Chapter 3: The Psychic Club

"Merak , do you have any dreams?" the kindergarten teacher asked Merak .

I was curious about what dreams Merak , who had been far beyond the ordinary since childhood, had.

"I want to win the Comet," Merak quickly replied.

"Wow, that's amazing! Teacher feels like you'll definitely make it. And you, Dawn?" the teacher turned to me.

"I also want to win the Comet!" I answered without hesitation.

To be precise, I wanted to beat Merak .

My name is Dawn, and this dream has been with me since I was five years old...

August 30, 2009

The summer breeze was cool, and the dawn was bright.

It had been almost nine months since that somewhat successful curtain call of the stage play, and we had smoothly advanced to our senior year. Everything was calm, except...

"Good morning, Prince!"

"Good morning, Prince!"

"What did you have for lunch, Prince?"

"Can you help me with this problem, Prince?"

Because of that stage play rescue,

and also because of this year's spring sports meet, the whole class cheered for me in the sprint, "Go, Prince!"

With the name "Prince," I became famous at school, and more and more people started talking to me.

At first, students from other classes were not used to calling me "Prince," but then they got addicted to it, from awkward to proficient, and even a few junior girls called me more skillfully than my classmates.

Today is the first day back to school for other junior students. As seniors, we started school early.

After greeting everyone, instead of heading straight to the classroom on the fourth floor, I went to the activity room next to the rooftop entrance. That person must be inside at this time.

Opening the door, I saw a long table with a small desk inside, with the word "Director" written on it. Sitting there was a sleeping figure resembling a doll, wearing a plain school uniform but exuding a unique charm.

She was the director of the Psychic Club, Merak . Since she had obtained early admission to university, she rarely came to school. Perhaps only she could apply for a suspicious club name like "Psychic Club."

Like her parents, Merak was always studying various things besides preparing for the Comet, so she always looked tired.

"You're here, Dawn," Merak suddenly woke up.

"Hey, are you still studying the code left by your uncle and aunt? Any progress?" Merak 's desk was filled with books about decoding. During Merak 's summer vacation in junior high, her parents, the Tianji couple, left and never came back, leaving only a piece of paper covered in code. Since then, Merak has been trying to decipher it.

"No progress at all... Although there are various wonderful patterns, they're chaotic when combined together," Merak said casually.

Miss Merak , I don't understand.

Merak was an absolute genius, but she seemed unaware of it, probably because of her parents—Tianji, who were not only rare winners of the Comet with the same score but also held the highest scores in history. According to the rules of the competition, the highest scorer could name the competition, so "Red Comet" became "Azure Comets."

"I'll go back to class now, Merak ."

"Yeah, something seems to be happening in class."

"Yeah, I'll go check it out. Keep up the research."

"Wait a minute..." Merak stopped me expressionlessly.

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

"Can you... make me a pot of black tea?"

Merak turned her head and asked, her cheeks slightly blushing.

"Of course, no problem."