Chapter 97

The morning after the gala, with students gone for break, Cecile Hall's Dorm Mother teases Henry about dancing with Martha, and he brushes her off with the claim that they are merely old friends.

The narrative rewinds to Henry's eleventh year at Eden, when a dorm New Year's talent show introduced him to Martha, an eighth-year ballet scholarship transfer. Her performance moved him to loud applause and the first "elegant" he ever uttered, an outburst that won her admirers and cost him friends, along with the nickname "Mr. Elegant." They properly met when Martha stumbled onto his private teatime in the school garden, a privilege of his Imperial Scholar status. She talked her way into a cup, then made a habit of joining him each morning before dance practice, and the solitary Henry found he did not resent the intrusion.

In his final year, three students led by a boy named Falco jumped Henry, who refused to fight back until Martha waded in swinging and he threw a punch to shield her. He scolded her, was rattled when she noted his hypocrisy, and reported everyone involved, himself included. His teacher buried the incident because Falco's family supplied munitions to the military and used the moment to press Henry about skipping military training, driving home the East-West tensions. Shaken, Henry questioned whether he could still call himself a gentleman and concluded that shaping young character through education was his way to fight conflict at every scale. He chose the Berlint University of Education over privilege. Before graduation, over one last tea, he urged Martha to reach Imperial Scholar herself, and when she asked whether he planned to invite anyone to his graduation dance, his ideals left him blind to what she was really asking.

Back in the present, Martha recounts the story to Becky without naming the man, admitting she only understood her feelings as love after he was gone. A final flashback shows her two and a half years later, a thirteenth-year Imperial Scholar, watching a faculty assembly introduce Eden's new History teacher: Henry. Their reunion is cut short by the outbreak of the war.

Henry and Martha's shared history as Eden students is revealed, beginning with her ballet performance and his first use of "elegant."

An attack by Falco's group and its cover-up push Henry toward a teaching career aimed at ending conflict through education.

Martha confesses to Becky that she never recognized her love for Henry until after his graduation.

Henry returns to Eden as a History teacher just as the First East-West War of Unification begins.

A 20-page Volume 14 chapter launching the Love and War Arc, released April 29, 2024, with Martha and Henry sharing the cover.

Martha's line that human beings are animals echoes what Becky tells Henry in Chapter 25, and a young Matthew McMahon appears in the graduation scene. The chapter illustration parallels Chapter 72's. Endo originally drafted this story as a Short Mission but expanded it into main chapters once it outgrew the format, and he teased it beforehand with a draft-page illustration on Twitter.