Underneath The Hidden Stars

Chapter IV

A few weeks passed, and Mira was getting suspicious of the fact that Terra still hadn't come back home. Although it was weird at first, she already got used to not getting a pillow thrown in the face every single morning. She spent most of her time at school and at home, studying, although peeking through the window every now and again on the off chance that Terra might return from her trip.
Her dad stopped talking about Terra completely. In fact, every time she brought her up, he changed the topic. Even though Mira wanted to confront her dad about it and get more information, she knew she had to take her mind off such trivial things and put all her might into studying for her exams which were getting more and more near. She spent her days in front of the old, definitely outdated books that the school provided, trying to cram as much knowledge into her brain in the shortest time possible.

Just like the days spent in front of the books, exams came and went by, meaning the stress levels should decrease greatly afterwards. But they didn't. High schoolers all around the tower were stressing out more than ever, with their futures depending on a few answers on the paper. As the results from the tower were compared together, no one knew how well they had to perform to rise up at least a Level. Only the top 1% would get to live at the top 2 levels - meaning only those who managed to get perfect scores could go to Levels 9 and 10 - although you could only get to Level 10 if you were previously on Level 9, meaning that was an impossible dream for most. But yet, everyone still had that set as their goal. If they reached Level 9, then maybe their children could get to Level 10 eventually? Since all parts of the government are elected in Level 10, only the best of the best get to actually be there and, to add up it was every child's dream to actually see the stars, which is a thing only people at the very top of the tower get to see.

A thing that made exam takers even more anxious, however, was the fact that their results and the level they were going to would be presented in public. Although information from other levels didn't really make its way out of the levels, people did know the results of everyone in the same level. It would even get posted on the newspaper, and nobody wanted to bring dishonour on their family name.

"Good morning, dear citizens. It is now 5am. The stars that our Goddess Vetos protects have now gone to rest and it is time for all of you to get to work. Today is a wonderful day in our tower, as we will find out who of our young will rise, and who will fall. Please make your way to the Level Hall before work to find out the results. And don't forget dear citizens: work hard, live well, and you will rise!"

The morning announcement must've been louder than usual as Mira jumped in her sleep when it started and fell to the floor. She started grunting and sighing from the sudden awakening but stood up and started getting ready nonetheless. She rummaged through her rather poor looking closet and found a dress she hadn't noticed before, even though it looked familiar. She shrugged her shoulders and put it on, as she couldn't find anything nicer that she could wear. She then went to the only mirror in the household which was a small hand mirror taped to the side of a cupboard and started combing her hair. She then neatly pinned it into a bun and smiled at her reflection.

"You look just like her, you know."

Mira looked behind her and saw her dad leaning against his room's door frame. They exchanged smiles and went on to have breakfast. Differently than before, this time Emerson picked up a bowl and started eating. Shocked by what she was seeing, Mira just stared at him with obvious confusion.

"What?" her dad started, "I don't want to faint when I see your incredibly terrible results!" he exclaimed and received a soft kick under the table. "Hey, that hurt!" he shouted out, rubbing his leg and pouting.

"You could be a little nicer, you know. This might be one of the last breakfasts we're having together. That is, of course, if I don't score terribly. I could potentially stay here on level 4 forever!" Mira said, before stuffing her mouth with rice.