Juniper set down the pen. Her hand twitched towards her pocket, searching for a piece of candy, before she remembered she was being reprimanded and pulled it back out. She delivered the line without a hint of emotion.


    The teachers were struck dumb. Afraid they wouldn''t understand? They nced from her answer sheet to the new scratch paper. It was true. The steps on her test were highly condensed, while this new solution was meticulously detailed, easy for anyone to follow. But for her to say it like that... wasn''t that a little insulting?


    "What about the literature exam?" the literature teacher spoke up, flipping the answer sheet over and over. "I''ve never seen a perfect score."


    "Oh?" After being questioned relentlessly, Juniper''s patience was wearing thin. "Well, now you have, haven''t you?"


    The literature teacher''s mouth hung open, but no words came out. The other subject teachers, whose exams weren''t in question, remained silent.


    Suddenly, the office fell quiet. All the teachers stared at Juniper, who had effectively silenced them with herebacks. They were angry but couldn''t find a way to argue back. The atmosphere was thick with an awkward tension.


    The Dean had been observing Juniper closely and was struck by how unnervingly calm she was. For every question they asked, she had a polite, clever, and logical answer. He looked around the room at his staff, who had gone from being


    aggressive interrogators to a silent, dumbstruck audience. It was proof of how sharp her mind was.


    And she had just solved that math problem right in front of them, no tricks involved. He was starting to believe she really had earned those scores. But she had onlypleted her freshman year... It was baffling.


    "Alright, how about this..." the Dean said after a few moments of silence, his voice unconsciously softening. "You will retake both exams. If you can achieve a high score within the allotted time, we''ll believe you.”


    "Fine," Juniper agreed without even looking up. "Shall we start now?"


    Her quick, clean eptance left the Dean momentarily speechless. After a few seconds, he turned to the dazed math teacher and the pensive literature teacher "Do you two have any objections?"


    "No," they both said in unison. It was the best way to prove her innocence. If she was truly that good, she could excel on any test.


    “Prepare the papers, then. We''ll start in ten minutes,” the Dean said, ncing at Juniper. “You can have a seat for now."


    "Thank you." Juniper sat down obediently, cing the pen within reach.


    Seeing her so calm andposed, the other teachers began to wonder. Could she actually be the real deal?


    ...


    With university entrance exams approaching, there was no shortage of practice tests. The two teachers carefully selected new exams that wereparable in difficulty and length to the quiz.


    "Levon, what do you think? Is she for real or not?" the literature teacher whispered to the math teacher as she held the exam papers. “She''s so calm, it''s making me nervous."


    Levon wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, his expression grim"I have no idea anymore," he said, his voice weary. He had been so sure she was a cheater, but after all this, he was full of doubt.


    "This student is so strange," the literature teacher said with a sigh frowning. "A perfect score in an hour how is that even possible? If she gets a perfect score again. don''t know how I''ll face her..."


    Face her? Levon''s mind was a mess, his expressionplicated. If Juniper really


    did get another perfect score... he would have to make good on his promise and call her... his master.