Chapter 58: New Uniforms

Thomas opened his eyes slowly, the sharp white light of the academy infirmary ceiling forcing him to blink repeatedly until his vision fully stabilized. The heavy smell of antiseptic fluids and crushed restoration herbs filled his nostrils, a familiar sensory reminder that his vessel had once again been pushed past its breaking point. He tried to shift his weight onto his elbows, but a dull, deep ache radiated across his torso, letting him know that his fractured bones were still in the final stages of structural healing.

Turning his head slightly against the linen pillow, Thomas found Mina sitting right next to his bed. She had pulled a small wooden stool flush against the iron frame, her head resting awkwardly against the edge of the mattress as she slept soundly. Thomas took his absolute time to look at her, his dark eyes wide open and tracking the soft, uneven rhythm of her breathing. In the quiet of the medical ward, she looked incredibly peaceful, her sharp hazel eyes hidden behind her eyelids. Yet, a closer look revealed the dark, heavy bags under her eyes, evidence of the exhausting exhaustion and sheer terror she had survived over the past forty-eight hours. She was now wearing her white tattered academy uniform.

Before Thomas could continue looking at the girl, a familiar, lazy, and distinctly raspy voice cleanly sliced through the quiet hum of the room.

"You do know it is exceptionally rude to stare right at someone like that, freshman?"

Thomas turned his head toward the far corner of the private room, his posture instantly stiffening. Sitting comfortably in a high-backed leather chair near the window was Cecilia. Her pale features were completely hidden behind the pages of a thick, leather-bound book she was currently reading, her long raven-black hair falling loosely over her shoulder plate as she sat with her boots crossed at the ankles.

Thomas let out a slow, controlled breath, a genuine look of surprise on his face. "What the hell are you doing here, Senior?" Thomas asked, his voice flat. "Oh, let me guess. Skipping classes again?"

Cecilia slowly placed the heavy book down onto her lap, her striking ebony eyes locking directly onto his face. For a single, long second, she had a completely unreadable look on her face, an expression Thomas simply could not describe with his usual analytical metrics. It wasn’t her usual teasing persona, nor was it the terrifying majesty of the Midnight Valkyrie. It was something deep, heavy, and entirely hidden.

"I’m here for you, idiot," Cecilia said, her beautiful voice dropping into a quiet octave that was almost a whisper.

Thomas was completely taken back by the blunt declaration, his sharp intellect failing to formulate a single calculated response as he froze. He was entirely unsure of how to respond to a High-blood national treasure using such a tone with a lesser. He simply let out an awkwardly small smile, breaking direct eye contact as he looked away toward the far wall to hide his confusion.

Cecilia tracked his rigid posture, a soft, raspy chuckle escaping her pale lips as she stood up from her leather chair. She smoothed over uniform jacket, her long boots crunching softly against the polished floorboards as she walked toward the door.

"Since you are perfectly fine and conscious, I will be taking my leave then," Cecilia murmured playfully, her lazy smirk returning to her lips in a heartbeat.

With that casual remark, she stepped past the privacy curtain and left the infirmary room, disappearing down the stone hallway.

The sharp click of the exit door closing violently broke the quiet of the ward, causing Mina to stir against the sheets. Her hazel eyes fluttered open, blinking grozily for a fraction of a second before her gaze landed squarely on Thomas’s awake form. The moment she realized he was breathing and conscious, her face went completely pale, and she violently burst into tears, her shoulders shaking as she threw her arms tightly around his neck.

"Tom... oh my god, Tom," Mina sobbed quietly, her voice cracking with pure, unadulterated panic as she gripped his hospital tunic. She pulled back slightly, her hands trembling as she looked at the faded bruises across his jaw. "Why... why would you do something so completely reckless? Why would you openly provoke President Cedric in front of the entire academy? He is a council lord! He could have erased your entire existence from the kingdom with a single snap of his fingers!"

Thomas looked straight back into her wide, fearful eyes, his expression becoming as calm and smooth as a mountain lake. The dangerous, quiet focus of his soul settled over his features as he answered her.

"Because I am tired of the current order in this kingdom, Mina," Thomas said flatly, his voice level and steady. "I am thoroughly tired of how the elites rule Samra with an unyielding tyranny, treating us like garbage born in the dirt. It is about time for things to change within these walls."

Mina stared at him, her quiet breaths catching in her throat as she registered the absolute grit behind his words. She knew he had changed; he was looking at the fortress city like a soldier preparing to go to war.

Thomas adjusted his posture against the pillows, a sudden memory resurfacing inside his mind. He remembered the terrifying, law-defying mountain of mana that had crushed Cedric flat onto his stomach, followed immediately by the deep, ancient voice of the master. "I remember passing out right after hearing the Headmaster’s final declaration," Thomas murmured softly, his brow furrowing. "How long has it been since the emergency assembly?"

"It has been a full day," Mina answered quietly, wiping the residual tears from her cheeks with the tattered sleeve of her uniform. She reached over to check the water pitcher on his nightstand. "The healers had to completely realign your internal mana pathways before you flatlined. Ryan and Lina have been coming by every few hours to check on your progress. And... Julian also came to see you."

Thomas’s dark eyes instantly widened into circles of pure, unadulterated surprise, his intellect stalling. "Julian came here?"

"Yes," Mina nodded, her voice carrying a serious weight. "But he only stood silently by the threshold of the door for a few minutes. He didn’t enter the room at all. He just looked at your unconscious frame, scoffed under his breath, and walked away. It was weird."

Thomas carefully filed the High-blood’s bizarre behavior away in his mind. To him, Juilian of House Carter was still an existential threat, but their cold teamwork in the subterranean grids had left a strange, tangled final line between them.

"What about the Headmaster’s announcement?" Thomas asked, his voice sharpening as he looked at her. "Did the instructors reveal the new rules this morning?"

The heavy sorrow on Mina’s face instantly evaporated, replaced by a sudden, incredibly bright and excited smile that completely shattered the grim tension of the medical ward. She leaned in closer, her hazel eyes sparkling with a manic, joyful energy that Thomas hadn’t witnessed since before the freshman tournament blocks began.

"We are getting completely new uniforms, Tom!" Mina said excitedly, her hands gesturing rapidly in the air. "The Headmaster has officially abolished the old gold-trimmed and gold-accented designs for the general student body! Starting tomorrow, the entire class structure is being rewritten to prevent the High-bloods from using their statuses as a weapon!"

Thomas sat perfectly rigid against his pillows, his mind rapidly mapping out the massive logistical parameters hidden behind her words. New uniforms. A total purge of the bad seeds. An institutional restructuring that stripped the High-bloods of their visible supremacy. The declaration left Thomas with a massive mountain of completely unanswered questions regarding the Headmaster’s true, hidden motives.