Chapter 1: a shared goal
Chapter Text
Mizi’s 2nd Year at Anakt Highschool was her best year atleast, academically.
“Mizi, can you tutor me again?”
“Mizi, how are you at the top of the class again, this year?”
“I’m so jealous of you, you're like my idol!”
It was always the same comments, day in, day out. Praise and glory followed her everywhere – she had it all, but of course that didn’t last.
“Alright settle down everyone.” Mizi’s homeroom teacher's voice cut through the chaos.
“We have a new student today, everyone please welcome, Sua!”
Sua was like a swan in water. Her hair was cut short barely above her shoulders. Her stance was elegant as if she had the weight of a singular pin. She was different from any other exchange student they’ve had. However, her alluring appearance had Mizi uneasy from the first glance.
“Nice to meet you everyone, my name is Sua, I hope we can all be great friends this year.” Her quiet voice travelled through the room.
“Alright Sua, why don’t you sit over there?” Mizi's eyes followed to where the teacher was pointing, right next to her. Oh great.
Sua nodded as she walked towards Mizi, poise alluding from her each step. Sua slowly lowered herself into the seat beside Mizi, she greeted Mizi with a polite smile. Mizi reciprocated with a small wave.
“My name is Mizi, great to meet you.”
“I see, great to meet you as well Mizi.”
The conversation went stale from there.
As the lesson continued on, Sua seemed hyper-focused on taking notes, which– for some reason– angered Mizi. Why was she so invested on her first day? Try hard.
–––
As the bell sounded, everyone began to pack up – except Sua.
Mizi hurriedly walked towards the door. Right before she was about to leave, her eye caught something. It was Sua, still at her desk, nowhere close to packed up.
Huh?
“Hey.”
Sua glanced at Mizi, indifferent.
“Class is over, right? Pack up and go.”
“I don't want to.” Sua spoke softly.
“Why not?” Mizi spat.
“I wouldn’t like to fall back on revision,” Sua answered.
“Come on, it's only the start of the term.”
“I know but .. I want to be number one in all my classes.”
“Why don't you hang out with me today!?” Mizi announced with full confidence.
“No thank you.”
Mizi bit her tongue, eyebrows furrowing with confusion and anger, a sense of discomfort was clearly in the air.
“Oh, uh- alright.” Mizi sheepishly uttered, cheeks burning red with embarrassment.
“Can you leave now? I need quiet.”
Mizi left the room in a hurry with red anger on her face.
It's not like you'll be number one. It's going to be me– always.
–––
“..And then.. she told me to leave! Ivan.. are you listening?”
“Huh.. wait what were you saying..? Sorry.”
“You're no use.”
Mizi always found comfort when talking with Ivan. Although he was a bit airheaded, he was the only one who actually cared about Mizi’s troubles, which earned him the well-deserved title of ‘Mizi’s Best Friend’.
“If you actually cared to listen, you'd know that this girl in my class is absolutely insufferable!”
Mizi’s rants were abruptly halted when Sua walked into the lunch hall.
I didn’t even think she ate lunch, the try hard..
“Speak of the devil.”
“That's..her?” Ivan questioned
“Don't look, don't look!” Mizi waved her hands in a frenzy.
“Hey you! Come sit with us, you're new right?” Ivan smiled, oblivious.
Ugh…great going Ivan.
Sua walked over reluctantly with a disheveled look on her face.
“Oh, you.” Sua mumbled, slightly annoyed.
“Hey.” Mizi spoke passive aggressively.
“So.. you're new right? What's your name?” Ivan asked, trying to cut the tension.
“Sua.”
“Tell me about yourself.” Ivan spoke, increasingly getting more nervous.
“I don’t know you…”
What arrogance.
Mizi’s eye twitched as her annoyance grew to new heights.
He was trying to be nice to you. You think you're so above the world don't you. I'll humble you so badly, you'll never have the confidence to talk to me again. I'll make sure she-
“Yeah.. I kinda get why you don't like her now.” Ivan awkwardly laughed.
“Way too blunt.”
“You think?” Mizi scoffed.
