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[X] Interlude

-[X] ???

"Miss Yukihira? Are you paying attention?"

I... I don't understand.

"I am, of course, here for your benefit, Miss Yukihira. I'm here to help, however your situation doesn't look good." My guidance councilor, a man I'd neglected throughout my entire college career, doesn't have a kind face. That was my first impression of him when we'd met all those years ago, and it holds up even now. We rarely spoke, corresponding infrequently with emails when I needed permission to take advanced courses. My plan had been ironclad from the beginning, no alterations or deviations towards my goal.

"Your attendance has been sporadic at best, your assignments, when you decided to turn them in, lackluster. Your test grades... Speak for themselves." This is wrong. All wrong. Where did it all go wrong? My test grades were flawless, my assignments all turned in early for top marks. I never missed a class. "This latest test is enough to push you over the threshold for academic dismissal."

Sure, I rarely participated, rarely spoke up. What was the point, when lectures lagged behind self studies, when I'd be seen as the high and mighty know-it-all. Why connect with my 'peers' when so few of them understood my goals and ambitions. Perhaps I was overlooked by my professors, but the rest of this...

It made no sense. I don't understand.

Assignments I turned in, missing. Tests I aced, graded differently. It was him, I know it was him because he practically admitted to it when he made his demands, but... How? How did he do it? How did he set it all up, and when? Whenever I'd ace a test he'd ask me to stay behind, heaping praise upon me, when I showed him progress on my work for review he only had positive things to say.

"This is all going to be reviewed by the academic board at Wednesday's meeting, of course." My adviser continues, oblivious to my inner turmoil. I can feel myself dissociating, panic washing away any other senses as I try to take it all in. "Plagarism is a serious accusation, and-"

"I didn't steal it." I can't even muster any of my righteous anger to my voice. My thesis project, the work I've spent years of my life on, it's... It's mine, not his. "I've been working on it for years now. I showed him pieces of it along the way, for advice, for guidance and..."

"That is the claim you've made, yes." He doesn't believe me. His expression says it all. "The fact remains, your grades don't reflect your claim. By all accounts you're a subpar student."

I'm a god damn genius! Nothing about me is subpar! Nothing about me is mediocre! "As it stands, the most likely result of Wednesday's hearing is your academic dismissal."

I shouldn't be reduced to this. Where's my pride? Where's all my accomplishments? Why won't any one acknowledge me? Why won't anyone acknowledge my genius? My peers ostracized me because I'm better than them, my mentor betrayed me from the start.

Am I supposed to beg for support? Withdraw my claim and hope for the best? Try to eek by with dismal grades and earn a degree not worth the paper it's printed on? Hanabi Yukihira, brought low by a 'failed test'. As if I ever failed a test in my life.

"We're done here." I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to beg or plead. I've made my case, I've pointed out every lie, every inconsistency, but this... This imbecile can't help me. I need to take this elsewhere, to deal with this some other way. Fix my grades, fix my reputation, patent my work and... And make that asshole confess.

"Miss Yukihira, I can't help you if-" I ignore his words, slamming the door behind me. Not five feet down the hall my phone starts ringing. It's him, of course it's him. Of course he knows.

"How did your conversation with Mr. Johnson go?" The passion's returning, the dissociation fading, anger bubbling up with the rhythmic ticking of my heart. "Enlightening, I hope?" Samuel Masters, the head of the engineering department. My mentor, who personally guided my progress for the past four years. The one who sabotaged me at every step, who stole my work under the guise of false praise, who... Who...

"You should understand by now the situation you're in. You're a smart girl, brilliant even, but even the most brilliant of students tend to lose sight of how the real world works. Don't blame yourself, you have your field of expertise, but what you need is someone to watch out for your interests. A strong hand holding the leash, as it were."

"What do you want?" Keep calm, Hanabi. If I can gain the upper hand, just for a moment, maybe I can turn the tables on him. Maybe I can find evidence, or trick a confession out of him. "You wanted me for my thesis project, right? I'm almost finished with-"

"Don't be stupid." The sheer amount of derision in his voice makes me nearly miss a step. "Do you really think I did all of this for some pathetic undergrad's idea of 'revolutionary technology'? Do you honestly think such a thing would be worth even a token effort on my part? You're a smart girl Hanabi, I suggest you start using that brain of yours sometime soon."

"Be at my house by eight tonight, and wear something pretty. Something to emphasize those gorgeous legs of yours, perhaps? Like I said, you're a bright girl with a beautiful mind, but you need a strong hand holding your leash. Be a good pet, and perhaps I'll put in a good word for you at the meeting, hmm?" That tone of voice, that false sweetness, that hollow, empty praise. I can't imagine I ever heard it before and thought it genuine.

I'm an idiot. A clueless, useless, empty headed bimbo for believing in him. In any of them. My mentors, my professors, lapdogs all of them. It's... It's absurd. A comedy. A farce. I... I can't stop laughing. I can't... I can't stop...

The ticking of my heart keeps growing faster, tick-tok, tick-tok, tick-tok. I can salvage this? I'm a genius? How astronomically absurd. I overestimate myself. Salvage, what is there to salvage here in this pit of lies? To think that some asshole would dare to ruin me, not for my genius, but for my physical appearance!? The sheer audacity of it...

No. No, I won't salvage this. None of this. Nothing about this is worth salvaging. No, instead I'm going to tear it all down. Burn it all down! Blow it all up! Samuel, his career, his prestige, his legacy. I'll leave it all smoldering ruins for even daring to... To...

I'll expose him. No, I'll make him expose himself. Hah, a fitting phrase for the wretched little pervert. A few devices in some key locations, a threat to the right sources, and he'll have to confess. To everything. The campus has plenty of materials to work with. I still have access to the labs. I'll force the issue, push the plagiarism claim, make sure everyone important is on campus this Wednesday.

Idiot, vapid, useless, airheaded bimbo am I? Hah! I'll bring him and every bastard that sides with him to their knees!