The lights flashed onto the set.
Behind a large wooden table sat Dyrk, and across from him, on multiple sofas, were six distinct groups of gorgeous people.
‘As expected of the most elite cadets in the Empire. Their looks are nothing to scoff at.’
“Their looks can make anyone jealous, don’t you think? It makes you question if we truly belong in the same world.”
A man said next to me all of a sudden.
Surprised, I turned my head to see a hand extended in my direction. What’s up with everyone
and their hands? It felt like everyone wanted to shake my hand.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jack Bannali, the writer for the show.” “Oh.”
I shook his hand back.
As we let go, he asked,
“You’re the cadet who won in the Summit, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“You’ve got an interesting group.”
“Group?”
A smile played on his lips, and just as I turned my head, I witnessed Evelyn receiving a slap on her hand from Theresa, who shot her a glare. Meanwhile, Kiera, who had been watching the scene, burst into a light laugh and slapped the sofa beside her.
“…I don’t know them.”
“Hahaha. It’s nice to see such a cheerful group. It’s been a while since we’ve last seen one like theirs.”
“Oh?”
What did he mean by that?
Noticing my confusion, the man’s eyebrow arched as he asked,
“Right, you’re still in your second year. Let’s just say that the cadets from the other academies don’t get along like this.”
You call that getting along?
“Well, you’ll understand what I mean with due time. For now, I just wanted to introduce myself. Couldn’t help but to after seeing those clips…”
Alarmed, I looked at him.
“Clips? What clips?”
The only thing I got in return was a smile.
“So you don’t know…?”
Covering his mouth, he suddenly laughed.
“Haha. This is going to be fun.”
***
Within the audience seats several cadets sat down. There were over a hundred cadets, all belonging to different years, sitting to watch the interview.
“Look, isn’t that your brother?”
As Linus took a seat, one of his classmates pointed in a certain direction.
It was there that Linus caught sight of a familiar figure. Standing with his arms crossed, his figure looked imposing.
He didn’t do anything, and yet, his presence alone seemed to draw the eyes of many.
“Is he not participating in the interview?”
Overhearing the question, Linus suddenly looked at the stage. It was there that he realized his brother wasn’t moving.
‘Ah, I see.’
Was this his method of avoiding suspicion?
By not participating, he didn’t have to worry about exposing himself.
“That’s a pity. I wanted to see how he usually acted. I thought the whole purpose of this event was to let us get to know our seniors better.”
“…Bummer.”
“Well, there’s still the others.”
Seeing how disappointed his classmates were, Linus shook his head.
If only they knew…
“Oh, it’s about to start!”
“Quiet down.”
As their words fell, the lights dropped.
Turning his attention towards the stage, Linus leaned back. His eyes drifted to Julien in the meantime who seemed to have noticed his gaze and turned his head to meet his gaze.
||
“1
|| ||
The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Julien turned his head away.
“Thank you everyone for coming today.”
The interview then began.
***
The show began on time.
The once bustling studio, filled with dozens of staff and involved parties, fell into silence. The expressions of the ones standing backstage changed, and a palpable tension filled the air.
Nobody seemed nervous. At least, on the outside.
I couldn’t really tell.
The studio lights above flashed, moving around and hovering over every one of the groups
present.
At the same time, Dyrk, the presenter, entered the stage as he stopped in the middle and started reading cue cards.
“Welcome everyone. I’m your host for today, Dyrk Connoway and I once again welcome you
to my show.”
Without a doubt, he was quite experienced at this, handling the introductions and opening sequence masterfully and smoothly.
A lot of jokes were thrown around, making some of the people backstage laugh. Personally, I found a lot of them to be funny and even laughed at a few, but I kept getting weird looks from the people around me when I did so.
From the beginning of the interview, it was evident that some of the groups had been trained to handle these types of interviews. They answered politely and even exchanged jokes with the MC. The previous tension seemed to fade at that moment, and what replaced it was a strange silence as some people seemed satisfied with what was happening.