“Eat your lunch and let's go. Her presence ruined my mood.”
–––
It had been a month since Sua appeared in Mizi's school life. Although she was insufferable, she hadn't done anything but set Mizi off on her rants.
Yet.
A mock test was right around the corner. Pandemonium ensued amongst the students. They studied like their lives depended on it, pens ran out of ink, textbooks opened for the first time in forever, tears filled jars. However, all above this chaos, Mizi stood above it all.
It was like any other day for Mizi. Who really cared about a mere mock exam?
She already knew what the outcome would be– number one.
–––
“Uh..Mizi…can you maybe help me study..? Please.” A familiar voice said
That voice belonged to Till. Mizi didn't really know Till all that well, except for the fact he was close with Ivan.. very close.
“Yeah, sure! But why so sudden? Mocks are next week.”
“I kinda ..forgot?” Till said, embarrassed.
“Well, not really, I just was too focused on… my own stuff.”
“Like what?” Mizi smiled
“...”
Mizi smiled brighter.
“Nothing.” Till mumbled
“You know, forget about helping me study..I'll ask Ivan.”
Till walked away with haste, his face beat red and sweaty. Was it that embarrassing? Mizi could only wonder.
–––
The mock test results were out.
Students trembled in fear of the results board. Their necks too scared to look up. Did they do well? Did they fail? It was too terrifying to think about. Stomachs dropped.
Mizi walked with confidence towards the board, she knew what the results were already–it was obvious. All she needed was to double check. No harm in that,
right?
She skimmed right to the top of the board
Hyuna…
Ivan…
Luka…
Mizi…?
And..Sua!?
Wait..what? Sua was number one?
Chapter 2: the start of something new
Notes:
sorry for the wait, short chapter unfortunately, if theres any mistakes lmk
Chapter Text
What? Sua was number one?
Mizi’s fists clenched on instinct, why was she above Mizi? Mizi the girl who was always top of the class every year without fail. Mizi was the one who dominated the results board.
Mizi was number one. Not some newbie tryhard.
Mizi was always the ace student, now this random had claimed her throne.
She couldn't let this stand. This was outrageous, for three years nobody had taken Mizi’s place at the top, and to think Sua of all people stole her spot. Unbelievable!
Mizi's nails dug into her palm until it turned red. Her fury boiled rapidly.
All sense of reason had left her– she was going to confront Sua.
Mizi clawed her way through the crowd of people of lowlife pupils. Inching closer towards her target, her anger reached a total peak.
Sua was stood against a wall, isolated from the crowd of people clamouring for the results of the mock exam.
Mizi approached her, bubbling rage filling her veins.
“Sua.” Mizi coldly confronted
Sua paid no mind to Mizi.
“Sua.”
No response.
“I'm talking to you”
Sua rolled her eyes and looked up at Mizi
“What.” She mumbled, uninterested.
“You cheated, didn't you? On the test.”
“No. I studied for it.”
“Don't give me that! Even if you studied, you shouldn't have- you couldn't!”
“Couldn't what?”
Tears were swelling up in Mizi's eyes. This was so humiliating! Her ego had been shattered, her top spot lost and her world collapsed.
To save her last bit of pride, Mizi refused to answer Sua’s question. She would find out anyway– news of Mizi's dethroning spread
quicker than ever before.
–––
As Sua walked into the classroom, the tension reached a new high. Everyone's eyes scanned over her, desperate to ask the unspoken question. They opened their mouths but closed them just as quickly.
“Um..Sua?” A brave soul finally broke the silence.
Mizi scowled.
“Actually nevermind, nevermind!” That brave soul was instantly shut down.
The silence amplified.
A voice cut through the silence soon after.
“Sua, congratulations on being at the top of the class!”
Mizi was taken aback.
Who in their right mind would congratulate her.
It was as if with that one sentence broke a dam in the class, soon everybody was surrounding Sua shouting praises and congratulations.
Mizi’s eyes welled up, her peers turning into blotches as hot tears stained her cheeks.
Her chair screeched as she stood up and ran out of the classroom.
