Jihu's body refused to move. It wasn't just the exhaustion from yesterday's interrogation by the Academy elders—it was the kind of sleep-debt that accumulated when you spent years running on caffeine and questionable life choices. For once in his life, he had given in to the siren song of his bed, and it had swallowed him whole.
Then he woke up.
Sort of.
Jihu cracked an eye open, only to be assaulted by the blindingly artificial daylight streaming through the window. His brain was still buffering. He groaned, rolling onto his side, only for something warm and solid to smack him in the face.
"Oi, get off!" Jihu's muffled yell was met with an equally groggy groan from Lucian Alderris, the Academy's number-one golden boy, who was sprawled half on Jihu's bed, his perfect face scrunched in mild irritation.
Jihu froze. Wait. Why was Lucian here?
His sleep-addled brain started catching up, and then it hit him like a freight ship.
**They were late.**
Jihu shot up like a man electrocuted, nearly knocking Lucian off the bed. His heart pounded as he turned to the dorm's massive wall display, which had been dutifully projecting a schedule for them since Day One.
**08:45 AM**
…
Wait. What time was it supposed to be?
A cold sweat ran down his back as he forced his groggy mind to piece it together.
**The first combat assessment started at 08:00 AM.**
"Oh, shit."
Across the room, Kael and Rael Vinteris, the identical twin menaces, were tangled together in their bedsheets like a pair of abandoned marionettes. One of them made a vague attempt at movement, flopped, and let out a weak, "Mmm… five more minutes."
Jihu wanted to scream.
Lucian finally stirred, rubbing his face like a man who had never known the tragedy of oversleeping before. He blinked at Jihu, then at the time display. Jihu saw the moment reality crashed into him.
"…Impossible," Lucian muttered, as if the concept of being late personally offended his bloodline.
"Nope," Jihu said, frantically trying to untangle himself from his sheets. "Very possible. In fact, it's happening right now."
Kael, one of the twins, groggily peeked out from under his blanket. "Bro, I had a dream we were late."
"We *are* late," Jihu snapped.
Rael's sleepy brain tried to compute this information. "…Damn. Manifestation works."
Jihu nearly threw a pillow at them.
Lucian had already sprung into motion, his royal instincts kicking in. "We need to move. Immediately."
"No kidding, genius," Jihu muttered as he scrambled to find his uniform. "Leon! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
["You stated last night, and I quote, 'Wake me up and I will personally reprogram you to speak only in cat noises.'"]
Jihu groaned. That *did* sound like something he'd say.
Lucian was already fixing his hair in the mirror at lightning speed, looking effortlessly perfect despite just rolling out of bed. Jihu hated him for it. Meanwhile, the twins were still only halfway sitting up, as if their bodies had entered a permanent state of denial.
Jihu grabbed a pillow and hurled it at them. "Get up! We're already on the Academy's watchlist—do you *really* want to piss off the instructors?!"
Kael caught the pillow, fluffed it, and promptly laid back down. "Counterpoint: If we're already late, might as well commit to it."
"I *will* drag you out by your ankles," Jihu threatened.
Rael yawned. "Jihu, buddy, I hear you. I respect you. But do you know what's stronger than my will to survive? My will to sleep."
Jihu *did* know. That's what made it worse.
Lucian, now fully dressed and looking infuriatingly composed, sighed. "Leave them. The instructors will deal with them. We, however, are going."
Jihu didn't need to be told twice. He threw on his uniform—only half of it properly buttoned—and bolted out the door behind Lucian, the sound of the twins groaning something about *"send food"* fading behind them.
As they sprinted through the Academy corridors, Jihu's mind raced. He had survived interstellar politics, nobles sneering at his eating habits, and a secret interrogation in chains. And yet, here he was, running for his life because he lost a battle against his own bed.
**This school sucked.**
To be continued…
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