Chapter 126: Teeth Without a Bedtime Schedule

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Teeth Without a Bedtime Schedule

The field died.

Rei’s palm was still pink from the seal.

Gianna’s breathing was high but even.

My arms shook once from cognitive load and then held.

Jenna’s voice came from the glass, quieter than yesterday.

"Efficiency pass. Emotional score still messy; near-break in the blind corridor is on all three of you in different proportions. Recovery and extraction are on the sequence holding under real pressure."

A pause.

"I can legally sponsor dual filing if both supports sign. Provisional window is still open. You have until the board cut-off to put names on the slate or collapse to one."

Rei laughed once, breathless, eyes bright.

"Second place extracted a marker. I’ll take it."

Gianna looked at me, then at the fading extraction line, then at Jenna’s glass.

"We’ll discuss the form off the mat."

"Understood," Jenna said.

"Dismissed. And Revien, your stagger held. Don’t get arrogant overnight."

"Wouldn’t dream of it."

[Advice: Confession roulette still denied. Performance remains the valid currency.]

I almost told the system to shut up.

Instead, I looked at both of them under the white lights, the woman who had ordered me not to die for her, the woman who had spent blood on a marker without turning it into a claim speech, and felt the dual path become something the board could file.

"So is it time for that talk?"

Rei laughed, still catching her breath, pink seal shining on her palm.

Gianna looked at me and didn’t fill the silence.

"I said off the mat," she said.

I nodded.

"I understand. It’s still important. And I want you here when I talk to Rei."

"...Aww."

Rei’s mockery was light and sharp, aimed at seeing who flinched.

"So understanding. Almost like a boyfriend. Are you two a couple yet?"

"Enough nonsense," I said, and flicked a small look at Gianna to check whether her face changed.

There was a twitch, barely there, gone when she locked it down.

I controlled my own smile and put my voice back into professional register.

"The signing will be done today if we’re doing it," I said.

"I still don’t have a clear picture of how the academy tests will actually run."

Rei sobered a fraction, interest replacing theater.

"They change the process every year. Last cycle was a race, clear dungeon brackets a lot like the VR sim we already ran, scored on time and efficiency. This year, with an Empress’s daughter on the intake list, it might be harder. More eyes. Less charity for messy dual teams."

"Hard for us too?" I asked.

"Depends."

Rei’s mouth curved.

"If you keep kissing me, I can walk over them easily."

Ah shit.

This was the problem.

Rei flirted like it was another blood edge, fast, intentional, meant to draw a reaction in public.

"That’s a great idea," Gianna said flatly.

Both of us looked at her.

"Start with me."

For a second the hall held something that wasn’t quite a fight and wasn’t peace either, competition, acknowledgment, a bond forged under fail conditions and yellow flags.

They looked at each other. Neither lunged for a wound.

Thank god they weren’t fighting.

"Forms," I said before either of them could turn it into a new sport.

"Glass. Then we argue language where Jenna can stop us from filing something stupid."

The annex table was too clean for how the last three days had felt.

Jenna laid out the provisional dual-registration packet with Mira’s seals already staged.

Board cut-off timer sat in the corner of a projected pane, hours, not days. Rei took a stylus without being asked.

"I’m signing," she said.

"Full secondary candidate. Shared scoring. Shared liability in the practical brackets. Don’t water it down to make anyone comfortable."

"Read it first," Jenna said.

"I did. On the walk over. Maximum binding language is how you stop a primary household from erasing a secondary when politics get loud."

Rei’s eyes flicked to Gianna, then to me.

"I’m not here as decoration."

She signed.

The pane flashed acceptance on her line.

Gianna didn’t pick up the stylus.

She read.

Every clause. Public scoring linkage. Residual audit rights. Failure cascade language. Housing and scheduling defaults.

A line about "intimate compatibility maintenance" that made my jaw tighten before Jenna highlighted it as optional board boilerplate, not a requirement.

"On the record," Gianna said, voice even.

"What does dual registration obligate me to in public scoring and liability?"

Jenna answered as guildmaster first, mother second, without letting either role fully disappear.

"Public scoring: your practical results will be read as part of a linked team with Revien and Lawless where the exam format uses dual or multi-support brackets. You will not be scored as a pure solo Vanguard in those segments."

I listened carefully.

"Liability: if a teamwork failure or incident is attributed to the linked unit, all signed members share administrative consequences up to the board’s published ceiling, suspension from a bracket, mandatory re-evaluation, or sponsorship review. It doesn’t make you legally responsible for Lawless’s independent misconduct off the field, and it does not assign you sexual, residential, or private-maintenance obligations. Those lines are optional, and I’m not requiring them for sponsorship."

"Lawless wants them," Gianna said.

"I want teeth," Rei said.

"Not a bedtime schedule. If the board can split us the moment Everheart politics prefer a cleaner picture, second place becomes a joke."

"I’m not signing automatic night-sharing language," Gianna said.

"I’m not signing anything that reads like I’m consenting in advance to maintenance as a duty."

"I’m not asking you to. Are you forgetting the fact that both parties needed their consent and it’s not mandatory at all?" I said.

Rei’s gaze cut to me.

"Don’t collapse the binding because you’re afraid she’ll walk."

"I’m not collapsing anything." I kept my hands on the table, visible, not reaching for Gianna’s stylus.

"I’m refusing to pressure her into clauses she doesn’t accept. Same for you. You signed maximum on your side. She gets to sign what she can stand. If the board rejects a mixed packet, we adjust. We don’t ambush her on the table."

Jenna’s fingers moved through the document, stripping and tagging.

"Compromise the board will accept," she said.

"Shared scoring in multi-support practicals. Shared audit for team brackets. Shared liability for on-field teamwork failures. Secondary status for Lawless explicitly recorded so she can’t be silently dropped without review. No obligatory intimate-maintenance clause. No automatic co-housing. Review trigger after first formal academy assessment; any signer can request sponsorship re-evaluation in good faith without that counting as forfeit of prior results."

She looked at Rei.

"Teeth without turning this into a private contract dressed as an exam form."