Mission 95 (
Summary[]
At Eden Academy, two older students agree to be each other's dance partners at the upcoming end-of-term gala next weekend. Watching the exchange from afar, Becky remembers the party she mentioned to Anya in the past and begins thinking about inviting Loid. Following close behind are Henry and Damian with his friends. Henry informs Becky that, aside from volunteers, guardians will not attend the gala, much to her disappointment.
"Hey, Sy-on Boy... dance with me at the party!"
Emile asks Damian if he will invite anyone to the dance, but Damian refuses to participate in the party. Henry tells the boy that he will have much to gain from the experience, as dances serve as major social events. Becky suggests to Anya that she invite Damian, which makes her think of how this could progress the Friendship Scheme, so she boldly asks Damian to dance with her. However, the flustered Damian rudely rejects her and runs away, leaving Anya with jitters as she decides that she does not want to dance with him either. As the gala is a formal event, Anya agrees to pick out dresses with Becky on their day off.
Henry and Martha accompany Becky
On the day of the gala, Becky arrives at Eden dressed up for the party, and Martha escorts her. Henry spots Martha and requests her assistance for the event as they have fewer volunteers than he had hoped, and the unsurprised Martha agrees to join him. At the party hall, all of Eden's first-year students are present, which Henry says will be a good opportunity for students to acquaint themselves with potential classmates before classes are reassigned. Standing alone, a suited-up Damian is the target of whispers among the girls from other classes due to his status as a Desmond. Anya arrives at the party, which causes even more whispers among the students as they recount her acts around Eden. George pokes at Damian with this fact, but he quickly shuts George down.
Damian quickly wins the first round of the quiz
The party host announces the students' first activity of the day: friendly competitions between the classes, with the reward being the right to enjoy the Imperial Scholars' private lounge for one day. The first competition is a quiz, in which the first class wins by having all the students correctly answer a question. Damian starts alongside Bill Watkins and takes the lead by correctly naming all of Eden's "Seven Great Secrets," then orders his classmates not to mess up. The quiz goes along as students answer trivia about their school, though Anya puts her class behind after failing to state the full name of the headmaster. The next competition is a quality quiz, in which classes must decide which of two similar items is of better quality. The final game is a Stella quest, in which students of each class must work together to find a replica Stella Star hidden in a pool of replica Tonitrus Bolts. In the end, the overall results show that the students of Villiers Hall are the winners of the competition, which upsets Damian.
Becky is asked to dance by several boys
With the game over, a 30-minute interclass conversation to precede the dance is held, giving students time to invite someone to dance with them. As the students start picking partners, Loid walks through the party disguised as a waiter with the intention of advancing the Friendship Scheme after hearing how Damian rejected Anya's dance invitation. Anya is surprised by her father's appearance and suggests that Becky dance with the disguised Loid after seeing her longing thoughts of him, but Becky refuses. Several heirs of prominent families then approach Becky to dance. While she adores the attention, Becky turns them all down, stating her disinterest in children.
While the gala may be a simple dance party to some students, a certain portion of children from notable families view it as a battlefield of political maneuvering. Many girls begin surrounding Damian with invitations to dance with them, but he is disinterested. However, he begins to grow nervous as he sees boys approaching Anya with dance invitations, leading Becky to tease him. Arnold Crowley, the top scorer of Classical Language in their year, attempts to ask out Anya, but Damian interferes. Though Becky states that Anya asked Damian to dance first, Emile says that Damian would never accept it, so the other boys continue to invite Anya.
Ewen and Emile call the "Damian Desmond Dance-Partner Selection Committee" to order
Anya looks to the disguised Loid for advice, and Loid thinks that none of the boys pursuing her would make for good intelligence sources. Loid decides to step aside and let Anya and Damian pick whoever they want to dance with, also believing that Anya would not be considered a relationship prospect to the Desmond family anyway, to Anya's shock. In response, Anya announces that she wants to dance with Damian, shocking everyone. As other girls try to appeal to Damian to make him choose them instead of Anya, Emile and Ewen step in between them. Saying that Damian will only consider a partner of the highest class, the flunkies call to order the "Damian Desmond Dance-Partner Selection Committee" to personally decide who is worthy of being Damian's partner, to Damian's bewilderment.
Henry reminds that the dance begins in ten minutes
Anya decides to step up to the challenge, and Loid, watching from the side, remembers Anya stating her goal for world peace. Telling himself to remember the lesson of his battle with Winston Wheeler, Loid reminds himself that peace between East and West must be prioritized instead of anyone's feelings and declares that he and Anya will be the victors for the sake of Plan B. Meanwhile, Henry and some other students continue to watch in fascination from the sidelines. Henderson faintly tries to give a reminder to everyone that the dance portion begins in ten minutes, but it falls on deaf ears.
Characters[]
Trivia[]
- Arnold Crowley, the student who placed first in the Classical Language term final and is mentioned in Chapter 93, makes his debut in this chapter.
References[]