Against the Algorithm

Chapter 64: Before the Game Began

"She plays better than half the ranked roster," Kaya muttered coldly. "And certainly more cleanly than either of those glorified midlane mascots."

Kazime glanced up. "We're watching them from now on."

Yao's eyes went wide. "You don't have to—"

"We're not doing it for you," Kaya said. "We're doing it for them. Because the next time Jian Yang so much as types your name, I want to see who he thinks he's talking to."

Yao blinked hard, then whispered, "You're being protective..."

"You're Jinyang's best friend," Kaya said, smoothing her hair once more. "And my problem now."

Kazime leaned in closer, voice dropping. "And mine."

She looked between them, overwhelmed and soft and struggling to form words.

Kaya stepped back just enough to give her space, but not before saying with all the calm, terrifying precision that had made her feared in three countries' negotiations, "If either of them so much as breathes toward you again with disrespect—send them to me."

Yao nodded, cheeks damp, but her voice steadied. "I will."

Third Flashback

The front doors of the Chen estate whispered open with practiced grace as Kaya stepped inside, the heels of her shoes clicking once against the marble before she slowed, pausing in the threshold. Kazime followed just behind her, adjusting the cuff of his shirt, the edge of his jaw taut with the fatigue of the day.

They didn't speak immediately. Not because either of them was particularly tired but because of what drifted in from down the corridor.

Voices.

Faint, low but familiar.

The main study.

Kaya's eyes narrowed slightly.

Kazime tilted his head toward the noise, instantly attentive, his expression darkening with recognition even before words began to register. The door to the study was cracked open just enough to let the conversation spill out clearly.

"...You're telling me that was her?" Ai Jia's voice, unmistakably agitated, rang out—not furious, but rattled in that particular way boys were when their pride got caught in their throats.

"I checked the replay three times," said another voice. Male. Sharper. Laced with something far more bitter.

Jian Yang.

"You don't believe me? Go watch it. Look at the tags. It was her. That stupid little nobody."

There was a pause.

Ai Jia again—lower, frustrated. "But she's just—Yao's always been quiet. I didn't think—hell, I thought she barely played scrims. I thought she was still figuring out midlane control—"

"She's not," Jian Yang cut in, voice already turning acid. "She's been hiding. Waiting to humiliate us."

Kaya's mouth drew into a tight line.

Kazime's jaw tensed.

"She turned me down, you know that?" Jian Yang spat, his voice rising. "Three times. Said she wasn't interested. Wasn't ready. That she didn't date."