ASHRAF was unconscious, lost somewhere between sleep and darkness.
At first, there was nothing. No sound. No light.
Then his mother appeared.
She stood alone in the dark. Her eyes were veiled in shadow. Tears streamed silently down her face but her expression held nothing. No pain. No anger. Just emptiness. Her body trembled as she wept.
Her voice broke as she spoke.
"It was all your father's mistake… he is the reason we are here."
She reached her hands out toward him. But she couldn't see him.
Her voice became softer. But heavier.
"Don't worry… I will get you out of this. But listen carefully — trust no one except me."
Her words hung in the air like an echo.
Then everything faded.
Back to nothing.
But before the darkness took him completely — something broke through.
Flashes.
A corridor. Shouting. Doors splintering off their hinges. The sharp crack of his fist against something solid. A dining table. A face. Then crowds, music, laughter — his own voice laughing the loudest of all.
Then silence.
The darkness shifted.
A road. Long and empty under a pale sky. A truck parked on the side, engine still running, going nowhere.
A man stood with his back turned. Broad shoulders. Completely still. Like a statue that forgot to finish becoming human.
Ashraf tried to call out.
No voice came.
The man slowly began to turn — but before ASHRAF could see his face, a shadow swallowed him whole.
In his hand, something caught the light for just a moment.
A ring.
Then somewhere far away — a child's cry.
Then silence.
Then Monday morning.
ASHRAF gasped and sat bolt upright.
His head spun. His vision blurred at the edges. He rubbed his eyes slowly until the room came back into focus.
SINU was sitting beside his bed.
Smiling calmly. Like nothing in the world was wrong.
"Good morning," SINU said.
ASHRAF blinked. Looked around. Something felt deeply off but he couldn't place it yet.
"Y-yeah… good morning. What time is it?"
"Ten in the morning," SINU replied. Then casually, almost as an afterthought — "Monday."
ASHRAF stared at him.
Monday.
He went under on Saturday.
He didn't say anything for a moment.
"Where did you find me?"
SINU looked puzzled.
"Find you? What are you talking about? You called me and JAKE yourself. Yesterday."
ASHRAF stared at him, completely lost.
SINU leaned forward and started explaining. Slowly. Carefully. Like he was explaining something to someone who might break.
"Yesterday… you were not yourself. You were furious. You stormed straight into HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY. You broke into their hostel and beat nearly fifty students."
ASHRAF's eyes went wide.
SINU continued.
"You didn't stop there. You went to the Mayor's house. You found GARRY GONZALEZ — the Mayor's son — having breakfast at his own table. You climbed onto the dining table and kicked him directly in the face."
ASHRAF opened his mouth. Closed it again.
SINU then added, "And last night, you threw a big party for us. You spent about $500 — roughly ₹50,000. I stayed here. JAKE went home to freshen up."
ASHRAF's mind went completely blank.
₹50,000.
He looked down at his hands while SINU kept talking.
His knuckles were dark with bruising. Swollen. His fingers barely bent without sending pain shooting up his arm. Whatever happened on Saturday — his hands remembered every second of it even if his brain didn't.
His chest felt heavy.
₹50,000.
That was his entire month. Food. Rent.
His mother's medicines.
He stood up slowly and walked to the bathroom without saying a word.
A few seconds later —
"EYAAAAA!" ASHRAF whispers to himself $500?
He came back breathing hard. Stood in the doorway. Stared at the wall.
After hearing the full story again he sat with it.
What he did was a complete crashout.
But one thing wouldn't leave him alone.
His strength on Saturday was not normal. SINU's description of it didn't sound like him. It sounded like something else wearing his face. Something wild and caged that finally found a door left open.
He took a slow breath and asked, "What about college?"
SINU snapped his fingers suddenly.
"Oh. I forgot to tell you — college announced a week-long sick leave for first-year students."
ASHRAF let out the longest sigh of his life and collapsed face-first back onto the bed.
Sleep. Just sleep. A whole beautiful week of it.
SINU, genuinely baffled, asked, "Are you okay?"
Before ASHRAF could even process the question the door burst open.
JAKE stood in the doorway. Soaked in sweat. Breathing in shallow rapid gasps. His eyes were wide and he was trying to say something but the words weren't making it out of his mouth properly.
