When fate plays its hand

“Research and academic competitions are two different matters. Besides, we’ve already finalized the research team for the international exchange program. We’re pushing full throttle on the competition training,” Hendrix said.

He added, “Plus, changing the team at the last minute isn’t the wisest choice.”

Beckett sighed. “I get it, but the reality is that our college has lost to foreign colleges for the past five years in a row. If we lose again this year…”

It wasn’t just a competition between local campuses anymore. This time, it was an international showdown.

Beckett didn’t mind losing to fellow countrymen, which wasn’t something to be ashamed of. But losing to foreigners was a different matter entirely.

On one level, it was just a friendly match between higher institutions. He could accept that the foreign college was simply better and move on. But on a bigger scale, it was about national pride, the state of their research, and the confidence of their country as a whole.

He continued, “We really can’t afford to lose this year, Hendrix.”

Hendrix frowned. “Then, how can you be so sure that Miranda’s team won’t lose?”

“…I can’t guarantee it, but I know sometimes taking r Beckett replied.

leads to unexpected victories,”

In the break room at Infinity Lab, Madison sneezed three times in a row. She rubbed her nose and muttered, “Someone’s definitely badmouthing me.‘

Sebastian glanced over. “I doubt it…” Then, out of nowhere, he sneezed.

Her eyes lit up, and she jabbed a finger at him. “See? You’re doing it, too!”

He crumpled the used tissue and tossed it into the trash. Then, he said casually, “I’ve just got a cold. If someone’s really trash–talking us, how come Miranda hasn’t—”

Before he could finish, Miranda sneezed. She noticed the two stared at her and looked slightly embarrassed. “Uh… I’m not sure why this is happening, but I’m positive I’m not catching a cold.”

Sebastian went quiet and thought Madison might actually have a point.

Madison broke into a happy little dance. She giggled and said, “I’m so smart.” Her joy was as simple as ever.

Sebastian couldn’t help but smile that her happiness was always so simple. Then, he said, ”

The semester just started, and we got that good news from ‘Nature Biotechnology.‘ I bet the whole faculty is buzzing about it by now, so it’s no surprise if people are talking about us behind our backs.”

Madison said, “Wrong. It’s not just the faculty, but the whole college.”

“And how do you know that?” he asked.

She took out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and held it to his face. “Look at this! One of the admin staff posted it on their social media account.

“As soon as our research paper was published, the college posted about it on their official accounts and even put up a big, bold congratulatory announcement in the campus bulletin.

She added, “With all this fuss, how could anyone not know about it?”

Sebastian appeared lost in thought after hearing that. Curious, Madison turned to Miranda, who also seemed deep in contemplation.

“W–What’s going on?” Madison blinked. “Why do you two look so worried? The college sent us a congratulatory message. Isn’t that a good thing?”

He replied, “It’s not bad, just… kind of strange.”

“What’s strange about it?” she asked.

“Miranda was the corresponding author for this published research paper, so technically, the credit for this achievement goes to our lab–not the college,” he explained.

Since this wasn’t Bedford College’s achievement, why were they taking credit for it? And why would they go out of their way to make such a big deal about it?

Miranda nodded. “I thought the college would probably just ignore it and pretend they didn’t know about it. After all, if word got out that such a major achievement was credited to an off–campus lab, it’d be embarrassing for them. It’d be better for them to pretend like nothing happened.”

But she hadn’t expected the college’s response to be the complete opposite of what she had predicted.

She continued, “Something doesn’t add up. If it’s this off, either something’s going on behind the scenes, or… they want something from us.”

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