"Yo, Marui-san," Seiya said, beckoning her. "I need to debrief you on some council shit."

Sena got off her sacco chair with wide eyes and followed him out of the copy room. He was silent until they reached the Archives; then they sat around one of the few normal tables in the entire Legislation building. To think the 118th generation was graduating in a month… and this was the first time any of the Elite Ten members had so much as mentioned council work.

It was definitely not, however, the first time Seiya and Sena had hung out in the Archives together. Although the library was mostly unused — because seriously, who in their right mind would willingly venture into a dusty hall filled with nothing but manuscripts and old records — the two had often brought in some of their cooking to eat and talk, all library etiquette notwithstanding.

Seiya was particularly interested in Sena due to her role as a data analyst for the WGO. It seemed becoming the CFO of the Nakiri-Totsuki Group would require him to be closely tied to the logistical side of its neighboring organizations.

Their conversation inevitably turned to cooking, but at some point — Sena couldn't remember when — he started quizzing her on Auden and the lopsided love triangle that had developed between her and the Twin Kings.

"If anybody in their right mind had told me at the beginning of the schoolyear that I'd be dating the heir to the Nakiri-Totsuki Group, I would've probably laughed," she admitted.

"Probably?" Seiya grinned, jamming a Pocky stick into his mouth.

"Definitely," Sena corrected herself. "Gimme one of those." She swiped a Pocky from the wrapper and stuck the tip between her teeth. Seiya passed her an unopened box.

"Go play the Pocky game with Kurokiba, am I clear?"

Sena rolled her eyes but accepted the snack nevertheless. Then she took another of his and waved it vaguely at him as she asked, "What's up between you and Luc-senpai?"

"Nothing," Seiya shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

Sena peered at him closely. "You don't like him, right?"

"What's there not to like? He's third seat and an amazing friend. Have you ever seen anyone as nice as Luc Tadokoro-Aldini before? Not even Kurokiba is as soft as he is."

"That's why I'm asking," Sena countered.

Luc Tadokoro-Aldini was a man of many talents; in his first year, he had been the catalyst for Totsuki's first ever participation in sports when he took advantage of his Elite Ten role as independent organizations overseer to start a tennis club — and then promptly won the JTA Junior Tennis Championships in Osaka. His true forte was cooking, of course, but he'd also started making some solid cash working as a model after classes. With soft gold hair and eyes to match, he was one of Totsuki's heartthrobs; and yet he only had eyes for the one girl who had never and would never see him as anything more than a friend.

Seiya ran a hand through his olive hair. "Yeah, well, I don't like seeing guys all over my girlfriend, but that's not just a him problem, you know."

That was true. Arato-Hayama Hikari was by far the most pursued girl in the school.

"Ah, so you're jealous," Sena said with a sly grin.

Seiya frowned. "No, I'm not. Hakari turned everyone else down."

"Why do you always call Arato-senpai plan?"

"No, I don't. I call her secretary."

Sena threw up her hands. "Same difference!"

Seiya laughed. "Trust me, Marui-san, she loves it when I do that. Her love language is death stares. Total tsundere. It took an entire half year after we started dating for her to start calling me Seiya."

Yes, that wasn't too hard to imagine.

"By the way, Marui-san, what are you going to do after Kurokiba graduates? I know I'm predicting things a little early but I'm curious about long distance relationships because Hakari and I are both staying in Tokyo. He's planning to go to Paris as soon as he's done with Totsuki."

"Wait. Aren't he and Seijuro planning to work for the Aldini brothers in Tuscany?"

Seiya sucked his teeth. "Dammit, maybe I shouldn't have told you. Well, it's too late, I guess. Kurokiba wants to sous for Tsukasa Eishi. That's his biggest goal."

"Why did he not tell me this?"

Seiya pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "He probably thought you would tell Ibusaki. You know Kurokiba. He'd do anything to avoid conflict."

True.

"Listen, Marui-san. Don't mention anything until he tells you himself, alright? I don't think I was supposed to tell you any of this, so if you let slip, I'm going to deny this conversation ever happened."

But the fact that her boyfriend hadn't told her his ultimate ambition rubbed the wrong way with Sena, and even after she played a few rounds of Pocky chicken with Kurokiba Auden, she remained awake for the majority of the night, eyes fixed on the dark ceiling until she drifted off into fitful dreams about mezzalunas and the boy with mismatched vermilion eyes.

It was one in the morning at Legislation, and Arato-Hayama Hikari was huddled on a sacco chair across from Auden, doing Elite Ten paperwork for the first time in her entire tenure as first seat. Or rather, first beanbag.

You see, in exactly eight hours, she would have to deliver her valedictorian address to the graduates of the 118th generation, but after an entire year of delegating, it was a wonder she even knew how to write speeches.

"Auden," Hikari groaned. "How do you make bullshit sound eloquent?"

Auden looked up from his laptop. "He should be coming in a moment."

"Eh?"

"I called the best speechwriter of the era. Down to the T."

Hikari perked up and pushed her hair out of her eyes, her jade eyes glinting. "I'm intrigued."

The door swung open just then and a scarlet-haired boy breezed into the copy room with a manila folder. He was wearing a Totsuki uniform but his tie was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey. You needed a graduation speech?"

Hikari laughed. "You brought in this child? Of all people?"

"You should've heard his valedictorian speech for middle school promotion last week, Hikari."

"I was busy writing the alumni report," she pointed out.

"I wrote that last month," Auden sighed.

Tsukasa Akechi grinned and passed over the file. "Here you go."

Inside was a three-page document, neatly typed in Times New Roman, 10 point, single spaced.

117 years ago, the original first seat of Totsuki Gakuen stood on this very platform, spearheading the 1st generation's path to culinary stardom. But the first rulers of the gakuen would never have guessed just how far we would come in a little over a century…

She read over the speech four times before she looked up with a raised eyebrow and a knowing glint in her visible eye. "Good shit, Tsukasa-kun. This is why you're on the Elite Ten next year."

Akechi's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

The first seat turned to the seventh seat with a concerned expression. "Didn't Seiya send out emails to all the new Elite Ten babies?"

"He should've," Auden said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought student and alumni relations was his role, but he might've told Sena to do it because she's managing independent organizations."

Hikari sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, Tsukasa-kun, your generation is utterly irrelevant to me but I suppose I'll debrief you. You'll be taking fifth seat next year, which means you'll be the public face of Totsuki gakuen. Speeches and media and all that shit. Any questions?"

"Lots, actually."

"You're dismissed. Wait, actually, come back." Hikari got off her beanbag and opened a cabinet. "Auden, where the hell is all the task shit?"

"Other side of the room," Auden replied without looking up from his computer.

"Dammit!" Hikari dragged her Crocs over and finally found what she was looking for. She chucked a thick binder at Akechi. "Here's your first assignment. Helsinki. If you do well on this, I'll give you exclusive rights to my beanbag by the printer. Everything you're going to need is in there. Also, I was generous enough to add a plane ticket. You leave in ten hours. Good luck!"

Tsukasa Akechi didn't even have time to ask just what the fuck was going on before Hikari dismissed him — for real this time. But in a little under twenty four hours, he would meet Yukihira Kaede and fall head over heels for those purple and gold eyes.