SINU and ASHRAF pulled him inside. Sat him down. Gave him a minute.
Then JAKE, his voice dropping to something grave, said —
"There's a big problem."
SINU immediately panicked and rushed to close the door, pressing his ear against it for a second before turning back around.
JAKE caught his breath and explained.
"There's a new canteen near Volkstock Circle. Opened today. Massive discounts on meals. We'll miss it if we don't go now."
SINU stared at him.
A long, deeply unimpressed stare.
"That's the big problem you're talking about?"
JAKE didn't reply.
Pin drop silence fell over the entire room.
The only sound was the leaking tap in the bathroom dripping steadily into the quiet.
Then JAKE's eyes slowly widened.
Like something had just crawled back up from the bottom of his memory.
"The students from Hampshire." He paused. "They're searching for you." Another pause. "I saw it in their eyes. They were furious. I overheard one of them say — 'ASHRAF needs to face the consequences. Call everyone you know who can fight. We need to earn a name in front of GARRY.'"
His voice dropped further.
"The whole town is after you."
SINU stood completely still.
"Let's get out of here," JAKE said.
But before he could finish the sentence SINU cut in.
"There's only one person who can help us right now. The senior — JAMES SAMEJIMA."
JAKE didn't like that. He insisted they just leave. Disappear. Get out of the city if they had to.
ASHRAF couldn't process any of it. He fell back onto the bed.
As JAKE walked over to pull him up SINU quietly grabbed his phone and typed out a message to James.
The reply came back almost instantly.
"Come to the college gate. Don't be seen."
ASHRAF finally pulled himself together. SINU grabbed both of them, shoved them toward JAKE's bike, and they took off.
JAKE drove. ASHRAF sat in the middle. SINU at the back. Ashraf firing off questions mid-ride that nobody was answering properly.
They were almost at the gate when it happened.
A dog shot out of nowhere directly into the path of the bike.
JAKE swerved hard. Too late.
They hit a parked car.
ASHRAF ended up on the ground staring straight up at the sky.
The dog limped a few feet away, whimpering. Its leg was bent wrong. The injury was older than the crash — someone had gotten to it before they arrived.
"This is the worst f**king day of my life," ASHRAF said to no one but to himself.
The car's owner got out fast. Face red. Already shouting before he fully had both feet on the ground.
They apologized immediately.
"We're sorry sir — a dog ran in front of us—"
He cut them off.
The insults came fast and ugly.
"If this is what your family raised they should be ashamed of themselves."
SINU went quiet.
He took out his phone. Took a photo of the man. Took a photo of his car's license plate. Made one phone call. Said very little.
Within minutes police arrived.
The man immediately started complaining. Calling them reckless. Arrogant. Saying they should be arrested.
But the police didn't move toward the boys.
They moved toward him.
They showed him a warrant. Old charges. Tax evasion. Trading fraud. Child abuse. Two of them already proven and waiting.
They took him away. His car was seized.
One officer looked at SINU and said simply, "Thank you for the tip."
The boys looked at each other.
They kept moving.
The bike stopped a few meters from the college gate.
ASHRAF looked up.
Five students stood blocking the entrance. Arms crossed. Eyes locked on him. Behind them the road was filled — nearly fifty more. Some held sticks. Some were cracking their knuckles. Some just smiled the kind of smile that means they've already decided how this ends.
The air felt thick.
ASHRAF's head throbbed. Not the dull morning ache. Something sharper. Deeper. Like pressure building behind his eyes. His fingers tingled. The sounds around him felt strange — stretched slightly, like the world was already beginning to drag at the edges.
He'd felt this before.
Saturday night. Right before everything went dark.
He closed his eyes.
One second.
Then —
snap.
The sound echoed somewhere inside his skull.
The world slowed.
Not frozen. Just slow.
The five students in front moved like they were pushing through water. Their mouths opened but their shouts stretched and distorted into something low and shapeless. Dust rose from the ground and hung suspended in the air like it forgot which way was down.
ASHRAF's head screamed in pain. His vision shook. Warm blood ran from his nose. The dizziness hit like a wave.
He stayed standing.
JAKE stepped forward.