But…
The same couldn’t be said for me.
As entertaining as the interview was, it felt a little lacking. It was fun, yes, but… to be honest,
if I had the option, I’d switch it for some other channel. It just wasn’t engaging enough to
keep me from switching to another channel.
I wasn’t the only one that seemed to have noticed the problem as some of the writers near me
frowned.
“Now, let’s start with the second years. This group over here. May you select two representatives for this. It doesn’t matter who. Just pick whoever you want.”
Dyrk’s voice suddenly attracted my attention as the lights of the studio suddenly dimmed.
The girls turned to look at Leon who sat by the edge of the sofa with an impassive look.
Feeling their gazes, he pointed towards two people.
“Oh? So it will be Kiera and Aoife?”
Wait, what?
“We will play quick-fire questions. While one reads the question, the other has to answer as
fast as possible. You have ten seconds to answer.”
Dyrk pointed toward the right where a large clock appeared.
“Every ten seconds the clock will buzz. Once it buzzes, you will have no choice but to go to the
next question, or the clock will continue to buzz until you get back on track.”
He then turned his attention back toward Kiera and Aoife.
“So then. Which one of the two will ask the question, and which one will answer?”
“I will ask, and Kiera will answer.”
Aoife’s reply came quickly as she picked up the set of cards. She started giggling the moment
she caught a glimpse of the first question.
Just why is it the two of them…
I couldn’t help but glance at Leon who evaded my gaze.
Are you crazy?
“Let’s begin with the rapid questions! Let the clock start!”
Tik-!
The handle of the clock began to move and Aoife asked the first question.
“What’s your name?”
Kiera raised her brow as if to say ‘Did you really just ask me that?’, and Aoife shrugged back as
if to say, ‘What? It’s what the question is asking.’
No words were exchanged, and yet, I somehow knew what they were saying.
“Girls, you have five seconds left to answ-”
“Aoife K. Megrail.” Aoife’s face abruptly changed at the answer, but before she could say anything, she was cut
off by Kiera who suddenly smirked.
“That’s my-”
“Next question.”
“Eh, n-”
Buzz-!
“What? Wai-”
Buzz-!
“F…fine.”
Frowning, Aoife threw the first card away and began reading the second card.
“Tell me something funny.”
“Oh, oof, there’s many.”
“Hurry up. There’s not much time ”
“I love beer. I’ve got a raging addiction to alcohol and I can’t live a day without it.”
“Eh?”
Aoife’s eyes widened.
“Why are you-”
Buzz-!
“I…”
Despite wanting to protest and not continue, Aoife could only clench her teeth and read the
next question.
“An embarrassing story about yourself…”
“Oh, this is kind of fun.”
“You… Watch yourself. Don-”
“One time, I remember going to a shop. I ordered a few drinks.”
“Wait, Kier-”
“When I went to pay, I realized that it wasn’t a shop but someone’s house.”
“!!!”
Buzz-!
If I could describe Aoife’s current expression with one word, it’d be ‘terrifying’.
“Something that made you laugh a lot…”
“My face whenever I look in the mirror.”
“Uh?”
Kiera covered her face and sighed.
“It’s hard to look at.”
“Ah.”
Aoife’s face underwent another series of changes. However, just as she was about to speak again, the buzzer sounded.
Buzz-!
“No! I’m not ha-”
Buzz-!
“H-”
Buzz-! “Fine.”
Buzz-!
Buzz-!
Aoife glared at the clock, and extended both arms as if to say, ‘I didn’t even speak!’
Buzz-! “…!”
As I stared at the spectacle that was unfolding right before my very eyes, I couldn’t help but
glance at my sides where the producers and writers were.
It was a sight that left me at a loss for words.
Clutching their stomachs, several of them glanced downward, their faces turning red as their
shoulders trembled.
