Thursday morning started with unforeseen chaos in the first-year dorms.

Someone broke into the administrative office overnight and publicly posted everyone’s quiz results on the main common room board.

The posts included not just names and scores, but also detailed breakdowns of missed questions and full answer comparisons.

The outcome was chaos. "This is a violation of privacy!" yelled a girl who had scored poorly, unsuccessfully attempting to tear down the posted sheets.

"This is hilarious," someone who had aced the quiz said, amusedly looking over others’ incorrect answers.

Patricia reached the common room and saw a crowd of three deep gathered around the announcement board. She pushed through to check her results: 94/100. It was a good score, though she had made a silly mistake on question seven.

"Who did this?" someone asked. "Who broke into the administrative office?"

"Does it matter? The information is now public." "It definitely matters! This is a serious breach of—"

The argument was abruptly halted when Professor Ashcroft arrived, appearing more irritated than Patricia had ever seen him.

"Everyone step away from the board. Now." His voice rang out with confident authority, cutting through the chaos.

Students moved back to make space as Ashcroft looked over the results posted, his face growing more serious.

"Whoever did this accessed sealed academic records without permission.

That’s a reason for expulsion." He started removing the posted sheets, carefully gathering each page. "I will notify the administration right away. If anyone knows who did this, please come speak to me privately.

He departed with the gathered papers as the common room burst into speculation.

"It needed to be someone with administrator access codes," David said, appearing beside Patricia. "The academic records office is protected by essence-locked security. You can’t simply break in physically."

Patricia Thought about the implications: it could be a student with access codes or an authorised person who posted them intentionally. She wondered, "Why would someone do this?"

"To cause chaos? To make a point about academic transparency? To embarrass students who performed poorly?" David pulled out his ever-present notebook. "The motivation matters for identifying the culprit."

"You’re going to investigate this, aren’t you?"

"Someone should take action. The administration will prioritise punishment. I’m more interested in understanding the why."

Marcus showed up, looking irritated. "Did you see my score? Seventy-eight! I studied for hours and still just scraped by!"

"You passed, which is what matters," Emma said as she joined their group. "Although I have to admit, the public posting was mortifying. My score wasn’t much better either."

Nearby, similar discussions took place—some students bragging, others embarrassed, and many just puzzled about what had occurred and why.

---

By mid-morning, the quiz incident had turned into widespread academy gossip.

In the library’s second-year section, Jessica was with her usual group, gathering information.

—definitely an inside job, she said. "You can’t access sealed academic records without either administrator codes or advanced hacking skills."

Melody wondered, "Could it have been a professor who disputes privacy policies?"

"Unlikely. Professors who disagree with policy don’t usually commit career-ending breaches of protocol." Jessica tapped her notes. "More likely a student with grudge motivation or ideological opposition to academic secrecy."

"You’re making this sound like a political statement."

"It could be, or it could be someone intentionally causing trouble. Jessica made another note. Either way, it’s intriguing. The academy has been thrown into chaos by Derek’s betrayal, instructor disappearances, and now this. Someone is either extremely unlucky or intentionally stirring up chaos."

"You think they’re connected?"

"I find correlation intriguing, even when causation isn’t clear," Jessica said, looking up from her notes. "The Derek incident exposed weaknesses in academy security. The instructor disappearances point to institutional instability. This quiz incident shows that even supposedly secure academic systems can be hacked. The pattern indicates increasing challenges to the academy’s authority."

"Or you’re connecting unrelated events because you like finding patterns."

"Also possible. But worth tracking."

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion near the library entrance. A group of third-years had entered, talking loudly enough to draw Mrs. Ashford’s immediate disapproval.

"—absolutely insane that they’re still planning to hold the Inter-House Competition," one was saying. "Three professors missing, students attacked during expeditions, and they want us to participate in organized combat events?"

"The administration probably thinks maintaining normal operations prevents panic."

"Maintaining normal operations while ignoring obvious danger is how people get killed."

Mrs. Ashford appeared like a vengeful spirit. "Students. Library. Quiet zone. Lower your voices or leave."

The third-years mumbled apologies and found a table, though their conversation continued in heated whispers.

Jessica made a note: *Growing student concern about academy safety. Third-years openly questioning administration decisions.*

"You’re documenting everything now?" Hannah asked.

