The rumbling sound of thunder echoed down the hallway of Immaculata University’s Faculty of Communication as Fori stepped out of the new student orientation room. Scanning left and right, she searched for her old orphanage mate, Beth, who had also enrolled at the private university.
Beth, Fori’s friend, had enrolled in the Faculty of Psychology, which happened to be located just one building away from the Faculty of Communication where Fori studied. Earlier that afternoon, they had made a pact to have lunch together after the introduction sessions of their respective faculties.
Now, as Fori walked down the hallway, she spotted Beth standing at the end, waving enthusiastically in her direction.
“Have you been waiting for me long?” Fori asked, approaching Beth, whose face wore a sunken expression and her curly red hair tied back in a ponytail. She sported thick black-rimmed glasses and pink braces on her top teeth.
“Twenty-seven minutes,” Beth replied with a grin. “But it’s no big deal. Your faculty’s wifi is faster than Psychology’s, so I passed the time watching Youtube.”
“What? How did you manage that? I thought the wifi here was restricted to educational use only,” Fori exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.
Fori herself had an interesting large squirrel-like eyes set in a small, round face framed by straight bob-cut hair, giving her a cute appearance. Standing at 158 centimeters tall, she was 10 centimeters shorter than Beth.
“I stumbled upon the Communications lecturers’ wifi password paper when I asked for directions to your orientation room earlier,” Beth whispered with a chuckle. “Can you believe it? The password was ‘star 12345’. Too simple, right?”
“Wait, I’m using that password,” Fori said, pausing to adjust her phone’s wifi settings. She and Beth shared a laugh as Fori connected to the network.
“Look, it’s already raining,” Beth remarked as she shifted her gaze out of the hallway. “At this rate, we won’t make it to the Psychology cafeteria. Should we take the long route via the second-floor bridge between faculties?”
Fori glanced outside to see a dark sky illuminated by lightning, rain pouring down and fogging up the windows instantly.
“Let’s try my faculty cafeteria. I’ve never been there, but it’s worth a shot,” Fori suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. Who knows, maybe they have affordable yet delicious food there,” Beth replied, adjusting her university blazer.
Immaculata University, a part of the Immaculata Foundation, sprawled magnificently, boasting its own forest and lake amidst its ten faculties. The buildings stood tall with grand ceilings, painted in a classic brick red that lent the campus an air of elegance.
In the gardens of each faculty, bonsai trees adorned emerald green lawns alongside white Italian coral rocks. Along the roadsides, pale pink and white bougainvilleas added touches of springtime charm, reminiscent of Japan’s cherry blossoms.
While Immaculata University was known for catering to affluent students, scholarships were available for academic achievers or those affiliated with the Immaculata Foundation. Despite not being top of her class, Fori received free tuition as a resident of the Immaculata Orphanage.
This was actually quite hard for Fori, who had been in the same Immaculata School from junior high to high school. No one at her school wanted to be friends with her because she was not in the same social class as them.
“Look around, everyone’s wearing casual clothes,” Fori shot Beth a pointed look. “The university blazers were just for orientation. Now we’re the only ones still in uniform.”
“So?” Beth looked puzzled, but then she nodded and adjusted her university blazer collar. “They’re mocking us over this?”
Fori sighed, raising her hand to cover her face. “It’s embarrassing. Wearing these all the time makes us look like we’re overly proud of being here.”
Her friend chuckled. “But if we take them off now, they’ll know we’re embarrassed. Let’s just ignore them.”
Fori agreed, and their attention shifted as a cafeteria worker arrived with their orders, setting down steaming bowls of stewed noodles with beef meatballs and quail eggs.
Fori’s mouth watered at the sight. Hot soup was always her favorite on rainy days, and she was particularly hungry since she’d only managed to eat half of Beth’s leftover cheese bread that morning before leaving the dorm.
“By the way, what about that guy who used to be your friend… the one who lived in that big mansion on the hill… Xynth, was it?” Beth suddenly asked between sips of her noodle soup. Fori fell silent, regarding Beth carefully.
“My friend back then was named Sega. I don’t know anyone named Xynth, and I don’t care for him,” Fori replied tersely.
She harbored resentment towards Sega ever since her childhood friend had been adopted by a wealthy family and renamed Xynth. What hurt the most was how Sega’s attitude towards her had drastically changed, as if he no longer recognized her.
“Did you know they also applied to this university?” Beth asked, her tone serious. “Did you see him during orientation today? Rumor has it that he and his two cousins applied to the same faculty as you.”
Fori lifted her gaze, locking eyes with Beth. “What do you mean? Weren’t they always homeschooled in that mansion? They hardly ever ventured out or interacted with anyone.”
“That’s what I heard too,” Beth said, tilting her head in thought. “It’s odd, isn’t it? Suddenly they’re all attending public universities.”
“The weirdest part is that they enrolled in the Faculty of Communication Studies. You know, they’re all math and science prodigies, and they aced the entrance exam with perfect scores. But… why choose the communication faculty?” Beth pondered aloud.
