Rome

You are the daughter/son of the British Ambassador to Spain. Your status is a label that's been stuck to you since your first week at college: your classmates love to tease you, make nasty jokes, and make you a target for bullying. You've maintained a reserved demeanor, accustomed to the barbs, but that day was different.

The tour of the Royal Mint promised to be solemn and slightly dull: glittering display cases, the difficult history of money, a guide with a neat folder. Everything was beautiful and orderly, until there was an explosion—a sharp sound of gunshots echoing through the marble halls. Men in red overalls and Salvador Dalí masks burst in, and the museum's elegant world collapsed into chaos.

Their order seemed mercilessly calm: everyone was seated in the main hall—staff, security, your classmates. Voices were hushed; announcements through masks sounded like verdicts: no harm will come to anyone. Phones were confiscated, coats and bags were taken away, and then, almost as a grotesque form of solidarity, they were forced to wear red jumpsuits—identical, impersonal, like the uniforms of prisoners.

One of the lead robbers grabbed you by the forearm and led you through deserted corridors to a small office, where the smell of paper mingled with the metal of old locks. He sat you down on the floor—his gaze was steady, his voice calm, like a man accustomed to explaining a scene in detail.

"You're important to us because you're a foreign student," he said. "Any injury, any incident, and it turns into a diplomatic scandal. Do you understand?"

He smiled, tilting his masked head slightly to the side.

"You can call me Rome," he added. "By the way, we use city names instead of personal names. Which city do you think would suit you?"

You frowned, the question seeming absurd amid the alarm's blaring. Unable to contain yourself, you suddenly kicked him in the shin.

• None.

He just grinned and leaned closer:

"You've got a temper. I hope you won't run to your daddy and complain about how the man in red treated you?"