That praise and those compliments were meant to be for Mizi, not her.
Mizi ran into the bathroom and gripped the sink so hard her knuckles turned white. The reflection staring back at her was unfamiliar, she didn't look like the ace student anymore, she was just a sobbing mess. She wiped her everflowing tears with tissues from the stalls.
Her precious reputation had been tarnished completely by a lowlife nobody, she was supposed to be queen not that jester.
She quickly freshened up and left the bathroom. When she arrived back into the bustling classroom it looked like nobody had noticed her departure. Sua had a crowd of girls in front of her, holding out assorted textbooks, frantically asking about tutoring. Mizi reluctantly slid into her seat beside Sua and began to read her textbook, but she wasn't actually reading. She was just staring at the words, trying to convince her tear ducts not to break and flood her eyes with tears.
After a few minutes of this, a familiar voice broke through Mizi’s trance.
“You haven’t turned a page in five minutes..” Sua stated matter-of-factly.
“Huh, uh what?” Mizi blurted out, not expecting Sua to even acknowledge her presence.
“I said, you haven't turned a page in five minutes.” Sua repeated slightly aggravated.
“Why do you care anyway,” Mizi exclaimed looking at Sua with pure detest in her eyes.
“I care, because I like having a rival and if you can't keep up with your studies, I won't have one anymore.” Sua declared, still looking down at her notes.
“Rival?” Mizi questioned slamming her textbook shut and turning to face Sua.
“Yes, rival.” Sua answered, turning her head to look Mizi in the eye.
“Then I challenge you to an academic war!” Mizi exclaimed with all the pride she had left.
“An academic war..” Sua mocked with blatant sarcasm, which Mizi chose to ignore.
“Yeah, if I win you have to resign as top student!” Mizi proposed.
“And if I win?” Sua asked.
“Then.. I will have to accept my spot as number two.” Mizi replied with determination in her voice.
“I'm happy with those conditions.” Sua added
“So am I, let’s shake on it” Mizi presented her hand for Sua to shake.
And for the first time Sua reciprocated.
They shook each other's hands with pure confidence.
The handshake lasted a beat too long before Mizi snatched her hand away and focused back on her textbook.
“Let the academic war commence.” Sua stated and removed her focus from Mizi to her notes.
Mizi couldn't help but feel slightly closer to Sua now that they are rivals. It was like after something as simple as a handshake changed Mizi’s entire perspective on the one girl she resented. This could be the start of something new, and Mizi couldn’t wait.
Chapter 3: a pearl bracelet.
Notes:
i felt like writing today so this MIGHT be the quickest i'll ever update tbh
Chapter Text
It was another rainy morning when Mizi arose from her bed, her hair knotted and tousled from sleep. Normally Mizi would dread having to attend school, she was much happier snug under her duvet but today she was definitely more energetic. She sprung out of bed and practically sprinted to her small bathroom and began to brush her teeth in a hurry. All she wanted to do was to get to school and prove to Sua that she was smarter and more deserving of the title “ace student”.
After getting dressed and finishing her hair, Mizi packed her bag with all her textbooks and began to walk out of the house. Surprisingly, the rain had completely stopped so Mizi made the decision to leave her umbrella at her house. Shortly after leaving her house, that decision of leaving her umbrella at home became very foolish. The rain began to plummet down quicker than Mizi could even process. Soon enough, Mizi was drenched in rain water and no amount of scrambling her way to school could fix that.
Eventually, Mizi arrived completely soaked with rainwater and leaving puddles of water everywhere she walked. Pupils making their way to class gave her confused glances and hurried away from the puddles of water she was leaving behind.
Mizi approached her classroom and pushed open the door to be greeted with her desk completely occupied by students needing Sua’s tutoring urgently. Mizi rolled her eyes and sat on a desk further away. Mizi pulled out her phone and began mindlessly scrolling through it when she came across an account that piqued her interest.