He moved normally.
No —
Faster than normal.
The first student threw a punch. JAKE shifted slightly. It missed completely. He struck the man's throat with the edge of his hand.
The second rushed in. JAKE kicked his knee out from under him.
The third swung a stick. JAKE raised his arm — it connected hard with his forearm. Pain crossed his face for half a second. He grabbed the stick anyway. Pulled the man forward. Drove his head into the gate.
He dropped.
The fourth came from the side, arms wrapping around JAKE's chest from behind. JAKE snapped his head backward. A loud crack. The body went limp and fell.
The fifth student froze. Eyes wide. Whatever plan he had completely gone.
JAKE walked toward him.
The student turned to run.
JAKE kicked him hard in the back. He hit the ground and didn't move.
The world began returning to speed. Time crawling back toward normal.
The fifty students behind finally understood what had just happened to their friends.
Fear moved through the crowd like a cold wind.
ASHRAF's legs gave out. He dropped to one knee, head down, breathing like he'd just been underwater. For a second he genuinely thought that was it — lights out again.
JAKE stood in front of him. Chest heaving. His arm trembling. Blood dripping slowly from his knuckles.
He didn't look at the crowd. He looked back at ASHRAF.
"Move," he said.
They walked through the gate.
Inside stood KUMAGAMI TAKEMOTTO, the college president. Arms crossed. Face tight with barely controlled fury.
Before he could open his mouth JAMES SAMEJIMA walked in.
The room changed immediately. Even KUMAGAMI straightened up without realizing he'd done it.
Then MARCUS HANAE, the Vice President, rushed in from the side.
"Leader — call from the President of HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY."
JAMES answered without hesitation.
On the other end was RAYAN MARSHALL.
His voice was cold. Precise. He laid out everything calmly and then said it plainly.
"I will cancel the treaty."
Three years. That treaty had held for three years.
JAMES asked for a moment. RAYAN agreed and hung up.
Everyone in the room waited for the reaction.
JAMES smiled.
Not a forced smile. Not a political smile. Something quieter and rarer than both.
He walked slowly toward Ashraf.
"I am happy today." He paused. "Do you know why?"
ASHRAF said nothing.
The room said nothing.
JAMES looked around at all of them before continuing.
"For four years nobody dared to challenge HAMPSHIRE. Four years of being called the weakest university. Four years of silence from our side."
His voice grew steadier with each word.
"Today RAYAN MARSHALL called this office."
He let that sit for a moment.
"He didn't call out of anger."
Another pause.
"He called out of fear."
He turned back to ASHRAF fully now. Something in his expression shifted. Like he was seeing something he had been waiting to see for a long time.
"There is something you should know." His voice dropped slightly. "I was the original President of this university."
Complete silence.
"THE ASHRAHAN UNIVERSITY."
He let the name land properly. Gave it the weight it deserved.
"For three years nobody stood against HAMPSHIRE. Nobody reminded this city what this university actually is."
He looked at ASHRAF steadily.
"But today that changed."
He paused one final time.
"One of you in this room could become the future president of this university."
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
On the roof of HAMPSHIRE HostelRAYAN MARSHALL stood smoking. Cold wind cut across the rooftop.
In front of him knelt fifty students — the ones ASHRAF had dismantled in the hostel two nights ago. Stripped down. Shivering under a continuous pour of ice cold water that showed no sign of stopping.
These were not the students who had gone looking for ASHRAF today. Those were volunteers chasing reputation.
These were the ones who had fallen.
And in RAYAN's world falling was unforgivable.
His Vice President stood slightly behind him. Neither of them spoke for a long moment.
RAYAN's eyes moved slowly across the shivering faces in front of him.
"If you cannot stand like a man," he said quietly, "then die in the cold. Don't ruin the reputation of my university."
He and his Vice President walked slowly and deliberately across their outstretched fingers as they passed.
RAYAN paused at the edge of the rooftop. Looked out over the city.
"Fear," he said to no one in particular, "keeps a university clean."
He turned to his Vice President.
"One hour. Don't let them dry for even a second."
Then he took out his phone.
He scrolled to a name.
JAMES SAMEJIMA.
He called.
Not to threaten.
Not to argue.
To talk business.