up near the courtyard like nothing had happened to anyone's nervous system.
But the Health Track group carried their own weather now.
Even on a bright morning, they walked like rain could start without forecast.
XH woke up earlier than he needed to and stayed in bed anyway, staring at the ceiling like he was waiting for a sound that didn't arrive. His phone sat on the pillow near his shoulder, screen down. Andrew's email was still there. It felt like a door that had been unlocked for him and now demanded he be brave enough to enter.
He finally flipped the phone over and opened the email properly.
It was formal and warm at the same time. Andrew's writing always had that mix, like he had learned how to sound adult without losing his heart.
One-day embassy networking event.
Dress code.
Arrival time.
Transportation details.
A note that made XH's chest tighten in a way he didn't want to name.
"Group is welcome. Bring your best self. It matters."
It matters.
That sentence kept repeating in XH's mind even after he locked the phone.
He got up, washed his face, and stared at himself in the mirror longer than he meant to. His reflection was there. Normal. Tired eyes. Slight shadows under them. A face that looked like it had been in too many rooms where it had to stay calm.
He brushed his hair with his fingers and tried to decide which version of himself was going to show up at an embassy.
The one who survived.
Or the one who still wanted to be seen.
In the boys' common room, JP was already awake and already loud.
He had a measuring tape.
Nobody knew where he got it.
TZ was sitting on the couch with a quiet expression, watching JP measure the length of his own sleeve like JP was performing a science experiment.
"What are you doing," TZ asked.
JP frowned. "Dress code."
TZ blinked. "It's an embassy event, not a funeral."
JP pointed at the tape like it was evidence. "You think embassies play. You think the embassy chancellor wants to see my wrist."
NS sat in the corner chair with his phone in hand, scrolling, quiet. He didn't look amused. He looked like he was calculating. When NS calculated, something usually happened.
XH stepped into the room and JP immediately pointed at him.
"There he is," JP said. "Our main character."
TZ sighed. "Don't call him that."
JP ignored TZ and leaned forward. "What are you wearing."
XH hesitated. "A shirt."
JP stared. "A shirt. He says. Like we're going to a cafeteria."
XH muttered, "I'll wear something decent."
NS looked up briefly. "Andrew's event is not a joke."
JP looked offended. "I know."
TZ leaned back. "Then stop acting like a clown."
JP opened his mouth, then closed it, then said, softer, "I'm nervous."
The word sat in the room quietly.
It was one thing for JP to joke. It was another thing for JP to admit something. When JP admitted something, it meant the feeling was too big to hide behind comedy.
XH sat on the couch arm and nodded slowly. "Yeah."
TZ didn't make fun of him. TZ just nodded too, like agreement was the closest thing to comfort he could offer.
A new notification popped up in their group chat. The Health Track chat had become chaotic lately. Too many messages. Too many jokes. Too many small signs of stress disguised as memes.
NC had sent the first message of the morning.
"Embassy day. We meet under Campus-2 entrance at 4:30. Be on time. No excuses."
JP replied immediately.
"Ma'am yes ma'am."
NC sent another message.
"I'm serious."
JP replied.
"I am terrified."
TZ sent a thumbs-up.
Jihye sent a selfie with her hair tied up and the caption, "If I die of stress I want my funeral photos to be cute."
Cherry replied with a skull emoji, then quickly deleted it, then wrote, "Do not be dramatic."
Anna wrote, "What is the dress code."
NC replied, "Smart. Clean. Not casual."
Kitty sent one message that made the chat go quiet for a second.
"do we have to wear heels."
Jihye replied instantly, "No, queen. Wear what saves your feet."
Cherry replied, "If the embassy judges your shoes they deserve to collapse."
June did not reply.
That absence was noticeable now. Not because June was loud in the chat, but because June had always been present in a controlled way. When June wasn't present, it felt like something was holding her back.
XH stared at the chat for a moment, then typed.
