The Scholarship Girl
The first thing I learned about Tagasaka University was that everyone here knew exactly where they belonged.
The wealthy students arrived in black luxury cars, stepping out in perfectly pressed uniforms while drivers carried their luggage behind them.
The legacy students walked through the gates like they owned the place.
Maybe they did.
Their parents had buildings named after them. Their family portraits hung in the university’s oldest halls. Their names appeared on scholarships, plaques, and donor walls.
And then there was me.
Mira Santos.
Scholarship student.
Daughter of a single mother.
Girl from a small town who had somehow earned a place at the most prestigious university in the country.
I stood outside the enormous iron gates with one suitcase, one backpack, and a secret tucked inside the pocket of my jacket.
A photograph.
My brother’s photograph.
I touched it without taking it out.
For a moment, I closed my eyes.
I’m here, Nico.
The wind moved through the tall trees lining the road.
Students laughed around me.
Someone dragged a suitcase across the pavement.
A car horn sounded.
Life at Tagasaka was beginning.
But for me, it had started a year ago.
The night my brother died.
“Are you lost?”
I opened my eyes.
A girl with long brown hair was standing beside me.
She wore the university’s navy-and-white uniform and carried two shopping bags.
“Not exactly.”
She smiled.
“First year?”
I nodded.
“Scholarship?”
I looked at her, surprised.
She laughed.
“Don’t worry. I’m not judging you.”
“How did you know?”
She pointed at my suitcase.
“It’s the suitcase.”
I looked down.
The old wheels were covered in dust.
She smiled.
“Come on. I’ll show you where the dormitories are.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m Chloe.”
“Mira.”
We walked through the gates together.
I tried not to stare.
Tagasaka University looked less like a school and more like an old European estate.
The main building stood at the center of the campus, its stone walls covered with ivy. Tall windows reflected the morning sunlight, and a clock tower rose above everything.
Students gathered beneath enormous trees.
Others sat on the grass, reading.
At the far end of campus was a fountain surrounded by white roses.
Everything was beautiful.
Too beautiful.
I looked toward the main building.
A year ago, Nico had stood somewhere inside those walls.
He had been a third-year student.
Brilliant.
Ambitious.
The kind of person teachers remembered.
He was supposed to graduate with honors.
Instead, his body had been found near the old east wing.
The university called it an accident.
A fall.
A tragic mistake.
I had never believed them.
And neither had my mother.
But grief had made her weak.
Bills had piled up.
People stopped asking questions.
Eventually, everyone moved on.
Everyone except me.
That’s why I had applied to Tagasaka.
The scholarship was real.
The education was real.
But it wasn’t the reason I came.
I came for answers.
We reached the dormitory.
Chloe looked at my assignment sheet.
“Room 314.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Third floor.”
“Is that bad?”
“No.”
She hesitated.
“Just... interesting.”
“Why?”
She smiled awkwardly.
“You’ll see.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she pointed toward the stairs.
“I have to go. Orientation starts in an hour.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
She turned.
Then stopped.
“Mira?”
“Yes?”
“One piece of advice.”
“What?”
She glanced toward the main building.
“Don’t get involved with the Aster Circle.”
I frowned.
“The what?”
She lowered her voice.
“The Aster Circle.”
“What is that?”
She looked around before answering.
“The most powerful students in Tagasaka.”
“And?”
“And you don’t want them noticing you.”
I laughed softly.
“Why?”
Her smile disappeared.
“Because once they notice you, they don’t stop.”
Then she walked away.
I watched her disappear into the crowd.
The Aster Circle.
I had never heard of it.
But something about the way Chloe had said those words made me remember a line from one of Nico’s old notebooks.
Aster.
I had seen the word before.
I just couldn’t remember where.
Room 314 was at the end of the hallway.
I unlocked the door.
The room was larger than I expected.
Two beds.
Two desks.
Two wardrobes.
One enormous window overlooking the courtyard.
I put my suitcase beside the empty bed.
Then I noticed that the other side of the room was already occupied.
Someone had expensive clothes hanging neatly in the wardrobe.
A black leather bag sat on the desk.
A silver watch rested beside a stack of textbooks.
I frowned.
I checked my assignment.
Room 314.
My name was there.
Maybe my roommate had already arrived.
I began unpacking.
Ten minutes later, the door opened.
I turned.
And froze.
The boy standing there looked like he belonged on the cover of a university magazine.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Sharp jaw.
Perfectly pressed uniform.
His expression was cold enough to make the room feel ten degrees colder.
He looked at me.
Then at my suitcase.
Then back at me.
“Who are you?”
“Mira.”
He waited.
I frowned.
“And you?”
He stared at me as if the question offended him.
“Adrian.”
