“My word…” Emmet rubbed his head with amazement as he stared at the blinking number before him. He extended his arm out toward the screen, rubbing it as if it was a dirt spot that needed to be wiped away.

He was currently standing in the admissions office, hovering before one of the kiosks. Although the space was never as homey as it had been when Borokov worked the desk, the place still left nostalgic feelings in his heart, and he couldn’t help but slightly smile any time he entered it.

You currently have 15,543,483 points in your account.

Emmet almost couldn’t believe his eyes. It was such a foreign number, something so unreachable that when he saw it, he almost tuned it out.

Yet, thinking about it, it did make sense. Over the past year, he had ran two incredibly profitable businesses - Maisy’s Debugging Depot and Maisytown Park. Despite the astronomical fees of employing hundreds of people, contracting hundreds of others, and leasing hotly-desired space, the profits were even more astronomical. As for Maisy’s Debugging Depot, this was self-explanatory. From the previous year, it had only grown larger and larger, its popularity and reputation increasing among the students. Despite a short dip in the beginning of the year in business due to the fears of the competence of Maisy’s successor, the worriers’ doubts were quickly proven unnecessary, as the company quickly became faster, returning formations with even better quality and reliability. By now, there wasn’t a single student who hadn’t at least heard of their clean reputation.

However, the real money maker was Emmet’s newly updated business, Maisytown Park. Truly, it was basically the equivalent of printing money. Every day, there would be up to tens of thousands of visitors across the entire daytime, all riding rides and engaging in entertainment within Maisytown Village. Each of those rides costed about 25 points per person, and each ride would hold up to thirty riders at a time. Further, in Maisytown Village, each time a visitor made a purchase at a business, Emmet would receive a hefty tax on the profits, resulting in a lump sum at the end of each day.

It was only now, after five months of continuous operation, that it now closed. The result of all this lucrative business was what Emmet saw now.

Truly, Emmet found that he had trouble even comprehending such a number, so he didn’t even try to rationalize it. Overall, one thing was certain - he would have to invest more of his time for an even more fruitful season the following year. If anything, the success of Maisytown Park proved that his ideas had potential. Over the past months, numerous more ideas for different rides and spots of entertainment had sprouted within his mind, and he was ready to also make them a reality.

He also felt that after the close-call to disaster at this year’s park opening, he now had a better understanding of how to manage the massives crowds. Next year, he would be fully ready.

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As Maisytown Park closed down and much of his responsibility was alleviated, Emmet spent much more time at Maisy’s Debugging Depot. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty - over the past few months, aside from routine check-ins, he hadn’t spent much time there, and thus, still hadn’t gotten to know some of the first years. Thus, he spent much of these final few weeks hanging out there and catching up with everyone.

Unexpectedly, as Emmet visited more frequently, and people realized he was more available, it ended up feeling just like old times. Every day at the end of work, many employees would crowd around him to ask questions and request general guidance. Many of the second years, especially, felt immense pressure regarding the end of year assessment, and thus would be the most common class of customer, frequently approaching Emmet with panicked pleas for help - if they failed to rank within the top half, then they would get kicked out of the school!

With patience, Emmet tried to help as many people as possible, knowing full well the feeling of that kind of pressure - every day after work, he stayed behind and spent up to three hours just answering desperate students’ questions. Seeing how bright and smart they all were, however, he knew that almost all of them would probably get through just fine.

The weeks passed one by one, and the day of the end of year assessment arrived. The morning of, Emmet met with many of the second years he had been closest to and gave some encouraging words, attempting to convince them that they would do well.

The exams came and went, and so too did the heightened anxiety and exhaustion that came with it.

A nail-biting week later, the results finally came out. To everyone’s immense relief, and also to their collective amazement, the entirety of the second year workforce at the company had passed with ease. Everyone relaxed their bodies, the pent-up stress flowing out like air from a balloon.

A day later, as if as a reward for their hard work, Emmet held a gathering and passed out promotions like candy, granting every member of the workforce a promotion to a higher tier. He had originally planned on giving them out more sparingly, but overall, he was very satisfied with their work, and was grateful for their diligence and loyalty to the company. Regarding profit margins - wasn’t he making enough money already? He felt no need to be stingy on something like this.

All of the workers accepted the raises gratefully, all of them, save for a few who had other big opportunities lined up for them, announcing their plans to return to the company the following year.

To celebrate everyone’s advancement and the successful year at the company, Emmet announced a collective company retreat and reserved the entire Lordin Karaoke Bar for a day. Nearly the entire workforce came out and celebrated wildly, singing and dancing drunkenly throughout the night.

What was the saying? - work hard, play even harder - Emmet suddenly felt it made a lot of sense.

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Before anyone knew it, the new year had started once again. Now, Emmet was in his fourth year. According to custom, he could officially be called an upperclassman.

Immediately, Emmet commenced with his ambitious expansion plans for Maisytown Park. After the success of the previous year, he was all the more motivated to make it an even bigger attraction - this time, more organized and with even more things to do.

He had spent the last weeks of the last year planning out the blueprints, and finally now, at the beginning of this year, he put them into action. This time, he chose to be much more efficient about it, hiring about two dozen experienced student workers to assist him in the tasks. Thus, he could just direct people to do things instead of personally constructing everything, saving enormous amounts of time. Like this, work went much faster, and he was able to get a lot more done.

In the course of three months, Emmet directed his workers to build four big projects.

Firstly, Emmet directed the contractors to build a large spinning ride in the center of Maisytown Village, constructed from a simple design - the ride spun horizontally along a central axis of movement, allowing those on the ride to experience a sense that they were riding some kind of levitating vehicle. Inside of this large spinning wheel, Emmet placed several Gregorian flying formation look-alike models that visitors could ride in, which also bobbed up and down along with the spin of the central wheel. Finally, he gave it a colorful outer sheen, decorating it with lights and dazzling shapes to give it a more interesting look.