"Everything is potentially relevant data." Jessica tucked her notebook away. "Though I admit this is getting concerning. When third-years start openly questioning academy policy, that suggests serious erosion of institutional trust."

---

In the administrative building, Headmaster Volmer was having a very different conversation.

Captain Morris sat across from him, along with two campus security officers who looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Explain to me," Volmer said with dangerous calm, "how a student accessed sealed academic records from a system that’s supposedly secure."

The senior security officer cleared his throat. "We’re still investigating the breach, sir. Initial analysis suggests the access codes were used correctly, which means either someone stole an administrator’s credentials, or—"

"Or an administrator posted the results themselves," Volmer finished. "Have you verified all administrator access logs?"

"We’re working on it. The logs show normal access patterns for Professor Ashcroft’s account, but the timing coincides with when we know he was in his residence, not in his office."

"So his credentials were compromised."

"It appears so, sir."

Volmer stood and walked to his window, a gesture that was becoming habitual during stressful discussions. "How long until we can identify who accessed the system?"

"The security essence signature is degraded—whoever did this used a masking technique to obscure their identity. We might be able to narrow it down to a few possible candidates, but definitive identification could take days."

"We don’t have days. The Inter-Academy competition starts in eight days, followed immediately by Inter-House events. I need this resolved before external academy representatives arrive and see our institutional chaos." Volmer turned back to face them. "Captain Morris, increase security patrols in administrative areas. No one accesses secure systems without verified identity confirmation. I don’t care if it inconveniences staff—security takes priority."

"Understood, sir."

"And inform the professors that anyone with system access needs to change their credentials immediately and enable additional security protocols." Volmer returned to his desk. "This academy will not fall apart on my watch. Whatever’s happening—Derek’s betrayal, instructor disappearances, security breaches—we’re going to identify and address it."

---

Lunch period brought a new development that overshadowed even the quiz incident.

Someone had posted flyers throughout the academy announcing an "unofficial student assembly" that evening in the secondary training hall. The flyers were professionally made, with carefully worded language about "discussing student safety concerns" and "collective response to institutional challenges."

The administration tried to remove the flyers, but they’d been posted with essence-reinforced adhesive that required significant effort to remove. By the time staff managed to clear most of them, word had already spread through the student population.

In the dining hall, debate raged about whether to attend.

"It’s obviously going to be shut down," one second-year said. "The administration won’t allow unauthorized student assemblies."

"They can’t stop us from gathering in a public training hall during free period," countered another. "We have the right to discuss concerns about our own safety."

"This is going to cause trouble."

"Good. Maybe trouble is what we need to get actual answers about what’s happening."

Patricia listened to the debate while eating with her study group.

"Are you going?" Marcus asked.

"Probably. I’m curious who organized this and what they’re trying to accomplish." Patricia considered the flyer she’d grabbed before staff removed it. "The language is carefully chosen—not confrontational, but assertive. Someone with political training wrote this."

"Or someone who’s very good at rhetoric," David added. "The phrasing creates emotional appeal while maintaining plausible deniability about challenging authority."

"Should we be worried that you can analyze political manipulation techniques?" Emma asked.

"Understanding how persuasion works is valuable regardless of whether you approve of the specific application." David pulled out his notebook—apparently everyone was taking notes today. "I’m going to attend and observe. This is the kind of social movement formation that rarely happens in controlled academic environments."

"Social movement formation? It’s an informal student gathering," Marcus protested.

"That’s how social movements start. Someone organizes an informal gathering to discuss shared concerns. If enough people attend and the concerns are validated, it creates momentum for larger organizational action." David was clearly excited by this prospect. "This could be historically significant for academy culture."

"Or it could be a dozen students complaining in a training hall for an hour before everyone goes back to their rooms," Patricia pointed out. "Let’s not overstate what’s happening."

---

The afternoon passed with unusual tension. Classes continued, but students were distracted by anticipation of the evening assembly. Professors who’d heard about it were visibly concerned, though none officially acknowledged the planned gathering.

In combat practice, Captain Morris noticed the divided attention immediately.

"Students. Focus. If you’re thinking about unauthorized evening assemblies instead of your defensive forms, you’re going to get hurt." She demonstrated a technique with sharp precision. "Whatever you plan to do this evening, right now you’re in my class and you will concentrate on the material."

---

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