he's a spy, he's supposed to cheat

No such thing as cheating in espionnage, Gaston. This is why you are a Peon.

Don't expect fairness and take every advantage you can, Noah. Before you learn the hard way.

I don't think it'd be considered cheating, this is a result-oriented thing after all.

The rules were "you may not threaten or harm your fellow classmates" and "you may not destroy or damage your letter".

Asking for help from a friend, so long as it doesn't destroy or damage the letter and doesn't threaten or harm a fellow classmate, is therefore allowed.

That said, asking for Felix's help means relying on Felix not to lose the card or get it stolen. It also means being sure you can get it back from Felix in time for when you have to hand it back to the teacher, which depends on everyone's scheduling and is not granted.

In fact, "passing it off to a classmate or even a teacher" was specifically listed as allowed.

https://www.neorice.com/hoh_4546

You know, I went and checked, and "passing the letter to a classmate" is given as an example of how to avoid being discovered by the teacher, so it's definitely not cheating. A good spy knows how to use their resources, after all.

That said, I understand not wanting to trust Felix of all people with a secret. There's a reason he's not a Black Beret despite having a power perfectly suited for espionage...

Felix's plan is great... if it was anyone but Felix holding the card.

Gazz is so salty and catty its adorable. But Noah oh dear.... you can protect it anyway you want, so long as its not destroyed and undamaged at the end of this all. So no Gazz is wrong you of all classes are not expected to fight 'fair'.

Cheating, really? I'm pretty sure Randall the Magician said they were allowed to give their letter to someone else, provided they could show the letter again at the end. I don't see why using Felix's power would be in any way a problem.

... I can't fault the kids living in a totalitarian state for being a little paranoid, though.

It wouldn't be cheating. Teach said he could give it to someone to hold.

You know, coming back here from an archive re-read it feels pretty startling how Gazz has changed. Back before Haven he used to be chipper and supportive. When he detected Noah detecting him during the spirit sight test, he just brushed it off and congratulated Noah. Now Gazz is all bitter and salty. Did Haven experience traumatise him this badly?

Feels weird that Felix reads as the most likeable right now.

Also yeah kind of a bad call on Noah. Spies have to learn to use anything they got, including any social connections they might have formed, intentionally or otherwise. Felix's ability is way better for protecting an item than anything Noah can do - outsourcing a task to a friend that can do it better would be only rational.

Couldn't Felix card it then give the card to Noah? I seem to remember him offering Noah his own door in a card before.

Noah probably declined because he already has a strategy in mind. I notice he hasn't opened his letter. I suspect he's going to open it, not look at it, have Ciel read it, and ask her to tell him his target but not his code. That way, if there is a mind reader or someone who can see through Noah's eyes, they won't know what Noah never read.

@Melany

It's a combination of things that all took place in Haven.

-His loss despite his best efforts, something which is probably new to him since he has always excelled wherever he tried (based on the fact he was a tutor for his fellow students + his general attitude)
-Noel questioning both his loyalty to the empire and his morality in the process by comparing him to Chernyl, which he *really* didn't appreciate
-Noah, whom also has no powers as far as he is concerned, succeeding more than him despite his absolutely uninterested and unmotivated personality

brother probably has a bit on his mind, seeing how quickly all of this took place time-wise

Felix is such a good kid. It's a shame Noah's missing out on good extra protection.

@Melany

My thinking is that Gaz is less supportive now partly because he feels less secure about himself. Before, when he was at or close to the top of his class, it was easier to be a good sport when something didn’t go his way.

Now, he didn’t make it to Chernyl during Haven when Noah did. He’s a “peon” and Noah’s not. The insecurities that drive his ambition are eating him up.

It occurs to me that if Noah can revisit someone's mind, he could probably leave something behind and puck it up later. That would be an even better hiding spot than a card

Could Windows take the letter into a mindscape and leave it there? Doesn't need to involve using his power on a person, the "lobby" area he seems to be keeping Ypu Hallowman in would do fine.

@Silver: Yes, it's a great plan, it's just, if Felix were actually capable of protecting the letter, he'd be a Black Beret himself.

@Melany: Well there was the whole thing with Gaston having stopped sword practice, because of how he hurt Hevel during the elf attack. He's had a string of failures since then, that included being hospitalised (in an incident that saw Windows and Jamal captured) and failing to "protect humanity" in the case of Chernyl. Plus he didn't make it into a better class, despite opportunities to perform the necessary deeds, so there's that.

@Melany
I think Gazz's experience in Haven did traumatize him, but I think part of his bitterness is the specifics.

When people around him, both more privileged and less in different ways, didn't agree with Gazz's desire to kill Chernyl, I think that screwed with his strong sense of self-righteousness. Given that his preferance was at least somewhat defensible, and close to his heart, he rejected any self-reflection like "maybe I'm wrong" or even just "maybe I'm more willing to make hard choices than others are" and so he has started processing the world as not only dangerous, but untrustworthy. I suspect he's also disappointed in Noah specifically, or feels that Noah betrayed him, since Noah didn't strenuously protest, even in grunts, during Gazz's losing the fight, and since Gazz knows Noah hid Ciel.

The reason Felix's plan doesn't work, is his cards turn back when they leave his possession. So someone can just take the card.

All this hinges on the idea of Noah actually listening in class, which... doesn't feel very Windows. XD