Chapter 136| Anomalies Attracts Attention

Chapter 136: Chapter 136| Anomalies Attracts Attention

Zane sat there with the half-eaten protein bar.

『 System Note: Someone is paying very close attention. 』

’Tell me something I don’t know,’ he thought.

He finished the bar. Folded the wrapper into a tight square the way he always did without thinking about it. Stood up slowly.

Vael and Mori. His panel data pulled before the room filled again. Anomaly. Consistent across all three tests. Said twice.

The B-rank classification was the public story — clean, unremarkable, nothing that warranted a second look from anyone in the class. But behind it, in whatever system the upgraded equipment logged into, something else had been filed. And two senior assessors had been in a room together discussing it before the session even officially closed.

And now Nyx knew. And Nyx had a theory she was building quietly, with the kind of patience that didn’t announce itself.

He walked back toward the main block. Hands in his pockets. Pace even.

’Okay,’ he thought. ’So that’s where we are.’

He pushed the door open and went back to class.

_ _

Zane was halfway back to the main block when Ryan fell into step beside him.

Not beside — slightly ahead, cutting across his path at the junction between the east wing and the main corridor so that Zane either had to slow down or walk into him. Zane slowed down.

"Peepsqueak."

Zane looked at him. "Oh. It’s you again."

Ryan had that look he always had, the one that sat somewhere between bored and performing, like he’d rehearsed casual and couldn’t quite land it naturally. He was taller than Zane by maybe two inches and had been making that count since week one.

"So what’s with you today," Zane said. It wasn’t really a question.

"Nothing much." Ryan shrugged, falling into step now that Zane had adjusted. "Just saw the board. B-rank." He clicked his tongue. "Always knew you were sneaky. Didn’t know you had it in you though."

"Now you do."

"Sure." Ryan smiled. The kind that didn’t reach anything. "Still won’t change how I see you though. You get that right? B-rank, C-rank — you’re still beneath me. You and that weak girlfriend of yours."

Zane’s jaw tightened.

"What did you say?"

His hand moved before he’d decided anything — not a grab, just a reflex, the kind that comes before thinking catches up. He stopped it.

Ryan looked at the almost-movement and smiled wider. "Don’t try touching me. The last thing I want is to get corrupted, the way your dad died. Miserable. At that stupid..."

He laughed.

It wasn’t loud. That was almost the worse part. It was the kind of laugh that knew it had landed.

Something in Zane’s chest shifted into a different temperature.

He wasn’t reaching for Ryan anymore. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just standing very still in the corridor with his hands at his sides and the sound of that laugh still bouncing around in his skull, and whatever was happening behind his eyes right now he was fairly certain wasn’t good.

Then a hand closed around his.

"Zane."

Maren. Appearing from somewhere behind him, her fingers wrapping around his wrist first and then sliding down to his hand, her voice pitched low and even like she was talking someone off a ledge without making it obvious that’s what she was doing.

"What are you doing standing here? Time’s up. Let’s go to class."

Ryan had already peeled off. Zane hadn’t noticed him leave. He was just gone, down the corridor and around the corner, done with the interaction the second it stopped being entertaining.

Zane exhaled once through his nose.

’Let it go,’ he thought. ’Not here.’

He followed Maren.

_ _

Instructor Vael’s class ran for fifty minutes.

She taught efficiently — no filler, no tangents, just the material and then the implication of the material. Today it was force classification theory, which under normal circumstances Zane would’ve found straightforward. Today he caught maybe sixty percent of it. The other forty percent was somewhere back in that corridor.

When Vael dismissed them he stayed at the board for a moment, then looked up.

"Calloway."

The room was still emptying. A few heads turned.

"My office. Let’s have a brief talk."

Zane nodded once. Around him, chairs scraped and bags zipped and people filed out. Maren appeared at his shoulder as he stood.

"Hope you didn’t get in trouble," she said, quiet enough that it was just for him.

"Nah." He picked up his bag. "I’ll catch you later then ."

She held his gaze for one second, the calculating-behind-a-still-face look, the one she’d been running since week one and then nodded, waved and left.

Zane waited until the room was empty.

Then he turned and moved toward Vael’s office door.

_ _

Zane knocked three times.

Then he heard a distant voice from within.

"Come in."

He pushed the door open and entered.

She was already behind her desk. No files out, no paperwork — just her, hands folded, which meant this wasn’t administrative.

"Sit."

He sat.

As he settled into his seat, Zane found himself thinking about a hypothesis he’d been building since the second week.

Almost every female instructor in Aldren Academy seemed to have a large chest. He’d noticed the pattern often enough that he was starting to wonder if it was a requirement for the job.

Vael was a perfect example. Her white T-shirt stretched across her chest, and the buttons looked like they were fighting a losing battle to keep everything in place. The top button, in particular, seemed to be holding on for dear life, like a tiny barrier standing between peace and disaster.

’Is this really a coincidence?’ Zane wondered.

『 System Note: Perhaps it’s an Aldren Academy policy. 』

’Wouldn’t surprise me,’ Zane thought. ’This school and Dex have exactly the same taste.’

She looked at him for a moment without speaking. Vael did that — used silence the way other instructors used words, let it run long enough that whatever you were holding started to show at the edges.

"Your assessment results," she said finally.

"B-rank. Physical Enhancement, Contact Force."

"That’s the classification." She tilted her head slightly. "I’m not asking about the classification."

Zane waited.

"The panel logged a dual-output reading across all three of your tests," she said. "Consistent. Clean. Not interference." She paused. "I’ve seen the log. I was the one who asked Mori to pull it."

So it was Vael who made that call. Not Mori.

He kept his expression even. "I’m still figuring out how my Sigil works."

"I’m sure you are." She studied him. "I’m not here to push you on what you know or don’t know. That’s not what this is." She unfolded her hands and set them flat on the desk. "What this is, is a heads up. That log exists. It’s flagged internally. People above my level will see it eventually, if they haven’t already."

Zane said nothing.

"I don’t know what you’re working with," Vael said. "And right now I’m not asking. But whatever it i, be careful with how visible you let it get. Anomalies attract attention. Not always the kind that’s useful to you."

She held his gaze for one more beat. Then she picked up a pen and looked back at her desk.

"That’s all. You’re dismissed."

Zane stood. Picked up his bag. Moved to the door.

"Calloway."

He stopped.

"Your father was one of the better students I’ve seen come through this program." She didn’t look up. "Don’t make it harder for yourself than it needs to be."

He didn’t answer that.

He walked out and pulled the door shut behind him.