Year [2028]
Time moved quickly at Aryavarta Union Medical College, a place where ambition, intelligence, and power constantly collided. One moment students were fighting for influence inside the hostels, and the next they were buried under piles of medical textbooks, trying desperately to pass their exams. At AUMC, survival meant balancing both worlds.
Within what felt like a few days, the first academic year was already coming to an end.
For an entire week, the campus atmosphere changed completely. The noisy cafeterias grew quieter, the training grounds were almost empty, and the dormitory corridors were filled with students holding anatomy notes, pharmacology charts, and thick textbooks.
It was the week of the first-year final examinations.
Even students involved in hostel conflicts had no choice but to focus. Medical school wasn't forgiving. One failed subject could ruin an entire year.
Akshat spent most of his nights studying quietly. Unlike many students who panicked during exams, he approached everything calmly. His mind worked fast, his memory was sharp, and despite all the chaos surrounding him, academics had never been a weakness.
The exam week passed in a blur of sleepless nights and tense silence inside examination halls.
Finally, the results were released.
Students gathered in the main academic building early in the afternoon. A massive digital display board showed the rankings of the entire first-year batch. Groups of students crowded around it, whispering nervously while refreshing the page again and again.
Some faces were pale with anxiety.
Others were confident.
A few looked like they were already prepared to celebrate.
Akshat stood slightly away from the crowd near one of the tall pillars in the hall. His posture was relaxed, hands resting casually inside the pockets of his coat. He didn't look like someone waiting for exam results.
Beside him stood Alexander, calmly scrolling through the ranking list on his phone.
After a few seconds, Alexander nodded slightly.
"You did well."
Akshat glanced at him.
"Rank?"
Alexander adjusted his glasses before answering.
"Second."
Akshat wasn't surprised.
Despite everything happening around him, he had expected to be near the top. Still, he looked at Alexander's phone to confirm it.
There it was.
2nd Rank — Akshat Aether
His full name appeared clearly on the screen.
Akshat Aether had officially secured the second position among all first-year medical students at AUMC.
But just above it, another name stood alone.
1st Rank — Kuroda Haru
Akshat's eyes paused on that name.
Something about it felt… strange.
He had never seen that person before.
Not in lectures.
Not in the library.
Not anywhere on campus.
Akshat looked at Alexander.
"Is it.... The hostel 1 leader?"
Alexander already seemed to know what Akshat was thinking.
He leaned slightly against the pillar, crossing his arms.
"That," he said calmly, "is the most mysterious student in the entire academy."
Akshat raised an eyebrow. Alexander continued.
"Kuroda Haru has never attended a single class since joining AUMC."
Akshat frowned slightly.
"Not even once?"
Alexander shook his head.
"Not a single lecture. Not a single lab session." Akshat looked back at the ranking board again.
"And he still scores first?"
Alexander nodded.
"And not barely first."
He scrolled further through the results and showed the detailed marks.
Perfect scores.
Akshat studied the numbers carefully.
There were no signs of cheating.
No suspicious irregularities.
Every answer sheet had been evaluated normally.
Which meant the result was genuine.
Alexander continued quietly.
"Many students believe he cheats somehow."
He paused. "But no one has ever proven it."
Akshat narrowed his eyes slightly.
"A genius?"
Alexander shrugged. "Possibly."
Then he added another sentence."Or something far more dangerous." Akshat didn't respond immediately.He simply stared at the name Kuroda Haru for a few seconds longer before turning away from the board.
Whoever this person was, he clearly existed on a completely different level.
But for now, Akshat had something more important to focus on.
A few days later, the academic calendar shifted again.
_____________
The second year of medical college is officially began.
New timetables were released, and students started moving between classrooms and dormitories once more. Clubs reopened, research groups reorganized, and the campus slowly returned to its usual rhythm.
But behind the normal academic routine, the hidden power struggles between hostels were quietly beginning again.
Early one morning, Akshat sat with Alexander inside a small café just outside the university gate. The place was nearly empty, the soft sound of coffee machines humming in the background.
Alexander's laptop was open in front of him, several documents displayed across the screen.
After typing a few final lines, he leaned back slightly. "Done."
Akshat looked up from his coffee.
Alexander turned the laptop toward him.
"Your hostel registration has been officially transferred."
Akshat glanced at the screen.
The university system now showed his dormitory assignment as Hostel 6. Everything had been processed legally.
He raised an eyebrow slightly.
"That was fast."
Alexander smirked.
"Money speeds up paperwork."
With a few strategic payments and connections through the university administration, Alexander had managed to transfer Akshat's hostel registration without raising suspicion.
On paper, it looked completely normal.
A student changing dormitories at the start of a new academic year.
But in reality, it was the first step of a much bigger plan.
Alexander closed the laptop. "Congrats to have Hostel 6."
A few hours later, Akshat stood in front of the Hostel 6 dormitory building. The structure looked older than most of the other hostels on campus. The paint on the walls had faded slightly, and the courtyard grass was poorly maintained.
Compared to the lively atmosphere of other dorms, this place felt strangely quiet.
Akshat pushed the entrance door open.
The hallway inside was filled with students.
Most of them looked nothing like fighters.
They carried heavy medical textbooks.
Some wore thick glasses.
Others looked exhausted from studying all night. These were the people Thomas had described.
The nerds.
Students who had come to AUMC to become doctors, not to participate in hostel wars.
Akshat walked forward calmly.
His long black coat moved slightly behind him as he stepped into the corridor.
At first, nobody paid attention.
But then one student glanced up.
His eyes widened.
"Wait…"
Another student turned his head.
Then another.
Within seconds, quiet whispers began spreading through the hallway.
"Isn't that…"
"That's Akshat…"
"The guy from the cafeteria fight…"
"I heard he beat three seniors alone…"
Students slowly moved aside as he walked through the corridor.
Some stared at him with curiosity.
Others looked nervous.
But among the quieter students—the ones who usually stayed away from conflicts—something else appeared in their eyes.
Hope.
Because many of them remembered that moment in the cafeteria.
The day when Akshat had stood up against stronger students without hesitation.
For months, the weaker members of Hostel 6 had lived under pressure from internal bullies and supporters of Hostel 1. Most of them had accepted that things would never change.
But seeing someone like Akshat walk into their hostel felt… different. One nervous student whispered quietly to his friend.
"Do you think… he's here to help?"
His friend shook his head slowly.
"No one can fix this place."
But even as he said those words, he couldn't stop watching Akshat walk down the hallway.
Because deep inside, every one of them wanted to believe something could change.
Akshat reached the end of the corridor and stopped near a large window overlooking the courtyard.
He quietly observed everything around him.
The fearful students.
The broken atmosphere.
The silent tension hanging in the air.
Hostel 6 wasn't just weak.
It was divided.
Broken from the inside.
Exactly what he had expected.
Akshat looked outside the window toward the rest of the campus.
Somewhere on that same campus…
A mysterious person was sitting at the top of the hostel 6, the leader of hostel 6 Ryuki.
He turned back toward the hallway filled with nervous students.
Step one had begun.
Now all he had to do was earn their trust… and break the people who ruled them through fear.
End of ch 35
To be continue...
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