"Andrew said transportation is arranged. Expensive Uber. Don't be late."
JP replied with a crying emoji.
TZ replied, "Why is he paying."
NS replied, "Networking costs."
JP replied, "My dignity is not for sale."
TZ replied, "Your dignity is on clearance."
XH almost smiled.
Then his phone buzzed again.
A private message from Kitty.
"what are you wearing."
XH stared at it for a second longer than necessary.
Not because the question was deep.
Because Kitty asking it felt like a thread being offered. A simple thread that could pull them into a conversation that wasn't about survival.
He typed back.
"Not sure. Maybe black shirt. Jacket."
Kitty replied almost instantly.
"ok. don't dress like a teacher."
XH stared, then typed.
"I don't."
Kitty replied.
"you do sometimes."
XH actually smiled at that.
He typed.
"Is that bad."
Kitty replied.
"it's cute. just don't."
XH's chest tightened in a way he didn't want to name. He locked the phone and stood up because staying in the feeling too long felt dangerous.
In the girls' dorm, the atmosphere was different.
They were not yelling.
They were not throwing darts at walls.
They were doing something scarier.
They were thinking.
Kitty stood in front of her mirror with a blouse held against her chest, then a dress, then another blouse. Her bed was covered in options. Not because she had too many clothes. Because she was trying to choose who she would be in a room full of strangers.
NC sat at the desk with a notepad open, writing times and reminders like she was planning a mission.
"Bring ID," NC said out loud.
Anna nodded, sitting on the bed edge, eyes calm. "Always."
Jihye was doing her hair, half laughing and half sighing. "Do we want to look rich or do we want to look like students who deserve scholarships."
Cherry was scrolling her phone, eyes sharp. "We want to look like we belong. That's the only thing that matters."
Kitty glanced at her reflection and felt her stomach twist. Belonging was a performance sometimes. She had performed her whole life without calling it performance.
June's absence from this room was louder than any voice.
Kitty glanced at her phone again, then put it down.
NC noticed.
"She hasn't replied," NC said softly.
Kitty nodded. "She's busy."
Cherry scoffed. "Busy. Or supervised."
Jihye paused mid-hair tie. "Her mom."
Anna's voice was quiet. "It's getting worse."
Kitty didn't answer. She didn't want to say the truth out loud because saying the truth made it real.
The truth was, June's mother was tightening the leash, and the tighter the leash got, the more June became a person made of controlled silence.
Kitty's phone buzzed.
Not June.
A message from XH.
"Don't wear heels if you don't want. Embassy won't care."
Kitty stared at it.
It was simple.
It was caring.
It made her chest warm and annoyed at the same time because warmth was dangerous now.
She typed back.
"i'm wearing flats. if anyone judges me i'll judge them back."
XH replied.
"Deal."
Kitty smiled without meaning to.
NC watched her and didn't comment, but her eyes softened in that big-sister way. NC had always been good at seeing the truth and letting it breathe without forcing it.
Cherry's gaze flicked toward Kitty's smile and narrowed slightly, like she wanted to say something sharp, then chose not to.
Rivalry didn't always announce itself. Sometimes it just watched.
On June's side of campus, the day was not about outfits.
It was about control.
June sat at a dining table that was too polished for comfort, her breakfast arranged neatly. Her mother sat across from her with a tablet open, scrolling schedules.
June's mother didn't look angry. She looked efficient. That was worse.
"The extra classes are confirmed," her mother said. "Morning and evening."
June kept her voice calm. "I have an embassy networking event."
Her mother didn't look up. "Not necessary."
June's jaw tightened slightly. "Andrew invited the group."
Her mother finally looked up, eyes sharp. "Andrew is not your future."
June held her gaze. "Connections matter."
Her mother's mouth tightened. "Your grades matter."
June's fingers tightened around her spoon. She felt the familiar frustration rise. She swallowed it down like she always did.
"There are international graduates there," June said carefully. "Foreign students. It's useful."
