Chapter 410: My Mind Is Clear!

"We know John probably won’t show up today," Luke said, his voice unusually sombre. "So let’s try our best to fill in his shoes. Ricky..."

Luke turned to Ricky. The latter looked worse than ever, drawn, pale, and hollow-eyed. It was as if the rejection of the previous night had been directed at Ricky himself rather than John.

"You’ll stay behind with Ben and Mond," Luke continued. "It’s expected that people will start coming to the base today to ask about joining the club, especially after that show yesterday. Just give them a good impression and keep things orderly."

"What if no one comes?" Mond asked calmly. "Last night, while I was headed back to my dorm, I ran into a few members of the disbanded Black Ares Club. They didn’t look like people who had dropped the ball. They looked like they were plotting something."

"Well..." Luke hesitated, not quite grasping the nuance Mond was implying. After all, Luke wasn’t the brain type. "No matter what they try, they don’t have a club to back them anymore. Without an official club and without members crazy enough to test us again after what you two did to them, there’s no way they can make a comeback.

Plus, John laid down the law yesterday; he demanded the right to pick the Formal Team roster from our club. That’s a huge magnet for recruits, and no club would dare to compete with us, even if they dreamt about it."

"It’s too early to plan things based on that point," Ricky said, finally snapping back to reality, though his eyes remained dull. "The look on Nikolas’s face told me that securing that privilege won’t be an easy feat."

"Then," Luke turned to Mond and Ben, "you two shall go around the department. In fact, take a stroll around the entire academy."

"Just the two of us?!" Ben was surprised by such an arrangement. He looked toward the distance, where the academy buildings loomed like shadows in early morning mist, then back at Luke. "Won’t he come with us?"

"We don’t know that much about John or the rules of the club yet," Mond added, his voice cautious. Luke took another glance at Ricky and inwardly sighed.

Even if Luke wasn’t exceptionally close to Ricky, honestly, no one truly was; he knew exactly what was churning inside the man’s mind. Cissel had always been the unspoken focal point between John and Ricky. By cutting all intimate ties with John, Cissel had inadvertently pushed Ricky into a psychological corner he never expected to occupy.

Luke had suspected since last night that Ricky would suffer just as much as John, albeit for different reasons. Seeing Ricky’s hollow expression today confirmed his guess. He didn’t want to send Ricky out into the academy grounds; God only knew what Ricky might do or say in such a twisted, unstable mindset. Keeping him at the base was the only way to ensure he didn’t spiral further.

"You two demonstrated our might yesterday to the entire academy," Elena stepped in, her voice firm and encouraging.

"You deserve to enjoy the privilege that comes with your victory. Just walk around. Show yourselves to others. Enjoy the envious looks and the whispers of the students who are too eager to stand where you stood. Just remember: don’t give anyone any promises."

"If anyone asks," Luke added, picking up her thread, "the RBM Club is currently invite-only. Tell them that if they want in, they need to showcase their perks and their value, not to us, but to John. Got it?"

"Easy peasy," Mond said, an evil grin spreading across his face. He was already imagining the look on Galbert’s face when he paraded past the remnants of the Black Ares gang as a victor. As for Ben, he felt he truly deserved this moment in the limelight.

He had suffered for so long under the curse of his volatile ability and his family’s suffocating limitations. Now, he had finally broken those shackles thanks to John’s. He needed to display his power; he needed to taste the privilege he had spent his life envying. And he needed to repay some of John’s kindness by spreading the club’s name in the academy grounds.

"What about the two of you, then?" Ricky asked, his voice low as Mond and Ben headed out to begin their tour of the department and the wider academy.

"I’ll be scouting," Luke said casually, as if it were the most obvious task in the world. "I’m going to look for any potential troublemakers trying to capitalise on John’s absence, and maybe keep an eye out for high-potential recruits whose names are in the list."

"I will meet with Cissel," Elena said, pausing as the weight of the name hung in the air. "I need to get to the bottom of all this. Something just doesn’t add up, not a single piece of it."

"I... I feel the same," Ricky admitted, though he looked like he hated himself for saying it. It was the thought that had been gnawing at his gut since the previous night. "If the two of them had a quarrel or a fight, it would make sense. But this? Ending it like this? It feels like we’re looking at a stranger, not the Cissel we know."

"I know," Elena nodded. "That’s why I have to see what changed. It’s not just about a change of heart or a breakup. She didn’t even speak with me like she usually does. Her entire vibe has changed. Something is definitely, fundamentally wrong with her."

The three of them stayed in silence for a few heavy moments, their eyes carrying all the words they were too exhausted or too wary to speak aloud. Then, they dispersed.

Luke didn’t actually plan to do exactly what he said. In a show of silent protective instinct, he accompanied Elena toward Cissel’s dorm. He didn’t go inside, instead choosing to lean against the hallway wall, acting as a silent guard just in case something went wrong or Elena found herself in danger.

The fact that Cissel had sown suspicion among her closest friends to such an extent spoke volumes about the club’s current state.

Inside the room, Elena sat opposite Cissel. She tried to peer through the thick fog that seemed to be clouding her friend’s mind, searching for a crack in the armour.

But Cissel looked like a girl made entirely out of ice. Her face was expressionless, her posture perfect and rigid. Her eyes looked calm and collected, devoid of the emotional turbulence one would expect from someone who had just dropped a social atom bomb the night before.

"So..." Elena began, unable to handle the silence. Cissel hadn’t said a single word since Elena walked in, simply watching her with a terrifyingly neutral gaze. "Won’t you tell your lovely sister what really happened between you and John to cause this? Why break up now, after everything?"

Elena didn’t beat around the bush. She locked her eyes onto Cissel’s, demanding a direct answer.

"If you have come here with the hope that my mind has been corrupted or that I am merely confused by the trauma I went through," Cissel said, her voice eerily calm and steady.

"Then I can only disappoint you. That hope of yours is far too fragile; it would break on its own with the slightest breeze. My mind is clear; John and I are no more. He is just a friend to me now, as I am to him. There is nothing more to discuss."