The Impostor Takes Her Place

"Though I wish every moment that I could just be an ordinary student."

Beside her, Mo Bai could hear the helplessness in Lynae's voice.

He glanced at Rover.

Rover was staring hard at Lynae, as if afraid she might suddenly vanish before her eyes.

Clearly, Lynae's words had not moved Rover.

"Have you ever thought about it? About casting aside all those countless goals and responsibilities, letting go of every complicated way of thinking you've learned, and just being a student who can enjoy her youth?"

As Lynae spoke, the students chatting nearby between classes seemed painfully conspicuous.

They were doing nothing remarkable. They were simply laughing together and talking about the funny things that had happened at school.

"..."

Rover did not answer Lynae's question.

Perhaps she was considering why Lynae had asked it. Or perhaps...

She did not know how to answer.

As for Mo Bai...

In the past, he would have answered no without hesitation.

Neither academies nor schools held many fond memories for him.

Strip away the rosy tint of memory, and even the happy times he had spent at school had been little more than making the best of a bad situation.

But in less than a day at Star Torch Academy, he had seen something different.

The students' smiles.

They were not merely making the best of things. Whether they were in class or playing during a break, these students had a simple, genuine enthusiasm and joy.

Just as Mo Bai had said when he raced with Lynae earlier, the atmosphere here had rubbed off on him a little.

"Just kidding. I know some things are hard to say aloud, whether or not you've ever thought them."

When neither Mo Bai nor Rover answered, Lynae sighed softly and led them toward the rooftop.

Before they went upstairs, though, she said one more thing. Mo Bai heard sadness in her voice, and... loneliness.

"I envy... the people who get to study at this Academy."

Tap, tap, tap.

Once they reached the rooftop, Lynae jogged a few steps ahead and spread her arms, welcoming the breeze against her face.

"Mm. This really is the place where I feel most at ease."

Then Lynae turned and gave Rover a faint smile.

There was something sly about it.

"You wanted me to come clean about who I am so you could get to the bottom of this incident, right?"

Mo Bai saw Rover nod slightly and could not help frowning.

"This sounds like something serious. Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?"

Though he had already seen things he probably should not have, like Lynae speaking with that mysterious student earlier.

Seeing his expression, Rover showed neither impatience nor confusion. Instead, she smiled.

"But you chose to come here with Lynae and me, didn't you?"

At Rover's words, Mo Bai gave a helpless, wry smile.

"Yeah..."

He could not help it. At the Academy, these two classmates with complicated identities were the only people he knew.

So he had come along. Mo Bai figured he had simply wanted to stick with the people he knew.

"Go on, Lynae," Rover said when Mo Bai made no move to leave.

Sometimes, other people understood you better than you understood yourself.

"Mm. A trade. I'll put myself in your hands. In return, I want to keep studying here, so I hope you'll grant me that wish."

Lynae held out a hand to Mo Bai and Rover.

Her meaning was simple: she would tell Rover what she knew, and Rover would not report her to the Academy.

After hearing her out, Rover lowered her gaze, seemingly lost in thought, before looking back at Lynae.

"Is staying at this Academy really that important to you?"

Rather than agree outright, Rover asked her another question.

Mo Bai did not know what Lynae's birthplace, the New Federation, was like.

But judging by how candidly she spoke now, this was probably the real Lynae.

The cheerful, outgoing girl from before had likely been an act...

So the Lynae who had raced with him and Rover earlier had been fake?

It felt strange, almost like being betrayed by a close friend, even though he had known Lynae for less than a day.

Mo Bai figured the problem lay with him. Rover, who had been with them too, showed no reaction at all.

"Mm. It is," Lynae answered.

"..."

When Rover folded her arms and lowered her head, Lynae withdrew her outstretched hand, then smiled at her again.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

For a moment, Mo Bai felt she was the same cheerful Lynae he had met earlier.

"Have you heard the story of an impostor taking a prince's place?"

After asking Mo Bai and Rover, Lynae took out her Tacet Disc. A voice began to play.

"Headquarters... this is Lynae..."

"Sorry... Society Overseer... we were suddenly... attacked..."

"Don't worry... we'll make it to Lahai Luo... to Star Torch Academy..."

"We'll complete... the mission... the President gave us..."

The voice on the Tacet Disc cut in and out. The recording seemed badly damaged, but the speaker's weakness was still audible.

"Spoiler alert: they didn't complete their mission."

With those words, Lynae had all but confirmed the speaker's fate.

What caught Mo Bai's attention was the speaker's name. She was called Lynae too...

Unless...

Mo Bai looked up at Lynae, remembering what she had said about an impostor taking a prince's place.

"The Remnant Star Society..."

Rover murmured the organization's name.

Mo Bai had heard of the Remnant Star Society too. Rover had told him about it earlier.

In short, they were a bunch of lunatics who stirred up trouble wherever they went.

"Professor Verlaine said I came from the New Federation, but he doesn't know which part of it I'm from."

Lynae then began telling Rover and Mo Bai about her past.

A city that devoured people, a lawless place steeped in darkness—that was where she had grown up.

She had been a mercenary employed by the New Federation government when, one day, she encountered something that changed her life.

A corpse, and an acceptance letter lying beside it.

An acceptance letter from Star Torch Academy.

To a girl who had seen blood almost every day in the New Federation, it was an opportunity that had fallen into her lap.

So the girl took the place of the Remnant Star Society undercover agent lying on the ground and set off for Star Torch Academy.

She became Lynae.