“They got in through a test? Well, isn’t Xynth’s mother the biggest donor to the Immaculata Foundation now? It’s no surprise they scored the highest, thanks to Xynth’s mother,” Fori remarked, trying to sound indifferent.
“They’re really brilliant though, winning all those science awards since they were kids,” Beth added.
Fori lapsed into silence, willing to believe whatever Beth said. Her friend was one of the brightest people she knew, always earning scholarships for her intelligence, unlike her who relied on financial aid.
“Wow, you’ll be seeing them a lot, Fori. That must be interesting! I’ve never met them in person,” Beth mused.
“Well, actually,” Fori began in a hushed tone, “I ran into Xynth a couple of months ago.”
“What? You never mentioned this! What happened? Did he recognize you? You said, he suddenly acted like he didn’t know you anymore and stopped playing with you, right?” Beth looked surprised, bombarding Fori with questions.
“Yeah, but…” Fori trailed off, her tone wavering between uncertainty and embarrassment. “Oh God, this is so embarrassing!”
Pointing her fork at Fori’s face, Beth gave her a stern look. “Spill it! If you’re still my friend, you better tell me!”
Fori sighed, gathering her thoughts. “Remember two months ago when I messaged you about attending my high school prom?”
Beth nodded eagerly.
“Well, those queen bees behind us started a game,” Fori continued. “They dared me to drink several glasses of wine during a game, and I ended up getting drunk and landing myself at the police station later that night. That’s when I filed a harassment report against Xynth.”
“Harassment? Are you serious?!” Beth’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“As far as I recall, we bumped into each other on the street. I was intoxicated, stumbling my way home, and leaned against a lamppost because I felt nauseous. Suddenly, he tugged down the strap of my top, revealing my left shoulder. The street CCTV was malfunctioning, but the police managed to obtain clear footage from the black box in Xynth’s car.”
Fori took a sip of her drink before continuing. “Interestingly, the footage revealed that it wasn’t him who undressed me, but rather the other way around. And to top it off, I was caught underage and intoxicated.”
“At the time, I wasn’t officially 21 years old. Long story short, I ended up spending a night in detention after Xynth filed a counter-report accusing me of making false accusations against him. He eventually withdrew his report the next morning.”
“What?!” Beth exclaimed, jumping up from her seat before quickly sitting back down, her hand covering her mouth. She looked like she was trying to suppress a laugh. “How did that happen? Wow, Fori, you’re quite the bold flirt!”
“W-whaaat?! Nooo!” Fori protested loudly. “I’m not… I mean, I don’t remember… I was… well, I remember feeling really sick and leaning against a lamppost.”
“Xynth’s car drove past, and he suddenly stopped, got out, and forcibly removed my top. I-I don’t remember doing anything to him. But the car’s black box footage showed otherwise.”
“You were intoxicated, Fori. Your memory might not be reliable. And video evidence doesn’t lie, right?!” Beth reasoned.
Fori buried her face in her hands, mortified as she recalled the humiliating incident at the police station involving Xynth. “This is so embarrassing! I keep having these strange flashbacks about similar thing from the past!”
“‘Similar thing’?” Beth’s expression turned curious. “Was there a similar incident in the past?”
“I never told you this, but… I used to have this bizarre dream about Sega… or Xynth. I dreamt that he was kidnapped and taken to the hospital rooftop while we were both receiving treatment there.”
“In my dream, everything suddenly froze, and I saw a group of satanic cult on the roof of the building, sacrificing a dying old man. They collected his blood for Sega to drink. I was terrified and ran away, but the next morning, I heard that Sega was fine.”
Fori noticed Beth staring at her intently, her expression sharp. After a few seconds, Beth burst into laughter, giving Fori an amused look.
“Fori, you have quite the imagination. You might be losing it! Satanic cult? Really?” Beth chuckled.
Fori felt irritated by Beth’s reaction, but it seemed she wasn’t the only one annoyed. The group of queen bees at the adjacent table didn’t seem pleased with Beth’s laughter either. Without warning, they began pelting Beth with crackers, causing crumbs to stick to her curls.
“Keep it down, will you?” Hannah scolded Beth sarcastically, tossing two more crackers, this time aiming at Beth and Fori’s faces.
Beth froze, plucking a cracker from her hair. Then, with a mixture of annoyance and defiance, she stood up and turned towards Hannah and her friends.
“I’m not in the mood for this,” Beth warned Hannah in a low voice.
“What are you going to do about it?!” Hannah retorted, her expression defiant as she also stood up on her chair.
The confrontation took a disastrous turn when Beth, in a fit of anger, threw a glass of hot tea at Hannah, drenching her pristine white blouse.
Hannah shrieked in shock, her friends staring wide-eyed. In retaliation, Hannah hurled the remaining food from their table at Beth, who dodged swiftly. Unfortunately, Fori bore the brunt of the attack, her face, hair, and clothes soaked from Hannah’s assault.
As if that wasn’t enough, Fori realized Hannah had thrown pickle sauce at her, leaving her to endure the sour smell for the rest of the day. However, neither Hannah nor Beth seemed to care about Fori’s predicament.