Her mother's eyes narrowed. "You have enough usefulness. You need discipline."
June's heart beat harder.
She wanted to argue. She wanted to say, I am not a project. She wanted to say, I want to breathe.
Instead she said, "It's one day."
Her mother's voice stayed calm. "One day becomes a habit."
June's throat tightened. She glanced at her phone on the table. The group chat was loud. Notifications kept appearing. NC planning. Jihye being dramatic. Kitty asking about heels. JP clowning.
June wanted to reply.
She didn't.
Her mother's gaze followed June's glance.
"No phone during breakfast," her mother said.
June's fingers twitched.
She put her phone face down.
June's mother continued, "You will attend your extra classes. You will not waste time in social events."
June's voice stayed controlled. "It's not a social event."
Her mother's eyes sharpened. "Everything is a social event if it distracts you from your target."
June swallowed hard.
She hated that her mother was not fully wrong. Targets mattered. Futures mattered. But the way her mother treated her future like a cage made June's chest feel tight.
June's mother's tone softened slightly, which meant the knife was about to be hidden in velvet.
"You can network later," her mother said. "When you are stable. When you are top."
June's pride flared.
Top.
June had always wanted top. Not because she wanted to crush people. Because top meant safety. Top meant scholarships. Top meant escape.
But top also meant being owned by the person who pushed you there.
June's phone buzzed again.
Her mother's gaze snapped to it.
June didn't move.
Her mother reached across the table and flipped the phone over.
A message from NC.
"June you coming right. We need you."
June's mother read it silently. Then her eyes lifted to June's face.
"No," her mother said simply. "You are not."
June's breath caught. She wanted to speak. She wanted to fight.
But fighting in this house always cost more than it won.
So June nodded slowly and whispered, "Okay."
The word tasted bitter.
She went to her room after breakfast and locked the door softly.
She sat on her bed and stared at her phone.
She typed a message into the group chat three times and deleted it three times.
She finally wrote one sentence.
"i can't go. family schedule."
Then she stared at it.
She didn't hit send yet.
She didn't want it to be real.
Back on campus, the boys were doing their own version of preparation.
JP had dragged TZ and XH to the laundry room like it was a battlefield.
"If we show up with wrinkled shirts, we die," JP declared.
TZ rolled his eyes. "We won't die."
JP pointed at TZ. "We will die socially."
XH watched them argue and felt that small warmth again. It was stupid. It was normal. It was life.
NS stood near the doorway, quiet, scrolling his phone. He looked like he was reading something serious.
XH glanced at him. "What."
NS didn't look up. "Just campus rumors."
JP snorted. "Campus rumors are a hobby."
NS looked up then, eyes calm. "They matter."
XH felt his stomach tighten slightly. "About what."
NS shrugged lightly.
"About the promise."
The promise.
Everyone knew the headmaster had promised 50 percent tuition discounts. Everyone knew that promise was now shaky under the Sleepy Man. The word promise had become a knife. It cut whoever believed it too much.
JP slammed the washing machine door harder than necessary. "If that promise disappears, I'm burning this campus down in my mind."
TZ laughed. "In your mind."
JP glared. "And in my words."
NS's mouth twitched slightly. "Words can burn."
XH didn't answer. His chest tightened because the truth was, words had already burned them. Policies. Announcements. Messages.
The group chat exploded again.
NC: "Everyone confirm you have something to wear."
JP: "I have a suit and it hates me."
TZ: "I'm wearing black."
Jihye: "I'm wearing confidence."
Cherry: "I'm wearing patience."
Anna: "I will wear something simple."
Kitty: "i'm not wearing heels."
NC: "Good. No one break their ankles."
JP: "June confirm."
Silence.
No June.
JP sent another message.
"JUNE."
Still no reply.
XH stared at the chat, thumb hovering.
Kitty messaged him privately again.
"june isn't replying right."
XH typed back slowly.
"Probably mom."
