This poem sits at the intersection of two shifts happening simultaneously in Singapore — the disruption of legacy car brands by electric vehicles, and the quiet erosion of elite school prestige.

In both worlds, a badge once carried a reliable grammar. A marque on a bonnet, a name on a school gate — these were shorthand for aspiration, arrival, a certain kind of belonging. That grammar is dissolving. Chinese EV brands unheard of a decade ago now outsell Mercedes in Europe. ACS Primary moves to Tengah. The hierarchy hasn't disappeared, but its legibility has.

The Mercedes bus is both literal and not. The same badge that signals luxury on a car appears on public transport across Singapore. Nobody boards it thinking of the three-pointed star. Or perhaps they do, briefly — under a certain light — before the doors close and the bus moves on.