Before tensions could escalate further, bystanders stepped in, and both groups were swiftly escorted out by the cafeteria staff, bringing their first cafeteria lunch as freshmen at Immaculata University to an abrupt and chaotic end.
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The second session of orientation that day was terrible. As the students gathered in the Faculty of Communication hall, they were hit with an unpleasant mix of vinegar and insect repellent spray. It didn’t take long for everyone to figure out that Fori was the cause of the strange smell, prompting them to quickly move away from her.
Adding to the tension, Xynth and his two friends were also in the same faculty as Fori. Even though they arrived late, their presence during the second session stirred up quite a commotion among the freshmen.
Many of them were intrigued and intimidated by the trio. It was clear that the students were already aware of Xynth and his companions’ achievements, which only added to their mystique.
To make it worse, the seniors leading the second session seemed to be ruthless and ready to vent their dark life problems to torment all the freshmen, making the atmosphere even more tense. As part of the orientation, all the freshmen were instructed to approach and select ribbons from a box, which would designate their respective groups.
Xynth and his friends stood at the front, selecting ribbons from the box. Fori stole a glance as Xynth turned away from the box, noticing that he held a yellow ribbon in his palm. Antares received a red ribbon, while Rigel was handed a blue one.
With nervousness, Fori joined the line, silently hoping she wouldn’t pick the same colored ribbon as Xynth. She definitely didn’t want to end up in the same group as him.
As she stood in line, she noticed people nearby covering their noses and shooting her fierce glances. Trying to appear indifferent, Fori avoided their gazes.
Her frustration mounted when she spotted Hannah eagerly reaching for a yellow ribbon. It seemed like everyone in the room was vying for the same color, knowing Xynth had chosen it.
The girl felt a surge of relief when she reached into the box and pulled out a black ribbon. With a grateful grimace, she quickly joined the line for the black group, glad to be away from Xynth’s group.
However, her sense of relief was short-lived. As she settled into her place in the black group, she suddenly froze in shock.
Almost all those who got the black ribbons were geeky, thin and dry, and didn’t look energetic. They even looked like people who just wanted to die and had no intention of communicating with each other.
Fori approached with a limp and tried to greet someone there, but the person she greeted immediately closed his nose and walked away. Apparently, behind the gloomy aura of the people there that matched the color of their ribbons, their noses were still working properly.
The girl sat in a chair and gazed around at the busy black team, while the other teams gathered closely and commenced their meetings with enthusiasm. She was almost as distraught as the rest of the black team, but suddenly the sound of someone behind her startled the black team.
Fori turned her head and saw Xynth standing behind her, holding a black ribbon.
“This team already has a leader?” asked Xynth in a heavy voice and made the entire black team, which had a frustrated aura, suddenly full of enthusiasm and hope. Their eyes lit up.
“Not yet,” replied a slightly hunched man with freckles on his face. Approaching Xynth as if trying to gain his favor, he said, “Since you’re part of our group, we think we should choose you as the team leader. Does everyone agree?”
All the members of the black team cheered in support, but Fori, feeling upset and surprised, unconsciously expressed her disagreement with the team.
“I didn’t say I agree,” muttered Fori to herself. She felt like she had only said it in her mind, but it turned out everyone there heard her. Upon realizing, Fori almost slapped her own mouth.
“You want to be the leader of the black team?” Xynth asked Fori with a sharp gaze.
The atmosphere suddenly became silent, and everyone there looked at Fori in surprise. Fori didn’t immediately respond. More accurately, she couldn’t answer because she didn’t intend to nominate herself as the leader.
She only accidentally voiced her objection because she was very confident that the man received the yellow ribbon and not the black one. She was also certain that everyone in the room knew it because earlier she had heard some girls from the other team say that they had seen Xynth receiving the yellow ribbon.
“Your name… Fortuna?” Xynth asked, approaching Fori while looking at her name tag on the blazer. Now, Fori felt intimidated by Xynth’s tall and imposing figure, which made her own body feel dwarfed.
“Should I call you Fart… or Tuna?” the man continued, his expression unchanged.
Everyone there immediately laughed at Xynth’s remark, causing Fori’s face to turn bright red with embarrassment. She knew the man did it deliberately. Even though he had forgotten their childhood closeness, he had heard Fori’s nickname when filing a report at the police station two months ago.
“Since Fortuna has volunteered, I will support her as the leader of the black team,” Xynth announced to the others. “Does everyone else agree?”
As if hypnotized by Xynth, suddenly everyone there agreed that Fori would become the leader of the black team.
Fori stood there dumbfounded. She hadn’t even imagined herself as a leader anywhere, let alone in the orientation session, which was sure to be filled with ambition and intense competition among the new students. However, she couldn’t object because everyone there suddenly agreed to choose her as the leader.
“Now you’re our team leader, Fifteen,” Xynth whispered to Fori. “What do we do next? Are you going to lead the strategy meeting?”
“Wait,” Fori suddenly interrupted him. “Did you just call me by the number ‘fifteen’?”
“No, I called you Fortuna,” Xynth replied after a moment of silence.
“No, you just called me Fifteen,” Fori insisted, growing more certain. “And this is the second time you’ve called me that.”
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