The air in the Testing Hall was thick with the cloying mix of a hundred different guide and esper scents that did nothing to improve Zane’s already foul mood. A persistent annoyance, much like the boy currently standing in the center of the raised dais.

The pristine white of his uniform, denoting an S-rank guide, felt like a mockery today. At 20, he was the oldest unbonded S-rank in the academy’s recent history, a fact the whispers around him never let him forget.

And then there was you. His childhood friend, constant, infuriating rival. The one person he’d argued with just minutes before you were called for your differentiation test.

Now, you stood on the dais, the crystal amplifiers glowing a soft blue around you. The officials, a panel of stern-faced professors and military liaisons, watched with clinical interest.

Everyone knew you were special. The first crystal shattered with a sound like a gunshot.