The names continued one after another as students walked onto the stage, touched the Awakening Stone, and discovered what the rest of their lives would look like.
Some returned grinning from ear to ear, barely containing their excitement as friends immediately crowded around them to ask what they'd awakened. Others came back wearing polite smiles that didn't quite reach their eyes. The stone hadn't responded to everyone, and each time another student quietly walked off the stage without a Manifestation, the atmosphere inside the auditorium seemed to grow a little heavier.
Nobody laughed at them.
Nobody pitied them either.
There wasn't really anything anyone could say.
The Awakening Stone had already made its decision.
I shifted slightly in my seat as another round of applause echoed through the hall. My fingers had somehow found their way together, tapping absent-mindedly against my knee without me realizing it. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was habit. Whatever it was, it wasn't helping.
I'd spent months wondering what today would be like.
Now that it was actually here, I found myself caring a lot less than I thought I would.
Yesterday had a funny way of putting things into perspective.
Hard to worry about whether I'd awaken when there was a bloodstained brick hidden underneath my bed and a murder investigation probably unfolding somewhere across Caviar City.
Then there was the System.
The faint blue shimmer still lingered patiently at the edge of my vision, refusing to disappear no matter how much I ignored it. It hadn't reacted to Maria's Awakening. It hadn't reacted to anyone else's. It simply remained there, silent as ever, almost like it was waiting for something.
Waiting for me.
That thought wasn't exactly comforting.
The official standing beside the microphone picked up another sheet of paper before clearing his throat.
"Adrian Ashford."
For a second I just sat there.
It took hearing my own name a second time before my brain finally caught up with the fact that I'd been called.
"...Right."
I stood a little too quickly, nearly catching my shoe against the leg of my chair before managing to recover with what I hoped looked intentional. A couple of students chuckled behind me.
Great.
Starting strong already.
I adjusted my blazer out of pure habit and made my way down the aisle toward the stage. Every step seemed louder than it should have been, my shoes tapping against the polished floor while what felt like hundreds of pairs of eyes followed me.
Guess this was the part where everyone silently judged whether I'd trip over absolutely nothing.
Wouldn't exactly be the first embarrassing thing to happen to me.
The stairs leading onto the stage suddenly looked a lot taller than they had from my seat. I climbed them anyway, forcing myself not to look toward the audience. If I started searching for familiar faces, I'd probably only make myself more nervous.
The Awakening Stone waited in front of me.
Up close, it looked even stranger than it had from my seat. Silver light drifted lazily beneath the smooth crystal surface, moving without any obvious pattern. It almost reminded me of clouds swirling before a storm.
One of the academy officials offered an encouraging smile.
"Whenever you're ready."
Easy for him to say.
He wasn't the one whose future was balancing on a glowing rock.
I took a slow breath before placing my hand against the crystal.
It felt...
Cold.
Colder than I expected.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
The auditorium remained completely silent.
Another second passed.
Still nothing.
I felt a familiar knot forming in my stomach.
Maybe...
Maybe I was one of the sixty percent after all.
Honestly, I couldn't even bring myself to be disappointed. Compared to everything else weighing on my mind, failing to awaken almost felt... expected.
Then the crystal pulsed.
Soft silver light spread beneath my hand before faint traces of blue joined it, swirling together inside the Awakening Stone. The glow wasn't nearly as brilliant as Maria's had been. There was no explosion of light or dramatic wave of energy washing across the auditorium.
It was quieter than that.
Calmer.
The official beside the stone glanced toward the tablet in his hands, his eyebrows rising slightly before he looked back at me.
"Manifestation confirmed."
A murmur spread through the audience.
Another official stepped closer, reading the display over his colleague's shoulder.
"Cognitive-type Manifestation," he said quietly. "Interesting."
The first official nodded before continuing.
"Stigma identified... Quick Thinking."
That earned a few more whispers from the audience, though nowhere near the reaction Maria's Awakening had received.
I blinked.
Quick...
Thinking?
That was it?
No flames?
No lightning?
No turning into some unstoppable powerhouse?
Just...
thinking?
The official smiled politely.
"Congratulations."
"...Thanks."
I wasn't entirely sure what I was being congratulated for.
My brain worked faster now?
Great.
Maybe I could finish math exams a little earlier.
I stepped away from the Awakening Stone and headed back toward my seat while the next student's name was already being called behind me. Whatever excitement I'd expected to feel never really arrived. Everyone else seemed to awaken abilities they could actually imagine using.
Mine sounded like something you'd put on a résumé.
I sat back down and let out a quiet breath.
Maybe the officials knew more than I did. They probably did. I'd never even heard of a Cognitive-type Manifestation before today, so judging it after hearing two words felt a little unfair.
Still...
It wasn't exactly the kind of ability kids imagined having while pretending to be heroes.
As that thought crossed my mind, something felt...
Different.
The change was subtle enough that I almost missed it.
The principal had resumed speaking somewhere on the stage, but before he finished his first sentence, my mind had already anticipated how it would end. A student three rows ahead shifted in his chair, and without consciously trying, I found myself noticing the tiny rhythm of his movements, the impatient tapping of his fingers, the way his foot bounced every few seconds.
None of it felt louder.
It simply...
registered.
Thoughts that normally would have wandered aimlessly seemed to connect almost on their own. Questions formed answers before I realized I was asking them. My mind felt lighter somehow, as though someone had quietly removed a weight I'd been carrying my whole life without noticing.
I frowned.
"...Huh."
Maybe there was more to this Quick Thinking thing than the name suggested.
If that was true...
I suddenly had one more mystery to figure out.
As if I didn't already have enough.