Kitty replied.
"i hate that."
XH stared at the words.
He typed.
"Me too."
Then he immediately regretted typing it because now it was a shared feeling sitting between them.
He didn't delete it.
He let it sit.
Late afternoon, Mr. Kim called a brief check-in session for Health Track in Room 401.
Not mandatory.
Not official.
A human thing.
The class gathered slowly, some students looking tired, some looking excited, some looking like they had no idea how to feel.
Mr. Kim stood at the front, calm. He smiled, and the smile arrived a little slower today.
"I know you have an event tomorrow," Mr. Kim said.
A murmur moved through the room.
JP raised his hand dramatically. "It's not tomorrow. It's soon."
Mr. Kim's eyes softened. "Soon, then."
He paused.
"You deserve to have normal experiences," Mr. Kim said quietly. "Do not feel guilty for them."
XH felt his throat tighten.
Mr. Kim looked at the room, then added, "But be careful. Not because the event is dangerous. Because your hearts are still healing, even if you pretend they are not."
The room went quiet.
Mr. Kim coughed lightly, turning his head away. He recovered quickly and smiled again, but XH saw the strain.
Mr. Kim's gaze drifted toward XH for a moment, then toward Kitty, then toward June's empty seat.
Mr. Kim didn't comment on the empty seat.
He didn't need to.
After the check-in, the group walked back to the dorms together.
The sky looked heavy again.
The wind was sharper.
Students around them moved like normal, but XH felt like the campus was holding its breath beneath the surface.
At the dorm entrance, Kitty walked beside XH for a moment.
Not touching.
Not claiming.
Just close.
Kitty's voice was quiet. "Are you nervous."
XH hesitated. "Yeah."
Kitty nodded. "Me too."
They stood near the entrance for a beat, the air cold, the sky gray.
Kitty looked at him and said quietly, "Tomorrow, don't disappear into your head."
XH's chest tightened. "I won't."
Kitty's gaze softened. "Good."
June's message finally arrived in the group chat that night.
Short.
Simple.
"I can't go. family schedule."
The chat went quiet for a second.
Then messages flooded in.
NC: "Okay. I'll update Andrew."
Jihye: "I hate your mom."
Anna: "Be safe."
Cherry: "Of course."
JP: "We will bring you a souvenir."
TZ: "We'll tell you everything."
NS: "We'll see you after."
XH stared at the message.
He wanted to write something direct to June.
Something that wasn't polite.
Something honest.
But honesty was dangerous between them now.
He typed one sentence privately.
"Sorry. I know you wanted to."
He stared at it.
Then he deleted it.
He didn't send it.
He sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling again.
Kitty messaged him privately.
"she's really not coming."
XH replied after a pause.
"Yeah."
Kitty's next message came slower.
"then tomorrow will feel different."
XH stared at the screen.
He typed back.
"Yeah."
Then he added, almost without thinking.
"We just go. We don't overthink."
Kitty replied.
"you always overthink."
XH smiled slightly.
He typed.
"Not tomorrow."
Kitty replied.
"okay. promise."
XH stared at the word promise and felt his chest tighten again. Promises were dangerous now. Promises were things that disappeared.
He typed.
"I'll try."
Kitty replied.
"That's enough."
The night settled.
JP threw darts until he got tired.
TZ beat him by a humiliating margin.
NS watched quietly, phone in hand, eyes calm.
XH lay on his bed and listened to the dorm sounds. Laughter from somewhere down the hall. A door closing. A shower turning on. A small fragment of normal life.
Tomorrow, they would step into a different world for one day.
A wide embassy place.
Three acres of space.
Games and clues and prizes.
Networking and wine.
Foreign students who made futures sound real.
And June would not be there.
The absence would sit like a shadow.
XH closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
Outside, the wind pressed against the window lightly.
Not rain yet.
But the kind of wind that felt like a warning.
And the kind of quiet that meant something was about to begin.