CHAPTER 821: CHAPTER 127 - GRADUATION DISASTER (3)

"No way..." I breathed out the moment my eyes landed on the new rankings.

The words barely even felt real on my tongue, like they got stuck somewhere in my throat.

My eyes went so wide it actually hurt, and for a second, it felt like they’d pop right out of my skull. My heart slammed so hard in my chest it felt like it might crack open my ribs.

Because right there, staring me in the face in letters and numbers that felt sharper than any blade was my name that had fallen to Silver Class.

Top one in Silver Class, sure—but it didn’t feel like any victory at all. Not now. Not like this.

Rose was there too. But even she only managed to claw her way to tenth place, and she still couldn’t get back into Gold Class, no matter how hard she must’ve tried.

Gabrielle, though... Gabrielle still stood firm at the very top, and she was untouched. Untouchable, even.

All around us, the hall felt like it split in two.

There were people laughing, shouting, crying out in relief with their faces lighting up with joy because they’d survived, they’d made it into Gold, or managed to stay. Some Silver Class cadets were actually beaming, overwhelmed that they’d finally broken through to become magic knights at last.

But for me... it felt like the whole damn world just caved in on itself and left me standing in the rubble.

And I wasn’t alone.

Other Gold Class cadets who’d been demoted too... they cracked right there in front of everyone. Some broke down in loud, shuddering sobs, tears soaking their uniforms, voices shaking so badly you could barely recognize them.

Me too.

All the frustration I’d swallowed down, the nights I’d pushed through exhaustion, the hope I’d kept alive by the thinnest thread—it all boiled over, melted into something raw and painful.

And before I even realized, tears were spilling down my cheeks, burning hot lines against my skin. They blurred everything in front of me until the letters and numbers on the ranking sheet all smeared together into nothing.

Because for the very first time... I’d been cast down to Silver Class.

Four years. Four fucking years of fighting tooth and nail, of refusing to slip, of doing everything—just to have it ripped out of my hands right at the end, when it mattered the most.

If I’d been kicked down years ago, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much. Maybe I could’ve taken it, gotten back up, tried again. But now? To fall on the final ranking, the one that would follow me forever, the one they’d announce at graduation... it felt like someone had ripped out my heart, and all I could do was watch it bleed.

My eyes stung so badly I could barely keep them open. Through the haze of tears, I felt something. It was a gaze that felt too heavy to ignore.

I lifted my head, blinking past the salt and blur.

Gabrielle.

She was staring straight at me, her eyes sharp, but... different.

There was something there.

It was something deep, something painful, and something I’d never seen on her face before. And before I could even figure out what it was, before I could call out to her...

She turned away.

Just like that.

Turned her back to me, like looking at me was too much to bear.

***

Rose and I were going to graduate as Silver Class cadets. That was our reality now, carved into stone.

When I went to see her later, she paused what she was doing and met my eyes for a long moment.

"It’s really sad, huh? We couldn’t even manage to stay in Gold Class," she said, voice quiet, carrying a tired kind of honesty that cut deeper than anything.

She was packing up her things, her hands moving slow, almost distracted. Soon, she’d be gone from this room that had been hers for so long.

"Are you going home now?" I asked, even though I felt like I already knew the answer.

"My father doesn’t want to see my face anymore..." she said, scratching at the side of her cheek with a half-hearted little laugh.

It killed me inside to see her act so calm about it, like she’d already accepted it, like being cast out of her own family didn’t even hurt anymore.

"I mean... you can come stay at my place for a while, if you want," I offered, my voice coming out softer than I meant.

"Don’t worry," she shook her head, eyes still gentle. "I’m planning to go be an adventurer for a while, so I won’t need a home. I’ll register, save whatever money I’ve got left, and try to build a name for myself."

"Okay... you do you," I murmured back, the words heavy on my tongue.

"What about you? How’re your parents taking it?" she asked.

"Well, they’re obviously furious," I admitted, my breath catching a little. "My father wants me to go study abroad, try to become someone great over there, but... honestly, I’m just so tired. I told them I’d rather apply to be a professor at the academy. And... it looks like my fiancé’s family heard about my demotion before graduation, so they called off the engagement. Honestly? That’s for the best. I don’t even really like Sesillian."

"Well, that’s good at least," Rose said with a small, sad smile. "A professor, huh? I think you’d be really good at that."

Now that being magic knights was off the table, we had to figure out what came next.

"I think I’ll try to become a martial arts instructor after I’m done with adventuring," she added, her voice a little lighter. "That way... we might still get to see each other again."

But then, out of nowhere, tears welled up in her eyes—and before she could stop them, they slipped down her cheeks.

She looked at me, confused, almost hurt by her own crying.

"E-Eh? Why am I...?"

"It’s okay," I whispered, my own voice breaking. "I understand..."

And then we were hugging each other with our arms tight and faces buried against each other’s shoulders.

It was the first time I’d ever seen Rose cry like this.

Somehow, it hurt worse than anything else.

Because I knew exactly how she felt—and no one else in the world could possibly know it better.

She cried, shoulders shaking, while my tears slipped free too, soaking into her hair.

All those dreams, all the years we’d spent hoping and fighting—they shattered around us.

And in the silence between us, all we could do was mourn the pieces we couldn’t put back together.