Then he walked past me.
I watched him place his bag on the desk.
“You’re my roommate?”
He didn’t answer.
I checked my assignment again.
“Apparently.”
He looked at the paper.
Then at me.
“You can’t stay here.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“This is my room.”
“I don’t think so.”
He walked toward me and took the assignment from my hand.
His eyes scanned the page.
For the first time, something changed in his expression.
Surprise.
Then annoyance.
“Administration made a mistake.”
“Then you should talk to administration.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
He looked at me.
“You can wait outside.”
I stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Until they fix it.”
I laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“You’re serious?”
“Very.”
He studied me for a moment.
Then he smiled.
It wasn’t a friendly smile.
It was the kind of smile that warned me I had just made an enemy.
“You’re going to regret this.”
I crossed my arms.
“Maybe.”
He stepped closer.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“Everyone here does.”
“Congratulations.”
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Then he turned away.
I smiled to myself.
Maybe Tagasaka wasn’t going to be as intimidating as I thought.
Then Adrian spoke without looking at me.
“What’s your name again?”
“Mira.”
“Mira what?”
“Santos.”
He stopped.
Slowly, he turned around.
His face had changed.
Not anger.
Not annoyance.
Something else.
Recognition.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He stared at me.
“Nothing.”
But his voice had become quieter.
He walked toward the window.
I watched him.
“Have we met before?”
“No.”
He didn’t turn around.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
He finally looked at me.
“Because I don’t want to know you.”
That evening, the university held an orientation ceremony.
Hundreds of students filled the auditorium.
I sat near the back.
Adrian sat several rows ahead with a group of students.
Even from a distance, he was easy to recognize.
People seemed drawn toward him.
Professors greeted him.
Students whispered when he walked past.
Then the university president stepped onto the stage.
“Welcome to Tagasaka University.”
The crowd applauded.
I listened quietly.
Until the president mentioned the Aster Circle.
“The university also takes pride in the leadership of our student organizations, including the Aster Circle, which has supported academic and charitable programs for decades.”
The students around me began whispering.
I looked toward Adrian.
He was sitting completely still.
Then the president said:
“This year’s student council president is also one of our most distinguished students...”
The crowd applauded.
“Adrian Vale.”
Adrian stood.
The auditorium erupted.
I stared at him.
Vale.
The name sounded familiar.
Then I remembered.
Nico had written it.
I reached into my bag and pulled out his old notebook.
I quickly flipped through the pages.
There it was.
A name.
Adrian Vale.
My heart began pounding.
Underneath it was a sentence written in Nico’s handwriting.
If anything happens to me, don’t trust Adrian.
I stopped breathing.
I looked toward the stage.
Adrian was still standing there.
Smiling politely as everyone applauded him.
The golden boy.
The student council president.
The name my brother had warned me about.
I quickly closed the notebook.
My hands were shaking.
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
Later that night, I returned to the dormitory.
Adrian wasn’t there.
I waited.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Then an hour.
He finally entered shortly after midnight.
He stopped when he saw me sitting at my desk.
“You’re awake.”
“I was waiting.”
“Why?”
I held up Nico’s notebook.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“It belonged to my brother.”
He stared at the notebook.
“What was his name?”
I watched him carefully.
“You know his name.”
Silence.
I stood.
“Nicolas Santos.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You were friends.”
He looked away.
“Not exactly.”
“But you knew him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“What happened to my brother?”
Adrian looked at me.
For the first time since I had met him, the arrogance disappeared.
He looked tired.
Almost afraid.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
My heart pounded.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know what you’re looking for.”
“I know exactly what I’m looking for.”
“No.”
His voice became sharper.
“You think you came here for answers.”
I stared at him.
“But you’re going to find something much worse.”
I stepped closer.
“What happened to Nico?”
Adrian’s eyes darkened.
“He discovered something.”
“What?”
He looked toward the door.
Then back at me.
“The Aster Circle.”
My heart stopped.
“What about it?”
Adrian walked toward me.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Your brother wanted to expose them.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Did they kill him?”
He didn’t answer.
“Adrian.”
He looked at me.
Then he said the words that would haunt me for the rest of the year.
“I was the last person who saw your brother alive.”
I stared at him.
“Then you know what happened.”
He looked away.
“I know enough.”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“Because if you keep asking questions...”
He paused.
“...you’ll be next.”
Then he walked out of the room.
I stood there, frozen.
My brother had come to Tagasaka looking for the truth.
A year later, I had come to finish what he started.
But I had never expected the person standing between me and the truth to be the one person I was now forced to share a room with.
Adrian Vale.
The boy my brother had warned me not to trust.
And the boy I had a terrible feeling I was going to fall in love with.
