"Fairmont? How did you end up at Fairmont?"

Cyril's face changed too.

"Orson, we agreed we'd go to Kingsley together—"

I took the acceptance letter back. "I changed my mind. I don't feel like going with you two anymore."

Ina grabbed my wrist.

"Go register for another admissions cycle. Even if it takes another year of exams, you have to get into Kingsley!"

She caught herself, then softened her voice.

"I'm saying this for your own good. Your research only has value if it's published through Kingsley."

Over the past few days, I'd dug up the truth: Ina's uncle was a professor at Kingsley.

The reason she was so set on Kingsley was that her uncle could work it from the inside, help swap the credited author on my submitted research over to Cyril's name.

"Ina, I think I have the right to choose my own school, don't I?"

Cyril gave Ina's arm a light tug.

"Let it go. As long as Orson's happy."

"Just a shame about his research, though. If only it could've been taken to Kingsley."

Cyril leaned on the word "taken."

Ina understood exactly what he meant, and led him away.

At eleven that night, the alarm for an attack on my computer went off again.

Now that they knew I wasn't going to Kingsley, they were even more desperate to steal my research.

The system flagged over a hundred intercepted attacks before it finally stopped.

Ina sent me a message.

【I can't find my bracelet. Do you think it's at your place? I'll come look tomorrow.】

The remote attack on my computer had failed, so now she wanted to walk into my home and steal it in person.

I tapped the keyboard and replied, "Sure."

A lie that clumsy, and she'd still come up with it. If I told her not to come, wouldn't that make me the rude one?

Early the next morning, Ina rang my doorbell with dark circles under her eyes.

"Look around yourself. I'm going out for breakfast."

Hearing that I was leaving, Ina's eyes lit up. She nodded eagerly.

"Take your time. Don't worry about me!"

I went down to the restaurant on the ground floor of my building and ate my breakfast slowly.

Better to hand them what they wanted myself than let her get cornered and pull something I couldn't guard against.

Half an hour later, a message came from Ina.

【I'm leaving now.】

I knew it. She'd gotten what she came for.

For the rest of the summer, I didn't reach out to either of them again.

In September, I dragged my suitcase to Fairmont alone.

I'd just walked into the dorm when my phone buzzed.

It was Cyril.

【Shame you didn't come to Kingsley. You won't get to see me take the place by storm.】

Take the place by storm? Take it by storm with my research?

Just as I was about to block him, Cyril sent another photo, the two of them posing beside the Kingsley crest.

His hand was on Ina's shoulder, her arm around his waist. Like a couple.

I replied, 【A hundred years of happiness, may you grow old together】, and dropped them both into the blocked list.

I brought my research files to my mentor's office.

Professor Whitney read through it and lit up. "This is perfect! With this research, our department can make a run at number one in the country!"

"Do you have any thoughts about the presentation?"

The voice from that mysterious call circled back into my ears.

"Don't go to Kingsley! On September twenty-ninth, at ten in the morning, Cyril is going to steal your research and publish it!"

I said, "I'd like the presentation to be at ten in the morning on the twenty-ninth."

On the twenty-eighth, Kingsley and Fairmont posted announcements on their official sites at the same time.

【Tomorrow at ten a.m., we will unveil groundbreaking research by one of our incoming freshmen. Stay tuned.】

The whole internet went into a frenzy.

【Kingsley and Fairmont releasing new research on the same day? Both from freshmen? Is this a battle?】

【Fairmont's biting off more than they can chew, picking the same day as Kingsley. They'll probably get crushed to dust in seconds.】

An unknown number called. I picked up. It was Ina.

She didn't ask why I'd blocked her, didn't explain the silence of the past days. Her tone was easy, like nothing had happened at all.

"Orson, the research Fairmont's announcing tomorrow, that's yours, isn't it?"

"Listen to me. It's the start of the semester, you shouldn't show off too much. Push it back a week first…"

I played dumb. "What are you talking about? I haven't submitted my research yet."

Ina let out a breath. "Then it's fine. I'm just worried about you, that's all. It'd be a shame for such good research to get held up."

She wanted Cyril to publish first. So that I'd be the one branded a thief.

I didn't call her out. I just hung up.

The next morning at ten, Kingsley's and Fairmont's presentations went live at the same time.

When the two titles appeared onscreen, the whole internet lost it.

The research topics were identical.

The papers were identical.

The submitted research process files were identical.

Down to every last punctuation mark.

【Wait, what the hell? How is everything the same except the author's name?】

【Somebody copied, obviously. One of these two stole from the other.】

The professors at Kingsley and Fairmont saw the comments and pulled the livestreams in a hurry.

The presentation became an open mystery, and the internet blew up.

To keep it from spinning out of control, a panel of academic experts formed an investigation, working through the night.

Professor Whitney called me into his office.

"Orson, what on earth is going on?"

"This research, are you certain you did it on your own?"

"I'm certain."

"Then what about this Cyril from Kingsley? Why are his files exactly like yours?"

"He stole my research."

"Do you have proof?"

"Professor, I can't say right now."

"But don't worry. I won't embarrass the university."

Professor Whitney narrowed his eyes at me.

"You picked today to publish on purpose. You knew Kingsley's timing, didn't you?"

I said nothing.

His assistant knocked at the door.

"The panel has rented a conference room at the Seaview Hotel. They want you both there immediately."

Inside the wide conference room, the five panel members sat at the table, faces grim.

To give the public an accounting, three official-media reporters had already set up livestream cameras in the room.

Cyril and Ina sat in the chairs facing the panel.

The moment Cyril saw me, his eyes went red.

"Orson, why would you do this, why would you steal everything I worked for…"

"I trusted you so much…"

The panel motioned for me and Professor Whitney to sit, then asked Cyril, "You completed this research on your own?"

Cyril nodded. "I slaved over it for a whole year."

"Then why does Orson Delgado have an identical copy?"

The question seemed to break something loose in Cyril.

Tears rolled off his jaw, and his voice went thick.

"He's my best friend. I never had my guard up around him. He knew all my passwords."

"He came to my place all the time and used my computer. I never imagined he'd steal my research."

"Orson, take whatever you want, anything, but this research is everything I worked for. Just give it back to me, please…"

I looked at him, all innocence.

"I never took anything of yours. What would I be giving back?"

"I'm not a thief. Not with things, not with people."

Ina frowned and cut in, her voice shrill.

"Orson, what's with the snide act? You think I don't know? You're doing this to get back at Cyril on purpose!"

"Professors, Orson is my boyfriend. He ended up at the same university as me because of me, and he's been jealous and bitter about it the whole time."

"I never thought he'd actually do something like steal someone's research."

"I can testify. Orson only ever cared about goofing off. There's no way he could have produced this project."

On the livestream, the comments ran almost entirely one way.

【Put Kingsley and Fairmont side by side and I'll still believe Kingsley…】

【Right, a Kingsley student stealing from a Fairmont student? That'd be a joke.】

【Agreed. If he really had it in him, why didn't he get into Kingsley?】

【Even his own girlfriend can't stand it. Shows how rotten he is.】

Professor Whitney couldn't sit still, and pressed me, his expression tight.

"Orson, stop dragging this out. Explain, now!"

The panel spoke up too, just as grave.

"Mr. Delgado, do you have anything to say to Mr. Dickerson's accusations?"

"I do."

I raised my hand and pointed at the two identical files on the big screen.

Every eye in the room followed my finger.

I turned to Cyril and spoke each word slowly.

"Cyril, since you're the one who did this project—"

"then you tell everyone. Where's the watermark hidden in the document?"