"Seriously, Greg! We agreed to slack off together, and you went and studied behind my back!"
In the corridor, Victoria stood with both hands on her hips, an accusatory fire burning in her gray eyes. She blocked Greg's path, looking as though she wouldn't let him leave without an explanation.
Greg sighed helplessly.
"Hey, are you trying to sully my good name? Where in the Dungeon could I possibly read in peace? Stop accusing me. I told you I wasn't secretly grinding, and I meant it."
"Then how did you come in first!?"
Victoria's voice rose an octave. Clearly, she was far from satisfied with that answer.
"Because I'm naturally brilliant," Greg replied without batting an eye.
Victoria said, "With that much hair on your head, you have the nerve to say that?"
Greg said, "...You're thinking of being so brilliant you're bald. That's not even what I said."
Victoria said, "But aren't they both ways of saying someone's really smart?"
Greg said, "No, those two expressions... Oh, I guess you're right... Wait, are you?"
Greg felt as though he still hadn't adjusted to Victoria's off-the-wall replies and was getting tangled up in her logic. Fortunately, a gentle voice cut in just then.
"All right, you two. Don't start bickering every time you see each other."
Sylvia walked over from the side with a resigned smile and stepped between them, slipping into her familiar role as mediator.
She looked at Victoria, then at Greg, and said softly:
"I think the fact that we all passed the Preliminary Debate is already worth celebrating. Why argue?"
Victoria huffed and turned her head away, but she stopped pursuing the matter of Greg's secret studying.
Seeing this, Sylvia hesitated before turning to Greg, a barely perceptible note of concern in her voice.
"Um... Senior