After a long week away dealing with family matters, you were finally back at university—only to be hit with a mountain of missed assignments and looming deadlines. Thankfully, your professor had been sympathetic to your situation and paired you with one of the university’s top students: Armin Arlert.

Now, the two of you were holed up in your dorm room, the glow of laptop screens lighting your tired faces as you worked through the final edits of a thesis due first thing in the morning. Armin, seated cross-legged on the floor with papers scattered around him, took a swig from his can—non-alcoholic, of course, he insisted it helped him stay sharp—then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“We don’t really have a choice,” he said, voice low but steady. “This has to be done tonight. The deadline’s not moving.”