Next, Emmet directed his workers to construct another rollercoaster nearby Maisy’s Mega Marvel, colored a radiant red - although not quite to the scale of Maisy’s Mega Marvel. What was special about this ride, however, was that it had a unique kind of strap-in car that allowed the ride to go in loops, creating a totally different kind of exhilarating experience. Emmet had great anticipation for it, hoping that for thrill-seekers, it would be even more exciting than some of the dips of Maisy’s Mega Marvel.

After that, Emmet instructed his workers to build a jumpier, smaller ride that was made up of a large bouncing car sliding up and down a pole - when it went down, it would quickly stop, creating jerky movements that would spike adrenaline within the riders. Although this couldn’t be considered anything ambitious, Emmet planned on placing it within Maisytown Village as a supplement to the entertainment there.

Finally, Emmet directed the workers to build a miniature version of the Sky Wheel near Maisytown Village, designed for little children or those who were afraid of large heights, so that they would have something to do other than explore the village.

Overall, Emmet’s main goal with this expansion was to ‘fill out’ the park. Previously, although there had been two large flagship rides that drew in big crowds, in reality, apart from that, there really wasn’t much else, and for children, there was even less. Now, with these new rides, and the ever-expanding entertainment of Maisytown Village, he guessed that it would take at least a few hours to go through everything the park had to offer.

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One morning, Emmet received a fancily-decorated letter at his door. Picking it up curiously, he took one look before freezing in his spot.

The letter was from the school board! He quickly opened it and scanned it carefully.

Dear Emmet,

Thank you for your patience. The Gemini Academy School Board would like to meet with you next week, Monday, at 10 AM sharp. Please show up on time, and ready for discussion. The address is included inside.

Sincerely,

Gemini Academy School Board

A board meeting? Was the school board considering making him a real student?

Emmet’s eyes slowly dilated in and out of focus. His thoughts spiraling, a myriad of fluctuating emotions came and went. In the end, he couldn’t help but ponder on the years he had spent at the school.

Of course, Emmet had never actually forgotten about his status as a squire. Over the past year, spurred on by Maisy’s suggestion, he had never stopped inquiring about the situation or sending letters appealing to different board members, always including some kind of letter of recommendation or other proof of his credentials. Yet, out of dozens of letters, Emmet had never received a response, not even once. Over the months, he couldn’t help but start to lose faith, and eventually wrote less and less. If even Maisy couldn’t convince them, could he?

The longer it went that he failed to receive a response, the more jaded Emmet inevitably felt. The bureaucracy that came with such a large and influential school was hard to breach. Ultimately, this was unsurprising - Maisy had warned him of such, and to Emmet, it seemed fitting for such high-falutin board members to display frigid attitudes. Still, he couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed. Over the past year, to Emmet, the school had lost a bit of its sheen.

Faced with the prospect of having to leave, he had thought a lot about his future. These four years, he had learned so much. The amazing resources, the unique experiences, the grand environments, the brilliant people… truly, it was all one of a kind, and not for a moment did he take it for granted. With no pretense, he truly appreciated being here - no doubt, the school had made him the person he was today.

Yet, ever since Maisy had left more than a year ago, a subtle nagging feeling had formed within his being. And over the past year, this nagging feeling had only gotten stronger and stronger. The school was good, sure, but it didn’t seem quite as wondrous as he had initially thought. No longer was the campus an in-navigable labyrinth - over the years, it had become a stomping ground that he knew like the back of his hand. And this was great - he absolutely loved it here, but among the seas of faceless high-brow noble people, Emmet quickly found himself longing for home. And ultimately, this school didn’t feel like home.

He hadn’t felt it too much the first or second years, but his third year, without Maisy or Borokov, he had begun feeling a sore aching of homesickness in his chest. He was glad Tauruk, Fontezul, and all the amazing employees of Maisy’s Debugging Depot were still here - they were all like family to him, but still, there was no one like a mother, a father, a brother. Once upon a time, it had annoyed him, but recalling the rowdy bickering on the farm with Yorick, the stern but loving talks he would have with his mother, or the joking smiles he would receive from his father, he looked back with a strong sense of nostalgia and longing. In this sea of work and theory, he was increasingly feeling more and more isolated within the campus. He could distract himself with his extravagant projects, but in the end, he was always left with a subtle empty feeling.

Throughout the years, he had sent various letters back home, recently more frequently - updates of his situation and what he was doing. Unfortunately, he was seldom able to get a response back, and had to keep a blind hope that his family was actually receiving them. It was possible to spend money to hire messengers to get letters out to them, piggy-backing on a bulk trip out, but in their remote location in their farming tribe, and with their limited wealth, it was especially hard for his family to travel out of their village and send things out - in the past three years, he had only received one letter back. With Emmet’s previously relatively impoverished first and second years, he couldn’t quite afford to hire someone to return with his family’s response.

About six months ago, Emmet realized that this had changed. With his newly acquired wealth, Emmet finally hired a private messenger to not only send a letter over but to also receive a letter back to deliver to him. Although it was incredibly expensive, having to pay for sixth months of their time and for the risk of travel, to the current Emmet, it was chump change. He hoped the letter had reached his family and that it would get back soon enough.

But for right now, despite Emmet’s misgivings, he still couldn’t deny that this school was a wondrous place. Maisy’s hopes rode on him. If he had to leave after this year, it would still be a real pity.

For now, Emmet wanted to keep his hopes low. If he got excited too early, he might feel disappointed later.