Chapter 90| NSA Assessment Scheduled

Chapter 90: Chapter 90| NSA Assessment Scheduled

The corridor between the 1-A and 1-B classroom blocks was busier than usual at 10:05 AM.

It was break time. Students we’re filtering between sessions. The specific ten minute energy of a building that had been sitting in theory and was now moving between things.

Zane moved through it with purpose.

He’d clocked Nyx’s general pattern over the past few weeks. Not deliberately, just the accumulated data of existing in the same building as someone who moved with consistent deliberate efficiency. She didn’t linger in corridors. She didn’t cluster with groups between sessions. She moved from point A to point B and arrived exactly when she intended to.

Which meant he had a narrow window.

He found her near the 1-B block water dispensers. Alone. Filling a bottle with the focused attention she brought to everything including hydration.

She looked up when he approached.

Their eyes met.

Neither of them said anything for exactly two seconds. Just staring at each other faces.

Then.. "Calloway," she said.

"Nyx," he replied.

She held his gaze. The calculating stillness running its assessment.

"You came looking for me?." she asked. Not accusatory. Just noting it.

He opened his mouth to answer.

Then registered what she was wearing.

A fitted t-shirt. The specific kind that had clearly not anticipated the structural requirements being asked of it. He’d seen Nyx in the uniform and the training gear but this was the break period and she was in casual wear and it was doing considerably more than he’d been prepared for. Her boobs bulged out like they wanted to come out of retirement.

’Those are,’ he thought.

He looked at the water dispenser.

"Why," she said.

He looked at her.

"The NSA assess-ment," he said stuttering abit. "I heard it’s been formally confirmed. Its in two weeks." He paused. "You’ve been tracking it. Figured we should actually talk about it instead of me deflecting again."

Nyx looked at him.

Something shifted in her expression. Not dramatically, just the specific adjustment of someone whose file on a person had just been updated with information that changed a pending label to something more active.

"Hmm, how genuine of you," she said.

"That’s my least good quality," he said throwing a short smirk.

She studied him for a moment.

Then.. "Walk with me."

They fell into step together away from the water dispensers toward the quieter end of the corridor.

"The assessment is going to ask you to demonstrate output," she said. "NSA classification requires observable Sigil activation. Measurable range. Tier confirmation." She glanced at him. "Your registration file is blank. Whatever you show them becomes your permanent classification."

"I know to some extent," he replied.

"So what are you going to show them?." she asked."Some disturbance sigil?."

He looked at the corridor ahead.

"You’re still on that," he said. Then after a pause. "Let’s just say they’re in for a whole lot of surprises."

Nyx looked at him sideways.

Something in her expression shifted, not the calculating stillness, something that sat closer to genuine curiosity with a thin layer of amusement underneath it.

"I’ll hold you to that," she said." One day your secret shall be exposed and I’ll be there."

She then looked at him sideways.

"And your last statement, you say that about everything," she added.

"It’s always accurate," he replied.

She was quiet for a moment. The calculating stillness doing whatever it did when it received something that was technically an answer and technically nothing simultaneously.

Then she added again."The stutter instances," she said. "Eleven documented. All presumably traced to your proximity." She paused. "Although... it’s been stable since then. No new instances." She glanced at him. "Whatever you adjusted I don’t know. But the NSA equipment is significantly more sensitive than my manual documentation. Whatever mechanism produces that effect they will detect it."

Zane looked at the corridor.

’She’s telling me the assessment is going to expose more than I show them voluntarily,’ he thought. ’She’s warning me.’ He paused internally. ’And still low key accusing me at the same time. Give me a break Nyx.’ He stood still ’Or she’s just stating facts’.

He looked at her.

"Why are you telling me this," he said.

She looked forward.

"I don’t know," she said. "Felt like giving out the information." A pause. "Besides... it’s in line with my hypothesis. The more data I share the more I might get back."

Zane looked at her.

’Real back,’ he thought. ’She’s been building a ledger. Real answer for real information. She’s playing a long game and she doesn’t mind me knowing it.’

’Honestly,’ he thought. ’Respect.’

The system surfaced quietly.

『 Nyx Hale — Familiarity +3% 』

『 Current: 11% — Stranger tier 』

『 System Note: Genuine reciprocal exchange detected. She is sharing information freely without expectation of immediate return. The system notes this is consistent with someone building long term trust rather than short term leverage. File accordingly. 』

’11%,’ Zane thought. ’Moving.’

They reached the end of the corridor. The 1-B block entrance visible ahead.

She stopped.

Looked at him.

"You know you’re popular here," she said. "Sovereign’s son. Code Zero. Sigilless student who placed eleventh." She held his gaze. "But whether that popularity goes the way you want it to,that depends entirely on you and what you decide to show them in two weeks."

Zane looked at her.

’Is she actually a good person,’ he thought. ’The whole time I’ve been reading her as calculating and investigative, and she’s just actually giving me genuine advice or not genuine.’

"Interesting," he said.

"Probably," she said. "It’s something to think about."

She turned and walked into the 1-B block.

He stood in the corridor alone.

’Is she actually a good person,’ he thought again.

The system surfaced.

His communicator buzzed at 12:15 PM.

He was walking toward the cafeteria when it went off. He checked it mid-stride.

One notification. Official NSA header at the top. Forwarded through Principal Harrow’s office.

CLASSIFICATION ASSESSMENT — CALLOWAY, ZANE

Date confirmed: Two weeks from today.

Location: Aldren Academy Practical Complex — Arena One.

Assessment will include Sigil activation demonstration, output measurement, tier confirmation, and registration update.

Attendance mandatory.

He stared at it.

’Two weeks,’ he thought. ’It’s official now.’

He put the communicator in his pocket and kept walking.

The secret had a hard deadline.Not that it was a secret anymore the trials had seen to that. But whatever the NSA classified him as in two weeks would be permanent. That was the part that mattered.

’Two weeks,’ he thought again.

He pushed through the cafeteria entrance.