For weeks afterward, everyone in the entire universe seemed focused on interrogating him. The only difference was their approach. His parents asked gentle, open-ended questions. They were certain their son couldn't be involved in the scandal, but considering how long he had been friends with the boy, perhaps he remembered hearing something? Why would he have done it?
The civil authorities' questions were neither gentle nor open-ended. Did he know what a serious crime this was? Did he realize that the situation was quickly approaching the point where it could no longer be hushed up? Where would the boy have gone? What about this girl he had been seen with?
The school administrators were more direct, and their dull, distracted eyes suddenly glowed so knowingly that Koschei realized they hadn't been as successful at hiding their actions as he had thought. What's the plan? Where had they arranged to meet?
He answered them all with complete honesty. He didn't know anything.
He managed to look both calm and bewildered until everyone believed him. He continued to study the silly books they assigned, to receive brilliant marks on every test they threw at him, and to keep his eyes open for his own chance to leave.
He kept his room immaculately tidy, and his workbench at the engineering lab was singled out as an example of organization and efficiency. He considered and calculated the weight of each of his words and actions, and it wasn't long before the questions were replaced with smiles. He was over the most challenging time, he heard them say to each other. And now that a certain bad influence was gone...
It wasn't the reward of their smiles or accolades that made him keep up the performance. Focusing on the idiotic details that defined life at the Academy was the only thing that quieted the screaming inside, the rage that clouded over the world the moment he realized that he had been left, that their plan to escape together and explore the universe while the rest of their kind hid under a roof and read about the stars had crumbled.
Theta had left him without any warning. Left without explanation. Left without an apology. Left with a girl and would never be coming back. Koschei had never suspected it would be possible to hate someone so much.