Even the first years and third years in the audience were having a hard time as some of them
could hardly suppress their laughter.
I noticed a few writers exchanging glances, their eyes reflecting a certain gleam, as they
directed their attention toward Kiera and Aoife. It was as if they were looking at some
treasures.
“Next question please.”
Oblivious to what was happening around them, Kiera urged Aoife to continue. She seemed to
be thoroughly enjoying the situation as she sat up straight and placed both her hands on her
thighs.
“Come, we don’t have all day. Shoot. Fire. I’m ready. Take your best shot.”
“You…”
“Quick!”
“F,fine… Oh? Finally, a normal question.”
Aoife’s expression finally eased, and a smile graced her lips. Kiera frowned at the sight.
“What would you do if you woke up smart the next day?”
So a philosophical question?
I sighed in relief when I heard the question. Finally, one that Kiera couldn’t exploit.
“That’s not possible.”
“Eh, why?”
“My brain isn’t capable of doing that.”
I spoke too soon.
“…Uh?”
Buzz-!
“Wait a sec-”
Buzz-!
“No!! I hate this g-”
Buzz-!
Aoife looked around her helplessly, settling her gaze over to Leon, Evelyn, and Theresa with a
hopeful look. Sadly, none of them even cared to look back at her as they feigned ignorance.
In the end, Aoife’s gaze settled on me.
“Do something.”
And I suddenly found myself at the center of attention as the cameras turned to point in my
direction. For some reason, the clock didn’t buzz meaning that it was being allowed.
Great.
“Help me!”
“Wait, why are you asking me?”
“Tell her to stop.”
“Julien, don’t interfere. You should understand exactly why we’re doing this.”
“You shut up!”
Aoife’s head flicked my way as she fiercely glared in my direction.
“You better help me or I’ll reveal to everyone your dark secret.”
My hair stood on end.
“Wait… Aoife. Let’s be calm about this.”
“No, I’m not having this.”
“Wait. Wait.”
I pushed my hands down to motion her to calm down.
“Calm down. We can settle this peacefully. You’re not in your right state of mind at the moment.”
“I’m calm. I’m really calm. Never been so calm in my life.”
“I… I don’t know if I can interfere.”
The rules said I couldn’t, so…
Aoife crossed her arms and sat back.
“Uh? Is that so…? Do you really think I won’t tell everyone about how you often go to the
mirror and randomly laugh at your own jokes?”
Aoife covered her mouth, but it was a little too late for that.
||||
My face suddenly felt hot. Not only were the other groups staring at me, but even the staff
beside me were looking at me.
“Pftt.”
Evelyn couldn’t contain herself any longer and burst into laughter, breaking the silence. Her
laughter triggered a chain reaction, causing more people to join in fits of laughter.
The only one that didn’t laugh was Aoife who averted her gaze away from me.
“Ah, so… So, like-” “Kiera.”
My voice came out rather flat.
“Yes?”
“…Destroy her.”
“You’ve got it.”
The fits of laughter became even louder.
•
“I,if you had to c,compare me to an animal, w, what would that be?”
“A rat.”
Kiera suddenly licked her lips, and as if that wasn’t enough, she continued.
“Like a dirty, nasty, hairy ra-”
“That’s enough!”
Aoife abruptly stood up and she threw the cards in the air, forgoing all decorum.
“I can’t take this anym-”
Buzz-!
“And that marks the end of the round. Thank you very much both of you.”
Even Dyrk struggled to contain his laughter as he stood up to mediate between the two of
them.
“Now, now. This is all fun and games. There’s no need to take this so seriously, and it’s not
like it’s over.”
He passed a set of cards to Kiera.
“Uh?”
“It’s now your turn to ask the questions.”
Both Kiera and Aoife blinked, and then Aoife’s face blossomed into a smile as she took her
seat.
“Is that so…?”
She twiddled her hair, putting on a nonchalant air.
“Well, if we must…”