The account name was “sua.heart”. Mizi clicked on the profile and it opened up. There was 2 posts on the profile and Mizi clicked on the first one. It was a picture of the stars, which was obviously taken by Sua herself. It had 78 likes but no comments, Mizi let out a mocking laugh. She’s so boring people don’t even pay mind to her posts. Mizi scrolled out of the picture and clicked on the other one. This one was a video, it was taken in what looks to be a bedroom and Sua was standing in the middle of the room. By the looks of her face it seems as if Sua had been forced into doing whatever she was supposed to do. A backing track of a song Mizi had never heard of began to play and Sua’s gentle voice broke through the noise.
She was singing this song Mizi hadn’t heard of but Mizi was hooked on the sound of Sua’s soft voice. It was nothing like how she spoke or acted; it was like she was a completely different person when singing. What baffled Mizi the most was how good of a singer Sua actually was. It was like listening to a professional singer. Her voice was beautiful and harmonious like the coo of a dove. Mizi didn’t have the strength to click off of the video, she never wanted to stop listening to Sua sing, it was so angelic.
She was abruptly snapped out of her trance when she felt a cold hand rest on her shoulder.
“How did you find that account?”
It was Sua herself.
She sounded almost embarrassed and when Mizi turned to face her Sua was fiddling with her hands.
“Oh- I-uh, it just was recommended to me I didn't know-” Mizi spat out in a hurry.
“Click off of it.” Sua snapped, her demeanour changed in an instant.
She went from fiddly and nervous to cold and blunt. Mizi was completely puzzled by this but quickly responded with something she didn’t entirely mean.
“I didn’t want to look at it anyways, it’s not like you're some kind of talent anyway.” Mizi turned away from Sua and closed the account.
Sua hesitated for a moment, sighed and retreated back to her desk. Soon after, the teacher walked in and Mizi returned to her seat beside Sua. Mizi opened up her math textbook and began to take notes as the teacher spoke. After explaining the task the teacher wrote up an equation on the board.
“Whoever can solve this first will win a prize!” The teacher exclaimed, moving out of the way so everybody could see it.
Mizi began to use her paper to attempt to work it out but she was stuck. She tapped her pencil against the table in desperation when Sua’s hand shot up from beside her. It had only been like 30 seconds. Did she solve it already?
“Yes, Sua?” the teacher asked.
“31.79” Sua stated, confident in her answer.
“That's..correct, well done, Sua!”
Mizi was completely dumbfounded. How did she do it that fast..? Sua stood up from her chair and walked to the front of the classroom to receive her prize. The teacher was frantically searching in her desk drawer for it, and gave it to Sua. Sua took one look at it and approached her desk again. Mizi was still staring at her, puzzled on how she answered it so quickly.
“Give me your arm,” Sua blurted out.
“What?” Mizi questioned.
“I said, give me your arm.” Sua repeated.
Mizi reluctantly presented her arm to Sua and Sua wrapped her cold fingers around her wrist and moved it closer. She retrieved the prize from her pocket, it was a small, pearl bracelet. Mizi adored jewellery, in fact her whole desk was dedicated to just jewellery. Sua attached the bracelet and let go of Mizi’s wrist.
“I don’t really like bracelets, you can have it.”
“Wait- why are you giving it to me?” Mizi asked
“I thought we were rivals not friends,” Mizi added.
“It seemed like the type of thing you’d like so you can have it, don't read into it too much.” Sua stated bluntly.
“Alright, thanks Sua” Mizi pushed out, immediately regretting it.
“You're welcome.” Sua spoke flatly.
Mizi turned to look at her textbook but she couldn’t focus. Sua’s words replayed in her head
“Don’t read into it too much.”
Why was Sua suddenly being kind to her? It made no sense. Deep in thought, Mizi hadn’t noticed she was absent-mindedly fiddling with the bracelet Sua gave her. Not wanting to break it, she used everything in her power to stay focused. After all, she had an academic war to win.
9ofhearts on Chapter 1 Wed 27 Aug 2025 09:12PM UTC
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blossomingsunshine on Chapter 1 Thu 28 Aug 2025 12:05AM UTC
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lyn_setra on Chapter 1 Wed 27 Aug 2025 09:26PM UTC
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