The first semester of my final year at Mythos ended the way most things at Mythos ended: with a ranking board, a stack of evaluations, and a great many people pretending they weren't exhausted.
Professor Nero's new evaluation system had chewed through half of Class A and spat them out paler than they'd started. The Fall Ball had come and gone, and I had survived dancing with four princesses in one evening without starting a war, which I considered my real achievement of the term.
I was still Rank 1. Still ahead of Lucifer, which he took about as well as he took everything—with a nod, a long look, and a training schedule that got noticeably worse for the people around him. I'd turned in every assignment, sat every evaluation, and somehow still found time for the people who mattered: Clara, the girls, and Lucifer himself, whether he wanted the company or not.
One semester left. After that, no more rankings to hide behind.
But first, winter break.
