Chapter 123:

"So, the first time in one of these?", a woman in the seat next to him asked. She had curly, blonde hair, and was wearing a pale green dress that complemented her eyes beautifully. She had a glass of wine in her hand, and was gently twirling her glass, causing the luscious scarlet liquid to dance, constrained against the walls of the tall vassal it found itself in.

Ace looked towards her, and smiled, nodding his head lightly. "Yep. Noticeable?"

"Not really, it's more that I have never seen you before, and considering that I go to pretty much every one of these…", she grinned, and then kept on talking, "You have a pretty big following huh? Reporters are trying to get your attention, just so you know."

"I do, but I am not particularly inclined to answer any questions, not so early on in the afternoon anyway. So, what is it you do? Not everyone can come here and get such a good seat.", Ace asked.

She laughed lightly, covering her mouth with her dainty hand, an action that made her look a lot younger than she probably was, "Well, that should be my question, considering you don't look a day over eighteen.", she said, looking to see his reaction.

Ace just extended his smile, 'Well, I guess I do look older than I actually am…', "Nothing much, has more to do with my family than anything else."

She nodded, probably thinking that he had just come as a show of courtesy, "Well, I am just a retired fashion critique, but I still enjoy coming to these, I do love fashion after all. My reputation allows me a free entry whenever I wish for entry, which is pretty neat."

"Cool. So, is there anything you are looking forward to in particular?", Ace asked, curious about what she thought of the whole thing.

She laughed, almost seeming embarrassed at her clear want of discussion,"Well, there have actually been…"

***

'That was actually not as bad as I had expected it to be. Although the fact that Cynthia was there was the only thing that made her worth it.', Ace had just got home, and it was almost 1 in the morning. He had pretty much given his verdict in that it would just be a boring event where he would just be losing time, but in fact, having Cynthia there, was actually what made it passable. She told him about the various clothes, the models, the designers, and all the fashion gossip he could ever keep up with. Not his favourite topic, but better than just staring at them in silence, listening to the camera chatter in the background.

He took a quick shower, and then went straight to sleep, not very hungry since he had already eaten a few things in the breaks the event had.

***

"Well, so, how was it?", Samantha asked, and Ace sighed, "Not as bad as I had thought it would be, but still, you can go to the next one, since you could not come to this one."

She shrugged, "I am a businesswoman, these things happen, for me, these events are more leisure that work, to be honest, which is why I go to them in the first place. Trust me, no one wanted me there more than I did.", she sighed, looking tired.

Ace asked, "How much did you sleep?", he was slightly concerned, but she shook it all away, "Don't worry, I just had a hectic night, but I already suspended some meetings I had later on in the day, so I should get some earl sleep to make up for it, I work hard, but I am not stupid, I know when things are necessary.", she almost berated him.

"Let's hope so…"

"I assume your grades were good?", she asked, and Ace just nodded so she continued, "Any interesting offers?"

"Interesting, yes, but promising?", he shook his head, "No. Plus, you would be the first one to know anyway, I am not planning on just suddenly switching schools without some serious reputation."

"Never expected you to, but I do have to ask just in case.", she said.

"Ding Dong!", the bell rang, and a few seconds later, a maid came in, informing them that dinner - take out pizza, was ready.

***

"How were your holidays?", Ace asked, both Amy and Sophie looked excited to talk, while Igor just grunted non-comitally. "Well", Sophie said, going first, "I had fantastic holidays, my parents were happy with my ranking, and so took me on a week-long trip to a resort. It was wonderful!", she seemed happy about it, which was funny, considering a resort did not fit her personality at all.

Ace and the others laughed, just picturing Sophie calmly laying down, slices of cucumber on her eyes. "My one was definitely not like that,", Amy said, "My sister and I went to a tournament in Albany, and it was pretty interesting."

"Any of you compete?", Sophie asked, "Nah.", Amy shook her head, "We were just there to cheer for a cousin, he did not do particularly well either, but it was a pretty high-level tournament though.

"Unlucky.", Ace said, "What about you Igor?", he had Ranked up to a Rank 1 Homeroom, since he had apparently outstanding achievements in Sports and Biology. He was part of Rank 2 and Rank 1 classes, but never really stood out much, despite his ridiculous size.

He shrugged, "Went to Siberia, a little cabin with my family. It was fun."

Sophie grinned, "Catch any bears?"

He nodded, almost sheepishly, "Yes. Me and my sister both hunted one together, a big one. We got the pelt, and my father and his friends are treating it. They plan to make two rugs out of it, one for my sister, and one for me."

Sophie's mouth gaped, she was not part of the Volleyball team, so she had not heard his stories, but the others just laughed, "W-Well, I guess that's, uh, cool."

"So, any of you guys have to go to the Headmaster's office today?", Amy asked, funnily enough, they all nodded.

"It probably is not about ranks then.", Igor said, and they nodded, "Yeah, it might have to do with contributions or something. We did all do some pretty outstanding things I guess. But regardless, we will probably find out in a few minutes.", Amy said.

They were now making their way around the Institute compound, heading towards the Headmaster's office. As they walked, they also saw a few other students going there as well. There were not that many, but since there were also multiple paths to go to the office, it did not mean much. What was interesting, however, was the fact that there were a few people from other year groups that were going there as well.

'Coincidence? Or did they just group us all in one big lump to make it easier…'